Shalador's Lady
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 1 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 2 - KAELEER
CHAPTER 3 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 4 - KAELEER
CHAPTER 5 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 6 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 7 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 8 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 9 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 10 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 11 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 12 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 13 - KAELEER
CHAPTER 14 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 15 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 16 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 17 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 18 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 19 - KAELEER
CHAPTER 20 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 21 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 22 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 23 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 24 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 25 - EBON ASKAVI
CHAPTER 26 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 27 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 28 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 29 - KAELEER
CHAPTER 30 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 31 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 32 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 33 - KAELEER
CHAPTER 34 - KAELEER
CHAPTER 35 - KAELEER
CHAPTER 36 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 37 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 38 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 39 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 40 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 41 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 42 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 43 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 44 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 45 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 46 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 47 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 48 - TERREILLE
CHAPTER 49 - TERREILLE
ALSO BY ANNE BISHOP
The Ephemera Series
Sebastian
Belladonna
The Black Jewels Series
Daughter of the Blood
Heir to the Shadows
Queen of the Darkness
The Invisible Ring
Dreams Made Flesh
Tangled Webs
The Shadow Queen
The Tir Alainn Trilogy
Pillars of the World
Shadows and Light
The House of Gaian
ROC
Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
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80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Printing, March 2010
Copyright © Anne Bishop, 2010
All rights reserved
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publication Data:
Bishop, Anne.
Shalador’s lady: a black jewels novel/Anne Bishop.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-1-101-18588-9
1. Witches—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3552.I7594S54 2010
813’.54—dc22 2009036065
Set in Bembo
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FOR
NADINE, MERRI LEE, AND ANNEMARIE
AND FOR
NEELA
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks to Blair Boone for continuing to be my first reader, to Debra Dixon for being second reader, to Doranna Durgin for maintaining the Web site, to Rick Kohler for making the map pretty, to Pat Feidner just because, and to all the friends and readers who make this journey with me. And a special hello to Nikki and Sloan, the humanitarian vampire princesses I met on an Alaskan cruise.
Dena Nehele
JEWELS
WHITE
YELLOW
TIGER EYE
ROSE
SUMMER-SKY
PURPLE DUSK
OPAL★
GREEN
SAPPHIRE
RED
GRAY
EBON-GRAY
BLACK
*Opal is the dividing line between lighter and darker Jewels because it
can be either.
When making the Offering to the Darkness, a person can descend a
maximum of three ranks from his/her Birthright Jewel.
Example: Birthright White could descend to Rose.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The “Sc” in the names Scelt and Sceltie is pronounced “Sh.”
BLOOD HIERARCHY/CASTES
MALES:
landen—non-Blood of any race
Blood male—a general term for all males of the Blood; also refers to any Blood male who doesn’t wear Jewels
