A Time of Courage

Son of Olin, a solitary trapper from the Desolation whose father was murdered by Fritha⁴ for the Starstone Sword. He is large, strong, and profoundly uncomfortable with crowds and enclosed spaces, a legacy of his isolated upbringing. He is literal, honest to a fault, and slow to anger but implacable once roused. His tracking skills and ability to read terrain make him invaluable. His grief for his father drives him, but it is tempered by the friendships he forms with Cullen¹⁰, Keld¹¹, Riv², and the white bear Friend. He joins the Order of the Bright Star and ultimately fulfills his father's oath by killing Asroth⁷ with the very sword Olin forged. His arc moves from solitary survival to belonging, from grief to purpose.

Daughter of Aphra¹⁵ and Kol¹³, raised as a White-Wing trainee while her true nature was hidden. She has dapple-grey feathered wings and a fierce temper that once caused her to fail her warrior trial. She struggles with rage, a constant current of fury at the Ben-Elim who would have killed her as an infant and at the injustice of the world. Her rescue of Meical⁹ from Drassil's fall marks her as extraordinary. She joins the Order of the Bright Star, finding a family that accepts her completely. Her love for Bleda³ is the emotional core of her story. She loses both her mother Aphra¹⁵ and Bleda³ in the final battles, grief that nearly consumes her, but she endures, channeling her pain into the protection of the new age.

Son of Queen Erdene, taken as a child hostage by the Ben-Elim to control his Clan. He grew up in Drassil, betrothed to Jin⁵ of the Cheren as part of a political arrangement, but he fell in love with Riv². After Jin⁵ kills his mother and he kills her father Uldin, he becomes king of the shattered Sirak. He is a brilliant archer and a cunning strategist, transforming from a grieving son into a leader who uses deception and terrain to overcome superior numbers. His love for Riv² is tender and steadfast, symbolized by the feather and flower he keeps over his heart. He avenges his mother by killing Jin⁵, but is murdered by Kol¹³ immediately after, a victim of Ben-Elim arrogance even in victory.

Once a White-Wing warrior who was betrayed by Kol¹³, who ordered her infant daughter Anja killed. Her grief and rage drove her to the Kadoshim. She is a brilliant blood-mage, creator of the Revenants (by transforming Gulla⁸), the Ferals (twisted human-animal hybrids), and the winged draig Wrath. She becomes Asroth's⁷ betrothed and forges his starstone weapons and armor. She is pregnant with his child throughout the war. She is not purely evil; her love for her creations, especially Elise and Wrath, and for her unborn daughter, is genuine. She represents what grief can become when untempered by forgiveness. Drem¹ kills her in the final battle, but she dies ensuring her child's survival.

Daughter of Uldin, raised as a ward in Drassil alongside Bleda³, to whom she was betrothed. Her love for Bleda³ curdled into murderous hatred when she discovered his love for Riv². After Bleda³ kills her father, she becomes Queen of the Cheren and launches a genocidal campaign against the Sirak. She is a superb archer and horse-warrior, but her rage makes her predictable. She allies with Asroth⁷ to gain the power to destroy Bleda³ and all he loves. Her pride and need to prove herself drive her to increasingly reckless decisions. Bleda³ kills her in single combat, avenging his mother Erdene. Her tragedy is that her intelligence and skill are consumed by a hatred she cannot master.

Leader of the Order of the Bright Star and Drem's¹ aunt, descended from Cywen, sister of Corban the Bright Star. She is stern, strategic, and deeply compassionate beneath her hard exterior. She is one of the few who can use earth magic (Elemental power), wielding wind, fire, and earth against her enemies. She lost her legs in the final battle against Asroth⁷ but continued to fight, dragging herself across the ground to bind Asroth⁷ with roots. Her leadership is defined by earned loyalty, not inherited authority. She teaches the earth power to a new generation, ensuring that knowledge survives. Her final act is to read the words of power that banish all supernatural beings from the Banished Lands.

The ancient enemy of the Ben-Elim, imprisoned in starstone metal for 138 years after his defeat at the Day of Wrath. When freed, he is pale, silver-haired, and terrifyingly beautiful, with black eyes and blue-black veins mapping his alabaster skin. He is capricious, sensual, and casually cruel, savoring the pleasures of flesh after millennia as a spirit. He wields a long black axe and wears starstone mail forged by Fritha⁴. His power over earth magic allows him to command the ground itself. Despite his godlike strength, he is not invincible; his new hand, grafted by Fritha⁴, remains a vulnerability. Drem¹ and Balur One-Eye¹² kill him in the final battle.

Once a Kadoshim lord, transformed by Fritha's⁴ blood magic into something new: part Kadoshim, part Revenant. He has one red eye, elongated limbs, taloned hands, and a shadowy halo that leaks mist. He created seven captains (Gulla's Seven) by biting them, and through them spawned legions of Revenants. He is ambitious and increasingly resentful of Asroth's⁷ authority, having tasted power during his master's imprisonment. His Revenants can only be killed by decapitation or rune-marked blades. Cullen¹⁰ kills him with a starstone spear during the final battle, collapsing every remaining Revenant. His death avenges Keld¹¹ and countless others.

Once the leader of the Ben-Elim, imprisoned in starstone alongside Asroth⁷ for 138 years because he had grown too close to humans, particularly Corban. Freed by the same explosion that released Asroth⁷, he is disoriented and grieving when Riv² rescues him. He is stern, honorable, and carries the weight of his people's failures. Unlike Kol¹³, he has learned that love and friendship matter more than schemes and strategies. He fights with a rune-marked sword and spear. In the end, he voluntarily leads the surviving Ben-Elim through the portal to the Otherworld, acknowledging that their presence in the Banished Lands has caused too much harm.

