The Valdemar Companion

by John Helfers; Denise Little

  Haven Heartstone

  After Vanyel hijacked the power of the K’Sheyna Vale heartstone during Firesong’s attempt to move it, Elspeth and the other Adepts found the Haven Heartscone centered in a large globe of crystal on a stone table in a long-unused Palace room on its lowest floor. That room was a replica of a room directly above it, which served as a decoy. The crystal globe was fused to the table and the stone pillar beneath the table, which was in turn fused to the floor and down Into the bedrock. The globe was the physical link to the Web of power that bound all Heralds and Companions together. (Winds, Storm)

  Havens, The

  A phrase used to describe the realm beyond this life. (BV)

  Havirn (Lord)

  Farmer Landric’s nobleman. Lord Havirn’s attempts to deal with the monster killing his people failed; no hunter could catch it. So Havirn resorted to a “dragon solution”: Since the beast wouldn’t eat animais, criminals were tied up and left as prey in hopes the monster would leave taxpaying citizens alone. Havirn also offered a reward of half his holdings and his daughter’s hand to any hero who could slay the beast. (Oath)

  Hawk Dance

  A traditional Shin’a’in dance. The Shin’a’in shaman Tre’valen performed this dance for the Tayledras at k’Sheyna Vale, after much coaxing by the scouts. (Winds)

  Hawkbrothers

  See Tayledras. (BV)

  Hawkflight

  A Tayledras Gate-Guard. Firesong sent him to fetch Brightstar to assist Herald-Mage Savil when the Mage arrived unannounced in the Vale. (LHM)

  Hawkmen of the Deep Woods

  The phrase Damen, serving boy of Lord Rendan’s gang, used to describe the Tayledras. He thought of them in the same way the cutthroats did the Heralds of Valdemar, as unsecn and dangerous figures to be feared for their powerful magic. (LHM)

  Hawk’s Children, The

  The Tale’sedrin clan, Tarma’s people. (Oath)

  Hawksnest

  The Sunhawks’ winter quarters. a tiny hill town which owed its existence solely to the mercenary Company. Their dependents lived in the sheltered mountain valley year-round. A fortified barracks complex stood between the town and the valley’s entrance. When the company was away on business, a solid garrison and all mercenaries-in-training remained to guard Hawksnest. That freed the fighters to concentrate on the campaign at hand. Tarma’s and Kethry’s quarters there were modest, a plain double room on the first floor of the granite-walled barracks. Wood walls were paneled over the stone. There were pegs to hold weapons, stands for armor, a single wardrobe, two beds, three chairs, and a table. The only luxury was a wood-fired stove. (Oath)

  Hawkwind

  An alias Amberdrake adopted in Khimbata when disguised as Skandranon’s bodyguard. (Gryphon)

  Ha’shin

  Shin’a’in honorific for “teacher.’ (Oath)

  Hayka (Companion)

  Companion of Malken, a very young Herald-trainee with an unwelcome Gift of powerful ForeSight, Hayka and the boys mentor agreed it was best to close off the Gift for the time being, to save the child’s sanity. (BB)

  He Who Made The Barrier

  A cryptic reference to Vkandis uttered by Tashiketh, the gryphon wing leader from Iftel. The gryphon was describing the strange history of that strange land, and the Barrler Maker was a critical factor in Iftel’s long isolation. (Storm)

  Heal-All

  The vine of a medicinal plant. Vanyel bought a cloak clasp adorned with a metal sculpture of entwining Heal-All enclosing a beryl the same shade of green as a Healer’s robes as a gift for Randale, and a matching pendent as a present for Randale’s lifemate (Healer) Shavri. (LHM)

  Healer Green

  The color of the robes worn by a fully qualified Healer. (BV)

  Healer-Adept

  A rare Adept who can also Heal, especially blighted lands. They are specially trained to use both Mage and Healing powers in concert. Healer-Adepts generally are taught one-on-one by another Healing Adept. Firesong and Moondance k’Treva and Darien Firkin were all Healer-Adepts. (Owl, LHM, Winds)

