Part 2

The sun was beginning to set when she arrived. Daniel wasn't looking in her direction giving her a chance to sneak up behind him.

"Hello Helen," he said calmly.

"You! How do you do it? I can never surprise you in any way," she said slightly annoyed.

He turned to face her, gave her a kiss in her forehead and smiled.

"If you were a little less noisy maybe you could catch me...but you sound like a herd of stampeding unicorns." He smiled, proud of always discovering her.

"I couldn't sneak up any quieter is you were deaf! You catch me every time."

"Hey, what can I say some have the talent and others don't. So tell me, how was my lady's day?"

She had to smile. No matter how annoying he was, he still was so proper. Guess that was why people said love was blind.

"All the normal life of a slave...except for one detail." She gave him a sneaky smile.

"And what might that be?"

"We found it!" she said excitedly

"What?"

"We found the lost entrance to the library! We're going in tonight, Leila asked me to let you know and ask you if you wanted to come along."

"Tonight...yes, I'm not in guard duty, I can tag along. What exactly are we looking for?"

"Same question I asked. A book, something that can help us get rid of this evil that controls us."

"Do you really think he hasn't gotten rid of it by now, Helen? We may be in some wild goose chase, you know that right?"

She sighed, he was right...but still all of her knew there was something there, something overlooked or forgotten. Something...thought destroyed perhaps? She would know tonight. At least she hoped she would.

"It's there." she said stubbornly. "It has to be, there has to be a way out somehow. That library has stood for centuries now, don't you think it hides something in it's walls?"

"I don't know...I hope it does. We all do. For years now the people of our town have searched for that entrance, I do hope it wasn't a futile act."

Helen sat in the grass to watch the sun kiss the mountains. The Naydy river seemed to be a thin silver thread that stretched across a valley bathed in golden light. The hill was high enough for her to also see a thin blue line beyond them. The sea, something she had never seen up close. Her father had said it was like a lake, but bigger and saltier. Whatever that meant. Her attention returned to the sun and that last magical ray of light before it hid behind the mountains.

"At what time shall we meet Leila?" Daniel asked interrupting her thoughts.

"What? Oh, after dusk. We are to meet at her house and then to the library."

"Do your parents know?"

"No, I figured ignorance was safer under mind probing, don't you think?"

"Don't be so pessimistic Helen, all shall be fine."

"They have been so good to me...I don't want any harm to come to them." She looked into his eyes, granite and reassuring.

"They will be alright you'll see." He took her hand and helped her stand.

"Let us go and get ready for tonight. I have to go home and eat something before I go library-robbing." They both laughed at the old metaphor. Giving one last look at the fire horizon, she turned and followed Daniel down hill.

******

He watched as the sun finished setting behind the mountains. Something was wrong. He wasn't able to pin-point exactly what, but he could feel something was wrong. What was it his little villagers were up to this time? Surely they wouldn't dream of attacking his castle again. No, they were worthless but not stupid. Once was enough for them to learn. Then what was it?

A familiar presence walked into the room. His dear brother. He wasn't dumb either. He knew when he had met his match. But he also had his strong points. For starters, he wasn't as antisocial as himself; he was good at getting people to talk. Mostly what they wanted and what they didn't want to say. So getting information out of the villagers was what he was best at.

So chances where he had some useful information.

"What is it, Darniss?" he asked without turning.

"Haven't you felt it? The villagers grow anxious. Not to mention excited. They're up to something."

"I've noticed, you know that, so tell me, why are you here?"

"Since when is it a crime for someone to come see his older brother, Deones?" then he added teasingly, "Besides, I know something you don't know."

"Interesting." He turned to face him. "And what might that be?"

"The reason for the villagers' excitement of course."

Deones smiled. He had done it again. So little brothers weren't so bad after all. "You're gift of the golden tongue again wasn't it?"

"As usual," he smiled to himself.

"So what are our little slaves up to this time?" he asked casually.

"A very interesting thing indeed. After all, finding a way into the old library isn't done every day."

"What! I thought it was impossible to enter."

"So did I, obviously they are more creative than we thought. Since, lets face it, it takes creativity to find a way in."

"They must be stopped at once then." This wasn't good.

"Hold it, don't get too excited, what are the chances that they really find something in there? I mean, we sure didn't, and we searched for quite a while."

"I'm not taking any chances, we didn't find another way in either remember? If there is any possibility of them finding anything..."

"So what if they do? You know time isn't right yet. Besides, they would save you a lot of trouble. I mean, you already wasted 15 years at it right?"

"Point taken...still I'm not sure..." He paused to look at his brother.

"I say, let them wander around the place for a while, after sometime, I'll drop in for a surprise visit, we'll them teach our little rebels a lesson or two in chess...so, what do you think?"

Deones smiled. Cunning little brother of his...but still... "Fine then, lets have it your way, I suppose you know the time..."

"All's taken care of," Darniss interrupted. With a fast bow, he turned to leave the room.

Yes, he thought, all was taken care of indeed.

Part 3