The Tree of Story (51 page)

A
PPLEYARD

The citadel of the Errantry in Fable, at the foot of Appleyard Hill, and the highest point in the city. The Errantry’s school for knight-apprentices is found here.

T
HE
B
OURNE

A small, little-known land somewhere in the Perilous Realm, inhabited mostly by the descendants of travellers from the Untold who found their way to the Realm and stayed. Fable is the Bourne’s largest city.

T
HE
E
RRANTRY

The Bourne’s defensive force, made up of knights-errant, troopers, scouts, and knight-apprentices. The knights of the Errantry take an oath to right wrongs and defend the weak.

T
HE
F
ATHOMLESS
F
IRE

Also known as
innumith
, or “storystuff.” A mysterious, intangible spirit or power out of which everything in the Perilous Realm is made. Loremasters can draw this secret fire out of the Weaving to shape and heal stories.

F
ETCHES

Spirits of those whose stories have been devoured by Malabron.

G
AAL

Also known as fever iron. A rare ore with marvellous properties that some say is really concentrated
innumith
. Those who ingest this ore gain strength and fearlessness in battle, but in time their craving for the
gaal
becomes a madness.

T
HE
G
ATHERING
H
OUSE

The main hall of the Errantry at Appleyard.

T
HE
G
REAT
U
NWEAVING

A dark time after the first war against Malabron, when the Perilous Realm was torn apart and much knowledge was lost.

L
OREMASTER

To most people, a mere collector and teller of tales. Loremasters have kept their true vocation —to serve and protect the Realm through the power of the fathomless fire—hidden from all but a few.

M
AGE

A wizard or sorcerer who attributes his powers to some vaguely defined “magic.” Few mages know of the fathomless fire or understand where it comes from, and as a consequence, they can misuse this power and do great harm to themselves and others.

M
ORDOG

A race of powerful, warlike beings who serve Malabron and have long been at war with the Fair Folk and other free peoples of the Perilous Realm.

N
IGHTBANE

The collective name for the many races that have banded together in the name of Malabron to spread war and terror throughout the Realm.

T
HE
P
ERILOUS
R
EALM

The world (or worlds) of Story. As vast and never-ending as all the tales that have been told or might be told, the Realm is made up of countless storylands. A traveller cannot always get to one storyland from another by way of a direct road or path, and maps are never very reliable.

T
HE
S
HADOW
R
EALM

A region of nightmare set apart from the Perilous Realm, where fetches wander without hope and bloodthirsty harrowers prowl in search of living things to devour. The Shadow Realm continually grows as more stories are swallowed up by the Night King.

T
HE
S
PEAKING
C
REATURES

Birds and beasts given the power of speech by the Stewards. They were scattered and many were lost during the Great Unweaving.

S
TORYSIGHT

A loremaster’s power to see into both the past and the future of Story. Even if a story is lost and forgotten, a gifted loremaster can find traces of it.

T
HE
U
NTOLD

A name for the world beyond the Perilous Realm. Many who live there call the Untold the “real world” and believe that the realm of Story is only imaginary.

T
HE
W
EAVING

Something like the world we visit in our dreams, the Weaving is a hidden “realm within” from which all things arise and to which they must return, to be woven again into new stories. The Weaving contains the past and the future, as well as everything that might have been or never was. Apprentice loremasters are initiated into the craft by venturing alone into the Weaving and finding their way back—a difficult and dangerous journey.

W
EREFIRE

A name for
innumith
when it runs out of control and becomes a destructive force. Power-hungry mages in Skald unleashed a plague of werefire that nearly destroyed the city.

R
EAD THE EXHILARATING
FIRST TWO BOOKS
IN
T
HE
P
ERILOUS
R
EALM TRILOGY:

T
HIS TRILOGY BEGAN
a long time ago with the first storyteller I ever met, my father, Tom Wharton Sr, who introduced me to the spell of a well-told tale.

Thank you to all those who gave encouragement, support, guidance and inspiration over the long haul of three books. To my agent, Lynn Bennett; to my editors: Lara Hinchberger, Amy Black, Chris Kloet, and Janice Weaver; to Nicola Makoway, Merle Jones, Gail and Laurie Greenwood, Susan Toy, and to the late Ralph Vicinanza. Thanks to Linda Quirk, Matt Schneider, Betsy Sargent, and Richard Harrison and family. Thanks to Tim Jessell, Ciruelo Cabral, Chris Hill, and Mary Wharton, the artists. A great big thank you to the students of Malmo School, who wanted to be in the book. Bows to Reverend Masters Mugo White and Koten Benson, and to my sangha, the Edmonton Buddhist Meditation Group.
Many thanks to Bill Thompson for long walks and talks in the realms of Story. Thank you to my family for love and support. Lastly, I am grateful beyond words for Sharon and for our children, Mary, Conor and Ronan, who provided the first spark of the fathomless fire.

For more about the characters, creatures and places of the Perilous Realm, visit the author’s website at
www.thomaswharton.ca

T
HOMAS
W
HARTON
is an award-winning writer for adults and younger readers whose work has been translated into several languages.
The Tree of Story
is the third book in The Perilous Realm series, which began with
The Shadow of Malabron
and
The Fathomless Fire
. The author says of the Perilous Realm, “It is not just a world with stories in it. This world is Story. It is the place that all the tales in our world come from. Whatever you might find in a story, you will find here. Adventures, strange encounters, riddles. Heroes and monsters. Bravery, goodness, and terrible evil. And many other things that have yet no name in our world. And you are here now, and that means you are in a story, too.”

The author is a professor of English at the University of Alberta, and lives in Edmonton with his wife and three children.