Beka Cooper 1 - Terrier

by Tamora Pierce

  Willes Cooper – Beka's twelve-year-old brother, good rider, training to be a messenger

  THE COOPERS 200 YEARS LATER –

  Eleni Cooper – former priestess, single mother of George Cooper

  George Cooper – Eleni's only son, six when she writes in her journal in 406 H.E.

  OTHER PERSONS AND BEINGS OF INTEREST

  Aveefa – dust spinner

  Hasfush – dust spinner, found at the corner of Charry Orchard and Stormwing Streets

  Shiaa – dust spinner

  Deirdry Noll – prosperous baker, former neighbor and friend of Beka's

  Gemma Noll – Deirdry's youngest daughter, unmarried, helps with baking

  Yates Noll – Deirdry's youngest son

  Gunnar Espeksra – rusher, or thug, runs with Yates Noll

  Jungen Berryman – gem mage, fascinated by Dogs, friend of Goodwin and Tunstall

  Jack Ashmiller – Orva's husband, father of three children

  Orva Ashmiller – drunkard, hotblood wine addict, Jack's wife, mother of three children

  Amaya Painter – mage, mother of a Shadow Snake victim

  Calum Painter – five-year-old, kidnapped and killed by the Shadow Snake

  Vonti Painter – Amaya's husband, lost at sea

  Esseny – murdered dancer

  Inknose – street denizen

  Mother Cantwell – mumper (beggar) and thief

  Paistoi – Carthaki slave merchant

  Parkes – surname of a pair of brawling brothers

  Wildberry – pretty woman with sisters

  GLOSSARY

  Barzun: country to the south of Tortall, on the north shore of the Great Inland Sea

  Birdie: informant

  Black God: the hooded and robed God of Death, recognized as such throughout the Eastern and Southern Lands

  Black God's Option: suicide

  bugnob: person of little brain

  cages: holding cells for kennel prisoners

  canoodling: sexual activity

  Carthak: ancient and powerful slaveholding empire that includes all of the Southern Lands, a storehouse of learning, sophistication, and culture

  Chaos, Realms of: one of the four Realms (Mortal, Divine, Peaceful, Chaos); the one where everything is unending change, destruction, and remaking

  cityman: any respectable person who is not noble; knight's usage means peaceable, sheeplike person

  Copper Isles: slaveholding nation south and west of Tortall, originally named the Kyprish Isles. The lowlands are hot, wet jungles; the highlands are cold and rocky. Traditionally their tie is to Carthak rather than Tortall.

  Corus: capital city of Tortall, on the banks of the River Olorun cracknob: madman

  cuddy: slob

  Dog: member of Provost's Guard

  douse: murder

  doxie: female prostitute

  ducknob: person of low intelligence

  dust spinner: a being of air and spirit, a continuous whirlwind that gathers breezes, conversations, emotions, and other bits from its surroundings

  elsewise: otherwise

  filcher: small-time criminal

  foist: master pickpocket

  Galla: country to the north and east of Tortall, famous for its mountains and forests, with an ancient royal line

  gauds: bright, costly things

  get in the way of: become; learn

  Gift: human, academic magic, the use of which must be taught

  gillyflower: carnation

  gixie: girl

  glims: eyes

  gorget: mail plate cover for the neck, like a collar

  Happy Bag: the collection of weekly bribes for Provost's office – jewels, coins, art, magical objects – anything of value that can be sold for cash

  hedgewitch: worker of small magics, not powerful enough to be called a mage, with little formal education

  hobble: tie up or arrest

  hobbles: rawhide restraints used on prisoners

  hotblood wine: wine spiked with an amphetamine-like substance

  Human Era (H.E.): time period that began 246 years prior to the present book, marking the exile of the immortals from the Mortal Realms

  hunkerbones: haunches

  immortals: creatures that, unless killed, live forever, including Stormwings, giants, spidrens, winged horses

  jack: tankard, often leather

  jinglenob: empty-headed person

  kennel: Provost's guardhouse; police station

  Ladymoon: symbol of the Goddess

  liar's fanfare: overstuffed codpiece

  loaner: mocking term for nobles' sale of heirlooms they buy back when they get more money; also a scornful term for a noble

  Lord Provost: nobleman in command of the Provost's Guard throughout the realm; most take a personal interest in the Guard in the capital, Corus, as well as in the running of the Guard throughout the realm.

