Luck in the Shadows Read Online Free PDF

heat. Bundling up as best they could against the wind, they sat close together over their cold supper.
    “You said that the fighting between Skala and Plenimar is an old question,” Alec said at last. “What did you mean?”
    “That’s a long story,” Seregil said with a chuckle, pulling his cloak tighter. “But a long story can make a long night seem shorter, I suppose. To begin with, did you know that the Three Lands were once one country?”
    “No.”
    “Well, they were, and they were ruled over by a priest king called a Hierophant. The first Hierophant and his followers came from somewhere far across the Gathwayd Ocean over two thousand years ago. It’s from them that your Dalna the Maker comes, along with Astellas and the others. They made their first landfallon the Plenimaran peninsula. Benshâl, the capital city of Plenimar, stands on the site of the Hierophant’s first city.”
    Alec’s eyes narrowed skeptically at the thought of a city that old, or his familiar patron deity having such exotic origins. He kept his doubts to himself, though, not wanting to interrupt the tale.
    “Over the years, these people and their religion spread around the Inner and Osiat seas, founding what eventually became Mycena and Skala,” Seregil went on.
    “And it was these people who brought the worship of Dalna north?”
    “That’s right. The Hierophant’s people worshiped the Sacred Four: Dalna the Maker and Astellus the Traveler, whom you know; and Illior Lightbearer and Sakor of the Flame, who never caught on up in these parts.
    “But getting back to the subject at hand, the unity of the Three Lands didn’t last. As centuries passed the different regions developed ways of their own. The Plenimarans, for instance, stayed by the great Gathwayd Ocean, a body of water larger than you’ve ever dreamed of. They’re still great sailors and explorers. It was the Plenimarans who sailed south beyond the Strait of Bal to discover the Aurënfaie—”
    “Hold on!
Aurënfaie
? Like the Faie up beyond Ravensfell?” Alec broke in excitedly, then felt his cheeks go warm as Seregil chuckled.
    “That’s right. Your Elder Folk, properly called the Hâzadriëlfaie, are said to be the descendants of a group of Aurënfaie who went into the northern lands before the time of the Hierophant. Aurënen lies south of the Three Lands, across the Osiat and beyond the Ashek Mountains.”
    “Then the Aurënfaie aren’t human, either?”
    “No.
Faie,
in their tongue, means ‘people’ or ‘belonging to,’ while
Aura
is their name for Illior; hence,
Aurënfaie
, the People of Illior. But that’s another story altogether—”
    “But they
are
real?” Alec persisted; this was more than Seregil had let on previously. “Have you ever seen any? What are they like?”
    Seregil smiled. “Not so different from you and me, really. No pointy ears or tails, anyway. They’re a handsome folk, for the most part. The main difference between Aurënfaie and humans is that the ’faie generally live for three or four hundred years.”
    “No!” Alec snorted, certain this time that his companion was pulling his leg.
    “Think what you like, but that’s what I’ve understood to be true. More important, however, is the fact that they were the first to possess magic. Not that they’re all wizards, of course.”
    “But priests have magic,” Alec interjected. “Especially the drysians. Long ago, when the Maker still lived among the people, Dalna came to a woman named Drysia and revealed to her all the secrets of the land and its proper use. The drysians can draw on the power of the earth and they know the secret uses of herbs and stones. Some even know the speech of beasts.”
    Seregil regarded him with that peculiar tilted grin again. “You’ve got a touch of the skald, too, I see. You’re correct about priests having magic, but it’s not the same as true wizardry. If you ever see a real wizard at work, you’ll recognize the