Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,156
to reach the door.
Somewhere within that room, Tala knew, there was a mirror. And within that mirror was a sword.
But she’d rejected it, hadn’t she? Did she have any more claims to the sword after that?
The spells sent small shocks up the length of her arms. In the end, she had no choice but to leave the hallway with guilt still weighing heavy in her heart, away from that strange room where the Nine Maidens protected the castle and the kingdom, and where a sword was nothing more than a reflection in the mirror, once upon a time.
* * *
“Quite a ruckus,” the Cheshire noted much later, as it sat inside its quarters at Maidenkeep’s highest tower. “I’ve seen my share of these ceremonies, Hatter, and this was certainly the most…enthusiastic.”
“But she rejected the sword!” The other, a harried-looking man with spectacles and a tendency toward baldness, riffled through the pages of several books, straining to look for something he could not find. “The prophecies have never been wrong before!”
“There is time enough to change minds,” the Cheshire said. “It has been rejected before, or don’t you remember? The sword has been waiting decades. It can stand to wait a little longer.”
The Cheshire stared thoughtfully at the Nameless Sword. It sat at the corner of the room, buried to the hilt inside stone. It gleamed.
“Prophecy may be interpreted in many different ways. And if the young Makiling does not wish to suit prophecy, then perhaps prophecy shall twist itself around to suit her instead. But all things considered, it went pretty well, don’t you think?”
Epilogue
In Which the Firebird Takes a Different Journey
Once upon a time, there was a firebird, and it soared through the skies. Most of the residents of Maidenkeep were fast asleep, and it would not be missed that night.
It flew on tirelessly, at a speed greater than the fastest horse could run, or the fastest fish could swim, or even the fastest a firebird could fly. It flew past mountains and trees and villages, all of which zipped by underneath it in a blur. It flew on even when the cities below began to thin out and disappear entirely, when the mountains slowly gave way to large glaciers of ice and frost, even when the air grew cold and chilly.
It came across the strange barrier that marked the boundaries of what some people call the Northern Country, or the Whitelands, or the closed kingdom of Beira. The barrier would have stopped any other being, but the firebird slipped through the wards quite easily and continued.
It flew on until it reached a large castle, one made completely and absolutely of ice, as opposed to merely being entombed in it. It soared up towers and turrets until it found a crack in the walls large enough for it to squeeze through, giving no thought to the freezing temperature that should have killed any other living thing. It flew into the throne room.
The room itself was vast and seemed to be larger than what the castle walls outside conveyed. It was bare, save for a large, mirror-like pond. At the center of this frozen lake was a throne made of a myriad of crystals and ice, and in it sat a very beautiful woman. She had soft silver hair, long enough that it pooled around her ankles, brushing against the floor. She wore a white robe that was unlike any other robe ever made, of a material more gossamer than fiber. A lovely crystal circlet encircled her smooth, unlined forehead. She had flawlessly white skin, a delicate oval face like a doll’s, and eyes like two large unfathomable pools of pale blue.
The firebird sat on the edge of the throne and looked up at her.
A boy stepped forward; dark hair, blue eyes, a sad mouth. “I almost didn’t believe you when you said it would show up,” Ryker said. “You know it tried to burn me, right?”
“The pretense was necessary. I nursed it back to health, my dear boy. It will not harm me.” The woman smiled and stroked the firebird’s head gently with the other hand. It purred, pleased.
“Well done, my dear,” the Snow Queen whispered.
Glossary
adobo: chicken or pork cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic
agimat: an amulet or charm
“Alis!”: “Leave!”
anak: gender-neutral term used to refer to one’s children
anak ng Diyos: son of God; also an exclamation similar to “son of a gun”
antipatika: someone unfriendly or disagreeable
arnis: Filipino martial art that incorporates stickfighting
ate (ah-teh): an older sister; used informally to show respect for older women
anting-anting: charm used to ward off curses
bagoong: shrimp paste sauce used as condiment in many Filipino dishes
bibingka: a baked cake made of rice, eggs, and coconut milk
boodle fight: a set of meals placed on a banana leaf–lined table for sharing, eaten using hands instead of cutlery
chicharon bulaklak: popular Filipino street food made of fried pork intestines
dwende: mischievous dwarves of Filipino mythology
Diyos ko: “my God”; also spelled Dyos ko
Heneral: general
kaldereta: meat stew made from either goat, beef, or pork