White
"White Jihad" The White Jihad was a holy war waged against the Nansur Empire by Fan’oukarji I and the Kianene from 3743 to 3771. The war was highly successful for the Kianene, resulting in the conquest of all of Mongilea and some of Eumarna .

White Jihad
The White Jihad was a holy war waged against the Nansur Empire by Fan’oukarji I and the Kianene from 3743 to 3771. The war was highly successful for the Kianene, resulting in the conquest of all of Mongilea and some of Eumarna .

White-Luck
"White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 15"

Plot

Achamian dreamed again, he was Anasûrimbor Nau-Cayûti and he was inside a stone sarcophagus panicking he began to gasp and beat his prison for lack of air then the sarcophagus tilted and fell down a slope and suddenly Nau-Cayûti found himself in the middle of a commotion of rock fragments, his sarcophagus had exploded into pieces and one of them remained on him, cutting off his breathing, calming himself he began to look around him contemplating the darkness of the night and the moon, he saw around him bodies and torches scattered on the ground, even his sword was there. Then he fixed his gaze on his assailant who loomed over him in all his monstrosity, it was the Inchoroi Aurang . This creature lifted Nau-Cayûti and raising him up to his eyes smiled and told him that no one escaped Golgotterath … Achamian and the rest of the company of Scalpers were awakened by the shouts of the Captain Kosoter , jokes and shouts of the Captain who told his men that finally that day ended their Slog , the Coffers awaited them. Kosoter and Cleric took Achamian away from the others and threatening him with the Chorae untied him and reminded him of certain lies that he himself did not remember about the Coffers, the Captain resolved to send Achamian accompanied by Cleric, if something went wrong or there was treason the Nonman would kill the Wizard. And furthermore Lord Kosoter threatened to kill Mimara and the baby inside her if the Wizard tried anything. Walking among the barrows of ruins protruding from the earth the Wizard found an unexpected serenity in walking with the Nonman, surprised also that the figure walking beside him had survived countless generations long enough to crack under the weight of memories and time. Straining to speak Achamian finally asked the Nonman the reason behind his names Incariol and Cleric, the Nonman replied that the former was because he wandered and the latter because of the tradition among the Siqû of taking a human name. Achamian told him that his real name was Nil’giccas the last King of the Mansions, but the Nonman told him that Nil'giccas was dead, something flatly denied by the Wizard since Nil'giccas was by his side. Realizing the majesty that enveloped the Nonman Achamian knelt in the same manner as Seswatha had done in the past in that same city to pay homage to Nil'giccas, the King of Ishterebinth . Mimara watched as Achamian and Cleric walked away and disappeared into the ruins, as she waited she began to fear and pray for the wizard. The kneeling of Achamian is dismissed by Cleric who did not give it much importance, but Achamian did not desist and offered to be the new Elju of the Nonman wielding the memories of Seswatha as a guarantee against betrayal but the Nonman told him that to do such a thing would only bring him the absolute oblivion of his memories, Only then Achamian remembered that he could not offer himself as the tool of the Nonman since he and Mimara were the ultimate objects of the deal of Cleric with Lord Kosoter who offered the Nonman the memories of a long lost friend and a long lost love. It was thanks to them that the Nonman would remember a little more. Then the old Wizard finally gave up on convincing him and gave in to thoughts and plans to avoid dying at the hands of Cleric. The Nonman surprised him by suddenly telling him that he regretted due to what he had become because of fate, the Wizard asked him about Ishterebinth to which the Nonman replied that due to lack of memories, his Nonmen brothers had turned to Min-Uroikas, to the tyranny of Golgotterath. Cleric did not join his brothers out of sheer pride, instead he set out into the world to find someone to love and destroy. Mimara could feel the atmosphere around the Scalpers change, something hidden among the men had changed, a motive. Then Galian began to rebuke with questions to Captain Kosoter, like how many riches would correspond to them or what would they do with the Nonman and the Qirri, all of them with a tone of foolishness and audacity to the Captain who with a somber and silent deliberation reflected in his eyes seen by Mimara decides to kill Galian, but Galian has also seen it and knows it, he recognizes that his Captain has decided to kill him. And Galian imitates the tone of voice of his Captain arousing the laughter of the other Scalpers, only then Mimara recognizes with horror what changed in the men, recognized the savage form of the conspiracy and the conspirators. Galian reveals to the Captain that all the men supported the treason, he had always thought of killing the Captain every time he saw him, telling him all this as he approached Lord Kosoter with obscene contempt. Then an arrow hit the Captain in the mouth skewering the lower half of his face, the arrow was shot by Xonghis , the Captain only manages to laugh with sardonic glee through blood and teeth, A second arrow is stuck in his neck making him turn on his waist to finally collapse on the humus of the ground, there he convulses with bestial violence as if his spirit was trying to escape from his body, scratching the ground, spitting saliva, blood and with his eyes glistening with effort and fury. Galian himself who was watching the scene was frightened and drew his sword, the Captain launched a last roar to the sky and calming down he let his head fall to the ground and remained motionless, the silence took over the place. And Mimara watched breathlessly in amazement, realizing that the Captain, Lord Kosoter, was mortal after all. The King Nonman and the old wizard finally entered the ruins of the Library in an experience that the Wizard found surreal, he was walking through two worlds, one real and in ruins and the other the one of his dreams. Achamian told Cleric that he had seen the citadel fall and the Nonman replied that all of Ishterebinth mourned when they learned of the fall of Sauglish , and with melancholy the Wizard asked him why he mourned the death of men if it was men who destroyed the Nonmen Mansions, Cleric told him that the Nonmen always knew that they would not survive Men, only then did the Wizard remember that it was like that "Because our dooms are one." Finally they reached the ruins of a Turret where Cleric recognized some ancient and weak sorcery, the Wizard reminded him that the Coffers were under the ruins along with the guardians that protected them and these were not weak nor did they age, lies he continued to tell. The Wizard did not dare to attack Cleric not until he knew he would not need to, and they began to look for a way down, as they continued the Wizard was haunted by vivid memories of the No-God that assaulted him as he ascended the ruins, Cleric was already waiting for him at the top and from there he told the Wizard that something was wrong, when Achamian finally reached his side he was surprised to see that the inside, the center of the Turret was a huge funnel, a pit with an immense blackness at the bottom. They both recognized a certain smell emanating from there, sulfur. The Scalpers still surprised by what happened, discuss among themselves if the Captain was really dead, Sarl pokes and moves the face of Lord Kosoter with a branch, he turns to Mimara and tells her that he is not dead, Pokwas tells Galian that the Captain is too much, even for hell. They both descended the shaft down a steeply inclined slope, to the Wizard it reminded him of a rabbit hole but imbued with a sulfurous mystery, slowly they made their way down the pit through the rubble and packed earth revealing split passageways, open chambers and cut off chambers facing the shaft, Cleric pointed out to the Wizard one side of the tunnel, Achamian had already seen it, the three scythe-like gashes in the rock on one side of the tunnel. Achamian recognized it as the symbol of Triamis the Great , the spoor of Dragons. Numb and expectant Mimara clutched her knees even tighter, Sarl had decapitated Lord Kosoter and was clinging to his head like a doll, Galian now led the Scalpers and told them all that they would wait for Cleric to return and then they would kill him and seize the pouch of the Qirri, Xonghis seizes the two Chorae from the body of the Captain and Galian with a sour look and a lecherous smile that Mimara already knows very well, tells the others that while they wait they will feast on peach. Upon finally arriving at the Great Gate of Wheels, having seen the Upper Pausal in complete ruins before and now seeing the knotted remains of the Coffers Achamian stood still, he was dismayed he thought of his lies that had caused suffering and deaths alike were for naught, a part of him came to think that he would survive all the vicissitudes of the road and find the Coffers intact, he knew that his destiny was always to be trapped in the machinations of his enemy all wrapped up in his absurd hopes, he had only found on his way some madmen and a dragon of yesteryear. Without a word the Wizard and the Nonman entered the Coffers and immediately their eyes burned from the stench of sulfur and rot, they could hear the heavy breathing of the creature in the darkness, a part of Achamian refused to see the horror that awaited them and as they reached a hillside of rubble and climbed to its top the Nonman summoned a Surillic Point and the blackness escaped illuminating a huge chamber whose ceiling had collapsed down the center, treasure and debris were piled in the center of the chamber and of it all the only thing that seemed to gleam was the dragon, in a tan and pale color of dirt. Achamian realized that the beast was excessively ancient and of considerable size, turning to Cleric the Wizard discovered him thoughtful and enraptured, suddenly the Nonman muttered that they were in the place where he was destined to die, Achamian replied that apparently he would also die there, which raised an unexpected laughter from the Nonman who remembered the wisdom of Seswatha in Achamian, both were interrupted by words that resounded in their heads with force and immensity, It was the dragon that had begun to move over the rubble, he raised his armored chest and directing his saurian head in their direction he spoke under the gloom again telling them that the dragons had flown looking for inhabited cities but they had only found ruins and filthy Sranc, asking Cleric if the world had ended he answered that the world still lived in the far south. The dragon moved again exposing his huge throat sure of his invulnerability exhaling wisps of fire lowered his head and exposing his eyes to the light agreed with what Cleric had said, unfortunately the world still lived. Achamian wanted to retreat but could not, such was the rapture of his terror, he heard Cleric mutter that the beast was dead and blind, straining to get a closer look at the beast, Achamian did not believe what the Nonman had said as he could see and hear the beast breathing, The Wizard saw stumps and scar tissue on the right eyebrow of the beast and the eye under that eyebrow was rotting, where its left eye should be there was only an empty socket, observing the body of the dragon he saw how the bronze skin was detached from the flesh underneath as if it were a warped coping, the gums of the immense snout were dry and shrunken. The dragon responded to their scrutiny by telling them that his curse was to breathe as long as the world lived and warned them to get out of there and return to their homes and tell the others that they had survived. Achamian understood that the dragon was mad, half dead and that there was no going back from that place. The Wizard shouted that he needed a map, a trinket that the dragon did not need, but the dragon replied that he would not part with any tiny fraction of his treasure, that he should come back for it when the world had truly ended. Achamian refused to leave empty-handed marveling at his courage and provocation, something that provoked laughter from the dragon who told him that greed and need always confuse the souls of men but the Wizard replied that he was driven only by need and in the blink of an eye he thought of the weeks of travel, the lies told, of the dead men and the dangers he had exposed Mimara to, all for that moment, then he shouted to the dragon that he was offering him a bargain, he offered him a Truth as all he possessed, the dragon rose further from his mound and told the Wizard that he smelled his suffering, forgotten deeds and fears and concluded that perhaps he did indeed have something to offer him. The dragon descended from the top dragging debris and jewels in his wake and told the Wizard to show him a Truth and only then could he have a fraction of his treasure, the map he sought. Backing away and stumbling before the advancing beast the Magician resisted lying to him, realizing that the beast was both spirit and flesh, perhaps the dead could see or hear the lies of the living. So he began to describe his dreams, but quickly became entangled in explanations that piled on more explanations, causing the eyeless creature yawned and asked him again about the map he was looking for and its Truth, Achamian fed up answered that what he was looking for as an ultimate goal was revenge against Anasûrimbor Kellhus, the dragon asked him about the crime that this guy committed to be now the object of revenge, Achamian answered that he has said more than enough and the dragon laughed mockingly that the truths are infinite while he took a step closer to the Wizard. Then Cleric surprised Achamian by putting a hand on his shoulder, he tells him that the dragon is just playing with him, the beast was too evil and had been living there too long, an abomination he called Wutteät . And the dragon began to laugh praising the cunning of the Nonman, Cleric then tells Achamian that "He dies from the outside, because Hell sustains him from within." and he remembered it from his past, he had seen something similar before. Achamian, not knowing what to do, looked for the gaze of the Nonman and saw his eyes shining with a kind of black humor and without saying a word he saw him advance towards the creature. And turning his gaze in passing over his shoulder Nil'giccas told Achamian to run to save them, his wife and child. Mimara found herself remembering the brothel in Carythusal where she worked as a prostitute, she remembered her bed and the walls of her room, how the clients chose her over and over again, she remembered the numbness that came over her as she worked with someone, a feeling that reminded her of the effects of the Qirri, the wide smile of the Scalper Galian reminded her of it all and she thought how easy it would be to die then. But the Wizard did not leave, he found himself following the Nonman muttering Wards as he passed, the dragon simply watched them approach, Achamian listened as Cleric called him again and again by his name, Wutteät. A name Achamian recognized from the ancient wars, Wutteät the Father of Dragons. They watched as the dragon retracted its head and body and vomited golden fire, the outer Wards of Achamian simply disappeared instantly and the innermost ones cracked, the point of the light of Cleric was extinguished. And shouting more Wards and climbing up a sloping lintel climbing up to the overture in the roof lintels Achamian listened as below Cleric shouted at the dragon having killed five of his kind before, that he was Cleric, tthe King Nil'giccas and that he would force him to listen to his sermon. But the Wizard did not leave, he found himself following the Nonman muttering Wards as he passed, the dragon simply watched them approach, Achamian listened as Cleric called him again and again by his name, Wutteät. A name Achamian recognized from the ancient wars, Wutteät the Father of Dragons. They watched as the dragon retracted its head and body and vomited golden fire, the outer Wards of Achamian simply disappeared instantly and the innermost ones cracked, the point of the light of Cleric was extinguished. And shouting more Wards and climbing up a sloping lintel climbing up to the overture in the roof lintels Achamian listened as below Cleric shouted at the dragon having killed five of his kind before, telling the beast that he was Nil'giccas, Cleric and that he would force him to listen to his sermon. The dragon only taunted the Qûya, hiding between the lintels of the ceiling the wizard watched the Nonman run in circles between the pillars as the fire of the dragon illuminated the ruined spaces of the chamber, listened as each mocked the other with pompous statements, watched as the dragon spun in the center of the chamber to the sound of the voice of Cleric who used the blindness of the dragon to his own advantage. The Wizard then knew that Cleric was distracting the dragon with provocations and taunts all so that Achamian could do something, but the wizard did not know what to do. The beast was spinning in circles trying to anticipate the Nonman spitting golden fire, Cleric simply laughed at his attempts telling him it had always been like that, spinning in circles forgetting the desolate ages, the dragon replied that desolation and murder were his birthright, unlike the Nonmen he remembered, how he writhed as they traveled through the void, how he had descended with his creators in world after world and reduced the inhabitants of each world to one hundred and forty-four thousand, he was the first along with King Sil to have left the Incû-Holoinas in that world which was the promised land. But Cleric replied that he had come to that land broken and exhausted and because of his failure he was now hiding blind and curled up in the shit of forgotten times. The dragon roared at him that the reason for that was because the world he was in refused to die. High above Achamian finally made up his mind and began the War-Cant of Noviratic Spike, the dragon shook his head from side to side in panic as the light of the Cant gathered crimson in the palms of the Wizard, the dragon finally saw Achamian the moment the Cant was completed and released, it ended up hitting the left shoulder of the creature staggering over its mound, despite being crushed the dragon continued to hurl its fire towards the ceiling of the chamber causing large parts to collapse and warp even more. Achamian still in his position continued raising Wards around him and throwing Noviratic Spikes at the dragon, through the shrieks of the dragon Achamian heard the Qûya world destroying chant of the Nonman. To the surprise of the Wizard the dragon did not shrink to protect itself but leapt towards the remaining lintels in the hole in the ceiling facing Achamian, spread its wings and opening its maw spat fire at the Wizard, despite its blindness it knew exactly where it was. The Wards of the Wizard dissolved and the false floor beneath his feet gave way and the Wizard fell somersaulting into the center of the Chamber over the treasures and debris of the beast. The Wizard was too stunned by the fall that for a few moments unable to lift Wards around him he was exposed, with his hair and beard on fire the Wizard felt an arm lift him up and watched Cleric looking at him with concern and relief, as the noise of the conflagration was heard and the crashing of the collapse he saw the world shrink and collapse upon them. The Wards of the Nonman shielded them from the deadly rain and so they stood in complete darkness replete with dust and ringing ears, the Nonman King told Achamian that they had been buried. Mimara undresses in front of the Scalpers, leaving only the wire Cirumfix she had found on her skin, the only protection she had left, even though she knew it to be false. The five remaining Scalpers seem countless to her, watching her motionless with licentious hunger. Mimara thought the Qirri had dulled her feelings, that she would overcome what was about to happen but she knew better and shuddering with a shame she had never felt before she knew she had always been a slave, no matter all the lies and roles she had assumed for herself. She was completely naked, she was nothing. Crouching low the Wizard and the Nonman listened as the rubble settled over them and using ethereal geometries both began to push aside masses of rock and masonry, wielding Cants adapted to the movement of the earth. They advanced through the thundering rubble dredging their way out, they managed to clear a gap through which they observed the devastation of the Coffers, the chamber was still dripping with debris above them. Stopping at the higher rocks Cleric told Achamian that the dragon was waiting to ambush them when they came out, they both decided that one of them should shield while the other dealt with the fire. Turning toward the high void Achamian watched as the dragon emerged from the coils of smoke with claws and wings outstretched and maw open. Achamian raised his arms and braced himself to meet the conflagration. Mimara asks Galian what he sees, he replies that he sees her, the Coffers and the feast he plans to take with everything, Mimara also asks him about his soul and Galian replies that his soul will not be worse for what he was about to do to her, approaching her with long strides. Mimara smiles and through silent tears touches the curve of his belly and for the first time thinks of the being inside her as something tangible. Galian takes her by the throat and with a certain tenderness in his voice admires her beauty but that it is a pity that the worm inside her, the grub will not survive. Amidst the nervous laughter of Pokwas and Xonghis Mimara pleads with Galian even to Mother Yatwer and directing her gaze into the eyes of the Scalper the Judging Eye opens again and Mimara observes the sins and transgressions of the man and finds herself fearing for him, for the damnation that awaits him. Realizing her strange scrutiny Galian opens his eyes even wider with fury and panic reflected in them, but Mimara stops his intentions by telling him that it is not too late, that he can still be saved, for he has no idea what awaits him. The Columnist only mocks the hell she predicts accusing her of being a witch, hiding his horror with a smile, holding her tightly by the neck he throws her against the floor, and between the screams of the girl he separates her legs and gropes the belt of his pants, feeling the discomfort in his naked body against the roughness of the floor, listening to the agitated breathing of the man who begins to hover over her Mimara resolves to shout in his ear that she forgives him "Frees him of this final sin." Both resisted the incipient onslaught back to back, they fought against the blinding fire that fell on and around them, the dragon itself pounced on them tearing again and again the Wards that the Nonman and the Wizard raised around them. As the beast charged them furiously with claws and teeth it spat fire that coagulated the rocks and amidst that din the Wizard shouted to the Nonman that the beast was only guided by his hearing, the Nonman King began to howl in his ancient tongue and his sorcerous attack opened a breach through the molten inferno to his right, the Wizard watched as Wutteät flailed backwards with sorcerous fire pouring from his eye socket. And then at a shout from Achamian they both attacked the head of the dragon with incandescent sorceries and drove the beast back again into another part of the chamber, where the beleaguered dragon again flailed like a moth, thrashing and clawing at the ceiling trying to bury them back into the rock, spitting its fire left and right. The Wizard ascended one of the leaning pillars and the Nonman began to sail in circles around the beast, so both from their positions burned and struck the dragon with their Cants until they saw its iron bones and its head ended up looking like a charred stump possessing only jaws, the beast collapsed and Achamian rushed in jubilation but soon fled with alacrity as he saw the dragon launch a deadly claw in his direction, emitting pitiful growls the dragon rushed towards the Nonman and went through the remains of the sorcery towards the gaps between the rubble of the exit, They both gave chase but the dragon was fast and they could already hear its wings flapping away, as they reached the top coughing and out of breath, Achamian found himself back on top of the central ring of the Turret and squinting in the glow of the sunset he saw Wutteät lurching, crashing into the trees and walls of the ruined Library, finally amidst wild shrill shrieks and spitting blasts of fire the beast caught the wind with its shredded wings and in the light of the dusk flashing on its scales Wutteät spiraled up into the sky and disappeared into the distance among the clouds. Achamian and Cleric watched in amazement as the beast fled, Achamian shouted his triumph, one worthy of The Sagas , but then he realized that perhaps that glory would be worth nothing to the Nonman as the Nonman would surely not remember it. Cleric told him that he would only remember the shadow cast through the pain that followed him. The Wizard nodded and told him that Seswatha loved him too. Galian was on top of her and in an instant he was no longer, Mimara rose from the ground and saw Koll on top of Galian, he had stabbed him in the back below the left shoulder blade, Xonghis and Pokwas pounced on Koll as Sarl clung even tighter to the head of his Captain and began to cackle as light flashed beyond him through the forest foliage followed by a shrill roar. Koll easily dodges the Pokwas Sword-Dancer to his complete disbelief and somersaulting and spinning Koll approaches the body of the Captain and pulls " Squirrel " from his backpack, Sarl only steps aside, Koll takes a low stance with the sword heading towards Pokwas' Tulwar and Xonghis' drawn bow, more explosions and roars shake the sky in the distance. Koll lets out a laugh that sounds like wolf cries and tries to parry the arrow shot by Xonghis with Squirrel but misses and the shaft sticks in his neck. Staggering backwards Koll recovers and screams again this time opening the fingers that were his face, Koll was a Skin-Spy . Then Mimara gets up and stumbles with the dying Galian, Pokwas is on the thing-called-Koll tracing poetry with his Tulwar nicking Squirrel , Xonghis launches more arrows reaching with one a thigh of the thing, that to the eye barely manages to resist the onslaught of Pokwas' Tulwar. Mimara, out of breath and enraged, approaches Xonghis who hears her and turns to her and shoots an arrow at her head but misses, Mimara stabs him with the sword of Galian under his armpit killing him instantly. Sarl continues with his phlegmatic howling and laughing while beyond him the forest burns in flames around the ruins. The Tulwar of Pokwas severed a leg of the thing-called-Koll that was in the midst of jumping, causing it to fall badly on the remaining leg and end up on the ground, Pokwas howls in triumph as he approaches to finish the thing off, unable to hear the naked death approaching him from behind. Smoke and sparks of fire engulfed the Wizard and the Nonman, Cleric ripped his pouch of Qirri and to the disbelief and horror of Achamian emptied the contents of the pouch which soon vanished in the wind. Achamian told him he did not have to but Cleric replied that he had to, for all he could remember was defeat, betrayal and ruin. The Wizard indignant at the absurdities of the Nonman shouted at him that he would be his book to read, but Cleric only laughed and told the Wizard that he would listen to his sermon and began to mutter sorcerous Cants that lit up his eyes and mouth, rising in the wind above the forest fire, from there he told the Wizard to desist from his attempts to address Nil'giccas for such a subject was not a truth to awaken nor a memory to retrieve for Nil'giccas did not exist, they were not only Incariol or Cleric they were legion, and they claimed to be the truth. All this while Achamian realized that the Nonman was serious, he was preparing to kill him, Achamian was weary from the contest with the dragon and knew that even fully rested he would not dare to face the Nonman. And resisting attacking the Nonman only raised glowing Wards around him, as the Nonman accumulated spell-meanings that gathered beneath him and lifted the rocks. Spiraling the Nonman ended up hanging over the frame of the ruined Turret, his words rumbled and his head was wrapped in crimson light then his abstractions shook the air and Achamian Wards, as he attacked him Cleric told the Wizard that only when the past died could everyone shed the burden of their soul. More lights enveloped the Nonman and more abstractions reverberated and hissed through the Wards of Achamian, the forests around him were consumed by the fire that embraced even the ruins, Achamian gave in to tears and told Cleric that despite everything the Nonman sought memories, seeking to be something, the Nonman replied that he was right that only that meant singing in the darkness without hindrance, that was being . Pokwas recognizes Mimara as he drops his Tulwar and blood oozes from his mouth in a strange grimace of a smile as Sergeant Sarl howls the Slog of Slogs to the sky and Pokwas simply falls to his knees watching the bodies of Galian and Xonghis, the he just collapse dead. Mimara goes around him and approaches the thing-called-Koll, a part of her finds herself crying for the thing asking it why it saved her, why it sacrificed itself for her. The Skin-Spy just begs it between gasps asking her to kill him, but then Mimara is horrified at what it was doing, taking pity on such an aberration of the flesh, and is overcome with revulsion and turns away from the Skin-Spy and walks into the smoke, she watches from there as the spasms shake the thing and suddenly Sarl rushes out of nowhere and thrusts his sword through the chest of the creature, it clings to the sword throwing blows at Sarl that gradually weaken until they cease and the fingers on the face of the Skin-Spy loosen and open, then Sarl drops the sword and with a maniacal laugh draws his knife and crawls over the creature and begins to saw off the head of the spider-face, while continuing to snarl at the reward that awaits him. Mimara watches him dumbfounded and thinking about the madness of the situation begins to run in no direction, nakedly walking away from the madness. Everything around her was in flames. Finally the Wizard faced the Nonman alone with his Wards, Cleric hurled murderous lights at him that crashed into the Wards of the Wizard who struggled to deflect them to the outside, debris from the walls flew over the Wizard who screamed between gasps one Ward after another that were soon crushed by the relentless incandescence of the Nonman until Achamian was out of breath stuttering the weakest Wards. The Nonman paused for an instant and the Wizard shouted at him that madness was not part of the Nonman but Cleric replied that all the appeals he made to him only goaded him because it made him love him more, would kill him and remember him. The Wizard refused to attack Cleric with sorcery who for an instant seemed confused by it, a moment Achamian took advantage of to stun the Nonman with an Odaini Concussion Cant hitting the Nonman as he floated over some craggy ruins, he watched him fall down and slowly slide to the ground where flames embraced his arrival. The old wizard extinguished the flames with a sorcerous shout and ran in sobs through the streams of smoke and found the Nonman King prostrate next to a semi-ruined wall, similar to if he had fallen out of bed. Large parts of his body were black, there were blisters on his cheek and scalp and blood soaked his Hauberk nimil. Nil'giccas asked the Wizard spitting blood with every word what had happened, Achamian replied that he had found glory and reached out to touch the cheek of the Nonman and saw the light of life leave Nil'giccas' eyes. The body of the Nonman twitched once as blood pooled among the remains of clothing on Cleric. Looking around Achamian realized that this was how it would end, between love and fire. Mimara continued running through the foliage of the forest, when she reached a low promontory she climbs it trying to escape from the permanent smoke that stabs her eyes and lungs. Climbing even higher she manages to spot sorcerous flashes in the same direction she had come running, she manages to see Cleric hanging in the sky above some ruined walls, then Mimara turns around and goes back the way she had come. The Wizard returned to where the Skin Eaters had been and fell to his knees at the sight of the carnage, Achamian was looking at the dead Galian, Pokwas, Xonghis and Captain Kosoter, the Wizard asks the crazed Sarl what had happened but he only gesticulates squawking the imminent looting of the Coffers while shaking with his right hand the head of the Skin-Spy, desperate the Wizard shakes Sarl asking him where was Mimara, where was his daughter, but in the eyes of Sarl he only saw the complicit look of a madman. And by sheer instinct Achamian turned to the smoke screen of the forest and saw Mimara emerge naked, she ran to him and they both embraced while Achamian smiled and blurted out pointing to the nakedness of Mimara, she only gave him a reproachful look. They both agreed that they were all dead, even Sergeant Sarl. They fled the fire with the swiftness of looters, Mimara retrieved Squirrel and the two Chorae from Xonghis neck, and Achamian what little clothing he could and together they left the scene stumbling over the smoking ground. There only Sergeant Sarl was left cradling the head of his Captain and rocking in his own madness. At night Mimara and Achamian share the remaining Qirri of Cleric left in their pouch, again they are pierced by the relief that the substance dispenses. They constructed a coffin of scorched wood and brush by piling them up to shoulder height, there at the top they placed the body of King Nil'giccas and set fire to it. Then they climbed the punished ruins of the Turret and descended into the blackness of the Coffers. There Achamian uttered a Bar of Heaven and they both proceeded to scavenge through the rubble and treasures under the Sorcerous Light. Mimara gets hold of a bronze knife covered in glowing runes and a golden coat of mail that Achamian recognizes as an ancient gift from the School of Mihtrûl . Finally Achamian manages to find the golden case of his dreams, it was broken but the Mage manages to extract the map from inside. They both leave the Coffers at dawn totally covered in dust, they still see tails of smoke rising from the woods, they approach the pyre of Nil'giccas of which all that remains is his Hauberk Nimil, under his Hauberk they find another type of whiter ash which Mimara carefully picks up with her new knife keeping the chalk in the pouch of the Nonman King. Achamian sees Sarl again, the madman watches them in the distance, he has braided the hairs of the Head of the Captain into his own beard, now the severed head bobbed in the groin of the Sergeant. They both watch him sobbing to the scorched plains, the last survivor of the Skin Eaters. Once Mimara finishes collecting the ash the Wizard gets hold of the Hauberk of the Nonman and puts it on over his ruined rags, Sarl continues to watch them in the distance as the sun continues to warm the world. Getting ready to leave once more Achamian and Mimara share the new Qirri, tasting it from the finger of the other as father and daughter, but this new ash comforts them by thrilling them with a melancholy tenor. As they continue on their way mimara turns to look at Sarl and the Captain one last time and in an inexplicable impulse decides to leave some Qirri carefully wrapped in a leaf on the remains of a marble statue. Then they hear Sranc horns in the distance and holding her belly Mimara says to the old Wizard "come, I tire of Sauglish."

