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Invading Will

Chapter 8

By: D. C. Henry ("Ahndeleck")

John had brought them to doors of the library. Its outer doors were heavy oak, with no decorations or symbols. The stone walk before the doors and the bottom of the doors themselves shown with wear of countless passers. The building was domed, all in simple grey stone. There were several glass windows on the different floors, but they all appeared dirty. Raogothcar hoped that the librarians took better care of the books inside than they did of the building. Even the stones appeared to be dirtier than the rest of the city. Only a small plaque beside the door marked the building as being a "Library". Raogothcar had hoped for something much grander for the great library of Palitos.

When they arrived, Isaac had been standing by the doors waiting for them. John rode ahead of them to speak with the man privately for a little while before Raogothcar and the others came up with them. While he watched, Raogothcar was pleased to see both men smiling about the situation. At least he wouldn't have to expect another catastrophe like with the old woman; especially now that he had to set an example after the murder. No other citizen of this place would see an uncivilised dragon.

John swung himself off his horse, and then so did all the other riders. Raogothcar thought that maybe he should do something as well, so he sat down hoping it would feel to the rest of them like getting off a horse. He looked down at John, waiting for him to explain what would happen next.

"Alright, this is it," John said, "The library of Palitos. It was nearly the first building put up in stone here in Palitos. Well, that is after they had some of the walls up first. Isaac will stay with you both as you're inside. I'll take the rest of you to the Cobblestone Companion."

Jacob, Helen and Travis all went with John, each looking more cheerful than when they had entered the city. Deanna and Raogothcar remained behind, Deanna stood watching Isaac, and Raogothcar sat watching the rest of them go to the tavern.

"Well," Isaac said, "I suppose that you two would like to go ahead and see the books now right?"

"That's why we are here."

"One of the clerks inside will be with you the whole time. Sounds like pretty nice treatment. Usually visitors just have to look for themselves in there. I hope you both enjoy your visit, I'll be here if you need anything." John walked back to the doors and pulled one of them open.

Raogothcar could almost see the scents of the old books and tomes fall from the open doorway. He stood and started slowly toward the interior, letting Deanna lead the way. Once inside the world seemed darker; much older and calmer than the streets outside. Isaac let the door close behind them and the soft thud of the door felt alien inside the large entrance hall.

The stone hall they were in loomed three tall stories above them, a large staircase leading to the second and the third levels on both the left and right sides of the hall. The hall ended before them with a large open door, which appeared to lead into a central chamber of the library. At the end of the many rows of shelves was another large hall, this held a window that spanned most of the entire wall. On either side of the door was a large counter with many small shelves behind them. A man dressed in a deep red tunic and light tan pants stood on the outside of the counter talking to a woman behind the counter wearing almost the same thing. Other than the soft sounds of conversation, Raogothcar could only just make out the soft sound of rustling pages far in the distance somewhere.

The sudden realisation of where he was sent a shiver through his back and wings. He smiled apologetically when Deanna gave him a stern look. Raogothcar looked back up to the ceiling wondering how much wisdom roosted in the levels above them. Someone at the far end of the library dressed in a red robe briefly passed through his vision. The pile of books in the woman's arms made his heart race. He didn't even own as many books as were in her hands.

The man near the doorway turned and walked slowly toward them. Raogothcar thought he wasn't short, but he still had a hard time telling what was normal for humans. A nice ring of thin grey hair around the back of his head told Raogothcar that the man might be the oldest human he had ever met. There were small gold rimmed seeing glasses on his nose, something else Raogothcar had never seen before, but heard about. He didn't seem unhappy to see them, but Raogothcar couldn't tell if he was very hapy about it either. Even with the misgivings, the man just felt like someone Raogothcar could trust. He stopped before Deanna and nodded first to her, then to Raogothcar. Raogothcar nodded back and smiled, the short smile in return made him feel much more at ease.

The man had a very quiet voice, nearly an airy whisper, "Welcome to the library of Palitos. I am Nickodous Buyworth, but you may call me Nick if you would like."

Raogothcar wanted the man to like him, so he bent his head down and whispered back to him, "I am Raogothcar, and this is Deanna my friend. It's nice to meet you Nick."

"The pleasure is all mine," Nick flashed a smile and nodded to Raogothcar again, I don't get many dragon visitors in the library much any more. Most of the dragons we get in the city don't spend their time here since they have collections of their own. Recently though, I haven't seen a single one in town. Its not to have you by."

"Well, I am glad I could come." Raogothcar looked over his shoulder slightly, "You've got a lot of books here, I would like to see them all sometime. I don't think I'll get to stay long enough today though."

