Hell's Foundations Quiver

Hell's Foundations Quiver
Author	David Weber
Abbreviation	HFQ
Publication date	October 13, 2015
Published by	Tor Books
ISBN	9780765321879
Publication Order
Preceded by Like A Mighty Army	Followed by At the Sign of Triumph

Hell's Foundations Quiver is the title of the eighth novel of the Safehold Series. It was released by Tor Books in mid-October 2015.

Timeframe: March, Year of God 897 - October, Year of God 897

Plot

It is March of the Year of God 897 on the world of Safehold; Merlin Athrawes is confronted by Madame Aivah Pahrsahn, who reveals to him her suspicions that he and Ahbraim Zhevons are in fact one and the same, and that she had been tracking their activities for several years. She reveals that she is Mother Superior of the Sisterhood of Saint Kohdy, an ancient secret order founded after the death of Seijin Kohdy; the latter was an actual reprogrammed Adam who was equipped with the knowledge to hunt down the Church's enemies. When he turned on them, the Church erased his existence from the official records and annihilated the original Abbey of Saint Kohdy with a Rakurai. Aivah also reveals that Kohdy's tomb, his journal and his personal sword, Helm Cleaver, were all relocated before the destruction of the Abbey and that large portions of the journal are in Spanish, a language nobody on Safehold understands. Despite the grave risks involved, Merlin's Inner Circle decides to bring Aivah and her personal maid to Nimue's Cave and reveal the full truth of humanity's history to them. It shocks them to their very core, but eventually, both accept that much of what they believed in was a lie.

The Spanish portions of Kohdy's journal are translated and previously unknown details about the War Against the Fallen are discovered. Saint Kohdy was in fact Sergeant Major Cody Cortazar, late of the Terran Federation Marine Corps. He had been drafted due to his combat skills and training by the surviving command crew to combat the "Fallen Angels" and their "mortal" supporters while winning the support of the common people. To accomplish this, the command crew selectively reactivated his suppressed memories and in doing so had allowed him to remember his native tongue and fragments of his previous life back on Earth. His experiences with someone the Church had ruled a "demon" had shaken him to the point of questioning the "archangels" and he sought to meet with the Archangel Schueler himself for reassurance – a meeting from which he did not return alive. Ultimately, the Inner Circle and Sisterhood agree to work together, and Merlin travels to Zion in disguise to make contact with the Sisterhoods' local agents, laying the groundworks for a continuing campaign of terror against the elites of the Church.

In the northern Republic of Siddarmark, Baron Green Valley takes troops specialized in winter combat and seizes key positions to the north of Bishop Militant Bahrnabai Wyrshym's main force in the Sylmahn Gap. Against advice to pull Wyrshym and his troops back, Grand Inquisitor Zhaspahr Clyntahn refuses to yield any ground in the war against the "heretics". Having blocked the Church's forces from the north, the allies subsequently attack Wyrshym's positions from the south. With the Harchong Empire's relief force still five-days away, Wyrshym is forced to surrender. Green Valley then orders the liberation of the Church's concentration camps, whose military personnel actually starts to rebels against their respective inquisitors, sometimes even killing them when they try to mass murder the prisoners rather then letting them be freed. Merlin assassinates specific inquisitors and overzealous Temple Guardsmen, causing the Inquisition to tone down its atrocities, and rescues a family of "suspected heretics" and brings them to Nimue's Cave. Once there, he gives them a new chance to rebuild their lives in the Empire of Charis.

In the south, the Royal Dohlaran Army is forced to retreat while Bishop Militant Cahnyr Kaitswyrth's forces are surrounded and defeated by the Allies; Kaitswyrth takes his own life. In the aftermath of those massive reversals, Grand Inquisitor Clyntahn attempts to have Captain General Allayn Magwair removed from his position. However, the secret meeting of his loyalists at a church in Zion is bombed by the "Fist of God", the operational arm of the Sisterhood of Saint Kohdy. The attack, coupled with Maigwair's swift action to secure his position and the propaganda broadsheets claiming responsibility for this attack as well as other assassinations, seriously undermines Clyntahn's position and the Office of the Inquisition's aura of invincibility. However, the evidence leads Chyntahn's second in command, Archbishop Wyllym Rayno, to conclude that their enemies are, in fact, in league with "demons".

