The Long War 03 - The Red Prince (67 page)

The Moon Clans
– unconquered tribes of the Moon Woods

Federick Two Hearts – chieftain of the Crescent

Aesyr Two Hearts – maiden of the rowan oak, daughter to Federick Two Hearts

Ossa Two Hearts – maiden of the rowan oak, daughter to Federick Two Hearts

Theen Burnt Face – chieftain of the Crescent

Dawn Sun Runner – night-raider of the Crescent

Barron Crow Friend – man of the Earth Shaker

Warm Heart Moon Father – Volk war-hound of the White Pack

Wraith Company
– protectors of the Grass Sea

Horrock Green Blade – captain of Wraith Company, commander of the destroyed Ro Hail

Haffen Red Face – former axe-master of Ro Hail –
deceased

Freya Cold Eyes –wise-woman of Rowanoco

Micah Stone Dog – young axe-man of Ro Hail

Darron Moon Eye – priest –
deceased

Scarlet Company
– protectors of South Warden

Johan Long Shadow – captain of the Scarlet Company

Mathias Flame Tooth – axe-master of South Warden

Dragneel Dark Crest – priest of Brytag the World Raven

Twilight Company
– protectors of Ranen Gar, the northernmost stronghold of Ranen

Fynius Black Claw – captain of Twilight Company, exemplar of Brytag the World Raven

Vincent Hundred Howl – warrior of Twilight Company

The People of Karesia

The Seven Sisters
– enchantresses, formerly of Jaa, now of Shub-Nillurath

Saara the Mistress of Pain – leader of the Seven Sisters, bears no mark

Isabel the Seductress – marked with the sign of a coiled snake

Sasha the Illusionist – marked with the sign of a flowering rose

Shilpa the Shadow of Lies – marked with the sign of birds in flight

Ameira the Lady of Spiders – marked with the sign of a spider’s web –
deceased

Katja the Hand of Despair – marked with the sign of a howling wolf –
deceased

Lillian the Lady of Death – marked with the sign of a hand –
deceased

The wind claws
– warriors who give their life to Jaa

Dalian Thief Taker – greatest of the wind claws and father of Al-Hasim

Kal Varaz – servant of the Seven Sisters

Kamran Kainen – servant of the Seven Sisters

Larix the Traveller –
deceased

The Viziers of Jaa
– his faithful

Voon of Rikara – high vizier of Karesia and exemplar of Jaa

Sanaa Law Keeper – vizier of Thrakka

Shadaran Bakara – vizier of Thrakka

The Hounds
– criminals serving as the Karesian army

Izra Sabal – whip-mistress of the Hounds

Turve Ramhe – whip-master of the Hounds

Kasimir Roux – captain of the Hounds and adjutant to whip-mistress Izra Sabal

Common folk

Al-Hasim, the ‘prince of the wastes’ – exile and thief, friend to the house of Canarn, son of Dalian Thief Taker

Claryon Soong – Kessian mobster

Emaniz Kabrizzi – book-dealer of Ro Weir

Jenner of Rikara – Karesian smuggler, brother to Kohli

Kohli of Rikara – Karesian smuggler, brother to Jenner

Makad Rarzi – smuggler and ship’s captain

Walan Zeen – Karesian warrior

The Godless

Kirin
– a mongrel race, neither Ro nor Karesian

Rham Jas Rami – assassin, dark-blood and friend to Bromvy Black Guard of Canarn

Keisha of Oslan – body slave to Saara the Mistress of Pain, dark-blood and daughter of Rham Jas Rami

Zeldantor –body slave to Saara the Mistress of Pain, dark blood and son of Rham Jas Rami –
deceased

The Dokkalfar
– an ancient race of non-human forest-dwellers

Tyr Dyus the Daylight Sky – warrior and Fell Walker

Tyr Hythel – warrior of the Fell

Tyr Kalen – warrior of Canarn

Tyr Nanon the Shape Taker – warrior of the Heart and soldier of the Long War

Tyr Rafn – warrior of the Heart –
deceased

Tyr Sigurd – warrior of Canarn, previously of the Heart

Tyr Vasir – warrior of the Drow Deeps

Vithar Jofn – shaman of the Heart

Vithar Joror the Heart’s Hand – shaman of the Heart

Vithar Loth the Tree Father – shaman and Fell Walker

Vithar Xaris – shaman of Narland

Mysterious others

Ryuthula – Gorlan mother

Magnus’s shade – apparition and servant of Rowanoco

Torian’s shade – apparition and servant of the One God

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I think I’m getting better. I hope I am... and I really hope you all enjoy this. Thank you for so many things.

