Binarius (9 page)

There were about twenty people
sitting at this table. Firinne only knew a few of them; the King
and Queen, one of the King’s advisors, and her Uncle, Bricius.
Bricius had only given her a small nod when she had approached the
feast. He looked tattered. His face was sunken in and there were
puffy, dark circles which rested comfortably beneath his irritated
eyes. He looked much different from the last time that she had seen
him, about five years ago.

After being discretely gawked at
through the main course, someone finally spoke to Firinne. It was a
woman, probably slightly younger than her own mother. She was very
regal. Her hair was pulled tightly in a bun, but her face was not
hidden like most of the women on the grounds of Archen Castle. She
was wearing a gown of fine, plum colored silk, with bits of silver
embroidered around her neckline.

“
It appears that everyone has
failed to introduce this table to our guest. What is your name dear
girl?”

“
I am Firinne Luxithanya, Second
Queen of Citrine Castle.”

There were unmistakable murmurs
amongst all of the distinguished dinner guests. Firinne thought she
even heard someone gasp — from shock or disgust, she did not
know.

“
I have visited your Queendom,
though it was a very long time ago, I must say that it is very
beautiful. What brings you so far from home?”

Firinne didn’t feel like this was
the sort of crowd she should be giving the privilege of details to.
“Forgive me, may I ask your name? I don’t believe we have met
before.”

“
Yes, I tried to persuade Bricius
to introduce me to the Queens the last time we were at Citrine
Castle but he…it has been a struggle.”

At this, Bricius shot the woman a
sideways glance. Was that panic, or irritation?

The woman could tell that Firinne
was confused, and she didn’t pay any notice to Bricius. “Yes, this
must be very confusing for you. Bricius and I had our ceremony
about six years ago. My name is Etheldra. It is a pleasure to
finally meet my niece! Bricius never mentioned how beautiful you
are.” She patted Bricius’s arm lightheartedly.

Firinne looked at her Aunt, the
stranger, and back to Bricius. “Uncle, would you—

Bricius had anticipated her and cut
her off swiftly by asking some angry, dirty looking man about one
of the dishes that had been served.

Dorrin Clavorn answered. “Oh, that?
That’s an Archen dish. It’s got rabbit hearts, apples an’ some
other things I can’t remember. The girls in there cook pretty good,
so long as yeh stay on ‘em.”

Firinne was now pacing the halls,
waiting to spot her Uncle. She was determined to corner him and
demand an explanation for his secretive union. Her Uncle had never
been very open about his personal life but she had never expected
that he would hide something that relevant to his life, from his
niece, and his sister. He clearly didn’t want them to know of his
union to Etheldra. Firinne wanted to know why.

She paced back and forth on the
smooth marble surface. Every time a door opened, she looked up
eagerly, hoping to see her uncle. So far, it had only been
straggling numbers of attendants who would look back at her in pure
suspicion. She didn’t care what they thought of her. She was not
here to receive their acceptance.

Another door opened. It was her
Uncle this time. He approached her wearing a smile of indifference.
“It is good to see you, Firinne. How are you? How was the
journey?”

“
Listen Uncle. I don’t have the
time or the temper to indulge in formalities. How is it that you’ve
been in union for near a decade and I am just now finding out about
it?”

His face tightened. “I’m sorry if I
have made you feel in-the-dark. It was not my
intention.”

Firinne stood there, staring at her
Uncle. She was waiting for him to finish his thought. After a few
unbearable seconds of silence, she realized he wasn’t going to
elaborate. “Right. Hopefully, I won’t feel the need to remind you
that we are family, after what I am about to discuss with you. Your
sister is in danger.” Her words hung in the air. She was expecting
his face to change. She was counting on the panic in his voice, but
it never came.

“
I know. The King made me aware of
it shortly after you arrived. There is nothing I can do for
her—

“
What do you mean there is nothing
you can do for her?”

