Hmm, my sister has convinced me to try shorter, more regular updates. We'll see if this works. At least I feel we're starting to get somewhere.

I was sitting on my bed, not tired at all, nibbling on a leftover bun from dinner. I had already bathed, and Constance had even managed to brush my hair, so it now hung in a thick damp braid down my back. The dragon lay across my legs and I stroked the shiny, smooth scales on his head while he crooned happily. My wound had scabbed over, but I still kept it wrapped in a strip of linen to try and prevent infection.

“So,” I said casually, “what’s the plan for tomorrow?”

Liam jumped up on the bed and regarded me casually, sitting down by my legs. “Simple. We go to the castle, get into the library, find the spell we need, and be done.”

“Riiight,” I drew out the word sarcastically, giving him an unimpressed look. “You really think it’s going to be that easy?”

“Of course,” he scoffed, but I heard the note of doubt in his voice.

I didn’t comment, but instead sat back. “As long as transporting me back isn’t as bad as the ride over.”

It hadn’t been a pleasant experience. After the flash of light, I found myself stumbling in another stone circle, and almost exact replica of the one by Saul’s tower, except this one was on the very edge of the forest. The stew in my stomach was no longer a rock, but had instead become a churning ocean of discontent.

“Told you that part feels weird,” Liam had said with a slightly smug expression.

“Yeah, thanks,” I had replied, putting a hand on my stomach and willing my dinner to stay down.

I shuddered at the memory, and the dragon lifted his head from my lap to krii at me in concern.

“Never mind,” I told him. “So, there’s something I don’t understand.”

“Really.” Liam’s voice was heavily sardonic. I wanted to smack him, but refrained.

“Why did Saul say he couldn’t do Traveller’s magic? I mean, we travelled, didn’t we?”

Liam squinted at me. “Traveller’s magic isn’t about travelling.” I supplied the ‘derrr’ at the end of his sentence on my own.

“Oh. Sorry I didn’t know about a magical system that doesn’t actually exist where I’m from,” I replied, rolling my eyes.

He sighed, sounding martyred. “There are three levels of magic. But they’re horribly complicated, and probably wouldn’t make sense to you.”

I blinked, then frowned. “Try me,” I said dryly.

He gave me a look, but then shrugged. “Sure, why not? It might be helpful.” He curled his tail around his legs. “All of our magic is dictated by the routes of the objects in the sky. We use circles in order to depict their routes, and thus focus the magic through them.” He raised an eyebrow. “You did notice that, right?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, not rising to his sarcasm.

“The first level of magic then is sun magic. It’s the both the easiest and hardest form. Its conduit circle has one ring and the incantations are so simple, a child could do them. However, it is the magic of creation, and all the power must come from inside the wizard themselves. Some wizards are so innately powerful that sun magic is all they ever need while some can barely spark alight dry kindling. Understand?”

“Sun, creation, got it.”

He gave me a sour look. “The second level is based off the two moons. Its conduit circle has two rings. It’s the magic of illusion and alteration. It’s more complicated that sun magic, but it harnesses the natural magic in the land, meaning that its power is based more off of accurate incantations, not innate ability.”

“It’s also the highest level of magic you can do, right?”

“For now, yes. I was preparing to learn the next level, but my master had to leave.”

“Why did he leave?” I asked, noting the hint of bitterness in his voice.

The scathing look he gave me probably singed my hair a little. “Do you want to learn about magic or not?”

I held up my hands. “Sorry, sorry, continue, oh Master Liam.” Note to self, stop asking about his master. It seemed to be a very touchy subject.

“The third level is the toughest, and not many wizards attempt to learn it. It is based off the Travellers, and the circle has seven rings in it. It is the magic of chaos and change. Its difficulty is in attempting to take chaos and tame it into doing what you want, else it blows up in your face. Literally. And quite often, fatally.”

“I still don’t understand what these ‘Travellers’ are,” I frowned.

He shrugged. “They are the special stars that do not move in sync with the rest of the heavens. Instead, they seem to travel their own path, thus, ‘Travellers’.”

Something clicked in my brain. “Oh, do you mean planets?”

No,” he drew out the word as if speaking to a child, “I mean Travellers.”

“Okay, whatever. Same dif.”

He cat-yawned, which I have to admit, was utterly adorable, then told me, “Doesn’t matter anyway. I’ll have you back to wherever you came from in a few days and you won’t have to worry about any of this anymore.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, snuggling back against my pillows, but couldn’t help the wriggle of doubt gnawing at the back of my mind.

