Maris was pacing about the already small room by the time Raorka and Lucerne reached the Investigation Society headquarters. Neither Jareth nor Drisnen were anywhere to be seen so it was just Maris alone, who grunted when she saw them and motioned for them to sit down.
"The worst outcome. The worst outcome." She kept muttering as she sat down opposite them.
"Did you meet her family?" Lucerne asked gently.
"Rowena was an orphan, she had no other family to speak of." Maris said somewhat dismissively.
"Any leads?" Raorka asked.
Maris shook her head forlornly. "None. Except that this was a completely different method than the last three. Rowena never made it back home, the last time anyone saw her was in the library."
"And the time period." Raorka added.
"Pardon?"
"The time period. Previously there was atleast three days between each disappearance, but Rowena disappeared the very next day of Fiona."
Maris looked at Raorka and then asked him slowly, "What are you implying?"
Raorka felt his throat go dry. He knew if he continued then he was only putting himself in more trouble, so he glanced once at Lucerne who nodded in encouragement.
"Just that this seems like an unplanned kidnapping." Raorka said.
Maris didn't respond, but instead turned her chair around and looked wistfully out of the window.
"Continue." She said.
"Well in every previous case, the kidnapper has waited to have multiple witnesses who watched the victim go into their own house, who could even place them in their own rooms before the kidnapping took place. In each of these cases the kidnapper took special care to create doubt in our minds as to whether a kidnapping has actually occured or not. Think about it! No struggle in their room, no sound to be heard from there by their parents, and most of all they were taken from within their homes when much more easily they could be taken from the streets.
Except in Rowena's case. Why?"
"Because the kidnapper hadn't planned to kidnap Rowena, it was a decision made instantaneously."
Raorka nodded. "Rowena must have found out who the kidnapper was, and then the kidnapper abducted her on the way from the library."
Maris looked at Raorka. "Do you know what you are suggesting?"
Raorka winced before nodding. "Someone told the kidnapper that Rowena had found him, and thus they were forced to nab her before she went to the Mayor."
Maris shook her head. "Or the kidnapper is the one who found that out themselves."
For a moment everyone was silent. Then Maris began speaking, "If we assume that the kidnapper or their associate took Rowena to silence her then it can only be us, the members of the Society and you two."
"I believe that's a hasty conclusion. Rowena might have told others about her theory." Lucerne interjected, but Maris immediately rejected her theory.
"She didn't have time. She went immediately to the library yesterday, and then the librarian confirmed that she left the library but never made it back home. And besides Rowena is not the type of person to tell anyone about her deductions. We are the only ones who knew."
"What about her friends? Maybe she met one of them at the library?" Raorka said.
Again Maris shook her head. "Rowena didn't have many friends besides us here. She was a private person, preferring to stay engrossed in books rather than conversing with friends."
Raorka didn't have any protests to this part, and again an uncomfortable silence descended on the room.
"So one among us is a traitor?" Lucerne was the first to bring up the elephant in the room.
Maris nodded, "It can only be that way. And I apologize Raorka but as the newest member in both this Society as well as Temuril, the biggest suspicion does fall on you."
Raorka nodded. "I understand. But I also want you to know, I didn't do it."
Maris didn't say anything but kept looking out of the window into the town. Raorka felt that she did believe him, but again he couldn't be sure.
"It could also be you." Lucerne said quietly, staring at Maris, who still didn't respond except with a dismissive 'yeah'.
Despite what she said, Rowena seemed to have been a very close friend of Maris, and the former's disappearance had shocked her deeply.
"Maybe we should go to the library? See what exactly Rowena was searching for there and what she found that led her to the kidnapper? Maybe we'll be able to find them quickly in that case?" Raorka suggested, wanting to break the silence that had engulfed the room.
"Oh yeah yeah sure go ahead." Maris said, waving her hand.
"You won't come?"
"No, no I won't. I have some things to check out myself you see. And besides, Rowena's thought process is extremely eccentric even though brilliant. It may be hard for you to follow her steps."
"Regardless, that's the only option we have left."
.XX.
Raorka and Lucerne left the Society room, with Maris in the same wistful state.
"Rowena's disappearance seems to have affected her a lot." Lucerne said as they left the room.
"Not just that, she is having to now consider the thought that one of the members of her own Society is the kidnapper."
"I thought she would have suspected you easily."
