Livon laughed again. “Then I can die happy.”
Nihal smiled at the shining blade.
The sword became her inseparable companion. It hung at her side each and every day. She often trained on her own; she didn’t have a sparring partner. Sennar was too busy studying, and when he agreed to fight, he was no match for her. Sometimes Nihal dueled with Livon, but it had become easy for her to beat him, too. And besides, she almost always slept at Soana’s house.
When she took a break from her studies, Nihal would go into the Forest and enlist Phos’s help. The wood sprite would throw seeds for her to try to catch with the sword, or else she’d swipe at dry branches. It wasn’t the best way to train, but it was a way of staying in shape while increasing her agility and strength. She tried to make the best of what little training she could manage because she felt a pressing need to use her sword.
The opportunity to do so was long in coming, but come it did.
6
THE DRAGON KNIGHT
Two years had passed since Nihal first arrived at Soana’s door. Two years of study and growth and of bonds, especially the bond with Sennar—her friend, confidante, accomplice and, at long last, a bona fide sorcerer.
The initiation ceremony was to take place during a meeting of the Council of Sorcerers, and it would be even more intense than usual because Sennar had decided to carry on with his studies in order to one day become a councilor himself.
The Council of Sorcerers changed its headquarters each year so that each land could have the honor of hosting it. It was comprised of the eight most powerful sorcerers—both in terms of magical powers and wisdom—one from each of the eight lands.
The Council was the last vestige of the old democratic institutions of the Overworld. In the past, it had guided cultural life and research, but for forty years now, it had been coordinating the war against the Tyrant along with the rulers of the free lands.
The Council was also in charge of the Overworld’s sorcerer community, and all new sorcerers went through the Council for conferral. Since the Tyrant’s appearance on the scene, it had in fact become normal for at least one sorcerer to serve with the army in order to cast spells on the weapons or even, in the most desperate cases, to enter the battlefield to add the strength of his or her magic to the fight.
This was to be the first real voyage of Nihal’s life. Not that she’d spent the time until now closed within the walls of Salazar. She’d had frequent opportunities to visit other towers in the Land of the Wind when accompanying Livon to see his suppliers, but she’d never traveled farther than half a day of travel, and she’d always been home by sunset.
This time would be different. They were to walk for leagues and leagues, stopping at night to sleep in the open air, until they at last reached their destination in a land Nihal had never seen and about which she had heard many incredible stories.
Nihal was very excited, and the excitement lasted the whole trip. Even as the miles were passing beneath her feet or as she rested beside the fire in the evenings, her legs aching and her mind numb with fatigue, she couldn’t help but think that she would like a traveling life—one journey after the next, from land to land, sharing a thousand adventures with her sword.
Sennar’s mood was quite different. Entirely caught up in his new role, the only thing he could think about was his imminent initiation. He couldn’t have said which was stronger: his excitement about finally becoming a sorcerer, or his fear about the ceremony. On the one hand, he worried he wouldn’t be up to it. On the other, he couldn’t wait.
The third member of the traveling band was Soana, who was behaving in a very peculiar way. Usually so measured and inscrutable, here she was all of a sudden acting sunny and relaxed, even jolly. Nihal had grown to know and love her, but rarely had she seen her show joy so openly. It was as if she were waiting for something and the expectation filled her with a new light, a light that made her beauty shine.
On the tenth day of walking, they came within sight of the border.
The Land of the Wind was still considered friendly territory. The border was not yet under guard and there was no one supervising the passage of people or goods.
Nihal was walking with the others, communing, as frequently happened, with the voices inside her, when a huge shadow—one that moved far too quickly to have been made by a cloud—drew her attention. She raised her eyes to the sky. The sight stopped her in her tracks.
A dragon hovered not far above them. The animal was tracing lazy circles in the morning air. Rays of light shone through its sheer wings. It was just like the dragon on her sword: the same forcefulness, the same vigor, the same beauty. Its harness and saddle were golden. The man astride it was completely covered by a shining suit of armor.
The dragon traced a wider circle and then glided delicately to a stop on the grass a few feet away from the little group of travelers. Nihal looked at it with wide eyes, almost as if she wanted to fill her eyes and her heart with the spectacle. She didn’t notice as Soana ran with uncharacteristic verve to greet the knight. The man leaped gracefully down from the dragon, took Soana’s hand in his own, and planted his lips upon it in a long kiss.
Soana smiled. “My love.”
The knight smiled. “It’s been too long.”
Soana, who usually held everyone’s gaze,looked down.
“A dragon! Did you see? A dragon!”
Sennar’s cry brought Nihal back to earth. Her friend was excited. He moved toward the beast.
After a moment’s hesitation, Nihal decided to follow. As she approached the dragon, she gradually took in details. His penetrating red eyes studied her with wisdom from ages past while his wings pulsed with life even as they sat folded over his majestic flanks. He stood still as stone, with a statue’s pride. He was light green, but it was a green full of surprising nuances. It took on reddish overtones at the sides of his head, grew darker over his spine, and turned lighter over his massive chest.
