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The Wizards of Once
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Once there were Wizards, who were Magic, and Warriors, who were not. But Xar, son of the King of Wizards, can't cast a single spell. And Wish, daughter of the Warrior Queen, has a banned magical object of her own. When they collide in the wildwood, on the trail of a deadly witch, it's the start of a grand adventure that just might change the fabric of their worlds.
With Cressida Cowell's trademark wit, and the same stunning combination of action, adventure, heart, humor, and incredible artwork that made How to Train Your Dragon a beloved bestselling franchise, The Wizards of Once will transport and bewitch readers.
Excerpt
This is the story of a young boy Wizard and a young girl Warrior who have been taught since birth to hate each other like poison.
The story begins with the discovery of A GIGANTIC BLACK FEATHER.
Could it be that the Wizards and the Warriors have been so busy fighting each other that they have not noticed the return of an ancient evil?
Could that feather really be the feather of a Witch?
1. A Trap to Catch a Witch
It was a warm night for November, too warm a night for Witches, or so the stories said. Witches were supposed to be extinct, of course, but Xar had heard about the way they stank, and he imagined he could smell that now, in the quietness of the dark forest, a faint but definite stink of burning hair mixed with long-dead mice and a little kick of viperâs venom; once smelled, never forgotten.
Xar was a wild young human boy who belonged to the Wizard tribe. He was riding on the back of a giant snowcat in a part of the forest so dark and mangled and tangled that it was known as the Badwoods.
He should not have been there, for the Badwoods were Warrior territory, and if the Warriors were to catch him, well, what everyone said was that Xar would be killed on sight. Off with his head! As was the pleasant Warrior custom.
But Xar did not look even remotely worried.
He was a cheerful scruff of a boy, with a tremendous quiff of hair shooting upward from his forehead as if it had accidentally come into contact with some invisible vertical hurricane.
The snowcat he was riding was called Kingcat, a noble creature who was a giant form of lynx, far too dignified for his cheeky master. Kingcat had shining paws so round they looked unreal, fur so deep it was like powder snow and such a rich silver-gray color that it was almost blue. The snowcat ran swiftly but softly through the forest, his black-tipped ears swiveling from side to side as he ran, for he was scared, although too proud to show it.
Only that very morning, Xarâs father, Encanzo the Enchanter, King of Wizards, had reminded everyone that it was forbidden for any Wizard to dare set one toe in the Badwoods.
But Xar was the most disobedient boy in the Wizard kingdom in about four generations, and forbidding things only encouraged him.
In the past week:
Xar had tied the beards of two of the eldest and most respectable Wizards together when they were sleeping at a banquet. He had poured a love potion into the pigsâ feeding trough, so the pigs developed mad, passionate crushes on Xarâs least favorite teacher and followed him around wherever he went, making loud, enthusiastic squealing and kissing noises.
He had accidentally burned down the western trees in Wizard camp.
Most of these things hadnât been entirely intentional, exactly. Xar had just gotten carried away in the heat of the moment.
And yet none of these disobedient things was half as bad as what Xar was doing right now.
There was a large black raven flying above Xarâs head.
âThis is a very bad idea indeed, Xar,â said the raven. The talking raven was called Caliburn, and he would have been a handsome bird, but unfortunately it was his job to keep Xar out of trouble, and the worry of this impossible mission meant his feathers kept falling out. âIt isnât really fair to lead your animals and sprites and young fellow Wizards into all this dangerâŠâ
As the son of the King Enchanter, and a boy with a great deal of personal charisma, Xar had a lot of followers: a pack of five wolves, three snowcats, a bear, eight sprites, an enormous giant called Crusher, and a small crowd of other Wizard youngsters, all following Xar as if hypnotized, all shivering and scared and pretending not to be.
âOh, you worry too much, Caliburn,â said Xar, pulling Kingcat to a halt and jumping off his back. âLook at this lovely, pretty little glade here⊠you see⊠PERFECTLY safe and exactly the same as the rest of the forest.â
Xar looked around with breezy satisfaction, as if they had stopped in a delightful woodland dell filled with frolicking bunnies and baby deer, rather than a cold, eerie little clearing where the yews leaned in threateningly and the mistletoe dripped like warlocksâ tears.
