The Raie'Chaelia Page 15

  Chapter 14 - The Cedarwood University

  A few days passed before Chalice was fully recovered from her illness. Sasha tended to her meals and clothing while the others were enjoying themselves around the castle. She had insisted that she was well enough to join them touring the grounds, riding in the woods, and playing games, but Bunejab wouldn’t have it. He ordered her to remain in bed, taking medicine everyday until she was back to her normal strength again. She was miserable because it was quite boring. The only excitement was in her evening visits with the others, who regaled her with tales of their adventures. On the third day in the late afternoon, Jeremiah came to see her, taking his usual seat in the chair next to the bed.

  “I was doing really well until Tyke accidentally knocked me in the back with his stick and I fell off Banner,” he said, pointing to the part of his back where he had been hit. He had grass stains all over him and was telling her about the polo game they had played after lunch. The story about Tycho didn’t surprise her. She was sure he hadn’t meant to do it but Tycho was always clumsy.

  “My shin is all bruised, see,” Jeremiah said as he pulled up his pant leg and showed her a huge black-and-blue mark that ran along his shin.

  She winced. “Ooh, that looks bad.”

  “Bunejab said he would give me something for it after dinner so I’m not worried.” He paused. “Are you well enough to join us tonight?”

  “I think so.” She knew he had been waiting for her to recuperate so he could show her around the castle. “Where are the others?”

  “They’re still putting the horses away and cleaning up. Everyone joined in the game, even the servants and the guests. Well, everyone except for Bunejab. He was on the sidelines with his bag in case anyone got hurt.”

  “You did.”

  The side of Jeremiah’s mouth quirked in a crooked smile and he shook his head. “This isn’t serious. After I fell, I decided I had had enough and left for the stables. He tried to give me a poultice for it when I walked off the field, but I told him I wanted to head back to the castle.” He paused, glancing around. “I like this castle. It’s a great place. I’ve never known people like the Farahs before.”

  “Yeah, they are really nice.” She suddenly felt another pang of guilt for what had happened the other night in the secret study. She knew she needed to tell someone and she trusted Jeremiah.

  “What’s up?” he asked. Apparently the feeling of guilt had shown on her face.

  “I have something to confess,” she admitted as she studied her hands. “I woke up in the middle of the night …” She proceeded to tell him the story as he listened carefully.

  Jeremiah glanced around the room. “Where is the passage?”

  “Right there.” She pointed to the left, where the wooden wall panel sat between the armoire and the writing desk. He walked over and nudged the candelabra to the right. It shifted with a soft click and the wall panel cracked open. He knew he shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was still jolted when he saw it. Then, he pulled the door open all the way to peer down the staircase.

  “Wow, you’re right!” Slowly, he shut the door and walked back to the bed.

  “So … you think I should tell them?”

  “I think you should at least tell Ben. The apartments on this wing seem to belong to him.”

  “Well, yeah, I agree with you, but the truth is that this part of the castle doesn’t really belong to him. It belongs to the Farahs. I feel like I should tell them.”

  “Well, you can tell all three of them. Just make sure you’re not around the others when you do, you know, just in case.”

  She nodded. Noting the puzzled expression on his face, she asked: “What is it?”

  “It’s strange, Chalice. You say this castle really belongs to the Farahs and it’s true that it has been in their family for generations, yet they act as if they don’t own it. They act as if everyone else has a special right to it.” He shook his head. “I don’t get it.”

  “You’re right. I noticed that, too, when we first arrived. They are very strange people, aren’t they?”

  He nodded. “Here come’s Tyke,” he said when they suddenly heard voices drifting in from the corridors outside.

  Jeremiah was right. Tycho was the first to pop his head into the door. “How ya feelin’?” His eyes smiled with humor. Kirna followed right behind him as they took a spot on the bed next to Chalice.

  “Good!” She smiled at him. It was always good to see Tycho. He had a way of lifting her spirits.

  “I suppose Jeremiah told you all about the game, huh?”

  “Yes, he did.”

  “His team still won. You should know that!”

  “I believe you.”

  Just then, Ben walked in to inform them that dinner would be ready soon and took a seat next to the bed.

