Prologue - Introduction to the Land of Trymyll.
This is an introduction to the Land of Trymyll, it is only a short read and if you do not wish to continue, just skip onto the first chapter, but by reading, you will gain some useful insight that may be of use whilst reading the rest of the book.
Trymyll is where much of this story is set, it is a mystical, magical, and mythical land in a slightly different dimension to ours. But that does not make it any less real.
To help you enjoy this book, here are a few details about this fantastic place.
Trymyll is a land of seven cities. Each city has a castle, chateaux or large fortified house at its centre, and the city and surrounding lands are overseen by a High Elder, each High Elder has seven elders working for and reporting to them and each of the seven elders has seven senior wizards working for and with them.
At the centre of the land is Castell y Blaenoraid, the biggest castle, where the Elder of Elders holds domain. His name is, not only unpronounceable, but no one seems to know what it is, so he is just referred to as, the Elder. No one knows how old he is, they just assume he is an old and wise wizard, he wears a huge dark cloak that has a deep hood, so no one can see his face. He is surrounded by mystery and magic. His voice is exceptionally soft, and people must strain to hear him. But as he seldom speaks, this is not a great problem. His attitude is always one of ‘don’t speak unless what you have to say is of the utmost importance’. So, on the rare occasions he does speak, everyone listens. The High Elders of the six cities beneath him are usually the only wizards who ever hear him speak anyway. The Elder, plus the six High Elders form what is known as the High Council of Blaenoraid or the Council of Elders.
Each city has a name, each name has a meaning.
Castell y Blaenoraid is the capital of Trymyll, its name simply means ‘The Capital.’ It is set right in the centre of the land, high on a hill and overlooking all around. The countryside is lush, green, well-wooded and populated with deer and wild boar, both of which are good for eating. Being set high on the hill the view stretches to all the mountains which surround the Land of Trymyll, it is a most beautiful and magical city. There are rules and a few enchantments which control the city. You cannot apparate within the city walls. The council chamber, which is at the centre of the castle and inside the bailey, is encased in enchantments so that no magic can be performed inside of it. The council chamber is also the courtroom and deep beneath it are the dungeons of Blaenoraid. A place which would be feared in any other castle, but the dungeons of Blaenoraid, were quite comfortable, clean, and well lit. There is so little crime in Trymyll, so the jailers spend all their time cleaning and redecorating to pass the time.
Wrth y Môr, or castle on the sea. It is a bit of a misnomer as there is no sea in Trymyll. It stands in or rather on a vast saltwater lake. So big that you cannot see from shore to shore. When the wind is up, there are large waves and storm conditions, it looks like a sea because of its size, but it is, in fact, a lake. The castle setting is quite secure as it is built on an island about half a mile out into the lake. There is only one way in is along a long and narrow causeway which could be magically sunk if the castle is ever under attack and the drawbridge is raised. Around the castle swim sea monsters, multiple Kraken and a Manticore who also defend the castle if required, though in over four hundred years, the drawbridge had never been raised and the causeway had never been sunk. Along the shoreline around the causeway entrance is the town of Wrth where the inhabitants live a happy life, eating drinking and fishing for the saltwater fish from the lake and freshwater fish from the many rivers that feed into the lake and run through the town. At this moment, its High Elder is Llewel. His whole and unspoken name is Llewel Mathias Gaynor.
Goleuedigaeth was an interesting city. All the residents are female, all incredibly wise and all very magical. Although they have a High Elder, one High Elder Aneta Stepanek, from Eastern Europe, and the normal seven elders who oversee the forty-nine senior wizards, the city of Goleuedigaeth is run by consensus rather than by an authoritarian leader. Men are allowed in the city, but none live there. The city is beautiful in every way with fragrant flowers adorning each road, alley, balcony, windowsill, and doorway, in fact, every nook and cranny. At the centre there stands a most elegant seven towered castle, well when I say castle, it looks more like an eighteenth-century French Chateaux. The scent of the city can be picked up for miles around, so sweet, it seems to draw you in, once in the city, you were overcome with a sense of peace and tranquillity. It is the city of Enlightenment.