  Maren: one of the Eastern Lands, east of Tusaine and Tyra, rich and powerful land

  midden hen: chicken that lives in dung; someone completely crazy

  minnow: very small-time criminal, not worth the trouble to arrest

  Mithros: the chief god of the Tortallan pantheon, God of War and the Law; his symbol is the sun.

  mot: woman, common-born

  mumper: beggar

  murrain: plague

  nob, noll: head

  noble: large coin in copper or silver

  Olorun River: river that flows east to west through the heart of Tortall

  Outwalls: Outwalls Prison, jail for serving long-term sentences

  patten: hard wooden shoe, keeps feet out of the mud

  Peaceful Realms: home of the spirits of the dead; where the souls of the living go to heal from the pain of life

  Players' jollity: professional performance, play, or musical entertainment

  Puppy: trainee, Provost's Guard

  puttock: low-level female prostitute

  raston: bread loaf stuffed with buttery bread crumbs and light filling

  Rat: criminal; prey; captive (to Dogs)

  river dodgers: hard men and women who work on and around the river, on boats, in shipping and trade (and smuggling)

  rushers: thugs

  sap: handheld lead-filled cylinder, six inches long, with a loop for the wrist; a knockout or bone-breaking weapon

  sarden: blasted; damned; detestable

  scale: fence, or receiver of stolen goods

  Scanra: country to the north of Tortall, wild, rocky, and cold, with very little land that can be farmed. Scanrans are masters of the sea and are feared anywhere there is a coastline. They also frequently raid over land.

  scummer: animal dung

  scut: idiot

  seekings: investigations; hunts for criminals or missing persons

  Shakith: one of the Carthaki gods of the underworld, she is the blind seer and the goddess who weighs things for their true value; thus, she is the goddess of justice, bankers, jewelers, and traders in gemstones.

  sommat: something

  spintry: male prostitute

  Stormwings: immortal creatures, banished before the Human Era. They had steel birds' wings and claws and half-human heads and chests. They lived on fear and battle-killed dead; very nasty personalities.

  sutler: thief who takes goods from shops or vendors' stalls

  ticklers: fingers

  tosspot: drunkard

  treats: bribes

  trollop: woman who is morally lax, usually sexually

  trull: very low-class kind of woman; the dregs

  Tusaine: small country tucked between Tortall and Maren

  twilsey: drink made of raspberry or cider vinegar and water, most refreshing

  Tyra: merchant republic on the Great Inland Sea between Tortall and Maren. Tyra is mostly swamp, and its people rely on trade and banking for income.

  Tamora Pierce captured the imagination of readers more than twenty years ago with Alanna: The First Adventure. As of September 2006, she has
written twenty-four books, including three completed quartets – The Song of the Lioness, The Immortals, and Protector of the Small – and two Trickster books set in the fantasy realm of Tortall. She has also written the Circle of Magic and The Circle Opens quartets, as well as a stand-alone Circle title: The Will of the Empress. Her books have been translated into eleven different languages, and some are available on audio from Listening Library and Full Cast Audio. Tamora Pierce's fast-paced, suspenseful writing and strong, believable heroines have won her much praise: Emperor Mage was a 1996 ALA Best Book for Young Adults, The Realms of the Gods was listed as an "outstanding fantasy novel" by VOYA in 1996, Squire (Protector of the Small #3) was a 2002 ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and Lady Knight (Protector of the Small #4) debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Trickster's Choice spent a month on the New York Times bestseller list and was a 2003 ALA Best Book for Young Adults. The sequel, Trickster's Queen, was a New York Times bestseller, as was The Will of the Empress.

  An avid reader herself, Ms. Pierce graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She has worked at a variety of jobs and has written everything from novels to radio plays. Along with writer Meg Cabot (The Princess Diaries series), she cofounded SheroesCentral, a discussion board about female heroes; remarkable women in fact, fiction, and history; books; current events; and teen issues. Though she no longer sponsors Sheroes-Central and Sheroes Fans as she did for five years, she is still a devoted member of the sites.

  Tammy lives in Syracuse, New York, with her husband, Tim, a writer, Web page designer, and Web administrator. They are currently cowriting a female superhero, White Tiger, for Marvel Comics. They share their home with five cats, two birds, and various freeloading wildlife.

  For more information, visit www.tamorapierce.com.