Dragonborne

Chapter 16

I walked the streets of the Anthill fuming. I can't believe Alyse would try to stop me from taking my revenge when I'm just about handsbreadth away from it. And Brick, who the hell does he think he is, asserting his opinion on how I take my revenge?

My furious and distraught mind brought me to the ninth floor, three floors away from the topmost. There were four doors on that floor and a lot less people than on any other floor I've been. I pushed open the door nearest to me and was immediately assaulted by the smell of old paper and and mildew. I entered the room.

The smell that assaulted me was actually the segue to a library. Rows and rows of bookshelves stand in front of me. I looked around and didn't find anyone else on this part of the library.

I looked at the volumes on the bookshelves while I walked deeper into the library. Some books were leatherbound already while there were also some scrolls. Titles of some books were written legibly but others were not so legible that I dismissed it as that of another language. One title caught my attention.

It was a huge leatherbound volume that I had to drag the nearby desk closer to where I am so that I could immediately put it on it because I certainly couldn't hold it up for long. I pulled out the volume and I quickly realized that I underestimated its weight. It ended up falling on the desk rather than me dropping it there. A loud thump resonated throughout the place along with a flourish of dust from the desk and book.

The title of the book was "The Prophecy of the Last Born Dragon." The title caught my attention because I'm quite acquainted with the subject of the prophecy, Prince Levi. I proceeded to opening it when a voice suddenly spoke.

"Interested in ancient literature, young lady?" The voice said. It was unmistakably male. And it certainly didn't come from the book. That'd be crazy. No, it came from a dark skinned tall man in flowing golden robes standing a few feet away from me.

"Not really." I said. "I just...well... I don't know really." The man approached me and looked at the book. His eyes glinted with recognition.

"Ah," he said. "Now that's not just any book." Then he caught himself. "My apologies for being rude. I'm Drahken Ch'tund. I am the leader of the Red Party. My family found it. And you are...?"

"Feyre." I said, suddenly conscious of being in the presence of this place's monarch. "Feyre Corvette is my name, milord."

"Oh," he said. "A relative of the head merchant family back in the capital, I should think."

"Very distant relative." I said. "We rarely associate with the head family." This man may be the superior of the man who killed my parents. Maybe I could get from him about what was the motive without implying about my relations with the main family.

"Oh," he returned his gaze to the book. "This book is rarely used now as there have been recently newer references for ancient literature. I'm afraid that you won't have the time to read this as the library is closing. But I can lend it to you. If you, could be so kind as to follow me and I shall stamp it first before lending it." He tucked the book under his arm and moved deeper into the library as I followed him closely as it looked like one could easily get lost in this maze of books and scrolls.

Drahken bent over the counter and retrieved a stamp which he used to mark a card and inserted it into the book. "There," he said. "You may leave with it now. Farewell, Feyre. See you around."

-oOo-

I returned to the tavern and found Alyse sitting on the bedside table. "Hey," I said in greeting. "Look, I'm sorry but I really need to vet out my vengeance."

Alyse sighed. "Which is why I sent out Brick to scout the surrounding." I noticed two amulets on the table beside Alyse, one of them was pulsing blue.

"What are those?" I asked, indicating the amulets.

"Oh," she said and she picked the two and held them up for me to see. "These amulets are something that I made. We'll be able to communicate to each other telepathically using these. It's just a little trick that my master at the Tower of Wisdom taught me." She handed one to me, not the pulsing one.

Alyse and I wore both our amulets at the same time and she looked like she was concentrating inwardly, I guess someone's speaking to her. Wait. who's on the other side?

"Brick just contacted me." she said as she stood up and started gathering our possessions. She tossed me my bag. "We're leaving."