Extraits

𝑂𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑠𝑜 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑔𝑜,

𝐼𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ,

𝐴 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑠,

𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠,

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑘𝑦.

𝑊𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐?

𝑌𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑢𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑜𝑑𝑠.

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠?

𝑌𝑒𝑠, 𝑚𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑, 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛'𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑠𝑡.

𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑔𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠, 𝐴𝑚𝑎 ?

𝑌𝑒𝑠, 𝑚𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑, 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚.

And then seeing Morrighan. Her eyes. Her expression.

𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐽𝑎𝑓𝑖𝑟 … 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ.

I closed my eyes.

We were leaving. She'd be grateful for that. She would never have to see me again.

But I would always see her. Until I drew my last breath, it would always be her face I saw when I closed my eyes at night, and her face again when I woke each morning. I would force myself to forget the last words I heard from her lips. I would remember others.

𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐽𝑎𝑓𝑖𝑟 𝑑𝑒 𝐴𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑑. Words that, now, I was sure I had never deserved.

𝑂𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑,

𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔, 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑔𝑜,

𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑘𝑦.

𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠,

𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑠,

𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑖𝑟,

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑛.

𝐴 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑘𝑛𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡,

𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑,

𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟.

𝑂𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒,

𝐴 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢....

"Now what do you hear?" she asked, her hands resting on my chest.

I heard nothing but the distant chirp of a beetle, the ruffle of my horse's breath, the swish of meadow grass in the breeze - and then she placed a berry in my mouth, sweet and juicy. "It calls to you, Jafir. It whisperes, a voice riding the wind, 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐼 𝑎𝑚, 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒. Listen."

But all I heard was a different kind of knowing, one that even Morrighan couldn't hear, a knowing that felt as sure and old as the earth itself. It whispered deep within my gut, 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠, 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑎𝑛, 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 … 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑖 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠.

"On its heels came a whispered name that was always just beyond my reach, not yet mine to hear, but I knew that one day my children’s children or the ones who came after would hear it.

One day hope would have a name."

“Our stories must be passed to our sons and daughters, for with but one generation, history and truth are lost forever.”

“He shook his head. “I’m not like your kind.” And then more sharply, almost as an accusation: “Why don’t you carry weapons?”

I bristled, pulling back my shoulders. “We have weapons. We just don’t use them on people.”

“Maybe if you did, you wouldn’t be so weak.”

Weak? My fingers curled to a fist, and swifter than a hare, I punched him in the stomach. He grunted, doubling over.

“Does that seem weak to you, mighty scavenger?” I taunted. “And remember, our numbers are twice that of yours. Maybe it is you who should follow our ways.”