…

I stood gaping at the door of the castle. It was huge! The greyish white stone was adorned with banners and flags, the majority of them black and silver, but there were all sorts of colours thrown in. The place was alive with activity, women dressed in the same sort of full skirt, off-white shirt outfit that I was, except while my tensor bandage corset (as I had come to think of it after asking twice for Constance to make it looser so I could breath) was brown, theirs was black edged in silver. The men too wore black slacks with their black and silver waist sashes. It all looked so elegant and at the same time otherworldly.

“Don’t fall behind,” Liam warned, looking pointedly where Constance and Sam were disappearing into the courtyard on the inside of the castle walls. Cursing, I lifted my skirt and chased after them, Liam still riding my shoulder and the dragon flying behind us.

I ignored the shrieks that followed us.

At least until a hand clutched my upper arm, drawing us to a halt. I looked up nervously into the face of what I assumed was a castle guard, judging by the helm, sword, and black and silver livery.

“I would ask you to control your pet, please Miss,” he said, a note of amusement in his voice belying the deadly serious expression on his face. I instantly looked to Liam, who raised an eyebrow back at me from where he was peacefully riding on my shoulder.

“I think he means the dragon,” he noted dryly.

I looked back over my shoulder to see the dragon generally terrorising the people in the courtyard. He swooped down towards a girl carrying a basket of linens. The girl shrieked and dropped the basket, the sheets tumbling out onto the ground, and threw her arms over her head.

“Hey!” I bellowed, my voice somewhere between angry and annoyed. The dragon flew up to me, kriiiing happily.

“Stop that,” I demanded, shaking a finger at him. He made a disappointed noise, but landed in my hood, resting his head on top of mine.

“And stop looking at me every time someone asks you a question,” Liam murmured in my ear. “I’m right here, and I told you that I won’t let you down.”

“Okay,” I muttered.

“Did you say something?” the guard asked. Crap. I had forgotten he was there.

I smiled brilliantly at him. “I asked is the main hall thataway?” I lied, sounding overly perky to my own ears. Liam apparently thought so too, judging by the choked off laughter coming from him.

The guard just stared at me. “Perhaps I should just take you there,” he suggested.

I gritted my teeth, but continued to smile. “Sure!”

He led me up the wider set of stairs to a large pair of thick oak doors. Now, for some reason, instead of screaming, I was merely getting hushed looks. I resisted rolling my eyes. Great. High school all over again. I resisted the urge to check if my hair was still in place.

We walked into the room, and it immediately hushed.

“Woo, this is welcoming,” I muttered to myself.

“And you must be the dragon keeper of whom rumours have been assaulting my ears since you entered my courtyard.”

My gaze went straight to the end of the long hall, and I felt my jaw drop as someone stood from the ornate gold and red chair. It was a man, more of a boy really, he couldn’t be older than I was, but the only way I could tell at first was because he wore no shirt, simply a pair of black pants and the black and silver sash everyone else wore. Around his shoulders was draped a black cape edge with white and silver fur. His hair was longer than mine, and straight and black and gorgeous.

“That’s the king?” I asked, my voice unnaturally loud in the room, pointing. I started to look at Liam, but remembering his command from earlier, quickly amended and looked to my guard just in time enough to see his mouth twitch behind his brown goatee.

“Only one we have, Miss,” he replied instead.

“Huh,” I said in amazement, looking back at the king. I could see it now in his stance and the wideness of his shoulders and squareness of his jaw, but really he was on the prettier side of masculine. The king’s expression had faded to an extremely unamused look. Liam was again making that choking noise that he did when he was trying to hold back laughter.

“And who are you?”

I turned to see the person who addressed me, standing slightly off the to the right side of the dais that king was on. It was an older gentleman, his black hair touched with grey at the temples. He wore the black sash over his pristine white shirt, but his had a dark green stripe through the middle.

“I’m Zoë.” I took a deep breath and jumped right in. “I’d like to see your wizard’s library, please.”

“And why would we let a common heylaf like you into the Royal Wizard’s library?” a woman’s voice asked, slightly scornfully.

From the other side of the court emerged a very pretty girl wearing only a skirt and no shirt, her black and dark blue tensor corset wrapping clear up her ribcage to leave her shoulders bare. She wore her hair as straight and black as the king’s. I squinted at her, a suspicious observation forming in the back of my mind.