The Library of Sauglish

Number: 15
Location: Ruins of the Library of Sauglish
Date: Late Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , Nil’giccas , Wutteät , Lord Kosoter and the five remaining Skin Eaters

The Library of Sauglish

Number: 15
Location: Ruins of the Library of Sauglish
Date: Late Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , Nil’giccas , Wutteät , Lord Kosoter and the five remaining Skin Eaters

White-Luck Warrior
The White-Luck Warrior is the second novel in the Aspect-Emperor trilogy and the fifth in The Second Apocalypse series. It was published in 2011.

Publisher’s Summary

The Aspect-Emperor trilogy follows on from the acclaimed Prince of Nothing saga, and The White-Luck Warrior is the chilling second book in the new series. Ruler Anasûrimbor Kellhus and his Great Ordeal march ever farther into the Ancient North , as his consort Esmenet finds herself at war. Exiled wizard Achamian , meanwhile, leads his own ragtag mission to the legendary ruins of Sauglish . Into this tumult walks the White-Luck Warrior , assassin and messiah both. In this ambitious volume, Bakker delves even further into his richly imagined universe of myth, violence, and sorcery.

Dedication

To Roger Eichorn

Acknowledgements

The Second Apocalypse has grown to such an extent that I’m beginning to feel the need to thank everybody who helped along the way. The myriad agents, editors, illustrators, and translators across the globe. The web reviewers and moderators. Most of all, I want to thank you , the reader, for placing your trust in what must have seemed a mad experiment back when it was all new. Things are starting to get big … Otherwise, I need to thank all the habitual offenders: Darren Nash at Orbit UK (I already miss you, Dude!) Adrienne Kerr and David Ross at Penguin Canada. Aaron Schlechter at Overlook. And last but not least, my agent, Chris Lotts. I also need to thank my brother, Bryan Bakker, and Todd Kuhn. My deepest debt of gratitude I owe to my wife, Sharron, and to our breathtaking little girl, Ruby.

Chapter 1

The Skin Eaters continue their journey, all are visibly damaged, of all their wounds, those of the soul were the worst. Cleric now shared the Qirri with the Scalpoi every night, offering sermons to the yearning ears of the men. Achamian regrets having led with his lies to the death of so many men. Achamian dreams again this time in the Library of Sauglish, being Seswatha going to store the map of Ishuäl in the Coffers. His dream is interrupted by the vision of a blue and gray baby rising towards the door of the Coffers, which were soon destroyed by the coming of the No-God. The Skin Eaters arrive at the Long Side, the Mop frontier opened up before them in a vast jungle. Mimara refuses to tell the magician how she managed to confront and defeat the wraith of Cil-Aujas. But she doesn't really know either, only that the God of Gods was somehow involved. After a couple of days the dwindling Scalpoi Company manages to recover from the horrors of Cil-Aujas and continues its march, this time into the green darkness.

Chapter 2

Sorweel lament his new situation, in the Pavilion corresponding to the Scions, the next morning the Great Ordeal departed from Sakarpus. The first days only the desolation of the plains accompanied the Holy War, the craving for battle is restrained by Kellhus, a day will come when men will long for the calm they were passing through. After a day of rest and consultation, rumors of discord in the Three Seas reach the Ordeal, the lack of water begins to become a growing problem. After more days the supply lines had reached their limit and were far behind the limits of civilization. Now the Holy War had to stand on its own, they would separate. Proyas meets with Kellhus in his pavilion, there Kellhus orders him to look into the Seeing-Flame and Proyas sees a group of Ordealmen discussing the lack of supplies. Kelhus reminds him that the contrite hearts of the armies are known to him, rather than supplies it was the shaky foundations of the empire and the homes of the men in it that worried the Ordealmen. The new Empire would not survive without Kellhus, the world the Ordealmen sought to protect from the return of the No-God would inevitably crumble at their backs. Kellhus forbids all long-distance sorcerous communication with the New Empire, including himself. They could no longer cling to what they left behind. At the Eleventh meeting of the Council of the Great Ordeal, Kellhus declares the Breaking of the Great Ordeal. The Four Armies are born. The Army of the Middle North (under Anasûrimbor Kayûtas), the Army of the Ketyai-of-the-East (under Nersei Proyas), the Army of the Ketyai-of-the-West (under Coithus Saubon), and the Army of the Ketyai-of-the-South (under Coithus Saubon). The Great Ordeal took a whole day to reorganize itself, the next day it began its new march, four tentacles of shining men were crossing the Istyuli singing. Thus began the most arduous and deadly stage of the Great Ordeal.

Chapter 3

Achamian tells Mimara how little he knows about the Judging Eye, that it only involves pregnant women and they only give birth to stillborns, the God of Gods sees through her. Their conversation is interrupted with a shout from Sutadra. The Scalpoi raise the alarm, sorcerous cries reveal the attacker as a member of the Stone Hags. The sorcerer is chased away by Cleric. Lord Kosoter slays Sutadra, the wounded are not welcome in the Slog. The Skin Eaters are led by Xonghis away from the site of the attack, the company identifies the sorcerer who attacked them as Pafaras, the leader of a company of Scalpers, the Stone Hags, who were engaged in the business of attacking other companies of Scalpers. Mimara cries next to Achmian, just before the murder of Sutadra she managed to see his damnation with the Judging Eye. The company arrives at The Stump. A clearing in the jungle where a gigantic oak tree lay felled, all Scalpers companies knew that place. They rest awake there. Achamian is awakened by the sobs of Hameron, the most broken Scalper after Cil-Aujas. Hameron is soon killed by Lord Kosoter, there is no sobbing in the Slog. The next morning they resumed their march, Pokwas and Galian made veiled allusions of treachery against Lord Kosoter and his crazy ways of disciplining Achamian and Mimara. Achamian again lies to them about the riches awaiting them in the Coffers. At a certain point in the day they heard distant shouts, Achamian rose above the leafy trees and glimpsed Scalpers fleeing through the undergrowth, they were being pursued by Sranc. Even the wizard Pafaras was shot down. Achmian and Cleric warn the Skin Eaters that the Sranc would also soon be upon them, Lord Kosoter proposes to march to FatWall. The company goes on an insane run, by nightfall the dispensation of Qirri relieved some of their weariness. In an aside Kosoter reveals to Achamian that he is aware that the men talk behind his back, but he does not mind them talking as long as they do not cry. The next day Somandutta approaches Mimara, he tries to ingratiate himself with her, Cleric interrupts shortly after, a man emerges from the undergrowth, the Stone Hags, they have found them in their flight, the Sranc arrive hot on their heels. To the astonishment of Mimara, Somandutta defends her with a strength that she recognizes as inhuman. Lord Kosoter interrogates the wounded Pafaras, there were four Sranc clans behind them, Lord Kosoter kills Pafaras with his Chorae. The Stone Hags join the dwindling Skin Eaters. The renewed company resumes their race throughout the night, at dawn in the distance they manage to see smoke, Aenku Maimor known as FatWall goes up in flames and smoke. Upon inspecting the fortress Xonghis reveals that it was destroyed and abandoned by the Imperials stationed there. Mimara reveals to Achamian his suspicions that Somandutta is a Skin-Spy , Achamian then tries to attack the Scalper but he flees through the ruins. At nightfall Cleric delivers another sermon to the weary Scalpoi, interrupted by shrieks from Sranc the company prepares for the assault. The night swallows Aenku Maimor. Entrenched the Scalpers await the arrival of the inhumans, Achamian and Cleric stationed at the top of the fortress saw the arrival of the inhuman flood and began dispensing their sourcerous and deadly revelations.

Point of View Characters

- Anasûrimbor Kelmomas
- Drusas Achamian
- Esmenet
- Malowebi
- Mimara
- Nersei Proyas
- Omniscient
- Psatma Nannaferi
- The-Thing-Called- Soma ( Tsuör )
- Varalt Sorweel
- White-Luck Warrior
- Yatwer

Trivia

This book was initially named 'The Shortest Path' but the original title was discarted by Bakker; "I was never quite happy with The Shortest Path , and I always liked The White-Luck Warrior , more so once the structural parallels to The Warrior-Prophet became increasingly apparent. I love blurs, the way repetitions, twisted through the lens of changing contexts, create resonances and ambiguities."

The White-Luck Warrior

Series: Aspect-Emperor #2 The Second Apocalypse #5
Author: R. Scott Bakker
Publisher: Penguin (Canada) Overlook (USA) Orbit (UK)
Released: April 14, 2011
Pages: 595 (Hardcover, Overlook) 729 (Trade paperback, Orbit)
ISBN: ISBN 978-1-59020-464-1 (Hardcover, Overlook) ISBN 978-1-84149-540-8 (Trade paperback, Orbit)

The White-Luck Warrior

Series: Aspect-Emperor #2 The Second Apocalypse #5
Author: R. Scott Bakker
Publisher: Penguin (Canada) Overlook (USA) Orbit (UK)
Released: April 14, 2011
Pages: 595 (Hardcover, Overlook) 729 (Trade paperback, Orbit)
ISBN: ISBN 978-1-59020-464-1 (Hardcover, Overlook) ISBN 978-1-84149-540-8 (Trade paperback, Orbit)

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 1

Plot

Drusas Achamian , Mimara and the rest of the Skin Eaters who survived Cil-Aujas limp along the crags of the Long Side, relieved to have escaped the Mansion and at the same time dazed and melancholic. The Slog has scarred all the survivors. With physical and mental wounds, the worst being those of the soul. They have entered the Meorn Wilderness, a vast and deep forest filled with Sranc , the Skin Eaters have not desisted in their Journey, to reach the promised Sauglish Coffers. Lord Kosoter and Cleric remain aloof. Achamian conceives dreams closer and closer to his goal, the map in the Library of Sauglish and finally Ishuäl . But also the Slog into the Mansion has taken its toll on him, he realizes more than ever that he is old. He regrets having unintentionally "killed" his fellow Scalpoi. At the same time he is constantly rebuked by Mimara, who keeps questioning him about the Judging Eye , and asking for his tutelage. But she refuses to explain to him what happened in the The Great Medial Screw with the Wight-in-the-Mountain and the Chorae . Seemingly recovered, the company of survivors goes deep into the Great Mop: "Only the worried glances exchanged between jokes and declarations betray their fright"

The Meorn Wilderness

Number: 1
Location: The “ Long Side ”
Date: Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , Cleric , Lord Kosoter and the rest of the surviving Skin Eaters

The Meorn Wilderness

Number: 1
Location: The “ Long Side ”
Date: Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , Cleric , Lord Kosoter and the rest of the surviving Skin Eaters

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 10

Plot

Sorweel wakes up confused and wounded in his tent in the company of Zsoronga , who tells him that few of the remaining Scions survived the battle, even Captain Harnilas fell. Zsoronga, surprised by the courage of Sorweel, tells him that he will always be in his shadow. Summoned to the presence of General Kayûtas , Sorweel first crouches beside his slave Porsparian and tells him that he "can hear". Astonished and horrified by scarred and blackened humps of dead Sranc , Sorweel weeps for the loss of his innocence. Arriving at the tent of General, Sorweel and Zsoronga are surprised by a welcome of congratulations and thanks from those gathered there. Sorweel is later congratulated by General Kayûtas himself for his bravery and intelligence, thanks to him they were victorious. Sorweel was appointed the new Captain of the Scions, although in practice they no longer existed. Invested with the glory and privilege of a true Believer-King , he would now serve the General himself. Sorweel petitioned the General for the company of Zsoronga which was granted, but the Great Ordeal was running low on supplies and Sorweel must kill his slave by order of his General, thus also fulfilling the Edict of the Aspect-Emperor, Sorweel agrees: "Anything to see the Aspect-Emperor dead and his father avenged". Back in his tent Sorweel asked Porsparian to follow him, but the slave soon overtook his hand and then it was Sorweel who followed him. Sorweel thought about letting the slave escape but realised that the slave had not eaten for days and that perhaps killing him would be more merciful. On the outskirts of the camp they moved deeper and deeper into the Sranc carrion, Sorweel asked the slave where they were going and what the goddess wanted from him. The slave denied knowing anything about whether the war of the Great Ordeal and the Aspect-Emperor was real. Leading King Sakarpi to a promontory of corpses where he claimed a mighty Lord died, there the slave began to dig at the corpses, and Sorweel soon joined him, digging at the carrion until the slave reached the earth beneath, there he extracted a skull from the earth and using putrid mud began to give it a face, while muttering prayers he proceeded to flay a Sranc face by placing the skin over the skull with mud. Sorweel watched in more than horror as the slave caressed his creation, saw life springing from the skin, saw the eyes open and heard the groaning of the earth. And he watched as a skeleton emerged from the ground, holding itself up with worms and earth, this skeleton extracted from its abdomen a leather pouch which he handed to Sorweel, who looked away to his slave in horror for a second and when he turned to the thing, found only a grotesque shape moulded in the earth. After refusing to answer Sorweel about what had happened, Porsparian left the clearing, climbed up a slope of corpses and on a spearhead jutting out of the mound he dropped, ending his own life. But not before telling Sorweel that what the Mother has given to him, he must take. Returning to the camp Sorweel meets Zsoronga who asks him if his priest, his slave, has told him what the Goddess wants, to which Sorweel replied that he had, and that what was done was done. Retreating to his tent at dusk, Sorweel opened the thousand year old leather pouch and inside he found a Chorae . Sorweel visited Serwa in his tent seeking to thank her for saving him, instead he finds himself wondering if he went looking for something else, perhaps to woo her. Upon arrival Serwa recognises that Sorweel is carrying a Chorae and identifies the motifs engraved on the leather pouch as being of the Far Antique, of the Anasûrimbor of Trysë. Sorweel attempts to present her with the relic but she refuses. Sorweel replies that he will begin courting her and then leaves. Weeks pass in which boredom and his new duties as a messenger bore both himself and his companion Zsoronga. Talking to his companion about the Narindar , Sorweel came to regard himself as a kind of divine thief, someone sent by the gods themselves. Despite the damage done, the Hording had not been defeated, it had retreated and become too swift and amorphous to be easily taken down. Amidst the danger lurking on the horizon, Zsoronga and Sorweel rode on horseback carrying messages to the vanguard pickets. The Schools had been mobilised and were harassing the Hording, even the Nuns of Swayal were walking through the air hurling their destruction at the inhumans below. And Sorweel found himself thinking and looking more and more towards Serwa, fearing the longing and sometimes lust she provoked in him. He also wondered if the Goddess had chosen him from the moment the city of Sakarpus fell. Sorweel stopped shying away from his memories of that day, remembered his father and his courage, abandoning the banner he made of his personal humiliation. Interval after Interval the Great Ordeal made it across the Istyuli plains, the Army of the West commanded by King Coithus Saubon reached the ruins of Suönirsi , the Ordealmen were awed and frightened by the glories of the lost past. The rivers widened and men were finally able to cast their nets for fish, but still it was not enough, starvation plagued the men. The Hording retreated more and more and gathered, but they were harassed by the Schools and slaughtered in great numbers, but it did not seem to be enough, more and more Sranc were arriving and increasing rather than decreasing. On the contrary it was the Scolmans who seemed to be decreasing, they even believed that the Consult had infiltrated the host, the leaders of the Schools asked to withdraw from the front to which the Generals replied that without the Schools the Ordeal would not even reach the Neleost Sea. The Aspect-Emperor decided that the Schools would not retreat, they would face the sacrifice but that the wizards would act in tandem to avoid losses. So they pushed the Hording further back by jabbing it with deadly lights, and the Four Armies moved deeper into the shadow of the ancient north. Nersei Proyas is still confused by the strange revelations that Anasûrimbor Kellhus himself makes to him, confirming the accusations made in the past by Achamian against Kellhus. Only Kellhus claimed to see what Proyas could not, such as the origins of his thoughts and his passions, with every word speaking to him in ways that could not be heard. Somewhat indignantly Proyas retorts that only he feels free, master of himself in his presence. But Kellhus replies that he has the Great Proyas bound in fetters, such is the way of the Dûnyain , just to be in his presence is to be in chains. But Proyas proclaims himself a willing slave to Kellhus, choosing his own slavery, to which Kellhus replies with a smile on his face: "Choice, […] Willing… Your shackles are cast from this very iron". Zsoronga and Sorweel were now sharing their tent, spending their time reminiscing about their past and their guilt. Thus they were overtaken one day by Obotegwa, the Ogligate slave of Zsoronga, whom they had earlier abandoned on the plains. Obotegwa , visibly tired, tells Zsoronga that it is up to him alone to kill him, not the desert. Amidst tears and memories of his past, Zsoronga kills his old slave and the next day they bury him on the plains in an unmarked grave. One day on the march, Sorweel sighted in the distance what he thought at first was a stork but soon recognised the thing as a chariot drawn by four black horses, a flying chariot. Alarm was soon raised but General Kayûtas took the initiative and set off to meet the chariot. There he parleyed with the crew and then set off back to his camp, with the chariot following close behind him now on the ground, and then Sorweel finally recognised the crew as Nonman , "miracles". Still pondering his doubts, Proyas made his way to the tent of the Aspect-Emperor, planning to ask his prophet how anyone could doubt his own Prophet. By Kellhus own admission, Proyas had little patience for tools he could not instantly use, referring to the Nonman retinue that had finally answered his call. Apparently hundreds or perhaps thousands of men had perished in their relentless attempts to contact the Nil’giccas of Ishterebinth , in fleets that set out from the Three Seas with the aim of seizing the shores of Injor-Niyas , all in pursuit of forging an alliance with a thousand-year-old King. And finally answering Proyas unspoken doubt, Kellhus tells him that that doubt was exactly why men prefer their Prophets dead. As the Nonman retinue arrives, the chief emissary introduce himself as Nin’sariccas , sharing the greetings that Nil'giccas sends to the Famous Aspect-Emperor, Kellhus asks him if Ishterebinth will join them, but the Nonman replies that the betrayal of an Anasûrimbor is still remembered with pain among his own, but he says that the sacred Ishroi of Injor-Niyas will give his shield and his voice to the Great Ordeal if it retakes Dagliash and honours the Niom . Kellhus accepts, granting the request to Proyas astonishment. The Nonman also asks Kellhus about the Ciphrang heads hanging from his waist, even suspecting that Kellhus himself had been replaced by a demon from the Outside , and whether he had indeed obtained them there. As Proyas recalled how Kellhus had spent time learning the Daimos, Kellhus replied to the Nonman that on the Outside he saw "God… broken into a million warring splinters", to which the Nonman replied that they were all doomed. And also asking Kellhus why they should help them, he replied that because of Hanalinqû , because of Cû’jara-Cinmoi , because of the memories of his murdered wives and children, and because of the madness imposed on him by his memories of that past, to which the Nonman again replies with his request to retake Dagliash and to honour the Niom. As Sorweel left his tent at dawn, he was surprised by Serwa, who was already waiting for him outside. She told him that the Nonman of Ishterebinth had invoked the Niom, to make the deal with men they considered fickle, stubborn and proud and demanded hostages as guarantee, a son, a daughter and a captive enemy. Sorweel soon deduced that he would be the latter, the enemy, to which she replied with a simple yes, after which she went on her way, slowly drifting away like a wisp in the enormity of dawn.

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 10
Location: The Istyuli Plains , Suönirsi
Date: Late Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Sorweel . Zsoronga , Porsparian , Anasûrimbor Kayûtas , Anasûrimbor Serwa , Anasûrimbor Kellhus , Nersei Proyas and Nin’sariccas

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 10
Location: The Istyuli Plains , Suönirsi
Date: Late Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Sorweel . Zsoronga , Porsparian , Anasûrimbor Kayûtas , Anasûrimbor Serwa , Anasûrimbor Kellhus , Nersei Proyas and Nin’sariccas

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 11

Plot

The Gift of Yatwer , the White-Luck Warrior has contacted the Narindar , who already awaited his arrival, there he would assassinate the one who received him and take his place. Anticipating and recoiling from his past and future actions at the time. Esmenet together with her Exalt-Captain Imhailas , cross the city of Momemn at night, when they arrive at an old and half-ruined house Esmenet separated from Imhailas and entered the house, on the second floor in the only illuminated room she met a Narindar assassin, there she asks him to assassinate Maithanet the Shriah of the Thousand Temples . Promising him, if he succeeds, to make princes kneel before him. But the assassin simply accepts, surprising Esmenet by the sheer simplicity of the matter and the ease with which she is dispatched. Before leaving, Esmenet asks the assassin his name, and he replies: Issiral , which in Shigeki means "Fate". Esmenet regretted that the mother of the assassin had named him this way, the assassin only replied: "We take such gifts as she gives". Suggesting that his name was given to him by the Mother Yatwer .

