Mentor. Mage. Master manipulator.

Ganhook is one of the highest-ranking individuals in the Kingdom of Sevenoath authority, and a key member of the Sevenoath Imperator’s inner circle.

He is also an outsider. This means he will never be fully accepted here.

A bit like me, actually.

Ganhook played a major role in setting the curse on my family. It was a long time before I learned this. And it was a longer time after that before I forgave him. You see, he never wanted to be here either. He’s the one who ‘mentors’ every member of the Keyes family who passes through the gateway.

He’s more of a victim of the curse than I am.

Yet, he has prospered here.

Wise, ruthless, modest, generous, Ganhook is utterly dedicated to Sevenoath.

Despite our friendship, though, he keeps much of his past to himself.

What I do know is that he’s over two hundred years old, has a talking beard, and snores loudly at night. Whenever he drinks Algoth wine, he refers to me as his ‘child.’

I don’t mind.

I suppose I am somehow his child. From the time I passed through the gateway, until I ventured out of his compound six years later to make my way in the world, he clothed me, fed me, educated me, and made sure I didn’t die by any of the countless ways there are in Dunari to die.

The City of Bones has sixteen Great Bone Relics. Ganhook’s compound is constructed over one of these. It’s surrounded by double walls to trap any mischievous or loose spells getting in. An invisible dome spell protects it from above. And the buildings within it, and all the chambers and tunnels beneath it, are designed to react against any unwanted visitors.

There’s the skeleton of a monster half trapped in the spell dome. An assassin monster. Ganhook calls it Tam, after the enemy who sent it to kill him. The monster’s bony legs poke up high from the dome. Sometimes, for dares, the local kids toss old boots up there, laces tied, hoping to snare them on Tam’s feet.

Whenever this happens, Ganhook recovers the boots, arms them with a tracking spell, and sends them off to ‘kick the pants off’ the one who last handled them.

The real power of the place comes from the bone relic. This is the skeleton and spirit of a great creature that lies beneath the fortress.

I still don’t know much about that.

While Ganhook has influenced me, I’ve influenced him, too. When I arrived here, I had a copy of Lord of the Rings in my backpack. There was a picture of Gandalf on the front cover.

Ganhook borrowed the book.

Up until then, he’d always worn strict navy clothes. After reading the book, however, he took to wearing a long grey robe, a pointy hat, and unrolling his beard whenever he greeted important guests at the fortress.

Cultural appropriation?

Possibly.