The Stone of the Stars

by Alison Baird

  “I saw him,” said Damion, “in Liamar, in the days of the Great Disaster. I thought he’d somehow managed to get into the past.”

  “When in actual fact he was there, five centuries ago. He went often to Trynisia,” Ana said, “in olden times, when he was known as Morlyn.”

  “Prince Morlyn!” Ailia gasped. “Andarion’s son!”

  Ana nodded.

  “Then—he wasn’t killed in the battle with Sir Ingard,” she said.

  “And he wasn’t destroyed here in the gardens either, was he?” said Damion. “He got away from us, in the end.”

  “I’m afraid so. I think we have not seen the last of the Prince,” Ana answered. “And we will have to do something about him later. Until now he has kept to himself, and has not posed a threat. But your coming, Ailia, is a sign that he is changing his ways, and means to become what the prophecy foretold: a powerful mage and warlord, the servant of our enemy. You will be the protector of Mera and Arainia, challenging his plans to dominate them. He has failed to keep you from your throne, and he will be more ruthless in future. But he will not dare to attack you again in your own realm, Ailia. Now, shall we return to the palace?”

  “Just a moment, Ana,” said Damion “There’s something I don’t understand. You say that you knew Mandrake—or Morlyn—when he was still a child.”

  Ailia looked at her wide-eyed. “But . . . but then you must be hundreds of years old too! You must be—”

  “Eliana.” Tiron spoke the name softly, behind them.

  Ailia and Damion stared at old Ana standing before them, the light of the pale blue moon shining on her white hair. She smiled at them.

  “An old name,” she said. “And one I have not used for quite some time. You might as well go on calling me Ana.”

  AILIA WAITED IN THE CORRIDOR outside the high doors of the great hall. She was clad in the formal attire that had been brought to her by the sibyls, and over which a small army of seamstresses had labored during three long Arainian days: a gown like those worn in days of old by Elei ladies in Mera, with long pointed sleeves that trailed to the floor. It was of white samite, sown with patterns of pearls and diamonds that danced with light whenever she moved, and its train swept out behind her like a comet’s tail. Her hair, neatly combed, hung loose down her back, and over it the women had draped a sibyl’s veil, floor-length and fine as a mist. A chaplet of lilies held it in place. It would be removed later, when the circlet of royal argent was placed on her head.

  With the veil before her face she felt somewhat removed from her surroundings; and she still felt slightly dazed. Most of the previous three days had been taken up with visits by her father’s family, anxious to view their lost relative: voices and faces and names that crowded upon her dazzled senses, and blurred one into another. Only a few hours were left for her to rehearse this ceremony, with a cloth from a banquet table pinned to her dress to give her the feel of the royal mantle’s length and weight. She had felt very nervous about the whole business, constantly repeating to herself the detailed instructions the palace officials gave her. But now none of the pomp and ceremony seemed to have anything to do with her; it was larger than she, and she merely moved through it, as though she walked in her sleep.

  There came a ringing fanfare of trumpets from within, that made her start slightly. And now the doors opened, the procession started forward. A regal canopy of blue cloth woven with stars was brought by four ladies-in-waiting—themselves great noblewomen of this world—and held on its poles high above her head. Veiled vestals with ceremonial candelabra in their hands passed through the doors chanting; her canopy-bearers moved to follow, and she had to move with them, into the Thronehall of Halmirion.

  The hall was huge, as large as the great chapel. Its walls were of white marble, its windows tall panels of crystal, while the ceiling, like that of the chapel, was frescoed with clouds so superbly painted that one half-thought to see them move: at first glance, it seemed as though the hall were open to the sky. Angels sported amid those clouds, and cherubim and dragons, and gods in airy chariots. At night, she was told, the fresco was lost in shadow and there shone down instead a thousand stars: for the ceiling was studded with constellations of venudor crystals that gave forth a radiance of their own. At the end of the hall was a dais, and on the dais was a throne. On the wall behind were more luminous crystals carved like five-pointed stars, while an enormous upturned crescent moon raised its gleaming horns behind the throne, so that the occupant would seem to be seated in the midst of the starry heavens. The throne itself was all carved of semi- pellucid white quartz. No one else had ever sat upon it, she realized in awe, not even her mother: this was the Meldramiria, the Moon Throne, made for Ailia alone. All through the ages it had waited: before the Elei fled Mera, and all through the Dark Age and the Age of Enlightenment; it had waited for her when she was a child on the Island, and when she had lived at the Academy, and when she journeyed through Trynisia with her companions. In the wall to her left Ailia glimpsed the outline of the door that led to the palace’s private apartments: into it she and her friends and attendants would go once the ceremony was concluded, and there would be feasting and entertainments and laughter. How she hungered now for that safe haven—to be away from all these watching eyes!

