Hort had been listening intently, and now she addressed the priest. “Travel freely… Earn enough to cover our expenses… What do you mean, Father?”
“I mean there is a world one cannot see under the auspices of an official guide.”
+++
The town sprawled out from the tower at its center. Within the tower itself dwelt the Grand Magister, and in the surrounding houses resided the Exinov with their exquisite horns. The central district was occupied by the Ignas, their various animal ears and tails bobbing and swishing proudly as they went about their business, and around this stood a wall. Outside the wall lived the Nurabehn, those who lacked divine protection.
Authority derived from lineage. An unprotected man and woman could marry, but would receive neither horns nor ears as a result. There were times, however, very rare times that children were born with protection who by rights should have none.
Such was the case with Har Bell.
Her parents were Nurabehn, humble shoemakers with neither ears nor horns.
Nurabehn were not allowed inside the walls of the town without special permission. Still, they clung to the walls in order to glean some small benefit from the superior waste that made its way out to them. Thus, even outside the walls there was the understanding that being closer to the tower was better. Har Bell’s house was right up against the wall.
Her family had originally lived far on the outskirts, but had been able to move closer to the center when Har Bell was born with rabbit ears. She herself was able to work within the walls, and as a talented researcher was even allowed into the tower. She had been invited to tutor Utsuwa, who loved history, and she had even been given permission to employ thaumatheria. Har Bell was the pride of her family, and their hope.
She had her reasons for leaving home, however─for departing to find the Forbidden Land.
Now she was going home to see her parents and three younger brothers for the first time in several years, riding a two-wheeled wizard carriage with the luggage rack stuffed full of snacks and toys. She imagined how her perpetually screaming brothers would shout when they saw the gifts she’d brought them, and a grin softened the edges of Har Bell’s mouth.
But something was off.
It was quiet.
There were lights in the windows, but Har Bell couldn’t hear her brothers fighting, or her mother’s voice bellowing at them to quiet down.
Maybe they’ve just grown up and learned to behave? There’s something a little sad about that, too…
Har Bell burst into the house without so much as a knock.
“I’m home! It’s me, Har!”
Inside she found her mother and her youngest brother, Tal. Nurabehn had no surnames─Har was the only member of her family allowed to add the “Bell.”
“Har… Oh, y…you’re home!”
There were tears in her mother’s eyes as she hugged Har Bell─no, simply Har. With a bad feeling building in her chest, Har hesitantly returned her mother’s embrace as she looked around the silent house.
“Is Dad still at the workshop?”
“Yes. He hardly ever gets back here these days.”
“Uh huh… And Hakk and Rola? Is Tal the only one here?”
“’S right. Hakk and Rola are out so much I barely see them anymore. They come home after I’m asleep, and by the time I’m awake the two of them are gone again!”
Har held her mother tighter─tight enough to make sure she was there. Then she looked down at Tal, her youngest brother. He was glaring at her with reproach in his eyes.
“I was hoping for some of your pie, Mom. Could you make me some?”
“Oh my. But that’ll take some time.”
“It’s fine, I’ll watch Tal for you. Please?”
“Oh, what am I to do with you!”
Har’s mother smiled and hurried off to the kitchen. From the spring in her step it was clear how happy she was to have her eldest home again.
Har directed her brother outside with a glance. He silently followed her out the door, then started swinging his fists at her the moment it closed behind them. Tal was only ten years old, and still shorter than she was. He was weak, and his punches didn’t hurt at all, but every blow opened a new crack in Har’s heart; she could feel it about to give way inside her.
Har hugged her brother. “…When did it happen?”
Tal’s cheeks were wet with tears. “Two years ago. And then again last year─that’s when they took our brothers.”
His voice was trembling, and he started punching her again.
“It’s all your fault! It’s because you’re an Ignas! You’re an Ignas but you didn’t even protect us! You went searching for the Forbidden Land and abandoned us! That’s how come Dad and Hakk and Rola got fed to the Exinov!”
“Why is this only happening to us…?”
