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The KnightGene Wolfe

Dedicated with the greatest respect to Yves Meynard, author of The Book Of Knights

The Riders

Who treads those level lands of gold,The level fields of mist and air,And rolling mountains manifoldAnd towers of twilight over there?No mortal foot upon them strays,No archer in the towers dwells,But feet too airy for our waysGo up and down their hills and dells.The people out of old romance,And people that have never been,And those that on the border danceBetween old history and betweenResounding fable, as the kingWho held his court at Camelot.There Guinevere is wanderingAnd there the knight Sir Lancelot.And by yon precipice of white,As steep as Roncesvalles, and more,Within an inch of fancy’s sight,Roland the peerless rides to war.And just the tip of Quixote’s spear,The greatest of them all by far,Is surely visible from here!But no: it is the Evening Star.

—Lord Dunsany

Ben, look at this first.

I have been reading through the first part of this letter, and there are an awful lot of names you will not know. So I have listed most of them here. If you come across one and wonder who that is, or where it is, you can look here. You would be wasting your time to read this now. It is just to look the names up in.

If a name is not here, I missed it or I do not know either, or I knew you would know already. Here they are.

ABLE	This is the name I use here. It was also the name of Bold Berthold’s brother.
AELF	Fifth-world people. They do not work much, protect trees and so forth, and see certain things differently.
AELFRICE	The fifth world, under Mythgarthr.
AGR	He was Marder’s marshal, and I have known worse people.
ALVIT	One of the shield-maidens who ride for the Valfather.
ANGRBORN	The giants who got forced out of Skai. All of them are descended from a famous giantess named Angr, or say they are.
ARNTHOR	The king of Celidon. His picture was on the money. Disiri gave me a message for him.
ATL	One of Thunrolf’s servants.
AUD	Thunrolf’s steward.
BAKI	A Fire Aelf girl I met at the Tower of Glas. She and Uri said they were my slaves.
BALDIG	One of the peasants who used to live in Griffinsford.
BATTLEMAID	Ravd’s sword. Swords get names, like ships.
BATTLEWITCH	Garvaon’s sword.
BEAW	One of Garvaon’s men-at-arms. He was a good guy too.
BEEL	The baron Arnthor sent to Jotunland.
BEN	My brother back in America, who I still miss. Did you read this, Ben?
BLACKMANE	Ravd’s charger.
BLUESTONE CASTLE	Indign’s castle. Some Osterling pirates wrecked it.
BLUESTONE ISLAND	A high, rocky island about a quarter of a mile from the mainland.
BODACHAN BOLD	Earth Aelf. They are one of the small clans.
BERTHOLD	The peasant from Griffinsford who let me cook my grouse and live with him in his hut. We said we were brothers, and he believed it.
BREGA	A peasant woman who lived in Glennidam.
BYMIR	The first Angrborn I ever saw.
CASPAR	The head warder at Sheerwall Castle.
CELIDON	A big country, longer than it is wide, on the west coast of the mainland. Irringsmouth, Forcetti, and Kingsdoom are all towns in Celidon.
COLLINS	My old English teacher.
CROL	Beel’s herald.
DISIRA	Seaxneat’s wife.
DISIRI	The queen of the Moss Aelf.
DOLLOP AND SCALLOP	The inn where we stayed in Forcetti.
DUNS	Uns’ older brother.
EAST HALL	Woddet’s manor.
EGIL	One of the outlaws.
EGR	One of Beel’s upper servants.
ETERNE	The Mother of Swords.
FINEFIELD	Garvaon’s manor.
FIRE AELF	The clan Setr took over completely.
FORCETTI	Marder’s town, a seaport.
FREE COMPANIES	Outlaw gangs. This was the polite name.
FROST GIANTS	The Angrborn, especially the raiders.
GARSECG	The name Setr was using when I met him.
GARVAON	Beel’s best knight.
GAYNOR	Arnthor’s wife, the queen of Celidon.
GERDA	The girl Bold Berthold was going to marry.
GERI	The girl you were dating when I lost America.
GILLING	The king of the Angrborn.
GLENNIDAM	The village where Ulfa and Toug were born.
GORN	The innkeeper at the Dollop and Scallop.
GRENGARM	The dragon who had Eterne.
GRIFFIN	The little river running past Griffmsford and into the Irring.
GRIFFINSFORD	A village the Angrborn wiped out.
GYLF	My dog. The Valfather lost him, and I got to keep him until the Valfather wanted him back.
HEIMIE	Gerda’s son by Hymir. It made him a Mouse.
HEI	The Overcyn woman in charge of death.
HELA	Gerda’s daughter by Hymir, Heimir’s sister.
HERMAD	One of Marder’s knights.
HOB	One of Caspar’s warders.
HOEDSVIN	The cook on the Western Trader.
HULTA	A woman in Glennidam.
HYMIR	The Angrborn who got Gerda.
HYNDLE	Hymir’s Angrborn son.
IDNN	Beel’s daughter, pretty small and next to beautiful. Her voice and big dark eyes were what you remembered.
