The Book of Magic (16 page)

Spiral Cascades

Flowing deep within the trunk of the
Great Tree,
this wondrous place is the union of three cascades. The first is made of water, which spirals higher and higher, connecting the roots far below to the
stars
high above. The second is made of light, which floats endlessly downward. And the third, as
Tamwyn
  discovers, is made of music. The music vibrates, harplike, while swelling with the fullness of horns and the sweetness of bells. Combined, the cascades spiral ceaselessly upward, downward, and outward.

Stars of Avalon

What, truly, are the stars of
Avalon?
That question has puzzled people through all the ages of this world. Many, like the young wilderness guide
Tamwyn,
have often gazed up at them, tracing the shapes of favorite constellations: Pegasus, soaring on high; Twisted Tree, stretching endless branches; the Mysteries, glowing with an aura of lavender blue; and the Wizard's Staff, burning bright for centuries after its stars were lit by the wizard
Merlin
.

Then, without warning, the stars of the Wizard's Staff darkened in the Year of Avalon 1002. One by one, as Tamwyn and others watched in stunned silence, their light vanished. For centuries, people had wondered why the stars dimmed at the end of every day, after a flash of golden light, and why they brightened again every morning. Now they began to wonder something else: whether the stars—and the world they illuminated—would ultimately survive.

Y Swylarna (Airroot)

In this airy realm of
Avalon,
cloudscapes seem to stretch forever, and aeolian harps play haunting music without beginning or end. Mist maidens spiral in their sacred dancing grounds,
faeries
create cloud gardens, and the Air Falls of Silmannon rumble ceaselessly. Across the Misty Bridge, designed three centuries ago by the sylph architect
Le-fen-flaith
, the Veils of Illusion conjure images of whatever fears may be riding the wind. Not far to the north, the Harplands' vaporthread strings respond to travelers' deepest emotions, sounding discordant, harmonious, or conflicting mixtures of both. There are ghostly forests of eonia-lalo ("tree of the clouds" in the language of the sylphs), whose wood resembles frozen mist and whose bark is nearly invisible. Millions of winged creatures soar through this realm when they aren't resting at the Isles of Birds. Yet their songs are no more sweet, no more lilting, than the sounds of the airy realm itself.

Dagda

Dagda, deeply revered, is the god of supreme knowledge and wisdom. Together with
Lorilanda,
goddess of birth and renewal, he rules the
Otherworld of the Spirits
. As much as they savor the fruits of peace and serenity, they are always working to contain their nemesis,
Rhita Gawr,
who hungers to control all the worlds.

Bards sing that the young wizard
Merlin
traveled all the way from
Fincayra,
during the quest of the
Seven Songs,
to Dagda's Otherworld home at the mist-shrouded Tree of Soul. The great spirit appeared as an elderly man with a wounded arm—yet despite his frail appearance, his brown eyes seemed as bright as a sky full of stars. As he spoke with Merlin, he toyed with shredsof mist, knotting and unknotting them by a sweep of his finger or a mere glance. While Merlin had the distinct feeling that Dagda was doing much more than reshaping the mist, he also knew that the god would never interfere directly with the fate of mortal worlds. For Dagda believes profoundly in the importance of allowing mortals to choose their own futures, to create their own destinies.

That is why, more than a thousand years after that visit from Merlin, in the great battles for
Avalon,
Dagda resists the temptation to participate directly. Instead, he chooses to rely upon the courage, perseverance, and wisdom of mortals—especially two young people: a wilderness guide named
Tamwyn,
and an apprentice priestess named
Elli
. Joining them are many others, including the solitary eagleman
Scree,
the brave elf
Brionna,
the gruff pinnacle sprite
Nuic,
the irrepressible hoolah
Henni,
the wise craftsman
Palimyst,
the winged steed
Ahearna,
the loyal Drumadian priest
Lleu,
the shrunken giant
Shim,
and the ancient dragon
Basilgarrad
.