  “I fell off my horse, too, at the end,” Tycho continued. “I felt something brush my shoulder and lost my balance. That never happens!” Chalice looked over and met Kirna’s eyes. Kirna shook her head at her as if to say: “forget it.”

  “It was strange because Ben was right next to me and he was on the other team. Hmm …” Tycho added.

  Ben arched an eyebrow. “What are you insinuating Tycho? That I pushed you? I was too far away,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Yeah, but you are Terravailian.”

  Ben smiled. “Using your power in a game is cheating. Even if I had wanted to, I could not have used it to knock you off your horse.”

  “Oh, give it up Tycho! You fell of your horse because that happens all the time!” Kirna said.

  “Nuh uh!” he responded defiantly and she rolled her eyes.

  Just then, Charleton walked in with a small cup in his hands. He shook it at Tycho and it rattled.

  “Do you know how to play jags?”

  “Yeah” Tycho jumped up from the bed. It was his favorite game. Jags was a game of triangular dice that Tycho loved to play, but only if he could win, which he usually did. The game consisted of seven matches and whoever won the most matches, won the game. The two young men sat down on the seats near the fire and began to engross themselves into their first match.

  Chalice looked at Ben. “What do you mean, Ben?”

  “What do you mean what do I mean?”

  “Why couldn’t you use your daieoden to knock Tycho off his horse? Not that you would do that. I’m just asking. Why? What do you mean?”

  “The Terravail cannot use their power to harm or kill another living creature.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it is a violation of the natural order. The avie is the power that connects and nurtures all living things. We cannot use it to kill or harm them. You see, we cannot use that which creates and maintains life to destroy it.”

  “So, it cannot be used in battle then?” Jeremiah asked.

  “It can, just not directly. For example, it can be used as a shield to protect something or someone. Or it can be used to start fire, winds, rain, or thunder and lightning, all of which can serve as tools in battle, not to destroy, but to defend. If you try to use it to destroy something that is alive, it will not work. For example, if an enemy attacks you with arrows, you cannot create lightning to strike them down, but you can create a shield of air or a heavy rain or fire that will render their weapons useless. You see?”

  “So, battle with the Terravail is a matter of strategy and cunning?” Jeremiah added.

  “Exactly. Very good! You learn quickly.”

  “Thanks!” he replied.

  “It is also a competition of who has the greatest power. One side may have a brilliant strategy, but if they don’t have enough Terravailian power to execute it, they will lose. It’s very complicated.”

  “So, for example, what would you do if …”

  As Ben and Jeremiah continued to talk about battle strategies, Kirna told Chalice about the castle. During the time
that Chalice had been bedridden, Sieren and Jor had given them all an historical tour.

  “… and they took us to the oldest tower in the castle. Sieren calls it the astronomy tower. She said it was perfectly intact when they built the castle except for a few minor blemishes. In fact, this castle is a reconstruction of one that existed anciently. It was in ruins when they first found it.”

  “Really?” Chalice was amazed. She had always believed there was nothing left from the ancient world to validate the stories and yet the castle stood as proof.

  “Yeah, it had strange marks and cuts in the walls and no one knows what they mean, at least that’s what Jor said. There were also these weird instruments that looked similar to the eyeglass that Ben has. They were up on the top of the tower.”

  “I can’t wait to see it! Was Jeremiah with you?”

  Kirna rolled her eyes. “Yes, of course, he was the one asking all of the questions.”

  Chalice smiled. She could picture the scene in her head. He was so predictable.

  “You coming to dinner with us tonight?” Kirna asked and Chalice nodded.

  “I win!” The shout startled them and they turned their heads to see Tycho throwing up his hands in triumph. Apparently, he had won the match.

  “Not quite,” Charleton said.

  “What do you mean?!” Tycho asked, nonplussed. “Swords trump clovers!”

  “Yes, but hearts trump swords. See?” Charleton responded, pointing to one of the dice.

  Tycho looked down and frowned. “You’re right. Dang it!” he said in frustration. “Alright, we’re playing again. My turn to go first.”

