‘Up sail, all ships. Send the order through the fleet,’ Mycella said, her tone clipped. ‘Have all boats ready, as well.’ She rounded on Stenwold. ‘And as for you, no doubt this… thing will plague me all the way to Seldis, unless I put you back in the water.’
Stenwold nodded. In truth he suspected the ships would soon enough outpace the sea-kinden, whether he was alive or dead.
‘Put him in one of the boats,’ Mycella instructed. ‘Have him rowed into harbour under a peace flag. Let the legend of Stenwold Maker acquire one more chapter.’ As her sailors scrambled to obey her, she said, ‘My son was right to admire you, Sieur Maker. I do not know how you have accomplished this, what underwater engines your people have constructed, but it is duly noted. Today is yours.’ Only when he was already in the boat, and the sailors were beginning to lower it hand over hand into the water, did she call back to him.
‘There will come a tomorrow, Sieur Maker, when we shall speak again. Remember that.’ And the sheer depth of her pain and anger, shorn for a moment of all her veils, chilled him to the bone.
Glossary
Characters
Aagen – Wasp-kinden ambassador to Collegium Accius – Vekken Ant-kinden ambassador to Collegium
Achaeos – Moth-kinden lover of Cheerwell Maker, died in the war
Akkestrae – Mantis-kinden in Collegium
Albinus – Ant-kinden intelligencer in Kanateris
Aldanrael – a Spider-kinden Aristoi family
Amnon – Khanaphir Beetle-kinden expatriate
Ancient League – the Moths and Mantids of Dorax, Etheryon and Nethyon, allies of Collegium in the war
Aradocles – Krakind heir to Hermatyre
Arianna – Spider-kinden lover of Stenwold Maker
Arkeuthys – giant octopus
Arvi – Fly-kinden secretary to Jodry Drillen
Balkus – renegade Sarnesh Ant-kinden
Berjek Gripshod – Beetle-kinden academic
Bloodfly – notorious Fly-kinden pirate from a generation ago
Caractes – Polypoi hermit
Cardless – Beetle-kinden servant to Stenwold Maker
Cheerwell Maker (‘Che’) – Beetle-kinden, niece of Stenwold Maker
Chenni – Smallclaw Onychoi, Rosander’s artificer
Claeon – Krakind Kerebroi, Edmir of Hermatyre
Cynthaen – Mantis-kinden fisherwoman
Danaen – Mantis-kinden raider
Daven – Wasp-kinden Rekef agent
Despard – Fly-kinden artificer of the Tidenfree crew
Diamedes – Krakind Kerebroi, agent of Hieracles
Ebris of the Ganbrodiel – Spider-kinden pirate
Elder Padstock – Beetle-kinden, Chief Officer of the Maker’s Own Company
Elleria of the Aldanrael – Teornis’s cousin
Elytrya – Krakind Kerebroi Littoralist agent
Epiphona – Greatclaw Onychoi, Nauarch of the Three Red Fish Train
Fel – Swiftclaw Onychoi, of Wys’s crew
Fernaea (‘Fern’) – Fly-kinden seer, of the Tidenfree crew
Filipo – Fly-kinden rogue in the employ of Forman Sands
Forman Sands – Halfbreed assassin in the employ of Helmess Broiler
Geontes – Krakind Kerebroi, agent of Claeon
Grampos – Tarantula-kinden in Kanateris
Greenwise Artector – Beetle-kinden magnate in Helleron
Gribbern – Deepclaw Onychoi Pelagist
Grief – Butterfly-kinden, Monarch of Princep Salmae
Gude – Fly-kinden helmswoman of the Tidenfree crew
Haelyn – Sepia-kinden Kerebroi, majordomo to Claeon
Heiracles – Krakind Kerebroi, insurgent leader
Helmess Broiler – Beetle-kinden Assembler
Honory Bellowern – Beetle-kinden, Imperial diplomat
Isseleema – Spider-kinden ship-owner
Jaclen Courser – Beetle-kinden ship’s master
Janos Outwright – Beetle-kinden, Chief Officer of the Merchant Companies
Jodry Drillen – Beetle-kinden Assembler
