The Curse of the Gloamglozer
The Curse of the Gloamglozer was the fourth book in The Edge Chronicles, the first book chronologically, and the first book in the Quint trilogy. This book told the story of Quint's work for Linius Pallitax, and the horror caused by his terrifying creation of a Gloamglozer.
Plot
Quint, the fourteen-year-old son of the famous sky pirate Wind Jackal, arrived with his father in the floating city of Sanctaphrax. The Most High Academe of Sanctaphrax and close friend of Wind Jackal, Linius Pallitax, agreed to take on Quint as his personal assistant. Quint, who harbored dreams of following in his father's footsteps, was not pleased with this turn of events, and neither was Linius's daughter Maris, who believed that Linius was favoring Quint over her. At first, Maris hated Quint for this. However, when Quint fought his fear of fire to help her, she began to respect him.
Quint was asked by Linius to help him operate a low-sky cage down the side of the floating Sanctaphrax rock. Quint steered the cage to the entrance into the Great West Tunnel through the Stonecomb. Linius entered the passage, and returned hours later in a bad state. Curious about what transpired within the Stonecomb, Quint followed Linius the next time he entered the passage. He discovered that Linius was entering the Ancient Laboratory, an abandoned research center built by the First Scholars, and Quint was chased by a mysterious monster on the way back. When Linius returned to the low-sky cage, he was in an even worse state than before, his ear nearly torn off and practically delirious.
Maris, concerned for her father's safety, confronted Quint. Quint promised to take Maris into the stonecomb to find out what her father was doing. On the way down in the sky-cage, however, the chain connecting the cage to Sanctaphrax was cut by an assassin who was after Linius Pallitax. Maris and Quint managed to steer the falling cage close enough to jump into the passage in the side of the rock, and they entered the Stonecomb. Trying to follow a chain of arrows Quint had drawn the first time he had followed Linius, Quint and Maris were attacked by the strange monster, which turned out to be the Blood-Red Glister created by the First Scholars. They were saved from the creature by Bungus Septrill, the High Librarian of the Great Library of Sanctaphrax.
Meanwhile, the Sub-Dean of the School of Mist, Seftus Leprix, along with a Flat-Head Goblin by the name of Bagswill, were resolving to kill Linius Pallitax, resentful of the fact that his leadership was not increasing the influence of their school. Their attempt to kill Linius by cutting the chain of the low-sky cage had failed, because Quint and Maris were the ones in the cage at the time. In their second attempt, they gave a bottle of poisoned sapwine to Linius Pallitax's butler, Tweezel, telling him to give the bottle to his master.
Bungus, Quint and Maris set off out of the Stonecomb through the Great Library Tunnel, intending to demand an explanation from Linius. However, Quint gave them the slip and set off on his own to see what was in the Ancient Laboratory. Linius, still recovering from his ordeal, began to explain how he discovered that the Ancient Laboratory was used to create life from glisters, harnessing energy from storms. Linius tried to repeat their experiment, and accidentally created a gloamglozer. After trying to kill it using a substance known as chine, Linius resolved to leave it locked in the Ancient Laboratory. Meanwhile, Quint entered the Ancient Laboratory, and the gloamglozer tricked him into helping it escape.
Bungus and Maris returned to the Stonecomb in an attempt to stop Quint releasing the gloamglozer, but were ambushed by the Blood-Red Glister. Bungus stayed behind to stave off the creature, while Maris ran to the laboratory. She revived Quint and they returned to find that Bungus gave his life to trap the Blood-Red Glister inside its lair.
Meanwhile, Linius was visited by the gloamglozer, disguised as Quint. The gloamglozer trapped the Most High Academe in the Palace of Shadows and set it ablaze. It then adopted Linius's form and went out onto the roof of the burning palace. Quint and Maris spotted him, and Quint, once again confronting his fear of fire, climbed the Palace of Shadows to rescue Linius. While Quint climbed the building, Tweezel carried the real Linius Pallitax out of the palace and helped him to safety. Quint was confronted on top of the burning building by the gloamglozer, now in its true form. He managed to repel the creature using chine and banish it from Sanctaphrax. The enraged, defeated demon placed a curse upon Quint and fled the city.
Shortly thereafter, Seftus Leprix and Bagswill toasted their newest plan with a bottle of sapwine. They discovered soon afterward that Tweezel, having discovered the sapwine they gave him was poisoned, regifted it to Seftus's servant, Jervis, and that they had been drinking their own poison. Their bodies swelled up and they floated off into Open Sky. The book ends with Maris telling Quint that Linius Pallitax and the Professor of Light have promised him a position in the Knights Academy for his valiant attempt to rescue Linius Pallitax.
Editions
| Books in the Edge Chronicles series, by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell |
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Quint Trilogy: The Curse of the Gloamglozer •The Winter Knights • Clash of the Sky Galleons Twig Trilogy: Beyond the Deepwoods • Stormchaser • Midnight Over Sanctaphrax Rook Trilogy: The Last of the Sky Pirates • Vox • Freeglader The Lost Barkscrolls: Cloud Wolf • The Stone Pilot • The Slaughterer's Quest • The Blooding of Rufus Filatine Nate Book: The Immortals Cade Trilogy: The Nameless One • Doombringer • The Descenders Other Books: The Edge Chronicles Maps • The Sky Chart Blogs: Weird New Worlds |