"I thought the same. Maybe we have underestimated Maris."
In about fifteen minutes from the Society, Raorka and Lucerne reached the Temuril Library. It wasn't a very big building, only one storey tall. There were lights outside on the path to indicate the way, and the structure of the building was more like someone's house than an official library. There was a guard at the door wearing Temuril colours, who nodded once at them as they entered.
Inside the library there were about ten shelves of books, completely uncategorised as far as Raorka could tell. A small, old woman was at the counter, and she smiled as she saw them.
"Hello there Lucerne darling. How is your mother doing?" She asked in a pleasant voice.
"Quite well Mrs Frostbane. How about you?" Lucerne answered with a smile.
Raorka started when he heard the surname.
This must be Jareth's grandmother.
"Oh well and good. Now I suppose you are here to see the books Ms Atar was reading before she disappeared?"
"How did you-"
Mrs. Frostbane stopped her with a knowing smile. "You forget my grandson is in the same society that you recently joined. I know what you young folk are like. Why he himself has gone through that book dozens of times since yesterday."
Lucerne smiled back. "Can you point us as well to that book please?"
"Of course, it is right here." Old Mrs Frostbane reached behind her and brought out a small book. Raorka didn't know what he expected but the book itself seemed like an ordinary small book. On it was written in small gold lettering:
The Witch of Temuril: A Brief History
.XX.
"Why was Rowena reading a book about Artemis?" Raorka wondered in a hushed tone as soon as he and Lucerne had found an empty table where they were alone.
"I don't know. Does she suspect the Witch to be the kidnapper after all?"
Raorka thought about it. True they had never actually discussed it in depth last night, but the Witch of the Woods was another outsider and normal villagers already looked at her in distrust.
But Raorka couldn't believe still that his tutor was capable of doing such a thing.
"There must be something else here. Let's read it thoroughly." He said, diving straight in.
It took about three hours to read. Most of the book was boring details about how Temuril was founded, meetings between the Mayors of the town with the Witch, some tidbits about Old Gotuj's roars.
"Temuril was founded after the Witch came to the Forest of Old Gotuj?" Raorka asked curiously after he had finished the book.
"Yes, Temuril is quite a new town. It was built not more than five hundred years ago, while the Witch has been here since the Great War ended a thousand years back."
"And the Witch helped to create the dome of Temuril?"
"Yeah she did."
"Why does Temuril even have a dome?"
Lucerne shrugged. "It is a relic of the War with Dragons thousands of years ago. At that time all the Capitals of the Great Kingdoms were domed to provide a modicum of protection against dragons. I guess Temuril wanted to copy that design since we are so close to one of the few remaining dragons."
Raorka nodded slowly. He didn't know what Rowena was looking for here but it wasn't clear to him that she suspected Artemis.
But....
"Maybe because she is older than Temuril itself, Rowena thought Artemis was the key to finding the kidnapper?"
"I doubt it. The townsfolk don't have good relations with the Witch for a long time now."
"Why is that? The book mentioned something called the Breaking of the Dome?"
Lucerne winced. "It's not the most pleasant histories associated with Temuril. About forty years back, the dome above Temuril cracked. You can imagine the uproar. The Witch had had an altercation with the Mayor of that time so everyone thought she was responsible for the same. Every Mayor since then has been elected on the promise of fixing the dome, but it wasn't until Mayor Rokar that the dome finally got fixed."
"But how did Mayor Rokar fix the dome? He took help from the Witch?"
"No, actually he-"
A sudden commotion from the front of the library interrupted Lucerne. Both of them looked towards the entrance to see a crowd of people gathered around the library.
"What's happening?" Lucerne asked quietly, not expecting an answer.
Raorka shrugged anyway, and slowly stepped up. Both of them started walking towards the door. Mrs Frostbane was already there in front of the door. She seemed to be peering out at the commotion. When she noticed Raorka and Lucerne, she beckoned for them to come closer.
They complied, and came over to the door, pushing it slightly ajar to peek out at the source of commotion.
There was a crowd of about a hundred people gathered around the library in a semi circle. They didn't seem especially rowdy or frustrated, but rather expectant, even though there was a wave of uncertainty in the entire town. There was a barricade created by soldiers of the Temuril army, which prevented the crowd from moving forward towards the large man who was now walking towards the library, a grim look on his face.
Mayor Rokar had come to pay a visit to the library himself.