"Certainly Raogothcar, you will have time to see them all I am sure. I must ask though, what brings you both to my library today? Certainly Miss Deanna doesn't want to pour over the books as well?"

"No." Deanna pulled a small bag from her belt and held it out to the man. "What I would like to know is what this is, that's the first thing. We need to know what this plant is, and where it came from. Especially where it came from."

Nick stepped forward and took the bag from her hands. Gingerly, he poured the small stem of a plant that they had found on the assassins. Raogothcar looked from the man's hand to his face, as Nick calmly gazed at the plant in his hands. For a moment Raogothcar though he had fallen asleep on his feet or lost his mind, but then he shook his head slowly.

"I don't know what this plant is. I know its not native though, as I've not seen it before." He looked up apologetically, "This will take some time Miss Deanna."

"How much time?"

"Oh, that won't be a problem." Raogothcar smiled and waved a wing in a small circle, "We've plenty of time, we can wait a while."

Nick gave a quiet chuckle in the back of his throat that sounded more like a series of hums than a real laugh to Raogothcar. The man looked up to him and gave him another short, but very warm smile. Raogothcar thought of his father, with the way the man smiled.

With an outstretched arm, Nick beckoned them to follow him, "If you'll both come this way. I'm sure you can both be comfortable in the reading area out here." Nick then walked through the double doors leading to the windowed hall at the other end of the library.

Raogothcar stretched his head towards the open door and offered Deanna to go first with a raise paw toward the door. She followed the librarian and then Raogothcar followed after her. He felt his heart race in his chest when he got a better view of the rows of shelves. Unable to help himself Raogothcar looked down the first isle, and found a small collection of books all titled "Histories of Esmorin". With a single step forward, he looked down the next isle, which stretched several of his lengths until it ended at a wall. Raogothcar felt there had to be hundreds of books down each row, with each row they passed thoughts that he had found his way to the dragon's heaven.

Finally he turned his eyes from the rows of books to look where he was going. Nick had lead them past most of the shelves and before them was the large open room. The ceiling stopped with the last row of shelves, the wall of windows stretched all the way to the ceiling. After they walked into the well lit room, Raogothcar noticed several small tables with chairs about them. There were two other people on their right at the far corner of the room leafing through several books with a map stretched out. Nick turned and lead them to the closer corner in the room, well in the sun. Nick stood by one of the tables and waited for them both to come to him. Deanna and Raogothcar reached him soon after.

With a gesture towards the table Nick whispered to them, or Raogothcar guessed it was a whisper. "I will have to consult some of the books. Only the clerks are allowed to handle the books on the second and third levels, which is where the old plant tomes are held. If you would like to look at the books on this level, please be my guest." The last was spoken directly to Raogothcar, who grinned at the old man. Then, Nick turned and slowly walked down one of the isles away from the two.

Raogothcar watched him for a few moments, then he remembered that Nick gave him permission to look at any of the books around him. He scanned the nearby set of shelves for a few moments, but then decided to pick one at random. A large dark blue bound book near the middle of the shelf caught his attention, and reached with his large paw to retrieve it from the shelf. Raogothcar fumbled with the book and felt the spine of it strain when he used a talon to try and pry the book from its neighbours. Finally he turned to Deanna, who had turned to look at the others pouring over the old map.

"Deanna, could you get that book out for me? I don't want to rip it with my talons."

Deanna turned her head towards him and shook her head slightly, "I'm sorry dragon? What did you ask?"

"Could you get it out please?" He reached back for the book and tapped it, "I don't know what it is, and I want to find out. It looks interesting to me."

"Very well." Deanna sighed and walked around the table and pried the book out and set it on the nearby table. She then walked back to one of the chairs and sat down and watched him. "Why is it so interesting?"

"Well, because I don't know what's in it. Someone wrote this for someone, and maybe the human that wrote this book wanted to tell me something." Raogothcar gripped the chair in front of the book Deanna set out for him, and set the chair in the isle. "That's why humans write books right, to tell other humans things, to share knowledge and their lives?"

"I don't know. There are books, but I haven't really thought about them more than that. There are more important things than books dragon."

"No there isn't, they hold everything in them." He laid a paw on the book gingerly, "Everything that was and will be will be in books, we live on in books."

"Is that why you dragons scratch in your journals?" she pointed at his leather bag which held his journal, "I've yet to hear of a dragon that doesn't keep one of those things. Even the foul ones that come to town seem to have one somewhere, and speak of them."

Raogothcar wasn't sure how to respond to her question. He gazed at the book on the table for a few moments trying to think of how to explain years of what his parents had taught him in a few words. He doubted he could ever make her understand. He doubted she even wanted to understand.

