Though he doesn’t make his appearance until Book 3, The Second Stone, Arne is a key character in the Triempery Revelations series. His arc follows that of Hans, who does appear in every book—that’s them in the picture, on a boat—but unlike Hans, Arne is every inch a Kheld. He’s much more a Kheld than Stefan ever was, or even Cullen Brodheson or other Khelds introduced in the earlier books. They were too upper class (though of Kheld upper class) to properly represent their people. It is in The Second Stone, through Arne, that readers get their first actual taste of what Khelds might be all about.
And it’s in the remaining books of the series that readers find out what being Kheld means.
So who is Arne Anseldson?
Background
Arne was born in Eastmeary Brenna, the tenth child and fifth son of Wyneghan Aelfricsda and Anseld Brecson. He has seven brothers and five sisters, which is not an unusual size family among Khelds. Anseld was Thegn, though low clan, of unimportant family. He was also pleasing to look at, good-natured, and charming. His vocation as an itinerant peddler wasn’t promising but he vowed to be a good husband and turned out to be one. Wyneghan, to his good fortune, was Thegn and high clan, a holder of property and a woman whose matriarchs possessed both wealth and standing. Upon marriage Wyneghan came into a small but good farm, which she leased to a hardworking uncle. Anseld was not the farming type.
Though they didn’t contribute to the little family’s prosperity, Wyneghan’s family connections were good ones. Her brother—and Arne’s uncle—Robdan Aelfricson plays an important part in the series. Another of her brothers, Cedric, was grandfather of both Stefan and Hans. Arne is more distantly related, also through his mother, to Aubrey Amundda.
Appearance
Arne is of average height for a Kheld and of sturdy build. He has fair skin, a round youthful face with a straight and somewhat rounded nose, and brown wavy hair. He's too young early in the series to have much of a beard and for parts of the series he opts to be clean-shaven; he does grow a beard while in Amallar. His eyes are blue as are those of most Khelds. His movements are careful except when he’s not thinking at all. He has broad shoulders and strong hands. Arne’s back bears scars from beatings he took as a slave.
A Little History
As a younger son in a large, pastoral family Arne learned the usual skills of a Kheld male whose livelihood would need to be gained through hard work. Kheld men could not inherit land, so needed either to marry into it or have a gainful occupation. Arne didn’t particularly like working with animals—horses, cattle and pigs scared him, and chickens and other fowl made him sneeze—and he needed to marry a woman with property if he were to devote himself to farming; he tried blacksmithing but gave up after the first day. Two of his brothers went off to Rhodhur to pursue an education so they could become scribes or townsmen like Uncle Rob, but Arne had been too indifferent a student for his mother to consider funding out of town expenses. His prospects of supporting himself were bleak.
Arne was well-made and strong, however, and had a keen eye. He was a good brawler and an almost good archer. Another of his brothers had joined a band of rebels in Neuberland and was making a name for himself. Arne felt he could do just as well and set out with a few other Eastmeary Brenna lads to the frontier. In Saemoregh he joined other Kheld recruits and was sent to reinforce the rebel band of Krigan Hamerson in harassing Sordan’s forces in Lower Neuberland. Arne boasts that he planted arrows in some Sordani soldiers before he was captured—but that claim has not been substantiated.
Arne had not been in Lower Neuberland more than a week before Krigan’s band was ambushed and scattered. Those Kheld rebels not killed outright were taken prisoner and sold on the spot to a slave trader who accompanied the Sordani. Slaves were a profitable business in mining areas along the Telarkan mountains, especially in the ore-rich plains. Being young and strong made Arne prime slave material.
Fortunately for Arne he never made it to the mines. When the slaver reached the Randpor river he traded a slave for supplies and the supplier selected Arne, who out of his lot was the youngest and in the best health. The supplier didn’t keep Arne but sold him the next day to the owner of a ship carrying ore downriver. According to Arne, he didn’t see daylight or breathe fresh air for a week—but what else happened to him on the ship is only speculation. By the time Arne was allowed on deck the ship had reached some town he’d never heard of in a land he’d never heard of (later he knew it to be Damna, in Trongor). At that point he was put to work loading the ship with a new cargo, pigs, headed for some other port. Arne was the lowest person on the ship at that point and performed disgusting work for the crew, who beat him. Being at sea made him sick, but so did cleaning the latrine and the smell of the pigs. No one on the ship spoke a language he knew—in fact he had understood almost nothing spoken to him since being sold as a slave.
At Ilmar—yet another place Arne had never heard of—the ship picked up crates of sand. This was not ordinary sand but very dangerous, glowing sand from Lahgael. Because Arne feared it, once the sand was in the hold he stayed well away. By observation he knew that the ship sailed up a river, though he did not know what river it might be. However he’d learned just enough Esta by then to understand one thing: the ship was headed to Sordan.
Arne could imagine no worse fate. He knew no Kheld, not even one, who had ever seen Sordan. No Kheld did. If he went to Sordan, he was certain, he would be doomed to never return to his home. In fact, he was sure he would die. Sordan was where enemies dwelt, the people who had killed Stefan, the Kheld’s beloved king, and invaded Neuberland. Sordan was also home to the single worst person in the World—according to Khelds—Dorilian Sordaneon, who Stefan had declared was half man, half monster, and intent on the destruction of everything Kheld under the sun. Arne knew he must escape, and he must do so before reaching Sordan.
