Fly by Night
To my inspirational grandfather
,
the author H
.
Mills West
,
and to Rhiannon
,
Mosca’s godmother
Contents
Note – The Fractured Realm
Parliament
Responsible for setting up the Committee of Kingmakers, established to decide who is truly destined to wear the crown. But as the decades have passed and no decision has been reached, a fractured realm has been born. The Capital follows Parliament still, but every other fragment flies a flag to a different possible king or queen.
The Guilds
With the Realm shattered and no one king or queen to look to, the various guilds of skilled working men have grown stronger. They maintain an uneasy, though jealous, alliance with one another – and so keep a kind of common order throughout the Realm.
·
The Company of Locksmiths – a guild of key- and lock-makers
,
led in Mandelion by Aramai Goshawk
.
No door can be locked against a skilled Locksmith
.
And their power grows in the light of this knowledge
.
·
The Company of Stationers – a guild of printers and bookbinders
,
led in Mandelion by Mabwick Toke
.
Masters of the printed word and all printing presses
.
If a text does not bear the Stationers’ seal
,
it is heresy and must be burned
.
·
The Company of Watermen – a guild of boatmen
,
policing the river and those that would travel upon it
.
Duke of Mandelion, Vocado Avourlace
Rules in name in Mandelion, and petitions for the Twin Queens to be returned to the throne. Lady Tamarind is his sister.
The Birdcatchers
Once custodians of all sacred texts, until they found the White Heart of the Consequence . . . then followed the Bad Time. But now all the Birdcatchers have been killed and the Stationers have burned their books.
The Beloved