  “Sorry Tycho, but you will have to play later. It’s time to get ready for dinner,” Ben interrupted, nodding toward the door where Sasha stood. She was motioning for them to come. Chalice smiled at Kirna. They both knew that if Ben let him, Tycho would play all night until he won.

  “Okay,” he said reluctantly and picked himself up from the chair, staring at Charleton. “But as soon as dinner’s over, we’re coming back!”

  “You’re on!” Charleton laughed.

  “We’ll see you in there, Chalice,” Kirna told her and with that, they all rose from their seats and headed out of the room.

  “You want me to close the door?” Jeremiah asked her.

  “Please. I need to change, too. Thanks!” she said and he shut the door.

  She slid out of bed and felt a shiver from the cold marble floor underneath her bare feet. She shook it off and headed for the armoire that Sasha had filled for her with dresses of every design and color. She chose a light blue dress with sashes of white silk around the waist. Then, she slid on a pair of matching slippers below it. It was true. She always wore blue, but it was her favorite color. Tomorrow, she would wear a different color, she promised herself. She washed her face in the washroom and ran the comb through her hair several times until it held the right curl and bounce.

  After she had finished getting ready, she made her way out to the dining room, where the others were already seated in front of a rack of lamb with potatoes, salad, peas and beets. She hadn’t really noticed before how stunning the dining room was. The first thing that caught her eye was the height of its ceiling that stretched far up in the air. The walls were adorned with arras and tall mirrors that hung under beautifully arched, stained glass windows. The faint light of dusk was fading outside and a warm fire gleamed cheerfully in the fireplace. Stand lamps, positioned at intervals along the walls, radiated soft light, and the clock on the wall chimed six.

  Jeremiah moved her seat back as she approached. Bunejab was next to him. He was seated in a chair that appeared to be specially made for a Chinuk, raised a bit higher than the others. He stared at her and she was suddenly worried that he might insist that she return to bed. To her relief, he did nothing of the sort. Chalice sat down and settled her shoulders into the chair.

  “How are you feeling dear?” Sieren asked.

  Chalice smiled gratefully. “Really well, thanks to everyone who has taken care of me these past few days.”

  “It is good to have you here with us tonight. We have been waiting for you to get better.” She passed Chalice the plate of peas. “Here, would you like to start?”

  They all passed around the dishes and filled their plates with the delicious meal that the chef had prepared for them. The conversation was light and mostly focused on the game that they had played that day. Chalice, however, was still curious about what Jeremiah had said regarding ownership of the castle.

  “Sieren?”

  “Yes?”

  “Jeremiah and I were talking about something that we noticed here. Something that is very different from anything we have ever seen.”

  Sieren furrowed her brow. “What’s that?”

  “Well, your family owns this castle, right?”

  “Correct.”

  “For a long time?”

  “Yes,” Sieren replied and Ben cocked his head to listen. He wondered where she was going with this.

  “And yet, you call these apartments Ben’s quarters. Jeremiah told me that you treat the rest of the castle as if it belongs to everybody else, even those who are staying here for only a short period of time. I was just wondering why that is. I know it’s a weird question.”

  Sieren smiled warmly as if she had been asked the question many times before. “Because it does belong to them as much as it belongs to us. Officially we own it, but we do not really own it, not in the way you think.”

  Chalice frowned in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

  “You see, to us, we consider ourselves the overseers of the castle and its grounds. We say we ‘own’ it, but it is a different sense of ownership. You have all pretty much grown up under the law of the Naie’Ielian, which assumes that people own the land and everything on it and can do with it as they please, but the natural law, and the law of the Terravail as taught to them by the Chinuka, is that we do not own these things. It is quite the contrary. The land owns us. We and everything we create belong to it. Long after we are all dead and gone, the land will still be here, caring for and nurturing future generations, and not just generations of people, but generations of all the creatures that share this world with us.” Sieren shook her head in disgust. “The Maaldanese are very ignorant to think that they can own anything. They are a very proud and arrogant people. Someday, they will learn the truth.”

  “Truth? What truth?” Chalice asked curiously.

  Jor cleared his throat loudly. “Darling, maybe we should change the subject.” He was looking at Sieren with a stern expression.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. You are right. I get too worked up over this subject.”