The other Wizards drew their swords, and the growling snowcatsâ fur stood up with fear to such an extent that they looked like furry puffballs. The wolves padded restlessly, trying to form a protective circle around their humans.
Only the smaller sprites shared Xarâs enthusiasm, but that was because they were too young to know any better.
I donât know if you have ever seen a sprite, so Iâd better describe these ones to you.
There were five larger sprites, all faintly resembling a human crossed with a fierce, elegant insect. When irritated, or bored (which was often), they blinked on and off like stars, and purple smoke drifted out of their ears. They were so see-through you could watch their hearts beating.
Then there were three smaller, younger ones, who because they were not yet adult were known as âhairy fairies.â Xarâs favorite was an eager, slightly stupid little thing called Squeezjoos.
âOoh, itâs lovely! Itâs lovely!â squeaked Squeezjoos. âItâs the tremunglousistly loveliest clearing Iâs ever seen! Whatâs this fascintresting flower? Let me guess! Itâs a buttercup! Itâs a daisy! Itâs a gerangulum! Itâs a cauliflower!â
He flew into the upper branches of a particularly gloomy and sinister tree and perched on the edge of one of its fleshy flowers, which had ominous spikes on the ends of its leaves, and was in fact called a sprite-eating hobtrap. The flower snapped shut with the briskness of a mousetrap, capturing poor little Squeezjoos inside.
Caliburn landed on Xarâs shoulder and gave a heavy sigh.
âI donât like to say âI told you so,ââ said Caliburn. âBut weâve only been in this perfectly safe little clearing in the Badwoods for one and a half minutes and youâve already lost one of your followers to a carnivorous flower.â
âNonsense,â scolded Xar good-naturedly, âI havenât lost him. Thatâs the whole point about being a leader. Whenever my followers get into trouble, I rescue them, because thatâs what a leader does.â
Xar climbed the tree, and two hundred feet up, swaying precariously on a couple of creaking twiglike boughs, he took out his dagger and popped open the sprite-eating hobtrap to release a panting little Squeezjoos in the nick of time.
âIâs fine!â squeaked Squeezjoos. âIâs FINE! I canât feel my left leg, but Iâs fine!â
âDonât worry, Squeezjoos! Thatâs just the hobtrapâs digestive juicesâthe feeling will return in a couple of hours!â Xar called out as he dropped down from the tree. âYou see? Iâm a great leader! Stick with me and youâll be fine.â
The Wizard youngsters looked very thoughtful indeed.
At that moment, Xarâs older brother, Looter, came out of the shadows behind them, sitting astride a great gray wolf and followed by even more sprites and animals and young Wizard followers than Xar himself.
Xar stiffened, because he hated his older brother, Looter.
Looter was a lot bigger than Xar. He was nearly as tall as their father, he was brilliant at Magic, he was good-looking and clever, and my goodness didnât he know it. He was the smuggest smug Wizard you could possibly imagine, and he often snitched on Xar to get Xar into trouble.
âWhat are you doing here, Looter?â stormed Xar suspiciously.
âOh, I just followed you to see what unbelievably stupid and pointless thing my little baby brother was doing this time,â drawled Looter.
âGreat leaders like me donât do pointless expeditions!â fumed Xar. âWeâre here for a REASON. Itâs none of your business, butâŠâ
Xar considered telling Looter some elaborate lie about what he was doingâbut he couldnât resist showing off.
â⊠weâre going to catch ourselves a Witch,â boasted Xar proudly.
Ohhhhhhhh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
This was the first time that Xar had mentioned to his followers the purpose of their expedition, and it was very unwelcome news indeed.
A Witch!
The bear, the snowcats, and the wolves went very still and began to shake. Even Ariel, the wildest and most unafraid of Xarâs sprites, shot up into the air and momentarily disappeared.
âThere are Witches in this part of the Badwoods nowâI know it,â whispered Xar excitedly, as if a Witch were a delightful sort of present that he was offering everyone.
There was a long silence, and then Looter and his Wizard followers began to laugh.
They laughed and they laughed and they laughed.
âOh, come on, Xar,â Looter said at last, once heâd gotten his breath back. âEven you must know that Witches have been extinct for centuries.â
âAh yes,â said Xar, âbut what if some of them survived and have been hiding all this time? Look! Hereâs what I found in this very clearing only yesterday!â
Out of his rucksack he carefully took an absolutely gigantic black feather.
