BOOK OF MOON
CHAPTER TWO: REVELATION
Silence reigned for the several moments it took Tai'ree to realize she was staring at the man standing below her window. She finally focused on the magician, certain there had been two people there a moment ago.
The magician was dressed for travel, a pack and cloak slung over one shoulder. The collar of a well-worn jacket covered the ends of long straight blue-black hair. Below the bottom of the jacket she could see knee high travel boots with an embossed twisting swirl design on the side that showed it had been made in Caesmart Hold, a realm beyond the elvish lands north of the Kingdom. He held a green wand, flared at one end with a green crystal at the center, the other end flattening into a sharp blade, loosely in his right hand. Blue eyes were watching her steadily- watching and apparently waiting.
"Uh, hello?" she said, uncertainly.
"Why are you sitting up there?" he asked, his voice, curious, and oddly accented.
Blinking, Tai'ree answered, "It was quieter." She knew it was a silly answer but no one had ever bothered her when she sat in the window.
"Ah." He glanced toward the Chief Librarian's office. She could see from her perch that the office was empty. The magician turned back to her and said, "I was looking for the Librarian, do you know where I may find him?"
"Yes, I know where he is." She pushed herself off the ledge and lightly dropped to the floor beside the magician. Making her way between the tables she suddenly realized she had not introduced herself. She spun around and stopped. The magician, surprisingly not caught off guard by her sudden movements like most people were, stopped without running into her.
"Forgive me I should have given you my name." She bowed, and said, "I am Tai'ree ky- Alcalsar." She turned and continued down the rows, holding her book in both hands behind her back. "The Librarian decided to do some research and is in the master's study upstairs." She heard the man sigh. As she headed for the stairs, she turned, walking backwards, to ask, "Is something wrong?"
"No, it is fine." he said with a slight smile.
As she turned around to start back up the stairs, he suddenly asked her, "Ky. What were you looking for in your blue skies?"
Wincing slightly by the formal address she answered, "Three dragons." surprising herself. The only other person she had mentioned her dragon visions to was Mayen, her mother's Valkyria, although admittedly, it had been only in a letter, and she had yet to hear back from her. "And I am simply Tai'ree here."
Glancing back she found the magician had stopped.
"What color are these dragons?" he asked, looking up at her.
"What?"
"The dragon's color." he repeated.
"Emerald, ruby and ebony." He seemed slightly disappointed by her answer so she asked, "What color did you think they were?"
He gave a short chuckle and said, "Blue, red and gold, actually." He swiftly stepped past her and headed up. She stood staring at him for a moment before racing to catch up.
"Why would they be that color? "
"I am familiar with three guardian dragons that are those colors. I thought they may be the ones you were watching." Reaching the top of the stairs, the man stopped and waited for her.
Coming up beside him she tilted her head to looked up at him and asked, "I am sorry; I forgot to ask who you were."
"I am named Mahado, ky."
She sighed and said, "Again I say, call me Tai'ree."
"A magician must be precise in speech." he said, smiling slightly. "If you did not wish for me to address you as ky, you should not have given me your rank, ky-Alcalsar" He glanced at her clothing and added, "And you do not appear to be in training so I cannot refer to you as apprentice or novice. So. Ky."
"You sound like my father's Sorcerer." she said a little irritably, though more so at herself because he was right. "I came here to find a teacher who could return to Alcalsar to train me in the ways of magic but," she crossed her arms to look across the open space that was the master's study, "no one will touch me. I think they're afraid of my father."
"You are second born to the throne of Alcalsar. They have a right to be afraid. Your father the King would most likely believe they took you as a student to gain prestige, not necessarily to train you." He glanced across the room and said. "Which one is the Librarian?"
"What?"
"I am unfamiliar with who the Librarian is at this time."
She gave him an odd look. "Omserra has been Librarian for more than thirty years."
He gave a slight shrug and said, "I've never met him."
"Oh." Spotting the Librarian, none to difficult with the ornately stitched robes he wore, Tai'ree quickly led Mahado over to him.
"Master Omserra,' she said, bowing as he turn toward them, 'the magician Mahado wishes to speak with you." She stepped aside to allow the Librarian to rise and shake Mahado's hand.
"I was unaware there was a magician carrying that name at this time. Allow me to welcome you to the Magical Library. What may I do for you?"
Swinging his pack forward, Tai'ree watched Mahado pull a thick leather bound book free. The cover, carefully painted and gilded with various figures and glyphs, glittered slightly in the spirit light that hovered above the Librarian's work area. "I promised to deliver this to the Library as soon as I was able." Mahado said as he handed the book to Omserra.
If she had not been able to sense the energy emanating from the book, Tai'ree would have known it was a powerful spell book by the Librarian's stunned expression. In the four months, she had been at the Library she had never seen him ruffled by anything.
"The Book of Taiyo." he said in a hushed voice. "I never thought it would be found."
"It was in the possession of a sorcerer named Tyre. He did not explain to me how it came into his hands. He asked me to deliver it for him when I could."
