Heirs of the Blade (80 page)

Characters

Aarth
– Wasp merchant in the Principalities

Achaeos
– Moth-kinden, Che’s lover, killed in a ritual

Alvdan II
– former Emperor of the Wasps, Seda’s brother, killed by Uctebri’s magic

Alvric
– first Emperor of the Wasps, Seda’s grandfather

Amnon
– Beetle-kinden, former First Soldier of Khanaphes

Angved
– Wasp engineer

Ang We (‘Angry’)
– Grasshopper bandit chief

Avaris
– Spider fraudster and bandit

Barad Ygor
– Scorpion bandit

Brugan
– Wasp general of the Rekef

Cheerwell Maker (‘Che’)
– Beetle-kinden, Stenwold’s niece, now Inapt

Chevre Velienn
– Dragonfly noblewoman

Dal Arche
– Dragonfly bandit chief

Dariandrephos (‘Drephos’, ‘the Colonel-Auxillian’)
– halfbreed Master Artificer, leader of the Iron Glove

Emon
– Bee artificer with the Iron Glove

Ethmet
– Beetle First Minister of Khanaphes

Feass
– Grasshopper bandit

Felipe Shah
– Dragonfly Prince-Major of the Principality of Roh

Felise Mienn
– Dragonfly duellist, killed with Tisamon in Capitas

Gaved
– Wasp mercenary, Sef’s lover

Gjegevey
– Woodlouse-kinden, Imperial adviser and slave

Gramo Galltree
– Beetle-kinden, self-styled Collegiate ambassador to the Commonweal

Gryllis
– Spider-kinden, business partner of Hokiak

Halter
– Wasp slaver in the Principalities

Hardy Fordwright
– Beetle scholar and alchemist

Hokiak
– Scorpion black-marketeer in Myna

Isendter ‘Whitehand’
– Mantis Weaponsmaster

Jons Allanbridge
– Beetle aviator

Karrec
– Wasp Consortium officer

Kymene
– Soldier Beetle-kinden, Mynan stateswoman and former resistance leader

Lien – Wasp colonel of Engineers

Lioste Coren
– Dragonfly-kinden, seneschal to Felipe Shah

Lisan Dea
– Grasshopper-kinden, seneschal to Salme Elass

Lowre Cean
– Dragonfly-kinden, Prince-Major and strategist

Lowre Darien
– Lowre Cean’s son, died after the Twelve-year War

Ma Leyd
– Mole Cricket, proprietor of the Hitch

Maure
– halfbreed necromancer

Maxin
– Wasp general of the Rekef, died alongside Alvdan II

Mordrec
– Wasp bandit

Pirett
– Dragonfly bandit chief

Praeda Rakespear
– Beetle-kinden scholar

Salme Alain
– Dragonfly Prince-Minor, son of Salme Elass

Salme Dien (‘Salma’)
– Dragonfly Prince-Minor, died fighting the Wasps in the Lowlands

Salme Elass
– Dragonfly-kinden, Princess-Minor of Elas Mar province

Scutts
– Barad Ygor’s pet scorpion

Seda
– Empress of the Wasps

Sef
– Water Spider-kinden exile

Siriell
– Dragonfly bandit chief

Skelling
– Skater bargeman

Soul Je
– Grasshopper bandit

Stenwold Maker
– Beetle spymaster and statesman

Telse Orian
– Dragonfly noble

Thalric
– Wasp-kinden, former Rekef spymaster, Che’s lover

Tse Mae (‘Sammi’)
– Grasshopper alchemist

Thanred
– Wasp colonel and governor of Capitas

Tisamon
– Mantis Weaponsmaster, died in Capitas

Torste Sain
– Dragonfly general from the Principalities

Totho
– halfbreed artificer, second in command of the Iron Glove

Tynisa
– halfbreed Weaponsmaster, Tisamon’s daughter

Uctebri
– Mosquito magician, killed by Tisamon in Capitas

Uie Se
– Grasshopper seer in Myna

Varmen
– Wasp former Sentinel, now mercenary

Varsec
– Wasp aviator and engineer

Places

Aleth
– large forest south of the Exalsee

Barrier Ridge
– cliff boundary between the Lowlands and the Commonweal

Capitas
– capital of the Wasp Empire

Collegium
– Beetle-kinden city in the Lowlands, home of the Great College

Commonweal
– the Dragonfly state north of the Lowlands, partly conquered by the Empire

Darakyon
– formerly haunted forest in the north-east Lowlands

Elas Mar
– province governed by Salme Elass

Exalsee
– inland sea south of the Empire

Felyal
– Mantis forest on the Lowlands coast

Helleron
– Beetle-kinden city in the Lowlands noted for its industry

The Hitch
– fugitive community at the foot of the Barrier Ridge

Jerez
– Skater-kinden lake town in the Empire

Khanaphes
– ancient Beetle-kinden city

Landstower
– city in the Principalities (formerly Lans Stowe)