It was huge, like the feather of a crow but much, much larger. A soft black, fading at the end to a glowing, shiny, dark green, the color of a mallardâs head.
âItâs a Witch featherâŠâ whispered Xar.
Looter smiled his most superior smile.
âThatâs just the feather of some big old bird,â scoffed Looter. âSome giant crowâyou get some weird things living in the Badwoods.â
Xar frowned and hung the feather from his belt.
âIâve never seen a bird as big as this one must be,â said Xar grumpily.
âItâs all nonsense,â smiled Looter. âOnly a brainless fool like you wouldnât know that. Witches were destroyed forever.â
Caliburn flapped downward and landed on Kingcatâs head.
ââForeverâ is a long word,â said the raven.
âYou see!â said Xar triumphantly. âCaliburn is a bird of omen, who can see into the future and into the past, and he doesnât think that Witches are gone forever!â
âAll I know is, if Witches were not to be extinct for some reason, you wouldnât want to go meeting one in a dark place,â said Caliburn, shivering. âWhat do you want a Witch for, Xar?â
âIâm going to catch the Witch,â said Xar, âand remove its Magic and use it for myself.â
There was another horrified silence.
Eventually, Looter spoke. âThat, little brother, is the worst plan I have ever heard in the whole history of plan-making.â
âYouâre just jealous YOU didnât think of it,â said Xar.
âI have a few questions,â said Looter. âHow are you going to catch the Witch in the first place?â
âThatâs what the netâs for,â said Xar, taking a net out of his rucksack and holding it up. You couldnât fault his enthusiasm, at least. âOne of us will volunteer to be wounded ever so slightly, and then the blood will attract the WitchâŠâ
âOh great,â smiled Looter. âNow youâre going to wound one of your sad little followers? In a forest stuffed with raving werewolves and Blood-Sniffing Ogrebreaths? Come on, youâre completely crazy⊠This plan is as pathetic as you areâŠâ
Xar ignored him. âAnd then Iâll entangle the Witch in this net when it attacks. Next question.â
âOkay. Question two,â said Looter. âNo living Wizard has ever seen a Witch, so how do you know what one looks like?â
Xar opened his rucksack and took out a book the size of a large atlas entitled The Spelling Book.
Every Wizard is equipped with a Spelling Book, given to them at birth. Xarâs was looking extremely worse for wear. One part of it was invisible (it accidentally got dropped in invisibility potion). Another bit was burned so black you could barely read it (this happened when Xar set Wizard camp on fire), and many of the pages were loose and dropping out all over the place (too many adventures to go into here).
Xar opened the book to the contents page, which had the twenty-six letters of the alphabet written on it in very large gold script. Xar spelled out âWitchesâ by tapping on each letter in turn, and whirrrrrrrrr, the book turned its own pages, which seemed to go on forever and ever and ever, the chapters in front turning invisible as the book riffled through the rest of them like an endless pack of cards, until eventually they stopped at the right place.
âThatâs weird⊠It doesnât say what they look like⊠but theyâre green⊠I thinkâŠâ said Xar.
Someone else thought Witches could turn invisible and that they had acid blood. Another thought that they squirted blood through their eyes.
âIâm sure weâll recognize one when we see it,â said Xar, impatiently shutting the Spelling Book. âTheyâre supposed to be pretty horrible, arenât they?â
âAwesomely horrible,â said Caliburn gravely. âThe most terrifying creatures that ever walked this earthâŠâ
âSo even if you do catch this Witch, how will you persuade it to part with its Magic?â asked Looter. âIâm imagining that invisible, green-acid-blood-squirting Witches, the most terrifying creatures that ever walked this earth, will not give up their Magic if you ask them pretty pleaseâŠâ
âAha,â said Xar craftily. âIâve thought of that.â
With a grand flourish he put on some gloves, reached into his rucksack, and took out⊠a small saucepan.
Silence again.
âYou do realize thatâs a saucepan?â said Looter.
âThis is no ordinary saucepan,â said Xar cunningly.
And then he took a deep breath before he made his shocking announcement.
âThis particular saucepan is made out of IRONâŠâ
Most of the Wizards took a horrified step backward. The sprites let out shrieks of alarm. Looter alone refused to be impressed.
