THE SHANNARA SAGA PART 3 : LEGENDS OF SHANNARA BOOK TWO - THE MEASURE OF THE MAGIC
Legends of Shannara
Book Two: Measure of the Magic
By Terry Brooks
The Adventures of Pan and Prue, part 2.
Book Two of the Legends of Shannara: Measure of the Magic is the concluding book of this two book series that visits the time period 500 years after the previous series. The survivors of men and Elves and some other races have been sequestered for those 500 years behind a wall of magic that protected them from a nuclear holocaust and the armies of the demons that were killing off men and Elves.
The first book saw this magical barrier start to fail little by little until it was gone completely and this resulted in the exposure of this isolated community to the outside world. As outside groups sought to infiltrate the Valley they lived in, one group of Trolls succeeded and killed some defenders including one of the descendants of one of the Knights of the Word and a bearer of the Black Staff and a user of magic, Sider Ament.
Sider Ament’s dying words to a friend, Panterra Qu, were to take up his Black Staff and take his place as a magic user to defend their people and Valley.
We also were left wondering what happened to Panterra’s good friend, Prue Liss, as the two had become separated and Prue had escaped her Troll captors with the help of the mercenary, Deladion Inch. Deladion sacrifices his life to take out the Trolls chasing them so Prue can escape the remaining Trolls and barricade herself into his fortress.
I really enjoyed this two book series and was left wanting more when it was over. While this two book story doesn’t end unfinished, there is definitely more story to tell. In his online Q&A’s, Ask Terry, Terry Brooks has hinted at that he knows here is more story to tell in this era and that he may or may not get back to it someday. Terry Brooks does a great job of developing characters and their relationships as the story moves forward. I really enjoyed the characters and their growth and character development, the conflicts that arise and the deep and rich history of these cultures and peoples that have been established in previous books and that is enriched in these books. I feel that these stories do a great job of building up and preparing us for what comes later in the Sword of Shannara era books later on.
With this series being only two books, I was amazed at how well I grew to enjoy reading these characters and liking them in a short time. When this two book story was over, I realized that I had come to enjoy these characters just as much as I do those from the three book series’. While a short series compared to his other Shannara stories, this two book story is fairly intricate with multiple characters and storylines that need to be addressed and culminate in a satisfactory ending. While Terry Brooks is able to do that with these two books, the overall story of Pan and Prue is incomplete and needs at least another two books to wrap it up.
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SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT:
When this story starts we are introduced to a new character, a demon. This demon is old and has been around for awhile and has hunted down men during the Great Wars and is searching for any remaining Knights of the Word who bear the Black Staff. As he is wandering the land trying to pinpoint where the man with the Black Staff is hiding, he comes across the Trolls that were chasing down Prue Liss and tortures their leader, Grosha, into telling him about Prue and that she lives in valley. The demon kills Grosha and uses his soldiers to search out Prue. He senses the magic of Prue and decides to pursue this magic and find out what it is. The demon, appearing as an old man, is able to track down Prue and confronts her and questions her about her magic and the Black Staff. Prue lies to him, but the demon is able to tell that she is lying and tries to capture her, but she runs off until she is cornered by the demon. But before he can grab her, a white light appears behind her and envelops her and spirits her away to safety leaving the demon wondering what happened. It appears the King of the Silver River has again intervened and saved one of our heroes.
Panterra Qu mourns the death of Sider Ament and with his last words running through his mind, “Take the staff.” Panterra wonders what he should do. In the end, Panterra realizes he needs to take the staff and continue what Sider Ament and previous Bearers of the Black Staff had started. Upon taking up the staff, Panterra notices that the magic of the staff works within him. The staff warns him of danger and Panterra is able to evade traps set by the Troll, Arik Siq, as well as see better in the dark to locate Siq’s tracks to track him down. The staff is enhancing his natural abilities as a Tracker. Panterra tracks down Arik Siq and is able to incapacitate him and take him captive. While they are walking to their destination, Panterra’s village of Glensk Wood, Siq admits that he lied earlier about the story of Panther and Cat during the Great Wars. He wasn’t one of their heritage, but another Troll group, the Karriak, were the descendants of Panther and Cat and that they knew Hawk during the Great Wars and that story was true. His tribe the Drouj wiped out the Karriak and Siq tells him that now the Drouj are going to wipe out Panterra’s people.