"Well," Raogothcar said, "They are us. My journal has my thoughts and my ideas in them. My mind has the same things, thoughts and ideas. When something important happens, I take what I know and put them in the journal so I'll never forget what I know."

"Some humans keep journal, but not all of them. Why do all dragons keep them?"

"Because," Raogothcar searched for the words as he searched her face for understanding, "these journals will always be us. Every dragon keeps one so that none of us will forget what they've done or what they've thought. It'd b terrible to lose what one knew."

"So its just for history then is it? That seems like a poor reason for all of you to keep one. Hardly efficient."

"Its more than efficiency Deanna. There are other creatures, in the world and many of them can't read or write a journal. We need journals for knowledge, and knowledge is important. Knowledge is what makes us different from the animals and creatures of the world. Knowledge is what makes us civilised."

"Is that what you've been told? That knowledge makes you civilised? I've seen dragons that were some of the least civil creatures in my town. You've heard just today that a dragon killed a child not too long ago. If you all are so knowledgeable why is it that not all of you act very civilised?"

She didn't sound angry, though Raogothcar felt his spines rising from the insult. Then he realised she was right, there had been a murder in the city not long before. Parts of what he had told her were true, but he couldn't think how to tell her of the dragon's afterlife. Their journals weren't for history or any sort of proof that dragons were better than anything. In some part they were, but what a dragon's journal was, was life. How to make her understand, he couldn't begin to know.

He sighed as he looked at her. Maybe now wasn't the time to tell her about dragon journals. Raogothcar drew several breaths to calm his nerves, and felt his spines falling back again. Deanna didn't mean to anger him, but Raogothcar couldn't think what to do.

"All the dragons keep journals, " Raogothcar said quietly, "but what the journal is supposed to be isn't always the way they act. The journal is supposed to be our lives. But the journal doesn't tell us how to live our lives Deanna. I don't know why those other dragons are that way. But we keep our journals because we must."

Deanna's expression changed, Raogothcar thought for a moment that she was going to tell him that he was lying, or didn't know what he was talking about. She didn't look like she trusted the explanation, but then Raogothcar guessed maybe she was just sceptical of what he had said. She didn't ask anything else, and then eventually turned her attention to the window, that looked out on a grassy square behind the library.

Raogothcar looked down at the book Deanna had gotten for him. The blue book held the title, "Stone Masonry" in yellow letters, Raogothcar had always wondered how the humans worked with stone. He knew sometimes they would use magic to shape them, but some of the humans would use tools to make the stones the right shape. And how they actually mad the changes always fascinated him. Humans were always resourceful it seemed.

He looked down at the book for a while, as thoughts about humans glided through his mind. Humans had done a great many things to change the land of Erina. They had taken the old elvish ruins and built on them, something that he couldn't imagine doing. They had gathered together and bent the forces of nature to their will in the forms of farms. Humans had fought wars that had brought his parents together. Raogothcar looked across the table at Deanna, who was still looking out the window.

Humans were interesting, but Raogothcar began to find certain humans were more interesting than the whole group. Deanna always seemed to talk and act like she hated everyone and everything. Even though she seemed mean to Raogothcar, he noticed that she was trying hard to help people. She wouldn't have come out to the Palitos library if she didn't want to help the people of Freeraven. There would have had to be a reason she did so much for her people, but always seemed so angry. Raogothcar thought that maybe he could find out.

"Deanna," He pushed the book aside and turned his head to focus on her, "what are your parents like?"

"They died dragon." Her face suddenly grew gloomy as she faced him, "When I was just a girl."

"I'm sorry Deanna." Raogothcar looked down at his paws on the table, "What happened to them?"

Deanna seemed to stare through him then, and Raogothcar felt uncomfortable with her gloomy piercing stare. Then she turned her head back to the park outside the window, but didn't seem to see anything in it. She didn't say anything. He thought it must have been the wrong thing to ask her, he felt terrible for asking.

"Years ago, north of Ravenstone, in the Freeraven port of Longdock, my family came to this nation. My mother and father were escaped slaves from the Northlands. They weren't welcome, since the Northlands and Southlands have been enemies for many years. My parents and my oldest sister worked hard to earn enough money to start a small weaving shop. Soon after that my second oldest sister was born, and then two years after her, I was born. All my memories, no one in that town ever trusted us. They all thought we were spies from Torland.

"There was a guild of thieves in Longdock then. They called themselves the Red Fingers." She nearly growled the name, "I remember times they would come find father and tell him to give things, or do things for them. They would burst into the house and start shouting at him, at all of us. One time they came to the small place we lived and took nearly everything we had. Father and mother just sat and watched them take everything.

