The Thief King: The Line of Kings Trilogy Book Two (28 page)

Chapter Seventy-Six

Roskel
woke with daylight streaming through the tent. He’d had the strangest dream.
The Queen of Thieves had held his head in her arms and sung to him, a lulling
tune that soothed his pain away and made him sleep.

            He
tested his arm and his legs. They were bound tight, his arm in a sling across
his chest so he could not lift it. It was painful, but not as bad as he
expected it to be.

            The
Drayman woke and turned toward his friend.

            Good
Morning, he seemed to say with his smile.

            Roskel
smiled back. He pushed himself from the bedroll and with a flick of his head,
indicated that they should leave the tent. Picking up the Drayman’s sword he
walked gingerly toward the fresh air.

            He
pushed open the flap and stepped out to hundreds of eager faces watching him,
then a great cheer went up and a chant of ‘Hail, the Lord Protector,' which
while not very catchy was quite sweet, he thought.

            'And
a fair morning to you all!' he shouted with a smile for his men.

            Rohir
and Wexel stood before him.

            'Today
we ride for Naeth. But before I go, I want witnesses. I elevate the Drayman to
First Knight of Sturma, protector of the Stewards. Who will witness it?'

            All
the men had heard stories of the Drayman by now, and those who had not, had
seen his prowess in battle.

            'Aye!'
came the reply from a hundred men or more.'

            'Then,
Drayman, I name you First Knight, from this day forward you carry the honour of
the Stewards, and your line after you. Will you accept?'

            The
Drayman nodded.

            Roskel
held out his sword to him.

            'Your
honour is your own,' he said, just so that the Drayman alone could hear him.

            A
tear appeared in the Drayman’s eyes.

            He
touched Roskel’s hand as he took back his sword and accepted his new role.

           
I
am outcast no longer. My name is Rualanon Mar’ganathis Mar’ganathor Am’belain.
You may call me Ruan. You have my name. My honour is yours.

           
'Hell of a name. You certainly
earned it,' said Roskel with a wide grin.

            'Soldiers
of Naeth, I present to you Rual, bladesinger and First Knight! Let the name be
sung throughout our city and his deeds told.'

            Roskel
smiled and clasped hands with his friends and allies.

            By
nightfall, he was in his bed, and there was no place he would rather have been.

            He
fell to sleep, and the Queen of Thieves stepped from the shadows and watched
him sleep with great interest.

            'You
have become a man at last, my dandy. I think I shall have to watch you
carefully,' she said while he slept.

            'A
man in many ways, my beauty…perhaps one day I will show you them all,' Roskel
said with a wink, then closed his eyes and slipped back into slumber.

            Selana
smiled and melted back into the shadows.

            Yes,
she thought, a man of many qualities. But still with the confidence of the
braggart and dandy he had been when she first met him. She would make him
worthy yet.

*

Epilogue

Savan
emerged in the portal room, gasping for breath and facing the Hierophant.

            Pure
rage burned in the Hierophant's eyes. Retrice hoped for mercy.

            'You
have failed.'

            'I…'

            'No
excuses, bastard child. You will burn for this.'

            'No!'
cried the hierarch, and threw himself on the ground.

            The
Hierophant’s eyes glowed with the power of an inferno, and Savan was suddenly
engulfed in flame.

            The
Hierophant had no mercy. He was nothing but a creature of hate.

            'Burn,
and live!' the Hierophant cursed him, and turned on his heel, leaving his
disappointing son, his only child, to roast for the rest of his life.

            The
screams followed him as he took the stairs to the top of his tower in angry
strides.

            Subtlety
was lost on the barbarians. Already he had wasted too much time on them. The
hierophant made a short incantation, his red eyes glowing brighter than his
son's burning, screaming form, and then he was gone.

            In
an instant, he appeared before the council of the Protectorate, the Hierarch's
army.

            'It
is time to prepare for war,' he said.

*

The Island Archives

The Stewards of the Crown

(The War of Reconcilation onwards)

Cast

Major

Roskel
Farinder -
Bard
of little repute, Lord Steward, Protector of the Realm, Keeper of the Crown.
Baldy.

Minor

Darwell
Redd -
Old
friend of Roskel Farinder and proprietor of The Blushing Drunk.

Durmont
-
A stalwart
ally of the forces of light.

Ellisindre
-
Shh. She's a
vampire, but it's a secret. Wife to Shawford Crale.

Filcher
-
Cheeky little
rapscallion. Messenger in the employ/Thrall of the Queen of Thieves.

Frear
-
I'm surprised
you remember her. I don't.

Larny
Cole -
Lonesome
farmer. Loves goats.

Mar
-
Leader of
Haven.

Rohir
-
Steward/Brought
back to life by priests following an attack by a Hierarch assassin.

Tarn
-
The Outlaw
King.

Wexel
-
Steward/Big
Sword/Previously grievously wounded in battle for Naeth Castle by a Protocrat
warrior. Suffers from warts and collywobbles and grout on Thursdays.

Yargreat
-
Artisan in the
employ of the Thieves' Covenant.

