by Quil Carter
Then Ben looked up, questioning why he could see a silver glow shining upon the painted floors. Above him was an octagon skylight centered in the middle of the library, with smaller window panels inside of it, held in place by thin oak dividers that separated each pane into a diamond shape.
It was all so hauntingly beautiful, but it echoed a sadness that made Ben’s heart hurt.
Ben found himself walking towards the large staircase that led them to the second level mezzanine. Without thinking he gently picking up an unravelled scroll and attempted to roll it back up, though to his dismay the paper started to crumble in his hand.
“This seems like such a tragedy… I hope Korivander tries to restore this place,” Ben whispered.
“It is,” Taelie said back. Her blue eyes looked silver in the faint moonlight shining down through the stained skylight windows; Ben was sure he could see the corners of her eyes glisten. “You two should have seen it before Queen Aurellei died, it would’ve suited Lelander himself.”
“This must’ve taken lifetimes to make,” Teal whispered.
“And a single evening to destroy,” Ben replied solemnly.
The three were silent for a moment, before Taelie spoke. “Well, I’ll let you do whatever you’re here to do. I won’t ask questions. That’s the first thing the Shadows of Azrayne teach you.” She inclined her head to the two. “Is there anything else you need?”
“We’re okay here,” Teal said, then he reached into his pocket and pulled out two silverlings. “There you go, for understanding our need for silence.”
This brought a smirk to Taelie’s lips. “You’re friends of Malagant, I know you’re not here to do ill. Anagin was a prophecy walker and a great elf. He saved Alcove from the demenos of Evercove and my family as well. It is my duty as an Ahren to aid any Ahris and a friend of the Ahris family.” Taelie slipped the silverlings into her pocket before adding, “For a silverling or two.” And with one last smile she disappeared out the carved door.
“Well, she’s helpful at least,” Teal said. He walked to the center of the library and looked up at a tall statue of a Lelander drawing a bow. That statue seemed to be a common one in the castle and the outer grounds. “A lot more helpful than our drunken companion.”
Ben walked to a nearby bookshelf, trying not to feel discouraged. Though Taelie had said the scribes and auchtrs had removed a lot of important books there were still many remaining, thousands possibly from the looks of it.
“I’m surprised she didn’t burst into flames with how you were looking at her,” Ben said. He ran a finger down the spine of a red book but it looked to be a book about different types of minerals, nothing to do with a prophecy that was for sure.
Teal mumbled something Ben couldn’t hear, and probably wasn’t meant to hear. It was amusing and a bit cute to see how possessive Teal could get. It would’ve been interesting if it was Desa hitting on him and not Taelie. Desa would’ve probably ended up with a knife sticking out of his back before the evening was over.
The mental image of Teal attacking and killing Desa out of misplaced jealousy was amusing.
Ben turned from the shelf of books he was looking at and started walking towards the stairs leading to the partial second floor, curiosity was making him want to check it out. “Any idea what this book would look like?” Ben asked as he started walking up the stairs. He was about to grab onto the railing when he recoiled. A spider looked back at him from the railing and to Ben’s cringing horror he saw it had black wings with red stripes. A shudder ran up his back and he picked up his pace.
“I… I assume it would be the same as the Anean Prophecies, but I’m not sure,” Teal called from the first floor, his voice echoing. Ben glanced down and saw Teal wiping the fronts of the books with his surcoat, the black fabric already showing a grey stain.
Ben craned his head to see if he could hear Léaun and Laugin scream.
“Well at least–” Ben paused midsentence as he saw a flicker of silver in the corner of his eye. He jerked his head over to the area it was coming from but saw nothing.
Cautiously he stepped onto the second floor, the fine hairs on his forearms prickling. He turned to tell Teal what he’d seen when he saw another flicker of shimmering silver.
Then he saw it. It was a small silver fox-like creature. It had huge tufted ears like a lynx and a more rounded muzzle than a normal fox. The little creature was looking at Ben with deep blue eyes full of curiosity.
