None So Secretive as She

Adejhi ~ Sun Warrior

The walls lined with books fitted at odd angles creating a colorful backdrop as he walks among the rows seeking a particular tomb he recalls vaguely on the artifacts of power written by one of his former pupils. “Edimo! That was the lad’s name.” he snaps his fingers and begins seeking the book more fervently.



His long dark hair falls into his pale blue eyes, brushing across his cheek and he pushes it back with a frown. If only for vanity sake he keeps it so long, that and his new wife happens to enjoy it when it lay just across her bare… the thought drifts away as he feels the air shift around him. Gone is the beautiful honeymoon moments, instead he considers dangerous thoughts.



Refusing an outward show he continued to look and mutter to himself on unrelated matters. Only one can sneak in so, and that only one is difficult to catch. He moves here and there, finding the most clogged shelving of books he returns to quiet search. Adejhi remained still, focused and silent at the bookshelf as he listens intently, his senses triggered by a presence he could not yet locate. From within he turns his inner eye and waits for any clue of his observer.



A glimmer to the left, a fuzzy haze just beyond, the rustle of a long dead rose petal pressed dry upon a worn leather book, he follows and searches waiting for the right moment. A silver set, long emptied provides the answer. He focuses upon it and sees what illusion cannot dispel. Swinging round in sudden movement books topple, the silver clatters to the floor as he jumps into empty air to feel a throat under his hands.



Swiftly he caught it up and smashes the invisible flesh to the wooden door frame. Tight and caught, he watches the air squirm as if no more than mirage.



“YOU!” he shakes with volcanic rage. “Spy upon ME! Show yourself, Jimesa or I will choke the life from you.”



Shuddering, the shimmer of her illusion passes away and she looks at him with her black eyes and starkly pale skin. All her power comes to naught against him, he reminds her of that as he threatens to kill her again. Jimesa squirms kicking and struggling as her life force slowly drains away.



Adejhi got an idea even more pleasing than seeing his sister die. “Tell me one of your secrets that you keep hidden deepest sister and I will let you live.”



Her eyes widen at the horror of divulging such a thing to him even for her life. Her body convulses drawing up tightly and then slacks. With a resistant nod she acquiesces. Not to be tricked, he barely loosens his hold.



Struggling, as if fighting the words out of her own body she hisses and finally speaks. “The womb of the Shore Queen is once again full with child.” She croaks the words out.



Now that was interesting. Aviant had not been producing new heirs of late, it had been near to a millennia since the last little royal urchin had been birthed out of that dusty womb. But Simvia is very much lush and beautiful being only half mortal blood, surely there may even be more to come.



“Wait…” he narrows his eyes on Jimesa known for being the most tricking of women. “A new heir is hardly a secret to keep deep as a treasured gem..”



With a press of her lips she sneers at him and then tilts her head. “The Shore King is not the father.”



A bolt of lightning seems to pass down his spine at the thought. Simvia unfaithful! No Queen is allowed infidelity. Adejhi drops his arm, shocked and disturbed. “If Aviant discovers…”



“The Queen will burn.” she whispers at him coldly. Her movements like a snake, one side of her body leaning toward the other as she moves. One could look upon either of them and not know they shared anything so close as parentage. The line of her jaw cut with tiny pale lines that if submerged in water would open up to reveal her gills. Jimesa’s hands and feet are webbed, her skin a sickly pallor. He himself is bronzed with a beauty all creation claims perfection. Just what had happened with his small little sister?



“Who would dare to defile a Queen of the realm?” he turns on Jimesa who merely smiles a wicked grin of dagger sharp teeth at him. Lunging forward he reaches to snatch her up and wipe that contemptuous smirk from her face but his flesh meets nothing. The illusion disperses into strings of silver gossamer the spellwork sticking to his touch. Bits of it came alive laughing in his hands and he growls. Pulling the offending strands from his body only creates more voices and he stops finally. One last thick threading drifts to the floor and seemingly twists up at him.



“Only one of my secrets did you demand brother.” It replies before becoming dust.



