To Those Who Never Knew (A Monksblood Bible Novel Book 1)

by Isabella Anton

  “No, you do not understand. I have just come from a meeting with the High Elders. They have said that if Jade turns out not to be the one we have been waiting for, then they will kill her.”

  Bowen reacted immediately, getting a bit too forceful with his grip on Master Lewis’s arm. “Was Jade with you at this meeting?”

  “No, they have delayed that event until Jade produces better results.” He was on the verge of hyperventilation. He knew in the twenty-odd years he had known Bowen, the man had never seen him in such a state. “You must protect her Bowen, even from me if it comes to it,” he struggled to keep his voice even. “We must inform Tristan.”

  “When I see him next. Do not worry, I shall.” Even though Bowen was exuding an air of calm, inside he was seething with rage, his protective instincts screaming to find Jade, and fast.

  XXV.

  It had been three days since Master Lewis knocked on my door. His words were still shrouded in mystery and every time I brought it up in our lessons he would get angry and add another hour’s workload.

  “He barely even looks at me anymore, like I have…” I was going to say the plague but didn’t think it a wise choice of words, “like I am diseased.”

  Tristan and I finally had a chance to lounge around. We had found a quiet spot next to Llechllafar’s footbridge just outside the castle, where the light dusting of snow had yet to seep into the ground. The river that ran along its outskirts was only slightly frozen over, an indication that the winter’s weather was slowly coming to an end and spring would soon break.

  “The High Elders are not an easy bunch to deal with. They must have said something to him, otherwise he would be his usual self,” Tristan shifted his weight uncomfortably.

  “Exactly. But he won’t tell me what it is!” I was exasperated and no closer to finding my way home than when I first came here. “What should I do?”

  “I think the only thing you can do is wait.”

  That didn’t help much. How long would I have to wait? Another day? A year? I had done too much waiting. Now was the time for action and if I wasn’t going to get any answers from the High Elders, there was at least one place where I knew I might: The Forest.

  Springing to my feet caused Tristan to do the same as well as pull his sword from his side. He tried to gauge what was happening but I couldn’t wait for words. I ran across the bridge and into the cathedral with him hot on my heels. I knew where the door to The Forest was, Master Lewis had showed us the first day we got here.

  To the outside eye it seemed like any other closet door, barely wide enough to fit one person at a time that stood just left of the church’s pulpit. The heavy brown wood flowed smoothly all the way down, only to be interrupted by a simplistic design of wrought-iron hinges and handle. I went to reach for it only to be stopped by another hand. I turned sharply to find Bowen slightly out of breath, puffing it out like smoke in the cool air.

  “Where are you going?” he asked tautly. He looked to Tristan for an answer.

  “Where do you think?” I hissed, snatching back his attention. A few monks stared at us with interest, but passed by quietly, not wanting to get involved. “I’m going to find some answers.”

  With my free hand, I made to grab the door, but that too was cut from its path. We both stood there awkwardly, my wrists held tightly by his strong grip. I was more enraged than embarrassed in how we looked.

  “Bowen. Let. Go.” My teeth ground with the effort to not headbutt him.

  “No, not until you tell me what you actually plan to do down there.”

  How was I supposed to know? I just knew that this was my only choice, that something down there had to have the answers I was seeking. “I’m going to do some research.”

  “On what?” Bowen’s response was quick, his hold constricting tighter to keep me firmly in place.

  “On how to get home,” I finally said. It must have been the last thing he would have thought to come out of my mouth because his face was a mask of hurt and his hold loosened. Quickly, I pulled free.

  What? Did he forget that was my main goal? Oh yeah, everyone just expects me to go along and be trained to serve their needs, it’s not like I need anything.

  Tristan had sheathed his sword as soon as we had entered the holy sanction but his hand never left the blade. “Jade, I do not think it is wise to go down there,” he said hesitantly.

  “It’s not like I’m going to be alone, you’re both coming with me.” Before they could argue the matter further I yanked the door open and ran down the spiraled steps.

  The path was well lit and pristine, brand new and unworn by the trudging of feet. After some time my enthusiasm waned and my pace slowed. We hadn’t even hit the first level.

  “How many freakin’ steps are there?” I asked the boys behind me. I had developed quite a bit of stamina while training with Bowen, but in this situation my knees were about to buckle under and the constant spiral was starting to make my head spin.

  “No one really knows. Sometimes there are more, sometimes less. It is constantly changing,” Tristan said. “An Elder once took it upon himself to archive the building, but we haven’t seen him since 1282. A daft fool if you ask me.” His reveal of just how strenuous, if not dangerous, our adventure would be struck home.

  I stayed quiet for the next hour and tried to concentrate on the path ahead, not to tumble the rest of the way down. I hadn’t even realized I had reached a flat surface until my foot came down too quickly, waves of needled pain shooting up my leg.

  “Finally,” Bowen grunted.

