Chapter 1

  Piria

  Neyra’s lungs were on fire, and each new breath only stoked the flames. Tears welled up in her eyes as her side spasmed again, sending searing pain through her abdomen. She couldn’t decide which of the two pains was worse. Despite both, she still ran, ran like her little life depended on it. She panted as she spared a quick glance over her shoulder. She could still see him through the auburn hair that whipped about her head.

  He was six feet of pure, lean muscle and his pale green skin was slick with sweat. Wicked tusks glinted in the midday sun as he bared them at her in a viscous growl. That deep, rumbling sound seemed to vibrate all the way to the ground beneath her very feet. His arms pumped and his chest heaved with each stride he took. He was close, and he was getting closer by the second.

  She cursed to herself and redoubled her efforts, choosing to turn off of the beaten path. Neyra leapt over a fallen tree, the rough bark scraping her thigh as she pressed deeper into the dense foliage. She winced in pain and hoped that the obstacle would trip him up. There was the crunching sound of trampled branches and then a snarl. Whatever time that bought her, it wasn’t much. Old Gods send it would be enough.

  There was one more gambit that could work. Target in sight, Neyra crouched and prepared her arms for the swing that would launch her up into the grooved branches of the parana pine. Cool, humid air swept across her legs and up her skirts, stinging a bit as it blew against her open wound. She leapt, reaching desperately for the saving grace of the towering tree. Her fingertips brushed the bark and ignited hope within her chest. But, with a jolt, something wrenched her back from her salvation. A massive hand grasped the back of her shirt. She kicked and huffed, but to no avail. His chest rumbled as he effortlessly held her up, turning her to face his yellow eyes.

  “Now that there’s cheatin’ and you know it!” he said. Though she could hear slight annoyance in his voice, his yellow eyes sparkled with a playful light. Neyra could do nothing but grin sheepishly as he set her on the ground with a gentle thump.

  “It’s not like I have much of a choice here, Arv!” Neyra said, tapping her foot. “Your legs are taller than my whole body!!”

  Neyra was a halfling. And that meant she was dexterous and agile, with pointed ears and keen senses that were the envy of the human children. Of course, those human kids wouldn’t be jealous anymore once they began to outgrow her. At just two feet and eight inches tall, she was hardly tiny for a halfling girl of her age. If she was lucky, maybe she’d grow to three feet one day! The tallest halflings she’d ever met weren’t much taller than that.

  Needless to say, that meant her full potential of growth stood no chance against her orc brother’s. She narrowed her eyes and scrunched her nose as she glared up at him. He had only just reached his twelfth year and already he stood at an impressive six feet tall. He showed no signs of stopping, either. Maybe Ma and Da needed to build that second house addition after all…

  “Hey now, you know that ain’t my fault!” He gestured down at his legs with a bashful grin. “Ma feeds me the same food as you! You’re just not using it right, big sis,” he reached out a hand (big enough to cover her entire head, mind you) and ruffled her hair playfully, adding a bit of jabbing emphasis to the last words. Neyra batted him away, trying in vain to fix the absolute mess he’d made of her hair. Despite it all, she couldn’t help but smile. Her little brother had that effect on people.

  Arv pursed his lips to give her one more of his toothy smiles, but then stopped short. Neyra noticed his square, pointed ears twitch. Then her own ears perked up as a breeze rustled the tall fronds and grasses around them, carrying the sound of soft footsteps and quiet pants. Arv gave a little hop and waved a big, green hand toward the noise.

  “Oi! Baby sis! Came to join us finally?”

  His voice boomed with an unintentional power that caused several nearby birds to take flight.

  “Hardly,” the small voice said, its owner peeking her head through the tall vegetation. She stumbled up to them, all the while muttering under her breath about sticking to the trail. Soon, a disgruntled halfling stood at Neyra’s side, arms crossed and tapping her foot. “Mums looking for you,” she said to Neyra before turning to look (very far) up to Arv, “and Da’s looking for you. He’ll have your stinky green hide if you aren’t there to help with the catch today!”

