The Way We Fall

Chapter 115 (Roche)

TW: Coarse language

The doors to the library were unlocked as Roche burst through them, her heart so full of excitement that it was fit to burst.

"Verita, I need to talk to you!" she exclaimed cheerfully as she entered, her voice echoing in the library. She shouldered her way through the doors to their chambers, "I-"

Roche instantly cut herself off. Verita wasn't the only one in their chambers. The librarian was standing in the middle of the room, her face creased and serious. She nodded at the prince in front of her, who looked equally sober.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Prince Finn," Verita said to the man, who stonily refused to look at Roche. Verita's eyes flicked towards her ward, and they looked so stricken that Roche's mirth faded instantly.

"Good luck with your work," Finn replied stiffly, bowing slightly. He turned gracefully, sweeping out of the room without so much as a glance towards Roche.

Roche swallowed reflexively, turning to Verita as the door clicked shut. She almost didn't recognize the librarian, cocooned by shadows with only a single candle melting on the table. Her greying hair clouded around her head like a weary halo, flickering out of existence with the setting of the sun. Her usual long robes hung off her frame in large swathes, making her look thinner than usual. Shadows streaked down from below her eyes.

"Roche," Verita greeted her, sounding resigned and defeated. Roche instantly dropped her bundle of supplies, concern overriding her urgent news.

"What happened? What did Finn tell you?" Roche asked, drawing nearer. Verita turned then, her hands leafing through a thick, ancient book. Roche noticed that her fingers shook as she did so.

"Where were you, Roche?" Verita asked quietly.

Too quietly.

Goosebumps rose on Roche's flesh at the bleakness of her guardian's voice. "Nowhere," she lied immediately, "Just-"

"Were you with the runaway inkblood?" Verita asked bluntly. Roche couldn't quite hide her flinch.

Roche couldn't see Verita's face, only the way her shoulders stiffened with the ensuing silence. Dread clenched Roche's stomach so sharply she nearly gasped.

She forced her face into neutrality. "Maybe. What of it?"

Verita's palms slammed the tome she was reading shut, so hard that Roche flinched. She whirled on Roche, her eyes burning with glowing coals of fury.

"Damn it, Roche! I told you to stay away from that inkblood," she snapped.

"Medea is a kind woman," Roche protested, "She just needed a place to stay. Actually, I came to talk to you about her."

Verita's shoulders rose and fell with a long breath. Suddenly, her face was unreadable.

"While you were off with Medea," Verita said slowly, her tone cautious, "I read through the bestiary you brought me. Based on Tigris' description of the beast and the information Finn just brought me, I believe I've identified it."

Roche grinned up at her mentor, not noticing that the librarian didn't smile back at her. "That's great, Verita! So you know how to defeat it?"

Verita nodded slowly, holding open the thick book she'd looked through earlier. The candlelight flickered across the pages as Roche drew closer. She fought a gasp.

The creature truly was monstrous in the rendering. Several feet tall, standing nearly as high as two stacked men, with glittering obsidian scales. Its flat, angular reptilian head was wreathed with wriggling snakes of a similar midnight shade. Large, inky fangs curved over its large rubbery lips, peeled open wide into a fierce illustration of a hiss that sprayed sizzling venom. Shrouding its whole figure in shadows, its huge, bat-like wings were raised and poised for flight. Its large, serpentine eyes glared at Roche through the page, making her shiver.