Today’s word count:1767
Total word count: 12,660
Having exhausted the volumes I’d found, I was on the point
of packing up to go when a gentle voice beside me said: “I’m sorry to interrupt
you but I thought these might be useful,“ and a hand slid two books along the
table towards my elbow. Surprised, I looked up into one of the kindest faces I
had ever seen. He was quite short, and very thin, with a rather long face,
topped with dark, curly hair that sparkled with a multi-coloured iridescence
under the reading lights. I have heard the expression ‘olive skinned’ before
but I had never seen anyone I would have described that way. This face,
however, had a distinct greenish tinge, like a leafy forest in deep summer. In
spite of that he was very attractive, in fact I would call him beautiful.
Handsome didn’t suit him at all, but I could hardly take my eyes off him. His
smile was warm and made me feel as if I had just slid under a soft, comfortable
blanket. His gentle voice increased the illusion and the overwhelming sensation
I had was of safety. I felt I could trust this person totally. The badge on the
waistcoat of his library uniform said his name was Ami.
“Are you sure these are for me?” I said, pointing at the
books, but not taking much notice of the titles; too engrossed in looking into the
man’s gorgeous face.
“Oh yes, they are for you. I chose them particularly. I
noticed what you were studying and I thought you might find these more
informative. They are a little obscure, so you were unlikely to have found them
by yourself.”
I tore my eyes away from Ami’s and looked down at the books
for the first time. I saw a pair of
paperbacks of a fairly routine size, although they both looked quite thick,
compared with an average novel. Neither gave much sign of having been read many times.
No surprise there. You’d have to be pretty desperate to pick up the top one. In
spite of looking newly printed, its cover had the design of some ancient
woodcut, topped with an image of a strange looking beast with two heads and
wearing a crown around one of its necks. Below that, in very spiky writing I
read the title: “Ye rite and proper use
of charmes and amulettes for ye protection of ye soule (With sundrie
annotations on ye lesser familiar threttes) By Professore V Sturnus”. At first I thought it might be a prop from
some children’s film about magic and wizards. If its contents proved as
difficult to read as its title page I would be in for a hard time interpreting
the information, even if my future depended on what it said. The book did appear to cover a handy kind of
topic, but that bit about protecting my soul worried me slightly, I have to
admit.
“Not exactly popular, is it?” I asked Ami, but he just
smiled and nodded as if to give me encouragement, so I moved Prof Sturnus to
one side and took a look at volume two. The cover seemed remarkably similar, as
if both formed part of a series, perhaps, or had the same author, but the
second one claimed its writer as A Hildebrandt, and its design seemed less
ancient, although far from modern. Its title proclaimed it to be a handbook of
‘Identificayshun Markes’ required to categorise ‘Elves Bothe Darke and Lighte
as welle as ye Lesser Crawling Creatures’.
“Why did you bring me
these? I didn’t ask for anything.”
“No indeed, you did not ask directly, but I observed your
note taking and the subject you studied. These books belong to a related class
and could reveal the secrets you are looking for.”
His speech came out very slightly stilted and his voice grated
more harshly than I expected from his appearance, as if he had a cold and his
throat was sore. He didn’t have any other signs of a virus, however, and his
eyes were so clear that it was impossible to imagine he had any illness.
“You were watching me?” I hoped he’d say yes, because that
would have been very flattering, but my dream was quickly shattered.
“Not watching. Just observing to anticipate your
requirements. That is a librarian’s job. I saw your notebook and formed the
opinion that you would find these tomes enlightening.”
“They seem to have very old designs and yet they are hardly
touched. I’d swear that nobody has ever even opened the Dark and Light Elves
one.”
“Mayhap that is true.
Their content is indeed ancient and yet you hold modern copies of
learned works. Feel free to peruse them
at your leisure. I can arrange a long term loan if such would aid you.”
This little librarian had a lot in common with his books.
His exterior appeared modern, but his speech, attitude and eyes gave an
impression of a much earlier time. He didn’t have loads of wrinkles or
anything, just that when you looked at his eyes you had the feeling of a great
wisdom behind them not normally found in a thirty something. Maybe the colour
confused me, they were the darkest eyes I have ever seen, with glints like
distant stars shining in their depths.