In the Kingdom of Dohlar, General Rainos Ahlverez finds himself fighting for his political career after his defeat in Siddarmark. Meanwhile, Dohlar's new "screw galleys" are pitted against a Charisian squadron of galleons and one ironclad with both sides sustaining heavy losses. The Battle of the Kaudzhu Narrows ends in a Dohlaran victory and the capture of the ironclad and over five hundred Charisian seamen, though four Charisian ships escape. Despite attempts by the Dohlaran leadership to convince the Church otherwise, the Grand Inquisitor demands the extradition of all Charisian prisoners for a huge show trial in Zion, with the intent to shore up the Inquisition's position in the public eye.

Lieutenant Hektor Aplyn-Ahrmahk and his mentor, Baron Sarmouth, who has been introduced to the Inner Circle, lead a daring night raid to save the Charisian prisoners as they are being transferred by sea. With his plans for the show trial ruined, the furious Grand Inquisitor orders the arrest of all the Dohlaran officers involved, but is swayed – barely – by Wyllym Rayno's argument that the Dohlaran Navy has provided the only victory against Charis this year. Clyntahn, still suspicious of the Dohlaran Navy's commander, Earl Thirsk, and invites the latter's family on a "pilgrimage" to Zion. Anticipating these actions, Merlin and Nimue Chwaeriau intercept the Navy of God ship carrying Thirsk's loved ones. After massacring much of the crew with shotguns, they take the Thirsk family away and have a recon skimmer destroy the ship with a laser-guided bomb, eliminating all witnesses.

Having learned of the loss of the Church ship and presuming the death of everyone he loved, a deeply depressed Earl Thirsk sits alone in his townhouse study, drinking and mourning. As he contemplates that he will likely be forced to support the Church's official version of events, which is that his family died in a battle with Charisian attackers, his train of thought is interrupted by the arrival of Merlin Athrawes, who tells him that they need to talk.

Publishing data

David Weber said in January 2014 that he was about 12,000 words into the manuscript.

On May 16, 2014, he said he was about 160,000 words into the manuscript.

References

Characters

Bruhstair Ahbaht • Nimue Alban • Merlin Athrawes • Nimue Chwaeriau • Kynt Clareyk • Zhaspahr Clyntahn • Cody Cortazar • Sandra Cortazar • Rhobair Duchairn • Lywys Gardynyr • Ahlvyn Khapahr • Eric Langhorne • Wylsynn Lainyr • Pei Kau-yung • Pei Shan-wei • Nynian Rychtair • Sharleyan Tayt Ahrmahk • Sedryk Zavyr • Maikel Staynair • Ahbraim Zhevons

Vessels

• HMS Chihiro, 50
• HMS Destroyer, 54
• HMS Thistle

Places

Abbey of the Snows • Allyntyn • Armageddon Reef • Barony of High Rock • Camp Chihiro • Camp Dynnys • Camp Hainree • Camp Raichel • Camp Urtha • Camp Zhakleen • Cliff Peak Province • Daivyn River • de Castro Mountains • Delthak Works • Empire of Charis • Esthyr's Abbey • Kingdom of Dohlar • Gorath Bay • Lake Isyk • Langhorne's Tears • Mistress Marzho's Fine Milliners • Monastery of Saint Zherneau • Mountains of Light • Nimue's Cave • Northland Gap • Northland Province • Kingdom of Old Charis • Siddar City • Republic of Siddarmark • St. Kylmahn's Foundry • St.Tyldyn • Stantyn • Tarikah Province • Tellesberg • Thesmar • Tomb of Saint Kohdy • Traymos • Abbey of Saint Kohdy • Seridahn River • The Temple Lands • Zhyahngdu Academy • Zion

Battles

Battle of Darcos Sound • Battle of the Harchong Narrows • Battle of the Kaudzhu Narrows • Battle of Kyplyngyr Forest • Battle of the Markovian Sea

Other

air car • Army of Glacierheart • Army of God • battle steel • Brethren of Saint Zherneau • Day of Creation • de Castro marble • Helm Cleaver • Navy of God • Order of Saint Kohdy • Punishment of Schueler • Rakurai • Saint Kohdy's journal • Archangel Schueler • seijin • Shan-wei • Sheridahn River • Sisters of Saint Kohdy • Sisters of the Snows • Stone Shadow River • Terran Federation • Terran Federation Marine Corps • War Against the Fallen

External links

• Hell's Foundations Quiver at Collected Driblets of Baen
• http://us.macmillan.com/mobile/book/9780765321879
• http://www.amazon.com/Hells-Foundations-Quiver-Safehold-David/dp/0765321874/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419778632&sr=1-1&keywords=hells+foundations+quiver