Notes:
Wahoo! a new chapter! I feel very proud of myself for getting this out by my own deadline.
I really hope this isn’t choppy…I had a lot going on today. Let me know if its…incoherent. That’s the way my thoughts are right now.
Chapter 9-A Secret Place
“Artham, please tell me where we’re going! I…I will not hesitate to…”
“What?” Artham asked, turning around, realizing that even slowing down, he was still going faster than his brother. Esben paused, sighing with relief that Artham had stopped to listen to him.
“I’m trying to figure that out. I’m pretty sure that trying to physically drag you anywhere will not end well. How can you go so fast? My arm is burning from trying to keep up with you!” Artham turned to face his little brother, Esben’s words both making him feel very guilty and realizing that his shoulder was throbbing very painfully from going so fast.
“Oh Es, I’m sorry. And…no, I do not think you trying to drag me anywhere will meet with any success, even when I can barely use one arm.”
“So…where are we going?” Esben asked, getting the suspicion that his brother was trying to change the subject. Artham sighed and looked down at his brother.
“If I tell you…well, I guess its kind of obvious, but you can’t tell anyone else, Okay?”
“Of course!” Esben said. Artham grimaced.
“We’ve got this place in the library no one ever goes-oh, see? I knew I shouldn’t have told you!” Artham interrupted himself to cross his arms and quickly un-cross them, the motion tugged on his shoulder. Esben was snickering behind his hand.
“Okay, if you’re just going to laugh and not tell me anything, I’m going to leave you here,” Artham continues in exasperation. “Despite what you may think, I highly doubt you would be able to find me inside the library. I mean seriously, do you know how huge our library is?”
Esben laughed harder and then tried to stop himself, putting his hand over his arm.
“Ouch,” he said, finally stopping his laughter. “Laughing hurts. Don’t try it, Arth. It would probably be worse for you.” Artham glared at his brother with one eyebrow raised as if to say, ‘do you think I’m in danger of laughing right now?’ Esben cleared his throat.
“Sorry, it’s just meeting in the library of all places…it's so…well, just so you. And very predictable. I’m pretty sure the only reason I haven’t figured out where you were meeting is because I only found out you had a meeting place two minutes ago.”
“Right. Now, if you don’t mind, Arundelle is waiting for me,” Artham said as he turned on his heel and stalked (carefully) in the direction of the library.
“How do you know?” Esben asked in exasperation, resigning him to a steady walk behind his brother.
“I don’t!” Artham said. Esben groaned and would have facepalmed, but didn’t, for obvious reasons, stopping himself at the last moment before he made the very slowly diminishing burning in his arm return again.
* * *
Artham reached the castle’s library long before Esben. He kept forgetting about his shoulder and speeding up, then stopping completely after he had jarred his shoulder to let the stabbing diminish enough for him to keep going. Then he repeated the process.
The wound in his shoulder kept being pushed out of his mind along with most other worries because he couldn’t stop thinking about what Arundelle was probably thinking, or what he would be thinking if he had gone more than an hour hearing that she was injured, maybe even killed, without hearing anything else.
The feelings that resulted from that imagined scenario were so real that Artham instantly felt terrified at the idea. He thought that if that actually happened…his direct thoughts widened and he realized that if anyone he loved-Esben or Arundelle-if either of them was hurt, or disappeared, or something happened to them, he thought he would go crazy.
He touched his forehead to clear his mind. He figured shaking his head was probably a bad idea. All at once he realized that he was almost running again and a rhythmic, pulsing fire was spreading out from his shoulder. He stopped and gritted his teeth, wishing he could simply move away from the pain and not just have to stand under it-then breathed a sigh of relief when he saw he was outside the library’s huge, beautifully carved wooden doors.
He realized with extreme annoyance how much and how badly the wound in his shoulder would affect his regular rhythm of things and his habits when he had to stop himself from pushing the door open with his shoulder. He heard Esben’s footsteps in the hall just as he closed the door carefully behind him.
He made his way in between bookshelves and down strangely winding corridors that were also lined with books, thanking the Maker he didn’t run into anyone else.
