A New Darkness (30 page)

Shakamure
: The magecraft of haizda mages, which draws its power from the taking of human blood and the borrowing of souls.

Shanna River
: The Shanna marks the old border between the northern human kingdoms and the territory of the Kobalos. Now Kobalos are often to be found south of this line. The treaty that agreed on this border has long been disregarded by both sides.

Note: Before the ritualistic challenge by the Shaiksa assassin, all bands of Kobalos warriors retreated to their own side of the river. We have yet to learn the reason for this. Much of Kobalos behavior still remains a mystery.—Grimalkin

Shatek (also known as a djinn)
: This is a warrior entity with three selves and a single controlling mind. It differs from the haggenbroood in that it was created to be deployed in battle. A number of them have rebelled and are no longer subject to Kobalos authority. They dwell far from Valkarky, bringing death and terror to the lands surrounding their lairs.

Shudru
: The Kobalos term for the harsh winter of the northern kingdoms.

Skaiium
: The time when a haizda mage faces a dangerous softening of his predatory nature.

Skapien
: A small secret group of Kobalos within Valkarky, who are opposed to the trade in purrai.

Skelt
: This is a creature that lives near water and kills its victims by inserting its long snout into their bodies and draining their blood. The Kobalos believe it is the shape that their god Talkus will assume at his birth.

Skleech pens
: Pens within Valkarky where the Kobalos keep human female slaves, using them for food or to breed other new species and hybrid forms to do their bidding.

Sklutch
: This is a type of creature employed by the Kobalos as servants. Its speciality is cleaning the rapidly growing fungus from the walls and ceilings of the dwellings within Valkarky.

Skoya
: The material of which Valkary is constructed. It is formed within the bodies of whoskor.

Skulka
: A poisonous water snake whose bite induces instant paralysis. It is much favored by Kobalos assassins, who use it to render their victims helpless before slaying them. After death, its toxins are impossible to detect in the victim’s blood.

Slarinda
: These are the females of the Kobalos. They have been extinct for more than three thousand years. They were murdered—slain by a cult of Kobalos males who hated women. Now Kobalos males are born of purrai, human females held prisoner in the skleech pens.

Talkus
: The god of the Kobalos, who is not yet born. In form he will resemble the creature known as a skelt. Talkus means the God Who Is Yet to Be. He is sometimes also referred to as the Unborn.

Therskold
: A threshold upon which a word of interdiction or harming has been laid. This is a potent area of haizda strength, and it is dangerous—even for a human mage—to cross such a portal.

Note: When I examined the lair of the haizda mage near Chipenden, there was no barrier in place. This was no doubt because Tom Ward had already killed the mage. So I have yet to test the strength of such a defense. Whether or not the barriers that protected the plunder room were examples of therskold or something similar, I do not know. However, they provided little hindrance.—Grimalkin

Trade
: Although the unit of currency is the valcon, many Kobalos, particularly haizda mages, rely on what they call trade. This implies an exchange of goods or services, but it is much more than that. It is a question of honor, and each party must keep its word, even if to do so means death.

Triumvirate
: The ruling body of Valkarky, composed of the three most powerful high mages in the city. It was first formed after the King of Valkarky was slain by Eblis, the Shaiksa assassin.
It is essentially a dictatorship that uses ruthless means to hold on to power. Others are always waiting in the wings to replace the three mages.

Tulpa
: A creature created within the mind of a mage and occasionally given form in the outer world.

Note: I have traveled extensively and probed into the esoteric arts of witches and mages, but this is a magical skill that I have never encountered before. Are Kobalos mages capable of this? If so, their creatures may be limited only by the extent of their imaginations.—Grimalkin

Ulska
: A deadly but rare Kobalos poison that burns its victim from within. It is also excreted from glands at the base of the claws of the haggenbrood. It results in kirrhos, which is known as the tawny death.

Unktus
: A minor Kobalos deity worshipped only by the lowest menials of the city. He is depicted with very small horns curving backward from the crown of his head.

Valcon
: A small coin, usually referred to as a valc, accepted throughout the southern peninsula. Made of an alloy that is one tenth silver, a valcron is the wage paid daily to a Kobalos foot soldier.

Valkarky
: The chief city of the Kobalos, which lies just within the Arctic Circle. Valkarky means the City of the Petrified Tree.

Vartek (plural varteki)
: The vartek was the most powerful of the three types of entity that I grew from the material found within the lair of the haizda mage. The fact that it can burrow through solid rock means that it could burst up out of the ground right in the midst of a human army, so that they scatter them in terror. It has three bone-tipped tentacles, the ability to spit globules of acid that could burn flesh from bone, and fearsome teeth. It also has many legs and is capable of great speed. Although it is protected by black scales, its eyes and underbelly are vulnerable to blades. It is impossible to know what size a vartek would achieve once fully grown. It could be the most daunting of the battle entities that the Kobalos may deploy against us.—Grimalkin

Whalakai
: Known as a vision of what is, this is an instant of perception that comes to either a high mage or a haizda mage. It is an epiphany, a moment of revelation, when the totality of a situation, with all the complexities that have led to it, are known to him in a flash of insight. The Kobalos believe this is a vision given to the mage by Talkus, their God Who Is Yet to Be, its purpose being to facilitate the path to his birth.

Whoskor
: This is the collective name for the creatures subservient to the Kobalos who are engaged in the never-ending task of extending the city of Valkarky. They have sixteen legs, eight of which also function as arms and are used to shape the skoya, the soft stone that they exude from their mouths.

Widdershins
: A movement that is counterclockwise or against the sun. Seen as counter to the natural order of things, it is sometimes employed by a Kobalos mage to assert his will upon the cosmos. Filled with hubris, it holds within it great risk.

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About the Author

JOSEPH DELANEY
is the author of the Last Apprentice series, which is soon to be a major motion picture,
Seventh Son
. He is a former English teacher who lives in the heart of boggart territory in Lancashire, England. His village has a boggart called the Hall Knocker, which was laid to rest under the step of a house near the church.

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Credits

Cover art copyright © 2014 by Christian Fuenfhausen

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Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

First published in 2014 in Great Britain by The Bodley Head, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, under the title The Starblade Chronicles:
A New Darkness.

First published in 2014 in the United States by Greenwillow Books.

The right of Joseph Delaney to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

A
NEW DARKNESS
. Copyright © 2014 by Joseph Delaney. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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