Prologue to A Fate Entwined
At one point while redrafting A Fate Entwined, I considered adding a prologue to the novel, set a decade before the beginning of the story. Ultimately I decided to not include it in the manuscript, but it still makes some fine additional content for the book, which you can read right here.
Father screamed as the soldiers dragged them away from home, Mother’s arms the only thing that held him back. Had she loosened her grip even the slightest bit, Father would have charged forward and buried his axe in each of the soldiers, one by one.
It would have been pointless. The Palanese always got what they wanted, one way or another. Fight back now, and they would have levelled the village with an army. Every part of Andra’s body shook with fear, and she wanted to echo Father’s screams, but Mother’s warning kept her silent.
As one of the soldiers lifted Andra over his back, she reached out for her brother’s hand. His grasped hers firm, a small comfort as their fingers became entwined.
“I’m here, Andra,” he said, the words only just making it to her ears through the clunk of metal and Father’s screams.
Unable to bear the tears trailing down Father and Mother’s faces, she looked away from them, tucking her head into the soldier’s neck. Fear thrashed within as her cheek touched the edge of his red cloak. All she wanted was to make the world vanish.
For a brief moment, all that existed was the warmth of Keldn’s hand.
Then it slipped from her grasp as the soldiers gently placed them in a dark brown carriage, furnished with luxurious red pillows and curtains. Keldn pressed himself against the far wall, and she nestled in beside him. He wrapped his arms around Andra—it only just lessened the trembling in her fingers.
Perhaps they could try to escape. The carriage doorway seemed clear while the soldiers regrouped. Mother’s words whispered in her head again.
“When the red soldiers come, you must go with them.” She’d grabbed Andra by both arms, ocean-blue eyes staring into her green ones. “We knew this day would come—your father and I simply wished it would not be so soon. The Palanese always get what they want, one way or another.”
Andra placed her head against Keldn’s chest, trying to focus on his quick breathing rather than the painful tremble in her throat. Although he rubbed her back, his silence filled Andra with dread. Mother must have told him the same thing.
Outside, two men in crimson robes spoke in hushed tones. Weaved into both robes at the shoulders were pulsing circles, glowing and fading with different colours. She recognised one of the men by his lean build and greying hair. He’d visited nights earlier, arguing with Mother and Father so loud that she and Keldn had hidden away in the loghouse’s bedroom.
Something about “prophecy”, “twins” and “the end of the world”.
The other man had a much longer beard and dark hair that went down past his neck. He bore a smile she found comforting, if only for a moment.
The first man passed a box of dark wood to the second, then placed a hand on his upper arm. “Give them comfort, Luxon.”
“Of course, Archbishop.” Tall and proud, Luxon stepped toward the carriage and ducked his head to enter.
Keldn held Andra tighter, and she leaned into him. Her brother’s warmth countered the chill autumn morning, making the pain of being ripped from her home hurt just a little less. At least she still had him.
Once the tall man settled, a soldier shut the carriage door and closed its curtain. A sharp whistle pierced the air. The carriage lurched forward, away from Father and Mother. Away from home.
Keldn gently nudged Andra off him. He glared at the stranger. Nine circles glowed along his shoulders, each a different colour.
“Who are you?” Keldn said. “Why have you taken us from Mor and Far?”
“You may call me Bishop Heigos, or just Heigos, if it pleases you.” He rested the dark box on his lap, looking between Andra and her brother. “I am a member of the Church of the Dreamsoul, and I have been waiting a very long time to meet you, Lord Keldn. How old are you?”
Keldn lifted his chin. “Eight. And I am not a lord.”
“You are a lord and so much more.” Heigos leaned forward and put his hands together. “It is all right to be afraid. But you should know that we are so glad to have finally found you. Children, you are a miracle.”
She’d heard that word before, a few nights ago. The other man in crimson had said it. It brought another word back to her mind, distracting her from the throbbing pain of being ripped from her home. “What does ‘twins’ mean?” She asked, brushing her sandy-blonde hair out of her face.
Heigos’s smile widened, warming the chill in her stomach. Something about his presence made it hard to be so sad or anxious. “Two children born to the same mother on the same day. Impossible, usually. But through the Dreamsoul’s will, anything can come to pass.”
Keldn cleared his throat. “What’s a Dreamsoul?”
