by A. Wrighton
Vylain grew silent again, leaving her no entry to ask about the rumors that the water not only healed, but also made its drinker addicted. She frowned, deciding to pursue that a different time – when the moonlight would linger far longer than tonight. She followed him down the short hall opposite the Prayer Chamber to a small doorway.
Vylain tapped twice and then pulled up the latch. “Come on then, I’ll introduce you to Brother Feynt," he said.
Kalyna followed Vylain through the wooden door and into a narrow hall reinforced with columns of stone and slats of wood. It was as if the cavern had eaten the original building and morphed into a hybrid of natural stone and man-made sensibilities. The hall itself was empty and too narrow to hold anything but rows of tiny oil lamps leading to a rickety staircase and another wooden door. Vylain took the flight of stairs in one step and turned to her.
“Knock twice and wait,” Vylain whispered. “And put that out.” He swatted at her flame again, much to her amusement.
Kalyna opened her lips to impart a brief but informative lecture that, while swatting at normal flames – though stupid and might actually work – Runic flames were a different matter entirely, but she was cut short by the creak of the turning doorknob. The door opened only slight enough for Vylain and Kalyna to pass through if they turned sideways and inhaled. It was immediately shut behind them and bolted. Brightly lit oil lamps stood around a table, illuminating rows of wood and rock shelves filled with books and scrolls. Kalyna exhaled in amazement.
“You had better have good reason for trespassing so close to sunrise.”
“Not you too, Brother Feynt… I always thought you were one of the good guys.”
Brother Feynt, a tall, scraggly man with no hair and bushy pepper-colored eyebrows smiled with half his lips. “What is it then, Vylain?”
“Brother Feynt, this is Kal. The Kalyna…. She’d like to ask you a question. Kalyna, this is Brother Feynt – Librarian of the Monastery.”
“Scribe, actually.”
“Same thing.”
Brother Feynt scoffed and then bowed astutely, his arms graciously wide to both sides of his form.
Kalyna curtsied and smiled. “Pleasure, Brother Feynt.”
“You look like you’re still in shock, young one.”
“I am.”
“What was it you wanted to know?”
“Oh! Right!” Kalyna rushed towards his table and sat down across from him. Brother Feynt cast Vylain an odd look as he too sat down. Vylain hid a telling smile and perched against the back wall.
“I was wondering if you had anything on more advanced Fire Runes.”
“Yes. Not as many as you might like though.”
“May I see them?”
“Of course,” Brother Feynt said as he stood and headed back to the shelves.
“And any on Earth Runes pertaining to plants?”
The monk paused and smiled before turning back for the rows of books.
“And anything on Air Runes and visibility?”
Brother Feynt exhaled sharply before disappearing into the rows of books and scrolls. “Well, at least I know I’ll be having some decent company quite often with the way you seem to go through these..." Feynt's voice grew more distant as he spoke, making it clear that while appearing small, the Library was unpredictably big.
Kalyna smiled. “Better than a Rogue’s, no doubt.”
“Oh, you’d be surprised.” Feynt’s voice grew nearer, again. “There are a few Rogues whose company I do savor,” he said as he reappeared with four books and one scroll uneasily topping the stack.
Vylain moved to help the monk, but the wobbly scroll teetered and spun towards the ground. Both men watched helplessly as the doomed scroll froze mid-fall and hovered. Kalyna smiled and bit back a laugh. The glass handles of the scroll swirled up the dropped paper and twirled fiercely to make itself neat again. It bobbed in the air for a final moment before gently coming to rest in Kalyna’s hands.
“These scrolls… they’re beautiful.”
“And quite irreplaceable.” Brother Feynt released his burden onto the desk and slid them towards her. “I thank you, Miss Kalyna.”
“I prefer Kal. And you’re welcome, Brother.”
“We’d best get back below Kal.”
“Right,” Kalyna said, gathering the scroll and books. She paused, hands nearly full, and waved at Brother Feynt.
He waved back happily out of character for any monk Kalyna could imagine.
