Tara took a deep breath.
“Well, that’s exactly where we disagree,” she said. “Where do I get to choose in all this? What if I decide I want to be, I don’t know . . . a ballet dancer, say.”
Cal snickered, and she glared at him.
“Well, maybe not a ballerina, but how about a pilot? Or a doctor? I’m only thirteen, and I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. You tried to make my father into a perfect emperor, and he ran away. You don’t want to make the same mistake with me, do you?”
“But that’s just it: You have no idea what being an imperial princess is like,” countered Empress Lisbeth cleverly. “You might love it. How can you tell without trying it?”
“And it’s not just that,” said Tara with a sigh. “I haven’t seen my mother for ten years, and I want to live with her—”
“We’ll invite her too, of course!” the empress interrupted. “She’s my brother’s widow, so our protection also extends to—”
“That’s out of the question!” snapped Isabella, angrily cutting the empress’s offer short.
Manitou groaned. His implacable daughter had just entered the fray.
“We have no intention of exposing Tara to Magister’s plots,” Isabella continued. “Besides, she’s a delicate adolescent”—Cal gasped. Tara, delicate?—“who needs a calm environment to grow up in. She is staying with us.”
Tara looked up in surprise. Her grandmother hadn’t suggested any conditions. Her rejection of the empress’s proposal was total.
Empress Lisbeth spoke slowly, now worried that she might not be able to persuade her heir. “Lady Isabella, Tara demanded her imperial favor so she could return to Earth. What she doesn’t know is that if the security of our state is threatened, an imperial favor doesn’t apply.”
“I don’t see how the security of your empire depends on Tara,” protested Selena, instinctively drawing closer to her daughter, as if to protect her.
“I can’t have children,” the empress said simply. “Our doctors have tried to figure out why, but we just don’t know. Sandor is much loved and much appreciated, but he’s my half-brother. We don’t have the same mother. My mother was Empress of Omois, and my father was her prince consort. She married him after he divorced Sandor’s mother. I ascended the throne when my mother died in the fire at her summer palace. Daril, my prince consort, ruled with me. Then they discovered that I was sterile. Daril was killed in a hunting accident.”
“Sure seems to be a lot of accidents in the imperial family,” Cal said to Robin, loudly enough for Empress Lisbeth to overhear. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for Tara to be part of it.”
Thinking hard, the empress opened her mouth, then closed it. She nodded and, without reacting to what Cal said, continued with her explanation.
“So, I asked my brother Danviou to become my emperor. At first, he agreed, but the burden of the empire became too heavy for him, and you know what happened then. So I chose my half-brother Sandor as the new emperor, and we’ve been running the country together for the last fifteen years. But when I die, I won’t have any descendants. Tara has Demiderus’s blood in her veins, and she’ll become the new Empress of Omois. Her children will rule after her, and our dynasty will live on!”
But Isabella wasn’t about to back down. “My granddaughter will not go to Omois. She will stay here on Earth, with us. I am the Guardian of Earthly Surveillance and Identification of New Spellbinders, as well as a high wizard. May I remind you that our war against the demons cost us dearly? So dearly that Demiderus died soon afterward? And that just before he died, he made a mistake. He hid the demon kings’ power objects here on Earth. Ever since then, I’ve feared the possibility that someone would acquire them and open the rift between our world and the demons’. Magister was able to seize Tara on OtherWorld twice. If he does it again, the security of our whole universe will be in danger. So by comparison, the security of just your empire isn’t that important.”
Well, with that, Isabella had managed to insult the Empress and the Emperor of Omois in one fell swoop.
Tara, who distinctly heard the empress’s gasp of outrage, shot a look at Isabella, who stood wrapped in her dignity. I would have preferred to defend myself, she thought. I’m not sure Grandma’s being all that helpful.
Emperor Sandor looked ready to grab Isabella by the throat, but Empress Lisbeth remained serene.
“Who is in charge of this place?” she suddenly asked. “Who is running the Earthly Surveillance?”
