Tara Duncan and the Spellbinders

by Princess Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian

  “Er, Master?”

  “Yes, Tara, what is it?”

  “Can you get someone to take Fafnir home? She drank an infusion of black roses that wiped out her magic powers, and her Exordium is coming right up.”

  “An infusion of black roses?”

  The wizard was shocked.

  “You must really hate magic to do something like that,” he said to the dwarf.

  “That stuff is all very well for you,” Fafnir answered. “But an honest dwarf doesn’t want anything to do with that funny business.”

  “Well, we’re losing an excellent apprentice,” said the wizard with a sigh, “but gaining a friend. Now that you’ve spent time living with us, I hope you’ll get your fellow dwarves to see that they’re wrong to reject magic outright. It can be very beneficial!”

  “After what we’ve endured these last days because of your beneficial magic, I’m clear on this much: you can keep it!”

  Chem couldn’t help but smile.

  “Well, goodbye then, Fafnir. Stay well, and may your hammer ring clear.”

  “Thanks, Master. May your anvil resound!”

  The dwarf turned to her friends.

  “That’s it. I’m going.”

  “Thanks for everything you did for us, Fafnir” said Tara, hugging her tight. “You’ve been great. I hope we meet again!”

  Fafnir grimaced a little, then hugged her back.

  “Yeah, well, not too soon. I get the feeling you attract catastrophes like a magnet attracts filings. Anyway, good luck! May your hammer ring clear!”

  “May your anvil resound,” said Tara, who had picked up on the polite expression.

  Fafnir waved goodbye to Robin, Cal, Fabrice, and Sparrow. She gave a curt nod to Angelica, whom the high wizard had sent for, and walked off with an elf toward the Portal Hall.

  “All right, it’s our turn now,” said Master Chem. “Let’s go home.”

  Their return to Travia was not what you would call low key. It was the middle of the afternoon there, and everybody knew that the elves and dragons had launched an expedition to get their apprentices back. Those who had stayed behind were terribly worried, and when Master Chem and his group emerged from the Travia Portal Hall, the whole palace, including the king and queen, was waiting for them.

  Everyone was exhausted from the sleepless night and from the emotion of it all, so the high wizard suggested a nap before dinner.

  Tara stepped back into her bedroom with a feeling close to veneration. As the guest of honor, her mother had been given a suite nearby.

  When Tara woke up, she raced to her mother’s suite and began to make up for ten years they had lost. They cried a little, and laughed a lot. The moment was . . . magical. Moved by their joy, the Castle adorned the walls with the most beautiful OtherWorld landscapes it could find.

  When the two were somewhat recovered from the flood of feelings, they went down to join the others at a grand banquet presided over by the king and queen. They were the last people to enter the room. When they were seated, the high wizard spoke: “It is my great pleasure to announce that thanks to six brave young spellbinders and to Tara Duncan, we were able to find the Bloodgraves’ lair and free our apprentices along with Tara’s mother, who has been imprisoned for the last ten years.”

  A wave of applause cut him off.

  “Thank you . . . thank you,” he said, smiling. “Caliban, Robin, Tara, Gloria, Fabrice, and Angelica, along with Fafnir the Dwarf, succeeded in thwarting the kidnappers’ plans!” (Angelica was very pleased to be included in the group even though she hadn’t done much, and she gave Tara a nasty smile.)

  This time, deafening cheers drowned out his speech.

  “Thank you . . . thank you,” he resumed modestly. “I didn’t have much to do with it. They’re the heroes. And now, let’s eat!”

  Tara and the others had to wait for their dinner, however. They were literally mobbed. Everybody wanted to know what had happened, and even though Cal moaned that he was starving, they had to tell them before they could touch their plates.

  Just a few weeks before, nobody knew about Tara, or if they did, they were afraid of her. And now she was being celebrated like a true heroine.

  Tara glowed with happiness. She was finally back with her mother and surrounded by her dearest friends. Cal was making everybody laugh with his comical descriptions. The high wizards had given their apprentices a week’s vacation. Tara would be finally returning to Earth under the protection of two high wizards. These would certainly be the most wonderful moments of her life!

