Glossary for 6^th of 12 book series – Some of the people, foods, places and things  mentioned in this glossary will be found in other books in the series. Some will not. Some are merely mentioned in passing and have no important part in story, however, I included all characters, including animals with names, into this glossary. Some will go on to be important in future books, but since they aren’t yet, they’ve been listed in the minor category column.

Characters:

Main Characters:

Angus McAllister – Fiona’s uncle – her father’s older brother – age 50, lives in Inveralba. Light brown hair with gray, blue eyes. Lives in a croft and has lots of cats.

Callum McAllister – 10 years old, brown eyes, dark brown hair, cousin to Fiona and Elspet

Elspet McAllister – 10 years old, reddish hair and blue eyes, cousin to Fiona and Callum, artistic, draws

Fiona Isabella McAllister – 11 years old, blonde hair, green eyes, lives in Inveralba and is a descendant of King Kegan and King Dugan.

Mairi Anna Ferguson McAllister – Fiona’s mum, makes honey from heather and bluebell and thistle.  Sells it in the shops to tourists and also sends it off to Edinburgh and Glasgow. She also is a good cook and works part time at McKenzie’s bakery in town.  Age 35, brown hair and fern green eyes

Drayton Steele – Descendant of King Dugan and Princess Isabella and owner of the necklace stolen from King Kegan – Age 19. Son of Shardow Steele and Penelope McAllister.

Jack Thomson/ Artur - Pearl – Pretending to be a brother of Johnny. He is actually Artur, one of King Kegan’s 12 men and hid the 3^rd jewel, the pearl, in Seychelles. He is from Arabia with dark hair and eyes, about 32 years old.

Jason Thomson/Buntabi – Ruby – One of the 12 men, who hid the 6^th stone, the ruby, in Jordan. From Burell in Arabia, with African heritage, so he has short, curly black hair, brown eyes, and dark brown skin. He is 31 years old.

Jeffrey Thomson/ Kitar -  Emerald – One of the 12 men, who hid the 4^th stone, the emerald, in Yukon. From Burell in Arabia, but with Germanic descent, so has blond hair and blue eyes. His mother was Arabic, but his father was of Germanic blood who came to that land. He is 39, the oldest of the 12 men.

Jesse Thomson/ Pond - Spinel -  One of the 12 men, who hid the 2^nd jewel, spinel in Iceland. From Burell in Arabia so he has dark hair and brown eyes. His is 27 years old

Jimmy Thomson/Cowan – Black Obsidian -Pretending to be the brother of Johnny. Is actually Cowan, one of King Kegan’s 12 most trusted me and he hid the 1^st jewel in Hydra, Greece. He is from Arabia – so he has dark hair and eyes.

Johnny Thomson/ Alroy Cathmore - Posing as a tourist from London, come to Inveralba to fish and hunt – Age 37 – He has light brown hair and brown eyes – his ancestry is Persian. King Kegan’s scribe and author of the book the children found.

Julian Thomson/ Edwi – Topaz – Hid the jewel in Tasmania, one of the 12 men who hid the 5^th stone, Topaz– has black hair and dark brown eyes and is 28 years old

Minor Characters:

Agnes - A waitress from the café just outside of Inveralba

Ahmed – Camel Master in Jordan, owns Salome and has four wives

Anaxa – A sluagh that attacks the group as they’re camping

Bashira – 1^st wife of Ahmed the camel master

Prince Cedric - The oldest son, but 3^rd child of King Kegan and Queen Sarmantha. He has golden hair, curly like his mother and violet eyes. 8 years old when killed

Cloudwaltzer – Dragon that belonged to Lehimna, Zerahemna and Lephimah, black.

Creanth – Malcolm McAllister’s hunting dog, Scottish deerhound

Devlyn – Malcolm McAllister’s hunting dog, Scottish deerhound

Deyab-  A redcap that attacks the group as they’re camping

Dokomik- A redcap working for Wizard Phelan at Castle Athdara

Eriya – A bean nighe or washerwoman

Ewan – Owner of the restaurant in Inveralba that Drayton frequents

Fadwah- 2^nd wife of Ahmed the camel master

Fofym – A redcap who Wizard Phelan uses at Castle Athdara

Princess Gelis – 4^th child of King Kegan and Queen Sarmantha, with light, sandy brown hair, usually wears braided. Blue eyes. Plays harp. 7 years old when killed.

