Part 68 (2/2)

Sollochstol and Ibithraed went to war in 828, after four drunken Sollochi teens climbed and desecrated an Ibithraen burial mound. Sollochstol contends that the youths were in fact Arquali provacateurs, sent to stir up a conflict that would weaken both nations, making them easier to conquer. Given the events this book relates it is perhaps time to take their claim more seriously. - EDITOR.

2.

In the late Becturian era, Prince Axmal of Dremland persuaded four minor lords, who had taken up arms against one another and Axmal himself, to drop their feuds and attend his son's tenth birthday party. Each lord had a son or daughter of about the same age, and Axmal hoped to pacify the lords with the sight of their children at blissful play in his courtyard, over which he had hung a sign reading, 'The Garden of Happiness.' The plan worked: the lords were entranced by the children's innate goodness, and toasted one another, and declared themselves brothers for all time.

But the children of the minor lords had heard their fathers curse Axmal night after night, and were jealous of the gifts lavished on his son, which were finer than what they received on their own birthdays. When the adults went in to table, they stripped and gagged the boy, tied him to his birthday pony, set the beast's tail on fire and whipped him around the courtyard. Two days later the domains were at war. - EDITOR.

3.

Rose began this letter several times. A draft recovered from his personal effects contains a variety of first sentences, all discarded: 'I trust this finds you well', 'Rest a.s.sured that [unfinished]', and most curious of all, 'Ghosts and sorcerers lie, but from you, Father, I expect no less than perfect truth.' - EDITOR.

4.

Admiral Eberzam Isiq had the intention more than the habit of journal-keeping. Among the personal effects he left behind on the Chathrand Chathrand was a fine calfskinned volume of unprinted pages. The first eight sheets are filled with writing in his own hand; thereafter the writing is exclusively that of Mr Fiffengurt. - EDITOR. was a fine calfskinned volume of unprinted pages. The first eight sheets are filled with writing in his own hand; thereafter the writing is exclusively that of Mr Fiffengurt. - EDITOR.

5.

Etherhorde slang: a sutska sutska is a speckled dove found in parks and gardens and empty lots. A favourite dinner of tramps and vagabonds, it is easily lured into snares with a handful of grain. - EDITOR. is a speckled dove found in parks and gardens and empty lots. A favourite dinner of tramps and vagabonds, it is easily lured into snares with a handful of grain. - EDITOR.

6.

But Greysan Fulbreech learned of them on a plundering foray into Pathkendle's footlocker. Among other thefts, Fulbreech helped himself to a few loose pages t.i.tled simply, 'In Case You Live to Remember'. After recounting the conversation of the birds, Pathkendle writes: 'Lady Oggosk must be wrong. How could the Waking Spell be a curse if it made those owls, and Felthrup, and so many other wonderful creatures?' The pages went to the Secret Fist, and so, in good time, to me. - EDITOR.

7.

As well she might. 'Darkling Days' come from the myth of the Woman and the Troll, which tells of a fair young woman whose beloved ran afoul of the Elcand Firelords and was sentenced to death. The woman journeyed to the court of a great sorcerer-troll and begged him to hide her sweetheart in the valley he ruled. 'No one defies the Firelords without great cost, my child,' replied the troll. 'However, my wife leaves soon to visit her kin in the underworld, and if you will sign a contract promising to care for my sons until she returns, I will shelter you and your lover in my garden for one day, after which he must depart and answer for his offence.' The woman agreed, for she could hear the hounds of the Firelords even then, and the troll's scribe drew up the contract and gave it to her to sign. But when the scribe looked away the clever woman changed 'day' to 'darkling day,' the latter being the four-year span Rin leaves between one solar eclipse and the next. The troll signed carelessly, and as it was a magic contract it bound him to relinquish his garden to the lovers for four whole years.

But those years of joy - feasting on the sweetest of fruits, bathing in warm springs, dreaming to the pipes of fauns and the singing of the water-weird in the fountain - at last came to an end. And when they emerged from the garden the Firelords' warriors seized the man and bore him away to be executed. The heartless troll too had his revenge: he had divorced his wife and barred her from ever returning, and hence the woman was bound to go on caring for his malicious, sharp-toothed sons. And as trolls grow up far more slowly than humans, the woman only managed to fulfill the contract when she was very old, and weak of eye and memory, and too frail to hobble out of the valley of the troll. She stayed in his court, and served him to the end of her days, and wept for reasons no one else recalled at the time of the eclipse. - EDITOR.

8.

Names available upon request. - EDITOR.

9.

The mandoloro mandoloro is a small Opaltine accordion, traditionally constructed of two solid gourds and a rubbery bellows made from a shark's bladder. The instrument produces a reedy & singularly piercing yowl. It was upon first hearing a mandoloro in the Opalt back country that the explorer Jelan Gergandri doubled the number of men on night watch, declaring that 'in a country where is a small Opaltine accordion, traditionally constructed of two solid gourds and a rubbery bellows made from a shark's bladder. The instrument produces a reedy & singularly piercing yowl. It was upon first hearing a mandoloro in the Opalt back country that the explorer Jelan Gergandri doubled the number of men on night watch, declaring that 'in a country where that that is labelled music we must be ready for anything.' - EDITOR. is labelled music we must be ready for anything.' - EDITOR.

10.

The later testimony of Lady Lapadolma Yelig and others indicates that Fiffengurt was indeed to be appointed captain of the Great s.h.i.+p, before His Supremacy proclaimed that the post would once again belong to Rose. - EDITOR.

11.

Receipts signed by Captain Theimat Rose indicate that he purchased ixchel for use as poison-tasters, letter readers, and small-item (watch, compa.s.s, eyegla.s.ses) repairmen. To judge by the frequency of purchases, the average life expectancy for an ixchel in the Rose household was two years. - EDITOR.

12.

Nearly illegible, rather. After hours of scrutiny I believe the line read: 'Fate nearly reunited our family in the depths.' Or possibly, ' . . . in death.' - EDITOR.

13.

Of the five who disagreed: two thought the date 19 Ilbrin. Another declared with certainty that it was Ilbrin the 23rd. Mr Teggatz, charged with keeping a daily statistical log of work in the galley, confessed to having accidentally burned his log-book in the stove. Finally, Old Gangrune the purser admitted under questioning that he considered the entire Solar Year a mirage. The sun moved faster or slower at the G.o.ds' whims, he declared: any fool who watched the sky knew that, and clocks and hourgla.s.ses changed their speeds to match the sun's. It was pointed out to Gangrune that this belief called into question his fifty years of s.h.i.+pboard record-keeping. 'You've got it backwards,' he retorted. 'My logbook's our only hope of keeping track of the years. I'm an Imperial a.s.set, if you please.' - EDITOR.

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