“Because I need to find something to help me get home?” I replied in the form of a question.

“I’m afraid our castle wizard is away at the moment,” the man stated slightly smugly and I returned my attention to him. He was also giving my apparently extremely common attire a haughty look. “And we cannot have anyone just going through the library.”

“You wouldn’t even know I was there,” I said, smiling winsomely.

“Even if you do find what you need, I doubt a heylaf would even know what to do with it,” the girl said, every word dripping with malice.

Well. I could be a bitch too. And I was getting pretty tired of getting called a heylaf or whatever as well.

“Of course I would,” I snapped.

“Careful,” Liam murmured, but I ignored him.

“Oh?” she returned, the single word so pregnant with distain, it hit me almost like a palpable blow. “And why would that be?”

“Cause I’m a wizard too!” the words tumbled out of my mouth unchecked, although afterwards I wanted to smack myself in the face.

“Idiot,” Liam whispered.

“Shut up,” I hissed back.

The girl laughed. “And we’re supposed to believe that?”

I just glared at her and pulled the dragon from my hood, setting him on the floor, before pulling the hood over my head. The entire crowd of the court began murmuring softly at the sight of the little dragon who (thankfully) sat at my feet obediently.

Liam sighed, but obviously seeing where I was going with this, began muttering the incantation softly. I could tell when I disappeared because the murmuring turned into surprised gasps.

“So that little trick is supposed to impress us?” the girl said as I pushed back my hood triumphantly. “You –”

“Anika, that’s enough.”

This time, it was the king who spoke. Anika shrank back, scowling while he raised an elegant black eyebrow at me. “I will allow you in the library for now. You.” He addressed the guard who was still beside me, who immediately put out his right hand palm up, and bowed his head. “You are in charge to make sure she doesn’t do anything.”

“Yes, Majesty,” the guard said in his monotone voice as I held out my arm for the dragon to flit back up into my hood. “This way, Miss.”

He led me out of the room and I relaxed as soon as I didn’t feel the court’s stares on my back anymore.

“A wizard?” Liam asked me sardonically as we walked down a hallway lit with some sort of light blue glowing balls set deep into niches in the wall.

“I had to say something,” I protested. “I got us in, didn’t I?”

“In here, Miss.”

I stepped into the library and couldn’t stop a grin from splitting my face. It was huge, with large stone and wood shelves stretching up the walls. In all the top shelves was more of the glowing blue balls, giving the place a nice, almost daylight-like glow. The shelves themselves were packed full of books and scrolls in that haphazard and yet organised way only libraries could achieve. There were several round tables at just the right height to read at while standing, but no chairs anywhere. I guess one simply found what they were looking for and left.

“I’ll wait here until you’re done,” the guard said, interrupting my awed gazing.

“Thank you,” I replied. Then, on sudden impulse, “I’m Zoë by the way.”

His mouth twitched again, just slightly. “Acton.”

I nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

He nodded back and leaned up against the wall by the door, apparently settling in to wait.

Liam jumped down from my shoulder. “Alright. Now, it’ll be easier if we split up. Look for a section about Traveller’s magic. Once we do that, we can pour through the spells to see if we can’t find one that will work for either of us.”

I nodded. “Sounds good.”

I pulled one of the books down from the shelf, disturbing a slightly layer of dust that had accumulated. The leather cover opened with a slight creak and I inhaled the smell of old paper and ink that seemed foreign, yet familiar.

Inside, the pages were covered with little dashes and dots, something that looked like a mix between Viking runes and Morse code.

“Hey Liam,” I called softly, not really wanting Acton to hear me talking to a cat.

“Yes?” he replied from wherever he was on the upper shelves.

“Do you have a lot of books in different languages?”

Liam leapt down from the shelf, landing softly on my shoulders. He peered at the book. “That’s just a census of grains from two years ago,” he said.

A sinking feeling took ahold of my gut. “It is?”

“Yeah. See? It says so right at the top. Year Thirty-Three of King Benedict. That was the king before Jordin, and he took the throne last year, so two years ago.”

“Oh,” I said, my voice small.

Then Liam looked at me, really looked at me, and his eyes widened in understanding. “You can’t read it, can you?”

I shook my head slowly.

“Aw, Fates,” he swore.

I couldn’t believe it.

I was illiterate.