Isabella was momentarily thrown by the change of topic. “As you know perfectly well, a new OtherWorld country takes over the running and expenses of Earthly Surveillance every fifty years. We’ve been a Lancovian enclave for the last twenty years. In another thirty, it will be Meusian, since Meus is the next country in line. Why?”
The empress didn’t answer right away. She was clearly thinking. “So, my heir will be raised in a Lancovian enclave, is that right?”
Isabella could tell that the young woman had something specific in mind, but couldn’t figure what it was. Her answer was somewhat evasive. “She will be raised by her family. If Selena were Edrakin, she would be—”
“But she isn’t!” the empress interrupted. “She’s Lancovian. So I know what I have to do.”
They all looked at her curiously.
Standing up, she carefully explained herself.
“I’m not sure I made myself quite clear before,” she said icily. “If my heir doesn’t come to Tingapore to receive the education suited to a future Empress of Omois, my people will have no choice.”
Isabella’s green eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean, no choice?” Her tone was now somewhat anxious.
“We’ll determine that Lancovit is holding an imperial hostage.”
“A hostage!” exclaimed Isabella. “That’s really not—”
“And that being the case,” the empress interrupted calmly, “we are declaring war on you!”
THE END
AN OTHER WORLD LEXICON
OTHERWORLD
OtherWorld is a planet where magic is widespread. It has a surface about one and a half times that of Earth. OtherWorld orbits its twin suns in fourteen months; its days last twenty-six hours, and the year has 454 days. Two satellite moons, Madix and Tadix, orbit OtherWorld and create extreme tides on the equinoxes.
OtherWorld’s mountains are much higher than those on Earth, and the ore found in them can be dangerous to mine because of explosions of magic. There is less water covering the planet than on Earth. OtherWorld is 45 percent land and 55 percent water. Two of the seas are freshwater.
The magic that reigns on OtherWorld affects its fauna, flora, and climate. For this reason, seasons are very hard to predict. On OtherWorld you can get three feet of snow in the middle of summer. A so-called normal year has no fewer than seven seasons.
Many different races live on OtherWorld. The main ones are: humans, giants, trolls, vampyrs, gnomes, imps, elves, unicorns, chimera, tatris, and dragons.
COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES OF OTHERWORLD
Dranvouglispenchir is the dragon planet. Dragons are huge, very intelligent reptiles. They know magic and are able to take any shape, but usually choose human. In opposing the demons that were fighting them to rule the universe, the dragons had conquered all the known worlds until they collided with earthly spellbinders. After the battle, the dragons decided that it made more sense to make allies of the humans rather than enemies, particularly since they still had to fight the demons. So they abandoned their plan to dominate Earth. However, they refused to allow human spellbinders to rule the planet. Instead, they invited them to OtherWorld to train and educate them. After several years of suspicion, the earthly spellbinders finally accepted and came to live on OtherWorld.
Gandis is the land of giants. Its capital is Geopole. Gandis is run by the powerful Groar family. The Island of Black Roses and the Swamps of Desolation are in Gandis. Its emblem is a wall of spellblock stones
beneath OtherWorld’s sun.
Hymlia is the land of dwarves. Its capital is Minat. Hymlia is ruled by the Fireforge clan. Its emblem is an anvil and war hammer on a mineshaft entrance. Dwarves are extremely strong, often as wide as they are tall. They are OtherWorld’s miners and blacksmiths and are excellent metalworkers and jewelers. They are known for having cranky personalities, hating magic, and liking long and complicated songs.
Krankar is the land of trolls. Its capital is Kria. Its emblem is a tree beneath a club. Trolls are enormous, hairy, and green. They have huge flat teeth and are vegetarians. They have a bad reputation, because they feed on trees and decimate forests, which horrifies elves. They also tend to become impatient quickly and to crush everything in their path.
Krasalvia is the land of vampyrs. Its capital is Urla. Its emblem is an astrolabe under a star and the symbol for infinity (∞). Vampyrs are sages. They are patient and cultured, and spend most of their long existence in meditation, devoting themselves to mathematics and astronomy. They search for the meaning of life.
