Return to Caer Lon (10 page)

Chapter 10

The
scroll she was painfully going through listed every single village in
Camelot
’s kingdom, down to the smallest farm.
Sacha
repressed a yawn of boredom. Some notes about Caer Lon were made here and there in the text, mostly as travel length references. Unfortunately she had never heard about the other places. She covered her mouth again, her eyes burning under the effort. It was fair and good to know it took three days to go from the capital to Eld Leigh, as long as you knew where Eld Leigh was in the first place…

Abandoning the useless scroll,
Sacha
sighed and glimpsed at
Derek
on the other side of the table. She half-expected him to be fast asleep given that no groan or other loud sigh of impatience had escaped him since she had pushed the biggest book toward him more than two hours ago. Incredibly, he was wide awake and totally engrossed in his reading. He turned one page, one hand
f
i
sting in his hair to make
it
spike between his fingers. His nose crinkled in concentration.

Sacha
gave a small smile. He looked like a cautious rabbit coming out of its burrow. She could nearly see bristles shivering.

“Did you find anything?”

In the quiet room, the monk’s voice echoed loudly and she jumped, embarrassed to have been caught staring.

“Unfortunately not yet, Friar Johan.”

“I am sorry to hear that. I brought you some tea, but I have to ask you to take it outside. Accidents, you know…”

The tray was on an empty desk near the door, with two cups and a plate of honey cakes.
Sacha gently bowed her head and smiled in gratitude.

“Yes, of course. You are very thoughtful
. T
hank you very much.”

“You are most welcome. I will come back for you before Vespers.”

The monk grinned back and then disappeared into the library again. She guessed their plump little friend meant they were to leave with his next visit. The young woman sighed again. She needed a break; and honey cake was definitely tempting…

“
Derek
, do you want some tea?”

“Sorry
,
what?”

Her exchange with the friar librarian obviously had gone completely unnoticed. It intrigued her.
Derek
was constantly alert, vigilant like a sentinel on everlasting duty, and the last person she expected to fall into a book. That was more
Sebastian
’s style…

Now that she had the prince’s attention,
Sacha
repeated
,
“Do you want some tea? Friar Johan brought us some, with cakes.”

“Yes
,
please.”

The answer was polite, and definitely absent-minded. She insisted
,
“We
cannot
eat or drink in here,
Derek
.”

“Hum hum…”

He wasn’t listening to her, still deeply involved in his reading.
Sacha
reached over the table and put the taps of her fingers on the book, pressing it down gently. Her companion’s expression changed into the impatient frown she knew so well,
before
he pushed away from the table.

“Very well.”

She stood and moved to the door, picking up their snack in her way.
Derek
had no choice but to follow.

They found a bench in the convent, not far from the door and she settled there, putting the tray by her side to serve the tea.

The beverage was s
teaming
hot and
Sacha
blew on its surface before taking a tentative sip, looking for something to say.
All a sudden, s
he felt
restless
, unable to bear the calm that surrounded them. Making small talk with
Derek
seemed kind of absurd, however. They never really talked except to argue, until one of them gave up or their friends interfered. The only common ground she could think of was their current search.

“Your book seemed fascinating.”

Derek
swallowed a bite of cake, before he said curtly.

“It talks about the High Kings and their lineage.”

She heard the rebuff, loud and clear, as he looked away. A book about
Camelot
High Kings had to talk about his family from his father’s side. The topic of
William
was hurtful for
Ylianor
, and
Derek
never mentioned it, least of all to her.
Sacha
renounced conversing to concentrate on her tea and her piece of cake.

“
The name
Pendragon
evolves from
'
kin of dragon
,'
the son of the dragon. One of my ancestors served with the XXIV legion, the ‘Draco’
R
oman legion. He settled in the country after the war and married the daughter of a local warlord. Their son was nicknamed that, ‘kin of dragon’. His first name was Acturus
; Arthur
.”

Sacha
glanced back at
Derek
, genuinely surprised by his
long
explanation. She was used to his haughty tone and sullen attitude. Curiosity and pride sparkled in his voice, unsettling. She answered softly, “I did not know that.”

Derek
shook his head.

“Neither did I.”

His answer was tainted with regret.
Sacha
wished she knew the words he needed to hear. Maybe there were none.

A gush of chilly wind whipped the floor around them and she closed her arms around her, quivering slightly. The air  still
had
to warm up, especially in late afternoons. April was fools’ spring; she should have remembered that before leaving her cloak inside.
Sacha
swiveled
a
round to protect herself from the cold breeze, the gesture conveniently hiding her trouble.

