Here's more for your reading pleasure! I'm warning you now, this is a build-up chapter. You could probably skip it if you want to . . . But you don't have to. In fact, you probably won't. *laughs evilly* you are mine to command! ;} and I'll warn you again -- it's long.

Myles to the Rescue

"Okay," Kel said. "Well, obviously those six clues are where the six are hidden. Let's figure them out, and then we can go get them."

"Right. But I highly doubt it will be as easy as that."

"I know. But, oh well. There's nothing we can do to change that. All right -- to begin: A gift from one who knows . . . Well, I don't think we're supposed to find that one. Hence, 'a gift.'"

"That one that says 'across imperial waters' . . . that could mean the Strait of Sijave. You know, the water between us and the Empire of Carthak." Neal mused.

"Yeah!" Kel exclaimed. "And it says 'I lead thee to three foreign lands,' so Carthak could be one of the three. Of course, there is a slight problem -- We're at war with Carthak!" She glared at him, and he shrugged.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help, here."

Kel looked up at the fading light. "Do you want to take this inside? I have to say, these gods are making me nervous. Especially since I'm sitting on the Graveyard Hag."

"Sure." Neal looked up at the sky. "Plus, the sun is setting anyway. It'll get cold out here soon. Let's go." They got up and squeezed through the gate, and Kel pulled the handle out of the wall. The wall slid together, leaving no indication that it was anything other than a solid stone barrier.

"Let's go into the East Wing of the Greater Library," said Kel. "I have a feeling we'll get lucky if we use that room, seeing how Pitken was in there." Neal agreed, and they made their way to the East Wing.

Passing by the knights' chambers, they heard a familiar voice call, "Sir Keladry and Sir Neal!" They looked around and saw a bedchamber with a door ajar. The two knights entered.

"Myles?" Kel asked. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. I must say I am quite confused myself. But I have something to give you before you leave." Kel looked at Myles sharply, and the old man nodded. "Yes, the king told me you're leaving -- and he also told me why. Don't worry, I can be trusted. By the way, a strange old man just met me in here . . . I have no idea how he got in, the door is protected. He told me to give this to you, Kel. And I'm to tell you, 'Here is the First.'" He held out his hand. Lying on his palm was a grubby stone.

Kel and Neal stared.

"It can't be . . ." Neal breathed.

"' A gift from one who knows' . . ." whispered Kel. She reached out her hand and picked up the stone. Looking closely, she saw that a glimpse of green shine out of the depths of the stone, but no matter how hard she rubbed it, the stone refused to be polished. She was about to put it in her pocket when a strange inscription caught her eye. She looked again, and saw it was the number one in runes.

Okay, I'll tell you again. You can stop now. I'll tell you what happens: Myles tells them the story of the Six and figures out where the other Five are hidden. That's all! Shameless exposition, I know. I really find it quite boring, but I wrote it because, well, it wouldn't be a complete story without this section. But it really isn't nessesscary to read . . . you just need to know what happens, and I already told you. So feel free to stop! But if you do . . . review! Hehe! Tell me what you think of the whole 'screw the exposition' outlook I have here! On with the story -- for those that want it :)

Impulsively, Kel asked, "Myles, what do you know about the Six?"

"Hmmm . . ." The knight smiled. "Maybe."

Neal asked impatiently, "Do you know anything, or not? Because, since you've already figured out what we're up to, we have a lot of work to do if you don't have anything that would help us."

"I'm just joking around with you. I'll tell you everything I know. Of course, we now know the Six are stones, which makes it easier to explain. I must say, before I knew what they were, I was confused myself. This clears up many things, including how the Six remained hidden for nigh on four centuries.

"The Six were made by three powerful sorcerers over four and a half centuries ago. No scholar of today knows exactly why; their motivation has been lost in the sands of time. Whatever their original purpose, we know they possess an immense store of magical power -- but only when all Six are together. Apart, they are useless, little more than petty trinkets. Their power is invisible to those who look for it; it is undetectable unless it is being used.

"The sorcerers created these things of immense power, and then split up -- two stones to each person. One of the sorcerers was killed on the way to Old Carthak -- he had a habit of dressing expensively, and robbers found him traveling and shot him full of arrows before he knew what was happening. They took everything he had, including the Two. The robbers continued to Old Carthak, back to their camp on the banks of the River Zekoi, but one of the robbers dropped the bag holding the stones into the River. They recovered the bag, but only one of the Six was inside. The other had fallen out and was lost among the riverstones.

