Delphinium, or A Necromancer's Home (TCoLaD Book 2)

Dancing Lessons

~ (Continued) Qvattorday, 9th of Aprilis, 11831 ~

Last night's dream had unnerved Elizabeth. She had not spoken of it at breakfast, letting Pierre and Wolfram guide the conversation and trying to forget, but after they had parted ways, she found herself exploring the château in search of that library. It called to her. Heading down hallways that she had never been in, she finally found a familiar pair of doors.

She entered.

There was far more light amid the dusty books. It was still early morning, and the sun was just high enough to peek through the large windows. To her relief, it was not exactly the same as in her dream—maybe it was simply a nightmare that wished to cause her unease?

But such dreams were not often without reason.

She found the spot where the old book had fallen. Looking up into the shelves, she noticed a book half-pulled out as if it had been hastily returned to its spot. From the color of the spine, it looked to be the same one. A chill ran down her back.

Lizzy took a deep breath and, based on a feeling and no more, held out of her hands. The book fell into her grasp and she almost let it slip through; it was so heavy. A table stood near the shelf and she placed it down before she could drop it.

It was old. The leather was cracked, and the pages yellowed. She did not look yet at the title, but had neither done so in her dream. Or had it been a dream? Could she continue to call it such when it was clearly so much more? A vision, perhaps, or an omen.

She had hoped more magic would enter her life, and it seemed her wish had come true.

The title was still legible even if some of the letters were peeling: A Complete and Thorough Account of Clandestina's Bestia, Magia, and Cræfts.

Now, wasn't this interesting? She had not found something like this in her family's libraries. Looking around, she saw the other books were also different from what had been in her dreams—no books on cræfts or bestia were as out in the open as she had seen last night.

Most books mentioned the fée as part of the bestia of Clandestina, but omitted much because it was either unknown or not thought proper. The only cræft ever written extensively on was blancræft, with noircræft sometimes mentioned, and necrocræft never. Some people did not even believe in the dark magic. And magia? That was different than cræft, it was a merging of craefts actually if Lizzy remembered right, but it was restricted to being taught by other beings or was inherent in a bestia. Beside the fée, what else was there? The keres...

She opened it to the first page and began to read.

Clandestina is a realm surrounded by mystery. Once heavily connected to the plane of Faery, it was, and is, a harsh and beautiful land. Separation of the two planes occurred in the early millennia after Amôru disappeared from the world. The plane of death, Thanatos, was already separated, but the Mountains of Mist, or Mists of Judgment (see: Akhlys) stayed for a longer time. Some historians claim that the Bastoni mountains are the remnants of the plane Akhlys, and the last of the keres may be found there, but I believe that, as they are now, the Bastoni were mountains belonging to Faery.

She soon realized this was not the kind of book that she should be reading in the daylight where she could be found. After the introduction, there was a table of contents and three chapters were dedicated to necrocræft alone. She could well be reprimanded for being in possession of this, though she did not think if Pierre knew that he would allow that to happen. There was no law against this, as such, but it would have a great effect on social standing.

She hid the book behind several tomes and left the library with a promise that she would return later in the night.

***