Alanna: The First Adventure (song of the Lioness, #1)

This is the first book in the Song of the Lioness quartet, a fantasy series set in the medieval kingdom of Tortall.

11-year-old Alanna of Trebond and her twin brother, Thom, face futures neither wants. Their father, Lord Alan, a reclusive scholar, plans to send Thom to the royal palace to train as a knight and Alanna to a convent to become a lady. Thom wants to study sorcery; Alanna wants to fight. Alanna proposes they switch: Thom will go to the convent, where boys first train in magic before joining the priesthood, and Alanna, disguised as a boy named "Alan," will go to the palace. They consult Maude, the village healer who has secretly taught both twins magic. Maude performs a Seeing ritual using the herb vervain, during which Alanna has a terrifying vision of a city made of black stone. Maude agrees to the plan and warns Alanna that she possesses an extraordinary healing gift she must use to atone for the lives she will take as a knight. Thom forges letters in their father's handwriting, and the twins part ways: Alanna rides south toward the capital, Corus, with Coram Smythesson, a former soldier and the twins' manservant, while Thom heads north to the City of the Gods, a religious center where he will study sorcery, with Maude.

On the road, Alanna reveals herself to Coram, who demands they turn back. She argues she would make a far better knight than Thom and proves her courage by leaping to calm Coram's panicking horse when a snake startles it. Maude has secretly filled Coram's wineskin with strong brandy, and by evening he is drunk. The next morning, hungover but resigned, he agrees to call her "Alan."

At the palace, Duke Gareth of Naxen, who oversees the pages' training, explains the path from page to squire to the dangerous Ordeal of Knighthood at 18. On her first evening, Ralon of Malven, an older page, bullies Alanna. Prince Jonathan, the heir to the throne, intervenes and welcomes her. Alanna meets Jonathan's circle of friends, including Raoul of Goldenlake, Gary of Naxen (the Duke's son), and Francis of Nond.

Alanna's days are grueling: mornings of academic study, afternoons of physical training, and evenings of table service. She grows fond of Sir Myles of Olau, the eccentric knight who teaches history. After two days, overwhelmed, Alanna orders Coram to pack so they can leave. He calls her a quitter and pretends to comply but never actually packs. She grudgingly stays, and weeks stretch into months.

On a free morning, Alanna and Gary meet George Cooper, who reveals himself as the King of the Thieves, ruler of Corus's criminal underworld. George possesses the Gift, a magical ability, and offers his friendship. He becomes a vital ally.

Ralon continues tormenting Alanna in private, eventually breaking her arm. She trains in secret with Coram and learns street fighting from George. After weeks of preparation, she challenges Ralon publicly and defeats him decisively. Ralon leaves Court, and Jonathan formally offers Alanna his friendship.

A deadly, magically caused plague called the Sweating Fever strikes the palace. Francis of Nond dies, and Alanna is wracked with guilt for not using her healing Gift, which she has feared and avoided. When Jonathan falls gravely ill, Alanna enlists Myles to clear the Prince's room of courtiers and death-priests, clergy who attend the dying. She reveals her healing Gift to Duke Baird, the Chief Healer, and applies natural remedies for hours. When those fail, she turns to sorcery, invoking the Great Mother Goddess. A divine voice tells her to call Jonathan back. Taking his hands, she descends into a space between life and death and confronts the Dark God. She tells the God he cannot have Jonathan. The shadow withdraws, and Jonathan recovers. Alanna collapses into a three-day sleep.

By the following spring, Alanna's body begins to change. She binds her developing chest and refuses to swim. Duke Roger of Conté, Jonathan's charming cousin and a powerful sorcerer, arrives to teach sorcery and investigate the fever's source. Alanna feels an immediate, inexplicable unease toward Roger. When he interviews her to test for the Gift, she suspects he tried to probe her mind, but her own magic shields her.

George finds Alanna a golden mare she names Moonlight. She begins formal sword training but freezes during her first freestyle duel. Humiliated, she drills alone every morning and night with Coram's oversized sword, determined to master the weapon through repetition.

On the morning of May fifth, Alanna awakens to blood on her sheets and panics. She rides to the city and confesses to George that she is a girl. George takes her to his mother, Mistress Cooper, a former priestess and healer, who explains menstruation and tells Alanna the Goddess has marked her for a hard path.

Compelled by recurring dreams, Myles invites Alanna to explore ruins left by the Old Ones, a vanished civilization, on his estate. In a sealed underground chamber, she finds a crystal-hilted sword. A hostile darkness wraps around her, and she fights until her strength is spent. At the moment she accepts death, the crystal blazes to life, driving back the darkness. She names the sword Lightning.

Duke Roger examines Lightning with visible alarm. A smuggled letter from Thom warns that Roger eliminates rival sorcerers and was one of only three powerful enough to have caused the Sweating Fever. Only Jonathan stands between Roger and the throne. Alanna practices advanced sorcery in secret, including a defensive spell called the Wall of Power.

When the king decides Jonathan's company should ride south to the Great Southern Desert to learn about the Bazhir, the desert tribesmen, Jonathan arranges for Alanna to join. During a duel observed by Duke Gareth, she draws on months of solitary practice to disarm Geoffrey of Meron, a fellow page, winning cheers from her peers. Before departure, Duke Roger warns the group about the Black City, an ancient cursed place. He claims he would never dare challenge whatever dwells there, but his manner practically dares Jonathan to prove himself braver.

At Persopolis, the desert outpost, Ali Mukhtab, the Bazhir governor, explains that the Nameless Ones were ancient immortals who stole the souls of the Bazhir. The Bazhir rebelled and burned the city, turning the land to desert, but the immortals still lure Bazhir youth to their deaths. A prophecy foretells that two gods will enter the City to end the immortals' power.

Before dawn, Alanna finds Jonathan slipping out of his room. He planned this expedition all along and brought her because he knew she would come. They ride into the Black City, where 10 impossibly tall beings appear in the central temple: the Ysandir, immortals who have fed on mortal souls for centuries. Alanna draws Lightning, whose crystal forces the Ysandir back. Ylanda, one of the immortals, uses magic to strip Alanna's clothing, exposing her female body. The Ysandir mock the idea of a girl protecting a prince. Alanna declares she can fight as well as any boy, and Jonathan hands her his tunic, asking only her real name.

They grip hands, combine their magic, and raise the Wall of Power, destroying most of the Ysandir. The leaders, Ylon and Ylanda, shatter the Wall with a word of command. A divine voice tells Alanna to trust the sword. She duels Ylon blade to blade and shatters his weapon. Jonathan speaks a word of command, and blue-violet fire consumes the last two immortals.

At a nearby oasis, Alanna tells Jonathan the full truth: her identity, the switch with Thom, and who else knows her secret. Jonathan accepts everything and insists her secret is safe. When Alanna suggests Roger engineered his warning to lure Jonathan to his death, the Prince defends his cousin. Alanna disagrees privately. Jonathan formally asks her to be his squire, and she accepts, pledging her life and sword. The narrative ends by signaling the start of Alanna's larger journey.