Warlord—a Jeweled male equal in status to a witch
Prince—a Jeweled male equal in status to a Priestess or a Healer
Warlord Prince—a dangerous, extremely aggressive Jeweled male; in status, slightly lower than a Queen
FEMALES:
landen—non-Blood of any race
Blood female—a general term for all females of the Blood; mostly refers to any Blood female who doesn’t wear Jewels
witch—a Blood female who wears Jewels but isn’t one of the other hierarchical levels; also refers to any Jeweled female
Healer—a witch who heals physical wounds and illnesses; equal in status to a Priestess and a Prince
Priestess—a witch who cares for altars, Sanctuaries, and Dark Altars; witnesses handfasts and marriages; pe
rforms offerings; equal in status to a Healer and a Prince
Black Widow—a witch who heals the mind; weaves the tangled webs of dreams and visions; is trained in illusions and poisons
Queen—a witch who rules the Blood; is considered to be the land’s heart and the Blood’s moral center; as such, she is the focal point of their society
PLACES IN THE REALMS
TERREILLE
Dena Nehele
TAMANARA MOUNTAINS
GRAYHAVEN—BOTH A FAMILY ESTATE AND A TOWN
EYOTA—VILLAGE IN THE EASTERN SHALADOR RESERVE
Ebon Askavi (aka the Black Mountain, the Keep)
Hayll
Zuulaman
KAELEER (THE SHADOW REALM)
Askavi
EBON ASKAVI (AKA THE BLACK MOUNTAIN, THE KEEP)
EBON RIH—VALLEY THAT IS THE KEEP’S TERRITORY
RIADA—BLOOD VILLAGE IN EBON RIH
Dea al Mon
Dharo
WEAVERS FIELD—BLOOD VILLAGE
BHAK—BLOOD VILLAGE
WOOLSKIN—LANDEN VILLAGE
Dhemlan
AMDARH—CAPITAL CITY
HALAWAY—VILLAGE NEAR SADIABLO HALL
SADIABLO HALL (THE HALL)
Nharkhava
TAJRANA—CAPITAL CITY
Scelt
MAGHRE—VILLAGE
HELL (THE DARK REALM, THE REALM OF THE DEAD)
Ebon Askavi (aka the Black Mountain, the Keep)
SADIABLO HALL
CASSIDY’S COURT
SHIRA—BLACK WIDOW/HEALER
VAE—WITCH; SCELTIE
REYHANA—SHALADOR QUEEN
Warlord Princes
ARCHERR
BURNE
HAELE
JARED BLAED (GRAY)
RANON—TALON’S SECOND-IN-COMMAND
SHADDO
SPERE
TALON—MASTER OF THE GUARD
THERAN—FIRST ESCORT
Princes
POWELL—STEWARD OF THE COURT
Warlords
BARDRIC
CAYLE
RADLEY
KERMILLA’S COURT
Warlords1
ASTON
BARDOC
FLYNTON—MASTER OF THE GUARD
GALLARD—STEWARD
JHORMA—CONSORT
KENJIM
LASKA
LIEKH
RIDLEY
TRAE
As tales of the new Queen’s heart and courage spread through the Territory of Dena Nehele, the Black Widows felt something tremble through the land. But when they spun their tangled webs of dreams and visions, what they saw gave them little comfort.
Many saw honey pear trees, heavy with ripe fruit, growing out of rotting bodies that had been left on the killing fields. A few saw a new beginning that was draped in the colors of sunset. Nothing they saw offered clarity—only the certainty that something was coming that would change Dena Nehele forever.
In Ebon Askavi, the Sanctuary of Witch, another Black Widow studied the dreams and visions in her tangled web—and saw more than the other Black Widows ever could.
Tears fell from her sapphire eyes, but even she could not have said if those tears were born of sorrow or of joy.
CHAPTER 1
TERREILLE
Ranon stepped out on the terrace behind the Grayhaven mansion, closed his dark eyes, and raised the wood flute to his lips. Then he hesitated while a lifetime of caution warred with the hope he felt because of Lady Cassidy, the Queen who now ruled the Territory of Dena Nehele.
Because there was hope, and fledgling trust, Ranon took a breath and began to play a greeting to the sun—a song that had not been heard outside of the Shalador reserves for many, many years. Even there, it had not been played openly.
His grandfather had taught him this song and every other song the Tradition Keepers had held on to since the Shalador people fled the ruins of their own Territory generations ago and settled in the southern part of Dena Nehele. The people had thrived there and put down roots, respecting the traditions of Dena Nehele but never forgetting their own—and hoping, always hoping, that someday they would have a Territory of their own again.
It had been good land once, and a good place to live when it had been ruled by the Gray-Jeweled Queens. Then Lia died, and Dena Nehele’s decline began. Queens who were backed by Dorothea SaDiablo, Hayll’s High Priestess, gained control within a couple of generations. Dorothea hated the people of Dena Nehele for holding out against her for so long, but she hated the Shalador people even more because of Jared, the Red-Jeweled Shalador Warlord who had been husband and Consort to Lia Grayhaven, the last Gray Lady to rule Dena Nehele.
