Маска Зеркал - M. A. Каррик

солнце/земля: Контрастные термины, используемые в культуре лиганти для различных целей. Солнечные часы длятся с 6 утра до 6 вечера; земные — с 6 вечера до 6 утра. Солнечные — это правые руки, а земные — левые. Солнечные и земные часы означают "по часовой стрелке" и "против часовой стрелки", или, когда речь идет о людях, "мужчина, рожденный женщиной" или "женщина, рожденная мужчиной".

Шорса: Чтец колоды с узором.

Трикат: Нумен, связанный с цифрой 3 в нуминатрии. Олицетворяет стабильность, семью, сообщество, завершенность, жесткость и примирение.

Туат: Нумен, связанный с 2 в нуминатрии. Олицетворяет другого, двойственность, общение, связь, оппозицию и край инскриптора.

Тиран: Кайус Сифиньо, также называемый Кайус Рекс. Он был полководцем лиганти, завоевавшим весь Врасцан, но, согласно легенде, его дальнейшее распространение было остановлено тем, что он поддался своим разнообразным желаниям. Считавшийся неубиваемым, Тиран был якобы убит венерической болезнью. Его смерть празднуется в Ночь колоколов.

Униат: Нумен, связанный с 1 в нуминатрии. Олицетворяет тело, самосознание, просветление, сдерживание и мел инскриптора.

Бдение: Основная сила закона и порядка в Надежре, прозванная "ястребами" в честь своей эмблемы. Отдельно от армии города-государства, Вигил охраняет порядок в самом городе под руководством верховного главнокомандующего, подчиняющегося Каэрулету. Их штаб-квартира находится в Аэрии.

Врасцан: название региона и свободной конфедерации городов-государств, в которую ранее входила Надежра.

Источник Ажерайса: святое место, вокруг которого был основан город Надежра. Источник существует внутри Сна Ажераиса и проявляется в мире бодрствования только во время Великого Сна. Испив его воды, можно обрести истинное понимание закономерности.

Зиемец: (псевд. зиемич) Предводители врасценских кланов, также называемые "старейшинами кланов". Каждый из них носит титул, взятый из названия своего клана: Аношкинич, Дворнич, Киралич, Мешарич, Стрецкойч, Варадич и (ранее) Ижраньич.

extras

meet the author

Photo Credit: John Scalzi

M. A. CARRICK is the joint pen name of Marie Brennan (author of the Memoirs of Lady Trent) and Alyc Helms (author of the Adventures of Mr. Mystic). The two met in 2000 on an archaeological dig in Wales and Ireland — including a stint in the town of Carrickmacross — and have built their friendship through two decades of anthropology, writing, and gaming. They live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Find out more about M. A. Carrick and other Orbit authors by registering for the free monthly newsletter at orbitbooks.net.

if you enjoyed

THE MASK OF MIRRORS

look out for

BOOK TWO OF THE ROOK & ROSE TRILOGY

by

M. A. Carrick

Seven Knots, Lower Bank

The rookery of Seven Knots never slept. There were always babes yowling the tenements awake, dogs snuffling in the streets for scraps, laborers and skiffers and laundresses making their way between work and home. When a plaza was silent, it was a sure bet that something unpleasant was about to happen — and you didn’t want to be there when it did.

The plaza behind the Seven Knots labyrinth was shrouded in that anticipatory quiet, but Vargo was waiting by choice — by design — in the shadows of one of the many twisty passages that sprang from it. Varuni and Nikory waited beside him, with Orostin and a dozen other fists planted in the nearby alleyways to keep watch.

The only person not there by choice was Premyk, the knot-traitor who’d thrown his lot and six months of aža profits in with the Stretsko gangs. The same gangs that were creating problems for Vargo up and down the Lower Bank.

When Vargo confronted him, Premyk clearly expected to die on the spot — which just showed again that he didn’t understand his boss. Retribution would come later. Right now, Premyk was staked out in the plaza as bait, flanked by two of Vargo’s people in place of Premyk’s own. The Stretsko boss would come to take the traitor’s oath and his payment, and Vargo would be waiting to take her.

It was the sort of maneuver that couldn’t be left to his people, no matter how much Vargo would have preferred to spend the sweltering summer night at home under the cooling effects of a numinat. His back — still not fully healed from the shredding the zlyzen had given it — was beginning to itch under the layers of sweat, bandages, and brocade that swaddled it. He was losing the fight against the urge to strip it all off in search of relief, when Varuni stiffened beside him.

On the far side of the plaza, he spied movement. An older man with iron-grey braids, one ratted into the long tail of the Stretsko, emerged into the plaza.

“Foolish to be out this late, when even Ažerais lies dreaming,” he said in Nadežran-flavored Vraszenian.

After a moment of silence and a surreptitious prod from one of his guards, Premyk blurted in the same language, “But Ažerais looks out for fools and children. And w-we are her children.”

The Stretsko man gave a low, two-toned whistle that sounded like the call of a dreamweaver bird. After several tense moments, two others entered the plaza, boots clomping and shoulders hunched under the weight of a covered sedan chair.

“Wh-what?” Premyk’s voice wavered on the question as the bearers set the chair down. “Tserdev was supposed to take my knot oath herself. That was the arrangement.”

Vargo traded a look with Varuni. Every word the man spoke was another chance for him to betray Vargo and warn Tserdev of their trap.

“The boss isn’t stupid, to walk out in the open,” the Stretsko man said. “Half this district wants her netted. Hawks leave the chairs alone.” He approached Premyk, pulling out a braided cord knobbed on two ends with small wooden beads. At this distance and in the dark, Vargo couldn’t tell the colors, but he knew a knot bracelet when he saw one.

“Go on,” said the man, holding out the cord for Premyk to