Willow

THE CHILD ...

She was born with the mark on her arm. The mark of the one who would cause the downfall of Queen Bavmorda, and end her evil reign. If she survived . . .

THE PROPHECY ...

The legend told of the Queen that a child would be born who would destroy her. That prophecy was the Queen’s greatest fear . . . and now it was about to come true. Unless she could stop it . . .

THE POWER OF MAGIC ...

Willow Ufgood had always wanted to be a magician, to be wise and respected in the community. His dreams were about to come true . . . but in ways he could have never imagined.

THE VISION

The vision formed. Bavmorda approached the crucible. It had filled with milky fluid, and in it shone the face of Fin Raziel as she had been those many years ago, still beautiful, still radiant. Out of the bowl came the ghostly echo of Fin Raziel’s voice: “You may defeat me but you will not defeat the child, Bavmorda. The mystery of the child is larger than you, and in that mystery your reign will end. Here is the sign, Bavmorda . . .”

Fin Raziel’s face faded, and the milky fluid formed into a shimmering circle that Bavmorda knew too well.

Eyes blazing, the queen leaned close to that hateful mark.

Lightning and fireballs crackled off Bavmorda’s fingers and slammed into the bowl, ricocheting in all directions. The opaque fluid swirled into foul steam. When the bowl had been seared clean, the mistress of Nockmaar raised her arms and uttered a sound even more terrible than her laughter—a long wail of hollow triumph. She knew, and all who heard her knew, that no matter how often she might blast that vision it could always be conjured again, for its essence lay beyond her power.

A
LUCASFILM LTD.
Production
Of A Film By
RON HOWARD

Starring
VAL KILMER
JOANNE WHALLEY
WARWICK DAVIS
BILLY BARTY
JEAN MARSH

Music Composed by
JAMES HORNER
Story by
GEORGE LUCAS
Screenplay by
BOB DOLMAN
Executive Producer
GEORGE LUCAS
Produced by
NIGEL WOOLL
Directed by
RON HOWARD

Copyright © 1988 by Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States of America by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 87-91656

ISBN 0-345-35195-9

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Ballantine Books Edition: February 1988
Second Printing: June 1988

Forget all you know or think you know;
Abandon power and enforced decree.
Inward, where the deepest rivers flow,
Find the currents of eternity . . .

The Book of Fin Raziel

I
NOCKMAAR

H
ow beautiful were the Death Dogs! How powerful their shoulders and how elegant the curves of their hairless tails! How gracefully they moved beside their handlers through the drifting mists and smoke of Nockmaar.

From the high balcony of the conjuring room, each man and dog looked to the queen like a single creature,
her
creature—the man in his leather armor, black as the beast’s skin; the dog tensed for command, its shoulder touching the man’s thigh. Bavmorda smiled down upon them. She drew her cloak tight against the chill of morning. She waited.

They were practicing the kill. A few prisoners had been brought up from the dungeons and they huddled together behind a buttress where the dogs could not see them. Across the courtyard, a sally port swung open and a footbridge dropped over the moat. Through that gate, the prisoners could see the slate hills of Nockmaar Valley; they could imagine the freedom beyond.

The captain of the guard looked up and saluted. Bavmorda nodded. Each prisoner was told to run. One by one, with whatever energy and hope remained, they dashed for that gate, for those hills. One by one, the Death Dogs slipped their leashes, streaked through the courtyard, and leaped at the prisoners’ throats.