Nihal told herself that there was nothing so beautiful and strong, nothing so noble and powerful, as this creature. She wondered what it would be like to ride it, to feel its heartbeat, to plough through the sky on its back.
The knight noticed immediately when Sennar began to stroke the dragon’s nose. “Hey, kid, be careful!”
“Don’t worry,” Sennar answered, without stopping.
The knight watched, ready to jump at the slightest sign of danger. But he was surprised to see that his dragon was calm. In fact, the creature was completely at ease.
Nihal couldn’t resist. She drew nearer to the dragon and stretched out her hand. Soana’s voice stopped her in midair.
“Not you, Nihal,” she warned. “A dragon is devoted to its knight alone and refuses to let strangers near. It’s different for Sennar because of his powers.”
Nihal lowered her hand in disappointment. She so wanted to pet the creature. The Dragon Knights represented, for her, all that she would like to be. They were the most powerful warriors in the Overworld; they fought on the side of the free lands against the Tyrant, and they flew through the sky in telepathic communication with their dragons, melded into a single identity.
“Kids, this is Fen, a general of the Order of the Dragon Knights of the Land of the Sun. Fen, let me introduce you to Sennar, my student, and this is Nihal … Nihal?”
Nihal couldn’t take her eyes off the dragon. At long last she had one before her. She was in such a trance that she barely noticed Soana was speaking to her.
At last, when Sennar jabbed her with his elbow, she shifted her attention to the knight and was stricken.
Fen was a young man, though not a youth. Tall, imposing, with a beauty Nihal had thought existed only in statues. It was clear that his armor shielded a lean, athletic physique. Chestnut curls covered his head. His face was a perfect oval. His lips, full and well formed, curved upward in a bold smile. His eyes were a deep green, the color of the Forest in the spring, the green of all the emeralds in the Overworld.
>
Nihal thought he looked handsome, strong, and brave. She blushed as she mumbled a few incoherent words.
Fen smiled at the two teenagers. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Soana has told me a lot about you,” he said. “And I have to say, Sennar, I’ve never seen anyone pet Gaart as if he were a kitten!”
He turned back to Soana and tenderly touched her arm. “Has it been a difficult journey?”
“Not at all. We’ve been enjoying ourselves. It’s a lovely summer.”
“I don’t like you to go around on your own in times like this.”
“Nonsense,” she said, with a flourish of her hand. “I know how to take care of myself.”
“I’ll escort you to the royal palace, anyway.”
The knight said no more. Ignoring Soana’s amused protests, Fen took her in his arms and gallantly set her on Gaart.
“I’ve managed to find horses for you kids,” he said. “One of my squires is waiting for you at the border.”
Nihal found her tongue again all at once. “Can I ride the dragon, too?”
“I’m sorry, Nihal, but Gaart won’t take more than two riders.”
“He’s … he’s so beautiful,” Nihal chattered. Then she scolded herself for sounding like such an idiot.
Fen laughed heartily. “Did you hear that, Gaart? It’s your lucky day!” Then something at Nihal’s hip caught his attention. “How about that sword. Now that’s beautiful.”
“Sword?”
“This one.” He reached out his hand to touch the hilt of Nihal’s sword.
Nihal’s ears were aflame the second Fen’s hand brushed against her hip.
“Soana tells me you want to be a warrior. How are you at fencing?”
Nihal’s gaze was lost as she looked back at the knight. “Who, me?”
Sennar rolled his eyes and jabbed his friend a second time with his elbow.
“I’m not bad.”
“Excellent. When we get to the royal palace at Laodamea, we can go a few rounds. That way you can show me your stuff.” Fen mounted Gaart and wrapped his arms around Soana. The dragon took flight.
Nihal was breathless.
Sennar put a hand on her shoulder. “We’ve got to get the horses. Let’s go.”
“Okay,” she said absently.
Nihal could think of nothing but Fen as she and Sennar rode through the heart of the Land of Water. Even Gaart was overshadowed.
She wondered what on earth had gotten into her. After all, she’d seen more men than women in her life. And Fen was just a warrior, nothing else. And yet, if she thought about those eyes …
“He’s not your type,” Sennar said with a sly grin.
“What?”
“What, do you think I didn’t notice the way you were looking at Fen? I have to say, it was quite a bold glance,” he said slyly.
Nihal blushed. “What are you talking about? I was looking at the dragon!”
“Oh, come on. You can confess all to your friendly enemy.”
“I wasn’t looking at Fen,” Nihal repeated. “It’s just that he’s a Dragon Knight and I want to be a warrior. And his dragon is so beautiful. And his armor, and his weapons.”
“Look, it’s no surprise that you like him. He’s tall, muscular, strong. And he’s a knight, which is practically the same thing as a hero, right? You’re so touchy!”
Nihal didn’t dignify his comment with a response. She clutched the reins and tried to think of something else. But whenever she closed her eyes, she imagined Fen and her heart beat faster.
After a few minutes of silence, Nihal stopped sulking and asked Sennar, “You said your father was squire to a knight. What do you know about the Order?”