"One day though, my father sent me out to get needles for his shop. I remember trying so hard to get the best I could find for father. It took me a long time to find a set that were just the way he liked them, a little long. When I came home, there were two men standing outside of our house. I knew who they were, I'd seen them before many times. So I went around the back of the house and hid beside the back door.

"I could see through the cracks in the boards that made the walls of our home, we were so poor. Inside, I could see my father on his knees before three other men. They were arguing and yelling at him. They said they would take my oldest sister with them and that she wouldn't come back. My mother must have stood and said something, but I couldn't tell what. I do know one of the men went to her and struck her hard in the face. Then my father stood up and fought with them.

"They killed them all dragon." Deanna looked back to him, her face seemed a strange mix of memory and grief, "One of them stabbed my father through the heart. My mother cried out and my oldest sister grabbed a knife from the kitchen. She ran a the other men. They caught her and beat her, then killed her. Then they killed my mother and my other sister. They left the house finally, and I went in and sat with my family all night long. In the morning one of the customers came to get something and found me." She turned back to look at Raogothcar, he could see a fire in the back of her eyes, a determination he had never seen before in her, "I've hunted the Red Fingers since."

"I'm sorry Deanna," He said feebly, "I didn't know. It must have been awful."

Deanna looked at him with her fierce yet grief stained eyes, then she turned from him back to the park outside the large window. Raogothcar watched a young couple walking underneath a row of trees, holding each other hands as they walked. His words seemed hollow when he said them, but he wasn't sure what to say to Deanna.

In his whole life, he hadn't thought about losing his parents. They were always there, and it seemed they always would be. Deanna was very young when she lost her parents it seemed. Raogothcar thought about the age differences between humans and dragons. He guessed he would have lost his parents about the age of thirty if he was in her place. Without his parents at that age, he wouldn't know a thing about magic then. He wouldn't know how to read human writing. Deanna's story seemed more tragic the more the thought about what she must have lost.

He wanted to do more for her than just tell her that he was sorry. He was sorry, but it didn't seem right just to say it. Raogothcar thought back to what he would have done if he had lost his parents at that age. Certainly they would be in his journal at that age, he knew he could write in his journal then, so he would have written about them. He would have remembered them forever in his own journal. Raogothcar couldn't remember seeing Deanna with a journal, so perhaps if she had a journal she could remember her parents better. When he had the chance, he would get her a journal of her own. Maybe he could teach her how to write in it.

The stonework book lay in the middle of the table. After a few moments Raogothcar reached carefully with his wing and pulled the book back in front of him. It lay closed, promising new things to learn and new projects to try in his den. Deanna shifted in her chair, and brought Raogothcar back to the present again. He watched Deanna out of the corner of his eye for a few moments. It didn't seem right to Raogothcar to try and enjoy himself in a book after a story like she had just told, so using his wing again, pushed the book back to the middle of the table.

Deanna turned and she seemed curious, but Raogothcar shrugged his wings and kept looking out the window. She returned to ignoring the world at large. Raogothcar heard the other group stacking books heavily on their table. For a little while Raogothcar watched them and wondered what it was they were doing.

"Is that painting over there your father?"

Deanna had looked down one of the isles of books and was pointing to a wall he couldn't see. Raogothcar managed to move himself forward by leaning over the table careful not to let his whiskers fall on Deanna and peered at the painting that she was talking about. Raogothcar smiled when he saw the painting, first because the dragoness couldn't be his father. She was a very nice light shade of blue all over, a colour Raogothcar hadn't seen in any of few other dragons he had seen. She had a very dense line of spines running from the top of her head down her neck, but her wings blocked the viewer from seeing where they ended. Her neck had lighter blue, nearly white, stripes on either side of her neck, which ran from her jaw line down to her wing shoulders. She had brilliant, almost shining green eyes and with the soft smile she had, she looked just as pleasant as Raogothcar's parents had told him she was.

Raogothcar sat back slowly still smiling, "That's a dragoness, her name was Tethimar. Mom would tell me all about her when I was very young. She learned how to write and started our journals long, long ago. Before then dragons had to remember everything, and it was very hard. It's written she thought of an idea so big that she couldn't remember it all with everything else, so she went in search of a way to remember it all. For a long time she tried songs and drawings, but none of them seemed to work right.

"She went to the Dimkae, and asked them for their help. They showed her how to use long wooden sticks with notches in them to have meanings. She liked the idea and tried it, but found she would break them by accident sometimes. It took far too long and finally she thanked the Dimkae and left.

"Next she came to the elves, and their magical ways. They taught her a combination of magics. With these New magics, she could record everything about us. It took her a very long time to master these magics since they were all so new. The way the elves made their magic wasn't quite the same as how a dragon could, but they both worked together and found a way. Soon she could use a journal to remember anything. She thanked the elves, and went back to her den to begin to write her great idea."

