Adrian Tchaikovsky - Heirs of the Blade

And far away, in a direction that had nothing to do with the compass, she felt him answer.

‘Come to me,’ she whispered into the blood-spattered helm. ‘Come now to me, great killer. I, Seda, call to you. I have your blade, your Weaponsmaster’s blade that is more a part of you than it is the smith’s art. I have your heritage embodied in this shell of steel and chitin. I have the blood of royalty for you to drink. Come to me, speak to me. Serve me.’

The armour moved and, despite herself, she took a quick step back. At first it was a subtle shifting of the plates that could have simply been the old metal settling on the stand, but then, and without any definite, identifiable motion, something about it had changed irrevocably, and it was no longer a lifeless object but a man standing, faceless behind the helm.

She was very aware of the blade, the same blade that had shed the blood of so many of her father’s soldiers, that had broken the Shadow Box and killed Uctebri, and condemned her to be what she was now.

‘Look upon me,’ she instructed it. ‘See what I am. I am the heir to the old ways. I am the successor to the Masters of Khanaphes. I am old magic’s envoy in the world.’

Its reply chilled her when it came, in a voice like the rustling of old leaves, the creaking of branches.

One of them. You are the second I have met, to bear that mark.

Something hard crystallized in Seda, a seed of anger and jealousy. ‘Do not fear that. It will not be for long. So, the Beetle girl has sought you also? Well, no matter. She is not so free with the blood of others as I am. She lacks the qualities to command one such as you. Serve me, Mantis-kinden. Tisamon of Felyal, I name you, Weaponsmaster, gladiator, slave and killer. Serve me, be mine.’

And why? came that cold voice once again.

‘Because where else would you find a fit mistress for one such as you, save in me?’ she replied. ‘Because I shall let you fight, and I shall give you blood. Because you shall be the champion of an Empress, her executioner and her blade. But, more than this, you shall serve me for the same reason your living kin here also serve me.’

And what is that?

‘Because I shall bring them all back, those days that you yearn for, the elder days of magic. I am the immortal magician-queen of the Empire, and I shall remake the world in my image, the Apt and the Inapt both. Where your kind’s old masters, the Moth-kinden, have tried for five centuries to turn back the clock with spells and potions, I shall usher in a new age with armies and conquest. The Days of Lore will return, the days of darkness and fear, and I shall rule over them, and you shall be my right hand. Serve me.’

She watched and waited, and saw his blade quiver and flex. Eyes glittered suddenly in the empty night of the helm.

Tisamon nodded.

Aarth – Wasp merchant in the Principalities

Achaeos – Moth-kinden, Che’s lover, killed in a ritual

Alvdan II – former Emperor of the Wasps, Seda’s brother, killed by Uctebri’s magic

Alvric – first Emperor of the Wasps, Seda’s grandfather

Amnon – Beetle-kinden, former First Soldier of Khanaphes

Angved – Wasp engineer

Ang We (‘Angry’) – Grasshopper bandit chief

Avaris – Spider fraudster and bandit

Barad Ygor – Scorpion bandit

Brugan – Wasp general of the Rekef

Cheerwell Maker (‘Che’) – Beetle-kinden, Stenwold’s niece, now Inapt

Chevre Velienn – Dragonfly noblewoman

Dal Arche – Dragonfly bandit chief

Dariandrephos (‘Drephos’, ‘the Colonel-Auxillian’) – halfbreed Master Artificer, leader of the Iron Glove

Emon – Bee artificer with the Iron Glove

Ethmet – Beetle First Minister of Khanaphes

Feass – Grasshopper bandit

Felipe Shah – Dragonfly Prince-Major of the Principality of Roh

Felise Mienn – Dragonfly duellist, killed with Tisamon in Capitas

Gaved – Wasp mercenary, Sef’s lover

Gjegevey – Woodlouse-kinden, Imperial adviser and slave

Gramo Galltree – Beetle-kinden, self-styled Collegiate ambassador to the Commonweal

Gryllis – Spider-kinden, business partner of Hokiak

Halter – Wasp slaver in the Principalities

Hardy Fordwright – Beetle scholar and alchemist

Hokiak – Scorpion black-marketeer in Myna

Isendter ‘Whitehand’ – Mantis Weaponsmaster

Jons Allanbridge – Beetle aviator

Karrec – Wasp Consortium officer

Kymene – Soldier Beetle-kinden, Mynan stateswoman and former resistance leader

Lien – Wasp colonel of Engineers

Lioste Coren – Dragonfly-kinden, seneschal to Felipe Shah

Lisan Dea – Grasshopper-kinden, seneschal to Salme Elass

Lowre Cean – Dragonfly-kinden, Prince-Major and strategist

Lowre Darien – Lowre Cean’s son, died after the Twelve-year War

Ma Leyd – Mole Cricket, proprietor of the Hitch

Maure – halfbreed necromancer

Maxin – Wasp general of the Rekef, died alongside Alvdan II

Mordrec – Wasp bandit

Pirett – Dragonfly bandit chief

Praeda Rakespear – Beetle-kinden scholar

Salme Alain – Dragonfly Prince-Minor, son of Salme Elass

Salme Dien (‘Salma’) – Dragonfly Prince-Minor, died fighting the Wasps in the Lowlands

Salme Elass – Dragonfly-kinden, Princess-Minor of Elas Mar province

Scutts – Barad Ygor’s pet scorpion

Seda – Empress of the Wasps

Sef – Water Spider-kinden exile

Siriell – Dragonfly bandit chief

Skelling – Skater bargeman

Soul Je – Grasshopper bandit

Stenwold Maker – Beetle spymaster and statesman

Telse Orian – Dragonfly noble

Thalric – Wasp-kinden, former Rekef spymaster, Che’s lover

Tse Mae (‘Sammi’) – Grasshopper alchemist

Thanred – Wasp colonel and governor of Capitas

Tisamon – Mantis Weaponsmaster, died in Capitas

Torste Sain – Dragonfly general from the Principalities

Totho – halfbreed artificer, second in command of the Iron Glove

Tynisa – halfbreed Weaponsmaster, Tisamon’s daughter

Uctebri – Mosquito magician, killed by Tisamon in Capitas

Uie Se – Grasshopper seer in Myna

Varmen – Wasp former Sentinel, now mercenary

Varsec – Wasp aviator and engineer

Aleth – large forest south of the Exalsee

Barrier Ridge – cliff boundary between the Lowlands and the Commonweal

Capitas – capital of the Wasp Empire

Collegium – Beetle-kinden city in the Lowlands, home of the Great College

Commonweal – the Dragonfly state north of the Lowlands, partly conquered by the Empire

Darakyon – formerly haunted forest in the north-east Lowlands

Elas Mar – province governed by Salme Elass

Exalsee – inland sea south of the Empire

Felyal – Mantis forest on the Lowlands coast

Helleron – Beetle-kinden city in the Lowlands noted for its industry

The Hitch – fugitive community at the foot of the Barrier Ridge

Jerez – Skater-kinden lake town in the Empire

Khanaphes – ancient Beetle-kinden city

Landstower – city in the Principalities (formerly Lans Stowe)

Leose – centre of Elas Mar province and castle of the Salme family

Lowlands – the city states south of the Commonweal and west of the Empire

Maynes – Ant-kinden city of the Three-city Alliance

Myna – Soldier Beetle city of the Three-city Alliance

The Nem – desert west of Khanaphes

Porta Rabi – Solarnese port

Princep Salma – New Lowlands city named after Salme Dien

The Principalities – that part of the Commonweal conquered by the Empire

Ren – Province governed by Felipe Shah