Upon arrival to Glensk Wood, Panterra takes Siq to Pogue Kray and Skeal Eile and tells them that he is the Bearer of the Black Staff now and he wields the magic. Panterra and Skeal argue over what needs to be done, as Skeal wants to bargain with the Trolls for their safety. Panterra tells them that it is a bad idea and that the Trolls want to kill them all and take their Valley. They decide to fortify the pass and that Skeal will go and talk with the Elves and the King and Queen. Siq is put into a jail cell for now. Sometime after Panterra leaves, Skeal Eile goes to his assassin, Bonnasaint, and tells him that he must kill Panterra Qu.
Panterra goes to Aislinne Kray and tells her of Sider’s death and what happened at Declan Reach. Aislinne is sad that he is dead. Aislinne tells Panterra about the Elven King, Oparion Amarantyne’s, death and that his daughter and Panterra’s friend, Phryne, stands accused of his murder and that the Queen has Phryne locked up. They counsel together that Panterra should go to Phyrne first and then seek out Prue. Aislinne will send someone to talk to the other leaders of men to get their help in defending the Valley. Panterra will rest and then leave in the morning.
Panterra wakes up early the next morning and as he is getting ready, he hears his name called and sees Prue in his home. However, Panterra notices that something is different. Prue’s eyes are milky white and she is blind.
Now we jump to Prue’s story and what happened after Prue was saved by the King of the Silver River. She spent some time in his gardens and is able to rest in his presence. They talk about who he is, to which the King of the Silver River responds,
“I am what they say, but mostly I am things that no one knows. Secret things. I was a Faerie creature once, in a time long ago. I was caretaker of the old world, of the world that disappeared when the Faerie folk gave way to the coming of Man and everything changed. My space has become much smaller since then, a fraction and no more of what once was given to me. I keep it hidden now from all, but it is still here, part of a better time and better world.”
They talk about the demon and it’s history of seeking out Knights of the Word and destroying them and their staff’s. The demon had a dream of one that still lived and when Sider left the Valley the first time, the demon was able to head in that direction to find him. The demon now seeks the staff and it’s bearer. The King of the Silver River reveals to Prue her heritage, that she is a descendant of Candle one of the Ghosts that came with Hawk to the Valley. Prue bears a magic similar to Candle, being warned when there is danger to her or to one of her friends. The King tells her about the nature of magic,
“Magic works differently for different people, and there is no way of knowing how it will respond. Even those who have used it repeatedly and come to rely on it have found that it can abandon them.”
This theme of how magic works differently for different people and it’s reliability is a key theme in the Shannara Saga. As we read about the different protagonists and their magical gifts and abilities, from Hawk to Wil Ohmsford, and others, they all had to master and overcome their magic and how to use it in the right place and time.
The King tells Prue that Sider is dead and that Panterra now carries the Black Staff. They talk about how the demon now knows of the Valley and will now be searching not only her, but Panterra as well. The King offers her a way to help stop the demon, but that it will cost something that can’t be given back. Prue takes him up on the offer despite not knowing the cost, because of their close bond and love for one another. The King then reveals that Panterra is a descendant of Hawk and while he doesn’t have the magic within him, he can wield the magic just as good as the Knights of the Word could. Panterra has a task to complete just as important as Hawk did back in the time of the Great Wars. Panterra must lead the people of the Valley back into the larger world where they will again establish themselves and become a dominant people again. But he will need help and protection against the demon and that Prue can provide this. The King will give Prue the ability to always have access to her magic and that it won’t fail her or mislead her, as the magic has done in the past. This will allow it to be possible for Prue to help protect Panterra and to be able to always know what is needed. Her abilities will help protect Panterra from what is seen and also from what is hidden. Panterra will have to protect himself, but with help from Prue, he will know where the danger is. This increase in magic will cost her something, as the magic increases something else must decrease to maintain a balance. The King tells her that he isn’t sure what it is and to what extent (but he does know, but decides not to reveal it). Prue thinks about it for awhile then agrees to the exchange if it will help Pan overcome the demon that is hunting him. As they walk through the King’s gardens, Prue sees a scarlet dove flying away from them. She then lays down and goes to sleep. As the King augments her magical abilities, he is thinking the following,
“It broke his heart that so much sacrifice was needed to keep the magic in balance, to keep the war between the Word and Void from tilting the wrong way. He had great power at his disposal, power second only to the Word’s, but he felt so helpless. To give her what she asked for, to give her what she needed, came at such a high price.”
