The Book of Magic (5 page)

In the course of its adventures with Merlin, the staff acquired seven runes through the help of
Tuatha
—symbolizing the
Seven Songs of Wizardry
, the greatest ideas the young wizard needed to master. The runes depict a butterfly, for the power of Changing; a pair of soaring hawks, for Binding; a cracked stone, for Protecting; a sword, for Naming; a star within a circle, for Leaping; a dragon's tail, for Eliminating; and an eye, for Seeing. While the staff was in Fincayra, the runes glowed with an eerie blue light; in
Avalon
, that color shifted to green.

Tall and gnarled, with a knotted top, the staff rarely left Merlin's side. In time, it gained surprising power, even wisdom, of its own. Merlin believed that it contained an extraordinary concentration of
élano
, the life-giving sap of the Great Tree. He decided to call it Ohnyalei, which means
spirit of grace
in the Fincayran old tongue. Many years later, he was counting on its wisdom when he entrusted it to a young eagleboy named
Scree
. For there could be no separating the fates of the staff, of Merlin's true heir, and of Avalon itself.

Olwen

So much did the mer woman Olwen love the wizard
Tuatha
, in the ancient days of
Fincayra
, that she decided to leave her people as well as her ancestral home in order to be with him. This took great courage. It is said that the mer people initially scorned her for this decision, but ultimately came to respect the power of her love. Centuries later, they honored Olwen's memory by creating a miraculous bridge across the sea to help her grandson
Merlin
. This bridge not only saved Merlin's life; it enabled him to solve at last the riddle of his people's
lost wings
.

Because of Olwen's enduring compassion, Tuatha finally agreed to assist Merlin in the quest of the
Seven Songs
. Through that quest, Merlin's staff
Ohnyalei
gained remarkable powers. And Merlin himself gained the wisdom that would allow him, one day in the future, to obtain a magical seed that beat like a heart—a seed that would ultimately grow into the
Great Tree of Avalon
.

Pluton

If the stature of bakers is measured in the size of their waistlines, Breadmaster Pluton of
Fincayra
would be enormous on both counts. This plump, ruddy-cheeked fellow was filling his pitcher from the town's unique bread fountain, as he had every day for many years, when he saw young
Merlin
do something nearly impossible: convince two hungry, ill-mannered boys to share a loaf of molasses bread. (Merlin had merely suggested that they each take turns having a bite—or he would eat the loaf himself.) Impressed, Pluton invited Merlin to learn about bread baking—which, the young man soon discovered, was a useful way to learn about life.

"Know your ingredients." That was Pluton's first rule. It guided Merlin in preparing his first heart bread—and in stopping the thievery of a girl named
Nimue
. And it led the young wizard to comprehend the power of Naming, one of the
Seven Songs of Wizardry
. In doing so, Merlin found the sword that he would carry throughout his
Lost Years
, a sword that he would not part with until much later—when he would place it in a stone for young
King Arthur
of
Camelot
.

Rhiannon (Rhia)

… She gave her brother his name: Merlin.

Rhia's childhood changed abruptly when, as an infant, she was lost in the
Druma Wood
of
Lost Fincayra
. Adopted by a great oak tree named
Arbassa
, Rhia learned to speak the languages of trees, rivers, and stones. And she learned, as well, the importance of simply listening. When, at the age of twelve, she met her lost brother, she joined him at the
Dance of the Giants
and ultimately helped him to banish
Rhita Gawr
from their world. She also gave her brother his new name:
Merlin
. In their adventures to come, she would give him something even more important—a kind of feminine wisdom that would enable him to inspire many worlds.

Together with her mother,
Elen
, Rhia created the
Society of the Whole
to guide the peoples of
Avalon
. The Society (whose priestesses and priests were called Drumadians, in honor of Druma Wood) was founded on two fundamental principles. The first principle was that all creatures should live together in harmony and mutual respect; the second, that people should work to protect the Great Tree, which sustains all forms of life. After Elen's death, Rhia became High Priestess of the Society. After a remarkable voyage with Merlin and
Lleu of the One Ear
into the inner depths of the Great Tree (in the Year of Avalon 131), Rhia introduced her followers to
élano
, a source of unfathomable power.

