Next morning Tilly went for the library for the first time. The rest of us were thrown in the obstacle course, but sparring without weapons and with with fake weapons took a large part of the morning.

Caroline got used a bit more to the exhausting training regime and in the evening we helped the one with library duty to cheer up a bit.

Having two days full of adrenaline and pain helped to cope with the library day for me. While hitting padded target I imagined thrashing in a certain face. Fortunately most of the time my mind was occupied with different things.

The afternoons were mostly cleaning, with other things sprinkled in once in a while.

Milly finished her self-made nightwear for everyone in our room after a few weeks. Writing and finally reading the Imperial runes made progress as well.

The weather turned colder and soon there was plenty of snow outside. The ocean started to freeze at the coast preventing ships to leave the harbor.

Traveling on the roads was difficult as well, there were sleights though. Reaching the castle along the normal driveway was difficult for carts.

Miss Tessa told us that the mountain passes were closed most of the winter.

After two week Tilly found some books about the slave marks. As Master Tynes started to give us a few books to read while he was occupied with other tasks, Tilly started to read the books. She had to put them back after a few pages, since they presumed knowledge on magic we didn’t have. We shelved the books for later.

After two months we were able to read books with simple content with little problems.

Milly found a book about dungeons. There were seven large dungeons across the continent. All of them were in Arhithrea. They were used to train military and there were people entering the dungeons for profit. Most of them were situated near larger cities and were controlled by local government.

One of them was an exception as it was situated in the east of the claws in a rather barren valley which was only reachable via mountain passes. Entering a dungeon seemed to disrupt locations spells though. This dungeon was the only one known to created by humans in the year 234 in the age of the second sun. All other dungeons were older.

They used a part of a really powerful monster to create this dungeon. There were rumors that the Dragonbane Order crafted it from the heart of the last dragon. Another peculiarity of this dungeon was that every group entering it had a dungeon on their own. Nobody else could enter, which made the dungeon less popular as there was no means to mount a rescue and you had to stay in the dungeon all time or lose progress. There are rumors of people that came into conflict with the law actually lived in the dungeon.

“This last dungeon might be a retreat for us.” Milly pulled her knees to her chest to prop her head on her elbow.

“At least for a while. Maybe they stop searching after a while.” Caroline tilted her head to side looking at Milly.

“It’s far east from here, as far as the descriptions in the book go. We’re in the west.” I have had the time to study few maps lying on Master Tynes desk while he was out on an errand.

“We still have to find a means to get rid of the marks. As long as they have a means to track them they will pop up a while after we leave the dungeon.” Tilly laid on the bed propped up her head on her elbows.

“At least it will be a place where we could avoid the Arhitrheans without leaving the continent. The latter wouldn’t stop them to find us in the end as they have operations there as well.” Milly bit her lower lip.

“It’s a possible destination, but the entrance of the dungeon is probably guarded as well.” I skidded to Milly and leaned my back against her shins.

“Maybe we find alternatives over time, but at least have somewhere to run.” Tilly tried to tickle my feed.

“As long as we have access to the library we should continue looking for more.” I ignored Tilly’s pathetic attempt to tickle me. She stopped after a few seconds.

The library was nearly cleaned up at this point, but it was clear that keeping it clean would be an effort as the already cleaned parts started to collect dust again. We kept the area for reading in a good shape though.

A few days later it was my time for library duty again. The morning was as usual. After I was fed the leftovers of Master Tynes lunch we was gone for the afternoon for an important meeting.

After cleaning for a while I pulled out an old book for cleaning. I noticed magic at a spot at the back of the shelf as I started to clean it. It looked like the kind of magic to hide things from vision and after poking my feather duster’s handle at the spot I found a small hole where a board should be.

Laying the book aside on another bookshelf I pulled out the next two books beside the gap. I stacked them on the first book.

Carefully I prodded the hole with my fingers. It was wide enough to insert two of them easily in the hole. Feeling only smooth surface I prodded deeper. The first joint of my finger was already inside the hole as something on the upper side gave way without effort. Startled I pulled back my hand, but nothing happened after waiting a while.

The hole was still hidden behind magic. Maybe it was locking mechanism. Pushing was the most probable action, since a secret door swinging out in the library may leave traces of usage on the floor. I pushed against the bookshelf and with some effort the lower part, about up to one and half meter height vanished into the wall behind with a faint rumbling.