Momemn

Number: 11
Location: Momemn , Unaras Spur
Date: Early Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: The White-Luck Warrior , Esmenet , Anasûrimbor Kelmomas , Gawol Imhailas , Maithanet and Malowebi

Momemn

Number: 11
Location: Momemn , Unaras Spur
Date: Early Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: The White-Luck Warrior , Esmenet , Anasûrimbor Kelmomas , Gawol Imhailas , Maithanet and Malowebi

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 12

Plot

Achamian wakes up from one of his dreams completely strangely, he had never before dreamt of being Anasûrimbor Nau-Cayûti , the Nau-Cayuti who was killed by his own wife Iëva . Not knowing what was going on with his dreams Achamian remembered the statement of Mimara the night they shared their bed: " You have become a prophet… A prophet of the past ". The Scalpers had been tracking a herd of laces for several days, but over a ridge they came upon a battlefield littered with Sranc corpses. They had arrived at the site of the Battle of Imweor , Achamian recognised the use of the Gnosis and the formations the men used to repel the Sranc. Mimara even gets his hands on a Circumfix from the battlefield, that she ended up hanging around his neck along with his Chorae . And as the rest of the Scalpers wandered among the dead admiring the grisly scenes, Achamian still doubted the intentions of Kellhus , despite Mimara reminding him that Kellhus was marching against Golgotterath , Achamian also remembered his former self who would have been ecstatic that someone was marching against the Consult , then realised that perhaps the Qirri was changing him. Stopping to set up the camp among the dead, Cleric climbed a slope of corpses and at the top, naked and with the sun shining on his skin he began a sermon ranting against the men who had died there and about the futility of war, before being interrupted by the Captain who told him that some wars were Sacred, and the Nonman agreed and finished his sermon. After coming down from the summit the Nonman proceeded to dispense the Qirri among the Scalpers, as he went around the men Achamian finally noticed the belly of Mimara and knew she was pregnant, and as Mimara was tasting the finger of Cleric, Achamain remembered the last words Kellhus said to him, " The next time you come before me, you will kneel, Drusas Achamian… ", and with that in mind rejected the Qirri. The fact that Mimara had made an attempt to repel the Qirri a week before and that now it was the Mage himself who was repelling it was not unnoticed by the Scalpers, who now shared uncertain glances in the darkness. Before dawn Mimara is awoken by the sound of scuffling, she can see Cleric and the Captain are on top of Achamian, restraining him. She tries to stop them but is pulled away and at the order of the Captain other men restrain her, but they have something else in mind, and throw her to the ground holding her by the hips. The Captain notices this and intercedes killing one of the men and warning the others not to touch her. Mimara, still upset about what happened to Achamian, gets up and takes her sword Squirrel , and approaches the Captain and Cleric, and soon she is locked in a sword fight with the Captain, who is surprised by the skill of Mimara, her half brothers had taught her, but soon she is overpowered and defeated, Thrown to the ground Mimara realises that the Captain does not seek to kill her, and there breathing the dust the Judging Eye opens again and she can now see the pollution, the Damnation of the dead around her, surprised all the more because the greatest and most fearsome of all is that of Captain Kosoter. By then Achamian was already gagged, the Captain snatches his Chorae from Mimara and tells her that he always knew who she was, and Mimara knows that even as far away as they are the Aspect-Emperor is still present in the Zaudunyani faith of Lord Kosoter . After resuming their journey both Mimara and Achamian are watched quite clearly, the Wizard is contentedly threatened with death if he utters any sorcerous sound, and Mimara finds herself praying for the Skin-Spy to save her. But at the same time she also watches as the Scalpers grow more and more emotionally distant from each other, evidence that the mark Cil-Aujas has left on them has only worsened. Watching the Captain at night Mimara discovers that he does not sleep normally, he is always alert, Cleric and the Captain rarely speak to each other and she wonders how such a powerful individual has submitted to the will of a mortal like Lord Kosoter. One night Mimara sees Cleric on his knees crying next to the Captain, asking him who are those around him and what he is doing there, the Captain replies that he is preparing to remember, and then takes him away into the darkness. Mimara remembers the conversations she had with Achamian about the Erratic Nonmen and realises the deal that binds the Captain and Cleric, the latter offers his power to the Captain and in return Kosoter offers him men to love, destroy and remember. Mimara always knew that Cleric was a great power, and that only Achamian could stand against him. Days go by, and the gagged Mage increasingly exudes more hatred in his eyes, directed at everyone but Mimara, and as more days continue to pass Mimara puts the pieces of the plot together, she now knows that Captain Kosoter was famous in his days during the Unification Wars for his cruelty and martiality, coming to the attention of the Emperor himself and the Shriah Maithanet , who soon commissioned him to form a company of Scalpers, a company to be stationed near Hûnoreal , where they could keep watch over the Wizard. Mimara also remembered the night Achamian left his exile and his tower and departed for Marrow , that same night Mimara entered the tower and into the room of the Wizard and saw the last entry he made and the one that would prompt her to follow him: " She has returned. Of all people! I am awake at last. " And as Mimara thought about it she realised that if she could see the obsessions of Akka on paper, would the Aspect-Emperor have been able to see them too? Given what she now knew the Emperor always had the Wizard in mind. Mimara remembered how she had dismissed the accusations from Achamian that the Emperor had sent her to spy on him, now she was sceptical about it, but she also knew that her presence was not expected, she was the variable, she could see it in the confusion on the face of the Captain, who did not know what to do with her. That night Mimara cuts her hair, she even shaves her eyebrows, once finished Mimara asks the Nonman if he will be able to remember, and the Nonman replies that maybe he will, he remembers his wife, and Mimara tries to take advantage of the situation by offering the Nonman to sleep with her, but he tells her that the only thing that would help him remember is if she screamed, cried or was strangled, and in the eyes of Mimara Cleric regains his clarity and a millenary pose that Mimara had only seen depicted in the murals of Cil-Aujas, only then Mimara asks him between needles of rain that finally fall from the sky for his true identity and he answers: " Nil’giccas … I am Nil'giccas. The Last Nonman King ". As the days pass Achamian becomes more observant, he recalls with awe the ease the night Cleric and Lord Kosoter cut him down, he was completely gone, absorbed in his thoughts and inner demons. He had never imagined Lord Kosoter to be an agent of the Emperor, but now he remembered that the signs had always been there, what other kind of company of Scalpers would have accepted such an expedition. But now he also knew that he had deceived them, they were still marching towards the promise of the Coffers. He still lived because Kosoter needed him, feeling the absurdity of being an indirect prisoner of his enemy Kellhus. Several more days passed during which the rain drenched them more and more, and on one occasion Mimara watched Cleric hurl one of his sermons into the firmament, cursing, judging and condemning it. And so without expecting it they came to the woods, and amidst the clearing rain revealing a complete change of scenery she knew that they had arrived at Kûniüri. That night they rested in the ruins of a fort, and Mimara manages to sneak through the bushes and ruins to Achamian, and shares with him all that she now knows about the Captain and his mission, she knows that Kosoter needs them alive but does not yet know what for, she also tells him that the true identity of the Ishroi Cleric is Nil'giccas. And without realising it she lets herself go and finds herself telling the Wizard her own despairs and fears, even declaring her love and telling him that the baby in her womb is his, but then they were interrupted by the Captain who was listening to them from a nearby location, he soon pulls her away from the Wizard and throwing her to the ground proceeds to unbuckle his belt and invoking the rule of the Slog, no conniving or whispering, proceeds to whip her, while Nil'giccas just watches. Later the Nonman approaches to a bruised Mimara to dispense his Qirri, and she tells him that he could have helped her, and he replies that yes, he could have. As dawn breaks again the Judging Eye opens, and Mimara observes the sins and wickedness of the Scalpers, she wondered at the change in Galian , someone she came to consider a friend, now she sees only the "crimson butterfly" of a rape flooding the dreams of Galian. Of all the Skin Eaters it is the sins of Cleric that are the deepest and most ruined by sorcery and moral turpitude. And she still marvels that the most hideous stain of all is that of the Captain, the only light that burned in him was that of the Choraes that hung around his neck, almost overshadowed by the darkness of all his transgressions, such as murder and cruelty. As the days pass Mimara weeps and mourns for her captivity and that of the Wizard, she weeps for the loss of her naivety, for the companions they have lost along the way, even for Soma who was robbed of his face. Mimara did not know what to expect when they reached Kûniüri , when they finally arrived at a wide, greenish river the Captain asks Achamian if they have arrived, after removing his gag Achamian claims with a grandiloquence that they are contemplating the cradle of the Mannish civilisation, the Aumris , the cradle of everything. The Captain only responds by slapping him hard for his insolence. And following the steep course of the river, they descended and climbed through rock gorges, crossed the central region of the area, the Mirawsol, and rested for three nights in a row in the ruined Watchtowers located along the river, they managed to descend to the riverbanks using an ancient half-ruined staircase, walking among the great willows and harassed by clouds of flies the travellers found a strange peace. That night the Wizard dreamt again of the horrors of the Golden Room , he knew they were nearing their goal. Two days later they arrived at the gates of Sauglish , gazing at the ruins no one said it but they knew they had reached the end of their long journey. And they walked into the city, wrapping themselves in the silence of old and distant things. They camped at the gates of the fortress knowing that the dead things could wait for the next day, and the longing for the Coffers seemed to grow in the shadows and take hold of the men.

Kûniüri

Number: 12
Location: The Istyuli Plains , the Aumris , Kûniüri and Sauglish
Date: Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , Cleric , Lord Kosoter and the Skin Eaters

Kûniüri

Number: 12
Location: The Istyuli Plains , the Aumris , Kûniüri and Sauglish
Date: Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , Cleric , Lord Kosoter and the Skin Eaters

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 13

Plot

Three days after the arrival of the Nonmen embassy, Sorweel prepared to leave, handing the bag with the Chorae to Zsoronga for safekeeping, little heeded by Zsoronga who did not believe that the Mother Yatwer would allow a Narindar like Sorweel to stray from the target, the Emperor. But Sorweel replied that it was also the Aspect-Emperor himself who had chosen him for the task. At dawn on the fourth day Anasûrimbor Moënghus went to find Sorweel in his tent and together they then made their way to the enclave of the Swayali Witches , there amidst the sobs of the Nuns who were bidding farewell to Serwa , Moengus and Sorweel embraced her as the mist rose around them and they were enveloped in darkness. Later Sorweel found himself on his knees and retching, they were at the top of a low berm and as Sorweel looked back he saw the Army of the Middle-North in the distance shrouded in marching dust, the men looked like tiny specks of darkness. Serwa had used a Cant of Translocation that she was struggling to perform successfully, she could not take them any further, not even to Ishterebinth , and so she would spend the rest of the way resting and transporting them, while Sorweel and Moënghus hunt for food and deal with the Sranc . The Hording retreated and always retraced its steps, the Four Armies followed in its wake, countless Sranc clans were drawn from the forests of Kûniüri and now accumulating in the west it was the Army of the South that found itself besieged by the Sranc who were pouring in even from the far north, blackening the horizon. The Army of the South under the command of King Umrapathur found itself spending its days thrashing the inhuman mobs who due to the march of the army now instead of retreating in the face of the attacks followed the army from the rear. No day passed without some renowned commander being killed, every night there were raids on the perimeters of the army, which finally awakened every man, and from dusk till dawn Vokalati sorcerers were seen roaming the skies, casting their destructive lights on the Sranc. All this contributed to the general exhaustion of the whole army, yet King Umrapathur refused to ask the Emperor for help, knowing that he was in distress he pretended not to be. Serwa continued along with Moënghus and Sorweel exchanging horizon for horizon, Translocating them from peak to peak and every time Serwa took time to rest she would tell her two companions stories about the lands they were treading and gazing upon, Sorweel marvelled at the landscapes he saw but it was the beauty of Serwa that fascinated him the most, observing her beauty during the nights he came to see her screaming unconscious and asking Moënghus about it he reminded Sorweel that it was the dreams of Seswatha that afflicted Serwa, she dreamt of the No-God . Twice during their travels they heard the sound of Sranc horns, sounds very different from those heard in the now distant Sakarpi : "it would seem—to Sorweel at least—that the end of the world was not so far." Even the son of the King Umrapathur himself was concerned about the growing threat of the Hording, and the Believer-Kings also began to speak out and complain, finally King Umrapathur relented and asked the Emperor for help. The Aspect-Emperor visited the camp of the Army of the South and listened to the misgivings of the commanders, then before leaving he told them that the pursuit of their sustenance had left them exposed, yet they had no choice, they could not give up their sustenance nor abandon their position and battlefront. And the Emperor resolved to send the Grandmaster of the Mandate , Apperens Saccarees , all the Believer-Kings rejoiced at this, except the wary Carindûsû who wondered what the Mandate could do that the Vokalati had not already done. And so with the support of the new wizards, the presence of the Kites was doubled as they flew over the Hording dispensing their kills from the skies. The trio of travellers traversed Kûniüri like embers of fire, Serwa and Sorweel reflected on the past and the lost glory as they rested among the ruins, on the Apocalypse and the convictions that move men, and increasingly Sorweel found himself in awe of the beauty and sincere wisdom of Serwa, he found himself at times looking at her breathless, but she only dismissed him by calling him a fool. Saccarees reorganised the Culling by throwing all the wizards against the great threat that continued to build up with the right flank relieving the flank pickets. But although they swept away parts of the attacking flank chasing the Sranc into the distant moors however by morning the gaping hole was full again and all they had managed to do was expand the attackers. Once again King Umrapathur requested the help of the Aspect-Emperor, and the Aspect-Emperor seeing the danger they were in ordered them now to camp and protect themselves in all directions, and now under the direction of the Emperor himself they began to send out parties of horsemen who would surround a thousand Sranc each time and herd them towards the slaughter of the wizards, but again despite heavy casualties to the enemy the Sranc was not diminished and instead the Army recorded heavy losses of commanders and ponies, soon the parties of horsemen were beset by thousands of Sranc and unable to carry out their task, slowly the inhumans spread across the terrain, beginning to encircle the Army of the South, again Carindûsû taunted the Grandmaster of the Mandate, telling him that his dreams had misled his tactics, to which Saccarees replied that "Yes, What we face… The world has never seen the like." Again sitting before the fire Kellhus reveals to Proyas that his half-brother Maithanet has seized power in Momemn and Esmenet has been usurped and her son Inrilatas killed at the hands of Maithanet. To Proyas question of what he planned to do about it, the Emperor replies that he still possesses resources in Momemn and to Proyas disbelief the Emperor finishes a question he was beginning, whether he fears for Esmenet, but Kellhus replies that " Love, is for lesser souls. " During his travels Sorweel found himself denying himself the feelings that were beginning to well up in him towards Serwa. During one of their stops to forage for food at a river the three found themselves talking about the madness of the Anasûrimbor, the madness of the Dûnyain and the origin of these which to the surprise of Sorweel his companions know little more than he does, that they are a sect that had spent thousands of years breeding themselves to succeed in grasping the Absolute , the God of Gods , and Kellhus own way of describing the Dûnyain as people possessing two souls, one that lives and one that observes them live. A sense of doom began to spread among the men of the Army of the South, even among the Believer-Kings. Carindûsû himself was overwhelmed by the season of death that seemed to envelop them all, resolution began to wane among the men who saw how neither the bravery of their commanders nor the power of the Schoolmen were even a nuisance to the inhuman foe. Cavalry was no longer sent to the flanks because the losses were already obscene and although pickets and Schoolmen were launched daily against the Hording, the latter with its huge numbers hardly even flinched. The great Zaudunyani fanatics began to harangue the undecided which soon resulted in general chaos and fights, the Judges were soon busy dispensing floggings and condemning men to the gallows. The son of King Umrapathur began to express his fear to the members of the Council by telling them of the false peace they were walking in. Privately the King beat and scolded his son for daring to speak of fear to the others, robbing them of their will to fight. But nevertheless rumors spread, of discord and indecision in the King-General , who refused to hear the truth even from his loved ones. Sorweel and his two companions had reached the Aumris River and rested on the top of a hillside, where Sorweel surveyed the ruins devoured by undergrowth, trees and time. Serwa soon transported them to the ruins and insisted on walking with them through the dust and debris of ancient Trysë while telling them the history of the city and its neighbors at the time. In a burst of emotion Serwa led them to an open square among the ruins, a place she recognized from her dreams, the same place where two thousand years earlier the first Ordeal against Golgotterath had been declared, the one that ultimately failed… Later surprised by the rain they walked away into the river. The Army of the South was the last to finally leave the Istyuli and finally set foot on the punished broken ground of the northwest, traversing abandoned roads and ruins of the heart of Sheneor , as the Schoolmen of the Mandate lamented the desolation, as they contemplated their dreams with open eyes. Soon the army found themselves with complications in crossing the rising rivers, on their way they finally found trees and from the wood they made fires for the first time in months and feasted on the rivers fish. Fearing the dangers of fording the rivers and being exposed to their inhuman enemy, hundreds of Vokalati sorcerers were stationed in the rear and although thousands of Sranc were killed they were never threatened during the river crossings. Despite the precautions taken King Umrapathur thought that perhaps the terrain with its tributaries was more of an advantage to his enemy than a problem. He was incapable of seeing the lurking danger. The trio camped in the ruins of Dagmersor , standing guard Sorweel silently contemplated the beauty of the solitude, his thoughts wandered between memories of his past and what the future held, before being interrupted by Moënghus who was passing by to relieve him, they conversed briefly about the Gods and the war of Kellhus. The Army of the South arrived at Hoilirsi , an ancient province that ended to the north at the Irshi River famous for its deadly crossings. The army did not know that the part of the Hording ahead had reached the river which in large sections had high tributaries and lacked fords for much of its length. There the Hording with its ceaseless and perpetual motion entered the relentless tributaries and inhuman multitudes died, soon the river was awash with corpses from bank to bank and pressed by the Shining Men to the south and the river storm to the north the Hording stopped. Soon Carindûsû suggested that perhaps the moment they were waiting for had arrived with the enemy surrounding them finally pinned down the Mandate and the Vokalati could seize the moment and finally make a slaughter of inhumans. Apperens Saccarees could only agree with him, only Prince Charapatha harbored his doubts, perhaps the Consult knew of the Irshi, that the Hording would stop. But remembering the warnings of his Father he kept his doubts and misgivings to himself and despite distrusting Carindûsû, Charapatha respected Saccarees intellect and trusted the Mandate, nothing could go wrong. Sorweel was awakened by the singing of Serwa coming from a river in which she was bathing, she only sang when bathing. Sorweel asked Moënghus again why he believed the gods had turned against Kellhus but he replied to stop thinking about such things and start simply believing, because his Father was fighting against the end of the world, all the while the song of Serwa floated softly around them. At dawn before the Interval sounded squares of Schoolmen gathered floating in the sky while companies of knights, spearmen and archers all on horseback followed the sorcerers. Meanwhile King Umrapathur stationed the rest of his hosts at the ruins of Irsûlor and there they awaited news of the advance party. At the head of the advance party was Prince Charapatha himself who watched as the sorcerous deadly lights entered the dust of the Hording and one by one watched them disappear, it was evident that the plan had failed, the Sranc were not so stupid as to corner themselves even further. The prince ordered his men to shed their shining Hauberks, many refused at first but as they watched the sorcerous lights fade into dust and the howling of the Hording increased, they began to shed their armor. Then the howling died away and for a few heartbeats they heard only the arcane cries of the Schoolmen which were soon drowned out by the rising of a slow, mournful chorus that ascended to inhuman screams, and only then did all the men know that the plan of their King-General had failed and at the command of Prince Charapatha they fled for now the dust clouds of the Hording in the form of streamers and ribbons were advancing southward, the Sranc were running toward them. During one of their jumps Sorweel felt the slowness and fatigue with which Serwa was transporting them, he could feel how one part of him arrived first and then the other, when he arrived he fell to his knees on the ridge, both Moënghus and Serwa complained but not as much as he did, they all agreed that they should rest. And so the Hording ran madly towards the men, like a shrieking plague. From Irsûlor King Umrapathur realized that something was wrong when the roar of the Hording ceased and an even more shrill howl replaced it, he soon shouted warnings and instructions to his men. Meanwhile those fleeing the Sranc charge found themselves in a desperate rush, many undecided were overwhelmed. The soldiers in formation at Irsûlor watched as fifteen thousand horsemen rode scattered across the desert stripping off their armor and accoutrements as they whipped their horses trying to flee from the mountains of dust that pursued them, and among the ribbons of dust they glimpsed skinny, vicious and innumerable silhouettes. King Umrakthi and his men reached the ruins of Irsûlor in order while other Nilnamesh knights were swept away by the Hording. Some commanders desisted from fleeing and formed defensive pickets, those formations would soon be engulfed and riddled with arrows to ultimately be dissolved like sugar in the relentless inhuman tide. The younger brother of the Fanayal outlaw himself, Massar ab Kascamandri, was cut down just before reaching the Irsûlor embankments. Prince Charapatha and his men were diverted by the Sranc tide to the west, separated from the main army stationed at Irsûlor, their attempts to penetrate the tide and reach it were unsuccessful. The encirclement of the Hording closed upon Irsûlor and the entire Army of the South was trapped like an islet in the midst of a screaming sea. Not all the Schoolmen were cut down in the advance party that entered the mountains of dust, many of them continued to scorch the earth with their sorceries, they knew that the plan of Carindûsû had failed but nevertheless they had no alternative plan and lacked the means to communicate with each other, some determined groups abandoned their route to the north and made their way back with lights and fire. Others got lost and never found their way back to Irsûlor and a few foolish ones kept moving north through the mountains of dust, none of them made it back in time. The Sranc began to climb the Irsûlor embankments fighting against the bristling Shining Men who nevertheless resisted shield to shield and back to back as they had also done in the first battle. And the Hording became more and more entangled around Irsûlor as if he were a protruding nail. Gone were the hatreds, rivalries and resentments of men, the Sons of Nilnamesh fought in the north and west, the Hetmen of Girgash in the east and the Grandees of Kian in the south, shouting with fury the men resisted the onslaught of the inhuman masses, the enemy arrows blackened the sky doing little damage to the armored men, yet the Ketyai archers responded with their own arrows exposing themselves to the enemies and their losses were heavy. After awakening from his rest, Sorweel found himself in the gloom of the forest all alone, bewildered and thinking that he had been abandoned, he set out on his way hoping to find his companions on a promontory of the forest. The men already hardened by the first confrontation with the Hording made a terrible slaughter, Irsûlor was surrounded by perforated corpses, while the Sranc behind trampled the bodies advancing towards the embankments. King Umrapathur was encouraged to see the advantageous position they were in with the Sranc flowing around them they would hold out waiting for the return of the sorcerers, only then the slaughter would be greater. However the King was one of the first to spot the black specks among the Hording, specks approaching the Sons of Nilnamesh, Bashrags. Hundreds of them were advancing in a sort of armored formation charging among the Sranc. Soon the King realized that the Consult expected the Sranc to be cornered by the river and that the Schoolmen would be sent after them, that would be their distraction to then turn against the bulk of the army. In spite of the abominations being assaulted by Girgashi archers the Bashrags advanced unscathed and climbed up the slope to the Girgash men, King Urmakthi was among the first to fall as he was at the front with his men, and in a hundred heartbeats the Bashrags had seized a portion of the embankments felling with ease with their huge axes and hammers whole ranks of men. The Cironj marines were what now stood in the way of the Bashrags in their onslaught towards the center of the army, King Eselos Mursidides and his Cironji men bravely stood in the way of the monstrosities, they were able to slow their advance at times suffering heavy losses for each beast slain. Soon all the men of the camp were mobilized against the enemy, from the priests to the wounded, but despite their desperate efforts they were no more than a mere nuisance to the beasts that relentlessly preyed upon them. The Sranc began to break through the gap opened by the Bashrags and soon spilled through the Inrithi lines. The Zadunyani resisted as they had been taught but few managed to mount defenses and many others were overcome by panic and died by thousands. King Umrapathur stared dumbfounded at the dead, at the tents, pavilions and baggage that disappeared under the tide and how in moments the ruins of the lower city were completely overrun and whole formations of men engulfed. Struck by an arrow in his hand King Umrapathur stumbled and believing that death loomed over him looked up and saw a Schoolman approaching, the first of dozens and then hundreds, saw them streaking across the skies scorching the Hording with their murderous lights. And the north lit up with sorcerous glows but it was too late, the inhumans screamed their triumph. Cutting through the mist of the forest around him, Sorweel heard them before he saw them, passionate gasps piercing through the skeins of leaves and stealth took hold of him, he advanced almost crawling in the direction of the sounds. The sorcerers now gathered above the skies of the ruins of Irsûlor wept full of spite and hatred, and so unleashed their sorcerous fury upon the slopes of inhumans. Saccarees sought to restore the momentum to his rival Carindûsû, but the latter blinded by anger and even by his jealousy against Saccarees, began to hurl his deadly fights at both Men and inhumans alike, but was interrupted by Saccarees and the two were locked in a struggle in which Carindûsû was soon overtaken and brought down from the heavens torn to pieces. The Vokalati not knowing what exactly happened attacked Saccarees and in an instant more wizards joined the fray and both the Mandate wizards and the Vokalati annihilated each other in a final act of unreason. The remaining men were still in disbelief of what they saw, death hovered frantically over them all, King Umrapathur knowing they were doomed fell to his knees surrounded by death and the especially violent sexual desecrations of the corpses of his men and sorcerers, and there on his knees he prayed to his prophet Kellhus for the triumph of his mission. And when Sorweel arrived he contemplated them through the branches and leaves, he saw Moënghus and Serwa fucking with imperious lust. they were the children of a god mating and, without proposing it his body called him, unbuckling his belt he began to masturbate joining in his own way to the screams and grunts of the sinuous sweaty bodies that reached the climax. The Schoolmen hung from the sky weeping as they lashed the embankments and battered the hillsides, raising a mountain of earth over Irsûlor, intermingled with human and inhuman corpses. But the Hording continued to advance and writhe, howling its triumph. Saccarees himself tried to retrieve the desecrated body of King Umrapathur without success. Then the remaining members of the Schools heard their prophet before they saw him, heard his arcane chants that resounded like thunder capable of rivaling the roar of the Hording, arriving from the west surrounded by a bluish light that stretched for miles the Aspect-Emperor swept through the air above the Sranc and burst the earth beneath him as if it were the work of a god. Arriving with the sorcerers Anasûrimbor Kellhus asked them to follow him home. Sorweel was surprised by Serwa and was simply stunned as he watched her get up and approach him completely naked, while he tried with shame to conceal his act. Upon arriving with him she questions him about what he saw but Sorweel accused her of sleeping with her own brother and the possibility of getting pregnant. She simply replies that he is no one to judge them and for the first time Sorweel notices the mockery and contempt in the voice of Serwa, only then he remembers that she is Dûnyain and that all the kindness and warmth she always showed him was pure pantomime. Moënghus joined them and touching the body of Serwa both warned him that if he said anything his father the Emperor would order to kill him, for the simple fact of having been a witness. Sorweel, completely disturbed and full of indignation, walked away in the direction of the camp while Serwa reminded him in the distance the Niom : "A son. A daughter. And an enemy!" Sorweel never felt so humiliated and ashamed, and with that in mind he hated them with a dark intensity. The Hording had been thrown to the edge of the horizon finally defeated, the Aspect-Emperor ordered the armies to unite again, the Army of the West and the East should converge with the Army of the Middle-North, nobody questioned his orders even though the Believer-Kings could still feel with intensity the ruin of King Sasal Umrapathur and his men, now all the Believer-Kings appreciated the truth of the facts. The men of the Circumfix, hungry and amazed at the great losses that were now among them, were finally witnessing events that surpassed all exaggeration. The armies had reached Akirsuäl, a former border province of Kûniüri. There they climbed an ancient sacred hill called Swaranûl, the Aspect-Emperor and his Believer-Kings paused at the top to contemplate the Great Ordeal that even in spite of recent losses, united still bordered the land to the horizon, but no one rejoiced at the magnificent sight. Prince Charapatha was there absorbed in thought, also Saccarees who was now shunned by the rumored fratricide. There on the summit with open hands the Aspect-Emperor addressed the lords of the Ordeal who watched him with reverence and sorrow, he told them that he knew they were dismayed, that the hardest of heart were already wary of his intentions, that perhaps he had led them all to their doom. The Emperor reminded them that he had always warned them about the Sranc and their vast numbers, that no matter what path they took or what they did, the Sranc would have come for them. He also warned them that if the No-God awakened the will of the Sranc would be subdued and an even darker and more vicious will that would take them over and all Humanity with its power and glory would be doomed. King Saubon questioned the Emperor as to what they should do, they were all tired, thirsty and sick, the Ordeal had stumbled at Irsûlor and was now reeling. The Aspect-Emperor accepted that candor provides the truth, and walking among the Believer-Kings told them that he had lied to them about the rations, telling them there were few when in fact there were more with the sole purpose of getting them as far as possible. And with a sad smile he told his Believer-Kings to reflect on their wives, children and souls, to gather all the strength they could, they should no longer fear thirst because the Neleost Sea would now quench their thirst, and neither should they fear hunger because "To suffer is to bear evil, and we must suffer to see our World saved. No matter where it delivers us, what madness, what evil, we must follow the Shortest Path ..." And walking among them as he comforted them with his gaze for many had understood the fearful command that would finally be given: "Henceforth, our very foe shall sustain us... Henceforth, we eat Sranc."