During the struggles of the War of Storms, Rhia grew disillusioned by the increasing arrogance and rigidity of the Drumadians. Finally, after trying unsuccessfully to return the Society to its spiritual roots, she resigned as High Priestess. She departed abruptly, to the grief of her closest friends. What ultimately became of her remains a mystery. It is said that not even Rhia's loyal
maryth
, the pinnacle sprite
Nuic
, or the wise
Lady of the Lake
knew just where she went. She may have traveled to mortal
Earth
to rejoin Merlin. Or perhaps she simply wandered alone through Avalon, unrecognized, and at her death, unmourned.

Seven Songs of Wizardry

Desperately hoping to save the life of his mother,
Elen
, the young wizard
Merlin
traveled from the
Shore of the Speaking Shells
to the great tree
Arbassa
to find these magical runes. As he struggled to decipher them, he heard in his mind the voice of
Tuatha
, who declared:

The Seven Songs of Wizardry,
One melody and many,
May guide ye to the Otherworld,
Though hope ye have not any.

At last, Merlin discovered that these songs revealed the essence of wizardry: The soul of each song held the wisdom he most needed. (The Seven Songs, by virtue of their magic, are different for every person who reads them. They provide the essential truths each person requires to become a wizard.)

Merlin had been warned that he must master all seven before attempting to find the secret pathway to the
Otherworld
—his only hope of saving his mother. Alas, he disregarded that warning. And so, although he learned a little about the powers of Changing, Binding, Protecting, Naming, Leaping, Eliminating, and Seeing—he needed the help of
Rhia
to learn the most important lesson of all.

Shim

Though he stood only as high as a man's knee, smaller than even the smallest dwarf, Shim always insisted that he was really a giant. Of course, no one believed him. Then, at last, he became (in his words) "as tall as the highliest tree"—to which he often added, "Certainly, definitely, absolutely!"

In
Fincayra
's most tumultuous years, he was a close companion of the young wizard
Merlin
—along with
Rhia
and the brave hawk
Trouble
. In those
Lost Years
, Shim helped them destroy the terrible
Shrouded Castle
and outwit the evil warlord
Rhita Gawr
in the battle known as the
Dance of the Giants
. His adventures with Merlin continued long after the Fincayran people won back their
lost wings
and the world of
Avalon
was born. Shim the giant became famous in story and song.

Then everything changed. During the Battle of the Withered Spring, in the Year of Avalon 498, Shim accidentally saved the life of another giant,
Bonlog Mountain-Mouth
, when he tripped and fell on top of the warriors attacking her. Deeply grateful, Bonlog (the eldest daughter of the giant sorceress Jubolda) tried to thank him with a kiss. But at the sight of her enormous, slobbery mouth, Shim shrieked in terror and fled into the highlands. The humiliated Bonlog angrily pursued him, searching for Shim over many years without success.

Although he escaped Bonlog Mountain-Mouth, Shim met a new misfortune: For reasons he couldn't explain, he began to shrink. When he finally emerged from hiding, he'd returned to his original tiny size—"utterly shrunkelled," as he wailed miserablyAlthough his bulbous nose still made him recognizably Shim, few people even noticed him. When he finally encountered the elf
Brionna
, he seemed to be nothing more than a small, white-haired dwarf who was very hard of hearing. Yet she managed to recognize him—certainly, definitely, absolutely.

Stangmar

A strong, proud young man who enjoyed riding horseback and climbing trees, Stangmar fell in love with
Elen of the Sapphire Eyes
, a woman from
Earth
who had voyaged to his magical realm. In time, he won her heart and convinced her to stay in
Fincayra
, the world in between mortal and immortal. Though he had struggled as the nonmagical son of a powerful wizard named
Tuatha
, Stangmar strove to become a great leader as king of Fincayra.

Life, however, soon changed for the worse. Not long after Elen gave birth to their children,
Merlin
and
Rhia
, Rhia disappeared into
Druma Wood
, and Stangmar was corrupted by the spirit lord
Rhita Gawr
. Soon Stangmar became merely a pawn in Rhita Gawr's plans to conquer Fincayra. When the evil spirit commanded that the king must murder his son, Stangmar reluctantly agreed. But before he could kill young Merlin, the boy escaped with Elen, traveling to the realm of Britannia on Earth. That journey ended with Merlin washing ashore, nameless and homeless—the event that marked the beginning of his
Lost Years
.

