CHAPTER III #3
Fucking Ancients, even her thighs and calves are in perfect condition.
“It’s interesting that you look upon me so unabashed, human,” Alanna’s cool grey eyes narrow again as she slips the black lace off her breasts.
“It’s interesting that you stand in front of me flagrantly,” I shrug.
“I’m from the Court of Warriors,” her lips quirk, “we are flagrant.”
“I’ve just never seen a body like yours,” I offer in truth.
“And do you often look at the naked bodies of Discerni women?” she laughs.
I roll my eyes and turn back to the bed. “Take as much time as you need. I won’t be bathing tonight.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“It doesn’t warrant one.”
Alanna laughs again, this time from inside the bathing room.
“You’re different, human.”
I run the brush through my hair and feel the traveling bag against my hip start to vibrate.
“Oh yeah, how’s that?”
I place my hand on the bag to still the movement.
Wait…
Why is my bag moving?
I quickly open it up and spot Golem’s clay jar. His home is rattling.
“Shit,” I hurriedly close it, “fuck!”
The jar shakes even harder this time, the full vibration pounding against my side.
“I’m going out!” I yell to Alanna, “don’t wait up for me. I’ll see you at dinner.”
Golem vibrates again as I rush to the door.
“Hold still,” I whisper, looking down at the bag, “I’m leaving now. I’ll let you out of your home soon.”
I’m about to close the door behind me when I catch Alanna standing in the middle of the room completely wet and dripping from her wash. She folds her arms over her chest and gives me a cool look, her grey eyes glaring as I hurriedly slam the door so as not to let her see my shaking bag.
I run out of the inn and head straight for the riverbank, every step I take interrupted by the drunken patrons of the town and truly testing Golem’s patience. His jar begins rattling so hard that it sends vibrations through my whole body.
“Just a little longer,” I tell him on a plead, “I need to make it to the riverbank where we can have some privacy.”
Dear Ancients, I’ve hit a new low.
People watch me as I pass by, watch as I speak to no one in particular and offer all the assurances I can at the expense of looking mad. But there’s a plus side to that faux madness, because the more I’m seen talking to the bag at my hip, the more a path clears for me to the river.
“We’re here,” I reach into the bag and grab his home with both hands. I carefully place the shaking jar in front of my feet and pull off the lid, waiting in anticipation.
Nothing happens.
“Golem?”
I turn to the dark trees around me. The soft moonslight falls down from above and barely illuminates the riverbank. It’s black out here, but I’d like to think I’d be able to spot a robed figure made of clay if he was around.
“Golem?” I try again, glancing down at the jar. There’s nothing but emptiness within the clay, though the shaking has stopped completely.
I’m about to put the lid back on when something rustles behind me, the same soft, padded feet that I heard in King Zander’s study whispering with the night.
Golem quietly moves out of the shadows of the trees and heads towards the riverbank, his luxurious brown robe swishing behind him with each graceful and quiet step.
“Hi,” I offer to his back.
The magical creature looks up at the moons above before slowly turning in my direction.
He looks exactly as he did yesterday, with the angular plains of his face and his leaf-shaped ears resembling so much of a Discerni.
The mud of his skin still looks like it’s barely holding itself together, and he stands in the same stance from our meeting as well, his arms folded over the other just below his chest.
There’s no emotion on his face as he stares at me. No anger or some sort of scowl to show off the impatience that previously rattled his home. Everything about him just remains stoic, a perfectly calm creation that hosts some of the most unique features I’ve ever seen.
“We’ve arrived in Brierman,” I hitch a thumb to the town behind me.
Golem barely nods in recognition.
“Prince Desmond leads our group with three other Discerni from the Court of Warriors. My own regular traveling crew is with us as well, a human male and two Discerni twins, all from the Court of Knowledge.”
Another nod.
“We’re riding to Agnor tomorrow and will stay there for the night. Then we’ll catch up with His Highness in Dalloway before setting off for Gaumond…”
Golem nods again, remaining silent in his stance.
“I’ve been told we’ll stay a few nights in Gaumond before visiting the village of Fumagalli, then we’ll cross the Bulwark Plains and into the border of Pyre.”
