Professor Arcanus
The young teacher with the hood and the gold bracelet who leads the island test. No one knows what he is thinking.
- Who
- Teacher. Leads the island test
- Scent
- Many layers at once and a dense scent of copper
Arcanus is a young teacher who always wears his hood pulled so far forward that all you can see is his mouth, his throat and his hands. Around his left wrist he wears a gold bracelet covered in tiny squares that seem to shift. He moves without making a sound, and his cloak stays perfectly still, even in a draught.
The island test
It is Arcanus who explains the rules of the island test to the new students. He also tests Chris on his own with a bow Chris has never tried before, and all he says is “Good” when the last arrow hits the centre of the target. During the test, it is his voice that speaks from the walls of the house on the mountain.
The scent
Chris finds Arcanus hard to read. His scent has many layers, as if several people were hiding inside him, and beneath them all lies a dense scent of copper, the same as Dherak’s, only stronger than in any other person.
Relationships
- Chris Godrand: student
Spoiler (revealed in chapter 20)
Arcanus meets Chris up on the forbidden mountain at night. He tells him that something beneath the mountain is waking up, and when Chris asks whether he knew his father, he answers: "He was the best of us."