80. Rorax
“Radashan.”
The little man startled behind his desk and squeaked up at Rorax, who did her best not to grit her teeth or scowl down at the librarian.
Rorax tried to rein in her patience. “I am thankful for your help, and I appreciate the books you’re giving me. They are extremely informative, but I need books on the Choosing, or any books you know of that can tell me how to transfer the power and get myself out of here.”
The little man blushed and played with the leg of his glasses. “I-I have been giving you material to help you with the trials, Rorax. But I don’t think there are any books on the transfer of power from the Choosing.” He shrugged helplessly. “At least, I haven’t been able to find any.”
Rorax gave an exasperated sigh and rubbed her temples. “There has to be something.”
She’d just finished a book Radashan had gifted her called Ancient Felidra Clan Guide, and while it was a fascinating read on the big cats that had been gifted with dragon wings, it had absolutely nothing to do with freeing herself from the Choosing.
“I’ll keep looking!” Radashan promised, nodding his head rapidly. “I’ll find something, I promise.”
“Thank you,” Rorax sighed, just as the library doors opened and Elios and Ayres stepped through.
Rorax raised an eyebrow at Ayres, before moving her gaze to the grinning blond behind him. The Emissary of Fire didn’t know what they were doing down here. No one did. But Ayres jerked his chin in the direction of their table anyway. “Let me know what you find, Radashan,” Rorax muttered, offering the small man a tight smile before following Ayres and Elios through the stacks back to her table.
Elios eyed the papers and books that were haphazardly strewn across the surface of the small table. “You two look busy.”
Ayres didn’t give her a chance to answer Elios. He eyed the charm resting against Rorax’s throat. “Is that the necklace? The one Majauss gave you in her temple?” he asked, motioning at her neck.
Rorax nodded and shifted her hair away to expose the necklace more clearly. She wore one of Hella’s dresses, a flowy navy-blue dress that ended just above her knee. The spaghetti straps, and a shallow V-neck showed off the golden necklace. She had hoped someone would recognize it and say something.
“Elios studied ancient artifacts at the University of Surmalinn and Koppar. I wanted him to look at it,” Ayres explained as Elios took a step closer to her, leaning down to look at the golden charm.
He reached out a hand before stopping halfway. “May I?” he asked, looking up at her.
Rorax nodded. Elios picked the necklace up, his fingers brushing gently over her skin, right over the swell of her breasts. The soft touch made her blush and her eyes darted to Ayres.
Ayres’s jaw tightened as he looked at the color on her cheeks and he folded his arms across his chest. The scowl he gave Elios made her heart heat and go cold at the same time. Not that she cared what he thought, but did he care that Elios was touching her?
Ayres’s eyes looked like a safe charcoal color; she dared a small smile up at Elios as he brought the necklace closer to his face.
“Paiki’s fires.” Elios whistled low. “I haven’t seen one of these . . . well, ever.” His deep blue eyes flicked down to hers. “I know you received it in the temple, but explain the details again, please.”
Gods, Elios was so beautiful. The deep blue of his eyes sucked her in, and she had to blink to regain her focus. “Uh—Majauss told me to take it. When I was in her temple.”
The corner of his mouth pressed down. “Did she say anything else?”
Rorax bit her lip and looked over at Ayres, who gave her a nod. “She said it would help me with the transfer of power, and to look for the tables for the transfer. She also said to prepare myself for war.”
Elios’s mouth tipped into a full-blown frown. “Tables for the transfer?”
Rorax shrugged as his attention went back to her necklace.
He dropped the necklace back against her chest and took a step back. “I think it’s one of the Ukuros Amulets. It’s supposed to help with the transition of power and should help ease the intensity of the influxes as well.”
Ayres grunted. “It isn’t anything that’s going to poison or harm her, is it?”
Elios narrowed his eyes on the amulet again before he shook his head, his eyebrows furrowing. “No, I don’t think so. But it’s what Majauss said that intrigues me most. Tables for the transfer.”
“Do you know what those are?” Rorax asked.
“Yes, and I am surprised that you don’t know, Ayres.”
“Why is that?”
“The Transfer Tables were destroyed by one of the old Sumavari kings. Raiv Sumavari. I would assume it’s common House of Death history.”
“Refresh my memory.” Ayres crossed his arms over his chest.
“Transfer Tables are useful tools for more than just stripping or transferring power and holding ability. They can dissolve magickal links as well, such as Blood Oaths and Mating Bonds. The legend is that apparently Raiv Sumavari destroyed the tables to force his mate to stay bonded to him.”
Rorax and Ayres shared a confused look before Rorax turned back to Elios. “So, what is the necklace?”
