Haberpaw
| Type | Town |
|---|---|
| Notable sites | The gully post, a bakery |
| Notable inhabitants | Bowmidge Talorn |
| First appearance | Sacred: Eslura's Calling |
Haberpaw is a small town in the wooded hill country of Eslura, best known for the gully post that stands above it. Alpin Loomin and Bowmidge Talorn grew up there together, and Bowmidge has never left: he is head of the post and keeps hundreds of gullys in the crooked house at the top of the hill.[1]
The town
Haberpaw's main stretch is a well-maintained dirt road with squat homes standing along both sides of it. A few blocks along there are shops, one of them a bakery that Beatrice Tidal identified by the sugary smell of confections and the aroma of fresh bread before she could see it. Past the shops the road narrows to a path and climbs a hill.[1] Bea thought the main stretch looked a lot like the main road of Mountbridge, the town she came from on Earth.[1]
The map of Eslura draws Haberpaw south of Avonbourn as a town of tall narrow towers and steep roofs with a watchtower among them, standing on wooded hill ground beside a river, and puts a small round marker glyph before the name.[2]
The town sits within a short walk of a cluster of derelict houses on a cracked stone walkway, a stretch of ruin Alpin judged too despicable for any Eslurian he knew to sleep in, and where he and Bea slept anyway on the night before they arrived.[3]
The gully post
The post is run out of a crooked wooden house at the peak of the hill above the town. Dozens of wooden posts jut from its side for the birds to perch on, and hundreds more gullys line the rafters inside. The ground floor is one meagre room serving as living room and kitchen together, with a staircase in the far corner and a single door branching off into the mailroom, whose far wall is covered in box-shaped holes stuffed with rolled-up parchment.[1]
Bowmidge Talorn is head of the post, calls the gullys his babies and took the work on as the family business. He tells Alpin he could never give it up.[1] Alpin came to Haberpaw to send word to the Sacred Guard that an Olphin was travelling with him, and was talked into staying for tea while he wrote it.[1]
Government
No ruler, council or guard of Haberpaw appears in the books. The head of the gully post is the only officeholder the town is given, and Bowmidge's authority is over his own doorstep: when Demise let himself in, put his feet on the table and knocked two teacups to the floor, Bowmidge told him he would not tolerate such disrespect in his household and was ignored.[1]
Notable events
- Alpin Loomin, Bea and Barnaby Britto walked in around mid-morning, Alpin meaning to report Barnaby to the Sacred Guard from the post and to move on. Bowmidge came out of the bakery with an armful of muffins, recognised his old neighbour and pulled him up the hill for tea. Alpin covered for the boy's hood by telling Bowmidge that the sun gave him hives.[1]
- Demise followed them into the town. The house went dark though it had been bright and sunny moments before, black smoke came in under the door, and the three hid among the gullys in the mailroom while the Shadow Reaper sat down at Bowmidge's table and summoned Mayna and Ariz to find Bea. The wolves swam through the floorboards, and one bit Barnaby's arm as he knocked Alpin out of its jaws.[1]
- Bowmidge whistled, the mailroom door flew open, and the whole flock went straight at Demise's face. His claws stopped smoking, he covered his eyes and the wolves vanished like smoke in the wind. Alpin smashed the mailroom window with his staff and the three escaped down the hill, leaving Bowmidge behind on his own insistence.[1]
The books do not return to Haberpaw, and Bowmidge is not seen again after that afternoon.