Ever So Lightly- Book 1

43

A week. A whole week had passed in a blur of meetings and more meetings and occasionally a nap in between. A nap actually sounded quite wonderful to Zephyr as she sneaked her way through tunnel after tunnel, glancing down at each turn to check the crude map Bennet had drawn out for her. Just a couple of hours in the library, that's all she needed. Then she would stop hiding and find Matthew, for yet another meeting. Saria had told Zephyr where exactly she could find Heart's library, and she had been trying to sneak away to it all week, to no avail. Finally, finally she had a moment to herself, and she was going to take it.

Once she finally had reached the hidden city, the library itself was easy to locate. Zephyr instantly felt at home among the shelves, among the stories lining every wall. She walked between rows, allowing herself to just relax. Eventually she made her way to a study alcove at the back of the spacious building. Someone was occupying the table, stacks of bound journals surrounding them. The woman looked up, catching Zephyr's eye.

"Oh!" The woman, whose frizzy brown curls struck Zephyr as familiar, seemed surprised to see anyone else in the building. "You must be Zephyr!"

"Yes," Zephyr said, hesitantly. "Have we met?"

"Oh no, not yet," the woman laughed, a smile lighting up her features, laugh-lines creasing the corners of her icey blue eyes. "I'm Lara." Oh. Oh.

"Ah," Zephyr stammered. "Now I recognize the curls." Lara looked away, her smile diminishing slightly. Zephyr felt a bit of pain for the woman. Searching desperately for a way to change the subject, Zephyr's gaze snagged on one of the journals.

"Does that say Maron Eastrider?" She couldn't keep the excitement from coloring her words, reaching out to snatch the book up.

"Yes!" Lara's smile returned in full force. "I've been reading through what are assumed to be copies of his journals, though there's not much evidence to support that they're truly his."

"This is incredible!" Zephyr flipped through the pages of the one she held, her eyes taking in entries and illustrations faster than her mind could process them.

"They are. I've been able to place the settings of several of his most popular tales based on a few of the entries. And look at this!" Lara pushed the journal she had been pouring over when Zephyr arrived into her hands. The older woman stood, pointing out an entry over Zephyr's shoulder.

"He speaks here of hiding something, presumably a weapon of some sort. Something so terrible as to make the stars go out."

Zephyr read through the passage, confirming what Lara had just summarized. She looked up from the entry, eyes wide.

"What do you think it means?"

Lara shook her head. "I haven't the faintest idea, but it's the most important entry I've come across. As far as we've always known, the stars disappearing has been unprecedented. But this could change that, drastically. I've been trying to find any other mention of something similar in these other journals, but so far I've come up empty-handed."

"I can help if you'd like," Zephyr offered. "I'd love to read through these anyways, Eastrider is my favorite."

"That would be wonderful!" Lara began gathering up a few of the journals. Just as Zephyr reached out to take them from the woman, the sound of her own name caught her attention. She turned to find one of Matthew's messengers waiting for her.

"Princess," the messenger said, breathing rapidly as if he'd been running to find her. "Your presence is required in the meeting hall immediately, at the request of Councilman Allwood."

Zephyr deflated. She passed the stack of journals back to Lara, suppressing a sigh.

"Sorry," she said. "I'll try to find you later, maybe when I have a few free minutes. I really would love to help."

Lara gave her an understanding look, squeezing her shoulder.

"That would be wonderful, thank you. It was really nice to meet you, Zephyr."

"Yeah," Zephyr said, and meant it. "You as well." Finally releasing the sigh she'd been repressing, Zephyr turned to follow the messenger to yet another council meeting.

~

After a week of being cooped up in that blasted sickbed, Jasper wanted to walk. And walk and walk until his legs gave out. It felt so good to finally be able to stretch, to breath air that wasn't so stale. Well, maybe it was still stale. They were under a mountain after all. But it seemed less stale, and Jasper felt like a new person as he explored the tunnels away from the sick ward.

Still, a restlessness raged through him. Maybe some sparring would do him a bit of good. Where was Bennet? Anything to keep his mind off the girl with the shining hair. He'd hardly seen Zephyr since they'd decided where they stood a week ago. According to Bennet, the only ones who had seen Zephyr were the people in those blasted meetings she was always being drug into. Jasper knew that they were putting things on hold for now, but stars, he'd still like to see her from time to time.

As he made his way from dimly lit tunnel to even more dimly lit tunnel, Jasper thought about what was in store for Zephyr. Obviously, things would get worse before they could get better. If the plans of the rebels came to fruition, if an actual war broke out, their lives would be chaos. And there was no telling how long that would go on. Especially with no guaranteed help from any outside sources. The Feiwyns were still holding off on committing to a side. Jasper found himself walking faster and faster as his thoughts raced on. He had to admit, the unsteady future scared him, for himself as much as for Zephyr.

Rounding a corner, Jasper found himself met with light from outside. It seemed he'd found the tunnel to the valley he and Zephyr had first entered through. Impulsively, his hand slid to rest on the pommel of his sword. He hadn't lifted it since that night, when he'd fought those blasted lizard-cat things. He'd have to ask someone what they were called, though he wasn't looking forward to another encounter. Hadn't Frederick said something about them only coming out of their caves at night?

Cautiously, Jasper crept toward the tunnel entrance, the sound of the small waterfall echoing louder as he approached. He glanced down at a pool of water as he reached the ledge, sunlight reflecting off the red tint. Red?

Jasper whirled. Two sentries were slumped against the rock face just outside the tunnel, gashes across their throats. Just as he was about to raise an alarm, a nose caught his attention. Turning back toward the valley, Jasper's stomach dropped. A company of soldiers were marching toward the tunnel entrance. They wore the black and purple uniforms of Lorelei's army.