Fair warning, synopsis are not my forte - something which will become self evident if you read this - but it's been a while and writing a quick(!) recap seemed like a good idea.
In the Who's Who on the left, the characters that are greyed out have, for a variety of reasons, passed out of the story, never to return.
'Mouth'
Adsil is the former crown prince of the land of the fae. After trying to
prematurely take the throne, he was exiled and chained to a tree in the mortal
lands. He is released from this imprisonment by Saint Karl, an agent of the god
Siber San.
As a fae,
Adsil must honour all promises he makes and he is promise-bound to assume a
mortal form. Because he doesn't understand either the importance or the
duration of the shape he takes, he opts for something small and stylish -
unlike all those thudding mortals. As a result he stands 3ft9 and is easily
mistaken for a child when clean shaven.
Out of
spite and general mischief, Adsil uses magic to severely damage the City of
Indye while Karl is there on official business for his god. As a result, all
gods are barred from conducting business within the city and both Adsil and
Karl are punished for this.
Adsil's
punishment is having all his magical abilities divinely burned out of him.
After this has been done, an angry Saint Karl dumps him in the town of
Wheatsheaf to fend for himself.
Ill-equipped
for living a mortal life, Adsil spends a year as a beggar. Deciding he can't
stand the indignities anymore and believing that if he kills his body, his
spirit may return home to Nakata, he attempts to hang himself. It goes poorly
and he is saved from indefinite strangulation by 'Remus', one of the local
crimelords.
After
spending some time as one of Remus's 'Moonlighters', Adsil becomes involved in
a turf war to increase Remus's stake in the town. The violence of the skirmish
attracts the attention of the King's ministers and they scour the town,
arresting anyone likely to have a connection to Wheatsheaf's criminal element.
Adsil is amongst those arrested and he is taken away for questioning under
torment.
Thinking he
will soon be destroyed and not wishing to give the ministry any satisfaction,
Adsil promises that he will protect Remus from the ministry forever - making it
impossible for him to inform.
At
significant personal risk, Remus rescues Adsil from the ministry.
Badly
wounded by the torments, Adsil realises that his unnatural rate of healing will
reveal his non-human nature and he believes he will be killed for it once Remus
realises he is one of the fey. Remus tells him that he has known this secret
for some time and has no intention of killing him, provided that Adsil keeps his
secret - that despite the nature of his chief occupation as a burglar, Remus is
much prone to fear and fainting and he needs a helper on his jobs to be handy with
the smelling salts,
Bound
together by their secrets and the ties of loyalty both have proven to each
other, they become inseparable partners in crime, with Remus's role as Adsil's
boss becoming more paternal as he trains Adsil to be his successor.
When Karl
returns to Wheatsheaf, offering to take Adsil away somewhere he may be safer
from mortal troubles, Adsil refuses to leave. Karl warns Adsil that he is
attracting dangerous attention to the town, but Adsil declares that if Karl
does not leave him alone, he will bend his knee to Remus's god, Ynor. Karl
leaves the town, telling Adsil that he will only return if Adsil calls for him
via a priest and he will never answer him if Adsil decides to serve Ynor.
A high
priest of Ynor arrives in Wheatsheaf and gives Remus this message:
Ynor has
decided to raise a new kingdom from the dust of the Drylands. A king or queen
will rise in one of the towns upon the eastern trade - Sowsa, Wheatsheaf,
Tentar, Goska or Sansin. Only one shall be crowned and the crown must be won by
conquest. In each town, the priests have chosen one of their congregation to be
given this knowledge. The priest of Wheatsheaf has chosen you to be the herald
for this town.
Remus is
ambitious. He wishes to be free from fear of the king's ministry and he wants
to legitimise his people and the bastard child his lover is carrying, so he
accepts this role to becomes a king-maker. Remus is bound to the task by the
blood of Ynor and must now succeed, or die trying.
While this
effort is underway, Adsil is tempted by the priest of Ynor. The priest tells
him that his much-missed magic might be returned to him, if he agrees to take
Ynor's godmark and serve him.
He has yet
to reach a decision.