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 13
Location: The High Istyuli , Kûniüri , Trysë , Hoilirsi , Akirsuäl , Irsûlor , Sheneor
Date: Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Sorweel , Zsoronga ut Nganka’kull , Anasûrimbor Serwa , Anasûrimbor Moënghus , King Umrapathur and the Army of the South

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 13
Location: The High Istyuli , Kûniüri , Trysë , Hoilirsi , Akirsuäl , Irsûlor , Sheneor
Date: Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Sorweel , Zsoronga ut Nganka’kull , Anasûrimbor Serwa , Anasûrimbor Moënghus , King Umrapathur and the Army of the South

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 14

Plot

The White-Luck Warrior , awaited the arrival of the prostitute Esmenet , as reality seemed to adjust and overtake him, waiting for her in the room of the half-ruined house, hearing the horns blaring, the coup d'état that was occurring, all the while the prostitute Esmenet who was both dead and alive, triumphant and doomed accosted him. Kelmomas continues to wander through the secret corridors, nooks and crannies of the palace, recognizing in all of it the imprint and cunning of his Father in having ordered it built. His Father had kept them hidden, and the fact that no incursions were made into them, something Kelmomas hoped for, revealed that not even the Holy Uncle knew of their existence or if he did he kept the passages secret for his own use. Soon the days passed as he watched the Palace rooms being cleaned and tidied by the slaves, it seemed as if the coup had never happened, the lower floors returned to normal operation and guards were arranged to patrol the upper levels which were still abandoned. There Kelmomas amused himself by playing at being a fugitive within the walls of his house by engaging in creeping and eavesdropping on conversations, stealing food, and overall rejoicing in secrecy and deception. However, sometimes loneliness and boredom overcame him, and he found himself crying for his Mother, reproaching her for abandoning him, but he was never quite alone. Samarmas was always with him, and together they reflected on the great game they were involved in. They debated the possible and real moves, they knew that their Holy Uncle would at some point inhabit the Palace, and sooner or later he would make a mistake, and they waited, they had time, food and secrets but they only lacked the meat. Esmenet spent her days hidden in the room of Naree listening as Naree went about her panting work. The days turned into weeks filled with discouraging news one day after another as they were compiled by Imhailas, Maithanet consolidating his position with false declarations and demanding the loyalty of this or that personage, there was no news of her son Kelmomas or daughter Theliopa. Soon Esmenet was again reminded of the simplicity of her days before she became the Empress, but at times she also longed for her palace, the slaves and the choirs, but above all for her little son. Little by little the terror would take hold of Naree if they were ever discovered, and Esmenet found herself playing along even more with the game of Naree by pretending to be a sick old woman in front of all the neighbors. A Shrial Knight lying on the ground, dying and surrounded by blood watched Kelmomas playing on a parapet, the boy seemed to be talking to someone but in reality he was talking to himself, a fortuitous exchange of questions and answers. The Shrial knight surprised by what he saw while half listening to the exchange of the blond boy listened as the boy said that everything they said was secret and watched as the boy slowly approached him and with an impossibly fast movement stabbed him under his left eye. The Shrial knight died seeing the smile of the boy similar to that of an angel with the face of a demon. One day Esmenet and Naree were surprised to see Imhailas arrive now fully disguised and with dyed hair and beard. Pushing Naree aside Imhailas dropped to his knees in front of his Empress and told her that everyone believed Kelmomas was with her, Maithanet did not have him. Esmenet believing that she had lost her son forever collapsed half fainted, it was the ardor, strength and beauty of Imhailas' statements that made her recover. He was telling her that her son lived and perhaps had been taken from the Palace by a Minister, a slave or a Guard, Esmenet soon remembered the labyrinths of the Andiamine Heights and knew that Kelmomas was hiding there and silently prayed for his safety. One day Esmenet and Naree were surprised to see Imhailas arrive now fully disguised and with dyed hair and beard. Pushing Naree aside Imhailas dropped to his knees in front of his Empress and told her that everyone believed Kelmomas was with her, Maithanet did not have him. Esmenet believing that she had lost her son forever collapsed half fainted, it was the ardor, strength and beauty of Imhailas' statements that made her recover. He was telling her that her son lived and perhaps had been taken from the Palace by a Minister, a slave or a Guard, Esmenet soon remembered the labyrinths of the Andiamine Heights and knew that Kelmomas was hiding there and silently prayed for his safety. Kelmomas disposed the corpse of the soldier by dragging it with difficulty and throwing it down a well in the labyrinths, later he scrubbed the floor erasing the evidence of his actions to avoid any further commotion. Finally he ended up cutting up and cannibalizing the man, all the while sobbing missing his mother. Thus the brothers got their meat. Imhailas suggested to Esmenet that she should flee the city on a slave ship, in order to escape from Maithanet whose power was absolute in the city but not in the rest of the Empire which was on the verge of rebellion. But despite Imhailas' reasoned insistence Esmenet had already given up any position of power in order to regain Kelmomas. That night Esmenet heard the sexual panting of Naree with Imhailas, she knew it was a kind of revenge of the young prostitute who wanted to recover Imhailas from the influence of the Empress and as they climaxed armored men came pouring through the door, they were knights of the Tusk, Naree jumped from the surprise and Esmenet taken by the hair was thrown to the floor and held down. Imhailas naked and howling fought with his broadsword with the Shrial knights managing to kill one before being knocked down by the onslaught of another, reduced and trampled the knights struck with their fists his face reducing it to a bloody pulp, Esmenet watched them disappear Imhailas' face in complete stupor, the only thing she heard were the screams of Naree that were soon silenced by a violent backhand that threw her across the bed. The knights were accompanied by a Shrial priest who approached Naree and deposited five gold and one silver Kellics in her hand, a coin that stood out for having the silhouette of Esmenet engraved on it, so that Naree would remember her. And as Esmenet was dragged outside she listened as Naree begged for her and the forgiveness of the Emperor. Esmenet was taken to a garrison where she was beaten, humiliated and nearly raped. Before dawn other Shrial knights approached the place, Esmenet recognized them as Inchausti of the personal guard of the Shriah, soon the jailers were summarily executed and the rest fled. After that the Inchausti took Esmenet back to the street and in a strange procession through the cold and gray streets of dawn Esmenet was escorted in chains, while around her the incredulous citizens gathered, some praising her and others insulting her, the mob ended up confronting the Inchausti knights and the procession turned into a pitched battle that advanced through the streets. Arriving at the temple square of Xothei the crowds swarmed more and more parts of it displayed symbols of Yatwer and others the Circumfix , while the insults and praises against the Empress resounded against the sky. The mobs threw themselves against the company that at times was overcome in its task to protect Esmenet, the captain of the company finally ordered to unsheathe the swords and at the first sunlight that flashed on them the blood flowed and the screams of the crowds turned into shouts. As the company advanced making their way through the blood Esmenet knew that Maithanet was waiting for her beyond the golden gates of the temple, in the icy gloom of the temple. She remembered the cruelty of Kellhus to the kings who fell into his power and wondered how cruel Maithanet who was also a Dûnyain would become. As she climbed the temple steps she thought of her children, of their faces, she thought of Kelmomas. The Inchausti escorting her made her stumble and hit her head as she fell on the steps, an act that provoked the rejoicing laughter of the crowds who judged her humiliation, they knew and saw that the Empress was at last deposed. Once inside the temple and with the doors closed behind her alone in the darkness she dragged her heavy shackles towards the central dome, there kneeling before the dais full of idols was Anasûrimbor Maithanet. Completely adorned for the occasion, the Holy Shriah told her that the men who had mistreated her would be flayed because they had acted without informing their superiors and for this they would pay with their lives. She coughed and cried and asked him about her children but Maithanet reproached him for the crumbling of the New Empire as a consequence of his actions with Imhailas' attempt on his life, but she denied that she had planned any of those things, Maithanet replied that he had been wrong in all his assumptions about her and kneeling beside her he began to free her from the shackles while telling her that he did not know what his brother Kellhus' plan was, he knew that the gods would turn against him and that the New Empire would collapse in his absence but above all what puzzled him most was that he had entrusted everything to a non-Dûnyain, to her. And begging her to listen to him without prejudice Maithanet began to unpack the possibilities such as the ban on all communication from the Great Ordeal with the New Empire, or the reason Kellhus himself refused to communicate with his brother and his wife or perhaps Kellhus simply feared the personal whim and vanity Maithanet might have for the New Empire, Kellhus had foreseen that no matter who ruled the New Empire was doomed to collapse. Esmenet refused to believe that last, the one Kellhus knew would happen and so willed, choosing one evil out of many, Maithanet reasoned with Esmenet that if the purpose of the Great Ordeal was to prevent the Second Apocalypse and if it succeeded in its mission then the New Empire would be completely without purpose, but if the Ordeal failed and the No-God walked again all men would know that Kellhus had spoken the truth, and so in spite of everything men would remain united. Esmenet was surprised by it all but at the same time resisted, the enormous worries of Maithanet were too much for her, immense and far away compared to the immediacy of her son Kelmomas. Maithanet concluded that he had made the same mistake she had, they had thought of the New Empire as an end to be saved rather than the tool it actually was. Maithanet turned to the gloom of the temple to unseen ears and told them they were finished, abandoned as Esmenet replied, for the time being until the destruction of Golgotterath, perhaps only then would Kellhus leave them alone, only then were footsteps and voices heard in the adjacent galleries as Esmenet finally broke into tears throwing herself into the arms of Maithanet, lamenting all the losses suffered, the uncertainties and the new revelations her soul now endured. Thus she ended up sharing a kiss with the Holy Shriah not as lovers but as brothers reconciling, there Maithanet begged her forgiveness and told her that Theliopa was safe and Kelmomas was still hidden in the palace, the growing terror of Esmenet for her son was dispelled by Maithanet who to her dismay told her that Kelmomas was not at all what he seemed. They were interrupted by the crowd of Shrial and Apparati men gathered around them, many acquaintances of Esmenet. Observing the disrupted loyalties on the faces of those present, Esmenet could only feel apprehension and relief, soon seeing them again as mere disciples of Kellhus, with passions, rivalries and longings now bewildered and besieged by the inability to do anything without their prophet. Maithanet regained his position on the dais and in the light of the lanterns seemed to Esmenet a promise of renewal, she knew that together they would succeed in holding the New Empire together. Addressing the assembled Maithanet announced a reconciliation, as he did so a man dressed only in a loincloth stepped out of the gloom behind Maithanet from among the idols of War and Birth, taking three silent steps towards Maithanet who turned to see him he stabbed the Holy Shriah in the neck with extraordinary simplicity, then the assassin dropped the knife and as Maithanet fell he tried to tell Esmenet that she must communicate something to Kellhus but before he finished dropped dead at the feet of his assassin. By pure reflex Esmenet turned to those present, anticipating the feelings of disbelief and vengeful violence that were running through the faces of the men, she ordered them to stop and at a command the sorcerer Vem-Mithriti raised sorceress wards around him and her. And making use of what she had recently learned with the coup d'état of Maithanet and what Kellhus himself had ordered, Esmenet began to oil the machinery again, she spoke to the assembled of the treason of Maithanet perpetuated with the murder of her son Inrilatas, because of which the assassin was sent by Anasûrimbor Kellhus himself to finish off Maithanet, only the Emperor could have orchestrated it with such effectiveness. So Esmenet managed to tear all will from those gathered there and ordered them to kneel before her and her truth that she wielded with determination, throughout his diatribe the assassin Narindar remained next to the body of the Holy Shriah, Esmenet realized that the assassin knew that he could only be saved by staying with her in that place, so he had chosen that moment to act, he knew that Esmenet would avoid at all costs his capture and be implicated in the murder. And so little by little even the undecided knelt before her, faith in their Prophet was again taking possession of them like a disease, and as she began to experience an unparalleled sense of triumph, the penitents began to look around them in astonishment and confusion, all was silent even the crowds outside the temple had abruptly quieted, a kind of rhythmic pulse could be heard in the distance, a sound Esmenet soon recognized from her days in Shigek , Caraskand and the Holy Shimeh , it was the Fanim war drums. And the Empress Esmenet burst into laughter cursing the Whore that was Fate.

Momemn

Number: 14
Location: Momemn , Andiamine Heights , Temple of Xothei
Date: Late Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: The White-Luck Warrior , Anasûrimbor Kelmomas , Esmenet , Gawol Imhailas , Naree and Maithanet

Momemn

Number: 14
Location: Momemn , Andiamine Heights , Temple of Xothei
Date: Late Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: The White-Luck Warrior , Anasûrimbor Kelmomas , Esmenet , Gawol Imhailas , Naree and Maithanet

