Iduna Read online

  The Sun Chamber was round with a glass dome, creating plenty of light on a sunny day such as today. Harmazd, Angko, and Reza were perusing a map spread across a large circular table. Concluding their discussion, they turned to her.

  “Good morning, Mistress,” Lady Harmazd said.

  “And to you, Lady Harmazd. How can I be of service?” Iduna asked.

  “I'm afraid we have troubling news to discuss.” Lady Harmazd turned to the stranger in the room. “Secretary Thaksin, this is the Spellcrafter we spoke of, Mistress Iduna Lodindotter.”

  Iduna’s impression of the importance of this meeting grew. The family name of a young wizard was rarely used and even less often with people outside the Institute. After bows were exchanged, Lady Harmazd continued. “Please, everyone, have a seat.” Harmazd gestured to the plush gold-colored cushions arranged in a half circle, facing the large fireplace. As they moved to sit, a servant placed a tea setting on the low table in front of them. The scents of cinnamon and oranges wafted through the room. Harmazd sat between Angko and Reza, which was only appropriate since her role was to supervise the two and serve as a bridge from their disparate fields. Secretary of Defense Thaksin sat at one wing, and Iduna settled gracefully on his other side. Her hands rested lightly in her lap. After the servant left, Secretary Thaksin spoke.

  “Gaelen is silent. The last message we received indicated that the Ull were advancing into their lands. Ever since the Ull had adopted military rule last year, their society appears to have become barbaric and is now expanding.” Thaksin explained further, “We do not know why, how far they intend to go, or how large a threat they represent.” He paused, contemplating.

  “It seems there is much that we do not know,” Angko said, replacing his spectacles on the bridge of his narrow nose.

  “We have been thinking about how we can learn more”—Harmazd alternated making eye contact with Angko and Reza—“and how Mistress Iduna is particularly suited to this situation.”

  Her statement met unresponsive faces. An amount of time was allowed to pass, which permitted everyone a moment to think and room for anyone’s voice to be heard.

  “Perhaps someone with more concrete experience with the world than Iduna would be more suited,” Reza offered.

  “Mistress Iduna knows plenty about the world. She has had years of study and traveled with her parents who were traders when she was much younger. She was the best Spellcrafter of her class,” Angko said. “She was also born of Ull parents and is pure Ull.”

  “Spells learned from books and done in the Institute are one thing,” Reza began. “Executing them in the real world, and when it counts, is another. On top of that, I'm not sure we should be drawing the attention of the Ull to us.” Reza moved to shift beyond the iconic differences between the two schools and to rest his argument on something new. “If we seek out the Ull, we may turn their sights on us.”

  The words hovered, and everyone turned to the tea setting in front of them. As the youngest, Iduna moved to do the serving. Steam rose as she poured tea into each of the small blue porcelain cups. Settling back, they all sipped quietly.

  Lady Harmazd looked between the two Sensei and inclined her head slightly to Angko before turning to nod at the Secretary of Defense.

  “Your opinion is important to us,” Thaksin acknowledged, clearly realizing that he was quickly becoming hamstrung. Reza was an important leader. “We'll deliberate more. I'm sorry, Mistress Iduna. Your presence here was impetuous on my part. We'll call on you if we decide to send you out. Stay close and ready.”

  His words and the quick change in direction confused her. Everyone stood and went their separate ways. Sensei Angko walked along with her a few paces. He carried a cane these days, and she slowed her pace.

  “You look well,” Angko said.

  “Thank you, Sensei. I am well. How are you?” Iduna asked.

  He shrugged. “Not much changes when you are my age.” His eyes scrunched with humor. “The recent events do raise some questions.”

  “Such as?” she asked and was relieved that he thought so as well. Leaving a threat to their country unexplored seemed unwise in her opinion.

  “How are you progressing in the Path?” Angko asked in reply.

  “I am full of peace.”

  They walked in step around the courtyard now, her arms tucked into the sleeves of her robe.

  “Are you sure it is peace that you feel?” Angko asked.

  “I am calm, and my feelings are like flutters of a light wind.”

  “Are you able to cast the Advanced Spells?” His words cut to the point.

  She sighed. “No.” She had actually tried just last week. With years of serenity training, she had hoped that, by clearing away the remaining stirrings of her emotions, she would be able to cast the Advanced Spells. Supreme calm was required to be successful. She knew the words by heart, but they remained a mystery. She was still young yet, just having reached her nineteenth birthday, but most wizards showed their full potential by then.

  “You know the spells. You can do them. You just need to resolve the problem that your passion causes you.” Angko’s words were encouraging and discouraging in equal measures.

  “I don't feel the passion and excitability that I used to.”

  It was Angko's turn to sigh. “In the days ahead, we may have need of a Spellcrafter with abilities not seen for centuries.” He let the words hang in the air.

  Her mind worked through the various puzzling levels of meaning set forth in the formal meeting and now in this conversation.

  Interrupting her thoughts, he said, “Keep an open mind.”

  He turned to face her, and she mimicked his movement with just a slight delay. They bowed to each other slowly. When Angko straightened, he said, “Take care, little one,” and turned to walk down the corridor, his cane making a slow series of clicks that trailed away with him.

