The Book of Magic (10 page)

Fairlyn's special gift is to prepare a sensuous, aromatic bath. As
Elli
and
Nuic
discover, Fairlyn uses her many arms to mix and stir the liquids, powders, and pastes, even while her dark brown eyes scan her surroundings in search of any danger. Often, she enlists the help of
faeries
, who enjoy her fragrances—unless her mood turns sour, in which case the faeries quickly scatter.

Like all tree spirits, Fairlyn can live indefinitely, even after her host tree dies. Yet as she knows well, tree spirits can still die of grief or terrible wounds.

Fraitha

Fraitha is the sister of
Gwirion
of the
Ayanowyn
people. Like all fire angels, she is completely hairless. And like the rest of her people, who have lost the use of their wings, her soulfire burns so low that it no longer flames. Even so, as
Tamwyn
learns, there is still great bravery within her—as well as undiminished hope for her people. Fraitha, like Gwirion's wife,
Tulchinne
, often wears a heavy shawl woven from hurlyen, a sturdy red vine. She plays on an amber flute, which makes a deep, resonant sound that is reminiscent of the music of the
Spiral Cascades
.

Ghoulacas

These winged beasts were bred by the sorcerer
Kulwych
for just one purpose: killing his enemies. Although they are not very intelligent, they are dangerous—and are feared throughout
Avalon
, no less than the magic-eating
kreelixes
were feared in
Lost Fincayra
. The huge birds' wings and bodies are nearly transparent; only their bloodred talons and curved beaks are easily visible. Their screech is loud and terrible enough to freeze the hearts of their prey. Those who somehow survive their attacks, such as Kulwych's warrior
Harlech
, have scars to show for it. Because the ghoulacas' loyalty to Kulwych springs entirely from their fear of his wrath, there is always a chance that they might abandon him in the face of some greater terror. Even so, these killer birds are savage warriors who often battle to the death.

Grikkolo

Grikkolo, one of the last survivors of the dark elves' brutal civil war, lives in hiding amid the ruins of the ancient library of Dianarra, the Lost City of Light in
Shadowroot
. Slim and wiry, he resembles a wood elf (such as
Brionna)
in form. But his silvery gray eyes are quite different: They are very large, practically the size of a hen's eggs, and allow him to see well in the dark. His back is severely bent, causing his tunic to billow around his chest. From his head sprouts white hair as thick as a bed of ferns.

Grikkolo speaks in an erudite manner, for he is deeply learned. He is, as he explains to
Elli
and
Nuic
, always hungry—not for food but for information. That is why he originally came to the library. And why, although he has lived by himself for many years, he never feels lonely: He has countless friends—all the books that surround him. Yet he also cares deeply for the world outside his library. For that reason, even though he views himself as timid, he decides to do something extraordinarily brave to help Elli's quest.

Gwirion

… Gwirion is not actually overheated. He is, instead, far too cold.

Gwirion is a winged man with dark brown, shaggy skin that resembles the bark of a burned tree. Like the rest of the
Ayanowyn
people, the fire angels, his eyes are also deep brown. He whistles low, wandering notes when he is thinking. He is bald, like his sister,
Fraitha
, and his wife,
Tulchinne
. And his body temperature when
Tamwyn
meets him—as they are fighting for their lives against giant termites—is so high that the young man thinks Gwirion is dying of fever. But Gwirion is not actually overheated. He is, instead, far too cold.

For the Ayanowyn people have fallen far. Their soulfires, called llalowyn, have dimmed so much that they no longer flame. Instead of the bright orange, winged beings they were long ago, when their great leader
Ogallad
led them out of the
stars
and into
Avalon
, they are now flightless creatures who resemble smoldering charcoal.

How did this happen? Greed and intolerance were the causes. As Gwirion explains, "We told ourselves that only we knew what was right and good. At the same time, we started thinking of the Great Tree as our land, our possession, to exploit and use however we liked. We grew wasteful, destructive, and shortsighted. We burned forests to clear land for grazing our captive beasts, even if it clogged the air and sullied our streams. Then we moved on to other forests and did the same, over and over again."