A red-haired warrior of the Order, descended from Corban and Coralen. He is hot-headed, reckless, and laughs in the face of death. Beneath his bravado is deep fear and grief, masked by aggression. He was raised by Sig and Keld¹¹ after his parents were killed by Kadoshim. Keld's¹¹ death shatters him, but he channels his pain into vengeance, killing Gulla⁸ with a starstone spear. He wields Corban's sword, a gift from Byrne⁶, and proves himself worthy of his ancestry. His friendship with Drem¹ is one of the novel's core relationships, two broken young men who become brothers.

Captain of Dun Seren's huntsmen, an older warrior of quiet competence and dry humor. He takes Drem¹ as his apprentice and treats him with gruff kindness. His wolven-hounds, Fen and Ralla, are his constant companions and fight at his side in mail coats. He saves Drem's¹ life multiple times and teaches him not just tracking but the values of the Order. At Brikan, he kills Rald, one of Gulla's Seven, but is stabbed in the back by Morn¹⁷ and killed by Gulla⁸. His last words ask Drem¹ to look after Cullen¹⁰ and the wolven-hounds.

A towering giant with one eye and a lattice of scar tissue. Father of Ethlinn¹⁴ and legendary warrior of the Banished Lands. He fights with a massive war-hammer and later wields Sig's rune-marked longsword. His oath is to protect his daughter with his life. He is blunt, grumpy, but fiercely loyal. In the final battle, he hurls Sig's sword at Asroth⁷, then picks up the demon's own black axe and decapitates him. After Ethlinn¹⁴ is killed by Asroth⁷, his grief is a raw wound, but he channels it into vengeance.

Golden-haired, scarred Ben-Elim lord who seduced Aphra¹⁵ and fathered Riv², then ordered the murder of half-breed infants to hide his crime, including Fritha's⁴ daughter Anja. He is arrogant, manipulative, and views humans as tools. He was responsible for Bleda's³ siblings' deaths and kept Bleda³ as a hostage. After Drassil's fall, he attempts to command the allied forces but is stripped of authority when Riv² reveals his paternity. He murders Bleda³ after the battle, stabbing him with a spear, and is executed by Ellac¹⁶ and the Sirak archers.

Daughter of Balur One-Eye¹², a giantess with dark hair and pale skin who rides a great bear. She is wise, perceptive, and skilled with both spear and earth magic. She united the giant clans for the war against the Kadoshim. She is a natural leader who commands respect through competence and compassion. In the final battle, she duels Asroth⁷ and nearly defeats him, her spear striking him four times before his Kadoshim swarm her. Asroth⁷ kills her with his black axe, a devastating loss that drives Balur One-Eye¹² to vengeance. Her death represents the cost of the victory.

Captain of five hundred White-Wings at Drassil, dark-haired and stern. She concealed Riv's² existence from the Ben-Elim for seventeen years, hiding her wings and raising her as a normal trainee. She was seduced by Kol¹³ and later regretted it deeply. Her relationship with Riv² is complicated by years of necessary deception, but her love is fierce and protective. She leads the survivors from Drassil and fights in both battles at Ripa. She dies at Asroth's⁷ hands, her sword shattering on his starstone mail, but not before wounding him with a perfect strike. Her death is the wound that nearly breaks Riv².

An aging Sirak warrior missing one hand. He has served Bleda's³ family for decades. He fights with a buckler strapped to his stump and a spear, and he is far deadlier than he looks. Gruff and stoic, he loves Bleda³ as a son. His counsel is blunt but wise. When Kol¹³ murders Bleda³, he executes Kol¹³ with his spear and orders the Sirak archers to loose every arrow into Kol's¹³ body. His grief for Bleda³ is absolute, his vengeance swift and merciless.

Broad, squat, and muscled, with leathery wings and a permanent scowl. She is Gulla's⁸ daughter, a half-breed Kadoshim who craves her father's approval but rarely receives it. She bonds with Fritha⁴ over their shared status as outcasts, swearing a blood oath of sisterhood. She wields a black-bladed knife forged from starstone. She kills Keld¹¹ at Brikan, stabbing him in the back, and is eventually killed by Fen the wolven-hound and Riv² in the final battle. Her arc is one of misplaced loyalty and the hunger for belonging.

A half-breed Ben-Elim over seventy years old, dark-haired with brown-feathered wings. His mother brought him to Dun Seren as an infant to hide him from the Ben-Elim who would have killed him. He and his descendants have lived in the tunnels beneath the fortress for decades, secretly protected by the Order. He and his kin are skilled archers and aerial fighters. He emerges during the siege of Dun Seren to help defend the fortress. His existence is a living indictment of Ben-Elim policy and a testament to the Order's commitment to protecting the innocent regardless of their nature.

A giantess of the Kurgan Clan, shaven-headed with a ridge of black hair. She is Alcyon's wife, separated from him for thirty years while she searched for her scattered people. She wields a round shield and a single-handed hammer. When she saves Bleda³ and his Sirak from Jin's⁵ trap, she brings the Kurgan giants into the war. Her reunion with Alcyon is one of the novel's most emotional moments. She carries giant's fire powder, which burns even on water, and uses it to devastating effect against the Shekam ships at Ripa's harbor.