Daughter of Witches: A Lyra Novel (32 page)

“Shandy!” Ranira said, surprised. “What is the matter?”

“You really are a… witch,” he said uncertainly. “There was fire and light and everything,
all over you!
I didn’t know that rock would do that. I wouldn’t have thrown it at you if I knew.”

“But it kept Chaldon from eating me,” Ranira said, considerably taken aback by Shandy’s words. “Weren’t you listening? And Mist has been saying I’m a witch for days! Why should it only bother you now?”

“You don’t act like a witch,” Shandy said. “And you never did anything like that before. But now you’re going off with Mist and take
lessons
!”

“Is it so bad to be a witch?” Mist asked gently. “Ranira has not changed, after all.”

“But I don’t
like
magic!” Shandy wailed.

“Neither do I,” Jaren said cheerfully. “What has that got to do with it?”

“You don’t like magic?” Shandy was startled out of his distress. “Then how come you go around with witches?”

“Mist is my friend,” Jaren said. Shandy looked at him, considering.

Ranira turned back to Mist. “What is Shandy going to do if I come to your island?” she asked. “He doesn’t know any more about the world outside Drinn than I do.”

“He will be welcome too, as my friend and yours,” Mist said. “He does not have to learn magic; we teach many other things on the island.”

“Shandy would not be happy among so many sorcerers,” Jaren said firmly. He looked at Arelnath, who nodded once. “His talents lie in other areas. I think he would make an excellent mercenary, if he cares to work that hard. Would you be willing to come with me and Arelnath as an apprentice?”

Shandy’s face brightened, then clouded. He looked at Ranira uncertainly. “Will I still get to see Renra?”

“If Ranira goes with Mist, there is no doubt of it,” Arelnath said. “We are oath-bound to the Island of the Moon, therefore we spend a great deal of time there.”

Ranira and Shandy looked at each other. “I guess so,” Shandy mumbled after a moment, but his eyes were shining.

Ranira breathed a sigh of relief; she had not realized how worried she had been about Shandy’s future. Now there was only her own to consider. She looked at Mist.

“I will come,” Ranira said after a moment. “How will I ever know whether I really don’t want to be a witch if I don’t try?”

Mist smiled and started to reply, but she was interrupted by a shout from the forest. Startled, Ranira turned. A string of glowing lights was winding through the trees toward the clearing. She could almost make out the square shapes of the wagons.

“The caravan!” Arelnath exclaimed. She jumped up and sent an answering shout into the woods, then turned. “Come on. We’ll probably have to argue prices with Venran before he gives us dinner. And I’m hungry.”

“You and Mist can make the arrangements,” Jaren said climbing to his feet. “I’m sure he’ll allow the rest of us to eat in the meantime.”

“You aren’t getting out of it that easily,” Arelnath said. They started toward the lights, arguing amicably, with Shandy in their wake. Mist rose and looked at Ranira. “Coming?”

Ranira nodded and stood up. There was a sudden commotion ahead; Shandy had evidently decided to join Jaren’s side of the argument, as noisily as possible. Mist shook her head and started toward them. Smiling, Ranira followed.

For more than twenty years, Patricia Collins Wrede (b. 1953) has expanded the boundaries of fantasy writing. Born in Chicago to a large, literary family, Wrede spent her childhood immersed in the Chronicles of Narnia, classic fairy tales, and L. Frank Baum’s Land of Oz—a foundation in imagined worlds that paved the way for her future career.

After receiving a degree in biology from Carleton College in 1974, Wrede completed an MBA at the University of Minnesota, and began working as a financial analyst in the late 1970s. In her spare time, Wrede wrote fantasy stories in the vein of the classic novels she read as a child. Her love of fantasy even fueled an interest in tabletop role-playing games: Lyra, the first gaming world that Wrede invented, was based on the unpublished work-in-progress that would become
Shadow
Magic. In 1980 she became a founding member of a group of Minneapolis-based, fantasy-fiction authors known as the Interstate Writers’ Workshop, or Scribblies, with whom she later worked on the critically acclaimed Liavek shared-world anthology series.

That same year, Wrede sold her first novel,
Shadow Magic
, which was published in 1982. It was the public debut of Lyra, a magical world shared by four races whose cultural differences see them constantly at odds. Wrede used Lyra as the setting for four more novels:
Daughter of Witches
(1984),
The Harp of Imach Thyssel
(1985),
Caught in Crystal
(1987), and
The Raven Ring
(1994). Wrede’s strong prose, sense of humor, and powerful female leads drew special attention to her early novels. Her quick success allowed her to begin writing fulltime.

Though the Lyra novels found popularity with audiences of all ages, Wrede aims her more recent work at young-adult readers, beginning with her four-book Enchanted Forest Chronicles, which follow the adventures of a young princess who becomes apprenticed to a dragon. Her other fantasy series include the Cecelia and Kate novels, cowritten with Caroline Stevermer and set in Regency England; the Mairelon books, which also take place in Regency England; and the Frontier Magic trilogy, based on Old West pioneers.

Wrede lives and works in Minnesota.