The Sorceress Villina's Secret is the 3rd book in the Tales of the Emerald City series by Sergei Sukhinov. It was published in 1997.
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This third installment of Sergei Sukhinov's monumental Emerald City saga introduces the hero Almar ("Alarm" in Russian), who has fled the tyranny of his homeland and, under the tutelage of Villina the Good Witch of the North, has developed into a skilled fighter. His services will be sorely needed as the attacks on Magic Land by the forces of the evil Pakir become ever more frequent, and violent. Almar is an Ore-Digger youth, from the Underground Kingdom, who escaped when his father was taken prisoner by their tyrannical ruler, and who eventually made it to the surface, where Villina adopted him as her ward. With training, he has become a skilled fighter, and his mission in life is some day to liberate his father. Now, accompanied by his live plant friends Stumpsy ("Penyar") and Shrubsy ("Kustar"), he comes on a cloud to the Emerald City and fetches Ellie, Strasheela, and Tom to Villina’s palace.
But the moment they arrive there, a fissure opens in the ground and splits the palace in two, and hordes of Pakir’s underground creatures fly up and attack the half of the building where Villina and her staff are holed up. The friends are cut off from her. Villina’s magic can keep the monsters at bay for the moment, so Almar and company set out to rescue the trapped Storybook Folk by taking them some magic raisins that nullify the power of the Rocks. They follow an underground passage and river and cross the Subterranean Sea, passing the island of Gorn, where Almar’s father is now a slave of Pakir. They rescue the Folk. The Woodman and his troops join them there, and a cantankerous old alchemist named Parcelius, who had been traveling with the Folk, flies Ellie and Strasheela back to the Yellow Palace on the back of a basilisk named Vasil. Vasil’s gaze immobilizes the creatures long enough for Ellie to get in to see Villina.
The sorceress tells Ellie that she is planning to retire to her native Greenland and to transfer her magic power to Ellie, making her the new Protectress of Magic Land. (Her Eskimo origin is covered in several chapters.) Then Corina comes to the rescue, mounted on Varag the Dragon. The two of them make short work of the creatures, after which Corina uses her magic to seal up the chasm and repair the dreadful damage that was done. The trade-off for this is the throne of Violet Land, which the Iron Woodman gladly hands over to her after he and the Folk arrive on the scene. Villina departs for Greenland.
| Sergei Sukhinov's Magic Land books |
| Tales of the Emerald City | 1. Gingema's Daughter 2. The Fairy of the Emerald City 3. The Sorceress Villina's Secret 4. The Sorcerer's Sword 5. The Eternally Youthful Stella 6. Parcelius the Alchemist 7. Battle in the Underground Land 8. King Midgety 9. The Sorcerer from Atlantis 10. The Knights of Light and Darkness |
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| Fairy Tales of the Emerald City | 1. Corina the Lazy Sorceress 2. Corina and the Ogre 3. The Sorceress Villina's Ward 4. The Little Dragon 5. The Crystal Island 6. Corina and the Magic Rhino 7. Three in the Enchanted Forest 8. The Black Fog 9. Master of the Winged Monkeys Prequel: Goodwin the Great and Terrible |