They feed entirely on blood from the cattle they raise: brrraaas, mooouuus, horses, goats imported from Earth, sheep, and so on. They can’t drink the blood of some animals. In particular, unicorn or human blood causes them to go insane, cuts their life expectancy in half, and makes them deathly allergic to sunlight. Their bite then becomes poisonous and allows them to enslave any humans they bite. Moreover, if their victims are contaminated this way, they become corrupt and evil vampyrs. Those who fall prey to this curse are ruthlessly hunted down by their fellow vampyrs and all the OtherWorld races.
Lancovit is the largest human kingdom. Its capital is Travia. Lancovit is ruled by King Bear and Queen Titania. Its emblem is a white unicorn with a gold horn beneath a silver crescent moon.
Limbo is the Demonic World, the realm of demons. Limbo is divided into different worlds called circles. Demons are more or less powerful and more or less civilized, depending on the circle they occupy. The demons of Circles 1, 2, and 3 are wild and dangerous. The demons of Circles 4, 5, and 6 are often called on by spellbinders within service exchange agreements. Spellbinders can get things they need from the demons and vice versa. Circle 7 is the circle where the Demon King reigns.
The demons that live in Limbo absorb demonic energy provided by evil suns. If they leave Limbo to visit other worlds they must feed on the flesh and minds of sentient beings in order to survive. They were conquering the universe until the dragons appeared and defeated them in a memorable battle. Since then, the demons have been imprisoned in Limbo. They can only go to the other planets when specifically called by a spellbinder or by some other being with the gift of magic. Demons bitterly resent this restriction on their activities and are constantly searching for a way to free themselves.
Mentalir, the vast Eastern plain, is the land of unicorns and centaurs. Unicorns are small horses with a single spiral horn that can be unscrewed, cloven hooves, and white coats. Some unicorns aren’t very smart, whereas others are true sages, whose intellect matches that of dragons. This peculiarity makes it hard to classify unicorns within the animal kingdom.
Centaurs are animals that are half horse and either half man or half woman. There are two kinds of centaurs: ones where the upper body is human and the lower is horse, and ones where the upper body is horse and the lower is human. No one knows what magical manipulation produced centaurs. They are a complex people and don’t mix with others except to obtain essential necessities, such as salt or salves. Centaurs are fierce and wild. They won’t hesitate to shoot arrows at any stranger crossing their land.
In the plains, it is said that the shamans of the centaur tribes catch Pllops, extremely poisonous blue and white frogs, and lick their backs to get visions of the future. The fact that the centaurs were practically exterminated by the elves during the great Starlings War suggests that the method isn’t very effective.
Omois is the largest human empire. Its capital is Tingapore. It is ruled by Empress Lisbeth’tylanhnem Ab Barmi, Ab Santu T’al Maru and her half-brother Emperor Sandor T’al Barmi Ab March Ab Brevis. Its emblem is the hundred-eyed purple peacock.
Selenda is the country of elves. Its capital is Seborn. Like spellbinders, elves are gifted magicians. They look quite human, but with a few differences: their ears are pointed and their very light eyes have a vertical pupil, like cats. Elves live in OtherWorld’s forests and plains, and are renowned hunters. They also enjoy fighting and games that involve defeating an adversary, like wrestling. For that reason they are often used in police or surveillance forces, so their energy can be used judiciously. When elves start growing magic corn or barley, the peoples of OtherWorld become worried, because it means they will soon go to war. Since they won’t have time to hunt in wartime, the elves start growing crops and raising cattle. Once the war is over, they return to their ancestral way of life.
Another peculiarity of elves: males carry the babies in a little pouch on their stomach, like marsupials, until the children are able to walk. Also, a female elf can’t have more than five husbands.
Smallcountry is the land of gnomes, imps, fairies, and goblins. Its emblem is a stylized globe surrounding a flower, a bird, and an arachne.
Gnomes are short, stocky, and usually blue. They feed on stones and are miners, like dwarves. They wear their orange hair in a quiff, which is an effective detector of dangerous gas. As long as it sticks straight up, all is well. But the moment it begins to slump, gnomes know there is dangerous gas in the mine, and they evacuate it. For some reason, gnomes are also the only people who can communicate with Truth Tellers.
