Quintinius Verginix

Quint, as seen in The Winter Knights.

Quintinius Verginix is a fictional character from Paul Stewart's The Edge Chronicles.

Usually referred to as Quint or, later, Cloud Wolf, Quint was a Knight Academic and a Sky Pirate Captain. He was the main character of three Edge Chronicles books (books 4, 8 and 9; the first three books chronologically), collectively known as the Quint Sequence.

Life History

Early life

Quint was the son of Wind Jackal, a successful Sky Pirate captain. He lived with his parents and his five brothers in a large palace in the western quays of Undertown. One day, his father's treacherous quartermaster, Turbot Smeal started a fire in their home, out of the want to be captain of The Galerider. Wind Jackal was on board his Sky Pirate ship, The Galerider at the time. As he flew home, he discovered Undertown ablaze. The entire family had perished, apart from Quint who had escaped across the nearby roofs. This event left Quint with a terrible fear of fire for years to come. After this, he and his father sailed together, and worked and lived aboard their sky ship, The Galerider.

Cloud Wolf

A novella written for World Book Day, Cloud Wolf recounts a battle between a Sky Pirate armada and the Great Sky Whale. Quint took part in the fight, boarding with the second wave and stealing the evil Leaguemaster's precious black diamond cargo. He and his father caused the terrible league ship to hurtle, after freeing the captive slaves and escaping on board their own ship. in the closing chapter, Wind Jackal gives Quint his Sky Pirate name, Cloud Wolf, a name he keeps secret until he becomes a captain himself.

The Curse of the Gloamglozer

Shortly after the events of Cloud Wolf, Quint and Wind Jackal arrive in Sanctaphrax. Quint becomes the apprentice of the "Most High Academe of Sanctaphrax", Linius Pallitax, who is also an old friend of Quint's father. He helps unknowingly in the creation of a gloamglozer. Quint ventures into the stonecomb, an ever changing series of tunnels inside the Sanctaphrax rock, alongside Linius' daughter, Maris Pallitax. They are attacked by a rogue glister, a creature that was created hundreds of years ago, in a method similar to the creation of the gloamglozer. They are saved by Bungus Septrill, an old earth scholar who sacrifices himself to hold off the creature. Quint enters the ancient laboratory where the gloamglozer was created, but his curiosity leads to the release of the creature. After trapping Linius in a fire, the gloamglozer assumes the Most High Academe's form and lures Quint to the burning building. He repels the creature using chine, but not before the gloamglozer curses Quint and all of Sanctaphrax. It then flees.

The Winter Knights

After the fire, Linius Pallitax dies of his injuries. This leaves Maris fostered by Heft and Dacia, two greedy undertowners. Quint enters the Knights Academy, as the Protégé of the Professor of Light. During his studies he becomes friend with a forge-hand by the name of Stope, who later joins the crew of his sky pirate ship. He also becomes the rival of Vilnix Pompolnius, future Most High Academe. During his time there, an unseasonal series of Blizzards leaves the Sanctaphrax rock straining at its chain, and Hax Vostillix, master of High Cloud, sends many brave knight academics to their deaths in search of Stormphrax, a magical substance which could weigh down the buoyant rock. Quint and his friends discover the cause in an old barkscroll and fly the battered sky ship The Cloudslayer into open sky. There they heal a stricken Cloudeater which was causing the winter. They return to a battle between the Gatekeepers and The Academics-at-arms, who are fighting for control of Sanctaphrax. In the closing chapters, Vilnix is expelled from the knights academy, and Quint and Maris fly away with Wind Jackal, in search of Turbot Smeal.

The Stone Pilot

Another World Book Day novella featuring Quint. Quint rescues his future stone pilot, Maugin, from a slave market in The Deepwoods. He also aids in the destruction of Scourge of the Weak, a League ship captained by Ilmus Pentephraxis.

