by Cadman, Dean
“Sure. Come on. Let me help you up,” he replied, helping her to her feet. Neala was keen to get out of the room, and hastily headed for the exit, where she waited for Lusam to join her.
Lusam walked towards the door absent-mindedly, still carrying the book clutched tightly to his chest. As he reached the threshold of the door, another force-field suddenly came in to being, and catapulted him back inside the room. The book vanished from his hands and reappeared on the pedestal again, as he landed with a thud on the floor at the base of the pedestal.
“Ouch!” he said stunned, then slowly started to stand up again.
“Are you okay?” Neala asked desperately from the doorway, obviously afraid to test if the force-field was still active.
“Yeah, I'm fine thanks,” he replied, dusting off his clothes for the second time in as many minutes. Lusam walked back over to the door, and gingerly reached out towards where the force-field had just thrown him across the room. Hoping he wasn't now trapped in the room, he was very relieved to find that the force-field was now gone.
“Hmm … I guess whoever placed that book here didn't want it to leave this room. It seems I can walk out without the book just fine, but not with it.” As he turned to take one last look at the strange book, the illuminated walls fell into darkness, and the stone door began its long slow closing process.
On their way back to the book room Lusam was trying to make sense of what was now in his head. He was sure he knew the entire contents of the book somehow, and yet he didn't fully understand it. As time passed, it became easier for him to pick out individual pieces of information that he had absorbed magically from the strange book. From simple spells, to extremely complex spells, he seemed to know them all in exquisite detail.
As they entered the book room, Neala asked, “What did you mean back there when you said you knew things?”
“I was just thinking about that myself. To be honest, it's very hard even for me to understand.” He stood still thinking for a few moments before continuing. “I was thinking maybe the book was some kind of special training tool. One that the monks used to teach themselves how to use magic. I'm not really sure why, but I get the feeling it's much more than that for some strange reason,” he said, taking a seat at the writing desk.
“I don’t suppose it taught you a fast way to clear this book mountain?” Neala said laughing, nodding towards the huge stack of books that were still piled high in the corner of the room. Searching his new found knowledge he replied, “Actually, maybe I could speed up things a little. I discovered how to levitate things. So I could levitate the piles of books from over in the corner, and save us having to carry them by hand. That would save us some time and effort.”
Lusam stood up from behind his writing desk and, without waiting for a reply from Neala, he recalled the spell for levitating objects. As began formulating the spell in his mind, a pile of around twenty large books levitated off the floor and started to float towards them. Neala jumped backwards, out of the path the books seemed to be taking, just as they started to wobble.
CRASH!
The books came tumbling down in a huge jumbled mess all over the floor.
“Oops … Sorry,” Lusam said, looking a little embarrassed.
Neala rolled her eyes at the mess, and replied, “Seems like you need to practise that a bit more.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” he agreed. He tried to think of an analogy to fit the way it felt to try and use the magic the book had forced into his brain. He thought for a couple of minutes, and then decided the best way he could describe how it felt was to say, “It's like believing you already know how to ride a horse, but only because you've been told how to do it, or you've seen it done by others many times before, but without actual practice riding the horse itself, you're likely to fall off a lot. If that makes any sense to you?”
“Yeah, I suppose it does,” Neala agreed, then after thinking a moment she added, “Why don't you practise in the large chamber in the evenings, after my reading lessons?”
“That sounds great, as long as you're not going to be too bored. If you are, I suppose you could always explore the rest of this place while I practise my magic,” Lusam said.
“No chance!” she replied very hastily. Then after a few seconds, when her natural instinct to find hidden treasure had obviously caught up with her again, she added, “Well, maybe I could just take a little look around, just to see if I can find anything interesting.”
Lusam laughed at her, and he started to pick up the books he had dropped on the floor. “Just stay well away from any secret doors with big stars on them, and I'm sure you'll be just fine.”
“That's not funny! I was really worried about you,” Neala said. Then, keeping him guessing, she added, “I'm glad you're not stuck in that room forever anyway … it would have been hard for me to get paid from Mr Daffer, with you being the only person who can read here.” She quickly turned away from him so he couldn't see the amused look on her face, and started picking up books with her back to him. “Hey!” he said, in a pretend hurt voice. He crept up behind her and tickled her sides with both hands. Neala squealed and dropped the books on the floor again with a echoing crash, spinning around quickly, and coming face to face with Lusam. He didn't release his grip, and they found themselves standing very close to each other, gazing into each others eyes for what seemed like hours. Then he leant forward and gently kissed her perfect lips, before whispering, “Thank you for being worried about me.”
“You're welcome,” she whispered back breathlessly. Then she pulled him even closer, and gave him a much more passionate kiss than he had ever thought possible.
