Page 72 of Oaths & Vengeance (Realm of Zadrya #1)

Considering his level of power, I wasn’t certain a dragon was much of a threat to my husband, but if it made my sister feel better to say it, I wouldn’t argue the point.

She turned around and led us the rest of the way along the catwalk.

The extensive library spanned dozens of trees and had three levels, with us entering from the bottom entry point about twenty feet off the ground.

We had to wait outside on the balcony while she went in to get us clearance. I had come here a few times over the years to research various topics, but they limited my access since I wasn’t a citizen of the realm. Hopefully, Priyya had higher privileges.

Fifteen minutes later, she finally returned to us. “They have agreed to allow you entry, but you’ll have escorts at all times, and you’ll only be allowed to look at books and scrolls related to retrieving the fountain.”

“That is all we ask,” Darrow said.

We followed Priyya into the wide entry with its double doors.

I breathed in the familiar musty scent of old parchment, enjoying the comforting smell.

We passed multiple rows of bookshelves before reaching a large desk where a stuffy-looking male druid sat.

Numerous tables were set up behind him, providing places for people to read and research. Only a few sat at them now.

The central section of the library was open to the top level, aside from a few trees growing within the space and yellow vines winding their way around columns that held up the side floors. Thanks to the numerous windows on every wall, there was plenty of natural light.

“This is Idwal,” Priyya said, gesturing at the frail older gentleman who managed to look down his nose at us despite our standing well above him. “He is the head curator here and will be the one to help us.”

“You three,” the male druid said, pointing at Faina, Jax, and Bogdan. “Will have access to the tomes on metal properties related to portal rings. Someone will be here momentarily to escort you to the appropriate section.”

They nodded, seeming to know better than to argue. We were getting more assistance than expected, so everyone had better comply with the rules. Of course, I didn’t think they’d risk upsetting library administrators with something this important .

Idwal pointed at the rest of us. “You four will have access to texts on interdimensional and cross-galaxy travel. I will take you to the appropriate section myself, as studying such matters has been my life’s work.”

“Why interdimensional travel?” I asked, considering Darrow hadn’t mentioned anything about that.

He lifted a brow. “Because the thieves originally took the fountain to a hellish dimension where we had no access. That is the unseelie’s specialty, not ours, and they knew very well we’d never be able to reach it.

If not for a powerful locator spell that required twenty of us to fuel, we wouldn’t have known that much. ”

“But it’s not in that dimension anymore?”

The elder druid gave me a disparaging look.

“Of course not, or else your search would be for naught—as it was for us when we discovered the problem centuries ago. We continued to follow up with it once we learned the dimension was only temporary. Ten years ago, it merged with our universe and resolved that particular dilemma. Unfortunately, someone took it upon themselves to damage the gate by then. We’ve had to wait until someone came along who was gifted enough to power it before looking into repairs. ”

Because, otherwise, the same saboteur might damage it again even worse.

“And that would be me,” I said, shocked that they already knew so much, but maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. Getting the fountain back was even more important to druids, considering this was their home world, and they had been here long before the fae arrived.

Idwal looked me up and down with a hint of disdain. “We can hope you are the one, but that remains to be seen.” He turned his attention to Darrow, expression every bit as condescending. “Priyya tells me you acquired the name of the planet where the fountain is currently located. Is that true?”

“I did,” my husband agreed stiffly.

The elder druid drummed his fingers on his desk in thought. “That was one piece of information we couldn’t obtain as our people failed to traverse the Oarwar desert without casualty. What is your power to have made the journey and lived to tell the tale? ”

Darrow stared at him. “I’m telekinetic.”

“Ah.” The elder nodded. “And as a high fae, you could use that ability to stop most anything.”

“Yes, most things.” Judging by his tone, something told me that he’d found his magic couldn’t fix all his problems, such as how to get me out from under my uncle’s thumb.

“That should stand you in good stead in your journey. Perhaps your lineage is not such a bad thing if you use your gifts for good rather than all that killing that makes its way into my reports,” he said, with no lack of judgment in his tone.

