The Chronicles of Articia; Children of the Dead. K.D. Enos

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СКАЧАТЬ because when you speak it aloud, it initiates magical ability," Ava responded. "Yes, Ava," Brendan confirmed. "But not for all, only for those blessed by the goddess with special power. Even then, not all Latin incantations work for all because innate color represents each magical art. The natural elements of air, water, fire, and earth represent each sect. Some practitioners have the additional ability related to what the elves call the natural forces of sight, sound, light, and power. Only the phrases of that ancient language that describe those elemental or physical effects create magic on our world."

      We also discovered additional abilities associated with the healing arts." Brendan opened the book and looked out at the class. "But some of the most interesting books were not written in Latin but in a language they called En-Glish. Very few of these books made the journey through the rift with the elves, but one of their history books did and gave us great insight into the bravery of the people of the other world as well as the tragic nature of their life."

      Brendan flipped through the pages of one of the books from his desk and again spoke to his students. "This book represents the history of the other world as recorded by William the Spear, from the land of Shakes." Brendan then started to read from a passage of the book called King Henry V.

      Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,

      or close the wall up with our En-Glish dead!

      In peace there's nothing so becomes a man

      As modest stillness and humility;

      But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

      Then imitate the action of the tiger;

      Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.

      At the reading of the words, Ava's heart was soaring. It was a story of a pending battle engaged by great warriors. She was definitely going to have to learn the language of En-Glish so she could read all of this history.

      "This passage is from the history of one of the other world's kings." Brendan paused. "His name was Henry." At the drop of that name, he had all of the young nobles' attention.

      "Is my father named after the Henry from these books?" Alec asked.

      "Many names that we use today have come from the history books of Eden, the world of the elves. There were many Henrys in the history of the other world. I was not near when your father was named by his parents, but it is possible he was named after one of the Henrys from the history of the elves."

      "There was more than one Henry?" Tris asked.

      "Yes, based on this recorded history, there were at least eight kings named Henry. Please, let us go on. We learned many other things about the people of Eden, but not all of their history translated well. At times they had points in their history that we would feel was rather nonsensical. Here, let me give you an example." Brendan flipped through the pages and read some more. "This is also recorded by William the Spear of the land of Shakes, in a story he called Much Ado about Nothing."

      Love me! Why, it must be requited. I hear how I am censured: they say I will bear myself proudly, if I perceive the love come from her; they say too that she will rather die than give any sign of affection. I did never think to marry: I must not seem proud: happy are they that hear their detractions and can put them to mending.

      They say the lady is fair; 'tis a truth, I can bear them witness; and virtuous; 'tis so, I cannot reprove it; and wise, but for loving me; by my troth, it is no addition to her wit, nor no great argument of her folly, for I will be horribly in love with her. I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have railed so long against marriage:

      but doth not the appetite alter?

      A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age. Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humour? No, the world must be peopled! When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married. Here comes Beatrice. By this day! She's a fair lady: I do spy some marks of love in her.

      Ava giggled at the end of the story, though her brothers were a bit uncomfortable from the telling of it. It was clear to Ava that this was a history describing the courting of a woman by a man. Though she thought it odd to record such a history at all, it must have been important to the other world to keep this kind of record. Maybe it was the history of how a king and a queen met.

      Brendan closed the book and put it back on his table. He started to address the young nobles again. "Our knowledge of this story and all of the things we have discussed today we have because of the rift that we believe was created by the darkness. Some things have been good for us, like the arrival of the elves and these written works. It is unlikely that humankind would have ever become the civilized society that we have today without the battle of light and darkness. The trials and tribulations of those days forced the nomadic groups to organize into nations.

      Other effects of the opening of the rift have not been good for the people of Articia. One of the deadliest things to come from the rift is the birth of the plague in our lands. Before the rift opened, humankind had never experienced illness that affected such a large number of people. It was discovered early that the plague only occurred when the rift was aligned to our world."

      "The rift is not always opened?" Ava asked.

      "No, Ava," Brendan replied. "The rift is always open; it is just not always on our world."

      "The rift moves?" Alec asked, somewhat perplexed.

      "No, Alec, we do," Brendan responded.

      At this, the children of the nobles were intrigued.

      "How is that possible?" Dom asked.

      "As we started to form as a nation and the dwarves and the elves interacted with us more frequently, many new mysteries were open to us. We discovered that the star that warms Articia is a fiery ball of flame. And the world that we now stand on circles around it."

      "Well, everyone knows that!" Alec retorted.

      "Well, my young Prince, everyone did not always know that," Brendan replied. "In fact we knew nothing about our world when we were nomadic. We understood the seasons and the hunt and we knew we lived and died. The people knew very little about the world around our heads. We knew nothing about the objects that moved above us in the sky. Nevertheless, we learned, and we discovered. Some of the mages studied the stars and learned that they too were fiery balls of flame very far from us that could have many worlds like ours. We made maps of the sky and matched the movement of the seasons. It was then that we realized that we moved, and the rift did not. As our world moves around the fiery ball, the rift stays in place and we move away from it. The rift is aligned with our planet for only a day, once a year."

      "So our land is affected by the plague every year?" Ava asked.

      "Thank the goddess, no, Ava," Brendan responded. "It is not fully understood why, but the mages believe that there are other worlds, not just at other stars but in other places. The elves call these other places the Endless Domain or the Ethos. Under the tutelage of the elves, the mages also came to understand that time may not pass equally on every world in every domain. This is why the rift does not always bring a plague; the plague returns only when our world is perfectly aligned to the world that it comes from."

      "So how often does it align?" Alec asked. "The last plague occurred when my father was a boy."

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