Chronicles of the Overworld Book 1 — Nihal of the Land of the Wind by Licia Troisi Read Free Book Online

ease.
    Before she fell asleep, she thanked Sennar once more, but she was already sleeping when he said, “We’re alone in this world; the only way we can get ahead is if we help each other. Sleep well, Nihal.” He pulled the covers up around her shoulders.

5
DREAMS, VISIONS, AND SWORDS
    She was in a land she’d never seen before, of this she was certain, even though it felt like home. She was in a big city, moving confidently through its thousands of streets. An enormous number of people, a constant coming and going, the disordered hum of voices and sounds. Although she was surrounded by a multitude of people, she couldn’t make out a single face. Maybe she was with someone.
    At the end of a broad street, a crystal tower glittered blindingly in the morning sun. It was tall and incredibly white; it seemed to touch the sky.
    All of a sudden the people around her began to scream.
    An immense dark stain spread over the pavement. It looked like ink. She looked again and saw it was blood. Vermilion, dense, sticky. The blood covered everything, painting the landscape and the tower.
    An abyss opened below her feet. She was falling. She yelled with all her breath.
    She plummeted toward the bottom, but she knew there was no bottom and that the fall would be eternal. As she fell, cries and yells and the heartrending weeping of children echoed through her head.
Avenge us! Vindicate our people!
She didn’t want to listen, but the voices would not let up. They tormented her.
Kill him! Destroy that monster!
    And then the vision of death dissolved as quickly as it had come.
    Nihal was flying on the wings of a dragon. The wind caressed her face and she felt free. She was wearing black armor and her hair was very short. Sennar sat behind her. She felt as if she had found him again after a long time, and she was happy.

    The image dissolved into blinding white.
    Nihal blinked. It was morning, another beautiful sunny day, and she was still in the little clearing. So she had been dreaming. But who were those people? What happened to them? And why had she been riding a dragon? With Sennar, of all things! Maybe she was asking herself too many questions. After all, it was just a dream.
    She stretched and sat up and stopped short midway through a noisy yawn that left her breathless. The clearing was full of creatures not much bigger than a hand, their hair a thousand different colors. They fluttered around her, flapping their delicate iridescent wings.
    Nihal couldn’t believe her eyes.
I’m still dreaming
, she thought, and blinked her eyes again and again.
    One of the little beings positioned himself right in front of her for a moment and studied her with his blue, pupilless eyes. Then he moved beyond her reach. “Are you a human?” he asked.
    It took Nihal a moment to respond. “Yes, of course I am.”
    “That’s odd. I certainly didn’t remember humans as having big ears like ours!”
    “To me, she looks just like a …” volunteered another. “You know what I mean, don’t you?”
    “Impossible! There aren’t any left,” said another.
    A third one joined in. “That’s right. The Tyrant …”
    “Silence!” yelled the one in front of Nihal, and they all obeyed. “Maybe she’s really a human. There are lots of strange humans in the Land of the Wind.”
    Nihal had partly recovered from her amazement. “Who are you and all the rest of these … thingies, like you? What are you doing here?”
    The creature looked a bit peeved. “Young lady, I’d beg you to choose your words with more care. We are not ‘thingies.’ We are wood sprites. My name is Phos, and I am the head of the wood sprite community of the Forest. We live here. And what about you? Weren’t you humans supposed to be afraid of the Forest?”
    “My name is Nihal; I come from Salazar. I’m here because I want to become a sorceress. I have to undergo a trial.”
    “Ahh,” said Phos, with the air of someone who had just understood everything. “You’re