Compass of the Nymphs (2 page)

The two went into Melitta’s home, and Taisiya
sat down at the kitchen table while Melitta went to light up a fire
for some warmth. “My guess is,” Melitta said, as she stoked a log,
“the queen has decided to flip the script. She’s tired of trying to
stop you from breaking in, so the next time you try, she will make
sure no guards try to halt you. You’ll get in, but you will never
get out. Your parents are the bait to ensure you’ll visit her
palace once more.”

Taisiya took a deep breath. “If anyone had a
doubt that she was evil, they would know for certain if they found
out she had done this. You know I can’t leave my parents with her,
Melitta!”

“You must, my dear, at least for the time
being. You can’t walk right in to her trap without some
preparation.”

“Preparation?! Do you honestly think she is
going to wait around before she kills them?” Taisiya growled.

“Yes.” Melitta said plainly. “Your parents
are the only way she knows you will be back. She will keep them
alive so that she can kill you.”

Taisiya groaned in agony and nervously tapped
her fingers on the table. “I simply can not stand idle and let her
tyranny go on.’

Melitta shook her head in agreement. “Too
true, my dear. When the guards vanished with your parents, five
more children disappeared with them. Not one of them old enough to
even crawl! The poor families didn’t even realize they had been
stolen, either. You and I both know they’re now up in that castle,
never to return.

“She’s now taking more and more each week.
Families are terrified to conceive, knowing that as soon as they
give birth, their children will be stolen in the night. Pretty soon
I fear there will be no more youth left in Solames. God knows what
the queen will do to us then, after we are of no further use to
her.”

“What is she even doing with those poor
children?” Taisiya wondered aloud, “I’m terrified that one day I
actually will make it into the palace…I don’t think I can even
imagine something as terrible as she is doing.”

“Heaven knows,” Melitta tittered, “but it is
more than likely something from the Underworld. I’m not as young as
I used to be, but I remember as clear as day when the queen
ascended to the throne. Quite a few mysterious deaths had to occur
before her place in line, I assure you. Many said she is a witch;
others say she is the devil. One thing is for certain: she is
evil.”

“I wish everyone else in the village was able
to rise up against her and stop her. Instead, everyone in Solames
is relying on me! I’m just a girl.”

“Not to put more pressure on you, dear,”
Melitta smiled, “but she rules over more than just Solames. The
entire kingdom is relying on you! Very few others have the
determination to try and stop her, and if they do, they aren’t as
strong or as crafty as you. In fact, the only other people I know
smart enough to actually do something about her are in her clutches
now.”

Taisiya frowned, missing her parents dearly.
She wanted to run out of Melitta’s house and go back through the
woods and up the mountain to the queen’s castle, but she knew deep
down that Melitta was right in thinking it was a trap. “What am I
supposed to do?!”

“Fight fire with fire,” Melitta contemplated.
“Your parents raised you to be smart and resourceful. The one thing
they didn’t do was make you patient. Sit down, come up with a
strategy, and then execute it. Take it slowly.”

“Slow is for people that don’t have the lives
of their parents depending upon them…” Taisiya said, her voice
trailing off wistfully.

Melitta got up and grabbed two light jackets
from her closet. She handed one to Taisiya and put the other one on
herself. “Nonsense! Put on a coat and let’s go talk to old Ammon
the librarian. Just last week one of his granddaughters was taken
by the queen, so I’m sure he’ll be sympathetic to your cause. I’m
also sure he should have some of the schematics and building plans
for the castle from when it was being built. The whole history of
the kingdom can be found in his library, if you know where to
look!”

Taisiya wrapped the coat around her, and the
two set off to visit Ammon. The old librarian lived on the other
side of Solames, which made for a long and unbearable walk. Melitta
tried her best to keep conversation flowing, but Taisiya’s mind was
far away, already trying to come up with a plan to break into the
palace. It took her by surprise when Melitta suddenly stuck her arm
out in front of Taisiya, pulling her behind one of the buildings
they were passing.

“Are you insane?!” She whispered shrilly.
“You nearly walked right into one of the queen’s spies!”

