Old human: The original human species on Santhenar and by far the most numerous.

Orist: A land of swamps and forests on the south-west side of Meldorin; Yggur's fortress city of Fiz Gorgo is there.

Osseion: The captain of Mendark's guard, a huge dark man who helped Mendark escape from Thurkad and accompanied him to Katazza.

Pender: A masterly sailor who carried Karan and Llian from Name to Sith, and later to Thurkad. After the Conclave he helped Karan and Shand to escape from Thurkad, and was subsequently hired by Mendark.

Perion, Empire of: Kandor's empire, which collapsed after the Sea of Perion dried up.

Pitlis: A great Aachim of the distant past, whose folly betrayed the great city of Tar Gaarn to Rulke and broke the power of the Aachim. The architect who designed Tar Gaarn and Alcifer, he was slain by Rulke.

Portal: See gate.

Potency: An all-powerful, mind-breaking spell developed by the Aachim as a weapon against the Charon, but effective against all but those Zain who bear the Gift of Rulke.

Principle of Contagion: One of the principles of the Secret Art, that objects once associated continue to affect each other after separation.

Proscribed Experiments: Sorcerous procedures designed to find a flaw in the Forbidding which could be used to banish Rulke forever. Hazardous because of the risk of Rulke taking control of the experimenter.

Rachis: Karan's steward at Gothryme Manor.

Rael: An Aachim, half-cousin to Karan, son of Malien and Tensor. He was drowned helping Karan to escape from Shazmak.

Read: Truth-reading. A way of forcing someone to tell the whole truth.

Recorder: The person who set down the tales of the four great battles of Faelamor and Yalkara, among many other tales. He is thought to have taken the Mirror (after Yalkara finally defeated Faelamor and fled Santh) and hidden it against some future need. His name was Gyllias.

Renderer's Tablet: A semi-mythical key to the secret script of the Charon.

Rula: The Magister before Mendark. She was regarded as the greatest of all.

Rulke: A Charon of Aachan. He enticed Shuthdar to Aachan to make the golden flute, and so began all the troubles. After the Clysm he was imprisoned in the Nightland until a way could be found to banish him back to Aachan. When Tensor opened a gate into the Nightland Rulke was able to escape.

Rustible: One of Pender's crew on The Waif, a lugubrious pessimist.

Santhenar, Santh: The least of the Three Worlds, home of the old human peoples.

Sea of Thurkad: The long sea that divides Meldorin from the continent of Lauralin.

Secret Art: The use of magical or sorcerous powers (mancing). An art that very few can use and then only after extensive training. Notable mancers include Mendark, Yggur, Maigraith, Rulke, Tensor and Faelamor, though each has quite different strengths and weaknesses. Tallia has considerable skill but as yet insufficient training.

Selial: An Aachim woman, leader of the Syndics in Shazmak, who escaped after the city's fall and accompanied Tensor to Katazza, but could not come to terms with her failure to control him.

Sending: A message, thoughts or feelings sent from one mind to another.

Sentinels: Devices that keep watch and sound an alarm.

Shalah: A young Aachim woman, twin to Xarah.

Shand: An old man who works at the inn at Tullin and is more than he seems. A friend of Karan's late father, Shand rescued Karan from the Conclave, smuggled her out of Thurkad and accompanied her on a trek all the way to Katazza in the middle of the Dry Sea.

Shazmak: The forgotten city of the Aachim, in the mountains west of Bannador. It was captured by the Ghashad, after they were woken from their long years as Whelm.

Shuthdar: An old human of Santhenar, the maker of the golden flute. After he destroyed the flute and himself, the Forbidding came down, closing the Way between the Worlds.

Siftah: A fishing town on the northeastern coast of Meldorin.

Sith: A free city and trading nation built on an island in the River Garr, in southern lagador.

Skane: A city that fell the last time the full dark moon was in hythe, 1830 years ago.

Span: The distance spanned by the stretched arms of a tall man. About six feet, or slightly less than two meters.

Stassor: A city of the Aachim, in eastern Lauralin.

Syndics: A ruling Council of the Aachim, sometimes a panel of judges. None can lie to them in formal trial.

Tale of the Forbidding: Greatest of the Great Tales, it tells of the final destruction of the flute by Shuthdar more than three thousand years ago, and how the Forbidding sealed Santhenar off from the other two worlds.

Talent: A native skill or gift, usually honed by extensive training.

Tales of the Aachim: An ancient summary history of the Aachim, the Nazhak tel Mardux, prepared soon after the founding of Shazmak. Llian read and memorized it in Shazmak so he could translate it later.

Tallallame: One of the Three Worlds, the world of the Faellem. A beautiful, mountainous world covered in forest.

Tallia bel Soon: Mendark's chief lieutenant. She is a mancer and a master of combat with and without weapons. Tallia comes from Crandor.

Tar: A silver coin widely used in Meldorin. Enough to keep a family for several weeks.

Tar Gaarn: Principal city of the Aachim in the time of the Clysm; it was sacked by Rulke.

Tell: A gold coin to the value of twenty silver tars.

Teller: One who has mastered the ritual telling of the tales that form part of the Histories of Santhenar.

Tensor: The leader of the Aachim. He saw it as his destiny to restore the Aachim and finally take their revenge on Rulke, who betrayed and ruined them. He is proud to the point of folly.

