A Wizard's Dream

Prologue

A/N: The above video is a trailer for the book.

An elderly woman appeared at the edge of the clearing. A loose tunic made of desert leaves flowed freely across her broad frame. Wrinkled skin mixed with rusty stone comprised her face, betraying the many cycles she had seen. She stood there for a moment, her gaze sweeping across the busy dell. The youngsters quietened down at the sight of her, transfixed on the unfamiliar figure standing before them.They dashed to their seats, leaving their gathering places by the twisted trunks of withered trees. The last seat filled before the stranger could complete her walk and take her place in the centre of the glade. She stopped in front of an ancient tree stump weathered and split by the harshness of the land. The children sat in a semicircle around her. A broad smile spread across her face at the sight of them – a ragged bunch from a remote corner of the land, the kind that thirsted the most for her storytelling. "Good morning," she greeted the class. 

"Good morning," unrehearsed voices, subdued and enthusiastic, sounded in response. 

"My name is Rukha. I'm your substitute teacher." 

"Did you come to tell us a story?" asked a little girl from the front row without a hint of shyness. The yearning in her voice brought a smile to Rukha's face. 

"I have indeed. A very particular story, from our ancient past. Do you know which one?" Silence followed, though shaking heads and shrugging shoulders did little to dispel the sparkles of wonder in the children's eyes. "No? I'm going to tell you about the wizard Asja. Asja the Dream Seer. Have you heard of her?" 

A low murmur spread through the class, the children whispering to one another, their wide eyes beaming with excitement. Still, they held back fromsharing with the new teacher, except for a little boy whose face grew a mischievous smirk. 

"She could see people's dreams while they were sleeping?" he burst out. 

Rukha's hearty laugh wrapped the class in a warmhug. "No, my child. The dreams she saw were altogether different. Intricate, not easy to explain. It'd probably be best if you waited for that part of the story. I think you'll understand then." The boy nodded, still sporting a face-wide grin. Rukha stood back to size up the class, proud of her ability to make them feel at ease. Their little hands shot up, impatient for the teacher to look their way and let them speak. 

"She was a wizard who could travel to the stars!" 

"I heard that she was a shapeshifter who could change her appearance at will. Sometimes she looked like a dwarf and sometimes like a mur." 

"Didn't she stop the war between dwarves and goblins?" 

A warmfeeling washed over Rukha as the class came to life, the children recalling the tales they'd heard with growing ease and sharing them as if to outdo each other at painting a portrait of an ancient sorceress whose stature could rival Ama herself. The legends had been kind to Asja, Rukha knew, embellishing her later achievements with abandon and flair while neglecting to recall the troubled past of the dwarf she used to be. As if her wizardly deeds alone said all that mattered about her life. As if her inner triumphs were not heroic enough to be worthy of a tale. "What if I told you that Asja was once an enemy of our people?" Rukha asked. The children's sharing came to an abrupt end. "And not just any enemy, but a formidable adversary at that!" Her gaze drifted into the distance as she made herself comfortable on the dry tree stump in front of the class. She closed her eyes, recalling the many people and events from Asja's time – and long before – that weaved into the story she was here to tell. A tale of a savage world far more barbaric and brutal than that of today. In that world, her people and their allies had many foes, but none instilled greater fear than Asja the Dream Seer.