Note: Okay, so… Finally, here's the long awaited ch. 17. I've finally managed to write it. I hope you like it cuz I don't have a ch. 18 yet. But I will soon, I promise. Anyway, in response to so many of your previous reviews, that poem-ish thing WAS NOT written by me. In the first chapter that it appears in, I gave credit to Enya for her song Pilgrim. I did not write the lyrics, everything belongs to Enya.

452 H.E. The Second Day

When they awoke the next morning, they ate breakfast downstairs in the common room. After, Lowell suggested they go back to the museum with ancient artifacts in it. Maybe, with Kaddar's permission, he could practice his "past sight" magic. So, they rode to the palace and after giving their horses over to the stable master, went in search of someone who could bring them to Kaddar.

Kaddar agreed they could practice magic in the museum. So, they went and Alex started the lesson. "Okay, Lowell, let's see how well you can do with your magic. We'll start with something easy. Touch that vase over there and tell me who made it and who it was made for and where."

Lowell touched the vase and concentrated very hard. At last he had an image. A man was talking to another man about a commission. "I'll give you fifty gold nobles to make me a vase for my wife," the wealthy man was telling the worker.

"As you wish, Sir. What scene would you like me to put on the vase? A wedding? A birthday? Midwinter?"

"Why don't you put a scene of the mountain range that divides us from Galla and Tusaine? My wife, Isadora, just loves the mountains at sunset. If you finish this vase by tomorrow night, I'll give you an extra ten silver nobles, Kendall."

Kendall bowed low and backed to the door. Only when he could touch the knobs behind him with his fingertips did he turn around and leave. Next, the image showed Isadora moving to Carthak, writing a will, dying of childbirth, and then the vase passing into the hands of one of her best friends who passed it on to her children and grandchildren, who eventually donated it to the museum as an artifact of ancient Maren pottery. That's when the image ended and Lowell came back to reality. "The vase was made for a noble of Maren and his wife, Isadora in Maren by the artist called Kendall of Maren. It changed hands only 4 times before it came here."

Alex removed his hand from over the sign that was posted next to the vase and replied, "very good, Lowell. Try another artifact."

They tried artifact after artifact, some more difficult to know about than others, but Lowell got most of them correct. Finally, they came to an empty pedestal that had dust marks on it outlining a rectangular shape. There was no sign to tell what had been there before. Alex asked Lowell to try to find out what was there.

He had only to touch the pedestal before an image came to him. He watched it intently, and then came back to reality. "Alex, it's not good. We have to leave. Now. This is where the Forbidden Book was. It was here just yesterday! They know we're here. They know we're after it. Only, I don't understand why it's so important. I only know that it's a clue to finding out what happened to make the immortals come and who was responsible. We have to leave if we don't want them to find us. I know that the book is still in Carthak, but I don't know how to get to it. We need to tell King Jonathan about it. What should we do?"

"Why should we leave? We can book passage on a ship so that our names get written down in their log books. Then we can move our belongings and ask Kaddar for refuge somewhere. By the time whoever's after us discovers that we haven't really gone, we will have gotten to the book and taken it back to Corus to show King Jonathan," said Alex. "Let's go take care of that right now."

They first booked passage on a ship bound for northern Tortall then they informed Kaddar of the situation and he agreed to give them a safe place to hide. He took them to the University to meet Lindhall Reed, a professor of nature studies there. He was just packing up to leave for Tortall. He was given a job teaching the study of plants and animals to the pages. He agreed to let them use his University apartment since no one else was there for the summer and it was warded with the most powerful protection spells, courtesy of Numair Salmalín, who also once took refuge in Lindhall's apartment while Emperor Ozorne wanted him.

That night, Lowell told Alex where the book was. Together, they formulated a plan to get the book. They decided Alex should take the book because who knew what would happen if Lowell touched it. They didn't want to take the risk of him blacking out like all the other times he had come in contact with it.

They woke early the next morning at the same time and quickly went about their business to get ready for the day. Today was the day they would attempt to get the book. By now the people guarding it would have heard that Lowell and Alex were gone back to Corus and would have lessened security on it. With luck, there wouldn't even be anyone near the book, but just in case, Alex had come up with a set of contingency plans.

Silently, they both went to the building where the book was being kept. It was a small barn that was barely big enough for the four cows that were kept inside. Alex went around the barn to check out the situation. He found a traditional two-door opening on one wall and two grimy windows on another. He peered through the cobweb-strewn windows to see if anyone was about. Seeing no one, he signaled to Lowell, who ran for the house of the people who owned the barn.

Upon reaching the house, Lowell screamed as loud as he could. He was out of sight from Alex which meant that the owners wouldn't see Alex, either. Sure enough, just as Alex had said they would, the husband and wife came running outside in nothing but their night clothes. "What's going on out here?" the man demanded of Lowell.

"Bear! I think I just saw a bear! It was so scary! It almost attacked me!" Lowell then slumped to the ground and began sobbing his hardest. It wasn't difficult to fake this- he just thought of all the times Lord Aaron, or should he say Lord Sinthya, had punished him or hurt him.

Meanwhile, Alex, upon hearing the scream, ran as fast as he could to the barn's entrance, pried open one of the doors, and looked around. There was hay everywhere except for the spaces where the cows were standing and the main aisle down the center. Lowell had said the book was in a haystack, but he never said there would be a haystack this big. Alex dived into the nearest stack and began searching. Finding nothing, he climbed into the second stack, all the time praying that Lowell continued his little act. He searched a third and a fourth pile. Finding nothing, he began to give up hope. But then, just as he was about to leave without the book, inspiration struck. Why keep the book on the first floor where some clumsy stable hand might stumble upon it by accident? Alex quickly found the ladder up to the loft and began his search there. Almost in no time at all, he found the book and scrambled back down the ladder and out of the barn, remembering to carefully close the door as he left. He ran into the woods that surrounded the barn and ran all the way to within earshot of Lowell, who was still making a scene.

By now, the man was very annoyed with the young boy. "There are no bears living in Carthak!" he bellowed. "You probably just saw a dog, you stupid little boy. Get on your way, now. Leave us in peace."

Just at that moment, Alex made his signal. He whistled like a common Carthak bird twice then watched as Lowell started coming towards him. Together they walked further into the woods and then stopped. "Did you switch it like we planned?" asked Lowell. Part of their plan was to create a duplicate copy of the book but fill the pages instead with nonsense spells and made up stories.

Alex looked away from Lowell's eyes. "Well, no," he replied, slowly. "Not exactly."

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Well, what did you think? Good? Too short? Sorry… I just though that here would be a good ending to the chapter. You'll just have to wait and find out if Alex switched the book or not. But as of right now, I have no ch. 18 written, so it may be a little while before I can get some done.
Until then,
Robinwyn