Fourth on the list is Gwir. High Elder Traveon Baughan is their leader. The castle itself looks very ordinary, the city that surrounded the castle is plain and grey. The opposite of Goleuedigaeth, Gwir looks harsh, severe, and serious. This is the Castle of the Truth. Set right in the north of the country and near to the Dragonlands this city and castle is a stronghold of battle wizards. All trained in the art of attack magic and defensive arts, but also fearsome knights with heavy armour, broadswords, mace, and shields. They ride destriers, large, fearless warhorses, bred for battle. This ferocious band of wizards are disciplined, it is ruled over by a strict and severe High Elder who thinks truthfulness, loyalty, honour, and bravery were the marks of a good wizard. Although a very grumpy sort of wizard High Elder Traveon Baughan is just the sort you need on your side if you ever go into a battle.
Next was Mynydd and the accompanying castle. Set high on a mountain to the very south of the land of Trymyll, Mynydd sits above the snow line, it is cold and snowy even in the hottest of summers, a particularly hardy breed of wizards lives there, they are few, High Elder, Govannon Staley of the Elven community, seven Elven elders and forty-nine Elven wizards. Unlike most of the other High Elders, Govannon Staley was not elected, his title was hereditary and passed from father to eldest son or daughter on death. Apart from a few bakers, cooks, and tradespeople, no one else lives in Mynydd, less than one hundred souls in all. The rest of the Elven Community live in the valleys below, bathed in the sun and lush with vegetation. They too are great soldiers, archers, horsemen and horsewomen, yes, men and women. They hold equal sway in the elven community and the women are the finest archers in the land and always fight alongside the men. No one wants to live in the actual castle, no one even wishes to visit. It was a terribly dark, cold, damp, wretched existence. Why anyone lived there anyway, no one could remember. They knew it was important to keep the castle occupied and active but could not remember why.
At another extreme, Dolydd. The Castle in the meadows. A sun-drenched pleasant and well-populated city set in the vast pasture lands of Trymyll. Dolydd is the breadbasket of Trymyll, most of the grain, meat, vegetables, and fruit comes from the area surrounding Dolydd, where there are warm summers and mild winters. Who wouldn’t want to live there? The High Elder, Brangwen Binning, or Bangers as most call her, is as much a farmer as a wizard and High Elder, she is a happy, congenial, and fun lady, enjoys her ale, wine, and song. She does not enjoy or respect the formalities of the council, so rarely attends, instead, she attends in person while at the same time being at home in her farmhouse castle. She is, as they say in Trymyll, in the neither here nor there.
One city was different from the others, called Castell yr Tywyll, it is where Asmodeus the Dark Elder is in charge, previously banished from the council, he has seven dark elders and forty-nine dark wizards running the show. Set apart from the other cities, from the distance it looks dark, there is always a black cloud shrouding the city, dense poisonous and even flesh-eating plants climb the walls all woven by the magic of the dark elders to keep snoopers out.
But there are problems in Trymyll, big problems, in fact, problems so big that even Asmodeus has been allowed back to attend the Council of Elders, to show unity in the hope that it may solve the problems.
The magic was leaching out of Trymyll, and the Wizards were losing their powers. Sometimes bringing disaster, as a flying wizard might suddenly lose the power of flight whist high in the air and come crashing down to land. Someone might transform either themselves or someone else into an animal and not be able to change back, they could apparate, but instead of arriving where they envisaged, they would find half their body in a wall or buried up to their waist and be unable to escape. All sorts of terrible things were happening because the magic was disappearing.
Back in Tom’s world, certain parts used to be very magical. Magic now is as rare as hen’s teeth, even in Wales, previously one of the most magical places on earth and the birthplace of dragons. Modernity and technology drove it out, and slowly people stopped believing in magic, so it disappeared, almost. In the modern-day, most so-called witches and wizards are fakes and phonies, possessing little if any actual magic or power. But even now some powerful wizards are living hidden amongst us. You never know who, you never know where. But they are here, it may be your neighbour, your mother or father, it may even be your best friend or your worst enemy. Nobody knows for they are hidden.
Not so in Trymyll, here magic rules, it is a way of life, everyone has magical powers of some sort to a greater or lesser degree. Some are very magical and become wizards, some less so, they are called phobls and are found living as farmers or carpenters or bakers as an example, but even they have some magic. A farmer can enchant a plough to make a straight furrow without the need of a horse, a carpenter can straighten warped wood or drive out woodworm and a baker sift his flour and knead his dough on a magic kneading table without even rising from his bed. They all seem fine, it is the higher wizards who were losing their powers, not the ordinary people, not the phobls.
Trymyll is an equal opportunity wizardly kingdom and both elders and wizards can be ethnically diverse, male, female, or binary. But as in our world, the males were usually in any positions of real power.