  She had just finished her Soothsucker when she got a jolt. She had expected a fortune along the lines of, “A job well done, and you’ve had your fun.” But that wasn’t what appeared. Not at all.

  Instead, she read: “Stay alert, if death you fear. The hunter is already drawing near.”

  Tara gulped, painfully aware of the grim accuracy of previous predictions. Then she shrugged with resignation. So the hunter was after her. All right, let him come.

  She was ready too.

  AN OTHER WORLD LEXICON

  OtherWorld

  OtherWorld is a planet where magic is very widespread. It has a surface about one and a half times that of Earth. OtherWorld orbits its sun in fourteen months; its days last twenty-six hours, and the year has 454 days. Two satellite moons, Madix and Tadix, orbit OtherWorld and create extreme tides on the equinoxes.

  OtherWorld’s mountains are much higher than those on Earth, and the ores found in them can be dangerous to mine because of explosions of magic. There is less water covering the planet than Earth. OtherWorld is 45 percent land and 55 percent water. Two of the seas are fresh water.

  The magic that reigns on OtherWorld affects its fauna, flora, and climate. For this reason, seasons are very hard to predict. On Other-World you can get three feet of snow in the middle of summer. A so-called normal year has no fewer than seven seasons.

  Many different races live on OtherWorld. The main ones are: humans, giants, trolls, vampyrs, gnomes, imps, elves, unicorns, chimera, tatris, and dragons.

  Countries and Peoples of OtherWorld

  Lancovit is the largest human kingdom. Its capital is Travia.

  Lancovit is ruled by King Bear and his wife Queen Titania. Its emblem is a white unicorn with a gold horn below a silver crescent moon

  Omois It is the largest human empire. Its capital is Tingapore. It is ruled by the Empress Lisbeth’tylanhnem Ab Barmi, Ab Santu T’al Maru and her half-brother, Emperor Sandor T’al Barmi Ab March Ab Brevis. Its emblem is the hundred-eyed purple peacock.

  Hymlia is the land of dwarves. Its capital is Minat.

  Hymlia is ruled by the Fireforge clan. Its emblem is an anvil and war hammer on an open mine entrance. Dwarves are extremely strong, often as wide as they are tall. They are OtherWorld’s miners and blacksmiths and are excellent metalworkers and jewelers. They are known for having lousy personalities, hating magic, and liking long and complicated songs.

  Gandis is the land of giants. Its capital is Geopole.

  Gandis is run by the powerful Groar family. The Island of Black Roses and the Swamps of Desolation are in Gandis. Its emblem is a wall of spellblock stones below the OtherWorld sun.

  Krankar is the land of trolls. Its capital is Kria.

  Its emblem is a tree beneath a club. Trolls are enormous, hairy, and green. They have huge flat teeth and are vegetarians. They have a bad reputation because they feed on trees and decimate forests, which horrifies the elves. They also tend to quickly become impatient, and to crush everything in their path.

  Krasalvia is the land of vampyrs. Its capital is Urla.

  Its emblem is an astrolabe under a star and the symbol for infinity (∞). Vampyrs are sages. They are patient and cultured, and spend most of their very long existence in meditation, devoting themselves to mathematics and astronomy. They search for the meaning of life.

  They feed entirely on blood from the cattle they raise: brrraaas, mooouuus, horses, goa
ts—imported from Earth—sheep, and so on. They can’t drink the blood of some animals. In particular unicorn or human blood causes them to go insane, cuts their life expectancy in half, and makes them deathly allergic to sunlight. Their bite then becomes poisonous and allows them to enslave any humans they bite. Moreover, if their victims are contaminated by this corrupted blood they become vampyrs in turn, but corrupt and evil. Vampyrs who fall prey to this curse are ruthlessly hunted down by their fellows as well as by all the other peoples of OtherWorld.

  Smallcountry is the land of gnomes, imps, fairies, and goblins.

