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of
the prophecy of the four kings?”
    The old woman sat a bit straighter, and her
eyes narrowed with curiosity. She leaned toward Piper and set her
own cup on the table. “What do you wish to know, child? I thought I
had taught you that story well.”
    “ I do not remember it all,
I am afraid. Gran, you will not believe– I scarcely believe it
myself. I—I think it may be true. I believe it may be happening
now. I met three boys yesterday. They are not of Chartile. I do not
believe they are of this world. Their clothes, their speech. It is
unlike anything I have ever seen or heard. And, when I am with
them, my magic—” Piper stopped. She trembled, and looked fearfully
at her grandmother. With a deep breath, she recounted the previous
day’s events: her fight with Taraniz, the sudden appearance of
Jack, Leo and Jayson, the mountain trolls – even her use of fire
and magic. When she had finished, what little tea was left in her
cup was cold. She felt surprisingly relieved, and yet still
trembled.
    Gran sat quietly for several minutes. She
took Piper’s hands in her own, locking her blue eyes to Piper’s
green, and asked, “Piper, my darling, do you know who you are?”
    Piper pulled her hands away quickly. The
fear on her face could not be hidden by the soot smudging.
    “ I—I don’t understand,”
she said.
    “ Yes you do,” Gran said
softly. “You have suspected for some time, I know. Your mother and
father knew. I knew. And so do you.”
    “ Why didn’t you tell me?”
Piper’s eyes pleaded with her gran for answers.
    “ We never thought we would
need to. No one could have foreseen Aramor’s sudden illness. No one
ever thought Taraniz would have been so…well. I cannot imagine what
horrors befell that poor child to make her so. Spoiled and
pampered, yes, but a tyrant? How she managed to convince the entire
Elven army and the Noble’s Conclave to follow her before Aramor’s
death, and at such a young age, is beyond me.”
    “ If you never saw a reason
to tell me, then why try to train me?” Piper crossed her arms
before her, her voice turning haughty and defensive, “Why
calligraphy and law? Why the etiquette, and dragging me all over
Chartile? Why teach me to control my magic?”
    “ Precaution, child.” Gran
patted Piper’s hand. “We couldn’t have you losing control and
draining someone’s life, or burning –” She stopped and looked away,
lost for a moment in tragic memory.
    “ I never wanted this.”
Piper stared at the table top, following the intricate lines of a
knot in the wood. “I don’t want it. I should have run away to
Duneland. None of this would be happening.”
    Gran reached across the table again, but
Piper pulled away.
    “ No, my child, I would not
wish Duneland on anyone,” she said and reached for her cup
instead.
    Piper looked at her grandmother, brow
furrowed in confusion and anger. “Why? Because it is hot? Because
it is full of sand where nothing ever grows? Never seeing a tree
again would be worth the escape and freedom from…this!”
    “ Because Humans are
slaves,” said Gran rather coldly. “Had you gone to Duneland, you
would have had orenite cuffs slapped on your wrists and been sold
into the pleasure trade, or bought as a beck-and. Elf or Human,
they can little tell the difference anymore.”
    “ Orenite? I’ve never heard
of such a thing,” said Piper more calmly. She hated seeing her Gran
angry, and curiosity had tempered her for the moment.
    “ Orenite is a rare metal
found only in Mount Kelsii. Its discovery is what made the dwarves
extend their settlement past the Tutarian Mountain Range. Once
inscribed with the ancient Draconian runes, an orenite item can
keep magic from passing forth from a person. If they attempt any
form of magic, the orenite holds the energy inward until the body
can no longer contain it, and they perish.”
    “ That’s horrible!” cried
Piper. “Who would do that? And why?”
    “ The prophecy, my darling.
Duke