Princess of Wind

Chapter 11: Ancient Books and Strange New Portals

"What are you doing here?" Marva turned to see a maid standing at the entrance to the hallways currently housing her father and his close friends.

"We are heading out to find our families," Marion said, without hesitation, "we saw what happened in the blast from the servants quarters and decided that traveling in groups would be our safest option."

"Well then," the maid said, "hurry on, I expect that we will need all the help we can get in a few hours, but until then you should be good. Best of luck find you families."

"Thank you, miss," Marion said, before turning to follow Marva.

Without a second though Marva started on a new path, one that made it look like they were heading to one of the closer servant's exits, while the maid still watched them. When they had turned enough corners that she deemed them out of prying eyes, Marva once again changed her course to a back hallway that led to a smaller entrance into the royal library.

"Here we are," Marva said, arriving in front of a worn wooden door.

"Good, I was wondering if we would ever make it," Elise quipped.

"Hush you," Marva responded, "that maid would have called our lie if we went any other way. Plus this way we won't have to deal with the pesky librarians."

"While you two keep bickering, I'm going to start searching," Marion said, pushing the door open and motioning for Eleri and Colin to follow her.

Once inside they were confronted with rows upon rows of books that seemed to stretch for miles. Marva immediately headed toward the back of the library, though she had never found The Walking Dead herself, Kaden, her younger brother, had a few years ago when they were running through the oldest stacks of books.

"Stay together," Elise said, walking close behind Marva, "it's easy to get lost in here, especially when it gets darker in the back."

"I could help with that," Eleri said, producing a small ball of fire in her hands.

"Well this is either going to be a blessing or end in disaster," Marva said.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," Eleri said.

"Good," Marion responded, "I would hate to see what happens if we mess up something here."

"You and me both," Marva added as she carefully looked over the tables they passed.

There was nothing, just books that scholars or students had yet to be put away. Marva scowled as they passed yet another pill of useless books, they were near the furthest corner of the library and the books here covered in dust and practically forgotten.

"I think I found something," Colin said, pulling Marva's attention to where he stood a bit deeper in the bookshelves.

"What is it?" Eleri asked.

"A book appeared in front of me," Colin said, "and I can understand any of the writing."

"Can I see it?" Marva asked, approaching the table where he stood.

"Sure," Colin said, before handing the worn book to her.

On the cover the title The Walking Dead was written in an elegant script, Marva smiled as she ran her fingers over the worn material, "This is it, The Walking Dead."

"Interesting," he said, peering at the title, "What language is this in?"

"What do you mean," Marva said, "it's in the language of Adarlan, the language we are currently speaking."