In fact, he laughed so hard Xar thought he might fall over. âThis is too good⊠Youâre going to fight a Witch with a saucepan!â sneered Looter. âYouâre no âgreat leader,â Xar. Youâre a liar and a loser; our father is ashamed of youâand now I know why youâre so keen to steal Magic from a Witch. Thereâs a Spelling Competition at the Winter Celebration tonight and YOU canât do Magic⊠XAR CANâT DO MAGICâŠâ taunted Looter.
Xar turned red with embarrassment, then white with anger.
The fact that he couldnât do Magic yet was one of those hidden sores that you didnât want anyone else to see. Wizard children were not born Magic; their Magic came in when they were about twelve. Xar was thirteen, and his Magic still had not come in.
Xar had tried doing Magic. For countless hours he had tried. Really simple things, like moving stuff with his mind. But it was as if it were a muscle he didnât really have. âRelax,â everyone said. âRelax, and it will happen.â But it was like trying to move something with arms that werenât there.
And recently he had begun to worry⊠what if it NEVER happened? It was an unlikely calamity, but what a disgrace to the whole family it would be if a child born to the King Enchanter HAD NO MAGIC.
The thought of it made him feel a little sick.
âPoor little baby XarâŠâ crooned Looter cruelly. âThinks heâs such a big boy but he canât do any Magic whatsoeverâŠâ
âMy Magic WILL come in,â hissed Xar. âBut in the meantime, I swear,â he spat, eyes so small with anger that he could barely see out of them, âI SWEAR Iâm going to catch a Witch, and I will squeeze so much Magic out of that Witch, Looter, that I will BLAST you out of existenceâŠâ
âOh yeah?â grinned Looter. He reached into his rucksack and took out one of his staffs. A Wizardâs staff was about the size of a walking stick and Wizards concentrated Magic through them.
âYour spelling wonât work on me when I am carrying IRON!â roared Xar, rushing forward to hit Looter with the saucepan.
Which was perfectly true, but most unfortunately, in his charge forward, Xar tripped over a long tangle of bramble and his gloved hands lost their grip on the saucepan and it went sailing over Looterâs head and into the undergrowth.
Looter pointed his staff at Xar and whispered the word of a spell under his breath. Looterâs body trembled as the Magic quivered through him and channeled out of his hand and into the staff, which concentrated it into one quick, fierce, hot bolt of Magic that blasted out of the end of the staff, hitting Xar on the legs.
Xar stopped, mid charge, his feet stuck to the ground by Looterâs spell.
âHA! HA! HA! HA! HA!â laughed Looterâs followers.
âREMOVE THE SPELL!âshouted Xar, struggling to shift his feet, but it was as if they had turned to lead.
âNo, I donât think I willâŠâ smiled Looter.
Xar lost his temper.
He snapped his fingers.
REEOOOWWW!
Before anyone could blink or think, Kingcat launched himself at Looter, huge jaws agape, eight hundred forty pounds of silvery-gray killing machine. Screaming in terror, Looter was pinned up against a tree trunk, looking aghast at the great catâs nightmare face, inches away from his own, and what felt like four kitchen knives sinking into his shoulder. They had already drawn blood.
None of Looterâs own sprites or animals had time to move or protect him.
âOne more click of my fingers,â spat Xar, âand Kingcat will take off your head.â
âCheat!â panted Looter. âYou cheated! Youâre not supposed to use your animals to attack a fellow Wizard!â
âREMOVE THE SPELL!âshouted Xar.
Looter was now every bit as angry as Xar himself. But what could he do?
He pointed his staff at Xar and removed the spell so that Xarâs feet could move, and then Xar made a signal to Kingcat to let Looter go. âYouâre mad⊠a lunaticâŠâ raged Looter as Kingcat dropped him, and Looter gazed in astonishment at the four neat, bleeding puncture wounds in his shoulder. âYour animal has BITTEN me⊠if you DARE to enter that Spelling Competition, I am going to ANNIHILATE youâŠâ
Looter turned to Xarâs followers.
âWho wants to come with ME rather than staying here with this silly little madman and his stupid Witch-trap?â shouted Looter.
One by one, Xarâs followers backed away from Xar and toward Looter, and climbed on board their wolves or snowcats, muttering things like, âSorry, Xar⊠this is a bit too crazy, even for you,â and, âIf Witches arenât extinct, they are bad Magic, Xar⊠We shouldnât be hereâŠâ
âYou see?â crowed Looter triumphantly. âA great leader has to have someone to lead, and no one wants to follow a Magic-less lunatic. Good luck with meeting your Witch, loser-boy.â
And then Looter rode away on the back of his wolf, followed by most of the other Wizards.