The King of the Silver River is powerful and is second in power only to the Word, and his job is to try and maintain the balance in the war. This short chapter of the conversation between Prue and The King reveals a lot of the King’s purpose, as well as the history and future of Prue and Panterra and how they are a vital connection to the overall story.
Prue wakes up and wonders where she is and how much time has passed during her conversation with the King of the Silver River. Prue realizes something is different as the light she sees is different, almost hazy. Prue then sees a scarlet dove and is reminded of the one she saw while with the King of the Silver River. It is at this moment she realizes that she can see the scarlet of the scarlet dove, but can’t see other colors in the world around her. She can only see things in shades of gray and black. Prue sees the dove and comes to understand that the dove is wanting her to follow it. Prue comes to a pond of water and is able to look at her reflection in the water. What she sees is shocking - her eyes look clouded and empty and like those of a blind person. Prue realizes that this is what she has to give up to help her friend, Pan.
Prue follow the scarlet dove which eventually leads her back to the Valley and to Pan’s home.
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The two storylines converge at this point and Panterra and Prue are finally reunited! Pan quickly realizes that Prue’s eyes are different and that she is blind. Prue reassures Pan that she is ok, that somehow she can still see, but that it is different now. They sit down and reconnect as Prue tells him everything that happened after she escaped from the Trolls with the help of Deladion Inch and that they was chased by them. How she was tracked by the demon and was rescued from his clutches at the last second by the King of the Silver River and of the bargain that she made with him so as to protect Pan from the demon that would come for him. But she didn’t tell him everything as she had agreed to do with the King, such as that he is a direct descendant of Hawk, nor that Pan would eventually lead the people of the Valley back in to the larger world. Pan catches Prue up with what has happened since Sider’s death, in that Oparion Amarantyne was killed and Phryne was blamed for it and is imprisoned. They decide to go visit the Elves and to warn the Queen of the coming army of Trolls and of the demon that may be a threat as well. They pack up and head out to Arborlon. Unbeknownst to them, the assassin Bonnasaint, has been keeping an eye out on the home and decides to follow them and wait for the right moment to kill them.
Back in Arborlon, Phryne Amarantyne, is being held prisoner and being blamed for her father’s death. She knows who did it as she was present, but has no way to prove who the real killer is or that the Queen ordered the death of her father. Queen Isoeld and her lover, Teonette, came to visit her to blackmail her into confessing to the King’s murder. Isoeld tells Phryne that if she doesn’t confess then they will kill her grandmother, Mistral. Phryne becomes angry and attacks Isoeld and scratches her face, before Teonette can intervene. It’s during this interaction that Isoeld is trying to find the Blue Elfstones. After Isoeld and Teonette leave, a note is slipped to Phryne that lets her know that help is coming. Later as Phryne is wondering who sent the note, a serving girl comes to the storeroom where she is being imprisoned, and pulls back her good revealing that it is Xac Wen come to rescue her! Xac has drugged the guards’ ale and they were now sleeping. They escape to a safe house that her cousins, the twins Tasha and Tenerife, had been building. Xac tells her that the twins are still at the pass and can’t leave as they are being watched by the Queen, which is why he was sent to rescue her instead. They decide to go to her grandmother’s home to make sure she is ok.