  We all sat down for a few minutes to rest. To my surprise, the place was far from empty. There were at least a dozen other people poking around its expanded foyer, the whole place beautiful—astonishingly so. The continued theme of the cathedral’s limestone bled into the room before us. Its high walls and ceilings made it feel as if the place was more suited as one of worship than of academia. I could taste the phantom scent of mud that clung to the foundation. If I had closed my eyes I would have guessed we were sitting in a forest underground, the soft sounds of crickets and birds chirping undulated between the tapping of steps and whispers of people. When I looked up I saw that there were more people up in the air being carried from one end of the room to the other on an array of objects: chairs, clouds, even the iconic broom.

  “The longer I’m here the more I see just how amazing this time is,” I dubiously kept staring as they passed by.

  “Ah yes,” Tristan followed my gaze up, “the Saint Davids branch of The Forest is huge, so it is quicker for people to fly than anything else.” Before I could ask him why he hadn’t told us this in the first place, a soprano-pitched voice tore my attention away.

  “Oh, are you new here?” A ginger-haired girl was staring down at us, actually more squinting than anything. “Do you need help finding anything?”

  “Yes, actually,” I got to my feet. She was shorter than me, though she looked to be a couple of years older. She wore a similar brown robe to the monks, so I took that as a sign that she worked here. “I’m looking for anything you have on time travel, if that’s at all possible?” I couldn’t really gauge her emotions. Along with her squinting, her lips pinched together as if in constant debate.

  “Could you be more specific? There are at least sixty-five rooms on the matter: those theoretical, impartial, plausible, unlikely, unheard of. One’s about going forward following the Shaigran theory, those going back. Oh! There is even one room where you are able to ask a Tribülta Priest about your past, though why you would not know your own past is a mystery in itself. Then there’s–”

  “A what?” I asked.

  “A Tribülta Priest. They are a classification from the frog family, but with soft fur protruding from their backs like a rabbit. Though do not tell him I said that. He gets very testy when I mention his fur.”

  “Ah, okay, well,
that is not really what I was looking for, I... Did you say sixty-five rooms?” Though my question was slightly delayed, what with all the things this girl just rambled on about, my eyes probably looked like they were going to pop out of my head.

  “Yes. Time travel as a theory alone is all but possible. There have been some reports in the past of a person showing up from another time, but alas, we still have no idea how to do it ourselves.” She sounded sad, like she generally would have loved to go hurtling through time, my own experience not one I would want to duplicate. “But again, those are only the rooms specifically about time travel. You then have your more uncommon sub-categorizations of wormholes, disappearances, kidnappings, deaths, etcetera.”

  “How is that even possible?”

  “How is it not?”

  “But over sixty-five rooms? Do you even have that much information about the subject?” For an area which no one really knew about, they sure had enough material about it.

  “Of course we do. Most of the information is in the Teithio Annex of the library, so it would be best if you started there.” She pulled out a map and handed it to me. The folded parchment was thick and slightly yellowing, but it didn’t look like it was from age. “We just ordered in new maps,” she squealed excitedly. “The last one’s from three months ago were extremely out of date. We have such an influx of information every day that the existing Annexes are always making more space for new things.” She took the map back from me and unfolded it so that I could see. “Of course, this map can be used at other Roots or Main Branches so you need to be specific when you are searching. Saint Davids Main Branch, please.”

  All of a sudden something started to appear on the page, green ink slowly seeping into the parchment. I now understood why this place was dubbed ‘The Forest.’ The layout of the place looked exactly like a barren tree with its roots exposed, and from those roots other trees (or Annexes as the girl in front of me corrected) led to other libraries.

  “Around the world there is a total of four hundred and thirty-six branches, over three billion roots, and the startling amount of 7,800,346,190,623 rooms, though more are always being added, and that is including the ones in both the Asian and Oceania regions,” she beamed with pride at her knowledge. “Though right now you are positioned only at the Saint Davids Main Branch, there is a travel service that will allow you to visit other Main Branches if needed.”

  Does this mean we have this library back home? But we couldn’t, we don’t have this degree of magic in the twenty-first century…? My mind had now wandered from my main objective, overthinking the possibility of it.

  “Sorry, where do I go?”

  “You need to get to the Teithio Annex, it houses most of the rooms on time travel, but not all of them. If you need further information, the librarian there will be of service, just tell him Bethany sent you.”

  I thanked her as she walked away to help others.

  The three of us made our journey to the Teithio Annex with just a quick hop onto one of the many flying carts, and when finally safe back on the ground, we walked the rest of the way. The main entrance of the Annex looked exactly like Saint Davids Main Branch, though there were less people, and instead of the woodsy aura I had felt earlier, its ambiance held more of a vast nothingness. I imagined it was how astronauts felt upon reaching the outer atmosphere—serene.

  Bethany had said to find the librarian of the Annex which was easy enough, his robes a dead giveaway, and he showed me how to utilize the index on the map to pull up the catalogue. The whole thing worked as it did in any twenty-first century library. Just as each Annex held a particular subject, that subject was then broken down into dozens of genres. I decided to get to work on the more factually based ones.