Princess Gilian - Yellow curly ringlets, violet eyes, happy nature, 3 years old when killed.

Hakim – a djinn who helps Fiona and the others in Jordan

Iriruloy – A bean-nighe that attacks the group as they’re camping

Jock – loans his SUV to Angus to go camping

Kamila – 3^rd wife of Ahmed the camelmaster

Layla – Owns Heshbon’s Carpet Shop in Madaba. Good friend of Warda, who is wife of Ahmed, the Camel Master

Wizard Lehimna – King Rolfin’s wizard, who made the orb, from Xilia

Wizard Lephimah –Son of Zerahemna, lives in Xilia and is now caretaker of Cloudwaltzer, the black dragon.

Anne McGregor McAllister – Callum’s mother - knits gloves and sweaters, uses Elspet’s mum’s wool and sells the things she knits to tourists that pass through and stop in the village shops. 36 years old, brown eyes, mousy brown hair

Catriona McKenzie McAllister – Elspet’s mother. She has a spinning wheel and spins wool from their sheered sheep. Spins it into wool, cards it, and then she sells the wool to knitters etc. She knits things for her own family Age 29, red hair, blue eyes

Elsie McAllister – Runs McDougal’s B&B

Jamie Robert McAllister – Elspet’s father. He herds sheep and a few highland cows. Age 32

John and Susan McAllister – live in Inveralba, close relatives of Callum McAllister. Drayton trashed their home.

Malcolm Keith McAllister – Callum’s father – is a gillie. When people come to the highlands to shoot grouse, partridge, or hunt a deer, or want to go fishing, he takes them and shows them where the best places are. He has a few hounds that he uses to scare out the grouse. He often brings home fish he’s caught in the loch and streams for his family and also venison. Age 38, brown hair, brown eyes

Shona Maureen McAllister – Callum’s sister, age 2, fair hair, brown eyes.

Wizard Phelan - King Dugan’s evil wizard, wizard of Xilia

Prince Rayad - 2^nd son of King Kegan and Queen Sarmantha, dark hair and dark eyes like his father’s ancestors. Likes to read, quiet in nature. 6 years old when killed

King Rolfin– Owner of the original orb – good king, brother of Bartolf. Lived originally in Hadrumetum, near Carthage, but fled and moved to Burill on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula(Yemen)

Rofariir – Leader of the sluaghs, who Wizard Phelan uses at Castle Athdara

Salome –Camel who gives Fiona, Callum and Elspet a ride to the desert castle

Samothi- Was Chief Wizard during days of Zerahemna.

Queen Sarmantha - Wife of King Kegan, mother of Princess Anna, Princess Isabella, Prince Cerdic, Princess Gelis, Prince Rayad and Princess Gilian. Comes from Viking stock, born in Norway.  Her father, King Aluric, did trading with Kegan’s father, Abbasan, and when Kegan and she met, they fell in love. She had fair hair, violet eyes, and was 35 when she died. Her mother was Queen Finna.

Sultan Omar Karan Dibouji – Sultan who banished Hakim to the magic lamp

Tarik – A vulture who helps rescue Fiona in Jordan

Tumbles – A stray gray kitten, female, that found its way into Jean Butler’s garden and tree

Warda – 4^th wife of Ahmed, Camel master

Uncle Wazifa/Abner – Elspet’s Uncle, a Sufi

Wizard Zerahemna - King Kegan’s wizard, from Xilia, long nose, eyes sparkle like diamonds, but his iris are white, long dark brown hair that hangs down his back, wears purple hat and robe decorated with symbols from Xilia. Lehimna’s son.

Places:

23 Anstrathven Street – Angus lives in his croft on that street

Baghdad – It is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in south-west Asia after Tehran and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo, and the largest city in Iraq, with the 2003 population estimated at 5,772,000. Situated on the Tigris River the city was once the center of Islamic civilization.

