Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series (12 page)

Dagan was beginning to look a little grumpy as well. "You're halfway intelligent people. You should be able to figure something out. Look for the highest concentration of guards, that kind of thing." The others just stared at him so he kept talking, "Atock and Heather will study the outside of the buildings. Look for guard assignments and weaknesses. Try to get an understanding of exactly what we're up against."

"What about Enton?" Heather demanded.

"What? Oh, sorry I forgot about him. I think he should help you and Atock. He does tend to stand out in a crowd doesn't he? He should be less noticeable on the outside of the library than on the inside."

"And what will you and I be doing?" Cassandra asked coolly. She looked unhappy and was busy bouncing her foot.

"We will be preparing a fake copy of Kelc Fm Mutheer. Nothing that would fool someone who actually knows the original, just something that will fool the most casual observer."

Cassandra's foot had quit bouncing. "Why do we need a fake copy?"

Dagan looked puzzled. "Well, we will need to steal the original, of course."

Chapter 7

Walking slowly through the main floor of the library, Aaron casually glanced around. Today was the fifth day in a row that he and Mikela had been wandering the inside of the library buildings. So far they hadn't found anything that would indicate the hiding place of the Kelcer prophecy.

The royal library was made up of five buildings. The center most building was far and away the largest, having been the original library structure. It was simply huge, taking up a large square area in the more affluent section of the city. The building itself was rectangular and made of white marble. Weathered reliefs covered the top of the building, wrapping all the way around. What the reliefs depicted was unclear as they were far too worn to make out the scenes. The front of the building had an overhang that was supported by a row of immense columns.

To the left of the main building were three smaller library buildings that looked like replicas of the main structure. They appeared identical to the main structure except in size, being much smaller than the primary building.

The fifth building was to the right of the main structure and was rather unadorned. It was as long as the main building, but much narrower.

Aaron sighed and pushed the edge of the expensive looking cloak away from the side of his face. This disguise was stupid in his opinion but he was simply following orders. In all honesty, it wasn't much of a disguise. A person cloaked and with the hood pulled up might draw eyes more quickly than a person without a cloak. Spring had definitely arrived in Eled Aminor and the temperature was warming up.

Over the past several days, both Mikela and Cassandra had used magic to alter his appearance. His hair color had changed as well as facial characteristics. This morning, though, neither woman had been in the best of moods and Mikela had simply thrown the cloak at him.

So far, none of them had spotted anything that led them to think they had discovered the hiding place of the prophecy. All five buildings had a large number of guards stationed at the exits and at various posts throughout the library, but there wasn't one spot where the guards were highly concentrated, like would be expected if they were guarding a high value location. Furthermore, they didn't seem overly inquisitive about the patrons of the library. The only occasions where they seemed to pay more attention than normal had been when several unscrupulous looking individuals had entered the library. The individuals had looked grimy and had acted nervously. The guards had chased them out right quick.

The three Guardians who were watching the outside of the building had, likewise, reported nothing out of the ordinary. A normal complement of soldiers and guards were stationed around the buildings. Even at night there hadn't been any special considerations given to the buildings.

It appeared that the library, while certainly housing some old and valuable manuscripts, did not house something as important as the Kelcer prophecy. Mikela had even cast some rather minor spells trying to d Fal fad a etect any magically hidden or protected areas. So far, she hadn't found anything.

There were some rooms that were off limits to the library patrons but Aaron had managed to sneak inside two such rooms and had been disappointed with what he found. The first room was a simple store room with old tattered books piled on shelves. The second room had been some sort of restoration room and quite a few books were scattered along the empty tables; apparently in the process of being restored.

He was walking along the southernmost part of the building, a section that he had walked along many times. About twenty yards ahead of him, a guard stood at attention alongside a door. There were several areas that were off limits and he routinely checked around those areas, hoping for an indication as to how the area was used. So far, the only luck he had had was all bad.

The guard seemed bored. He stood at attention, but his eyes were fixed on the bookshelves directly in front of him.

Not wanting to draw the guard's eyes, Aaron ducked in between some of the long bookcases. He was considering going back the way he had come, when he spotted something off to his right. An old man sat at a table gingerly turning the pages of an old book. The man and table were placed amongst the shelves and for the most part were hidden from sight. The interesting thing, though, was that the old man was sucking on an old pipe. The pipe was unlit, as he surely would have been kicked out for having a fire source so close to the books. Aaron suspected the old man sucked on the pipe out of habit but it did give him an idea.

After the first day of moving around inside the library, Aaron had asked the magicians for a way to cause a scene; something that would create a diversion and let him move without being watched. Cassandra and Mikela had come through for him; each giving him several small packages with detailed instructions on how to and how not to use the items. This was the first opportunity where he felt one of the items might be put to use.

Gingerly, he pulled out one of the small packages from an inner pocket. Moving as quietly as he could, he moved up behind the little old man. The old fellow was thoroughly engrossed in his book and seemed oblivious to his surroundings. A stack of books sat on the floor next to the old man's chair and Aaron silently hoped that none of the books were irreplaceable.

The man was still moving the pipe around in his mouth and every now and then it made a clopping sound.

Swallowing hard but silently, Aaron set the little bag down on the stack of books, untied the string that held it closed, and then, holding his breath, he ran silently as fast as he could. He didn't stop until he was three aisles over and there was a sudden exclamation from back the way he had come. A huge cloud of smoke was billowing up over the bookshelves.

He waited in the shadow of the bookshelf until the guard rushed past and then he moved out into the open. Swallowing hard, he walked casually towards the door. From behind him, he could hear the guard berating the little old man for smoking his pipe in the library and setting the books on fire.

