The Spook's Bestiary Part 2

Despite that, I did nothing wrong and dealt with the stone chucker according to the tried and tested method outlined here. Boggarts are dangerous creatures, and the risk of being maimed or killed goes with the job of being a spook.a"John Gregory The Bane.

The Old G.o.ds.

One common debate among spooks concerns the true nature of the Old G.o.ds. There are those who believe that they are not all denizens of the dark and that some are actually benign.

It is true that some seem more evil and cruel than others, but to me the case is beyond dispute. The Old G.o.ds trifled with human emotions, behaved selfishly, caused wars and inflicted terrible cruelties on humankind. Many demanded blood sacrifices. They are all creatures of the dark.

Aphrodite.

Her name is derived from the Greek word aphros, which means foam. She was said to have been born from the ocean waves, already a fully formed adult. The golden daughter of Zeus, she presides over all things beautiful in the world. However, she has a malevolent destructive side and seems to delight in the power her beauty allows her to wield over men.

Aphrodite also has the power to drive away storms and calm the winds. Some say she is the wife of Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the G.o.ds. It is strange that the ugliest of the Old G.o.ds should win for his bride one of the most beautiful. Or perhaps she used her allure to bind him to her in order to gain some as yet unknown advantage.

Artemis/Hecate.

Another G.o.ddess who originated in Greece, Artemis is a cruel huntress, a lover of woods and wild places.

Hecate.

Beautiful and athletic, she draws the admiration of all men but also takes on a different, hideous shapea"that of Hecate, sometimes called the Queen of the Witches. She rules over gloomy places and is especially to be feared on the darkest of nights, when there is no moon.

She is also said to linger near crossroads, taking the souls of those who pa.s.s by. Although supposed to be the protector of the young, she sometimes demands blood sacrifices, and many maidens have been put to death in order to placate her. Hecate is another dangerous female to beware of.

The Bane.

The Bane was originally one of the Old G.o.ds, wors.h.i.+pped by an ancient people called the Segantii (sometimes also called the Little People). He lived in the long barrows at Heysham but was free to roam the whole County.

The Bane's physical form was hideous, his squat, muscular body vaguely human in shape but covered in scales, with long, sharp talons sprouting from fingers and toes. His face was ugly indeed, with a long chin that curved upward almost as far as his nose and large ears that resembled those of a wolf.

The Bane terrorized everybody, including the king of the Segantii, King Heys. The Bane demanded a yearly tribute, and King Heys was even forced to sacrifice his own sons. One son died each year, starting with the eldest, but the last and seventh son, Naze, managed to bind the Bane.

He died in doing so, but the Bane was now trapped in the catacombs under Priestown Cathedral behind a silver gate, his strength diminished so that he was no longer a G.o.d. The only way he could ever get free was for someone to open that gate.

Over time, despite his imprisonment and initially weakened state, the Bane slowly grew in power.

The Bane Eventually, whisperings could be heard in some of the cellars of the houses facing the cathedral. These voices gradually became deeper and more disturbing, and the floors and walls would shake and vibrate under the influence of the Bane's rumbling ba.s.s voice.

In recent times the Bane has grown even more powerful and is trying to regain the physical form he possessed so long ago. He can also s.h.i.+ft his shape, read minds, and even look out through the eyes of others. Slowly he is starting to control the priests in the cathedral above the catacombs. A great danger now lies in wait for anyone who goes down into the catacombs: the press. The Bane can exert a tremendous pressure, crush bones, and smear the unfortunate victim into the cobbles that line the tunnels.

He has a few weaknesses, however. He needs blood, and will take that of animals if humans aren't available. But humans must give their blood freelya" though when faced with the terror of the press, most will do so eventually. If he has to make do with rats and mice, the Bane grows weaker. He can also be hurt by silvera"especially a silver blade. Women make him nervous, and he will often flee from their presence.1 Hence his victims are usually male.

MY FIRST ATTEMPT TO DEAL WITH THE BANE.

When I was in my prime, five years after first becoming a spook, I attempted to deal with the Bane. Although bound behind the silver gate under Priestown Cathedral, he was slowly growing in power and needed to be slain.

I entered the town under cover of darkness and went directly to the shop of my brother, Andrew, who was a master locksmith. He feared that I would not survive an encounter with the Bane, but reluctantly agreed to fas.h.i.+on me a key to the silver gate.