Burill – name of King Rolfin’s kingdom in the Arabian peninsula after he moved from Hadrumetum

Carrara Marble Quarries - Massa Carrara is a province of Tuscany, Italy, named after the two main towns in its territory: Massa and Carrara. Its economical relevance, once mainly based on the production of the famous White Carrara marble, has now shifted to the importation and fabrication of blocks of marble and granite from all over the world. is quarried there. It is on the Lavensa River, some 60 miles west northwest of Florence. Carrara marble has been famous since the time of Ancient Rome .

Greek Orthodox Church of St. George – located in Madaba and home to famous mosaics

Heshbon’s Carpet Shop – Located in Madaba. Owned by Layla, friend of Warda.

Inveralba – Village where Fiona and her family and friends live in the highlands of Scotland.

Jordan- The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, commonly called Jordan is an Arab country in the Middle East. It is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the north-east, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, and Israel and the Palestinian territories to the west. It shares with Israel and the Palestinian territories the coastlines of the Dead Sea, and the Gulf of Aqaba with Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

Madaba - A City in Jordan, also known as ‘City of Mosaics’

Qasr – the word for castle. Many can be found in the deserts of Jordan

Silk Road - The Silk Road was not a trade route that existed solely for the purpose of trading in silk; many other commodities were also traded, from gold and ivory to exotic animals and plants. Of all the precious goods crossing this area, silk was perhaps the most remarkable for the people of the West. It is often thought that the Romans had first encountered silk in one of their campaigns against the Parthians in 53 B.C, and realized that it could not have been produced by this relatively unsophisticated people. They reputedly learnt from Parthian prisoners that it came from a mysterious tribe in the east, who they came to refer to as the silk people, `Seres'. In practice, it is likely that silk and other goods were beginning to filter into Europe before this time, though only in very small quantities. The Romans obtained samples of this new material, and it quickly became very popular in Rome, for its soft texture and attractiveness. The Parthians quickly realized that there was money to be made from trading the material, and sent trade missions towards the east. The Romans also sent their own agents out to explore the route, and to try to obtain silk at a lower price than that set by the Parthians. For this reason, the trade route to the East was seen by the Romans as a route for silk rather than the other goods that were traded. The name `Silk Road' itself does not originate from the Romans, however, but is a nineteenth century term, coined by the German scholar, von Richthofen.

Tuscany, Italy - Tuscany (Italian Toscana) is a region in central Italy, bordering on Latium to the south, Umbria to the east, Emilia-Romagna and Liguria to the north, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. It is often regarded as among the most beautiful parts of Italy.

Xilia – Kingdom where the wizards come from.  The rivers look like gold when the sun shines because they are filled with tiny bubbles of air. The leaves are perfect shaped and no insects eat them. The flowers are brilliant and the birds sing perfect melodies. All animals live with the wizards in peace and harmony and it is a land of fruit and honey on every table.

Things:

Ankh - A cross-shaped like a T with a loop at the top, especially as used in ancient Egypt as a symbol of life. A tau cross with a loop at the top, used as an attribute or sacred emblem, symbolizing generation or enduring life.

Bean-nighe - also called Washer at the Fords - She wanders near deserted streams where she washes the blood from the grave-clothes of those who are about to die. It is said that Bean Nighe are the spirits of women who died giving birth and are doomed to do this work until the day their lives would have normally ended.  She is thought to have one nostril, one big protruding tooth, webbed feet and long hanging breasts. A mortal who is bold enough to sneak up to her while she is washing and suck her breast can claim to be her foster-child. The mortal can then gain a wish from her.

Bedouins - An Arab of any of the nomadic tribes of the Arabian, Syrian, Nubian, or Sahara deserts.

Black iris – National flower of Jordan

Bridies - Traditional Scottish turnovers filled with ground lamb.

Carrera marble – Pit in Carrera, Italy where they get the finest marble from. Michelangelo used it to carve his famous statues

Cornish pasties- The traditional filling is, of course, beef and potato, usually with slices of onion and swede mixed in as well, but the humble pasty can also be found in a number of other guises. Popular fillings down the years have included Egg and Bacon, Rabbit, Apples, Figs, Jam, and Egg and Currants. A hearty meal wrapped in a pastry casing made for a very practical lunch (or "croust", as they used to call it) down in the dark and damp tunnels of the mine. Some mines even built huge ovens on the surface to keep the miner's pasties hot until it was time to eat. Tradition has it that the original pasties contained meat and vegetables in one end and jam or fruit in the other end, in order to give the hard-working men 'two courses'. Cornish housewives also marked their husband's initials on the left-hand side of the pastry casing, in order to avoid confusion at lunchtime.