"Tyre was in Icina Cari the last I heard. How long have you carried this?" Omserra asked, looking at Mahado in amazement.
"For some time now."
Recovering from his shock Omserra bowed to Mahado and said, "Thank you. This is quite a gift. Is there anything I may offer you in thanks?"
"Thank you for the honor but no." He stepped away from Omserra, returning the bow and started back towards the stairs.
Tai'ree stared after the magician. With a book and a few simple words, he had shaken the calm of someone she had believed could never shaken. She rushed after him, suddenly afraid to let him out of her sight. Skipping ahead she threw out her arms to stop him and asked in a breathlessly rush the first thing that popped into her head, "Wait! Before you leave will you tell me more about your dragons?"
He was silent a moment, looking at her. She found his intense expression unnerving and dropped her gaze. She was about to apologize when she noticed his gaze shift beyond her. Turning she saw the Door Warden approaching. The Door Warden met her gaze with a smug expression.
She felt a sinking feeling until she heard Mahado sigh again and say, "That took less time than I thought."
She looked up in surprise. She was even more surprised when a figure suddenly shifted away from Mahado's body. Though slightly shorter than the magician, with eyes that were more green than blue, the figure was almost a mirror image of Mahado.
"I see you've met Tai'ree, Dark Magician." Jerrin's voice drifted over her.
"Would I be correct in assuming that she is the reason you allowed me through the Door?"
Listening to Jerrin and Mahado talk about her, she found she could not tear her eyes from the strange figure.
"Delivering a book was not a sufficient answer for crossing this strange weather." She sensed Jerrin glance her way. "It was a strange coincidence that her ship was held up because of this weather you braved. I'm sure tomorrow it will have no trouble docking."
"Your god had it out for you today, Mahado." The translucent figure said, grinning widely.
Mahado made no response to the comment. Tai'ree glanced at Jerrin to see what his reaction was to the apparition but he appeared unaware of the man. Looking back, she found that the figure was now watching her closely.
"It appears that she can see me.", he said.
"What?" Mahado said, turning first to the apparition then toward her
"You know he is there?" Tai'ree said, swinging her head back and forth between the apparition and Mahado, feeling a little panicked. One should not have a ghost of oneself unless one was already dead.
"Yes." Mahado stated with a frown.
"My Lady, are you all right?" Jerrin asked, concern and caution lacing his words. Tai'ree could see him reaching out toward her from the corner of her sight but he stopping before he would have touch her.
Mahado seemed to have no such reservation. Stepping close he grabbed her and stated her name.
"Tai'ree."
The shock of someone other than a family member or a personal servant touching her, snapped her out of her sudden panic faster than her name did.
"Dark Magician…" Jerrin said in a low, agitated, voice. Tai'ree felt a surge of power tingle up her arm where he held her as the apparition merged back into Mahado.
Tai'ree watched Mahado turn his head toward Jerrin. Speaking in an even tone, he said, "If she wishes to learn to use magic, the first thing she needs to learn is to not freeze at the unexpected."
Tai'ree took a deep, settling, breath then nodded at Mahado. His hand dropped away as he shifted his stance. She became conscious that no one in the master's study had noticed his unpardonable action simply because of where he stood.
"I am fine, Jerrin." she said. He frowned but did not question her. Realizing he had made no move to stop Mahado she ask, "Is there something I should be aware of, Door Warden?"
"None that you won't discover on your own, Tai'ree." He answered with a shrug and a sudden smile.
She felt an irrational urge to stick out her tongue at him but refrained. It would have been undignified of her.
"Would I be correct in assuming the Dean is waiting?" Mahado said, settling his pack a little higher on his shoulder.
Jerrin shook his head. "Actually he is currently tied up reorganizing Tai'ree's departure. He requests that you register before you leave." He smiled and added, "Would I be correct in assuming you will be willing to take on Tai'ree as your student?"
Surprised at the comment, Tai'ree found herself now staring at the Door Warden.
"I know better than to fight this. That is, if the ky has no objection to my having touched her."
Unsure she was understanding the direction of the conversation, she said cautiously, "No, but I do want to know who the other was."
The figure sifted into being and bowed. "I am Coeremar. At one time I was a Magus of Illusion."
She frowned and asked, "And why are you attached to Mahado, Magus?"
Coeremar looked at Mahado who answered, "Actually, this body belongs to him. I died a long time ago."
She stared at him in astonishment. Jerrin, still smiling, said in a patient voice, "Tai'ree, you know the names of the founders of the Library."
"Of course I…"
Mahado.
Geures, Hecype, Durrenka, Mahado.
"That was almost a thousand years ago." she said slowly.
"Yes." Mahado answered. Coeremar shrugged and nodded.
She thought a moment, letting the information sink in, before meeting Mahado's eyes. "I have no objections but you will still need to convince my father." She grinned as he sighed once again and started for the stairs.
Coeremar leaned over and said, "Of course, you do understand that I'm not the strangest thing you'll need to deal with if you travel with him, right?"
"Oh." she answered, the sinking feeling returning.