"The Gods' Ascent!" Kithe nudged Ennara on the stairs over the farmhouse living room and kitchen. She listened intently to hear more of the conversation below. The boy's brown eyes opened wide and freckles blanched out of his cheeks.

Her father and mother murmured something in response to her aunt's declaration.

"I've sent for Tork. Perhaps he will see how to stop the curse before it spreads to us all. In the meantime, getting more poison is of highest importance. I will leave for the journey as soon as I gather supplies and hire a horse."

"Of course," Lir said. "And I will accompany you."

"No, you won't," Aunt Marsaili replied. "It is essential that you stay here and use the poison remaining in my inventory to protect Ennara and Aenor and the village."

Aenor mumbled something in agreement.

"Could Ennara protect the farm? You've been training her for years. Surely she knows a light spell-" Lir objected.

"I've been teaching her theory only! You know I'm not a wizard. No," Aunt Marsaili said, "she hasn't had any practice. She isn't ready. You must stay, Lir."

Ennara had been studying magic with her aunt since she was four years old. Her parents believed one day she'd be a powerful wizard and that she had some great destiny. Legends said caul children were adept with spells, destined for heroic acts, and carried protection against drowning. In Lan, nothing could be more valuable than safe passage on the seas except, perhaps, use of potent magic.

When she was born, the midwife marked her immediately with the caul tattoo in accordance with King Rothust's Regulations for Seafaring and Magical Use. Her parents paid the midwife their entire savings to keep the child's caul secret. Since then Aunt Marsaili, an alchemist, had trained the girl in every lore she could find that could even remotely be used for magical development.

A chair scraped across the kitchen floor. Her aunt continued, "Tork will be here in less than a week if all goes well. He will offer additional security. If necessary, you can track and find me then."

Ennara had met Tork several times. He was an old friend of the family, having met her father and uncle when they were teens. He came two or three times a year to visit and usually stayed a few days.

Ennara's leg was cramping. Her feathery bangs fell onto her nose and threatened to make her sneeze. She tucked the yellow strands behind an ear and shifted to one foot to stretch the insolent appendage. The floorboards creaked as soon as her knee released its tension. Kithe screwed up his face in an attempt to make her laugh. She pressed her finger to her lips. Like a crane sitting on the shore of Lake Coeur in January, she tucked the leg under her body. She would not allow a loose-lipped floor to give their surveillance away!

Whenever Tork arrived, it seemed she was always in the middle of a lesson. He would observe her aunt's tutorial then quiz Ennara on what she'd learned since he'd seen her last. Sometimes he'd take notes and leave them behind to instruct Aunt Marsaili.

Ennara last saw him in the autumn at her tenth birthday party. Her parents held a big celebration for her on the harvest moon. Aunt Marsaili had been there, and Kithe with his parents, the innkeeper and his wife. The blacksmith and his daughter and many other people she knew from the village came. The twins from the neighboring farm and their parents were there, as well as the entire Hillman family, who brought two fiddles, a guitar, and a flute. They'd played music all night long. The family had celebrated a bountiful harvest and a decade of happy and fruitful years with their caul child.

It was at that party she'd first understood Tork was a wizard. She knew he was a scholar from the quizzes he gave her and suspected he knew magic. That evening, he gave her a gift from distant Icelan. He called it "fireworks" and said special alchemists made them. Ennara had wondered how the firework alchemists were different from her aunt. Sparkling patterns of red, purple, green, blue, and gold had filled the sky. Tork had made the lights come alive and fly around the stars in the form of fairies, goblins, flowers, and ships.

Ennara recalled the lumos powder of the night before and speculated her aunt knew how to make fireworks too.

Now, the wizard was coming again, but this time Aunt Marsaili would not be here. There would be no quizzes or fireworks, only shadows that held monsters. And somehow he would help her parents fight them.

"I'd better start preparations," Aunt Marsaili said. A ruffle of leather suggested she pulled on her cloak.

Ennara and Kithe scurried up the stairs as her boots crossed the kitchen to the front door. "Ennara, I'll see you in a couple weeks. I expect you'll finish your text on logic by my return."

"Y-yes, Aunt Marsaili!" she called. Her face flushed red at being caught eavesdropping. Kithe snickered at her.

"And you, Master Fontaine, had better return to your father with those eggs. He is waiting for you."

The boy scrambled to his feet and ran for the door.

###

Tork arrived four nights later with a sudden rapping at the Gaern farmhouse door. Ennara almost mistook the sound for the thunder that had been shaking the shingles all night. The old oak door creaked open, and a murmured conversation in baritone voices followed. She would have crept out of bed to hear the details, but she was snug in the blankets, cocooned against the cold and damp from the spring storm.

"From where?" she heard her father ask.

"Dordonne," Tork replied.

