Charlie Bone and the Shadow
(The Children of the Red King, Book 7)Jenny Nimmo
The enchanter Count Harken is back to take his revenge on the Red King's heirs, starting with Charlie Bone's family!
Charlie's ancestor has been kidnapped and imprisoned in the dark, forbidding land of Badlock, and it's up to Charlie to save him.
Traveling through a painting to the terrifying countryside, Charlie and his best friend's dog, Runner Bean, take up the quest.
But when Runner Bean gets trapped, Charlie needs the help of his friends.
Can they get past an army of trolls, rescue Runner Bean and Charlie's ancestor, and get out before it's too late?
Can Charlie outwit Court Harken and his sinister troops, or will the prisoners be doomed to being held captive in Badlock forever?
Prologue
THE CHILDREN OF THE RED KING, CALLED THE ENDOWED
THE ENDOWED ARE ALL DESCENDED FROM THE TEN CHILDREN OF THE
RED KING.
manfred bloorTeaching assistant at Bloor's Academy. A hypnotist. He is descended from Borlath, elder son of the Red King. Borlath was a brutal and sadistic tyrant.
naren bloorAdopted daughter of Bartholomew
Bloor. Naren can send shadow words over great distances. She is descended from the Red King's grandson who was abducted by pirates and taken to China.
Charlie boneCharlie can travel into photographs and
pictures. Through his father, he is descended from the Red King and through his mother, from Mathonwy, a Welsh magician and friend of the Red King.
Idith and Inez Telekinetic twins, distantly related to Zelda
INEZ BRANKO
Dobinski, who has left Bloor's Academy.
XIVxvdagbert endlessDagbert is the son of Lord Grimwald, who can control the oceans.
His mother took the gold from drowned men's teeth and made them into charms to protect her son. Dagbert is a drowner.
dorcas loomAn endowed girl whose gift is the ability
to bewitch clothes.
una onimousMr. Onimous's niece. Una is five years
old and her endowment is being kept secret until it has fully developed.
asa pikeA were-beast. He is descended from a
tribe who lived in the northern forests and kept strange beasts. Asa can change shape at dusk.
billy ravenBilly can communicate with animals.
One of his ancestors conversed with ravens that sat on a gallows where dead men hung.
For this talent he was banished from his village.
lysander sageDescended from an African wise man,
Lysander can call up his spirit ancestors.
Gabriel silkGabriel can feel scenes and emotions
XVxvithrough the clothes of others. He comes from a line of psychics.
joshua tilpinJoshua has magnetism. He is descended
from Lilith, the Red King's oldest daughter, and Harken, the evil enchanter who married her.
emma tollyEmma can fly. Her surname derives
from the Spanish swordsman from Toledo whose daughter married the Red King. The swordsman is therefore an ancestor of all the endowed children.
tancred torssonA storm-bringer. His Scandinavian ancestor was named after the thunder god, Thor. Tancred can bring wind, thunder, and lightning.
Olivia vertigoDescended from Guanhamara, who fled the Red King's castle and married an Italian prince. Olivia is an illusionist. The Bloors are unaware of her endowment.
XVIxviiPROLOGUE
The winds of Badlock were the crudest in the world; they came from every quarter, screaming against the giant's broad back, tearing his hair, and lashing his eyes so that he
could barely open them. At every step, great gusts swept around his long legs until at length he was forced onto his knees.
Behind the giant lay a vast plain of wind-torn scrub and ever-shifting stones. It had taken him and his child a night and a day to cover this inhospitable terrain. They had come from the range of snowcapped mountains that surrounded the plain like a massive wall.
The giant drew his cloak tight around the boy in his arms. They had been making for a little hollow, where a shelter of trees could be seen, and the gleam of water.xviii"Forgive me, Roland," moaned the giant. "I can go no farther."
"You are tired, Father," said the boy, twisting out of the giant's arms. "If I walk, you can move more easily."
The giant marveled at his little son's spirit. If must come from the boy's mother, he thought. It shamed him to see Roland still so unafraid after their long ordeal. Gathering his strength, the giant got to his feet again and battled forward, while his son staggered bravely at his side.
"Look!" Roland suddenly sang out. "I see a light in the hollow."
"The moon," murmured his father.
"No, Father. A flame."
The giant brushed a hand across his eyes and blinked. Yes, there was indeed a light flickering at the edge of the hollow. But how could he tell if it meant danger? They were unlikely to find help in such a godforsaken place.
All at once, Roland suddenly sprinted ahead.xixHe had always been inclined to rush headlong into things that excited his curiosity.
"Wait!" called the giant.
But Roland, his arms wide as if embracing the wind, forged through the swirling gusts, whirled away toward the trees, and disappeared from view.
When the giant arrived at the hollow, he found his son talking earnestly to a boy of around ten years with startling snow-white hair. The stranger raised his rush light, the better to see the form that stood at the lip of the hollow, and the giant noted his large violet-colored eyes. A goblin, thought the giant. What fairy tricks has he come to play on us?
"Roland, come here," the giant commanded, stepping closer to the pair.
All of a sudden, as if from nowhere, another figure moved into the circle of light: a tall young man with raven hair and a cloak made of some dark, shiny material.xx"Don't be afraid," said the dark young man. "White-haired Owain is no fairy. He has sought you for many months."
"Me?" The giant's eyes narrowed.
"You are Otus Yewbeam?" asked the boy.
"That is my name."
The boy bent into a deep bow. "I am so happy to find you, sir. No one could tell me where you had gone. It was an old woman in your village who, nearing the end of her life, overcame her fear of punishment and told me that you and your son had been taken prisoner by a knight clad all in green."
"Count Harken." The giant gave a snort of loathing.
"But you have escaped," said the dark youth.
"We would have rescued you," said Owain, "however fiercely you had been guarded."
Roland, who had been leaping up and down with excitement, could contain his news no longer and burst out, "Owain is my cousin, Father, and he" - hexxipointed to the dark young man - "he is my uncle Tolemeo."
The giant frowned. "Can this be true?"
Tolemeo said, "Let us go farther into this hollow where we can speak more easily." For they had been shouting in sentences devoid of warmth or feeling, as the wind snatched their words and scattered them into the air.
Tolemeo led the way, followed by Owain, whose flaring torch caused Tolemeo's cloak to sparkle with ever-changing colors, from vivid blue to green to the deepest purple.
He is wearing feathers, thought the giant, and a small thread of unease ran through him.
Yet I must notexpect them to be ordinary, for they are the Red King's children and my own dear wife, Amoret, was a child of the magician-king.
They reached a cluster of rocks at the bottom of the hollow and, easing himself onto a wide slab, the giant asked, "Have you news of my wife?"
XXIxxiiHe did not get an immediate answer. Owain looked at the ground. The white-haired boy seemed, all at once, nervous and uncertain.
"Forgive me, sir," said Tolemeo, "but you are not my idea of a giant."
"No," said Owain, with an edgy laugh. "I always imagined a giant's head to be swallowed by the clouds."
Otus smiled indulgently. "I am not a true giant, though I come from a race of giants. My father stood two fathoms high. I am only two-thirds his height. My brothers are even smaller. Perhaps our descendants will be a more manageable size." He glanced at Roland and then said urgently, "But please, have you news of my wife?"