  The green seemed to drain from his face as he looked down at Elivera.

  “They’re back already?!”

  A jerk of her head toward the docks was the only answer Arv needed to send him running, trampling down the undergrowth like it was nothing. The ruckus sent every creature within a mile radius running for cover.

  “Well, at least he made a path for us!” Elivera said, grabbing Neyra’s hand as they set off for the road. Neyra just rolled her eyes and smiled.

  Looking at her little sister was like looking in a mirror. The two of them shared the same tanned, delicate features; round cheeks smattered generously with freckles, big brown eyes, and dainty noses. Her long hair cascaded from two high pigtails atop her head. Each was the exact shade of Neyra's own auburn locks.

  Elle looked at her with a devious smile and stretched up on her tiptoes. She gave Neyra a little boop on the nose before settling back on the ground. Confound it all. Elle was only eleven years old, but if she continued with all of this growing of hers, people would start mistaking the two of them for twins! Her face was near level with her own now, even when she wasn’t standing on her tiptoes! Neyra huffed at the thought of being outgrown by yet another sibling. Elivera would never reach Arv's height, at least. That had to count for something, right?

  “Now what’s Ma gonna do with you, Ney? You’re supposed to be the responsible one now, you know.”

  Neyra wilted at the banter from her little sister. At fourteen years old, Neyra was the eldest, a responsibility that she was trying to take seriously! Halfling girls were considered fully grown at seventeen, and that birthday seemed closer now more than ever. But she felt torn. It was as if her childhood had faded away the moment she received women's underclothes. Things that were supposed to be fun now just made her feel guilty. It didn’t help that Elle constantly pestered her about it. She groaned. Elivera kept that teasing grin on her face as they walked, almost as if she were expecting Neyra to quip back. And Neyra nearly did too. The whole situation was quite infuriating. Elivera wore a woman’s shift too! The burden didn't seem to affect Elle the same way it affected her.

  “Don't deny it, Ney,” she said, “You secretly enjoy being the oldest.” Elivera playfully punched her in the arm.

  Neyra punched her back with a sisterly scowl as they stepped onto the well-worn dirt of the village road. Elle was kind of right, after all.

  A short while later, Neyra found familiar scents trickling into her nose. The aroma of signal fires along with a faint, ever-persistent smell of fish always hit them before they even saw the first thatched roofs of Piria.

  Piria was a modest fishing village, not as small as some of the island settlements to the south, but certainly not one of the grand cities up north. What it lacked in population it more than made up for in…well, not much of anything, actually. Fishing was all that really happened in their town. Her Ma often joked that Piria had more boats than beds, and she was right! Neyra had counted once. She smiled despite herself as they approached the first cluster of buildings. Life in Piria was quaint, perhaps even boring. And Neyra wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Their home was part of a smaller neighborhood, just on the northern outskirts of town. Piria had no walls, but Neyra supposed that if you had to draw a boundary for the town somewhere, then it would be here, just where the northern road met the first home.

  The buildings jutted from the earth in a confusing array of styles and sizes. All together there were a dozen different homes laid out in an arcing pattern around a communal well at the center. Neyra glanced past the fences and gardens to where the road turned from dirt to cut stone. One only had to walk half a mile or so further down it to reach the town proper. Neyra and her siblings alike often groaned at the distance from the amenities of town; most especially when Ma or Da sent them on last-minute errands. But she knew that there were certain perks to living on the outskirts of the community. The village square was crowded, and Da insisted they would need the extra room to grow, especially with an Arv in their family.

  The sounds of morning work trickled into Neyra’s ears, and many of their neighbors called out in greeting as they passed by, their hands busy with the washing or the cooking. In true Pirian spirit, many of them hummed and sang as they worked. Neyra hummed right along with them as they finally reached their home.

  Of all the homes in the neighborhood, the Tallfellow residence was by far the strangest. It looked as if someone had worked on a home sized for halflings, and then up and changed their minds halfway through. And it looked that way because that’s exactly what had happened. Ma and Pa fully intended to have children, and when they came to Piria, they built themselves a home to reflect that goal. Not too big, not too small. But when it became clear that the infant they took in was, in fact, a full-blooded orc, they had to scramble to make more room. The back half of the house towered comically above the rest of the dwelling, sized even bigger than the homes that the human Pirians lived in.

