Royal Guard Book 1: The Servant

Chapter 11 - Rayna - The Book

"So it talked ?"

"Yes! Well, no. It wrote? They wrote. A breeze came in and picked up the quill and started writing. There, all of that was written." Paige pointed to the handwriting at the top of the page. The book was open and laying in the middle of the tower. We all were encircling it like this was going to be a cult ritual. (We are basically a cult now. We even have a mascot.)

Olivia already had us all take our gems and place them on the ground so we could find any similarities. But there were none. Not even the cut and size were exactly the same. An emerald necklace. An opal ear cuff. A sapphire brooch. A pearl ring. An amethyst bracelet. And a citrine hair ribbon thingy.

So we started comparing everything else while we waited for the Scribe. "Where and when did you get them?" Olivia started, "I got mine from my father when I was pretty young. He had picked it up in the Outlands during a trip."

"My mom just handed me this today." Ivy thought for a moment. "But she also said it was from the Outlands."

"Okay, maybe that's the trend!"

"I got mine from a friend when I was ten. But, my kingdom is on the opposite end of the country," Espie said sadly.

"And I found mine two years ago in the woods," Autumne added. "Also on the opposite side of the world."

"I fished mine out of the ocean this summer," I offered unhelpfully.

Paige shrugged. "I've had mine forever. I don't know where it is originally from."

Olivia sighed and started biting her lip. "There has to be something ."

"Maybe the golden doors is the connection, does there have to be anything else?" Ivy called from the other end of the room, where she was now going through the books. "You're overthinking it."

"Maybe...Autumne? You have the most experience in this subject. Do you have any idea of what these 'keys' are? Where they may have originated from?"

Autumne shrugged weakly. She still looked exhausted from the spells earlier. Paige had given her some water and dried sunflower seeds from her satchel to help get her energy back up. The rest of us were also snacking on them now, mostly to just have something to do while we anxiously waited. "Sorry, but no. I have only studied monsters and basic healing techniques. This is far outside my knowledge."

"Maybe we should wait and ask the Scribe?" Espie suggested shyly. "It can't be a coincidence that the tower, the keys, the doors, and now the book all happened today, right?"

"But can we even trust what the Scribe says?" Paige said warily. "I know we don't have a lot of information right now, and I know not all magic is bad..." she put her head in her hands, trying to work out how to phrase what she wanted to say. "But, I grew up with everyone saying that magic is dangerous. That there is a reason it was made illegal after the war, because it caused the war. Or at least, kept it going for far too long. I don't know..." She leaned back and frowned at the book. "Do we want to get wrapped up in whatever this is?"

"I think we already are." I flicked at one of the glass balls hanging from the ceiling, sending rainbows to go streaking randomly across the walls. (How did they hang these up? Did they get a ladder up those stairs?) "Could be fun," I suggested, since no one else would. "Cool hideout. Secret tunnels to get away whenever we want. Talking book that knows all the secrets of the universe ." I wiggled my fingers around mysteriously.

Ivy crossed her arms, "And the threat?"

" Possible threat. See, it says it right there. Besides, magic isn't as taboo as everyone makes it out to be. We've got the dragon scales, old enchanted armors, hell, my mom even has a magic boat."