“Take care of these girls,” Kyra adjured her. “If they want protection, give it to them—but if they want to learn to fight, give that to them, too. If you shelter a warrior, you save their body, but kill their spirit. And these girls all have great spirit.”

Kyra watched as the girls all rode away, galloping down the hillside, into the setting sun and toward the shining city of Ur. She watched them go for a long time, leaving a cloud of dust in their trail. Dierdre turned back, once, and looked for her, raising a single fist high in the air—and Kyra raised her fist back.

Then, just like that, they were over the hill, gone from sight, nothing left but the distant rumble and vibrations of their travel.

Leo whined beside her, as if sad to see Dierdre go, and Kyra turned, took her staff and began to hike. She marched down the hillside in the opposite direction, heading northwest, toward the peninsula of Ur, and somewhere beyond that mist, toward the tower.

As she marched through a field, a million thoughts raced through her mind. She pondered her destination, the tower, her uncle. She thought of the training she would receive, the powers she would gain, what she would come to know about herself. She thought of all the secrets awaiting her. Her mother’s identity. Her destiny. It made her nervous, but also excited.

It was overwhelming to even consider it, and her heart beat faster at the thought. More terrifying than any foe out there, more terrifying than the idea of not completing her quest, was the idea of completing it, of finding out about herself, of getting to the bottom of the riddle that had plagued her her whole life: who was she?

*

Kyra hiked for hours, excited, determined, feeling each step take her closer to the end of her quest, and the beginning of her new life. She hardly felt the burning in her legs as she ascended and descended the gently rolling hills and she did not even think of pausing until, hours later, she crested a hill and reached a broad plateau. She leaned against her staff and took in the vista, and the sight was startling: the whole peninsula of Ur was laid out before her, the ocean now visible in the distance, its waves already audible. A mist blew in and out, still obscuring the tower, but she knew that it was close.

She stood there, taking in the sight, feeling as if she were seeing her future unfold before her—when suddenly, she heard a distant noise and detected motion out of the corner of her eye. She wheeled, gripping her staff, on guard.