After a being completely behind the wall the shelf swung to the left. There were rails on the ground which turned to the left as well and I could see two small hole in each side of the now open passage.

A secret door! I sneaked a peek in the dark room behind the the bookshelf. The moving part stood left of the passage opened. The room was covered in dust, and there were no signs of footprints on the floor. Probably it wasn’t used for a long time.

Obviously the open door would be noticed sooner or later. I could simply inform Master Tynes about the room, but we would probably never know what was hidden behind it and there may be other complication when he wanted to keep this a secret. Anything else would require me to find a way to close this door again. Since I had plenty of time left this afternoon I decided to take the risk toying around with the door.

Cautiously I stepped into the room and after a while my eyes accustomed themselves quite well to the half-light in the room. The shelf was to my left.

Looking behind the bookshelf there was a sheet of stone at the back and there was stone block behind it, which held the whole construct standing. There were no wheels visible,but the tracks were under the block. At the side of the stone part were sunken bolts which should fit into the holes.

I prodded the concealed hole again. A touch to the upper side of the hole caused a clicking noise and the bolts came out of the stone. I could unlock the door again pressing on the lower side. I noticed a lever at the inside which flipped with the two states of the bolts. The lever locked and unlocked the door from the inside. Nice.

At the left side of this roughly triangular room, beside the secret door was a larger lectern and there was another bookshelf with only a few books. At the far side from the entrance there was a hole in the ground.

There was magic all over the room, similar to the magic noticeable all over the house, but brighter. I went over to the hole and could see footholds on the first few meters. Continuing without a light source would be hazardous.

I went back to the secret door. Since it moved slow I’d try to give it a shove and pass it while closes. It worked without a problem. Weeks of hard training made me nimble and fast.

I locked the door from the outside and continued cleaning the boards. The less difference there was to the rest of the shelves the better.

I was a bit late for dinner, as Master Tynes seemed to have had a long meeting, but an afternoon without his presence was a reward by itself.

After dinner I gave Milly, Tilly and Caroline a report of my findings.

“Reckless as usual, but I have to admit the results are okay. As usual.” Milly softly pulled my ear.

“We need light to find out more though.” I gave Milly a peck on her cheek.

“At least you didn’t enter the hole without a lantern.” Milly gave me a hug.

“We should try to get a lamp to explore further.” Tilly sat down on Caroline’s lap.

“Don’t forget oil.” Caroline hugged Tilly from behind.

“The pockets of the aprons come handy here.” She fetched the feather duster from her pocket.

“They don’t bulge.” I hugged Milly to intercept a tickling attack.

The next day Milly found that the hole in the ground was basically was a shaft with hold for feet and hands. And there was a hidden exit to the storage room at the opposite side of Miss Tessa’s office. Fortunately it wasn’t blocked.

“We should wait for Seeding Spree for exploring. Nobody will notice if we disappear for a while. Master Tynes may return unexpectedly.” I looked at the others.

They all nodded.

“You can see through a spy hole into the storage room. The risk getting caught here is low.” Milly put back her feather duster and I released my hug.

We refrained from using the secret door in the library for now, even if there were opportunities for that. We focuses on reading random books to learn more about the world around us.

The last two weeks till Seeding Spree went by like a breeze. Reading and writing was quite okay now. We encountered still unknown runes.

Books about magic were another thing, since we still hadn’t much of an idea how magic works. Maybe we find something like ’Magic for beginners.” sooner or later.

“In spring you will stay for a while at the hunting lodge.” Miss Tessa sat in her tub at the evening before Seeding Spree. “You’ll help Miss Jheenna in the kitchen and around the house.”

After taking a bath we went back to our room and got ready for the night.

“Just as we found something interesting, we are sent away for a while!” Tilly pouted after she tucked herself in.

“We will come back soon enough.” Milly tucked herself in as well.

“At least we will be more outside.” Caroline climbed up to her bed.

“We may want to find a useful path to the mountains from town. In the case we have leave unexpectedly, we probably shouldn’t use the main roads.” I climbed over Milly.

“Maybe Loraline could provide us useful information about that.” Caroline patted my head from above.

“G’night!” Caroline tucked herself in.

“G’night!” I took my place between Milly and Tilly.

After a while I fell asleep.