Cursed: The Legend of Sleeping Beauty

Chapter Nineteen - The Library

Copyright Ⓒ 2019 by B. R. Bailey All Rights Reserved 

     "Spin your hand up," Merlins Keeper instructed from the clock next to Briar Rose as she stood on the third floor by a window overlooking the court, focusing on a stone carving on the wall adjacent to the library.

"Tighter circle," it told her. "This one is trickier than the others you've done. First, your right-hand flicks at a ninety-degree angle then spin clockwise one full rotation.

Afterward, your left hand must swish at a one hundred and eighty-degree angle then spin counterclockwise one full rotation, all within 2 seconds."

"Alright, one more practice," Briar Rose stated, wanting to make sure she had the movements correct before trying the spell. Once she was satisfied she could complete it without any problems, they proceeded, taking fifteen minutes to go over parts of the wall, storing the power it needed.

"Yes, there you go. The Last Witch to do this overfilled that spot," Merlins Keeper admitted in an undertone. "It made a mess of the spell over the third bookshelf. Nearly melted someone's skin off."

After finishing up the last of the maintenance, Briar Rose went to the closest section to open to where she had last assessed the spells, choosing to be orderly in her work.

A whole week had passed as she renewed spells all over the Castle, going from the Dungeon up to the towers. It was best to satisfy Merlins Keeper, who followed her everywhere so that she could focus on her assessment without the constant distraction it could become.

It was hard to keep her patience when all she wanted to do was run into the library and read anything it had relating to Dragons. As it was, she had to wait a day before reaching the second floor of the library.

Once inside, she cast a spell on a long piece of parchment, revealing the titles of books with references and their specific page numbers. A total of 38 book titles scrawled across the parchment,

almost all from the second floor with a few from the first floor.

"Wow," Briar Rose breathed, surprised to find so many. She had thought that there might be a dozen at the maximum. The Curse Breakers only had seven books on the topic themselves.

Although she realized as she went over the list crossing out the fiction works of folk tales and stories, the number of reliable sources of accurate information was rapidly dwindling.

In the end, only fifteen books remained. Going to the shelves, she collected the books, making a stack on a reading table close to the windows.

"An anthology of Dragons," she read aloud, deciding that title sounded the most promising. It was also the biggest book in the stack.

Cracking it open, she started reading. "Dragons, otherwise known as Dragoni, are the oldest species of sentient creatures known to the world. At one point in their history, they were on every continent, living within every imaginable terrain. After a millennium of warfare, they relocated to remote regions that were easier to defend, leaving plains open for humans to move into.

Dragons are social creatures. Those that remained in the lower mountain ranges were intrigued by Mortals, who lived with little to no magic. Seeing the difficulties Mortals had with the Faeries, a few Dragons decided to intervene.

The Keene, a race of small Dragons who had been forcibly separated from their larger brethren, was the first to confront Mortals as they constantly combated the Fae, who inhabited the forests near their homes, stealing the gold the Dragons made.