Gwirion longs for the return of his people's most wise and glorious days, the time before their decline. That time was known as Lumia col Lir—the Age of Great Light—and is revealed by the storypaintings in the caverns and tunnels of the
Middle Realm
. Even more, he longs for the flames of his own soulfire. As a child, he attempted to make his soulfire burn brighter by trying to swallow hot fire coals. He lost his ability to taste by doing so—but in all the years since, he has never lost his passion to burn bright.

Hac Yarrow

Long before
Scree
was born, Hac Yarrow was, along with
Ilyakk
, the most celebrated flyer in the history of the eaglefolk. The story is told that, only a few minutes after she was born in a nest on the ridges of
Olanabram
, this eaglegirl saw a cloud floating high above her. She reached for it, stretching her tiny arms skyward, but could not touch its fluffy form. So upset was she, the story goes, that she cried for several days on end. And the tears finally ceased only when her eagle wings appeared at last, much earlier than usual for eaglefolk. Immediately, Hac Yarrow leaped out of her nest, flew up toward the clouds—and rarely stopped riding the winds for the rest of her life.

When, in her elder years, someone asked her why she still kept flying, she answered crisply, "I haven't yet found that cloud."

Halaad

A young child of the mudmakers of
Malóch
, Halaad had only begun to learn the ways of her elusive people when she was brutally attacked by gnomes. Gravely wounded, she crawled to the edge of a spring that bubbled out of the
élano
-rich mud of the plains. The magical qualities of this water immediately healed her wounds. And so, in the Year of Avalon 421, the Secret Spring of Halaad was discovered. Although this spring has long been celebrated in the stories and songs of bards throughout
Avalon
, its exact location is kept secret by the mudmakers. In all the centuries since its discovery, only two other people are known to have found it. They are the great wizard
Merlin
, and a young man whom
Aelonnia of Isenwy
dubbed a true Maker:
Tamwyn
.

Halona

Although she was born a princess of the flamelons, Halona rejected some of her people's fundamental values: their fierce enthusiasm for battle, their admiration for the warlord of the spirit world
Rhita Gawr
, and their disdain for any other races of people, especially humans. When she saw a human explorer,
Krystallus Eopia
, about to be killed, Halona acted boldly. She rescued the man and guided him to safety. Then, unexpectedly, they fell in love. Ignoring the danger of the Dark Prophecy, they married and conceived a child during the Year of Avalon 985—the Year of Darkness. Halona and Krystallus named the child
Tamwyn
, which means
dark flame
in the language of the flamelons. Tragically, the family was attacked soon after Tamwyn's birth. Believing that Krystallus had been killed, Halona escaped with her son into the remote cliffs of
Rahnawyn
's Volcano Lands.

High on those cliffs, a strange and wondrous old man saved both their lives. At the same time, he brought them together with a recently orphaned eagleboy named
Scree
, who became Tamwyn's adopted brother. As full of grief as Halona was about having lost Krystallus, she never told Tamwyn the identity of his father, fearing that the knowledge might put him in danger. Meanwhile, it pleased her deeply to see how well the two brothers bonded—exploring, playing, and wrestling without end. At last, Halona decided that Tamwyn was old enough to learn the truth about his past. But before she could tell him, a band of
ghoulacas
bred by
Kulwych
flew out of a
portal
and killed her.

Hanwan Belamir (Olo Belamir)

… No one since Merlin himself has been so revered.

A simple gardener at heart, Hanwan Belamir has the weathered, dirt-crusted hands of someone who enjoys working with plants. He wears a simple gray robe with long, wide sleeves and many hooks and pockets for garden tools. Around his neck is a string of garlic bulbs; one thumbnail is broken from digging in the soil.

