eldest son. Snowbirds chirped and darted among the snow-laden branches.
“Mother, what do you know of… Iardu?”
Shaira turned to stare at her. She hesitated, obviously deciding whether to lie or admit what she knew.
The Queen sighed. “Iardu the Shaper,” she said. “A sorcerer who lives on an isle in the Cryptic Sea. He is mentioned in many of the history texts, especially in the Chronicles of Uurz.”
“What about the Pearl of Aiyaia?” said the Princess. “The stone Father stole from the Mer-Queen?”
“He called out the name of that stone in his sleep often enough,” Shaira said. “Sometimes he called the name of Iardu as well. At the end, he hardly slept at all.”
“The Mer-Queen told me Vod stole the Sacred Pearl at Iardu’s request.”
Shaira’s shock seemed genuine. She had no words.
“Do you know why? Father would never tell us, but do you know why he stole the sea-stone for Iardu?”
The Queen dabbed at her eyes with a silken napkin. “I… I think that now I do.”
“Now? What do you mean?”
“When I first met Ordra – Vod, your father -” Shaira whispered, “he was a Giant. As tall and fearsome as any Uduru. Yet in his heart he was a Man. I was in a caravan traveling across the desert to Uurz. The son of the Old Emperor had come to sweep me away from Shar Dni. My father had granted him my hand in marriage. It would seal the peace between our kingdoms. Prince Aivor was young and handsome, though I barely knew him. I was glad to be his bride.
“Bandits set upon us in the desert. Aivor fought bravely with his soldiers, but he died. We all would have perished that day but for a young Giant who rushed out of the dunes and drove off the raiders. His name was Ordra, who would one day be called Vod.
“Aivor and I would have been married when we reached Uurz, but now that could never be. Ordra came with us to the city. I asked him to. Even then, I saw something in him… something in his eyes. The way he looked at me. I cannot explain it.
“When we reached the city, Emperor Iryllah, who was the oldest man I have ever seen in this world, declared that he would take me as his seventh wife in order to seal the peace treaty. But first would come a year of mourning for his fallen son; I must wait until then for the marriage. I was to live in the luxury of his paluryen napkin. ace all that time. Ordra became my personal guard, and my constant companion. I read to him books from the Great Library. We counted the stars, and all the court thought him a hero. But there was more between us. It grew as a plant grows, sinking its roots deep in our hearts. We fell in love.
“I had no wish to marry old Iryllah. It would be a loveless arrangement and children would be impossible. I knew it was my duty to the throne of Shar Dni… I had promised my father. Yet I grew selfish. Love can make you selfish, did you know that? It can do wonderful things, yes, but it can ruin you as well.
“I read about Iardu the Shaper in the Emperor’s books… how his sorcery could change men into beasts and beasts into men. He sometimes visted Iryllah’s court in the shape of kindly men or friendly animals. He was the master of shape and form. So I told Ordra about him and… I hatched a plan. I could say it was Ordra’s idea, but it was all me. I will take the blame. I wanted to escape before the end of the mourning year and avoid marrying the codger. I wanted to be with Ordra, though it seemed impossible. So I told Ordra to seek the Shaper on his island… to ask a great favor.
“Ordra would ask the sorcerer to turn him from Giant into Man, so we could be together at last. We would run away. Even if my father cast us out of Shar Dni, we would find somewhere to live. You see, Ordra hated being a Giant, for he was raised by human parents. He thought himself a freak, that his great size was a curse… and I am ashamed to say that I did too. Later we learned it was not a curse at all.
“Giant Ordra went away, and months later he returned as Man. As we made ready to escape the very next day, the Uduru laid siege to Uurz. We were trapped in the city, fugitives from the palace.”
The Queen paused in her story. “Ah,” Sharadza said. “I have heard this part of the story. Vod challenged the King of Giants to a duel, which he won, and so lifted the siege of the city.”