  The walk up the aisle, past the assembled people, seemed to take forever. All those eyes upon her, and not theirs alone; many of those present were Nemerei, passing on all they saw in the form of waking visions to other Nemerei all over this world. There were many people gathered on the dais as well: priests and priestesses of a dozen different orders, of whom, as chief priestess of the sovereign deity of Arainia, she would be the titular head, symbolically uniting in her own person all the different sects and temples of this world. This was difficult to imagine now, as she found all these robed majestic figures thoroughly intimidating. There were also many secular officials, governors and administrators of territories, and the chancellor of the world council with his jeweled golden chain. Her father was there too, and she was glad to see her friends standing with him: Ana wearing a plain white robe, with her cat, resplendent and smug in a diamond-studded collar, nestled in her arms; Jomar, looking ill at ease in his fine clothes and trying hard to hide it; Lorelyn tall and graceful in a golden gown, her face aglow with excitement. And there was Damion, in elegant attire like the others, also wearing a cheerful expression that somehow put all the pomp into perspective. Seeing her look at him, he grinned encouragingly. She flashed a smile back at him.

  The High Sibyl said something. Then the sibyls and other clerics approached the starry canopy and lifted the veil from her head. She heard the great sea-sound the crowd behind her uttered as their Princess was at long last revealed to them, and felt horribly exposed, and not a little glad that her face was turned away from them. She knelt, very still and quiet, as they laid the royal mantle on her—a great sweep of midnight-blue material, over twelve paces in length, embroidered with silver stars. The weight of it nearly bowed her shoulders.

  Several robed clerics then brought to her a great oaken chest, and, setting it down before her, they opened it and took out a silver scepter tipped with a six-pointed star in whose center shone a diamond big as a hen’s egg. Receiving it in her right hand as she had been instructed, she was surprised and relieved to find it not nearly so heavy as it looked. And then they brought out the royal Diadem, a circlet of wrought silver: her mother had worn it before her, and as it was placed upon her head she found that it fit her perfectly. It was all encrusted with diamonds and pearls and star sapphires, and at the front the Star Stone was set, with its dew-dazzle of flashing facets. She trembled at the thought of him on whose brow that gem had first been bound.

  But then the High Sibyl motioned for to her to rise and go to the Moon Throne. All alone she went forward now with the mantle rivering behind, and took her seat upon the throne. She faced the crowd now. Gazing out at that living sea, she tried to isolate faces in its immensity. Here stood a littl
e child—there a tall, weathered man—there a graceful Elei lady . . . At last she understood. She had only to be there for them, the tangible embodiment of their longings, a symbol of all they most valued. Theirs was the real power: they were the light, and she but the lens through which it shone, the mirror that returned their own brightness to them. In that instant there burst forth from the Star Stone a pure white radiance, and some there thought that they saw in the midst of it—brighter even than the surrounding incandescence—the shape of a bird of fire.

  The Tryna Lia had come at last to the throne destined to be hers; and there was rejoicing in Eldimia and beyond.

  Here ends The Stone of the Stars, Book One of

  The Dragon Throne.

  The second volume, The Empire of the Stars, will continue the story of Ailia’s reign, and the battle to free the world of Mera.

  APPENDIX

  PRONUNCIATION OF ELENSI WORDS

  I have rendered as English the various languages of the peoples of the world of Mera, with the exception of the ancient “dead” language of Elensi. In Ailia’s time this language was no longer spoken except by the priests of the western Faith in their temple rituals, though scholars were obliged to learn it in order to study ancient texts, and traces of it were still to be found in many place names and in people’s proper names passed on by tradition. These names and a few other terms I have simply rendered phonetically, rather than translating their literal meanings. I have done the same for proper and place names in other tongues, such as Zimbouran and Kaanish.