“Hello, little thing,” Ben said in a soft, non-threatening tone; he wondered in the back of his head if he was about to get his throat torn out. He didn’t even have anything to defend himself with, but at least the animal seemed small enough to take if it came to that.
The fox didn’t seem to be interested in attacking Ben though. It rose up onto two legs like it was excited about something, then turned and scampered down a dark isle with hundreds of books on either side. When it was a quarter of the way down it turned around and reared up again.
Ben looked suspiciously at it. It seemed to want him to follow it.
“This goes against everything I’ve been taught, but… alright,” Ben whispered to it. He could hear Teal on the first level dusting off books and mumbling to himself.
The fox squinted its eyes, and as Ben approached it started trotting forward, leading Ben down what seemed like a never-ending isle of bookshelves, every book covered in grey and looking practically the same.
Finally the fox stopped in front of one of the bookcases. The books in this case were all thick tomes that looked like they had sat undisturbed for centuries instead of under two decades.
The fox put its two front paws onto the bookshelf and started sniffing the books, little puffs of grey coming from its nose as it disturbed the settled dust. The fox even sneezed which made Ben smile, it was kind of a cute little thing.
Then the fox stopped on the third shelf from the bottom. It nudged one of the books with its nose and huffed, a large plume of dust blew off of the book showing some silver writing.
“This one, eh?” Ben whispered. He picked up the book and was surprised to see that it didn’t weigh nearly as much as it should have. Taking that as a good sign, Ben wiped the dust off of the cover and held it out to examine it.
It was made of stiff black leather with a silver border, the border framed silvery rune-like writing that Ben, of course, couldn’t read.
This seemed to be it… well, Ben wasn’t sure but if he could wager a guess it did look prophecy-like.
With a smile, Ben leaned down and patted the fox on the head. “Thanks, little guy, you’re pretty adorable for a demigod.”
Ben chuckled as the fox narrowed its eyes at Ben.
“You’re getting smarter,” Kelakheva’s voice echoed in Ben’s head. Then, with a wink, he turned and bounded off down the aisle and into the darkness.
“Look what I found!” Ben said proudly, holding up the now completely dust-free book to Teal. Teal was crouched down in front of a bookshelf with many dusted off books in his wake.
Teal looked at Ben suspiciously. He rose and the suspicious look turned to one of complete doubt.
“How can you tell?” Teal said, eyeing the dusted off book.
“Oh, a certain demigod came and showed me. He was looking rather precious as well; he was in the form of a little silver fox with deep blue eyes,” Ben said as he handed Teal the book.
Teal’s eyes widened, suddenly taking Ben a lot more serious. “Kelakheva sometimes takes the form of a flyn fox. You really saw him?” Teal looked to the second level but then he seemed to remember he was holding the prophecies in his hand. “This is amazing.” Then he raised his voice. “Thank you, Kelakheva.”
They fell silent, but, of course, no one answered them back. The forlorn and abandoned library seemed to grow colder and darker when there were no voices to break up the deafening silence.
“Should we look now, or wait for Malagant?” Teal asked. He started thumbing through the crisp white pag
es as if hoping he would accidently stumble upon their own prophecy.
“Wait for Malagant; he would be crestfallen if he missed it,” Ben said. Together they left the library and, after carefully closing the door behind them, they started walking back to the main areas of Lelan Castle. Ben had tried to memorize their path since Taelie was no longer there to help them, but if they got lost there was always a guard nearby to help them.
“You’re right,” Teal said with a sigh. “I feel like I’m rewarding him for getting drunk off his ass though. We should read the prophecy passage and start heading to Lazarius just to teach him a lesson.”
“You decided to get drunk, no saving Alcove for you!” Ben said. Teal laughed, holding the prophecy book in his arms like it was a bucket of gold; and if what was written there were the words of the gods, and the new writing of the demigod, perhaps it was more valuable than gold.
“I’m going to put this into our quarters and we can head back to the party,” Teal said. “We can try and drag Malagant back.”
