Talk To Dragons

After a great deal of pleading and reassuring of safety, Engel and Violet found themselves waiting on a comfortable couch in an enormous library. The bookseller was so excited over Violet's effect on the old witch book that he insisted they speak with a scholarly friend of his so that they may figure out why it happened.

The little ones had been taken to Fozen's university. Like a castle compound, it stood with grand architecture and adornments befitting a collective opinion of high status. Violet didn't care for the atmosphere. She didn't like it when people looked down upon others and every person they passed in the university gave them a look of near-disgust.

Engel was enjoying himself greatly. He had never seen such a place and marveled at the size of the buildings and the attention to detail in the adornments around every turn. The little dragon especially loved the library they sat in. It was hundreds of feet long and tall, looking more like a pointed ceiling being held up by full bookcases rather than a proper room. At the very end there was a large desk and a grand window that let in all the light for the library. The bookseller, who had revealed his name to be Adam, had quickly hurried to the desk, presumably to fetch his friend.

"This place is amazing," Engel said. "I wish I could read. I'd consume every one of these books."

"That would take multiple lifetimes," Violet said. "How long do dragons live, anyhow?"

"Dragons of the Sii Mountains live for hundreds of years," Engel replied. "Although I'm told that we can die far sooner than that due to health reasons like disease."

"How old are you?"

"Forty."

Violet opened her eyes wide.

"I suddenly don't feel like your peer," she said.

"How long do witches live?" Engel asked.

"Not much farther than one hundred," Violet explained. "But we can live for centuries, if we don't mind being consumed by madness."

Engel gave Violet a curious stare, but the return of the bookseller dragging along a well-dressed man stopped their conversation.

"Adam, please, I'm very busy today," the man said. "You already know I can't do anything about your Wokren book."

"But Steven, I have a witch with me," the bookseller replied. "And she made the book react to her touch!"

Steven, the well-dressed man, raised an eyebrow at the statement. Rummaging through a sack, Adam retrieved the Wokren book and presented it to Violet. The little witch stared at it and did nothing.

"What do you expect me to do?" she questioned.

"Just take it," Adam said. "Flip through it. Maybe something else will happen like back at the stall."

"What happened at the stall?" Steven asked.

"The book burned its binding when I got close to it," Violet answered. "I'm not paying for this couch if it catches fire."

Violet took the book in her hands and sat it down on her l.a.p. Nothing strange happened, much to the disappointment of the bookseller.

"The fire might have been accidental," Steven guessed. "Perhaps the presence of a witch brought the book back into an awakened state and the sudden burst of energy ignited the binding."

With the book open, Violet carefully turned the ancient pages and examined its contents. Elaborate diagrams, detailed drawings of small animals, and symbols she had never seen before. Everything in the book was written in a dead language of long, sharp letters she didn't understand. It was impossible to tell what the book was for.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't read any of this," Violet said.

In response to her statement, the book suddenly flew through all of its pages rapidly until it was at the very end. Everyone stared in amazement as the inside of the back cover, having been blank just seconds before, had faded into an elaborate geometric symbol with a handprint in the center. It looked to be done very precisely with a fine brush as to keep the lines absolutely straight, but the hand on the inside was messy. It was simply a print from an ink-covered hand.

"Astonishing," Steven said. "Please, put your hand there. The book is asking for it."

Violet gave Engel a glance. She didn't want to take the risk, but after a sigh she went forward with it. Her little hand was far too small to fill up the print, and after a few seconds of placement she doubted anything was going to happen.

"Well, that's a relief, I suppose," Engel said.

Just as Violet was going to lift her hand, a sudden sharp pain traveled from her palm and into her body. Like a bolt of lightning it shot through and her head began to fill with pressure. She gritted her teeth at the pain and growled. The three onlookers were in a panic and struggled to decide what they should do, but after a few seconds Violet lifted her hand and breathed deep from the agony.

"Can you read the book now?" Adam asked.

Violet rubbed her eyes and blinked several times, but to no avail.

"No," she answered. "I'm blind."