Chapter 4

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The royal library was imposing, like most rooms of the castle. Arranged in a semicircle, the shelves covered the walls to the glass roof, built so that light would fall straight on the oak table in the middle - the reading table. It was the only room where you could see the sky, as grey as it was. She heard the Prince liked to relax here, reading. She imagined him sitting on one of the fifty massive chairs surrounding the table, submerged in one old, thick book that spilled dust on every turn of the page. Or lying on a divan with golden legs by the fireplace which burned a jolly fire. She would have loved to read with him.

The smell of print ink invited her to open old books no one has read for hundreds of years. But she was there with another purpose in mind, so she scanned the library with her gaze. Tall wooden ladders leaned here and there against the shelves filled with volumes brought from all over the world. There were thousands, maybe tens of thousands of books. Where to start? She looked at the library guard - a broad-shouldered young lad, watching her, waiting for her orders. She signalled him she didn't need his help and when he left the room, Eliza explored the library carefully.


After looking around for a while, searching for a place where the secret map might be hidden, she was about to give up; she was getting dizzy from all this spinning. She took her shoes off and she laid down on the fir tree floor and gazed at the sky through the thick sunroof. She felt sleepy after the restless night she had, when the sound of heavy steps accompanied by a rhythmic sound woke her up. Someone was in the library. Not knowing why, Eliza hid under the long oak table. Through the chair legs, she glimpsed a long, black robe and a walking crane. It was Constantin, the Great Wiseman. She watched his footsteps approaching the middle shelves and stopping by the rows of books with red bindings. She could hear him pulling books off the shelves and then leaving the room as fast as he came.


After she was sure there was no sound of anyone approaching, Eliza came out from under the table and headed right for the rows of books with red bindings. Looking up, she saw a thin book from underneath which she could swear there was light coming out. After reaching for a ladder, Eliza climbed and pulled the thin book off the shelf. The book wasn't special in its own. It was calledTwins and their strange connections. When she looked inside, a folded piece of paper fell from between the pages. Eliza unfolded it carefully over the large table; she could barely hold a shriek of astonishment at its sight. It was the map she was looking for. After folding the old yellowish piece of paper, she walked out of the library, rushing for her bedroom. Not before putting her shoes back on, as it was expected of a princess.


As she got to her room, she turned the key in the lock and jumped on the bed where she examined the map. It proved not that hard to read. The secret tunnel started in the Throne Room, and a drop shutter hid the entrance by the fireplace, over which stretched the fur of a saber-tooth tiger. The tunnel continued winding under the palace and stretched beyond the walls of the castle. Right by the castle walls, there stood the Forest of Whispers. After long days of dismal and angst, Eliza was smiling again. She drew the map on a piece of paper which she found on the table as if someone put it there for her. She knew she had to return the map as fast as possible. For she wouldn't want anyone to discover that she, the Princess, has taken a secret map, forbidden to her.



After drawing the copy of the map, Eliza stepped through the library door and after the door was shut behind her, she hopped towards the shelf where she got it from. She felt the need to sing, but she thought that, after her last attempts at singing, she would be better off. She had learned the walls had ears and she wouldn't want someone to know that she, the Princess who sang more beautiful than a bird, was lacking a voice completely.

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