The Mountain

The dark, steep mountain north of the castle. Its upper part is off limits to all students.

The mountain rises north of the castle, dark and steep. It can be seen from many of Déynáir’s windows, including the room in the north tower where the students have Dherak, and from Chris’s room high under the roof.

Forbidden ground

Headmaster Edrin tells the new students at a meal in the dining hall that nobody may go up onto the upper part of the mountain. It is like that every year, he says, and there are no exceptions. Nobody explains why, and some of the older students look as if they have already decided to do the opposite.

That is all the students know at the start of the book.

Spoiler (revealed in chapter 13)

When Chris, Ahra and Retia map the secret passages beneath the castle, they notice a pattern. The passages point towards the mountain.

Spoiler (revealed in chapter 20)

One night Chris climbs up there alone with Alôpex. Halfway up he finds the symbol from his letter carved into the rock, and when he touches it, he feels something huge move beneath the ground. Professor Arcanus meets him up there and tells him that beneath the mountain lies something that has been shut away for around three hundred years.

Chapters to read

See The Mountain on the map

The Mountain

Forbidden ground

Chapters to read

See also