The Silver Dwarf (Royal Institute of Magic, Book 4) (18 page)

“No,” Charlie said, shaking his head vigorously. “For one, we don’t even know if the arcane dwarves still exist. And if they do, they sound dangerous and
would probably kill us as soon as help us. No, I think we need more information.”

“About what?” Natalie asked.

Charlie pulled out the now crumpled drawing of the dwarf symbol. “We know this has something to do with the arcane dwarves, but we still don’t know what.
The dark elves were also interested in this symbol, and were probably trying to get the dwarf mage to tell them what it was.”

Ben’s head was starting to spin. “So the dark elves were interested – what does that mean?”

“Possibly nothing, potentially everything,” Charlie said. “The dark elves are still after Elizabeth’s Armour, remember? What if they were looking for the
next piece, and this symbol was the clue they were following?”

Natalie put both her hands on her head. “I think I need a drink of water. This is starting to make my head hurt.”

Ben felt exactly the same, but he clung on to Charlie’s theory. It sort of made sense, but there were a lot of assumptions. If A.B.R. was an original
director trying to hide his piece of the armour with the arcane dwarves, then it was possible the dark elves were also trying to find those same dwarves,
with the intention of retrieving said piece of armour. The only question was: what did that dwarf symbol represent? It was the missing piece of the puzzle.

“Let’s take a break,” Ben suggested. “I need some air, and my head is about to explode.”

It felt good to be outside after being in the hot, claustrophobic library for so long. After a sandwich and a cup of tea at a nearby café, they felt fully
refreshed. They headed back into the library and dived in to continue their research.

It took Charlie less than five minutes to discover what they needed about A.B.R.

“Angus Bernhard Reed. He was the original Director of Diplomacy,” Charlie said, stabbing an open page, with a huge grin. “I knew it!”

They were seated in a more comfortable, but little known reading area, full of squishy chairs and huge coffee table books. It looked a bit like a rustic
version of the common room, minus the tea and coffee.

“So, where does that leave us?” Natalie asked. “We can still only assume that Angus was on his way to the dwarves to hide his piece of armour – we don’t
know it for a fact.”

“And even if we did, we don’t know if the arcane dwarves are even still alive.”

“All true,” Charlie said. “Like I said, I think we need to research this symbol more, and see if it reveals anything.”

There was a moment’s silence, which generally indicated agreement. But for Ben, a germ of an idea had started forming in his mind – one that he knew would
get ripped to shreds the moment he voiced it. Yet the more he thought about his idea, the more convinced he became of its merit. It was dangerous – well,
to be fair, it was far worse than dangerous; he wasn’t even sure it was possible – but it had the potential to get them some real answers.

“Ben?”

Ben turned, unaware that both Charlie and Natalie had been looking at him.

“Are you okay?” Natalie asked. “You went all distant.”

“I’m fine,” Ben said, giving them both a hasty smile, and ignoring the suspicious glance Charlie threw his way.

“Let’s split up,” Charlie said. “I’ll tackle the dwarf symbol. Ben, why don’t you find out what you can about the Jimba Forest? Natalie, anything else you
can discover about Angus would be great.”

Charlie gave them directions to where they might find what they were looking for, and they set off. Charlie remained, whizzing back up a ladder to delve
into a bookshelf.

Initially, Ben and Natalie’s route kept them together, but Ben was too lost in his thoughts to talk. His mind drifted back to the idea that had formed in
his head just minutes earlier. Yes, why not? After he was done with researching the Jimba Forest, he could do his own research. If he did break the idea to
Charlie and Natalie, he’d need to be prepared.

“I’m this way,” Natalie said, pointing at a sign. “
Important Historical Figures of the Institute.”

“Oh, right.” Ben hadn’t realised it, but he had been following Natalie. She had been talking to him, but he couldn’t recall a word she had said.

“Are you okay?” Natalie said, her green eyes narrowing. “You look distracted.”

For a minute, Ben thought about revealing his idea – it would certainly be easier to do so without Charlie’s laser-sharp reasoning and pessimism in the
way.