Yet despite his appearance, Belamir is also more than a gardener. He is a charismatic teacher, with a deep voice that is both resonant and comforting. His teachings about improved techniques for farming productively led to the construction of the village of Prosperity in
Woodroot
, a bountiful settlement that is walled off from the surrounding forest. But Belamir's teachings have extended far beyond agriculture. His belief in humanity's "special role" as Nature's "benevolent guardians" has led him to develop theories about humanity's rightful "dominion" over other creatures. Those theories, in turn, have spawned the Humanity First movement, which has grown increasingly self-righteous and aggressive. The movement has led to outright scorn for the
Society of the Whole
's fundamental principle of harmony and mutual respect among all living creatures—just as it has led to violent attacks by humans against other beings.

Although Belamir is reviled by the elves and others, his following among humans continues to grow. Some, in fact, have taken to calling him Olo Belamir, adding the ancient term of honor to his name. No one since
Merlin
himself, who won the name Olo Eopia, has been so revered. Yet Belamir himself scoffs at such attention, preferring to call himself simply "a humble gardener."

Hargol

Hargol, highlord of the water dragons, always wears a bejeweled crown of golden coral on his brow, along with immense earrings made from thousands of black pearls strung on braids of sea kelp. The earrings clink and clatter whenever he moves his head. Barnacles studded with jewels also decorate his enormous snout. Hargol's fiery green eyes are very watchful, and he has ears as large as the sails of elven ships. As is common with water dragons, his massive body is covered with scales that range in color from glacial blue to dark purple. He is, indeed, very large, at least four times the size of his guards, with a head the size of a fortress. When Hargol speaks within the central cavern of his lair, his words rumble like a crashing waterfall. So loud is his voice that the sea stars decorating the ceiling of his cavern often break loose from the vibrations and rain down on his guards.

Hargol's lair is deep in
Brynchilla
, amid the Rainbow Seas. As a direct descendant of Bendegeit, the brave highlord of the water dragons who rallied for peace in the War of Storms, he has a peaceful side. He is also deeply learned, and fluent in many languages; he is given to quoting adages from
Avalon
's diverse peoples. But he can also be very dangerous (as
Elli
learns). Like all water dragons, when enraged, he breathes ice—vast torrents of blue-tinted ice. And like other dragons—with very few exceptions, such as
Merlin
's friend
Basilgarrad
—he hungers for jewels and crystals of beauty and power. In fact, Hargol possesses a special ability: He can sense the location of crystals, even very far away, and he can also sense their magical powers.

Harlech

This hulking warrior carries an assortment of weapons on his belt: a broadsword, a rapier, two daggers, and occasionally an ax. He fears only one thing—the wrath of his master, the sorcerer
Kulwych
. On his jaw is a deep scar from an attack by deadly
ghoulacas
. And he harbors a particular hatred for the only person who ever bested him in battle, the mighty eagleman
Scree
.

Harshna

Harshna, ancient warrior-king of the
gobsken
, is remembered for two outstanding qualities. The first of those was his unrelenting viciousness and brutality in battle. The second was his incredibly potent bad breath, said to be strong enough to curl the swords of his foes. Even today, gobsken warriors invoke his name to bring them victory. And young gobsken are threatened with Harshna's ghost, who will gnaw away the brain of any child who shows unworthy traits such as kindness, honesty, or compassion.

Hawkeen

This golden-eyed eagleboy was one of the few survivors of an attack on his village, home of the Iye Kalakya clan of
Stoneroot
. When the attackers descended on his people's nests, built on a remote flank of
Hallia
's Peak, young Hawkeen tried to fight back. But the battle swiftly ended, leaving many dead—including the village healer,
Arc-kaya
, and Hawkeen's mother, whose heart had been pierced by an arrow. At the clan's burial mound, the eagleboy sang in memory of his mother, in a voice that blended the plaintive call of a child with the screeching cry of an eagle: "O Mother, my ship, my vessel on high! You have flown beyond sight, beyond fears. I miss you beyond any tears."

As he finished, his gaze met that of the eagleman
Scree
, who had once lost his own mother to a murderer's arrow. In Scree's strength, Hawkeen found a touch of hope. And in the eagleboy, Scree found a reflection of his younger self. He recognized this sad but sturdy youth; he knew this mixture of anguish and resolve. The bond between Hawkeen and Scree would grow, so much that they would one day fight together at
Avalon
's Battle of Isenwy.