Hey everyone, I know this is a short chapter but I promise that I will try to make my chapter longer. I hope you will like this story as much as I enjoyed pondering it in my head over the past few days. Also you should all know that my story takes place after The Will of the Empress.

I do not own the writes of The Circle Reforged

The crisp aged paper felt lively in the firm but caring hands of Dantalian Bibliotheca. Being part of a renowned merchant family and the age of thirteen, Danny, as he preferred to go by, hungrily read line after line of the ancient poems and was amazed at the beautiful detailed illustrations on each page.

Sweeping a lock of sandy blonde hair from in front of his star blue eyes, Danny was interrupted from his reading with the creak of feet on loose floor boards. Holding his breath quietly, he waited for the feet to recede from his hiding place, the crawl space that lead into the walls which was hidden by his bed, that he found after a week of living with his grandparents and with his mother.

Holding his breath for several seconds, he finally heard the steps go away and released his breath with a sigh of relief. But his hope was short lived, as the footsteps came rushing back and grabbed hold of his bed, pulling it away from the wall to expose his hiding place and him to the footsteps.

Heart hammering, he stared up into the face of his grandmother, with bloodshot eyes and lips down turned into a fierce puckering look, like she bit into an especially sour lemon. Taking out a whipping stick from her skirt loop, his grandmother raised it above her head preparing to strike furiously. Turning away just in time to protect the precious book in his hands, Danny felt the horrible sting of the stick slice across his back

"How many times have me, your grandfather and your mother, told you not to take books from our merchandise," his grandmother scolded furiously," Those books are to be sold to eager customers so our family, the Bibliotheca as we have honorably earned that name, can stay above those filthy Traders." Slapping the stick against Danny's back one last time, his grandmother thrust out her hand demanding for the book.

Whimpering against the pain, Danny squirmed around to face his grandmother. Holding out the book to her with trembling hands, Danny leaned away from his grandmother slightly as she snatched away the book roughly. With a final flick of the whipping stick towards Danny as a final warning, she stalked out of his room, with all the presence of some ancient royal dictator empress.

Limping out of his hiding place, Danny shuffled over to his door and checked his surroundings to make sure his brute of a grandmother was nowhere in sight. Down to his left, his grandparents' vast second story of their house, extended further into some unknown distance, dotted here and there with dawn light cascading from window panes set into the ceiling. To the right, he found his designated exit, the stairwell to the first floor, was all clear of anyone else that lived with his grandparents.

With a burst of adrenaline at the thought of making it outside, onto his grandparents vast estate, gave Danny renewed vigor to forget his pains and make a bee line run down the stairs, pass the multiple pictures of branch family after another, hopping over Bibby, his grandparents large grey Tabby cat, to seeing the double oak doors free of anyone obscuring his precious escape to the fresh air outside.

Jumping the last three steps, Danny skipped to the front door with new hope. Grabbing the bronze door knob, Danny swung one of the doors open, to find his youngest uncle, Uncle Robert, to be standing in the doorway.

With thickly gloved hands, Uncle Robert smirked down at his little nephew and said," Well well, I see someone is happy to get to work with his favorite uncle, to bring today's crates of books to the market." The truth was Danny could not stand his Uncle Robert. He was just as bad as his grandparents, what with their constant nagging at him about reading their precious merchandise, instead of taking interest in raising money for the whole family.

To top it all off, his uncle was a part of the Mage Council at the renowned school Lightsbridge, Robby Runescrafter was the mage name that he took on but also presented himself with his birth name also, as the Bibliotheca's where the highest Merchant family to exist since the fall of the Kurchal Empire and held many priceless estates that overlooked both Emelan and Namorn.

Squinting up at his tall uncle, throw the bright glare of sunlight, his uncles hair red hair looked like a fierce fire ready to consume him if he said the slightest thing wrong so instead of trying to resist his uncle Danny said the simplest thing," Yes Uncle Robert."

SOOOO! what did you all think of your first taste of Danny's life! hmmmmmmmm, you SO must Review and tell me what you think as it is only FAIR that you do!