'Ah,' she breathed as she leaned against him. 'What was that?'
'Something . . . someone . . . changed,' he whispered, and she could hear the sudden strain in his voice. Tiny tears were beading at the corners of his eyes. 'Such suffering. Such . . . wonder.'
'Elect,' someone was calling from the chamber within. 'Elect, the Dreamer . . .' The man's voice was filled with urgency, with fear. 'The Dreamer . . . weeps.'
In a bedchamber high in the Tower of Thrones, Yvane the na'kyrim woke from sleep with a piercing scream. The crisp white sheets fell from her as she jerked upright, her face slick with sweat. For long moments she sat thus, her hands clawing at the bedclothes. Breath would not come to her and she gasped for air.
The door burst open and a guard rushed in: one of Taim's men, posted outside despite her protestations. He came to the side of the bed. She turned and stared at him, uncomprehending, still lost in black nightmare.
'I dreamed of darkness,' she said in a cracking, enfeebled voice. 'A man. A terrible, broken man, with nothing but rage in his heart.'
To be continued . . .
The Passage of Time
The First Age
Began when the Gods made the world and put the One Race in it to inhabit it.
Ended when the One Race rose up against the Gods and was destroyed.
The Second Age
Began when the Gods made the Five Races: Huanin, Kyrinin, Whreinin, Saolin and Anain.
The Huanin and Kyrinin made war upon the Whreinin and destroyed that race, and were thereafter named the Tainted Races for their sin, and forfeited the love of the Gods.
Ended when the Gods departed from the world.
The Third Age
Began with the absence of the Gods, and with chaos.
Year
280 The Adravane and Aygll Kingships arose
451 The Alsire Kingship arose, and the era of the Three Kingships began
775 The Huanin Kingships united against the Kyrinin clans and the War of the Tainted began
788 Tane was destroyed, the Deep Rove was raised by the Anain, and the War of the Tainted ended
793 The last Aygll King was slain, the era of the Three Kingships ended, and the Storm Years began
847 The Bloods - Kilkry, Haig, Gyre, Ayth and Taral - were founded in Aygll lands, and Kulkain oc Kilkry became the first Thane of Thanes; the end of the Storm Years
852 The last Alsire King was slain, and the first King of the Dornach line took his throne
922 The Black Road heresy arose in Kilvale, and was outlawed by the Bloods
942 The Gyre Blood, and all adherents of the Black Road, were exiled beyond the Vale of Stones and founded there the Bloods of the Black Road: Gyre, Horin, Gaven, Wyn and Fane
973 The Lannis Blood was founded, in reward for Sirian's defeat of the invading forces of the Black Road at Kolglas
997 Haig replaced Kilkry as first amongst the True Bloods
1052 The Dargannan Blood was founded
1069 The Lannis-Haig Blood defeated Horin-Gyre in battle at Tanwrye
1097 The Lannis-Haig Blood was afflicted by the Heart Fever
1102 The Dargannan Blood rebelled against the authority of Haig, and Gryvan oc Haig, Thane of Thanes, summoned the armies of the True Bloods to march against them
Table of Contents
Dedication
Table of Contents
Dedication
Godless World 1 - Winterbirth Page 55
