In Legend Born (106 page)

"
Sirana!
"  

She heard sentries shouting in panic. They crashed around in the darkness, seeking her, ready to fight their enemies. The sky overhead turned black, blotting out the light of the moons, smothering all of Dalishar in velvety darkness. The shouts in the distance grew more frantic as powers beyond the rebels' understanding swept through the night.

Fire streamed across the sky, then curled and twisted until it formed a shape she knew well by now: the symbol of a
shatai
.

"Tansen?" she whispered, staring up at the sky.

You and he must prepare the way.

"I don't..." Her head pounded. "For what?"

The fiery symbol dissolved against the black sky, drifting and reshaping itself into two separate balls of fire. She watched as a face formed around those two glowing eyes. Like the symbol, she had see this face before.

"Daurion," she murmured.

The voice that addressed her was a new one, not the Beckoner's. It filled the whole sky.

He is coming. Prepare the way.

"Who is coming?"

The sky exploded in flames, shards of firelight scattering into infinity to mingle with the stars. Mirabar shielded her eyes against the stinging brilliance, flinching against the thunder that roared through the heavens like a victor's triumph. It echoed through the night, then slowly faded, leaving her too weak to move.

She was still huddled on the ground when Najdan found her. "
Sirana!
Why didn't you answer? Haven't you heard us calling you?"

She looked up at him. The soft light of a twin-moon night once again crept through the shadows, and she could see the strain in the assassin's face. "No, I... Sorry, I..."

"Your screams woke everyone," he said, hauling her to her feet. "And then..." Najdan shook his head. "I would not believe it if I had not seen it myself."

"What?" Her legs felt weak and her stomach was churning.

"In the sky. It was..."

"A face?" she prompted.

"No." He took her arm and started to lead her back toward camp. "It looked like a fist."

"A fist?"

"Yes."

"A fist..." Her knees buckled, and she would have fallen back down if not for Najdan's support.

"What is it? Are you ill?" he asked.

"You all... saw a fist?"

"Yes."

"Daurion," she gasped. "A fist of iron in a velvet glove. We must prepare the way."

"
Sirana?
"

She had never expected to feel hope again. Now it flooded her, renewing her strength. "He is coming."

"Who is coming?" Najdan demanded.

"The next Yahrdan." She smiled tremulously. "Our work is not yet done."

The End

Author's Note

"Where do you get your ideas?" is the question people always ask a writer. In the larger sense, we see story ideas everywhere we look, or we wouldn't be writers. That's just how our minds work.

In the specific sense, though,
In Legend Born
grew out of the fascination with Sicilian history which I developed when I lived for a year in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, Italy's largest province. 

One of the famous historical figures who particularly intrigued me was Salvatore Giuliano, the bandit king of the western mountains who became a freedom fighter and ardent separatist. Giuliano was active 1943-1950, a very tumultuous period in Sicily's tempestuous history. Corruption and mystery still surround Giuliano's brutal death, just as romance and controversy still surround his violent life. 

For various reasons, I didn't want to write a novel about him (mostly, I just didn't see a way to make it work well). Instead, I decided to take some of the elements of Giuliano's story which most intrigued me and use them as the starting place for a fantasy novel... And thus Josarian and Sileria came into being. Josarian is very different from Giuliano, and this is certainly not Giuliano's life—but there are elements of his legend in this story.

And speaking of where we get our ideas... When I was a kid, I fell in love with a crumbling edition of
India's Love Lyrics
by Laurence Hope, a Victorian/Edwardian poet. It was full of ardent, bloody, and voluptuous poems about exotic far-away lands. One of my favorites was a dark, tormented lament called "This Month the Almonds Bloom at Kandahar." The poem stayed in my head for years—particularly that lyrical, evocative place-name: Kandahar. 

Years later, when I decided to use "Kandahar" in
In Legend Born
, I assumed most readers probably didn't even know there was a town in Afghanistan of the same name. No problem. 

However, the world changed a great deal after that, and we were soon regularly reading war news from Afghanistan, including many mentions of the real-life Kandahar. But by then,
In Legend Born
was already in bookstores, and it was much too late for me to change my mind. Which is why Kiloran's lair is named after a city you saw in the news for several years.

Meanwhile, as mentioned in the foreword, the two maps which Elizabeth Person drew for this book are posted on my website at
LauraResnick.com
. There's also a cool extra feature there: 

As you may have noticed, the graceful border of the map of Sileria is drawn as a
jashar
—woven and knotted strands of rope, dotted with beads. Elizabeth actually created a code, and then she used it to include a message in the
jashar
—exactly as the characters in this book do. The key to the code is on my website, and you can use it to interpret the message in the
jashar
that borders the map.

Additionally, in the map of Sirkara, which shows the mainland empires that surround Sileria and the Middle Sea, if you take a good look at Valda, you'll notice that it's represented by the Sign of the Three. This was Elizabeth's invention, and a great surprise for me, since—as I admitted to her then—despite having written the phrase many times, I never had any idea what the Sign of the Three looked like. (Hey, I'm a writer. Text is my thing, not abstract symbols.) So now I know! And so do you.

I hope you enjoyed
In Legend Born
. Sileria's tumultuous story continues in
The White Dragon
and concludes in
The Destroyer Goddess
, both of which are also available as ebooks.

—Laura Resnick

The White Dragon

The Silerian Trilogy: Book Two

When mystical sea spirits, a volcano goddess, and half-human subterranean sorcerers all demand a stake in Sileria's fate, then Mirabar, Tansen, and their allies must finally choose between love and duty, between history and destiny.

"Year's Best" list,
Publisher's Weekly

"Year's Best" list,
Voya

Best Epic Fantasy
, Romantic Times Magazine

"A suspenseful mix of vague prophecies, startling revelations, constantly shifting loyalties, and the occasional divine intervention, this stunning novel tantalizes right up to the last cliffhanger page."

—[starred review]
Publisher's Weekly

"Vivid descriptions, three-dimensional characters, and a story filled with echoes of a distant past make this a stand-out addition to a fantasy series that belongs in most libraries. Highly recommended."

—
Library Journal

The Destroyer Goddess

The Silerian Trilogy: Book Three

A nation plunged into civil war.

A prophecy shattered by betrayal.

A volcano goddess venting Her wrath.

You'll never guess what happens next...

"Year's Best" list,
Publisher's Weekly

"Year's Best" list,
Voya

"Fast-paced, witty and full of action, the book is a marvel of storytelling, but it's the credible, complex relationships among the characters that elevates this far above the usual fantasy standard... Resnick fans have cause to rejoice."

—[starred review]
Publishers Weekly

"The rivalries and feuds continue fast and furious, not to say bloody, and Tansen nearly loses his life. But a mysterious boy from the ranks of the waterlords saves Tansen to continue his struggle to a breathless and satisfactory conclusion. The tale will certainly keep its series audience industriously turning pages and make them hope Resnick has more in store for them."

—
Booklist

"Free will wars with vague prophecy and divine intervention in this epic romantic fantasy, which will stay with readers long after the satisfying conclusion... [Resnick's] mythology and world-building are flawless, the characters are convincing and complex, and Sileria is intoxicatingly believable."

—
Romantic Times

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