Death of a Guardian

Chapter 17

It took Emryk several days before he finally walked into the library. It's next to the building where they stored all the food underground. Walking in, it surprised him how many books there are. Elmsk didn't even have a library, they kept all the books in the small schoolhouse.

He saw shelves lined with hardcover books made of dried toxodon skin, scrolls, and pamphlets. As he looked around, others were sitting, laying on benches, or on the ground reading. He wondered if he was just allowed to grab whatever he wanted.

At the end of the row, a boy who appeared to be around his age was laying under a desk that had a window above it looking out over the lake to the dam wall. Emryk nervously looked down at the boy, then away. He wanted to talk, but was always nervous around new people.

The boy noticed his feet standing facing him. He laid his book down over his chest to keep the page marked. "Do you need something?"

Emryk noticed the short brown wavy hair and light blue eyes. The soft features made him look even younger than he first suspected. "Um, yes. Are we allowed to read any book we want?"

The boy crawled out. He set his book down on the blanket he was lying on before and stood up to shake Emryk's hand. "My name's Mateusz. What's yours?"

Emryk shook his hand, feeling that the younger boy's hand was smaller in his. "My name's Emryk."

"I know what you're thinking. You're incorrect." Mateusz said this in an off-handed way.

Emryk wasn't sure what he meant. But he could see the annoyance on Mateusz' face that spoke of having to say this too many times. "What do you mean?"

Mateusz shook his head. "I'm not younger than you. I'm forty-five years old."

"Forty-five!" He stood there aghast at the possibility this boy could be that old. His face looked to be in his lower teens, while his body was almost as big as his.

A sadness crossed Mateusz' face. "Yes. I was eleven when I was sent here. But I was already ten years older at that point. My dad is... Well, I don't want to get into that.

He looked around nervously. "He had influence and power and all the magical water he could want. My dad caught me kissing my boyfriend when we were nine. While he couldn't do anything to my friend, he made me start drinking the water.

Mateusz smiled wistfully. "Maybe he did it to protect me. But he also wanted to split my boyfriend and me apart. After a few years, it worked. He kept getting older, and I didn't. He became uncomfortable with the proposition of being with me any longer."

Emryk felt terrible for the boy; or man. Standing before him was something that wasn't supposed to be done. Not by law, but it was just accepted you waited until your children were seventeen until you give them healing waters.

Not because it affects them any different, but because their body will remain a child's while their mind is that of an adult. Or so they believed. The other worry was it would keep them childish for much longer and what parent wanted to deal with that?

"Wow. I'm sorry. My parents knew too. They just had to make sure we behaved," Emryk said.

"We?"

"My boyfriend Aleks and I."

"You didn't live in the Capital or any of the major cities?" Mateusz asked.

Emryk shook his head. "No. Why?

"Every year the capital of the Kingdom, and all the bigger cities are searched for Indecents. Every citizen: man, woman, and child, is forced to come to the town's square to have their thoughts read."