On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (28 page)

28

1. From Stawburn's
The Wide Terrain
: “The Dark Sea of Darkness was no darker than any other ocean I ever sailed over. So I'm not sure where it got its name, unless maybe it's because of the feeling you get when you're out there in the middle of it. You feel like you might be guzzled up by any one of giant critters what live beneath the surface. It could get its name from all the storms that whirl up out of it and kick you and your ship around like a kid with a ball. Every night there's a fog that swallows up the stars and leaves you floating blind out there in the darkness. You get to feeling like you'll never make it home and that even your best mates on the ship don't really know you or want to, like they'd never notice if you toppled over the gunnel and plopped right in. Come to think of it, maybe the water
was
darker than normal.”
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29

1. The presence of cave blats in Glipwood Forest may come as a surprise to the diligent reader, because of the usual lack of caves in a proper forest. Cave blats received their names because their large gray eyes and jowly countenances are so unpleasant to behold that it is common, upon seeing one, to think, “I wish that blat were in a cave somewhere, so that I might not have to look at it.”
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2. Though the Skreeans weren't sure why, the Fang soldiers were rotated from town to town regularly, and each regiment sailed from Fort Lamendron back to Dang for a few weeks each year. Fangs returning to Skree would boast of having been “rested up plenty” and were meaner than usual for the first few months.
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30

1. The recipe for booger gruel, according to sources in Dugtown, is simple: two cups of flour, a teaspoon of crushed basil, and one gallon of viscous nasal matter from any animal on hand. Stir over low heat until thickened. (The method of collecting said mucus is unclear.)
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31

1. Dougan dol Rona of the Green Hollows. The Hollowsfolk are known primarily for two things: fruit and fighting. The Green Hollows is a country of rolling vales and vineyards, tended to with affection by its citizens. The fruit of the Hollows is fatter, juicier, and tastier than any in all of Aerwiar, partly because the ground is so fertile and partly because of thousands of years of fruiting lore known only by the Hollowsfolk. The Green Hollows is also known for its annual festival of games, called the Fynneg Durga. The men of the Hollows are notoriously boisterous, willing to wrestle as soon as laugh, and they consider a punching contest entertainment of the highest order, especially if it means a lost tooth or a broken nose. The women of the Hollows are famously beautiful and wise, which is probably the ancient cause for the culture of fighting among the men. Any outsider wishing to marry a woman of the Green Hollows was subjected to violent (but good-natured) ridicule and was obligated to participate in an especially brutal version of the games, the Banick Durga, to win the woman's hand. Whether or not the contender passed the trial, he was awarded with copious fruit. Dougan dol Rona of Dorminey asked for the hand of Meirabel Lannerty of the Hollows and was forced to compete in the Banick Durga for her hand. Amazingly, he bested the men of the Hollows in all the ten bouts, but quite accidentally killed Meirabel's brother in a boxing match with an ill-placed blow to the temple. The tune “Dougan's Reel” (composer unknown) captures in song both Dougan's sorrow that he would never marry Meirabel and the speed with which he ran for his life from the Hollows men.
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33

1. Rumpole Bloge's
Taming the Creepiful Wood
(Torrboro, Skree: Phute & Phute & Co., 3/112), a riveting autobiography detailing his years of ranging Glipwood Forest in the early days of the Third Epoch. In it, Bloge describes the cows as being “squarish in frame, with a moist snout and eyes that at first appear dull as a bowl of mud. But woe to that man who considers not the lethal potential in that bovinial thrump! In those yellowish sabers that protrude from its lippy mouth! How I wish my dear Molly had not spurned my warnings of the toothy cow's cunning and thew, ere that toothéd brute devoured her!” In Appendices.
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34

