The parallel lives of two princesses living a millennium apart are bound together in the most unlikely of ways.
Princess Aebbé of Ardam, haunted by memories of a flash of lightning and burning flesh, returns to her home amidst a seemingly hopeless...
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“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” - Voltaire
Lord Caith gives a whistle that echoes into the night when we arrive at the base of the cliff. My breath hitches as dark shapes emerge from the night.
This time I do not squeal-greet my beloved Desert. In contrast to what Lord Caith might say, I am not the village idiot. I gladly mount her before we start to gallop into the night with the dry dust from the land tickling my nostrils. “Where in Ardamland are we?” I've settled with trusting him - no-one would brave that cliff voluntarily if they had another option.
“You were held captive in the northernmost corner - in the town of Drako.”
Even though I am the princess and the whole country belongs to my family, I have not travelled much at all. Save for Raven's Peak, Ligeia and Inwir City, and the stretches between them, the rest are foreign soil to me. However, I have had lesson upon lesson in geography - had I been an artist, I would have been able to paint the map with closed eyes.
ArBrae Forest- where the elves live - is in the southwestern corner, bordered by the ocean. Lake Alachna, with all her branches, is more towards the inland - in the central part of the forest. I've always thought it curious that that corner of Ligtland looked like a wolf, with the three islands as feet, and Lake Alachna as the head.
The skados live in the south - to the east of ArBrae. Their small villages are scattered in the impassable, dangerous marshes. If you move along that coast, away from ArBrae and the marshes of Skado-o, you will enter Catel Alesam territory. Catel Alesam - the home of the Council - is the mightiest city in all of Ligtland. It was built on an active volcano, close to the ocean, where woods and marshes collided; a symbiosis of all the elements and natural forces that define the Council. I have heard that the surrounding earth is rich in gemstones - that you could walk on the outskirts of the city and pick up diamonds.
Ardam stretches to the north, into the unknown, and to the east where the terrain changes into the fire desert of the dwarves. Mount Vesut is the most eastern part of Ligtland, where yet again, land meets ocean.
Ardam itself is as diverse as Ligtland, with kingdoms woven together by my father's will. Berch and New Berch is toward Alesam's side - with abundant harvests and forest of game. Ligeia, my father's pride, is in the centre of Ardam - a manufactured city of riches, jewels and glass.
Civilisation ends at Raven's Peak, with only scattered villages and the mountains stretching to the north, separating a desert of harsh stone from Darkeland in the west. “But Drako and those mountains are weeks away from Raven’s Peak,” I say after recalling my mental map of Ardam.
“How many days did your journey there last?” There is an odd lack of surprise in his voice, with only a mild curiosity replacing it.
“Only about two days, but I’m not sure. I was drugged, but it still does not make sense.”