"And what was this great idea she had?" Deanna asked as she sat back in her chair.

"Well, when she got back to her den it had been many years since she left. She tried to remember what her great idea was, but she had forgotten it. She spent all that time trying to learn how to record it, but lost it. What she gained though, was our greatest gift, which is why she's always happy. No other dragon will lose another great idea."

"You said she learned how to write from the elves, so it must have been a long time ago."

"Yes, mother told me that she learned how to write before you humans were even here."

"That would have been a very long time ago." Deanna sighed and rubbed her eyes slowly, "Tell me about your parents, dragon. What are they like?"

"My mother's a quiet dragoness; she likes to think to herself part of the day, every day. She's always very kind, even when I chewed on the corners of the books when I was very young, Dad was very, very mad though. She taught me all the time about circle magic and how important it could be when you'd need something for a long time, or if you wanted something ever just so. She would read to me when I was very, very young, every night before tucking me in under her wing to sleep. She didn't have company in the den very often, only a couple of times, so she would go outside to meet company or go down into the town to meet people or other dragons. She didn't do that very much though. She liked to stay to herself and think and write very much.

"Dad liked to talk though; he would always have a story to tell about himself or some other dragons he knew when he was young. He was kind as well, but when he got mad he would show it. Whenever I did something I wasn't supposed to he would get me on the head with his wing. But when I was good he would take me out hunting with him and let me help him practice his magic. When I was older he would teach me how to do his flashes and all the magic he knew as well. We would wrestle and have a good time. He wouldn't go in the den all the time; he said he liked the outside a lot. He had many human friends in the city and they would visit him pretty often. He'd sit on his rock and talk with them for a long time. They would invite him to the city and he would go with them sometimes."

Raogothcar stopped and watched Deanna as she continued her gazing about the room. Then after a few moments of silence she nodded slowly to herself and looked back to him, their eyes meeting,

"What were their names dragon? I hear much good but I don't know who they are."

"My mother is Ulsemreth, and my father is Tipmosar. You probably don't know them though. They helped in the Dominance War in Esmorin." He nodded slowly as he continued, "Dad told me that he helped on the northern front there many times. Mom says he lead an army, but he said it was only a few good men and women. All sorts of exciting stories though."

"Your parents are the Defenders of the North Front?" She was leaning on the table, surprised.

"They were on the north front yes." Raogothcar nodded again, "I can show you a little bit about it when we get back to my den sometime if you would like? They gave me a small painting one of their friends did of them long ago, as well as a letter from one of the human leaders. I don't remember his name though."

"You must live in some very big shadows then dragon, Tipmosar the hero of the South. Ulsemreth the saviour of the Estates. And you never knew?"

"All they told me was that they were in the war. Father told me about leading some battles and sometimes fighting along side his dragon and human friends on the front, but never that he was a great leader."

"Tipmosar is the only reason Esmorin managed to push Torland out of the hills. I've read some of his tactics as part of my training for the scouts. His ideas on small group tactics were brilliant. I've always wanted to see how some of his tactics with a dragon in the ranks would work. Has he ever showed any of them to you?"

"No, just how to hunt mostly. He did tell me a little about how to defend myself from humans if they were mean. I can't remember him ever saying anything about 'small group tactics'. Mother wouldn't approve I think."

"Ulsemreth wouldn't. I didn't read as much on her, but she saved the Markah family line if I remember right. Brought Duke Markah's two sons back from the dead."

"They weren't dead, that's what Mother said anyway. She always said they were lucky. I saw one of the Markah's once, and she and Mother talked a long time. The lady seemed very surprised when Mother said that her grandfather hadn't died back then."

"How could he not be dead? Both the sons were torn in half."

"I don't know. Mother does know a lot about circle magic though."

"Apparently. Did, she teach you any of that?"

"No, I'm not ready for anything quite like that. Something like that would be a very large circle, and she was very good with circles..."

Raogothcar saw someone coming down an isle towards them. When he leaned around Deanna, he saw Nick was returning. The small herb he held in one hand gingerly, and tucked under his arm nestled a very old browning book. Raogothcar nodded towards the man and smiled.

"Nick's come back." Raogothcar said.

"Good, maybe we can learn something about what's going on." She turned in her seat, "What can you tell us?"

"This," Nick held the herb up, then placed both the herb and the book on the table, "this is wing tangle. Wing tangle is also known as Yastercar's Release by some, mostly in the north.

"You won't find this growing down here in the Southlands," Nick opened the book and pointed to a yellowing drawing of the plant. "It only grows in the Northern reaches of Torland. Its used mostly as a form of punishment to dragons. Very small pieces give dragons painful seizures most notably in the wings, hence the name we know it by, wing tangle.