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 15

Plot

Achamian dreamed again, he was Anasûrimbor Nau-Cayûti and he was inside a stone sarcophagus panicking he began to gasp and beat his prison for lack of air then the sarcophagus tilted and fell down a slope and suddenly Nau-Cayûti found himself in the middle of a commotion of rock fragments, his sarcophagus had exploded into pieces and one of them remained on him, cutting off his breathing, calming himself he began to look around him contemplating the darkness of the night and the moon, he saw around him bodies and torches scattered on the ground, even his sword was there. Then he fixed his gaze on his assailant who loomed over him in all his monstrosity, it was the Inchoroi Aurang . This creature lifted Nau-Cayûti and raising him up to his eyes smiled and told him that no one escaped Golgotterath … Achamian and the rest of the company of Scalpers were awakened by the shouts of the Captain Kosoter , jokes and shouts of the Captain who told his men that finally that day ended their Slog , the Coffers awaited them. Kosoter and Cleric took Achamian away from the others and threatening him with the Chorae untied him and reminded him of certain lies that he himself did not remember about the Coffers, the Captain resolved to send Achamian accompanied by Cleric, if something went wrong or there was treason the Nonman would kill the Wizard. And furthermore Lord Kosoter threatened to kill Mimara and the baby inside her if the Wizard tried anything. Walking among the barrows of ruins protruding from the earth the Wizard found an unexpected serenity in walking with the Nonman, surprised also that the figure walking beside him had survived countless generations long enough to crack under the weight of memories and time. Straining to speak Achamian finally asked the Nonman the reason behind his names Incariol and Cleric, the Nonman replied that the former was because he wandered and the latter because of the tradition among the Siqû of taking a human name. Achamian told him that his real name was Nil’giccas the last King of the Mansions, but the Nonman told him that Nil'giccas was dead, something flatly denied by the Wizard since Nil'giccas was by his side. Realizing the majesty that enveloped the Nonman Achamian knelt in the same manner as Seswatha had done in the past in that same city to pay homage to Nil'giccas, the King of Ishterebinth . Mimara watched as Achamian and Cleric walked away and disappeared into the ruins, as she waited she began to fear and pray for the wizard. The kneeling of Achamian is dismissed by Cleric who did not give it much importance, but Achamian did not desist and offered to be the new Elju of the Nonman wielding the memories of Seswatha as a guarantee against betrayal but the Nonman told him that to do such a thing would only bring him the absolute oblivion of his memories, Only then Achamian remembered that he could not offer himself as the tool of the Nonman since he and Mimara were the ultimate objects of the deal of Cleric with Lord Kosoter who offered the Nonman the memories of a long lost friend and a long lost love. It was thanks to them that the Nonman would remember a little more. Then the old Wizard finally gave up on convincing him and gave in to thoughts and plans to avoid dying at the hands of Cleric. The Nonman surprised him by suddenly telling him that he regretted due to what he had become because of fate, the Wizard asked him about Ishterebinth to which the Nonman replied that due to lack of memories, his Nonmen brothers had turned to Min-Uroikas, to the tyranny of Golgotterath. Cleric did not join his brothers out of sheer pride, instead he set out into the world to find someone to love and destroy. Mimara could feel the atmosphere around the Scalpers change, something hidden among the men had changed, a motive. Then Galian began to rebuke with questions to Captain Kosoter, like how many riches would correspond to them or what would they do with the Nonman and the Qirri, all of them with a tone of foolishness and audacity to the Captain who with a somber and silent deliberation reflected in his eyes seen by Mimara decides to kill Galian, but Galian has also seen it and knows it, he recognizes that his Captain has decided to kill him. And Galian imitates the tone of voice of his Captain arousing the laughter of the other Scalpers, only then Mimara recognizes with horror what changed in the men, recognized the savage form of the conspiracy and the conspirators. Galian reveals to the Captain that all the men supported the treason, he had always thought of killing the Captain every time he saw him, telling him all this as he approached Lord Kosoter with obscene contempt. Then an arrow hit the Captain in the mouth skewering the lower half of his face, the arrow was shot by Xonghis , the Captain only manages to laugh with sardonic glee through blood and teeth, A second arrow is stuck in his neck making him turn on his waist to finally collapse on the humus of the ground, there he convulses with bestial violence as if his spirit was trying to escape from his body, scratching the ground, spitting saliva, blood and with his eyes glistening with effort and fury. Galian himself who was watching the scene was frightened and drew his sword, the Captain launched a last roar to the sky and calming down he let his head fall to the ground and remained motionless, the silence took over the place. And Mimara watched breathlessly in amazement, realizing that the Captain, Lord Kosoter, was mortal after all. The King Nonman and the old wizard finally entered the ruins of the Library in an experience that the Wizard found surreal, he was walking through two worlds, one real and in ruins and the other the one of his dreams. Achamian told Cleric that he had seen the citadel fall and the Nonman replied that all of Ishterebinth mourned when they learned of the fall of Sauglish , and with melancholy the Wizard asked him why he mourned the death of men if it was men who destroyed the Nonmen Mansions, Cleric told him that the Nonmen always knew that they would not survive Men, only then did the Wizard remember that it was like that "Because our dooms are one." Finally they reached the ruins of a Turret where Cleric recognized some ancient and weak sorcery, the Wizard reminded him that the Coffers were under the ruins along with the guardians that protected them and these were not weak nor did they age, lies he continued to tell. The Wizard did not dare to attack Cleric not until he knew he would not need to, and they began to look for a way down, as they continued the Wizard was haunted by vivid memories of the No-God that assaulted him as he ascended the ruins, Cleric was already waiting for him at the top and from there he told the Wizard that something was wrong, when Achamian finally reached his side he was surprised to see that the inside, the center of the Turret was a huge funnel, a pit with an immense blackness at the bottom. They both recognized a certain smell emanating from there, sulfur. The Scalpers still surprised by what happened, discuss among themselves if the Captain was really dead, Sarl pokes and moves the face of Lord Kosoter with a branch, he turns to Mimara and tells her that he is not dead, Pokwas tells Galian that the Captain is too much, even for hell. They both descended the shaft down a steeply inclined slope, to the Wizard it reminded him of a rabbit hole but imbued with a sulfurous mystery, slowly they made their way down the pit through the rubble and packed earth revealing split passageways, open chambers and cut off chambers facing the shaft, Cleric pointed out to the Wizard one side of the tunnel, Achamian had already seen it, the three scythe-like gashes in the rock on one side of the tunnel. Achamian recognized it as the symbol of Triamis the Great , the spoor of Dragons. Numb and expectant Mimara clutched her knees even tighter, Sarl had decapitated Lord Kosoter and was clinging to his head like a doll, Galian now led the Scalpers and told them all that they would wait for Cleric to return and then they would kill him and seize the pouch of the Qirri, Xonghis seizes the two Chorae from the body of the Captain and Galian with a sour look and a lecherous smile that Mimara already knows very well, tells the others that while they wait they will feast on peach. Upon finally arriving at the Great Gate of Wheels, having seen the Upper Pausal in complete ruins before and now seeing the knotted remains of the Coffers Achamian stood still, he was dismayed he thought of his lies that had caused suffering and deaths alike were for naught, a part of him came to think that he would survive all the vicissitudes of the road and find the Coffers intact, he knew that his destiny was always to be trapped in the machinations of his enemy all wrapped up in his absurd hopes, he had only found on his way some madmen and a dragon of yesteryear. Without a word the Wizard and the Nonman entered the Coffers and immediately their eyes burned from the stench of sulfur and rot, they could hear the heavy breathing of the creature in the darkness, a part of Achamian refused to see the horror that awaited them and as they reached a hillside of rubble and climbed to its top the Nonman summoned a Surillic Point and the blackness escaped illuminating a huge chamber whose ceiling had collapsed down the center, treasure and debris were piled in the center of the chamber and of it all the only thing that seemed to gleam was the dragon, in a tan and pale color of dirt. Achamian realized that the beast was excessively ancient and of considerable size, turning to Cleric the Wizard discovered him thoughtful and enraptured, suddenly the Nonman muttered that they were in the place where he was destined to die, Achamian replied that apparently he would also die there, which raised an unexpected laughter from the Nonman who remembered the wisdom of Seswatha in Achamian, both were interrupted by words that resounded in their heads with force and immensity, It was the dragon that had begun to move over the rubble, he raised his armored chest and directing his saurian head in their direction he spoke under the gloom again telling them that the dragons had flown looking for inhabited cities but they had only found ruins and filthy Sranc, asking Cleric if the world had ended he answered that the world still lived in the far south. The dragon moved again exposing his huge throat sure of his invulnerability exhaling wisps of fire lowered his head and exposing his eyes to the light agreed with what Cleric had said, unfortunately the world still lived. Achamian wanted to retreat but could not, such was the rapture of his terror, he heard Cleric mutter that the beast was dead and blind, straining to get a closer look at the beast, Achamian did not believe what the Nonman had said as he could see and hear the beast breathing, The Wizard saw stumps and scar tissue on the right eyebrow of the beast and the eye under that eyebrow was rotting, where its left eye should be there was only an empty socket, observing the body of the dragon he saw how the bronze skin was detached from the flesh underneath as if it were a warped coping, the gums of the immense snout were dry and shrunken. The dragon responded to their scrutiny by telling them that his curse was to breathe as long as the world lived and warned them to get out of there and return to their homes and tell the others that they had survived. Achamian understood that the dragon was mad, half dead and that there was no going back from that place. The Wizard shouted that he needed a map, a trinket that the dragon did not need, but the dragon replied that he would not part with any tiny fraction of his treasure, that he should come back for it when the world had truly ended. Achamian refused to leave empty-handed marveling at his courage and provocation, something that provoked laughter from the dragon who told him that greed and need always confuse the souls of men but the Wizard replied that he was driven only by need and in the blink of an eye he thought of the weeks of travel, the lies told, of the dead men and the dangers he had exposed Mimara to, all for that moment, then he shouted to the dragon that he was offering him a bargain, he offered him a Truth as all he possessed, the dragon rose further from his mound and told the Wizard that he smelled his suffering, forgotten deeds and fears and concluded that perhaps he did indeed have something to offer him. The dragon descended from the top dragging debris and jewels in his wake and told the Wizard to show him a Truth and only then could he have a fraction of his treasure, the map he sought. Backing away and stumbling before the advancing beast the Magician resisted lying to him, realizing that the beast was both spirit and flesh, perhaps the dead could see or hear the lies of the living. So he began to describe his dreams, but quickly became entangled in explanations that piled on more explanations, causing the eyeless creature yawned and asked him again about the map he was looking for and its Truth, Achamian fed up answered that what he was looking for as an ultimate goal was revenge against Anasûrimbor Kellhus, the dragon asked him about the crime that this guy committed to be now the object of revenge, Achamian answered that he has said more than enough and the dragon laughed mockingly that the truths are infinite while he took a step closer to the Wizard. Then Cleric surprised Achamian by putting a hand on his shoulder, he tells him that the dragon is just playing with him, the beast was too evil and had been living there too long, an abomination he called Wutteät . And the dragon began to laugh praising the cunning of the Nonman, Cleric then tells Achamian that "He dies from the outside, because Hell sustains him from within." and he remembered it from his past, he had seen something similar before. Achamian, not knowing what to do, looked for the gaze of the Nonman and saw his eyes shining with a kind of black humor and without saying a word he saw him advance towards the creature. And turning his gaze in passing over his shoulder Nil'giccas told Achamian to run to save them, his wife and child. Mimara found herself remembering the brothel in Carythusal where she worked as a prostitute, she remembered her bed and the walls of her room, how the clients chose her over and over again, she remembered the numbness that came over her as she worked with someone, a feeling that reminded her of the effects of the Qirri, the wide smile of the Scalper Galian reminded her of it all and she thought how easy it would be to die then. But the Wizard did not leave, he found himself following the Nonman muttering Wards as he passed, the dragon simply watched them approach, Achamian listened as Cleric called him again and again by his name, Wutteät. A name Achamian recognized from the ancient wars, Wutteät the Father of Dragons. They watched as the dragon retracted its head and body and vomited golden fire, the outer Wards of Achamian simply disappeared instantly and the innermost ones cracked, the point of the light of Cleric was extinguished. And shouting more Wards and climbing up a sloping lintel climbing up to the overture in the roof lintels Achamian listened as below Cleric shouted at the dragon having killed five of his kind before, that he was Cleric, tthe King Nil'giccas and that he would force him to listen to his sermon. But the Wizard did not leave, he found himself following the Nonman muttering Wards as he passed, the dragon simply watched them approach, Achamian listened as Cleric called him again and again by his name, Wutteät. A name Achamian recognized from the ancient wars, Wutteät the Father of Dragons. They watched as the dragon retracted its head and body and vomited golden fire, the outer Wards of Achamian simply disappeared instantly and the innermost ones cracked, the point of the light of Cleric was extinguished. And shouting more Wards and climbing up a sloping lintel climbing up to the overture in the roof lintels Achamian listened as below Cleric shouted at the dragon having killed five of his kind before, telling the beast that he was Nil'giccas, Cleric and that he would force him to listen to his sermon. The dragon only taunted the Qûya, hiding between the lintels of the ceiling the wizard watched the Nonman run in circles between the pillars as the fire of the dragon illuminated the ruined spaces of the chamber, listened as each mocked the other with pompous statements, watched as the dragon spun in the center of the chamber to the sound of the voice of Cleric who used the blindness of the dragon to his own advantage. The Wizard then knew that Cleric was distracting the dragon with provocations and taunts all so that Achamian could do something, but the wizard did not know what to do. The beast was spinning in circles trying to anticipate the Nonman spitting golden fire, Cleric simply laughed at his attempts telling him it had always been like that, spinning in circles forgetting the desolate ages, the dragon replied that desolation and murder were his birthright, unlike the Nonmen he remembered, how he writhed as they traveled through the void, how he had descended with his creators in world after world and reduced the inhabitants of each world to one hundred and forty-four thousand, he was the first along with King Sil to have left the Incû-Holoinas in that world which was the promised land. But Cleric replied that he had come to that land broken and exhausted and because of his failure he was now hiding blind and curled up in the shit of forgotten times. The dragon roared at him that the reason for that was because the world he was in refused to die. High above Achamian finally made up his mind and began the War-Cant of Noviratic Spike, the dragon shook his head from side to side in panic as the light of the Cant gathered crimson in the palms of the Wizard, the dragon finally saw Achamian the moment the Cant was completed and released, it ended up hitting the left shoulder of the creature staggering over its mound, despite being crushed the dragon continued to hurl its fire towards the ceiling of the chamber causing large parts to collapse and warp even more. Achamian still in his position continued raising Wards around him and throwing Noviratic Spikes at the dragon, through the shrieks of the dragon Achamian heard the Qûya world destroying chant of the Nonman. To the surprise of the Wizard the dragon did not shrink to protect itself but leapt towards the remaining lintels in the hole in the ceiling facing Achamian, spread its wings and opening its maw spat fire at the Wizard, despite its blindness it knew exactly where it was. The Wards of the Wizard dissolved and the false floor beneath his feet gave way and the Wizard fell somersaulting into the center of the Chamber over the treasures and debris of the beast. The Wizard was too stunned by the fall that for a few moments unable to lift Wards around him he was exposed, with his hair and beard on fire the Wizard felt an arm lift him up and watched Cleric looking at him with concern and relief, as the noise of the conflagration was heard and the crashing of the collapse he saw the world shrink and collapse upon them. The Wards of the Nonman shielded them from the deadly rain and so they stood in complete darkness replete with dust and ringing ears, the Nonman King told Achamian that they had been buried. Mimara undresses in front of the Scalpers, leaving only the wire Cirumfix she had found on her skin, the only protection she had left, even though she knew it to be false. The five remaining Scalpers seem countless to her, watching her motionless with licentious hunger. Mimara thought the Qirri had dulled her feelings, that she would overcome what was about to happen but she knew better and shuddering with a shame she had never felt before she knew she had always been a slave, no matter all the lies and roles she had assumed for herself. She was completely naked, she was nothing. Crouching low the Wizard and the Nonman listened as the rubble settled over them and using ethereal geometries both began to push aside masses of rock and masonry, wielding Cants adapted to the movement of the earth. They advanced through the thundering rubble dredging their way out, they managed to clear a gap through which they observed the devastation of the Coffers, the chamber was still dripping with debris above them. Stopping at the higher rocks Cleric told Achamian that the dragon was waiting to ambush them when they came out, they both decided that one of them should shield while the other dealt with the fire. Turning toward the high void Achamian watched as the dragon emerged from the coils of smoke with claws and wings outstretched and maw open. Achamian raised his arms and braced himself to meet the conflagration. Mimara asks Galian what he sees, he replies that he sees her, the Coffers and the feast he plans to take with everything, Mimara also asks him about his soul and Galian replies that his soul will not be worse for what he was about to do to her, approaching her with long strides. Mimara smiles and through silent tears touches the curve of his belly and for the first time thinks of the being inside her as something tangible. Galian takes her by the throat and with a certain tenderness in his voice admires her beauty but that it is a pity that the worm inside her, the grub will not survive. Amidst the nervous laughter of Pokwas and Xonghis Mimara pleads with Galian even to Mother Yatwer and directing her gaze into the eyes of the Scalper the Judging Eye opens again and Mimara observes the sins and transgressions of the man and finds herself fearing for him, for the damnation that awaits him. Realizing her strange scrutiny Galian opens his eyes even wider with fury and panic reflected in them, but Mimara stops his intentions by telling him that it is not too late, that he can still be saved, for he has no idea what awaits him. The Columnist only mocks the hell she predicts accusing her of being a witch, hiding his horror with a smile, holding her tightly by the neck he throws her against the floor, and between the screams of the girl he separates her legs and gropes the belt of his pants, feeling the discomfort in his naked body against the roughness of the floor, listening to the agitated breathing of the man who begins to hover over her Mimara resolves to shout in his ear that she forgives him "Frees him of this final sin." Both resisted the incipient onslaught back to back, they fought against the blinding fire that fell on and around them, the dragon itself pounced on them tearing again and again the Wards that the Nonman and the Wizard raised around them. As the beast charged them furiously with claws and teeth it spat fire that coagulated the rocks and amidst that din the Wizard shouted to the Nonman that the beast was only guided by his hearing, the Nonman King began to howl in his ancient tongue and his sorcerous attack opened a breach through the molten inferno to his right, the Wizard watched as Wutteät flailed backwards with sorcerous fire pouring from his eye socket. And then at a shout from Achamian they both attacked the head of the dragon with incandescent sorceries and drove the beast back again into another part of the chamber, where the beleaguered dragon again flailed like a moth, thrashing and clawing at the ceiling trying to bury them back into the rock, spitting its fire left and right. The Wizard ascended one of the leaning pillars and the Nonman began to sail in circles around the beast, so both from their positions burned and struck the dragon with their Cants until they saw its iron bones and its head ended up looking like a charred stump possessing only jaws, the beast collapsed and Achamian rushed in jubilation but soon fled with alacrity as he saw the dragon launch a deadly claw in his direction, emitting pitiful growls the dragon rushed towards the Nonman and went through the remains of the sorcery towards the gaps between the rubble of the exit, They both gave chase but the dragon was fast and they could already hear its wings flapping away, as they reached the top coughing and out of breath, Achamian found himself back on top of the central ring of the Turret and squinting in the glow of the sunset he saw Wutteät lurching, crashing into the trees and walls of the ruined Library, finally amidst wild shrill shrieks and spitting blasts of fire the beast caught the wind with its shredded wings and in the light of the dusk flashing on its scales Wutteät spiraled up into the sky and disappeared into the distance among the clouds. Achamian and Cleric watched in amazement as the beast fled, Achamian shouted his triumph, one worthy of The Sagas , but then he realized that perhaps that glory would be worth nothing to the Nonman as the Nonman would surely not remember it. Cleric told him that he would only remember the shadow cast through the pain that followed him. The Wizard nodded and told him that Seswatha loved him too. Galian was on top of her and in an instant he was no longer, Mimara rose from the ground and saw Koll on top of Galian, he had stabbed him in the back below the left shoulder blade, Xonghis and Pokwas pounced on Koll as Sarl clung even tighter to the head of his Captain and began to cackle as light flashed beyond him through the forest foliage followed by a shrill roar. Koll easily dodges the Pokwas Sword-Dancer to his complete disbelief and somersaulting and spinning Koll approaches the body of the Captain and pulls " Squirrel " from his backpack, Sarl only steps aside, Koll takes a low stance with the sword heading towards Pokwas' Tulwar and Xonghis' drawn bow, more explosions and roars shake the sky in the distance. Koll lets out a laugh that sounds like wolf cries and tries to parry the arrow shot by Xonghis with Squirrel but misses and the shaft sticks in his neck. Staggering backwards Koll recovers and screams again this time opening the fingers that were his face, Koll was a Skin-Spy . Then Mimara gets up and stumbles with the dying Galian, Pokwas is on the thing-called-Koll tracing poetry with his Tulwar nicking Squirrel , Xonghis launches more arrows reaching with one a thigh of the thing, that to the eye barely manages to resist the onslaught of Pokwas' Tulwar. Mimara, out of breath and enraged, approaches Xonghis who hears her and turns to her and shoots an arrow at her head but misses, Mimara stabs him with the sword of Galian under his armpit killing him instantly. Sarl continues with his phlegmatic howling and laughing while beyond him the forest burns in flames around the ruins. The Tulwar of Pokwas severed a leg of the thing-called-Koll that was in the midst of jumping, causing it to fall badly on the remaining leg and end up on the ground, Pokwas howls in triumph as he approaches to finish the thing off, unable to hear the naked death approaching him from behind. Smoke and sparks of fire engulfed the Wizard and the Nonman, Cleric ripped his pouch of Qirri and to the disbelief and horror of Achamian emptied the contents of the pouch which soon vanished in the wind. Achamian told him he did not have to but Cleric replied that he had to, for all he could remember was defeat, betrayal and ruin. The Wizard indignant at the absurdities of the Nonman shouted at him that he would be his book to read, but Cleric only laughed and told the Wizard that he would listen to his sermon and began to mutter sorcerous Cants that lit up his eyes and mouth, rising in the wind above the forest fire, from there he told the Wizard to desist from his attempts to address Nil'giccas for such a subject was not a truth to awaken nor a memory to retrieve for Nil'giccas did not exist, they were not only Incariol or Cleric they were legion, and they claimed to be the truth. All this while Achamian realized that the Nonman was serious, he was preparing to kill him, Achamian was weary from the contest with the dragon and knew that even fully rested he would not dare to face the Nonman. And resisting attacking the Nonman only raised glowing Wards around him, as the Nonman accumulated spell-meanings that gathered beneath him and lifted the rocks. Spiraling the Nonman ended up hanging over the frame of the ruined Turret, his words rumbled and his head was wrapped in crimson light then his abstractions shook the air and Achamian Wards, as he attacked him Cleric told the Wizard that only when the past died could everyone shed the burden of their soul. More lights enveloped the Nonman and more abstractions reverberated and hissed through the Wards of Achamian, the forests around him were consumed by the fire that embraced even the ruins, Achamian gave in to tears and told Cleric that despite everything the Nonman sought memories, seeking to be something, the Nonman replied that he was right that only that meant singing in the darkness without hindrance, that was being . Pokwas recognizes Mimara as he drops his Tulwar and blood oozes from his mouth in a strange grimace of a smile as Sergeant Sarl howls the Slog of Slogs to the sky and Pokwas simply falls to his knees watching the bodies of Galian and Xonghis, the he just collapse dead. Mimara goes around him and approaches the thing-called-Koll, a part of her finds herself crying for the thing asking it why it saved her, why it sacrificed itself for her. The Skin-Spy just begs it between gasps asking her to kill him, but then Mimara is horrified at what it was doing, taking pity on such an aberration of the flesh, and is overcome with revulsion and turns away from the Skin-Spy and walks into the smoke, she watches from there as the spasms shake the thing and suddenly Sarl rushes out of nowhere and thrusts his sword through the chest of the creature, it clings to the sword throwing blows at Sarl that gradually weaken until they cease and the fingers on the face of the Skin-Spy loosen and open, then Sarl drops the sword and with a maniacal laugh draws his knife and crawls over the creature and begins to saw off the head of the spider-face, while continuing to snarl at the reward that awaits him. Mimara watches him dumbfounded and thinking about the madness of the situation begins to run in no direction, nakedly walking away from the madness. Everything around her was in flames. Finally the Wizard faced the Nonman alone with his Wards, Cleric hurled murderous lights at him that crashed into the Wards of the Wizard who struggled to deflect them to the outside, debris from the walls flew over the Wizard who screamed between gasps one Ward after another that were soon crushed by the relentless incandescence of the Nonman until Achamian was out of breath stuttering the weakest Wards. The Nonman paused for an instant and the Wizard shouted at him that madness was not part of the Nonman but Cleric replied that all the appeals he made to him only goaded him because it made him love him more, would kill him and remember him. The Wizard refused to attack Cleric with sorcery who for an instant seemed confused by it, a moment Achamian took advantage of to stun the Nonman with an Odaini Concussion Cant hitting the Nonman as he floated over some craggy ruins, he watched him fall down and slowly slide to the ground where flames embraced his arrival. The old wizard extinguished the flames with a sorcerous shout and ran in sobs through the streams of smoke and found the Nonman King prostrate next to a semi-ruined wall, similar to if he had fallen out of bed. Large parts of his body were black, there were blisters on his cheek and scalp and blood soaked his Hauberk nimil. Nil'giccas asked the Wizard spitting blood with every word what had happened, Achamian replied that he had found glory and reached out to touch the cheek of the Nonman and saw the light of life leave Nil'giccas' eyes. The body of the Nonman twitched once as blood pooled among the remains of clothing on Cleric. Looking around Achamian realized that this was how it would end, between love and fire. Mimara continued running through the foliage of the forest, when she reached a low promontory she climbs it trying to escape from the permanent smoke that stabs her eyes and lungs. Climbing even higher she manages to spot sorcerous flashes in the same direction she had come running, she manages to see Cleric hanging in the sky above some ruined walls, then Mimara turns around and goes back the way she had come. The Wizard returned to where the Skin Eaters had been and fell to his knees at the sight of the carnage, Achamian was looking at the dead Galian, Pokwas, Xonghis and Captain Kosoter, the Wizard asks the crazed Sarl what had happened but he only gesticulates squawking the imminent looting of the Coffers while shaking with his right hand the head of the Skin-Spy, desperate the Wizard shakes Sarl asking him where was Mimara, where was his daughter, but in the eyes of Sarl he only saw the complicit look of a madman. And by sheer instinct Achamian turned to the smoke screen of the forest and saw Mimara emerge naked, she ran to him and they both embraced while Achamian smiled and blurted out pointing to the nakedness of Mimara, she only gave him a reproachful look. They both agreed that they were all dead, even Sergeant Sarl. They fled the fire with the swiftness of looters, Mimara retrieved Squirrel and the two Chorae from Xonghis neck, and Achamian what little clothing he could and together they left the scene stumbling over the smoking ground. There only Sergeant Sarl was left cradling the head of his Captain and rocking in his own madness. At night Mimara and Achamian share the remaining Qirri of Cleric left in their pouch, again they are pierced by the relief that the substance dispenses. They constructed a coffin of scorched wood and brush by piling them up to shoulder height, there at the top they placed the body of King Nil'giccas and set fire to it. Then they climbed the punished ruins of the Turret and descended into the blackness of the Coffers. There Achamian uttered a Bar of Heaven and they both proceeded to scavenge through the rubble and treasures under the Sorcerous Light. Mimara gets hold of a bronze knife covered in glowing runes and a golden coat of mail that Achamian recognizes as an ancient gift from the School of Mihtrûl . Finally Achamian manages to find the golden case of his dreams, it was broken but the Mage manages to extract the map from inside. They both leave the Coffers at dawn totally covered in dust, they still see tails of smoke rising from the woods, they approach the pyre of Nil'giccas of which all that remains is his Hauberk Nimil, under his Hauberk they find another type of whiter ash which Mimara carefully picks up with her new knife keeping the chalk in the pouch of the Nonman King. Achamian sees Sarl again, the madman watches them in the distance, he has braided the hairs of the Head of the Captain into his own beard, now the severed head bobbed in the groin of the Sergeant. They both watch him sobbing to the scorched plains, the last survivor of the Skin Eaters. Once Mimara finishes collecting the ash the Wizard gets hold of the Hauberk of the Nonman and puts it on over his ruined rags, Sarl continues to watch them in the distance as the sun continues to warm the world. Getting ready to leave once more Achamian and Mimara share the new Qirri, tasting it from the finger of the other as father and daughter, but this new ash comforts them by thrilling them with a melancholy tenor. As they continue on their way mimara turns to look at Sarl and the Captain one last time and in an inexplicable impulse decides to leave some Qirri carefully wrapped in a leaf on the remains of a marble statue. Then they hear Sranc horns in the distance and holding her belly Mimara says to the old Wizard "come, I tire of Sauglish."

The Library of Sauglish

Number: 15
Location: Ruins of the Library of Sauglish
Date: Late Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , Nil’giccas , Wutteät , Lord Kosoter and the five remaining Skin Eaters

The Library of Sauglish

Number: 15
Location: Ruins of the Library of Sauglish
Date: Late Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , Nil’giccas , Wutteät , Lord Kosoter and the five remaining Skin Eaters

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 2

Plot

Sorweel Believer-King of the Aspect-Emperor and the Scions are sent as an advance party to fight the Sranc. The eighty men contrary to their belief were simply sent to hunt for game to feed the host. Sorweel is still debating whether what happened to his slave Porsparian and if the mouth in the turf was real. The Great Ordeal continues north to The Pale , traveling across grassy plains and endless raked earth. The men despair of not finding any enemy and hear rumors of discord at home, while suffering the ravages of the weather. At a point where rivers are few and small the Great Ordeal has already broken away from supply convoys, passed the limits of civilization, and had to fend for itself. Nersei Proyas visits the Holy Aspect-Emperor's tent, still after twenty years being amazed by the simplicity of it and also remembering the atrocities he committed for the Aspect-Emperor during the Unification Wars . Realizing that he will never understand him. Following a devotion inexplicable to him, and at Kellhus' request, he bent his face towards the flames and saw thousands of faces focusing on four Men of the Ordeal discussing rations and hunger. The Aspect-Emperor can watch the Ordealmen through the fires, revealing to Proyas that they already speak of the discord in the New Empire. Knowing that the Empire will not survive the absence of their Aspect-Emperor and this will foment mutiny in the Ordeal. The Host of Hosts could collapse. They propose to announce an Embargo, of all the Cants of Far-calling . On pain of death men must cease trying reaching his home/loved ones by dreams. They will march only with memories. The Aspect-Emperor has no intention of returning to the Empire, "I can no longer afford backward glances." Breaking and dividing the Ordeal into Four Armies: "Thus began the longest, most arduous, and most deadly stage of the Great Ordeal's bid to destroy Golgotterath and so prevent the Second Apocalypse".

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 2
Location: The High Istyuli , The Pale
Date: Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Varalt Sorweel , Anasûrimbor Kellhus , Nersei Proyas , the Scions and the Great Ordeal

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 2
Location: The High Istyuli , The Pale
Date: Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Varalt Sorweel , Anasûrimbor Kellhus , Nersei Proyas , the Scions and the Great Ordeal

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 3

Plot

The Skin Eaters continue their journey through The Mop, when they are attacked by another group of Scalpers , the Stone Hags . After a wizardly confrontation that ends with the aggressors fleeing. Pafaras a renegade Mysunsai Schoolman was the captain of the Stone Hags, he was chased away by Cleric and Achamian . The Skin Eaters lose Sutadra , Lord Kosoter announces that there will be no more sobbings in the Slog . After witnessing the death of Sutadra, and using the Judging Eye again, Mimara can see the Damnation that permeates Sutadra and also Achamian. The Judging Eye only involves pregnant women and these only give birth to dead children. They rested in the clearing of The Stump , a giant tree cut down by Pokwas and Galian during some raid on The Mop years earlier, there Achamian speculated on whether the Mop was a Topos , "a place where trauma had worn away the hard rind of the world", and suffered nightmares of men chained in corridors made of brush being led to their doom. Lord Kosoter kills Hameron for Sobbing in the Slog. Resuming their journey they hear screams in the distance, Achamian uses sorcery raising himself above the treetops and uses a Cant of Scrying , the Stone Hags were being chased and killed by Sranc. Pafaras set fire to his men and Sranc alike, then falls into the jungle. Cleric warns that the Sranc are moving in force. The Skin Eaters begin a race seeking to flee from the Sranc. Mimara and the others led by Cleric stop at his command warning that something is approaching, the Stone Hags are being pursued by the Sranc, without a wizard as Pafaras is on a litter, they all surrender and ask for help of the Skin Eaters. The Sranc catch up and attack the group, but are repelled by the sorcery. Lord Kosoter rebukes a wounded Pafaras about the pursuers, and he replies that they were four clans of Sranc attacking in a group. But they are now scattered, then Lord Kosoter slays the sorcerer with his Chorae . United now all as the renewed Skin Eaters, they ran until dawn, arriving at the fortress of Aenkû Maimor in flames, apparently it had suffered an attack and then was abandoned by the Judges of the Empire who were stationed there. While contemplating the ruins Mimara revealed to Achamian that Somandutta was an Skin-Spy , since his way of fighting was inhuman. Discovered, and attacked by Achamian the Skin-Spy escaped jumping over the walls. At nightfall in the fortress surrounded by the howls and the horns they were attacked by the Sranc, but Achamian and Cleric, standing on the rampart unleashed their sorcerous fury. "A revelation."

The Meorn Wilderness

Number: 3
Location: The " Long Side ", The Mop , Aenkû Maimor
Date: Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , Lord Kosoter , Cleric and the Skin Eaters

The Meorn Wilderness

Number: 3
Location: The " Long Side ", The Mop , Aenkû Maimor
Date: Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , Lord Kosoter , Cleric and the Skin Eaters

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 4

Plot

The Company of Scions continued on their way across The Pale , in search of food, weary of the endless steppe. At dawn on the tenth day they came upon a trail of elk which they followed, spotting vultures soaring through the skies, believing they were approaching the elk. But Sorweel went ahead and spoke to Captain Harnilas , warning of something he had noticed, Sranc . They were not vultures but storks, on the plain following the Sranc. The Scions followed a Warband of some thirteen hundred Sranc, full of enthusiasm that they would finally manage to fight, even Sorweel, in wedge formation rode at a trot along the ridges in the direction of the inhuman group that remained motionless. They charged against the Sranc and scattered them, causing them to flee. That night they celebrated their victory with shots of rum, proceeding to torture a Sranc in the eyes of some disbelievers disgusted men by the torture, Sorweel explains that the Sranc slaughter women, children and babies without mercy, mutilated and seed-stained corpses that are never found whole. It seems that after the battle Sorweel had earned the respect and admiration of the Scions. During that night a frenzy of torture (against the Sranc) filled the darkness with their inhuman screams. At dawn they returned to the elk trail and at last found a field of slaughtered elk covered with vultures and clouds of flies. Apparently the slaughter was the work of a Hording of Sranc, countless Sranc that even Sorweel could not imagine. Clans attracted by the rumor of the Ordeal. Sorweel realizes that the purpose of the Great Ordeal was real, "The war is real." During the night Sorweel tried to dig the face of Yatwer into the earth as Porsparian had done, but instead he only got the face of his father. Wondering why he had been chosen by the goddess he sank into sleep. At dawn wondering why the Sranc had no sentries stationed, Sorweel and the sorcerer warn the Captain that the water does not pool behind the ship, and he believes they are following another army, one of Sranc. An army that shadows the Great Ordeal, which has used the elk to hide its trail. Being praised for his findings Sorweel proposes to ride hard towards the Aspect-Emperor .