When the ship docked for supplies at the Lahgaelan port of Ben-Aranath, Arne stole the ship master’s eating knife, jumped off the ship, and made a break for freedom. He was weak and docks were unfamiliar to him, enabling the ship master to capture him. A young man observing the capture took pity on Arne and interrupted his beating, then bargained with the ship master to purchase Arne instead. Though confused by the turn of events, Arne found himself with a new master.
Or rather, his new friend. The person who had purchased him was Kheld.
Meeting Handurin
Arne’s purchaser introduced himself as Hans. Only later did Arne learn his liberator’s full and true name. For him it was enough he was rescued. Even though Hans said Arne was now free—that Hans didn’t want a slave—Arne was so grateful he vowed he would be Hans’s man no matter what. He owed Hans a life and would stick at his side.
Hans had been in Ben-Aranath seeking passage to, of course, Sordan. Though Arne was dismayed, he clenched his jaw and said that if Sordan was where Hans was going, then he would go too. After all, he didn’t even know where he was, so didn't have a whole lot of choice.
After working passage on a salt barge, Arne and Hans reached Sordan. Hans’s choices of what to do next dismayed Arne. Hans wanted to find Sordan’s Hierarch, Dorilian—and actually thought that was a good idea. Arne stayed with Hans and, as a consequence of being present during an attack on the Hierarch, ended up getting beaten (again) and tossed into prison. The next day, however, much to Arne’s amazement—and utter terror— Dorilian showed up personally to rescue him and Hans from a tribunal.
Arne’s wonder increased when he learned that his liberator, and now friend, was Handurin Stauberg-Randolph, brother to the late King Stefan, who had been returned to the World. Dorilian had not rescued Arne from the tribunal, of course not, but Essera’s rightful King. Arne’s plan for staying alive had just taken on new levels of promise—and danger.
Dorilian
Arne harbored negative thoughts about Dorilian Sordaneon practically from the day he first heard the name. As an Amallar Kheld, he grew up isolated from much of what went on in the larger world of the Triempery. What he did hear was filtered through fear. Highborn Princes commanding the elements. Sordaneons blasting aqueducts. Gossip and smatterings of untruths about Dorilian’s life. The flames fanned by Stefan burned hot. And then of course there was Arne’s own experience in Neuberland, at war, surrounded by rumors. When he arrives in Sordan, Arne really does believe Dorilian is some kind of monster.
By the end of The Second Stone, Arne still believes this. Given the events of that book and the lingering power of his perspective, readers can see why—and find his take on things uniquely Kheld. Arne’s views on Dorilian change a bit in The God Spear, where he spends more time with him. As he says to Hans at one point, “I’m not the one to ask, not about him and not if you want any kind of answer. Whole time you were away, we hardly exchanged five words. He hasn’t killed any Khelds yet, which I count as good news.”
As Arne becomes more mature and experiences more things at Hans’s side, his opinions about Dorilian—and the World of which Dorilian and the Triempery, and now him, are such a part—become more nuanced. As does the entire Kheld worldview.
Time in Sordan
While in Sordan Arne learned quite a lot... and undoubtedly more than he thought he was learning. The most important part of his education is that he learned to speak Stauba, the language spoken by the Triempery from Essera to Mormantalorus. Arne eventually learns to speak decent Esta also. But his ability to speak Stauba proves important going forward.
Though he does not get all the same lessons as Hans, Arne does learn how to use a sword at the same time as his friend. Neither he nor Hans knew how to use one. They acquire and practice this skill together and both will be glad they did.
Arne’s exposure to Sordan—its history and architecture, its culture and the people who live there—gives him insights no other Kheld in the series can claim. He becomes friendly with Levyathan Sordaneon, Tiflan Morevyen, and even Legon (sort of, such as Legon is capable of being). Arne also becomes more familiar than most Khelds with the Rill and the god-machine's place at the center of Triemperal culture and economy.
Friend and Lieutenant
The friendship between Arne and Hans is one of the foundations of the series. Upon meeting, both young men found good reasons to rely on and trust each other. Hans was a stranger finding his way in a World he needed desperately to understand. Arne was a stranger in Sordan and to the Triempery as a whole, both language and culture, but he did hold some keys to a different part of the World: the Kheld part. Arne is Hans’s teacher and he guides Hans—and readers—through learning what Khelds are and what they want from the World.
Hans declares Arne his friend early on but that friendship deepens through the story and quite a few major developments hinge upon it. Hans knows Arne will tell him the truth, always, such as Arne sees it, and he counts on that honesty. Arne would never be anything else. With each book Arne’s position with other characters elevates. He returns to Amallar as Hans’s friend but by the end of The God Spear Arne is seen to be more. He and Aubrey become friends also, and he earns the respect of Kheld and Staubaun leaders alike. Soon in The Walled City readers will watch Arne grow toward prominence as Hans’s advisor and lieutenant. And maybe even come to terms with Dorilian.
It’s a fun journey.
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