Category Archives: Zurfina

The Dark and Forbidding Land: Zurfina

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Zurfina is the sorceress and mistress of Senta in the Senta and the Steel Dragon.  She appears fairly frequently in Book 2: The Dark and Forbidding Land.  This is also the last book in which she really has control over Senta, at least as a parent has control over a child.

In real life, nobody would want Zurfina as a parent, but she is very fun to write.  Her total lack of parental nature makes her unusual.

Excerpt:

“Why is my house infested with children?” the sorceress demanded, though exactly to whom she was speaking was unclear.  “Why aren’t you all out playing in the snow?  It was my understanding that children adore it.”

“The tyrannosaurus is out there,” said Senta.

“Well if it attacks, you simply run in four different directions.  That way you have at least a seventy five percent chance of getting away.”

“Unless he can hop from one to the other of us,” said Senta.  “I doubt he would be as hindered by the snow as we would be.”

“Then perhaps you’ve made a good decision,” said Zurfina and headed up the staircase in the center of the room.  “Wake me for dinner, Pet.”

“Is she serious?” wondered Graham.

“About dinner?”

“No.  About us playing when the tyrannosaurus is about.”

Senta shrugged.  “You know she almost let me get eaten by velociraptors once.”

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Zurfina the Magnificent

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Zurfina the Magnificent is a character in The Voyage of the Minotaur and the other books of Senta and the Steel Dragon.

Spoiler Alert

When we last saw Zurfina in Book 0: Brechalon, she was prisoner 89 in the Kingdom of Brechalon’s magical prison of Schwarztogrube.  Now we find her living in the city of Brech, although it is pretty clear early on that she is in hiding, at least to a degree.  Needing a high power magic wielder, the Dechantagne’s hire her to go with them to Birmisia.  About this same time, she comes into contact with Senta and takes her in as an apprentice.

Zurfina is really not a major character.  She is a very important minor character.  She acts as a deus ex machina in several situations.  She is however in the front of the action in this book more than any of the others, primarily because she and Senta spend so much time together aboard the HMS Minotaur. 

Zurfina is fun to write because she is completely self-absorbed.  While Iolanthe thinks of nothing but the good of her family, Zurfina thinks of nothing but herself.  Even when Terrence chastises her for allowing Senta to almost get eaten by velociraptors, she simply replies.  “Children are going to be eaten.”  Still, her relationship with Senta grows as the story progresses and we see a few hints of affection.

Brechalon: Prisoner 89

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Spoiler Alert

Prisoner 89 is Zurfina the Sorceress.  We find her at the beginning of book 0 imprisoned in Schwarztogrube, the prison for magic users run by the Kingdom of Greater Brechalon.  During the course of the story, we see her capture and the events surrounding it in flashbacks.  Of course, Zurfina’s sole goal in the story is to escape the prison any way she can, and of course the first way she tries is magic.  The fact that she manages to pull together some pretty intense magic in a supposedly magic-proof location hints at her true power.

The story here is an example of one of the problems with writing a prequel.  Zurfina’s imprisonment isn’t disclosed in the regular story (books 1-5) until well into book 5, but readers of book 0 know it all before hand.  This would be a big clue to one of the major secrets in the series.  Fortunately, it isn’t revealed until book 5 either.

Zurfina is prisoner 89 because I was writing it while working on my master’s degree and I used my student number.  I accidental transposed it.  I was actually student 98, but I think 89 sounds better.