Upon arriving to Mistral’s home, the cottage is dark and empty. Phryne and Xac realize it’s probably a trap, but they decide to go in anyway. Phryne needs to find the Elfstones before Isoeld does. No one is inside, and they search the cottage and are unable to find the Elfstones. Phryne comes upon a glowing light and as she approaches it becomes a magical avatar of her grandmother that is able to talk and give her a message. Isoeld knows of the Elfstones and will come to her home for them. Mistral leaves directions for Phryne telling her where the Elfstones are hidden, they are at the Ashenell beneath the Belloruusian Arch. Xac and Phryne are able to leave the cottage undetected just as Isoeld’s guards are showing up to search the cottage.
Xac and Phryne head to the Ashenell, which is the graveyard of the Elves and where in the previous trilogy of The Genesis of Shannara the Blue Elfstones were hidden in a tomb of one the Elven Queens. The Belloruusian Arch was constructed after the transportation of Arborlon from the Cintra to the new Valley. It is the section of the graveyard where the Belloruusian family is buried. They arrive at the Arch and don’t see anyone else there. Phryne walks to the Arch and goes underneath it and at that moment she disappears. Xac chases after her and when he goes underneath the Arch nothing happens. Phryne Amarantyne is gone and Xac has no clue as to what happened. He decides to go back to Tasha and Tenerife at Aphalion Pass to let them know what has happened.
As Prue and Pan are on their way to Arborlon they are able to get back into their groove and almost feel like it was back before all of this started. As they are walking and talking, Prue receives a warning that there is danger ahead. They stop and look ahead on the trail and see that further down the trail they are on there is a good spot for an ambush. They choose another path and are able to sneak around the perceived danger and keep moving towards Arborlon. After awhile Prue has another warning and realizes that the danger has realized they snuck past and is now following them. Pan and Prue start to hike faster to reach safety at Arborlon but realize they won’t make it in time as they are too far away. They decide to set a trap and wait for their pursuer. They are able to capture the pursuer and bind him to a tree. The pursuer is Bonnasaint and he was sent to kill them. He tells them that if they go to Arborlon they will be in danger. Eventually he tells them how the Queen hired him to kill the King and frame Phryne.
After Prue’s escape from the demon, the demon heads towards the Valley to find the man with the Black Staff. He makes his way through Declan Reach and down in to the Valley and comes upon Glensk Wood. He finds his way to the city council building and asks about who is in charge. He finds out that Pogue Kray is the chairman and then heads to his home and finds Aislinne Kray outside. He asks her about Sider Ament and she tells him that Sider is dead. The demon asks what happened to the staff and Aislinne realizes that this man isn’t who he said he is and she asks him to leave. The demon decides on another approach.
In Arborlon, Skeal Eile and the Queen, Isoeld, are discussing their terms of their agreement that was made when they plotted to kill the King. Ioseld keeps putting Skeal off and he is getting frustrated. Skeal thinks that he may have to take further action. Skeal heads back to Glensk Wood and upon arriving at his home finds the demon there waiting for him. The demon makes Skeal tell him everything and what he wants which is to be the leader of the people of the Valley and take them away to a safe place. The demon tells Skeal that he can do this for him if he tells him where he can find the Black Staff. Skeal tells him that Sider Ament is dead and that Panterra Qu now has the staff and the Skeal has sent someone to kill Panterra. The demon promises him that if he gets the staff and gives it to him, then the demon will give him everything he wants. The demon then heads to the jail and dispatches the guards and frees the Troll, Arik Siq. The demon tells the Troll to track down Panterra and kill him so that Arik Siq can bring him the black staff. But first to go to his people and bring them to the Valley to attack the Elves. Then he can search for the boy and the staff.
The demon then went back to Aislinne’s home, and now that it was night, she was asleep. He rendered her unconscious and then takes her to the jail and lays her next to the slain guards to frame her for their murder and make it look like she set the Troll free.
Prue and Pan are trying to figure out what to do with the assassin they’ve captured and whether or not he’s telling the truth. They decide to take the assassin, Bonnasaint, to Arborlon, but not to turn him over to the Queen but to get help from their allies, the Amarantyne’s. However, they realize that they will have to split up to do this despite agreeing not to ever separate again. Prue goes along with this but isn’t happy about it. Prue wants all of this to be over so they can go back to the way it was, just the two of them tracking again. Panterra points out that it won’t ever go back to the way it was before, too much has changed already. They talk about how things won’t be the same between them either and Pan tells Prue that she could go back and let him handle the situation so that she can be safe. Prue is insulted by this and tells him that she’s made her choice and that she won’t be leaving him again.