"The North knows it from the tales of Christopher and Tippy. In one tale they met a dragon named Yastercar that had lost his mind. In a fit, Yastercar asked Christopher to find a way to poison him and release him from his misery. From that day forward Christopher named the plant Yastercar's Release."

"Dragon," Deanna picked up the plant and studied it, "It's a good thing you're cautious. You're parents taught you well. I'll have the rest of this burned when we return to Ravenstone. Nickodous, I need you to keep this all silent. Freeraven can't let our enemy know what we've discovered."

"Of course, I don't discuss what other's needed while they are at the library. It doesn't do anyone any good."

"There is one other thing I need you to see if you can find something on." Deanna pulled out the small black globe that was found on the assassins. "Can you tell us anything about this? We've tried everything we can, and just like the herb, came up with nothing."

"Of course," Nick took the small globe, "perhaps there's something like this in the art section."

Nick turned and walked back up the isle he came from. Raogothcar and Deanna watched him turn around a corner and disappear into the depths of the books. Raogothcar looked back at the wing tangle, an herb that was meant to kill him. A cold shivering feeling crept through his neck, and he was reminded of the moments following the fight with the Cickrack.

"You know what this means right dragon?"

"No..." Raogothcar said absently.

"This means you're in as much danger as the royal family appears to be. If they tried to use this, then you are a target as well. You've done a great deal to ruin their plans so far. You're going to have to be careful though."

"Why would they want to kill me for doing the right thing? All I wanted to do was have some friends."

"When you make friends you make enemies dragon."

"Are all humans like that?"

"Most are yes."

There were humans that were trying to kill him. There were humans that had been trying to kill him for several days now. The attack on the bridge suddenly seemed even more serious, it was an attack against him. If Deanna and the other's hadn't been there, those men would have killed him. The image of hundreds of arrows plunging into him filled his mind and he shivered again.

"What am I going to do Deanna? I wanted friends not enemies."

"Friends you have dragon. You've helped the royal family more than once, and the royal family will help you. We can't let these people get what they want, the family, or you. When Nickodous returns we'll find where they are, and we'll take the fight to them. We have to."

"Why do we have to? Why can't we all just hide away from them? I don't want people trying to kill-"

Raogothcar spread his wings slightly in his excitement and knocked several books off a shelf behind him. A soft growl escaped him as he twisted around between the table and shelves. He slowly collected the books on a pile on the table.

"This place wasn't built for dragons. All narrow and hard to move around in." Raogothcar said as he placed the last book on the table. "They need to make libraries better so we can move about in them."

They both sat in silence for a while. Deanna appeared to study the book in front of her, but Raogothcar could tell after a few moments she was only staring through the book. Raogothcar guessed that she was thinking about the assassins, that was about all she seemed to do.

She thought about the assassins a lot it seemed, but now Raogothcar guessed he should think about them a lot too. Before they had been just bad humans, like animals that went crazy and would attack things in the wilds. Now it was different, they weren't just crazy wild animals, they were assassins out to kill him. He was being hunted, and he had always been the hunter. He fidgeted in place wondering how Deanna could sit so calmly while other humans sought a way to kill him.

The moments dragged on, Raogothcar completely forgot the passage of time for a while. He leaned against the table and pulled absently at his long whiskers. The sun had nearly set by the time he noticed Nickodous coming up to them, a large book under one arm and a map in his hands. Raogothcar straightened himself up as the old gentleman approached. Deanna noticed his sudden change and turned to see what caught his attention.

Nickodous came to the table with a look of disappointment. Without any greeting he set the large map, still rolled, upon the table. He then slowly laid the book beside it. Finally he turned his down trodden gaze to Deanna, fished the black globe from his pocket, and then slowly handed it to Deanna.

"I could not find any mention of this or anything like it before. I don't know what it is. There is no text about an artefact like this, or religious symbol, or even a sport, common use or even art that I can find. You may have better luck with a mage."

Deanna looked down at the smooth sphere in her hands for a moment. "We'll find more about it elsewhere then." She looked at the large book and the map before her, "What have you brought us here though?"

"I suspected you might like to know where these plants come from. Judging by your looks from before you need to know." He looked from Deanna to Raogothcar and back. "I do not come bearing good news however. You especially will not like this madam." He opened the book to a page he had marked with a small cloth bookmark. Then he placed his finger on the page for them to read with him as he began, "Wing Tangle has been found through most of Torland. Here the weed is known to grow wild, although certain Blood Barons are known to cultivate fields of the plant. Widely know as Wing Tangle due to its poisonous properties among dragons. Torland officials use the plant as a means to enforce justice in their lands among the dragon populations. " The man continued quicker with less emphasis, "Other uses include some mild decorative uses, a numbing agent for small wounds in humans, and as an herb for cooking in some small communities in Actar."

