The Grand Library of the Order of Watcher's Knights

"Hugo?...Hugo! Well now Look! Look at 'im, It's the Arthile boy! Li'l snots all grown up now. What in Sindarin's name are you doing in Cleon? You had headed off to Testanod, last I'd heard - a regular ol' hometown hero." He widened his lips in a couched breath for a moment, and then spoke in a penitent voice, almost whispering. "Hello, again, Mr. Kallut...Theo, I guess I should call you now...It's good to see you. I was in Testanod, yes, I was. I've had to leave my work there, due to some um...difficulties" The smile hadn't left Theo's face, but his brow furrowed in confusion and concern. "You were working as a clerk of some kind, right? A scriptor for the uh...um...rangers!", he said, in a moment of clear memory. "Well no, sir; I had been a researcher for the Libraries of the courts of the Light, but I had to depart fro-" "The Light?! You work for the Empyreans??" A few heads turned in the alleyway, hearing a name so important tossed around, looking at the Half-Salamander man in a rough, woolen cloak that was alleged a servant of the North God. "No!", Hugo wheezed out in shocked and angered whisper, "Not anymore! I've uh...I've taken a new job with the Knights Libraries" The smile had finally fallen from Theo Kallut's face, in shock and mild disgust. "...With the Hell Herald's Brother?! Why would you do that to yourself! And how!? How did you swing that?!" He swung his arms about, stepping back in a panicked circle, angry at and fearful for the same time at the little boy, now turned man, that he raised from a bottle. "What happened to you? You were a good lad, what did you possibly do to get yourself in such a mess, bud? Why ever did you...", he trailed off, unable to finish his question. "I left because I needed to, Theo. I'm sorry." The poor Elder Salamander, who had been like a father to the boy in years past, stared at him in confusion. "You know what the knights did to our homes, to us...you remember learning of that night, you remember hearing of those nights before, the years before. You remember learning of the burnings, the searings, the chasing; you rem-" "We were different then! That was four centuries ago! We were beasts! We were angry, hungry...lizards!" Hugo screamed, and that word spilled forth from his lips, much to his regret. That word had been an angry slur upon his species for the millennia they had roamed the Isles. Theo lurched backwards, stood for a moment and folded his arms "You were supposed to make our heritage proud, boy. Your Mother Proud. Noxion, proud. I hope you have a good and successful career with those murderers there" "Theo, no, I don't want to be with them, I-" "Go slander our people, fill their libraries with all those Lizard myths you want to tell" "Theo, No! I don't want...I can do good here...this is my last-" Yet the elder Salamander had already walked away. Hugo stood there for a few moments more, what felt like an eternity of regret. Then he simply turned, and marched off; heading towards the Grand Library of the Knights. The Spiraling towers peered out over the third level of Cleon, the fourth almost invisible overhead. The sweeping white marblesque stonework etched with legendary stories of the Knights cast shadows over his face. He stared up at the building, his mouth dry with nervousness. Yet still he walked on towards - seeking the only refuge he had left.

Type

Manuscript, Literature