  “Ugggghhhhhhh!” I screamed into my hundredth book. “Why? Why does there have to be so much?” I had yet to find anything that could be of any help to me. I had started with the normal titles: Time Traveling Through Time and Space; What To Do When You Find Yourself in the Past; and Time Travel: A Theory on Everything. These were just as helpful as a flashlight on a sunny day. I had then moved on to the more interesting ones: Filis, Goblins, and Witches, and Their Ways in Time; The Man Who Could Not Stay Put; (and my all-time favorite) How the Pup Walked Through Space. I grabbed at any straw put in front of me, desperate for answers.

  “Maybe you should try a locater spell?” Tristan was trying his best to help me, his own books piled high around him, but after five hours of nonstop, cheesy encouragement, I was about to soc him right in the face.

  “Tristan,” I tried to reply calmly but failed, “if I even had an inkling of what I was actually looking for, don’t you think I would have already used a locater spell?”

  “Jade.” Bowen shot me the universal it’s-not-his-fault-stop-being-an-ass look, his patience running just as thin as my own. “How about we end it here for the day? You have not eaten for over six hours and Master Lewis is probably having a heart attack at the moment due to your spontaneous absence.”

  “But–”

  “The Forest is not going anywhere and neither are you, at least for the foreseeable future. So I suggest we try again tomorrow.” His voice held with it a final note of authority that I wasn’t able to dispute. After putting back the volumes that I had littered the tables with, we headed back to the entrance hall. It was only when I remembered how many stairs were waiting for us to trudge back up did I let out a cry of absolute exhaustion.

  “If it is easier for you at the moment, you can take a flying cart. We loan them out when needed,” another librarian told us as we made our way back to the stairs, smiling as if he would rather be anywhere else be here.

  He must love his job.

  “That’s not going to be able to fit through that tiny staircase,” I argued, but he assured me that the stairway would widen in response to the added width. I was too tired and frustrated to take the conversation any further.

  We hopped in and made our way back up to the surface.

  Finch took out the folded parchment that had been sent to him and reread it:

  Savior relocated to St.Davids.

  Be on the lookout.

  Friends inside will help.

  - The Brotherhood

  Now that he knew where she was, it was time to act. He had waited and planned for this information. “Misty,” Finch called from the top of the carriage, “we have her location. Let’s move.”

  XXVI.

  “Do you have any idea what you have put me through?” Master Lewis was more than just cross when he finally found me. He had enlisted the help of not only Haf and Elian, but half the cathedral’s guards and priests in the search. All six of us now sat in my quarters, hot tension filling the air.

  “Well, I was getting nothing from you or the High Elders for that matter, so I thought I’d take my future into my own hands.” I stood with my arms crossed against my chest by the small window in my room. The day’s light had fallen quickly, leaving the sky black and star struck. It hit me that Mom and Dad were probably looking up at the same sky, the only thing differing was our time.

  I don’t belong here.

  It felt as if every roadblock had been placed in front of me, the last leading to my death if I wasn’t careful, and the stress of those hurdles had finally strung out my every nerve. I wanted to get home, Brotherhood be damned, and if no one was going to help me, then I only had myself to rely on.

  I’m just one person! How do they expect me to beat the Brotherhood?

  Master Lewis’s voice cut through my thoughts. “As I told you before, the High Elders will help you in due time. If you would only be more patient.”

  “I’m done waiting!” I snapped. “You told me three months ago they would meet with me and try to help me get back to my time. I took every lesson, memorized every herb, tried every spell… What more do you want from me?” I was done. Done with the lessons.
Done with being stuck in 1351. Done with everything.

  “This is not an easy situation, young lady.”

  “Do you think I don’t know that?” I could feel my pulse race, the air heavy with every breath I took as I felt that familiar electric shock twist my stomach into knots. My hands balled into fists as I tried to control the hum underneath my skin, my eyes downcast making sure nothing worse would happen, but it was too late.

  My head snapped up to the others in the room, their faces a mask of awe, yet underlined with caution, as if I were a new species they had never encountered. I looked once again at my hands now engulfed in mesmerizing green flames that danced to the tips of my fingers, their heat a warm glow to me.

  Bowen was the only one to act, trying to reach for my hands, but was intercepted by Master Lewis.

  “No, you mustn’t touch her.” He tentatively stepped before me. “Lady Jade, I need you to look at me.”

  “Why!” I snapped again. There was nothing wrong with me and my flames. They were beautiful, not something to be afraid of as the people in the room suspected. How could they be? For months now Master Lewis and others had drilled the idea of magic into my head, pumping me up as their savior, and for the first time I felt like I had actual power. It was nothing to cower from.

  Master Lewis sharply turned to the others, then back to me, a reassuring look passing over his face. “Nothing is wrong,” he assured me tentatively. “We need for you to calm down. Only then will we be able to talk properly.”

  Bowen went to grab her and put out the flames that had started to emit from her hands but was forced back by Master Lewis’s reprimand. Their green color matched her eyes, as if her soul were on display for all to see. It was only when she was coaxed into looking up did they all see what was really wrong.