“It’s not just us! Half our people have been eaten since you left! Before long we’ll all be gone!”
With the world running out of mana, the wizards had finally started taking it from others in order to maintain their physical forms. The inferior races clung to the walls, swarming over the cast-off refuse, with none of the divine protection enjoyed by those inside. If the death of one Nurabehn could extend the life of a single wizard by even a few years, being used thus would be a welcome honor─or so ran the thinking of the wizards.
The first announcement called for those “willing to devote their lives to the Exinov.” Nurabehn were not usually permitted inside the walls, and they answered the call in droves. None who were accepted into the service of the Exinov ever returned.
Naturally, some began to worry for the safety of their friends and family when they couldn’t seem to contact them. Still, the second and third announcements drew small crowds.
When the fourth announcement came, the only applicants were a few aged Nurabehn with no family to speak of. The messengers judged that this was insufficient, and used sorcery to bind whoever was nearby, loading them into wizard carriages and whisking them away.
There was no fifth announcement. Nurabehn were simply chosen and taken away. It was around that time that Har decided to set out for the Forbidden Land. She knew that sooner or later they would come for her family, too. If the problem was a lack of mana, she surmised that the only solution lay in the Forbidden Land.
Nobody believed in her mission. Since all ships bound for the Forbidden Land would sink, she said she would fly there on her thaumatherium─and was met with mocking laughter. Even if she made it alone across the sky, across the ocean, all that awaited her was despair.
And yet she went. Relying on the vaguest of maps, Har Bell soared across the ocean with no land in sight, her mind filled with a singular purpose. When she came across shipwrecked vessels she would land and rest, but never did she look back toward the home that grew farther and farther away. She endured the storms, seeking a phantom she could not even be sure existed.
“I asked them to look after you…! I implored Danna Ryl…!”
“Danna Ryl ate Dad! She said that because you’re an Ignas, he must have more mana than other Nurabehn! And the bastards left us money! A ‘special allowance’ because we’d ‘lost our breadwinner’─to make sure we wouldn’t suffer and starve!”
Har thought back over the day’s events: landing in the tower square on the back of the dragon, the way Danna Ryl had embraced her, the praise she’d lavished on Har for returning with the mana potions, that fondly affectionate smile─Danny Ryl didn’t think she’d done anything wrong.
“Mom’s broken… She thinks Dad and our brothers are still alive.”
“I’m sorry, Tal… I’m sorry…! But it’s over now. It’ll all be okay.” I’ve brought the mana potions back with me.
Once trade between the worlds commenced, there would be no more need for anyone to take mana from the Nurabehn.
I couldn’t protect Dad, or Hakk, or Rola. But at least Mom and Tal are still safe.
“Did you find the Forbidden Land?”
“I sure did. Almost everyone there’s a Nurabehn. They’ve got Nurabehn kings and Nurabehn wizards, even.”
“You’re full of it.”
“I’m not! There’s an amazing wizard who froze the ocean all the way to the very bottom, right before my eyes. There’s another who’s been alive for hundreds of years because she made a contract with a demon─and didn’t you see the dragon this morning?”
“I didn’t see anything. Dragons don’t even exist.”
“They do, in the Forbidden Land! And the man who rides the dragon is a Nurabehn, too.”
“Drop it, already! It’s not funny!”
Tal pushed his face into Har’s chest and cursed her, laughing feebly. Har started to giggle as well. Neither could stop the torrent of tears.
Nurabehn were unprotected, powerless, and could never hope to learn sorcery. They were useless to society, no better than livestock─such was the world they had lived in all their lives. But if there were Nurabehn wizards in the Forbidden Land who could freeze the ocean, Nurabehn who were permitted to ride dragons─
Then why do we have to live like this?
“I’ll bring you tomorrow, and you can ride on the dragon’s back. I’ve been riding him this whole time! The man who usually rides him is a bit gruff, but he’s kind. It’s not just him, either. I was only willing to speak to the Exinov, but everybody from the Forbidden Land has been so kind to me anyway…!”