We set off for an abandoned house very close to the cathedral; one haunted by a powerful strangler ghost. It was enough to deter people from living there and I'd not tried to send it to the light, because its presence guaranteed that I would always have that access to the catacombs. I'd been planning this attempt on the Bane for over two years.

By means of a trapdoor in the cellar, we climbed down into the crooked cobbled tunnels and headed in the direction of the silver gate. Once there, Andrew drew in a deep breath to steady his shaking hands and took a wax impression of the lock.

Back in his workshop, he shaped the key while I slept: I needed to rest after my journey and gather strength for the struggle ahead. By dusk the key was in my hands, and I set off alone through the dark and deserted streets of Priestown. Using the trapdoor of the haunted house once more, I was soon down in the tunnels. When I reached the gate this time, my own hands began to tremble. Would the key work? Even if it did, there was great danger in opening the gate. The Bane might be lying in wait close by and seize his chance to escape.

One thing rea.s.sured me, though. The Bane lacked the power to know what was going on in every corner of the labyrinth, and the instincts of a seventh son of a seventh son were very useful. I closed my eyes and concentrated. Instinctively I felt that the Bane was not nearby, so I inserted the key into the lock. Andrew had done a good job: It turned easily, and the gate swung open. Wasting no time, I closed and locked it again.

So that I wouldn't get lost in the labyrinth, I used the same method that Theseus employed to kill the minotaur and escape from a similar maze. I carried with me a large ball of twine and tied one end of it to the hinges of the silver gate. That done, I set off into the darkness, slowly unraveling the twine. In my right hand I carried my staff and candle; my silver chain was tied about my waist; salt and iron were in my pockets. Thus prepared, I began an exploration of the tunnels.

I hadn't been walking along the tunnels for much more than half an hour when a cold feeling ran down my spine, the warning that something from the dark was very near. I halted, placed the candle on the floor, and pressed the recess on my staff so that the blade emerged with a click. Then I untied my silver chain and coiled it about my left wrist, ready to throw. I waited, my heart hammering in my chest, trying to control my breathing.

I would get but one chance. Only if the Bane materialized, taking on a definite physical shape, would I have some hope of dealing with him. A spook cannot usually hope to triumph over one of the Old G.o.ds, but his confinement in the labyrinth meant that he was now no more powerful than a demon; that was bad enough, but he did have weaknesses. So I felt certain that my silver chain could bind hima"for a while. That would give me time to drive my silver-alloy blade through his heart, and I hoped that would finish him off forever. At least I had to try.

But in his spirit form I had no defense against it. None whatsoever. I hoped that he would just see me as another victim, easy prey. When he attacked, I would be ready.

There was a deep growl from the darkness where the tunnel curved away to the left and the Bane padded into view. He had taken on the shape of a large black dog with sharp yellow teeth and powerful jaws. Saliva dripped from his mouth to splatter on the cobbles; he was hungry for my blood but, unlike a ripper boggart, could not take it unless I gave it freely. It used terror and pain to persuade his victims. First he would seize me in his jaws.

He loped forward, then sprang straight toward me. I unfurled my silver chain and cast it at my a.s.sailant. It cracked and dropped toward the head and shoulders of the Bane, but then the beast twisted in midair and the edge of the chain just caught his shoulder. I heard him scream at that contact with silver, but then he simply vanished.

Despite hurting my enemy, I knew I was defeated as good as dead. My only chance of victory had been to pierce his heart with my blade. Now he was in his spirit form, and I had no defense against him. He would never leave the labyrinth. He would now use the press against me, exerting its power until I was crushed and smeared into the cobbles. But he spoke first. I thought he did so partly to torment me, partly to fill me with terror so that I would give my blood freely. But it wasn't my blood he wanted. It was freedom!

"I'm got proper in this place!" his voice moaned to me out of the darkness. "Bound fast, I am. But you came through the gates and must have a key. Open it for me! Let me out and I'll let you live!"

"Nay! I can't do that!" I replied. "My duty is to the County. I must keep you bound within these tunnels even at the price of my own life."

"One more time I'll ask. Set me free or I'll make an end to you!"

"Make an end to me now. Get it over with because my answer's still the same."

"Get it over with?" growled the Bane. "Not so easy as that. Take my time, I will, and press you slowly. . . ."