Ben nodded. “I badly need to take a piss. You drop off the book and I’ll join you at the party.” When Teal gave him a nervous look Ben rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine, it’s just the bathroom. Get us some more dessert food and silverwine and we can celebrate our success.”
Teal thought for a long moment before he relented. “Okay, I’ll meet you there. Don’t be long!”
After shaking off Teal, Ben started walking towards one of the several hallway bathrooms he had been introduced to while they stayed in Lelan Castle.
The hallways were deserted of everyone, even the guards. All elves were enjoying themselves at the hall, relaxing for the first time in Anea knows how long. It was strange to see but Ben found himself enjoying taking his time. When he was walking the halls it was usually with Teal and Malagant and he never got time to admire the beautiful artwork, the statues, or even just the glowing rocks that added the warm light to the long corridors.
Ben stood in front of a golden-framed painting, twice his height and five times as wide. It was of a castle with peaked roofs and the green and gold Lelan flag which depicted a cat Ben now knew as a mikau surrounded by laurel leaves, flying on top of the peaked towers. Behind the castle were green forests and farther back a blue ocean with waves that crashed against smaller grey islands.
How these elves can paint such things is beyond me, Ben thought to himself. I can barely wield a sword, why the prophecies chose a talentless hack like me is anyone’s guess.
However they did chose an even less talented hack to lead Alcove.
Fucking gods’ games…
All of a sudden Ben saw the door he was walking past open, before he had time to react a hand reached out and grabbed the collar of his surcoat. Ben gave a startled yelp as he was pulled into the room and thrown backwards.
Ben stumbled; he whirled around to face his attacker, when an elf with blond hair and burning blue eyes, cupped a hand over his mouth and roughly slammed him against the wall.
It was Prince Taugis.
“What the hell do you want?” Ben asked, his voice muffled by the prince’s hand. Taugis removed his hand but only to get a better hold on Ben’s surcoat. With a face twisted in a sneer full of hatred he slammed Ben against the wall again.
“Listen to me, human,” Taugis growled, shaking Ben back and forth. Ben’s jaw clenched; he resisted the urge to punch the smug-faced bitch of a prince in the mouth and it took every ounce of restraint not to do so.
“I asked you what the fuck do you want?” Ben said lowly. Taugis slammed him against the wall a third time; Ben started to see red.
“Let’s get this straight, godless scum, I don’t like you, or my jester-fool of a cousin, nor your feral little hibrid friend,” Taugis snarled. “I’m watching you; got it, human? I’m watching you at every moment and if you cause problems for my family, or my kingdom and my kind; if you bring anything from your world into this one – I will kill you. I swear to Lelander, I will run my sword up your ass and roast you like the human pig you are.”
In a quick motion Ben raised his hands to Taugis’s chest and shoved him away. “I’m not a human anymore – I’m a hibrid,” Ben snapped as the prince stepped away from him. “I’m a hibrid in Alcove and a prophecy walker. I brought nothing of interest here and once I go home I’ll be staying home.”
Taugis’s sneering face twisted further into the depths of hatred. “Don’t make me send you back in pieces.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ben said lowly, giving the prince a look of distaste and disinterest. “I’ve dealt with little shits like you in my world too. You have to whip your cock out and flaunt it around to feel noticed. We have spare princes in my world as well, and they’re little cocksuckers just like you.”
Taugis stared at him for a moment, an expression of shock on his face. Ben laughed at this. “Oh, surprised I’m insulting you back? Not used to us lowly peasants standing up for ourselves? Go fuck yourself, spare prince, and let the grown elves save Alcove.”
“Say that again?” Taugis snarled. And as Ben opened the door to leave the empty room the prince suddenly charged at him. Ben shifted out of the way and let Taugis barrel past him before, with his shoulders trembling in rage, he faced Ben.
“I will run you–” Taugis suddenly stopped, looking past Ben. Ben looked too and saw two guards holding torches, slowly walking down the corridor; they must be on patrol.