“
We cannot interfere with the
plans of Aldithen.”

“
This is not the work of your
beloved God! Triphosa and Cyneric have betrayed my Queendom. They
are working with the Mist of Blacken.”

“
Whatever you may think about this
situation, you have been mistaken. It is time you let go of your
old beliefs and put your faith where it belongs.”

“
Don’t you dare tell me where I
should put my faith!” She could feel the color on her cheeks. “Do
you not understand what I, your niece, is telling you? They have
Auralia in the dungeons!”

“
It is all a part in the plan
Firinne. I will not discuss this with you any further.”

Firinne stood there, glaring at
Bricius. She could hardly believe his stupidity. “Then I will take
it up with the Order.”

“
The king has denied your request
for an audience with the Order.”

“
You’ve got to be…this is…I cannot
believe you! Your sister is sitting in the dungeons, guarded by
Desideriums. They killed Imphius and you’ll have nothing to do with
it? That was once your home as well. Our relationship has been
fragile ever since your allegiance to the Aldithenih faith but
you’ve gone too far! I came here for help. I can see that there is
no reason for me to stay.”

“
Don’t leave. Stay here where you
are safe.”

“
This isn’t safety Bricius…it’s a
prison of ignorance and submission. You’re just too damn naive to
see it.”

She walked away knowing that her
uncle wouldn’t chase after her. It occurred to her that she hadn’t
even put her whole heart into that discussion. She had known from
the beginning, somewhere deep inside, that it was a waste of
energy. She had to find another way — she hadn’t the slightest idea
how.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

Convulsions

After
innumerable attempts to sleep, Firinne decided that her restful
desires were utterly pointless. She was too troubled to sleep. Her
mind was racing back and forth, looming together angry thoughts,
which left no room for ideas to thread themselves together. Maybe
it was out of spite, or perhaps just child-like curiosity, whatever
it was, she decided that while she was forced to be awake, she
should ensure that the time was well used. She was going to explore
the castle. She took the large crystal from her traveling sack
which instantly became warm as it lit up between the palms of her
hands.

She hadn’t the faintest idea where
she was going, or what she hoped to discover. The marble was cold
on her feet. The only sounds in the seemingly endless hallways were
the sticky sounding,
pat
pat
, of her footsteps. Sealed doors passed
by her. There were so many of them. What secrets had they hidden
away? As Firinne passed door after door, she began to feel silly.
What was the meaning of this defiant-driven exploration, if she was
too scared to open any of the doors?

She was just thinking that maybe
she should turn back, admit defeat, and get back to thought looming
when she turned down a stumpy corridor. At the end were two
mahogany, twin doors. They were completely different from any other
door she had seen at the castle — out of place amongst a
characterless environment.

She inched her way towards them, as
if they were living creatures who might wake with a scream,
announcing to the Archen guards that Firinne had been a naughty
girl, out exploring in the middle of the night; a guest no
less!

Her fingers slid gently down the
coarse surface, each hand on a door until they met twin, glass
knobs. I must be out of my mind, she whispered. Slowly, she cracked
the door. She couldn’t tell how big the room was. There was only a
sliver of moonlight flowing in the vast, black air before her.
Deciding that if the room was occupied, the occupants were surely
asleep, she flung a small, milky ball of spectralin light from the
palm of her hand, to the ceiling above. It stopped in mid-air,
about twenty feet above Firinne, and made slow, tiny orbits in the
empty space surrounding it. It was after about five orbits, that
she realized there were shelves stacked from floor to ceiling with
books.

As Firinne entered the room, it
came alive. From where she stood, to the wall opposite of her,
candles — hundreds of them, sparked tiny flames as if they were
welcoming her presence. She had never seen so many books in her
life. Imphius had worked hard to build the Citrine Library back to
its former majesty (after Desideriums had been ordered to destroy
it) but even before the destruction, their collection of books
seemed mediocre compared to the countless, bound parchments that
were stacked smartly on the shelves before her.

