Kuhal
Names: KuhalKuhal EarthshakerEarthshakerSecond Lord PsychokineticShakerLord KuhalKuahl
First appears in Book 2: The Golden Torc, chapter 9 (9)
Appearances
What you know
Book 2: The Golden Torc
- Ch 9Kuhal is the PK adept, Second Lord Psychokinetic to Nodonn, among the four directors of the attack on Elizabeth.
- Ch 12Son of the Queen and deputy to Nodonn, he leads the Host in opposing further human-Tanu mixing and demands Elizabeth's death.
- Ch 12Kuhal cautions that Brede's destiny is tied to both Tanu and Firvulag, so her choice cannot be predicted.
Book 3: The Nonborn King
- Ch 9Kuhal was Second Lord Psychokinetic to the great Nodonn and is now a half-starved castaway creeping west along the African shore.
- Ch 9Kuhal refuses to let his brother die and takes on Fian's pain through his redactive faculty, though he has gone ten nights without sleep.
- Ch 9Beneath his determination Kuhal is secretly afraid, and he plans to rig a sail on the coracle to cross to the European mainland.
- Ch 12Kuhal, Second Lord Psychokinetic, is the identical twin of Fian; their mental symbiosis left him half-witted and nearly powerless after Fian's death.
- Ch 12Kuhal sent Fian's body adrift in a coracle and recited the Song for the dead, seeing a glowing city in the haze.
- Ch 13Second Lord Psychokinetic, he has lost half his mind and was rescued; he is the only High Table survivor of Nontusvel's Host besides Culluket.
- Ch 17Kuhal is a loyal member of Nontusvel's Host at Afaliah, regarded by Aluteyn as low-power.
- Ch 27Kuhal lost his twin Fian, is now mentally broken and has no PK talent; he spends most days in Skin.
- Ch 27Kuhal is a High Tabler, brought to the Loving by the Afaliah contingent, and is named Second Lord Psychokinetic at the coronation.
- Ch 35Kuhal, the convalescent Earthshaker, urges full cooperation with Aiken for now and hopes to rally behind Nodonn in the Nightfall War.
- Ch 39A Tanu man whose twin brother was lost; his right brain hemisphere had atrophied and is regenerating through the Skin treatment with Cloud's help.
- Ch 39He fought in the Battle of the Grotto Wilderness against the invading humans, where the Tanu were massacred.
- Ch 42Kuhal realises a human is needed to cope with the human guards, and the solution occurs to him at once.
- Ch 44Kuhal Earthshaker is Nodonn's brother. He finds Mercy's ash-covered body in Aiken's royal bedroom.
Book 4: The Adversary
- Ch 3Survived the Goriah fiasco; he and the surviving invaders are imprisoned incommunicado under a sigma-field, charged with high treason, which carries death.
- Ch 4Kuhal, Nodonn's brother and former Second Lord Psychokinetic, leads the captured knights and speaks for them, surrendering and pledging service to Aiken-Lugonn.
- Ch 7A former High Table member; he is held by Aiken and assigned to help Bert Candyman.
- Ch 14Kuhal, brother of the former ruler Nodonn, is reinstated as Second Lord Psychokinetic and vows to serve Aiken, being sent to Roniah for armaments.
- Ch 14Kuhal knows Cloud's people destroyed most of his race, yet says he loves her and would go with her to the Milieu.
- Ch 19Kuhal is the King's High Table deputy at Roniah and will give Burke's band what they ask for.
- Ch 23Kuhal, a High Table member, secretly intends to pass through the time-gate into the Galactic Milieu, following his lady, and hints at momentous events ahead.
- Ch 23Kuhal explains that Dimitri Anastos advised the gate be built on a platform inside Castle Gateway so Milieu-side interference is avoided.
- Ch 29Kuhal has played politics for over four hundred years and loves Cloud; Cloud was his redactor, and he calls the King's motive kindness, not machination.
- Ch 31Kuhal urged the Tanu to follow Aiken without question and said the Adversary, not Tanu or Firvulag, would truly bring Night.
- Ch 35His chariot team took top points in the first round of the endurance chariot race; he refused to compete unless Cloud watched.
- Ch 37Tanu hero, a precariously healed invalid, withdrew from the final Manifestation against Medor.
Connections
- member ofHost of Nontusvel
- family ofNodonntwin brother
- family ofQueen Nontusvelson
- related toNodonndeputy
- family ofFianrose-gold twins
- member ofNodonnserved as his Second Lord Psychokinetic
- family ofFian Skybreakeridentical twin brothers
- family ofLady Eponebrother and sister
- ally ofCeladeyrrescues him
- family ofCulluketblood-brother
- related toBoduragolhas charge of Kuhal
- ally ofCloudcooperating and healing together
- partner ofCloud
- ally ofBert Candymanassigned as helper
- member ofAiken Drumserves as Second Lord Psychokinetic
- ally ofAiken Drum
- friend ofCloudclose mental affinity; Kuhal loves her
- partner ofDianein tandem
Key moments
- Book 2 · Ch 9Suicide compulsion on the headland
The Host of Nontusvel bombards Elizabeth with suicide compulsion at the cliff edge; she shows she is aware of it and shuts them out, and they withdraw.
- Book 2 · Ch 12Dispute over Gomnol's plan for Elizabeth
The Host demands Elizabeth's death, fearing hybrid operants; Gomnol and Eadone defend the plan. Aiken Drum's possible challenge is raised, and the Queen proposes demanding a ruling from Brede.