“I’m fine,” Ben said. “It’s just a lot to take in. I feel like I need to sketch it all out.”

Natalie smiled. “I think that’s a really good idea. Well, I’ll see you soon.”

With the help of Charlie’s directions, it took Ben less than five minutes to find the Unseen Geography section. There were hundreds of maps, packed tightly
on shelves, as well as textbooks describing the geography of what must have been every possible land in the Unseen Kingdoms, from tiny islands to kingdoms
as big as France.

Ben started running his finger along the shelf. Thankfully everything was alphabetised, making life easier, but due to the sheer number of books, it still
took him a little while to find the right one.

“Gotcha!” Ben said, picking out a small fold-out map from a shelf that looked like it was about to collapse. There were no tables around, so Ben sat down
where he was, and spread the map on the floor.

Jimba Forest, it turned out, was located on Jimba, a small island approximately the size of the United Kingdom, located off the east coast of Africa.
Despite its remote location, Jimba was a lucrative source of silver, and had been conquered by the English during the height of the British Empire. The
island used to be one huge forest, but, due to mining, it had been partially decimated. There was even a Dragonway station there, though Ben had no idea if
it still worked. The island was hot, tropical, and sounded rather unpleasant. The population was split between humans and desert elves, with no mention of
dwarves at all. Ben read the entire map, back and front, before slipping it into his pocket.

Assuming there was a functioning Dragonway, that would at least give them access to Jimba. Otherwise they would have to commandeer a winged animal. The
thought of flying all the way to Africa on a pegasus did not appeal. The real question was – were there any arcane dwarves left in that forest? The fact
that there had been no mention of them wasn’t surprising, as they seemed a remarkably secretive race. But it would be useful if they could find out one way
or the other before they travelled there.

Ben felt satisfied that he had done all he could with relation to Jimba. According to his watch, he still had thirty minutes left before they were due to
meet up.

Perfect. That gave him just enough time to investigate his project. Thanks to his endless hours with Charlie in the library, Ben had some idea of where to
start. After a few wrong turns and getting lost once or twice, he entered an older section of the library. The shelves creaked if he so much as looked at
them, and some looked ready to disintegrate. The lighting here was dimmer too; not sinister, but secretive, as if the library knew you shouldn’t be here
and was helping you hide. The signs said things like “Undead”, “Cosmology”, “Superstition”, and “The Underworld”.

For the next twenty minutes, Ben lost himself in the books, with a diligence he rarely showed during his studies. Time flew by, and it was with some
surprise that he realised he had less than five minutes to get back to the main library to meet up with Charlie and Natalie. He would have liked to stay,
but knew his absence might worry them.

Ben reluctantly closed the book he was reading and headed back. As he returned to the main section, the library opened up and became once again a peaceful,
harmonious space. Charlie and Natalie had already made it back, and had snagged a small table by themselves.

“I never thought you’d be in a library longer than me,” Charlie commented, as Ben sat down.

The comment was innocent, but Ben felt his cheeks burn, and he coughed to distract them. “The library is growing on me. So, what have we got?”

“Nothing that exciting,” Natalie said. “It wasn’t hard to find out about Angus, given that he was an original director, but he certainly seemed to be the
least interesting. He was a pacifist, a great orator, and single-handedly stopped over a dozen wars by peaceful means. He was also a big fan of eggs and
bacon.”

“How is that relevant?”

Natalie shrugged, a strand of hair falling over her eyes. “It’s not, but it’s probably the most interesting thing I could find.”

“That’s not true,” Charlie said. “Tell him about London.”

“That’s true; there is London. When Queen Elizabeth I passed away, the new commander of the Institute was her son, Prince Henry – a madman by all accounts.
He was obsessed with his mother’s armour, and immediately tried to retrieve it. Most of the original directors left or went into hiding. Angus was the last
to leave. He was liked by everyone, and not even the prince could just dismiss him out of hand. But eventually Angus disappeared, and was charged with
treason by the prince.”

“Where did he go?” Ben asked.

“Well, that’s the interesting part. This happened just weeks before the diary you found took place. It could be that he realised the danger the armour was
in and went to hide his piece.”

