The Crown of Dalemark (The Dalemark Quartet 4)

Holand, the leading earldom of South Dalemark, a sizable city, a flourishing seaport, and the seat of Earl Hadd, situated in the extreme south of Dalemark.

Hollisay, one of the Holy Islands, named from the number of holly bushes that grow there.

Holy Islands, a scatter of islands in the bay between the Point of Hark and Carrow Head, famous as a haven for shipping. The islands are home to a strange, fey people and full of legends of the Undying. They are part of the King’s Lands and owe no allegiance to any earl, but in the long interregnum between the Adon and Amil the Great they were regarded as part of South Dalemark and claimed by whoever was the strongest earl. Amil the Great rectified this by appointing a Warden of the Islands and spent much time there himself helping Ynen Navisson build his new fleet and experiment with steamships.

Holy Isle, the centermost island of the Holy Islands and rightly named. Only those who are meant to go to it can find it.

Honker, Ganner Sagersson.

Horsehair drums, traditional crude drums made of horsehide with the hair still on it, beaten loudly at the Holand Sea Festival, probably because Old Ammet was thought to govern the wild horses of the sea.

Horses of the sea were said to belong to Old Ammet and to appear galloping round a ship that was doomed.

Hurrel, Lawschool slang for a big push at grittling, a real scrimmage.

Incantation, a measured alliterative way of speaking, passed down from Singer to Singer and only used on the most solemn occasions.

Irana Harchadsdaughter, one of Earl Hadd’s many grandchildren, cousin of Hildrida and Ynen, betrothed at an early age to Agnet, third son of the Earl of Waywold in South Dalemark.

“I sent the hidden death…,” one of Kankredin’s two chief mages, who seems to have had no name apart from the boastful spell woven into his gown.

“I sing for Osfameron, I move in more than one world” are the words inlaid in Moril Clennensson’s cwidder in the old writing, by which the cwidder describes itself. Compare Tanaqui’s weaving. It is possible these words cause the cwidder to behave as it does.

Island people, the inhabitants of the Holy Islands who are something of a race unto themselves, being small and brown, with dark eyes and pale hair. Their singsong accent is unlike any other in Dalemark. They are said to be remnants of the first people ever to settle the country.

Isle of Gard, the ruling island of the Holy Islands where the Lord’s mansion and the main fleet are.

“I tortured the beast…,” one of Kankredin’s two chief mages, known only by the words woven in his gown.

Jay, herald and captain to the King of the Riverlands. Jay seems to have started as a minor, though trusted, herald, but he distinguished himself in the wars with the Heathens, when he lost an arm and endeared himself to the King by his cheerfulness, and became the favorite of the King in exile.

Jenro, a Holy Islander, coxswain aboard the flagship Wheatsheaf.

“Jolly Holanders,” a sea shanty that was known and loved all over South Dalemark.

Justice, an essential part of the corrupt legal system of South Dalemark before the reforms of Amil the Great. A justice was appointed and paid by an earl and did the earl’s bidding, sitting as a magistrate and hearing only such cases as interested his employer or could bring the justice himself a bribe. The South had no access to the Lawschool of the North, and justices seldom had any legal training. They had to rely on their clerks, who were equally corrupt, to tell them what the law was.

K at the beginning of a personal name was only used in North Dalemark. In the slurred and softer dialect of the South a K becomes either C (pronounced KH) or H. For instance, the Southern form of the name Keril is Harl; or there are sometimes two forms of a Northern name, as in the name Kialan, which appears in the South both as Collen and as Halain.

Kanart, an Earl of Dropwater killed in battle during the Adon’s wars.

Kanarthi, the conjectured Northern form of the name Cennoreth.

Kankredin, an evil magician, sometimes called the mage of mages, who accompanied the Heathen invaders from Haligland, intending to use them to help him usurp the power and position of the One. Kankredin was himself of the Undying and had increased his powers by magically passing through death, which made him virtually impossible to kill. Though legend claims that King Hern overthrew him, Kankredin appears again in stories long before the time of the Adon and was later said by the North to be the cause of all the evils in the South. It is claimed that Amil the Great frustrated an attempt by Kankredin to take over the North, too.

Kappin, Lawschool slang for fighting to hold the team’s position.

Karet, a hearthman of Aberath.

Kars Adon, son of Kiniron, who became clan head and High Lord after his father died in the invasion of prehistoric Dalemark. Though Kars Adon was barely fifteen and crippled from birth, he was held in great honor by all his subjects. This was partly due to the custom of the clans, but mostly to the character of Kars Adon himself.

Kastri, the Adon’s son by his first wife and ancestor of Earl Keril of Hannart, who accompanied his father and Manaliabrid into exile.

Ked, a lowborn member of Clan Rath, aged about eight, who had a bad reputation as a liar.

Keril, Earl of Hannart, descended from the Adon and generally considered the most influential man in North Dalemark. As a young man he had high ideals and set out to free the South by helping in an uprising. The rebellion failed, and Keril had to be rescued and smuggled North by Halida, whom he married. He arrived back in Hannart to find his father dying and himself with a price on his head in the South. This seems to have given Keril a strong distaste for revolution of the violent kind. As an earl he supported the Southern freedom fighters surreptitiously, with money and advice, apparently hoping for a peaceful political solution, no doubt with himself as chief negotiator, for he possessed a lively and devious political mind. Unfortunately this same deviousness caused him to miscalculate gravely in the case of Navis Haddsson, and he had, as a result, to watch the gradual fading of Hannart as a power in the land.

Kern, the Northern form of the name Hern.