Mosi, Sevin: captain of Merit’s guard, a man from the Wadi clan, one of Merit’s sworn soldiers.
New Kingdom of the Soleri: the present age, also known as the Imperial Age, includes the time of the Soleri’s sequester behind the Shroud Wall.
Northwoods: the lands north of the Gray Wood, an ancient part of Feren that is now semi-independent.
Odine, Nollin: a boy from the Wyrre, a scribe of the hierophantic order of the Desouk cult.
Old Kingdom of the Soleri: the first age of the Soleri, ends with the unification of Sola and the lower kingdoms.
Ott: Sarra Amunet’s personal scribe.
Plague Road: the road that connects Sola to Harkana.
Priory of Tolemy: also known as the House of Tolemy, a prisonlike school where the noble-born sons of the lower kingdoms are held until their fathers are dead.
Protector’s Tower: also the Citadel of Solus, the seat of power of the commander of the armies, the Father Protector.
Rachis: a mountain kingdom, north of Harkana, east of Feren, home to the mountain lords.
Re: the first of the Soleri, the first to descend from Atum, the first emperor of the Old Kingdom.
Repository at Desouk: the largest library of scrolls in the Soleri Empire.
Rifka: the High City, seat of power of the Feren king, home to the Blackthorn Chathair.
Riksard: the ancient home of the Wyrren people, from the time before the settling of the Wyrre.
Ruined Wall: a Harkan war monument, a fortification destroyed during the War of the Four and preserved by the Harkans as a memorial.
Saad, Amen: the Sword of Mithra, the Father Protector and commander of Sola’s armies.
Saad, Mered: the brother of Raden Saad, Keeper of Seals, Overseer of the House of Crescents, a wealthy citizen of Solus.
Saad, Raden: the former Father Protector, father of Amen Saad, now deceased.
Salt Barrens: a flat and dry region of the High Desert, characterized by salt plains.
San: a nomadic desert tribe common to the eastern regions of the High Desert as well as the borderlands between Feren and Sola.
Scargill: an island, part of the Stone Reefs, at the southern tip of the Wyrre.
scribe: a priest of any faith who dedicates his life to scrollwork.
second death: a body must be whole to pass into the afterlife; if a corpse is dismembered it therefore dies a second death and is denied entrance in to the world of the deceased.
Shadow Gate: an archway in the Shroud Wall, the ceremonial entry to the Empyreal Domain of the Soleri.
Shambles: in Harkana, south of the Feren Rift valley, a desolate stretch of land, the home of the Harkan king’s sacred rite of passage, the Elden Hunt.
Shroud Wall: the barrier that separates the Empyreal Domain of the Soleri from Solus.
Sirra, Tye: the only girl in the Priory, the daughter of a prominent lord of the Wyrre, a friend of Ren.
Sola: the kingdom ruled by the Soleri.
Soleri: a family of god-emperors, descended from Mithra-Sol, twelve in all, a father, a mother, and ten children (five boys and five girls, always interbred).
Solus: the city of light, the eternal city of the Soleri, the capital of the kingdom of Sola, seat of power of the empire of the Soleri.
Stone Forest: also the Cragwood, the site of the Waking Rite, the Feren ruler’s sacred rite of passage.
Stone Reefs: also the Untamed Islands, an isolated chain of islands at the southern tip of the Wyrre.
Temple of Mithra at Desouk: the first temple of the Mithra cult, an ancient open-air structure in the city of priests.
Temple of Mithra at Solus: in Sola, the temple of the sun god, and home to the Ata’Sol.
Thieves’ Moon: the new moon, the time when ransoms are traditionally released from the Priory.
tulou: a ringed desert fortress, characterized by rounded walls made of mudbrick.
turn: a half-crescent coin, part of the Soleri currency.
Ulfer: the first king of Harkana, the first to take the eld horns as his symbol.
Vimur: an island in the Wyrre.
Wadi, Dakar: in Harkana, the warden of the hunting reserve in the Shambles.
Wadi, Nirus: a Harkan king, and later the Harkan emperor, the man who held the Amber Throne during the War of the Four, two hundred years prior to the present.
Wadi, Shenn: the husband of Merit Hark-Wadi, lord of the Wadi clan.
Waking Rite: also the Night Vigil, the Feren king’s sacred rite of passage.
War of the Four: during the rule of Sekhem Den, the revolt of the four lower kingdoms against Sola. Led by Nirus Wadi, the lower kingdoms joined their armies and rebelled against armies of the Soleri. The Harkan emperor held the Soleri throne in Solus for twenty years before the Protector, Ined Anu, routed the Harkans, taking back the capital city of Solus and defeating Nirus. After the war, the Soleri instituted a system of tributes to admonish the four lower kingdoms. The noble-born daughters of each kingdom were forced into politically inconvenient marriages, while the noble-born sons were kept in Tolemy’s house, the Priory, until their fathers died, thus weakening the royal lines of the lower kingdoms.
Waset: in Solus, the old city, the most ancient precinct of the holy city of the Soleri, home to the Golden Hall, the Cenotaph, the Shroud Wall, and the Empyreal Domain.
Wat, Khalden: the chief adviser and main servant of the First Ray of the Sun.
Wind’s Eye: in Feren, the circular opening in the ceiling of the Blackthorn Chathair, a window.
Wyrre: also known as the Southern Islands, a vast archipelago composed of more than a thousand islands.
Zagre: city of birds, capital of Rachis, seat of Rachin power.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not be possible without my wife. She is my coauthor, editor, and constant coconspirator. She inspired me to write and encouraged me never to quit. Praise should also go to my daughter. She’s only nine, but she had the patience to listen to an abridged version of Soleri. Her comments were helpful. My three beta readers—John Johnston, Anji Johnston, and Jennifer Ungaro—were also tremendously helpful. My agent, Richard Abate, cannot be thanked enough. At Tor, a big thank-you goes to Bob Gleason and Elayne Becker for making this book a reality.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Johnston was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He was trained as an architect and worked at architecture firms in both New York and Los Angeles. Soleri is his first solo novel. He lives with his wife and daughter in Los Angeles, where he is currently working on a follow-up novel to Soleri. Learn more on twitter at @mjohnstonauthor. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Map
The Black Sand
The Dying Ray
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
The Waking Rite
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
&nbs
p; Chapter 29
The Night Wedding
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
The Dawn Chorus
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
The Voice in the Stone
Glossary
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SOLERI
Copyright © 2017 by Michael Johnston
All rights reserved.
Map by Michael Johnston
Cover art by Stephen Youll
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-8648-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-8649-6 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9780765386496
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First Edition: June 2017
Soleri Page 44
