Meet Baen the Caster!

Baen is a massive amüli and a master caster--one who directs a group of magicians. He has a knotted red beard and shoulder-long red hair, which he ties back with a strip of leather. Wings of ruddy red and brown help him fly from deck-to-deck on the sky ship, and he takes orders from no one other than Captain Melroc. The two are close friends, and as the story progresses, it’s revealed that Baen sustained magical wounds during a battle, and that the injuries cannot be healed. Magic can’t heal magical ailments, and so, as the wounds spread closer to his heart, he becomes frailer.

After an accident aboard the sky-ship which magic would have helped prevent, Baen offers to teach Frendyl some magic. Baen’s an honest, at-face-value person, and doesn’t hide how he feels or who he cares about. When he’s upset, he shows it, such as when Frendyl casts a spell before he’s ready and injures himself if the process.

What They're After

The Blood of the Sun is made from the blood of the first amüli king, who is rumored to be the strongest amüli to have ever lived. Due to his power, the gem is fabled to have unprecedented abilities and is rumored to even be able to heal magical wounds. Magic itself is dangerous, and few amüli ever completely master the art; most who study it take great care, as it has the capacity to make them Soulless. Because magic-inflicted wounds never heal—even with the aid of a spell—a gem that could heal such injuries could fetch a high price.

More than its healing abilities draws amüli to this stone, however. The faction attempting to oust the current monarch and replace him with the pretender are driven to acquire the stone so they might undo the bond between amüli and Soulbound humans. This bond was created two thousand years ago, and only the Blood of the Sun is powerful enough to rip it apart.

At the same token, the stone itself is alive, inhabited by a sliver of consciousness of the first amüli king, who is determined to reunite the gem with his bones--which are trapped in the Catacombs. He will do anything he can to force Frendyl into the pitch-black labyrinthine dungeon, including causing the Soullessness of those Frendyl holds dear. The Blood of the Sun feeds off of magic and sustains its life force with the energy the gods provide, but it also must take life in order to keep what consciousness remains intact. Without the blood-price paid, the old king will fall victim to time and cease to be.

Meet Kellyn "Kel" Wynbre

Kel is a Krune on her mother’s side, and has messy, short dark brown hair and dark violet eyes. She’s eight—too young to do more than glide when in the air—and on her way to meet her betrothed, someone she describes as a flightless ninny. Unlike most ladies her age, Kel prefers to dress like a boy when she can, often wearing enormous, dirty shirts, an over-sized cap, and leather breeches. Her wings, which match Frendyl’s and her cousin Melroc’s, are a mallard hen’s and helped her father make a lucrative match for her.

Women are seldom allowed to learn magic in the amüli society, and when she discovers Frendyl is learning, she demands he teach her. Her Cousin Melroc is the captain of the ship, and does all he can to stop her, but she manages to get her way simply due to her forceful nature.

When insulted by Jae during one supper, Kel dumps hot soup on her and leaves, thus beginning a long series of running gags. If Jae threatens to wipe boogers on her, Kel reacts by either dumping something on her—soup, water, broth, milk—or pushing her off the edge of the ship. Regardless of this relationship, Kel views Jae as an older sister, as Kel is the only daughter in a family with eight children.