  Gnomes are short and stocky and wear their orange hair in a quiff. They feed on stones and are miners, like dwarves. The quiff is a very effective detector of dangerous gas. As long as it sticks straight up, all is well. But the moment it begins to slump, gnomes know there is dangerous gas in the mine, and they flee. For some reason, gnomes are also the only people who can communicate with Truth Tellers.

  P’abo are the small, playful brown imps of Smallcountry. They are the creators of the famous fortune-telling lollipops called Soothsuckers. They can project illusions and briefly make themselves invisible. They also love gold, which they keep in a hidden purse. If you find the purse, you can make the imp grant you two wishes in order to get its precious gold back. But it’s risky to ask an imp for a wish because they are experts at misinterpretation, and the results can be unexpected.

  Selenda is the country of elves. Its capital is Seborn.

  Like spellbinders, elves have the gift of magic. They look generally human with a few differences: their ears are pointed and their very light eyes have a vertical pupil, like cats. Elves live in OtherWorld’s forests and plains, and are renowned hunters. They also like fighting and all games that involve defeating an adversary, like wrestling. For that reason they are often used in police or surveillance forces, so their energy can be used judiciously. When elves start growing magic corn or barley, the peoples of OtherWorld get worried, because it means they will soon go to war. Since they won’t have time to hunt in wartime, the elves start growing crops and raising cattle. Once the war is over, they return to their ancestral way of life.

  Another peculiarity of elves: male elves carry the babies in a little pouch on their stomach, likes marsupials, until the children are able to walk. Also, a female elf can’t have more than five husbands.

  Mentalir, the vast Eastern plain, is the land of unicorns and centaurs.

  Unicorns are small horses with a single spiral horn that can be unscrewed, cloven hooves, and white coats. Some unicorns aren’t very smart, whereas others are true sages, whose intellect can match that of dragons. This peculiarity makes it hard to classify them as people or animals.

  Centaurs are animals that are half horse and either half man or half woman. There are two kinds of centaurs: ones where the upper body is human and the lower is horse, and ones where the upper body is horse and the lower is human. No one knows what magical manipulation produced centaurs. They are a complex people and don’t mix with others except to obtain essential necessities, such as salt or salves. Centaurs are fierce and wild. They won’t hesitate to shoot arrows at any stranger crossing their land.

  In the plains, it is said that the shamans of the centaur tribes catch Pllops, the extremely poisonous blue and white frogs, and lick their backs to get visions of the future. The fact that the centaurs were practically exterminated by the elves during the great Starlings War suggests that the method is not very effective.

  Limbo is the Demonic World, the domain of demons.

  Limbo is divided into different worlds called circles. Demons are more or less powerful and more or less civilized, depending on the circle they occupy. The demons of Circles 1, 2, and 3 are wild and very dangerous. The demons of Circles 4, 5, and 6 are often called on by spellbinders within service exchange agreements. Spellbinders can get things they need from the demons, and vice versa. Circle 7 is the circle where the Demon King reigns.

  The demons who live in Limbo feed on demonic energy provided by evil suns. If they leave Limbo to visit other worlds they must feed on the flesh and minds of intelligent beings in order to survive. They were conquering the universe until the dragons appeared and defeated them in a memorable battle. Since then, the demons have been imprisoned in Limbo. They can only go to the other planets when specifically called by a spellbinder or by some other being with the gift of magic. Demons bitterly resent this restriction on their activities and are constantly searching for a way to free themselves.

  Tatran is the land of the tatris. Its capital is Cityville.

  The tatris are unusual in that they have two heads. They are very good at organization. They often have executive jobs or work in the highest levels of government, both because they like to and because of their physical peculiarity. They have no imagination and feel that only work is important. They are the favorite targets of the P’abo, the playful imps, who are unable to conceive of a people without any sense of humor. The imps have desperately been trying to make the tatris laugh for centuries. The P’abo have even created a prize for the first of them to accomplish that feat.

