This thought it was a story with two heroes. It said that, confidently, right from the beginning, and on a number of occasions.
But lo! Stories, like queens and Wizards, are tricksy, tricksy things. The story changed Bodkin and Bodkin changed the story.
He wouldn’t stay where he was supposed to, and somehow it ended up being a story with three heroes, which was as much a surprise to me as to anyone else.
The final reckoning with the Kingwitch is very, very close now. I know it, and the Kingwitch knows it, and he is ready for the final battle, clutching his piece of blue dust within his iron prison. He has Squeezjoos, and Wish and Xar will never abandon Squeezjoos, and they need to get to him fast.
“They will come to me,” whispers the Kingwitch to himself, sharpening his talons like a blacksmith sharpening a sword. “Because love is weakness…”
So the end approaches quick now.
And with the end, I shall tell you who I am, at last.
However I warn you, this is a true story, and true stories, unlike fairy stories, do not always end happily. As Perdita said, there’s a reason why tears are such an important ingredient in so many spells. Hopefully all will end well, but if not, please do not blame me, for as we have just seen, I am not as in control of where a true story goes as I would like to be. I have to tell what really happened.
But I am wishing with all my heart that all will end well.
Wish with me…
WISH that Wish and Xar and Bodkin can break out of the sad circles of the history of the wildwoods.
They are young, and they are hopeful.
WISH that they can write their own story…
WISH…
And in the meantime…
Keep hoping…
Keep guessing…
Keep dreaming…
And keep telling your own stories.
Stories are very helpful if you get lost in the wildwoods.
Signed:
Acknowledgements (thank-yous)
A whole team of people have helped me write this book.
Thank you to my wonderful editor, Anne McNeil, and my magnificent agent, Caroline Walsh.
A special big thanks to Samuel Perrett, Polly Lyall Grant, Lizz Skelly, and Camilla Leask.
And to everyone else at Hachette Children’s Group, Hilary Murray Hill, Andrew Sharp, Valentina Fazio, Naomi Berwin, Katy Cattell, Georgi Russell, Nicola Goode, Katherine Fox, Alison Padley, Rebecca Livingstone.
Thanks to all at Little Brown, Megan Tingley, Jackie Engel, Lisa Yoskowitz, Marisa Finkelstein.
And most important of all, Maisie, Clemmie, Xanny.
And SIMON for his excellent advice on absolutely everything.
I couldn’t do it without you.
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ALSO BY CRESSIDA COWELL
How to Train Your Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon
How to Be a Pirate
How to Speak Dragonese
How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse
How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale
A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons
How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm
How to Break a Dragon’s Heart
How to Steal a Dragon’s Sword
How to Seize a Dragon’s Jewel
How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero
How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury
The Complete Book of Dragons: A Guide to Dragon Species
A Journal for Heroes
The Wizards of Once
The Wizards of Once
Twice Magic
Knock Three Times
* Witches speak the same language as we do, but each individual word is back to front. This means “What is it doing out here? Why is nobody protecting it? Do you think it could be a trap?”
* The Enchanted Sword was a special Witch-killing sword.
* LONG story.
* Editor’s note: Wish was dyslexic. Of course, they didn’t CALL it dyslexia back in the Bronze Age, but she was, and teachers like Madam Dreadlock weren’t very understanding about this to say the least.
* The door the children had been traveling on was originally the door to Madam Dreadlock’s Punishment Cupboard, and it would now need rather a lot of work to return to tip-top mint condition.
* History of Magic, tree climbing, wort-cunning, leechdom, and starcraft (the three last being study of herbs and plants, medical remedies, and the art of interpreting and reading the stars, those sorts of things).
* Long story. You can read about it in The Wizards of Once: Twice Magic if you like.
* Year 12
* For complicated magical reasons, doors have difficulty flying over oceans. They get seasick and capsize.
* In the first book of The Wizards of Once, Xar puts his hand on the Stone-That-Takes-Away-Magic in order to get rid of the Witch-stain, but he takes his hand off too early so some of the bad Magic remains.