As Nickodous closed the book, Raogothcar could see Deanna's eyes close slowly and her lips get tight. Raogothcar waited silently, wondering what Deanna would do with the news. Deanna seemed pretty upset to Raogothcar with the news and he couldn't figure out why exactly.

She opened her eyes and looked back to Nickodous very slowly, Raogothcar thought she was straining to keep things to herself. Soon she seemed to gather herself back under control and then spoke softly, "Thank you. I trust you will be able to keep this in confidence?"

He nodded slowly, "Certainly. Would you like to see where the largest Wing Tangle farms are? I brought a map." With a slight raise of one arm he indicated the rolled map on the table.

Deanna rose one hand quickly and shook her head slowly, "No thank you. I know exactly where Torland is. I've studied their maps before."

Nickodous glanced over to Raogothcar and gave him a hint of a shrug, "Then I will put these back then." He gathered up the large book back under his arm, then took the rolled map from the table and turned to walk down the isle. Before he entered the canyon of books, he stopped and turned back to Raogothcar, "Is there anything else you would like me to find for you?"

Thoughts of his own mortality were still thick in his mind, and he stared at the man for a small while as his question filtered through. Finally he nodded as a memory from when he first met Deanna played through his mind's eye.

"Yes Nick there is something. Do you have anything about the Cickrack?"

"The Cickrack?" He stopped and looked at the floor for a moment, "Yes I think I have a few things on them. They're very prodigious burrowers and builders as I understand it. They're pretty rare anywhere except in the wastes south of the Crater Mountains. Did you need more about them Raogothcar?"

"Yes please. I don't know anything about them really, and my Mother never said anything about the. Dad just says they smell funny."

"I'll see what I can come up with for you. Just a moment."

Raogothcar watched as Nick turned back to the isle and walked away. He felt very small in the world, the thought that now people were trying to kill him changed his perspective of all the events. Now he didn't know what to do or how to handle his future. He was worried if he kept trying to help, the people who were after the king would be after him. He also felt that he had to help them, because they were his friends.

With a slight twist of his neck he looked at Deanna, who was still turned away from him staring out the window with a hard look. She seemed so calm to him, Raogothcar wondered how she could handle the idea that people not only didn't like her, but wanted to kill her as well. He guessed she took it well because she began to feel this feeling since when she was much younger. This probably wasn't new to her, but it was to him. He had let his gaze wander back to the other side of the room at the rows of books when he heard Deanna's voice beside him.

"This is going to mean war. One thing will lead to another and eventually this is going to be the Dominance wars all over again. This is going to grow and spill over everything, it has to or Freeraven will fall."

"What are we going to do? What is so bad about Torland?"

"Baron Genmark the second, lead his army across the Sea of Melodies to conquer most of Nyland. Had this very city not held the man's advance, slavery would be rampant through here, this might even all be on empire under the control of the Blood Barons. Luckily, their forces were pushed back and even removed from Freeraven completely. An uneasy truce has kept Freeraven from going to war with Torland, but only just. The still think that Freeraven is their land. We of course think otherwise." She turned around to look him in the eyes, "Their attempts at the king's life must be some plan to regain their hold here. The Southlands won't have that however. It will be war before that happens. You may have war stories of your own to tell like your father."

"I don't want to go to war, Deanna. There is so much going on and I don't even understand why its all happening. What do we do Deanna?"

"Then look at it this way. You've already been in war since you met me. It has been one fight after the other, and it seems you are still standing aren't you? Take each fight one after the other, don't look at the whole thing all at once. You only get overwhelmed then if you do. If we act fast though and tell King Roland about this, we might have enough time to convince Nyland and Esmorin to prepare for a war. Maybe with the three allied together and ready, we can avoid a war completely."

Raogothcar looked down at his claws as he thought her words over. He heard her stand and walk around the table slowly, stopping at his side. He felt her pat his shoulder a few times and walk back down the corridor to the entrance hall. What she said felt right to him, even though he didn't understand everything. When his father talked about war, everything seemed adventurous and fun. Now that he realised the assassins were trying to kill him as well, the idea of war seemed much scarier. He stood slowly and turned to leave the library when he heard someone approaching from behind him.

A small twist of his neck let him see over his shoulder, as Nickodous was walking quickly towards him from where he had vanished before. He was holding out a book in both hands as he approached. The old man held the book out for Raogothcar to see.

"Raogothcar, I managed to find a book on the Cickrack that you can borrow. It might tell you a few more things than I could. It was quite well done, even though it is a little old."

