Page 42 of Myths and Manuscripts
The pen fluffed up its feathers.
It’s a talking sword! It’s obviously possessing the hero, slowly taking control until the sword is the one in charge. Yup,that’s what I’d do if I were that sword.
Dain raised an eyebrow. “So you’re saying that talking objects tend to take control of their humans and make them do evil things, huh?”
Before the pen could explain that crazy statement away, Dain lifted it into the air, pinched between his thumb and index finger. He stared at it, moving it this way and that, with such intensity that the pen shivered. Then it started jumping and scribbling in the air like it was shouting. It was all so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I think we’re safe, so hand the pen over.” I held my hand out until Dain reluctantly returned Inkheart. I patted its feather softly before setting it back on its book. “Maybe don’t say villainous things with this over-eager bodyguard looming about.”
The pen huffed, sputtering ink all over the page.
Well never in my life has somebody manhandled me like that. At least buy me some tasty ink first.
Dain shrugged. “Don’t make such evil-sounding statements then.”
His tough demeanor cracked a bit as the side of his mouth quirked up. Okay, so he did have a sense of humor. I was starting to wonder about that. I shook my head, chuckling as I gathered up all the pages we had so far and stuck them onto the edges of the bookshelves. I turned back to Inkheart, but the pen was already drawing a picture of the loveable himbo hero for the middle, apparently knowing exactly what I was trying to do here. I grinned and added the hero to the middle of this little mystery board of ours, feeling like a real detective now.
The silence stretched as the three of us stared at our masterpiece. It was missing something. I grabbed a sheet of paper and drew a big question mark on it, sticking it right above the hero’s portrait.
“There.” I nodded proudly at the sprawled-out suspects. “Now we just need to link their motives up and see who gains the most from sending the hero after the Demon Lord and causing a war.” I bent down to grab a few long pieces of hay from Cinder to use in place of string. “Now, the Princess and the King have strong motives that are linked together, but the priest angle still feels pretty good too, especially since he would have had a hand in the last hero’s goals as well.”
I strung the hay between all the characters, making a web of motives, none of which really stood out that much stronger than the others. The more time we spent brainstorming, the more suspects we unearthed, all with good reasons to manipulate the hero.
At this point, I was starting to feel like the hero was even more clueless than I’d originally thought. Even if there wasn’t some secret bad guy, the hero himself was still way too easily influenced. He cared so much about helping people that he’d been led astray more than once throughout the series.
His integrity wasn’t in question though, no matter how much Dain tried to convince me otherwise. The hero was brave and honorable through and through, usually to his own detriment. The more we looked into it, the more I felt like somebody really was using him. All the groundwork was laid out in the previous books, from farmers conning him into harvesting their entire crop alone to other members of his party using him for their own personal gains. He was obviously too gullible for his own good.
I flopped back onto the couch again, rubbing my tired eyes. “Every time I think we’re onto something, another plot thread pops up. I just can’t tell what’s important and what’s not.”
“Your hero is hopeless.” Dain fell back into his chair with a sigh. “Honestly, how you think these stories are entertaining is beyond me. I hope you write this last book better.”
“Hey, that’s not fair. The books are amazing.” I tried to situp and debate more, but I was too exhausted, especially since Cinder hopped up on my stomach and I didn’t have the heart to move her. “Nevermind. I wish I could just talk to hero. I’m sure he’d want to get to the bottom of this just as much as we do and talking to him would make this so much easier. He knows a side of this that we’ll never understand.”
Yes! Chase after the mighty hero! Steal him away from the self-obsessed Princess!
Dain shook his head. “No way. He’s got an entire army behind him at this point, haven’t you heard? They’re camped right outside the Wandering Woods, ready to invade.”
“That’s fair.” I sighed, snuggling deeper into the plush couch while I pet Cinder. The bunny closed her eyes, as if she was also tired after her meal and this long discussion. “Okay, fine, I won’t go look for the hero. But I really do need to talk to him. This book won’t ever get written otherwise.”
“Is he really that important?” Dain asked softly. “Can’t the Demon Lord help you?”
I shook my head. “No. The hero is the main character. He’s who the story’s about, so he’s the one I need.”
Plus, it would be kind of cool to meet the main character of the series I’d been reading since I was a kid. Even if he was a little too gullible, he still had the heart of a hero. Everything he did was from a place of kindness. Being too kind did seem to get him taken advantage of a lot more than I’d remembered though. Where should you draw the line between being kind and being overly kind?
Dain stood up, gripping his spear tight. “Stay here. I’ll get you your hero.”
I jerked up, almost throwing Cinder off my lap. “Wait, hold on, what about the army and all that?”
“You said you need him, so I must.” Dain took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders. “It’s the duty the Demon Lord bestowedupon me: give you anything you need. He even tried to get me to kidnap the hero himself once, butyoustopped him, remember?”
“I remember trying to save your life, yes.” My voice was drowned out by Inkheart’s scribbling as the book flew in front of us with far too much excitement.
Oh this is going to be fantastic. You get ‘im big guy!
“Not helping, Inkheart.” I reached out to stop Dain, but he was already walking out the door. “Seriously, you’re going to get yourself killed. Or start the invasion!”
Dain turned back, a small smile on his lips. “Trust me. I’m more capable than you think.”