  Healers

  They combine standard medical skills with a Gift for healing the sick and injured, particularly for accelerating the body’s natural healing process. Healers have special Gifts of Empathy as well as Healing, and some possess other special abilities to assist them. Devan’s Gift, for instance, is the treatment of traumatic injuries. Healers wear emerald green uniforms, while Healer-trainees wear pale green. Specialties among Healers include Healer-Herbalists, Mind-Healers, and so on. Most cultures employ their talents. Even Karsltes used Healers, but didn’t allow them to work outside the Sunlord’s temples. Karsite priests hunted down and killed unaffiliated herbmen and wisewomen. Midwives, however, were ignored in Karse as unimportant practitioners who treated only women. When Kerowyn went to Valdemar, she learned their Healers wore green exclusively, a custom she strongly approved; it made them easier to spot on a battlefield. (BV)

  Healers’ Collegium

  In Haven, and part of the Collegium Complex, along with the Bardic and Heraldic training centers, it includes a hospital with small, well-aired rooms for patients, classrooms, and an herb garden for botanical cures. (BV)

  Healer’s Hill

  At the bivouac at Urtho’s encampment at Ka’venusho, this was located past the surgeons’ tents and held common tents used as infirmaries and treatment centers. (Gryphons)

  Healing-Meld

  A joining of Herald and/or Herald-Mage energies with a Healer’s to increase the Healer’s strength. When Healer Andrel weakened while trying to save Vanyel in the Grove Temple, Savil, Jaysen, Mardic, and Donni added their powers to his. The meld produced a euphoric sense of peace among the participants. (LHM)

  Heartstone

  An artifact of powerful magic created by Tayledras Mages, it is a crystal-laced boulder taller than a man, glowing with life and energy. Its purpose is to collect the energy running from nodes and ley-lines surrounding a Vale under proper direction so that no warped magic will be left behind to harm the surrounding land. It is also a Vale’s repository of power, drawn on by the Vale’s Adepts to power spells including the Veil protecting the Vale, weather-working, and other necessary magics. The Tayledras use a Heartstone as a focus to collect, concentrate, and improve ancient and often harmful magic. A Heartstone was hidden within the Lineas palace, anchoring a deadly fault line lying directly beneath the city. The Heartstone in k’Sheyna Vale was sabotaged and fractured during the attempt to drain it before moving it to a new location. The flawed stone’s surface glowed with red and gold tracings. It distorted everything in the Vale, and attracted unwelcome magic and Change-beasts. Heartstones were shielded by the Hawkbrothers wherever possible, and thus many survived the great Mage-Storms. The stone in k’Vala Vale was a tall, smooth spire of rock that glowed like a lantern, creamy alabaster in color and texture. Starfall set up what was to become k’Valdemar’s Heartstone and it took four years to draw enough magic from the area’s ley-lines to heat water for the Tayledras’ popular soaking pools and to establish magical sentries, basic shields, and other protections. When Vanyel conceived his plan to relieve the burden on Herald-Mages and enlarge the protections of Valdemar, he linked the energies of all the Heralds to a node beneath Haven and created a Heartstone there. (BV)

  Heartwood

  Snowfire’s father. (Owl)

  Heavens

  In Valdemaran cosmology, there are five. (Arrows)

  Hedge-mages

  Also known as hedge-wizards. Generally untrained or informally traine practitioners of the craft who draw on earth magic and other natural sources to power their spells. They usually help the common people, though their powers are limited. For example, a hedge-wizard can encourage rain to fall in a given place or repel a storm to shield ready to harvest crops from damage, not by creating the rainstorm, but by moving an existing one around a bit. Because of the nature of their craft, hedge-wizards do most of their spellcasting out of doors. There were two hedge
-wizards on the Sunhawks’ payroll Oreden and Jiles. Kethry convinced them earth-witchery was more valuable than straining to do High Magicks, for which they had no talent. Hedge-magery, like water finding, often could be more useful to a mercenary company than calling down lightnings, but a general longstanding scorn against such lesser sorcerers persisted. (BV)

  Hedge-priests

  Well meaning religious wanderers who have no set temple. (Oath)

  Hedric

  Lord Marshal of Valdemar, he is on permanent assignment to the Palace. (Arrows)

  Heinkeir Told-True

  Shaman of the Snow Fox tribe, who played host to Darian’s expedition beyond the Great Pass. (Owl)

  Helansevrith

  A member of Mornedealth’s nobility, head of the Green Faction and arch rival of Kavinestral, Kethry’s treacherous brother. (Oath)

  Hell

  A place of punishment after death. The number of hells and the punishment meted out in them depended on territory and religion. At Rathgar’s Keep, the belief was in six hells. But when Kern was Captain of the Skybolts, she compared hot conditions to the nine hells. Some hells are fiery, others are frozen wastelands. (Oath, Sword)