Once they get to the outskirts of Arborlon, Prue heads into the city and Pan stays behind with Bonnasaint. When she comes back she tells Pan that Phryne has escaped and no one knows where she is, but the Queen and the Elven Guard are searching for her and that the Orullians are guarding the Pass. They decided to go the Pass and talk to the Orullians. After hiking the rest of the day towards the mountains, they stop for the night. When Prue is giving their prisoner some food to eat, having been able to loosen his bonds, he grabs Prue and threatens to kill her if they don’t let him go. As Pan is about to hand over his knives to Bonnasaint, Prue uses this moment to use her own knife to kill the assassin.
The two Trackers continue their journey to Aphalion Pass and meet up with the brothers, Tasha and Tenerife, and they fill each other in on what’s happened since they were separated. The brothers tell the Trackers about how Xac was able to go back for Phryne and they assumed he was able to rescue her as she is now missing. Prue tells them how she escaped the Trolls and met up with Pan and how they captured Bonnasaint and how he admitted that he killed the King under the direction of the Queen. Prue tells them that she had to kill him and Tasha and Tenerife again reiterate how proud they are of their little sister, with Tenerife being especially moved revealing that he has more than just kind feelings towards Prue. Pan then tells the Orullians how he now carries the Black Staff and that Sider Ament is dead.
They talk about what they should do next to find Phryne, they decide to wait for Xac to show back up and find out the latest news from Arborlon.
Xac arrives at the camp at the Pass later that evening and tells his story of what happened with him rescuing Phryne and how they went to her grandmother’s home and then were directed to the Ashenell graveyard, He tells them that they went to the Arch and that she disappeared and he hasn’t seen her since. They talk about where she could have gone, but Prue says that she knows. That she is below the Ashenell, and reminds them of the story of how Kirisin found the Elfstones. That Kirisin and his friends went went underneath the burial grounds and met with Pancea Rolt Gotrin, a long dead Elven Sorceress, who had the Elfstones in her possession (we read about this event in The Elves of Cintra) and were able to strike a bargain with the Sorceress to gain the blue Elfstones. They decide that Pan, Prue, and Xac will go back to the Ashenell and the Belloruusian Arch to see if they can find a way underground to locate Phryne.
Phryne is disoriented as she adjusts to her new surroundings. She finds herself in an underground tunnel and has no choice but to continue forward. After what seems like miles, she comes into a large cavern that are lit with torches with a lake at it’s center with tombs next to the lake’s edge. She had been hearing a hissing sound while hiking the tunnel, and in the cavern the hissing increased. Phryne realizes that the hissing noises are actually hundreds of whispering voices. As she walks down to the edge of the lake and closer to the tombs, one voice rises above a whisper and the other voices. She recognizes the voice and that it is the voice of her grandmother, Mistral. Phryne realizes that her grandmother is dead and is devastated. Mistral tells her of how she was able to escape the Queen’s Guards with the help of her friends, but was mortally wounded. Mistral made her way down to these tombs before dying and has the Elfstones with her to give to Phryne. Before she can do so, the dead Elven Queen, Pancea Rolt Gotrin, who had been the caretaker of the Elfstones prior to giving them to Kirisin 500 years earlier, shows up and challenges Phryne as to why she is here among the dead. Pancea is still bitter about giving up the Elfstones to Kirisin and believes that he didn’t keep his side of the bargain in bringing magic back to the Elves. Phryne tells the Queen that he did fulfill his bargain, but that while many Elves weren’t interested some were and magic was among the Elves again. Phryne attempts to get close to Mistral but the Queen prevents her from doing so. Phryne realizes that the Queen is waiting for Mistral to fully pass on to the other side so that she can take the Elfstones for herself.
