Half Magic | Book 2

Thirty Seven: Chasing Lark

The room of forgotten tomes was illuminated in purple witch fire. I sat at the table as the torches cast long shadows over the pages. The books beneath my fingertips were delicate, and I minded my every movement with them. 

Some were spell books much like the one I had been making myself. Recipes and drawings and notes littered the pages by pens and witches long gone. I skimmed through a few of those, but most of the books Noda and Mila brought to me were more journal-like in nature. Logs of information, important days that had come to pass in these witches' lives. 

The sounds of scraping stone pulled us all from our concentration as Purda had arrived to help. Noda went to help her in while I continued to read and Mila continued to find new tomes to look at. 

"There is an entry that should help," Purda wheezed. "Over there, the bottom shelf. The purple spine with the green lettering."

Mila set a book on the table and went to fetch the tome Purda had mentioned. She brought the large book to the table, setting it down with a grunt and opening the pages to somewhere in the middle. 

"Here, let me see it. There is a record here somewhere..." Purda made her way to the table, sitting down across from me and studying the book. She flipped back and forth a few pages, then a large chunk toward the end. 

"Here it is. These are the witches sent on expedition to the Wyldes to address the problem of the unseelie creatures. Look for any tomes from these names, if any still survive." Purda pointed to the list on the page, and Noda and Mila hovered over her shoulder to read it.

They got to work while I flipped through books. In the low lighting, I read tome after tome. Name after name. Spell after spell. They all blended together after a while. And as I was searching the volumes before me for traces of information on the barrier, the other witches were piling a stack of journals at the other end of the table.

In the end, I found one book that referenced the barrier magic, and it didn't say much. I closed that tome and sighed, looking to the stack of journals nearby.

"These will require more in-depth study to assess their value," Purda said. "But they are the tales of the sisters who journeyed to the Wyldes at that time."

I ran my fingertips across the worn cover of the top volume. "Are you sure I could take them?"

"We can't possibly search them all tonight. There were twenty witches on the expedition, and we have fourteen accounts here," Mila said. "Take them, do some good with them, and bring them back when you are able to, child."

I let out a slow breath and nodded. "Yes, I will. Thank you all."

"Now, go," Purda said. "Before any witches begin pestering me about your training."

I gathered the books in my arms and Noda offered me a set of leather straps. "Here, bind them with this to carry them. Wait, wrap them in oilcloth first."

I covered the books, protecting them from any chance rain we might run into and strapped them together securely. Noda showed me how to fasten a loop to go over my head and across my body so I could carry them easier.

"Mila," I turned to my old friend and teacher. "I don't know where to go. I'm looking for the elves."

Mila nodded and came to me, giving me a tight hug. "We encounter them rarely, but I know they reside in the direction of the southwest caves. And that is also where Lark began her journey that led her to them all those years ago."

My heart pounded. The southwest caves, that's where she had Nassir and Schula wait for me.

"Caw!"