Tigana - Chapter 8

Tigana - Chapter 8

Another substantial chapter, from Dianora's point of view.

Dianora is at court, and tries to get Rhamanus appointed to govern north Asoli. Brandin tells her how he has practiced a traditional ritual run up a mountain, she teases him about it. He tells her he saw supernatural creature on a rock, but does not know if a guardsman saw her as well. He does not know what it means, but Dianora, who knows, is shaken.

A singer from Ygrath comes to play for the King. The musician Camena di Chiara pretends to be about to shoot her with a crossbow; Brandin defends her with magic, but he was actually the target of the killer, as Dianora realises, as she saves him. Camena was acting as a Chiaran patriot; Isolla was acting on behalf of Brandin's abandoned wife and/or son back in Ygrath. Brandin kills Isolla by magic, and Rhun hacks the body with his sword, crying "Music! Stevan!"

Dianora wants comfort, but Brandin sleeps with Solores that night and, angry and desolate, Dianora remembers her past and her first love. She remembers living in Tigana after he Battle of the Deisa, with Ygrathan soldiers tormenting the boys of the city, including her brother. Her mother's insanity and the atmosphere of despair lead her to take her brother Baerd as her lover; but he sees as reselka - the same supernatural creature Brandin has seen - and knows he must leave Tigana, and Dianora.

The prophesy of the reselka is told as poem:

One man sees a reselka
His life forks there.
Two men see a reselka
one of them shall die.
Three men see a reselka
one is blessed, one forks, one shall die.
One woman sees a reselka
her path comes clear to her.
Two women see a reselka
one of them shall bear a child.
Three women see a reselka,
one is blessed, one is clear, one shall bear a child.

Characters in this chapter:

• Dianora
  
• Rhamanus, Captain of the ship that brought her to Chiara
  
• d'Eymon, Brandin's Chancellor
  
• Rhun, Brandin's Fool
  
• Scelto, Dianora's castrate friend and servant
  
• Brandin of Ygrath
  
• Isolla of Ygrath, a musician
  
• Camena di Chiara, a musician
  
• Doarde, a poet
  
• Neso of Ygrath, a courtier
  
• Naddo, an apprentice of Tigana
  
• Baerd, Dianora's brother and lover
  

Tigana - Chapter 9

Tigana - Chapter 9

Part Three - Ember to Ember

Ember Days are the holidays, marked by ritual, at Spring and Autumn equinoxes.

The map: the Highlands of Certando.

Alessan, Baerd, Devin, Sandre and Catriana have been travelling for six months. They kill an informer. They come to an estate, where Devin climbs into a barn and kills the guardsman while he is asleep - it's the first time Devin has killed someone. Things go badly for Alberico over the summer, and he retaliates by raising taxes, and killing and torturing dissidents. Verses lampooning him keep appearing. Brandin sends him a letter requesting more women like Dianora from his lands. Alberico gets more and more angry.

Alessan and his company have a routine where, in disguise, they talk to the townspeople in the taverns in such a way to incite their resistance to Alberico and their desire for freedom, and to make them see the common cause they have with the other duchies and provinces of the Palm to throw off the Tyrants. Alessan and his companions are, of course, behind most of the events which frustrate and bedevil Alberico. In Devin's point of view, we contemplate his relationship with Catriana, which is going nowhere.

They meet up with a musician name Erlein di Senzio, who turns out to be a sorcerer, who is then ritually bound to serve Alessan, to his great resentment and resistance. He tries to escape, but cannot. and the others try to make peace with him.

Named characters in this chapter:

• Alberico the Tyrant
  
• Alessan, Prince of Tigana
  
• Devin
  
• Catriana
  
• Duke Sandre d'Astibar
  
• Baerd, son of the sculptor Saevar, Dianora's brother
  
• Taccio and Ingonida, a couple in Ferraut who bought a bed
  
• Karalius, leader of the First Company of Barbadians (in Alberico's army of mercenaris)
  
• Grancial, leader of the Second Company of Barbadians (in Alberico's army of mercenaris)
  
• Siferval, leader of the Third Company of Barbadians (in Alberico's army of mercenaris)
  
• Tomasso bar Sandre, now a folk hero
  
• Adreano, a poet executed by Brandin
  
• Brandin of Ygrath
  
• Ettocio, a bartender
  
• Alienor of Castle Borso
  
• The daughters of Rovigo, Selvena and Alais
  
• Burnet de Corte, leader of a troupe of musicians
  
• Erlein di Senzio. musician and wizard