Dates - Date palms are known to live at least 200 years in their native areas of North Africa and Arabia. A date tree can be grown from the pit or seed in each fruit.

Desert Diamonds- Desert diamonds (also called Saudi diamonds) are just high-grade quartz, but they have one important attribute. They look like expensive carbon-based diamonds. They are very clear and their internal structure is very stable. This means desert diamonds will not become brittle and crack or lose color as they age.

Dinar – Jordanian money

Djinn - In Muslim legend, a spirit often capable of assuming human or animal form and exercising supernatural influence over people.

Falafel - Is a fried ball or patty of spiced fava beans or chickpeas. It is a highly popular form of fast food in the Arab East. Falafel is also very common in Israel, being regarded there as a national food. The word "falafel" comes from the Arabic word filfil, meaning pepper, and probably ultimately from Sanskrit pippalī.

Falafel is traditionally served as a filling ingredient in a pita bread wrap (i.e. sandwich), and the term "falafel" commonly refers to this sandwich by synecdoche; falafel in a pita is typical street food (ie. fast food). Along with the falafel balls, which may be crushed onto the bread or added whole, various toppings are usually included. Falafel balls may also be eaten alone as a snack or served as part of a mezze. During Ramadan they are sometimes eaten as part of an iftar, the meal which breaks the daily fast after sunset. Despite initial reluctance by both sides, falafel is now seen as a uniting, pan-Middle-Eastern dish. In recent years, immigration from the Middle East to Western countries has brought with it a broader availability of Arab and Middle Eastern cuisine, and the falafel sandwich has become a popular and iconic food within alternative fast food (ie. "slow food") movements, and indeed has spread world-wide.

Fasooliyeh – A tomato based bean stew

Figs - A fig fruit is derived from a specially adapted flower. The fruit (an accessory fruit called a syconium) has a bulbous shape with a small opening (the ostiole) in the end and a hollow area inside lined with small red edible seeds. The fruit/flower is pollinated by small wasps that crawl through the opening to fertilise the fruit. Tropical figs bear continuously, enabling fruit-eating animals to survive the time between masts. In temperate climes, wasps hibernate in figs, and there are distinct crops. Caprifigs have three crops per year; edible figs have two. The first of the two is small and is called breba; the breba figs are olynths. Some selections of edible figs do not require pollination at all, and will produce a crop of figs (albeit without fertile seeds) in the absence of caprifigs or fig wasps.  It is often said that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is a fig tree from the book of Genesis for its large leaves and also the nature of the fig itself. In the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament rotten figs are used as a symbol for destruction, and in the New Testament Jesus rebukes an unfruitful fig tree. The Fig is one of the two sacred trees in Islam. Many Muslims consider Fig trees sacred.

Finnan Haddie – It is a salted, smoke fish

Hebron Glass – It has been a traditional industry in Hebron for over 600 years. Hebron, a city 36 kilometers south of Jerusalem. It is one of the most ancient cities in Glass from Hebron. Palestine, holy to the Moslems. In the Bible, it was known as Kiryat Arba and Manreh, the dwelling place of the forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were buried there along with their wives. Adam and Eve also were buried here.Hebron is well known also throughout the world for its famous glass blowers and designers.The royal blue glass produced in the city is perhaps the most recognizable in the entire Midle East, but Hebron glass blowers also create items in many other colors.

Hummus - Is a dip made of chickpea paste with various additions, such as olive oil, fresh garlic, lemon juice, paprika, and tahini (sesame seed paste). It is popular throughout the Middle East, including in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Syria, Turkey, and in Armenia, Cyprus and Greece, though the hummus eaten in Greece, for example, is quite different from the hummus eaten in the Arab world and in Israel. In Arabic, "Hummus" means simply chickpea. The dish described in this article is called "Hummus wa Tahina", i.e. chickpea and sesame, or "musabbaha". It is traditionally scooped up with flatbread (pieces of pita) to be eaten, but it is increasingly popular as a dip for tortilla chips in non-Middle Eastern countries. It is a popular breakfast food, especially when combined with another dip named ful, which is based on crushed fava beans. It is also used as an appetizer dish to accompany main courses, and as part of a mezze.