  And if the mud brick home wasn’t eye-catching enough, it was also decorated in true halfling fashion, with brightly painted shutters and no shortage of bells and wind chimes. Flowers in every shape and color grew in such abundance that they nearly engulfed the path to the house, and Ma kept adding more with each passing spring.

  “Bout time, my girls!” A cheery voice barked at them from the doorway.

  She was a stout woman, their mother, even for a halfling. She kept her curly brown hair tied up tight in a bright yellow kerchief, leaving her freckled and sun wrinkled face free from distraction. Danya was a kind soul, but she tolerated no nonsense. It took a certain kind of woman to take in an abandoned orc infant, after all. Neyra knew that she certainly would have had hesitations about raising a child sure to outgrow her, especially with another little one already in the home. But mother and father were willing. It was who they were. Their family had a motto, and her Ma and Da had a habit of being persistently, horrifically annoying about it. “No challenge too great for a Tallfellow!” they would often cheer. They especially loved doing it when their children complained about the chores. But there was never any doubt that the Masters Tallfellow certainly followed that creed. And, despite all her eye rolls, Neyra was actually quite grateful for their nonsense. She loved her family more than anything. They were a merry bunch, stalwart and proud.

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  “The wash waits for no one!” She sang as she thrust a basket onto each girl. “We will recite through your lessons while we work, girls.”

  For the next hour, Danya ran her girls through facts on their nation’s history with a pernicious attention to detail that made Elivera groan. But not Neyra. No, Neyra lived for detail. She loved the way that her mother deftly led them through the past; from the downfall of the old world to the wars and reigns of all the high judges and beyond. It made her mind soar. She loved to learn, and she especially loved to show off what she learned. And as they made their way through the piles of damp laundry, she found herself actually enjoying the monotonous chore. It wasn’t drudgery if there was learning involved.

  Danya gave Neyra an approving nod and a knowing smile, but then focused her attention on Elle. Neyra’s little sister had been too busy rolling her eyes and making faces to answer any of Danya’s questions during their entire lesson.

  “Now Elivera, tell me the name of our capital.”

  “Er, Ashi-something? Right?” Elle asked, her attention suddenly focused back on the laundry in front of her. She didn’t turn to meet Ma’s eye, or Neyra’s for that matter.

  “Ashikaia,” Neyra corrected, “And that’s not the capital. Zerial’s the capital.”

  “Shut it, Neyra. We already know you know everything, especially the boring things.”

  Elle turned from the shirt she was working on and scrunched her face up at her. Neyra glared back, noticing the twinkle in her little sister’s eye. Little brat was trying to get under her skin. Well, two could play at that game.

  Neyra was just about to throw a wet pair of pants on her sister’s face when Danya cut in.

  “Girls! Focus. I won't have my children growing up ignorant of the basics of history.” She looked down at Neyra with a sigh. “And you’re right, dear. Ashikaia is the largest city. Our capital is Zerial.”

  “Well, that’s just stupid.” Elle threw her hands in the air. “Why is the biggest city not the capital? And why do we need to know this? Here’s what I think. Our mayor is Master Aapo. He answers to some guy in Zerial who answers to some guy up North. That's all I’ll ever need to know. Don’t need history lessons to sail south!” she finished matter-of-factly, her hands on her hips.

  “You need history lessons because I say you need history lessons. Now, if you’re finished with your complaining, We can move on to our arithmetic tables instead. Won’t you need that to count all the riches you gain on your grand adventures, little dear?” Danya reached an arm through the tunics hanging on the line and pinched Elle’s cheek.

  Elle pouted and continued to pin clothes up to dry, grumbling under her breath at her mother’s teasing. But Neyra wasn’t ready to move to boring old numbers, not yet. Maybe she could get some more stories out of Ma if she was lucky.

