The Long War 02 - The Dark Blood (65 page)

Kale Glenwood (formerly Glen Ward) – forger, resident in Ro Tiris, companion to Rham Jas Rami

Lorkesh – guardsman

Lux – watch sergeant of Ro Tiris

Lyssa – child in the Brown chapel

Mirabel of Arnon – brothel owner in Ro Arnon

Mott – a bandit

Parag of Weir – a mercenary of Hallam Pevain

Randall of Darkwald – squire to, in succession, Sir Leon Great Claw, Brother Torian of Arnon, and Brother Utha the Ghost

Robin of Tiris – watchman of Ro Tiris

Rodgar – child in the Brown chapel

Tobin of Cozz – blacksmith and fixer

T
HE
P
EOPLE OF
R
OWANOCO

The Ranen of Fjorlan

The high lords of Fjorlan have, since the first, sought to keep their names alive through their children. Those of minor houses are afforded no such honour and many deliberately strike their father’s name due to dishonourable actions.

The house of Teardrop – named for Alguin Teardrop, the first high thain of Fjorlan.

Ragnar Teardrop Larsson – father to Magnus Forkbeard Ragnarsson and Algenon Teardrop Ragnarsson –
deceased

Magnus Forkbeard Ragnarsson – younger brother to Algenon Teardrop Ragnarsson, priest of the Order of the Hammer, friend to Lord Bromvy –
deceased

Algenon Teardrop Ragnarsson – high thain of Ranen, elder brother to Magnus Forkbeard Ragnarsson –
deceased

Ingrid Teardrop Algedottir – daughter to Algenon Teardrop Ragnarsson

Alahan Teardrop Algesson – son to Algenon Teardrop Ragnarsson, heir to the hall of Fredericksand

Oleff Hard Head – chain-master of Fredericksand

Wulfrick the Enraged – axe-master of Fredericksand

Thorfin Axe Hailer – lore-master of Fredericksand

Samson the Liar – old-blood of the Ice Giants

The house of Summer Wolf – an ancient and respected house, named for Kalall Summer Wolf

Aleph Summer Wolf Kallsson – thain of Tiergarten –
deceased

Halla Summer Wolf Alephsdottir – daughter to Aleph Summer Wolf, axe-maiden

Borrin Iron Beard – axe-master of Tiergarten –
deceased

Tricken Ice Fang – chain-master of Tiergarten

Earem Spider Killer – warrior of Tiergarten

Rhuna Grim – cloud-mistress of Tiergarten

Father Brindon Crowe – priest of the Order of the Hammer

Heinrich Blood – novice of the Order of the Hammer

The house of Hammerfall – home of the cloud-men and the Wolf Wood

Grammah Black Eyes – new thain of Hammerfall

Rexel Falling Cloud – axe-master, survivor of the dragon fleet

Moniac Dawn Cloud – axe-master

Anya Coldbane (Lullaby) – wise woman of Rowanoco

The berserkers of Varorg

Timon the Butcher – berserker of Varorg

Rorg the Defiler – berserker chieftain

The house of Ursa – a new house with no honourable lineage, they name as they see fit

Rulag Ursa Bear Tamer – the Betrayer, sits in the high thain’s hall. Previously thain of Jarvik, father to Kalag Ursa

Kalag Ursa Rulagsson – lordling of Jarvik

Jalek Blood – axe-master of Jarvik

Father Oryk Grey Claw – priest of the Order of the Hammer

The Ranen of The South Lands

The Free Companies are common folk who earn their names of honour and have never sought nobility or family names.

