The Adventures of Athribar

From KneeQuickie

The Adventures of Athribar is a novel being written by Michael S. Repton, the first in a planned series of thirteen entitled An Improbable Odyssey. The series is fantasy with a modern-technology setting; Michael sometimes jocularly describes it as "a cross between a spy thriller and a fairy tale". The current draft of the prologue can be read on Michael's site.

The novel is divided into three parts (not counting the prologue), entitled Prelude, Toccata and Finale after the three files of the computer game Repton 3. Each part has eight chapters, just as each Repton 3 file contained eight screens. (There are other Repton references hidden in the text of the novel as well, for careful readers to discover.)

Plot (spoiler-free version)

Prologue

Athribar is a young man who has run away from his parents and worked on a farm for seven years. Jasmine, the farmer's daughter, loves him, but he foolishly vowed not to take any reward for his seven years' work, so he resolves to leave, telling Jasmine that he hopes to return but cannot promise to do so.

Jasmine's brother Gabriel has recently left home, after a quarrel with his father due to his (Gabriel's) support for the Slinteyes, a political terrorist movement who aim to overthrow the monarchy.

Prelude

Athribar meets Percy Persimmon and his three daughters, who have been put under a curse of invisibility by Shelane, an evil witch, and he decides to make helping them his quest. Lyrilla, the youngest girl, rows him to Port Hordell, where they meet Fred Farquhars, an old friend of Athribar's who is now a reporter investigating the Slinteyes, travelling with his girlfriend Julia. They agree to help Athribar defeat Shelane if he helps them steal some vital papers from Slinteye agent Frank Swallow.

Toccata

The three reach Cascade, a city in the north that has been the centre of fighting between the royalist and Slinteye factions. Gabriel now reappears and guides Athribar to Gormald's Cave, a tourist attraction named after the legendary magician Gormald who was said to have lived there. In this cave, Gabriel says, a secret has been hidden that is worth killing for...

Finale

Forced to flee from the Slinteyes, Athribar and the others cross the border into Vhadnia. Here, they encounter a house haunted by the ghost of old miser Dareth Lancelle, who is so miserly that he keeps his daughter Alexandra prisoner in the house even after his death so that she cannot claim his wealth as her inheritance. Alexandra is happy to join the adventure, and they shelter for the night at the farm of Alicias Ligorn, unaware that the final reckoning may be closer than they expect...

Characters (other than those mentioned above)

Charles Tasker is Jasmine and Gabriel's father, the farmer whom Athribar stays with and works for in the Prologue. His wife is named Jessica, and he has a second daughter, Fuchsia.

Richard, an ambiguous character, is the traveller who first tells Athribar about the Slinteyes.

Cynthia and Primula are Percy's first and second daughters. (Their mother, Persia, is deceased.) Percy promises Athribar Cynthia's hand in marriage as his reward if he is successful in defeating Shelane.

Isaac is a messenger whom Athribar talks with on the train on the way to Shelane's dwelling.

Veronica is a young wild girl whom Athribar meets in a deserted village near Shelane's dwelling. She has a black cat, Melanie.

Captain Trotter is a captain in the royalist military, based at Cascade.

Chief Cheerichopps is a character in a story within the main story. He is the leader of a band of robbers. His second-in-command is the one-armed Stanley, and the band includes twins Erik and Derek, their shared wife Elise, and the odious Boris.

Marta is Alicias Ligorn's wife. They have a son, Jankin.

Athribar frequently mentions his sister Ruby and his old teacher Bartleplum, but neither appears in the story.