A part of Ben was disappointed in the interruption; he was ready to beat the shit out of the smug prince. But when Taugis stalked past him, towards the end of the corridor, Ben saw the hilt of a dagger flicker in the luma lamp’s light, so perhaps he had just lucked out of getting stabbed. No doubt Taugis had no honour to him; he’d run his knife between Ben’s ribs and dump his body down the toilet hole.
Ben glared at the prince as Taugis walked past the guards, his fists clenched and his heart rapidly thrumming in his chest. He knew that this wasn’t over, but for tonight, it was.
“Fucking tosser,” Ben growled under his breath, before he started walking back to the party.
21
“Let me sleep more,” Malagant’s weak and rather whiney voice moaned from underneath a pillow he had over his head. It was well-past morning and Ben had just come back from the dining hall with Teal, their stomachs stuffed with eggs, toasted bread, and dried fruit. They had brought a large bowl of porridge back for Malagant; Ben had seen several rather green-looking lords eating the same.
“It’s not our fault you decided to get drunk and make a fool out of yourself last night,” Ben said, setting the porridge down on a wooden table beside Malagant’s bed. Malagant was wearing nothing but his skivs, his exposed skin clammy and flushed from the heat of the room. “Come on and eat something. We have to show you something.”
“Don’t talk so loud!” Malagant whined, his voice muffled from the pillow. Then with a weak lift of his head he gave Ben a half-asleep look. “How did I make a fool out of myself?”
Ben exchanged smirks with Teal. “You were singing away with the lords and highborns at the party, just singing your little heart out. I even heard from Eliander and Migheer that after we left you even danced on the table.”
Malagant blinked slowly; his black hair tangled and tussled with several pieces stuck to his sweaty grey face.
“Liar,” he said.
Teal gave Malagant a toothy grin and slowly shook his head back and forth. He seemed to be enjoying this immensely. “Nope, a crowned prince wouldn’t lie. Do you remember making out with Lordling Tadd Tydis?”
Malagant’s dark blue eyes widened and, finally unable to help himself, Ben burst out laughing at his friend’s shocked look. “T-Tadd Tydis? You’re kidding me. Teal Fennic, you tell me you’re joking with me right now!”
Teal’s eyes found the ceiling and his mouth pursed to the side. He let it hang for several more moments before he grinned. “Yeah, I’m kidding. Eliander told me the Tydis family has been trying to get Anagin to make you marry T
add, so I just had to.”
The relief was apparent on Malagant’s face, before it then turned into a scowl. “You’re a cruel hibrid, Teal.” Then he grabbed the pillow he had his head on and placed it over his face. “Now that I’ve established that… leave me alone, my head is sodomizing me.”
“You don’t want to find out what’s in the Anean Prophecies?” Ben asked in a singing voice. “We can look without you, which we will considering we’ve been holding off since last night due to your drunken ass.”
Like Ben had just promised Malagant the cure for a hangover, he slid the pillow off of his face.
“What?” He blinked as his brain tried to process this information. “You got it?”
“Without any help from you,” Teal said curtly. He snapped his fingers and the leather-bound book appeared in his hand. “Here, read it. And you owe me four silverlings, eegit. Two for having to hire Taelie Ahren to help us find the library, and two for getting drunk instead of helping us.”
Malagant slowly got into the sitting position. He reached down and picked up his trousers but, probably feeling too weak, he gave up and instead took the book from Teal.
“Go to the page Korivander was talking about,” Ben urged. “We’ve been waiting all night to go to it.”
“Well, thank you for holding off,” Malagant said, managing a smile. It was rather comical how hung-over and sickly he looked, sitting with the holy book of Anea in his skivs, drenched in sweat and smelling like old wine and sweat. Malagant not only needed a couple more hours rest, but a bath also wouldn’t hurt.
Ben decided his friend had suffered enough, he got up and walked into their living room to get Malagant a goblet of water.
On his way back with the goblet in hand, he heard Malagant exclaim. “Boys, we have writing!”