Reign of Embers

Chapter 22 - Armetis

Aelin

I waltz down the hallways of the palace, Yrene and Elide following close on my heals. The book of records is kept under close guard at all times in a room with only one entrance and exit, and it has hundreds of wards around it.

The palace layout is set so that the ground floor is for formal business, with the throne room and great hall taking up most of the space. Also on that floor is the main foyer, official war room used for when foreign ambassadors come to discuss peace or conflict, drawing rooms, ballroom, a library that spans 3 floors, theatre and all necessary adjoining rooms, and infirmary. These rooms are easily accessed by the court. The stables, dog rooms, and guards quarter - with training rooms, dorms, and armoury- are set away from the main hallways of the palace. Below this floor are the Kitchens and rooms for the servants, accessed via a tower in the west corner of the castle. Below this level are the prison cells and the closed off torture chamber - built by the valg when they invaded Terrasen- accessed by a separate staircase with no link to the servants quarters. The first floor contains guest bedrooms, library, guest nursery, and bath house, with great open spaces looking down upon the ballroom, theatre, and the throne room and great hall - with a walkway running between the two. The healer's storage, entertainment rooms and dormitories are found throughout an entire tower. The second floor is more bedrooms, art gallery, music room, and chapel and the final floor of the huge library. The third floor is the private family rooms, with me and my mate's suite and offices. Also included on this floor are the court suites for when our friends and family come to stay, the children's wing, family dining room, private living room, library, music room, and bathing suite. This highly protected floor also houses the book of records in a tower in the East wing that holds all the important artefacts. The glass roof of the adjoining throne room and great hall, and ball room, are used as a centrepiece for the layout. Above these layers are the tower rooms, housing the court children's bedrooms, a whole tower is designated to magic practice rooms and magic libraries, further artefact room, bedrooms, Abraxos' room, the top of the stairs is a cosy room for sleepovers and late nights, and in the tower above me and Rowan's bedroom - a nursery for our future children, not yet decorated but we left the space specifically for that purpose. We also have a star gazing room on the top floor of me and Rowan's tower, fit with another glass roof.

It's not far to the East tower, but due to the shear size of the castle, what looks like nothing on a map can quickly become a lot of effort when feeling sick and tired like me. Once we reach the artefact tower, the guards lining the walls in hidden alcoves, all snap to attention. The passageway is extremely well protected, and as we go along I have to disable the wards momentarily using magic recognition. We finally reach the doorway at the end of the hall, and after one last push, we're in.

The great, cavernous room surrounds us as we step through, shelves full of precious gems, books, and jewellery are crammed into its huge space. Mannequins holding armour, dresses, and tunics for special occasions or from kings and queens of the past surround us. Swords and weapons of all shapes and sizes rest in barrels or are hung on the walls. In the centre of this room is the book of records. This book holds the knowledge about everyone in Terrasen, and is hardly ever called upon. The book is magic so automatically fills in the most up to date knowledge. After the war the book was over half the size it should of been, with so many deaths plaguing the land. Now every time I look at it, it's a little bigger as we slowly recover from those terrible years.

"Whoah this room is so ... fancy." Elide exclaims, turning slowly round on the spot with her mouth wide open.

"And old." I point out.

" I forgot this place was even here. " Yrene states, also in awe of the glittering trove of artefacts crammed into this cavernous room.

"I'm technically not allowed to show you it. I mean I obviously brought each of you in here to pick a mating or wedding present but that was years ago. " I reply, they nod their agreement and we all smile at the memories.

Yrene had picked a small golden broach engraved and shaped to appear as the symbol of the goddess of healing, Silba - an owl. I'd let Yrene come here shortly after the war and I was crowned queen. Elide and Lorcan realised they were mates around a year after the war, so I instantly brought Elide here to pick a gift. She decided on a silver and emerald pendant engraved with Terrasen motifs.

"Ok so book of records. You both know about it right? Ask it anything about people in Terrasen and it will show the answer. Yeah? cool." I ask, moving towards the huge ancient book in the centre of the room.

The cover is leather bound with a silver stag engraved on the front. Simple but beautiful . We step up to the pedestal holding the book and I lay my hands on the gorgeous cover.

"Good afternoon book." I say sweetly.

" I do have a name you know. " It replies bitterly, and I remove my hand. The front cover has morphed to form the outline of a face.

"It's alive!" Screams Elide, Yrene seems shocked but not surprised .

"Have you never met a magical object before? And my name is Armetis." Armetis replies haughtily.

"Well yes I have, but not a talking book...Armetis." Stammers Elide.

"Yes yes we get that you're all fancy, now are you going to help us or not Armetis." I ask, already frustrated.

"How dare you. You leave me alone for decades at a time, then I don't even get to have a proper conversation? It's an outrage." He cries.

"Oh shut up you magical piece of wood." I snap. " Now show me the names and addresses of all children between the ages of 3 and 16 living in Orynth right now. "

Artemis grumbles but eventually, after some gentle coaxing from Yrene, the heavy book thumps open onto the pedestal.

"There are hundreds!" Elide exclaims, I'm inclined to agree.

"Ok so not all of them will want to train but we should still make it available. Maybe schedule training sessions with guards for most of them, but we could select a few to train here with us for a session or two." Yrene suggests.

"But how would we pick?" Elide asks.

" Armetis, randomly select and show 20 children living in Orynth between the ages of 5 and 16. " I command.

He obeys and they appear. I know that some of them will turn down the offer, but hopefully we will still have a good amount.

"Some of these are fae." Elide points out.

"Some of these are already friends with our kids. I know my girls often play with a few of these when they're here" Yrene mentions.

"Looks like a good selection then. Lets copy these down and get to work finding our new initiates."

We set to work completing this task, Artemis constantly gloating how he was made by the first kings and queens and how amazing he is. After a while we finish and leave the stupid book to bore himself to sleep.