by Leah Swann
Inside, Niklas and Raizel were given places of honour at the high table of King Harmon, along with Andor. The princesses had decorated the hall in red cloths and wreathes of autumn leaves.
Harmon had provided a grand feast, with huge plates piled high with harvest vegetables, and fish from Ralston cooked on hotplates on the open flames. Dozens of loaves of crisp-edged bread with soft insides sat next to apple pies, golden pears nestled in baskets, and stone jugs filled with cream.
The children sang and danced, the adults laughed and chatted. Fragments of the Irina story flew around the room. When the last crust of bread had been eaten and the last beverage had been drunk, King Harmon rose. Those who had been sitting stood; those who had been dancing were still.
‘Friends of Ragnor,’ said Harmon. ‘We give thanks for the food you have harvested from the earth. Most of all, we give thanks that the battle against Vilmos was won by the extraordinary deeds of Irina.
‘Let us remember those who lost their lives. We will support their families always, because they made the greatest sacrifice of all – they died so the rest of us could live.’
After a moment of silence, Harmon continued. ‘Not long ago, we celebrated Irina's return. Now she has left again. She believes she can restore those wolves to their true selves. I wanted those wolves dead. To my thinking, there was nothing else to do.’
The King paused again. He knew many of the people would feel the same way as he did. He could see it on their faces. It was up to him to defend what Irina was doing.
‘But there is more to us than just thinking,’ he said. ‘When we strive to do what logic tells us can't be done, that is when we become more deeply human. That is when we think from the heart.’
The King looked around the hall at his friends, his family and his subjects. His eyes rested on Niklas. How good it was that his friend had lived! There was old Raizel, who had been right after all, Chloe with her quiet knowledge that he somehow didn't understand, and his beautiful daughters. There was young Andor, with his open, clear face, listening intently to his every word. And then King Harmon did something he had never done before.
‘Dear friends,’ he said. ‘Join hands with me. Let us send our love to Irina. One day we may learn that she received it.’
Deep in the forest, in the wolves’ winter den, Irina sat wrapped in a woollen blanket. The wolves slept. Some were beside her; many more were outside, huddled together for warmth. Irina had fed them each a drop of Raizel's healing tonic. She had sung to them, she had named them; made each one of them dear to her. Her eyes were full of wolf bodies, of moonlight and shadows. Beside Durrell, she too fell asleep. She dreamed of Ragnor. Her sisters danced before her. She witnessed love on the faces of Harmon and Chloe, of Raizel, of Octavia, William and Andor, and even the unknown king who saved her wolf-brother.
But there was someone else, a woman Irina had never seen before, wearing hundreds of keys on chains.
‘Choose the key,’ said Chloe. ‘Choose the key.’
Irina reached forward to touch a tiny, glinting golden key on the woman's neck. It burned her fingers.
She woke.
She was still there, in the company of the wolves, their fur made silver by the moonlight coming through the mouth of the cave.
‘I am alone, and I am not alone,’ Irina whispered and smiled to herself in the darkness.
Notes on the text
The blessing Octavia gives Irina when she returns to Ragnor Castle ‘Truth is a light to illumine and guide you’ is a variation of an old Celtic blessing which begins, ‘Christ is a light…’.
‘Knartesc’ is pronounced ‘Nartesk’
‘Mahila’ is pronounced ‘Ma-hi-la.’
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Roy Chen, David Henley, Jon MacDonald, Rod Morrison and the team at Xoum for putting together this beautiful book. To my siblings, thanks for your consistent inspiration and encouragement. Thanks also to Tegan Morrison whose close reading and edits greatly strengthened the manuscript.
For all the people who read an early draft, your support is much appreciated, in particular, Karen Manton, Marguerite Swann, Amos and Brigita. For many helpful suggestions with regard to battle strategies, weaponry, and making me draw a map to scale for the first time in decades, my thanks go to John Hare.
Coming in 2013
Irina and the Quest
for the White Wolf
BOOK II OF THE RAGNOR TRILOGY
Irina's mission to save the wolves is under threat. She must embark on a lone quest for the mysterious white wolf, where her courage and capacities will be tested to their limits. But will the Narrowlands magicians thwart her yet again?
Irina and the Lost
Book of the Junsong
BOOK III OF THE RAGNOR TRILOGY
Forced to find new strength within, Irina matures from instinctive wolf-girl to intuitive Queen. But then she must face her ultimate foe: the Dragon. Will she succeed in defeating evil once and for all, allowing the Age of Peace to begin?
XOUM Publishing
A subsidiary of Xou Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia
www.xoum.com.au
First published by Xoum Publishing in 2012
ISBN 978-1-922057-11-2 (print)
ISBN 978-1-922057-07-5 (digital)
Cataloguing-in-publication data is available from
the National Library of Australia
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright below, no part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior permission of both the copyright holder and the publisher.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Text copyright © Leah Swann 2012
Cover, internal design and typesetting copyright © Xoum Publishing 2012
Printed by Omne Communications www.omne.com.au
Cover design by Xou Creative
Cover illustration and map by Roy Chen