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 4
Location: The High Istyuli
Date: Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Sorweel , Zsoronga , Eskeles , Captain Harnilas and the Company of Scions

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 4
Location: The High Istyuli
Date: Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Sorweel , Zsoronga , Eskeles , Captain Harnilas and the Company of Scions

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 5

Plot

The White-Luck Warrior walks through plantations and fields in the trail of a group of pilgrims (himself), while having visions of the fall of the New Empire . Malowebi an emissary of Zeüm , and the Bandit Padirajah , Fanayal ab Kascamandri , hold a meeting to decide whether to act more forcefully against the New Empire. Attacking Iothiah with weapons and supplies from Zeüm may cause more disgruntled people to rise up against the empire. In the company of the Bandit Padirajah was Meppa , a Cishaurim , the last one. Later the Padirajah takes the fortress of Gara’gûl in Mongilea , in response the Empress deploys more men to Nenciphon . The new Empire reels with bloody riots in Seleukara and Aöknyssus , imperial officials being indiscriminately murdered in Oswenta , attacks by savage Famir tribes, a new Scylvendi invasion on the Nansur border. Small battles are fought in many places, militia recruitments, curfews, repression of the cult of Yatwer and discoveries of conspiracies and plots. And yet, the empire holds. Anasûrimbor Kelmomas watches in amusement as his mother presides over official meetings, contemplating how the authority of his mother fades. One meeting ends with the arrival of news; Fanayal has taken Iothiah. Against all odds, he did not attack Nenciphon. The Empress has distanced herself from the Holy Shriah Maithanet , the Aspect-Emperor entrusted the fate of the Empire to her, Anasûrimbor Esmenet , and not to her Brother. And she does not trust him. Kelmomas rejoices more and more to be the sole receptacle of the love of his mother, in their chambers they embrace each other. Esmenet reveals to Kelmomas a secret passage hidden in a wall inside their chambers. The Empress believes that the Shriah is using the Cult of Yatwer to seize power in the Empire. She calms the worries of Theliopa by assuring her that the Great Ordeal and his father are still alive, but that they are under a communicative embargo with the Three Seas , much to the chagrin of Kelmomas who fears and hates his Father, knowing that if he looks into his eyes he will discover his secrets and be his undoing. Suspecting that Maithanet may have something to do with the lack of communication with the Great Ordeal and the Emperor, Esmenet and Theliopa discuss whether to have Kelmomas demented brother, Inrilatas , might be able to see the treachery in the eyes of Maithanet. All this under the watchful scrutiny and interest of Kelmomas. Intrigued and driven by the voice in his head Kelmomas decides to pay a visit to his mad brother Inrilatas. He found him chained near the wall, and after a brief conversation Inrilatas knows that a voice is whispering in the ears of Kelmomas. Little Kel warns Inrilatas that Maithanet will visit him, and Inrilatas must kill him, and he offers his help. Fanayal and the Second Negotiant, Malowebi, walk through the conquered Iothiah, surrounded by the screams and barbarity of war, the Padirajah has used the Cishaurim to secure his conquest. Both Fanayal and the ambassador Zeüm have realized the incredible weakness of the empire. They are also astonished not to have found any Chorae in their path. Fanayal reveals that the Cishaurim, Meppa, has no memory of who he is himself.

The Western Three Seas

Number: 5
Location: South of Gielgath , Momemn and many other cities
Date: Late Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk ), somewhere south of Gielgath …
Characters: The White-Luck Warrior , Fanayal ab Kascamandri , Anasûrimbor Kelmomas , Anasûrimbor Esmenet and Anasûrimbor Inrilatas

The Western Three Seas

Number: 5
Location: South of Gielgath , Momemn and many other cities
Date: Late Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk ), somewhere south of Gielgath …
Characters: The White-Luck Warrior , Fanayal ab Kascamandri , Anasûrimbor Kelmomas , Anasûrimbor Esmenet and Anasûrimbor Inrilatas

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 6

Plot

The thing called Soma continued to follow the Skin Eaters in the distance. The Skin Eaters continue their march towards Sauglish , compelled by the Qirri of Cleric "The Holy Dispensation", they advance with unusual speed, but the absorbed Stone Hags are dwindling, not having Qirri at their disposal they cannot keep up the pace. They die at the hands of Kosoter , bled to death, abandoned or beaten to a pulp. Achamian has come to believe with his own horror the lie he told the Skin Eaters, his necessary lies. And he believes his dreams have lost all logic and purpose. Achamian gradually gains more trust and affection for Mimara , she tells him about her past in Carythusal , her ascent to the the Andiamine Heights , about her half-brothers and the tribulations she endured there. During a stop to relieve herself, and turning away from the others Mimara discovers the thing called Soma scrying at her from the trees. This thing warns her that the Nonman is killing her. Mimara cries out that she will kill him first, or with the help of her Father, but the thing tells her that the only thing that will save her will be to kill the Captain. She decides not to say anything to Achamian for the time being, until she manages to find out more. Wondering if that quest is not itself a tool of the Apocalypse that the Wizard seeks to avoid. Mimara spies on Lord Kosoter and Incariol (Cleric), watches as the Captain reassures the suffering Nonman trying to remember something. The next day Cleric tells Mimara that he remembers a human name, a name he had not remembered for centuries: Mimara . And later in a conversation with Achamian he reveals that when the Erratic Nonmen decide they love someone they will try to kill them. They do it to remember. That night the thing called Soma warns Mimara that if she wants to save the fetus inside her they will have to kill the Captain. She realizes that she is pregnant. The father is Achamian. After weeks of struggle and suffering the company abandons The Mop , only three members of the Stone Hags survive. Spreading across the fields they enter Kelmeöl , there another Stone Hag is killed by the Captain for blaspheming in the Slog . Lord Kosoter is a believer of the Emperor. A Zaudunyani . The thing called Soma, arrives at Kelmeöl following the company that has already left, tracking the stench of the stool of Mimara, the stench of her pregnancy. This Skin-Spy had been calling on a silent note to the Consult , a Synthese came. This one reprimanded him for not knowing how to keep an eye on him, (although it is not clear whether to Achamian, Kosoter or the Nonman, Cleric), Tsuör , (the real name of the Skin-Spy) reveals that something else is going on, something not anticipated by the Old Fathers: Mimara is pregnant. Apparently her pregnancy is part of some prophecies. Tsuör must continue to follow them.

The Meorn Wilderness

Number: 6
Location: The " Long Side ", The Mop , Kelmeöl
Date: Late Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , the thing-called Soma , Lord Kosoter , Cleric and the rest of the Skin Eaters

The Meorn Wilderness

Number: 6
Location: The " Long Side ", The Mop , Kelmeöl
Date: Late Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Mimara , the thing-called Soma , Lord Kosoter , Cleric and the rest of the Skin Eaters

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 7

Plot

The Sranc had fled from the Great Ordeal to the north, there reunited with their cousins they increased their numbers and their hunger. Sibawul te Nurwul a general who disobeyed Prince Kayûtas and went forward was among the first to see the Sranc Hording darkening the horizon, he suffered defeat overwhelmed by numbers and beat a retreat, after his pursuers were driven off, Sibawul became the first Ordeal general to be flogged for disobedience. The Aspect-Emperor had always known of the Hording, but kept silent to calm the battle ardor in the hearts of the Ordealmen. The Hording accumulates more and more, at the same time that the men suffer more hunger and drought, it is proposed to murder or to abandon the slaves to save these provisions. Murders of vassals and disappearances occurred. And thus began the battles in which the men attracted clans of Sranc to the rest of the Host and massacred them, for more Sranc that were killed did not seem to diminish. And the increasingly hungry Sranc were merely facing off and retreating, waiting for the lack of supplies to put a dent in the men. The Ordealmen, exhausted and weary of the endless, deserted steppe, had already stopped lighting fires at night, there was no firewood. The frustrated hearts of the warriors could only be appeased by battle. But then also came the disease, Hemoplexy, from drinking contaminated water from riverbeds polluted by Sranc wastes. Columns of diseased people appeared, death and misery followed the four armies. Clashes with losses on both sides followed one after the other, especially remarkable the second flogging and disgrace of Sibawul te Nurwul by being impetuous and causing the death of two thousand of his men, the first disaster of the Great Ordeal. Asking the Aspect-Emperor for an intervention to the Host because of the great feeling of fatality that was beginning to run through them, he reprimanded them and told them that they will have to endure such insignificant trials without his intervention. To bear with it. For two weeks Sorweel and the Scions have been trying to overtake the Hording without success, during their marches they have managed to spot at least a hundred thousand Sranc chained one after the other and divided into ten groups of at least ten thousand. They are whipped and led by Erratic Nonmen , with Ursranc parties guarding the surrounding areas. During their race to get past the Hording and reach the main army, many Scions are abandoned due to their slowness, among them were Obotegwa the Obligate of Prince Zsoronga. Or they were killed if they refuse. There Zsoronga tells Sorweel that because of all that has happened Sorweel may be a narindari , someone chosen by the gods to kill. And that his apparent ascension and positioning in the Ordeal is due to the goddess Yatwer . And Sorweel had always known this. During the dark fireless night the men of the Middle-North were attacked by Sranc but these were easily repelled. The men of the Ordeal were denied to eat their own horses, not even the crippled ones. Hearing shouts and rumors of ambushes, Anasûrimbor Kayûtas ordered the witches of Swayali to deploy and climb into the sky breaking the darkness with sorcerous words. The lights revealed the horizon and distance teeming with Sranc, crawling on their bellies. Drawing closer. And unleashing sorcerous fires upon the inhumans, but there were so many that it seemed to have no effect, the Sranc filled the sky around the witches with arrows, and causing casualties of their own to the Hording they launched themselves against the Men of the Middle-North. Apparently they were also clashing with the other armies. Resisting in phalanxes, with archers at their backs the Ordealmen engaged the Hording, stabbing and firing arrows piecemeal. The knights and thanes were forbidden to approach their phalanxes by the Martial Prohibitions . Count Hirengar of Canute disobeying the Judges rode up to his phalanx and charging into the inhuman horizon only to meet his death and hasten that of his men. After the initial shock the Ordealmen regained their composure and embraced their training, reaping terror, yielding when necessary, dragging dead and wounded behind the lines, fighting Sranc who leapt over their shoulders, sheltering behind barricades of corpses, taking turns through exhaustion with their comrades behind and where they hesitated the Swayali witches dispensed death to the enemy. The Sranc managed to reach the flanks and although many thanes and knights fell no inhuman managed to penetrate into the camp. And suddenly slowly the men began to sing, in a chant that rose as high as the howl of the Hording, they intoned the Beggar's Lament . Using it as banner, curse and prayer, they laughed and mourned the destruction. "And became unconquerable." Sorweel and the Scions, now reduced to fifteen, riding hard manage to catch sight of the Men of the Middle-North fighting the Hording, an island in the blackness, managing to hear the Beggar's Lament from the men. They catch sight of more Sranc behind them. Sorweel and the Scions reached the Hording and penetrated it, in the melee Sorweel found himself guarded under the ward of Eskeles and recomposing the courage of the Schoolman managed him to use a Bar of Heaven as a signpost. General Kayûtas and Serwa spotted it on the supposedly empty southern horizon and Serwa herself and other Swayali headed for the place. Amidst reverie and blame Sorweel was lifted into the wind.

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 7
Location: The High Istyuli
Date: Late Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Nersei Proyas , Sorweel , Anasûrimbor Kayûtas , the Company of Scions and the Great Ordeal

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 7
Location: The High Istyuli
Date: Late Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Nersei Proyas , Sorweel , Anasûrimbor Kayûtas , the Company of Scions and the Great Ordeal

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 8

Plot

The White-Luck Warrior has arrived to Momemn , through southern Gielgath carrying a notched sword that will slay the Aspect-Emperor , and after several chance encounters with a band of raiders, a priestess of Yatwer , a calving cow and the corpse of a child. Inrilatas is visited by his mother, Anasûrimbor Esmenet , during their conversation she tells him that his Holy Uncle will visit him, and so Inrilatas will be able to read the face of his uncle Maithanet , in order to know if there is treason in him. The Empress fears that the New Empire is crumbling in her hands, Inrilatas tells her that it is happening and it will happen, only Maithanet could save the empire, but not for himself but for the good of his brother. Inrilatas agreed to see Maithanet on one condition that there should be three of them present, besides uncle Maithanet, his brother Kelmomas and Samarmas , to the disbelief and horror of his mother. The Padirajah Fanayal ab Kascamandri has been presiding over punishments of the prisoners of Iothiah , one of whom is Psatma Nannaferi , the Mother-Supreme of the Cult of Yatwer , she is apparently the reason why the Padirajah and his men found Iothiah in flames when they arrived in the city. Observing her haughtiness during the exchange of words Malowebi noticed that something was not right, it made him think that Yatwer herself was there. Psatma Nannaferi walked with one foot on the Outside. The Cishaurim Meppa rebuked her by telling her that she worshipped a demon as a goddess. That all gods are only greater demons who feed on the clarity of mortal souls. A truth only seen by the eyeless Cishaurim. Psatma Nannaferi reveals that his Goddess has broken the yoke of the Thousand Temples , all cults prepare for battle, and in the end between death and destruction there will be only one: the White-Luck Warrior. To the astonishment of Malowebi, seeing that Fanayal learns that this warrior/goddess hunts the Aspect-Emperor, Fanayal decides to keep Psatma Nannaferi. Because she knows things. Empress Esmenet stirs in her palace as she receives news and prepares answers with her court, which to her astonishment helped with alacrity. The Scylvendi attack on the border has faded to nothing, something she celebrates but also worries her. She is assembling columns in Asgilioch to retake Shigek, where they also managed to set up a network of spies. Vem-Mithriti has gathered the remaining Schoolmen to face the renewed threat of the Cishaurim. Thinking that the fall of Iothiah was a small strategic inconvenience, but a very big one symbolically speaking, the Western Empire was already split in half. Still sharing bed with her son Kelmomas at night, and sometimes when she felt too lonely, she shared her warmth with Sankas or Imhailas. In the company of Theliopa and wearing an Ainoni mask to hide her face, the passions in her voice and her intentions, she confronted Maithanet, and he agreed to reassure her that his face would be read by a mad teenager, assuring her that there was no treachery in him. Kelmomas explored the tunnels within the palace, learning the paths and twists and turns that ran throughout the complex, seeing the imprint of his father in the entire design. After returning to his rooms he is discovered by his mother, being slapped and then basking in the love and regret of his mother.

The Western Three Seas

Number: 8
Location: The Nansurium , Momemn , Iothiah
Date: Late Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: The White-Luck Warrior , Inrilatas , Anasûrimbor Esmenet , Anasûrimbor Kelmomas , Maithanet , Fanayal ab Kascamandri and Psatma Nannaferi

The Western Three Seas

Number: 8
Location: The Nansurium , Momemn , Iothiah
Date: Late Spring, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: The White-Luck Warrior , Inrilatas , Anasûrimbor Esmenet , Anasûrimbor Kelmomas , Maithanet , Fanayal ab Kascamandri and Psatma Nannaferi

White-Luck Warrior/Chapter 9

Plot

Twelve Skin Eaters have left the forests and the sea behind, continuing to kneel before Cleric to receive their portion of Qirri . They march across the dusty plains as if in a dream, during one of their marches they spotted banners of the Great Ordeal drifting in the wind. Mimara is still debating with herself whether she should snitch on The-Thing-Called- Soma and whether she should ask how Cleric is trying to kill them. Achamian reflects on how long journeys change people for better or worse. His dreams were still strange, but he finally realised that the captives he was dreaming of were not part of the past of the jungle but were captives of the Consult , inside what he called the Golden Room , within Min-Uroikas . These captives were subjected to the most abhorrent torments and obscenities before being led to their doom as they were devoured by the Golden Room. Achamian found himself disdaining these dreams, amidst sudden laughter for a reason he did not understand. Achamian and Mimara spend time during their marches chatting about Esmenet , how he met her, how she sold her daughter to the slavers and how Achamian tried to rescue her from the riots in the city without knowing that she was safe and sound, a survivor, Esmenet never spoke of her daughter again until Kellhus arrived. Mimara asked Achamian why he loved her, and he replied that Esmenet believed, not in what he said, but in himself. During his exile he forgave her. "What good was honesty when it carried no pain?" A group of Sranc is intercepted by a Thing-Called-Mimara, the Chieftain of the Sranc hesitated to attack the thing because he did not know what it was. It did not make him hungry. And bewildered the Chieftain attacked the thing, but the thing killed him easily, proclaiming to the other Sranc that they were "children of the same fathers". Taking over the leadership of the group. Mimara continues talking to Achamian, asks him about her stepfather Kellhus, and Achamian replies that for a long time he did not understand him, but later he worshipped him and even forgave him for stealing of Esmenet. "Having faith in ignorance" Mimara called him. During one of the sermons of Cleric, Mimara realises that she is in love with the wonder and power of what the Nonman was. At the end of the sermon she and the other Scalpers, bowing with drooling mouths, approach him to receive their dispensation of Qirri. Though thunder rumbles in the dark sky, the rain does not come. Mimara knows that madness is slowly taking hold of the Scalpers, a new unwritten rule of the Slog, unknowingly the Scalpers feign bliss. One dawn they see a plume of dust in the distance, and after overcoming a hill they spot horsemen that Mimara recognises as Tydonni , Nangaels . Captain Kosoter and Galian approach to parley with the commander of the horsemen. The were a party that went out in search of supplies, the commander asks Lord Kosoter who they were, he replies that they are Skin Eaters, Scalpers. At the disbelief and impossibility expressed by the commander, Lord Kosoter draws his knife and stabs the commander in the eye. Cleric then begins to chant and the riders and their horses are thrown into the air and beaten. Recovering from their stupor they decide to charge to the Scalpers, but they are soon dispatched by the Scalpers with swift coolness and professionalism. Even Mimara surprises herself by killing one of the soldiers. And searching out Achamian with her eyes, she watches him shout a refusal and lift into the air in pursuit of escaping horsemen heading north. Wrapped in a bluish light the wizard rains down destruction upon the horsemen. The Skin Eater Conger was wounded in the knee and so is killed by the Captain, no limping allowed in the Slog. Achamian returns walking, shrouded in smoke, he justifies his actions by telling Mimara that he is already condemned. And the Skin Eaters take the possession of these men. On the third day of the attack Achamian asks Mimara if she has ever seen Kellhus with her other Eye, but she replies that she has not. She hardly ever saw him during her stay in the Andiamine Heights . And she never really knew what to think of him, whether he was a good person or an evil one. During the nights the group continues to listen to the sermons of Cleric and receive their dispensations of Qirri. Travelling the plains like a dream. One day Mimara tells Achamian that the Qirri is scaring her, they are becoming more and more dependent on the substance, and perhaps that is what the Nonman is looking for, but Achamian replies that she has nothing to fear. Mimara suggests running away in the middle of the night, stealing the Qirri bag from the Nonman or even telling the others of her suspicions about the Nonman. But as she thinks of her possibilities her resolve disappears, she never had the heart for such things. Achamian tells her that they still need them all, even the Nonman and the soot on the tip of his finger. At night Mimara walks away from the others knowing that she will find the Thing-Called-Mimara, she asks her how the Nonman is killing them, but the inhuman only succeeds in telling her to give him her Chorae and with it he can save her, she refuses as they hear and feel a sorcerous murmur coming from the camp, before fleeing the thing tells Mimara to ask the Nonman what the Qirri is. Later she is rebuked by Achamian about the dangers she ran into, but she only lies to him. And to her incomprehension, Sarl has apparently recognised her as the daughter of the Empress, but she denies it and, bewildered, only pretends to receive a compliment. At night Mimara becomes hungrier and hungrier, she knows it has something to do with her pregnancy. And one night during the dispensation of Qirri she rejects it, calling it poison. Later that night the Nonman approaches Mimara and tells her again that she reminds him of someone from his past. She asks him what the Qirri is, Cleric replies that some of his people have been burned. And he makes her taste his finger once more, and with the taste in her mouth of soot, ash and eternal glory she glimpses… The next day during their walk Mimara tells Achamian that she knows what the Qirri is: Ashes from a pyre. Ashes of Cû’jara-Cinmoi . The wizard does not answer her, thinking about the root of the story, the wizard continues his way through the plains, as if in a dream…

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 9
Location: The High Istyuli
Date: Early Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Cleric , Lord Kosoter , Mimara , The-Thing-Called- Soma and the rest of the Skin Eaters

The Istyuli Plains

Number: 9
Location: The High Istyuli
Date: Early Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Drusas Achamian , Cleric , Lord Kosoter , Mimara , The-Thing-Called- Soma and the rest of the Skin Eaters

White-Luck Warrior/Interlude

Plot

Mimara and Achamian had been fleeing across the lands of Kûniüri for a week before the Sranc caught up with them and they were harassed day and night. The Wizard and Mimara took refuge when they could in high places from which the Wizard would pepper the Sranc with his deadly lights, also both would often take refuge in a bubble of Wards letting the Sranc build up around them to then slice them with Compasses of Noshainrau, but despite the countless and heinous slaughter the inhumans continued to come after them. And on the rare nights when the Sranc did not appear Mimara dreamed of them. Food was scarce and often they both ended up eating strange tasting unknown oxen and deer, They did not sleep much at night and so they doubled their ration of Qirri , sometimes Mimara would whisper prayers for Nil’giccas , though she knew that the soul of the Nonman was Damned and he was screaming somewhere in hell. The Sranc attacks subsided when they reached the Demua mountains, and peaceful days followed the closer they got to the mountains, after checking the Map they both set off north following the foothills of the Demua. Mimara thought more and more about her incipient pregnancy, she knew hers was different, she could feel it was due to the Qirri and avoided thinking about what the soot could be doing to her child. One day they came across a herd of deer and after enjoying the feast they prepared more food and then finally went into the mountains, two days later the Wizard checked the map and murmuring with joy he pointed out to Mimara a distant glacier between two mountains, the snow ramp that climbed it was the door to Ishuäl. That night they heard a Sranc horn and Mimara recognized it as from a mobbing and soon both found themselves fleeing in the dark, relying on the Qirri to hold them up they followed the high mountain ridges as the starlight shone down on them, they slid down ravines and stumbled over gorges, the closer they got to the glacier the Sranc horns echoed closer to them as well. They reached the ice just as the sun began to rise on the eastern horizon, the climb was arduous so much so that Mimara lost count of the times she had fallen, when they finally reached the top of the glacier itself they crossed chasms and blue pits that echoed with hidden waters. Now they need only look back to see the Sranc invading the ice like a plague, both continuing to climb through snow and ice until their legs went numb and their hearts thundered like tin. They reached slopes of melting snow, with safe ground beneath their feet the Wizard turned to face the inhuman masses, but upon receiving the first wizardly onslaughts the Sranc scattered spreading out across the ice to prevent the Wizard from being able to attack them all, climbing up the icy slopes trying to outflank the Wizard who was beginning to find himself outnumbered, Mimara notices that there is no Chorae among the inhuman masses and tells the Wizard but he seems to already know, more echoes resounded down the slope approaching them from the east there were more Sranc, when the Wizard turns to them he sees them disappear in the snow and ice and they are all devoured by an avalanche. Buried but able to move Mimara and the Wizard begin to trudge through the snow as the liquid melted by the sorcerous lights accumulated on their feet. Drenched and shivering they climb back to the surface and dazzled by the absolute whiteness of the snow they notice the absence of Sranc. Recovering from the struggle they both continued their trek across the ice-stepped plains, following the mountain peaks they finally reached a ridge that descended from the heights to snow-free slopes that gave way to moss-covered slopes and pine forests, at the top they both beheld a huge green and black valley, a valley that seemed rooted to a nearby plateau to their left, on the plateau they saw bastions and walls torn down to the foundations, they knew they had reached Ishuäl , the home of the Dûnyain , the birthplace of Anasûrimbor Kellhus , they reached "another dead place."