Aaron grinned. Cassandra had said the package would burn up completely in just a moment, leaving no evidence except for an enormous amount of smoke. She certainly knew her craft.

Almost immediately the grin disappeared from his face. He had framed the old man and he sincerely hoped that the old fellow didn't get in to too much trouble.

Several more voices joined the guard's and Aaron's anxiety for the old man grew. How much trouble would he be in? Hating himself, he decided there was nothing he could do about it now.

He crossed the open area in front of the door with his heart beating wildly. He still could hear the raised voices from the aisles behind him but Aaron still gave a small nonchalant glance around the space to confirm that no one had spotted him. To his relief, he was completely alone. Without a hesitation, he strode to the door, opened it, and stepped through.

Mikela was not in a good mood. She was in the process of making one last circuit around the interior edge of one of the three smaller library buildings. In her opinion, this whole Kelcer copy quest was a colossal waste of time. Although, on the several occasions when she had thought about suggesting to Heather that they leave Eled Aminor, she had been completely unable to come up with a place to go. That alone had caused her to hold her tongue. Better to stay here and waste time than to leave and be arrested by the army of Telur.

She sighed, continuing her walk around the inside perimeter of the southernmost of the three small library buildings. It was small only in relation to the monster just next door. Each of the three "small" library buildings would have been sufficient for the royal library in most capital cities, but not here. In Eled Aminor the royal library was enormous. It was surprising and rather impressive.

She knew some places did not allow the common citizenry access to the royal libraries, but commoners came and went as they pleased in Eled Aminor. She had the sneaking suspicion that the guards watched the poorer sort closer than those in better clothes, but still the poor had access to an amazing collection of books.

As she walked, Mikela continued to mumble under breath. She did it quietly so that anyone passing her would not hear. The truth was that she was in fact casting a spell, a spell that Cassandra had taught her. It was a spell that she had cast numerous times over the last five days and it wasn't overly complicated. The spell caused anything magical to glow, but only to her eyes. On several occasions, she had been startled when the spell had caused some old books to glow. A light green shown all around the edges of the books. It had surprised her because she hadn't expected any of the books to be enchanted. The books themselves were old books, and upon further inspection, the enchantments were ancient and had nothing to do with their search for the location of the Kelcer prophecy.

She stopped dead in her tracks as a new thought occurred to her. So far, she had covered every square inch of the public areas of the library buildings and most of the storerooms and such that were not open to the public. But she hadn't cast her spell on the outside of the buildings.

Still mumbling her spell and grinning the whole time, she headed towards the exit to begin an examination of the exteriors of the buildings.

"Are you sure that the Kelcer prophecy is stored in the library?" Heather asked a disgruntled looking Dagan as she entered the small room at the inn. "I mean if I were a king I think I could find a better place to hide the royal treasures than a library." She flopped down on the bed, ignoring the scathing look that Cassandra was sending her way. It just happened to be Cassandra's room and she was less than pleased when the others made themselves at home. Besides herself, Dagan and Ca Nhe fwas in facssandra were the only other two people in the room.

"I've already told you," Dagan began in a bit of a temper, but then he paused, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. After a moment he opened his eyes and continued, "When Eled Aminor was absorbed by Aramonia, the royal family was so impressed with the treasure room they continued to use it." He stood along the wall opposite the door to this room, holding a set of papers by the window.

"Even though everyone knows about it? That doesn't seem all that intelligent."

"It isn't all that well known," Dagan replied through clinched teeth. "Telur had spies in the royal court and that's how I know about it."

"Would the Church also know about it?" Heather asked, watching the old man closely.

Dagan blinked, no longer looking angry, he now looked wary. "The Church?" he repeated quietly. "What makes you ask that?"

"Well, it seems to me that the Church would be most interested in the location of the prophecy, and I would imagine that they would try and steal it themselves."

"That makes sense," Cassandra agreed from the chair in front of Dagan. She turned her eyes towards the old man. "Does the Church know about the treasure room?"

"I do not know for sure," Dagan replied after a moment, "but I can only assume that they do." He dropped the papers that he had been holding onto the small desk under the window.

"And in all that time, they haven't stolen the prophecy?" Heather was beginning to look a little irritated. "Is that because they have been unable to steal the prophecy for the last two thousand years?" Her voice rose to near shouting levels. "Have you led us on a fool's errand?"

Dagan raised his hands in a placating manner and then looked to Cassandra for help. There was little enough help there though, as Cassandra was also eyeing the old sorcerer with a furious look. "It's not as bad as it sounds," he began weakly.

"If the Church hasn't been able to find a way, what makes you think that we can?" Cassandra asked in a quieter voice than Heather's. Her voice may have been calmer, but it also contained a feeling of danger.

Dagan sighed deeply. "We have a few things working for us that the Church doesn't."

"Such as," Cassandra prompted, still in a very calm voice.

"A master sorcerer and a master magician," Dagan answered, smiling for the first time. "The Church hates sorcerers and doesn't much like magicians, so I doubt they would be using people with our specialties to search."

Cassandra looked thoughtful. "True, but you haven't even entered the library yet, and neither have I."

Nodding, Dagan moved over and sat down on the bed next to Heather. "Correct. I was hoping that our young Guardians could narrow it down a bit before we got involved."

"Why?" Heather demanded, not as eager to give up as Cassandra appeared to be.

"Because I suspect that the guards will be looking for the two of us." Both women stared at him and so he N of "48continued. "Think about it. Flare steals the sword and is suspected of attempting to fulfill the Kelcer prophecy. At the same time Cassandra and I flee Telur. The Church isn't stupid and neither is King Darion. They may very well suspect that we will come here to learn more about the prophecy, as this is one of the few places that we can see the unaltered prophecy."