Page 47 of Dragon Sword

“Fire!”

“Water! To the water!”

The trainees stampeded rightward, leaving the way open for us. Will opened the door and slunk across the field. Sylvia and I tailed him but I couldn’t help but peek around at where everyone had gone. Will’s tiny flame had crawled across the grass and caught a set of dummies on fire. The dry effigies burned so well that smoke filled the training grounds, providing us with even more cover.

We clanked as softly as we could across the open ground and I didn’t breathe until we reached the cover of the city proper. Our distraction had attracted some attention from the citizens but Will approached the crowd with his arms raised.

“Disperse!” he commanded as Sylvia and I joined in on herding the crowd. “There is only an errant fire! We will bring it under control soon! Disperse now!”

The crowd reluctantly obeyed and returned to their lives. Will waited until the last one had gone before he hurried down the road. We clanked and clanged along the tiers ever closer to the high tower of the Vahti. I couldn’t help but admire the sheer size of the thing, though the plain exterior left little to compliment.

Will guided us to the building that had so caught my attention earlier, the one with the dome. The pair of doors were wide open and people loitered on the wide steps out front, many with books in their laps. They looked at us with curiosity as we passed by in all our metal glory.

Will led us on like a seasoned soldier in humiliation while both Sylvia and I stayed close at his heels. We marched into the foyer and found ourselves in a huge room filled with heavy stone bookcases. The shelves were filled with manuscripts, books, tomes, and maps, all neatly arranged and tagged. A long desk on our right was staffed by a young elf maiden and an older one who appeared to be the same age as Alisa. Both were seated on stools and were reading checklists and sorting returned books.

The younger one shot to her feet at our coming and smiled at us. “Good evening! What can I get for you?”

The older librarian hardly looked up from her manuscript and gave us a once-over before returning her attention to the parchment. “They wish to have the conference hall on the second floor.”

Her younger compatriot’s face fell. “But that is occupied by the scholars right now.”

The elder rolled up the manuscript and set it on a stack beside her. Her voice was as even as the straight lines on the lists in front of her. “Remove them.”

The other elf’s mouth fell open. She shook off her shock and ducked low beside the older elf. “But-”

“They are past their allotted time for the month,” the elder pointed out. “Tell them they may come back tomorrow.”

The younger one straightened and swallowed hard. Her face was slightly pale but she bowed her head to her elder. “I will do as you say, Madam Kipu.” She turned her attention to us and swept her arm in the direction of the rear of the building where a wide stair led up to the second floor. “This way, please.”

We followed the young elf up the stairs and to the second floor. Half the space was occupied by bookcases and the other half had conference rooms. The walls had no glass so we couldn’t see inside them and the doors were so thick that no sound came through. She guided us to the room farthest from the stairs and rapped gently on the wood.

We waited a moment before the door opened by an elf only slightly younger than Madam Kipu. He was incredibly tall and lanky like a pond reed and his hair, though long down the back, was sparse at the top. The elf wore a pair of thick spectacles down which he stared at all of us.

The old elf wrinkled his beaked nose. “What warrants an interruption of our most careful studies?”

“Is that the ladies?” a drunken voice called from just outside our view. Uproarious laughter followed.

“Have they come to dance?” another chimed in.

The old elf shot a look of death at the speakers and the merriment died. He returned his attention to us and cleared his throat. “You must excuse them. They are acting out a play.”

“Of course,” our young guide assured him as she bowed low to the leader of the lechers. “My sincerest apologies, scholars, but you have used your allotted time for the month. Madam Kipu has asked you to leave and return tomorrow.”

The elf wrinkled his nose. “If that is true then we shall leave.”

We stepped aside and watched a half dozen older elf gentlemen march past us. More than one cast a curious look at Sylvia and me, but nobody gave Will a second look. Perhaps they could smell femininity.

When they had gone, our guide swept her arm toward the room. “If you would.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

We stepped insideand found ourselves in a comfortable salon with a low table in the center. Windows looked out on the city and illuminated the room with a soft light. A dozen thick mats surrounded the table and against the wall were many shelves filled with decorative books of some ancient lineage along with a few potted plants. The air smelled of freshly baked cookies and the crumbs on the floor around the table hinted at their demise.

Will closed the door behind us and began to remove his clunky armor. Sylvia and I were only too glad to follow suit and soon we had a pile of metal tucked into one corner. I dropped my butt onto one of the plump cushions around the table while Will took up another beside me.

However, Sylvia paced the room like a caged animal. Will watched her with a mixture of pity and amusement. “Come sit with us.”

Sylvia stopped her pacing and glared at him. “I know how you can be so calm but since you’ve already forgotten, I lost Steve.”

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