Chapter 43

No one came to get us for three days. Xander’s patience had thinned to the point where he was becoming irritable. None of us dared to leave the house except Diana, since she was human. She went out for food and supplies, then returned and left again if we required something else. Gideon, Nimu, Leo, Xander, and I had preferred staying indoors, peering through the windows.

We were now in the city where red was forbidden. Looking at the citizens walking past the house, I had seen none with red hair. I had dyed my own brown to ensure the redness wouldn’t attract any unwanted questions. I had thought it more prudent for when we would need to go to the Arcane Library. I wasn’t planning on wearing the enormous hat again. It wasn’t awful, but I didn’t like the look it gave me. I thought it was over the top for the gowns I had in the small chest we had brought.

We were lucky that Lady Lucia had left some of her crinolines and petticoats here from her last visit. We hadn’t had enough space to bring my own. I made sure to always dress according to being engaged to a lord. This meant that I wore my prettier dresses, and Diana always braided my hair in different styles in the morning.

On the third day, Gideon—who posed as our footman, answered the door and was surprised to come face to face with two guards and a man of small stature. The guards held the handle of a bolted chest wrapped in chains.

“Good morning. I understand young Lord Kestrel has requested to see documents in our possession concerning the rebellion. I am the head curator at the Arcane Library. May we come in?”

Gideon invited them in and came straight to us, announcing our guests. When he appeared before us, I was sitting in the main foyer nestled on a big dark sofa reading a book, while Xander sat beside me, a hand over his eyes in annoyance. He perked up, and I quickly discarded the book and stood up to welcome the visitors.

“Ah, Lord Kestrel. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Denis, and I have brought you most of all the documents we have gathered concerning the rebels. I thought it best to come to you with this, since we do not permit anyone in the library without explicit orders from the king. You must understand the importance of protecting the knowledge we have in there.” Denis said in a calm and understanding tone.

“Of course! This is most gracious of you.” Xander replied with fake joy.

This was ruining our plans. We could never set foot in the library with them taking such precautions.

“I recognize you were investigating the rebels. To what purpose, might I ask?”

“Shipments of salt from Saltsburry were not reaching the port in Seagull’s Bay. I thought it best to investigate why that was. I found the rebels had been diverting some shipments into a facility in Maple. Once there, we uncovered the warehouse, but it had been a setup to have us killed. The rebels blew the storage with us in it. My colleague, unfortunately, did not make it.”

“I see. I am deeply sorry to hear this and commend you on your speedy recovery. You were hoping to find… what exactly in these documents?”

“Sightings, quarrels, anything that might lead me to where the rebels might be hiding.”

Denis snapped his fingers, and the two guards came over. The curator took a key from his key chain and began opening the many locks on the chest. Once they were all open, they placed the chest in the center of the table, and Denis opened the lid. Inside were hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny scrolls. They looked like they were carrier messages. They must have either received them or shot the birds down to see what they were carrying. This would be a complete waste of time since we already knew where the rebellion was. Xander had used that excuse to get us in that damned library.

“Will you be staying with us while I look at these?” Xander asked the small man.

I thought he had asked that question so they would leave, and we could formulate a new plan.

“Yes. As much as I would like to leave the chest with you and take it back another day, I must stay with it. Knowledge is power, and we never know who can get their hands on it. Best I keep this within sight.” Denis replied with a friendly smile.

He took his job as a curator seriously. I admired that and hated it at the same time.

“In that case, please allow us to serve you tea and something to eat while I go through the content of this box.” Xander eyed me, and I took that as my cue to leave and find Diana.

We would need to serve drinks and food to our guests, and she would need some help since it was only the five of us here. I smiled politely at Denis and exited the room, following the corridor that led to the kitchen. When I entered, I noticed Diana had a book open and was reading.

I went over her shoulders and saw it was a book on magic. I slapped her arm and placed my hands on my hips scoldingly.

“You stole from the rebellion library?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way. I’d rather say I borrowed the book, intending to bring it back... eventually. It doesn’t belong to them, anyway. Look, it has some important spells that you need to work on, and I can translate the glyphs. I’m doing this for you, Ida.” She said with a glint of mischief in her eyes.

I laughed at her explanation but quickly remembered why I had come here.

“It seems we will not be going to the library after all.” I pouted the words. “They sent a curator here with the rebel documents that Xander had wanted to see. I came to prepare some tea and make some snacks. Would you care to help me out?”

“Oh, drat. That’s one way to foil our plans. But yes, of course, I’ll help you prepare something!” She set aside the book, placed a kettle over the fire, and handed me a pouch with instructions to put some of her dried herbs inside. I did as she told, then assisted her in making a tray with cheese slices and a few choice types of meat. I garnished the platter with some thin pieces of dried bread and brought a serving tray close to the table to put everything on it and make for the main room where our guests were. I didn’t think the guards would care to eat since they were on guarding duty, but at least Denis would enjoy some refreshments and food while staying with us.

I opened the door and let Diana pass in front of me. Her hands were full, and I knew she wouldn’thave been able to open the door by herself. I heard a crashing sound; the teacups and pot hit the floor and broke into tiny pieces. Diana had dropped the tray on the ground. I hurried beside her to see if she was alright, but her face was white, and her eyes were big with shock. I looked over at Xander and Denis, ready to make up some sort of apology, and I noticed the curator’s face was eerily similar to Diana’s.

“Diana?” Denis asked in a shocked, low cracking voice.