"How old is it?" Raogothcar asked as he turned to bring his body in the same direction as his head.

"I think this was written before Freeraven was considered a nation."

"That's pretty old." Raogothcar frowned remembering Deanna leaving, "Nick, I don't think I have time to look at it though. Deanna wants to leave now that she knows what she came for."

"Then take it Raogothcar. I know you'll bring it back when you get the chance." Nick held the book out under Raogothcar's snout. "We don't see many dragons, and I like you dragons a lot. Most of you are very pleasant."

"Pleasant..." Raogothcar took the book with a paw and carefully slipped it inside the leather pouch on his chest. "Even with the murder?"

"Dragons are a lot like humans I've found. Most are good, but a few can be horrible. Don't let the few make your opinion of the whole."

"I'll try not to, thank you Nick. I'll bring it back when I can."

Deanna had already gone through the inner doors and she was striding toward the doors leading outside. With a slight frown, Raogothcar lengthened his stride and managed to catch up without Deanna having to wait. He expected her to open the door, but she waited, then looked around the small hall. Raogothcar turned his head back to find what she was looking at, but found nothing.

"Dragon," Deanna said quietly, "everything that we learned today needs to be quiet. You can't tell anyone anything of what we learned today."

"Can I talk with you about it Deanna?" He asked, turning his head back to her.

"Yes, and the prince, but you can't talk to anyone else about this. The last thing we need now are rumours. That could give Torland an advantage, or at the very least ruin the one advantage we have over them right now. We may have to assume they already know that we have some idea what might be going on since they saw us on the bridge. Perhaps, they won't know, but we can't take chances any more."

"Why would that be a chance? What would be wrong about telling people?"

"Dragon, we just won't tell anyone. We don't have time to discuss what this will be, you just have to do what I say."

Raogothcar suddenly felt frustrated with her, and gave Deanna a hard look and nodded. He didn't want to say anything else to her right then. The idea that he had to do what she said didn't feel right. He wanted to know what was happening and why it was happening. Then not being able to talk to anyone about it other than her and the prince didn't seem fair either. Deanna didn't seem to always be a very good human to talk to, and he barely knew how to talk to Prince Alan.

Deanna opened the door and stepped outside. Raogothcar caught the large door with his wing and kept it open as he followed her out into the evening air of the city. The stone's of the buildings nearly shown with brilliant oranges from the setting sun. The air smelt fresher than the air in the library, despite the smell of human musk, cooking food, and less pleasant city smells. He could hear portions of the city alive with parties, or large crowds. Deanna walked straight to Isaac, who had been leaning against the wall of the library.

"Isaac," Deanna commanded, "go and tell the rest of my scouts to meet me here."

"Certainly ma'am. They'll be back soon."

"Now dragon," Deanna turned, the commanding voice gone, "we don't want rumours floating about the kingdom and panic seeding itself in the minds of the people before we know anything for sure. We're pretty sure we know this is coming from the north, and it does look like war. If the king wants to work this out some other way, there may not be any war. Perhaps the king can rally the other two southern nations and we can all stand against Torland and keep this war small. But the last thing we need is rumours. So let's not start any."

"Would rumours about this be bad Deanna?"

"Very. They would spread quickly, and could lead to people trying to start a war with the north, a war we wouldn't win. Or worse, if Torland learns that we think that its them causing this trouble, that could start a war if its not them. There are many different things that could be going on, and we don't know everything yet, but we do know a lot. I trust you understand though?"

"I think I do Deanna. There's a lot of things going on."

"Yes," She leaned against the wall and sighed, "There's too much going on, and we don't know enough. We'll spend the night here, and then we'll start on our way back to Freeraven tomorrow morning. We'll have to be careful going back too, we don't want to have any more ambushes either. Then you and I will need to talk to the Prince. I wouldn't want anyone else there right now."

She leaned against the wall in silence, looking down the street where Isaac had gone. Raogothcar stepped sideways and then sat down beside her. He looked down the street for a while and watched an older lady with a very young child walk down the street and disappear into a house.

Raogothcar felt better than he did in the library. Something that Deanna said had made him feel better about the situation. Everything that they had found seemed serious and dangerous in some way. Deanna had let him hear everything, and wanted him to be there. Then she wanted him to talk with the prince when they returned. Deanna must trust him for her to tell him what she had and want him to talk with the prince about everything.

Deanna trusted him, and it suddenly made Raogothcar smile. He had a human that trusted him with something. She was the first human that had really let him be friends. He looked down at Deanna standing beside him, she was concentrating intently. She must not show it much, but Raogothcar was sure she trusted him. He decided then that he would trust her in everything she said. He didn't want to lose her trust for any reason, especially with how hard it had been to earn.