  “You’ve been to Ashikaia, right? When you and Pa were younger? What’s it like? Are there really mages there?”

  “There’s never anything stopping you. Is there love?” Danya said with a sigh. She shook out one of Pa’s coats and pinned it to the line while she chuckled.

  “Yes, I’ve seen Ashikaia. Though it was much smaller when I passed through. And I was only a girl at the time. I spent more time in Zerial.”

  “But there’s magic there, right?”

  “There’s magic everywhere, my love.”

  “Ma…” Neyra whined. “You know what I mean.”

  “I’ve heard that there are a few with such knowledge. Magic is all around us. I wasn’t trying to be glib about that fact. But the Old Gods, blessed be their names, decided we needed to figure out how to wield it on our own. By my reckoning, they tired of all the fighting and death it caused. What do you think happened in the lands of desolation?” She sighed and put a hand on Neyra’s shoulder. Neyra gave an involuntary little shudder as she remembered the vast expanse of nothingness that represented ‘desolation’ on Mayor Aapo’s map. “I understand your wanting to know more,” her mother continued, “I think it’s only natural. But Neyra, even if I knew about magic, I’m not rightly sure I’d teach you. It’s a dangerous thing.”

  Neyra’s heart sank. She wasn’t expecting Ma to know anything exciting about mages and magic, not really. But hearing the actual words still hurt. Ma gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, then bent down to pick up the now empty baskets.

  “Now, I’m going to tend to the rest of the mending. You girls go dig up the potatoes. Once you’re finished with that, you’re free ‘til supper. We will work on letters as a family before bed tonight.”

  Elle rolled her eyes and Neyra nodded meekly. Danya gave both of her girls a long-suffering smile, kissed their cheeks, and then walked back up to the house.

  “So when are you going to stop being such an insufferable bore, Ney?” Elle quipped.

  Neyra’s cheeks burned, and she took a calming breath as the two of them trudged over to the garden. She didn’t try to be insufferable. She was just trying to do what was right! Or, at least, she thought she was trying to do what was right! What was she even supposed to do? Elivera teased her whenever she ditched chores, and then she still teased her whenever she tried to be responsible. She was damned if she did, damned if she didn’t with the girl.

  “Excuse me?!” Neyra huffed. “Just because I like Ma’s lessons doesn’t make me boring.”

  “You know why Ma’s doin’ it though, right? You’re the eldest.” She put mock reverence on the word. “She and Da want to see you married well. That means making you learn extra boring stuff.”

  “They do not!”

  “Uh huh! You know I saw them talkin’ real mysterious like with Mayor Aapo the other day. He’s got an older son, remember?”

  The red from Neyra’s cheeks spread to the tips of her ears, and she cringed as she recalled the Mayor’s son. Janric was older than her by a few good years, and she supposed he was nice enough. He always let her know when the caravan traders brought new books to town hall, or when a fishing boat pulled up something truly fascinating from the depths. And since her latest growth spurt, he’d been incredibly persistent in asking her to dance at festivals.

  “You’ve still got a couple years while he finishes his militia service, but once he gets back, he’ll want to settle down! And by then your head will be so stuffed with boring facts that you’ll be the perfect wife to help run their family business.”

  A fresh voice, a gruff yet playful whisper, came suddenly from Neyra’s right.

  “Eh, you could do worse than Janric.”

  Neyra nearly screamed as a small, brown face peeked over the garden fence.

  “Hells, Shamil! How long have you been there?!” Elivera squeaked, and then yelped as Neyra pinched her.

  “Don’t let Ma hear you swear! But yes, what in the hells are you doing here, Shamil?! I thought you were on the boats today!” Neyra finished in a whisper.

  Shamil’s face scrunched in a mischievous grin, her gray eyes twinkling as if there was some untold secret behind them. She was a gnome, which put her at about equal height with Neyra and Elle. But, her build was much stockier, and her ears bigger. Her skin was a cool, rich brown which complimented the subtle highlights that peeked through her black hair. She wore it in two large buns at the top of her head. Neyra couldn’t remember the last time Shamil wore it any other way. And she certainly couldn’t remember a time without Shamil Quiltone in her life.

