by Derek Palmer
"Couldn't sleep?"
I had sensed that Elise had been approaching me, but I hadn't turned. I had just been watching the empty street in front on the house from the window; or what I could see of that empty street, through the fog that seemed like a constant companion this time of the year.
"Nightmare. Woke up from it."
"Those dreams bothering you again?"
I knew that Linnea had revealed just about everything to Elise and it was also possible that either Bellcauniel or Fainauriel had mentioned something. I knew that they all meant well and they were worried about me. Still, I felt a bit uneasy about it. I shook my head.
"No, this was a normal nightmare. It was about failing to save those kids..."
I guess I should not have been surprised, but the sheer power that Elise used while hugging me was more that I had expected.
"You poor, young man. It's like you carry the weight of all those people on your shoulders. Not just those people in that valley but all those others who have been hunted and who have now probably scattered all around the kingdom."
I wanted to argue, I wanted to say to her that it wasn't like that at all, but I couldn't. It was something my mother had tried to do when they were attacked; when their ship was sunk to the bottom of the sea. They had failed - she had failed - and now I felt that I should succeed where they - she - had failed. I had to succeed so that their sacrifice wouldn't have been meaningless.
Some part of me, maybe a more rational part, tried to point out that without that shipwreck, my mother would not have met father and I would not have been born. That maybe my mother had added a hidden message to the text she had written for me, and I was reacting this way because of that subtle, hidden, message. After all, my mother had mastered the hidden writing. I closed my eyes. If that was how it was, then it was. There was no way that any magic push could be this long-lasting and now I was doing all this because I wanted to do it. Or so I thought.
So, I returned Elise's hug and enjoyed the feeling of a comforting, warm, body next to me.
"At least I'm not alone, Elise. I know that I have good friends helping me in what I'm doing."
When I had said that, I was able to sense Elise stiffen, and slowly she pulled away from me. "Stian, I have... no, we'll talk about that later. Please eat whatever you want and go back to sleep. Even if you are still young you need more rest."
For a moment, I wondered what Elise had in her mind, but then I realized that I was still tired and decided some more sleep would be a good idea. A really good idea.
Towards the winter solstice and the end of the year I spent even more hours working inside the Library walls. If possible, my tasks turned even more nasty and dirty than they had been. It was almost as though they wanted to make me quit - or they were testing the level of my commitment. I hoped that it was the latter. At least nobody seemed to pay me any extra attention while I was working there, which suited me fine.
I made a few visits to see the children on the farm and talked to Tove and Frey, but there wasn't really that much that they could tell me that would help me to find more people, more natural Mages. It was only two days before the winter solstice when I got a letter back from my 'aunts'. They expected to arrive in Aston a week after the winter solstice.
It was hard not to smile when I went to work the last day before the solstice, during which the Library would be closed. The lectures had stopped two weeks ago and they wouldn't start until the coming Manadag three weeks after the solstice.
"Son, you intend to keep on working here?"
I turned and stopped dusting the shelves. The man talking to me wasn't actually a librarian, but he was the one responsible of all practical work that was being done here. While the 'Old Man', Halvard, was responsible for the whole Library and wanted to know all the people working here; he wasn't at all interested how the things really worked inside the library walls, as long as they worked. The man speaking to me, a middle-aged, grumpy man called Rudolf - or 'that bastard Rudolf' or at least 'that damned Rudolf' - took care of all practical things, even if he looked like a man who had never read a book in his life. Since I had noticed how easy it was to eavesdrop or keep an eye on some other people inside the library I had been very careful with what I said and where I said it. In a way it had been easy since nobody wanted to talk with me.
While cleaning my hands on the cloth I carried with me almost all the time, I nodded to him.
"Yes, I think I am, Sir. I need to help in the maintenance of a building in order to keep my own room, but I'd like to have some money once I'm finished at the University. It's hard to start your life without any money."
The man looked at me for a while. "I think that you're almost the only person they have managed to hire here, with at least half a brain and some sort of work ethic. You know that most of the other workers would have had no problem touching the books immediately after they stopped their cleaning task."
I couldn't help grimacing slightly. Dust and dirt were a continuing problem in the library and nothing ruined some of the old books faster than dust and dirt.
"I guess not all of them like the books the way I do."
The man just looked at me and nodded. "Put away that cleaning stuff and follow me. In the future, you'll need to have clean clothes for taking care of the books. I'll make sure that they'll give you a suit for the other tasks. Now, follow me while I start explaining to you what kind of tasks we need to finish during the next week when almost all the other people are away. In the future, you'll work directly under my supervision."
