Prologue (part 1)

Cagelus Estate – Year 31,785

“Why must the world be so cruel, father?”

Young Estrild had wept for almost half an hour after her maidservant Rea’s body was found in a canal – an accident, everyone was sure.

She had been playing in the garden when she heard the shouting, and had rushed over before anyone could stop her. The girl found her friend being dragged out of the pretty old canal, where she had been floating amidst the water lilies, by her feet. The body was laid out on the stone path beside the water.

Rea was covered in algae, and her face was a pale white. She did not look serene at all in death. Her glassy eyes bulged, and her mouth was frozen in shock. Estrild had touched the scales on her friend’s forehead, wiping the slime from it. Gently, she had tilted the head back, and seen the bruises on the neck. That was when she had broken down.

Earl Alfred of Eslern lent his daughter a hand, helping her stand back up on her own two feet. He brushed the dirt from her frock, and wiped some of the snot from her nose. Her pet had just died, and he knew she would want closure.

Softly, he explained: “It is the natural order of the world that people die, my precious daughter. This is what the elves intended. Rea was just a monster; she never would have lived long anyway, even if it is heartbreaking it happened today.”

“But the Elves would have let her go to Heaven. The Elves are good, they wouldn’t let her soul be destroyed. She served me well, and it’s just not... fair”, Estrild said, her fists clenched.

Alfred replied, “Estrild, not everybody is equal in the world. People like you and me – we are the elite. We were born with magic and long lives, but with that comes a great responsibility to preserve the world as the elves intended. We’re their caretakers, in a way. The monsters also spend their souls to repay humanity for past evils committed by their races. Rea has done her part. If you don’t yet understand how this is fair, you will when you grow older.”

Estrild nodded slightly, and let herself be brought away from the scene by her father. Alfred held her hand as they walked, and when he saw a pretty daisy, he got a servant to pick it for her.

As he handed the flower to Estrild, he caught a glimpse of a horrible expression on her face. Her brown eyes stared at him a hatred so terrible he could not imagine it coming from his own daughter. He blinked, and the visage was gone. Estrild smiled as she took the daisy, and from that moment on it was like Rea had never been there.

Year 31,789

Estrild was practising combat magic in the overgrown courtyard when a servant came to inform her that she was summoned by her father. The young heir was to go at once, and not worry about changing from her plain training uniform. It could only be two things: there was danger, or she was being punished.

Her father was waiting for her in his study, behind his stout ironwood desk. His face was grim. The afternoon sunlight spilled through the lead-lined window behind him, giving him light to read any kind of manyscript (while dumb knights and merchants had servants read things out for them, mages tended to analyse books in privacy). A butler closed the reinforced door from outside, leaving father and daughter alone.

“Do you know why we’re having this conversation?”, Alfred said.

“I’m being punished. Let me guess, one of your men in the town saw me collecting alchemical supplies last weekend?”

Alfred didn’t reply; both of them knew her sneaking out of the estate was hardly an offence. Instead, he reached under his desk and produced a black book, placing it on the table. It was the book of the Witch-King. Estrild’s mouth dropped opened in shock as she recognised it.

“How did you…”

Alfred glared at her. “A servant found it while cleaning your room. You really thought hiding it under a floorboard was good enough? Is my heir such a fool, or are you still a child?”

Estrild returned the look defiantly. “I was reading it to learn the secrets of magic that your tutors won’t teach me. What’s wrong with that? I am giving myself an edge. You want me to be strong? This is how I become strong.”

“It is wrong because it is stupid. Do you know what my rivals would do if they knew you were reading such an unholy text? I wouldn’t be able to protect us, and our family name would be stained. It would affect not just us, but the Cagelus cognomen as a whole.”

“And if we are strong enough, we don’t have to worry about any of that!”

Alfred was angry now. “Being a strong magician is the same as being a strong warrior – both are only tangential to real power. Our real 'magic' comes from land and estates, which are preserved only through a fragile devil’s pact with the crown.”

He continued: “Learn this lesson, girl: there is no strength in defiance. Knowing how to follow the rules is as important as being able to break them. If you cannot follow a religious law so fundamental to our society as the rule against dark magic, you are as pathetic as a commoner.”

“So what?”, Estrild snapped back, shaking. “We have status in the kingdom, for what end? Just to continue a pointless game of families and dynasties until the end of time? There is sense in what King Narven writes. To bring back the Elves we need real change. Not just a new family in charge, but a whole new order! The world has been the same for 10,000 years. It cannot continue like this for another ten millennia!”

She had the fire of a youth motivated by a greater cause within her eyes. Alfred sighed, trying to calm himself down.

“And come the new order, with what would our family be left…”, he said, shaking his head. “What you are saying is the most severe heresy against the Elvish order. They would burn you alive.”

“Let them try”, snarled Estrild.

“Look, Estrild – you are invaluable to me. Out of all those whores I took as wives, only one granted me a daughter like you. All the other children were defects. So, you see, it wouldn’t be easy for me to do this… but if you prove a danger to me and my name, I will have to discard you as well. I have probably a hundred more years of life, time enough for another successful daughter, or maybe even a son.”

At the mention of her mother and sisters, Estrild’s rage intensified until her face was a burning red. And then, as he continued speaking, it turned a pale white. She realised what he was threatening to do.

“Y-You wouldn’t dare.”

The Earl breathed in through his teeth. “I wouldn’t want to. It would be an emotional loss as much as anything else, as I do love you. But… how about this. I’ll have you do something for me tonight, and this can all be forgotten.”

“What is it?”, the girl asked, scared.

“Four servants – three monsters and one human – saw the book. It is a security threat I don’t want to live with. You are to liquidate them all by the end of the night. Understand?”, Alfred said. He picked up the book again. “For my part, I will dispose of this. Then there will be nothing left of this ordeal but bad memories.”

Estrild gulped, her eyes wide. She complained for a few minutes longer, but in the end there was no way out but to see his orders through. She walked out, movements wobbly from anger and fear, and slammed the titanium door. Alfred didn’t doubt she would do it. Once his daughter was gone, he started thinking of a place to hide the book.