A Note

Kalik is the fourth volume of the ‘Travellers Quartet’, the story of Ish’s growth and his search for a family.

In Because We Were the Travellers and Taur, Ish survives banishment from his tribe with the help of Old Hagar. Hunted by the Salt Men, he and his friend Taur the Bull Man escape from the North Land and cross to the South Land. Taur dies saving Ish.

In The Shaman and the Droll, Lutha of the Floating Village on Lake Ka helps Ish escape with his dogs, Jak and Nip, but they are swept down an underground river. They emerge in the Land of the White Bear where the Shaman teaches Ish reading and writing, the skills of Healing, and of Judging. There, also, Ish dreams of Lutha.

Finding he is to be blinded, Ish escapes the Droll and her servant, the Carny. With the Shaman, Jak, and Nip, he makes his way back to Lake Ka. The Shaman is killed by the Salt Men and dies in Lutha’s arms – the daughter he had never seen. Kalik begins at that point.