Clash of the Sky Galleons

This book begins with a desperate man-hunt for Turbot Smeal, who had murdered Quint's entire family years ago. He was presumed dead, until a series of messages from him prove otherwise. He leads them into secluded locations, each of which are traps that are narrowly missed. Afterwards, maintenance on The Galerider leads Wind Jackal into a contract to retrieve valuable Bloodoak wood from the Deepwoods. During the terrible journey, four of the crewmembers are killed, and are gradually replaced by Quints future crewmembers. Eventually they receive another message from Smeal, and travel to an abandoned sky-wreck in search of him. There, Smeal kills Wind Jackal and is supposedly killed by Thaw Daggerslash, an ambitious young sky pirate. With Wind Jackal dead, Quint becomes the new captain, and a devastated Thaw Daggerslash leaves on returning to Undertown. There they learn of a sky pirate purge, and they and around 240 Sky Pirate ships flee to their haven of Wilderness Lair. They fly out to meet the attacking fleet, and would have won easily if not for a colossal League Ship, The Bringer of Doom. The Galerider was destroyed and Quint, after sharing a brief kiss with Maris, opts to stay. However the Bringer of Doom crashed due to a design flaw. The battered league ships scuttle back to their nest in undertown. After a brief duel with Turbot Smeal, who was discovered to be Thaw Daggerslash in disguise, The Galerider is lost as it hurtles upwards. Quint and the crew escaped, and he and Maris fell in love. From this point onwards, Quint is almost exclusively referred to as Cloud Wolf.

Return to Sanctaphrax

After the events of Clash of the Sky Galleons, Quint returned to his studies in the Knight's Academy in Sanctaphrax, and became a knight-in-waiting. For nearly nine years he stayed in Sanctaphrax, awaiting the arrival of a great storm. When the time came, however, his knighting was interrupted by Vilnix Pompolnius, and his newly discovered Phraxdust. Vilnix overthrew the two Most High Academes, and Quint left to become a Sky Pirate.

Beyond The Deepwoods

To raise enough money for his own ship, Quint crewed on board a leagues vessel, captained by the ruthless Multinus Gobtrax. Maris followed him, and was soon pregnant with their son, Twig. Quint knew that he could not follow his dream of becoming a sky pirate with a son dragging him down, so he and Maris arranged for the owner of The Bloodoak Tavern, Mother Horsefeather, to "take the child off their hands". However, a terrible storm grounded them in The Deepwoods shortly after Maris gave birth. Quint knew that Twig would not survive the journey back to Undertown, and was forced to leave him in a village of woodtrolls. Quint left, and eventually became captain of his own ship, Stormchaser. He assembled a crew, made from the surviving crewmembers of The Galerider, and several new characters. At some point during his time as captain, Quint lost an eye. Years later, Stormchaser crash landed in the Deepwoods. Twig saw the crash, and helped his crew repair the ship. Quint discovered his son was present, and he flew away in the night. Later, a caterbird dropped Twig onto the ship, and Quint decided to let him stay as a crewmember.

Stormchaser

Approximately two years after being reunited with his son, The professor of Light sends Quint and his crew on a Stormchasing voyage, in search of Stormphrax. He accepts the quest, but on the way a combination of weather and mutiny forces the crew to abandon ship. Quint stayed at the helm, and dissolved into the mother storm.

Midnight Over Sanctaphrax

His son, Twig flew his own ship, The Edgedancer in search of Quint. He flew far out into open sky, into the Mother Storm itself. There he finds Quint, and Quint tells him that the mother storm is returning to the Edge. The storm usually replenishes the Edgewater River at its source in Riverrise. However, this time the floating city of Sanctaphrax is in the way. Quint tells Twig to destroy Sanctaphrax to save the Edge from a neverending drought. After his message is passed on, Quint "becomes one with the Mother Storm", fading into it.

The Immortals

Quint's spirit along with Twig's and his great grandson's Rook's arrive at sanctraphax and destroy the Gloamglozer before returning to open sky to be reborn.