That night he took one of the large books to his room. He knew there wasn't much chance of him sleeping after kissing Neala like that. All he could think about were her soft lips, and the way she felt pressed against him while they kissed. He really was falling in love with her, and hoped beyond hope, that she felt the same way about him. He hadn't had very much, if any, experience when it came to girls. Growing up on the streets gave you a different set of priorities. Like where your next meal was coming from, or how to survive the latest winter storm. He didn't know if Neala had any more experience than he did, but he guessed her life must have been far less restrictive in recent years than his had been. It was Seventh-day tomorrow, a rest day, when they both usually went for a walk in the forest. Neala had enjoyed their first trip to the forest so much, she had asked to go back several times since. Lusam would have been happy to go anywhere with Neala. Just being in her company made him feel happy. But the forest had always had a special place in his heart, and so he looked forward to their weekly trip with even more enthusiasm. The book he had brought with him to his sleeping cell was very thick and heavy, but he hadn't intended to read it.
Lusam thought that several of the spells he had acquired might be especially useful in their current situation. Part of it however, required him to be proficient with the levitation spell, the one he had failed at so miserably earlier that day, so he spent the first part of the night practising levitating the book off his bed. After a couple of hours he became very good at the spell, and decided to visit the book room to collect more books. He was curious to find out if it took more effort as the weight and number of objects were increased.
He stood up from his bed and reached for the lantern, before realising he no longer needed a lantern. With a single thought, an extremely bright sphere of light flared into existence right in front of his face, almost blinding him. He quickly cancelled the spell and returned his room back to its normal light level again. All he could see were white spots dancing in front of his eyes wherever he looked. Re-examining his knowledge of the spell, he realised that he should have created the orb above himself, and far less bright. It seemed even the simplest of spells needed a certain amount of practice to perfect them.
After ten minutes his vision seemed to have returned to normal, and he decided to try again. This time the light orb appeare
d above him, but the light level was still too high, so concentrating, he dimmed it to an appropriate level. Smiling to himself, he started to leave his room, only to realise the light orb had remained where he had created it. Searching his new found wealth of knowledge, he quickly applied the spell that would make the light orb follow him, and he set off again towards the book room.
When he arrived at the book room, he started his experiment by lifting a small pile of three books that were already stacked neatly on the floor. They started to float up into the air, just like the single book had done so many times in his room. Whilst moving them around the room, he found it took only fractionally more energy to move the three books, than it had the single book.
He spent the next hour or so lifting an ever increasing number of books, until he was unable to lift any more. He had found his current limit—but he was still very impressed at the number he could lift at any one time. He also noticed that moving the location of a large number of books, required more energy than just levitating them. The distance from where he was trying to levitate the books also increased the energy required, as did the number of items: if there were ten books in a pile, it was much easier to move the whole pile, than it would have been to move ten single books laid out on the floor individually.
The use of his new magical abilities had certainly had an effect on his body too. He now felt so tired he could almost have imagined he had actually moved all those books by hand, and would have been happy to have just slept where he stood. Yawning loudly, he turned and headed back to his cell. He decided that he would at least try and get some sleep, even if it was only for the few remaining hours of night that were left to him. Almost as soon as his body touched the mattress he was asleep, and dreaming of a certain girl now close to his heart.
The next morning Neala was up at her usual time, but noticed Lusam was still sleeping soundly as she past his sleeping cell. She decided not to disturb him, and instead go out to the market and get the provisions that they would need for their weekly trip to the forest. She always enjoyed visiting the market in the early mornings. It had been part of her daily duties back in Stelgad, when she'd lived in the thieves' guild known as the Crows. She had always been the one who would visit the various local traders, and arrange for the food to be delivered to a warehouse that was secretly owned by the Crows' guild. Locally the warehouse was believed to be a simple storage facility. One that would supply the local riverboat captains and road caravans with fresh produce, but in reality, it was used to supply the Crows' guild. Acquiring food using this method greatly reduced the risk of a rival guild poisoning the food supply, as it wasn't delivered directly to their guild headquarters. Some of the food was in fact sold to various riverboat captains and merchants to keep up the illusion of a supply warehouse, but most of it was destined for the dining hall of the Crows' guild.
Neala knew the freshest and best produce was always available first thing in the mornings at any market. Freshly baked breads, firm ripe fruits and vegetables were all easy to obtain, if you got to the market early enough. Being Seventh-day meant she would have to visit the market in the west quarter of town. The wealthy people chose not to work on the Seventh-day, instead having a day of rest, but it was never an option for the poorer people of the city, who always had to work hard to make enough to live.
As Neala left the book shop and turned to walk down the cobbled street towards the market in the west district, she couldn't help feeling sad at the loss of her friends and colleagues at the Crows' guild. She had spent her entire life growing up among them. And although she had never received the kind of love a normal family might give their child, she was not ill-treated in any way either. She often wondered if any of them had survived that awful night. Maybe a few lucky ones had been out on guild business, or running errands like she had been. Before meeting Lusam she had thought about going back to Stelgad almost daily, to see if anyone had survived, but knew it would be a death sentence for her if she tried. Somehow, it didn't seem to hurt as much now she'd met Lusam. Realising this was the first time she had thought about her old guild in a long time, she allowed herself a brief smile, and continued towards the marketplace.
