Malinda Lo - Huntress

LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY

New York Boston

To Amy Lovell

Huntress is set in the same world as Ash, but it takes place many centuries earlier. There are some significant cultural differences between the time periods.

In multisyllabic names, the emphasis is on the italicized syllable. In some cases, both syllables should be given equal weight. In human names, the letters ae are pronounced like the a sound in mate and skate; the letters ai are pronounced like the i sound in kite and site. Xi names (designated with asterisks) have different pronunciation rules.

Ailan: Eye-lahn

Anmin: Ahn-min

Cai Simin Tan: Tsai Sih-meen Tan

Con Isae Tan: Con Ee-say Tan

Ealasaid*: Ay-lah-sed

Elowen*: Ell-oh-when

Farin: Fahr-in

Kaede: Kay-dee

Kaihan: Kye-hahn

Maesie: May-see

Maila: My-lah

Maire Morighan*: Mare Mor-ih-gahn

Mona: Mo-nah

Nara: Nah-rah

Niran: Nee-rahn

Noa: No-ah

Ota: Oh-tah

Parsa: Par-sah

Pol: Pole

Raesa: Ray-sah

Raiden: Rye-den

Shae: Shay

Sota: So-tah

Suri: Soo-ree

Taeko: Tay-ko

Taisin: Tie-sin

Tali: Tah-lee

Taninli*: Tan-in-lee

Tanis: Tan-is

Tulan: Too-lahn

Xi*: Shee

Yuna: Yoo-nah

Yuriya: Yoo-ree-ah

Clouds and thunder arise:
The sage brings order.
Those who chase deer without a hunter
Lose their way in the Wood.

Book of Changes

S he saw a beach made of ice, and she felt her heart breaking.

The ground where she stood was frozen white, but twenty feet away, cold blue ocean lapped at the jagged shore. Someone there was climbing into a rowboat, and she knew that she loved this person. She was certain of it in the same way that one is instantly aware of the taste of sweetness in a drop of honey. But she was afraid for this persons life, and the fear raised a cold sweat on her skin and caused a sick lurch in her stomach, as though she were on a ship during a violent storm.

She opened her mouth to call the rower backshe couldnt bear the loss; it would surely cripple herand at that moment she realized she could hear nothing. All around her was an eerie, unnatural silence. There was no sound from the ocean. She could not even hear herself breathing. She felt her tongue shaping the syllables of the persons name, but she did not recognize what the name was until the rower turned to face her. Kaede.

The rower was Kaede, and she looked back with dark, troubled eyes. Loose strands of black hair whipped around her pale face; there were spots of red on her wind-roughened cheeks. Her lips parted as though she would speak. But then Kaede reached down into the boat and lifted out a long oar, dipping it into the azure sea to propel the small craft away from the shore. The droplets of water falling from the blade of the oar were tiny stars, extinguished as quickly as they burned into being. The boat cut through the water, leaving the shore behind, and just before the destination came into view, the vision ended.

She was wrenched out of the icy landscape and back into her body, where she was sitting in the empty practice hall, alone on her cushion.

She opened her eyes, blinking against the light of the single candle she had lit on the altar. Her heart was pounding, and there was an acrid taste in her mouth. Her hands, folded in her lap, were trembling and chilled. A trickle of sweat ran from her temple down her cheek.

She drew her knees up and hugged them close, burying her face in the crook of her elbow, and because there was no one to hear her, she let out the sob that reared up in her throat. The sound echoed in the vaulted ceiling of the practice room, and for once she gave in to the overwhelming feelings rushing through her. She felt gutted. She felt powerless.

She had never seen so clearly before, and her teachers would praise her for it. But she felt no satisfaction, for she could not rejoice in the vision of someone she apparently loved departing on a journey to her death.

K aede was working in the cliff garden when she received the summons. This was her favorite part of the Academythe crescent-shaped patch of earth carved out of the edge of the island, facing the mainland. On a clear day, she could see the brownish-green hills behind the crooked roofs of Seatown. But there had not been a clear day in a little over two months; only this constant gray light and scattered drizzle. Yet, as much as she hated it, it was better to be outside in the brisk sea air than trapped indoors behind the Academys suffocating stone walls.

She continued down the row of stunted carrots, working in the rich fertilizer that Maesie, the Academys cook, had given her at the start of her shift. A hard winter had been followed by no sign of spring, and Maesie had delayed planting at first, hoping for sunshine and warmth before she subjected her seedlings to the cold earth. But one morning she announced that she would wait no more, and the seeds went into the ground that day, followed by biweekly applications of the thick black fertilizer she concocted in the evenings. And despite the lack of sunlight, the seeds sprouted, though they were thinner and weaker than usual.

Kaede had just finished the row and was about to drag the jug of fertilizer to the next when Maesie came out of the kitchen, an odd look on her face. She held a wooden spoon in her hand as if she had come straight from the stove. Kaede straightened, brushing off her dirty hands on her cotton trousers. What is it?

Ive just had word from the Council, Maesie said. They want to see you.

Kaede was puzzled. What would the Council of Sages want with her? She was hardly one of their favorite students. What? When?

Now. Youd better leave your things there. Ill have someone else finish up for you.

She blinked at Maesie. Now? She wasnt sure she had heard correctly.

Now. But you should clean up before you goyou dont want to track mud all over their chambers.

Kaede had not been to the Council chambers since her first visit to the Academy of Sages when she was eleven, to apply for admission. In the ensuing six years, there had never been a reason for her to make the long trek to the North Tower, for the only students invited into that inner sanctum were those who could perform the rituals they were taught. Although she had read the Book of Rituals several times, Kaede had never successfully completed even the simplest of blessings. She knew she had only been allowed to remain at the Academy because her father was the Kings Chancellor, and her motherbefore she married himhad been a sage. Now she wondered if her time at the Academy was finally coming to an end, for why else would the Mistress have called for her, if not to dismiss her at last?