“No,” said Shaira. “That is not how it happened at all. Men are liars and they have short memories. Ordra lost that challenge and was taken prisoner by the Giants. Iardu had taught him to make himself a Man whenever he chose… but also to become a Giant again – his true self – whenever he wished. Iardu was wiser than either of us in that matter.”
Sharadza’s mouth fell open. “That’s it, isn’t it?” she said. “Father stole the Mer-Queen’s Sacred Pearl for Iardu, so the Shaper would teach him sorcery.”
The Queen nodded her head, lifting the napkin to her eyes again. Her red lips trembled.
“When Vod’s nightmares began… and when he spoke of the Pearl… I suspected. But I never knew until this moment. Now the pieces all fit. Ordra stole it for Iardu and learned his shape-changing magic for me. He did it for me, Sharadza! And earned the curse of the Sea-Folk.”
Sharadza grabbed her mother’s hand. “Mother, you must understand. The Mer-Queen had all but forgotten her curse. It was not her who called Father to his death. It was not your fault.”
“Yes, it was,” said the Queen. “I made him go! I looked on his Giant body as a curse and I m cuo callade him go to Iardu.”
“It was his choice,” said Sharadza. “And he was in love. You said yourself, love changes you. You know the philosopher Therokles? He said, ‘Love is the death of Wisdom.’ Do not blame yourself. Father would not want you to.”
The Queen regained her composure. She squeezed her daughter’s hands.
“Tell me though,” said Sharadza. “Why did he take the name Vod?”
“When the Giants captured him, Fangodrim the Gray recognized Ordra as the lost son of his brother Fangodrel, who died at the fangs of the Serpent-Father. When he realized this was his own nephew, he gave Ordra his true name. Fangodrel the First had named his infant son Vod. Ordra was the name Vod’s human foster-parents gave him. So Ordra become Vod, and regained his people. Yet he lost me… I blamed him for betraying Uurz to the Giants. A year later my father sent me to Khyrei to wed Prince Gammir.”
“Then Vod rescued you,” said Sharadza. “And re-won your love.”
Queen Shaira nodded, a mix of old emotions dancing in her eyes. She drank a cup of the pomegranate juice. “Are all your questions answered?” she asked.
“No,” said Sharadza. “One remains. The most important.”
Her mother looked at her, green eyes matching green.
“What was it that tormented Father so terribly that he would gladly walk into the sea and drown?”
Shaira’s eyes fell. “ Her,” she said. “It had to be her. She took Vod and now she’s taken Fangodrel. One is dead and one is lost.”
“Who?” asked Sharadza.
“Ianthe,” said her mother. “Empress of Khyrei… the sorceress. I told you how Vod brought her palace down about her ears, killing her husband and son. They were evil and deserved to die. We thought she had died too, but we were wrong. Word of her survival reached us years later, when the boys were still small. We thought she would stay away from us – New Udurum had become a great power – but her sorcery knew no bounds. It must have been her taking vengeance on Vod, poisoning his mind with visions. She stole his sanity… and now his adopted son.”
Sharadza considered the enmity of the sorceress. Ianthe had sent the nightmare madness that killed her father and blamed it on the Mer-Queen. Then she had somehow seduced her grandson away from his foster-family – driven him to murder Tadarus as she had driven Vod to murder himself.
“Sharadza?” asked her mother.
“Yes?”
“Where did you go? Tell me now.”
“I went to study… with Iardu,” she said. Her mother’s face tightened as if she had been smacked. “He taught me what he taught Father. He made me remember what I truly am. He taught me sorcery.”
Shaira said nothing. Saidightenedhe looked out the window again, studying the snow. She is truly an old woman now. The last of her youth has fled, if not her beauty. Sharadza felt pity for her mother and wanted to cry. But there had been enough tears lately.
“Tell me of these Princes,” she asked. “Why does Vireon lead them south?”
“They go to Mumbaza,” said the Queen. “To gain their alliance in the coming war.”
“War?” said Sharadza. “Against whom?”