The prince drained his cup and pushed on
to
his feet, his forbidding mask back into place.

“It is interesting, but irrelevant. We need information, not old tales. Let’s go back inside.”

Sacha
noticed this time he had not protested against finding the City. She followed him inside the scriptorium and they retook their places on each side of the table.
Derek
delayed taking back his book, so she presented him with her own
pensum
.

“This treaty is a tax-payment list. The collector wrote down the amounts he retrieved from each village, and how far it was from Caer Lon. I do not recognize the names, though. It was a long time ago and they probably changed.”

“I will have a look.”

Sacha
scowled. He had little chance to know the forgotten names better than she did.
Derek
was peeking at every piece on the table except the book telling about his family’s history
and he
had
yet to make a move to take hers
. He seemed torn between curiosity and the need to distance himself from the emotions it arose inside him. His hand
lay
on the open book in front of him, immobile.

“May I
peruse
yours?”

Sacha
’s query seemed to awake him. His answer came out as frosty as the wind outside.

“Be my guest.”

Derek
motioned her to take the book and picked up hers in exchange.
Sacha
grimaced at the top of his head and pulled the heavy volume toward her.

The writing was neat; the ink had reddened with the passing years. Talent copyists or the author himself had decorated the margins with beautiful bestiaries, flowers and landscapes.
Sacha
marked
Derek
’s page with her index, and turned the pages to discover more delicate drawings.

Running water was a recurrent topic with the illustration: fountains and lakes were drawn every few pages. The few waterfalls were incredibly vivid. She was admiring an exquisite and strange fish with a long beak and a hole on its forehead when
Derek
interrupted her thoughts.

“I know that name.”

Sacha
l
i
ft
ed
her head
up
.

“Gwel Caer; that’s where my mother comes from.”

“Gwel Caer? Are you sure?”

The young woman was quite certain
Ylianor
had never used that name. Yet the queen rarely talked about her past.
Derek
nodded impatiently.

“Yes. It is called Gwelgaer now. I have to talk to Friar Johan.”

“
Derek
, this is not enough to… We need to…
Derek
, wait!”

He was already marching toward the Library door.
Sacha
stood up rashly, pushing on the table (and the book) for leverage. Her palm rubbed on the fragile surface and the unmistakeable noise of paper tearing up filled the room. She jumped with a little cry of despair.
Derek
turned his head swiftly, horror written on his face.

Mortified,
Sacha
looked down to assess the disaster. The pages she was examining had been severed by the middle. The wax-binding had partly cracked
to
reveal old
yellow wires.

She sat back down with a sorry shadow on her face.
She
caressed the wounded book slightly
, hating herself for the damages
. How would Friar Johan react to the news? He had trusted them with his precious volumes and…

Her fingers froze and she
moved
her nose inches from the binding for a closer look.

“
Derek
,
can you give me your dagger?”

“What? Why?”

He stared at her blankly.
Sacha
held out her hand.

“I need something sharp. Hand me your dagger please.”

He walked to the table and presented her with the blade. The bell rang the first call to Evening Mass.

“Watch the door.”

Sacha
did not wait for him to protest and use the sharp tip of the knife to clear the remaining wax, opening completely the binding between the pages. The opening revealed a small scroll tightly rolled, no longer than her palm. A swift flick of the blade dislodged it from its hiding place and it landed on the table without a sound.

She was about to pick it up when the knob of the door turned.
Derek
pushed her aside and murmured “Smile
,
” before he retrieved his knife and flipped the enormous book closed, just as their guardian appeared in the frame.

“Friar Johan, I want you to make a copy of that book for me. It is absolutely fascinating.”

Derek
shoved the heavy volume into the stunned monk’s stomach, winding him
on the spot
. The poor man tried to catch his breath and grunted, “Well
m
y
l
ord… It will take time to-”

The prince gave him no time to recover before he cut in.

“I will pay generously for it of course. I will see you tomorrow about the details.
Sacha
, we have to go
now
.”

Without waiting for a reply,
Derek
saluted the librarian and offered his arm to
Sacha
, urging her to take it with a meaningful glare. Speechless, she was left with no other choice but to let him guide her out. She flashed a quick smile above her shoulder to Friar Johan before exiting the room, using the second he closed his eyes and bowed his head in return to risk one glimpse toward the table. The mysterious scroll was gone.

oOo

“Can I try?”

Elwyn
tried not to grumble and pushed the bowl toward his ‘apprentice’. He hoped the snort that escaped his lips sounded more charitable than he truly felt. He had never missed with that spell before. Stirring water was a basic spell, he
had done
it for years. Water was his element
.
H
ow could he have missed?