"Supposedly, a dragon attacked the robber camp, laying waste to everything and taking it all for its own hoard. It flew away over the Great Inland Sea -- no one knows where it landed. It took the stone with it.

"The other two sorcerers were smarter. One went to his home in the Copper Isles, taking two of the Six with him. The other stayed in Tortall, where they were created. He is said to have hidden them somewhere in the Realm, but no one has been able to find them. In a journal of the sorcerer found . . . well, about 65 years ago, he claimed to have hidden one in the Royal Palace, but it could have been a front. No one knows what happened to the Two taken by the Copper Islander.

"Well, did that help?"

Kel and Neal jumped, startled out of the dreamlike state Myles' words had put them into.

"Very much so," Kel answered thoughtfully. Impulsively, she asked the older knight, "Would you like to help us figure this out? It'd be useful to have someone with lots of brains helping us, seeing as all I have is myself and . . . him." She gestured at Neal, who adopted an offended look.

"I'd love to!" Myles exclaimed excitedly. "This is the chance of a lifetime!"

"That's exactly what I said," Neal interjected.

"Here's the parchment." Kel handed the older knight the parchment with the ancient words on it. Myles took his time in reading the words, poring over each line. To the younger knights' surprise, he began to laugh.

"I love things like this! So intellectually challenging, and yet so easy once you get the hang of it! All right, where do we start?" he asked them with a look they knew well. It was the look he wore when he quizzed them on a tough topic in their daily lessons as pages.

"Three lands," Neal said instantly.

"Right! We know that the Six are in three lands, plus Tortall."

"Wait," interrupted Kel. "How do we know they're in Tortall?"
"Well, you already got one in Tortall, didn't you?" Myles replied with a smile.

"Okay, then. Where are the other ones?" she challenged.

"Carthak, Copper Isles, and the Grimhold Mountains."

They stared. Neal finally sputtered, "H -- how . . .?"

"I told you! I love these! I must say, this writer wasn't very talented at doing them, though. He gave very obvious clues.

"The first I gave you. That you already know. The second is in a dusty room -- it says right there. Among Ancient scholars -- note the capital letter of Ancient! That makes it a proper noun, like a name. A dusty room . . . what's the dustiest room you can think of?"

"The Library," Kel said immediately.

Myles grinned. "Right! So, it's by, or in, a book written by Ancient scholars -- I'd assume it's some old guy named Ancient, or An Cient, or some other play-on words. Now, across imperial waters, that means the Strait of Sijave --"

"I told you," muttered Neal.

"-- So it's in Carthak. Guarded by daylight -- you can only find it at night. And silver -- um, somewhere silver. I don't know," he said in answer to their questioning looks.

"Continuing," Myles went on, "A grim rocky tomb of heroes is a dragon's lair in the Grimhold Mountains -- he put a very obvious clue by saying 'grim' and 'rocky.' Guarded by smoke and snow were even more obvious.

"Hidden by crashing blue and white is on a shore -- the blue of the sea, the white of the foam. I have no idea about the purple. Crazed shore -- everyone knows the Copper Islanders are crazy!

"The center of three homes -- I have no idea. I think that one is specific to you, Keladry. But otherwise, I think I've got it." Myles looked smug.

Kel and Neal sat in silent shock, in awe of their former teacher. Kel was just beginning to understand how smart he was.

"Well!" said Neal. "I think that about wraps it up, don't you, Kel?" Kel nodded numbly. "Thank you for everything, Sir Myles. We have an early day tomorrow." Neal grabbed her and escorted her out of the room. Myles sat back in his chair, a satisfied smile on his lips.

"They have the best chance of anyone, I know," he said softly to himself. "But I still don't like them leaving now. Gods protect them." He sat up late into the night, while Kel and Neal were sleeping with dreams of stones and gardens, books and dragons.

Okay, I apologize for that chapter, if you even read all of it. It sucked. Like I said, it really isn't all that necessary to read. I was sicwk of the riddle thing, okay?! So sue me. *pauses* on second thought, don't sue me. I'm broke. I know it was totally not good writing (the whole 'Myles knows everything!!!!!!!' thing was totally out of place,) but be happy! Now they know where everything is and they can get on with finding it! Yay! I'll tell you a funny story: I almost had a heart attack while writing this -- my dog came and I didn't see her and she bit my foot and scared the bajeezus out of me. *gasps and falls over* Well, anyway, don't worry, the story picks up after this . . . you'll see!