Prologue

“Tell me a story, Papa!”

“Of course, my princess. Long, long ago, before your great-great-great-great grandfather was born, there was a man. His name was Cadoc. He was an explorer from a far-off land. One day, he and a group of men crossed a mountain and discovered a fertile, forested valley. As his land was suffering from famine and destruction by civil war, this was a great discovery—a new place for his people to live and be happy.”

“And that was here, right, Papa?”

“That’s right. The valley he discovered was Iochdar. He went back to his land and told his family and friends of his discovery. They were happy, too, and gladly followed Cadoc to their new home and made him their leader. So Cadoc became a king over this people, and while he lived his people prospered. Each took up their trades in the new land. Some were farmers, and they cleared the forests from the plains by the sea so they could plant crops. Others were miners and blacksmiths, and they found the mountains to the north to be rich in ore. So they settled there. Others liked to build, and they found the woods to the east to be much to their liking. The rest were adventurers, and they became the desert nomads to the south, forever wandering.”

“How did we get our name, Papa? Why are we called the Shea?”

“That’s the best story of all. For you see, Cadoc had a companion as he travelled. His feathered friend was a hawk named Ioch. Ioch was a common sight throughout the land, as he often carried messages and stories of the people to his master, Cadoc. So the hawk became the king’s symbol to the people throughout the land, and the land came to be called Iochdar, or Ioch’s domain. Cadoc loved his companion deeply, so much that when he died he had an amulet made from the finest steel engraved with the image of Ioch. It is said that Ioch’s spirit resides in the amulet, and that when in the possession of a pure descendant of Cadoc, that person could hear the whispers of the people across all of Ioch’s domain.”

“But why are we called the Shea?”

“I’m getting to that, princess. You see, Cadoc made his settlement to the west, on a mountain high enough that from its top, he could see all across the land. It was said his hawk companion leant him his eyes. So Cadoc and his descendants came to be called ‘slioch ap súil shea’, or ‘those with the eyes of the hawk’ in the old language. Eventually that was shortened to just ‘shea.’ And since we are Cadoc’s descendants, we inherited that name.”

“Really? Cadoc is our great-great-great-great-great-great grandpapa?”

“That’s exactly right.”

“And what about the others? Where did their names come from? Llyr, Halwyn, and Fasach?”

“Ah, that is much simpler, my dear. As the people under Cadoc’s reign increased, there came to be too many to be known by just one name. So those who lived by the sea were called feadhainn ap llyr, those who lived off the land came to be called feadhainn ap halwyn, and the people of the desert came to be called feadhainn ap fasach. Over time those names were shortened to Llyr, Halwyn, and Fasach.”

“Then what happened?”

“Well, many years passed, and the clans were at peace. The kingdom passed from father to son, and through intermarriage from clan to clan. Of course, there were occasional conflicts, both internal and external, as with every country. People lived and died, and time went on. Cadoc’s story became history, then legend. The amulet passed through the generations, and eventually became legend to all but a few of Cadoc’s direct descendants. These became silent guardians, watching from a distance as the years passed. Then there began to be unrest in Ioch’s domain. The clans began to distrust one another as their individual power grew. The Llyr clan began amassing an army in secret in preparation to take over the kingdom, for they desired more power. They plotted to eliminate the old ruling clan, so there would be none left to contest their claim. And one girl of that very clan found herself at the center of it all.”

Next Chapter: End of the Beginning