Nym's Arc

Chapter 24 of 41

The staircase climbed for a long time. Nym counted the steps until she lost the number. At the top a door hung open, and warm light spilled out. Drasila went first. Nym followed, one hand on her mother's sleeve. The king had stayed below. He had waved them up alone, saying the room was not his to enter. Nym believed the library was empty. She was wrong. Shelves rose to the ceiling. Books filled every gap, some open on tables, some stacked in leaning towers. Ink pots and bare feathers lay scattered under lamps. Nym breathed dust and old paper. Then Drasila stopped. She stared at a figure among the shelves. "Crassus," she said. "Is that truly you?" An old man stepped into the lamplight. His golden robe was covered in runes, and a golden hat hid what little hair remained. He leaned on a tall staff. His eyes filled. "Drasila," he whispered. He took her hand and held it hard, as if she might vanish again. "Is it truly you? Three hundred years I have written your name into these books. I never wrote your ending. I could not." He studied her face like a man reading a page he had feared to lose. Behind him, a young woman rose from a table. Her pale silver hair was tied in a neat bun, gold robes marked with runes. She lifted a hand and waved at Nym. "Hello," she said, soft and easy. "I am Crea. Crassus is my father. We work here in the castle. We fill the books with stories and happenings." She glanced at Drasila's hands, then at Nym's arm, and her smile faded into wonder. Nym understood then why the queen had known that face. These two had kept the record. She pushed back her sleeve and let the runes glow. "You wrote about my mother," she said. "Did you write about me?" Crassus's grip loosened. He turned to a locked chest beneath the largest shelf. His staff shook as he pointed. "One book," he said. "Sealed by the Rune Keepers themselves hundred of years ago It named an unknown child who would one day save us. We were forbidden to open it. We could only guard it." He looked at Nym's glowing arm. "Only her blood can break the seal." Drasila stepped back. Her face went hard. "No," she said. "Nym, don't. That book was sealed for a reason." But Nym was already at the chest. She pressed her palm to the lock. Her runes flared. The seal split with a crack, and the lid rose. Inside lay a single book bound. Crea gasped. Crassus lowered his staff. On the open page, it read about an unborn child who would posses powers and save the kingdoms from the evil. It went on and on.