Prelude to Fire: Parts 1 and 2 by D. K. Holmberg

that fact to myself rather than deal with all the questions.”
    This time, Jayna laughed. “Only because you’re a grumpy old warrior.”
    “Can’t argue with that,” he said.
    He wobbled over to the door on the other side of the room, not expecting the princess to be there. Were she in the room, he would have expected her to have come to learn who was visiting, but she didn’t.
    “Lacertin, we should go,” Jayna said. “I don’t think she’s here.”
    He nodded but knocked on the door anyway, pausing to listen while reaching through the door with an earth sensing. He didn’t pick up anyone on the other side.
    Before turning away, he tried the handle, twisting it and pushing.
    Jayna ran over to him. “Lacertin!” she hissed.
    He was too quick for her. The door swung open, revealing the massive sleeping quarters on the other side. A wide bed took up most of one wall, a mesh canopy hanging over the top more for decoration than need. In places like Nara, such nets were helpful to keep from getting eaten by the insects that feasted at night, but in Ethea, such creatures were uncommon. He was actually surprised to see the decoration here, but then again, Ilianna had always had peculiar taste.
    A trunk rested at the end of the bed, a piece of parchment unfolded over the top. He couldn’t tell from where he stood, but it looked familiar. A low shelf nestled beneath a shuttered window was crammed with books. When Jayna stepped forward, Lacertin saw a narrow desk to the left of the door. More books stacked atop the desk, along with stacks of paper and a jar of ink. A flash of gold on the desk caught his eye and his breath caught.
    The plates. Why would Ilianna have them?
    She’d been at the university, but wouldn’t Jayna have said something if Ilianna had visited?
    He made his way over to the desk and stopped in front of it, making a show of looking down at the stack of pages. Most were written in a tight scrawl, and Lacertin couldn’t read much of them. One had a diagram of something that resembled a map, but there were no labels on it, nothing that would indicate what it was. Another page had a series of numbers running along the side. This one drew his attention, mostly because the word Incendin appeared partway down the page.
    Jayna made her way over to him. Before she could reach him, he shifted the pages to hide the box from view.
    “What is it?” Jayna asked as she stood next to him.
    He shook his head. “Nothing that I can understand.” Ilianna had always been involved in ruling, assisting Ilton with the day-to-day runnings of the kingdoms, so it was likely they were nothing more than that. But why would she have taken the box?
    Unless Ilton had asked the archivists to give it to her.
    As he did so often, Lacertin felt like nothing more than a glorified hound. Ilton would send him to retrieve items of importance, things like the box, or treaties with other rulers, and he’d never before complained, but there was something about not knowing the reason that he’d been sent that bothered him.
    He glanced at the desk again, letting his hand fall to his side where, for months, he’d carried the parts of the plates, unable to assemble them and bring them to Ilton. In all that time, he hadn’t understood the purpose of what he’d been sent to retrieve. He might never really understand, and now that Ilianna had it, and with Ilton soon to die and Althem to take the throne, Lacertin might never again be a part of such decisions.
    With a last glance at the desk, Lacertin turned away.

Chapter 10
    T he walk back down the stairs took longer than going up. Lacertin felt a heaviness weighing in him that mixed with a sense of sadness. Ever since coming to the kingdoms, he had been a part of something. First, it had been training at the university, struggling to learn what it meant that he could shape. Then it was mastering his shaping, first fire and then the other elements. After that, he had taught for a time in