Desiree - Evidence Exhibit A.2

Part Two (Start at the Beginnig)

One solitary letter stood out in sudden clarity. Within the elegant illumination that graced the first letter of the first line of text, an “M” stood boldly mocking me where once I’d glanced over it.

“The ‘M!’” I cried to Eavan, “Look, Eava, I missed it!” She immediately joined me on the other side of the book, wanting to see it in perspective.

“How did we miss it? Are there others?” It was good to hear the excitement grow in her voice as well. My dear, calm Eava, suddenly disarmed by a seemingly insignificant letter.

“No,” I replied, “not yet. How did we miss it?”

“The illumination is such a dark red; I hardly noticed it.”

“Wait, don’t push me! The light glares against the ink –”

“No, Rē, it’s not a glare. Look. Like the spine…”

She was right. As we circled the book the mysterious letter appeared and disappeared into the deep crimson ink around it. I stopped at a place where the red had consumed the darker ink and studied it. Unlike the flowing, flowery illuminations I was used to from our current books, this two-color one seemed so much more angular and chiseled. The more I looked at it, the more it gleamed in the light from the window, the more it seemed to exist as a shape within the page, not just as a design upon it. The black lines were thinned and became soft shadowing to indicate shape. The red ebbed away from flecks of light, and concentrated in a ruby red core.

The same was so familiar that it took closing my eyes to see it in the physical form. My mother’s ruby: a great boulder of a gem that I could never wear without suffocating under ostentation. I remembered the surprising blue speckles that echoed out of it when true sunlight shone through it. I remembered the consistent chill it gave me, how close it came to mirroring my experience with the signet and the lock. I pointed it out to Eavan, and we agreed that work would be done for the day. We closed the book and attempted to reattach the lock, but it wouldn’t stay.

“It’s probably best,” I smiled. “I’m not sure how I’d handle another moment like the first one!” Eavan smiled back, enjoying our mischief. Quickly hiding the tome under my skirts, we snuck out the door and hurried to our carriage.

The ride to the castle was hot and dusty. Summer on this mountain is not as mild as the days were in my mother’s home or in the seaside palace. I hate to think we’ll never return there after the war ends. All beauty must fade, I suppose.

By the time we were in my room, our dusty muslins were sticking to our skin. I sent away my maidservant, insisting that we didn’t need help changing just yet. The poor girl bowed her head solemnly. I’ll have to remember to remind her that I too often let this heat get to me; I’ll have to remember to catch my brusque manner on these days as well. Once again eschewing a seat befitting a young queen, I grabbed the ruby from my jewel chest and sat on the floor under the window. I held it to the light to satisfy my desire to see the blue glow out from the blood red core in supernatural splendor.

Swallowing to wet my dry throat, I met eyes with Eava and looked back toward the text. I positioned the ruby on top of the illumination. Nothing obvious happened; no sparks flew, no great voice shook the heavens. I almost expected something like that. Instead, the inked ruby turned blue and the “M” stood out boldly. No matter where I turned, the “M” did not change. Lowering myself closer to the book, I caught a corner of the next letter through the jewel’s face. Hesitantly, I slid the jewel across the text to include the illuminated “M” and the next rune: “My.”

“Gods save us,” whispered Eavan.

“The gods have nothing to do with this,” I said with an ecstatic smile. “This is true enchantment, Eavan…” I immediately moved the ruby across the next lines.

“My dearest Rē,

If you are truly reading this book, then you have become the woman I knew you could be. Your good Nurse so dearly hoped she wasn’t wrong, but I saw in you the strength so many of your mothers lacked. Guard this secret with your life. Only our little Eava shall know. The Kingdom will be in grave danger should you reveal this to anyone.

Rē, I can guess that Eava called this the work of the gods, but to you Rē this is enchantment. And you are both right. Eavan will discover a magik of her own, but you have this book and its Malgick to guide you.”

“What magik, though Rē?” Eavan begged as I read. “I have no magik.”

“There must be another book…” I mused, sitting back on my heels.

“Do you really think she left one for both of us?” Eavan asked, hope welling up in her eyes.

“Well she never gave me anything she didn’t also give you.” Our nurse had raised us as equals, complimentary halves of a similar whole, but for a fleeting moment I couldn’t imagine helping Eavan find whatever lay in the second book; jealousy raged inside me, attempting to force me to refuse her an answer. I yielded as quickly as I had thought it, though. I could not keep it from her. Not now.

I turned the page to find exactly what I was looking for. The title appeared in regular runes that wouldn’t change with the ruby’s alignment. Underneath it, my nurse’s writing continued: “Every other line from here to the end of this book will be written in the Common Tongue – the language once dominant in the Kingdom. Your native language, Rē, is not Caisealian as you now believe, nor are the tongues of Geroid and Parthalan the once beautiful language spoken by all. I write in this form to speed your learning of the dead runes. You and Eava must both quickly learn the Common Tongue from your books; more knowledge than you can ever comprehend lies hidden in these runes.”