“Sorry!” Taisiya whispered back. The two of
them peered quickly around the corner to see if the coast was
clear.

Taisiya’s eyes widened as she bit her lip at
the sight of another one of the queen’s men. This one certainly was
no brute guard. Golden laurels sat squarely on his head, sparkling
in the light against his short blonde hair. The white cloth he wore
appeared to be made of fine silk, and it was cinched in by another
gold fabric. He wore magnificent gold knee high boots, which
Taisiya thought was a gaudy display of wealth.

He was built big enough to easily be one of
the queen’s guards or even lovers, but as he gazed around at the
fruits and vegetables before him at the town’s market, it was easy
to see he was gentler and smarter. Taisiya and he locked eyes for a
second before he went back to his business in the bazaar, seemingly
unnoticing of her.

Taisiya turned her attention back to Melitta.
“Who is he?”

“That is Zara, one of the queen’s spies and
advisors.” Melitta said. “And we had better hurry and move along
our way to Ammon before he realizes who you are. I’m sure there’s a
pretty penny of a reward for your capture, and he looks like he
enjoys the finer things in life that your head on a platter could
afford him.”

The pair hurried along, rerouting their way
past the marketplace. Melitta soon guided Taisiya to a very small
shack that was almost unnoticeable among the grand buildings around
it in the center of the city. Melitta knocked on the door, puzzling
Taisiya. “This can’t possibly be a library?”

Melitta smiled and said, “You’ll see.”

CHAPTER TWO –

INSIDE THE SECRET LIBRARY

The door to the shack opened as Ammon
joyfully greeted them. “Melitta?! I could tell that was you at the
door just from your knock. It’s so good to see you; what brings you
my way?”

“We need to take a look around your library,
Ammon.” Melitta said. “It’s very important…and needs to be kept
very secretive.”

“Come in, come in. Of course!” Ammon said,
ushering the visitors inside. His house appeared to be as old and
antiquated as he. They were standing in a very tiny shanty, with
barely enough room for the three of them to rest. In one corner was
a little cot that didn’t appear to be used often, and a mock window
was drawn on the wall in a sad attempt to normalize the room.

“Where is the library?” Taisiya asked,
looking around in confusion.

“My dear, you’re standing on it!” Ammon
chuckled. “Like most good things in this world, my library is
better kept private.” He pointed to the floor. They were standing
on a little platform that was inconspicuous from the rest of the
floor unless you really looked.

“Pull the secret door up by the little raised
edge there,” Ammon said, winking and nodding.

Taisiya got down on the floor and pulled. The
floor opened up and revealed a set of hidden stairs beneath it!
“Wow…” she said incredulously.

“Go on down!” Ammon said. “My library is
always open for friends.”

Taisiya, Melitta, and Ammon made their way
down the stairs, with Ammon pulling the platform back into place
after they started down. “I used to run the Solames Library until
the queen usurped the throne and wanted certain texts thrown out. I
told her I would burn them like she wanted, but instead I smuggled
them out and quit shortly thereafter,” he explained, “This shanty
was once a secret hideout for the military. It’s built with nearly
indestructible materials, but no enemies would ever want to burn it
anyway, seeing as it’s just a little hole in the wall.”

At the end of the stairs was a vast room that
went on for as far as the eye could see. This room was decorated
much more lavishly than the upstairs, with books lining the walls
and cozy chairs scattered about in a variety of different sizes and
colors. Beautiful tapestries were hung here and there between
bookshelves, and magnificent purple rugs decorated the floor.

“This is too amazing.” Taisiya said, taking
it in.

“Welcome to my home!” Ammon chuckled. “I
enjoy the company of books much more than people. It’s quite
remarkable, isn’t it?”

Melitta nodded, “Indeed it is. Let’s just
hope the queen never pops in for a visit!”

Ammon snorted in derision. “As if she would
get off her high horse and come into Solames. I’m not too worried,
but even so, all the books here are perfectly acceptable to her.
After all, she and her soldiers would surely know about the false
bottom in the floor upstairs. The books she doesn’t want people to
read I have tucked away in a secret room I built on to the place
after I started living here, just to be safe.”