  She stood still where he had left her, her head tilted slightly as if listening to the wind. Blue butterflies flitted about in the garden. She would admit to herself that, in addition to thinking the council should assess the threat, she was also curious about her Ull heritage. She had never met anyone else from Ull. Their lands were far away, and the Ull tended not to travel, which was odd considering her mother and father had loved to travel. Her parents had joked about how content the Ull were to stay at home.

  The Ull were content no longer.

  Chapter 4

  Vilir surveyed his camp as the sun sank below the green mountains of Gaelen. Everyone but him seemed to be moving, setting up their tents, gathering supplies, and stowing their weapons. After swarming the Castle Gaelen, the Ull moved to the hills just to the south. Vilir wouldn't be able to see the castle, and that was what he wanted. Its weakness revolted him.

  His servants erected his tent behind him as he stood with legs and arms akimbo, his stance yet another statement that he felt powerful and a master of all the space around him. And he was. The echoes of violence buzzed through him, a strong hum that made him feel more alive than anyone in the world. A cool breeze blew steadily through the hills, and Vilir enjoyed the cold. It was nowhere near as cold as his icy homeland, but it would do for now.

  “Your tent is ready.”

  He turned and pulled back the tent flap to enter. His people served him, and he approved that they didn't do such small things as open doors for him. It was a tribute to his strength and self-sufficiency, a value from his youth that he still treasured. His other values had changed now that he saw the world more clearly.

  His dog trotted in and was quickly followed by his adviser, Senbo. He noticed that Senbo looked tired but triumphant. As he should.

  Senbo had come to Vilir a year ago on hands and knees. Vilir had found the groveling strange at first, but later he understood why that was the way it should be. The weak worship the strong, creating a stable order that would be his country’s salvation.

  “That went very well.” Senbo brushed some of the dirt off
his tunic and sat in one of the fur- covered chairs.

  Ignoring Senbo, Vilir stepped over to a stool and began sharpening his sword.

  “They’re digging deeper trenches than usual. Why would they do that?” Senbo continued in his oblique way.

  “I told them to.” The ring of stone on blade emphasized each sweep of the stone across the sharp edge. The sound and texture of the action was intoxicating in Vilir’s state of increased awareness.

  Senbo stood up and walked around.

  Vilir wished Senbo would sit or be gone. Vilir’s dog curled up next to him, and he appreciated the silent companionship.

  “Good, good. Very smart. Your people will regain their energy and become a resource for you again. Of course!”

  Vilir focused on his task. “I will put the weak out of their misery.” A spark leaped from the sword as his sharpening stone struck.

  Chapter 5

  Iduna stared into the fire and enjoyed the patterns her friend Tinh was making. The fire arced and popped.

  The Institute in Cha had a number of libraries to choose from— this library wasn’t the largest, but Tinh and Iduna had been meeting here since they were kids and it was frequently empty. It stood near the junction of the Elementalist and Spellcraft wings. The library contained both a collection of books for reading and an assortment of elements for manipulations. There was a small shallow pool of water with a fire pit in its center. The library—with its dark paneled wood, low ceiling with exposed beams, and large leather chairs—had been their space to share secrets and aspirations when they were kids, and they’d continued this ritual. They had grown apart as each spent more time in the different disciplines, but they still sought each other at important moments.

  “Why would they even talk to you about going if the Head Elementalist was against it?” Tinh—lanky, with dark curly hair and a sharp nose that looked as decisive as its owner—lounged in a deep chair, casually making the fire in the pit grow and recede. “It seems like they would have known that they wouldn't be able to agree, so why bring you into the room?”

  “Maybe they thought Reza had agreed, and then Reza changed his mind,” Iduna said.

  “Reza doesn’t change his mind often. He’s not a spontaneous man,” Tinh said, shaking his head, apparently having trouble imagining Reza doing anything remotely spontaneous. Everyone knew that Reza was as steady and predictable as the rocks he could beckon to his command.

  “You're right. He's not. And you're also right that something seems wrong. If Gaelen has fallen to the Ull, then we need to know how and whether the Ull plan on invading us. Gaelen is a strong country with many defenses and a large army. To defeat them would have required great strength,” she said.

  “Or magic,” Tinh said.

  “No, that's not possible. The Ull do not cultivate magic skills like we do in Lawan. They prefer to do all their work and fighting by hand. They are a content people who think magic would put them out of sync with nature.”

  “They were a contented people,” Tinh said with emphasis on the past tense, mirroring what she had silently told herself earlier.

  She thought of her parents and the tales of their cold homeland. Her parents had been peaceful traders, who enjoyed learning about different cultures. They would hate to know that the Snow Elves of Ull had fallen to ambition and a rule of strength. Ull was now known as a land of violence and of primitive people. Their civilization had regressed to infancy, if infancy were a loud screaming child who wouldn't share any toys and would more likely tear apart a doll than play with it. The change had been sudden, and no one knew why. The question had been a dormant seed in her mind, and the curious meeting with the council leaders had caused it to sprout and grow like a vine weaving unchecked through crooked fences.