  Dragons

  The dragon planet is Dranvouglispenchir, not OtherWorld. Dragons are huge, very intelligent reptiles. They know magic and are able to take any shape, usually human. In opposing the demons who were fighting them to rule the universe, the dragons had conquered all the known worlds until they collided with earthly spellbinders. After the battle they decided that it made more sense to make allies of the humans rather than enemies, particularly since they still had to fight the demons. So they abandoned their plan to dominate Earth. However, they refused to allow spellbinders to rule the Earth. Instead they invited them to Other-World to train and educate them. After many years of suspicion, the earthly spellbinders finally accepted and came to live on OtherWorld.

  OtherWorld Flora and Fauna

  Looky-looks: giant golden turkeys that constantly strut around and gobble, and are very easy to hunt. We often say “Dumb as a lookylook” or “Vain as a looky-look.”

  Snapteeth: animals originally from Krankar, the land of trolls. They look like a fluffy pink plush toy, and it’s hard to tell their front from their back. Snapteeth are extremely dangerous. Their extensible mouth can triple in size, allowing them to swallow practically anything.

  Mooouuus: two-headed stags without antlers. When one head is eating, the other vigilantly watches for predators. To move, mooouuus travel sideways, like crabs.

  Brrraaas: Huge cattle with very thick wool, which the giants make into clothing. Brrraaas are very aggressive and will charge anything that moves. As a result you often encounter brrraaas exhausted from chasing their own shadows. We say “Stubborn as a brrraaa.”

  Kraken: a gigantic octopus with black tentacles. Because of its size it is found in OtherWorld’s salt seas, but it can also live in fresh water. Krakens are a well-known danger to sailors.

  Pllops: small, very poisonous blue and white frogs found on the Mentalir plains.

  Pegasi: winged horses whose intelligence is close to that of dogs. They don’t have hooves but instead claws, in order to perch easily. They often build their nests at the top of steel giants. These are trees that can grow to 600 feet high and whose trunks can be 150 feet around.

  Vrrirs: six-legged gold and white felines, a favorite of the Empress of Omois. She has cast a spell on them so that they don’t realize they are imprisoned in her palace. Instead of furniture and sofas, they see trees and comfortable stones. The courtiers are invisible to them, and when vrrirs are stroked, they think it is the wind blowing through their fur.

  Spalenditals: a kind of giant scorpion from Smallcountry. When domesticated, they are ridden by the gnomes, who also work their very tough hide.

  Gnomes love to eat birds and have practically wiped them out from their country. This has opened an ecological niche for insects and other animals. Since they no longer have any natural enemies, they have kept growing larger, with eac
h generation more numerous than the preceding one. As a result, the gnomes’ country is now overrun with giant scorpions, spiders, and millipedes.

  Arachnes: spiderlike animals that also come from Smallcountry. The gnomes ride them, and their silk is famous for its strength. They have eight legs and eight eyes, and an unusual tail like a scorpion, with a poison stinger. Arachnes are very intelligent and love to challenge their future prey to solve riddles.

  Glurps: sauriens with a slim green and brown head that live in lakes and swamps. They are extremely voracious. They can spend several hours underwater without breathing, waiting to catch an unsuspecting animal that has come to take a drink. They build nests in hiding places along the shore, and store their captures in holes at the bottom of the lake.

  Blood flies: flies whose sting is extremely painful.

  Traducs: large animals raised by the centaurs for their meat and wool. They smell very bad, which protects them from all predators except Crrrèks. These are small, voracious wolves who are able to block their nostrils so they don’t smell the traducs’ stink. “You stink like a sick traduc” is a widespread OtherWorld insult.

  Sacats: large swarming, flying red and yellow insects. They are poisonous and very aggressive. They produce a honey that is much sought after on OtherWorld. Only dwarves can eat sacat larvae, which they consider a delicacy. Everyone else can wind up with a swarm of them in their stomach, as the shell of the larvae isn’t dissolved by human or elfin digestive juices.

  Kalornas: beautiful forest flowers with pink and white petals. Their slightly sweet flavor makes them a delicacy for OtherWorld herbivores and omnivores. To avoid being eaten into extinction, kalornas have evolved three petals that work like eyes. These can detect the approach of a predator and allow the flowers to quickly hide underground. Unfortunately kalornas are also very curious. They often stick up their petals too soon and are promptly eaten. We say “As curious as a kalorna.”