Across The Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories

Copyright (#u1b6cfbae-1c76-560e-a101-06b2cb3466c5)

Dedication (#uc27dbf91-b4ea-54dc-b2b6-4725a22fb6d7)

preface (#u89ff82f1-17d4-562b-9df3-945e5faee11c)

introduction to Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case (#ue358829f-f6ef-5118-ae7e-7972645faf19)

Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case (#u3cca6899-39e0-5313-ae6b-f4df6b12b3e1)

introduction to Under the Lake (#litres_trial_promo)

Under the Lake (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to Charlie Rabbit (#litres_trial_promo)

Charlie Rabbit (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to From the Lighthouse (#litres_trial_promo)

From the Lighthouse (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to The Hill (#litres_trial_promo)

The Hill (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to Lightning Bringer (#litres_trial_promo)

Lightning Bringer (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to Down to the Scum Quarter (#litres_trial_promo)

Down to the Scum Quarter A Fantasy Solo Adventure (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to Heart’s Desire (#litres_trial_promo)

Heart’s Desire (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to Hansel’s Eyes (#litres_trial_promo)

Hansel’s Eyes (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to Hope Chest (#litres_trial_promo)

Hope Chest (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to My New Really Epic Fantasy Series (#litres_trial_promo)

My New Really Epic Fantasy Series (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to Three Roses (#litres_trial_promo)

Three Roses (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to Endings (#litres_trial_promo)

Endings (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

Frequently Asked Questions (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to The Prologue that Never Was (#litres_trial_promo)

Prologue (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Garth Nix (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

introduction to Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case (#ulink_e7f8f393-ebaf-5805-9d49-1e22dfa332d7)

Ihave explored Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom a little in my novels Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen, and in the process I have found out (for that’s often what it feels like, even though I’m the one making it up) quite a lot about these lands, the people and creatures that inhabit them, and their stories.

But there is much, much more that I don’t know about, and will never know about unless I need it for a story. Unlike many fantasy writers, I don’t spend a lot of time working out and recording tons of background detail about the worlds that I make up. What I do is write the story, pausing every now and then to puzzle out the details or information that I need to know to make the story work. Some of that background material will end up in the story, though it might be veiled, mysterious or tangential. Much more will sit in my head or roughly jotted down in my notebooks, until I need it next time or until I connect it with something else.

Every time I re-enter the world of the Old Kingdom and Ancelstierre, I find myself stitching together leftover bits and pieces that I already knew about, as well as inventing some more that seem to go with what is already there.

“Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case” was particularly interesting for me to write, because in it I connect various bits and pieces of information about Ancelstierre, rather than the Old Kingdom. As always, the story is the most important thing to me, but this novella also gives a glimpse of the people, customs, government, technology and landscape of Ancelstierre.

Like nearly everything I write, this is a fantasy adventure story, this time with a dash of country-house mystery, a twist of 1920s-style espionage and a humorous little umbrella on the side that may be safely ignored by those who don’t like it (or don’t get it). Some readers may detect the influence of some of the authors outside the fantasy genre (as it is usually defined today) whom I admire, including Dorothy Sayers and P G Wodehouse.

Planned to be a longish short story, “Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case” grew and grew till it became a novella and ended up taking many more months to write than I had anticipated. It started with these notes:

Nicholas and Uncle to country house Full of debs and stupid young men Thing in the Case, eyes follow Nick Autumn haymaking thing gets some of Nick’s blood? refuge in river, thing closes sluice hay fires in a circle it is powerful, but poisoned how far are we from the Wall?

That was the kernel, from which a novella grew over about ten months. I don’t know why I wrote it rather than something else. It wasn’t sold to a publisher, I didn’t have a deadline for it and I had plenty of other things to do. But only a week or so after writing those notes, I sat down and wrote the first three or four pages in one sitting. I kept coming back to it thereafter, caught up (as I often am as both writer and reader) simply by the desire to see what happened next.

Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case (#ulink_e0dd8cf4-b8cf-5f15-a3f9-ca22c36c3a9a)

“Iam going back to the Old Kingdom, Uncle,” said Nicholas Sayre. “Whatever Father may have told you. So there is no point in your trying to fix me up with a suitable Sayre job or a suitable Sayre marriage. I am coming with you to what will undoubtedly be a horrendous house party only because it will get me a few hundred miles closer to the Wall.”

Nicholas’s Uncle Edward, more generally known as The Most Honourable Edward Sayre, Chief Minister of Ancelstierre, shut the red-bound letter book he was reading with more emphasis than he intended, as their heavily armoured car lurched over a hump in the road. The sudden clap of the book made the bodyguard in front look round, but the driver kept his eyes on the narrow country lane.

“Have I said anything about a job or a marriage?” Edward enquired, gazing down his long patrician nose at his nineteen-year-old nephew. “Besides, you won’t even get within a mile of the Perimeter without a pass signed by me, let alone across the Wall.”

“I could get a pass from Lewis,” said Nicholas moodily, referring to the newly anointed Hereditary Arbiter. The previous Arbiter, Lewis’s grandfather, had died of a heart attack during Corolini’s attempted coup d’état half a year before.

“No, you couldn’t, and you know it,” said Edward. “Lewis has more sense than to involve himself in any aspect of government other than the ceremonial.”