- Book 2 · Ch 12Nontusvel calls for a Song for the living
After Eadone and Kuhal discuss Brede's role and uncertain choice, Nontusvel asks the group to link minds again and sing the Song for all exiles on the planet, not for dead Bybar.
- Book 2 · Ch 37Brothers' council before dawn
Nodonn and his brothers survey the battlefield, assess losses including Velteyn, and plan to move wounded golds to Redact House and admit fighting grays to the Skin.
- Book 2 · Ch 39Thagdal names the pairings
Thagdal assigns Tanu opponents to each Firvulag hero. The results leave Nodonn's side with a lead lost, as Imidol's defeat gives the Firvulag the point lead.
- Book 3 · Ch 9Kuhal's hallucination of Muriah
Delirious and exhausted, Kuhal sees Muriah shining over the sea and wades toward it. Fian forces him back, and Kuhal chooses life for both.
- Book 3 · Ch 9Night in the wadi
Kuhal shelters Fian beneath the coracle in a rainy wadi, tends his wounds, takes on his pain, and lulls him to sleep while fearing for them both.
- Book 3 · Ch 12Felice robs the dead twin
Felice, as a raven, finds Kuhal mourning poisoned Fian in North Africa, takes Fian's tore, taunts Kuhal and spares him.
- Book 3 · Ch 12Celadeyr rescues Kuhal
After Kuhal sets Fian's body adrift, Celadeyr arrives on a chaliko, burns the coracle, sings the Song, and carries the fainted Kuhal away.
- Book 3 · Ch 27Coronation of Aiken Drum
Before 6000 Tanu, Firvulag guests and 15,000 humans, Elizabeth presents Aiken with a black glass crown; he names his High Table and is acclaimed King.
- Book 3 · Ch 35Mercy tells the Tanu lords Nodonn lives
Mercy and Culluket meet Celadeyr, Aluteyn and Kuhal inside a sigma-field. She reveals Nodonn lives and proposes flight; they refuse, learn Abaddon's identity, and resolve to cooperate with Aiken's raid.
- Book 3 · Ch 39Cloud tells Kuhal the Remillard history
While healing in the Skin, Cloud tells Kuhal of the Remillards, the failed 2083 Rebellion, exile in the Pliocene, Ocala, and why her generation broke from Marc.
- Book 3 · Ch 39Cloud analyzes the fight with Felice
Cloud explains Marc likely set Aiken up to die via the metaconcert program, that Felice d-jumped and may have hurt Marc, and warns that Aiken is a common threat to Tanu and humans.
- Book 3 · Ch 39Boduragol leaves the patients
Satisfied that the yoked healing is harmonious, Boduragol leaves, predicting both will be well in a week.
- Book 3 · Ch 42Planning the aircraft seizure
Nodonn, Kuhal and Celadeyr plan to take the ancient aircraft from the Vale of Hyenas for an attack on Aiken Drum, but need a human to neutralize the human guards; Kuhal has an idea.
- Book 3 · Ch 44Kite trap destroys Nodonn's aircraft
Nodonn's two rhocraft fly into Aiken's conductive kite swarm and are grounded. Nodonn's flyer falls into the sea, and Aiken's Spear destroys Thufan's trapped flyer.
- Book 3 · Ch 44Battle in the Castle of Glass
Nodonn's knights fight loyalists in the courtyard. Congreve's elite guards stun Celadeyr's force after it surrenders. Kuhal finds Mercy's body in Aiken's bedroom, and Nodonn turns it to ash.
- Book 4 · Ch 3Hagen contacts Cloud by farspeech
Hagen and Cloud learn Papa is coming, probably crippled. They discuss Aiken Drum's subsumption of Nodonn and the plan to bargain with Aiken. They also learn Kuhal faces execution.
- Book 4 · Ch 4Judgment of the captured knights
The 129 surviving rebel knights are brought in chains before Aiken-Lugonn and the High Table, judged guilty of treason, and given the choice of choosing their own punishment.
- Book 4 · Ch 4Kuhal's submission
Kuhal pleads guilty on behalf of the company and pledges their service. Aiken frees them and demands to know where the other aircraft are hidden.
- Book 4 · Ch 7Decontamination task assigned
Aiken and Bert Candyman examine the poison foam in the storage area; Bert devises an acetone solvent and Aiken gives him a team of Tanu nobles and seven days to finish.
- Book 4 · Ch 14Cloud rejects Kuhal
At the King's party, Kuhal confronts Cloud, who denies caring, then admits she does but refuses to replace his dead twin Fian and vanishes.
- Book 4 · Ch 23Tony agrees to build the time-gate wire
Tony advises Aiken on niobium and dysprosium and, after assurances, gives his word to cooperate. Kuhal escorts him to the Roniah docks to join Neyal's convoy bound for Sasaran.
- Book 4 · Ch 29Cloud and Kuhal's talk
In the castle garden Cloud and Kuhal discuss guilt over the Flood, Marc's plan and the Unity. Cloud admits she needs Kuhal, and they walk hand in hand through the gate.
- Book 4 · Ch 31High Table completed
Aiken commemorates the dead and traitors, receives oaths from sitting and newly nominated Great Ones, and secretly seats Katlinel and Sugoll as allies who repudiate the Firvulag throne.
- Book 4 · Ch 31Aiken warns of Sharn's Nightfall plot
Aiken tells the Table that Sharn plans to touch off Nightfall at the Tourney. Katlinel and Sugoll offer mediation; the Table prepares for war under Aiken.
- Book 4 · Ch 38The Adversary breaches Castle Gateway
Marc, empowered in the CE rig, shatters the dome and shields, captures his paralyzed children, takes Elizabeth's surrender and sends four people through the time-gate to the Milieu.