Tin Thoughts (The Downfall Saga Book 2) Read online

  “It can’t be that bad. You have to have a best friend to brighten your day.”

  “My dolls,” she said looking down at her plate. “I made them myself, and I talked to them every night, until I came to Haven. Now I have friends to talk to, but a best friend.” She paused to think.

  Kort ripped off a rib and begun tearing off chunks of meat with his teeth.

  “I guess that Donovan would be my best friend,” she said. “I can tell him anything and he never judges me. I’ve never had that before.”

  Kort finished the rib and set the bone back onto the plate. He sucked the sauce off of his fingers.

  “I know what you mean. He seems cold and distant at times, but he’s there if you need him. I know that if I ever needed something, he’d do whatever he could to help me.”

  “Yeah, I wish there was something I could do to help him find his parents.”

  They ate their meals in silence, Kort devouring his food, while Ravyn slowly picked at hers.

  “If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?” asked Ravyn, wiping her mouth with her napkin.

  “I’ve never really thought about it,” said Kort through the half chewed food in his mouth. “We could never afford it, so I’ve never even thought about what it’s like in those far off places.”

  “Like Haven?”

  “Like Haven,” he said chuckling.

  “Maybe when I become captain, I’ll allow you to join my team so we can visit Kern together.”

  “I’d like that.”

  “Then you’d better be on your best behavior or I’ll leave you behind.”

  “So you can get some alone time with a dwarf?”

  “If you’d read some of the things that I have, you wouldn’t be so flippant,” she said with a coy look on her face.

  “Wait, what? And what does flippant mean?”

  “Oh, Kort. Don’t ever change.”

  Kort finished the last few bites on his plate. Ravyn was cutting small pieces of meat off her ribs and eating them with her fork. Kort tried to think of another topic to talk about, but struggled to find one.

  His eyes drifted up from his plate, and he saw Ravyn’s smooth, pale legs glowing in the twilight descending on the Nexus.

  “That’s a nice dress you’re wearing,” he said. “It really makes you look good.”

  “As opposed to?”

  Kort stammered trying to think up a response.

  Ravyn picked up a large forkful of the garlic mash potatoes which she had been ignoring, and stuck it in her mouth and slowly chewed.

  A ball of lightning blossomed overhead.

  Kort looked up and watched a small ball of light grow so bright that he had to squint, before it exploded into a flower of light.

  “So, there’s a Downfall tonight. It’s been a couple of weeks since the last one flew over.”

  The magical storms regularly appeared in the sky, frequently not accompanied by any rain. The storm’s appearance was unpredictable, but harmless. The exploding balls of lightning were quite beautiful, and considered a sign of good luck by many people.

  “You seem to be picking at your food,” he said. “Is there something wrong with it?”

  “It’s an interesting choice for a date. Messy ribs, potatoes with an exceptional amount of garlic, and an egg salad that smells like a fart.”

  “No it doesn’t. This is what a fart smells like.”

  Kort leaned to the side and strained to release a loud fart.

  “Well,” said Ravyn.

  She stood up and walked away in a huff, head held high and shoulders pushed back.

  “Where are you going? Come on, Ravyn. You haven’t had any cake.”

  Chapter 16

  “No, he wouldn’t,” said Donovan.

  “I assure you, he did,” said Ravyn.

  The two of them walked around the perimeter of the combat courtyard. Unlike the other areas around Haven, this area was chillingly cold, not as cold as it should be at this elevation, but cold nonetheless.

  Donovan had put on a second shirt and a thin pair of gloves, but it barely took the bite out of the cold. Once the class started and he was steadily moving around, he knew that he’d be more than warm enough. He also didn’t want to sweat too much, or he’d freeze when he had to stand around listening to Professor Jairdan giving instructions.

  “I think that’s enough,” said Donovan. “Let’s do some stretches.”

  They stood facing each other, arms out to the side. They began making small circles with their arms that slowly grew into larger and larger circles.

  Donovan preferred to run through a Vanora to warm himself up before class, but Ravyn thought they were a waste of time and refused to learn how to do them properly, so they settled on stretching.

  “Are you sure he intended it to be a date?” asked Donovan.

  “He was quite clear when he asked me, but maybe he forgot,” she said.

  “You know that he’s been saving his money so that he could come back to school. It’s not like he has a bunch of new clothes laying around.”

  “Be that as it may, he could have at least washed them.”

  They started rotating their arms in the opposite direction, this time starting with large circles that slowly grew smaller.

  “Was the meal good at least?”

  “The food was good, but it wasn’t the typical food for a date. I’m afraid my breath still reeks of garlic.”

  “Not noticeably.”

  “You’re too kind.”

  They switched over to leg stretches. Squatting low to the ground with one leg stretched out to the side. They finished their stretches before walking over to the meeting place for their class.

  Ravyn summoned a small flame into the air between them. They stood facing each other with the flame in between, bending over top of it so their heads were beside each other.

  “I wish I could do that,” said Donovan. “It’s a little nippy out here.”