With those words, my staff was dashed from my hand and an invisible weight fell onto my shoulders and forced me to my knees. The pressure was steady at first and not unbearable, but the creature was toying with me, and much worse was to come. I was pushed backward, and within a few minutes lay on my back on the cobbles. The weight pressing me down became so great that I couldn't move a muscle and was struggling to draw breath.

Some cruel quisitors test suspected witches by placing thirteen heavy stones, one by one, on the woman's supine body. The weights are calculated carefully so as to inflict the maximum torment. Only as the eleventh stone is placed upon her chest does it become almost impossible to breathe. The placing of the thirteenth stone usually results in death as the organs are crushed and there is internal bleeding. Now I was being subjected to a similar process, except that instead of stones, the Bane himself was exerting an invisible pressure. But just when I was about to lose consciousness, thinking my end had come, the press would ease and I would awake to more torment.

"One more chance! One more chance I'll give you! Will you set me free?"

By then I was unable to speak but just managed to give a slight shake of my head.

"So now I'll make a end of you!" cried the Bane.

This time the pressure on my body increased rapidly, and within moments I was no longer able to breathe. My eyes grew dim, and I could taste blood in my mouth. I was beginning to resign myself to death when something happened that I had never experienced before.

I heard a scream of fear and pain, and suddenly the weight was gone from my body. The Bane had fleda"I felt sure of it. But why? I was too weak to turn my head, but out of the corner of my right eye I could see what looked like a column of light. It was the form that a ghost sometimes takesa"though the color was wrong. Ghosts are a pale white; this was a strong, s.h.i.+mmering purple. And from it waves of warmth and peace seemed to radiate. I closed my eyes and, completely unafraid, slipped down into a darkness that could have been death.

I was unconscious for days and woke up in the guest bedroom above Andrew's shop. Concerned that I'd not returned from the catacombs, Andrew had crafted another key and, managing to overcome his terror of the Bane, had gone through the silver gate to find and retrieve me.

I was in a bad way, with five broken ribs and bruises all over my body, so I recovered only very slowly. Even now I don't know what drove off the Bane and saved my life. Perhaps it was some sort of spirit from the light, ensuring that I survived. But why? I wonder.

Could it be that I have something of importance to do beyond the routine tasks of a County spook? I don't believe in the G.o.d that priests preach about in their churches. Not for me, a grim old man with a white beard. But that wasn't the only time I've been helped in a time of need. Often I've felt that something was standing at my side, lending me strength. I have come to believe that when we face the dark, we are never truly alone.

The Fiend The Fiend is the dark made flesh, the most powerful of all its denizens and the very oldest of the Old G.o.ds. He has many other names, including the Devil, Satan, Lucifer and the Father of Lies. It is believed that he meddled in the affairs of humanity from the earliest times, gradually growing in power as the dark strengthened. At some point he walked the earth in a reign of terror lasting over a hundred years but then returned to the dark. Occasionally he pa.s.ses through a portal and visits our worlda"usually at the instigation of a witch or mage who seeks power through satanic magic. The most famous pact between a human and the Fiend is that of Faustus, but there are many others, some barely remembered now.

The Fiend sometimes makes a special bargain with a witch.2 In exchange for bearing him a child, her power is increased. He hopes that the child will be an abhuman, witch, or mage and will grow up to serve the dark. There is one other benefit of such a liaison to a witch: once the Fiend has visited her child, he can no longer approach the mother for as long as she lives, unless she wishes it. Henceforth she is free from his influence and meddling.

The Fiend The Fiend has many supernatural powers. He can make himself large or small, taking on any form he desires, either to trick or terrify people.3 His true shape is said to be so terrible that one glance can drive people insane or cause them to die of fright. He can appear out of thin air, look over a victim's shoulder, and even read human minds. Often he remains invisible, but his cloven hoofprints can be seen burned into the ground. He can also manipulate timea"speeding it up, slowing it down, or even halting its flow entirely.

Above all, he is crafty and treacherous. Rather than resorting to force, he often uses trickery and deceit.

SATANIC MAGIC.

This magic is earned at great cost by making obeisance to the Fiend, often known as the Devil. Such wors.h.i.+p is fraught with danger, as the wors.h.i.+pper, mage, or witch gradually grows less human and more subservient, eventually becoming merely a tool of the dark.

The highest and most dangerous form of satanic magic is obtained in return for selling one's soul to the Devil. However, he is usually sly and subtle, getting the best part of the bargaina"as can be seen from the following account.

THE FAUSTIAN PACT.

