HUMANS (SAXONS)
Jack: Age thirteen; an apprentice bard
Lucy: Jack’s sister; age seven
Mother: Alditha; Jack and Lucy’s mother; a wise woman
Father: Giles Crookleg; Jack and Lucy’s father
The Bard: A druid from Ireland; also known as Dragon Tongue
Pega: A slave girl; age fourteen
Brother Aiden: A monk from the Holy Isle
Father Swein: The abbot of St. Filian’s Well
Brutus: A slave at St. Filian’s Well
Father Severus: A prisoner of the elves
Hazel: A child stolen by hobgoblins
HUMANS (NORTHMEN)
Thorgil Olaf’s Daughter: An ex-berserker; age thirteen
Olaf One-Brow: A famous warrior and Thorgil’s adoptive father; deceased
Skakki: Olaf’s son; shipmate of Thorgil
Rune: A skald
Eric the Rash: Shipmate of Thorgil
Eric Pretty-Face: Shipmate of Thorgil
Heinrich the Heinous: Nephew of King Ivar the Boneless
PICTS
HOBGOBLINS
The Bugaboo: King of the hobgoblins
The Nemesis: The Bugaboo’s second-in-command
Mumsie: The Bugaboo’s mother
Mr. and Mrs. Blewit: Adoptive parents of Hazel
ELVES
Partholis: Queen of Elfland
Partholon: Partholis’s consort
Ethne: An elf lady; daughter of Partholis and an unknown human
Cowrie: An elf lord
Nimue: The Lady of the Lake; a water elf
UNCLASSIFIABLE
King Yffi: Ruler of Din Guardi and Bebba’s Town; half-kelpie
Man in the Moon: An old god; exiled to the moon
Forest Lord: An old god; ruler of the Green World
The Hedge: Aspect of the Forest Lord
Knuckers: They look like your worst nightmare.
Yarthkins: Also known as landuættir; spirits of the land. You really don’t want to meddle with them.
The Songs of Wandering Aengus
—William Butler Yeats
I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.
When I had laid it on the floor,
I went to blow the fire aflame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name.
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.
Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.