Jons Allanbridge – Beetle-kinden aviator
Kratia – Tseni Ant-kinden ambassador
Laszlo – Fly-kinden factor of the Tidenfree crew
Lej (‘Spillage’) – Greatclaw Onychoi engineer, of Wys’s crew
Lerean – Dart-kinden Kerebroi wanderer
Lineo Thadspar – Beetle-kinden, former speaker for the Assembly – died during the war
Lyess – Medusoi Pelagist
Malius – Vekken Ant-kinden ambassador
Mandir – Smallclaw Onychoi, the Man of the Hot Stations
Marcantor – Dart-kinden Kerebroi in Aradocles’ service
Marteus – Ant-kinden chief officer of the Coldstone Company
Maxel Gainer – Beetle-kinden artificer, Tseitus’s apprentice
Menes – Krakind Kerebroi assassin in Claeon’s service
Nemoctes – Wayfarer-kinden Kerebroi, leader of the Pelagists
Ordly Penhold – Beetle-kinden merchant
Paladrya – Krakind Kerebroi tutor to Aradocles
Partreyn – Beetle-kinden deputy speaker of the Assembly
Pellectes – Krakind Kerebroi, leader of the Littoralists
Phylles – Polypoi member of Wys’s crew
Piera – Fly-kinden of the Tidenfree crew
Plius – Tseni Ant-kinden agent, died during the war
Praeda Rakespear – Beetle-kinden academic
Pserry – Gribbern’s beast
Rones Failwright – Beetle-kinden Assembler, shipping magnate
Rosander – Greatclaw Onychoi, Nauarch of the Thousand Spines train
Salme Dien (‘Salma’) – Dragonfly-kinden noble, died during the war
Santiren – Dart-kinden Kerebroi in the service of Aradocles
Sfayot – Roach-kinden chancellor of Princep Salmae
Stenwold Maker – Beetle-kinden spymaster and statesman
Teornis of the Aldanrael – Spider-kinden Aristoi
Termes – Vekken Ant-kinden ambassador
Thalric – Wasp-kinden former Rekef agent and Regent
Theomen – Krakind Kerebroi assassin in Claeon’s service
Three-City Alliance – Myna, Szar and Maynes; cities formerly under the control of the Empire
Tisamon – Mantis-kinden Weaponsmaster, died during the war
Tolly Aimark – Beetle-kinden ship’s master
Tomasso – Fly-kinden master of the Tidenfree
Tseitus – Tseni Ant-kinden artificer
Tynisa – halfbreed Weaponsmaster, daughter of Tisamon
Tyresia – Spider-kinden information broker
Varante – Dragonfly-kinden leader of Teornis’s cadre
Wys – Smallclaw Onychoi mercenary
Places
Arvandine – trading post at the edge of the Felyal
Capitas – capital of the Empire
Collegium – Beetle city, heart of the Lowlands
Deep Seep – sea-kinden colony
Everis – Spider-kinden island city
Felyal – Mantis-kinden forest, now mostly burned
Grand Atoll – sea-kinden colony off Tsen
Helleron – Beetle-kinden industrial city
Hermatyre – sea-kinden colony
The Hot Stations – sea-kinden industrial colony
Kanateris – Spider-kinden pirate town
Khanaphes – ancient Beetle-kinden city
Merro – Fly-kinden town
Princep Salmae – city newly founded by war refugees
Sarn – Ant-kinden city allied with Collegium
Seldis – Spider-kinden city
Siennis – Spider-kinden city
Sonn – Beetle-kinden city in the Empire
Tark – Ant-kinden city, devastated during the war
Tsen – Ant-kinden city on the far west coast of the Lowlands
Vek – Ant-kinden city recently at war with Collegium
Organizations and things
Amphiophos – the seat of Collegiate government
Assembly – the governing body of Collegium, elected by Lots
Benthist – a member of a nomadic sea-kinden group
Coldstone Company – a Collegium merchant company
Edmir – the governor of a sea-kinden colony
Isseleema’s Floating Game – a floating gaming house
Lots – the election of Collegiate Assemblers
Maker’s Own – a Collegium merchant company
Migrating Home – Jaclen Courser’s merchant ship