"So have you missed me lately?"
Azriel almost dropped her hairbrush in shock, and then realized that her dear companion, The Book of Secrets was back.
"I...yes ...I mean, where have you been? Why were you so silent?"
"I was visiting some old friends."
"Oh! And now?"
"Well, for one I have tidings for Ashdeer and you but to begin with I need to be free of this Book now!"
"Are you not the Book?"
"Oh ...no...I'm one of the most ancient mages. I....oh well, I might as well tell you, I mean it's not like you are a war hero yourself."
Azriel raised her eyebrow at the last sentence, but decided to let it pass. Victus's training in statecraft was obviously rubbing off on her.
"So anyway, when the War of the Wages and the Ruin began then I decided to well...you know disappear. I mean it seemed like a rathe petty fight if you ask me. Just a foolish notion about the world being one way or the other, when we are all mixed up inside and in may ways all jumbled up with our good and evil sides."
The Book paused.....if it had been a person, Azriel was sure it would have been accompanied by a bunch of dramatic sighs.
"Well....go on then, " she said encouragingly.
"WAh well, Azriel you are a good sort of girl I feel. That business that happened with Ashmeer was....how shall I say this....unfortunate. That man has gotten into your head and I'm afraid it might be up to no good there!"
Azriel gulped, wondering if the Book even knew how much Ashmeer had gotten into her head, but she had learnt to mask her thoughts from everyone by now. A little trick Malia had taught her.
"Anyway, the Book went on, oblivious to Azriel's thoughts, "I was ..I am...still a rather powerful Mage. But, I needed to hide away from all these nasty fights. The War of the Mages and the Ruin were quite a nasty business."
"Ummmmm," Azriel said, making a mental note of understanding more about the War and the Ruin and all that had happened with it, considering she was now right in the middle of it. What had Malia said to her? Her destiny was intertwined with it, and so was it intertwined with these two Northern brothers who had twisted and turned her heart around.
"Well...as I was saying...oh god, why do I feel your head is full of boy troubles? Here I am telling you the story of my life, and there you are mooning over these men."
Azriel gritted her teeth and smiled, working harder at masking her thoughts, "You are wrong...I was just wondering about...."
"Anyway, I was trying to tell you that I decided....ummm there is no better way to out it. I decided to hide."
"Hide?", she exclaimed.
"So I dissolved all my knowledge into a language so secret and so ancient that normal human eyes could not see it. I transferred my soul into a book, the very one you see now. I hid in the stone of the ruined castle for years. And as my magic was hidden behind hundreds of tiny words and symbols it got overlooked. Many other people thought I was dead, but well...here I am alive and kicking."
"So, which friends did you go to meet?"
"I...well, if you must know one or two of my friends did similar things. One dissolved herself into the sea foam and stayed there for many years, till she well, got tired of it and is now one of the favourites at Ishatar's court."
"At court?"
"Yes, can you believe it? Right under the nose of the Saffron Ones....the new beings teaching the One True Way to Alavar and ruining our Kingdom further with their mumbo jumbo."
Azriel sighed. It all sounded very complicated to her.
"Well..what do you want for us to do now?"
The Book was quiet for a moment and said, "You will need to free me Azriel. I mean you will need to help me get free from the bindings of magic and the Book and then you will need to collect each word and symbol of me and put me back together again."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"Take me to Ashdeer right now. I need to speak with him as well."
"I don't even know if he is around ....I haven't spoken to him in ages."
"Oh...Azriel, for a powerful magical being, you seem to be quite obtuse. I mean who would have expected to have a young brat like you to be our saviour."
Azriel felt the sudden rush when she always travelled with the Book, and very soon they were both standing in Ashdeer's study. The latter looked up from a bunch of maps he was poring over and said, "Azriel...do you even knock.....?"
But then he shut his mouth and looked grimly at the other people in the room. Ilana was standing next to him, smoking from a dark brown pipe, and there was a man unknown to Azriel, standing by the window, looking out towards the mountains. He had long dark hair flowing down his shoulders, over an embroidered blue cape. He had a swarthy face and a long aquiline nose. When he turned to look at them, his eyes were piercing dark navy blue. He looked dangerous and elegant at the same time. A sword hung jauntily from his side, and he wore all sorts of medals and markers on a blue tunic that matched the colour of his cape.
"Is this the girl then?" He asked Ashdeer, clearly looking rather unimpressed.
Ashdeer pursed his lips and said, "Azriel, you must have a good reason to be here I guess."
"Oh...God! As if one of the most powerful mages of ancient times were not a good enough reason Lord Dragon protector!"
Everyone in the room started in shock.
Ilana put her pipe to one side and asked, "Is that book talking?"
"I am THE BOOK OF SECRETS for god's sake!"
Ashdeer motioned to Aranus and Ilana to stay silent and said, "Is that Quinn? The Dancer of the Wind? The Keeper of the Words?"
"Yeah...yeah...finally a little respect after hundreds of years" the Book said.
"How can we help you Quinn....", Ashdeer asked respectfully.