  Elensi words are pronounced as follows:

  Vowels

  A—always has the short sound, as in flat

  AA—has a long, drawn-out “ah” sound; before R, pronounced as in car. (In some instances I have rendered it as A for easier reading, as in Aana-Ana, Loänaan-Loänan.)

  AI—as in rain

  AU—another “ah” sound; before R, pronounced as in oar

  E—always has the short sound, as in bed

  EI—like the German ei, an “eye” sound

  I—like the French I, an “ee” sound

  O—always has the long sound, as in bow, except when it is the penultimate letter in a word (i.e. Damion, Halmirion), in which case it has the short sound as in iron, lion

  OA—not a diphthong as in road but two distinct sounds, as in coagulate

  U—always the long sound, as in tune

  Y—always a vowel, never a consonant: has the short I sound as in win, except before E, when it takes the long sound, as in wine

  Consonants

  G—always pronounced like the G in goose, never as in gin

  S—pronounced as in so, not the Z sound as in phase

  TH—always pronounced as in thin, never as in then

  Note: these rules do not necessarily apply to words in languages other than Elensi, i.e. Zimbouran, in which the letter Y is a consonant.

  GLOSSARY OF EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL WORDS

  Aan: (AHN) Elensi. Literally “Lord.” In western theology, the Supreme Being, creator of Heaven and Earth.

  Ailia: (AY-lee-a) Elensi ai + lia, “lode star.” A young girl of Great Island who joins the quest to find the Star Stone.

  Almailia: (al-MAY-lee-a) Elensi Alm’ailia, from alma + ailia, “sea lodestar.” Here translated “Star of the Sea.“ One of the Goddess Elarainia’s titles.

  Ana: (AH-na) Elensi. Wise woman and guide to the Tryna Lia.

  Andarion: (an-DAR-ee-on) Elensi aan + darion, “Lord Knight.” Title given to King Brannar of Maurainia in the Golden Age.

  Arainia: (a-RAY-nee-a) Elensi ar + ain-ia, “bright homeland/ sphere.” Second planet in the Auria system.

  Arkurion: (ar-KYOOR-ee-on) Elensi ar-kuri + on, “bright torch bearer.“ First planet in the Auria system.

  Auria: (OR-ee-a) Elensi aur + ia, “place/sphere (of) life.” Elei name for the sun.

  Azar: (AZ-ar) Elensi azar, “calamity.” Name for the planet of the dwarf star Azarah. See below.

  Azarah: (AZ-a-ra) Elensi Azar’ah, from azar + rah, “bringer of calamity.” Name of a small dim star that became trapped in the Auria system’s gravitational field. See Glossary of Terrestrial Terms: Disaster, the.

  Damion: (DAY-mee-on) Elensi dai + mion, “welcome messenger.” (I have simplified the spelling of this name from the phonetic Daimion, as there is an English name, Damien, pronounced similarly.) Priest of the Faith and companion of the Tryna Lia.

  Elaia: (el-LAY-a) Elensi El’aia, from el + laia, “lower gods.”

  Elarainia: (el-a-RAY-nee-a) Elensi el + Arainia. Name of the goddess of the planet Arainia; also, the mother of the Tryna Lia.

  Eldimia: (el-DEEM-ee-a) Elensi Eldim’ia, from el + dimi + ia, “(the) gods’ beauteous country.” Land in the Otherworld to which the Elei fled after the Great Disaster.

  Elei: (EL-eye) Elensi el + ei, “children of the gods.” Ancient race now vanished from Mera. They had special powers of the mind, believed by them to be the result of a divine ancestry.

  Elendor: (el-EN-dor) Elensi el + endor, “holy mountain.” Sacred mountain in Trynisia, on whose summit the holy city of Liamar was built.

  Elensi: (el-EN-see) The language of the Elei. From Elensi el + ensi, “holy tongue,” or “gods’ tongue.”

  Eliana: (el-ee-AH-na) Elensi el-i + aana, “lady (of the) spirit host,” or “queen of the faeries.” Queen of Trynisia during the Golden Age.

  Elmir: (EL-meer) Elensi el + mir, “spirit power.” The concept of Spirit, represented in Elei art as a bird. See Elvoron.