“Thank you. I’ll see if I need to keep them after today.”
He walked away, disappearing behind one of the tall shelves,
and I settled down with the books he had brought. They sure made fascinating
reading once you got used to the ‘olde english’ style. If I’d read it a few weeks before I’d have
dismissed it all as nonsense but I now knew that magical creatures such as
those described in the pages of the Hildebrandt text actually exist. At least,
some of them do, but I had trouble picking out my offender from the seemingly
endless list described I its pages. The subjects had no obvious order. Each one
had a name at the top of the page and then text below that described habitat,
clothing, which class each beast belonged to, size, habits, in some cases
preferred foods, and the type of prank or blessing it issued to its quarry. And
as the title suggested, most had ‘Identificayshun Markes’ that would help pin
down its exact species. The entries were
arranged haphazardly, however. No sign of alphabetical order, grouping by any
appearance classification, ranking, threat severity, nothing. And to top everything,
my nemesis was a shape changer, so I would have to be very lucky to use this
field guide to be exactly sure of who or what I faced.
I learned a great deal that afternoon about boggarts and
grims, red caps and hobgoblins, elfkin, sirens, hey-hey men, and all manner of
other kinds of little people. I noted with relief that not all fell into the
category of dark elves, and that a few existed apparently to help mortals like
me overcome the bad magics. “If only I could find one of those,” I wished, but
I suspected that my sprite would not prioritise granting it. I also learned
lots of ways of describing the Fair Folk, as they like to be called, in a
polite fashion to avoid offending them, and of likely reactions if I forgot my
manners. What I did not learn was the
nature of my problem. I soon realised
the hundreds of pages would take days to read properly.
Professor Sturnus’s book turned out even more interesting
that the first volume. It even had pictures, but the whole document had the
appearance of a medieval manuscript; one of those illuminated scrolls or
parchments with highly decorative letters at the start of new sections, and
occasional words printed in gold. I had no idea whether that meant they were
important words, the equivalent of underlining or bold type, of if the writers
simply felt the colour added to the overall design. The start of the book detailed all manner of
objects that can be used to defend against bad spells cast by the dark elves. I
noticed quickly that the two tomes shared a common vocabulary, and I found
myself using the terms easily and quickly as soon as I understood their
meaning. I figured out my sprite belonged to the dark clan because a light elf
would never have allowed my wish to cause harm to another person, even if I
wanted the person hurt, which, of course, I had never intended. If you want to
curse someone, call for a dark elf; though I wouldn’t recommend it, knowing
what I know now! You really must be careful what you wish for.
The last chapters of Professor Sturnus described some lesser
known members of the dark elf clan and I noticed similarities with some of the
details in the Hildebrandt. None of the names matched, however, so I started to
suspect that I would need to handle the information from the books with care. I
would have to look for matching details and compare both volumes to ensure I
had all the relevant information. I decided to take Ami up on the offer of a
long term loan and gathered up my things to go and find him.
He stood near the desk and rushed over to greet me as I
approached. “Were they helpful?” he asked.
“Oh yes, thank you so much. But I think I’ll need to take
them home and keep hold of them for a while, if that’s OK?”
“With pleasure. The long loan is a simple process, we just
ask for a donation to charity.”
“That’s unusual. I’ve never had to do that before,” I said, ”But
what a nice idea. Do you have a collecting box, or something?”
He nodded towards a plastic pot at the end of the desk and I
slid a note into the slot on the top. I didn’t want to look cheap in front of
this lovely man.
“How generous of you,” he said. “That will easily cover the
loan.”
“How long can I keep them?”
“For as long as you need them. We will contact you when
another reader has need of them.” And he flashed another of his wonderful
smiles.
“Don’t you need to stamp them or something?” I asked, as the
nature of this unusual transaction began to sink in.
“That will not be necessary. We know you have them. Good
luck with your research.” And with that he walked away towards the children’s
section and left me.
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