Free Binarius by Kendra McMahan Page B

passed
by her. There were so many of them. What secrets had they hidden
away? As Firinne passed door after door, she began to feel silly.
What was the meaning of this defiant-driven exploration, if she was
too scared to open any of the doors?
    She was just thinking that maybe
she should turn back, admit defeat, and get back to thought looming
when she turned down a stumpy corridor. At the end were two
mahogany, twin doors. They were completely different from any other
door she had seen at the castle — out of place amongst a
characterless environment.
    She inched her way towards them, as
if they were living creatures who might wake with a scream,
announcing to the Archen guards that Firinne had been a naughty
girl, out exploring in the middle of the night; a guest no
less!
    Her fingers slid gently down the
coarse surface, each hand on a door until they met twin, glass
knobs. I must be out of my mind, she whispered. Slowly, she cracked
the door. She couldn’t tell how big the room was. There was only a
sliver of moonlight flowing in the vast, black air before her.
Deciding that if the room was occupied, the occupants were surely
asleep, she flung a small, milky ball of spectralin light from the
palm of her hand, to the ceiling above. It stopped in mid-air,
about twenty feet above Firinne, and made slow, tiny orbits in the
empty space surrounding it. It was after about five orbits, that
she realized there were shelves stacked from floor to ceiling with
books.
    As Firinne entered the room, it
came alive. From where she stood, to the wall opposite of her,
candles — hundreds of them, sparked tiny flames as if they were
welcoming her presence. She had never seen so many books in her
life. Imphius had worked hard to build the Citrine Library back to
its former majesty (after Desideriums had been ordered to destroy
it) but even before the destruction, their collection of books
seemed mediocre compared to the countless, bound parchments that
were stacked smartly on the shelves before her.
    Then she noticed that there was a
lonely desk in the heart of the room. As Firinne came nearer, she
could see that the desk looked elderly. The wood was so exhausted,
it was almost black which made the gold trimmings seem un-aged. As
she pulled the chair out to seat herself, all of the shelves in the
room began echoing thumping noises, as though the books were
applauding her courage — begging to make her acquaintance, and
share their secrets. She sat down like a child on the first day of
academy, and as she did so, there was silence.
    There was a small plaque on the
desk. The words that were engraved into it were covered in a thick
layer of dust. As she wiped the dust away, she read the
words:
     
    We are all born blind,
    Seek and you shall
find.
    For hidden deep inside;
    things — endlessly
unknown.
    Let it brew — fear, fault,
question.
    Ask us once, we shall never
lie.
    Ask us before dawn
should
    Break the sky.
    Die not without ever having
known,
    What whispers of ink,
    Need comfort your soul.
     
    A riddle? Just then, there was a
flapping sound of parchment above her. A blue book was fluttering
towards her. Softly, it landed on the desk and became quite still.
Firinne flipped through the pages. The book appeared to be
instructions on the cleverest way to solve simple and complex
riddles.
    These books were capable of reading
her mind. Then, the little blue book apparently realized that it
was no longer needed because it took flight again, in a very
flustered way, and found its shelf again.
    Firinne was feeling suddenly awake.
Her life was littered with conflict, and she had just discovered a
very simple way to solve some of her most pressing issues. The next
book that landed on the desk was a book all about lock-picking.
Maybe this wasn’t as simple as she had thought it would
be.
    She put her hands on her head.
“Citrine Castle has been overtaken by evil. I need to figure out a
way to take back my Queendom and rescue my mother.”