Shadow Spell (37 page)

As quietly as she could, Nin placed a candle on her mother's bedside table. It was the crowsmorte candle that had helped to bring a little peace of mind to Jonas, just after they had escaped the Hounds on their journey to the House.

Carefully, she lit it with a match, then stood back. In the gathering Widdern dusk the candle glowed with a warm, yellow light and gave out a scent of clover and honey. She remembered Crow's voice, singing to her when she had taken the potion, and hoped her mother could hear him too.

Lena didn't move, but after a while, Nin thought she saw some of the shadows leave her face.

She watched for a moment longer, then went downstairs to find her brothers.

Celidon
– before the plague, the Fabulous ruled the Land and called it Celidon.

Crowsmorte
– created by the sorcerer Morgan Crow, this poppy-like flower grows all over the Drift. It drinks blood and eats flesh, but turned into paste or potion, it also has amazing powers to heal.

Dread Fabulous
– like the Land, all of the Fabulous have their roots in Quick dreads and desires. The most terrible creatures are those born from blood- deep terror, the oldest and most powerful of all emotions. These are often called the Dread Fabulous. You know them in your nightmares.

The Drift
– now the Fabulous are nearly all dead and gone, the Grimm and the Quick have taken over the Land, in numbers if not in power, and call it the Drift. It's a dark and strange place, for the plague is still at
work, killing not just the Fabulous, but the Drift as well.

Fabulous
– magical beings that live in the Land; creatures such as sorcerers, bogeymen, tombfolk and goblins. Once there were many different kinds of Fabulous, but a terrible plague swept through the Land, killing the Fabulous in their hundreds. Now, only a few remain and even they are dying out.

Grimm
– anyone who is half Fabulous and half Quick. There are many different types of Grimm living in the Land. For example the goblin-Grimm, tough as old boot leather but not too bright. Or werewolf-Grimm, cool and clever and always hungry for the kill.

The Heart of Celidon
– once the great city of Beorht Eardgeard, built by Galig the Sorcerer-King. It was the first part of the Land to become Raw.

The Land
– a world fashioned from raw magic and shaped by the fears and hopes that hide in the hearts of ordinary people.

Quick
– ordinary everyday people and animals. Most Quick live in the Widdern, but over the centuries some have found their way into the Land and have settled there and raised families.

Quickmare
– the name given to gateways between the Widdern and the Drift. The Quickmares always open up in places where dread or desire is strong.

Raw
– this is the basic stuff of magic. The Land and all the Fabulous are created from it and will go back to it when they die. As the Drift is slowly torn apart by the plague, great patches of Raw are springing up all over the place.

The Widdern
– the non-magical world, where science rules and many people believe that magic only exists in books. They're wrong.

When the plague swept the Land, killing the Fabulous in their hundreds, the last of the sorcerers looked for a way to escape death. Each one cast a different spell that allowed them to go on existing in another form.

Nemus Sturdy –
The oldest, wisest and most powerful of all the sorcerers. To survive the plague, Nemus buried his body in the Land, right in the heart of the Savage Forest. He grew into a vast oak tree that gives shelter from all the dread things that the Forest holds at night. Although he can appear to the Quick in their dreams as they sleep under the branches of his tree, now, all he is is the oak.

Morgan Crow –
Known for his ability to glimpse the future, Crow loved music and conversation and never found time to be angry or bored. It was Crow who turned a simple poppy into crowsmorte by feeding it on blood and magic, planning to use it to survive the plague. When it was ready, he lay in the middle of the flower patch and poured the last of his power into the blooms to make them grow a strong, new body around him, one that would live as long as the Land. Instead, they ate him.

Enid Lockheart –
Of all of the Seven, Enid was the one who took most care to be kind to the Quick, even if she didn't always get it right. Rumour had it that she actually liked them! Her spell created the Sanctuary, a place where the injured and could healed and comforted, a place of safety. The essence of Enid is alive there and sometimes she can be seen by the patients, but only at the moment between sleep and full awakening.

Azork –
Vain and thoughtless, but not as cruel as he likes to pretend, Azork loved power and life and was loath to give it up. So he took to the skies, in defiance of the natural law that says a sorcerer should never leave the Land. In the air he became a tombfolk, one of the Dread Fabulous that feed on the blood of the Quick. As part of the tombfolk hive he is free to roam the Drift, seeking out his prey, and his arrogance and beauty has made him their king.

Senta Melana –
The most beautiful of all the sorcerers, Senta loved to be loved. Careless of others, she never loved back and broke every heart she was given. When the plague drew near she cut off her hand to make an exit point, plunged it into the earth and poured all of her magic back into the Land. Then she went to live out her time in the Widdern as an ordinary mortal, where she married and had children. In them, she lives on.

Ava Vispilio –
If any of the Seven could be called evil, it would be Vispilio. Selfish and cruel, he sees the Quick as only there to be used. His spell gives him the power to steal the body of anyone who puts on his magic ring. Once stolen, he wears the body like a coat, trapping the owner's screaming and terrified being in a small corner of their own mind. When the body dies, he moves on to the next.

Simeon Dark –
The mysterious Dark has become a legend – the only one of the Seven who found a way to live on as a sorcerer, keeping all of his power. Skilled in the art of changing his shape, Dark could be hiding anywhere, disguised as anyone, Fabulous, Grimm or even Quick. Some say he's a great bear in the woods, some that he fell in love with a Quick and lives a quiet life with his children. There are many tales, but only one thing is true. If there is any hope left for the Land, Simeon Dark must be found.