Then she noticed that there was a
lonely desk in the heart of the room. As Firinne came nearer, she
could see that the desk looked elderly. The wood was so exhausted,
it was almost black which made the gold trimmings seem un-aged. As
she pulled the chair out to seat herself, all of the shelves in the
room began echoing thumping noises, as though the books were
applauding her courage — begging to make her acquaintance, and
share their secrets. She sat down like a child on the first day of
academy, and as she did so, there was silence.

There was a small plaque on the
desk. The words that were engraved into it were covered in a thick
layer of dust. As she wiped the dust away, she read the
words:

We are all born blind,

Seek and you shall
find.

For hidden deep inside;

things — endlessly
unknown.

Let it brew — fear, fault,
question.

Ask us once, we shall never
lie.

Ask us before dawn
should

Break the sky.

Die not without ever having
known,

What whispers of ink,

Need comfort your soul.

A riddle? Just then, there was a
flapping sound of parchment above her. A blue book was fluttering
towards her. Softly, it landed on the desk and became quite still.
Firinne flipped through the pages. The book appeared to be
instructions on the cleverest way to solve simple and complex
riddles.

These books were capable of reading
her mind. Then, the little blue book apparently realized that it
was no longer needed because it took flight again, in a very
flustered way, and found its shelf again.

Firinne was feeling suddenly awake.
Her life was littered with conflict, and she had just discovered a
very simple way to solve some of her most pressing issues. The next
book that landed on the desk was a book all about lock-picking.
Maybe this wasn’t as simple as she had thought it would
be.

She put her hands on her head.
“Citrine Castle has been overtaken by evil. I need to figure out a
way to take back my Queendom and rescue my mother.” Nothing moved,
other than what appeared to be the book on the table throwing a
tantrum (if books could throw fits) which ended by nearly smacking
Firinne in the face as it flew back to its shelf. “Well, this isn’t
going well” she muttered to herself. “Maybe that was too broad of a
question? Focus. Think simple.” She stared for a while through the
window towards the moon. She didn’t need to say anything out loud
but she did anyway. “The life of Fia and the lives of all her
creatures are in trouble…we need to save Fia.” After all, that was
the root of it. It wasn’t just Citrine Castle, her mother, or the
corruption at Archen Castle. There were surely problems that
Firinne wasn’t even aware of.

At first, there was nothing but
silence following the echo of her own voice. She put her head down,
thinking to herself that it was useless when she heard the friction
of pages. On the highest shelf to the right of her, there was a
group of books circling around each other, appearing to consult one
another. Another book flew down and joined. After about five
minutes of this, books had come and then gone, there were three
books that floated towards the lonely desk and its troubled
student. They landed softly on the desk and stacked themselves
neatly on top of each other. They were bound in leather which
indicated their age, as people of Fia had stopped using animals for
such things long ago.

Gently, she grasped the book on the
top. It was beautiful. There were swirls of gold engravings on the
crimson front cover. As she opened the book, a smell of antiquity
blessed her senses. She traced her fingers down the soft pages and
read:

Kristellis Spectralli.

Prophesy of The Clandestine
Guardians

Below, there was a cluster of
crystals sketched out in ink. Firinne began flipping to the next
page and for a moment, the page was littered with fine, ink letters
but before she could read any of it, they slowly started to fade
away. After this, the rest of the book was blank. Hastily, she
grabbed the next book. This book was dark blue with silver
engravings. The first-page read,
Currantus
Electrolifi
. Below was another ink sketch
depicting lightning trapped in orbs. As with the first book, all of
the pages were blank. The third book was white with black
engravings.
Sonicus
Leviti
, apparently another prophesy given
by The Clandestine Guardians, depicts objects in a forest, floating
in mid-air. Firinne didn’t understand. Why had all of the pages
disappeared? What use were they if they were blank?