  Naeren, feeling the awkwardness rising in the room, took the opportunity to redirect the conversation. “Chalice, Kirna says you are interested in seeing the astronomy tower. Am I right?”

  “Oh, yeah, I would love to see that.”

  “Maybe we will have some time after dinner,” Charleton added.

  “That would be great!” Chalice said as Jeremiah and Kirna beamed at her. “What is the astronomy tower? If you don’t mind me asking.”

  At this point she was almost afraid to ask too many questions, in case she stumbled upon a topic that they couldn’t discuss, but Sieren answered without hesitation.

  “It is the tower room in which we observe and map the star constellations.”

  “Star constellations?”

  “They are groups of stars in the sky that we observe at night. We are analyzing how they shift in the sky in a constant pattern throughout the year. In fact, it is very fascinating. Through our studies we are beginning to learn that the stars have other shifting patterns that take hundreds of years to cycle.”

  “Why?”

  “Why do they shift?”

  “No, I mean, why do you study them?”

  Sieren put down her knife and fork and leaned back sligh
tly in her chair. “Well, the main reason is because we have studied the stars and their motion in the heavens ever since this castle was constructed. It was part of our official curriculum when it was a university. We have, or I should say ‘officially’ that we had many fields of study here, but the origin of this particular discipline started when my family first built the castle over a thousand years ago. They chose this site because of the ruins that lay here. It was obvious that a large fortress had been built here long ago, but they didn’t know who built it, why they built it, or when. So they studied it. They eventually sent out for Readers to come examine the remains. They found that it was older than anyone had thought. They couldn’t place an exact date on it, mainly because our modern calendar is so different, but they believe it was constructed sometime during the Golden Age of the Ancient World.”

  Chalice was fixated on Sieren’s words, drinking in everything she said. She found the ancient people to be the most fascinating subject in the world, mostly because no one really knew much about them other than that they existed and were very intelligent. The fact that they had been so powerful and yet did not possess even a shred of the abilities of the people of the New Millennium was amazing to her.

  “The only tower that was still complete, apart from a little weathering on the outside, was the astronomy tower. Its style on the outside was the inspiration for the rest of the structure that my family built, with the help of the Musquoni. The Readers made drawings of what the ancient castle had looked like and my family used that as a guide. The astronomy tower, however, only needed a few touch-ups, but other than that, not much was done to it. The tower is significant not just because of that, but also because of the mysterious inscriptions all along the inside wall. They puzzled even the Readers and to this day have not yet been deciphered. It was obvious, however, that they had something to do with the sky and the heavenly bodies that move within it, both at night and during the day. And thus began this unique field of study and why we call it the astronomy tower. The word astronomy literally means star-arrangements.”

  “Why do you think it has something to do with the stars? What do the markings say?”

  “It’s not really so much what they say as where they are positioned.” Chalice looked confused and Sieren said: “I will show you later. You will understand when you see it.”

  Chalice nodded. “I’m looking forward to it!”

  She was so excited to see the tower that she proceeded to wolf down her supper in haste.

  Jeremiah frowned. “Hey, slow down there, champ! You’re going to choke yourself.”

  “I wanfa getch fo fa fower,” she said with her mouth full of food.

  He grinned. “Well, you won’t get there if you choke to death.” She smiled at him and her stuffed cheeks puffed out.

  “You look like a crazy chipmunk, Chalice,” Kirna remarked.

  “Yeah, a crazy Terravailian chipmunk,” Tycho snorted.

  After supper, they rose from the table and Sieren showed them down the corridor to the inner courtyard of the castle. It was enormous. It was surrounded on all sides by walls stretching up as far as the seventh floor. Windows, terraces, and floral arrangements jutted out from them on every side and ivy laced its length. Sieren explained that the inner courtyard had been used for graduation celebrations when the castle was a university, but now was used for festivals and holiday parties for all the guests and servants, and for all those who lived nearby.

  “Even the Haeliad,” she said. “This is one of the few places a person can still celebrate the winter holiday and not have to worry about retribution.”

  “We celebrate it in Canton … or at least, we did.”

  Sieren noted her sadness. “And you will again, I’m sure.”