P’abo are the small, playful imps of Smallcountry. They are the creators of the famous fortune-telling lollipops called Soothsuckers, which are also called prophesicles. P’abo can project illusions and briefly make themselves invisible. They also love gold, which they keep in a hidden purse. If you find the purse, you can make the imp grant you two wishes in order to get its precious gold back. But it’s risky to ask an imp for a wish, because they are experts at misinterpretation, and the results can be unexpected.
Tatran is the land of the tatris. Its capital is Cityville. The tatris are unusual in that they have two heads. They are very good at organization. They often have executive jobs or work in the highest levels of government, both because they like to and because of their physical peculiarity. They have no imagination and feel that only work is important. They are the favorite targets of the P’abo, the playful imps, who are unable to conceive of a people without any sense of humor. The imps have desperately been trying to make the tatris laugh for centuries and even created a prize for the first of them to accomplish that feat.
OTHERWORLD FLORA AND FAUNA
Arachne: A spider-like animal from Smallcountry, like the spalendital. Gnomes ride arachnes, and their silk is famous for its strength. They have eight legs and eight eyes, and an unusual scorpion-like tail with a poison stinger. Arachnes are highly intelligent and enjoy challenging their future prey to solve riddles.
Baaa: Sheep with beautiful white wool, baaa are adapted to OtherWorld’s extremely variable seasons and can shed their wool or grow it in a few hours. Baaa herders take advantage of this peculiarity at shearing time. They make their flock think the weather will turn very hot, and the animals immediately shed their fleeces. OtherWorld residents often say, “As credulous as a baaa.”
Ball orchid: A beautiful flower that owes its name to its green-and-yellow root ball. Ball orchids are parasites that grow very fast and can kill a tree in a couple of seasons. Then, by moving their roots, they can attack another tree. OtherWorld trees secrete corrosive substances to deter ball orchid attacks.
Bizzz: A large red-and-yellow bee that has no stinger, unlike earthly bees. The bizzz’s only defense is the secretion of a toxic substance that poisons any predator that eats it. Bizzz make an incomparable honey from OtherWorld’s magical flowers. OtherWorlders say, “Sweet as bizzz honey.”
Blood fly: A cattle fly whose
sting is extremely painful.
Brill: A delicacy that grows in sheltered parts of the magic Hymlia Mountains. The dwarves who harvest brill don’t eat it. Instead, they sell it at fancy prices to OtherWorld merchants. The dwarves find this amusing because in Hymlia brill is considered a weed.
Brrraaa: Huge cattle with thick wool, which giants make into clothing. Brrraaas are very aggressive and will charge anything that moves. As a result you often encounter brrraaas exhausted from chasing their own shadows. OtherWorld residents say, “Stubborn as a brrraaa.”
Camelin: A fairly rare plant with the unusual property of changing color to match its environment. In the Mentalir plains, its usual color is blue; in the Salterian deserts, it turns pale yellow or white, and so forth. This property is retained when the plant is harvested and woven into a fine cloth that changes color according to its setting.
Cantaloop: A voracious, carnivorous plant that feeds on insects and small rodents. Its garishly-colored petals have sharp spines that harpoon their prey. Cantaloops are considered a delicacy, but they are aggressive and grow to the size of a large dog, making them hard to harvest.
Chatrix: Chatrixes are big, black hyena-like animals with a poisonous bite. They hunt only at night. Though fierce, they can be tamed and trained. In the Empire of Omois they are sometimes used for guard duty.
Cruditor: A small, lemon-yellow rodent much like a rabbit. Because the OtherWorld environment is so colorful, cruditors can easily escape their predators. Their flesh is bland, but will feed a starving traveler or a patient hunter. Cruditors are also raised in captivity.
Crouicc: Large, blue, omnivorous mammals with red tusks, crouiccs are raised for their delicious meat. Famed for having difficult personalities, wild crouiccs can tear up a field in a couple of hours. OtherWorld farmers often protect their crops with anti-crouicc spells.
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