Because Dorothea hated Jared’s people, her pet Queens ground away a little more of what was uniquely Shalador with each generation. The boundaries of the reserves where the Shaladorans had settled were whittled away until now they struggled to grow enough crops to feed themselves. The Shalador traditions were forbidden. The dances, the music, the stories—all were taught in secret and at great risk.
His paternal grandfather was a Tradition Keeper of music. A strong, quiet man, Yairen had been—and still was—a respected leader in Eyota, the village where Ranon had grown up. He was also a gifted musician who believed it was his duty to teach the young how to play the songs that had shaped the Shalador heart.
The Province Queen who controlled that reserve broke Yairen’s hands as punishment for teaching the forbidden—and then broke them twice more. When they healed the last time, Yairen could barely hold a flute, much less play one. But he still taught his grandson, and he taught him well, despite the crippled hands.
So this music had been a secret for most of Ranon’s life. Even when he admitted to playing the flute, he never played within the hearing of anyone he couldn’t trust—and even then, he rarely played the songs of Shalador.
Did the Queen he now served understand how much trust was required for him to stand here and play the music of his people? Probably not. Lady Cassidy had recognized his reluctance to play, but not even Shira, the Black Widow Healer who was his lover, understood how deeply fear and hope had twined in his heart these past few days as the flute’s notes floated on the air and became a part of the world. Yes, he was afraid, but the hope of something new and better was the reason he stood here, in a place that had been a stronghold for the twisted Queens, and played music that had been forbidden.
As one song followed another, Ranon let his heart soar with the notes and fill with a joyful peace.
“How long do you have to spend serenading the little green things before you can have breakfast?”
He opened his eyes and lowered the flute. The peace he’d felt a moment before vanished as Theran Grayhaven stepped out on the terrace.
He and Theran didn’t like each other. Never had. But he detected nothing in the question except polite interest.
“A quarter of an hour.” Ranon glanced at the hourglass hovering in the air next to him. Judging by how much sand was in the bottom of the glass, he’d played twice that long. “Gray says it will help the honey pear trees grow.”
“Does he really think they’ll wilt and die if you don’t stand out here playing music?” Theran asked as he studied the thirteen pots that were sheltered by the raised flower beds that formed the terrace wall.
Ranon’s heart gave a hard bump at the thought of any of the little honey pear trees dying, but he wouldn’t admit to anyone how much the living symbols of the past meant to him.
Jared had brought six honey pear trees to this land. One of them had been planted here at Grayhaven for Lia and had remained in the gardens long after it died as a mocking symbol of the Gray-Jeweled Queens who had once ruled. But that dead tree had hidden thirteen honey pears, carefully preserved. Lia had hidden them; Cassidy had found them as the first step to locating the Grayhaven treasure. Because of that, those little trees were a thread of shining hope that linked the past and the present.
“
Doesn’t matter what Gray thinks,” Ranon replied. “It is the Queen’s pleasure that I play the flute each morning for the honey pears, so I play.”
He knew the phrasing was a mistake the moment he said it.
“Well, we all play for the Queen’s pleasure in one way or another, don’t we?” Theran said. Then he glanced at Ranon and added with a touch of malice, “Better play faster or there won’t even be porridge left by the time you get to the table, let alone meat and eggs.”
I guess we’re not trying to get along anymore, Ranon thought. Since he made no secret of it, everyone in the court knew he hated porridge. Which meant Theran had said that in order to jab at him. Why? Because they didn’t like each other, and the effort to be civil rarely lasted for more than a few minutes at a time?
Hell’s fire. Grayhaven had been running hot and cold since Cassidy found the treasure and proved she was meant to rule here, but they were all committed to working together for the good of the land and the Queen.
For the good of the land, anyway. The other eleven men who made up the First Circle knew Theran didn’t feel the same commitment to Cassidy that they felt. Serving in her court was part of the agreement Theran had made in order to bring a Kaeleer Queen to Dena Nehele. That didn’t mean he wanted to serve her, despite his recent efforts to work with her instead of opposing her.