“Then I do have a book!” Eavan breathed with triumph. She was already gathering her skirts to leave when I nodded.

“It must be back in the library, but Eava, it could take you months to find it.” I didn’t want to discourage her, only remind her that the odds were as slim as finding a snow hare during a blizzard. She just smiled with more devious brilliance than I’ve ever seen her show.

“I’ll find it, Rē. I don’t care if it takes me months.” With that she slipped back out my door, her footsteps fading as she hurried back to the carriage. I sighed, smiling, and turned back to my book. My lessons have changed everything. I hardly know how to explain it.

Years ago, when I was just a child, something terrible happened to our world. I cannot remember it – no one can remember it – because it has been forced out of us. Magik and Malgick were once the balance of our world; before our idea of time existed, the true Kingdom reached the height of its glory under the governance and use of both forms of enchantment. An entire race of mortals exists to govern all use and practice of these enchantments: the Mages. Humans were divided into two equal classes: we, the Kings, were the rulers and defenders, and the Navigators existed to trade, bargain, teach, explore, and conquer. We bore Magik and Malgick to better serve our purposes, rarely reaching the expertise of the Mages. A fourth race, the Gyarro, protected everything natural and earthly; their powers intertwined so closely with the elements that the Mages hardly bothered with their instruction and governance. Together, the four races made the true Kingdom and a true Golden Era.

Somewhere in time, beyond the knowledge of even my nurse, there was a great war between the practitioners of Magik and the lords of Malgick. Lands were laid to waste. People of all races were forced under the reign of the victor: the bearers of Magik. The new order declared Malgick unseemly, immoral, dark, and hideous; all those who practiced it were to be tortured and eradicated. Books of great knowledge were burned and centers of great wisdom were destroyed; Magik, known as “Light Arts,” overpowered the world entirely. The Kingdom recovered quickly. Light Arts were very positive and constructive; the people were pleased when news of killings and destruction finally slowed and stopped. Society fell back into its steady pace onward, and the people accepted the new truth: Malgick and its students were evil.

Even in this seemingly peaceful world, though, corruption smoldered. Suspicion of Malgick-practice alone would destroy a whole family. The High Council of Mages was greatly feared by the Kings and Navigators; Magik became a commodity and the great wise men of the Isles turned into greedy politicians vying for power. The positive effects of Magik were soon diminished by the corrupt people who practiced it.

I was born at the height of this conflict, it seems. My mother, a wise noblewoman, hired a crone to nurse me into womanhood. She knew full well that my nurse was knowledgeable in the Light and Dark Arts, that she would teach me whichever form of enchantment suited me best. When Eavan’s parents expressed interest in their daughter receiving the same teaching, she was sent to be my crib-mate. Together, we were to be the children who could revive the goodness of enchantment. Our parents arranged our marriages, planned our lives, and watched eagerly as we progressed under the tutelage of the old wise woman. But we would not reach maturity with the knowledge we nursed on.

The High Council knew of secret Malgick practices in the highest nobility of the Kings and Navigators. Humans were becoming devoted, again, to the now demonized form of enchantment, and the Mages knew how dangerous that would be to their established political systems. The Gyarro were tiring of the pettiness of both Humans and Mages; when the High Council approached their Matriarch, she quickly agreed to a permanent embargo of all knowledge, contact, and trade. The Mages gathered their people living in the lands of Humans – my nurse included – and cast an enclosure spell to keep the lands from ever interacting. Humans would forget the existence of all Magik and Malgick, the Mages, and the Gyarro; our lives would be separate in every way for the rest of time. The next morning, Eavan and I woke to find our nurse gone; our parents truly believed her dead and removed by spirits as some lucky souls are. The Foreign Archive – once a collection of international knowledge – became a storage room for obsolete languages and books. The Humans forgot the Common Tongue and spoke the local language now known as nothing more than speech. The seas destroyed ships that ran too close to the Mage’s Isles; explorers who traveled too deep into the Gyarro’s Wilds never returned. And until I found my book, no one older than a child believed enchantment to be real.

I am shocked, devastated, excited, and confused by all of this, diary. I cannot understand why I can easily accept this story. I cannot understand why I am the one lucky enough to discover the truth. My nurse left these clues merely hoping that one day I would discover them. Her power cannot protect or guide me as it once did; the Barrier prevents it. But I have power now; I have unimaginable knowledge. With it, I hope to cross the Barrier and reveal the truth to my people. We deserve to see the Golden Age of the true Kingdom once again. It may take me months or years to reach this goal, but I will not expire until I see it to its conclusion.

(Want More? Go to Part Three)