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This snippet from Echoes of Betrayal comes fairly near the beginning…those familiar with Kings of the North remember that Pargun has invaded and though the scathefire may be over, the Pargunese are still around. Some snippage may occur within the snippet.
Who: King Kieri is POV
Where: Between Chaya and the Honnorgat River
When: Night. The Lyonyan force is camped alongside a scathefire track
At the north side of the camp, Kieri found the sentries with bows drawn, facing a group of soldiers in a curious mix of uniforms.
“They say they’re Halverics,” one of the sentries said without looking away from his target. “But they could have stolen what Halveric gear they wear.”
“Who commands?” he asked
“I do, m’lord,” said the one in front. “Vardan, second sergeant.”
The name was right, and her accent pure Lyonyan, but her face was so streaked with ash and blood that Kieri didn’t recognize her, and she wore a wide neck ring over the leather gorget with the Halveric stamp. “What happened to your uniforms?” he asked.
“Burned off, m’lord,” the woman said. “There was that fire–purple-white it was, it burned–”
“Scathefire,” Kieri said. “And you survived?”
Comment by iphinome — October 25, 2011 @ 6:38 pm
I always wondered if anyone in Paksworld wore gorgets, I think this is the first time I’ve seen one mentioned.
Comment by elizabeth — October 25, 2011 @ 9:44 pm
The leather armor standard for infantry soldiers in most merc companies has a sort of built-in gorget–a stiff high “collar.” it’s not referred to separately. Metal gorgets–separate–cost more and are generally private-purchase items. (Soldiers are welcome to improve their equipment at their own expense.) Some soldiers, finding the gorgets hot and uncomfortable in Aarenis, sabotage the built-in ones.) Halveric provided NCOs with lower-collar leather armor and the option to choose a separate gorget of leather or metal at no cost to the NCO. So Vardan’s wearing a separate gorget.
Comment by Daniel Glover — October 26, 2011 @ 6:27 am
Since we are getting esoteric about armor (armour?), for those in the Upper Midwest I highly recommend the Castlerock Museum (http://www.castlerockmuseum.com/main/) in Alma Wisconsin. It overlooks the Mississippi river a couple hours south of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Wonderful, private collection. Open weekends. Found out about it through a newspaper article.
Comment by Jenn — October 28, 2011 @ 7:29 am
This is a terrible teaser. Now I don’t know if they are baby dragons in disguise (my dragons are now asking for disguises (eye roll)) or who they say they are and have been specially chosen to survive baby dragons or have been rescued by someone else. (weren’t they supposed to have contacted a Kuakgan who wandered Lyonya?)
How long do I have to wait to find out???? Sigh!
Comment by iphinome — October 28, 2011 @ 7:58 am
In the spirit of Halloween I must say that Kieri’s line “And you survived?” is the most delicate way I’ve ever seen to ask someone if they’re a zombie.
Comment by elizabeth — October 28, 2011 @ 8:30 pm
Daniel: the thought of a private arms & armor collection definitely raises my interest, but that’s a long way away for me. Of course, so is the Wallace in London, the armory in Leeds, etc, etc, etc. Nobody needs a “gate” from here to there more than I do.
Jenn: They are who they say they are. That’s not a spoiler, honestly. There is a side-story involved which I may clean up and put out later which goes into the details of how they survived, but there’s enough in ECHOES to make it clear.
iphinome: Snork! Clearly that question belongs in a funny-zombie story (quickly puts it in the “When I write a funny zombie story pull out this bit of dialogue” file. Although you will undoubtedly remember, and accuse me of self-plagiarism. Right?
Comment by iphinome — October 29, 2011 @ 4:42 am
My lady… actually I never did get that straight, is it my lady, my lord, miss ma’am or sir? I would not accuse someone of self-plagiarism over a mere three words of dialogue.
And when you were nearby on a free admission day SOMEONE did try to direct you to the Chicago Art Institute’s arms and armor exhibit (located directly across from the entrance), The same person offered to accompany you like a good little… er not so little temporary squire so you wouldn’t get lost or lose track of time and offered an annotated map of the area in case her company was unwelcome because she’s a weirdo who likes sewing cloaks and plotting world domination.
Comment by Daniel Glover — October 29, 2011 @ 7:41 am
Elizabeth,
I knew it’d be a long trek for you, especially coming by train. It’s certainly off the beaten path but I figured that readers here from around the Midwest might be interested. Yes, it’s a whole lot easier to get to than the collection in the Tower of London or elsewhere in Europe.
Comment by elizabeth — October 29, 2011 @ 7:42 am
iphinome: You did indeed, but I was not brimming with bounce-and-go and had to save some energy for the ritual walk-of-the-sleeper-car-passengers who are taken–for reasons I don’t understand unless it’s hatred of sleeping car passengers–the longest possible way from where we’re told to be to the train. (I don’t know if you’ve been led on this trek by one of the people who is always moving at a very brisk pace indeed, but it involves going out a door, down a dark and often wet pavement (splashing through puddles), then back in a door into part of the terminal, then through some twisty way, and finally out onto a platform with multiple trains and between two of them until finally, far in the distance, is our car. It seems to me that the outside-through-puddles part of the loop makes it much longer than leading the crocodile straight through…it’s clearly a giant square-cornered C…but it’s also clear that that’s a honkin’ big place with lots of hidden bits and I’m not sure where the platform really is, in relation to the rest of the stuff. And when you’re tired and the floor seems to be vibrating and rolling up and down like a shaken rug…sitting and knitting seems like a very good idea.
I still think someone should take over that big waiting hall with some good painters and many colors of paint and it would be magnificent. I know the Midwest has a reputation for preferring brown and beige, but…I see pale blue, dark blue, rich “oxblood” red, cream (but only as an accent), two shades of green and gold leaf. Shouldn’t cost more than 200 million and would keep a whole staff of painters and riggers for the scaffolds of the painters busy for a year or more so their families could eat.
Comment by elizabeth — October 29, 2011 @ 7:48 am
Daniel: I’m glad you mentioned it…just thinking how long it would take to get there if I added a day or two between trains in Chicago. I’m sure the Midwesterners would find it very handy indeed.
Comment by iphinome — October 29, 2011 @ 8:11 am
No I’ve never taken the sleeper car walk, just the shorter closer to the front of the train grab a seat and space out for three to six hours walk. I didn’t know it was quite so bad.
As you know, Chicago was founded by Jedi who were always big on earth tones, we honor our traditions. Plus the city is dirty and bright colors don’t stay bright for long, stepping off a train from one of the father out suburbs it feels like someone lowered the saturation on the video. Although, green and gold or even better green and silver would be nice.