Dordonne was the closest port city to their village, Hogin. It was an entire day's ride away. The walled city was the largest in the northwestern continent of Estlan. The capital city was also where the royal family of Estlan lived. Ennara had never been to the city-or anywhere outside Hogin for that matter-but she'd heard many reports from Kithe and traders passing through their village as they traveled east to the Inner Ocean. The castle, great cathedral, and many shops were enough to make any girl wish for a trip.

"It isn't safe. If anyone was to see her tattoo ..."

Ennara glanced at the unwanted companion on her hand and shuddered. She'd been told time and again what life was like for caul children who fell into the hands of the wrong people.

"She is powerful in uncommon ways. She may be the only one who can help, Lir."

"Yes, I know the legend well," her father replied. His voice sounded tired. "The only other caul in Estlan was born over three hundred years ago."

"The stolen child."

Stories of the last caul child had been etched into her memory at an early age. On the eve of the baby's birth, the Briant family of Dordonne had celebrated their fortune of having a magical child with the whole city. That night, two travelers heard of the auspicious birth and disappeared with the baby. The boy was never seen again. The family was devastated. Her parents mentioned it every time she tried to go to town without covering her hand. "What if a stranger saw your tattoo?" they'd say and march her back upstairs to change.

But the tales also said the child grew to become Gisilfrid the Great, the King who united the townships and districts of Estlan after defeating Ardewynn the sorcerer and his forces in the Great War.

Ennara wondered if she could ever do anything so impressive. It seemed too fantastic to be possible.

"I am sorry, Lir, there is no one else. She is our best hope against the shadespawn."

Silence followed.

"I will return for her tomorrow," Tork said. Footsteps crossed the room below. The front door shut, and the house grew still.

Several minutes later, she heard her father quietly walk up the stairs to her parent's bedroom. He murmured something, but Ennara didn't hear her mother's reply. Return for who, and what for? She slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

###

The following morning was wonderfully clear and sunny. Everything sparkled as if it was coated in pixie dust. It was always this way after a storm, yet it still felt extraordinary somehow. Maybe it was the promise of an adventure with Kithe-she wouldn't need to study all day if Aunt Marsaili was gone-or the mysterious meeting she overheard last night.

Ennara laid a crisp linen shirt and clean trousers on her bed before she fetched water for her basin. Today she wanted to be as fresh as the air outside. Maybe after her chores she would be allowed to ride Buckwheat to the lakeside. She always liked to visit the lake, but in spring the fields lining the shore bloomed in yellow daffodils and red tulips. It was beautiful. She would pick a bouquet for her mother while she was there.

She washed, changed, brushed her golden hair, and attempted to pin her bangs back. The barrette immediately fell out, gaining no grip on the silken strands. She blew the offending locks away from her face.

The aroma of her mother's pancakes wafted up the stairs. Pancakes were reserved for birthdays and holidays-what made today special?

Ennara ran down the stairs, skidded into the kitchen and almost into Tork's chest. The wizard handed her a stack of steaming cakes. "Best get 'em while they're hot."

The girl meekly accepted the plate and sat at the table. Tork wore his familiar brown leather pants, boots, and a vest over a billowing cotton shirt. She studied him out of the corner of her eye as she poked at the stack of cakes before her. She'd never been able to observe him long before; her meetings with the mysterious wizard had been brief every time.

Today, he was freshly shaven. He looked younger than when she saw him last autumn-he'd had a beard with streaks of gray. At the time, she'd thought he was close to her father's age, but now she guessed he might be the same age as Aunt Marsaili. His curly, sandy hair was cut short, too. Without the ponytail, rider's hat, and cloak he always wore, she thought he looked handsome.

He raised an eyebrow as he joined her with another stack of cakes. His green eyes seemed to gaze right into her thoughts. Her cheeks grew hot.

"Where are you from, Tork?" Ennara asked. She'd never had the opportunity to ask him questions before and had often wondered where he came from.

He set a fork stuffed with cake and syrup onto his plate. "I'm from Atlan, but I live in Icelan."

"What is Atlan like?"

"Well, being far east and south of Estlan, across the Inner Ocean," he said as he ate, "there are different creatures in the forests. It is much smaller than Estlan. The culture is different, very old. The cities are ancient. Some say people have lived there since before the Great Flood."

"Do you think it is true? Before the seas rose, there was more land and different civilizations?"

He nodded as he lifted the fork to his mouth. Lir entered the kitchen from the backyard. Her father's cotton shirt and canvas dungarees were dirty; he'd clearly been up for hours working in the barn and garden. His muscles and forehead were covered in a sheen of sweat, and dirt was smeared on his brow.

"Ah, Tork, you've returned." Lir's voice was warm, but his mouth turned down in a slight grimace.

"Yes," Aenor said brightly. Dishes clinked as she got some pancakes for her husband. "He and Ennara were just talking about Atlan."

