Flying carpets

From Glen Cook Wiki

These transportation devices are frames of wood, perhaps a foot tall, with cloth stretched taut across the middle. Most of them are large enough to carry about five or six people, though they can reach sizes of a hundred yards by forty. They are the preferred mode of transportation for the Ten Who Were Taken, and later the New Taken. Flying a carpet requires considerable magical ability and concentration, though apparently people with even minor sorcerous ability can get them into the air (e.g. the Captain, who is able to launch but not control a flying carpet). Typically, the "pilot" is able to converse while flying, but not cast magic spells unless they release control of the carpet. If a carpet is physically damaged, it will not work. There is no special magic to keep riders on the carpet; in bad weather, riders use ropes to tie themselves to the frame.

Carpets are described as one of the costliest and most difficult magics. The Howler is the resident expert on carpet construction among the Taken. He not only creates them, but is capable of flying extra-large carpets or even multiple carpets (typically all are "slaved" to the carpet being flown by the pilot, presumably copying the movements of the master carpet). Late in the series, we learn that Howler is also capable of making small, "emergency" carpets with lightweight frames that can be rolled or folded and hidden among his clothes. A skilled wizard such as Howler can build a four-person carpet in about two days.

In the final days of Lady's rule, the New Taken were producing many variants of the flying carpet designed to cope with the magical null field of the White Rose, which render the carpets powerless. These included wings and airfins to enable gliding in areas where magic doesn't work, crystal canopies to enable the carpets to fly higher in thin atmosphere, copper cages to protect against electrical attacks, and large enchanted spear-launchers capable of carrying up to eight missiles. These modified versions aren't seen anymore once the Company moves south.

The principles of the flying carpets are related to those of the Voroshk flying posts.