Faustus, the foremost scholar of his age, was disappointed by the limited knowledge available to him. He had mastered the main university subjects but found that they neither provided answers to the big questions he asked nor granted him the power he sought.

He fell into bad company, and a dark mage lent him a grimoirea"a book of magic containing a spell to raise the Devil or his servants. After dithering for many days, Faustus finally used the spell to summon an a.s.sistant to the Devil, a lesser devil called Mephisto. On behalf of his master, Mephisto made a pact with Faustus. In return for knowledge and power, the scholar agreed to surrender his soul at midnight twenty-four years after the bargain was made. Faustus signed the contract in his own blood. He attempted to do this three timesa"on the first two occasions, the blood dried too quickly for him to write his name. It is said that this was angels of the light attempting to save his soul. But finally the pact was made, and Faustus was doomed.

Using satanic magic, Faustus became the most notorious mage in the known world, visiting the courts of kings and emperors to display his magical power: levitating, making himself disappear, or conjuring wonders from thin air. But as time went on, Faustus began to realize that he'd been cheated. He could not create life or learn all the secrets of the universe. These things were denied to him because the Devil did not have the power to supply them. They belonged to the light and were beyond the reach of dark magic.

There were times when Faustus longed to repent, but each time the Devil appeared to the mage in his true shape and terrified him so much that he was forced to continue with his wicked ways. Finally the twenty-four years approached their end, and at midnight the Devil was due to come for Faustus's soul.

He tried to pray; tried one last time to turn back to the light. It was no use. Years of bad habits were ingrained in his soul, and he failed. In the next room, three scholars from the university prayed for his soul, but their prayers went unanswered. At midnight they heard terrible noises from Faustus's chamber: thuds, bangs, terrible tearing sounds, and then, loudest of all, the screams of Faustus. Then all became ominously silent.

They waited until daybreak to enter. The floor was wet with blood. The body of Faustus had been torn to pieces by the Devil, and his soul dragged off to the domain of darkness.

No one should ever make a pact with the Fiend. For its pract.i.tioners, satanic magic is the most dangerous category of all.

Golgoth Golgoth is also known as the Lord of Winter and was wors.h.i.+pped so fervently by the first race of mankind that he was able to pa.s.s through a portal from the dark to dwell on earth for thousands of years. He has the power to create local pockets of cold so extreme that human flesh and bone become brittle and can shatter into fragments. It is believed that Golgoth caused at least one of the great ages of ice.

Golgoth now sleeps4 under a large barrow on Anglezarke Moor, known as the Round Loaf because of its shape. For the sake of the County and the world beyond, let us hope that he continues to do so.

Hephaestus Hephaestus5 was the blacksmith of the Old G.o.ds; he fas.h.i.+oned tools and weapons to serve their interests during the first age when they all dwelt in this world. At that time humans had yet to emerge from their caves, where they cowered in fear of the terrible external forces that might extinguish all their lives. Hephaestus was the only one of the G.o.ds considered to be ugly. Some say he was also lame. He has fallen silent and now sleeps in the dark, but he has left a dangerous legacy.

Hephaestus There are supposedly weapons still in existence that were manufactured by Hephaestus. The most famous, a sword able to cut through any armor and even stone, is said to make its bearer invincible. It is also reputed to be a potent weapon against demons and other denizens of the dark. The king who last owned it was betrayed, his sword stolen, and he was slain. People say that it was sealed in an ancient barrow6 with the king's body, somewhere to the south of the County, but the precise location is unknown.

Another weapon forged by Hephaestus, which has also left Greece, is a war hammer that never misses its target and always returns to its owner's hand. It is believed to be in the possession of one of the strigoi, the vampiric demons that dwell in Romania.

The Morrigan This is the female Old G.o.d who is wors.h.i.+pped by the Celtic witches in that mysterious place called Ireland, which lies over the sea far to the west of the County. We cannot be sure of the extent of her powers, but she is also known as the G.o.ddess of slaughter.

When a witch summons her to our world, she may take the shape of a large black crow and alight on the left shoulder of one who is soon to die. Additionally, she sometimes scratches the heads of her enemies with her claws, marking them for death. In this shape the Morrigan frequents battlefields, pecking out and eating the eyes of the dead and wounded.7 The Ordeen This female deity is the most powerful agent of the dark in Greece. She visits our world every seven years. While most other deities who use portals need the help of humans, the Ordeen does not.

