Magician: Apprentice characters

Appears from the start

An orphan boy of about thirteen kept as a ward of Castle Crydee's kitchen, on the Far Coast of the Kingdom of the Isles. He gathers shellfish, runs errands, and is due to be offered to the castle's craftmasters on Choosing Day along with the other boys of his year. Small for his age and quicker with his wits than with his hands, he privately doubts any master will want him, and he is quietly infatuated with the Duke's daughter, a girl far above anything an orphan could reasonably hope for.

Appears from the start

Pug's closest friend, son of Castle Crydee's cook and his wife, a head taller and broader than Pug and a natural athlete. He has wanted a soldier's life for as long as he can remember and talks openly of serving in the Duke's guard. He treats Pug as a brother rather than a competitor, and the two have grown up together in the keep.

First appears in chapter 2

The Duke of Crydee's magician: a stout, bearded man rarely seen without his pipe, who keeps a tower room crowded with books, scrolls and instruments. Magic is a suspect trade in the Kingdom and its practitioners are commoners of uncertain standing, so he holds his place at court on the Duke's favour and his own good sense. On Choosing Day he claims Pug as his apprentice when no craftmaster will take the boy.

First appears in chapter 2

The Duke of Crydee's daughter, close to Pug in age, dark-haired and accustomed to being obeyed. She is sharp-tongued, headstrong, and impatient with the narrow life expected of a nobleman's daughter on the Far Coast, and she is a good deal more aware of Pug than he dares to imagine.

Also known as Lord Borric

First appears in chapter 2

Borric conDoin, Duke of Crydee and Warden of the West, cousin to the King and one of the great lords of the Kingdom of the Isles. A widower who rules the Far Coast from his castle with a soldier's directness, he presides over the Choosing himself and takes a personal interest in the boys of his household.

First appears in chapter 3

The Duke's elder son and heir to Crydee, fair-haired and open-tempered, easy with the castle's servants and popular with the garrison. He is the more diplomatic of the two brothers and the one expected to hold the duchy after his father.

First appears in chapter 3

The Duke's younger son, dark, lean and dry-humoured, with a swordsman's quickness and a habit of saying exactly what he thinks. He is the sharper and less trusting of the two brothers, and he takes soldiering and the defence of the Far Coast very seriously.

First appears in chapter 3

An elderly priest of Astalon attached to the Duke's household, who has taught the castle's children their letters and numbers for two generations. Dry, exacting and formidably learned, with a priest's own quiet arts, he takes a share in Pug's schooling alongside Kulgan.

First appears in chapter 3

Kulgan's franklin and household man, a big, weather-beaten former soldier from the mountains who keeps the magician's rooms, does the cooking, and handles anything that calls for a strong arm or a level head. He is taciturn but reliable, and he accepts Pug's arrival without comment.

First appears in chapter 3

A firedrake, a small distant cousin of the true dragons, who has attached himself to Kulgan's tower for the hearth and the food. He is intelligent, wilful, and comes and goes entirely as he pleases, and he takes an immediate liking to the new apprentice.

First appears in chapter 3

A sergeant of the Crydee garrison, born in the Empire of Great Kesh to the south, a broad and dark-skinned soldier of long service. Steady, good-humoured and entirely competent, he is trusted by the Duke and by both of the Duke's sons.

First appears in chapter 4

A squire of the Duke's court, son of the Baron of Tulan, a little older than Pug. Charming, quick with a joke and quicker to take offence, he has ambitions regarding the Duke's daughter and does not welcome the sudden elevation of a kitchen boy into the same circle.

First appears in chapter 6

Huntmaster of Crydee, a lean, self-contained man orphaned young, who spent part of his boyhood among the elves of Elvandar. He speaks their language, is welcome in their forest, and serves as the Duke's usual go-between with them. His skill with the longbow has no equal on the Far Coast, and he keeps his own counsel about almost everything else.

First appears in chapter 6

Queen of the elves of Elvandar, the great forest north of Crydee. Ageless in appearance, formal and careful in her dealings with humans, she rules with the counsel of her spellweavers and has kept her people apart from the Kingdom's affairs. Word of the strangers on the Far Coast is enough to bring her into council with the Duke.

First appears in chapter 9

Chieftain of the dwarven village of Caldara in the Grey Towers, a stocky, pipe-smoking veteran who leads his people's warriors. He knows the old mine workings beneath the mountains better than anyone alive and treats the danger there as a matter of routine.

First appears in chapter 9

A robed sorcerer encountered deep beneath the Grey Towers, keeping company with a dying dragon. He speaks as if he already knows who has come and why, sees that a gift is made, and offers no account of himself, his powers or his interest in the matter.