Into the Labyrinth

1

A game played on Abarrach, similar to an ancient game known on Earth as mah-jongg. The playing pieces are inscribed with the sigla used by both Patryns and Sartan to work their magic. Fire Sea, vol. 3 of The Death Gate Cycle.

2

The Sartan inhabiting Abarrach learned to practice the forbidden art of necromancy, began giving a dreadful type of life to the corpses of their dead. The dead became slaves, working for the living. If the dead are brought back too soon after death, the soul does not leave the body, but remains tied to it. These Sartan become lazar—fearful beings who inhabit simultaneously both the plane of the living and the realm of the dead. A lazar can find no peace, no rest. Its “life” is constant torment. Fire Sea, vol. 3 of The Death Gate Cycle.

3

Marit is not his daughter in the literal sense of the word. Xar considers all Patryns his children, since he was the one who brought them forth out of the darkness of the Labyrinth. It is not known whether Xar fathered any natural children of his own. If so, the youngest would be old by Patryn standards, at least past their Seventieth Gate. Since few Patryns trapped in the Labyrinth live even half that long, we must assume that Xar’s true children, if he had any, are long since dead.

4

Those who live in the Labyrinth are divided into two categories: Runners and Squatters. Runners live and travel alone, their only object to escape the Labyrinth. Squatters live in large groups. Their object is also escape, but they place greater value on the survival and perpetuation of their race.

5

Serpent Mage, vol. 4 of The Death Gate Cycle.

6

Those who have read about the dragon-snakes before will note the difference between Sang-drax’s account of the Battle of the Kicksey-winsey and the truth, as recorded in The Hand of Chaos, vol. 5 of The Death Gate Cycle.

7

Haplo describes such a ceremony in Dragon Wing, vol. 1 of The Death Gate Cycle.

8

Either the elder inscribes the rune on the younger, or the one who is first joined inscribes the rune on the one who is not. If both have been previously joined, they inscribe the runes on each other. Once rune-joined, Patryns are forbidden to join with any other, so long as their rune-mate remains alive.

9

An expression used among the Brotherhood to indicate a member marked for death. See Appendix I, “The Brotherhood,” The Hand of Chaos, vol. 5 of The Death Gate Cycle.

10

The library of the Brotherhood is quite extensive, according to Haplo’s notes on the subject. As one might expect, there are the volumes devoted to the making and use of almost any weapon imaginable—human and elven and dwarven, mundane and magical. Innumerable volumes concern botany and herb lore, particularly as they relate to poisons and antidotes. There are books on venomous snakes and the deadlier types of spiders, books on snares and traps, books on the care and handling of dragons.

There are also books of an unexpected nature: books on the inner workings of the hearts and minds of humans, elves, dwarves, and even those earlier beings—the Sartan. Philosophical treatises in an assassins’ guild? Odd. Or perhaps not. As the saying goes, “When tracking a victim, you should try to fit your feet into his footprints.”

11

A measure of the Brotherhood’s wealth. Nowhere else in the Mid Realms would one find a water barrel sitting out in the open, unguarded, its precious contents free to all takers.

12

By this we assume that the writer was a member of the Tribus elven clan, who were battling their Paxar cousins in the war that became known as the Brotherblood. See The Hand of Chaos, vol. 5 of The Death Gate Cycle, for details. Additional note: this manuscript can now be found in Haplo’s collection.

13

The ancient elven custom of dagger-dueling had gone out of favor by this time, probably because so many elves were fighting for their lives on the battlefield. Dueling came to the fore under the peaceful reign of the Paxar, providing a way for youths to test their courage without placing anyone in real danger. As this elf implies, the daggers were meant more for show than actual use, often having jeweled handles and fancifully shaped blades. The rules of the duel were complicated. The intent was to slash an ear. An elf walking around with a cropped “human” ear was an object of ridicule. To avoid scarring the face or damaging eyes, elaborate headgear was worn that left only the ears exposed.