  Hell puppets

  Ancar’s line troopers, or so Wolfstone’s Pack called them. They were conscripted soldiers enslaved by Ancar’s blood spells. Killing them was an act of mercy as well as a battle necessity. (Winds)

  Hellhorses

  What Karsites called Companions before Karse’s war with Hardorn and alliance with Valdemar. (BB, Storm)

  Hellsbane

  The Shin’a’in battlesteed Tarma acquired on her return to the Dhorlsha Plains, and the horse’s subsequent replacements. Kerowyn also rode a battlesteed from the original Hellsbane’s line when she joined the Skybolts. She would go through three more before being Chosen. (Oath, Sword)

  Hellspawn

  Karsite epithet for Valdemarans, until High Priest Solaris decreed otherwise. (Storm)

  Henlin

  Master Magister and senior spokesman of the Master Craftsmen during the Mage-Storm planning sessions in the Compass Rose tavern. (Storm)

  Henricht

  The first Son of the Son. (Storm)

  Herald

  A person who is Chosen by a Companion. Heralds are called “The Arrows of the Queen,” and serve as the Monarch’s messengers and information-gatherers. They may also serve as emergency war leaders in times of crisis. Heralds form strong mind-to-mind bonds with their Companions. They have at least one Gift, which training and the Companion bond enhances and develops to full potential. These Mind-magic Gifts replaced the Old Magic that used to exist in Valdemar. Incorruptible, self-sacrificing, and fair, the Heralds dispense the Monarch’s justice and enforce the law. Every monarch of Valdemar must also be a herald, as must the Heir; this ensures that a tyrant will never rule Valdemar. As a conscience and counselor, one Herald is always Chosen as Monarch’s Own, bonded to a Grove-Born Companion stallion who never seems to age. Heralds are normally Chosen when they are in their early teens, with more boys than girls being selected for the arduous career. Four to five years of training generally follow (less for those Chosen as adults), and Heirald’s Whites are typically issued when the Herald is eighteen. A twelve to eighteen-month internship with an experienced Herald is required before the candidate is qualified for full Herald status. Heralds are regarded with respect throughout the realm, though local superstitions may color the Heralds’ reception; among the Holderkin, gossip depicted the Heralds as monsters of depravity living sensuous, orgiastic, and luxurious lives. That belief, however, did not affect the results of the Heralds’ dispensing of justice. Heralds not only relay the new laws to the people but explain and interpret those laws as well, to make certain the common folk fully understand the enactments of Queen and Council. In all things, the Heralds are the ruler’s eyes, ears, and limbs. Thanks to the exceptional nature of their Companions, there are no swifter messengers to be found; no ordinary horse can come close to a Companion’s supernatural speed and stamina. A Herald and Companion are a unique force, a combined power that has held Vaidemar together for centuries and enabled it to stand firm against invasion and evil magic. More than half of the Heralds Chosen die in the line of duty. (BV)

  Herald Collegium

  The Collegium courses are designed to prepare the herald-trainees for fully qualified status in their field. A five-year curriculum is standard, but may be adjusted to suit the trainee’s already-proven skills and/or age. All students receive training in weapons, logic, law, history, etiquette, and survival skills, with specialized classes as needed. Herald’s Collegium is situated in a wing of the Palace, its entrance marked by massive double doors. The first level of the building contains classrooms. The second floor holds the dormitories and common room where meals are served. The third floor is the library and study area. Storerooms, the Housekeeper’s office, and the kitchen are in the basement. The kitchen is connected to the common room by a dumbwaiter. Schedules for waking, classes, calls to meals, and so forth are regulated by bells. In the courtyard are stables for horses and Companions, and training grounds. Beyond the Terilee River lies the Companion’s Field. (BV)

  Herald Magic

  What outsiders call the Heraldic Gifts. (Arrows)

  Herald Whites

  The uniform of a Herald. Students earn Whites after training is completed, but before serving their field Internship. Formal Whites closely approximate court dress, with fancy fabrics, and white silk brocade on pure white backgrounds, or silver thread designs. The everyday dress of the Heralds riding circuit is more practical, and consists of white under shirts of wool or ramie, with overtunics and breeches, or split skirts for riding, all of which can be layered as the climate requires. White riding boots and white leather shoes are also a part of the Herald’s Uniform. Capes and cloaks of various lengths serve for cold or inclement weather. Comfort and practicality are more important than style. Everyday Whites reflect the rigors and dangers of riding circuit, and are cut so that freedom of movement is guaranteed. Kerowyn and Alberich refuse to wear Whites unless Queen Selenay requests it, calling the outfits “Just Shoot Me’ uniforms. (BV)