Ibis - Any of various stork-like wading birds of the family Threskiornithidae of temperate and tropical regions, having a long, slender, downward-curving bill.

Kefiya- Red and white checked headdress worn by Arabs in the desert

Khamsin- It is an oppressive, hot, south or south-east wind occurring in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula intermittently in late winter and early spring. The name is derived from the Arabic khamsun.

Lotus - An aquatic plant (Nelumbo nucifera) native to southern Asia and Australia, having large leaves, fragrant, pinkish flowers, a broad, rounded, perforated seedpod, and fleshy rhizomes. Any of several similar or related plants, such as the water lilies Nymphaea caerula or N. lotus.

Maca salama- Goodbye in Arabic

Mlukhiyyeh –Spinach stew with chicken and rice

Narghila  -  A water pipe    

Pomegranate - A deciduous shrub or small tree (Punica granatum) native to Asia and widely cultivated for its edible fruit. The fruit of this tree, having a tough reddish rind, and containing many seeds, each enclosed in a juicy, mildly acidic, red pulp.

Redcaps – Are among the most vicious and terrifying of all Scottish fairies, ugly, haunt ruined castles and towers and dye their caps red with the blood of their human victims

Sand spider- The spider can grow to be 6 feet long and eat a man whole, is what rumor says, but they are big, maybe 1 1/2 times the size of a tarantula

 
Sausage rolls- A sausage roll is a type of convenience food commonly served at parties and available from bakeries and milk bars as a takeaway food item. The basic formula for a sausage roll is generally a sheet of puff pastry sliced into two and wrapped into tubes around a filling of sausagemeat before being cooked. They can be served either hot or cold. Some variations on the basic recipe include chopped vegetables and other seasonings such as herbs and spices. Sausage Rolls may be served in various lengths from 1 or 2 inches ("party" or "cocktail" sausage rolls) up to 6 or 7 inch 'Jumbo' sausage rolls.

Shepherd’s pie – Combine meat, gravy, and chopped onion; season with salt and pepper to taste. Line the bottom of a buttered baking dish with a layer of half of the seasoned mashed potatoes. Add meat mixture then cover with remaining mashed potatoes. Bake in oven and sprinkle grated cheese on top.

Sluaghs – Spirits of dead sinners, troublesome and destructive, fly in groups like flocks of birds and they try to take your soul away, always fly from the west.

Stovies- Are a traditional Scottish dish, similar to corned beef hash. Recipes and ingredients vary widely between regions, and even families, but the dish usually consists of tatties (potatoes) and onions and some form of cold meat (especially corned beef, sausages or leftover roast.) The potatoes are cooked by stewing with fat and a little water, stove being the old Scots word for stewing. A regional variation is to serve the stovies with oatcakes.

Sufi - f or relating to the Sufis or to Sufism: a Muslim who represents the mystical dimension of Islam; a Muslim who seeks direct experience of Allah

Tatties and neeps – Scottish dish of potatoes and turnips

Trifle - Trifle is a British dessert dish made from thick (or often solidified) custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or, more recently, gelatin dessert and whipped cream, usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, custard and cream on top. Some trifles contain a small amount of alcohol (port, or, most commonly sweet sherry or madeira wine) - non-alcoholic versions use fruit juice instead, as the liquid is necessary to moisten the cake. Trifle containing sherry is sometimes called "Sherry Trifle" or referred to as being "High Church". One popular variant has the sponges soaked in liquid-gelatin dessert when the trifle is made, which sets when refrigerated. The cake and jelly bind together and produce a uniquely pleasant texture if made in the correct proportions (there should not be too much jelly added, or nucleation will not occur).

A well-made trifle is often used for decoration as well as taste, incorporating the bright, layered colors of the fruit, jelly, jam, and the contrast of the creamy yellow custard and white cream.

Waraqdawaalee – Steamed grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice