Sacrificed to the Dragon

6. The library

Not wanting to show her face and her bandaged arm in the kitchen, Katherine skips lunch, again. She rushes over the hallway and finds the right stairs to the upper floor. The library will be her sanctum today. She is careful to use her left arm to open the door and to select a book from the shelf. The Stories of Magic, a children's book written by a great magician a long time ago. But she might as well start all over. The basic first and she will try something more advanced when she learns to do the simple things. There are other books she would prefer to read, but this one is more useful to her right now.

Taking her place in a comfortable armchair, she opens the book to the first site and reads carefully. The rhymes are simple and she repeats every one a few times to remember them better. She wishes she would have some things here to work with, but remembering the right words is important too. She can learn a few useful things from the book. Like how to light a candle or a torch. How to move objects and how to open and close doors. 

The door practise is going well for her until she notices a man standing in front of the said door. She startles, loses focus and slams the door right in his face. Oh, gods! What did I just do? She asks herself and sets the book down carefully. She walks over and opens the door with dread pooling in her stomach. What will he say? What will he do? Did she make him angry?

“Hello, Katherine.” The man says as she opens the door.

“Hello.” She whispers. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you doing? I head the door open and close so many times I just had to come see.” He asks pointedly.

“I’m sorry.” She says again with more force to her voice. “I can stop, if it bothers you.”

“It doesn’t. I was just curious.” He smiles at her and she thinks his smiles are infectious. She can feel her lips form a smile too.

“I was practising.” She tells him. She wonders what it is about him that makes her open up and talk. Why does she trust him so easily?

“Spells from the children’s book?” He laughs at her.

“I have nothing else to do. I might just start there.” She says and glares at him, because he is still laughing.

“What happened to your hand?” He changes the topic suddenly and all the dread she has felt before returns tenfold. Why did he have to ask? He was so nice to ignore her tears yesterday. How come he needs to know about her hand now? Oh, the gods! And his amazing blue eyes are boring straight into her soul. She is going to tell him. Damn! Why is this man her weakness?

“I sewed myself to an apron.” Katherine whispers and doesn’t even look at him.

“Oh!” He exclaims. “So, that’s where Agneta put you.”

“Yes.” She smirks. “And for some unknown reason, Mathilde wants me to come back tomorrow.”

“I see.” He laughs. “Don’t worry about it. Mathilde is not one to give up so easily.”

“I just worry what I’ll mess up tomorrow. She wants me to try embroidery.” Katherine tells the man.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He laughs and she has to laugh, too. He got her in a good mood again and she is grateful for it.

Why is he so easy to talk to? She never had that kind of easy camaraderie with her own brother or any of her so-called friends in the palace. Why him? She doesn’t know anything about him and yet she has the feeling she can trust him with everything. All her thoughts and worries and hidden fears. He tells her nothing about himself, but she gets glimpses about other people he talks about. And she did promise, she won’t ask questions.

“I see you got reading privileges from Agneta.” He makes a random comment and she likes where the conversation is going. Books are her friends.

“Yes.” Katherine smiles at him. “She only said I can’t take any of the books out of here.”

“Hmm.” He smirks. “She likes you. She bent one of the rules for you.”

“What are you talking about?” Katherine wonders.

“No one is supposed to be here, but you can be.” He tells her. “That means that Agneta likes you very much or she trusts you to take good care of the books here.”

“What about you, then?” Katherine inquires.

“Two questions in a row?” He smirks. “What happened to your promise of not asking me things?”

“Oh.” Katherine smiles. “I guess I have to polish up my talking skills if I don’t want you to vanish on me again.”

“You better.” He laughs. “Or I might just get up and leave.” 

Katherine smiles and shakes her head at him. The man is flirting with her! It just dawned on her what he is doing. She remembers Agneta’s words clearly. She needs to be careful. And she needs to guard her mind and heart. Falling for a good looking man would be her downfall. She will just think of him as another test Agneta designed for her. Who is to say it isn’t so?

“What is the next thing you need to practise from that little book?” He asks her after a moment of silence.

“Lighting a candle, but I don’t have one.” She tells him.

“Sure you do. The candles are in the side desk drawer.” He tells her and gets one candle to practise with. He sets it in the candle holder from the side desk and puts it on the little table in front of her.

Katherine concentrates on the candle and mutters under her breath. The really good magic users only need to think of a spell and it happens, she is on the stage of a four year old. She has to speak the spell and visualise the flame on the candle. And still, nothing happens. She repeats the spell again and again. So long that she starts to feel incompetent even with that. But why? She asks herself. With the door spell, she got it right on the first try. What is she doing wrong here? And she can’t ask him about it! So frustrating!

“Katherine, stop.” He finally says something. Just not the thing she wants to hear.

“I’ll get it right. I know I will.” She retorts and tries again with the spell.

“No, you won’t.” He shakes his head. “Fire is not your friend. You’re not doing anything wrong, it just isn’t for you.” 

“Great!” Katherine exclaims. “I’m a washout at magic, too. I’m stuck with a few parlor tricks for the rest of my life.”

“Don’t think like that.” He tells her. “The wizards that can control all elements are rare. So you can’t control fire. No need to quit because of that. You still have wind, earth and water to try. And the door thing tells me you are good at telekinesis, you just need more practise.”

“Thank you.” She says and looks deep in his blue eyes.

“You are welcome. Now, get out of here. You’ll miss dinner, too.” He waves her off.

After dinner, Katherine sneaks back into the second story library. She has a petroleum lamp with her and a lot on her mind. Dinner was as expected. Nobody paid much attention to her, except Lory and surprisingly Anny. She had to reassure Anny again that it wasn’t her fault. Only Katherine is to blame for what happened, she was careless. And her handsome stranger was absent from dinner, but she did see Ariston, Agneta’s husband and she is sure now that is not the man who is talking with her. So who could it be?

There was a table empty in the great hall. The table with the fancy throne like chairs. And it wasn’t set either. Seems like everybody knows it will remain empty and the lord will not show up for dinner. She kept glancing around and Anery was missing too. She guesses that the mistress is bringing the lord his meals and she eats with him. Just another mystery to solve. Is he thinking himself better or is he avoiding the Loredanians that the dragon brings to his castle. What is the connection between the dragon and Lord Cellan? 

It is so frustrating for her, since she knows nothing about the lord and even less about the dragon. The rules Agneta gave her are so vague and they tell nothing about the people at all. And she is slowly realising that Agneta is a person of mystery as well. The groundskeeper of castle Eiry only tells what she thinks is needed and not even close to what people actually need to know. She has some weird way of selecting what is important and what is not. It is starting to feel like there are multiple games going on at once and she is the main character in all of them. How many people are pulling her strings right now? Who can she trust and who she needs to avoid?

Maybe she should play her own game and design a way to get out of here? There must be some others who are not happy to be here. She just needs to feel the people out and see who was brought here and who was born here. The first might want to leave, the second don’t know any other way and might even tell on her. There must be a way out of here without the dragon, she just needs to find it.

Her thinking lands her on the balcony and she doesn’t see the figure standing there in the dark. She is too engrossed in the spell she wants to try out to pay attention to her surroundings. She copied the spell on a piece of paper and she left the book inside. The lantern in one hand and the paper in the other she begins to murmur the spell quietly.

“That won’t work.” He says quietly and she drops the lantern to the floor gasping for air because he frightened her so much.

“Careful, princess. Don’t burn your dress.” He rushes forward and catches the lantern before it shatters on the floor.

“You scared me to death!” She whisper-shouts and clutches her hands to her dress.

“Not my intention.” He smirks and puts the lantern down. “What are you doing outside so late?”

“I wanted to try the wind spell from the book.” She tells him.

“I see.” He draws the word out. “Not a wise choice. Go to bed. You can try the wind spell tomorrow. It’s not safe outside at night.”

“The dragon.” Katherine nods in understanding. 

“The dragon.” He nods too and escorts her back inside and all the way to the hallway. He gives her the lantern back and winks. “Good night, Katherine.”