The Ordeen Little else is known about her other than she is extremely bloodthirsty.8 Her chief wors.h.i.+ppers are maenads, but she brings other denizens of the dark through the portal with her, particularly flying lamias, demons, and fire elementals. Between them they slaughter all in their path, and the bloodshed spreads for many miles around. Few survive to record what happens during these visitations, so knowledge is limited. It's a mercy that the County is apparently beyond her reach.

Her maenad supporters usually confine themselves to their homeland, Greece, and draw their power from a mixture of wine and blood. Under its influence they fly into a frenzy and fight their enemies with a wild fury. Sometimes they use blades, but they are phenomenally strong and can dismember enemies with their bare hands. They are slowly regressing, emotion taking over from intellect, and it is likely that they will eventually lose the power of speech and, like water witches, become more animal than human.

Although they wors.h.i.+p the Ordeen, gathering in great numbers to await her arrival, they receive no reward for their services; after she and her followers have ravaged the land, they feast upon the blood of the dead and the dying.

The maenads have scryers but do not use mirrors. After forcing quant.i.ties of wine down the throat of a sacrificial goat, they slit open its belly and study its intestines. By such means they claim they can peer into the future.9 Pan (the Horned G.o.d) Pan is the Old G.o.d, originally wors.h.i.+pped by the Greeks, who rules over nature and takes on two distinct physical forms. In one manifestation he is a boy and plays a set of reed pipes, his melodies so powerful that no birdsong can equal them and the very rocks move under their influence.

Pan In his other form he is the terrifying deity of nature whose approach fills humans with terrora"the word "panic" is derived from his name. Now his sphere of influence has widened and he is wors.h.i.+pped by the goat mages of Ireland. After eight days of human sacrifice, Pan pa.s.ses through a portal from the dark and briefly enters the body of a goat. He distorts the shape of that animal into a thing awful to behold and drives the mages to perform more and more terrible acts of bloodshed.

Portals These are magical doorways through which the Old G.o.ds can pa.s.s to enter our world.10 Human intervention is usually required to make this possible, but there are four particular locations where portals may occur. These are also places where elemental spirits evolve naturally and can become sentient and powerful.

The first is the County in England, where witches have always attempted to communicate with servants of the dark, particularly the Fiend. And within the County itself, the prime place for portals is the Pendle district, where the brooding presence of the hill aids all types of dark magic.

The second is Greece, where mages and witches have communicated with the dark from ancient times, probably before such activity was observed in the County. This is the land where the Ordeen rules; she is the only one of the Old G.o.ds who can emerge through a portal without human aid.

Thirdly, there is a district of Romania called Transylvania, known as the Land Beyond the Forest, where vampiric creatures are legion and the most powerful of the Old G.o.ds, Siscoi (see below), rules the mountains and forests. Aided by witches, he frequently pa.s.ses through a portal, but even from the dark he can possess both the living and the dead.

Fourthly, in the southwest of Ireland is a mysterious region where goat mages and Celtic witches dwell. The former wors.h.i.+p the Old G.o.d Pan; the latter wors.h.i.+p the Morrigan, the G.o.ddess of slaughter.

Siscoi This powerful vampire G.o.d is frequently brought through a portal into the Romanian province of Transylvania. He is the lord of the numerous vampiric creatures that dwell in the mountains and forests of that remote region. Even from his abode in the dark, and without making use of a portal, he can send out his spirit to reanimate the dead or possess the living.

Romanian spooks have many successful methods for dealing with ordinary vampires, but they are utterly powerless against Siscoi. He is now the most active and malignant of the Old G.o.ds, even surpa.s.sing the Ordeen in ferocity.

Siscoi sometimes animates the skin of a newly buried corpse: His minions first remove the bones and skillfully rend the skin from the muscle; the latter they devour. The reanimated corpse appears to the close relatives of the dead. Siscoi appears before his victims as the bloated skin of their loved one, filled only with air. But as he begins to feed, the corpse skin fills up with blood, turning red in the process.

Zeus Zeus was once the leader of the Old G.o.ds, sometimes given the t.i.tle King of the G.o.ds. Like his subjects, he once walked the earth but has not pa.s.sed through a portal from the dark for many thousands of years. He is no longer wors.h.i.+pped widely in Greece, and his power has lessened.

Lord of the storm, controller of the sky, his preferred weapon was the thunderbolt, using lightning to incinerate his enemies. Zeus had many relations.h.i.+ps with mortal women, who gave birth to his children. His jealous wife, Hera, punished those she discovered, among them Lamia.