14

Marit does not know it, but her ship lands not far from the site on which Hugh the Hand and Alfred and Bane landed the Dragon Wing. The part of the machine she sees is in the city of Het.

15

The Hand of Chaos, vol. 5 of The Death Gate Cycle.

16

Women in the Labyrinth, particularly Runners, dress in leather trousers and vests, all rune-enhanced, as do the men. Squatter women, who are foragers and gatherers, will occasionally wear skirts that assist them in these tasks. Such skirts are worn over the trousers and can thus be easily removed if the women need to flee or fight a pursuing foe.

17

Leader of a tribe of Squatters, known for wisdom.

18

A Patryn who knows another Patryn may act on the possibility that he or she is with this Patryn and the magic will bring them together. But just as a Patryn must be able to visualize a location before being taken there, so Marit must be able to visualize Haplo before she can use the magic to join him.

19

“Nine gigantic arms made of brass and steel thrust up out of the coralite—some of them soaring several menka into the air. Atop each arm was an enormous hand whose thumb and fingers were made of gold with brass hinges at each of the joints and at the wrist. The hands were... large enough to have grasped one of the enormous waterships and held it in a golden palm....” Thus Haplo describes the Liftalofts in Dragon Wing, vol. 1 of The Death Gate Cycle.

20

It appears from this text that the ship has landed on the ground. Those who read Haplo’s first account of an elven ship arriving at the Liftalofts will recall that the dragon ship remained in the air. These early waterships were accustomed to leaving before the next storm hit, and while Haplo provides no explanation for the difference, it is logical to assume that elven ships intending to stay for long periods were forced to set down on the ground to ride out the storm.

21

Dragon Wing, vol. 1 of The Death Gate Cycle.

22

Foreseeing their doom, realizing they would be forced to leave Arianus without completing their task, the Sartan left detailed instructions informing the mensch how to operate the Kicksey-winsey. The book was written in three languages, dwarven, elven, and human, as well as Sartan. Unfortunately, at this time the mensch races were already at war, divided by hatred and prejudice. The book fell into the hands of the Kenkari elves, a powerful religious order.

Giving in to their own fears, particularly of the humans, the Kenkari hid the book and suppressed all knowledge of it. The current Speaker of the Soul—a studious man who, like Limbeck, suffered from insatiable curiosity—came upon the book and knew instantly what wonderful miracles it could bring to his world. He, too, was afraid of the humans, however, until an incident occurred that caused him to see true evil. He then gave the book to Haplo, to be given to the dwarves. The Hand of Chaos, vol. 5 of The Death Gate Cycle.

23

Sartan runes placed to guide the way down the stairs.

24

Ironically, what Limbeck saw was a gathering of the evil dragon-snakes, who had taken on forms of the mensch in order to insinuate themselves into the world. Haplo knows the truth, but, seeing that Limbeck is quite taken with the idea that the races can live and work together in peace, Haplo has never told the dwarf what he really saw.

25

See Appendix I, The Accursed Blade.

26

Haplo was tricked by the wizard Zifnab into transporting the human siblings Roland and Rega and the elven siblings Paithan and Aleatha and the dwarf Drugar to the Sartan citadel on Pryan. Their adventures are recorded in Elven Star, vol. 2 of The Death Gate Cycle.

27

Zifnab’s dragon. See Elven Star, vol. 2 of The Death Gate Cycle.

28

Haplo’s description of the citadel of Pryan, made on his first journey, places the market plaza right inside the city gates.

29

Tytans wiped out Drugar’s people. Blaming the humans and elves for abandoning the dwarves, Drugar swore vengeance on Roland, Rega, and Paithan. Elven Star, vol. 2 of The Death Gate Cycle.

30

Haplo refers to this room in his account as the sanctuary.

31

A part of this explanation and accompanying diagram can be found in Appendix II.

32

Humans do use magic, but their magic deals with the manipulation of nature and all things natural, as opposed to elves, who work with mechanical magicks. Elves tend to discount human magic, therefore, considering it crude and backward. This accounts for Paithan’s superior attitude. Unfortunately, most humans on Pryan, accustomed to using elven magical technology, feel the same way about their own magic as do the elves. Human wizards are accorded very little respect.