Simon Hall, Kathleen Kitsell, Marcus Holland, Benjamin Hesford, Scott Ilnicki, Carrie Hall, Martin Cubberley, Tony Carew, Karl Wustrau, Mark Allen, Paolo Trepiccione, Terry and Cathy Smith, Mathilda Imlah, Melmo the Sinister Apothecary.

ABOUT THE RED PRINCE

Between the desert plains of Karesia and the icy wastes of Ranen, there once lay the kingdom of Ro. Its men and women worshipped the One and he was much pleased with them. His armies were strong. His lands were fertile. And his people prospered and grew… complacent.

Their enemies saw they were unwatchful. And the armies of the south fell upon the land like rain. And their sorcerers remade the kingdom in fire and blood in readiness for the rise of a new god; a nation of slaves awaiting sacrifice.

Such a fate it was that befell Haran, bounded by sea and stone, the mightiest stronghold of the west. Now, Alexander Tiris, the Red Prince, can only brood upon the downfall of his people, cut off from his own city by the mercenary army of the Seven Sisters.

Until the arrival of the one man who can wield the sisters’ power against them…

A
LL THAT WAS DEAD WILL RISE
.
A
LL THAT NOW LIVES WILL FALL
…

REVIEWS

‘Sieges, catapults, battles, longswords, beheadings a-plenty, profanity and bloody mayhem. Brilliant.’

SFFWorld

‘Interesting, enticing, thrusts you towards the next instalment.’

SFX

‘Martin meets Lovecraft.”

SCiFiNow

ABOUT A.J. SMITH

A. J. S
MITH
has been devising the worlds, histories and characters of the Long War chronicles for more than a decade. He was born in Birmingham and works in secondary education.
@Smith23AJ

ABOUT THE CHRONICLES OF THE LONG WAR

T
HE
C
HRONICLES
OF
THE
L
ONG
W
AR

In the long ages of deep time, uncountable millennia before the rise of men, there lived a race of Giants.

Continents shifted and mountains rose and fell as the Giants fought the Long War for the right to possess the lands of their birth. The greatest Giants, mortal beings of huge size and power, lived long enough, fought hard enough and gained enough wisdom to become gods.

Rowanoco, the Ice Giant, claimed the cold northern lands and was worshipped by the men of Ranen. Jaa, the Fire Giant, ruled the burning desert sands to the south and chose the men of Karesia as his followers. The Stone Giant, known only as the One, held dominion over the lush plains and towering mountains of Tor Funweir, and his followers, the men of Ro, believed they had the right to rule all the lands of men. Other Giants there were also, though their names and their followers are thought lost, and their empires buried, as victims of the Long War.

The Giants have long since left these lands to the humans, but their followers still worship them, invoke their names daily and aggressively maintain their laws. The Giants themselves sit beyond the perception of humans in their halls beyond the world while their most trusted followers fight the Long War in their stead.

I – T
HE
B
LACK
G
UARD

The city of Ro Canarn burns. By royal decree, its noble line is named Black Guard, and struck from past and future histories throughout the lands of Ro.

For the Red Army is on the march. Those who oppose its advance risk the bloody fate of house Canarn, and strange accidents befall those who dare question the King’s new advisors – the Seven Sisters. And called from the long ages of deep time, the children of a dead god are waking with a pitiless cry—

ALL
THAT
WAS
DEAD
WILL
RISE

ALL
THAT
NOW
LIVES
WILL
FALL
...

The Black Guard
is available
here
.