In time, Merlin returned to Fincayra, the land of his birth. Despite his rage at Stangmar, he saved his father at the collapse of the
Shrouded Castle
during the
Dance of the Giants
. Several years later, after Stangmar had escaped from prison, the former tyrant finally redeemed himself: He sacrificed his own life to save Elen's. In doing so, he enabled Merlin to forgive him at last.

Sword Anns

This terrible warrior wore a horned skull as a mask—and bore two deadly swords instead of arms. He appeared at the worst possible time, while young
Merlin
raced to save his beloved
Fincayra
from conquest by
Rhita Gawr
and labored to solve the mystery of the
lost wings
. Worse yet, this warrior began ruthlessly attacking young orphans. Across the island, parentless children were maimed or worse by this powerful foe.

Merlin had no idea who this brutal warrior might be, or why he would seek out children such as the lad who would one day be called
Lleu of the One Ear
. But Merlin vowed to stop the carnage, even if it kept him from his other goals. When, at last, he confronted Sword Arms in battle, he discovered that any weapon he hurled at the warrior came right back with equal force. To save the children, and to find some way to defeat the warrior, Merlin sailed to the
Forgotten Island
—using the giant
Shim
's hat as a boat. Thanks to the mer people who came to his aid, perhaps in memory of his grandmother
Olwen
, Merlin landed on the forbidden shore. There he won the final battle with Sword Arms—and discovered the warrior's true identity. Some might call that victory a miracle; others might say the same about the Forgotten Island's return to its ancient shore. Yet the greatest miracle of that day was performed not by Merlin, but by the children he had saved.

T'eilean and Garlatha

How could a small green oasis survive in the midst of
Stangmar
's terrible Blight on the land of
Fincayra?
Young
Merlin
discovered that it was the orchard and garden of an old married couple: T'eilean and Garlatha. As they emerged from their earthen hut that was supported—almost embraced—by the surrounding trees, the elderly couple moved with an odd, disjointed rhythm. One back straightened as the other curved; one head lifted as the other drooped. As different as their motions were, they seemed unalterably connected. So it did not surprise Merlin or his companion
Shim
(who was, at this time, still very small) that the pair had been married for sixty-eight years. It also did not surprise Merlin that, when T'eilean got the number of years wrong, his wife swiftly corrected him—and gave him a kick in the shin, as well.

Given the dangerous times, it took a while before the travelers felt free to trust these people, whose kindly appearance might have been a disguise. (Shim, when asked his name, replied, "My name is a secret. Nobodily knows it. Not even me.") But in time, trust came. Merlin told them that they reminded him of
Elen
's tale about Baucis and Philemon, an old couple whose sole wish was to die together—a wish the gods granted by turning them into a pair of trees whose leafy branches would wrap around each other for all time.

None of them could have guessed that the two old gardeners would, in fact, end their days in much the same way. Just as they could not have guessed that, before that end came, they would share several adventures—including caring for the Flowering Harp, one of the great
Treasures of Fincayra
. Yet T'eilean did guess that Merlin might be more than he seemed: "I don't know who you are, young man. But I suspect that, like one of our seeds, you hold surprises within you." At that, Garlatha touched Shim's little head and added, "The same could be said for you, little fellow."

Treasures of Fincayra

… For centuries, the Treasures belonged to the people of Fincayra.

For centuries, the Treasures belonged to the people of
Fincayra
, a shared heritage that benefited the land and all its creatures. What did these fabled Treasures include? The Flowering Harp, whose music could bring springtime to any meadow or hillside; the sword Deepercut, which had two edges—one that could cut right into the soul, and one that could heal any wound; the Orb of Fire that possessed what the great spirit
Dagda
called "a force of life" strong enough to rekindle hope even in the darkest times; and the Seven Wise Tools, including a plow that could till its own field, a saw that would cut only as much wood as someone needed, and a hoe that knew how to nurture its seeds. (During the tumultuous
Dance of the Giants
, one of the Seven Wise Tools was lost. But young
Merlin
and the deer woman
Hallia
later found its location—as well as its secret purpose—in the adventure known as
The Mirror of Merlin
.) There were other Treasures, as well: the fearsome Cauldron of Death, the Caller of Dreams that could bring any dream to life, and one more called "the Last Treasure"—whose identity remained a secret.