Xac leads Pan and Prue to the Arch where Phryne had disappeared and shows them how Phryne had walked up to the Arch and then disappeared without a trace. Pan follows the same path and when he walks up to the Arch, he too disappears! Prue is beside herself as she and Xac look for Pan and he is nowhere to be found.
Panterra wakes up in the same tunnel and follows the same path that Phryne had taken earlier. Pan makes his way to the cavern and comes upon the lake and sees Phryne sitting there. He calls out to her, and Pancea sees him and attacks him with her magic, but is able to Pan block her magic with his staff. It’s during this distraction that Phryne is able to get the Elfstones from her grandmother. Pancea attempts to use her magic to kill Phryne but the magic of the Elfstones keeps her safe. Mistral attacks Pancea allowing Phryne to escape with Pan chasing after her. They run out of the cavern and into a different tunnel. They eventually stop and talk about what happened. Pan tells her that Xac had found him and told him what happened and how he came to the Arch to find her. He tells her what has happened since they were separated when he and Prue were captured by the Trolls. He tells her about Sider Ament’s death and how he ended up with the black staff.
They decide to use the Elfstones to find a way out of the underground. Phryne uses them and they are shown the way out that leads to a forest that neither of them had seen before. They follow the tunnel for a long time and eventually reach the opening and they find themselves in the strange forrest that neither of them recognize. They realize that they are outside of the Valley. Since neither of them know where they are, Phryne uses the Elfstones again and are shown a way back to the Valley. As they are standing there after the magic of the Elfstones dissipates, they look at each and Phryne kisses Pan and he kisses her back. They kiss for a long time and then after a time they begin walking towards home while holding hands.
After walking for a time, they find a place to camp for the night and they talk. They talk about their future and Phryne asks Pan to take her with him when he goes out into the world, she doesn’t want to be a ruler of the Elves. Pan says that he will take her with him when he leaves. She tells Pan that she loves him, and before he can respond Pan sees a giant cat (most likely a moor cat similar to Rumor and Whisper from the later books, or at least their ancestor) outside their camp coming towards them. The massive cat is curious and after a few minutes, wanders off looking for something else to do. Phryne and Pan end up cuddling and then move in to taking clothes off, and while not described but heavily implied, making love during the night.
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The next morning they head off towards the Valley again, and Phryne’s attitude towards Pan has changed, which confuses Pan. They talk as they hike on and Phryne tells him that what happened, happened and to not make more of it than what it was. Pan counters with reminding her that she told him that she loved him and did that statement mean nothing? She reminds him that what she actually said was “I think that I love you” and that’s a big difference. She tells him that she has a lot of things to do in the near future and she doesn’t want to commit to him before those other things are finished. She tells him that they have to leave last night behind and Pan begrudgingly agrees. They continue to hike the rest of the day and camp another night, and begin hiking the next day. After awhile, Phryne uses the Elfstones again and this time it shows them to go through Declan Reach (the pass by the human villages) to get to Arborlon. Then they hear faint sounds of a battle being fought and Phryne uses the Elfstones again to see where the battle is. The Elfstones show the two that there is a battle being fought at Aphalion Pass between Elves and Trolls. The two of them decide to go help the Elves in their battle and start running towards the Elves. As they are running Phryne looks behind them and sees a dragon chasing after them!
Back at the Ashenell, Prue and Xax waited for awhile and then while Xac was off looking in another area of the cemetery, Prue sees the crimson dove again and the dove leads her out of Arborlon and towards Glensk Wood and Declan Reach. Xac discovers Prue is gone and after searching for her, decides to go back to Aphalion Pass and check in with the Orullian brothers.
Aislinne Kray is being held in the jail for the murder of the guards and for letting the Drouj free. Her husband Pogue Kray comes to visit her and confront her about her wrongodoings. Pogue tells her that he can’t trust her anymore and that there are witnesses that saw her commit these crimes. Aislinne begs him to believe her and promises him that she didn’t do it. He begins to doubt the allegations and tells her that he will speak to the Council and Skeal Eile about this. He leaves to go talk with them. The demon had been close by listening to their conversation and afterwards he goes to visit Skeal Eile to discuss their plan. Skeal gets impatient and insults the demon, to which the demon “kills” Eile and takes over his body and eliminates Skeal Eile’s soul.