“The knight my father served rode an Azure Dragon. It’s a different species: smaller, kind of like a big snake. Fen belongs to the Order of the Dragon Knights of the Land of the Sun, an ancient order. Nowadays, their dragons are bred only in the Land of the Sun, but a long time ago it wasn’t like that. The dragons came from different lands, and the warriors weren’t subject to any monarch. They were bound only to their own dragons and to the Order, and they lived basically like mercenaries at the service of the highest bidder. During the Two Hundred Years War, almost every army counted a Dragon Knight in its ranks.”
Nihal listened attentively.
“When peace came, the Order practically broke up. Some of the knights stayed in the Land of the Sun and formed the Academy of the Dragon Knights, while others left the Overworld by crossing the Saar River or the Great Desert. Ever since the beginning of the war with the Tyrant, when all the free lands combined their armies into a single great army, the Dragon Knights have served primarily as generals and commanders. Now, they answer to the Council of Sorcerers. That’s all I know.” He paused a moment, then added, “Can I offer you a piece of advice? If I were you, I wouldn’t think too much about Fen.”
But Sennar might as well have saved his breath.
Once again, Nihal was lost in the memory of the Dragon Knight’s gaze.
7
IN THE LAND OF WATER
Nihal’s amazement grew as they went. For many miles inside the Land of Water, there was no apparent change in the landscape. It was still primarily plains, perhaps a bit greener than those that surrounded Salazar, but still the same old flat, boundless sea of grass.
Then, out of nowhere, streams began to appear. It was as if they came up out of the earth like blood flowing slowly from a wound. At first, they were just trickles, an arm’s span wide, and not very deep, but soon they widened into much more ample waterways that flowed into proper rivers.
Water dominated the landscape. There were rivers everywhere: clear ponds, little streams that cut across the land like tears. Multicolored fish darted amongst the rushes that grew in the crystalline waterways and long weeds swayed gently in the currents. The color of the grass was blindingly intense. This was the kingdom of green and of water, a pure land bathed by a thousand rivers and adorned with scores of trees.
Nihal was goggle-eyed as she looked around. The vision that had come to her in the clearing came to mind. Maybe this was the land where the spirits of nature showed all their power, the place of endless forests.
“Close your mouth, Nihal,” Sennar teased, but he, too, was captivated by the splendor around them.
Slowly, the first villages began to appear on the pockets of dry land between the waterways. Frequently, groups of stilt houses extended all the way to the rivers. It seemed that people in that land had found a way to live in harmony with the lush nature that surrounded them.
Sennar and Nihal passed from one marvel to the next, but the best was yet to come. After half a morning’s brisk ride, the two travelers reached the most incredible building they’d ever seen.
A massive castle made of big square stones, it stood on the edge of an enormous waterfall. Water flowed over its many buttresses and then separated into a myriad of rivulets that plunged furiously into an abyss at least sixty cubits deep, where they ended in an extraordinarily blue lake. The main entrance stood in the central part of the waterfall. There, in front of the castle, Fen and Soana stood waiting for them.
A group of pages greeted the visitors, welcomed them and escorted them to their rooms, which were adjoining and overlooked the waterfall.
The view from the windows was spectacular. When she looked out, Nihal wasn’t able to tell whether she was seeing the water in the lake or some trick of the eye that made it seem the sky itself had descended to earth.
She stood there, entranced, until Soana knocked on her door. The moment had come to meet the rulers of the Land of Water.
Soana led Sennar and Nihal to the heart of the royal palace, a perfectly round room topped with a semispherical crystal roof through which the waterfall was visible.
It was like being in another world. Sennar and Nihal, their noses in the air, stared at the play of water as it remolded the outlines of everything on the other side of the roof; when Galla and Astrea made the
ir entrance, it almost caught them off guard.
Nihal had never seen a water nymph. Astrea walked as if propelled by a light breeze and seemed hardly to touch the ground. Barefoot, she wore a delicate gown that enveloped her slender body. Her hair, which was transparent like pure water, disappeared at the end of its many whorls into the surrounding air. It was clear that she belonged to a different order of being than humans. The queen of the Land of Water was a direct emanation of nature.
Galla held Astrea’s hand. The king was a simple human being. Although there was something delicate about his features that made him seem very young, he looked just like any other ponderous land dweller standing there beside the nymph.
The two peoples had always lived side by side in the Land of Water. For a long time, they had put up with each other while trying to limit their interaction as much as possible. The humans lived in graceful villages built in clearings or on pilings, while the nymphs kept to themselves in the woods.
The marriage of Galla and Astrea, however, was the first mixed marriage in the land. It ushered in a new era.
Galla was part of the royal family. Even though they lived in the same territory, the two peoples did not have common institutions. The Land of Water was governed by the humans, who sat on the King’s Council. The nymphs had a queen of their own whom the humans barely acknowledged, at least until the young Galla had had the bad taste to fall in love with Astrea.
The union met with hostility on both sides. Galla’s parents complained that they had never seen a man marry one of those diabolical creatures. What was more, Astrea was neither a queen nor a princess. She was a common plebian who spent her time romping half naked in the woods.
The nymphs, for their part, forbade Astrea any further contact with the man. He was a human—that is, an uncouth being, incapable of living in harmony with the primeval spirits.