  “The behavior of the council was too strange.”

  Sensei Angko was understated, subtle, and, as in the current case, undecipherable. She didn’t know what to make of Angko’s words after the meeting or whether to share them with Tinh. Angko knew she was inclined toward action, for better or worse, so mentioning the need for Advanced Spells and to keep an open mind could be seen as encouraging her to go on a fact-finding mission.

  “We need to know what is going on. Since I am of Ull descent and a Spellcrafter, I am clearly the person best suited to find out,” she said out loud and wandered over to the window.

  “That may be true, but the council is not ready,” Tinh said. His voice was flat and dispassionate, but Iduna could sense Tinh’s growing wish that she be patient.

  “I owe it to my parents,” Iduna said, looking at the mountain range that separated Lawan from Gaelen. The mountains were spotted here and there with snow holding over from the winter. “It is my duty.”

  “Surat never should have encouraged your curiosity and exploits,” Tinh said.

  Iduna laughed, a welcome release from the growing tension. Surat had indeed encouraged Iduna, sending her to find special ingredients for recipes, and had always laughed at Iduna’s stories. Iduna’s parents had been traders in edible delicacies, traveling the trade route between Lawan and Ull. When Iduna was an infant, her parents left her in Lawan when they traveled, but, once she could toddle, they would frequently take her on day trips to the surrounding areas to trade and gather.

  Surat had also given Iduna a purpose and a feeling that someone cared about her as a person instead of as just another acolyte to feed. When she was nine years old and had just lost both her parents, that had meant everything to her. It still did.

  To Tinh she said, “Ah, but Surat liked the herbs, spices, and delicacies I had a knack to hunt down for her.”

  “You really do have a talent for it”—Tinh’s brief smile quickly turned into flat disapproval—“but you know curiosity is one of the Impulsives.”

  “The pursuit of knowledge is noble and wise,” she quoted.

  “All action best flows from consensus,” he quoted back to her.

  Done with quoting philosophy, Iduna said, “But consensus may come too late.” She’d made her decision. “I'll leave tonight.” Her mind rushed ahead to her preparations and how she would discover what the Ull were planning. “Thank you for not telling or trying to stop me.”

  “I'd just fail.” Tinh sighed. “Remember your training. Remember the Path.” His eyes showed the briefest flash of affection. Within the span of a blink, Tinh was completely focused on manipulating the fire, as calmly and analytically as if she'd already left and had never even been here. On her way out, Iduna put her hand on his arm, surprising even herself with the gesture. “Don't worry. Everything will be fine,” she whispered and slipped out quietly.

  She needed to do this, and she couldn't let Lawan be in danger when it was in her power to assess the threat. She was the only Ull at the Institute, and her skills were advanced. The council would end up wanting her to do this in about a month or so when they could all agree on what was the obvious course of action. They would thank her.

  Chapter 6

  Vilir swung his sword in a series of attacks, his arms a whirlwind of movement and might. Dagna parried quickly again and again, but he was slowly pressing her ever backward in the training pen. She was losing ground, and he’d soon have her up against the rail. If he were lucky. He knew her well, and it wouldn’t be easy. The thrill of the challenge put extra strength in his next swing. She dodged and rolled, coming up to his side. He directed the continuing arc of his blade over his head. She swung the flat of her blade against the back of his knees and toppled him to the ground. As he fell, he grabbed her belt and pulled her with him into a rolling somersault. She landed face-first in the wet spring grass, and he twisted her arm up behind her, bringing her hand between her shoulder blades.

  “Ha!” he said, while he gave her arm an extra tug that he knew would hurt. “You are defeated.”

  She bucked back hard, a popping sound coming from her shoulder, and smashed the back of her skull into his face.

  He laughed as blood streamed
from his broken nose, his ice-blue eyes sparkling with humor. “And that’s why you’re one of my seconds in command!” The woman had dislocated her own arm so she could jerk back far enough to strike him.

  He released his grip on her arm and stepped away.

  Dagna rose to her feet like a warrior rising from the halls of Odin.

  He had made a good choice. She was a skilled and cunning sparring partner; he needed that to keep him strong. He dismissed her with a wave of his hand, and he strode out of the ring. It was a good day. He felt strong from the fight. He would bathe in the river and review the maps. He was making his way to the river when Senbo strolled next to him.

  “My Leder, another of our young fighters succumbed,” Senbo said.

  “We can’t keep losing them. We brought them with us because they are valuable.” A sour taste entered his mouth and turned his stomach.

  “I know. This is regrettable. You have my word that I will do my best to save them.”

  “Do better,” Vilir said and entered his tent.

  Chapter 7

  Iduna’s horse scrabbled up the last of the steep rocky trail that led to the top of the mountain ridge dividing Lawan and Gaelen. The horse’s haunches bunched and strained to make a last lunge for the top. It had been rough going, and both rider and horse had pulses racing from the exertion and hours of precarious footing. The trail hadn’t been cleared since the end of winter, which was unusual. It was true that most trade went by sea, since both Gaelen and Lawan lay on the coast, but traders usually maintained this route.