At this point, I am currently writing the 17th chapter with 37 000 words (more words and chapters than A Definition of Magic!), and I'm only about a third of the way through. Since the chapters are on average 2500 words in length, I estimate that this novel, when I do complete it, will be approximately 125 000 words and 500 book pages long.
There's enough numbers for you! Moving on to the synopsis:
This story, loosely based on a Spanish folk tale, is told
from the point of view of a wise sorcerer called Brujo, who continues to tell
the tale even after he, by all appearances, is dead. With the help of his
friend, a kindly fairy named Neris, Brujo tries to escape his enemy, the haggish
evil fairy Palianthra, who rides on storm clouds and lays the eggs of dragons.
But eventually he is caught and transformed into a fish by the sorceress’s
curse. After living in a river for seven long years, Brujo finds the poor,
downtrodden riverside farmer Guillen, whose crops are failing and whose wife is
unable to produce children to help him on the farm. The magical fish decides to
help him out while also contriving to defeat Palianthra, and tells Guillen and
his wife to eat him, and also to plant other pieces of his body around their
farmhouse. Though baffled by the fact that the fish can not only speak but is
willing to give up its life, Guillen concedes to the request and, in no time, the
magic makes a large sack of gold drop from his chimney while his wife produces
a strong set of twin boys – our heroes Hector and Salvador.
Another seven years pass and the boys discover more miraculous
gifts left behind from the fish. Two horses suddenly hatch from the very earth
of the garden, their eyes shining blue and their hair pure white. Two shining
swords with the initials “H” and “S” and shining shields emblazoned with a blue
fish insignia fall from a tree. The message can not be clearer that these boys are destined for
greatness. This fact is picked up on by Señor Esteban, a veteran soldier and
the local lord, who takes the seven-year-olds on as pageboys so that they might
grow to become the Knights of the Fish and fulfil their destiny.
Yet another seven years later, fourteen-year-old Hector is
becoming stoic and honour-bound while Salvador is more passionate and virile, with
both equal in appearance and fighting skill but differing greatly in
personality. While they are being endowed as squires by Señor Esteban on their
next step to knighthood, calamity strikes in the kingdom’s capital of Madrid. The
King of Spain’s wife is dying of a fatal illness and the younger of his two
daughters, Princess Ana, has mysteriously disappeared. It is the engineering of
the Marquis of Villafranca, the king’s cousin, who hopes to eliminate the
king’s daughters so that he becomes the sole heir to the throne. The marquis
continues to plot for the next seven years, trying to gain the favour of the
king while also working against his remaining daughter Princess Leonor and avoiding
the equally-as-devious royal chamberlain, Mendoza.
Hector and Salvador, at the age of twenty-one, have served Señor
Esteban well and are now ready to be made knights and ride off to unwittingly
fulfil the destiny that Brujo had in mind for them. Deciding that heroes must
ride alone, the brothers split up, with Hector heading to Madrid and Salvador
to Toledo.
By the time Hector gets to Madrid, the conniving marquis is
now the heir to the throne, having struck a deal with the witch Palianthra to
steal away the innocent Princess Leonor with one of her dragons. Hector goes to
fight this dragon, the Ruby Dragon, which can fly and breathe fire. At first he
fails miserably, but the chamberlain Mendoza, who does not wish for the hateful
marquis to succeed to the throne and wants to see the princess rescued, tells
Hector of a benevolent dragon, the Amethyst Dragon, which can help Hector
defeat the Ruby Dragon and rescue the fair maiden.
Meanwhile, Salvador’s journey is proving to be less epic. On the road to Toledo he scuffles with but eventually befriends an eccentric troupe of Italian comic
actors, the Toscanini, who travel around Spain in a caravan. One of these performers
is the hot-headed Colombina, who is skilled not only in stage performing but in
archery, her constant companion a peculiar blue sparrow. In Toledo, Salvador
and the actors meet a gluttonous archbishop who tries to destroy the actors
with their controversial plays, and arrests all of them but Colombina, who
escapes. Despite their intense rivalry, Salvador and Colombina work together to
rescue their friends, but come across a new problem when the Diamond Dragon,
one that breathes eyes, tears into the city of Toledo and captures Colombina.
Like his brother, Salvador’s quest is now also to defeat a dragon and rescue a
maiden, and soon their paths will converge as they head towards their final
showdown with Palianthra and end what Brujo started.
Tell me what you think! Bear in mind that there are a few subplots and fun scenes that I have left out of this synopsis, which in my opinion are almost the highlights of the book. If The Knights of the Fish sounds interesting or if you are at all quizzical don't be afraid to leave a comment and also check out my post a couple days ago, which links to a Google Drive document with the first chapter, in which Brujo faces a dragon and then Palianthra herself.
Stay calm and reduce harm! I appreciate all of you who support my writing ambitions and who wish me well in writing this monstrosity of a novel.
