“Oh, so you are young Thalys of Maeltryst! Well met. You can call me Falen Hooz.” the librarian said.
“You know of me?” a surprised Thalys asked.
“Well of course! You wear the emblem of Maeltryst, and word has gone out that the young nobleman Thalys left on an adventure not too long ago. I don’t know you, per say. I just assumed it was you.” Falen said with an exaggerated wink.
“Oh, I see. Well, it is good to meet you as well Falen Hooz.” Thalys replied.
“Ah, here we go.” Falen said as he came to an abrupt stop along the back wall. He pulled out a single book with intricate arcane writing all over it. He blew the dust off it, and after coughing most of that dust out of his lunges, he handed the book to Thalys. “I’m afraid that is the only book we have on it.”
“Then why did you ask me if I wanted fairy tales or facts?” a confused Thalys asked.
“Curiosity, my boy…tis all.” Falen said with another laugh as he patted Thalys on the shoulder and walked away. “When you are done with it, let me know.”
Thalys smiled from ear to ear as he opened up the book. All he found inside was three pages of information, the rest were blank. The young man’s face contorted up in confusion as he flipped through all the pages to confirm it. With a shrug, he began reading the three pages. In a matter of minutes he was done, filled with no further information than the tales had told, but it was information the southerner had never heard of, for the Adept Stone tales only filtered through the northern lands. With a little better understanding of what he was looking for, Thalys closed the book and handed it to Falen.
“Find anything useful?” The old man asked.
“Most of the book as been magically whipped of its contents.” Thalys said grimly, knocking Falen back on his heels.
Falen didn’t need to flip through the pages, for he knew it to be true, but how could this young boy know of the reason? Could he possess some greater understanding of magic than Falen had first suspected?
“Alas, that it has. Someone obviously didn’t want anyone knowing of the valuable information within.” Falen said with a sigh. “Sorry for the inconvenience. Perhaps there is another way I could assist you?”
“Do you know where the Adept’s Stone is now?” Thalys asked, hardly looking at the man, but deep in contemplation.
“Ah, that I can tell you. Rumors have it an assassin by the name of Voyse En’Dir found the stone in Pavenole in the west. Head there, young adventurer.” the old man said.
“Pavenole, you say? Alright. I thank you very much for your assistance, Falen.” Thalys said, giving a slight bow as he exited the library.
He continued to think of his next destination, and the quickest route to get there. Not paying attention to where he was going, the pondering noble ran right into a paladin with long, shiny blonde hair. He looked up from his thinking and saw a unique design etched on the breastplate of that paladin, that of the Holy Order of Kaith. The woman looked at him and gave an embarrassed smile.
“Oh, excuse me. I should pay more attention to where…” The paladin began to say, but Thalys cut her short with his own apology.
“No no, I was the one at fault. Too busy thinking to even notice where I’m walking.” The equally embarrassed nobleman said, quickly backing away from the woman and returning to his original path.
“But I…” The woman began to protest, but Thalys gave a quick salute and sped off. With a shrug, she entered the library.
Thalys looked back over his shoulder after he had gotten far away from the library. Who was that woman? And what was that strange feeling he got while looking upon her? It was like an aura of sheer power emanating around her. Thalys felt a shudder course down his spine at the thought of how much raw power the woman had. How small Thalys felt around such power! He sighed and continued walking down the street.
He quickly stopped as a man came flying out the door of a nearby tavern. Thinking quickly, Thalys stepped back from the falling man, but grabbed him by the collar and the tail of his shirt, gently laying him on the ground. He turned to look in the now broken door of the tavern to see a brawl inside. Right at the center was a particularly tough looking man easily taking out everyone around him. An experienced veteran at bar fighting, Thalys figured. Just as he turned to walk away, he spotted three figures out of the corner of his eye; a young woman, old man, and another unusual looking figure that he couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, peering over the bar top in the back. That peculiar person seemed to notice Thalys, for he gave a quick wave of apology, just before ducking under another flying man. Thalys couldn’t help but laughing as he walked away.
**********
Kara slowed her pace as she neared the Great Library. She placed a finger on her lips as she thought of what the two other companions could be doing. Probably searching for some soldiers of Tolley, she mused, thinking of her unusual rogue friend.
Her thoughts all flew away as a young nobleman, obviously in a hurry and hardly paying attention, bumped right into her head on, the both of them nearly knocking heads. The man seemed to fall back a bit in surprise. She smiled at him, blushing a bit for being so clumsy.
“Oh, excuse me. I should pay more attention to where…” Kara began to say, but the nobleman cut her short with his own apology.
“No no, I was the one at fault. Too busy thinking to even notice where I’m walking.” The equally embarrassed man said, quickly backing away from her and returning to his original path.
“But I…” Kara began to protest, but the man gave a quick salute and sped off. With a shrug, she entered the library.