  “Why did Dar’Maalda place a ban on the Haeliad?” Jeremiah asked.

  It was Ben who answered this time. “Because the Maaldanese did not participate in it, the original one, the Egress, and they were not guided by the Chinuka the way we were. The Maaldanese came from a different place. No one is sure where as they guard their secrets jealously, but we think it may have been from one of the lost cities.”

  “The underground cities?” Chalice asked.

  “Yes, that’s what we think, but we have no proof. It is just something we suspect.”

  When they had reached the steps that led to the foyer, Chalice noted two marble statues, one of a man and one of a woman, that sat on each side of the entrance. They were large, regal, and statuesque.

  “Who are they?” she asked.

  “They are my ancestors. They are the two who began this huge project that eventually became Farah Manor, the Cedarwood University.”

  “Wow!”

  They silently entered into the grand hall where they stood frozen to the spot. If she had thought that the chambers in Ben’s quarters were large, they did not even compare to the grand hall that she saw before her. There were tables lined up in rows on the floor, and great tapestries hanging from the walls, in between tall, arched, stained glass windows. In the front on a dais stood a podium with a long table and seats in the background.

  “What is this for?” Chalice asked.

  “For castle meetings.” Sieren winked and Chalice understood suddenly that Sieren was still very much running a university without the King’s consent.

  “Oh, so where do all the meeting attendants stay?”

  Sieren smiled knowingly. “In the chambers that I mentioned before.”

  “Oh, I see.” Chalice smiled back at her, thinking of the secret study and bedchamber that she had discovered on the first night.

  When they left the Grand Hall, they walked a corridor that led to a doorway. They entered and ascended a long, spiraling staircase. It was much longer, Chalice thought, than the staircase she had been down her first night there.

  Finally, when they were all breathless and practically couldn’t manage another step, they entered a huge circular room. Before Chalice had a chance to examine it, Sieren led them up a small set of steps that brought them to the top of the tower. They found themselves on a huge platform with an incredible view of the trees, the castle grounds, and the night sky. It was very dark and the stars shone brilliantly. Chalice felt goosebumps on her arms from the chilly breeze that whistled through the cedar tops.

  “They are bright, aren’t they? The moons’ cycles are at the equinox right now. Perfect for studying the heavens,” Sieren explained.

  Chalice knew that the lunar equinox meant that each moon was in between its cycle. Neither Chauma nor Maana could be seen at this time. They were both on opposite sides of their world, balancing each other out and leaving a darkness so black, it provided a very small window in which to see the night sky at its best. Large apparatuses sprawled across the middle of the terrace and piqued Chalice’s curiosity.

  “Are these the instruments you use to view them?”

  “Why of course! We call them lunarscopes. We initially designed them to view the moons, but now we have made them powerful enough to image the entire night sky. Would you like to see?”

  Nodding eagerly, Chalice moved forward and placed her eye to the narrow end, as she had seen Ben do with his eyeglass.

  CLACK. Starting, Chalice looked to her left and saw Tycho holding on to one end of an instrument, a piece of it lying at his feet. Kirna was shaking her head at him despairingly.

  “Oops,” he said sheepishly to Jor who was peering at him through the darkness. Apparently Tycho had been trying to open the lens cap and had dropped it on the ground.

  “Here Tycho, let me help you,” Jor said as he moved to pick up the cap. He had been helping Naeren and Charleton, who were using a much larger lunarscope to view the sky on the eastern side of the terrace. The instrument was so big it took three people to turn it.

  Chalice smiled and returned to her viewing. Sieren moved the device in a westerly direction and suddenly, Chalice could see, to her asto
nishment, a small sphere with ovals surrounding it.

  “What is it?!”

  Sieren smiled. “We just found it. It is different than a star. It is a world, we think, that is similar to our own. We have called upon a couple Readers to come analyze it for us. They are the only ones who may be able to make sense of it.”

  This comment sparked Ben’s interest. “Who did you contact, Sieren?”

  “We contacted Marcus, who passed on the message. Was that alright?”

  Ben nodded. “Of course.”

  “Come, let me show you the room below. Really, it is the most fascinating.”

