The Names Our Children Will Know

The Queen of Sorvani - Draft One

The next morning, the three of them returned to the Bookkeeper's office. He greeted them with an odd, stiff formality. "The queen wants to see you right away," he told them with grudging respect. "She didn't want any delay." He took one of his books with him and led them out into the bright sunlight.

The palace gates were delicate and clearly not made for defending the castle. They were wrought gold, twisted into elaborate patterns and swirls. It reminded Jordan of the roof of the Stormsong Palace. They got to the inner gate, where the stronger portcullis stood, barring their way. Mark was impressed. The castle was beautiful and elaborate, but it was also built for the defense of its people. Not unlike Leah herself, he mused.

They were led through the courtyard and to the front hall. The stone walls were decorated with intricate tapestries and paintings. Suits of armor stood in niches along the hallway. Mark, Jordan, and Tessa followed an armed guard into a vaulted throne room. The walls were made of soft white stone and covered in tapestries depicting forest scenes.

At the end of the hall, a woman stood. She was much as Mark remembered her–austere and reserved, but with a glow of warmth around her. Her long, auburn hair reflected her human heritage, but her features were so delicate as to be nearly flyatian.

She watched them approach impassively until Mark felt as though every action he made was under scrutiny. In the silence, every sound was as loud as thunder. The click, click, click of Ghost's claws on the stone floor only deepened the silence further.

When they reached the end of the throne room, the woman strode forward, glaring at Mark. "What do you want?"

"We think we can stop the plague," he replied shortly. "But we can't figure all of it out on our own. We need someone to study it–it's magic."

The queen arched one eyebrow. "Magic? Magic has been absent from Bolifecalis for hundreds of years. Even you should know that."

Mark sighed inwardly. The queen was often hostile and almost religiously orthodox. This would be a long, uphill battle. "It's not anymore. We–the three of us, we've brought it back."

"How could a trio of children rediscover magic?"

Tessa stepped forward, frowning at the implication that she was a child. "This is how." She brandished her little blue notebook at the queen. "We went all the way to Howling Castle and found the records of the Last Wizards. They made a spell to give everyone in Bolifecalis the power to use magic."

The queen looked hopeful for a moment, but then a stern expression crushed that hope. "There's no way to stop the plague but to kill the victims. Everyone knows this."

Mark told her exasperatedly, "That was a week ago. Tessa here, she's already used magic to heal me once. She can do it again." His tone told Tessa that this wasn't the first time that he and the queen had met in a clash of wills. She decided to stay out of it.

The queen still didn't look impressed. "Do you know how tenuous our position as a country is right now, Mark? We are all under attack from this plague and the man who made it, and I am in no position to run frivolous errands to try and stop it. I cannot give you any resources to speed your efforts if there's even a slim chance that this won't work, and magic is about as slim a chance as you'll find. I cannot help you."

Mark suppressed a sigh. He'd known it would be difficult. "Very well. Thank you for your time." He bowed stiffly before turning to leave and walking out of the throne room again.

Leah reached out to touch his shoulder, even though he was already halfway across the room, hoping to bring him back–what for, she wasn't sure. Tessa gave her a sympathetic shrug and turned to follow after her friend.

As Jordan, Mark, and Tessa walked out of the throne room, they quickly began discussing what to do next.

"We can't leave Colin out there, what if he does something worse to the plague?"

"We'd have to kill him to stop him."

"Then we should! Destroy the notebooks and kill Colin!"

"Jordan, do you even hear yourself? We need magic to fix any of this. Leah was right, we're fighting a war against these plague victims. We have no choice."

Mark sighed. "We have no choice, that's true enough. But what are we going to do with magic afterwards?"

Jordan looked thoughtful for a second. "If you're so intent on preserving magic, what if we made more notebooks and gave one each to the healers in each city? And then we gave the rest of it to the inventors in Egenda?"

Both Tessa and Mark turned to stare down at Jordan. "That's the smartest thing we could do with it, I think," Mark finally said.

"We could start with that, yeah! And maybe we'll finally get rid of this plague," Tessa said with a bright smile.