1. During the Second Epoch, Tombilly, Chief of Ban Rona in the Green Hollows, fell ill to a malady for which the medicians of the Hollows could find no cure. Their chief was wasting away and could eat no food, though his wife cooked for him a new meal daily. The wise men searched the land over for a meal that might cure his sickness. When old Ma Vorba, the seed catcher, suggested stewing a snapping diggle, she was ridiculed for a fooless, but she cooked the diggle with greenions and totatoes and served it to Chief Tombilly when his wife was away. The chief's health returned. For years the diggle was believed to have healing powers, until it was discovered that the chief 's poor wife was but the most dreadful cook Aerwiar had ever known, and Tombilly was starving himself rather than eat another bite of her food. To this day, a traveler eating a fine meal in the Green Hollows might still hear someone exclaim, “Ma Vorba, that was tasty!”
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2. The bumpy digtoad has been known to attack humans, though never yet fatally. Victims of a digtoad attack complain of the “squishy, flootchy feeling” of having a sticky tongue violently flapped upon them. Since the bumpy digtoad has no teeth, its bites are said to feel to the victim like being “gummed like a dumpling in an old man's mouth.”
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3. The ratbadger is dangerous not just because of its long claws or jagged teeth or because of its feisty disposition. The ratbadger's greatest weapon is its eggish flatulence.
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37

1. This was true. Before the Great War, the Skreeans had heard rumors of Gnag the Nameless, rumors that snakelike creatures and trolls and other imaginary monsters from children's scary-tales had conquered the lands of Dang, across the sea, but they couldn't believe that Skree itself was in any danger. In the 442nd year of the Third Epoch, a thousand ships laden with such creatures infested the Dark Sea of Darkness off the coast of Skree. It was said that the war cry of the invading Fangs could be heard as far inland as Torrboro. With few exceptions, the Skreeans surrendered without a fight.
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38

1. The Ice Prairies lie north of the Stony Mountains. Few humans have settled there, and what villages do exist are notoriously difficult to find because there are no roads. In fact, some who dwelt in the Ice Prairies visited the warm climes of lower Skree on holiday and were never able to discover their homes again. See map
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2. The road to Torrboro was well traveled, both by menfolk and Fangs. Fang troops traveling to and from Fort Lamendron marched north and west from the coast, through Glipwood, and followed the road along the edge of Glipwood Forest until it met with the River Blapp. The evening curfew was well enforced, so the Fangs did little to patrol the road at night. Glipfolk traveling through the night to Torrboro had little to worry about until they reached the city itself, and by then the morning would have come anyway, so they wouldn't have raised suspicion. Of course, the road's adjacency to the forest presented difficulties of its own, and several of the travelers were likely to be set upon by Skree's usual array of night creatures. See map.
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46

1. According to Frobentine the Mumn's
The Fall of the First Epoch,
the First Well was hidden near the unwalled city of Ulambria, where Dwayne and Gladys ruled their people with peace, wisdom, and an abundance of cheesy foods. Frobentine places the location of Ulambria somewhere north and east of the Killridge Mountains, in the heart of what is now the Byg'oal Forest. Other sources disagree, claiming that Ulambria lay in the Jungles of Plonst, in the troll kingdom. All scholars agree, however, that Ulambria is a good sounding name for a city.
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O
N THE
E
DGE OF THE
D
ARK
S
EA OF
D
ARKNESS
P
UBLISHED BY
W
ATER
B
ROOK
P
RESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
A division of Random House Inc.

Copyright © 2008 by Andrew Peterson

Hand-drawn maps and toothy cow illustration © 2008 by Andrew Peterson

Illustrations © 2008 by Justin Gerard, Portland Studios

Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Colorado Springs, CO 80918.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

W
ATER
B
ROOK
and its deer design logo are registered trademarks of WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Peterson, Andrew.
                                    On the edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness : adventure, peril, lost jewels, and the fearsome toothy cows of Skree / Andrew Peterson.—1st ed.
                                                               p. cm.—(The Wingfeather saga ; bk. 1)
                                    Summary: Three siblings experience many fantastic adventures while looking for a lost treasure.
                                    [1. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 2. Fantasy.] I. Title.
PZ7.P4431On 2008
[Fic]—dc22

2007047702

eISBN: 978-0-307-44665-7

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