Melitta sighed in relief. “Good. If anything
happened to you or your library, I would be devastated.”

“Nothing to worry about!” Ammon said, leading
them through his library. “Right this way, to the ‘secret’ secret
room!”

They passed bookshelf after bookshelf, each
one holding hundreds of books. One chair had a book resting in its
seat that Ammon was reading when he heard Melitta knocking.
Everything was cozy and pleasant. On the other end of the massive
room was a discrete door with no handle that revealed itself when
Ammon pushed in on exactly the right board.

Ammon’s secret room appeared to be just as
big as the room before it and was filled with just as many books.
Even Melitta gave a surprised little gasp when they entered. “I had
no clue there were so many books the queen wanted hidden from the
people.”

“Intelligence is power, Melitta,” Ammon said,
shaking his head. “Power is not something the queen wanted her
people to have.”

“You’ve got to be the most powerful man on
earth, then,” Taisiya said. “Have you read all these books?!”

“Nearly!” Ammon said, giving a timid chortle.
“What is it that you’re looking for, ladies?”

“Well, Ammon,” Melitta began, “do you still
have the blueprints for the castle when it was being built?”

Ammon furrowed his brow. “What in the world
would you need those for?”

Taisiya spoke up, “The queen has taken my
parents. I’ve got to sneak into the castle and find out what she’s
up to.”

“No, no, no.” Ammon shook his head. “You
might as well just walk to your death. The queen has done too many
wicked things – killing one more child would mean nothing to
her.”

“Ammon, please,” Melitta said calmly,
“remember your children. Taisiya is a very clever young girl; if
there was anyone suited to bring down the queen and her reign of
tyranny, it’s her.”

Still shaking his head, Ammon pondered their
request. “All right, Melitta. I suppose I trust you. Young girl,
please
be careful, though. The queen is a force to be
reckoned with.”

Melitta smiled. “Ammon, Taisiya knows this
better than anyone! She’s tried breaking into the castle more times
than I can count. As a matter of fact, when I

found her today she was just catching her
breath after a chase from all the queen’s men!”

Taisiya blushed as Ammon gasped and then
applauded. “Well, Miss Taisiya,” he said more solemnly, “do be
careful. Now, let’s find those schematics.”

Off they went as Ammon led the way, touching
and running his fingers over the books on all the shelves, trying
to remember exactly where the castle blueprints were. Along the
aisles and aisles of books they passed many strange titles such as
Pertinent Potions: Volume X
, which Ammon explained was
banned because the queen feared the townsfolk would use the recipes
to poison her, and others such as
Terrible Tomes of the
Titans,
an extremely large and dilapidated book that had been
banned because it contained fantasy stories that would fill the
citizens heads with dreams instead of desires to work.

At last, Ammon stopped suddenly and grabbed a
tiny folder from one of the bottom shelves. Old and yellow
parchment was inside, and Ammon quickly scanned through them until
he found the right one and plucked it out. He handed it to Taisiya
and said, “Here you are, my dear. I must warn you though; these
designs are from the original plans for the castle. The queen may
have renovated to her heart’s content, and every entrance may now
be blockaded for all I know.”

“It’s certainly better than having no idea at
all, Ammon. Thank you!” Taisiya said gratefully, carefully tucking
the drafts in her jacket pocket.

Ammon then led them back to his cozy library
where Melitta and Taisiya stayed and chatted with him for a while
over a cup of tea. Once the cups were empty, Melitta and Taisiya
gave Ammon a hug goodbye and went back up the steps and back out
into the harsh sunlight of the city. They squinted, trying to
adjust their eyes back to the normal daylight from the hazy
candle’s glow they were enjoying at Ammon’s. They worked their way
back to Melitta’s house, eager to map out a plan and go over the
blueprints.

“It’s so hot today,” Melitta said as they
arrived at her home. “I think I’ll pour us some nice, cold water
and open up the windows to hopefully let in a little breeze.”

“Good idea,” Taisiya said, sitting down at
the table, “I’m going to get out the designs and take a look.”