like stars in the shadows, and pools of water hung with mist, but no animals or birds at all. She got the feeling that thewildlife knew she was looking for it and was keeping out of sight. She heard birdsong, as clear and sweet as a flute, but couldn’t spot the singer. The bushes often rustled behind them, but never in front, and once something thin and dark sprang out of the brambles and back in again before she could get a proper look.
The Long Land knows I’m here, she thought, and the idea was so freaky that she stopped trying to see anything other than the way ahead and stuck close to Jonas.
After the wood came open fields that stretched to the horizon. Far to the left hung the white curtain of Raw, closer now, but still too distant to worry her.
‘So, what Fabulous are left then, after the plague and that?’
‘BMs, obviously, the tombfolk and the odd werewolf or goblin. Oh, there are a few Fabulous Beasts around too, but all the things you don’t want to meet. All the bad things. And the remains of six of the Seven Sorcerers, of course. The things they have become.’
‘How do you mean?’
Jonas shrugged. ‘I only know some of it. Basically, the Seven knew that if they stayed as sorcerers the plague would kill them. So they … changed. Became something else so that they wouldn’t die.’
‘You mean like, a – a monster, or a great bear, or a wonderful jewel …’
Jonas laughed. ‘Sort of like that, only more complicated. You’ve already met one, I think. I might be wrong,but there was something about Dandy Boneman that stank of old magic. That ring for a start, the one with the ruby. I think it used to belong to Ava Vispilio.’
‘And he was one of the Seven Sorcerers?’
‘Uh-huh. And if Boneman is wearing Vispilio’s ring, it means that Boneman is … Well, let’s just say that although the body is a man called Dandy Boneman, the thing inside him is what’s left of Ava Vispilio. And take those mudmen servants: he’d named them after the other six – Nemus Sturdy, Enid Lockheart, Senta Melana, Morgan Crow and Simeon Dark. Just the sort of thing Vispilio would do, like an insult to them, see? He was said to be a nasty piece of work.’
‘But he’s not a sorcerer any more, just a human using a sorcerer’s staff. He can’t do sorcerer spells or anything.’ It wasn’t a question. Nin was sure that if Boneman had been able to do real magic they wouldn’t be walking around still free.
‘You know,’ she went on. ‘I bet you’re right. I bet it
was
him. He looked daggers at you when you said all that about the staff.’
‘Honestly, Ninevah Redstone,’ said Jonas cheerfully, ‘five minutes in the Drift and you bump into an evil sorcerer!’
Nin shrugged. ‘It’s Wednesday.’
They walked in silence for a little way, then Jonas spoke again.
‘What Boneman said about Celidon being dead was not exactly true, you know. I think that even though theyare no longer sorcerers and can never be sorcerers again, the remains of the Seven are the last breath of Celidon.’
Nin looked at the fields of grass, rippling in the scented breeze and splashed with mop-headed dandelions as fierce and bright as tiny suns. Now the sky had clouds scudding across it like vast-winged creatures, their shapes changing as they flew, from pirate ship to coiling dragon to flying horse. The wind was growing stronger and it whipped the summit of the distant Raw into snakes of white vapour that reached hungrily into the air.
‘The last breath of Celidon,’ she said softly. She remembered what Boneman had said about the plague moving on to the Land. The hairs on her skin prickled and she hunched her shoulders, feeling as if the knowledge of something dark was just out of her reach.
After the whole being blasted with magic and chased into the underpass thing, she had been left feeling as if she hated the Drift. Now, having walked a little in its green hills and wild woods, her heart was changing and the
The Long Land knows I’m here, she thought, and the idea was so freaky that she stopped trying to see anything other than the way ahead and stuck close to Jonas.
After the wood came open fields that stretched to the horizon. Far to the left hung the white curtain of Raw, closer now, but still too distant to worry her.
‘So, what Fabulous are left then, after the plague and that?’
‘BMs, obviously, the tombfolk and the odd werewolf or goblin. Oh, there are a few Fabulous Beasts around too, but all the things you don’t want to meet. All the bad things. And the remains of six of the Seven Sorcerers, of course. The things they have become.’
‘How do you mean?’
Jonas shrugged. ‘I only know some of it. Basically, the Seven knew that if they stayed as sorcerers the plague would kill them. So they … changed. Became something else so that they wouldn’t die.’
‘You mean like, a – a monster, or a great bear, or a wonderful jewel …’
Jonas laughed. ‘Sort of like that, only more complicated. You’ve already met one, I think. I might be wrong,but there was something about Dandy Boneman that stank of old magic. That ring for a start, the one with the ruby. I think it used to belong to Ava Vispilio.’
‘And he was one of the Seven Sorcerers?’
‘Uh-huh. And if Boneman is wearing Vispilio’s ring, it means that Boneman is … Well, let’s just say that although the body is a man called Dandy Boneman, the thing inside him is what’s left of Ava Vispilio. And take those mudmen servants: he’d named them after the other six – Nemus Sturdy, Enid Lockheart, Senta Melana, Morgan Crow and Simeon Dark. Just the sort of thing Vispilio would do, like an insult to them, see? He was said to be a nasty piece of work.’
‘But he’s not a sorcerer any more, just a human using a sorcerer’s staff. He can’t do sorcerer spells or anything.’ It wasn’t a question. Nin was sure that if Boneman had been able to do real magic they wouldn’t be walking around still free.
‘You know,’ she went on. ‘I bet you’re right. I bet it
was
him. He looked daggers at you when you said all that about the staff.’
‘Honestly, Ninevah Redstone,’ said Jonas cheerfully, ‘five minutes in the Drift and you bump into an evil sorcerer!’
Nin shrugged. ‘It’s Wednesday.’
They walked in silence for a little way, then Jonas spoke again.
‘What Boneman said about Celidon being dead was not exactly true, you know. I think that even though theyare no longer sorcerers and can never be sorcerers again, the remains of the Seven are the last breath of Celidon.’
Nin looked at the fields of grass, rippling in the scented breeze and splashed with mop-headed dandelions as fierce and bright as tiny suns. Now the sky had clouds scudding across it like vast-winged creatures, their shapes changing as they flew, from pirate ship to coiling dragon to flying horse. The wind was growing stronger and it whipped the summit of the distant Raw into snakes of white vapour that reached hungrily into the air.
‘The last breath of Celidon,’ she said softly. She remembered what Boneman had said about the plague moving on to the Land. The hairs on her skin prickled and she hunched her shoulders, feeling as if the knowledge of something dark was just out of her reach.
After the whole being blasted with magic and chased into the underpass thing, she had been left feeling as if she hated the Drift. Now, having walked a little in its green hills and wild woods, her heart was changing and the
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