“I’ll be seeing you soon. May They keep you both well.”
“And you,” Kalyna and Vylain echoed in unison.
Once the Library door sealed, Vylain hopped down the short flight of stairs and looked back with a zealous grin. “So Air, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Bet that comes in handy…”
“Only when I’m clumsy… so always.” Kalyna smiled to herself as they descended into the Rogue Cavern system.
Nodding, Vylain led them back to the Den. “For the record Kal, if Paine asks, I had nothing to do with these books. Not a thing.”
“Not a thing,” Kalyna echoed as she nestled the scroll under her left arm so she could kindle a flame in her right palm. “Our little secret.”
LIBRARY OF THE MOONS
MONASTERY OF THE SKY,
NORTHERN SOLERAN MOUNTAINS
“Watcher be, Brother Feynt! There isn’t one Runic spell here that has to do with anything but peace!”
Kalyna bit her tongue at how her words had escaped. Harsh. Violent. Angrily. Kalyna looked at Brother Feynt with shame on her face but he did not scold. He made no sign of movement. He sat motionlessly – a frozen roll of robes – until he finally rose and placed his aging hands on her shoulders. He meant it as a fatherly gesture, but it was a gesture Kalyna had no point of reference for and she instantly felt uncomfortable and jilted. The problem at hand was too great for a gesture to solve anyhow. It was too real. But, Kalyna did not move away from the touch. She did not want to hurt the one Brother who actually maintained a societal level of emotions and feelings towards her.
“Of course not, young Runic. This is, after all, a Monastery.”
She spun about in her chair and met with his hazel eyes. “Yes, well you honor both Gods… surely you must have some sort of spells that would please the Watcher as much as the Listener?”
Brother Feynt sighed, conceding a short nod, but nothing more. She fought to control her excitement. Whatever he meant with that subtle tilt of his head, Kalyna knew she had to see. From the hesitation on his face, it was something good.
“Do not be so eager to learn these things, young Runic. They will destroy you should you neglect to control them.”
“I know, Brother.”
He pursed his lips and shirked his brows. Brother Feynt looked with an unabated stare that made Kalyna squirm almost as much as Vee’s glances. He called her bluff and was more than likely right. One thing Kalyna had never really maintained was a calm, steady level of control. Ever.
“I want to tell you something, Kalyna. Something more important than what you will find in those scrolls or any other.”
Kalyna started to question his relevance, but he waved her off.
“My wife taught me it…”
“You were joined? I didn’t think—”
“She is with the Listener now, Kalyna.”
Kalyna's face betrayed her shock. Feynt was not old enough for old age to have taken his wife, which left only one other possibility in her mind.
“It was a long time ago – so long ago, I remember little of that happy time, but I do remember her telling me this and now I will tell you. She was a Runic too, young Kalyna, an Air Runic.”
His eyes remorsefully wandered then, and Kalyna wanted to comfort him but could not figure out how to approach the broken man hiding inside the monk. Brother Feynt stared far beyond her, lost somewhere in what once was and could have been. She waited – baited and silent – outstretching her hand for his when she saw his lungs quive
r. Her gentle touch brought him back to the Monastery’s walls and his present breath.
“She said that all the great powers of the Runics came from Dragons – that the source was the same. The deep magic of the Dragons was the gift to the first Runic, not the ability to manipulate existing magic, but to generate it, as Dragons do. You and the Dragons are aligned and share an unbreakable bond.”
Kalyna exhaled. “But Brother, if Dragons are aligned with us, why did they help destroy us?”
“They, Kalyna, did not. Their Riders did – and above all, a bonded Dragon will listen to their Rider. It is about control, Kalyna. Whoever has control will yield results, for better or worse.” Brother Feynt sighed and adjusted his robes. The broken man faded. “At least now you know that the Beasts’ magic is the same caliber as yours. That has to assist in some regards.”
Her mind reeled. The same power. When she and Vee sparred, she had learned more than any text or lesson had taught her – until now. “Yes,” Kalyna said. “But I have no idea how, as of yet.”