Ishuäl

Location: Kûniüri , Ishuäl
Date: Late Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Mimara and Drusas Achamian

Ishuäl

Location: Kûniüri , Ishuäl
Date: Late Summer, 20 New Imperial Year (4132 Year-of-the-Tusk )
Characters: Mimara and Drusas Achamian

whaap
-the european curlew;
-- called also awp, whaup, great whaup, and stock whaup.
-the whimbrel;
-- called also may whaup, little whaup, and tang whaup.

whack
-to strike; to beat; to give a heavy or resounding blow to; to thrash; to make with whacks.
-to strike anything with a smart blow.
-a smart resounding blow.

whacked
-of whack

whacker
-one who whacks.
-anything very large; specif., a great lie; a whapper.

whacking
-of whack
-very large; whapping.

whahoo
-an american tree, the winged elm. (ulmus alata).

whala
-to lash with stripes; to wale; to thrash; to drub.

whale
-any aquatic mammal of the order cetacea, especially any one of the large species, some of which become nearly one hundred feet long. whales are hunted chiefly for their oil and baleen, or whalebone.

whaleboat
-a long, narrow boat, sharp at both ends, used by whalemen.

whalebone
-a firm, elastic substance resembling horn, taken from the upper jaw of the right whale; baleen. it is used as a stiffening in stays, fans, screens, and for various other purposes. see baleen.

whaled
-of whala

whaleman
-a man employed in the whale fishery.

whalemen
-of whaleman

whaler
-a vessel or person employed in the whale fishery.
-one who whales, or beats; a big, strong fellow; hence, anything of great or unusual size.

whaling
-of whala
-the hunting of whales.
-pertaining to, or employed in, the pursuit of whales; as, a whaling voyage; a whaling vessel.

whall
-a light color of the iris in horses; wall
-eye.

whally
-having the iris of light color;
-- said of horses.

whame
-a breeze fly.

whammel
-to turn over.

whan
-when.

whang
-a leather thong.
-to beat.

whanghee
-see wanghee.

whap
-alt. of whop
-alt. of whop
-alt. of whop

whapped
-of whop

whapper
-alt. of whopper

whapping
-of whop
-alt. of whopping

wharf
-a structure or platform of timber, masonry, iron, earth, or other material, built on the shore of a harbor, river, canal, or the like, and usually extending from the shore to deep water, so that vessels may lie close alongside to receive and discharge cargo, passengers, etc.; a quay; a pier.
-the bank of a river, or the shore of the sea.
-to guard or secure by a firm wall of timber or stone constructed like a wharf; to furnish with a wharf or wharfs.
-to place upon a wharf; to bring to a wharf.

wharfage
-the fee or duty paid for the privilege of using a wharf for loading or unloading goods; pierage, collectively; quayage.
-a wharf or wharfs, collectively; wharfing.

wharfed
-of wharf

wharfing
-of wharf
-wharfs, collectively.
-a mode of facing sea walls and embankments with planks driven as piles and secured by ties.

wharfinger
-a man who owns, or has the care of, a wharf.

wharfs
-of wharf

wharl
-alt. of wharling

wharling
-a guttural pronunciation of the letter r; a burr. see burr, n., 6.

wharp
-a kind of fine sand from the banks of the trent, used as a polishing powder.

wharves
-of wharf

what
-as an interrogative pronoun, used in asking questions regarding either persons or things; as, what is this? what did you say? what poem is this? what child is lost?
-as an exclamatory word:
-- (a) used absolutely or independently;
-- often with a question following.
-used adjectively, meaning how remarkable, or how great; as, what folly! what eloquence! what courage!
-sometimes prefixed to adjectives in an adverbial sense, as nearly equivalent to how; as, what happy boys!
-as a relative pronoun
-used substantively with the antecedent suppressed, equivalent to that which, or those [persons] who, or those [things] which;
-- called a compound relative.
-used adjectively, equivalent to the . . . which; the sort or kind of . . . which; rarely, the . . . on, or at, which.
-used adverbially in a sense corresponding to the adjectival use; as, he picked what good fruit he saw.
-whatever; whatsoever; what thing soever;
-- used indefinitely.
-used adverbially, in part; partly; somewhat;
-- with a following preposition, especially, with, and commonly with repetition.
-something; thing; stuff.
-why? for what purpose? on what account?

whate'er
-a contraction of what
-ever;
-- used in poetry.

whatever
-anything soever which; the thing or things of any kind; being this or that; of one nature or another; one thing or another; anything that may be; all that; the whole that; all particulars that;
-- used both substantively and adjectively.

whatnot
-a kind of stand, or piece of furniture, having shelves for books, ornaments, etc.; an etagere.

whatso
-whatsoever; whosoever; whatever; anything that.

whatsoe'er
-a contraction of whatsoever;
-- used in poetry.

whatsoever
-whatever.

whaul
-same as whall.

whaup
-see whaap.

wheal
-a pustule; a whelk.
-a more or less elongated mark raised by a stroke; also, a similar mark made by any cause; a weal; a wale.
-specifically (med.), a flat, burning or itching eminence on the skin, such as is produced by a mosquito bite, or in urticaria.
-a mine.

whealworm
-the harvest mite;
-- so called from the wheals, caused by its bite.

wheat
-a cereal grass (triticum vulgare) and its grain, which furnishes a white flour for bread, and, next to rice, is the grain most largely used by the human race.

wheatbird
-a bird that feeds on wheat, especially the chaffinch.

wheatear
-a small european singing bird (saxicola /nanthe). the male is white beneath, bluish gray above, with black wings and a black stripe through each eye. the tail is black at the tip and in the middle, but white at the base and on each side. called also checkbird, chickell, dykehopper, fallow chat, fallow finch, stonechat, and whitetail.

wheaten
-made of wheat; as, wheaten bread.

wheatsel bird
-the male of the chaffinch.

wheatstone's bridge
-see under bridge.

wheatworm
-a small nematode worm (anguillula tritici) which attacks the grains of wheat in the ear. it is found in wheat affected with smut, each of the diseased grains containing a large number of the minute young of the worm.

wheder
-whether.

wheedle
-to entice by soft words; to cajole; to flatter; to coax.
-to grain, or get away, by flattery.
-to flatter; to coax; to cajole.

wheedled
-of wheedle

wheedling
-of wheedle

wheel
-a circular frame turning about an axis; a rotating disk, whether solid, or a frame composed of an outer rim, spokes or radii, and a central hub or nave, in which is inserted the axle,
-- used for supporting and conveying vehicles, in machinery, and for various purposes; as, the wheel of a wagon, of a locomotive, of a mill, of a watch, etc.
-any instrument having the form of, or chiefly consisting of, a wheel.
-a spinning wheel. see under spinning.
-an instrument of torture formerly used.
-a circular frame having handles on the periphery, and an axle which is so connected with the tiller as to form a means of controlling the rudder for the purpose of steering.
-a potter's wheel. see under potter.
-a firework which, while burning, is caused to revolve on an axis by the reaction of the escaping gases.
-the burden or refrain of a song.
-a bicycle or a tricycle; a velocipede.
-a rolling or revolving body; anything of a circular form; a disk; an orb.
-a turn revolution; rotation; compass.
-to convey on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle; as, to wheel a load of hay or wood.
-to put into a rotatory motion; to cause to turn or revolve; to cause to gyrate; to make or perform in a circle.
-to turn on an axis, or as on an axis; to revolve; to more about; to rotate; to gyrate.
-to change direction, as if revolving upon an axis or pivot; to turn; as, the troops wheeled to the right.
-to go round in a circuit; to fetch a compass.
-to roll forward.

wheel
-shaped
-shaped like a wheel.
-expanding into a flat, circular border at top, with scarcely any tube; as, a wheel
-shaped corolla.

wheel
-worn
-worn by the action of wheels; as, a wheel
-worn road.

wheelband
-the tire of a wheel.

wheelbarrow
-a light vehicle for conveying small loads. it has two handles and one wheel, and is rolled by a single person.

wheelbird
-the european goatsucker.

wheeled
-of wheel
-having wheels;
-- used chiefly in composition; as, a four
-wheeled carriage.

wheeler
-one who wheels, or turns.
-a maker of wheels; a wheelwright.
-a wheel horse. see under wheel.
-a steam vessel propelled by a paddle wheel or by paddle wheels;
-- used chiefly in the terms side
-wheeler and stern
-wheeler.
-a worker on sewed muslin.
-the european goatsucker.

wheelhouse
-a small house on or above a vessel's deck, containing the steering wheel.
- a paddle box. see under paddle.

wheeling
-of wheel
-the act of conveying anything, or traveling, on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle.
-the act or practice of using a cycle; cycling.
-condition of a road or roads, which admits of passing on wheels; as, it is good wheeling, or bad wheeling.
-a turning, or circular movement.

wheelman
-one who rides a bicycle or tricycle; a cycler, or cyclist.

wheelmen
-of wheelman

wheelswarf
-see swarf.

wheelwork
-a combination of wheels, and their connection, in a machine or mechanism.

wheelwright
-a man whose occupation is to make or repair wheels and wheeled vehicles, as carts, wagons, and the like.

wheely
-circular; suitable to rotation.

wheen
-a quantity; a goodly number.

wheeze
-to breathe hard, and with an audible piping or whistling sound, as persons affected with asthma.
-a piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration.
-an ordinary whisper exaggerated so as to produce the hoarse sound known as the "stage whisper." it is a forcible whisper with some admixture of tone.

wheezed
-of wheeze

wheezing
-of wheeze

wheezy
-breathing with difficulty and with a wheeze; wheezing. used also figuratively.

wheft
-see waft, n., 4.

whelk
-any one numerous species of large marine gastropods belonging to buccinum and allied genera; especially, buccinum undatum, common on the coasts both of europe and north america, and much used as food in europe.
-a papule; a pustule; acne.
-a stripe or mark; a ridge; a wale.

whelked
-having whelks; whelky; as, whelked horns.

whelky
-having whelks, ridges, or protuberances; hence, streaked; striated.
-shelly.

whelm
-to cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; to overwhelm; to ingulf.
-fig.: to cover completely, as if with water; to immerse; to overcome; as, to whelm one in sorrows.
-to throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it.

whelmed
-of whelm

whelming
-of whelm

whelp
-one of the young of a dog or a beast of prey; a puppy; a cub; as, a lion's whelps.
-a child; a youth;
-- jocosely or in contempt.
-one of the longitudinal ribs or ridges on the barrel of a capstan or a windless;
-- usually in the plural; as, the whelps of a windlass.
-one of the teeth of a sprocket wheel.
-to bring forth young;
-- said of the female of the dog and some beasts of prey.
-to bring forth, as cubs or young; to give birth to.

whelped
-of whelp

whelping
-of whelp

when
-at what time;
-- used interrogatively.
-at what time; at, during, or after the time that; at or just after, the moment that;
-- used relatively.
-while; whereas; although;
-- used in the manner of a conjunction to introduce a dependent adverbial sentence or clause, having a causal, conditional, or adversative relation to the principal proposition; as, he chose to turn highwayman when he might have continued an honest man; he removed the tree when it was the best in the grounds.
-which time; then;
-- used elliptically as a noun.

whenas
-whereas; while

whence
-from what place; hence, from what or which source, origin, antecedent, premise, or the like; how;
-- used interrogatively.
-from what or which place, source, material, cause, etc.; the place, source, etc., from which;
-- used relatively.

whenceever
-whencesoever.

whenceforth
-from, or forth from, what or which place; whence.

whencesoever
-from what place soever; from what cause or source soever.

whene'er
-whenever.

whenever
-at whatever time.

whennes
-whence.

whensoever
-at what time soever; at whatever time; whenever.

where
-whether.
-at or in what place; hence, in what situation, position, or circumstances;
-- used interrogatively.
-at or in which place; at the place in which; hence, in the case or instance in which;
-- used relatively.
-to what or which place; hence, to what goal, result, or issue; whither;
-- used interrogatively and relatively; as, where are you going?
-whereas.
-place; situation.

where'er
-wherever;
-- a contracted and poetical form.

whereabout
-alt. of whereabouts
-alt. of whereabouts

whereabouts
-about where; near what or which place;
-- used interrogatively and relatively; as, whereabouts did you meet him?
-concerning which; about which.
-the place where a person or thing is; as, they did not know his whereabouts.

whereas
-at which place; where.
-considering that; it being the case that; since;
-- used to introduce a preamble which is the basis of declarations, affirmations, commands, requests, or like, that follow.
-when in fact; while on the contrary; the case being in truth that; although;
-- implying opposition to something that precedes; or implying recognition of facts, sometimes followed by a different statement, and sometimes by inferences or something consequent.

whereat
-at which; upon which; whereupon;
-- used relatively.
-at what;
-- used interrogatively; as, whereat are you offended?

whereby
-by which;
-- used relatively.
-by what; how;
-- used interrogatively.

wherefore
-for which reason; so;
-- used relatively.
-for what reason; why;
-- used interrogatively.
-the reason why.

whereform
-from which; from which or what place.

wherein
-in which; in which place, thing, time, respect, or the like;
-- used relatively.
-in what;
-- used interrogatively.

whereinto
-into which;
-- used relatively.
-into what;
-- used interrogatively.

wheremaster
-a man who practices lewdness; a lecher; a whoremonger.
-one keeps or procures whores for others; a pimp; a procurer.

whereness
-the quality or state of having a place; ubiety; situation; position.

whereof
-of which; of whom; formerly, also, with which;
-- used relatively.
-of what;
-- used interrogatively.

whereon
-on which;
-- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
-on what;
-- used interrogatively; as, whereon do we stand?

whereout
-out of which.

whereret
-to hurry; to trouble; to tease.
-to box (one) on the ear; to strike or box. (the ear); as, to wherret a child.

whereso
-wheresoever.

wheresoe'er
-wheresoever.

wheresoever
-in what place soever; in whatever place; wherever.

wherethrough
-through which.

whereto
-to which;
-- used relatively.
-to what; to what end;
-- used interrogatively.

whereunto
-same as whereto.

whereupon
-upon which; in consequence of which; after which.

wherever
-at or in whatever place; wheresoever.

wherewith
-with which;
-- used relatively.
-with what;
-- used interrogatively.
-the necessary means or instrument.

wherewithal
-wherewith.

wherret
-a box on the ear.

wherries
-of wherry

wherry
-a passenger barge or lighter plying on rivers; also, a kind of light, half
-decked vessel used in fishing.
-a long, narrow, light boat, sharp at both ends, for fast rowing or sailing; esp., a racing boat rowed by one person with sculls.
-a liquor made from the pulp of crab apples after the verjuice is expressed;
-- sometimes called crab wherry.

wherso
-wheresoever.

whet
-to rub or on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening; to sharpen by attrition; as, to whet a knife.
-to make sharp, keen, or eager; to excite; to stimulate; as, to whet the appetite or the courage.
-the act of whetting.
-that which whets or sharpens; esp., an appetizer.

whether
-which (of two); which one (of two);
-- used interrogatively and relatively.
-in case; if;
-- used to introduce the first or two or more alternative clauses, the other or others being connected by or, or by or whether. when the second of two alternatives is the simple negative of the first it is sometimes only indicated by the particle not or no after the correlative, and sometimes it is omitted entirely as being distinctly implied in the whether of the first.

whethering
-the retention of the afterbirth in cows.

whetile
-the green woodpecker, or yaffle. see yaffle.

whetstone
-a piece of stone, natural or artificial, used for whetting, or sharpening, edge tools.

whetted
-of whet

whetter
-one who, or that which, whets, sharpens, or stimulates.
-a tippler; one who drinks whets.

whetting
-of whet

whettlebones
-the vertebrae of the back.

whew
-a sound like a half
-formed whistle, expressing astonishment, scorn, or dislike.
-to whistle with a shrill pipe, like a plover.

whewellite
-calcium oxalate, occurring in colorless or white monoclinic crystals.

whewer
-the european widgeon.

whey
-the serum, or watery part, of milk, separated from the more thick or coagulable part, esp. in the process of making cheese.

whey
-faced
-having a pale or white face, as from fright.

wheyey
-of the nature of, or containing, whey; resembling whey; wheyish.

wheyface
-one who is pale, as from fear.

wheyish
-somewhat like whey; wheyey.

which
-of what sort or kind; what; what a; who.
-a interrogative pronoun, used both substantively and adjectively, and in direct and indirect questions, to ask for, or refer to, an individual person or thing among several of a class; as, which man is it? which woman was it? which is the house? he asked which route he should take; which is best, to live or to die? see the note under what, pron., 1.
-a relative pronoun, used esp. in referring to an antecedent noun or clause, but sometimes with reference to what is specified or implied in a sentence, or to a following noun or clause (generally involving a reference, however, to something which has preceded). it is used in all numbers and genders, and was formerly used of persons.
-a compound relative or indefinite pronoun, standing for any one which, whichever, that which, those which, the . . . which, and the like; as, take which you will.

whichever
-alt. of whichsoever

whichsoever
-whether one or another; whether one or the other; which; that one (of two or more) which; as, whichever road you take, it will lead you to town.

whidah bird
-any one of several species of finchlike birds belonging to the genus vidua, native of asia and africa. in the breeding season the male has very long, drooping tail feathers. called also vida finch, whidah finch, whydah bird, whydah finch, widow bird, and widow finch.

whider
-whither.

whiff
-a sudden expulsion of air from the mouth; a quick puff or slight gust, as of air or smoke.
-a glimpse; a hasty view.
-the marysole, or sail fluke.
-to throw out in whiffs; to consume in whiffs; to puff.
-to carry or convey by a whiff, or as by a whiff; to puff or blow away.
-to emit whiffs, as of smoke; to puff.

whiffed
-of whiff

whiffet
-a little whiff or puff.

whiffing
-of whiff
-the act of one who, or that which, whiffs.
-a mode of fishing with a hand line for pollack, mackerel, and the like.

whiffle
-to waver, or shake, as if moved by gusts of wind; to shift, turn, or veer about.
-to change from one opinion or course to another; to use evasions; to prevaricate; to be fickle.
-to disperse with, or as with, a whiff, or puff; to scatter.
-to wave or shake quickly; to cause to whiffle.
-a fife or small flute.

whiffled
-of whiffle

whiffler
-one who whiffles, or frequently changes his opinion or course; one who uses shifts and evasions in argument; hence, a trifler.
-one who plays on a whiffle; a fifer or piper.
-an officer who went before procession to clear the way by blowing a horn, or otherwise; hence, any person who marched at the head of a procession; a harbinger.
-the golden
-eye.

whiffletree
-same as whippletree.

whiffling
-of whiffle

whig
-acidulated whey, sometimes mixed with buttermilk and sweet herbs, used as a cooling beverage.
-one of a political party which grew up in england in the seventeenth century, in the reigns of charles i. and ii., when great contests existed respecting the royal prerogatives and the rights of the people. those who supported the king in his high claims were called tories, and the advocates of popular rights, of parliamentary power over the crown, and of toleration to dissenters, were, after 1679, called whigs. the terms liberal and radical have now generally superseded whig in english politics. see the note under tory.
-a friend and supporter of the american revolution;
-- opposed to tory, and royalist.
-one of the political party in the united states from about 1829 to 1856, opposed in politics to the democratic party.
-of or pertaining to the whigs.

whiggamore
-a whig;
-- a cant term applied in contempt to scotch presbyterians.

whiggarchy
-government by whigs.

whiggery
-the principles or practices of the whigs; whiggism.

whiggish
-of or pertaining to whigs; partaking of, or characterized by, the principles of whigs.

whiggishly
-in a whiggish manner.

whiggism
-the principles of the whigs.

whigling
-a petty or inferior whig;
-- used in contempt.

while
-space of time, or continued duration, esp. when short; a time; as, one while we thought him innocent.
-that which requires time; labor; pains.
-to cause to pass away pleasantly or without irksomeness or disgust; to spend or pass;
-- usually followed by away.
-to loiter.
-during the time that; as long as; whilst; at the same time that; as, while i write, you sleep.
-hence, under which circumstances; in which case; though; whereas.
-until; till.

whiled
-of while

whilere
-a little while ago; recently; just now; erewhile.

whiles
-meanwhile; meantime.
-sometimes; at times.
-during the time that; while.

whiling
-of while

whilk
-a kind of mollusk, a whelk.
-the scoter.
-which.

whilom
-formerly; once; of old; erewhile; at times.

whilst
-while.

whim
-the european widgeon.
-a sudden turn or start of the mind; a temporary eccentricity; a freak; a fancy; a capricious notion; a humor; a caprice.
-a large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc., from mines, or for other purposes;
-- called also whim gin, and whimsey.
-to be subject to, or indulge in, whims; to be whimsical, giddy, or freakish.

whimbrel
-any one of several species of small curlews, especially the european species (numenius phaeopus), called also jack curlew, half curlew, stone curlew, and tang whaup. see illustration in appendix.

whimling
-one given to whims; hence, a weak, childish person; a child.

whimmy
-full of whims; whimsical.

whimper
-to cry with a low, whining, broken voice; to whine; to complain; as, a child whimpers.
-to utter in alow, whining tone.
-a low, whining, broken cry; a low, whining sound, expressive of complaint or grief.

whimpered
-of whimper

whimperer
-one who whimpers.

whimpering
-of whimper

whimple
-see wimple.
-to whiffle; to veer.

whimsey
-alt. of whimsy
-to fill with whimseys, or whims; to make fantastic; to craze.

whimseys
-of whimsy

whimsical
-full of, or characterized by, whims; actuated by a whim; having peculiar notions; queer; strange; freakish.
-odd or fantastic in appearance; quaintly devised; fantastic.

whimsicality
-the quality or state of being whimsical; whimsicalness.

whimsically
-in a whimsical manner; freakishly.

whimsicalness
-the quality or state of being whimsical; freakishness; whimsical disposition.

whimsies
-of whimsy

whimsy
-a whim; a freak; a capricious notion, a fanciful or odd conceit.
-a whim.
-a whimsey.

whimwham
-a whimsical thing; an odd device; a trifle; a trinket; a gimcrack.
-a whim, or whimsey; a freak.

whin
-gorse; furze. see furze.
-woad
-waxed.
-same as whinstone.

whinberry
-the english bilberry;
-- so called because it grows on moors among the whins, or furze.

whinchat
-a small warbler (pratincola rubetra) common in europe;
-- called also whinchacker, whincheck, whin
-clocharet.

whine
-to utter a plaintive cry, as some animals; to moan with a childish noise; to complain, or to tell of sorrow, distress, or the like, in a plaintive, nasal tone; hence, to complain or to beg in a mean, unmanly way; to moan basely.
-to utter or express plaintively, or in a mean, unmanly way; as, to whine out an excuse.
-a plaintive tone; the nasal, childish tone of mean complaint; mean or affected complaint.

whined
-of whine

whiner
-one who, or that which, whines.

whinge
-to whine.

whinger
-a kind of hanger or sword used as a knife at meals and as a weapon.

whining
-of whine

whiningly
-in a whining manner; in a tone of mean complaint.

whinner
-to whinny.

whinnied
-of whinny

whinnies
-of whinny

whinny
-to utter the ordinary call or cry of a horse; to neigh.
-the ordinary cry or call of a horse; a neigh.
-abounding in whin, gorse, or furze.

whinnying
-of whinny

whinock
-the small pig of a litter.

whinstone
-a provincial name given in england to basaltic rocks, and applied by miners to other kind of dark
-colored unstratified rocks which resist the point of the pick.
-- for example, to masses of chert. whin
-dikes, and whin
-sills, are names sometimes given to veins or beds of basalt.

whinyard
-a sword, or hanger.
-the shoveler.
-the poachard.

whip
-to strike with a lash, a cord, a rod, or anything slender and lithe; to lash; to beat; as, to whip a horse, or a carpet.
-to drive with lashes or strokes of a whip; to cause to rotate by lashing with a cord; as, to whip a top.
-to punish with a whip, scourge, or rod; to flog; to beat; as, to whip a vagrant; to whip one with thirty nine lashes; to whip a perverse boy.
-to apply that which hurts keenly to; to lash, as with sarcasm, abuse, or the like; to apply cutting language to.
-to thrash; to beat out, as grain, by striking; as, to whip wheat.
-to beat (eggs, cream, or the like) into a froth, as with a whisk, fork, or the like.
-to conquer; to defeat, as in a contest or game; to beat; to surpass.
-to overlay (a cord, rope, or the like) with other cords going round and round it; to overcast, as the edge of a seam; to wrap;
-- often with about, around, or over.
-to sew lightly; specifically, to form (a fabric) into gathers by loosely overcasting the rolled edge and drawing up the thread; as, to whip a ruffle.
-to take or move by a sudden motion; to jerk; to snatch;
-- with into, out, up, off, and the like.
-to hoist or purchase by means of a whip.
-to secure the end of (a rope, or the like) from untwisting by overcasting it with small stuff.
-to fish (a body of water) with a rod and artificial fly, the motion being that employed in using a whip.
-to move nimbly; to start or turn suddenly and do something; to whisk; as, he whipped around the corner.
-an instrument or driving horses or other animals, or for correction, consisting usually of a lash attached to a handle, or of a handle and lash so combined as to form a flexible rod.
-a coachman; a driver of a carriage; as, a good whip.
-one of the arms or frames of a windmill, on which the sails are spread.
-the length of the arm reckoned from the shaft.
-a small tackle with a single rope, used to hoist light bodies.
-the long pennant. see pennant (a)
-a huntsman who whips in the hounds; whipper
-in.
-a person (as a member of parliament) appointed to enforce party discipline, and secure the attendance of the members of a parliament party at any important session, especially when their votes are needed.
-a call made upon members of a parliament party to be in their places at a given time, as when a vote is to be taken.

whip
-poor
-will
-an american bird (antrostomus vociferus) allied to the nighthawk and goatsucker;
-- so called in imitation of the peculiar notes which it utters in the evening.

whip
-shaped
-shaped like the lash of a whip; long, slender, round, and tapering; as, a whip
-shaped root or stem.

whip
-tom
-kelly
-a vireo (vireo altiloquus) native of the west indies and florida;
-- called also black
-whiskered vireo.

whipcord
-a kind of hard
-twisted or braided cord, sometimes used for making whiplashes.

whipgraft
-to graft by cutting the scion and stock in a certain manner. see whip grafting, under grafting.

whipgrafted
-of whipgraft

whipgrafting
-of whipgraft

whiplash
-the lash of a whip,
-- usually made of thongs of leather, or of cords, braided or twisted.

whipparee
-a large sting ray (dasybatis, / trygon, sayi) native of the southern united states. it is destitute of large spines on the body and tail.
-a large sting ray (rhinoptera bonasus, or r. quadriloba) of the atlantic coast of the united states. its snout appears to be four
-lobed when viewed in front, whence it is also called cow
-nosed ray.

whipped
-of whip

whipper
-one who whips; especially, an officer who inflicts the penalty of legal whipping.
-one who raises coal or merchandise with a tackle from a chip's hold.
-a kind of simple willow.

whipperin
-a huntsman who keeps the hounds from wandering, and whips them in, if necessary, to the of chase.
-hence, one who enforces the discipline of a party, and urges the attendance and support of the members on all necessary occasions.

whippersnapper
-a diminutive, insignificant, or presumptuous person.

whipping
-of whip
-a & n. from whip, v.

whippletree
-the pivoted or swinging bar to which the traces, or tugs, of a harness are fastened, and by which a carriage, a plow, or other implement or vehicle, is drawn; a whiffletree; a swingletree; a singletree. see singletree.
-the cornel tree.

