Prologue

Once upon a time three boys from a tiny village of Etonville set off on a journey to the great Prophetess of Nix to hear their fortunes told. Many paid homage to the great sorceress to hear oracles of the future that are never wrong. Even better were the tales recited about the famous wizard who protected her inside his magical Haunted Forest. The boys eagerly awaited what the fate goddess had in store for them. One lad was a prince sent away from his capital by his father fearing assassination plots by his mother’s henchman. The assassins killed his father’s uncle and most trusted advisor, but his father’s guard helped him escape. His father fled to the mountains to live an exiled existence. Prince Dracon grew up in a quiet life inside the temple his distant cousin Princess Dyna kept watch as High Priestess. His father came to him as a phantom in the night and assured the insecure prince one day he would go home to rule his country. As the boy approached adolescence, the queen invited her son and heir to the throne for her wedding feast to a general in the palace guard she intended to crown king. This was sad news to his father learning his wife intention to kidnap the boy en route to the capital and hold him prisoner in order to force her husband out of hiding, and finally be killed. Dyna who had raised him since infancy wrote the queen to declare the need to secure a proper guard before sending him off home to the capital. She gave the message to the town weaver who was readying a wagon for a trip there to sell his coveted linen fabrics and unicorn hair embroidery threads.

One of his journey companions was the weaver’s son whom Dracon knew well. He had seen the elfboy Homer playing out in the foothills outside of town and racing rafts down the river before asking to join his friends. His family had been in this village for a thousand years, long before the humans from a distant land came and conquered their home. The humans built a separate town across the river from the elf houses to expand into one village under the charge of an elected chief, or chieftess. The chiefs once inherited the position from an elder relative, but once the humans intermarried with the elves they demanded equal say on the person who ruled over them. The chiefs thereafter were elected by the populace and held councils on both sides of the river. Homer was sent to be educated at the human temple across the river by the High Priest where Dracon lived so he would know his mother’s human world. Dracon joined the elf games and learned to hunt with Homer’s family upon the grasslands. He joined trading excursions to the horse master nomads living in colorful canvas tents raising livestock and to a nearby lake where mermaids come to give birth. The elves and humans living in Etonville have resisted many raids made upon their prosperous village. Anyone who can lift an iron battle axe or pull the string of a bow is enlisted into the village’s militia and take turns at guard duty atop the bell tower. Reaching the age of apprenticeships, Homer was quite insecure of his future occupation. His father expected him to follow the family business of trading in one form or another, but he wanted adventure elsewhere and travel to the ends of the horizon. He was hoping this Prophetess would aid his choice of occupation.

The third boy on the journey was a boy who feared for his future. Valnar had runaway from his peasant village after his father was murdered for poaching fish in the lord’s river. He had begged from house to house and met Prince Dracon while he was waiting for alms to the poor at the temple. Finally he was taken in by a widowed innkeeper who had no children. He treated this boy as if he were his own and one day made an agreement with the High Priestess to educate him in exchange for wood for the temple’s fire. For his journey, the innkeeper bestowed upon his adopted son a new bow and arrows he made and a quiver a peddler exchanged for lodgings. He prayed the Prophetess would tell him the lord he escaped from would never find him.

The Prophetess of Nix foresaw King Dracon would one day be a great hero and his name forever spoken by his people with love. For Homer, the sea would be his future and destiny. And for Valnar, King Dracon would buy his freedom. The lads also discovered the exiled King Jason in disguise of a wolf. They listened to the wizard recite stories of his life and his friends learning much of their country‘s history. On the way back, the boys were escorted home by the High Priestess’s daughter Ophelia who had married the Wizard’s son Aelous. The princeling was found an escort to the capital. The king remained in disguise after hearing of an attack of golden eagles right before the boys entered the magical forest and being saved by the queen of the mermaids. The return party came to town to a usual day in Etonville. The High Priestess welcomed back her daughter and the exiled king into her home until they left for the capital. Dracon was careful to call his pet wolf Greken whenever they walked around town to keep his identity a secret. Many elves knew Greken simply meant person from the north and quite intrigued by this creature. The weaver and his grown sons had already gone to the capital with Dyna’s message so she waited for a reply from the queen. Homer waited for his father’s return to ask for an apprenticeship with the great Wizard. Valnar continued his daily chores without a second thought of the future. The merchants arrived a month later with wagons of dried fruit slices, smoked fish, and pickled vegetables from Litsy, glass vessels from Kara, dried herbs from Aferdia, iron tools from Caledonia, polished silver mirrors from Knosssos, lavender soaps from Helos, wine from Vinland, fancy copper jewelry from Ithaca, nuts from Ashur, cotton blankets from Anaki, salt from Kadacia, and seashell beads from the Mermaid Islands. He sets up his stand in the market place trading most of his wares by the end of the day. Dyna receives the queen’s reply allowing her time to find a bodyguard since a grand parade would attract too much attention of the wrong sort. She will expect his arrival at the winter solstice.

