Read Online The Sand Prince by Kim Alexander - Free Book Online
Authors: Kim Alexander
Tags: Fantasy
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you head into the Vastness.
Infuriatingly, Yuenne had returned from that journey and made a hero of himself. Hellne noted the only thing worth celebrating from his trip was the fact that he survived it. He found nothing.
"Only sand, I'm afraid, and plenty of it," he told her in private. "Hard to imagine there was ever anything there."
The Zaalmage's pet hypothesis was that the cities had been moved somewhere else, and they and their people were trapped just out of sight. It gave off a scent of hope, and had many proponents who referred to it as The Hidden Kingdom Theory. The popularity of their notions gave the Mages renewed enthusiasm.
"Human blood, Your Grace, even a small amount, and we could begin to turn our theories into proper experiments." The Mages had a mania for blood, human blood from which she couldn't seem to distract them. And the debt, unpaid, always at the back of her mind. But if the Zaalmage knew what she’d done, surely he would have come to claim what was owed. The Zaal was not subtle, not like advisors at her court.
When Hellne spotted Yuenne having a serious discussion with a then two-year-old Rhuun, crouching down to talk with him eye to eye, she did her best not to panic.
"And what are my gentlemen and heroes of the court talking about today?" she asked brightly.
"Wings, Mama," Rhuun told her. "When do I get mine?"
"Yes," said Yuenne with his little smile, "It shouldn't be long before this young man fledges. How old is he? Only two? He's as big as a child twice his age. I imagine he'll manifest in all sorts of interesting ways."
Hellne sent him back on his second grand expedition to the Vastness shortly thereafter, feeling only a moment's hesitation that she might be making Yuenne's wife a widow and leaving his young daughter fatherless. Then she thought about Yuenne smiling, smiling and having an interesting conversation with the Zaalmage, and sent him on his way.
And now Rhuun was five and already more than a head taller than his playmates. And what would happen when there was no fledging? (For she had all but given up on that idea.) And worse yet, what if he never manifested fire? She'd had a chlystron made for him, tied with a ribbon in her family's color, and it just sat in his little hand. He looked confused and then threw it on the ground, saying it burned him, and he couldn't be persuaded to try again.
One part of her wanted to hide him, stuff the basket under a chair, throw a blanket over him and never let him come to harm. But this was foolish and weak, and she put it aside in favor of the part that remembered how she'd grown from a silly girl to a queen practically overnight. She had made him, and the making would continue. She resolved to let him grow without her hand holding him up. It might be unpleasant but it would give him the strength that didn't come from fire or flight.
Ugly, on the other hand, well, no one called her child ugly.
Back to the Vastness with you, Counselor. Maybe this time you'll find some manners out there in all that sand.
Chapter 8
––––––––
E riis City
8 years after the War of the Door, Eriisai calendar
40 years later, Mistran calendar
Royal Library
Rhuun spent much of his time in the royal library, finding it both quiet and safe. It wasn't much of a collection of books, the Queen wasn't a big reader, but it seemed to her to be a thing one ought to do. It was mostly an under-lit collection of half-desiccated texts and cast-off furniture in a largely undamaged series of connected rooms. The boy didn't read the books, and he didn't know a silk cushioned, wood framed couch imported from Mistra from a cheap Old City imitation, but he liked the way the room smelled. And it was dark and even a little cooler. The constant baking heat made him feel a little faint sometimes. No one knew that, not even his mother.
He was in the library hiding—no, he told himself—he was sitting and thinking after lessons one afternoon when his mother
Infuriatingly, Yuenne had returned from that journey and made a hero of himself. Hellne noted the only thing worth celebrating from his trip was the fact that he survived it. He found nothing.
"Only sand, I'm afraid, and plenty of it," he told her in private. "Hard to imagine there was ever anything there."
The Zaalmage's pet hypothesis was that the cities had been moved somewhere else, and they and their people were trapped just out of sight. It gave off a scent of hope, and had many proponents who referred to it as The Hidden Kingdom Theory. The popularity of their notions gave the Mages renewed enthusiasm.
"Human blood, Your Grace, even a small amount, and we could begin to turn our theories into proper experiments." The Mages had a mania for blood, human blood from which she couldn't seem to distract them. And the debt, unpaid, always at the back of her mind. But if the Zaalmage knew what she’d done, surely he would have come to claim what was owed. The Zaal was not subtle, not like advisors at her court.
When Hellne spotted Yuenne having a serious discussion with a then two-year-old Rhuun, crouching down to talk with him eye to eye, she did her best not to panic.
"And what are my gentlemen and heroes of the court talking about today?" she asked brightly.
"Wings, Mama," Rhuun told her. "When do I get mine?"
"Yes," said Yuenne with his little smile, "It shouldn't be long before this young man fledges. How old is he? Only two? He's as big as a child twice his age. I imagine he'll manifest in all sorts of interesting ways."
Hellne sent him back on his second grand expedition to the Vastness shortly thereafter, feeling only a moment's hesitation that she might be making Yuenne's wife a widow and leaving his young daughter fatherless. Then she thought about Yuenne smiling, smiling and having an interesting conversation with the Zaalmage, and sent him on his way.
And now Rhuun was five and already more than a head taller than his playmates. And what would happen when there was no fledging? (For she had all but given up on that idea.) And worse yet, what if he never manifested fire? She'd had a chlystron made for him, tied with a ribbon in her family's color, and it just sat in his little hand. He looked confused and then threw it on the ground, saying it burned him, and he couldn't be persuaded to try again.
One part of her wanted to hide him, stuff the basket under a chair, throw a blanket over him and never let him come to harm. But this was foolish and weak, and she put it aside in favor of the part that remembered how she'd grown from a silly girl to a queen practically overnight. She had made him, and the making would continue. She resolved to let him grow without her hand holding him up. It might be unpleasant but it would give him the strength that didn't come from fire or flight.
Ugly, on the other hand, well, no one called her child ugly.
Back to the Vastness with you, Counselor. Maybe this time you'll find some manners out there in all that sand.
Chapter 8
––––––––
E riis City
8 years after the War of the Door, Eriisai calendar
40 years later, Mistran calendar
Royal Library
Rhuun spent much of his time in the royal library, finding it both quiet and safe. It wasn't much of a collection of books, the Queen wasn't a big reader, but it seemed to her to be a thing one ought to do. It was mostly an under-lit collection of half-desiccated texts and cast-off furniture in a largely undamaged series of connected rooms. The boy didn't read the books, and he didn't know a silk cushioned, wood framed couch imported from Mistra from a cheap Old City imitation, but he liked the way the room smelled. And it was dark and even a little cooler. The constant baking heat made him feel a little faint sometimes. No one knew that, not even his mother.
He was in the library hiding—no, he told himself—he was sitting and thinking after lessons one afternoon when his mother
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