"Godsdamnit, somehow she’d still ended up stuck in charge."[1]
Abigail is a soldier in Catherine Foundling's army, who is often used for interlude perspectives.
Abigail is convinced the world is out to get her, and has never quite managed to not be terrified of all the horrors Cat's soldiers routinely are presented with.
Background[]
As her name implies, Abigail originally lived in Summerholm. Her father was mentioned to be a bartender who was frequently drunk, while her mother was a beer brewer. She has two brothers. Her family house was burned down by Goblinfire when Cat fought the Lone Swordsman the second time. When her uncle told her that if she wanted to live under his roof she would have to learn how to tan leather, she drunkenly refused, insulted the entire family and went off to join the Legions.[2]
Book 3[]
After her training at one of the many Callowan recruitment camps Abigail would join the Fifteenth Legion as a Captain under Legate Hune's command. She fought in the Arcadian Campaign[3], battling in both the Battle of Five Armies and One and the Battle of Dormer, where she would learn what Fae blood tastes like after screaming while panicking and hacking a Fae soldier to death.[4]
After that she would fight at the Battle of Dead Dawn,[5] where she got an eye injured and healed, and Akua's Folly[3]. After which, when Catherine reclaimed the Kingdom of Callow's independence and the Fifteenth was reorganised into the Army of Callow, Abigail would continue to serve in it. She was recommended for promotion to Tribune and got transferred from General Hune to General Nauk's command. Unfortunately for Abigail, she considered this even more dangerous.
Book 4[]
Tribune Abigail would then go on to fight at the Battle of the Camps, as part of the four thousand men fighting under Nauk and holding the west flank of the battle against the detachment of twelve thousand men backed by several Heroes, including the Saint of Swords, under Princess Adeline of Orne and Prince Arnaud of Cantal.[6][4]
After the Night of Knives, Abigail would calm a riot in Laure by opening up the beer cellars of Laure and getting the rioters drunk. As every military officer ranked above her had been assassinated, she became the highest ranking military officer in the city, Catherine ordering Juniper to give her a field promotion to legate and de facto rule over the Callowan capital until Hakram and Thief returned to the city.
Book 5[]
During the reorganisation of the Army of Callow, Abigail's field promotion to a legate was made permanent, partially due to the lack of competent officers after the casualties of the Battle of the Camps. She was assigned under General Nauk's Third Army of Callow, serving as the fourth-in-command of the host. Later, during the Battle of Sarcella, after the assassination of General Nauk, Legate Jwahir and the other two veteran legates by the Lantern warrior-priests, Legate Abigail wound up in command of the Third Army of Callow.
When Cat returned in the later half of the Battle of Sarcella, she would promote Legate Abigail into a general, much to Abigail's horror. General Abigail was then given personal lessons by Queen Catherine in tactics and strategy, as Catherine intended for her to permanently become the leader of the Third Army. At the funeral for Nauk and the other fallen, Catherine gave the Third Army the Cognomen Dauntless and gave General Abigail the honour of throwing the first torch to light the pyres.
When the armies moved to regroup with Juniper and the Legions-in-exile, General Abigail was ordered to fly the Fourth Army's banner alongside her own after seizing the western hills. She ordered the ranks thinned to make it appear as though there were more legionaries than there actually were. Later, she would then go on to fight in the Princes' Graveyard, commanding the Southern front of the battle. She faced an army of sixty thousand Grand Alliance men, led by Lord Akil Tanja. Abigail requested the assistance of 1000 Knights of Callow and used them to destroy the summoned creatures created by Tanja's binders, massacring the mages and saving Special Tribune Robber. This gave her a reputation as a tactical prodigy.
As General of the Dauntless, General Abigail inherited General Nauk's duty as personal escort of Queen Catherine, being brought to Salia for the peace conference as the leader of the Black Queen's legionary escort and a diplomat of the Army of Callow. After the revelation that Dread Empress Malicia had compromised most of the Army of Callow's highest echelons, Catherine named General Abigail as temporary overall commander of the Army of Callow, as she was the only general who had never set foot in the Tower or met Dread Empress Malicia.
Book 6[]
Abigail, now nicknamed "The Fox," commanded the Third Army of Callow during the campaign against Keter. She continued to have a reputation for paranoia and strategic skill. The Third Army was often placed on the front lines of the most dangerous battles, much to her dismay. Catherine assigned Eudokia the Scribe to work with Abigail, in the hopes that Scribe would learn to deal with Abigail's constant improvisations while Abigail would learn to do more long-range planning.
Catherine also elevated Abigail the nobility of Callow, making it harder for her to refuse to be involved in the kingdom's affairs. Abigail named her new noble house House Tanner.
Book 7[]
Abigail continued to lead the Third Army. During the final assault against Keter, she guarded the flank of the Proceran army and intercepted an undead army that would have destroyed it.
After the war, Abigail tried to retire, but never managed to stay out of the army for long. Any time she retired some sort of disaster or bankruptcy would cause her to return. Abigail eventually became Marshal of Callow, and returned from retirement at least nine times.
Appearance[]
Abigail has black curly hair that is slightly longer than legion regulations allow, a delicate nose, watery blue eyes, and sunburnt cheeks. Abigail is taller than Cat, but not more so than Rozala thinks of her as small.
Goals[]
While at first Abigail just wants to survive her last 3 years of Legion service, after a certain point she realizes she is in over her head and just wants to survive to retire with a sizeable pension.
Appears in[]
Skirmish I - Skirmish II - Chapter 58: Hard Measures/ - Interlude: Kaleidoscope III - Interlude: Kaleidoscope IV - Chapter 48: Shadows - Interlude: Giuoco Pianissimo - Chapter 12: Relief - Interlude: Beheld I - Chapter 13: Following - Chapter 15: Bereavement - Chapter 21: Intervention - Interlude: West, Ever Pursuing - Interlude: Graves We Have Yet To Fill - Interlude: Concourse IV
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Book 5, Interlude: Beheld I
- ↑ "She could not believe she’d ever been drunk enough to think enrolling in the Legions was a good idea. [...] Well, it beat being a tanner at least. Her family home had gone up in green flames when the Black Queen tangled with the Lone Swordsman a while back and her uncle had made it clear that being allowed to live under his roof came at the price of going into his trade. Her two brothers had folded, but she’d decided she wasn’t going to smell like rotting corpse garbage for the rest of her life."
Book 3, Interlude: Skirmish I - ↑ 3.0 3.1 "And Legate Abigail was a true veteran, he’d heard, from the days of the Fifteenth – she’d fought in the Arcadian Campaign and at Akua’s Folly."
Book 5, Interlude: Beheld II - ↑ 4.0 4.1 Book 4, Interlude: Kaleidoscope IV
- ↑ Book 3, Interlude: Skirmish II
- ↑ Book 4, Interlude: Kaleidoscope III