Charles Nettleton – författare

Rufus and Clara are two beekeepers who areshocked to find that their families’ bees are dying. Strange, when thesunflowers they feed off are bigger than ever and when the wizards of TheSouthern Lands are doing so much to help nature thrive with their spells.Rushing to The Wizardry for help, they meet atrainee wizard called Mellek. He tells them about a wizard ‘up river’ who iscausing quite a stir, using a new kind of magic that seems more powerful thanever. This must be what they need to fix their problem so they decide to go insearch of him.But very soon it becomes clear that the natureof things - both plants and animals - is being changed. They are attacked by avicious fox, see flowers fusing into each other and find an orchard withimpossibly perfect apples. With help from Clara’s tame deer, Tikki, theyencounter danger and disaster the closer they get to the mysterious wizard.Is he really the answer to their problems, oris something altogether more sinister going on? What does the magic of thewizards really do?These are the questions that Rufus, Clara andMellek will need of all their courage, wits and determination to answer. Thewhole health of their homeland depends on them.

Six months after the end of The Era of Magic, Rufusis being looked after by his Uncle Seb, helping him to cart tomatoes from hisfarm to the docks. His parents are missing, having been on a journey aboard TheGumtree - the biggest ship in The Southern Lands - that was attacked and limpedhome with half the crew missing. Moreover, he feels that his powers as a'Discerner' have failed, letting down the faith that had been put in him by theQueen. But then, visiting the restored Gumtree, he is shocked to bechosen, by the ship's trusted cat, as the new Navigator!He joins up with Kirra, the fisher girl from the first book, and stowaways Clara and Mellek, becoming a vital part of the crew on avoyage that will bring them face to face with what looks to be a revival of themagic: from killer seagulls, to a bombarding forest, to seductive Smiler Fish and knife-wielding weeds.Can they discover the source of the magic? Is it anything todo with what Rufus has done with the book that tells of the Earth Heartexperiment from a year before - a book he was told to destroy? Can they stop the magic and restore balance with the natural world, somethingthe Discerners of the Lands have worked so hard to establish? And, for Rufusthe biggest question of all, can they find out what happened to his parentswhen they disappeared on that last voyage?

Rufus and his friends Clara, Mellek and Kirra face more challenges as the ship they are sailing on - "The Gumtree" - is attacked by a fire-breathing seahorse in the Hot Sea. Only when Rufus climbs along the bowsprit and manages to catch the beast in a net are they able to avoid being burnt to a cinder. But then they have to get through the Sea of Mirrors where the waves make navigation almost impossible by reflecting images of the ship back to them and making it look as though they are about to collide. They also intensify the light, blinding the sailors. Rufus, with his growing powers as a 'Discerner', gets them through to Sheep Island, but not before the ship has run aground and has to be towed back to deep water by the islanders.As they approach the Cold Hills, Rufus feels torn between obeying the Captain by steering well clear of them and desperately wanting to go there to see what he can find out - both about Calor's re-creation of the magic and also about the fate of his parents. In the end, it is the ship's cat that decides. Having been pushed towards the ice shelf by a whale that has taken control of the ship, Rufus is encouraged by the cat to row to the Cold Hills with his three friends. A final heroic act is needed before all is resolved.