  “I’m sure that it’ll come in time. Your magical abilities are just developing later than usual.”

  “Now you’re the one who is too kind.”

  “So I made a comment about the food and do you know what he does next. He is flatulent right in front of me, and he didn’t seem the least bit ashamed.”

  “It’s a natural bodily function.”

  She gave him a wide eyed stare, which given the proximity of their heads was quite disconcerting.

  “I’m not about to defend everything that he does, but you put me in a difficult position,” said Donovan. “I’m friends with both of you, and I don’t like being stuck in the middle.”

  “Surely even you must admit that he is a blockhead.”

  “I mustn’t and I won’t. I’m not going to speak ill of my friends.”

  “If you won’t support me when I’m clearly right, then you’re not as much of a friend as I thought. I think I’ll spar with Caddaric today. At least he’ll give me a proper challenge.”

  He watched Ravyn walk over and strike up a conversation with Caddaric, within seconds the two of them were laughing. Donovan rubbed his gloved hands together to keep them warm now that Ravyn’s flame was gone.

  Donovan found himself paired up with Cliff. Cliff was good natured, but slow and uncoordinated with a sword. Donovan only gave him a fraction of his attention as he watched Ravyn and Caddaric.

  The two of them were having a different type of sparring match then the rest of the class. Caddaric tried to lunge at Ravyn, but she knocked him off balance with a gust of wind and circled around beside him. A bright light flashed beside her face, and she back peddled, blinking her eye that was temporarily blinded.

  “Got you,” said Cliff, his sword glancing off Donovan’s chest.

  “Nice one,” said Donovan. “Try it again, but this time keep your left foot a couple inches closer to you.”

  Cliff looked down at his feet and made the adjustment. He took another swing, this time hitting Donovan with a
lot more force, knocking him a step backwards.

  “Better?”

  “Much.”

  “Watch it,” yelped Caddaric, a small flame nearly singed his hair.

  Donovan let out a laugh.

  “Think it’s funny,” said Caddaric. “Why don’t you come over here and give it a try?”

  “You? I’d rather find a real challenge.”

  “I’ll give you a challenge,” said Ravyn.

  “Now we’re talking,” said Donovan. “Both of you against me, and don’t you hold back.” Donovan turned back to Cliff. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all.”

  Donovan advanced towards Caddaric, his arm hanging loosely at his side, the tip of the sword nearly touching the ground.

  Ravyn and Caddaric exchanged a look before splitting up and attempting to circle around him.

  He continued straight at Caddaric. He felt a heavy gust of wind on his chest, but it seemed to part and flowed around either side of him. Caddaric looked surprised, and wasn’t prepared for the hard slash which knocked his sword aside. Donovan slammed his shoulder into Caddaric’s chin. The click of his teeth hitting each other was audible, and Caddaric stumbled backwards to one knee.

  Spinning around, he charged towards Ravyn. A ball of flame the size of his head appeared in front of him. He held his breath, closed his eyes, and ran directly through it. He felt a momentary flash of pain and could smell the scent of singed hair, but was otherwise unhurt. He savagely hacked downwards with a blow aimed at the top of her head. She tried to block the blow but didn’t have sufficient leverage. His blow knocked her sword into the top of her head. His follow up slash would have spilled her guts onto the ground.

  Caddaric had gotten back to his feet, but was wobbling unsteadily. Not wanting to give him an extra moment to recover, Donovan closed the distance.

  Caddaric took a step backwards and nearly fell to one knee.

  Donovan felt the hilt of his sword rapidly heating up. The heat quickly permeated his glove, and he was sure that he’d have blisters when he was done. Ignoring the pain, and the second gust of wind which Caddaric directed towards him, Donovan leapt forward.

  Caddaric stumbled to the ground trying to get out of the way. Donovan slashed at Caddaric, knocking his sword to the side. A snap kick connected with the side of Caddaric’s head, crumpling him to the cold ground.

  Donovan turned around, and mimed sheathing his sword between his left arm and body. He gingerly peeled the glove off his hand, and felt pieces of his palm rip away and remain stuck to the inside of the glove.

  He looked over at Ravyn, but couldn’t help but notice the figures standing at the edge of the courtyard watching the class. Donovan waved to Osmont and the rest of the selection committee before going to check on Caddaric.

  ***

  Donovan skipped supper that night. The statue that he’d seen the previous night, which bore a striking resemblance to himself, had occupied his idle thoughts all day. He’d been tempted to skip classes and start scouring the libraries for information, but he knew that he could spend weeks searching without finding any useful information.

  There were many libraries scattered around Haven, most of them specializing in specific subjects. He’d been thinking about this all day, but didn’t know where the information on the Zerenists was stored. He decided that he’d start by searching the histories about Haven. There had to be a reason why that valley had been constructed, whether by the Zerenists or someone else, but either way there had to be records about it.

  He followed the tunnel to the two large, stone doors leading to the library. A large book with a three pronged fork on its cover was carved across the two doors. He pulled open the surprisingly light door considering its size.