“The Dreamsoul created us all. She gave us life on Raedos. She is our Great Mother, and She promised that one day you two would be born. She promised you would do amazing things together.”
“What things?” Andra asked, tilting her head.
Heigos laughed and laid back against the carriage. “I think that is enough questions for now. It is a two-week journey to the Palans, so there will be plenty of time for that.” He picked up the ornate box beside him. “I have a gift for you.”
The Twins leaned forward, on the seat’s edge. Keldn grabbed Andra’s hand, and she squeezed it tight in return.
Heigos pulled the lid open, revealing two golden bracelets, each embedded with a clear gem on top. Keldn and Andra tugged them from the velvet lining of the box.
“Allow me,” Heigos said, closing the box and placing it beside him.
He took Keldn’s arm, adjusting the flexible clasp so that it wrapped tightly around his hand. The clear gem on Keldn’s bracelet turned a murky grey. The gem of Andra’s bracelet burst with yellow like the sun, illuminating the carriage.
Her body jolted with excitement, and the bracelet fell from Andra’s grasp. Heigos pulled his arm away from Keldn and caught it, then held the bracelet in front of her.
“Careful,” he said, “these once belonged to the veramancers. Priceless artefacts of an age long gone.” Heigos tilted his head toward her. “May I?”
She nodded and stuck her arm out.
“What are veramancers?” Keldn asked as Heigos placed the bracelet around Andra’s wrist.
“Here in Echar, you call them kanstyr. People who could take emotions from others and use them to create magic. They have been gone for hundreds of years.” Heigos tightened her bracelet with a soft grin.
Andra remembered Father once telling her a story about the kanstyr and how they had used their magic to fight the Palanese invaders. The very invaders who were taking her from him now.
“Andra, it’s working!” Keldn said.
The gem of his bracelet had changed from murky grey to the green of dying grass. The colour lightened until it was the same lemon-yellow as hers.
“These bracelets are embedded with speculite, the emotion gem,” Heigos said, placing his hands in his lap. “They will tell you of each other’s emotions. You are the world’s first and only Twins, sharing a soul. Learn to understand the colours, so you can always be there for each other.”
“What does yellow mean?” Keldn asked.
Heigos smirked at them both. “I think it will be better if you work that out yourself.”
Andra wrinkled her face, annoyed at the puzzle, watching as the yellow of Keldn’s bracelet twisted into lavender.
* * *
On the twelfth day of their journey, Keldn perked up, staring out the window with a hand through his short, blond hair. “I can see it! Andra, it’s like a hundred villages!”
Bishop Heigos scoffed softly. “You could fit a thousand villages here, and there would still be room for another coliseum.”
Andra shoved her elbow into Keldn’s side. “Move over. It’s my turn.”
Keldn narrowed his eyes but stood and let her move to his seat. He crossed the carriage and sat at the other window, pulling aside the curtain to look out of it.
The size of the Palans hit her as she stuck her head to the glass window. They moved downhill, providing a perfect view of the massive city before them. Two weeks earlier, she never would have guessed that the entire world was so big.
Walls and rivers divided the city into three clear sections, each joining in the centre, where a stunning white tower stood over where the two rivers met. The mountains to the north and west dwarfed the city, reaching Talnor and Thræne themselves.
According to Heigos, though, Talnor and Thræne weren’t real, so she supposed the mountains must have reached the Great Mother instead.
“This is a city?” Keldn asked.
“Technically, the Palans are three cities, although with four rulers,” said Heigos, as the carriage rolled closer. “We enter through Palan-Fros, shared between Frolsnd—your home country—and the Palanese Empire. The Empire shares Palan-Galm with Galmar and Palan-Hime with Himeltop. In a way, it is a political and geographical microcosm of the Echan continent.”
Keldn and Andra pulled their heads from the windows, looking at the Bishop without the slightest idea what on Raedos he’d just said.
“Apologies.” He slouched against his seat. “It is easy to forget that you are just children.”
“We are not just children,” Keldn said, sitting upright. “We are going to save the world.”
Heigos shook his head. “One day. Hopefully, you have many years before the Woe arrives.”
Andra placed her head against the window again. Somehow, they expected her to stop people in the world from turning evil—as Heigos explained it. Keldn had quickly embraced the idea of a grand destiny. She wondered if he had thought of Mother and Father even once since they were taken from their arms.
Heigos peeked at the lime glow of Keldn’s bracelet. “Is something the matter, Andra?”