âCowards!â roared Xar, nearly crying he was so angry. He ran into the undergrowth to retrieve the saucepan and then shook his fist at their departing backs.
âWEâLL SHOW YOU! WEâLL CATCH A WITCH, WEâLL TAKE MAGIC FROM IT, AND THEN WEâLL BE SO MAGIC WEâLL FLY WITHOUT WINGS!â
Xar turned with a sigh to the bedraggled remains of his followers.
Why did Looter always have to spoil everything?
Xar had hardly anyone left now, only three young Wizards whose Magic hadnât come in either: a girl called Heliotrope and two boys, Rush and Darkish, a large lad with even larger ears who had reached the age of seventeen without showing any signs of Magic whatsoever and who was slightly on the dim side.
âBother, heâs left me with the losers,â tutted Xar.
âHear I say, Xar, thatâs a bit unfair,â protested Rush.
âWill we really fly without wings?â said Darkish, flapping his big arms up and down.
âOf course we will,â promised Xar, rubbing his hands together excitedly, for Xar could never stay down for long. âThose cowards are going to be so sorry they leftâŠ
âDarkish, youâre the biggest, so you need to do the most digging,â ordered Xar. âRush, Iâm afraid weâre going to have to wound you a little to tempt the Witch into the trap⊠And if anything goes wrongâŠâ
âI thought you said this mission was completely safe?â said Rush suspiciously.
âWell, nothing is ENTIRELY safeâŠâ Xar backtracked quickly. âLife is dangerous, isnât it? After all, you could get killed just climbing a tree like I nearly was just now.â
âThis is not just climbing a tree!â spluttered Caliburn from above as the three young Wizards began to obey Xarâs orders. âThis is intentionally trespassing on Warrior territory, trying to set a trap for the scariest life-form that has ever walked this planet!â
Caliburn sighed.
Nobody was going to listen to him.
Caliburn perched rigid on the tree branch, with his head under his wing, as ifâfor as long as he buried his head under there, if he couldnât see the futureâthe future would not happen.
But, of course, the old bird knew that would not work.
2. A Warrior Called Wish
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Genre:
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Praise for The Wizards of Once:
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"A rollicking adventure tale and coming-of-age story rolled into one enjoyable package...Readers will fall in love with the imaginative worldbuilding and humorous dialogue and asides...A delightful magical romp."
âKirkus -
"A clever and fresh new series.... Cowell fans will be elated to have a new world to get to know, and they'll welcome the author's familiar writing style and humor."
âBCCB - "A plethora of energetic illustrations keeps the excitement high...readers with a penchant for lighthearted fantasy are sure to enjoy this series opener and look forward to the next volume."âHorn Book
- "The tongue-in-cheek voice combines with scribbly b&w interior illustrations...to sustain a sense of wonder and mayhem from start to finish. Cowell skillfully mixes adventure with silliness in a satisfying story."âPublishers Weekly
- "Cowell crafts two believable and lovable main characters...A strong new series starter by a best-selling author."âSchool Library Journal
- "The first in a series, this book will delight and engage readers of fantasy both young and old."âSchool Library Connection
- "The first volume of a new series by author and illustrator of the How to Train Your Dragon series is an event....Funny, thoughtful and surprisingly wise and lively, this is another coup from Cowell."âThe Sunday Times (UK)
- "...a new fantasy world fizzing with evil, magic, Iron Age history, laugh-out-loud jokes and a huge cast of memorable characters. Another bestseller is born."âThe Daily Mail (UK)
- "The detail of Cowell's world is a delight...This one will run and run."âThe Observer (UK)
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"One of the most eagerly awaited children's books of the year, this magical adventure is also one of the most spellbinding....Enormously entertaining and satisfying, it's narrated and illustrated with tangible energy and verve. The fantasy world and quest-driven plot are a triumph."
âThe Bookseller (UK) - Praise for How to Train Your Dragon:
âSchool Library Journal
- On Sale
- Oct 3, 2017
- Page Count
- 400 pages
- Publisher
- Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- ISBN-13
- 9780316472159
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