Spring had stilled all around.

  The forest shimmered, birds chirped in the tall branches, nightingales sang their hearts out, and an endless, strange, unobtrusive music could be heard, as if harps were hidden among the treetops. They walked along paths where greenery had grown like a carpet, among flowers blooming everywhere; the sun shone from the sky, but its rays seemed to pass through a crystal prism, tinting everything around in cold, ghostly shades. The forest was motionless, the trees seemed to have frozen, listening to the birdsong and the rustling of grass under the feet of the centaur and the two travelers dressed in light white shirts and cloaks adorned with patterns crafted by the masters of the Enchanted Forest.

  "The border guards report more frequent attacks," said Ioran. "They’re trying to sneak in, cross the eastern bank, and forage in the riverlands, and we’re striking back, trying to wipe them out to the last. Naturally, the kings already know that your city is besieged by vast forces, and they’re worried the next target for these armies might be the Forest. The centaurs are gradually gathering at the borders, they’re ready to defend, they’re on alert… And I think if you explain everything to the queen yourselves, she’ll agree that in the decisive battle for the city, the centaurs will support the humans. That’s important for us too. The pirates from the island of Talaska bring nothing but death and destruction to Aktida, which means they might be a threat to the Enchanted Forest as well. In this situation, it’s more beneficial for us to support King Emerlun and contribute to restoring order in Aktida."

  "If you join up with Telorand’s army from Asternia, and we manage to give the signal to attack simultaneously, we can crush Cassander’s forces in a pincer move," said Woody confidently. "I’ve seen you fight, Ioran. If all centaurs wield spears as skillfully as you, the battle won’t last more than two hours."

  "I wouldn’t be so optimistic if I were you," the centaur said, cooling his tone. "I’ve heard of Cassander, and I know that when he lacked strength, he used cunning, and many cities fell because of that… Besides, we can only talk about battle if we make it to the capital in time. After that, I’ll take you to our northern borders, and you’ll have to find your way to Asternia yourselves."

  "I don’t care," said Kairu gloomily. "I’ll take part in the battle and do my best to reach Cassander before anyone else."

  "If you die too early, who’ll avenge your family?" Woody asked. "You need to be careful, my impulsive friend. There are many who still need you alive, especially you yourself."

  Kairu only smirked.

  They walked, passing through centaur towns and villages, sometimes meeting crowds of centaurs like Ioran, and gradually stopped being surprised by what was happening in this forest. They walked for a long time through thick groves of oak, filled with the same atmosphere of frozen spring, pure and beautiful in its pristine, unspoiled clarity. They crossed rivers, passed lakes and plains hidden deep in the sun-drenched forest, and the road went ever on, as though it would never end. But this was one of those roads where only good things could happen, for it simply couldn’t be otherwise in this magical forest, where winter, spring, and autumn intertwined, where everything preserved from the beginning of time by the forest’s strange and mysterious magic still remained. And Kairu was beginning to understand why the centaurs guarded this sacred place so fiercely from humans.

  "You’re lucky, though you don’t realize it," Ioran told them during one of their overnight stops. Time here flowed differently too, but by Kairu’s reckoning, the outside world must now be in the windy and blizzard-filled days of February. "You’re seeing what is revealed to very few… Humans, I’ve noticed, tend to destroy, to pursue a destructive kind of progress, which means the complete erasure of their roots. You don’t look back—maybe that’s why it’s so hard for you to see what lies ahead? But we preserve and multiply the treasures of our cultural heritage for millennia and see that as wisdom. Among these trees, even the long-rotted, decayed stumps are sacred to us, as are the ruins of long-destroyed cities—and there are many such ruins. Yet we protect them all. We’ve learned to protect them, for our happiness was hard-earned."

  They were surrounded only by centaurs, but by now they had gotten used to it and saw them almost as people—especially since the only difference was the equine lower half… Though there were other details Kairu didn’t notice at first, not until a few days later. Among the male centaurs were both young men and withered, wrinkled, gray-haired elders, but in the settlements, not a single old woman could be seen. All the women were young, with fair skin and long hair, dressed in light green tunics barely covering their bodies. When Kairu asked Ioran about this, he replied:

  "The maidens of the centaurs are forever young, and the years do not mar their bodies until death finds them… Only sorrow will you see in their eyes, sorrow and the burden of the years they’ve lived. I suppose you’ve looked into the eyes of old men? It’s the same. But when they die, it feels as if a flower has withered in the prime of its bloom."