Sam
Durnborn -
Good
man in a pinch, that Sam. You know where you stand with a Sam. Reliable, stout
fellow. Unless he's a girl.

Savan
Retrice -
Hierarch.
Former Spy Master under the Thane of Naeth. Currently roasting for all
eternity, but prior to his eternal damnation guided the Thane of Kar toward
war.

Selana
-
The Queen of
Thieves. Minor role, really, but I've been building her up for the last two
books, and as the next book's called The Queen of Thieves, you can see where
I'm going with this...

'Where's
'e going?'

''E's
not going anywhere.'

''E
said 'e was going.'

'Figure
of speech.'

'Eh?'

'Granddad,
damn it. Put your ears in.'

Shawford
Crale -
Mysterious
man of mystery...well, not really. Have a read of the bonus material and you'll
see...

Sisqale
-
Archer par
excellence. Nifty at plaiting, too.

The
Hierophant -
Evil
bugger. Ruler of the Hierarchy.

The
Skald
-
Also known as Rualanon
Mar’ganathis Mar’ganathor Am’belain. Shortened to 'Cupcake'.

The
Thane of Carmille -
As
minor parts go, this probably takes the biscuit. Though maybe Frear retains the
honour.

The
Thane of Kar -
Orvane
Wense, who's machinations failed, who's designs on the Crown of Kings
failed...he wasn't very good at much. Failed at pretty much everything, really.
Plus, he was a little clumsy as a child.

The
Thane of Kar's Huntsman -
Rubbish
tracker.

The
Thane of Mardon -
Minor.

The
Thane of Spar -
Redalane.
Never made it in the book, but I thought I'd put him in here to make up for it,
because I don't want to hurt his feelings.

The
Thane of Ulbridge -
Cuckolded,
grumpy gaoler to Roskel. His wife never loved him, but it was a marriage of
convenience. She would have loved him more, but he had two left feet and
couldn't dance for toffee.

Tomar
-
Wense's
secretary. Predilection for women's shoes.

The
Widow Lowboy/Shana -
The
town of Winslow-by-the-Brook's old mother. A witch.

Ward
-
A guard in
Ulbridge's underground dungeon.

Cities,
Towns and Villages

Brantwise,
Colebridge, Haven, Irris Downs, Juxerton, Mar, Naeth, Pulhuth, Thornton,
Ulbridge, Waybridge, Winslow-by-the-Brook, Wraith's Guard

Other
Places of Note

The
River Frana

The
River Larna

The
Cathedral on the Plains

The
Fresh Woods

Thaxamalan's
Saw

The
Culthorn Mountains

Taverns

Year's
End, The Blushing Drunk

Astronomical
Bodies of Note

Moons
–
Hren and Gern

Suns
–
Carious and
Dow

Planets
–
Rythe

Constellations
–
The Field of
Castles

Mythology/Religion

Brindle
–
God of thieves
and goats.

Dematron
–
King of gods.

Madal’s
Gate –
The gates
that all Sturmen must pass in death.

Miskal
– God of all
that stands proud.

Terase
- God of childbirth.

Reliquary

The
King’s Crest
– A
magical crown imbued with the memories of long-dead regents.

Bestiary

Lice
- A kind of pickle.

Hath’ku’atch
- A near mythical creature that
lives in lightning. Or, embarrassingly, lightening, as I spelled it for the
entirety of the last book.

Horses
- Honourable Mention in the
beast category goes to Minstrel, Roskel Farinder's mount. A horse, should there
be any doubt.

Dryads
- Woodland spirits.

Naiads
- Water spirits.

Botany
of Sturma

Dryads
- In on a technicality.

Trees
and Flowers and stuff
- Really, I didn't pay any attention. I hope you didn't either. Because if you
did, I'll have to go back through the entire book yet again. Please don't make
me...I'm so near the end...I'm *cough*...I don't think *cough* I can make it,
Sarge...

Societies
and Races of Rythe

'Does
'e actually know any of this stuff?'

'Shh,
Granddad. Let him work it out for hi'self.'

''E
doesn't know, does 'e?'

'No,
but don't tell him that.'

Draymen
-
Inhabitants of
the vast uncharted plains that lie to the west of Sturma, over the Culthorn
Mountains.

Feewar
-
The people of
the sea. The lost race.

Hierarchy
-
A magical,
sadistic race apart from humankind. The bastard offspring of the Old Ones.

Lianthrans
-
The human
inhabitants of the continent of Lianthre, ruled by the Hierarchy.

Protectorate
-
The
Hierarchy's military arm. And leg.

Sturmen/Sambra
-
The land of
the Line of Kings.

Thanes
-
Rulers of the
warring regions of Sturma.

The
Thieves' Covenant -
Ruled
by Selana, The Queen of Thieves, the Thieves' Covenant is a powerful force in
Sturma.

The
Old Ones -
Also
known as the Sun Destroyers.
To
be slightly disingenuous, I shan't
say more than that.

Witches
- 
Nothing like
the crones of fireside tales. They come in all flavours.

Songs
and Stories of Sturma

The
Groat's Tale,
Habard’s
Pig, The Jemandril’s Tail, Yellow Moon, Where the Soldier Roamed, Whistler’s
March