  Row upon row of shelves laden with books filled the room. A high arched ceiling covered in lights lit the room like the noonday sun. A tall desk stood in front of him. An older woman with a stern face sat behind it, looking down at something in front of her.

  “Excuse me,” said Donovan. “I’m hoping that you can help me.”

  She finally looked up from what she was doing.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m looking for historical information on Haven. Specifically anything related to the Zerenists. Can I find that here?”

  “Does this look like a place where you’d find children’s stories?”

  “I was under the impression that the followers of Zeren lived in Haven for a number of years. I thought that there would be records from that time.”

  “You could try the historical section.”

  He silently watched her until she continued.

  “Back corner, on your right.”

  She went back to the pad of paper in front of her. Donovan could see that she was drawing a picture of a four legged animal, but couldn’t tell what it was supposed to be.

  “Thank you. Is there a catalog that lets me look up the subject of each book?”

  “Try the catalogs.”

  She pointed her nose towards a set of shelves to his left. He now saw the large sign saying Catalogs.

  “The catalogs aren’t kept up to date,” she said.

  “Why not?”

  She made a tsk sound, but didn’t answer.

  “Is there anyone who could help me find the information that I’m looking for?”

  “Try a history professor.”

  Donovan headed over to the catalogs and began reading through the writing on their spines. It quickly became apparent that everything was out of order, and he had to read the title on each catalog individually. He wasted a half hour searching the catalogs, but found nothing about Zeren, before giving up on them.

  He followed the signs at the wider intersections between the shelves until he reached the historical section. He was daunted by the number of shelves and knew that there were many thousands of books in this one section alone.

  He walked through the entire section, eyes skimming the books on either side of him. He’d secretly hoped that a book would catch his eye, and when he opened it, he would find exactly what he was looking for. Instead he just got discouraged by the number of books which he’d have to search through.

  Donovan let out a sigh, and began searching the shelves, one book at a time.

  The search turned out to be not nearly as bad as he’d first thought. Most of the history books had nothing to do with Haven. Most were history books about Rourke, each with a slightly different focus. He skimmed through thousands of years of history and was surprised at how peaceful the recent centuries were in comparison to the older histories.

  Donovan found an interesting book which discussed the changes during the last Breaking, a thousand years earlier. He read the foreword a couple of times to make sure that he was reading it correctly. The scholar’s name who wrote the book was Francis, and he lived through the Breaking, but most of the information in the book was inferred from events after the Breaking. It mentioned, among many things, changes to the geography of the world no one recall happening and that most of the information about the Zerenists disappeared. Francis shared an anecdote about books disappearing from his own library.

  With his interest peaked, Donovan took the book with him to a small table and began reading in earnest. He was yawning, and had to force his eyes to remain open, when he finished reading.

  Most of the book talked about an epidemic of collective amnesia which must have swept across the world. People had detailed recollections of the Shem invading and the events leading up to the Breaking, but Francis had not found a single soldier who fought in the decisive battle which had vanquished the Shem. Individual soldiers claimed to be heroes from the battle, but when Francis interviewed other people in the regiment, none of them recalled a climactic battle.

  Earlier maps, some drawn only a few years before the breaking, showed an open isthmus connecting the northern and southern continents, but everyone was aware of the escarpment which ran the width of the isthmus, broken only by
a narrow valley which had been named the Cleft. None of the old mapmakers could explain how they all had missed showing the escarpment on their maps. Francis had even found a few people who had lived near the isthmus, and had survived the Shem invasion. They told stories of walking up and down the isthmus to watch the serpents of the sea swimming through the water. When asked about the escarpment, they never recalled having to climb up and down through the Cleft, but assured him that they must have done so.

  The information about the Zerenists was the smallest section in the book. Francis was a scholar, but had no connections to the wizards at Haven, so he struggled to find primary sources for his research. Without sources to consult with, most of his conclusions were speculative in nature, and based on a lack of information. He talked about an empty shelf in his library which he swore had been full of books about the Zerenists. He’d visited other libraries, only to find that they too were missing all information about the Zerenists. He speculated that there had to be a global conspiracy aimed at removing them from the collective knowledge of the world. He couldn’t explain how they could have possibly eliminated so much information, so he simply concluded that the cause must have been magical in nature, and left it at that.

  Donovan closed the book and rubbed his dry eyes. He tilted his head to the side to stretch his neck, then repeated the motion on the other side. He stood up and did a spine popping stretch before returning the book to the shelf. He scanned the small section of the first set of shelves that he’d looked through before settling on Francis’ book. He had a long ways to go, and this was only one of the many libraries at Haven.

  Shoulders drooping, he headed back to his room to recover.

  Every day that week he grabbed a quick lunch during his break between classes and inhaled it as he hurried to the library to continue his search, and again he’d hurry to the library after his last class for the day. He found little new information, and he methodically progressed through the rows of shelves. By Sunday afternoon he returned the final book to its place and threw himself down onto a chair. He rested his forehead against the smooth tabletop as he contemplated his next course of action. He found several maps which marked the tunnel entrance, but none that showed the valley that lay at the other end of the tunnel.