The Living Tower

Chapter Four: Rumors

It didn't take Ellias long to find what he was looking for in the records Salestia gave him.

Unfortunately, what he was after was rumors. A story that only had a chance of being true. But it was Ellias' best chance at dealing with Val, and with her magic strengthening by the day, he was running out of time.

As the story went, during Roven's overthrow at Lukcastle—the home of Aelren's royal family—a few individuals loyal to the Halliarks managed to get their hands on the legendary sword Dawnbringer. But with the king and queen dead, and the princess only a toddler, they elected to take it as far from Aelren as possible to keep it out of Roven's hands, in hopes that one day someone could wield it against him.

The Iron Citadel was their alleged destination. While it should have been a simple task to keep the sword locked away in secret once they arrived, there was a reason word had gotten out. One of the Aelrish rebels had gotten caught up with fairy hunters and taken the sword on a trip into the caverns in hopes of killing fae with it.

The rumors conflicted on what happened in the caverns. The size of the battle, whether the Aelrish rebel survived, whether he'd successfully wielded the sword at all. But it was generally agreed that Dawnbringer was now in the hands of the fae.

If Ellias was going to risk a venture in the moon's caverns, into the heart of fae territory, he needed to be certain that Dawnbringer was down there. And the library records gave him something the rumors hadn't: a name. A fairy hunter who claimed to have witnessed the sword falling into fae hands.

Ellias spent an impatient night in his room at the inn, took breakfast in their dining room the following morning, and began his walk to the Iron Library the moment lightspeakers began raising the citadel's lights.

It was a short walk, no more than five minutes. It did give Ellias time to admire the lightspeakers' work, though. They couldn't vanquish the black skies above, but their abilities enabled them to lift the citadel's light levels to that of a sunny day, keeping its residents to the same twenty-four-hour cycle as those living on Earth. And when the sun shone on the moon's surface during the night, darkspeakers wiped it away.

The morning's golden light crept over spires across the city. Towers cast shadows over the smaller buildings around them. The citadel's tallest structure was the Governor's Tower, a structure that stood alone at the center of everything. But the Iron Library wasn't far behind in terms of height, thanks to the four towers that gave it resemblance to a small castle.

Ellias arrived at the library's entrance in time to watch Salestia unlock the door.

She was dressed similarly to how she had the day before, in simple trousers and a shirt, and a gold chain still hung around her neck. Whatever pendant hung from the chain was hidden beneath her neckline. There were no more clues about her power—or motivations—than there had been yesterday, but Ellias' gaze swept over her all the same, searching for...something.

"Morning, witch," Salestia said as she pulled the door open. Her free hand rested on her hip. "You have my book?"

"In perfect condition." Ellias drew the book from his bag and held it out to her.

Salestia gave it a careful look as she accepted it. "I'll admit I'm a little surprised, given how readily you broke in yesterday."

"I follow the rules when it suits me," Ellias replied with a sly smile. "If I gave you a name, do you think you could help me find someone?"

"My specialty is books, not people," Salestia said wryly. "But I know someone who might be able to help. She should be here shortly." She stepped back from the door. "Come in."