“Your hearts are as true as gold,” Ozorne said, grinning as he slung an arm around Arram’s shoulder. “Let’s eat.”
Arram sat cross-legged at the low table between his two best friends. Preet landed on his shoulder and squawked in his ear. Unseen, Varice rubbed one of her knees against his as she passed a dish of couscous. Ozorne was laughing as the meerkat tried to work free of his basket.
He listens to Varice and me, Arram told himself, offering Preet a piece of flatbread. I have years and years of studies before I’m a master. Something will work out so we can leave Carthak. Or perhaps Ozorne will convince the new emperor to put an end to slavery; then I can stay.
In the distance, he thought he could hear an old woman’s cackling laughter. A Hag’s laughter.
GLOSSARY
Apalite: citizen of the Carthaki district of Apal, formerly a nation-state to the far south and east of Carthak district (home of the capital), sister district/nation-state to Amar
beak head: hole in the point at the front of a ship used as a privy by sailors
belowstairs: palace slang for high-security cells under the oldest part of the palace, some particularly magicked to hold the strongest of mages
B.H.E. (Before Human Era): name given to the years before H.E., the Human Era. B.H.E. means the time when humans and immortals lived together, before increasing strife between them drove a group of mages to assemble in Carthak in order to create a working of magic that would exile the immortals to the Divine Realms (supposedly their original home). Common belief is that they succeeded in 852 H.E. and began in 836 B.H.E, though some are of the opinion that the spell covered only the Eastern Lands and the Southern Lands to the Roof of the World, the Yamani Islands, the Copper Isles, and perhaps the easternmost parts of the islands and countries west of there. It is even thought there are both very small and very large and powerful immortals tucked away in the lands supposed to be covered by the spell, which, in any case, has lasted a long time without renewal. It was destroyed when it was worked, and only partial copies remain.
Black God (of Death): one of the Great Gods, those who reign over all the world under various names. The Black God is usually represented by a tall human shape in a black robe and cowl. He is seen as soft-spoken and kind, the reliever of pain and suffering. People come to his realms to rest, recover from, and forget their lives before they are reborn into new bodies. His priests and priestesses are robed in the same manner as he is. They prepare and bury or burn (depending on the family’s choice) the dead and look after widows and orphans without family. They say prayers for the dead and look after graves. It is also their jobs to look after pigeons and doves, who supposedly carry the spirits of the dead to the Peaceful Realms, where the Black God reigns.
broken seal: street slang for losing one’s virginity, as in “she broke her seal” or “he broke his seal”; from breaking the seal on a document
cackleheads: slang for feces-brained
canoodling: sexual experimentation or having sex
cantrip: academic word for a spell
commandeer: command, seize for use (usually military)
Common: Common Eastern, the language shared by Tortall, Tyra, Maren, Galla, and Sarain
Crone: aspect of the Great Goddess, goddess of the underworld, aging women, wisdom, secrets, healing, the waning moon, and the natural fading of life
cross juggling: pattern in which the right hand throws the balls to the left hand and the left hand to the right hand, so they cross in the space between hands
detail: soldier’s slang for duty or work
Divine Realms: home of the gods and the creatures known as immortals; also called the Realms of the Gods
Ergwae: people of Carthak’s deep mountain valleys and western deserts, known for ornately woven and braided white turbans and embroidered scarves worn by men and women alike
Graveyard Hag: patron goddess of Carthak, a minor trickster and goddess of surprise changes in fate elsewhere in the Eastern Realms and Copper Isles; goddess of the crossroads and of gambling, represented by dice and a dicing cup, rats, and hyenas; also known as the Lady of the South (polite form of address), taken from the position of her statues in her temples and arenas
Great Mother Goddess: one of the Great Gods, those who reign over the world under various names. The Great Mother is usually represented by one of three aspects: the Maiden, goddess of girls and virgins, the hunt, the waxing moon, and spring; the Mother, goddess of women, childbirth, sex between women and men, summer, gardening, marriage, the full moon, and protection; and the Crone, goddess of the underworld, aging women, wisdom, secrets, healing, the waning moon, and the natural fading of life; also called the Three-Fold Mother and the Gentle Mother (this last more popular in the past two hundred years than at present).
gumat: city street toughs, Carthak
Hag-curst: reference to the patron goddess of Carthak, the Graveyard Hag
Harvest: August 1; the celebration before the hardest work of the harvest begins. The first fruits of the harvest are offered to the gods, and feasts are held.
Hekaja: Carthaki goddess of healing
immortals: creatures exiled to the Divine Realms 795 N.E. (Northern Empire)/211 B.H.E. (before the Human Era), including winged horses of both kinds and all three sizes, merpeople, giants, ogres, centaurs of both types, Stormwings, unicorns of all three sizes, basilisks, Coldfangs, griffins, spidrens, tauroses, sunbirds, winged apes, and wyverns
insensate: without senses, unobservant
instructor: teachers in the Lower Academy who are juniors and seniors in good standing in the Upper Academy and who teach classes in exchange for wages, dormitory housing, and library access
Jinda: person from the distant western realm of Jindazhen
kaygow: rude term among Hulak’s people for a scavenger animal
Kyprish: adjective for the people of the Copper Isles; from the name of their national god, Kyprioth
Lady of the South: alternate, more polite form of address for the Graveyard Hag by those who don’t want her attention; taken from the traditional position of her statues in her temples and in arenas
leatherfoot: soldier slang for a long-term soldier whose boots and feet have reached the same level of hardness
Lower Academy: junior school for the Carthaki School for Mages, usually for students ages ten to fifteen
lozenge: pill
Matasarab: Thak for festival of the spring equinox
mead: Northern-style honey wine
member: penis
Midwinter: holiday that occurs on and around the longest night of the year; the morning after the longest night marks the return of summer’s sun. It is celebrated by a week of feasting and gift-giving.
Minoss: god of justice, courts, and trials
Mithros: Great God of the sun, law, and war
Mortal Realms: part of the universe where those beings and creatures who are born and will die exist
nit: copper Carthaki coin