Chapter 10
Sora smiled to see Ravi jogging toward him, his eyes aglow with some hidden delight and his face a little flushed.
He was dressed in a dark button-down shirt and black slacks.
Sora was beginning to think this was Ravi’s work uniform, as he always seemed to be wearing it while protecting the king and running errands for him around the castle.
The colors seemed too somber for the perky dragon, but they did nothing to dampen his cheerful demeanor.
In the past four days, Sora had met dozens of dragons, but not one of them made his heart skip a beat the way it did when he saw Ravi smiling at him.
“Sora!” Ravi crowed. “Just the mage I was looking for. Wait, how did you escape Lisette?”
Sora shoved his hands into the pockets of his worn jeans. “I basically took a break for the afternoon. They’re covering first-level spells; it’s not something I need to be there for. Why, did you need me?”
“Something like that. You got a minute to give me a hand with a critical mission?”
Sora blinked at him, excited at the thought of spending more time with the dragon. But there was something about Ravi’s expression that had him questioning Ravi’s definition of critical. “Sure. What can I do?”
Ravi threaded his arm through Sora’s and turned him toward the hallway.
He looked around before finally settling on a door.
Pulling Sora along, Ravi dipped inside what proved to be a small sitting area with tall windows looking out on a thick forest. The bright blue sky was steadily darkening toward evening, and Sora could see hints of orange slipping into the horizon as the sun set.
Ravi released him as he closed the door behind them. “So, I know you met Gunter.”
Sora had met so many people that it took a second to recall him. “Yes, he’s the king’s lead researcher and historian, right? Blond hair and glasses?”
“Yep. That’s him. Though, I like to call him Alric’s librarian. Incredibly smart dragon. He tries to keep the clan’s entire history locked away in his head. But he has a problem that Hoheit has charged me with helping him sort out.”
“What’s that?”
Ravi paced the room as if he had too much energy to even attempt to stand still. “Gunter doesn’t like to leave his books. He stays locked away in his dungeon.”
Sora felt his eyes go wide and his mouth fall open. “You actually have a dungeon here? I know it’s a castle, but I hadn’t thought—”
“No! No!” Ravi said quickly, waving his hands as he rushed across the room to Sora’s side.
“I mean, we do have some cells we could use if someone were to do something really bad, but they haven’t been used for that in centuries.
I think there’s a couple casks of whiskey in there right now that someone is trying their hand at brewing.
No, I teasingly call the royal library the dungeon because it’s a room without windows and it’s on the lower level. ”
He paced away from Sora again, waving his hand. “Gunter said something about the sunlight being bad for the old documents.”
Sora released a heavy sigh of relief. “Oh, good.”
“Good for books. Bad for dragons. Gunter forgets to shift and fly. His dragon gets grumpy, and then he gets grumpy, and no one wants to be around him when he’s grumpy. Hoheit worries about Gunter.”
“And if you get Gunter to fly, then the king won’t worry,” Sora filled in.
“Exactly! I knew you’d understand.”
“I’m not sure I understand why you need my help, though.”
Ravi’s expression twisted up a little. “Well, Gunter doesn’t willingly leave his library. He has to be…coerced.”
Sora narrowed his eyes at Ravi, and the wind dragon’s smile turned devilish.
“Ravi, what are you planning to do to Gunter?”
“It’s just that, in order to get Gunter to fly, I usually have to get him to chase me.”
It was an incredible struggle to not grin at the dragon when he was being so adorable, but he wasn’t entirely sure that he should be encouraging this behavior.
Ravi rushed back to his side and grabbed both of his arms. “I was thinking that I could set off a glitter bomb in the library.”
Sora winced at the thought of millions of sparkling particles getting blasted over every surface, covering ancient books and scrolls.
A spell could be used to remove the glitter again, but if the glitter bomb spell they used was off by the tiniest bit, damage could be done to the documents.
Gunter would be devastated, and Ravi would be heartbroken over having caused actual damage.
“That would definitely get Gunter out of the library and chasing you,” Sora agreed a bit slowly.
“You see where I’m going with this?” Ravi’s expression was pure devilment.
“I do. I think you’ll make a polite corpse.”
“Will I die?”
“Pretty sure Gunter would kill you. How about this instead? Let’s shrink-wrap the bookshelves. The books will be safe, and you’ll still get the desired response from Gunter.”