When his eyes met hers, she crossed her arms. “I want to go home.”
Heigos’s shoulders slumped. “I understand. I’m sorry things had to be this way. It isn’t fair that you were taken from your family. Destiny rarely cares for fairness.” After a silent moment, Heigos continued. “Andra, there are thousands of people in this city who can’t wait to meet you. They want to help you be ready for the challenges ahead. They would be so disappointed if you went home.”
“It will be fun!” Keldn said, grabbing her arm. “We’ll learn about swords and bows. And we will explore the world!”
Burning orange light from her bracelet, growing brighter still, splashed over her vision. Andra squinted, trying to remember what it meant. “Fine,” she eventually groaned, throwing herself against the seat. “But after that, I’m going home.”
She was met only by the sadness in Heigos’s eyes.
* * *
Andra and Keldn stood near grand windows, overlooking the entirety of the Palans. She tossed some seeds to the marble floor, giggling as a red-tailed daw scooped down to eat them. When Dall finished, he cawed for more.
She passed Keldn some seeds—he’d already run out of his—and let him feed Heigos’s bird next. Across the foyer, two Knights in polished white armour kept their eyes on the Twins. Dawn Knights, Heigos had called them.
It felt like the Bishop had gone into the chapel days ago, beyond the intricately carved double doors ahead. Many others who wore the same crimson robes had entered there as well, each adorned with pulsing circles of what Heigos had referred to as glowthread. In the warmth of the enormous Capitol Building, the circles pulsed faster than they had outside.
Her attention darted between the doors, with the muddled voices that crept beneath it, and her bracelet—its gem now rose in colour, as Keldn tossed the rest of the seeds to Dall and laughed.
The doors groaned open, countless men and women in robes moving through the foyer toward the wide stairs leading down. Almost all of them looked toward the siblings, some with smiles, others emotionless, as far as she could tell.
An ache formed at the bottom of Andra’s stomach. They’d met many of the Dreamists over the last few days, and not one of them seemed to care that they had just been taken from their family two weeks earlier. Everybody wanted to ignore that, other than Heigos.
Eventually, she spotted the Bishop among them. His pace seemed faster than usual, an urgency in his steps, although he gave nothing away with his expression, much like the other Dreamists.
“Don’t fatten him up too much,” Heigos said, considering the scattered seed Keldn had tossed to the floor. “I have no desire to eat my friend. Come, Dall.”
The bird turned from the seed, spread his wings and leapt to Heigos’s shoulder. Dall cawed, pressing his head against Heigos’s cheek.
Heigos gave the bird a few strokes, still focused on Andra and her brother. “We need to talk. Follow me.” His voice was sterner than she’d ever heard it. He took toward the chapel, not even waiting to see if they followed.
Tightness gripped Andra’s chest, blue light spilling from both of their bracelets as if reflecting the sky behind them. The Twins glanced at each other, then followed.
He waited for them at the front of the chapel, commanding the Dawn Knights to leave. Whatever it was he needed to tell them, it must have been important. The Dawn Knights were never supposed to leave the Twins out of their sight.
Past the doors, sunlight illuminated the chapel through its stained glass windows. The enormous mosaics depicted five holy figures—the Dreamsoul’s original Saints, apparently—twelve coloured circles on the shoulders of each. On the left and right of the chapel sat long pews rising at least ten rows before reaching the walls. Columns of green marble supported a dark blue ceiling, white dots across it reminding Andra of stars.
As Andra looked around the room, awestruck, Heigos shut the doors and continued down the wide aisle. With a short cough, which echoed across the chapel along with his footsteps, and a wave of his hand, he urged them to continue.
“Come on,” Andra whispered, the sound bouncing around the room.
Dall leapt from Heigos’s shoulder, perching himself on one of the pews, watching as they moved.
Heigos led them to a simple door at the back of the chapel. They entered into another chamber, this one only big enough for a few people. A window on the left provided a stunning view of the city.
“Sit down,” Heigos said, standing beside the window and glancing outside. Once Andra and Keldn had moved onto a couple of velvet-cushioned stools, he continued. “I have bad news. They’re moving you away from the Palans.”
“What do you mean?” Andra asked, feeling like she’d just been hit in the stomach.
Heigos held his hands behind his back, staring out at the city. “The Church has decided that, in accordance with Saint Citrio’s prophecies, you shall live normal lives until you reach adulthood. After that, you will return here.”