  As they re-entered the lower room, Sieren and Ben placed their lamps in the middle of the large circular chamber so they could all see the walls. All around them, in three hundred and sixty degrees, were markings of what looked like groups of dots, in distinct patterns along the wall. Above them, strange inscriptions were etched into the stone. In between the groups of dots, the walls were cut through to the outside in peculiar shapes that Chalice could not make out. As she moved closer to the markings, she could see that each dot was actually made of five lines extending out from a central point forming what appeared to be a star.

  “I understand now!” Chalice looked at Sieren. “I see why you said it was obvious that the astronomy tower had something to do with the stars. These are clearly stars.” She pointed to one of the five-spoked symbols.

  “Yes.” Sieren nodded.

  “This is interesting,” Chalice noted.

  “What is?” Ben asked.

  “If you draw a circle around this, you get the Star of the Ielierian, like on our coins.” Ben and Sieren glanced at each other instantaneously and then suddenly looked away when Chalice turned her head toward them. It was slight, but she caught it. She realized that she must have touched upon another taboo subject.

  Sieren, however, responded to her comment serenely. “Yes, we believe these stars to be constellations that the ancient people recorded and used for various purposes. They were important to them for some reason. We think that these star constellations placed here serve as a clock, or a calendar, or maybe even a map. We’re not sure. You see, the light — when the sun rises in the west and sets in the east at different parts of the year — touches these constellations through the slits in the wall on the opposite side of the tower, illuminating them. It creates an illusion of light and shadow that forms pictures on the wall. Each picture overlaps its corresponding constellation, connecting the stars in that constellation with light. These pictures don’t make sense to us, though. We don’t know what they signify. We think whoever designed this was trying to tell us something, but since we have lost the ancient tracks of the sun and stars in the sky throughout the year, we will never know what it was.”

  “I can see why you think that maybe this was a calendar or a clock but why a map?”

  “We believe that at certain points of the year, these constellations could be seen on the horizon just before sunrise or right after sunset, depending on where this spot — the site of our castle — was located in the ancient world in relation to the night sky.”

  “Oh, I get it,” Chalice said, “the constellation on the horizon matching the constellation on the wall. It would give you the location of the castle relative to the positions of the stars back when the castle was originally built.” Sieren nodded and Chalice continued: “So these groups of stars, have you found their location in the night sky?”

  “That’s what I asked her,” Jeremiah said.

  Sieren smiled. “I don’t mind answering it again. For some, Chalice, we think we know their location, but for others, it is very difficult because there are so many stars in the sky, it is hard to tell where these constellations fit. They could fit in literally thousands of different places.”

  “It’s like a huge jigsaw puzzle.”

  “Exactly, and what makes it even more difficult is that we are just now learning that these star patterns shift in cycles that last hundreds of years. We can’t be sure if that was also the case back then, either.”

  “How do you know that?” Chalice asked.

  “Because my family has mapped and measured them for over a thousand years,” Sieren said.

  “That’s a lot of work!”

  Sieren nodded. “It is.”

  “So why—” Chalice broke off when Ben cleared his throat.

  “We should be getting back,” he said. “If you want, Chalice, you can come back and study astronomy here, but right now we have to go over our plans for Chainbridge. Sorry, but we have more pressing issues at the moment.”

  “Alright,” she conceded reluctantly and they followed Sieren back down the stairs to the Grand Hall and the corridor that led back to Ben’s apartments.

  As soon as they were back in Chalice’s bedchamber, Sasha rekindled the warm fire and laid a tray of tea out for them. Tycho and Charleton recommenced their game of jags, while Ben sprawled large sheets of paper over the table in between the settees and examined them. They were maps. Chalice wondered where he had gotten them as the vision of the secret study flashed in her mind. Ben picked up his tea cup and took a sip, pointing to a line on the map.

  “We will take this trail. Not many know of it, so it will be safe enough. We will have to cross the river Kedros here.” He moved his finger to the left on the map and Jeremiah’s eyes followed.

  “Which means we will have to cross by bridge or ferry,” Jeremiah said.

