They show him some of his powers-the ability to pass thoughts and images from mind to mind and to command fire. They introduce themselves as Merriman and the Lady and tell him that he is the last of the great Old Ones: immortals tasked with opposing the Dark. Will passes through and finds himself in a great hall, where two people are waiting for him. She brings him to a pair of ancient doors standing alone on a hill. The white mare arrives in time to carry Will away.

The Walker asks Will to show him the “Sign” he wears on his belt, but before Will can do so, the black Rider appears and tries to seize Will. Will departs the smithy and encounters the tramp, whom he now recognizes as the Walker. Will tells the smith that he must go on foot to find the Walker, realizing only as he says it that it is true. The smith tells Will that if he mounts the mare, she will take him anywhere he wants to go. The Rider tries to snatch Will, but the smith saves him, and the Rider departs down the road.Ī riderless white mare comes to the smithy. The rider tries to persuade Will to break bread with him and then to mount the black horse with him, but Will instinctively fears the Rider and refuses both offers. At the smithy stands a beautiful black horse being shod by a man, John, whom Will recognizes as the son of Old George, who works on the Dawsons’ farm. He walks down the road to a smithy that wasn’t there before.

Will feels drawn out into the snowy world. Will wakes the morning of his birthday and tries to rouse his family, but they sleep as if they cannot hear him. The farmer gives Will an iron ornament-a circle quartered by a cross-and tells him to wear it all the time. Will mentions the tramp to the neighbor, Dawson, who murmurs that the “Walker” is abroad. They encounter an old tramp in ragged clothes. On the day before his 11th birthday, Will goes with his next oldest brother, James, to collect hay from the neighboring farm. Will Stanton is the youngest of nine children his family lives in rural England. Page numbers in this guide refer to the 2001 Kindle edition.

Susan cooper's the dark is rising