Storm Over Warlock · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for Storm Over Warlock by Andre Norton.
Chapter 1
I: Disaster
Shann Lantee, a low-ranking Survey worker, survives a Throg attack on his camp because he was out searching for escaped wolverines, Taggi and Togi. He hides in the wilderness, tracking the animals, and begins to adapt to his new reality as the sole survivor on a hostile alien world.
Chapter 2
II: Death of a Ship
Shann Lantee, alone on Warlock with his wolverines Taggi and Togi, struggles to survive in the wilderness after the Throg attack on the Terran camp. He reflects on his conflicts with Garth Thorvald and his lack of formal education. While foraging and hunting, he witnesses a Throg flyer destroy a Terran scoutship, but the Throgs depart without detecting him. He contemplates the mysterious 'dreams' reported by the first Survey scout on Warlock, which may be linked to the planet's seasons.
Chapter 3
III: To Close Ranks
Shann Lantee is rescued from a Throg by Ragnar Thorvald, who has also survived the Throg attack. The two Terrans join forces and begin constructing a primitive shelter and crafting native-style weapons to disguise their presence as a native race, planning to raid the Throg-occupied camp for supplies.
Chapter 4
IV: Sortie
Shann and Thorvald launch a surprise attack on the Throg-occupied Terran camp using fire bombs and primitive weapons. After the assault, Shann retreats to the river, hoping to reunite with the wolverines and Thorvald. He witnesses a Throg killed by his spear and later meets Thorvald on a raft, learning the Throgs have a 'hound' that howls. They cut loose and flee downstream.
Chapter 5
Pursuit
Shann and Thorvald navigate the river into a desert landscape, facing the challenge of feeding the wolverines and the threat of a Throg hound on their trail. Shann shares his dream of a skull-shaped mountain, which intrigues Thorvald, who reveals his own vision of a cavern with a green veil. They must leave the river to cross the heights toward the sea.
Chapter 6
VI: The Hound
Shann regains consciousness after a Throg attack, finding himself and Thorvald trapped in a mountain crevice. With the wolverines Taggi and Togi, they discover a tunnel and attempt to escape. They later set a trap for a Throg hound using vines and poles, successfully capturing it as the wolverines join the fray.
Chapter 7
VII: Unwelcome Guide
Shann and Thorvald debate the existence of a native race on Warlock after Thorvald reveals a mysterious carved bone medallion found on an island beach. They trap a Throg hound in a rockslide and continue westward, where Thorvald uses the medallion in a water ritual that seems to possess him, prompting Shann to knock it away.
Chapter 8
VIII: Utgard
Shann and Thorvald arrive at a wild, forbidding shoreline facing the Utgard islands. They take shelter from an approaching storm in a crevice discovered by the wolverines Taggi and Togi, build a fire, and discuss their shared dreams—Shann's of a skull-mountain and Thorvald's of a green veil. Thorvald questions Shann about his past, and they forage for food, observing a dying sea reptile and a floating object in the water.
Chapter 9
One Alone
After landing on an island, Shann awakens to find Thorvald and the canoe gone. He swims after the canoe but Thorvald attacks him with a paddle, forcing Shann to retreat. Stranded on the island with the wolverines, Shann must now survive alone, questioning Thorvald's motives and sanity.
Chapter 10
X: A Trap for a Trapper
Marooned for three days, Shann struggles to survive on a barren island with his wolverines, Taggi and Togi. After discovering a living shell creature buried in the gravel, he realizes a mysterious force is sabotaging his escape efforts. Determined to fight back, Shann devises a trap for the unseen spy, using his own labor as bait and exploiting the enemy's overconfidence.
Chapter 11
XI: The Witch
Shann sets a trap on the cliff path, hoping to capture the mysterious entity that has been influencing his dreams and actions. He feigns compliance with the mental compulsion to destroy his canoe, but instead snares a Warlockian native—a young woman who communicates through touch and mental impressions. She uses a device to overwhelm his senses, dragging him through a water tunnel into a vast cavern. After a struggle, Shann asserts his identity and escapes the spell, eventually freeing the alien and attempting to establish peaceful contact, only to be ensnared again by her hypnotic gaze.
Chapter 12
XII: The Veil of Illusion
Shann awakens in a circular, roofless room in a Warlockian structure on an island within a cavern. He explores the building, finding Taggi and Togi imprisoned in another room. He makes his way to a central chamber where three Warlockians and a fourth he had previously trapped await him. They communicate mind-to-mind, questioning his presence and his status as a male. After a ritual involving skulls and a bowl of sticks, Shann is given a disk that plunges him into a vision of a green veil of illusion.
Chapter 13
XIII: He Who Dreams…
Shann and Thorvald, lost in the mist, attempt to use a bone coin as a guide, which instead glows and flies off. They pursue it through a tunnel of fog. Shann encounters a hallucination of Logally, a bully from his past, and overcomes it by recognizing it as a false dream. He then faces a painful vision of his dying wolverine Trav, which he must also let go. Finally, he finds Thorvald, who is delirious and mistakes Shann for his brother Garth before attacking him.
Chapter 14
Escape
Shann and Thorvald emerge from the underground onto an island, where they discover a path along a reef, find food in tidal pools, and eventually witness Wyverns using a hypnotic disk to control a fork-tailed sea creature. When a Wyvern stumbles and loses the disk, Shann impulsively leaps to her aid against the beast.
Chapter 15
XV: Dragon Slayer
Shann and Thorvald discuss the Wyverns' control disks and the possibility of mental manipulation. Shann battles a fork-tail beast, aided by the sudden arrival of his wolverines Taggi and Togi. After the fight, he awakens in a Wyvern city, where Thorvald explains that the Wyverns can transport beings by 'wishing'—a power tied to their disks.
Chapter 16
XVI: Third Prisoner
Shann recovers from his wound and is summoned by the Wyverns to undertake a solo mission to a skull-shaped island where a Throg officer is trapped. The Wyverns explain that dreams hold power and that Shann must confront the Throg, who is unarmed and pinned by fallen rock, to break a destructive pattern. Thorvald attempts a mental link with a Wyvern to aid Shann, but Shann enters the island alone, armed only with a green crystal and his wits.
Chapter 17
XVII: Throg Justice
Shann awakens as a prisoner aboard a Throg ship, sick and in pain, and is brought to the Throg-occupied Terran camp. He attempts to mentally contact Thorvald and the Wyverns, and later is forced to broadcast a false message to the incoming transport. He witnesses the execution of a Throg prisoner and realizes he must bluff to survive.
Chapter 18
XVIII: Storm's Ending
Shann is captured by the Throgs and bound to a frame on the landing field, intended as a grisly warning for the approaching Terran cruiser. As the Throgs prepare to execute him, a mysterious luminous mist rises from the perimeter, engulfing the field and driving the Throgs into panic. The mist, a variation of the veil of illusion, forces the Throgs to confront their own deep-seated fears, causing them to flee or collapse. Thorvald arrives, having channeled the Wyverns' power to create the illusion, and frees Shann. They discuss the success of their united attack and the new understanding of how to combat the Throgs.