Brother Feynt laughed loudly, but then paused. “Kalyna, there are a few scrolls that we do possess…” His gaze wandered to a small, previously invisible lockbox on the middle of the shelf directly left of his seat. “The keys are not here. They are in the safeguards of the Father. I could ask—”
Kalyna’s excitement surged so quickly that she rubbed at her wristlet to contain it. “Brother Feynt, that would be most wonderful and useful. I could—”
“I shall try, but please understand, the things that are in those scrolls… I do not know if they will be what you seek and, even if they are, I do not know if they will be what you need.”
Kalyna shook off his riddled logic. “Something has to be better than nothing in preparing for this.”
“Preparation starts in the heart, Kalyna. But… I suppose you’re right.” Feynt rose and adjusted his sky blue robes a final time. “Wait here; I will go speak with the Father directly. Stay and study.”
“Aye, Brother. Thank you.”
“Do not thank me yet – you know not the favor you ask of me.”
Kalyna frowned. “May They save and preserve you then, Brother Feynt.”
“May They save and preserve us all.”
His feet dragged and lingered in the Hall, knowing far too well the look Kalyna would have when he told her the Father’s response. But, she was waiting and had to be told all the same. It had been a foolish endeavor, and a chance he would not have taken, had it not been for her effervescent energy and eager insistence. He had fallen for a woman like that once and he could never forgive himself for disappointing her.
Brother Feynt rounded the corner and Kalyna looked up directly. His heavy steps had betrayed him. Kalyna knew the verdict. She was sadder than he had imagined, but wore a kind smile. Kalyna was wise beyond her cycles and it made sense. Life had made her that way. She was used to disappointment and shortfalls.
“I am afraid, Kalyna, that the good Father decided it was against our interest to let you see whatever might have been on those scrolls.”
Feynt looked to the locked box, wishing it would open itself magically. She had a right to know the Runes contained on the scroll. They were rightfully her inheritance, despite the Father's insistence on silence. Brother Feynt stared at the lockbox bidding it to open. But, it did not.
He felt his deepening face lines form a mug of frustration. He had not minded his lack of power in such a long while, that he nearly dismissed the feeling as happenchance or a fleeing fit of anger. But no, he had felt this once. Frustration and lack of power – of control. It was right in front of him and he there was nothing he could do about it.
“I accept it but… But I thought… I am supposed to help take back Solera. To make things right. How can that be against—”
“My order has always been a pacifist one Kalyna, and those scrolls are far from anything pacifistic.”
“But you hide the Rogues!”
“We always help those in grave need, yes.”
“But I am in grave need of those Runes!”
Brother Feynt caught his tongue then and leaned against the doorframe. “Then, young Kalyna, this is where our interests divert.”
Kalyna slumped into her chair clutching the boring scrolls with the simple Runes she had long either figured out how to manipulate on her own, or Vee had taught her. Brother Feynt knew the look and admired her unwillingness to accept defeat. He could see her thinking, scheming, and he wished her the best, but knew the Father lacked nothing in preparation. If that was his one skill, it was also his one weakness. His wife had always been exceptional at capitalizing on weaknesses. Feynt's mind wandered until he caught Kalyna staring at him. He sighed and moved to speak, but she said it first.
“It has nothing to do with me, does it?”
He smiled at her perceptiveness and nodded softly, almost to himself, humming his way back to work. Kalyna watched a moment longer before returning to the scrolls. She slumped as she read, condensing under the pressure of the Cause. Vee had made it sound so easy. Vee had made her think she was prepared. She was not – not at all.
It was a lot of pressure to bear. An entire order of exiled Dragonics had cracked under it and now, the new order rested their inherited pressure squarely on her shoulders. There was not a chance in Udlast to ever prepare for it. She just had to be resolute – strong. Lucky for the Rogues, she was stronger than she looked.
