The Last Herald-Mage - Part 2- "Magic's Promise" Quiz

Answer: 12 years

Technically, since "Magic's Pawn" ended in winter and "Magic's Promise" started in summer, eleven and a half years elapsed between the two books. The most convenient benchmark was Sovvan-night: Vanyel told Tashir that it had been twelve years since Tylendel's death. Also, Vanyel was sixteen in "Magic's Pawn" and twenty-eight in "Magic's Promise".

Answer: Mage-Gift

Although Jisa did have Mage-potential, it was not active when Van tested her. Jisa, although raised by King Randale and his lifebonded Shavri, was really Vanyel's daughter; Randi was sterile because of a chronic disease that was just beginning to manifest in this book, and Shavri desperately wanted a child.

Answer: Jervis

Despite the bitter enmity between Vanyel and Jervis in Vanyel's younger years, they become allies and almost friends in this book. Not only is Jervis very considerate of 'Fandes, but he supports Vanyel against Father Leren and tries to learn Vanyel's style of fighting for the benefit of smaller boys, like Vanyel's nephew Medren.

Answer: A lute and a gitttern-like instrument

Rolf Dawson, the luthier at the fair near Forst Reach, sold Vanyel a lute for Medren and a large gittern-like instrument that used metal harpstrings, which was an invention of his own. Once he learned Vanyel's identity, Rolf decided to show him the new instrument in the hope he would bring it straight back to the Bardic Collegium (which we assume he did, although nothing more is said about the subject).

Answer: He thought it was a demon

According to Herald Lores, the envoy to Lineas, Tashir had killed everybody in the palace and then tried to escape on his Companion-shaped "demon" - at least, he had assumed it was a demon, since no murderer would have been Chosen. Fortunately, Vanyel and Yfandes were near enough to hear the Companion's cry for help and came to rescue him and his Chosen.

Answer: Karis

Karis, the Remoerdis armsmaster, was Tashir's only friend at the palace. Although Karis was killed with the rest of the palace servants, that trust enabled Jervis, Karis' counterpart at Forst Reach, to reassure and stabilize Tashir after the massacre of his family.

Answer: The heart-stone

The Highjourne heart-stone influenced Reta, Ylyna's personal maid, through the ring marking her as a Guardian, inducing her to tell Vanyel about Tashir's abuse and the argument the evening before the massacre. The heart-stone did this out of concern for its own preservation, for if the Malevan family gained the Linean throne the stone would likely be drained.

Answer: Six

The hands were the only identifiable things left of the people in the palace, so Vanyel used them to count bodies. In this case Van concluded that there were actually four servants in the cellar at the time of the massacre, because four of the hands had the heart-stone rings that each servant owned.

Answer: Gretshke

The gretshke and the creatures that attacked the Remoerdis family were similar in that they both consisted of very large swarms of things with eyes and teeth. However, Vanyel observed that while gretshke hunted for hunger, the other creatures hunted from a simple desire to kill and destroy.

Answer: Jaysen

Jaysen was the Herald-Mage that Vanyel sent to protect his daughter Jisa from the blood-linked spell. Unfortunately, Jaysen was distracted enough after he learned of Jisa's parentage that his shields didn't hold against the swarm of creatures. He saved Jisa through a Final Strike, a last-ditch use of magic that takes down the mage's enemies but also kills the mage.