The Dragonbone Chair

The Dragonbone Chair
Tad Williams
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn

The Dragonbone Chair Summary

Simon “Mooncalf” is an orphan living in Hayholt, the castle where King Prester John rules over Osten Ard. Simon is called mooncalf by Rachel (called The Dragon, head chambermaid), because he often gets distracted and wanders off instead of working. Simon becomes the apprentice to the old Doctor Morgenes, hoping to learn magic. Simon is disappointed since it mostly involves cleaning, learning to read and write, and lots of history.

Prester John is dying, he is very old, so he summons his sons Elias and Josua to the castle. John became king by killing the dragon Shurakai and then conquering a bunch of other lands and was well regarded as a great king. Elias is eldest and will inherit, but has a bit of a temper. Elias’ wife is dead and he has only one daughter, and Josua is missing his right hand. One day Simon overhears the brothers arguing while sneaking about in the chapel, and sees that someone else was spying on them also, a boy named Malachias. Josua tries to warn Elias against his advisor Pryrates, saying he seems to be involved in some dark stuff, but Elias won’t listen.

King John dies, and many people from all over comes to Hayholt for his funeral. Despite him requesting that Elias take his sword, Bright-Nail, it is buried with him (we learn a bit later that when Elias tried to hold the sword he felt great discomfort). Elias is crowned king and shifts which nobles are favored by the crown. Duke Isgrimnur of Rimmersgard, one of John’s oldest friends and knights, is kicked out of favor for Skali sly nose. Soon a drought starts and it does not rain for a long time, people are starving but Elias only seems to drink and party at the castle, and raises taxes to do so. Many older nobles complain but the king forces them to stay and attend him. While in town one day Simon meets a friendly monk named Cadrach who he spends the day with.

Josua disappears one night, Simon is awakened by Isgrimnur to find Towser, King John’s fool and friend to discuss this. Morgenes does not like Pryrates and says he is a foolish mage. Simon learns much about the history of King John and the castle. Hayholt was built by the Sithi, an ancient race from before man. One day, Simon is trying to avoid chores and stumbles upon Pryrates hidden in a basement. He follows where he came from and finds Prince Josua captive below Hayholt. He gets Doctor Morgenes and together they save Josua, who plans to go north to Naglimund where he has men loyal to him. Morgenes shows him a secret exit through the labyrinth under the castle. Pryrates shows up and threatens them. Morgenes sends out a few messenger birds, gives Simon a manuscript of the life of King John he had been writing, and sends Simon away through the labyrinth. Before leaving Simon sees Morgenes and Pryrates have a magic battle and the doctor dies in a fire.

Simon wanders for many hours in darkness and dirt and suffers many hallucinations and spider bites but eventually makes it out into open air. He comes upon a secret ritual, where Pryrates meets with a black cart being pulled by white fox men (There have been bad rumors about this cart circulating). It is revealed Josua was supposed to be sacrificed but they kill a different man, and in exchange receive an evil sword (Sorrow) for Elias. From this point on Simon starts to have strange, seemingly prophetic or important dreams, as well as maintaining a strange connection to Pryrates.

Simon continues his escape. He travels alone for a while, stealing to survive but struggling. He meets with Brother Cadrach, but soon realizes Cadrach is a thief and Simon is forced to flee for Cadrach’s crimes. Eventually he finds a hut in the forest, but just outside it a Sithi is caught in a trap. A woodsman comes to kill the trapped Sithi (who are slightly smaller than men and have some animalistic features). Simon kills the woodsman and saves the Sithi, who gives him a white arrow as a sign of debt. Then a small troll named Binabik shows up with his pet wolf Qantaqa, and says Simon can travel with them for a while. Binabik is a talented survivalist and helps Simon learn and eat more and stuff.

Back in Hayholt many of Elias’ advisors seem concerned for him. He only listens to Pryrates and seems to be sick. Duke Isgrimnur is angry he has not been allowed to leave but eventually talks his way out. Elias’ daughter, Miriamele, leaves the castle to return home, which greatly angers the man her father promised her hand in marriage, Earl Fengbald.

Binabik and Simon head for an Abbey, but discover it burned down and many men murdered around it. They find a couple monks still alive, and learn that an unknown group of men was waiting to ambush another group and killed all the monks. Simon gets captured by a group of Rimmersgard men, led by Duke Isgrimnur. They trust Simon and say he can travel with them, but that night all are attacked by skeleton like things crawling from the ground and Binabik whisks Simon away, revealing to Simon that he was sent by Doctor Morgenes to watch over him. Binabik was travelling with his master, who died on the journey, when Binabik received one of the messenger birds Morgenes sent out. Both Morgenes and Binabik’s master were members of the 7 person League of the Scroll, a group of scholars.