33

Due to genetic differences, elves, humans, and dwarves cannot cross-breed.

34

Probably what led Paithan to deduce that Xar was human. No elf ever wears black, considering the color ill-omened.

35

One of the Patryn words for “death” is, in fact, the same as the word for “friend.”

36

Tiger-men are taller than most humans, with thick fur pelts and long tails. They can run on back legs or drop down on all fours, are capable of leaping incredible distances, and are as much at home in trees as on the ground. They are adept at using weapons, but prefer killing with fang and claw, dragging down their prey and sinking their teeth into the neck, ripping out the throat. They know rune-magic, using it primarily to enhance their weapons. They kill for sport as well as food.

37

Probably a reference to Labyrinth sickness—a form of insanity affecting Patryns, brought on by the terrors and hardship of life in the Labyrinth.

38

Xar learned of the existence of the mensch in the Nexus, reading the literature left behind by the Sartan.

39

Insect-like creatures, the chaodyn have a hard outer shell that is extremely difficult to penetrate even with magical weapons. A chaodyn must be struck directly, die instantly, or else an attacker will find himself facing two where one stood before.

40

As opposed to the evil serpents (dragon-snakes) or the good dragons of Pryan. The Labyrinth dragons are descendants of those of ancient Earth, pre-Sundering. They are hideous reptiles, large, with vast wingspan, powerful in magic and abominably evil. They do not kill a victim outright, but enjoy taking prisoners and will torment their victims for days, allowing them to die slowly. Haplo mentions elsewhere that the dragons of the Labyrinth are the one creature he never fought. He ran for his life whenever he feared one was near. So far as Haplo records, Xar, Lord of the Nexus, was the only Patryn ever to fight a Labyrinth dragon and

41

Written by Alfred Montbank sometime during his sojourn in the Labyrinth.

42

This last is written in an agitated style, from which we must conclude that Alfred probably recorded this information just before the Siege of Abri. The second piece of information is very bad. Apparently the blade can also be controlled by outside forces! I have evidence that the dragon-snakes are able to wield some sort of influence over it.

43

I am indebted to the tytans and to my sister, Aleatha, for the translation of Sartan runes.

44

A phrase, peculiar to the Sartan, which means “a perspective from on high” or, in this case, an overview.

45

Paithan adds this for those who live on the high surface of Pryan. There the ground consists of the tops of immense trees whose roots remain unknown to those who are born, live, and die in their boughs.

46

“Well of the World” and “Worldgem,” in addition to many other fanciful names in the text, are undoubtedly Paithan’s constructions. While they do reflect his romantic nature, they are not necessarily instructive in terms of the function of the machine itself. The term “Worldgem,” however, may be a mensch rendering of the Sartan Eort-Batu’h rune. Eort signifies life and power—a cross structure in magic that bridged Fire and Water magicks. Batu’h would refer to the concept of “foundation” rather than a crystalline stone. If this is the case, then this “Worldgem” is the focal point of a life or power wave—probably the emissions from the “well.”

47

I am still not sure just what these “conditions” might be.

48

This is a direct translation of the Sartan rune-structure. I’m not sure what it means. I feel like a child examining with wonder the workings of my father’s old watch and trying to understand how it operates.

49

This again is a direct translation from the runes.

50

On the other hand, it could be that the Diffusion Ring separates the power drawn up from the roots of the world into more basic wave forms and narrower spectra of energy, which could then be recombined selectively through the Combinant Ring

51

I find no drive or power mechanism for this clockwork which normally would have a weight-and-pendulum arrangement. I surmise that within the mechanism itself is some means of gaining energy from the stream of force coming from the Well of the World. In fact, I suspect that this is the purpose of the Diffusion Field Collector shown in the drawing.

52

According to the tytans, these conduits link the Sundered Realms to each other.