Tess, Tessariel: A fishing captain working the bamundi schools out of Ganport. She helped Shand and Karan to escape from Ganport, across the Sea of Thurkad.

Thandiwe: A student at the College in Chanthed and friend of Llian.

Thel: One of Tensor's Aachim.

Three Worlds: Santhenar, Aachan and Tallallame.

Thripsi: A mountainous coastal region at the northeastern tip of Meldorin, chiefly noted for its fishing.

Thurkad: An ancient, populous city on the River Saboth and the Sea of Thurkad, known for its wealth and corruption. Seat of the Council and the Magister.

Thyllan: Warlord of Iagador and member of the Council. He intrigued against Mendark and briefly overthrew him as Magister, but after Yggur captured the city he retreated across the sea to raise an army.

Tirthrax: The principal city of the Aachim, in the Great Mountains.

Tolryme: A town in northern Bannador, close to Karan's family seat, Gothryme.

Torgsted: One of Mendark's guard. A cheerful, reliable fellow who agreed to pretend to betray Mendark and take service with Thyllan, so as to spy on him.

Trazpar: A solar still.

Triune: A double blending-one with the blood of all Three Worlds, three different human species. They are extremely rare and almost always infertile. They may have remarkable abilities. Karan is one.

Tullin: A tiny village in the mountains south of Chanthed. Shand lives there.

Twisted Mirror: The Mirror of Aachan, made in Aachan and given to Tensor, who smuggled it with him to Santhenar. Like all objects taken between the worlds, it changed and became treacherous. So called because it does not always show true.

Ulice: Proprietor of a cellar bar in Thurkad, and an old friend of Shand's. She can get anything, for a price.

Vanhe: Marshal Vanhe, one of Yggur's mid-ranking officers, forced to take command after all of Yggur's generals were killed.

Vartila: The leader of a band of the Whelm. She remained Whelm and served Yggur after most of her people reverted to Ghashad.

Voice: The ability of great tellers to move their audience to any emotion they choose by the sheer power of their words.

Void, the: The spaces between the Three Worlds. A Darwinian place where life is more brutal and fleeting than anywhere. The void teems with the most exotic life imaginable, for nothing survives there without remaking itself constantly.

Vuula Fyrn: Karan's mother, a lyrist. She committed suicide soon after Karan's father, Galliad, was killed.

Wahn Barre: The Crow Mountains. Yalkara, the Mistress of Deceits, had a stronghold there, Havissard. A place of illomen.

Waif, The: Pender's third boat, formerly a blacklisted smuggler's vessel, Black Opal.

Way between the Worlds: The secret, forever-changing and ethereal paths that permit the difficult passage between the Three Worlds. They were closed off by the Forbidding.

Whelm: Servants of Yggur, his terror-guard. See also Ghashad.

Wistan: The seventy-fourth Master of the College of the Histories and of Chanthed.

Xarah: A young Aachim woman, twin to Shalah.

Yalkara: The Demon Queen, the Mistress of Deceits. The last of the three Charon who came to Santhenar to find the flute and return it to Aachan. She took the Mirror and used it to find a warp in the Forbidding, then fled Santh, leaving the Mirror behind.

Yetchah: A young Whelm woman who hunted Llian from Chanthed to Tullin.

Yggur: A great and powerful mancer and sworn enemy of Mendark. Formerly a member of the Council, he dwells in Fiz Gorgo. After Karan stole the Mirror his armies overran most of southern Meldorin, capturing Thurkad. He and Maigraith became lovers. Yggur hates and fears Rulke from the time Rulke possessed him before he was imprisoned in the Nightland.

Zain: A scholarly race who once dwelt in Zile and founded the Great Library. They made a pact with Rulke and after his fall most were slaughtered and the remnant exiled. They dwell in Jepperand and no longer make alliances.

Zareth the Hlune: One of Yggur's lieutenants, whom Shand poisoned with octopus venom to prevent Karan from being discovered on Tess's fishing boat.

Zile: A city in the north-west of the island of Meldorin. Once capital of the Empire of Zur, now chiefly famous for the Great Library.

Zurean Empire: An ancient empire in the north of Meldorin. Its capital was Zile.

GUIDE TO.

PRONUNCIATION.

There are many languages and dialects used on Santhenar by the four human species. While it is impossible to be definitive in such a brief note, the following generalizations normally apply.

There are no silent letters, and double consonants are generally pronounced as two separate letters; for example, Yggur is pronounced Ig-ger, and Faellem as Fael-lem. The letter c is usually pronounced as k, except in mancer and Al-cifer, where it is pronounced as s. The combination ch is generally pronounced as in church, except in Aachim and Charon, where it is pronounced as k.

Aachim Ar'-kim.

Charon Kar'-on.

Fyrn Firn.

Iagador Eye-aga'-dor Lasee Lar'-say Maigraith May'-gray-ith Rael Ray'-il Whelm H'-welm Xarah Zha'-rah Chanthed Chan-thed'

Faelamor Fay-el'-amor.

Ghashad G-harsh'-ard Karan Ka-ran'

Llian Lee'-an Neid Nee'-id Shuthdar Shoo'-th-dar'

Yggur Ig'-ger.

A PREVIEW OF.

THE WAY BETWEEN.

THE WORLDS.

THE FINAL BOOK IN.

THE VIEW FROM THE.