Binabik and Simon realize they are being chased and are forced to fight off a group of hounds. Once they defeat them Binabik recognizes they have the mark of the Stormspike on them, a massive mountain in the north where a people called the Norns live. They hear shouting nearby and go to investigate and save a couple kids from a dog. Simon recognizes the older boy as Malachias, from Hayholt. Malachias says the young injured girl with him is his sister. They all hide and overhear their hunters, one of whom is a Black Rimmergard man Ingen Jegger.

They make it Geloe’s cottage by a lake. She is a witch woman of some power. While there it is revealed Malachias is actually a young girl of 15 (Simon’s age) named Marya, and the other girls is a maidservant of Princess Miriamelle. They stay with Geloe a short time, and “Dreamwalk” to try to learn of the world. The hunters catch up soon though and they flee on a boat. Simon and Marya begin to become friends. They reach an ancient Sithi ruined city, Da'ai Chikiza, but Ingen Jegger has caught up on the other side of the river and shoots arrows at them, forcing them to flee. Binabik is struck by an arrow and Simon must carry him. They run for a long time before hiding in a clearing when they hear nearby horsemen. Suddenly a literal giant breaks into the clearing and Simon tries to fight it off before they are saved by the horsemen. Simon recognizes Prince Josua before passing out.

Simon wakes up in Naglimund, meeting a strange scholar named Strangyeard. He goes to check on Binabik who is recovering well. Simon also meets Sanfugol, a harper he met at Hayholt. They also begin to become friends. Binabik and Simon got to a meeting of nobles led by prince Josua. Duke Isgrimnur returns and says that Skali Stink nose has been given the dukes lands by King Elias, and Isgrimnur’s son is being held captive. The Rimmersmen are furious. Then Princess Miriamele comes in, who is revealed to have been Marya. Simon is distraught and flees the room in tears. The princess comes and apologizes and they make up a bit.

Then a wise man, a member of the League of Scrolls, Jarnauga arrives at Naglimund and shares a story. Way in the past, a Sithi named Ineluki was a prince of his people, but when the Rimmersmen invaded, he turned to dark arts to defeat them and forged a sword called Sorrow, before fleeing north to the Stormspike and fathering the race of Norns. He is now known as the Storm King and is planning his return. Simon remembers his night on the hill in the graveyard when Elias was given the sword Sorrow and shares this with the team.

Josua has a consort named Lady Vorzevha. Vorzevha gives Princess Miriamele gold and hires a priest to travel with her, the princess wants to go to Nabban to ask for help. Sanfugol realizes the priest hired was Cadrach the thief Simon had met before, so Josua sends Duke Isgrimnur after the princess disguised as a monk. Jarnauga meets with Scholar Strangeyeard, Joshua, and Binabik and they go over an old legend of three mystical swords. One is Sorrow, which Elias has, one is Memory, which they don’t know where it is (But it is implied to be Bright-Nail), and the last is Thorn, which they learn is somewhere in the northern mountains. An expedition is organized to find it, with Simon, Binabik, and some others. They head out, but Ingen Jegger spots them.

King Elias brings an army to siege Naglimund. He wants his brother to surrender his daughter Miriamele, and when Josua tells him she is not there, he freaks out. Prince Josua’s Nabban allies arrive but are betrayed and routed, so they are forced to survive the siege alone.

Simon, Binabik, and company head north and find a burned out village, and are accosted by Ingen Jegger and his men. We learn that the dog-masked knight who burned the abbey a while back is Jegger. Simon is saved by a group of Sithi who appear, and see his White Arrow. The group travels to a Sithi house and meet Lord Jiriki, the Sithi Simon saved. He agrees to help them. They discover they are looking for the Uduntree, a great tree of ice, where Thorn’s last bearer went. They reach it and find the sword, which is too heavy for the other men but Simon can wield easily. Ingen Jegger catches up and ambushes them, but mid fight a dragon claws out of the earth. It is charging Jiriki, so Simon steps in front with Thorn and stabs its eye, causing it to fall off a cliff.

Back at Naglimund, after much hard fighting, Elias seems to be retreating. Josua is confused and worried, and a storm is starting in the north. The storm moves south and Jarnauga realizes it is a Norn army. The Norns arrive and overwhelm Naglimund, killing and burning many. Josua, Strangyeard, Jarnauga, and a few others make for a secret exit. Jarnauga stays behind to hold the door, giving his league of the scroll necklace to Strangyeard. Joshua vows revenge and says he will be king, fearing his brother has doomed mankind.

Simon wakes up in the care of Binabiks people. While unconscious he saw many things. Duke Isgrumnur missed the princess and she already left in a boat, the Hernystiri have lost their king and prince in battle with Skali Sharp-Nose, and King Elias seems to be getting sicker and stranger. There is also a small strange man who knew Doctor Morgenes and has some old texts, probably a member of the League of the Scroll, coming to help. Simon is called Simon Snowlock by his companions and discovers he has been scarred by the dragon, and now has a lock of white hair. Binabik is being held prisoner for some unknown crime. THE END.