Leose
– centre of Elas Mar province and castle of the Salme family

Lowlands
– the city states south of the Commonweal and west of the Empire

Maynes
– Ant-kinden city of the Three-city Alliance

Myna
– Soldier Beetle city of the Three-city Alliance

The Nem
– desert west of Khanaphes

Porta Rabi
– Solarnese port

Princep Salma
– New Lowlands city named after Salme Dien

The Principalities
– that part of the Commonweal conquered by the Empire

Ren
– Province governed by Felipe Shah

Rhael
– untenanted province in Roh

Roh
– Principality covered by Felipe Shah

Sara Tele
– village in Elas Mar province

Shon Fhor
– capital of the Commonweal

Siriell’s Town
– bandit town in Rhael province

Solamen
– fortress in the Principalities (formerly Shol Amen)

Solarno
– a city of high artifice on the Exalsee

Suon Ren
– town and castle of Felipe Shah

Szar
– Bee city in the Three-city Alliance

Three-city Alliance
– a state composed of Maynes, Myna and Szar, former Wasp subjects

Toek Station
– Scorpion trading post north of Solarno

Tsolshevy
– believed Woodlouse-kinden community, unknown location

Vesserett
– Bee city within the Empire

Organizations and things

Consortium of the Honest
– mercantile arm of the Imperial administration

Iron Glove
– trading cartel of artificers led by Dariandrephos

Landsarmy
– the army of refugees led by Salme Dien during the war

Loquae
– a speaker for a Mantis-kinden community

The Many
– Scorpion-kinden of the Nem desert

The Masters
– the ancient, legendary rulers of Khanaphes

Mercers
– Dragonfly-kinden knights errant

Monarch
– the ruler of the Commonweal

Nailbow
– a weapon that shoots bolts via a firepowder charge, powerful but inaccurate and of limited range.

Rekef
– Imperial secret service and police, divided into Inlander and Outlander

Salmae
– Dragonfly noble family led by Salme Elass

Scriptora
– the Khanaphir seat of government

Shadow Box
– artefact linked to the Darakyon, destroyed by Tisamon

Skryre
– a magical leader of the Moth-kinden

Snapbow
– a weapon devised by Totho that projects a bolt over a long range with great force and accuracy

Twelve-year War
– the war between the Empire and the Commonweal

Way Brothers
– a philosophical order providing hospitality to travellers

The
Windlass
– Jons Allanbridge’s new airship, replacing the
Buoyant Maiden

Praise for Shadows of the Apt

‘The insectile-humans premise is inventive, shaping the world in all sortsofways’

SFX

‘Adrian Tchaikovsky makes a good and enjoyable mix between a medieval-looking world and the presence of technology . . . I really enjoyed the novel and will certainly read the next in the series’

DarkWolfsFantasyReviews.blogspot.com

‘
Salute the Dark
impressed me no end . . . Mr Tchaikovsky showed he mastered the art of managing an epic almost to perfection . . .
Salute the Dark
fulfils the promise of the Apt series and brings its first part to an excellent conclusion, while starting new threads to be explored next. An A++ based on my three reads of the book so far and vaulting to the top of my list of 2010 fantasy novels’

FantasyBookCritic.blogspot.com

‘In recent years Tor, in the UK at least, have developed something of a reputation for publishing more serious, innovative fantasy. China Miéville has been around for a while, but new, exciting authors have emerged from the Tor stable: Alan Campbell, Hal Duncan, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Something all these authors have in common is that they’ve delivered novels that deviate from the norm, that are a cut above much of the bubblegum fantasy being peddled around at the minute. Their novels actually try to do something a little different’

SpeculativeHorizons.blogspot.com

‘A novel brimming with imagination and execution . . . The Shadows of the Apt series is quite distinct, mainly due to the insect-kinden and Tchaikovsky’s fertile imagination. His writing is accessible, if dense, while the sheer amount of extra content he has published on the web with regards to his series adds nuanced flavour to the proceedings’

SciFiNow

‘With all the groundwork laid so well in book one, book two leaps straight into the action and rarely lets up for the entire of its almost 700 page length, and while the scale of book one was big, the story has now become nothing less than epic . . . Reminiscent of much that’s gone before from the likes of Gemmell, Erikson, Sanderson and Cook but with its own unique and clever touch, this is another terrific outing from Mr Tchaikovsky and a worthy sequel in this epic saga’

Sci-Fi-London.com

Heirs of the Blade

Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, before heading off to Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself he subsequently ended up in law and has worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds, where he now lives. Married, he is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor, has trained in stage-fighting, and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind, possibly excepting his son.

Catch up with Adrian at
www.shadowsoftheapt.com
for further information about both himself and the insect-kinden, together with bonus material including short stories and artwork.

Heirs of the Blade
is the seventh novel in the Shadows of the Apt series. Have you read
Empire in Black and Gold
,
Dragonfly Falling
,
Blood of the Mantis
,
Salute the Dark
,
The Scarab Path
and
The Sea Watch
?