CANDLE IRON
GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND PLACES.
Ankoor - the bleak land over the
north-eastern mountain border of McAnerin - a colder and harsher country.
Ankoor is organised into 9 Castles with guild privileges over certain
industries or secrets- There is also a self-styled 10th Castle made up of
rebels and outcasts. The 10th Castle plays a part in AMY AMARYLLIS (1993) when
one of its members kidnaps a major character.
Ankoorians - the people of Ankoor. They speak
with a different accent, but the language is close enough to McAnerinian and
they derive mostly from the same stock.
applefly - a pestering insect.
blight - a highly infectious disease with
obligatory quarantine.
blight-ward - a scarlet "keep-off"
flag put up to keep folk away from blight-affected properties. Lord Toombs has
blight-wards put up around Torm to add respectability to his besieging of the
castle. The blight-wards warn off possible help from outside.
braid - McAnerinian men wear their hair
in a braid. Scholar is not entirely McAnerinian, but he conforms to the ruling
fashion.
bitterstem - a tall plant with an acid taste
and astringent juice that grows on McAnerin Plain. It has fine red roots and
can be eaten. It’s sometimes chewed to ward off fatigue.
breath - a brief unit of time - a second
(see also heartbeat.)
candle-iron - a glowing metal lamp, rare and
mystical. Allyso has heard of them, but has probably seen them only in pictures
before she encounters the one in Wootton’s cave.
castler - someone who lives in or near or
depends on a castle. Not a serf - castlers are independent but most of them
prefer to be associated with a castle.
Clair - a northern McAnerin village. The
soulbinder visits Clair and causes problems there in both timelines.
The
Cleave - a gap in
the southern mountain range. The Cleave looks like a fault in the rock, but
within is a steep sloping chimney leading up to the top of the Shrouded
Mountains and debouching onto the Cloudway.
clothbush or clothwood bush - a sweet-smelling
shrub used for drying linens. These are grown as cultivated plants in gardens,
but also grow wild in the mountains.
The
Cloudway - a
perilous mountainside pathway that once led to both Makersland and Dragon-Gate
at Cloudway End.
.
coffer - a chest used for storing
clothing. Torm has tall, upright coffers, Wootton has a low one.
conner - a student (from the old verb to
con, meaning to study or learn by heart). Scholar in a conner in Ankoor -
he wants to return to his studies.
Conners’
Hall - place of
learning, situated in underground caves, partly man-made, partly natural, long
deserted by all but Wootton. The Conners’ Hall was disbanded after some of the
conners allegedly conjured up a wraith about 50 years before this story begins.
It is implied, but not directly stated, that the wraith was actually Allyso.
Conners’
Pass - The pass
over Singing Tor that leads to Conners’ Hall.
Conners’
Wayside Fountain -
a stone fountain marking the turnoff to Singing Tor..
Connishall - Leonard’s home in our world.
Possibly a "home", a school or a halfway house rather than a real
home.
cowl - deep hood worn by the Seer of
Conners’ Hall and also by Leonard in her guise of The Hooded One. A cowl
shadows the face of its wearer.
cress - a low-growing plant used as a
garnish, also a fresh light green colour.
Crystalium
Caverns - the
crystal caves where the gems of power are kept and possibly grown as well. The
Caverns lie behind the Dragons-Gate at Cloudway End.
Curran - a castle in the west of McAnerin,
famed for its herb-lore. Tegwen Hasselsjo claims to be planning to study there
under her aunt, the herb-warden.
Dame - older woman, used sometimes as a
mode of address.
delve - a hole or burrow.
dragonpod - spiky, hardshelled fruit with
stringy, juicy flesh. They are so hard to cut and to carry that you’d have to
be fairly desperate to eat one.
Dragon’s
Gate - the end of
the Cloudway - a literal gate in the rock. The gate is made of iron, and the
lock is rusted.
Fielding - a pleasant Trader village, home
of Traders Mohr and Dagg.
fleewit - one whose wits seem to have fled
- colloquially, a stupid person.
gem
of power - a
crystal or other stone with certain powers - or perhaps a crystal that allows a
gifted person to focus personal powers. The colours vary. The gem of time is
dull black, the gem of truth blood-red, the gem of dreams clear, the gem of
mist milky like an opal, the gem of ways is green and the gem of portals blue.
garnerbeast or garner - a large, placid
creature with a strong woolly coat. Kept by some people as transport or to help
with harvests, but not common because of the costs of keeping one. A garner can
walk at three or four times the velocity of a person and is probably a distant
relative of the Ankoorian reinbeast.
gemdrake - a kind of dragon with a strong
affinity for gems and crystals. The gemdrake in this story is the Keeper of the
Gate. It claims to be "in the rock and of the rock" and can animate
from rock itself. It is large when Allyso meets it at Dragons-Gate but tiny
when it appears in Wootton’s cave.
grandam - Ankoorian term for a grandmother.
Gill uses it.
halfling - or half Keyre - a small
person thought to have some non-human blood. Allyso is sometimes referred to as
a halfling - she may really be one (through her unknown father) or she may
simply have inherited the keyre characteristics from her distant ancestor Lord
Torm.
