Book 1: Youth of Delarn

Chapter 27: Close Recon

The tunnel leading into the library was comfortable to navigate. The other tunnels leading into the castle were dark, tight, and barely wide enough for Solene and Delarn to squeeze through. It would be near impossible for someone with heavy armor. That's where Delarn felt superior. It had been a hard year for her. She hadn't realized how much freedom she had to move around until it was taken. She was making almost all of her movements during the night and underground, and she craved the open air. She despised the tight, constricting tunnels, but relished the open air on the other side.

There were pockets and handholds leading upward. She wasn't familiar with climbing and didn't need to often. She tried not to show her disgust as Solene had to move past her, their bodies tight together until he was past. She swore he took longer than she thought necessary but didn't think it mattered all that much, and now wasn't the time to call him out when she needed him to tell her where to put her hands and feet when they were scaling the wall.

It was frustrating. She didn't always understand his instructions. It was also annoying when she missed what he meant and ended up falling back down. After a while, she could match where he put his hands and feet as much as follow his instructions and their pace got better.

Once they were near the top, and the place where she knew there was a hatch, Solene waited until they were nearly even and asked Delarn, "Can you hear anything?" He didn't understand her heightened sense of hearing, but didn't question it as long as it was keeping them ahead of the rest.

She listened for footsteps. She was familiar with the guard's route, but not of those here. This was higher than she ever attempted to travel on her own. Her exploration had grown little by little, and she grew bolder and bolder. She had made it look like she was becoming more comfortable walking around the library. After they were closed for the night and left, she would venture into the hall. It wasn't hard to figure out how to work her way out. The chain on the door was loose enough for her if she tilted the lock just right. She was almost always starving. She often dreamed of asking the store owner to give her food, but still woke up hungry whether or not she had given her the bag.

Before long, she was finding things she shouldn't. She found the guards' routes and charts of the castle. Each time she found a new one, she devoured it, but guilt seeped in whenever she thought about how the head librarian trusted her enough for her to get away with this.

She had an approximate understanding of where everything was and how the guards behaved, so she knew they wouldn't be there for a while. It would give them enough time to emerge without being heard or seen, so she gave the signal for him to go ahead, and once he was up, he helped her up as well. Not that she didn't trust him, but he had been acting different. She tried not to worry about how much she had to rely on him.

"Where do we go from here?" He asked once they were both standing on the wall. Their dark cloaks helped conceal them in the dark.

Delarn hesitated. She only had an approximate knowledge of which way they should head, but knew this was one of many missions they had done to cause havoc and keep their enemies on guard. It didn't matter as long as they could come and go without being detected until after they had gone. She knew a place that would seem impossible for an outsider to get to, so she nodded for him to head that way.

"You go ahead," he said. "I know you'll know if someone is coming better than I would."

"Yeah, okay," Delarn whispered back, moving along the wall. She knew if someone came around the corner, they would have a better chance of blending in that way. She crept at first, but became more confident as they went.

She moved faster because she could feel Solene reaching to touch her. It hadn't bothered her the first few times he had done it, but it was unnerving catching him running his fingers down her back or through her hair after a while. She wanted to call him out, but now wasn't the time to raise her voice.