Straken

by Terry Brooks

  Bones of the dead left lying on the ground.

  One more day and they will never be found.

  Ragpicker, ragpicker, you never know

  There are rags to be found wherever you go.

  He sang it softly, repeated it a few times for emphasis, rearranging the words, and then went quiet. An interesting diversion, but massively unproductive. He had hoped the two creatures might have information about the man with the black staff, but they had disappointed him. So he would have to continue the search without any useful information to aid him. All he knew was what he sensed, and what he sensed would have to be enough for now.

  The man he sought was somewhere close, probably somewhere up in those mountains ahead. So eventually he would find him.

  Eventually.

  The ragpicker allowed himself a small smile. There was no hurry. Time was something he had as much of as he needed.

  Time didn’t really matter when you were a demon.

  BY TERRY BROOKS

  Shannara

  FIRST KING OF SHANNARA

  THE SWORD OF SHANNARA

  THE ELFSTONES OF SHANNARA

  THE WISHSONG OF SHANNARA

  The Heritage of Shannara

  THE SCIONS OF SHANNARA

  THE DRUID OF SHANNARA

  THE ELF QUEEN OF SHANNARA

  THE TALISMANS OF SHANNARA

  The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara

  ILSE WITCH

  ANTRAX

  MORGAWR

  High Druid of Shannara

  JARKA RUUS

  TANEQUIL

  THE WORLD OF SHANNARA

  The Magic Kingdom of Landover

  MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE—SOLD!

  THE BLACK UNICORN

  WIZARD AT LARGE

  THE TANGLE BOX

  WITCHES’ BREW

  Word and Void

  RUNNING WITH THE DEMON

  A KNIGHT OF THE WORD

  ANGEL FIRE EAST

  In memory of Christina Michelle George and Caleb Alexander Delp

  and

  in celebration of readers like them everywhere

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  TERRY BROOKS is the New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including The Sword of Shannara, The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy: Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr, the High Druid of Shannara trilogy, which includes Jarka Ruus and Tanequil, the non-fiction book Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life, and the novel based upon the screenplay and story by George Lucas, Star Wars®: Episode I The Phantom Menace™. His novels Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word were selected by the Rocky Mountain News as two of the best science fiction/fantasy novels of the twentieth century.

  The author was a practicing attorney for many years but now writes full-time. He lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.