If I had thought that I would be able to relax during the week following the winter solstice, I learned that I was totally wrong. During that week, while almost all the people were out of the University, was the best time to test the fire extinguishing system. Testing during the summer would have been easier and nicer, but quite a lot of water was needed for this testing - and during summer there sometimes could be a shortage of water. After all those autumn rains, that certainly wasn't the case now, so the testing was moved to the middle of winter. So what if it was a nasty and cold task to be performed during the winter. No important people were needed for it; and if we felt cold and wet while doing it, nobody cared.
After that week I knew so much more about the system that I hadn't considered it possible. Once every valve had been tested and closed again, after all the wet spots had been cleaned and the Library was ready again, Rudolf turned towards me.
"Son, from now on - if you ever call me ‘sir’ again I'll kick your ass into the next week. My name is Rudolf - and if you need to know, I really am a bastard!"
Now I knew one probable reason why Rudolf sort of liked me - he must have heard my cover story of being a bastard of some minor noble. Well, liked was maybe quite a strong word in Rudolf's case, but he at least tolerated me enough to teach me some new things. I decided that I could easily live with that. Now it was time to turn my attention back to other things, like to the children on that farm.
Without the experience Hantaliel had, the trip the Elves made with multiple ponies to that small farm close to Aston would certainly have been impossible. Luckily she knew almost all the forest trails and hidden pathways there were between the Hidden Valley and Aston. I met Hantaliel in the same place where we had met before and, after a quick trip to my home to pick some supplies, we were on our way to the farm. There had been no way that I could have described the location of that place in my letter.
Once she had gotten a good look at the place, she went on her way while I went into the farm, checked the small barn and, for the last time, paid the woman Elise had gotten there to help with the kids. Once she was on her way, I sat down with Tove and Frey and I started to prepare them for the things they would be facing while also playing with the younger kids. I knew that one more change in the coming weeks would be hard for them, but I was also sure that they would be taken care of, perhaps even loved. I hoped so, these kids needed to be loved.
""At least yo
u found some boys this time. We had already started to wonder...""
I was able to tell that Allynna was joking and that she was doing it in purpose. I hadn't really realized before, why rescuing these children had been so important to me; but now it came to me just how much I missed the Valley, my women and my children. All my children. I had been here to play with these children every weekend since I found them. Now there would be no need for those visits and the realization hit me quite hard. I steeled myself when I turned towards Allynna. I was doing all this for them. So that they could have a home - and a future. However, I didn't want Allynna to know how seriously I really took all this.
""You know, Allynna that I'm not getting any younger. I need to think about the future.""
Suddenly that usually very controlled, small woman was there hugging me fiercely.
""We all have missed you, Stian. We have missed you so much.""
""I've missed all of you, too. But you know that I have to do this. You Alfar cannot stay in the Valley forever, just waiting for a miracle.""
Allynna smiled a bit. ""And you know, Stian, those little girls running around the village have done miracles to our spirit. At the moment there isn't a single one of us who isn't behind this plan.""
I almost wished she hadn't told me that. Almost.
""How about Linnea - and the other girls who...""
""Getting better. It's slow, but they are getting better, thanks to you. We remember now that the Humans are much more receptive to the Ugly People’s influence than us Alfar. Therefore, it was important that you reacted quickly.""
More receptive. A nice way of saying that, after a while, their body chemistry would have made them care so much about their Troll babies that they would have liked to have and raise more of them, even if they would have hated what happened to them. That could easily tear a weak mind apart and, according to my Elven friends, it had happened multiple times, especially if the girl or woman had been raped. Back in Elonia there had been enough women who could ignore the way the Trolls looked and accepted their position as one of the 'queen bees', since that was what the brides of the Trolls were in their society - or had been in Elonia. I seriously doubted that the situation would be the same here, not if they wanted to raise an army of Trolls.
I shook away those dark thoughts and nodded to Allynna before hugging her again. I would have really liked to spend more time with her and the other Elves and talk with them, but the risks were just too high. Even though there were no real internal threats, and not many Guardian patrols close to Aston, a group of people on ponies riding through the forest might attract some unwanted attention. So would carrying a great amount of food to an almost abandoned farm in the middle of winter.
Middle of winter - except there was nothing that reminded me about winter when I looked at the ponies that disappeared into the falling mist. The group had just enough daylight to put a safe distance between them and Aston. I tried to sense part them, but stopped. I needed to trust Hantaliel. After all, she had been doing this for decades before me. I hardened my mind and turned to leave myself.
"About that Rudolf character, Stian..."
I turned briefly to look at Frode as we were on our way back to our house from one more practice with Geir.
"What about him?"
"He's probably working there so that he can keep an eye on the Magicians and whoever they might work with."