“Legend says that there is one surviving table that Raiv commissioned from the last remaining Sovereign Witch before he killed her. It is a key, Contestar. A key to activate the table.”
Hope and joy surged in Rorax’s chest. “Really?”
Elios grimaced and took a look at all the papers thrown over the small table. “You’re looking for a way out of this, aren’t you? You’re trying to free yourself from the Choosing.”
“Yes.” Rorax nodded. “I’m trying to free myself, and the other women.”
“Paiki’s fires.” Elios ran a hand through his golden hair. “This is all a legend, Rorax. It was before the Breach, nearly seven hundred and fifty years ago. If the table existed, it would have been long destroyed or forgotten. Unless the House of Death has been holding out on us.”
“I don’t know of anything like that, but I’ll write a letter to the Queen,” said Ayres.
Elios nodded. “Hold onto that hope, Contestar, because if Majauss really did give you this necklace then I would bet there’s at least one Table that survived.”
After Elios finally left them, Rorax flipped the page on a book about Guardians. Over and over the book made it clear that the Guardians were created by Ukuros to protect the world. Not just the Realms, though the function of the Guardian had been twisted and manipulated into not much more than a weapon for the Realms to use to retain its power.
“What are you thinking about?” Ayres asked, not bothering to look up from his own book from where he sat, across the table from her.
Rorax ran her finger over her ring. She didn’t want to talk about the Guardians. Any of them. “These Books of Sumavari . . . what exactly is held in them?”
“Monsters,” Ayres quipped. “Bad ones.”
Rorax rolled her eyes. “All this time I thought we were out risking our necks for books that make butterflies. How bad is bad? Something I could handle?”
Ayres snorted and slowly looked up from his book, his gaze heavy despite the humor curling at the corner of his mouth. “Maybe some of them. Cannon said the last book they brought back was for one of Sakar Sumavari’s lesser monsters. A shadow griffon, twice the size of a normal griffon, twice the teeth.”
“What was the book that we brought back?”
“It was one of Sakar’s Warlords. The Laughing Dread.”
A shiver ran over Rorax’s shoulders. “I’ve seen the Laughing Dread’s skull in the war museum in Valitlinn.” The skull was massive. It had two bull horns stretching two feet to each side and no eye sockets. It’s teeth almost the same length and width as Rorax’s fingers, shaved down into sharpened points, and the plaque on the wall had read that the reason the warlord had been called the Laughing Dread was because the warlord didn’t have any lips, so his teeth were constantly on display in a deadly smile. The warlord had been sentient though, had commanded a large force of Sakar Sumavari’s forces.
“I’ve seen it, too. Apparently, it used to use sonar to see and move, like a bat. He killed hundreds of people in Sumavari’s War.”
Rorax sent a thankful prayer up to K??n that they had retrieved the Laughing Dread’s book. A monster that she would not survive fighting one on one. “What about the Death Harbinger?”
The Death Harbinger was nothing more than a rumor, said to be one of the House of Death royalty, but Rorax had now met two House of Death princes, and the Queen. None of them seemed to have very much Death Magick at all. Maybe it was one of Sumavari’s Pets.
Ayres ran his tongue over his teeth, his eyes darkening further, but shook his head. “That’s just a rumor, the Death Harbinger is not one of Sakar Sumavari’s creations.”
Rorax hummed, and something Ayres had just said a few minutes before finally sunk into her brain. “Wait, you said that the Laughing Dread was only one of Sakar’s warlords? K??n help us, how many are there?”
Ayres sighed, “Twelve. One made to rule each Realm. The Laughing Dread was blind, made to rule the House of Light so that they could not blind him.”
“Twelve? How many have we found?”
“Only two.” Ayres’s face darkened again. “When you pray at night, pray that we find the warlords over the monsters. The monsters we can handle with enough clever men. The warlords . . . The warlords could kill us all.”
Rorax opened her mouth to comment, but the sound of numerous heavy footsteps made Rorax twist around in her chair. The Guardian’s soldiers were coming through the stacks, heading towards them.
Rorax sprang to her feet at the same time Ayres pushed up from the table.
The Guardian pushed her way to the front of the pack, and casually looked Rorax up and down. Niels stood behind them all, watching them with triumphant sneer.
“Hello, Greywood,” the Guardian said. “We have been looking for you everywhere.”
“What do you want?” Ayres demanded.
“I have waited long enough. I’ve given Tressa permission to walk through Rorax’s brain.” The Guardian’s yellow eyes ran the length of Rorax, and whatever she found made her lips purse in displeasure. “Meet us in the Great Hall in five minutes.”