  Time passed unnoticed with Kairu and Woody’s stories, and Ioran’s legends. They moved deeper toward the heart of the Forest. Two weeks of this strange journey flew by. Then, one day in mid-February, the travelers came under the canopy of towering trees surrounding the sacred glade, crossed the looping stream Dellivrine by a bridge, and entered the threshold of Tarumen-an-Elis, the place from which, since ancient times, the centaurs’ magic had flowed into the forests of the Northern Province.

  ***

  The trees stood in even columns, their trunks entwined with vines and ivy like fantastical green bas-reliefs. Above, their crowns formed a roof through which sunlight splintered into a myriad of fragments, glittering like droplets in the grass. They walked as if across transparent glass bridges rising above the greenery and flowers, though these bridges were neither of glass nor crystal, but made of a material Kairu likely couldn’t name in any human tongue. Around them stood pavilions, approached by those transparent, delicate paths, and the pavilions swayed with white, gleaming fabric that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a palace. These tents were adorned with diamonds and silver, as if jewels littered the centaurs’ feet and there was nowhere else to put them. And the road led further through the soft, melodic murmur that surrounded them, under archways formed by the silver branches of trees, through the passages and streets of the capital of the Enchanted Forest—to the royal throne.

  The ground rose, the road climbed higher, and the air became increasingly suffused with a magical light from nowhere. Centaurs dressed in leather and ruffled velvet, some in traveling cloaks, others in armor, looked at them with surprise. Kairu could feel the stares and guessed that many of them were not friendly, but he didn’t turn back. Ioran had already warned them: not all centaurs liked humans, and some had reason for hatred.

  They were allowed through, Ioran being recognized instantly. He greeted, waved, embraced a few acquaintances, exchanging quiet words in his native tongue. At the entrance to the sacred grove, a few guards asked him something, and he replied sharply and louder than usual. Behind the guards, the broad glade was almost empty. And here too was silence, broken only by the whisper of foreign speech around the trees that blocked access to the glade, and by a loud voice coming from the very center of Tarumen-an-Elis.

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  The glade was vast, and at its center stood a hill, upon which rose a black-and-red stone. From a crevice in the stone sprang a spring that flowed into a marble basin and then streamed away, winding down into the depths of the valley among moss-covered rocks. The trees lining the edge of the glade stretched their branches overhead, weaving them into a natural ornament above the center. The sunlight filtering through them onto the ground was mostly a bright yellow, and in the shadows of the gnarled branches, the grass appeared multicolored, as the rays were refracted by the semi-transparent leaves like through stained glass. In some places, white flowers had bloomed among the bluish grass.

  They passed by the crowd and emerged into the front rows of centaurs, right at the edge of the glade. Here, Ioran was let through without question. It was as if they had walked through a ghostly, barely stirred veil that separated Tarumen-an-Elis from the outer city. Here there was only greenery and spring... A transparent staircase rose toward the basin, beside which stood two centaurs: a dark-haired man and a pale woman with long, light hair, adorned with a wreath. They were conversing with a centaur clad in armor and a crimson mantle, who bowed obsequiously, listening to the king’s quiet speech—because it was the king, wearing a crown adorned with diamonds and toying with a golden scepter. The queen only smiled and looked not at the subject, but into the void, clearly lost in her own thoughts.

  "I never thought I’d see something like this…" Woody said in awe.

  "Don’t rush. The queen will soon give you her personal attention," said Ioran. "She’ll want an audience, ask you about what happened in Mainor. No need for detail, just say that your king is asking for help. Address them as ‘Your Majesty’... though I suppose I don’t need to teach you that. First comes my report on border affairs and the state of the outer territories. After that—you’re welcome."

  Stepping slowly over the grass, Kairu and Woody walked along the edge of the glade and stopped not far from the staircase. The queen glanced in their direction, and the moment her eyes met Kairu’s, he felt a tremble in his knees. Ordinary gray eyes. Ioran’s were almost the same. But she looked in a different way. Kairu suddenly realized, that she was very, very old.

  And how could he know what sorrows might lie behind the scenes of this palace, what this woman might actually feel, and what she had to endure to show her people nothing but a smile?

  The queen lingered her gaze on him. She whispered something to her husband, who nodded and, only briefly but with interest, looked at the humans, then immediately shifted his gaze to Ioran, who bowed at once. He said something to the man he’d been speaking to, who nodded, stepped back, and quickly descended the hill, disappearing behind the trees. The queen nodded, and Ioran stepped forward and began to speak in his own language. He spoke at length, clearly, and the sovereign listened, nodding with apparent indifference.

