Redemptor: Part V

by Jordan Ifueko
In this sequel to Raybearer, seventeen-year-old Tarisai Kunleo, as the Empress of Aritsar, makes a deal with demons to stop the annual sacrifices of two hundred children.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V
40 words 13 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. transcendent
    beyond and outside the ordinary range of human experience
    But this song was eerie and transcendent.
    A tribute to a fallen god.
  2. caterwaul
    make a shrill and unpleasant screeching sound
    They were trying to comfort me with caterwauling voices and fragrant petals tossed onto my litter.
  3. revulsion
    intense aversion
    Don't listen to them, Dayo Ray-spoke, sensing my revulsion through the bond.
  4. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    For miles around the city, in thousands of tents and makeshift camp towns, the Imperial Army of Twelve Realms waited—some million warriors strong—headed by Sanjeet and my living royal council siblings.
  5. swelter
    be uncomfortably hot
    The Ray sweltered over my skin—a hot beam at my back, as though Dayo’s vision were a coal, growing cooler and cooler until the vast stone doors shut, separating us for what could be eternity.
  6. brackish
    slightly salty
    The vertigo of freefalling lasted only a moment, replaced by a sickeningly slow descent, as though the air had thickened, and I fell through cold, brackish water.
  7. billow
    rise and move, as in waves
    My hair billowed in a cloud around my ears.
  8. tangible
    perceptible by the senses, especially the sense of touch
    You are all alone again, sighed the chorus of ojiji spirits, who had a tangible presence, like feathers brushing over my skin.
  9. convoluted
    highly complex or intricate
    Most paths in the Underworld, I knew, led more or less to the same place, though some routes were more convoluted and treacherous than others.
  10. coalesce
    fuse or cause to come together
    Farther down my arm, some of the glyphs coalesced around a crosshatched square, shifting into words I could understand: BRIDGE OF THE WARLORD’S DEATHS.
  11. oblige
    provide a service or favor for someone
    “Be gone!"
    And with a cackle, the abiku obliged, bursting into a cloud of flies and vanishing in a swarm down the opposite corridor.
  12. pungent
    strong and sharp to the sense of taste or smell
    The smell of sulfur remained, but it combined with something organic—pungent and sweet, like decaying leaves on a forest floor.
  13. formidable
    inspiring fear or dread
    It was wide—hundreds of yards across—but purposely unfinished: a formidable gap yawning in its center.
  14. hubris
    overbearing pride or presumption
    “I’m a good empress. And a good person.”
    Again, laughter shook the bridge, causing bile to roil in my stomach.
    “Such hubris,” hissed Poison, a boil-covered beast with foul green breath.
  15. disdain
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    He had looked at comfort with disdain and regarded rest as weakness.
  16. materialize
    come into being; become reality
    But then my gaze locked on the end of the bridge, where a being slowly materialized.
  17. profound
    far-reaching and thoroughgoing in effect
    Water pooled in my eyes as my limbs relaxed, overwhelmed by a sudden, profound peace—and a feeling that I’d known this being a long, long time.
  18. ethereal
    characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy
    Compared to the rest of the Underworld, the stairs were pleasantly bright—a steep, spiraling staircase several yards wide, lit ethereally by floating green lamps.
  19. hew
    make or shape as with an axe
    The lamps were amplified, however, by the mirrors; the floor, ceiling, and walls enclosing the staircase were all hewn from dizzyingly spotless glass and when we entered, every movement we made seemed to echo on forever.
  20. liaison
    a means of communication between groups
    And yet...griots described the Underworld as a portal to many dimensions, not just a liaison between Earth and Core.
  21. impart
    transmit, as knowledge or a skill
    What if this better, improved Tarisai could help me? Impart knowledge that could change the trajectory of Aritsar, and make me the ruler I so ached to be?
  22. sultry
    attractive and suggesting hidden passion
    There was even Dancer Tarisai, resplendent in body paint and the envy of every festival, navigating her many partners with grace and rolling her perfect hips in sultry time to the music.
  23. dote
    shower with love; show excessive affection for
    Only...it wasn’t the giggling, doted-upon girl from earlier.
  24. mousy
    quiet, timid, and ineffectual
    This reflection was slightly older, perhaps nine or ten, mousy and fidgeting, and we were not quite twins, though her features strongly resembled mine.
  25. idyllic
    excellent and delightful in all respects
    What’s more...she wasn’t standing in some idyllic scene, pantomiming a reality for me to envy.
  26. congeal
    solidify, thicken, or come together
    I watched with morbid fascination, struck by a need to comfort her. Then the impulse cooled, congealing into rage.
  27. indignant
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    That last phrase—that thread of my mother’s indignant pride, which she could not relinquish even here, in the heart of hell—removed any doubt that this shade was my mother.
  28. absolution
    the act of being formally forgiven
    Then she smiled her famous smile as her eyes searched my face, hungry for absolution.
  29. tartan
    a crisscross design or a cloth having such a design
    Warriors of the new Djbanti commonwealth fight shoulder to shoulder with Spartian soldiers, and Mewish berserkers, fierce in bright blue war paint and capes of tartan, share mounts with Dhyrmish charioteers.
  30. noxious
    injurious to physical or mental health
    Amidst a noxious cloud, a gaggle of ashen abiku had appeared in the clearing, baring their sharp smiles.
  31. bleak
    offering little or no hope
    “Don’t worry,” I told her. “No matter how bleak the world gets, I’ll make sure there’s always a corner to plant flowers.”
  32. deft
    skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands
    Then I nodded at Iranti...and in one deft movement, she lowered her horn to press between my eyes, and I touched a finger to the spear of Warlord Fire.
  33. unabridged
    not shortened by condensing or rewriting
    But I pressed on, on, absorbing the complete and unabridged memory of one Redemptor's life—then ten—then a hundred.
  34. adversary
    someone who offers opposition
    Outside Ebujo City, the Army of Twelve Realms would watch in confusion as their undying adversaries dropped one by one, bodies washed away by a cleansing river of amethyst.
  35. trepidation
    a feeling of alarm or dread
    But I could feel his trepidation. Once I had returned from the Underworld, little more than a barely warmed corpse draped over Iranti’s back, Sanjeet had gathered me to his chest, sobbing tears of relief into my neck.
  36. raucous
    disturbing the public peace; loud and rough
    “On one condition,” I said, closing my eyes as the revelries began in the Imperial Hall below, vibrating the floor of my bedchamber with a raucous chant.
  37. inebriate
    fill with sublime emotion
    I could bask in this heady, inebriating praise, and be better.
  38. pestilence
    any epidemic disease with a high death rate
    Could I eradicate suffering? Disease? No—even pestilence was a living thing, and I remembered that killing was beyond an ehru’s power.
  39. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    I opened my eyes, taking in the sea of spectators. From jewel-encrusted queens to paupers in their festival finest, cheeks gaunt.
  40. receptacle
    a container that is used to put or keep things in
    Without the Ray, a child wouldn’t be my legacy: the small, frightened receptacle of all my life’s ambitions. A child—should I ever choose to have one—would be just that.
    A child.
Created on Wed Nov 09 10:16:26 EST 2022 (updated Wed Aug 30 10:49:19 EDT 2023)

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