Most of the sticky remnants follow suit and he brushes the offending spell off of his clothing. “Clever sister, very clever.” He didn’t doubt she could hear him. Jimesa is very good at her secretive ways. Far younger than he, she had been consecrate into the wizard wars as the youngest of sorcerers ever to stand on the field of battle. Her talents made her a perfect spy and even though the wars were over she is still under the contract of the mightiest of spell Masters. Which makes him oddly curious; why is she spying upon the Crowns of the Shore?



Jimesa ~ the Illusionary Spy


The library is perhaps the most dangerous of places in all of magic existence. Here are the old books and the spells created by legends, unperfected and completely deadly in the wrong hands. Hands like the slithering Dygon or the flitting Ralon would pay a full treasury just for the select pages of a single tome. Jimesa sways back and forth, her body light upon the stone careful not to be caught again.



Foolish Adejhi, why would he be looking through the library anyway? It took away from his time to look upon his own reflection! But he had been looking, hadn’t he? That in itself is interesting! Adejhi interested in a book by Edimo, that old wizard wasn’t much of a wizard either. Philosophy suited that old fool more, which was more thought than her brother usually bothers to endure. Interesting, the thoughts percolated in her mind as she suspected the reasons Adejhi might have to pick up studies again. Surely it would be that new wife of his, whichever one it was now. She’d stopped bothering to meet them five or six wives ago.



Something catches her eye, slithering into a small niche between bookcases she waits and listens for a moment. Nothing occurs so she took a precautionary taste of the air finding nothing unusual. She moves quiet through the rows, finding a dark corner she relaxes seeing no other around. It should be here. Through the shelves she looks intently. A frown set, then she finds the book she needed. It had been improperly shelved. Taking it off the shelf, the air seems to darken.



“Theoretical Midnight – Gray Casting” a voice interrupts the quiet and she startled. “That is a bit of heavy reading, Marcas Simothe is very droll. Perhaps you might try the newer edition.”



Jimesa looks at the book she had almost dropped when this sneak had sprung out at her, then at the intruder. She knew him, sort of, in a way one knew a figure seen often but regularly avoided. Not his name of course, just that he works in the library. But he had been right, the book is exactly as he said.



“I apologize I haven’t gotten to straightening these shelves yet. It’s an area not visited much.” He looks forward and she wonders at what he stares.



“It is all I need.” She mumbles and backs away. Taking the book to an adjacent reading table, she sends her illusion to another. The librarian’s eyes do not follow the illusion and she looks at him a bit closer. Leaving the tomb her illusion gets up and leaves. This time the librarian returns to his book cart and she relaxes. With precision quiet, she turns pages under the dark of her spelling illusion.



Finding the correct page, she reads over the ancient text with a smile. This is exactly what she needs. Waving her hand over the page she draws a full copy of the archaic spellwork. An electricity flows through the air as the spell becomes hers. Then it is put aside. Taking the time to gather a few more spell items to enjoy, she quietly closes the book to leave.



“Are you finished then? Did you find what you needed?” he is there again, that nosey librarian.



But her spells are still very heavy. How did he know she was there? Then it becomes apparent, his eyes look through her and she takes a quick breath of shock. “You’re blind.”



“Yes, I am. I’m quite good at it too.” He grins and hands her a book. “This one would be easier to follow, I think you might like it.”



“Silver Edition – Gray Cast” she reads aloud. It is a refined edition, very elite. She’d studied it back in the days before the wars. “I’ve already studied that edition, but thank you.” She attempted to cloak her voice and remain pleasant in spite of the annoyance he is causing her.



“You are correct,” he returns thoughtful. “You are Jimesa, yes?”



Horrified, to be named and known, she takes a shocked step backward. He must have realized his error, because he attempts to apologize. Jimesa steals away in madness for the dark content of shadows. That a lowly servant would breach such protocol, someone should strip his soles and set them to the irons for such forward behavior.



As she thought of notifying another of the infraction, she realizes he could easily make difficulty for her and her activities with the arcane. Worse, a blind man had seen through her deception. The shame alone would have every wizard tearing her contract to shreds! No, perhaps another time she will find an excuse to flay that librarian’s soul, but not right now with forbidden spellwork on her person.