Page 53 of Maleen

“Sorry, I didn’t expect that wave of emotion,” I laugh, “Ignore me. Anyway, this is the reason we came here: information—hopefully. So let’s get going. I have a feeling we are going to be spending a lot of time here.”

Rozen groans. “You’re lucky you’re my friend, Rav. This is a lot of parchment…”

“You’ll be fine,” I smile as I step further into the library. Towering shelves surround us, and as I glance up I see the stunning stained glass domed ceiling with depictions of every creature and being from Damorleia: brownies, pixies, faeries, fae, satyrs, dragons, gryphons, goblins, creatures of the sea and so much more. Somehow it survived everything.

“Can I help you? Oh! I’m so sorry, Princess Maeven!” An elderly female satyr bows deeply before straightening, pushing up her rounded glasses onto her nose. “I was hoping you would come by.”

“Librarian Merriwhether!” I gasp as I run toward her, pulling her in for a hug. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come back to Maleen sooner, I didn’t know!”

“Hush, young one. It was all how it was meant to be. Your mother’s plan worked then?” She glances behind me, her eyes widening in shock. “Queen Calantha?”

“No sorry, I’m Cynder.” Her pale pink eyes dart to me in panic.

“Librarian Merriwhether, this is my younger sister Cynder. And I’m not sure how well her plan worked. I think we have a lot to talk about. You knew?”

She stares at my sister, eyes wide for a moment before she nods. “Yes, I suppose we do. Come, we can have this discussion in a more private setting.” She turns and I follow her through the stacks of tomes and scrolls, deeper into the wealth of knowledge that has accumulated here for centuries.

“What was that about?” Cynder whispers while keeping one eye on my fledglinghood tutor and friend.

“You look like our mother when she was younger. I’ll see if I can find some paintings for you, if you want?” I whisper back as we weave deeper into the library. I swear you can get lost in here. It’s probably the only place I would be happy getting lost in, if I’m honest.

She dips her head. “I would like that. Thank you.”

Finally we stop at one of the study rooms I used to receive my lessons in, and we all file through the door, taking seats around the table.

“Where should we start?” Merriwhether ponders as she glances at my friends and I.

“Probably at the beginning. How long did you know of this plan? How long was she aware that the city would fall?”

She sighs. “She had speculated that it was a possibility about a year before it all happened. Maybe longer? That I’m not too sure on, but once the Gallalaus fae started to go missing, your mother became paranoid. She was in here all hours of the night researching anything to do with ancient magick and beings from other realms. Either that or traveling to lost parts of Damorleia with her consorts. We castle staff… We worried for her. We worried for our wellbeing, too. Some families moved out of Maleen back to their provinces of origin, while others stayed, trusting the Queen to protect them from whatever she was preparing for. See, we all knew something was amiss, but she kept the details closely guarded… until a week before the Winter Solstice."

“What happened a week before?” Lennox asks, taking the question right out of my mouth.

She taps her finger on the table before answering. “Lord Craven came to visit. It was brief, but it did enough to have her come running to me. She told me that if things took a turn for the worst, that if she couldn’t fix her mistake, she would hide you, but she needed someone within these walls to tell you the truth when you could come back. She thought she wouldn’t make it after she got the barrier up.” Merriwhether pauses, taking a shuddering breath. “Your mother wouldn’t tell me where she was sending you, or who with. Just that she put things in motion so that one day, you would find your way back here. She told me she found a being hidden somewhere in Damorleia that gave her a spell to cast the barrier around the city, but it would come at a cost.”

“A spell? Like out of a fantasy book? Spells aren’t real,” Ember states, bewildered.

Merriwhether stares her down. “There are more secrets within these lands than you could ever fathom. There were legends of witches who used to roam this world with us, with demons and other beings, or so it is told. But as the legends go, they’ve moved on to other worlds and realms, although some say that some of their magick still lingers here, if you know where to look.”

“And the Soul Stone?” I ask, my mind still reeling with what my old teacher has just told us.

“Ah yes. The histories of that artifact have been muddied over time. You see, there was a Queen who asked the Fates for a weapon so powerful it could protect all of fae-kind from the demons that ravished our realm a millennia ago. The stories say that the Fates granted it to her. That only her fae line could wield it with a great cost. At least, those are the stories we were told.”

“Well that much seems true,” Roz mutters.

“But there’s also stories that say it was never a gift from the Fates, rather that it was meant to destroy our entire race. A gift of truce from the demons that was actually a curse. Some say it’s both. That it could help and hinder… But the stone was lost eons ago. So call me shocked when your mother comes in here and demands to know everything about it. That it was hidden right here, in the depths of the castle, the entire time until it was separated and hidden around the realm, only to be stolen.” She eyes my neck where my necklace once sat. “But I suppose you know that much, since you have regained your memories, so at least that part of your mother’s plan has worked.”

My fingertips softly touch my throat. “I suppose so.” My mind reels with all this new information and how it can be pieced together to help us, but first I owe Merriwhether my tale. “Gretchen, my mother’s handmaiden, died before I was old enough for her to tell me the truth of my mother’s master plan.” And I’m cursing my mother for falling into a coma before giving me all the answers, leaving me to clean up her mess. So I continue, telling her the basics of my story, right up to when we found my mother being held captive by Lord Craven, that she confessed to finding out about her pregnancy with Cynder the night of the winter solstice, but disaster befell the city before she could tell our fathers. How Craven has been using the stone to wield wraiths, so on so forth.

“I need all the books she checked out from this library. I need to retrace her steps and find out any information regarding the Stones and bonds.”

She peers at me, puzzled. “You already know all about the stone, though.”

I place my clasped hands on the table and lean in. “Yes, but not how to destroy it.”

MERRIWHETHER has found us an array of books that could have answers, along with the last hundred or so scrolls, tomes and such that my mother had checked out before everything happened. Titles ranging from ‘Rare Creatures and Their Uses’ to ‘Herbology: A Healer’s Guide’ . She even had books of myths and legends. But the one currently resting in my hands is a book on bonds, which is so much thicker than the one at Phixmery.

“What are you waiting for, Rav? Are you going to open it?” Nero prompts, hopping across the table.