Free The Last Talisman by Licia Troisi Page B

had met. The thought of lying down on a clean, freshly made bed didn’t sound so bad to Sennar or Nihal either. And so they made a detour and found an inn where they could spend the night.
    As the sun sank in the east, Nihal went out to take a walk through Makrat. She plunged herself into the chaos of the city streets. Hardly anything had changed since her days at the Academy. The same bustle and business, the same crowd of refugees just beyond the city’s gates in a forest of tents set up along the walls. This was precisely what Nihal most hated about the place, this juxtaposition of opulence and the starkest poverty, the tasteless parade of pleasure, the splendid jewels on women they passed on the streets. It was a center of ignorance and arrogance, a place that broadcast indifference to the pain of others. She herself had felt extraordinary sadness during her entire time there.
    She walked toward the Academy but she didn’t pass through its gates. She didn’t want to risk bumping into Raven, the Supreme General, who’d done all he could to make her life more difficult in her days as an aspiring Dragon Knight. The sight of its massive structure, however, wasn’t as unbearable as she’d feared it might be. She hoped even that she might meet Parsel, her teacher, the first to have believed in her. Or even Malerba, the malformed creature with whom she shared so much.
    In the end, her feet led her to the parapet where she’d so often taken refuge, with a view of the Tyrant’s Fortress at its most menacing. There she sat, lost in thought.
    â€œMay I?”
    Nihal was jolted from her reverie. When she noticed that the person standing behind her was Sennar, the expression on her face tightened.
    The sorcerer took a seat, staring at her for a moment before he spoke. “I knew I’d find you here,” he said, at last.
    Nihal made no reply, keeping her gaze fixed on the dark outline of the Fortress.
    â€œForgive me for the other day,” Sennar went on. “What I said was stupid and petty. I don’t really think that.”
    â€œYou don’t need to ask my forgiveness. What you said is true. I’ve been foolish and short-tempered ever since we set off on this stupid journey. I’m sorry.” She went back to staring out beyond the parapet. “Maybe I never really wanted to complete this mission. Maybe that’s why I was so dead set on leaving Megisto’s before I’d recovered. It’s not that I’m afraid. Do you understand?” Sennar nodded. “It’s just that I feel like I had no choice in the matter. And the thought that I’m supposedly destined for all this is terrifying.” She looked him straight in the eyes.
    â€œI believe this is your destiny, in a certain sense,” he replied. “But I don’t think your destiny begins and ends with this mission. It’s true—you really didn’t have much of a choice in this. But your whole life isn’t composed of this one journey. When this is all over, you’ll have a completely new path ahead of you. No one will be able to force you to choose one way or the other. Only you will know what to decide. This journey is merely a stop along the way.”
    â€œMaybe you’re right,” Nihal muttered. “But I feel like it’s not just the fate of the Overworld that’s riding on this mission. It’s as if there were something else I still needed to find, and I don’t even know where to begin looking for it.” Nihal sighed. “In the past, this is the place where I always came to remember my driving force in this world, my hatred for the Tyrant.” She pointed to the sinister outline of the Fortress in the distance. “But now it’s different. I know I still feel nothing but hatred for the Tyrant, but I’m just not sure what to do with it now. Hatred doesn’t feel like the final aim anymore. But then, what is it