Kaval: Gavram asu Chenin am'Kaval am'Kaji. Drillmaster of the Kaji tribe. One of Jardir's dal'Sharum instructors during his Hannu Pash.

Kenevah: Damaji'ting of the Kaji tribe during Inevera's dama'ting training.

Kevera: Damaji of the Sharach tribe.

Khaffit: A man who takes up a craft instead of becoming a Holy Man or warrior. Lowest male station in Krasian society. Expelled from Hannu Pash, khaffit are forced to dress in the tan clothes of children and shave their cheeks as a sign that they are not men.

Khaffit'sharaj: Training camps set up by each tribe for the kha'Sharum.

Khanjin: Lesser Krasian tribe. Enemies of the Jama.

Kha'Sharum: Able-bodied khaffit Jardir has made into low-skill infantry. Kha'Sharum wear tan robes, turbans, and night veils to show their khaffit status.

Kha'ting: Non-dama'ting blood relatives of Jardir. Kha'ting are given special training, and are considered blood of the Deliverer. As with dama'ting, the punishment for striking a kha'ting is death or the loss of the striking limb.

Khevat: Kaji dama who trains Jardir in his youth. Father of Ashan.

Lonely road: Krasian term for death. All warriors must walk the lonely road to Heaven, with temptations on the path to test their spirit and ensure only the worthy make it to stand before Everam to be judged. Spirits who venture off the path are lost.

Loremaster: Dama who have dedicated themselves to the study of ancient texts. Researchers and career academicians, they stay out of politics for the most part, teaching nie'dama their basic lessons.

Maji: Jardir's second Majah son, a nie'dama who will have to fight Aleverak's heir for the Majah Damaji throne.

Manvah: Mother of Inevera. Wife of Kasaad. Successful basket weaver.

Mehnding tribe: The largest and most powerful tribe after the Majah, the Mehnding devote themselves wholly to the art of ranged weapons. They build the catapults, slings, and scorpions used in sharak, quarry and haul the stones for ammunition, make the scorpion bolts, etc.

Melan: Dama'ting daughter of Qeva. Granddaughter of Kenevah. Former rival of Inevera. Lover of Asavi.

Nie: (1) The name of the Uncreator, feminine opposite to Everam, and the goddess of night and demonkind. (2) Nothing, none, void, no, not.

Nie'dama: Nie'Sharum selected for dama training.

Nie'dama'ting: Krasian girl who is in dama'ting training but is too young to take her veil. Nie'dama'ting are given great respect by men and women alike, unlike nie'Sharum, who are less than khaffit until they complete the Hannu Pash.

Nie Ka: Literally 'first of none', a term for the head boy of a nie'Sharum class, who commands the other boys as lieutenant to the dal'Sharum drillmasters.

Nie's Abyss: Also known as the Core. The seven-layered underworld where alagai hide from the sun. Each layer is populated with a different breed of demon.

Nie'Sharum: Literally 'not warriors', name for boys who have gone to the training grounds to be judged and set on the path to dal'Sharum, dama, or khaffit.

Nie'ting: Barren women. The lowest rank in Krasian society.

Night veil: Veil worn by dal'Sharum during alagai'sharak to hide their identities, showing that all men are equal allies in the night.

Omara: Abban's widowed Kaji mother, considered cursed for bearing several daughters in a row, until the birth of Abban, her youngest.

Oot: Dal'Sharum signal for 'beware' or 'demon approaching'.

Par'chin: 'Brave outsider'; singular title for Arlen Bales.

Pig-eater: Krasian insult meaning khaffit. Only khaffit eat pig, as it is considered unclean.

Push'ting: Literally 'false woman', Krasian insult for homosexual men who shun women altogether. Homosexuality is tolerated in Krasia only so long as the men also impregnate women and add to their tribe.

Qasha: Jardir's Sharach dama'ting wife.

Qeran: One of Jardir's Kaji dal'Sharum drillmasters during his Hannu Pash. Later crippled, he is taken in by Abban to train his kha'Sharum hundred.

Qezan: Damaji of the Jama tribe.

Savas: Jardir's Mehnding dama son.

Scorpion: A Krasian ballista, the scorpion is a giant crossbow using springs instead of a bowstring. It shoots thick spears with heavy heads (stingers) and can kill sand and wind demons outright at a thousand feet, even without wards.

Shamavah: Abban's Jiwah Ka. She speaks fluent Thesan and is assigned to oversee Abban's operations in Hollow County.

Shanjat: Kaji kai'Sharum who trained with Jardir. Leader of the Spears of the Deliverer and wed to Jardir's middle sister, Hoshvah. Father of Shanvah.

Shanvah: Sharum'ting niece of Jardir. Daughter of Shanjat and Hoshvah.

Sharach: The smallest tribe in Krasia, with fewer than two dozen warriors at one point. They were rescued from extinction by Jardir.

Sharaj: Barrack for young boys in Hannu Pash, much like a military boarding school. The sharaj are located around the training grounds, and there is one for each tribe. The name of the tribe is a prefix, followed by an apostrophe, so the sharaj for the Kaji tribe is known as the Kaji'sharaj. Plural is sharaji.

Sharak Ka: Literally 'the First War', the great war against demonkind the Deliverer will begin upon completion of Sharak Sun.

