What kind of Magic?

Chapter 8

Not knowing what else to do, Langia followed him through the dark halls. He took her to a large door in the middle of the second floor. He pushed the double doors open. The creak echoed through the large room before them. This was easily the most ornate room in the whole castle.

The high-ceilinged room was covered in rows and rows of bookshelves, full of black volumes. The bookshelves were carved to look like ravens, with taloned feet and feathers carved into them. The tops of the bookshelves were the heads of the birds, there black eyes seeming to stare at Langia. She felt cold, like a draft was blowing through the room.

The warlock walked into the center of the room. There were several books on a table in the center of the room, laying open. He stuck black ribbons in them to mark the page, and closed them. "This is my library." He said. "Don't mess anything up. Keep the ribbons in the pages and the books on the same places on the shelves." He moved to one of the bookshelves and took one of the books and put it in an empty place on the shelf, without even checking to see if it was in the same place.

"You're seriously letting me use this?" Langia asked.

He paused. "If it means you will stop bothering me. Besides, I doubt those books of yours will help you with this research." He moved to another shelf.

Langia ran her finger along one of the shelves. Like everything in the castle it was covered in a layer of dust. "How do you know I wont go telling everyone everything written in these books?"

The warlock slid another book on a shelf. "You won't."

"You know, you haven't told me your name." Langia said. "Surely, you have a name."

He paused, his hand halfway through putting away another book. He sighed. "I haven't told you my name because it's not important."

"Of course it's important."

"No, it's not." He said it in a way to finish the conversation. "Don't make me kick you out of here right now."

That's all I'm going to get out of him. Langia thought. It irritated her how little she knew about this warlock, how little anyone knew about him. She had to find out more if she wanted to save Benji.

She took a book off of the nearest shelf, opened it, and stopped. The book was written in some kind of language couldn't understand. "There's a problem here."

"What is it?" The warlock asked, irritation creeping into his voice.

"I can't read this."

"What do you mean? Surely they taught the royal family how to read."

Langia rolled her eyes. "I mean, I can read, but not this. I don't understand whatever language this is."

The warlock took a step closer to her, suddenly intriged. "That's insane. I can read this perfectly fine."

Langia nodded, exaggerating. "Maybe you can, but I can't."

He narrowed his eyes at her, suspiciously. "Are you trying to make a fool out of me?"

"Of course not." Langia said, slightly offended.

The warlock didn't look convinced.

An idea popped into Langia's head. She snapped her fingers, and one of her spellbooks landed in her hands. She opened to a random page and held it out to him. "There. See if you can read that."

Reluctantly, the warlock took the book form her. He took one glance at it and said. "Are you pulling some kind of joke here?" He roughly tossed it back to her.

Langia caught it and glared back at him. Even though he didn't answer her outright, she didn't need him to. He couldn't read her books. And she couldn't read his. "So that's that then?" She said. She turned her book in hand and transported it back to her room.  "So this library isn't going to help me one bit."

The warlock leaned against one of the large tables and crossed his arms. "Why bother?"

"Pardon me?" Langia asked.

He let out an exasperated breath. "Why put in all this effort. Why were you even sent here in the first place?"

"To find you." Langia said putting her hands on her hips.

He scoffed. "You told me that earlier. What I mean is: Why did you come find me? Did you get bored? Maybe your kingdom is putting together a circus or maybe a museum."

Had she not been in his castle, Langia would have told him off for his sarcasm. She stayed silent and analyzed him for a moment, wondering if he knew more than he was leading on. "What have been doing in this castle all this time?" She asked.

The warlock rolled his eyes and took a few steps forward. He was silent for a moment gazing at the books in front of him. "I can't tell you the truth of it yet."

"Why not?" Langia retorted.

The warlock shot her a withering glare. "Because I don't trust you. And I don't think you trust me either. So how am I to know what I say will be taken as the truth?"

"How can I trust you when I don't even know your name?"

He glared at her once again, his purple eyes bearing into hers. When he spoke he spoke very quietly and coldly. "For the last time, do not bring that up again. As I said, it's not important. If you do it again I'll be forced to send you out." With that he stalked out of the library. Langia attempted to follow him, but he slammed the door in her face as he left, causing a loud boom that echoed around the empty library.