He reached the corridor he was looking for. The sight of it usually absolutely delighted him. It was long and not at all wide, drifting into the shadows. It was full of old books, the kind that you had to open to the first page to find the name that had been worn off the cover, and the kind that smelled the best.
About three quarters down the corridor-it ended in a wall that had a few handholds carved in the wall that went up to the second floor of the library- there was a gap between two bookshelves that looked like it just went to the wall behind. It was just wide enough for a person to slip through sideways. He knew even before he reached the gap that Arundelle was inside because there was a faint yellow glow reflecting on the books opposite.
He slipped sideways through the gap, not bothering to wince when his shoulder brushed the wall. He told himself with exasperation that if he winced every time his shoulder hurt, his foreseeable life (At least for several weeks) would be one everlasting grimace.
Normally, every time he entered the tiny, cozy room the bookshelf gap led to, he wished that he could have known and been friends with the genius who had built it. It had been dark, empty and dusty until he had discovered it when he was eight, roaming the library with his Aunt. The room was just the right size for two comfy chairs and a large bookshelf. It even had a tiny fireplace, which constantly concerned him when they lit it because he had no idea where the smoke and sparks went.
Now, he entered with no other thought than Arundelle, other than being a little disappointed that Esben would know about this spot from now on. As he thought, she was there with a large, bright lantern. He almost ran into her because she had just stood up to slip out.
“Aru,” he breathed, when he met her eyes. They were large and shining and a flood of emotions washed over her face when she saw him. As they heard Esben’s steps shattering the silence of the library, one hand went to her mouth and the other went halfway up to his shoulder.
“Oh, Artham…” her voice trailed off and she pulled her hands back down, and it occurred to Artham that she was keeping herself from doing something she very much wanted to do right at that moment.
“Artham! The doctor said you were supposed to rest! He should have told you not to move! You were practically running back there-Wow, this place is awesome! Why have you never showed it to me before, Arth? Wait a minute, you seriously just put books in here, that’s so boring! Oh, hi Arundelle. As you can see, neither one of us was killed. Almost though. Artham was worried about you.” Artham half sighed, half moaned and let his forehead hit gently against the wall. “I didn’t show you this place because of what you’re doing right now, Es. I’m sorry about him, Aru,” Artham said, gesturing to his brother. She smiled slightly, relief showing on her face.
“I suppose I can assume then that you are alright,” She said, and her voice sent the warm tingling through Artham again.
“I was just going to look for you,” she continued, her brows furrowing. “I’ve been waiting here for a while. I knew you’d come if you could. I overheard what happened from some of the servants. They saw you come in. What happened?”
“Actually, Arundelle,” Esben said before Artham could get a word out, “He couldn’t come or he would’ve been here a lot sooner. He just had time to call an emergency council and send some of the guard, then the doctor came and-” Artham turned frantically around to his brother and glared at him, resisting the temptation to simply put his hand over his brother’s mouth. Instead he contented himself with shaking his head as imperceptibly as possible.
“Uh…yeah, that was it…” Esben said in an odd voice, then realizing why Artham didn’t want him to keep talking, he let out a long ‘Ohhhh…’ and stifled a laugh. Artham groaned.
How can he be sixteen? Sometimes I think he’s still twelve…
“What happened, Artham? If you don’t want to tell me for some reason, I’m sure I can always rely on your brother.” Arundelle asked. Artham cast a despairing side glance at Esben.
“I’ll tell you,” he said slowly, “But I can’t stay long. I really, truly wish I could, I’d rather stay here with you than do anything else-” Esben coughed significantly.
“-but we have to go to the emergency council meeting. You can come with us if you want.” Arundelle nodded and sat down. Artham followed her and sat in the other chair. Esben hung over his shoulder annoyingly. Artham did not exactly want to tell Arundelle what had happened-had it really only been a few hours ago? He also realized he didn’t want to relive it, but he told himself that he would want the complete story if it was him who had no idea what was going on, so he sighed and began to tell her what had happened from the beginning.
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