Sharak Sun: Literally 'the Daylight War', during which Kaji conquered the known world, uniting it in Sharak Ka. It is believed that Jardir must do the same if he is to win Sharak Ka.

Shar'Dama Ka: Literally 'First Warrior Cleric', this is the Krasian term for the Deliverer, who will come to free mankind from the alagai.

Sharik Hora: Literally 'heroes' bones', the name for the great temple in Krasia made out of the bones of fallen warriors. Having their bones lacquered and added to the temple is the highest honour that warriors can attain.

Sharukin: Literally 'warrior poses', practised series of movements for sharusahk.

Sharum: Warrior. The Sharum dress in robes often inlaid with fired clay plates as armour.

Sharum Ka: Literally 'First Warrior', a title in Krasia for the secular leader of alagai'sharak. The Sharum Ka is appointed by the Andrah, and the kai'Sharum of all tribes answer to him and him only from dusk until dawn. The Sharum Ka has his own palace and sits on the Spear Throne. He wears dal'Sharum blacks, but his turban and night veil are white.

Sharum'ting: Female warrior. Wonda Cutter is the first recognized by Evejans.

Sharusahk: The Krasian art of unarmed combat. There are various schools of sharusahk depending on caste and tribe, but all consist of brutal, efficient moves designed to stun, cripple, and kill.

Shevali: Friend of Jardir and Ashan during Jardir's training in Sharik Hora, Dama Shevali is advisor to Damaji Ashan.

Shusten: Dal'Sharum son of Abban. Raised to hate his khaffit father.

Sikvah: Hasik's daughter by Jardir's sister Hanya, and Amanvah's personal servant. Offered to Rojer as a second bride.

Soli: Dal'Sharum brother of Inevera. Push'ting. Lover of Cashiv.

Spears of the Deliverer: The elite personal bodyguard to Ahmann Jardir, made up mostly of the Sharum from his old Maze unit.

Spear Throne: The throne of the Sharum Ka, made from the spears of previous Sharum Kas.

Stinger: The ammunition for the scorpion ballistae. Stingers are giant spears with heavy iron heads that can punch through sand demon armour on a parabolic shot.

Sunian: Artefacts from the city of Anoch Sun. Also the name of its people.

Thalaja: Jardir's second Kaji wife.

'Ting: Suffix meaning 'woman'.

Tribes: Anjha, Bajin, Jama, Kaji, Khanjin, Majah, Sharach, Krevakh, Nanji, Shunjin, Mehnding, Halvas. The prefix am' is used to denote both family and tribe, as in Ahmann asu Hoshkamin am'Jardir am'Kaji.

Umshala: One of Jardir's dama'ting wives.

Undercity: Huge honeycomb of warded caverns beneath Fort Krasia where women, children, and khaffit are locked at night to keep them safe from corelings while the men fight.

Vah: Literally 'daughter' or 'daughter of'. Used as a suffix when a girl is named after her mother or father, as in Amanvah, or as a prefix in a full name, as in Amanvah vah Ahmann am'Jardir am'Kaji.

Waning: (1) Three-day monthly religious observance for Evejans occurring on the days before, of, and after the new moon. Attendance at Sharik Hora is mandatory, and families spend the days together, even pulling sons out of sharaj. Demons are supposedly stronger these nights, when it is said Alagai Ka walks the surface. (2) The three nights each month when it is dark enough for mind demons to rise to the surface.

Watchers: Watchers are the dal'Sharum of the Krevakh and Nanji tribes. Trained in special weapons and tactics, they serve as scouts, spies, and assassins. Each Watcher carries an iron-shod ladder about twelve feet long and a short stabbing spear. The ladders are light, flexible, and strong. They have interconnecting ends (male/top, female/bottom), and so many ladders can be joined together. Watchers are so proficient they can run straight up a ladder without bracing it and balance at the top.

Zahven: Ancient Krasian word meaning 'rival', 'nemesis', or 'peer'.

Acknowledgements.

Increasingly paranoid as I get older, I played this book closer to the cuff than any in the past. I let only a handful of people peek at the work in progress, and am eternally grateful for their thoughts and input. Thanks most of all to my agent, Joshua, as well as Myke, Lauren, and Dani, my editors, Tricia and Emma, my assistants, Meg and Rebecca, copyeditor Laura, and the international publishers and translators who have worked so tirelessly to bring my stories to other parts of the world. Special thanks to all my readers, especially those who have taken the time to get in touch. Your letters, comments, tweets, posts, online reviews, fan contest entries, and the like have been a needed bedrock of support and circle of succour as I ascend Demon Cycle Mountain. Thanks for climbing with me.

About the Author.

Raised on a steady diet of fantasy novels, comic books, and Dungeons & Dragons, Peter V. Brett has been writing fantasy stories for as long as he can remember. He received a bachelor of arts degree in English literature and art history from the University at Buffalo in 1995, then worked for a decade in pharmaceutical publishing before returning to his bliss. He lives in Brooklyn.

Visit Peter online at www.petervbrett.com or follow him on Twitter @PVBrett.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

The Painted Man.

The Desert Spear.

SHORT STORIES..

The Great Bazaar and Brayan's Gold.

end.