The Book of Magic Read Online Free

herself—but a young wizard named Merlin rescued her, calling on powers he didn't even know he possessed. Then her journey continued, taking her to Valdearg's lair in the Lost Lands, to an enduring friendship with the deer woman Hallia , and to a crucial role in the final battle to save Fincayra—a battle that combined lost wings and dragon wings.
    Hallia (Eo-Lahallia)
    … She taught him about love.
    "More lovely than the starry sky, more graceful than the dancing stream." That is how Merlin described the deer woman Hallia. Named Eo-Lahallia by her parents, she belonged to the Mellwyn-bri-Meath clan of Lost Fincayra . In one tumultuous season, she lost her beloved brother, Eremon , and also met Merlin, who would become her closest companion for life. It took some time for Hallia, whose parents had been killed by men who hungered for venison, to trust him. But, in time, this man she called Young Hawk won her confidence, as well as her heart.
    Through Hallia, Merlin learned how to run like a deer. She also taught him the deer people's tradition of circling a story, and the truth about the tapestry of tales called the Carpet Caerlochlann. Most important, she taught him about love. When Merlin left Fincayra, his first true home, to travel to the place called Camelot on mortal Earth , the most painful part of that decision was leaving Hallia. He vowed to come back to her; she promised to listen to the wind every day to hear his footsteps.
    And so he returned to Avalon in the Year 27 to marry her. They were wed atop the highest peak in the Seven Realms, which the young wizard named Hallia's Peak. Later that year, their son, Krystallus Eopia , was born. Many years later, Krystallus would marry Halona , and they would have a son of their own: Tamwyn . Along with other surprising gifts, this young lad could—thanks to Hallia—run with the speed and grace of a deer.
    How did it feel to run that way? Here is how Merlin described it in The Fires of Merlin:
    I heard more sounds than I'd ever known existed. They washed over me in a constant stream—the continual pounding of my own hooves, the echoing reverberations through the soil, and the whispers of a dragonfly's wings. Then I realized that somehow, in a mysterious way, I was listening not just to sounds, but to the land itself. I could hear, not with my ears but with my very bones—the tensing and flexing of the earth under my hooves, the changing flow of the wind, the secret connections among all the creatures who shared these meadows, whether they crawled, slithered, flew, or ran. Not only did I hear them; I celebrated them. For we were bound together as securely as a blade of grass is bound to the soil.
    Kreelixes
    Seated under the fabled tree called the Cobbler's Rowan, young Merlin finally finished making his first instrument of musical magic: an eight-stringed psaltery. The bard Cairpré , along with Elen and Rhia , watched anxiously as Merlin started to pluck the strings for the first time. Suddenly, a high, piercing shriek sliced through the air like a sword of sound. A dark, winged beast that resembled a giant bat plunged out of the sky—straight at Merlin. A kreelix!
    Merlin survived that first attack. But he could never rid himself of the horrid memory of those hooked wings, blood red mouth, veined ears, and gleaming fangs. He learned that day that even the slightest contact with one of those fangs would destroy the power, as well as the life, of any magical creature. For kreelixes exist for only one purpose: to devour magic in all its forms.
    Since ancient times, wizards had avoided battling these magic-eating beasts directly, since they could easily lose their wizard magic. And their lives. Only someone as brave as Basilgarrad would ever knowingly confront a kreelix. And weapons such as the magical sword Deepercut couldn't be used. (That sword, in fact, was hidden away for over a hundred years, just so no kreelix could destroy it.) How then could Merlin fight such