Wraith Company – protectors of the Grass Sea

Horrock Green Blade – captain of Wraith Company, commander of Ro Hail

Haffen Red Face – axe-master of Ro Hail

Freya Cold Eyes – wise-woman of Ro Hail

Micah Stone Dog – young axe-man of Ro Hail

Darron Moon Eye – priest –
deceased

Scarlet Company – protectors of South Warden

Johan Long Shadow – captain of the Scarlet Company

Mathias Flame Tooth – axe-master of South Warden

Dragneel Dark Crest – priest of Brytag the World Raven

T
HE
P
EOPLE OF
K
ARESIA

The Seven Sisters – enchantresses, formerly of Jaa, now of Shub-Nillurath

Saara the Mistress of Pain – leader of the Seven Sisters, bears no mark

Ameira the Lady of Spiders – marked with the sign of a spider’s web –
deceased

Katja the Hand of Despair – marked with the sign of a howling wolf

Sasha the Illusionist – marked with the sign of a flowering rose

Lillian the Lady of Death – marked with the sign of a hand

Shilpa the Shadow of Lies – marked with the sign of birds in flight

Isabel the Seductress – marked with the sign of a coiled snake

The wind claws – men who give their life to Jaa

Dalian Thief Taker – greatest of the wind claws

Larix the Traveller –
deceased

Kal Varaz – servant of the Seven Sisters

Kamran Kainen – servant of the Seven Sisters

The hounds – criminals serving as the Karesian army

Izra Sabal – whip-mistress of the hounds

Turve Ramhe – whip-master of the hounds

Common folk

Al-Hasim, prince of the wastes – exile and thief, friend to the house of Canarn

Emaniz Kabrizzi – book-dealer of Ro Weir

Jenner of Rikara – Karesian smuggler, brother to Kohli

Kasimir Roux – adjutant to whip-mistress Izra Sabal

Kohli of Rikara – Karesian smuggler, brother to Jenner

Voon of Rikara – exemplar of Jaa, missing somewhere in Karesia

T
HE
G
ODLESS

Kirin – a mongrel race, neither Ro nor Karesian

Rham Jas Rami – assassin, dark-blood and friend to Bromvy Black Guard of Canarn

Zeldantor – son to Rham Jas Rami, slave to Saara the Mistress of Pain –
deceased

Keisha of Oslan – dark-blood and daughter to Rham Jas Rami

The Dokkalfar – an ancient race of non-human forest-dwellers

Tyr Dyus the Daylight Sky – warrior and Fell Walker

Tyr Nanon the Shape Taker – warrior of the Heart and soldier of the Long War

Tyr Rafn – warrior of the Heart –
deceased

Tyr Sigurd – warrior of the Heart

Tyr Vasir – warrior of the Drow Deeps

Vithar Joror – shaman of the Heart

Vithar Jofn – shaman of the Heart

Vithar Loth the Tree Father – shaman and Fell Walker

Vithar Xaris – shaman of Narland

Mysterious others

Ryuthula – Gorlan mother

Torian’s shade – apparition and servant of the One God

Magnus’s shade – apparition and servant of Rowanoco

Is the second book cursed? Is it the ‘difficult second book’? Do writers struggle to replicate the good points of their debut? If I’ve managed to avoid these things, I have the following people to thank: Simon Hall, Kathleen Kitsell, Marcus Holland, Benjamin Hesford, Scott Illniki, Carrie Hall, Martin Cubberley, Tony Carew, Karl Wustrau, Mark Allen, Paolo Trepiccione, Terry and Cathy Smith, Becci Sharpe, Mathilda Imlah, Diane Banks.

In the court of every city in the lands of Ro, an enchantress sits.

And in the minds of that city, each enchantress weaves a song. She sings of the liberation of the land; the taming of the highland tribes; the birth of a precious new race; the world united under a single creed.

Yet none sing of the murder of the young Prince Christophe; of the rebellion of Canarn; of blighted gods stirring from their endless slumber; nor the lonely quest of a father to avenge the children that were stolen from him.

But every song, as every life, must come to an end…

A
LL
THAT
WAS
DEAD
WILL
RISE
.

A
LL
THAT
NOW
LIVES
WILL
FALL
…

‘Sieges, catapults, battles, longswords, beheadings a-plenty, profanity and bloody mayhem. Brilliant.’
SFFWorld

‘Interesting, enticing, thrusts you towards the next instalment.’
SFX

‘Martin meets Lovecraft.’
SCiFiNow

T
HE
C
HRONICLES
OF
THE
L
ONG
W
AR

In the long ages of deep time, uncountable millennia before the rise of men, there lived a race of Giants.

Continents shifted and mountains rose and fell as the Giants fought the Long War for the right to possess the lands of their birth. The greatest Giants, mortal beings of huge size and power, lived long enough, fought hard enough and gained enough wisdom to become gods.

Rowanoco, the Ice Giant, claimed the cold northern lands and was worshipped by the men of Ranen. Jaa, the Fire Giant, ruled the burning desert sands to the south and chose the men of Karesia as his followers. The Stone Giant, known only as the One, held dominion over the lush plains and towering mountains of Tor Funweir, and his followers, the men of Ro, believed they had the right to rule all the lands of men. Other Giants there were also, though their names and their followers are thought lost, and their empires buried, as victims of the Long War.

The Giants have long since left these lands to the humans, but their followers still worship them, invoke their names daily and aggressively maintain their laws. The Giants themselves sit beyond the perception of humans in their halls beyond the world while their most trusted followers fight the Long War in their stead.

I.
T
HE
B
LACK
G
UARD
The city of Ro Canarn burns. By royal decree, its noble line is named Black Guard, and struck from past and future histories throughout the lands of Ro.

For the Red Army is on the march. Those who oppose its advance risk the bloody fate of house Canarn, and strange accidents befall those who dare question the King’s new advisors – the Seven Sisters. And called from the long ages of deep time, the children of a dead god are waking with a pitiless cry—

A
LL THAT WAS DEAD WILL RISE

A
LL THAT NOW LIVES WILL FALL...

The Black Guard
is available
here
.

II.
T
HE
D
ARK
B
LOOD
In the court of every city in the lands of Ro, an enchantress sits.

And in the minds of that city, each enchantress weaves a song. She sings of the liberation of the land; the taming of the highland tribes; the birth of a precious new race; the world united under a single creed.

Yet none sing of the murder of the young Prince Christophe; of the rebellion of Canarn; of blighted gods stirring from their endless slumber; nor the lonely quest of a father to avenge the children that were stolen from him.