INDIGN	A duke Osterlings killed. Bluestone Castle was his.
IRRING	A big river.
IRRINGSMOUTH	Indign’s town, where the Irring empties into the sea. Osterlings had burned a lot of it.
JER	The head of an outlaw gang.
JOTUNLAND	The Angrborn country, north of the mountains.
KELPIES	Sea Aelf girls.
KERL	The first mate on the Western Trader.
KINGSDOOM	The capital of Celidon, a seaport.
KLEOS	The second world, above Skai.
KULILI	The person responsible for the Aelf.
LADY	The Valfather’s youngest daughter. No one is supposed to use her name in ordinary talk, so we say the Lady.
LUD	One of Marder’s knights.
LUT	The smith who forged Battlemaid.
MAG	Bold Berthold’s mother.
MAGNEIS	The charger Marder gave me.
MANI	The big black tomcat who followed Gylf and me.
MARDER	The duke of the northernmost duchy in Celidon.
MICHAEL	A man from Kleos.
MICE	People who are half Angrborn and half human.
MODGUDA	A servingwoman in Sheerwall.
MOONRIDER	Any knight the Lady sends to Mythgarthr.
MORCAINE	A princess. Arnthor and Setr are her brothers.
MORI	A smith in Irringsmouth.
MOSS AELF	Disiri’s clan.
MOSSMAIDENS	Girls of the Moss Aelf.
MOSSMATRONS	Older women of the Moss Aelf.
MOSSMEN	Men of the Moss Aelf.
MOUNTAIN OF FIRE	A gate to Muspel.
MOUNTAINS OF THE MICE	Same as the Mountains of the North.
MOUNTAINS OF THE NORTH	The mountains between Celidon and Jotunland.
MOUNTAINS OF THE SUN	The mountains between Celidon and Osterland.
MUSPEL	The sixth world, under Aelfrice.
MYTHGARTHR	The fourth world, where Celidon is.
NEEDAM	An island south of Celidon. I have never been there.
NJORS	A sailor on the Western Trader.
NUKARA	Uns’ mother.
NUR	The second mate on the Western Trader.
NYTIR	The knight I beat in the tap of the Dollop and Scallop.
OBR	Svon’s father. He was a baron.
OLOP	The baron who took over the Mountain of Fire while Thunrolf and I were in Muspel
ORG	The ogre I got from Uns.
OSSAR	Disira’s baby.
OSTERLAND	The country east of the Mountains of the Sun.
OSTERLINGS	People who eat other people to become more human.
OVERCYNS	The people of Skai—the Valfather’s people.
PAPOUNCE	One of Beel’s upper servants.
PARKA	Beel’s grandfather. He was King of Celidon.
PHOLSUNG	A woman from Kleos.
POUK BADEYE	A sailor I got to help me.
POTASH	He taught Chemistry and Physics.
QUEEN OF THE WOOD	This means Disiri. A lot of people are afraid to say her name because they think she might come. (It never worked for me.)
RAVD	The best knight I ever saw.
RED HALL	Ravd’s manor.
RIVER ROAD	The main road inland from Irringsmouth. It runs along the north bank of the Irring.
ROOM OF LOST LOVE	A room that was like another world when you got inside. Sometimes dead people were alive again in there.
ROUND TOWER	The biggest castle at the Mountain of Fire.
SABEI	A dead knight.
SALAMANDERS	The Fire Aelf. Uri and Baki were Salamanders.
SCAUR	A nice fisherman in Irringsmouth.
SCHILDSTARR	One of the most important Angrborn.
SEAXNEAT	A man in Glennidam who traded with the outlaws.
SEAGIRT	Thunrolf’s castle.
SETR	A dragon with a human father.
SHEBRWALL	Marder’s castle.
SHA	A fishwife, but she was nice to me.
SKAI	The third world, above Mythgarthr.
SKJENA	A girl that lived in Griffinsford.
SPARREO	My math teacher. She was pretty nice.
SURT	Hordsvin’s helper.
SVON	Ravd’s squire.
SWERT	Beel’s valet.
SWORD BREAKER	My mace. Sort of like a steel bar.
THIAZI	Gilling’s minister.
THOPE	Marder’s master-at-arms.
(OLD) TOUG	Ulfa’s father.
(YOUNG)TOUG	Ulfa’s brother, my age or little older.
TUNC	A master of arms who taught Garvaon.
ULD	A farmer who used to live in Griffinsford.
ULFA	The girl who made clothes for me in Glennidam.
URI	A friend of Baki’s. (Sometimes they said sister.)
UNS	A handicapped peasant.
UTGARD	Gilhng’s castle, also the town around it.
VALFATHER	The king of Skai.
VALI	A man old man Toug got to help him kill me.
VE	Vali’s little boy.
VIDARE	One of Marder’s knights.
VOLLA	Garvaon’s dead wife.
WAR WAY	The main road north from Celidon into Jotunland.
WELAND	The man who forged Eterne. He was from Mythgarthr but he became king of the Fire Aelf.
WESTERN TRADER	The ship I took from Irringsmouth.
WISTAN	Garvaon’s squire,
WODDET	The biggest knight at Sheerwall.
WULFKIL	A creek that emptied into the Griffin.
WYT	A sailor on the Western Trader.
YENS	A little port between Forcetti and Kingsdoom.
YOND	Woddet’s squire.

There they are, Ben. It has been easy for me to name them. What was hard was making you see them. Remember that the Osterlings had long teeth and starved faces, and the Angrborn stunk. Remember that Disiri was a shapechanger, and all her shapes were beautiful.