The Silver Mage - Katharine Kerr [228]
With a wrench of will he surrendered to the pull of the flesh. He sank down into the dark prison and slept.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I UNDERSTAND THAT SOME FEW things will vex readers if I leave them untold. Once Avain had flown free to her true home, Laz moved into her old tower, his refuge for the rest of his days as he unwound the evil wyrd his life as Alastyr had given him. Kov and Mara married and had the children the island demanded of them. And, speaking of offspring, during his meditations in the tower at Dragon Meadow, Salamander did remember that Hwilli had once been his mother and Rhodorix his father, all those long years before.
As for Angmar and Rhodry, they lived peaceably on their island for some years more, then died within a few days of each other. Kov and Marnmara laid them in each other’s arms on the same funeral pyre, so that their spirits could rise free of the dead flesh together. No doubt they were reborn at some time and place, but I for one know naught of what happened next, so you’d best not be asking me.
For so my saga ends. Of the souls who have formed its core, there is little more to be said, though many a fine tale about other souls lies in the archives here on this priestly island. Whether or not I will someday write about them, only Time knows, and as usual, Time isn’t telling. So, farewell, dear Reader, and may you stay forever young in your heart!
Cadda Cerrmor
Wmmglaedd
in the 1,794th year after the founding of the Holy City
Received and translated from the Deverrian by Katharine Kerr
GLOSSARY
Alar (Elvish) A group of elves, who may or may not be bloodkin, who choose to travel together for some indefinite period of time.
Alardan (Elv.) The meeting of several alarli, usually the occasion for a drunken party.
Astral The plane of existence directly “above” or “within” the etheric (q.v.). In other systems of magic, often referred to as the Akashic Record or the Treasure House of Images.
Avro (Dwarvish) A warleader, roughly equivalent to cadvridoc and banadar, but possessing more absolute command than either.
Banadar (Elv.) A warleader, equivalent to the Deverrian cadvridoc.
Blue Light Another name for the etheric plane (q.v.).
Body of Light An artificial thought-form constructed by a dweomermaster to allow him or her to travel through the inner planes.
Cadvridoc (Deverrian) A war leader. Not a general in the modern sense, the cadvridoc is supposed to take the advice and counsel of the noble-born lords under him, but his is the right of final decision.
Captain (Dev. pendaely.) The second in command, after the lord himself, of a noble’s warband. An interesting point is that the word taely (the root or unmutated form of -daely,) can mean either a warband or a family depending on context.
Deosil The direction in which the sun moves through the sky, clockwise. Most dweomer operations that involve a circular movement move deosil. The opposite, widdershins, is considered a sign of the dark dweomer and of the debased varieties of witchcraft.
Dweomer (trans. of Dev. dwunddaevad.) In its strict sense, a system of magic aimed at personal enlightenment through harmony with the natural universe in all its planes and manifestations; in the popular sense, magic, sorcery. Pronounced dway-OH-mer.
Egregore A body of knowledge that has been bound by astral forces and “stored” on some higher plane. An egregore may be read by a person who knows the symbols necessary to “unlock” it.
Ensorcel To produce an effect similar to hypnosis by direct manipulation of a person’s aura. (True hypnosis manipulates the victim’s consciousness only and thus is more easily resisted.)
Etheric The plane of existence directly “above” the physical. With its magnetic substance and currents, it