He doesn’t even dignify my rambling with a nod this time.
“Can I get you something?” I ask tentatively, “do you eat or drink?”
He shakes his head.
Well that’s new.
I take a step forward and look over him carefully, trying to remember all the times I’ve seen him at Zander’s side.
“Golem… you don’t talk, do you?”
Another shake.
“That’s alright,” I nod, “I’m happy to do the chatting. But right now I’ve got to head back to the inn. Desmond wants everyone to share dinner.”
His blanket stare is starting to get a bit eerie.
“Are you okay doing your own thing?” I ask, “I can’t imagine the King wants everyone to know that you’re with me.”
Golem shakes his head and lifts his hands to the back of his head. He pulls up the hood on his robe and covers most of his face, his quiet, padded footsteps heading in my direction before he stops at my side.
“Wait… you’re going to come with me?”
He nods.
“To dinner?”
Another nod.
“You’re not supposed to remain a secret? You’re the King’s Golem,” I stammer.
He’s been at Zander’s side for as long as I can remember. If fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with anyone else unless Zander is present.
“You’re absolutely sure that’s okay?”
Golem shows the first true emotion all night and takes a deep breath, as if willing himself to stay patient.
“Fucking Ancients,” I mumble aloud.
I lean down and grab his home, tucking it safely in my bag before heading back towards town. Golem walks diligently at my side, the two of us making another slow trek through the boisterous crowd until we finally land on the main road.
“Golem,” I look at him curiously, “did the King tell you why he sent you to travel with me?”
He nods.
“And would you be able to tell me the reason if I asked correctly?”
Another nod, then a small shake of his head, as if to say yes… and no.
A secret then, or at least part of it.
“Are you familiar with the lands we’re traveling in now? Traveling to?”
Yes.
“Red Falls?”
Yes.
“How about the library there?”
A small pause, then a shake of his head.
“New for us both, then,” I turn his way, “I don’t want to pry too much into the King’s reasons for having you travel with me, but if I asked you to join in my search, is that something you could do?”
Yes.
A surprise sigh of relief escapes my lips.
I wasn’t expecting that answer. I’ve been alone in my search for the past two years due to the rule adopted by all Four Kingdoms thousands of years ago after the events of Great Rift.
It’s a rule that denied humans entry to any mystical libraries in the Old World that held information on summoning, a rule aiming to punish the newly created mortals, to stop them from ever attempting to summon again.
Not that we could if we wanted to...
Humans lost all capacity to practice the mystics after that fateful event. The magic of the Old World no longer runs in our veins.
But even still, the law has been in place for thousands of years, closing off all the mystical libraries of the Old World to every human mortal.
I am the exception to that rule. The first and only human to step foot amongst the ancient texts my ancestors used to covet as much as the Discerni, and it’s all because of Zander.
It was a shock when I first learned what His Grace was asking of me, but that shock quickly quelled when an innate curiosity rose deep in my soul.
By nightfall the same day I knew I needed to take on the job, so I promptly returned to the King and accepted his proposition the next morning.
That feeling of curiosity was briefly sated as I started out on this now two-year journey, but to this day I still have no idea how Zander was able to bend the law for me.
In the first months of my travels I received mixed looks of disbelief and anger from the Discerni librarians whenever I pulled out a sealed letter from the King that allowed my entry.
More than once I’ve seen them pull out an oak slab and write directly to the King, questioning if the words in the sealed letter were real and written by him.
None of the them offered any help in my search when they found out I was allowed in their halls, and nearly all of them stalked me from afar to make sure I wasn’t doing anything nefarious to the books they coveted.
I don’t know if they kept their distance from me due to their traditional beliefs that a human doesn’t belong, or if Zander’s letter expressed the need to give me privacy for what I was doing on his behalf.
Regardless, the Old World rule was still in place, which meant that I couldn’t take Cal inside with me.
And as the twins weren’t privy to the details of my job with the King, they also stayed behind.
I’ve been entering the forbidden libraries by myself for the last two years without any help, and still to this day, each entry is a bit foreboding every time.