Lorilanda

Goddess of birth, flowering, and renewal, Lorilanda is allied with
Dagda
and is equally revered by the many peoples of
Avalon
. Together, Lorilanda and Dagda rule the
Otherworld of the Spirits
. While they greatly prefer times of peace, they must also fight to contain their nemesis,
Rhita Gawr
. For that warlord spirit desires one thing above all else: to control the realm of the spirits—and all other worlds, as well.

In the earliest days of Avalon, the image of Lorilanda often appeared, taking the form of a graceful doe who brought about important discoveries. One such appearance, in the Year of Avalon 33, encouraged a young lad named Fergus to find the only path (other than through
portals)
connecting the realms of
Stoneroot
and
Woodroot
. Perhaps Lorilanda is also watching over
Elli, Nuic,
and
Tamwyn
when they follow that very same path nearly a thousand years later.

Rhita Gawr

This powerful warlord of the spirit realm continually battles
Dagda
and
Lorilanda
for control of the
Otherworld
. Yet that is far from the extent of his ambitions. His true desire is to tear apart the threads of the universal tapestry, luminous threads created over many eons, and to weave them into his own design. Nothing less than controlling every mortal world will satisfy him. That is why he has long sought to conquer two worlds in particular:
Fincayra,
the island connecting mortal and immortal, and
Avalon,
the Great Tree whose branches touch every world.

Having failed to conquer Fincayra—thanks to the young wizard
Merlin
and his allies—Rhita Gawr turns all his attention toward Avalon. By the time of the dreaded Year of Darkness, he has won the allegiance of the sorcerer
Kulwych
, whose task is to obtain, through whatever means necessary, a pure crystal of vengélano—a substance with unlimited powers of destruction. Rhita Gawr has also gained the loyalty of some of Avalon's most battle-hardened creatures, including ogres, gnomes, trolls, changelings, and
gobsken
—as well as the flamelons, who worship him as a fiery god of renewal. In addition, he is rapidly opening the doorways from the Otherworld into Avalon—doorways through which he and his army of immortal warriors can invade. Then he can enter Avalon, taking the form of an enormous dragon as mighty as the famous
Basilgarrad
. Rhita Gawr is certain that he will triumph. For no one—surely not
Tamwyn,
whom he recognizes as the clumsy young spawn of Merlin—can possibly stop him.

Otherworld of the Spirits

… To save the lives of the two people he loved most, Merlin found the secret pathway called the Otherworld Well.

The Otherworld is home to immortal spirits such as
Dagda,
god of supreme wisdom;
Lorilanda,
goddess of birth and renewal; and
Rhita Gawr,
god of war and conquest. It was beyond extraordinary that a mortal man would ever voyage to the Otherworld, especially one so young as the boy
Merlin
—but that was just what he did in the quest of the
Seven Songs
. To save the lives of the two people he loved most—his mother,
Elen,
and his sister,
Rhia
—Merlin found the secret pathway called the Otherworld Well. His journey was recorded in
The Seven Songs of Merlin:

As I followed the Well deeper, something about the mist began to change. Instead of hovering close to the stairs as it had near the entrance, the mist pulled farther away, opening into pockets of ever-changing shapes. Before long the pockets expanded into chambers, and the chambers widened into hollows. With each step downward the many vistas broadened, until I found myself in the middle of an immensely varied, constantly shifting landscape. A landscape of mist.

In wispy traces and billowing hills, wide expanses and sharp pinnacles, the mist swirled about me. I glimpsed deep canyons, running farther than I could guess. And great mountains, moving higher or lower or both ways at once. Strange shapes floated throughout, beckoning me to come nearer. And through it all, mist curled and billowed—always changing, always the same. Or was it really mist? Was it, perhaps, made not of air and water but something else? Something more like light, or ideas, or feelings? This mist revealed more than it obscured. It would take many lifetimes to comprehend even a little of its true nature.