Hasselsjo - (pronounced HASSLE - SHER) second
of the twin castles of North East McAnerin, also used, as a proto-surname for
Lord Sheels and his family. Hasselsjo’s banner is the cream roehart.
healer - doctor. Healers wear blue and
silver robes and braided hoods as a badge of profession. Hilz is a real one,
the soulbinder uses the robes as a convenient masquerade.
heartbeat - short unit of time, or second -
see also breath.
High
Traders - gemsmiths
and fine metal workers who trade at castles and fairs. They are respected and
wealthy. High Traders Walton and Templeton come from the town of Scarlet.
honeywood
tree - small,
delicate tree with soft wood and a sweetish sap that can be used as resin when
it is thickened in the sun.
houndmaid - a girl employed to tend hounds.
Scholar excuses Allyso’s presence in the stonewood grove by telling his colleague
that she is a houndmaid.
kerchief - cloth or handkerchief or scarf.
Allyso has a kerchief as a gift from Leonard. She thinks it very fine
embroidery, but it’s simply a floral scarf from our world.
kitchen-crone - house-witch, a woman who uses
domestic charms.
leafstripper - an insect of the locust type.
leggings - tight trousers, usually made of
wool or of hide.
loonymoth - a small, phosphorescent insect.
McAnerin - a small, independent country with
a mediaeval economy - it has castles, villages, manors and fairs. It’s a green,
pleasant land, fertile and temperate which means there has been no great effort
at modernisation. It consists mainly of a large plain, with mountain ranges to
the north and south, and its law is a system of obligation and favour.
McAnerin
Downs - rising land
towards Central McAnerin.
mantle - a full coat with sleeves, leather
ties and a sash.
masquer - performer, actor.
Master - male form of Mistra - used as a
polite form of address for males without other titles or for young men.
McAnerin
End - the
southernmost village in McAnerin.
McDaniel
Waters - a
high-country lake on the Cloudway, noted for its blue waterflowers.
Makersland - the place that was once reached
via the Cloudway. It may be our world. It is implied, but not stated, that
McAnerin, Rargon and Ankoor have congruence with our world and that inventive
and creative minds here may affect events and characters there. Otherwise,
Makersland may be another world entirely, whose minds might affect us as well.
The route to Makersland is thought to be closed off, but there might be others.
marketgirl - young woman who trades at
markets.
mazed or mazing (charm) - a kind
of magical hypnosis.
meadowbright - a herb used for brewing tea.
merryhound, a hound bred for its merry nature
and delightful dancing gait. Tollerman’s Zara is one of these. Merryhounds are
said to be good at finding those who need them.
Mistra - wife, Lady, Madam, polite term
for a woman, used for young women no longer regarded as children. Allyso
objects when Trader Dagg addresses her as "Mistra Allyso".
moon - The moon, or a month
moonhigh - when the moon is highest in the
sky.
moonspan or moon’s span - a month
Musson - a Manor and its village in south
McAnerin. Tollerman lives there.
palm-mumbler - disrespectful name for a fortune
teller.
Plain
of McAnerin - the
main, flat part of McAnerin.
Rargon - a desert country, large and bare,
has a clan organisation - lies to the far south-east of McAnerin and can be
reached only by ship.
reinbeast - Ankoorian creature, much prized
for its wool. Perhaps a much smaller cousin of the garnerbeast. Reinbeast are
bred in Ankoor and only gelded males are allowed to leave the country.
reinbeast
weave - The cloth
made from this wool, highly prized for its beauty and hard-wearing qualities.
Scarlet - a village where the High Traders
live.
Seer - a wise person who can see some of
the future. Since the future is not set, seers can make only an educated guess.
Shrouded
Mountains -
cloud-covered mountain range - southern McAnerin.
Singing
Tor - the rocky
hill above Conners’ Hall. Made from soft, honeycombed rock, the Singing Tor is
an uneasy place at night because of the sounds of wind and water which echo
through its hollows.
sleightmaster - a swindler.
stonewit - thick-witted.
stonewood
tree - huge, hard
trees that cannot be cut down or burned. They have leathery leaves and even
their twigs are rock-like.
strawcap
hen - a domestic
bird which lays quantities of eggs.
soulbinder - witch or hexmistress, badly
intentioned. Their powers vary, and depend partly on the belief of the victim.
spellhound - an Ankoorian hound, bred to scent
and warn against wickedness. Usually copper-coloured, but may occasionally be
brindled.
sunfall - sunset
sunlift - sunrise
sweetloaf - underground fungus, plump, white
and sweet, may be eaten raw or roasted.
tablet
and stylus -
writing instruments.
Tenth
Castle - a band of
rebels from Ankoor, made up of the disaffected and displaced.
timber-nut - a hard-shelled nut that can be
cut and polished and worn as a trinket.
Torm - the castle where Allyso lives.
Its surrounding area and the local village.
Trader - man or woman who sells wares such
as cloth, leather or less expensive jewels.
tunic - short, sleeveless garment.
Valourn - acrobatic dancer from Rargon - has the status of an Olympic medallist. Valourns play a big party in SHADOWDANCERS
weep-eye - allergy.
wellyard - a courtyard containing a well.
well-way - the secret passage of Torm.
Western
Port - a port city
in Western Ankoor - site of a huge trade fair.
Westaway - the place of learning in Ankoor.
whipsuck - a nasty creature rather like a
leech.
Zimmerhanzel - one of the twin castles in North
McAnerin - used as a kind of surname for the Lord Toombs and his family.
Background – “Budgie Blue” by Sallyo's Backgrounds.