  When Ioran finished, the king gestured for him to step aside. He spoke in the common tongue, almost without an accent:

  "Welcome to Tarumen-an-Elis, foreigners. Were you centaurs, I would call you brothers, but we have not received guests of your race for a long time, and, besides, we have always had substantial disagreements with humans. Nevertheless, I am glad that you have overcome the superstitions that have kept many from entering the bounds of the Forest, and have made it here. I hope this helps our peoples forget old feuds and unite once more, even in these difficult times. So, we are listening. Be brief and to the point. I am chiefly interested in the news that you have become entangled in a new war, resulting in the siege of Mainor. Is it true?"

  "Yes, Your Majesty." Kairu drew a deep breath and began: "The people of Mainor are not to blame. Pirates from the Western Ocean unexpectedly launched an attack, took Surrell almost without a fight, then Nalvin, and now have besieged the capital…"

  "How unexpected was it, really?" the queen interrupted gently, her voice melodic and quiet. Kairu suddenly understood that lying or evading would be pointless with her.

  "Not entirely," he muttered, hesitating. "In fact, we believe that behind the pirates stands a man you may know—Saelin. I don’t know the reasons, but apparently, the kings started the conflict over a certain diamond that once belonged to the ancient Nocturns…"

  "You seem to know quite a lot about this," the king noted.

  "That’s because he was part of it!" Woody couldn’t contain himself. "From the very start, when neither Saelin, nor the kings, nor the pirates even knew about the existence of the Lake of Aktida!"

  Kairu stepped hard on his foot, making him fall silent.

  "Allow me to explain from the beginning, Your Majesty."

  "Much better," the queen smiled faintly.

  Remembering Ioran’s advice, Kairu tried to be as brief as possible, partly because he was already tired of telling the same story over and over. The king listened, gazing grimly somewhere above his head. In the grass, the stream Dellivrine murmured softly, and Kairu looked from time to time at its rainbow-tinted spray, glowing in the sunlight.

  "Yes…" the king said, as if waking from a dream, when Kairu finished. "Grim news brought by men at the hour of our blossoming... But so be it—forewarned is forearmed. Better, at least, to know the danger we face and await it at any moment, than to be caught unaware."

  "People will help you if you help them," Woody said. "And we need all the help we can get. That’s why we’re here, even though our goal lies far beyond. We’re gathering forces across Aktida, preparing for battle, and if Mainor falls, then so will your Forest…"

  "Do not set us conditions, human," the king cut in sharply. "The centaurs have only just managed to restore what was lost after the world war a hundred years ago. And now, if your words are true, something even worse may be coming. I see no future for the Enchanted Forest… and I cannot promise that the centaurs will not remain uninvolved once more, or that we will help in the battle for the Stone City. If it happens, it will not be out of love for you or a desire for alliance. I promise nothing, human. But thank you for the news. I imagine you’re weary from the road. Gedelin, take them to a tent and arrange food and beds. Ioran, you stay."

  The centaur who had been speaking with the royal couple before the humans arrived ascended the hill. He looked at them sternly from beneath thick brows, clear hostility in his gaze.

  "Wait," the queen said, turning to Kairu. "I see in your eyes that something still binds you to the Enchanted Forest."

  "You are right, Your Majesty," Kairu lowered his eyes, and Woody looked at him in surprise. "I wouldn’t have dared say it before, but you asked, so I answer: I want to reach the Dragon Forge. I’ve heard that the centaurs know where it is." He drew a shard of his father’s sword from his belt. "This blade was broken in the battle under Nalvin by the cutlass of Orwell Cassander. I heard the legend of Eolino but didn’t give it much thought. Now I want to ask: is it true that in that Forge, one can craft the strongest of swords?"

  "The Dragon Forge exists," said the queen. "Far from here, beyond Asternia, in lands long abandoned by men... But its fire is kindled only on the day of the spring equinox, March twenty-first. On that day, all centaur smiths gather at the Forge, and they have but one day to temper their steel. It was there that the sword was forged with which Eolino defeated Naugr, and, according to legend, the Spear of Vaimos as well… All blades forged there are renowned for their hardness throughout Laugdeil. But there is one problem: none of our smiths will agree to reforge your sword."

  "They don’t have to!" Kairu said. "I am a smith, I can do it myself… The main thing is to learn the road to the Forge. After that, I will need only metal and tools. I don’t intend to wait a year—if there’s a chance to get to that Forge, I will take it!"

  "Very well!" exclaimed the queen. "In that case… you’re headed to Asternia, aren’t you? At noon on March fifteenth, Ioran will wait for you at the border of the Enchanted Forest. Be on time! No one will wait."

  "Thank you, Your Majesty," Kairu murmured, stunned by his own boldness and by how easily he had received permission.

  "Go," said the king. "Leave tomorrow, so as not to waste time. And may the gods in whom you believe help you."