  “That’s right. The Kedros is very much like the Canterine. It is wide and deep enough for ships to sail it. Fortunately for us, there is a bridge right here where the river is most narrow. It is only a couple of hours away on horseback. It is an old bridge, but I’m sure it is sturdy enough to cross.”

  Ben’s comment pulled Tycho’s attention from the game. He looked up and his eyebrows rose. “Are you sure?”

  “Don’t worry, Tycho. It should be fine. I would prefer to take this route rather than the main Culmanoq road that leads to Northbridge near the sea. Too many people travel that route. Even if I tried to hide us, we would probably be seen.” Tycho nodded and turned back to his game.

  “Has anyone given any thought on how we are going to free them?” Kirna asked. As soon as she had said this, Ben continued with the explanation that Chalice had heard the night she found the secret rooms. They listened intently, interested in what he knew about Chainbridge and its underground passages. He showed them the layout of the fortress on a paper that he had stretched out on the table. The underground passage was marked with ink.

  “Here is the library on the lowest level, or what used to be the library,” Ben said, pointing to the location on the map. “I’m sure it is quite different now. It is the only place in the whole structure with the potential to hold that many people. We will take them out here and lead them to Auvergny which is just over the hill, where the ships will be docked. I will be able to hide us until we reach it.”

  “And everyone will be able to fit onto the ships?” Jeremiah asked.

  “Yes, there will be plenty of room,” Sieren responded. “No need to worry about that.”

  “Now, all you have to worry about is when you want to leave Farah Manor,” Jor said, turning to Ben.

  Ben drew breath to reply, but Chalice spoke before him. “Although I would love to stay here longer and learn more about your beautiful castle, I really want to find my grandparents and the others. Who knows what conditions they are suffering right now. We don’t have the luxury to stay here for very much longer.”

  Ben gaped at her, surprised by her assertiveness, but he knew that she was right. No one disagreed.

  “We will leave tomorrow, then, right after breakfast,” Ben said. Then, he bent down and picked up the wooden box that contained the obsidian dagger and stone. “Chalice, here, you will want to place this in your bags. Seeing as how Queen Svati placed it in your care, it would be doing her an injustice to ta
ke it from you. Be careful with it. We need to take it to the Readers for analysis.”

  “Of course,” she said.

  “So, you don’t know what it is?” Tycho asked. At this point, he had apparently lost all interest in his game with Charleton and was listening to the conversation.

  “Well, yes … and no. I know what it is to a certain degree, but I don’t know its purpose,” Ben answered. “Only a specialized expert of the elements will be able to understand it and explain it to us. In any case, if Bunejab’s Âwásötah gave it to Chalice, there must be an important reason.”

  Jeremiah looked up. “Ben?”

  “Yes?”

  “What did you ever do with that bird?”

  “The falcon?”

  “Yeah. Did you examine it?”

  “I did and I found nothing,” Ben answered gravely. “Whatever it was before, whatever power it possessed that harmed Chalice, we may never know. Now, it is just a plain falcon. Dead, but still just a falcon.”

  Jeremiah nodded, his face tight with worry and his brows furrowed in thought. Ben seemed to understand his concern.

  “I know. It’s disappointing. From what you told me about your experience with that bird, I’m certain there is a connection to Dar’Maalda. The kind of power it possessed is very deadly and I have never seen it before. It is disconcerting because it is hard to fight against an unknown. If I could have examined it alive, I may have been able to see into his power and that kind of knowledge would provide us with the ability to thwart him.” Ben paused and shook his head. “Let’s not think about it for right now. We need to focus on what we need to do in the next few days.”

  Jeremiah nodded and rose from his chair. Ben collected his papers and placed them into his bag while the others finished their tea and replaced their cups. Sasha came to straighten the room and collect the tray as the others said their goodnights and retired to their bedchambers. They had had a full day and they all knew it was time to get some rest.

  Lying in bed, Chalice couldn’t sleep. She pondered the dangers that lay ahead. She refused to accept that any harm would come to the people that she loved. She certainly refused to accept that any harm would come to her, either. Defiantly, she promised herself that after everything was over, she would return to the Farahs’ castle to study astronomy. She would solve the riddle of the mysterious tower. She would.