  Herald-Mage

  A Herald with mage powers, among them the Guardians of Valdemar in Vanyel’s era. Operating the protective Web required four Herald-Mages, each one tied to a quarter of the realm. Eventually, when there weren’t enough Herald-Mages left to carry out the task, Vanyel had to devise the Web spell as another means of protection. He was the last Herald-Mage until Elspeth came into her powers. (Arrows, LHM, Winds)

  Herald-trainee

  Student Heralds who study at the Collegium in Haven and wear gray uniforms. They have duties at the Collegium, including kitchen duty, in addition to their studies. They may also be assigned to duties of the Queen’s choosing, including acting as servant/liason to an ambassador. (BV)

  Heraldic Circle

  During Vanyel’s time, the circle consisted of the Monarch’s Own, Seneschal’s Herald, Lord-Marshal’s Herald, Speaker for the Heralds with trainees, Speaker for the Herald-Mages, Speaker for the Heralds on Circuit, plus the Monarch and Heir. Currently it is the term used for the entire collective of Heralds. (BV)

  Heraldic link

  As Vanyel proved, he could not only establish a “line” to all the Mages, with whom he shared magic, but also with every living Herald in Valdemar, by virtue of their being Heralds. This link is wrought through the Companions. Herald-Mages shared magic with Heralds lacking the Mage-Gift through all the Companions as well. Vanyel speculated this was the link King Valdemar was searching for when he first created the kingdom’s Guardian Web-spell to protect his realm from ill-intentioned outsiders. (LHM)

  Herb-witches

  Also known as herb-wizards, they rank a grade below true Healers and serve the common folk on a basic level. The witches, however, are available in isolated regions where Healers are often difficult to find. (Owl, Winds)

  Herbalists

&
nbsp; Low-level healers who are skilled in identifying and using the curative powers of herbs and other vegetative remedies. (Owl)

  Herd-sister

  Shin’a’in term for mares trained as battlesteeds. Hellsbane and Ironheart were herd-sisters. (Oath)

  Herdahl (Leftenant)

  An officer in the Karsite military, he was a tool of the false Voices of Sunlord Vkandis. Herdahl was envious when Alberich was promoted ahead of him. (Arrows)

  Herewan

  Third Form instructor at the Merchants’ School. He ignored obvious signs that his students were being mercilessly bullied by the Sixth Form. (BB)

  Hero of Stony Tor

  One of the laudatory epithets the Bards have given Vanyel in their songs. (LHM)

  Hertasi

  Lizard folk created before the Mage Wars, they have an incredible urge to be useful. Current mythology claims that Mage Urtho made them in ancient days. In Urtho’s time, it was believed that an even more ancient mage was responsible. Urtho did breed a larger race of hertasi, known as tyrill, that still survives in Iftel. Hertasi are one of the live sentient races who live and work in harmony with the Kaled’a’in and Tayledras. Many hertasi share Vales with the Hawkbrothers, digging burrows in the ground rather than living in tree-top ekeles, exchanging their services for food, protection, and warmth—a very important thing to a cold-blooded race. Though smaller than humans, hertasi are strong for their size, extremely clever, and well-spoken. When happy. they carry their tails high. They come into season once a year; consequentLy, they like to tease humans about their continuous breeding habits. They do not see well at night, but have excellent day vision. Some hertasi live in caves near marshes; others have hillside homes in tunnels shored with timber and simply furnished. They grow rice, breed frogs. hunt, and fish. Some take care of the Vale’s human and nonhuman inhabitants, doing everything from creating clothing and cleaning and cooking to serving as scribes and historians, all of it done beautifully with great attention to detail. Many hertasi are master craftworkers, and all have a love for ornamentation. Nothing irritates a hertasi more than an ugly, under-decorated outfit, except possibly a badly cooked meal. They have a fondness for humans with style— Firesong always had hertasi lining up to serve him. Hertasi weapons include half-sized bows and arrows, fish spears, sickle-shaped daggers, quicksand and sinkholes. The race seems to have something like a hive-mind; at any rate, information available to one hertasi seems to immediately become common knowledge among all of the Vale’s hertasi. (BV)