* Witches speak the same language as we do, but each individual word is back to front. This means “What is it doing out here? Why is nobody protecting it? Do you think it could be a trap?”

* The Enchanted Sword was a special Witch-killing sword.

* LONG story.

* Editor’s note: Wish was dyslexic. Of course, they didn’t CALL it dyslexia back in the Bronze Age, but she was, and teachers like Madam Dreadlock weren’t very understanding about this to say the least.

* The door the children had been traveling on was originally the door to Madam Dreadlock’s Punishment Cupboard, and it would now need rather a lot of work to return to tip-top mint condition.

* History of Magic, tree climbing, wort-cunning, leechdom, and starcraft (the three last being study of herbs and plants, medical remedies, and the art of interpreting and reading the stars, those sorts of things).

* Long story. You can read about it in The Wizards of Once: Twice Magic if you like.

* Year 12

* For complicated magical reasons, doors have difficulty flying over oceans. They get seasick and capsize.

* In the first book of The Wizards of Once, Xar puts his hand on the Stone-That-Takes-Away-Magic in order to get rid of the Witch-stain, but he takes his hand off too early so some of the bad Magic remains.