The Rogue Lady

Chapter Forty Four

Nearing the end guys, another fifteen chapters or so to go and that's it for now. Hope you like this chapter. Let me know your thoughts about the ending.

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I looked at the leather bound book that Anna had handed me and knew that this was the one I was looking for. It was a pristine white leather book with small gems in the cover; the pages had not even started to yellow. I knew this was the book because it felt like all of my mother's spell books had felt; magical and powerful and familiar. I knew it had been somewhere in the Woodfall library, but I hadn't known where. When the Young Lady had offered her help and asked what I was looking for, she brought me the book almost within the same minute.

"Thank you so much," I smiled at her, "This will solve our problems. I'm going to show it to Eric and I will bring it back to you again before we leave."

"Nonsense, you don't have to do that; it was your mother's book," Anna assured me.

"She gave you the book before she died for safe guarding from the Queen. I won't take any chances and bring it back with me to Silverley while the Queen is still there. I will however come back for it once we have gotten rid of the Queen."

"No need, I will bring it to you myself," Anna grinned.

I thanked her once more with a big smile before I ran out of the library and all the way back to our room. Inside, they were still packing, folding freshly washed shirts or stuffing them into bags, counting arrows and making sure their bows were still in good condition. Eric had his stuff laid out on his bed, mostly herbs but also a few pieces of clothing. Yesterday he figured out what herbs my father had sent Anna, and Lord George had immediately sent someone into town to get those exact herbs. But the magician's own stock of herbs had diminished because he had been using it on my leg and had made a potion for Anna that should help her regain some strength.

"Check this out," I said cheerfully as I closed the door a bit too loudly probably but I didn't care. I felt like an overexcited child that had just gotten a new toy, and in a way, I had gotten a new toy. I marched over to Eric's bed and sat down on it, being careful not to mess up his herbs in the process. Then I started flipping through the book, knowing fairly well what I was looking for. "This is one of my mother's spell books and I think it can help us get out of the mess we have gotten into. I know it is here somewhere, just give me a second." I flipped back and forth through the pages, recognizing several of them.

My mother had had several spell books but she had always kept them hidden from me as I got older and my magic grew. There were some dangerous and strong spells in her books and she didn't want me to try them out. She had however showed me how to do a few, like the fire message, or told me about them. But the one I was looking for was meant for the ill willed and the hidden. In other words; it was for spies. It was as if she had known that I would need it one day.

When I found the page, I turned the book around so that Eric could see. His gray eyes moved over the page, scanning the words as they went until eventually they came back up to meet mine. "A gate spell?"

"It is exactly what we need. Those that have nothing to hide can walk right through and won't notice a thing and meanwhile the spy gets trapped in the spell and won't be able to go anywhere."

Whereas I felt like I was being over enthusiastic, Eric didn't show nearly enough joy. He merely shrugged as I explained, like he couldn't care less. I wasn't the only one to notice that he wasn't getting excited about this. "Why aren't you happy about this? We can finally catch that annoying spy and be done with it," Harper asked.

"Scratch that, you can catch it and you won't have to beat yourself up about the situation anymore," Bram corrected his brother's words.

"Well, it sounded like a good idea, the spell I mean. I can read the entire page about the spells description and what I need, but then I get to the actual spell and I'm completely stuck. Whatever language it was writing in, I can't read it."