Ravi wrapped one arm across his waist and propped his opposite elbow up on it while tapping his finger on his bottom lip.
“You know…that’s a pretty good idea. I think we’ve got a bunch of that stuff still in storage from when we moved Cassie and Cameron into the castle.
Bunch of bubble wrap that I’ve been dying to use, too. ”
“You could bubble wrap all the chairs in the library,” Sora suggested, after pushing down his sigh of relief.
“Ha! Yes!” Ravi lunged at Sora, wrapping his arms around him and spinning them both around.
Sora’s heart leapt into his throat as he held onto Ravi’s shoulders for balance. The fresh scent of Ravi danced around his nose, reminding him of a warm summer breeze after the rain.
“You’re brilliant!” Ravi declared when he stopped spinning them.
“You’re going to need some help. It’ll take time to shrink-wrap things and cover the chairs with bubble wrap. Is there a time when Gunter leaves the library for at least an hour? Maybe a meeting with King Alric?”
Ravi released him and grabbed his phone. His fingers were practically a blur as he shot off some rapid texts.
“No meetings with Hoheit today, but I think I’ve recruited some help.” He looked up at Sora again, his grin spreading. “I will need you to distract Gunter and keep him busy for a little while.”
“What? Me?”
“Yep. In about twenty minutes Gunter will head up to the main dining hall for afternoon tea. Not a lot of dragons and mages take part, but it’s one of the few times that Gunter somewhat regularly takes a break. You need to be there and catch him. Keep him busy for at least thirty minutes.”
“Keep him busy?” Sora repeated, his mind seeming to lock up. “How?”
“Get him talking about his research. Or, better yet, the history of the Burkhard Clan.” Ravi paused and frowned. “Well, maybe not that or you’ll be stuck for at least three hours. Maybe just how we came to live in this castle after the last one got blown up by a bad cooking spell.”
Okay, maybe he did want to hear that story.
Before Sora could ask another question, there was a knock at the door that had Sora jumping, feeling guilty that they were in there plotting against another dragon.
“Come in!” Ravi called out.
Sora was surprised to see Cameron and his twin sister, Cassie, poke their heads into the room.
“You texted about a Gunter prank and bubble wrap?” Cassie inquired.
“This is who you enlisted to help you? The consort and his sister?” Sora raised an eyebrow. He looked at Ravi to find the dragon rubbing his hands together and laughing.
“Of course! We never miss out on a Ravi prank.” Cassie laughed.
Cameron shrugged and closed the door behind them. “He had me at bubble wrap.”
With the co-conspirators in place, Ravi quickly laid out his plans with military precision, giving everyone a job.
Sora found himself grinning like a fool and practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.
He’d not gotten to play many pranks growing up, and certainly nothing quite like this.
To be included in this unexpected fun was a special treat.
Once everything was hashed out, Sora darted out of the room and briskly walked toward the dining hall, following the exacting directions that Ravi had given him. His heart was pounding in his chest when he reached the massive room.
Slipping inside, he found only a handful of dragons scattered around the tables, sipping tea and munching on tasty treats. Most were deep in conversation, but a few were reading books or using eReaders.
Sunlight poured through the windows, gilding everything in a golden light and giving the room a peaceful glow.
It was definitely a pleasant spot to while away an hour or two, but that was true of most of the castle.
While there was an opulent, regal beauty to the place, there were also many cozy spots around the castle that invited a person to sink in and get lost in a good book or conversation with a friend.
In one corner of the room sat Gunter in a cushioned high-back chair.
There was a cup of steaming tea at his elbow and a little plate with a few cookies on it.
He had a book in his hand and looked completely lost to the world.
Sora was half-tempted to leave him to his book, but he’d agreed to play his part in his plot, even if it sent butterflies fluttering through his stomach.
Grabbing a cup of tea for himself, Sora walked over to where Gunter was sitting, struggling to keep his steps slow and meandering. He didn’t need to look like he was a man on a mission, even if it was the truth.
He cleared his throat, and Gunter’s head popped up from his book, blue eyes blinking at him from behind glasses.
“Sora!” he said in surprise. “It’s so wonderful to see you again.”
“Hello, Gunter. I’m not disturbing you, am I?”
“No, of course not.” Gunter closed his book with a decisive snap and shoved it down into the chair next to his thigh. “Please, have a seat. Join me.”