  Shamil’s parents, Barcus and Joyaris, were lifelong friends with her own Ma and Da. And as such, the two of them grew up together. Shamil was there when they found Arv, and she was there when Elle was born. She had no siblings of her own, and had taken to the Tallfellow children as if they were her own blood, especially after Joyaris died. They were more than happy to have her. Shamil had a talent for finding fun and mayhem, and she was even more brilliant at making it for herself. She also had an excellent ear for gossip. She loved conversations like this, and she continued with enthusiasm as Neyra grew redder and redder.

  “I mean, yeah, he’s human. But he’s not all that tall. He’s not bad looking either. I think he’d be good for you, Ney!”

  “Wouldn’t mind having the Aapos as in laws! Could help get me a proper ship!” Elle added. Neyra sighed.

  The Aapo family ran a considerable, multi-generation fishing business. They owned half the sailing vessels in town, and had impressive connections with the esteemed shipbuilders of Ashikaia. They were the whole reason the village was founded, and they held considerable sway in both Piria and Zerial. Shamil and Elle weren’t wrong. It would be a strong union. The Aapo’s had been trying to gain a connection with the halfling families of Piria for a good decade now. So yes, they were right about the match being a good one. But she still wasn’t sure how to feel about it. It made her stomach do somersaults.

  “Alright, alright! Enough about Janric,” Neyra rubbed her temples with both hands.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ll shut up about your ‘betrothed’, but only because I have something better to tell you about.”

  She grinned at the Tallfellow sisters, and leaned in conspiratorially.

  “There’s a soothsayer here in town, all the way from Zerial!”

  Neyra fumbled with her shovel, nearly dropping it on the ground.

  “A what?!”

  “A soothsayer! Came last night. Master Aapo has him all cooped up in the town hall. He doesn’t want everyone knowing about him, I suppose. But my Da swears he’s there, and he’s got the village council all in a huff.”

  Neyra couldn’t believe her little, pointed ears. A soothsayer! That was the closest thing to a real magic user she would ever find in this town! That was, of course, if he was the real deal. But would the mayor bother to drag in a soothsayer from up north if he wasn’t legitimate? Not likely.

  “Well, of course they’re in a huff! Why would a soothsayer even come here?” Elle asked.

  “How should I know? I had to pester Da for hours before he even told me about the guy! That’s why I got out of boat duty today. Da had to run in for an emergency lock repair. Guess Master Aapo don’t want anybody botherin’ him.”

  “A soothsayer…” Neyra whispered. The mortification from moments before now melting away into excitement. “A soothsayer! We have to see him!”

  “Of course we do! It’s the most interesting thing to happen here since Arv almost burned the docks down.” Shamil looked around the garden, craning her neck. “Where’s that big oaf, anyway? Still helping your Da?”

  “I’d imagine so,” Neyra shrugged, returning to her digging as Elivera did to hers. Shamil continued,

  “Well, I’d hate to be him right now. I saw some of the fishermen this morning and they looked in a right foul mood. The catches must not be improving,” Shamil’s face fell a bit. Even at thirteen years old, she understood the weight of that statement. Winter would be upon them soon, and the fishing would only get harder as the seas roughened. She shook her head as if trying to snap out of it, her buns of hair bobbing wildly as she did.

  “Maybe that’s why the soothsayer got called in. To figure out the problems with the tides and the fish?” She shook her head. “Anyway, hurry it up over here! I’ve got that…thing. Swiped it this morning,” She said with a wink at Neyra. “So meet me at the spot! It should be the last piece we need.”

  “You two are still working on that?” Elivera asked, rolling her eyes, “When do I finally get to see it?!”

  “When it’s ready, pipsqueak,” Shamil stuck her tongue out at Elle, the expression puffing out her normally square, gnomish features.

  Neyra merely smiled at her best friend and quickened her pace. Thoughts of supposed betrothals, magic soothsayers, and secret engineering projects dancing a wild dance through her mind.