The demon now masquerading as Skeal Eile gathers the humans of Glensk Wood together and tell them that the Hawk appeared to him and told him that he needs to lead the people out of the Valley and through Declan Reach in to the world outside and that Hawk will be there waiting for them. Pogue Kray challenges him and says that is a bad idea and the Drouj are there waiting for them. The demon grabs Pogue and throws him into a tree killing him. The demon claims it was the will of the Hawk that killed him and the people respond saying they will follow him. The people of Glensk Wood make plans to leave the next morning to head out of the Valley via Declan Reach.
Brickey is able to go in to the jail cells and release Aislinne, as they are leaving they come face to face with Skeal Eile and Aislinne realizes that the person in front of her isn’t Skeal Eile even though it’s his body. Brickey tackles Eile and stabs him repeatedly with his knife to allow Aislinne to escape. She runs off into the woods and heads towards Sider Ament’s boyhood home. After awhile she hears someone calling her name and realizes it’s the demon and he’s tracking her. She is able to lose him in the woods and she continues on to Sider’s old home. Once there she finds a bow with some arrows that Sider had made many years ago and had hid them in the floorboards of his home. He had made them for her and told her that when they are married, he will give them to her as a wedding present. She will need to find a string, but felt more confident with the weapon. The next morning Prue and Aislinne meet as the the scarlet dove led Prue to her. They reconnect and talk about what to do next. They will go find Pan and help him. They follow the scarlet dove off to Declan Reach.
The people of Glensk Wood are following the demon off to Declan Reach and as they go, many of them start to stop and rest and some of them turn around all together realizing they made a mistake. Prue and Aislinne are following the same path and come upon the stragglers and talk to them about going home, that it wasn’t what it seemed and convince them to return home. As Prue and Aislinne reach Declan Reach it is dark and they come upon a man who has escaped. The demon had lead the villagers out of the Valley and into a trap. Arik Siq and a hundred of the Trolls had been waiting in ambush for them. The villagers were caught unawares and exhausted from their march and were slaughtered, except for a few who escaped back to the pass.
As the Trolls are finishing up making sure all the humans are dead and looting the corpses, Arik Siq and the demon talk and Siq tells the demon that he is done, that he needs to go help his father with his battle with the Elves and tells the demon to get the staff himself and that he doesn’t need the Drouj for that. The demon is angered and kills Siq and tells the others to go back to Siq’s father and tell them that he will be taking the Valley for himself.
Xac has made his way back to Aphalion Pass to find a full scale battle going on between the Elves and the Trolls. Xac can see that the Elves are outnumbered and it’s not looking good. Xac finds the Orullian brothers and tells them what happened with Pan and Prue. They tell him to get back behind the lines and wait for them to come to him.
Pan and Phryne turn to see the dragon and the dragon isn’t attacking them, he lands right in front of them and looks at them. Phryne believes she knows what to do and gets closer to the dragon. She pulls out the Elfstones and causes them to emit light. The dragon is entranced by it and Phryne realizes that she can use the magic from the Elfstones to entice and guide the dragon. She makes a makeshift saddle out of their cloaks and after giving Pan a kiss, climbs aboard the dragon. She tells him that she has to do this to get to the Elves in time to save them. Using the magic of the Elfstones to guide him, the dragon takes flight and heads towards the battle between the Elves and the Drouj leaving Pan watching her fly away.
Phryne leads the dragon towards the Elven v Troll battle and it takes longer than she would have thought which tires her out even more. Upon arriving to the battle, after being fired upon by arrows, the dragon starts to attack and uses his fire to kill a lot of the Drouj. However in a follow up attack, not knowing the Elves from the Drouj, the dragon attacks both parties with his fire. In a panic, Phryne takes the dragon away from the battle and then is able to regain control to find the leader of the Drouj, Taureq Siq. She has the dragon land in the midst of the Trolls, who then begin to attack her and the dragon uses his fire to vaporize Taureq Siq and others. Phryne and the dragon fly off towards the Elves. With their leadership gone the Trolls flee the battle. Phryne lands the dragon amongst the Elves and before any harm can be done, she uses the Elfstones to draw the dragon away. As the dragon flies off, Phryne collapses and Tasha grabs her and runs to find a Healer.
