Botros (Bo)

ASSIGNMENT: Bodyguard to Sophie Foster

QUALIFICATIONS: Bo is one of King Dimitar’s best Mercadirs and has been preparing for battle his entire life.

KNOWN FOR: His less-than-cuddly personality and aversion to sentiment (and hugs!). Bo believes that warriors are meant to be fearsome, ruthless, cunning, and merciless, and he doesn’t want to get close to Sophie, so he can better protect her.

NOTES: Like his wife, Bo prefers to be called by his nickname—and he’s not exactly thrilled about his marriage. Nor is he excited to be serving in the Lost Cities—with a goblin as his supervisor. But he’s loyal to his king. And he seems to be slowly growing to appreciate the elves, even agreeing to protect Linh Song—and now her brother, Tam, as well.

GNOMES

CAPITAL CITY:

Their original homeland was Serenvale—but it was stolen by the ogres, and the gnomes now live scattered throughout the Lost Cities (or the Neutral Territories).

RULED BY:

The elvin Council

(At times, the gnomes may assign one or several of their own to speak for them—like Thales the Sower. But primarily, they defer to the Councillors.)

CULTURE:

Gnomes are incredibly industrious creatures, requiring almost no sleep (only about ten minutes a day). They also draw their nourishment from the sun and only eat when it’s something worthwhile (like starkflower stew!). Gnomes can live for thousands of years—and when the last of their energy finally fades, they shift into trees. But if they choose to shift early (when life still remains within them), they become Panakes trees (also known as “the Brave Ones”), and their sacrificed energy makes the Panakes bloom with special healing blossoms. Given how plantlike gnomes are, it’s no surprise that their culture revolves around nature: Their language sounds like rustling leaves; their clothes are woven from different grasses, flowers, leaves, and barks; and their medicine relies entirely on plants or nature songs. The majority of their time is also spent caring for forests and gardens, singing soothing songs, and tending to the plants’ various needs. As a result, gnomes are responsible for growing all the foods eaten in the Lost Cities. They’re also happy to help the elves with numerous other tasks and chores. But the gnomes definitely aren’t servants—and would never cooperate if they felt unappreciated or forced. They simply prefer to keep themselves busy. Gnomes can be tremendously productive and can accomplish more in a few hours than most elves can in days. They’re also able to see elvin Vanishers by detecting the glints of pollen that cling to them. When gnomes need to travel somewhere, they’re able to sing to the roots of the nearby trees, creating a tunnel underground and coaxing the roots to pull them through at rapid speeds, heading anywhere they’d like—except Ravagog. The ogres destroyed the root system to prevent the gnomes from visiting their former homeland.

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ELVES:

The gnomes have an incredibly strong alliance with the elves, given that they live with them—but they also came tremendously close to a full-fledged rebellion. The Ancient Councillors hid the truth about the drakostomes, as well as the truth about what happened to the original Panakes trees, and the truth about the gnomish leaders who lost their lives and became the Four Seasons Tree. So when the Neverseen convinced the ogres to unleash the plague, the gnomes blamed the Council for not warning them. They even organized a strike and a protest—until the Councillors finally told them everything, including the fact that the Ancient gnomish leaders had made them promise to keep the plague secret, fearing the knowledge would put the gnomes in greater danger. If Sophie Foster and her friends—along with Calla—hadn’t infiltrated Ravagog and discovered how to create a new Panakes, the gnomes might’ve been forced to live as slaves for the ogres in Ravagog—or perished. And after everything settled (and everyone suffering from the plague had been cured), the Council offered to help the gnomes establish their own homeland. But the majority of the gnomes chose to remain in the Lost Cities. Some still roam free in the Neutral Territories, but most stay close to Havenfield, to be near their beloved Panakes.

GNOMISH BODYGUARDS

Calla

ASSIGNMENT: Calla wasn’t a bodyguard—but as a member of the Black Swan (and a part of Project Moonlark from the very beginning), she often played the role of Sophie’s protector.

QUALIFICATIONS: Calla was an expert on plant hybridization, which made her incredibly valuable to the Black Swan’s genetic experiment.

KNOWN FOR: Her grandmotherly ways, gentle songs, brilliantly designed reveriebells, and delicious starkflower stew.

NOTES: One of Calla’s many roles in Project Moonlark was to keep the Black Swan grounded and ensure they never strayed away from what was natural, or lost sight of the fact that they were sparking the life of an innocent girl. She lived to be four thousand, three hundred, and twenty-nine years old before she sacrificed herself by turning into a Panakes tree to cure the plague. Her Panakes stands on its own hill at Havenfield and has long, sweeping branches (similar to those of a weeping willow); braided bark; star-shaped leaves; and an abundance of pinkish, purplish, bluish flowers. Her tree is cared for by many, but particularly by her moonlark, who often pours bowls of starkflower stew into the ground for her roots and sleeps under her branches, soaking up her soothing songs.

Flori

ASSIGNMENT: Bodyguard to Sophie Foster

EXPERIENCE: Her great-great-grandaunt Calla trained Flori personally in many valuable ways.

KNOWN FOR: Her eager spirit, loyal heart, fierce fighting, and healing songs.

NOTES: Flori believes that everyone has a song within them—even if they don’t think of it as music—and that each life has a rhythm of breaths and a heartbeat, creating a melody that can be drawn on for strength, healing, and comfort. She created the song that finally calmed Sophie’s echoes from the Neverseen’s shadowflux attack by carefully drawing inspiration from vesperlace, dimmetines, respitillis, and hushspurs. The Panakes tree is also believed to sprout twice as many blossoms whenever Flori sings to it.

TROLLS

CAPITAL CITY:

Weeriiduulooaa

(translates to Marintrylla in the Enlightened Language)

RULED BY:

Empress Pernille

CULTURE:

Trolls age in reverse, meaning their bodies shrink with time instead of growing—which is only possible because they develop more like marsupials. Babies are born before they’ve fully developed and are then implanted into a hive to gestate further, finally hatching when there’s an eclipse. The trollish birthing process isn’t a secret, but the location of their hives is, since other species (the ogres in particular) have proven to be deadly to the unborn babies. Trolls have seven distinct stages throughout the course of their lives, all of which have different physical and mental attributes. Newborns are the strongest physically, the weakest mentally, and the most ferocious and deadly. And as the trolls pass from stage to stage, their strength fades and their mental capacity enhances. As a result, Stage Four is considered the Prime Stage—the stage when a troll’s mental and physical strength are nearly even (which makes them less useful as warriors and ideally fit for diplomatic assignments). By their final stages, trolls are small, strange creatures with slower minds—though their years of experience often make them the most qualified to lead. (Empress Pernille is a Stage Six.) The trolls are a battle-focused species (like goblins and ogres) and have an incredibly strong army (most of which are Stage Two trolls). Part of their training involves naming their weapons, to give them meaning and significance.