Unnamed

Chapter Fifteen

The next morning, I kiss Slestiya goodbye and leave for the library. Delaine is once again flipping through some ancient tome, and, not for the first time, I notice that she is nearly always searching some volume for information. There must be thousands of books in this library, and in the fourteen years I've been gone, there are only so many she could've scoured.

"I brought the book from Ajana's," I state in greeting.

The book Delaine was reading floats back to the lectern, still open to the same page she had been reading. I carefully send the Grimoire Alcomën over to her. She smiles slightly before flipping through it.

"Yes," she murmurs, "Arcana, Shomte, Alefkt, and Sha'loch."

"Sha'loch?"

"The language of the Elvish," she explains. "It really is a beautiful language, and much of their magic is quite powerful. What you failed to notice, however, is the fifth language."

"Fifth language? All I recognized was A'lefkt, Shomte, and Arcana."

Delaine chuckles. "I believe that you recognized A'lefkt and Sha'loch as the same language, Noera."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Come, let me show you."

I step over to where she is standing -- well, more like floating, as her feet are not touching the ground; I've learned that she seems quite comfortable to levitate herself when her feet start to tire. She points to two separate entries in the heavy volume.

"This one is A'lefkt, and this one is Sha'loch."

"They look identical."

"Not quite, Noera. Very similar, which is why many believe that A'lefkt is an old dialect of Sha'loch, but not quite identical." She flips through to another page. "This is Tannry, the fifth language."

"That's the one I didn't know."

"I had assumed as much. Tannry is the language of the brownies, a curious species who have a love of neatness and organization. They not only enjoy being around it, but they also seem to enjoy the act of cleaning and organizing -- something I have never liked." She chuckles once more. "Few of the brownies are actually born with magic, but those that are... Well, they are damn close to the power of the morphlings, if not equal to us."

My eyes widen. In all the time I've spent at the library, I've never once heard Delaine swear.

"Yes, Noera, I am capable of harsh language; I just choose not to use it often. Anyway, anything written in here by the brownies is well worth a look at. Their magic is beyond powerful. Those I've met with magic have a knack for learning and practicing it. Train them in the Arts, and you've just created something you'd better hope doesn't turn against you."

"That powerful?"

She nods. "With this being, quite literally, the book of realms, I am hopeful that it has something of what we seek."

"Should we try the teleporting thing?"

She scrunches her nose to the side and seems to unfocus her gaze. I've learned that when she makes that face, she is deep within her thoughts and to never interrupt her.

"If you'd like. I've done some pondering on it, and I wonder if the reason you can teleport between here and Earth is your link to both realms or if it simply within your power. We won't know unless you do attempt it. Follow me."

With those words, she leaves the Grimoire Alcomën floating in midair and wanders between the shelves and to a specific painting hung on one of the stone walls. It depicts a small town, with beautiful dark stone buildings and cobbled streets. The main focus of the art is the huge castle just beyond the town. High stone walls surround the property, the wrought-iron gate guarded by two barefoot beings with tattered hems on their pants. A dragon-like creature with wings that look like smoke and shadows flies above the wall, and the castle looms even higher than the walls.