Halian Tan Haleth, Lord of Mountain Rivers, is an old name for Tanamil. A legend about him was woven into the rugcoat given by Anoreth to Closti on their marriage but is otherwise unknown.
Halida, the wife of Keril, Earl of Hannart, who was born a poor relation of a lord in Canderack in South Dalemark. When Keril was taking part in an uprising in South Dalemark as a young man, Halida helped him escape capture and fled North with him.
Haligland, a country on the other continent, peopled by emigrants from prehistoric Dalemark several centuries before the reign of King Hern. Once in Haligland, they developed a clan system, a science of magery, and a religion of the One. Modern Haligland is an oil-rich republic, still with a clan system and a fanatical religion, but one which denies vehemently any connection with the uncanny.
Ham, the partner and mate of Siriol aboard the Flower of Holand. Ham’s full name, like so many in Holand, was Alhammitt. He was a large, good-natured, unintelligent man who was killed in the violence following the storming of the palace in Holand during the Great Uprising.
Hammit, a South Dalemark name, one of the many abbreviations of Alhammitt.
Hand organ, a musical instrument with pipes, bellows, and keyboard, like a very small church organ. It had a sweet, piping tone, strong enough to be heard above the noise of a crowd. The player carried the organ on his or her right arm and pumped it with the left hand while playing the keyboard with the right.
Hands to the North, an unknown group of secret freedom fighters in Holand in South Dalemark. They were quite possibly invented either by Harl Haddsson as cover for his attempt to assassinate Earl Hadd or by Harchad Haddsson as an excuse to pull down buildings to give his assassin a clear shot at Earl Hadd.
“The Hanging of Filli Ray,” a popular ballad about a young outlaw who was hanged for having the temerity to court a lord’s daughter. The version sung in the South concluded with the arrival of the Earl, who reveals, too late, that Filli Ray is his son. In the North it is the King who arrives too late.
Hannart, the leading earldom of North Dalemark, famous for its music, its flowers, its buildings, and the frank, outspoken nature of its people, and reputed to be the first civilized area of Dalemark. Certainly some of the buildings in the town of Hannart itself are thought to date back to the days of King Hern. Throughout much of history Hannart stood for freedom, justice, and opposition to the South and its ways. Its heyday was from the reign of the Adon to that of Amil the Great, when it was also a center of learning, but it became steadily less important from the time of the Great Uprising until it passed by marriage into the royal family and was adopted by the Crown Prince as his country retreat. Nowadays Hannart is mostly famous as a beauty spot and for the remains of the giant steam organ at the north end of its dale.
Harchad, second son of Earl Hadd of Holand in South Dalemark, head of Hadd’s secret police and master of his spies, said to be the cruelest man in Dalemark.
Hardimers, the name given to disciplinary officers at the Gardale Lawschool.
Harilla Harlsdaughter, eldest girl cousin of Hildrida and Ynen and betrothed at an early age to the Lord of Mark by her grandfather, Earl Hadd.
Harl Haddsson, the eldest of the Earl of Holand’s three sons, a fat and seemingly indolent man, who became Earl of Holand for a year following the death of Hadd, during which time Holanders took to saying that Earl Hadd was preferable. He was killed when the mob stormed the palace in Holand during the Great Uprising.
Harvest, the Northern term for the Autumn Festival.
Headman, the leader or chieftain of a village in prehistoric Dalemark. The office combined the functions of major, priest, and judge and was usually handed down from father to son.
Hearthmen, a privileged band of soldier companions sworn to a lord or earl and personally responsible to him only, who lived in their hearthlord’s mansion with him and formed a private army when need arose. A lord was also said to be the hearthman of the earl who was his overlord if he had sworn to follow the earl to war. In the South of Dalemark hearthpeople were always men, but many lords and earls of the North swore in women, too. The maintaining of hearthpeople was forbidden by royal decree in the reign of Amil II.
Heathens, emigrants from Haligland who invaded the prehistoric kingdom of Dalemark and eventually intermarried with the natives. They brought with them their women and children and the mage Kankredin and his college of lesser mages, intending to settle, and introduced to the country both the worship of the One and many magical practices that were previously unknown. Their main, disastrous invasion is described in the spellcoats, but it seems certain that small boatloads of Heathens had been arriving for decades previously, compelled by the harsh conditions in Haligland to find better living and possibly inspired by legends of their former home in the Riverlands.
Henda, Earl of Andmark in central South Dalemark, a violent and paranoid man who spent much of his time quarreling with the Earl of Holand and lived in constant dread of plots from the North. He was beheaded by his own hearthmen during the Great Uprising.
Herison, Lawschool slang meaning “the right to start grittling until the next full moon.”
Hern, the second son of Closti the Clam and Anoreth of the Undying, who became the first known King of Dalemark. Most of what is known of him is legend, like the story of his defeat of the mage Kankredin, but numerous laws, customs, and sayings are said to be his, and it is fairly certain that he founded the city of Kernsburgh, moving the seat of the throne there from his early base in Hannart and constructing the system of roads now known as the green roads or the paths of the Undying. The name Hern means “heron.”
Hestefan, one of the traveling Singers, of whom little is known beyond the facts that he befriended both Dagner and Moril Clennensson and became a follower of Noreth of Kredindale during her bid for the crown of Dalemark.
High Mill, a village twenty miles northeast of the port of Holand, on the rising ground toward Dermath, well known as a beauty spot.
Highside, the dormitory house at the Gardale Lawschool to which Hildrida Navissdaughter belonged.
High Tross, one of the islands of the Holy Islands, so called from its high and rocky outline.
Hildrida Navissdaughter, one of the company who sailed North to Aberath in the yacht Wind’s Road, granddaughter of Hadd, Earl of Holand, betrothed to Lithar, Lord of the Holy Islands, at the age of nine. After spending several years at the Lawschool in
Gardale, Hildrida was able to annul this betrothal, and practiced as a law-woman in the North Dales until Amil the Great appointed her Warden of the Holy Islands upon her marriage. Hildrida seems to have preferred living in Kernsburgh, however, where she became a leader of fashion and notorious for her quarrels with her stepmother, Eltruda.
Hildy, the pet name of Hildrida Navissdaughter.
Hobin, known as Bloody Hobin, the elder of two brothers devoted in different ways to freedom fighting. He was born in Waywold in South Dalemark of a family which seems to have been secret hereditary guardians of the kingstone, and he became a brilliant and innovative gunsmith, highly respected by his guild and much in favor with the earls of Holand, Waywold, and Dermath. He then moved to Holand, where he married Milda, Mitt’s mother, and bided his time, building up a hidden stock of weapons and an organization of sober revolutionaries like himself, until word came from the North that Amil the Great had seized the crown. Hobin sensed the time was ripe and at once led a massive revolt in Holand, which spread to Dermath and Waywold and rapidly became a bloodbath. Hobin killed so many people, many of them innocent, that Amil himself was forced to intervene. It was said that Hobin shot himself rather than submit to a King. This may be true, but the story that he shot his wife and daughters at the same time is probably a fabrication.
Hoe, a village on the rising ground west of Holand in South Dalemark.
Hoe Point, the second major landmark for ships sailing northwest out of Holand. Sailors took care to know it well because a strong current flowed northward from there.