Brother Feynt exhaled a raspy cough. Suddenly, his eyes shone with a sudden, absolute revelation. The Father had not thought of everything. The Father had no idea how to prepare for a force like Kalyna. Brother Feynt’s mind reeled at avenues around the needed key and he would have lingered there long and happily, had he not caught a glimpse of the waning Time Candle. It was almost spent. Thinking would have to wait.
Brother Feynt rose and cleared his throat attracting the tranquil copper eyes. “The sun will rise soon, Kalyna.”
“What?” Kalyna jolted up straight and looked about startled. She smiled and Brother Feynt’s expression and regained a simmering calm. “Yes! Thank you!”
Brother Feynt and Kalyna headed towards the door, Kalyna toting along the Annuals of Solera in a folio. Their footsteps were heavy and they met the door with jubilant eagerness. Feynt held it open for Kalyna and waited. She glanced back, eyes lingering on the lockbox, her hand rubbing her exposed wrist. From a level above came the sound of faint bells.
“I can’t find my wristlet. It was a gift… I have to—”
Feynt smiled. “I’ll go light the way,” he said before spinning out of view. He moved away quickly, knowing that if he looked back, he would lose the nerve, and that she might too. Brother Feynt plowed ahead with his eyes on the ground as he disappeared down the dim Hall.
He waited in the deep shadows for as long as his nerves could take before turning back to the Library. He approached the open door with soft steps and looked through the crack of the doorframe. Kalyna stood before the lockbox visibly conflicted.
“Open it,” he whispered.
The bells chimed again, louder.
“Please…”
A warm rush of air filled the Library, ripped through the papers on the desk, and whirled closed the few books left open. But then, the impatient silence returned – and the bells. Time was no longer theirs.
Brother Feynt pushed back from his perch and made to enter the Library with heavy feet. He took one step, then he heard it.
A metallic click.
From inside the hallway shadows, Brother Feynt smiled.
MAP ROOM
THE DEN, NORTHERN SOLERAN MOUNTAINS
Kalyna walked through the hallways, pausing every few steps to poke at extrusions of Soleratin Moss. It squelched under the pressure leaving a moist, glowing residue on her fingers. Her lips stretched at the curiosity as she continued up the halls nervously. She paused at the end of the spiral stairs and took in the scent of moss and damp cold air. Her eyes scanned the cavern walls and sett
led on a warming glow emitted from one of the rooms. She slipped alongside its opening and peeked within.
Smaller than most of the caverns, the room felt impossibly large, as most of its expanse was comprised of an open window to the canyon that provided a view of the Beasts as they flew in a melodic embrace of night sky and wind, twirling in a wild lullaby. On the remaining walls, hung expansive maps. Some places Kalyna recognized – Knall Plateau and the Creipan Swamps. But, the others held her with natural wonders and urban awe. She had always heard of the oceanic shoreline world of Pyran but had never been. There, on the wall in fading black and blue ink stood the passageways, ports, and canals from a Dragon’s vantage. The Rogues had maps of everywhere.
Alaister stood prone, leaning with one arm on the wall just above his head. He stared at the largest map, of the entirety of Solera, marked by little red and blue dots. He fidgeted with some of the red dots, but returned to staring at the massive amount of blues. Alaister sighed sharply before stepping back for his mug of tavi. The warm spices enveloped Kalyna in a savory cocoon and pulled her inside.
Alaister heard the approach and spun, half surprised, half annoyed. His men knew not to disturb him in the Map Room. It was one of his only places of absolute solitude. Alaister parted his mouth to lecture at the intruder, but when he saw her flaxen waves, he calmed and nodded to the large pot on the back table. “There’s plenty more,” he said.
“I don’t mean to intrude….”
“Not at all.” Alaister nodded towards the tavi and retrieved a mug. “I could use a good interlude.”
Alaister did not speak again until she had poured and spiced her tavi. Kalyna felt his eyes on her, watching her minutest movements, never leaving. Normally, this was where panic would ensue. She had never been safe being still in one place long, and certainly never around someone who understood what she was. But, the panic did not come. There was a safety to his watchful gaze.
Kalyna swirled her tavi with her spice stick and smiled. “What?”