At the evening meal, Homer recites his tale of the Prophetess to his father and his desire for an apprenticeship with the great Wizard. His father is disappointed, but gratified his son wants to be apprenticed to such an admired elf. His son’s desire to sail ships up and down the coast could be valuable to the family business. Then Homer further explained his desire to leave the family business and travel the world as a sailor. His father slammed his fist on the table declaring no child of his is becoming hired help. He had worked too hard for too long to raise them, educate them, and give them a good life to have them toss opportunities to rise in society away. Homer ran from the table out the back door. His mother came outside to find him crying by a tree where horses grazed. She promised to speak to his father, but she must first understand why it was so important to him. He can trade with the nomads by river systems in rafts and canoes. Homer tried to express his need to see the Wizard’s pretty granddaughter again. If he never sees her again, she may get betrothed to someone else. Homer’s mother tried to think up advantages to having a sailor for a son, the marketplaces he could sell their fabrics to and things from far away lands would get excellent prices.

Afraid to irritate his father anymore, Homer walked down to the river where his elder brother lived with his mermaid wife he met during a trading expedition. His brother was taking his turn at guard duty in the bell tower. He ordered him to go back and listen to their father. It was possible to change his mind. A healer who travels everywhere selling herbal medicines is highly respected and sought for cures. His older brothers can take over the family business while he as a sea captain can expand it and see the world at the same time. Besides, The Wizard is known to come to town to trade his magical services and he has sailed all over the seas before he was exiled. He will see this girl again. Homer came home to a worried mother after dark and spoke to his father how the Wizard knows many trades to monopolize into a successful business of his own. At his mother’s coaxing, his father consented to one year apprenticeship with the Wizard when he finishes his time with the High Priest in the winter.

The harvest came soon enough and the harvest games began. The Wizard came peddling his herbs and praying stones. His son Eurick and granddaughters Cassandra and Ishtar were with him. The orphan mermaid Layla who was discovered on a mountain side also came. Ophelia was pleased to see her nieces. Homer sought out Ophelia in how to gain Ishtar’s favor. The wind goddess recommended making her something with his own skills. He thought about it and decided to make a pair of boots for the winter. Homer’s mother had caught a chill and lied in her bed. The Wizard came and gave her bitter powder to drink with her tea to ease her illness. He announced it is only a wrenching cough and will soon pass when the evil spirit leaves. The Wizard met with his father who paid him with shell beads as he gave a pouch of more powder to give the mother later. Homer measured Ishtar’s feet and then Cassandra’s and Layla’s feet when they became jealous. Homer started cutting the soles while Ishtar, Cassandra, and Layla got distracted buying treats from the vendors. Apple fritters, mincemeat pies, cherry tarts, and honey cake. Homer later bought each goddess beaded bracelets many of the other girls were wearing. The High Priest and High Priestess burned offerings to the god of agriculture Daxus in thanks of the bountiful harvest. The village danced next to bonfires and bobbed for apples to have a seer forecast their fortune with the apple peel cut off in one long strand. Ishtar grabbed an apple with her teeth and the High Priestess announced she will have an adventure in the coming year. Homer gave it a try since he already knew his future. “The sea is your future and your destiny” the great Prophetess foretold, but what about the near future. The High Priestess gasps when she drops the peel. Heartache, sadness, and a departure from your family. This coming year will be an unnerving one testing his strength. Homer wasn’t surprised. Ishtar lived away from his home, Dracon was returning to the capital, and his apprenticeship started soon.
Homer walked the goddesses to the inn where Valnar fed them a meal. The tavern was bustling with excitement and stories of the harvest games starting tomorrow. Cassandra also met a boy who asked her to dance with him. His name is Hugi and his father is a carpenter on the human south side of the riverbank. He said he was in the foot race and archery tournament. He promised to take her horse back riding and welcomed her sister to join them. Dracon, Homer, and Valnar did not win any prizes, but enjoyed the food carts. Hugi took Cassandra, Ishtar, Layla, and Homer out horse back riding. Homer gained the trust of a unicorn once hunting in the mountains, but then it disappeared when he got back to his hunting party. Elves do not believe in domesticated animals and all their pets roam free. The wolf dogs they have were once hungry lone wolves and tamed mustangs off the grasslands that were found injured or trapped. The elves saved them from death from starvation and attack. Thus, never left their saviors and multiplied.

The harvest games and New Year celebration came to a close and Dracon gathered supplies for his journey home. Valnar gave him iron-tipped arrows and Homer gave him a obsidian knife that they made for him. King Jason the wolf and Ophelia joined him to say farewell. Dracon looked at the village one last time believing he would never see his home village again. The High Priest and High Priestess sang prayers for a safe journey. Ophelia jumped upon a unicorn and Dracon jumped on a horse pulling a travois holding their supplies. The villagers said farewell to the prince and returned to their chores. Homer and Valnar accompanied them to the edge to the town.