Darrow clenched his fists, so I put a calming hand on his arm. He turned to meet my gaze. I gave him a pleading expression, reminding him how important it was that we tolerate the arrogant druid. He took a deep breath and relaxed a little.

The guide for the other group arrived, taking the three of them away.

Ours stood and grabbed his cane before hobbling toward the back of the library.

We dutifully followed him. He reached a set of shelves stuffed full of books and stared at the left side briefly before his eyes narrowed on something on the top row.

It was far out of our reach. I looked for a ladder nearby, but I didn’t see one.

Idwal tapped at a hefty, brown tome with his cane. “Darrow, if you could be so kind as to pull that one and hold it for me.”

My husband used his powers to lower the book into his waiting hands.

The process continued several more times until we all held at least one heavy book.

Then, the druid led us to a nearby table, where he had us spread out our finds.

His gaze ran across them before reaching for a dark red tome that was among the largest.

“This one has a list of all the known habitable planets that have been compiled over thousands of years and includes some details about them. Every few centuries, someone is born on Paxia with the ability to open distant rings, and most do some exploration during their lifetime to add to our knowledge.”

“I had no idea,” I said, giving him a surprised look .

He settled into the nearest chair with a creak and a groan as he opened the book. “Tell me, young lady. Do you often feel the urge to use your gift to visit other places?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “Especially once I became strong enough to leave Therress.”

“What is the most difficult portal you’ve opened?” he asked, studying me closely.

“Well, the one to eastern Penoria with the large ring and the one to where the Naforya Fountain should be were both the most difficult.” I chose to leave out my trips to Jolloure Island since that wasn’t relevant, and it wasn’t quite as taxing as the other two locations.

Surprise lit his features. “You successfully opened both of those?”

“Yes.”

“Excellent, then perhaps you are the one we need.” Idwal turned to Darrow. “Tell me the name of this planet, so that I might look it up.”

“The seer called it Earth, but he mentioned they have many languages there, and it might also be known by Terra, Jord, or Erde.”

Loden cleared his throat. “There were actually more names, but we stopped writing them down after a while.”

The druid grunted. “At least the natives choose nice and simple words. You would be surprised how often planets are called something ridiculous that no one could possibly pronounce, such as Marztepinqtopulandol. I spent months trying to wrap my tongue around that one before succeeding.”

“You did it well,” I said, thinking it would also take me months.

He shrugged. “It is one of the nearest habitable planets to us and has some fascinating species living there, though nothing of true higher intelligence. Their only humanoid beings have just begun to form written language in the last handful of centuries. As a result, I couldn’t fathom why they chose such a ridiculous name for their planet, but of course, they failed to consult me on the matter. ”

Idwal sighed and returned to his tome, flipping the pages carefully as he searched for the planet we needed. It took him several minutes while we patiently waited. Finally, he found it halfway through the book .

“Here it is,” he said, skimming the text.

“We’ve had several channelers visit Earth over time, with the first almost two and a half millennia ago.

At that time, dragons and magic were prominent, but the only intelligent, non-bestial races were humans and sorcerers.

Hmm, it appears they’ve never had the fun of fae descending upon their lands and disturbing their way of life. How fortunate for them.”

We said nothing to that. I was half-druid and had heard all my life that my mother’s people resented giving up two-thirds of their planet so the Seelie could live here.

Of course, I could hardly blame them. Our arrival and the subsequent period afterward had been a dark time for everyone involved, but especially those native to Paxia.

“Interesting.” Idwal continued skimming the pages. “It appears the dragons on Earth are not nearly as amenable as ours and often attack people. They even eat them, though ours will do that if they go rabid. That’s what the slayers are here for, of course.”

Within Alavaar, we had a handful of druids who were naturally fireproof and born with the mark of a dragon slayer.

They could be quite ruthless and cunning, able to kill even the largest and most threatening of the beasts.