  Elvoron: (EL-vor-on) Elensi el + vor + on, “containing spirit and matter.” Elei concept similar to yin and yang, and ascribed, as with all their knowledge, to the teachings of the gods. The Elvoron is traditionally represented as the Elmir bird (spirit, heaven, sacred time, order) and the Vormir dragon or serpent (matter, earth, profane time, chaos), often with the former at the top and the latter at the bottom of the Tree of Life. In Elei philosophy the opposition of Matter and Spirit is nullified by the power of Mind, which bridges or “reconciles” them.

  Elyra: (el-LIE-ra) Elensi El’yra, from el + lyra, “higher gods.”

  Haldarion: (hal-DA-ree-on) Elensi hal + darion, literally “Castle Knight.” The old fortress of the Paladins in Maurainia, later the site of the Royal Academy.

  Halmirion: (hal-MEER-ee-on) Elensi Halmiri’on, from hal + Miria + on, “Castle Moonbearer.” The palace of the Tryna Lia in Eldimia.

  Iantha: (ee-AN-tha) Elensi i-antha + a, “of many clouds.” The sixth planet of the Auria system, a gas giant.

  Ingard: (EENG-gard) Elensi. Famed knight and friend of King Andarion.

  Jomar: (JOE-mar) Moharan. One of the Tryna Lia’s companions, a warrior of mixed Moharan and Zimbouran heritage.

  Kaan, Archipelagoes of: (KAHN) Kaanish. Kingdom between the western and eastern continents of Mera, composed of many chains of islands.

  Kaans: (KAHNS) Kaanish. The inhabitants of the Archipelagoes.

  Kantikant: (KANT-ee-kant) Elensi kanti + kant, literally “many-books book” or “book (of) many books.” There are seven sections, or “books,” in the Kantikant or Holy Book of the western Faith. The three oldest writings are of Elei origin: the Book of Beginnings, which recounts the story of creation and the fall of the rebel gods (this word was later altered to “angels”); the Book of Chronicles, an account of Elei history later dismissed as mythology by Maurish scholars; and the oracular Book of Doom, believed to be of Sibylline origin. The other books are later Maurish writings: the Book of Songs, an ancient hymnal; the Book of Wisdom, a collection of proverbs; the Second Book of Chronicles, an account of Maurish history; and the Book of Being, a vision of Earth, Heaven, and perdition by the prophet Orendyl. Owing to its eschatological theme the Elei Book of Doom was placed at the end of the canon. See Glossary of Terrestrial Terms: Scriptures.

  Khalazar: (KHAL-a-zar) Zimbouran khal + Elensi Azar, “born under Azar.” Name of the king of Zimboura in Ailia’s day. The “kh” sound is pronounced l
ike the “ch” in the Scottish loch. (The western peoples, who had no such sound in their language, pronounced the name “Kalazar.”)

  Liamar: (LEE-a-mar) Elensi lia + mar, “star city.” Holy city atop Mount Elendor in Trynisia.

  Loänan: (LOW-a-nahn) Elensi Loänaan, from lo + an + aan, “lord (of) wind (and) water.” See Glossary of Terrestrial Terms: Dragon.

  Lorelyn: (LORE-el-in) Elensi Lor’el’yn, from lora + el-lyn, “daughter of sacred sky (heaven).” Name of the young woman believed by many to be the Tryna Lia.

  Marakor: (MA-ra-kor) Marakite. Country to the south of Maurainia.

  Maurainia: (mor-AIN-ee-a) Elensi Maur + ain + ia, “homeland (of the) Maur (tribe).” Principal kingdom of the western continent.

  Meldramiria: (mel-druh-MEER-ee-a) Elensi meldra + Miria, “throne (of the) moon.” The Tryna Lia’s throne in Eldimia.

  Mera: (MARE-a) Elensi word for “earth” or “soil,” also used by the inhabitants of the third planet of the Auria system as the name for their world.

  Meraalia: (mare-AWL-ee-a) Elensi Meraal’ia, from mera-al + lia, “star stone.”

  Merendalia: (mare-en-DAL-ee-a) Elensi Merendal’i’a, from meren-dal + lia + a, “highway of the stars.” The Milky Way as seen in the night sky, believed by the Elei to be the abode of the highest gods.

  Miria: (MEER-ee-a) Elensi miri + a, literally “of radiance.” Elei name for Arainia’s moon.

  Mirimar: (MEER-im-ar) Elensi miri + mar, “radiant city.” Capital city of Eldimia.