Phryne goes unconscious in Tasha’s arms and dreams of flying on the back of the dragon once more and is happy as she rides “the air currents toward a peaceful sleep.”. Phryne Amarantyne has died saving her Elven people.
Panterra Qu had continued on to Declan Reach as that was closer to where Pan and Phryne had parted ways for the final time. As Pan came up the slopes to Declan Reach from outside the Valley, he smelled death and started to see bodies. Then he noticed someone sitting down on the ground and Skeal Eile stood up and started towards him. Pan called out to him asking what had happened, Skeal replied that they were attacked by Trolls and he survived, which made Pan very suspicious. Pan knew that the demon was there close by, he could sense it. Pan realizes that Skeal Eile is the demon and also that the confrontation that Prue had warned him of was about to happen. The demon attacks Pan with his magic and Pan is able to defend himself with the black staff, but after repeated attacks, Pan begins to tire.
Prue and Aislinne had made their way to the other side of the pass and came upon the demon just before Pan also arrived. As they watched the demon attack Pan, Prue knew she had to do something but couldn’t think of anything. It was then that she saw the scarlet dove again flying above her. She started to get closer to the demon as his attention was focused on attacking Pan. Prue yelled at the demon just as the scarlet dove dive-bombed the demon and attacked his face. This distraction allowed Pan to recover, but not before the demon killed the dove and shot a magical attack at Prue knocking her down. Pan used the staff to attack the demon and knock him back. Just then Aislinne shot two arrows at the demon, one though his chest and the other through the neck. Now mortally weaknened, Pan used the staff to summon forth magic to burn the demon out of existence. Pan and Aislinne rushed to Prue and found that she was still alive, but once the demon killed the scarlet dove, this took the rest of Prue’s sight and she is now completely blind.
The Orullian’s sent Xac Wen to report to Queen Isoeld that the Troll army had been defeated by Phryne riding a dragon and that now Phryne was coming back to Arborlon to bring justice to her father’s killer. Xac then met the Orullian brothers outside the gates. They waited outside the city until dark and then found Queen Isoeld and the First Minister, Teonette were attempting to flee the city. They chase them down and are about to catch them, when the Queen and Teonette separate and they go after the Queen and trap her. They confront her about killing the King and she denies saying she was trying to save the King after an assassin killed hm. She claims that Teonette hired the assassin and that they should be going after him. The Queen then attempts to convince the Orullian brothers to frame Teonette with her and that she would make them rulers once she is dead. The brother’s go along with that suggestion to be able to get close to her and then Tasha kills her by breaking her neck.
In Glensk Wood, Pan is saying goodbye to Prue and Aislinne in preparation of him leaving the Valley with Tasha and Tenerife Orrulian to explore and see what is out there in the world outside of the Valley. They also want to find a place to go for those that are dissatisfied with how things are in the Valley. The Elves are in the process of choosing a new leader as the Amarantyne line has ended, and with the Orullian’s being cousins they don’t want to get mixed up in the upcoming political changes.
Pan pulls Prue aside to say goodbye. He tells Prue that he will never forget what she did for him and will never forget their friendship. He is going to find a place outside the Valley because he believes at some point they will all have to go and leave the Valley. Pan tells Prue that he is doing this because he wants to find a place for them to live safely so they can be together in the future. Pan wants Prue to wait for her, and she wants to wait and be with him in the future. As they are departing Tasha gives Prue the Elfstones to keep safe until the right person can have them.
The three companions, Panterra Qu, Tasha Orullian, and Tenerife Orulllian, then begin their journey outside of the Valley to find a better future for their people.
To be continued?
While there is no follow up story to this duology at this point, Terry Brooks has gone on record to say that there is more to this story and he hopes to someday get back to it.
Next up in the Shannara Saga is The First King of Shannara!
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