A sudden warmth swelled in her chest, hope filling her with each quickened breath. “Are we going home?”
As Heigos shook his head, the feeling vanished, replaced by a void. He stepped from the window and knelt before them. “I’m sorry, children. They are sending you to Galmar to live with the King and Queen. It is the Echan country that has most accepted the Dreamsoul. The Galmish will treat you with respect, but they will not worship you, as we would here.” He twisted back to the window, talking more to himself than them. “I disagree with the choice, but I see the merit. You will need humility if you are to stop the Woe one day. Here, your egos would just be inflated.”
“Will you come with us?” Keldn stood and placed a hand on Andra’s shoulder. “We like you.”
“I like you as well,” Heigos said, standing upright. “Unfortunately, though, I have not been permitted to come with you. Do not worry. King Bjarne and Queen Veronika will treat you well. They have children around your age.”
Andra crossed her arms, watching as Keldn’s bracelet turned a murky green. How exactly was she feeling? “Why can’t we go to Mor and Far?”
Heigos let out a long breath. “Now that the Church has discovered the Twins, you must be protected. If we send you back to your parents, you could be in danger. It may not seem fair, but this is how things must be.”
“When are we going?” Keldn asked.
Looking at her bracelet, Andra tried to decode how he felt. The gemstone glowed sky blue and a grassy green, slowly shifting between the two. Whatever that meant.
“Perhaps a week,” said Heigos. “The Church has not decided yet. First, they wish to determine which of you is the Warrior and which is the Nurturer.”
Andra cocked her head. “Warrior and Nurturer?”
“Yes, the roles you will have in the things to come. The Nurturer must have compassion and wisdom, being a guide as you prepare to stop the Woe. The Warrior must have courage and determination, protecting the other at all costs.”
“I want to be the Warrior!” Keldn slashed his arm out as if he held a sword. “That sounds important!”
Jealousy bubbled within Andra, Keldn’s bracelet turning a light shade of purple. What if she wanted to be the Warrior, too? She had always looked forward to the day Mor would train her with an axe or a sword. Standing, she gave Keldn a light push. “I want to be the Warrior. We’ll fight for it!”
Keldn grinned. “All right. Let’s do it.”
Andra clenched her fist, ready to pounce. She’d beaten him up plenty of times before. It would be easy enough to get him flopping like a fish. All she had to do was kick him in the—
“Andra! Keldn!” Heigos barked across the tiny room, making her jump. Immediately, he lowered his voice. “Please sit down. Both roles are important—it doesn’t matter what they call you. But there is something else I must tell you. If you do not pay attention, you could die.”
Biting her lip, she sat on the stool again. Claws dug into Andra’s stomach as she looked up at Heigos. What did he mean, they could die?
“There is a chance you could be veramancers.” His words came out blunt, stern eyes and flat lips conveying the seriousness of the statement. “The Saints thought it could be the case, although that was before veramancy vanished from the world. However, I don’t see why the Great Mother wouldn’t gift Her champions such power.”
“So, we can take people’s emotions?” Keldn said, eyes wide. “I want to try it!” He balled both fists and stared at Andra, concentrating.
“Veramancy rarely works in children. Most likely, if you are veramancers, you will not know it for years. I would not even have brought it up if not for you leaving so soon.”
Something about the idea unsettled Andra. She recalled a time Mother had told her about the Palanese and their emotion thieves—she hadn’t called them veramancers. “Aren’t people scared of them?”
“Yes. That is why you must be careful. If you discover that you are veramancers, do not use your magic. If people find out, they will fear you. Some might even try to kill you. Tell no one other than me, even if you must wait until you come to the Palans again. I will keep you safe. Until then, the most important thing is that you are there for each other. Do you understand?”
Andra’s heart clenched at the thought, leaving her breathless. Why would anybody want to kill them, even if they had magic? Weren’t they supposed to stop the Woe?
Keldn grabbed her trembling hand. Any thought of fighting for the title of Warrior was gone. Did titles and roles really matter when people might try to kill them?
She squeezed her brother’s hand tight. The blue light beneath them, from both bracelets, turned orange. All that mattered was that they stuck with each other. They could get through anything that way.
“I understand,” Andra said, and Keldn echoed the words.
Whatever challenges lay ahead, they would face them together.
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