Ben gave a low whistle. “That is interesting if it’s true.”

“We can’t confirm it, but it does seem likely,” Charlie said. “Anyway, it’s a lot more than I found.”

“What did you find?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Charlie said. Ben wasn’t sure if he was frustrated or delighted by the challenge. “Arcane dwarves are hard enough to find in the
library, let alone a peculiar symbol from one of them. But I’m confident I’ll find something; I just need time. What about you, Ben?”

Ben pulled out the map of Jimba and gave them a brief rundown of what he had found.

“Did you find out whether Jimba still has a Dragonway?” Charlie asked, as soon as Ben finished.

“No, but I will do, today,” Ben said, feeling a little defensive. “I know that’s important.”

“Yes, it is,” Charlie said, nodding. His eyes narrowed suddenly. “You were the last back, but that research couldn’t have taken you a full hour, especially
as I told you exactly where to go.”

Ben was usually so good at keeping a calm head under pressure, but if there was anyone who could cut through his superficial nonchalance, it was Charlie.

“You told me how to get there, but getting back was a nightmare,” Ben said in his most sincere voice.

The moment he uttered the lie, he knew it would fall on deaf ears. Even Natalie was now looking at him, with narrowed green eyes. Ben took a deep breath,
and gave the table a small rap in defeat.

“Okay, you’re right. I was doing something else. I had a hunch, and I was following it up.”

Natalie punched the air. “I knew it! The last couple of hours, you’ve looked really distracted, which is really unlike you. What were you really doing?”

Ben grabbed hold of the table with both hands. This was going to be rough, but there was no backing out now.

“I’ve been thinking about the dark elves, and why they attacked the dwarves,” Ben said, choosing his words carefully. “We believe they drew that symbol,
right? Maybe they didn’t know what it was either and were trying to get information from the dwarf mage.”

“I agree,” Charlie said.

So far, so good.

“The symbol was written in the language of the arcane dwarves, who we believe may be guarding the next piece of Elizabeth’s Armour. What if the dark elves
were also trying to find out about the symbol to get to the armour? And what if they thought the dwarf mage had the answers?”

Natalie nodded. “It makes sense, but we can’t prove it, and Charlie can’t find anything on that symbol to help us.”

“That’s true. But I know someone who will definitely know,” Ben said.

Charlie’s and Natalie’s reactions were vastly different. Natalie was all surprise; whereas Charlie’s eyes narrowed, as if he had already guessed the
answer.

Ben took a deep breath. “The dwarf mage.”

“I knew it!” Charlie said, slamming his fist on the table, and causing more than one annoyed reader to look round. Natalie jumped at Charlie’s exclamation,
unsure whether to look more surprised at Charlie or Ben.

“The mage?” Natalie said. “The dwarf mage?”

“Yes.”

“The one who’s stuck in the void?”

Ben nodded. “That’s the one.”

“Out of the question,” Charlie said, swiping his hand across the air to emphasise the point. “Unless you want to die a swift, horrible death.”

“Charlie is right. We know how dangerous that place is. You did the research when you discovered your parents were there, remember?”

“I remember,” Ben said. How could he forget? “But they’re still alive. It can be done.”

“Your parents are special,” Charlie said. “We’ve heard that time and again, from people like Wren. We are not your parents.”

Ben had to bite down a retort. He needed to keep calm if he had any chance of making a case. “The dwarf mage is still alive – or was, last time we
checked.”

“He could be a dwarf of extreme power,” Natalie said. “After all, just to get into the void isn’t easy.”

“Okay, fine. But listen, you can’t argue that the dwarf mage is the best option we have to answer our questions.”

“He’s not an option,” Charlie repeated stubbornly.

Ben massaged his temples. His temper was starting to flare, but he forced it down ruthlessly. “Aside from the risks, he is the one most likely to be able
to answer our questions.”

Charlie was about to give another biting reply, but Natalie put a hand on his arm and cut him short.

“Yes, you’re right,” she said. “Assuming we could reach the dwarf mage, he would be my first choice. The dark elves certainly think he knows something, and
they’re not normally wrong.”