whipsaw
-a saw for dividing timber lengthwise, usually set in a frame, and worked by two persons; also, a fret saw.

whipstaff
-a bar attached to the tiller, for convenience in steering.

whipstalk
-a whipstock.

whipster
-a nimble little fellow; a whippersnapper.

whipstick
-whip handle; whipstock.

whipstitch
-a tailor;
-- so called in contempt.
-anything hastily put or stitched together; hence, a hasty composition.
-the act or process of whipstitching.
-to rafter; to plow in ridges, as land.

whipstock
-the rod or handle to which the lash of a whip is fastened.

whipt
-whipped.

whipworm
-a nematode worm (trichocephalus dispar) often found parasitic in the human intestine. its body is thickened posteriorly, but is very long and threadlike anteriorly.

whir
-to whirl round, or revolve, with a whizzing noise; to fly or more quickly with a buzzing or whizzing sound; to whiz.
-to hurry a long with a whizzing sound.
-a buzzing or whizzing sound produced by rapid or whirling motion; as, the whir of a partridge; the whir of a spinning wheel.

whirl
-to turn round rapidly; to cause to rotate with velocity; to make to revolve.
-to remove or carry quickly with, or as with, a revolving motion; to snatch; to harry.
-to be turned round rapidly; to move round with velocity; to revolve or rotate with great speed; to gyrate.
-to move hastily or swiftly.
-a turning with rapidity or velocity; rapid rotation or circumvolution; quick gyration; rapid or confusing motion; as, the whirl of a top; the whirl of a wheel.
-anything that moves with a whirling motion.
-a revolving hook used in twisting, as the hooked spindle of a rope machine, to which the threads to be twisted are attached.
-a whorl. see whorl.

whirl
-blast
-a whirling blast or wind.

whirlabout
-something that whirls or turns about in a rapid manner; a whirligig.

whirlbat
-anything moved with a whirl, as preparatory for a blow, or to augment the force of it;
-- applied by poets to the cestus of ancient boxers.

whirlbone
-the huckle bone.
-the patella, or kneepan.

whirled
-of whirl

whirler
-one who, or that which, whirls.

whirlicote
-an open car or chariot.

whirligig
-a child's toy, spun or whirled around like a wheel upon an axis, or like a top.
-anything which whirls around, or in which persons or things are whirled about, as a frame with seats or wooden horses.
-a mediaeval instrument for punishing petty offenders, being a kind of wooden cage turning on a pivot, in which the offender was whirled round with great velocity.
-any one of numerous species of beetles belonging to gyrinus and allied genera. the body is firm, oval or boatlike in form, and usually dark colored with a bronzelike luster. these beetles live mostly on the surface of water, and move about with great celerity in a gyrating, or circular, manner, but they are also able to dive and swim rapidly. the larva is aquatic. called also weaver, whirlwig, and whirlwig beetle.

whirling
-of whirl
-a. & n. from whirl, v. t.

whirlpit
-a whirlpool.

whirlpool
-an eddy or vortex of water; a place in a body of water where the water moves round in a circle so as to produce a depression or cavity in the center, into which floating objects may be drawn; any body of water having a more or less circular motion caused by its flowing in an irregular channel, by the coming together of opposing currents, or the like.
-a sea monster of the whale kind.

whirlwig
-a whirligig.

whirlwind
-a violent windstorm of limited extent, as the tornado, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air. it usually has a rapid progressive motion.
-fig.: a body of objects sweeping violently onward.

whirred
-of whir

whirring
-of whir

whirry
-to whir.

whirtle
-a perforated steel die through which wires or tubes are drawn to form them.

whisk
-a game at cards; whist.
-the act of whisking; a rapid, sweeping motion, as of something light; a sudden motion or quick puff.
-a small bunch of grass, straw, twigs, hair, or the like, used for a brush; hence, a brush or small besom, as of broom corn.
-a small culinary instrument made of wire, or the like, for whisking or beating eggs, cream, etc.
-a kind of cape, forming part of a woman's dress.
-an impertinent fellow.
-a plane used by coopers for evening chines.
-to sweep, brush, or agitate, with a light, rapid motion; as, to whisk dust from a table; to whisk the white of eggs into a froth.
-to move with a quick, sweeping motion.
-to move nimbly at with velocity; to make a sudden agile movement.

whisked
-of whisk

whisker
-one who, or that which, whisks, or moves with a quick, sweeping motion.
-formerly, the hair of the upper lip; a mustache;
-- usually in the plural.
-that part of the beard which grows upon the sides of the face, or upon the chin, or upon both; as, side whiskers; chin whiskers.
-a hair of the beard.
-one of the long, projecting hairs growing at the sides of the mouth of a cat, or other animal.
-iron rods extending on either side of the bowsprit, to spread, or guy out, the stays, etc.

whiskered
-formed into whiskers; furnished with whiskers; having or wearing whiskers.
-having elongated hairs, feathers, or bristles on the cheeks.

whiskerless
-being without whiskers.

whisket
-a basket; esp., a straw provender basket.
-a small lathe for turning wooden pins.

whiskey
-same as whisky, a liquor.
-alt. of whisky
-an intoxicating liquor distilled from grain, potatoes, etc., especially in scotland, ireland, and the united states. in the united states, whisky is generally distilled from maize, rye, or wheat, but in scotland and ireland it is often made from malted barley.

whiskeyfied
-drunk with whisky; intoxicated.

whiskeys
-of whisky

whiskies
-of whisky

whiskin
-a shallow drinking bowl.

whisking
-of whisk
-sweeping along lightly.
-large; great.

whisky
-a light carriage built for rapid motion;
-- called also tim
-whiskey.
-alt. of whiskey

whiskyfied
-alt. of whiskeyfied

whisp
-see wisp.
-a flock of snipe.

whisper
-to speak softly, or under the breath, so as to be heard only by one near at hand; to utter words without sonant breath; to talk without that vibration in the larynx which gives sonorous, or vocal, sound. see whisper, n.
-to make a low, sibilant sound or noise.
-to speak with suspicion, or timorous caution; to converse in whispers, as in secret plotting.
-to utter in a low and nonvocal tone; to say under the breath; hence, to mention privately and confidentially, or in a whisper.
-to address in a whisper, or low voice.
-to prompt secretly or cautiously; to inform privately.
-a low, soft, sibilant voice or utterance, which can be heard only by those near at hand; voice or utterance that employs only breath sound without tone, friction against the edges of the vocal cords and arytenoid cartilages taking the place of the vibration of the cords that produces tone; sometimes, in a limited sense, the sound produced by such friction as distinguished from breath sound made by friction against parts of the mouth. see voice, n., 2, and guide to pronunciation, // 5, 153, 154.
-a cautious or timorous speech.
-something communicated in secret or by whispering; a suggestion or insinuation.
-a low, sibilant sound.

whispered
-of whisper

whisperer
-one who whispers.
-a tattler; one who tells secrets; a conveyer of intelligence secretly; hence; a backbiter; one who slanders secretly.

whispering
-of whisper
-a. & n. from whisper. v. t.

whisperingly
-in a whisper, or low voice; in a whispering manner; with whispers.

whisperously
-whisperingly.

whist
-be silent; be still; hush; silence.
-a certain game at cards;
-- so called because it requires silence and close attention. it is played by four persons (those who sit opposite each other being partners) with a complete pack of fifty
-two cards. each player has thirteen cards, and when these are played out, he hand is finished, and the cards are again shuffled and distributed.
-to hush or silence.
-to be or become silent or still; to be hushed or mute.
-not speaking; not making a noise; silent; mute; still; quiet.

whistle
-to make a kind of musical sound, or series of sounds, by forcing the breath through a small orifice formed by contracting the lips; also, to emit a similar sound, or series of notes, from the mouth or beak, as birds.
-to make a shrill sound with a wind or steam instrument, somewhat like that made with the lips; to blow a sharp, shrill tone.
-to sound shrill, or like a pipe; to make a sharp, shrill sound; as, a bullet whistles through the air.
-to form, utter, or modulate by whistling; as, to whistle a tune or an air.
-to send, signal, or call by a whistle.
-a sharp, shrill, more or less musical sound, made by forcing the breath through a small orifice of the lips, or through or instrument which gives a similar sound; the sound used by a sportsman in calling his dogs; the shrill note of a bird; as, the sharp whistle of a boy, or of a boatswain's pipe; the blackbird's mellow whistle.
-the shrill sound made by wind passing among trees or through crevices, or that made by bullet, or the like, passing rapidly through the air; the shrill noise (much used as a signal, etc.) made by steam or gas escaping through a small orifice, or impinging against the edge of a metallic bell or cup.
-an instrument in which gas or steam forced into a cavity, or against a thin edge, produces a sound more or less like that made by one who whistles through the compressed lips; as, a child's whistle; a boatswain's whistle; a steam whistle (see steam whistle, under steam).
-the mouth and throat;
-- so called as being the organs of whistling.

whistled
-of whistle

whistlefish
-a gossat, or rockling;
-- called also whistler, three
-bearded rockling, sea loach, and sorghe.

whistler
-one who, or that which, whistles, or produces or a whistling sound.
-the ring ousel.
-the widgeon.
-the golden
-eye.
-the golden plover and the gray plover.
-the hoary, or northern, marmot (arctomys pruinosus).
-the whistlefish.

whistlewing
-the american golden
-eye.

whistlewood
-the moosewood, or striped maple. see maple.

whistling
-of whistle
-a. & n. from whistle, v.

whistlingly
-in a whistling manner; shrilly.

whistly
-in a whist manner; silently.

whit
-the smallest part or particle imaginable; a bit; a jot; an iota;
-- generally used in an adverbial phrase in a negative sentence.

white
-reflecting to the eye all the rays of the spectrum combined; not tinted with any of the proper colors or their mixtures; having the color of pure snow; snowy;
-- the opposite of black or dark; as, white paper; a white skin.
-destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; pale; pallid; as, white with fear.
-having the color of purity; free from spot or blemish, or from guilt or pollution; innocent; pure.
-gray, as from age; having silvery hair; hoary.
-characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favorable.
-regarded with especial favor; favorite; darling.
-the color of pure snow; one of the natural colors of bodies, yet not strictly a color, but a composition of all colors; the opposite of black; whiteness. see the note under color, n., 1.
-something having the color of snow; something white, or nearly so; as, the white of the eye.
-specifically, the central part of the butt in archery, which was formerly painted white; the center of a mark at which a missile is shot.
-a person with a white skin; a member of the white, or caucasian, races of men.
-a white pigment; as, venice white.
-any one of numerous species of butterflies belonging to pieris, and allied genera in which the color is usually white. see cabbage butterfly, under cabbage.
-to make white; to whiten; to whitewash; to bleach.

white friar
-a mendicant monk of the carmelite order, so called from the white cloaks worn by the order. see carmelite.

white
-blaze
-see white
-face.

white
-ear
-the wheatear.

white
-eye
-any one of several species of small old world singing of the genus zosterops, as zosterops palpebrosus of india, and z. c/rulescens of australia. the eyes are encircled by a ring of white feathers, whence the name. called also bush creeper, and white
-eyed tit.

white
-face
-a white mark in the forehead of a horse, descending almost to the nose;
-- called also white
-blaze.

white
-foot
-a white mark on the foot of a horse, between the fetlock and the coffin.

white
-fronted
-having a white front; as, the white
-fronted lemur.

white
-heart
-a somewhat heart
-shaped cherry with a whitish skin.

white
-hot
-white with heat; heated to whiteness, or incandescence.

white
-limed
-whitewashed or plastered with lime.

white
-livered
-having a pale look; feeble; hence, cowardly; pusillanimous; dastardly.

white
-pot
-a kind of food made of milk or cream, eggs, sugar, bread, etc., baked in a pot.

white
-water
-a dangerous disease of sheep.

whiteback
-the canvasback.

whitebait
-the young of several species of herrings, especially of the common herring, esteemed a great delicacy by epicures in england.
-a small translucent fish (salanx chinensis) abundant at certain seasons on the coasts of china and japan, and used in the same manner as the european whitebait.

whitebeam
-the common beam tree of england (pyrus aria);
-- so called from the white, woolly under surface of the leaves.

whitebeard
-an old man; a graybeard.

whitebelly
-the american widgeon, or baldpate.
-the prairie chicken.

whitebill
-the american coot.

whiteblow
-same as whitlow grass, under whitlow.

whiteboy
-a favorite.
-one of an association of poor roman catholics which arose in ireland about 1760, ostensibly to resist the collection of tithes, the members of which were so called from the white shirts they wore in their nocturnal raids.

whiteboyism
-the conduct or principle of the whiteboys.

whitecap
-the european redstart;
-- so called from its white forehead.
-the whitethroat;
-- so called from its gray head.
-the european tree sparrow.
-a wave whose crest breaks into white foam, as when the wind is freshening.

whitecoat
-the skin of a newborn seal; also, the seal itself.

whited
-of white

whitefish
-any one of several species of coregonus, a genus of excellent food fishes allied to the salmons. they inhabit the lakes of the colder parts of north america, asia, and europe. the largest and most important american species (c. clupeiformis) is abundant in the great lakes, and in other lakes farther north. called also lake whitefish, and oswego bass.
-the menhaden.
-the beluga, or white whale.

whiteflaw
-a whitlow.

whitehead
-the blue
-winged snow goose.
-the surf scoter.

whitely
-like, or coming near to, white.

whiten
-to grow white; to turn or become white or whiter; as, the hair whitens with age; the sea whitens with foam; the trees in spring whiten with blossoms.
-to make white; to bleach; to blanch; to whitewash; as, to whiten a wall; to whiten cloth.

whitened
-of whiten

whitener
-one who, or that which, whitens; a bleacher; a blancher; a whitewasher.

whiteness
-the quality or state of being white; white color, or freedom from darkness or obscurity on the surface.
-want of a sanguineous tinge; paleness; as from terror, grief, etc.
-freedom from stain or blemish; purity; cleanness.
-nakedness.
-a flock of swans.

whitening
-of whiten
-the act or process of making or becoming white.
-that which is used to render white; whiting.

whiterump
-the american black
-tailed godwit.

whites
-leucorrh/a.
-the finest flour made from white wheat.
-cloth or garments of a plain white color.

whiteside
-the golden
-eye.

whitesmith
-one who works in tinned or galvanized iron, or white iron; a tinsmith.
-a worker in iron who finishes or polishes the work, in distinction from one who forges it.

whitester
-a bleacher of linen; a whitener; a whitster.

whitetail
-the virginia deer.
-the wheatear.

whitethorn
-the hawthorn.

whitethroat
-any one of several species of old world warblers, esp. the common european species (sylvia cinerea), called also strawsmear, nettlebird, muff, and whitecap, the garden whitethroat, or golden warbler (s. hortensis), and the lesser whitethroat (s. curruca).

whitetop
-fiorin.

whitewall
-the spotted flycatcher;
-- so called from the white color of the under parts.

whitewash
-any wash or liquid composition for whitening something, as a wash for making the skin fair.
-a composition of line and water, or of whiting size, and water, or the like, used for whitening walls, ceilings, etc.; milk of lime.
-to apply a white liquid composition to; to whiten with whitewash.
-to make white; to give a fair external appearance to; to clear from imputations or disgrace; hence, to clear (a bankrupt) from obligation to pay debts.

whitewashed
-of whitewash

whitewasher
-one who whitewashes.

whitewashing
-of whitewash

whiteweed
-a perennial composite herb (chrysanthemum leucanthemum) with conspicuous white rays and a yellow disk, a common weed in grass lands and pastures;
-- called also oxeye daisy.

whitewing
-the chaffinch;
-- so called from the white bands on the wing.
-the velvet duck.

whitewood
-the soft and easily
-worked wood of the tulip tree (liriodendron). it is much used in cabinetwork, carriage building, etc.

whitewort
-wild camomile.
-a kind of solomon's seal (polygonum officinale).

whitflaw
-whitlow.

whither
-to what place;
-- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou?
-to what or which place;
-- used relatively.
-to what point, degree, end, conclusion, or design; whereunto; whereto;
-- used in a sense not physical.

whithersoever
-to whatever place; to what place soever; wheresoever; as, i will go whithersoever you lead.

whitherward
-in what direction; toward what or which place.

whitile
-the yaffle.

whiting
-of white
-a common european food fish (melangus vulgaris) of the codfish family;
-- called also fittin.
-a north american fish (merlucius vulgaris) allied to the preceding;
-- called also silver hake.
-any one of several species of north american marine sciaenoid food fishes belonging to genus menticirrhus, especially m. americanus, found from maryland to brazil, and m. littoralis, common from virginia to texas;
-- called also silver whiting, and surf whiting.
-chalk prepared in an impalpable powder by pulverizing and repeated washing, used as a pigment, as an ingredient in putty, for cleaning silver, etc.

whiting
-mop
-a young whiting.
-a fair lass.

whitish
-somewhat white; approaching white; white in a moderate degree.
-covered with an opaque white powder.

whitishness
-the quality or state of being whitish or somewhat white.

whitleather
-leather dressed or tawed with alum, salt, etc., remarkable for its pliability and toughness; white leather.
-the paxwax. see paxwax.

whitling
-a young full trout during its second season.

whitlow
-an inflammation of the fingers or toes, generally of the last phalanx, terminating usually in suppuration. the inflammation may occupy any seat between the skin and the bone, but is usually applied to a felon or inflammation of the periosteal structures of the bone.
-an inflammatory disease of the feet. it occurs round the hoof, where an acrid matter is collected.

whitlow
-wort
-same as whitlow grass, under whitlow.

whitmonday
-the day following whitsunday;
-- called also whitsun monday.

whitneyite
-an arsenide of copper from lake superior.

whitson
-see whitsun.

whitsour
-a sort of apple.

whitster
-a whitener; a bleacher; a whitester.

whitsun
-of, pertaining to, or observed at, whitsuntide; as, whitsun week; whitsun tuesday; whitsun pastorals.

whitsunday
-the seventh sunday, and the fiftieth day, after easter; a festival of the church in commemoration of the descent of the holy spirit on the day of pentecost; pentecost;
-- so called, it is said, because, in the primitive church, those who had been newly baptized appeared at church between easter and pentecost in white garments.
-see the note under term, n., 12.

whitsuntide
-the week commencing with whitsunday, esp. the first three days
-- whitsunday, whitsun monday, and whitsun tuesday; the time of pentecost.

whitten tree
-either of two shrubs (viburnum lantana, and v. opulus), so called on account of their whitish branches.

whitterick
-the curlew.

whittle
-a grayish, coarse double blanket worn by countrywomen, in the west of england, over the shoulders, like a cloak or shawl.
-same as whittle shawl, below.
-a knife; esp., a pocket, sheath, or clasp knife.
-to pare or cut off the surface of with a small knife; to cut or shape, as a piece of wood held in the hand, with a clasp knife or pocketknife.
-to edge; to sharpen; to render eager or excited; esp., to excite with liquor; to inebriate.
-to cut or shape a piece of wood with am small knife; to cut up a piece of wood with a knife.

whittled
-of whittle

whittling
-of whittle

whittlings
-chips made by one who whittles; shavings cut from a stick with a knife.

whittret
-a weasel.

whittuesday
-the day following whitmonday;
-- called also whitsun tuesday.

whitwall
-same as whetile.

whitworth ball
-a prejectile used in the whitworth gun.

whitworth gun
-a form of rifled cannon and small arms invented by sir joseph whitworth, of manchester, england.

whity
-brown
-of a color between white and brown.

whiz
-to make a humming or hissing sound, like an arrow or ball flying through the air; to fly or move swiftly with a sharp hissing or whistling sound.
-a hissing and humming sound.

whizzed
-of whiz

whizzing
-of whiz

whizzingly
-with a whizzing sound.

who
-originally, an interrogative pronoun, later, a relative pronoun also;
-- used always substantively, and either as singular or plural. see the note under what, pron., 1. as interrogative pronouns, who and whom ask the question: what or which person or persons? who and whom, as relative pronouns (in the sense of that), are properly used of persons (corresponding to which, as applied to things), but are sometimes, less properly and now rarely, used of animals, plants, etc. who and whom, as compound relatives, are also used especially of persons, meaning the person that; the persons that; the one that; whosoever.
-one; any; one.

whoa
-stop; stand; hold. see ho, 2.

whobub
-hubbub.

whoever
-whatever person; any person who; be or she who; any one who; as, he shall be punished, whoever he may be.

whole
-containing the total amount, number, etc.; comprising all the parts; free from deficiency; all; total; entire; as, the whole earth; the whole solar system; the whole army; the whole nation.
-complete; entire; not defective or imperfect; not broken or fractured; unimpaired; uninjured; integral; as, a whole orange; the egg is whole; the vessel is whole.
-possessing, or being in a state of, heath and soundness; healthy; sound; well.
-the entire thing; the entire assemblage of parts; totality; all of a thing, without defect or exception; a thing complete in itself.
-a regular combination of parts; a system.

whole
-hoofed
-having an undivided hoof, as the horse.

whole
-length
-representing the whole figure;
-- said of a picture or statue.
-a portrait or statue representing the whole figure.

whole
-souled
-thoroughly imbued with a right spirit; noble
-minded; devoted.

wholeness
-the quality or state of being whole, entire, or sound; entireness; totality; completeness.

wholesale
-sale of goods by the piece or large quantity, as distinguished from retail.
-pertaining to, or engaged in, trade by the piece or large quantity; selling to retailers or jobbers rather than to consumers; as, a wholesale merchant; the wholesale price.
-extensive and indiscriminate; as, wholesale slaughter.

wholesome
-tending to promote health; favoring health; salubrious; salutary.
-contributing to the health of the mind; favorable to morals, religion, or prosperity; conducive to good; salutary; sound; as, wholesome advice; wholesome doctrines; wholesome truths; wholesome laws.
-sound; healthy.

wholly
-in a whole or complete manner; entirely; completely; perfectly.
-to the exclusion of other things; totally; fully.

whom
-the objective case of who. see who.

whomsoever
-the objective of whosoever. see whosoever.

whoobub
-hubbub.

whoop
-the hoopoe.
-to utter a whoop, or loud cry, as eagerness, enthusiasm, or enjoyment; to cry out; to shout; to halloo; to utter a war whoop; to hoot, as an owl.
-to cough or breathe with a sonorous inspiration, as in whooping cough.
-to insult with shouts; to chase with derision.
-a shout of pursuit or of war; a very of eagerness, enthusiasm, enjoyment, vengeance, terror, or the like; an halloo; a hoot, or cry, as of an owl.
-a loud, shrill, prolonged sound or sonorous inspiration, as in whooping cough.

whooped
-of whoop

whooper
-one who, or that which, whooops.

whooping
-of whoop
-a. & n. from whoop, v. t.

whoot
-to hoot.

whop
-to throw one's self quickly, or by an abrupt motion; to turn suddenly; as, she whapped down on the floor; the fish whapped over.
-to beat or strike.
-a blow, or quick, smart stroke.
-same as whap.
-same as whap.

whopper
-something uncommonly large of the kind; something astonishing;
-- applied especially to a bold lie.
-one who, or that which, whops.
-same as whapper.

whopping
-very large; monstrous; astonishing; as, a whapping story.

whore
-a woman who practices unlawful sexual commerce with men, especially one who prostitutes her body for hire; a prostitute; a harlot.
-to have unlawful sexual intercourse; to practice lewdness.
-to worship false and impure gods.
-to corrupt by lewd intercourse; to make a whore of; to debauch.

whored
-of whore

whoredom
-the practice of unlawful intercourse with the other sex; fornication; lewdness.
-the sin of worshiping idols; idolatry.

whoremasterly
-having the character of a whoremaster; lecherous; libidinous.

whoremonger
-a whoremaster; a lecher; a man who frequents the society of whores.

whoreson
-a bastard; colloquially, a low, scurvy fellow;
-- used generally in contempt, or in coarse humor. also used adjectively.

whoring
-of whore

whorish
-resembling a whore in character or conduct; addicted to unlawful pleasures; incontinent; lewd; unchaste.

whorl
-a circle of two or more leaves, flowers, or other organs, about the same part or joint of a stem.
-a volution, or turn, of the spire of a univalve shell.
-the fly of a spindle.

whorled
-furnished with whorls; arranged in the form of a whorl or whorls; verticillate; as, whorled leaves.

whorler
-a potter's wheel.

whort
-the whortleberry, or bilberry. see whortleberry (a).

whortle
-the whortleberry, or bilberry.

whortleberry
-in england, the fruit of vaccinium myrtillus; also, the plant itself. see bilberry, 1.
-the fruit of several shrubby plants of the genus gaylussacia; also, any one of these plants. see huckleberry.

whose
-the possessive case of who or which. see who, and which.

whosesoever
-the possessive of whosoever. see whosoever.

whoso
-whosoever.

whosoever
-whatsoever person; any person whatever that; whoever.

whot
-hot.

whur
-to make a rough, humming sound, like one who pronounces the letter r with too much force; to whir; to birr.
-to snarl or growl, as a dog.
-a humming or whirring sound, like that of a body moving through the air with velocity; a whir.

whurry
-to whisk along quickly; to hurry.

whurt
-see whort.

why
-for what cause, reason, or purpose; on what account; wherefore;
-- used interrogatively. see the note under what, pron., 1.
-for which; on account of which;
-- used relatively.
-the reason or cause for which; that on account of which; on what account; as, i know not why he left town so suddenly;
-- used as a compound relative.
-a young heifer.

why
-not
-a violent and peremptory procedure without any assigned reason; a sudden conclusive happening.

whydah bird
-alt. of whydah finch

whydah finch
-the whidah bird.