Every word I am going to tell you about the strange things that happened in Nangiyala, somewhere on the other side of the stars, is true, though my brother Jonathan and I are probably the only people who know that.

It was olden days in Nangiyala when I got there, but they were young, healthy, and good days, easy and simple to live in. I wasn't afraid that it would all suddenly come to an end, like everything that's fun usually does. Not in Nangiyala. At least that's what I thought.

But then Jonathan told me about Karmanyaka, the country up in the mountains of The Ancient Mountains, beyond the river of The Ancient Rivers, where the tyrant Tengil ruled, cruel as a serpent. "He begrudges our people the life they lead. He has Katla, too," said Jonathan. That's how I found out about the secret struggle against Tengil—and Katla, the dreadful dragon that obeyed him. But what could I do? No one was so helpless as I was!

But when Jonathan was in trouble and needed me, I remembered what he had once said—that sometimes you have to do things that are dangerous; otherwise you weren't a human being but just a bit of filth. I decided I had to help. And it felt good.

From the dust jacket of The Viking Press, First American Edition