"I see." Lir knotted his brows and slumped into a chair. His gray eyes focused on his plate. He picked up a fork and knife and made small, square cuts in the cakes. A heavy silence settled upon them.

Lir cleared his throat.

"Ennara," the wizard began, his voice warm and soft, "I'm going to need your assistance for a few days."

She raised her eyebrows. How could she possibly help Tork? Aenor crossed to the table, sat beside her daughter, and took her hand.

"You see, I have to recover an important item. The journey requires travel by ship."

She looked at her father, then mother, for confirmation that what she heard was true. "A ship? You want to take me on a ship?"

Tork leaned forward and looked deep into her eyes. "Yes, but understand this is no gentle ferry ride on Coeur Lake. The waters are dangerous. I need your protection as a caul. It is extremely important."

Fear shot up her back and into her head, standing her hairs on end. "Where? Where are we going? What is so important? Why do I have to go?"

Even though she dreamt of seeing castles and palaces, she wasn't ready to leave her mother and father for a voyage at sea. Warnings of the outside world replayed through her mind. She didn't understand worlds of pirates and magic and destiny-worlds in which caul children were bought, sold, and kept like good luck charms. She wanted to stay home, collect honey with her dad, and adventure with Kithe. She felt hot tears bounce off her cheek.

The wizard looked at her father and sighed, then turned back to the frightened little girl. He gently laid his hand over hers. It felt papery and warm. Her shoulders relaxed. "What I tell you now must go no further than this room. Do you understand?"

She sniffed and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. She nodded.

"A grave danger threatens your town of Hogin, the city of Dordonne, and many other places," he began. "I believe you encountered this danger a few days ago when your father came to fetch you from the pasture."

Ennara remembered the sudden chill of the air, the shadespawn pouncing on her and clawing at her back, then chasing her and her father as they raced Buckwheat back to the farm. Goose bumps raised on her arms.

"Your Aunt Marsaili has left to find a rare ingredient for a poison that can kill those... things," Aenor offered.

"Yes, but fighting them with poisoned arrows and swords is not enough," he continued. "The dark spell that created the shadespawn is spreading like a disease. Marsaili can't possibly bring enough quicksilver ore to kill all of them. We require an uncommon weapon, one that can kill them and destroy the curse once and for all. I believe the weapon we need is in the Sunken City."

Ennara's eyes grew wide. The fishermen at Kithe's father's inn loved to tell them tales of the Sunken City and the treasures it contained. "The Sword of Gisilfrid?"

Tork nodded. "We think it still may be in the city." He paused, looking at his hands. After appearing to consider what next to say, he continued, "You must understand, Ennara, the shadespawn threaten everyone, the entire world. If their corruption spreads, there will be nothing and no-one left. They will turn everyone into their own kind and destroy everything as they remake the world into their own. I would not ask you, a child, to leave your home and come with me unless there wasn't any other way."

Her lower lip quivered again. Here at home, with her parents, she was safe and loved. She didn't know how to protect Tork on his journey. After encountering the shadespawn in the forest, she wasn't sure she could even protect herself, let alone anyone else. It wasn't fair she was being asked to leave before she was ready. She was swept over with tears.

"No!" she shouted. "No, I won't go! I can't go!" She jumped up from the table, ran upstairs to her room, and slammed the door.

She spent the remainder of the morning tucked under her covers in her bed. She curled herself into a little ball and fell asleep. Finally, at lunchtime, her mother gently tapped on her door and entered her room.

"Ennara." Aenor sat next to her on the bed. "I understand. This is scary. Your father and I are frightened too. We've tried to think of any other way, but you are our best chance. We have to stay and defend the village from the shadespawn while your Aunt Marsaili is gone. But we can't wait for her return before we find the Sword of Gisilfrid. There isn't time." She paused and laid a protective hand on her daughter's shoulder, then peeled back the covers to look at her. "Your father and I need you to be brave and strong. Tork will bring you home when you've found the sword; you won't be gone longer than a few weeks."

"H... how am I supposed to pro... " Ennara's voice hitched. She sniffed and looked up at her mother. "Protect him? I don't know how..."

Her mother brushed her hair from her face. "Sweetheart, Tork is a remarkable wizard, perhaps the most powerful wizard in the world. He will protect you."

"But... but he said he needed me for protection as a caul..."

"That's true. The sea voyage to the Sunken City is a dangerous one. The stories about caul children say they safeguard boats like a good luck charm. We believe you won't have to do anything, just be there with Tork."

"And what if I do have to do something?"

"He will show you. He said he is looking forward to spending time with you to practice spellcraft with you."

The girl's eyes brightened. "Really?"

Her mother chuckled and hugged her. "It will be alright, you'll see. You are a unique girl, Ennara. You will bring Tork the luck he needs, and he will show you the magic you need."

She sniffed one last time. "Okay."

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