We didn’t need to call them into service often, so they served as warriors the rest of the time, protecting the realm from other types of enemies.

His eyes rounded when he reached a page near the back.

“Over a millennium ago, humans and sorcerers grew tired of the violent dragons. They banished them, along with all magic, to a hellish dimension known as Kederrawien . The channeler present at the time barely escaped before the incident occurred. I cannot imagine how the people there could have done such a thing without the assistance of the Unseelie, but as I recall, that period was the last time anyone from Faelaria could open a portal to distant planets.”

“So, they could have helped Earth’s inhabitants do it?” I asked, surprised.

Darrow frowned. “I wonder if that’s where they used to get their human slaves. Except, I am certain they didn’t count on not being able to return for so long. ”

I’d heard there were magicless people on Faelaria, but I’d never considered that they weren’t native to the planet. There’d never been a reason to look into the matter.

“If I had to guess, some humans were also swept into Kederrawien when the spell took effect. It would have been easy enough for the Unseelie to take them from there since they have little trouble traveling dimensions.” Idwal rubbed his chin.

“We know that it ceased to exist a decade ago when it merged with Earth, and they’ve lost access to their source. ”

“How do you know all this if you can’t go there?” Loden asked, frowning at the druid.

The library curator gave him a disdainful look. “We have a seer whose primary task has been to keep track of the fountain, of course. Thankfully, he has assured us that it remains hidden and currently has guardians watching over its location.”

“That’s great to hear it’s safe for now,” Priyya said, leaning forward to look at the tome. “But how do we get there so we can retrieve the fountain?”

Idwal flipped back some pages. “Ah, here we go. This describes the difficulty involved with reaching Earth due to its distant location. It includes a rune sequence, but unfortunately, when that other dimension collided with the planet, it would have nudged it a little out of place. This sequence will no longer be accurate.”

If a ring is already powered and active when it is moved, it will flash the new sequence once it settles into the new location. Of course, we weren’t there to see that. I had no idea how to discern which runes to use if they were unknown.

Darrow moved closer to the tome so he could skim it for himself. “What does that mean for us?”

“Very complicated math to decipher the new rune order, and I’ll need to research further on whether this planet has more than one ring. Obviously, we want to go to the one nearest to the fountain. I’ll have the seer help pinpoint the one we need.”

Priyya spoke up, “Do we have anyone who is able to do it? ”

“Actually, it will require two people to accomplish. One who understands the movement of the celestial bodies, which would be me, and another who handles the calculations. No one in Alavaar can perform the latter, but there is someone in Hisgar,” he said, grimacing.

“It’s mostly ice giants who live there,” Loden pointed out. “But I recall hearing of one who was born with intelligence that far surpasses anyone else in our realm.”

“Yes,” Idwal agreed. “That is the one I am thinking. We were as surprised as any when a youthful ice giant became so intelligent that the leaders summoned the most learned men and women to teach her. By the time she was twenty years old, she’d surpassed them all.

However, we had some difficulty providing writing and reading materials due to her size.

Most of our books were no larger than her thumb by the time she was an adolescent. ”

“We will have to seek her out,” Darrow concluded.

The druid shook his head. “Not now. She is due to have a baby in the next week, and we all know how surly ice giants can be while pregnant or soon after birth. If we want her cooperation, we’ll have to wait a couple of months.”

Priyya’s expression turned stricken at his words. “But we’re running out of time.”

“We have little choice if your sister is going to have any success opening the gate,” he said, gesturing at me.

“The good news is that the seer and I can begin pinpointing Earth and the ring’s current location with a special instrument I recently finished constructing for that purpose.

It will take some time due to many factors, but I should have the details you’ll need before it’s time to visit the ice giant. ”

“Okay,” I agreed. What choice did we have?

“Now, let us see if any of these other books have information that might prove useful,” the druid said, gesturing at us to each take one. “Knowledge is power. We certainly don’t want anything to go wrong with such a vital quest.”

None of us argued the point as we settled into chairs for some in-depth reading.