Zeus 1 It is certainly true that females make the Bane nervous. In the labyrinth beneath Priestown Cathedral, Alice drove the Bane away by hissing and spitting into its face .a"Tom Ward 2 Last year, the Pendle witch clans united, the three covens performing a ritual to bring the Fiend through the portal and allow him to stay in our world indefinitely. They only controlled him for two days; now he is his own master and poses the biggest threat to the County since the records in my library began. His influence upon our world is waxing, along with that of the dark. Churches lose their congregations, war grows more savage, and men forget their humanity; father is turned against son, marriages fail, and famine and disease increase.a"John Gregory 3 The Fiend took on the shape of bargeman Matthew Gilbert, who was murdered by the water witch Morwena. It was impossible to tell that it wasn't the bargeman: In appearance and voice they were identical .a" Tom Ward 4 Twice in my lifetime Golgoth has awakened; both events were facilitated by a human agencya"that of my former apprentice, Morgan, who used a grimoire.

5 Although my second eldest brother received the name James in the local church, my mam's secret name for him was Hephaestus. How apt that he should grow up to follow the trade of a blacksmith! Another example of Mam's ability to see into the future .a"Tom Ward 6 Barrows are interesting and mysterious. Most probably contain more than just the bones of the dead; some surely hide powerful artifacts.a"apprentice Morgan Hurst 7 When we faced the banshee witch, the Morrigan, in the shape of a crow, attacked Bill Arkwright, scratching his head with her claws. He was killed by fire elementals within one year of that attack .a"Tom Ward 8 I saw the Ordeen at close quarters, and she was truly terrifying. Initially she had the form of a human female but with a rank animal smell. Her teeth appeared very sharp and her jaws powerful. But after I bound her with my silver chain, she took on her true shape a"that of a huge lizard with green scales, a salamander. She spat fire and scalding steam at me, and when I tried to slay her with my staff, it burst into flames and turned into hot ash in seconds .a"Tom Ward 9 Since the above entry, the Ordeen has been destroyed. As I was one of the group who brought this about, I am in a good position to record what we learned. The portal used by the Ordeen to come into this world was both breathtaking and terrifyinga"a pillar of fire extending from earth to sky. Through it came an immense citadel known as the Ord, many times the size of Priestown Cathedral. Within it were many traps and dangers, not the least being a mult.i.tude of fire elementals, including both translucent and opaque orbs, and also asteri.

It was the first time I'd ever seen fire elementals, but they behaved as other spooks have recorded, and this enabled me to fight them off, so we owe a great debt to the past. On the roof of the main structure were a large number of abhuman spirits, no doubt trapped by the Ord over aeons as it pa.s.sed backward and forward through the portal.

What is truly worrying, though the threat from the Ordeen now seems to have ended, is that we did not discover how she could visit our world without human intervention. If that ability were shared by another of the Old G.o.ds, such as Golgoth or Pan, life on earth would become even more difficult and dangerous.a"John Gregory 10 I have now seen three of the Old G.o.ds enter our world through portals. The first was Golgoth, when Morgan used a pentacle to conjure him into our world. The second was the Ordeen, who entered via her own fiery portal. The third, and perhaps the strangest, was when the banshee witch summoned the Morrigan to kill me, using her own mouth as the portal.a"Bill Arkwright A Kobalos.

Mages.

Human mages are the male counterparts of witches and may also be placed in the same categoriesa"the benign, the falsely accused, the malevolent, and the unawarea"but they are relatively few in number, the use of dark magic coming more naturally to the female. With the exception of goat mages they work alone.

The only nonhuman mages that have come to my attention are the Kobalos, and there is some doubt about their actual existence. But if the report I've heard proves to be true, one day they may pose a dangerous threat to the County as they wander farther south toward our sh.o.r.es.

Like witches, whatever the type of magecraft they practice, each mage varies in ability. The weakest may be no more than fairground conjurors faking most of their tricks to take coins from gullible audiences; the strongest may rule a kingdom, although often they are the hidden power behind a throne.

Mages tend to use longer and more complicated spells than witches, reading them aloud from a grimoire. They also use a pentacle, a circle encompa.s.sing a five-pointed star, at each point of which is placed a black wax candle. Such pentacles must be drawn very precisely, and the magical symbols within must also be accurate; the survival of the mage depends upon it.