One thing she did miss from her old life in the guild however, were the tools of her trade. She had been forced to leave everything that she owned at her old headquarters and flee the city that fateful night. The thing she missed most of all was her thick leather belt, which held her finely balanced throwing knives. When Neala first arrived in Helveel, she had fully intended to replace the throwing knives and belt, using the money she'd got from selling the stolen horse. That plan, however, didn't work out for her, as she was refused entry to one of the local guilds, and had to spend what little money she had simply to survive. Although her current job of sorting books was far less dangerous than the life of a thief, she still felt half-naked and vulnerable without the reassuring weight of her trusty throwing knives at her waist.
Having found everything she needed at the early market, Neala headed back to the the book shop with a spring in her step. She enjoyed going to the forest so much with Lusam. She always felt relaxed there, as if she belonged somehow. It was hard to explain, but in a town or city, she had always been aware of everyone and everything around her, what they were doing, how they were acting and what they were looking at. It was a good trait for any member of a thieves' guild to have: being fully aware of your surroundings, usually helped keep you alive. She never realised just how tense she must have always been in towns and cities, until she first visited the forest with Lusam, and was able to truly relax for the first time in her life.
Entering the shop she saw Lucy behind the counter writing some information down on a piece of parchment.
“Good morning Lucy,” Neala said with a smile.
“Good morning to you too,” Lucy replied in a quiet voice.
“Is everything okay Lucy? You don’t sound yourself today.”
“I’m not feeling too well at the moment, I'm afraid. Probably just a chill,” Lucy replied, with a slightly forced smile. “I hope you feel better soon. If you need anything, just let me know. I don't mind going to the apothecary if you need any medicine to make you feel better,” Neala offered.
“That’s very kind of you Neala, but I'm sure I'll be fine, thank you.”
“Okay, if you change your mind later, you know where I am,” Neala said, before heading to the stairs of the underground chamber.
Neala made her way straight to the book room, expecting to find Lusam working there while she had been gone, but she found the room was empty. When she reached his cell, she found him still in bed, asleep. Worried he might be ill too, she tried to wake him up gently, but he didn't seem to stir. All manner of things flashed through her head, not least of which involved the previous day's strange encounter with the book in the hidden room. Maybe it had damaged him in some way. Almost panicking, she grabbed his shoulder and tried to shake him awake. With a groan, he turned towards her, and with tired-looking eyes squinting against the light, he asked, “What's up? Wha … What time is it?”
Relieved to see him awake and well, she relaxed a little before replying, “It's mid-morning sleepy head. Time to get up. Don’t forget we're going to the forest today.”
The first thing Lusam noticed sitting up in bed was the enormous headache he'd woken up with, and his stomach felt emptier than he could ever remember. Seeing the parcels of food in Neala's hand was more than his stomach could take, and it let out a huge rumble.
“Good thing I went out and bought us some breakfast by the sounds of that,” she said, nodding towards his over-active stomach.
“Oh, breakfast sounds wonderful!” he said, still eyeing the parcels like a hungry wolf.
After they had eaten breakfast he felt much better. Even his headache had almost subsided completely by the time they were ready to leave for their day out in the forest. Outside, there were the first signs of spring in the air. The sun was shining, and the first batch
of insects had hatched and were flying around clumsily in the cool morning air, as they always did that time of year. He was under no illusions however, he knew even though it was a warm springlike day today, it could be snowing this time tomorrow if the wind changed direction again. The weather this close to the mountains was always unpredictable, but especially so during early spring and late autumn.
Lusam was hoping that last night with Neala, in the book room, was something that would be repeated again, and sooner rather than later if he had any choice in the matter. He tried to think of something intelligent to say to her. Something that wouldn't sound too forward, but everything he came up with in his mind, he thought, made him sound like a complete fool. He eventually decided to just take the plunge and hold her hand, which to his great relief, she didn't seem to mind at all.
They left Helveel via the east gate as usual, and headed towards the bridge that crossed the river, still holding hands. Once they had crossed the bridge Lusam asked,“Would you mind if we walked along the river for a while before we go into the forest today?”
“Sure, no problem. Something on your mind?” Neala asked.
“No. Not really. I was thinking last night that maybe I could combine several of my new spells to help us out a little.”
“Help us out … in what way?” she asked curiously.
“Well, Mr Daffer's job is fine, but it won't last forever. So last night I was thinking about how my new spells could earn us a living in the future. The obvious would be at carnivals performing magic tricks, but I was always told never to reveal my power to anyone, because it could be very dangerous for me.”
“But, you showed me your magic in the forest with the animals,” Neala said.
“Yes, but you're different. I trust you,” he said smiling at her. He gestured for them to sit down on the bank of the river, and she sat down beside him.
“So what's your idea? I hope it doesn’t involve levitating anything,” she said giggling to herself.