"You mean that he's working - or spying - for the Royals?" I raised my eyebrows a bit, but that didn't sound too far-fetched. Even if Rudolf had mentioned his dislike of the nobility, he had never gone overboard with it. In fact, the gleam in Rudolf's eyes when he liaised with the Magicians had been much more disturbing.
"Most likely, yes. Remember, even if he's an ugly-looking bastard it's his heritage that offered him his position inside the University and it paid his studies, too. Beware, he's not a dummy even if he might be quite a feared and hated person there."
"Feared and hated he is, I fully agree. But then, why me? Is there someone who thinks that I might become someone like him?"
I didn't really like that possibility, since I had tried to keep as low a profile as possible. I was a bit relieved to see Frode shook his head.
"I don't think so, at least not yet, anyway. From what I have heard, this guy Rudolf mostly works on his own and nobody really likes to work with him - or for him. I'm not saying that it might not happen sometime in the future, but not any time soon. If they plan to do it, they'll probably make their suggestion when you're about to graduate."
It was my turn to nod. That might set a deadline for me. I needed to finish this before I graduated.
--
Chapter 27
"Oops, how clumsy of me! Luckily we have a cleaning boy nearby - boy, come here and clean this mess! Hurry up!"
"You shouldn't be smoking inside the Library."
I knew that it was useless to talk sense to these guys. They were the future leaders and they already knew that. However, only the most stupid or the most arrogant of them would smoke inside the Library. The fact that you were able to get some tobacco proved that you were important, you had some real contacts. The fact that you smoked inside the Library proved that you were arrogant - and stupid.
My former friend Rurik was there, laughing with his new friends, who all thought that making fun of the rest of us was something they really should do.
"Oh, what do you plan to do about it? Rat us out to your friend Rudolf when all of us are ready to say that it was you who smoked here."
I shrugged my shoulders. "There's no need for me to rat out anybody. I'm sure that both the Old Man and Rudolf already know who smokes and who doesn't. In case of fire... "
Then I turned my back on the group even though I knew that it would inspire them to create even more mess. Eating, drinking and especially smoking were things you shouldn't do at the Library tables, but on the days when both Halvard and Rudolf were gone, there was nobody left whom these future leaders would have been afraid of. Myself, I ignored them the best I could, which annoyed some of those heroes quite a lot. During recent months Rurik had eagerly picked up the habits of his new friends and they had teased me for being afraid of them - and their ways of using magic. The use of which was also strictly forbidden inside the Library. The way the Magicians used their magic could end up releasing quite a lot of energy - which could mean that something got heated, sometimes even enough to cause a fire. So, even while some of the group had tried to scare me by making a pretense of using their magic, I wasn't too worried. Not even the dumbest of them would really be stupid enough to use magic inside the Library.
I made a note to myself to return to the area once the group had left, however late that would be. I might need to clean the area, but there was no need to give them the satisfaction of seeing me do it. Besides, it gave me a good excuse to stay behind after this space was officially closed. Most likely those assholes had no idea that, in a way, they were doing me a favor. Besides, within a week it would be the spring equinox, my birthday - and I would again have some visitors. Maybe it would have been safer to change the date, but the silly truth was that the Elves weren't really that good at following the calendar, but they did focus on those equinoxes and solstices. Besides, nobody here should be expecting anything from those silly but scary women hiding in their valley.
Once I was sure that I was alone in the 'Dark Floor' I walked to the guard who was watching the entrance. I told him about the mess that needed to be cleaned up and therefore I'd need to stay late - again. Since he didn't like those Magician students any more than I did, he merely said he regretted my situation - but, just as I assumed, he didn't want to do anything to help me. If Rudolf trusted me, it was okay to leave me behind - but since I wasn't his boss there was no need to help me. After all, his job was to guard the stairs, nothing else. I wanted to smile.
It didn't take me that long to clean the corner where those guys had held their court. After that, I started systematicall
y going through the shelves for the books that had some hidden messages or the books I needed to read. And then there were those books that most likely were important to the Magicians. If possible, I wanted to do something to them, too. But most importantly, I needed the information from those old books. Which meant that I needed to find them first.
Soon it was clear that even if I sort-of knew where the books were, this would take time. I sighed. This wasn't going to be too easy. At least I would be able to sense if somebody else came too close.
This time it was Fainauriel who accompanied Hantaliel. Again, poor Frode didn't know where to look and Miss Dahl - Hanna - was all smiles when Fainauriel and Hantaliel ate dinner with us. Hanna just couldn't get enough of looking at the two petite women.
"What plays we could have had with your people around. There were some interesting ones in my youth, but now they all have disappeared somewhere and almost all criticism has been removed from the stage. No more making fun of those damned Magicians, not even Royals - only merchants and landlords are free game now. All the scripts of those plays with some real edge seem to have disappeared somewhere."
