As she leaned against the door, listening to Opal, Lyle and Merlin argue, it occured to Ceyda how strange it was that she wasn’t being watched more closely. Book was right, they were truly an incompetent bunch, at least when it came to kidnapping.

They hadn’t even tried to take the book away! Or had they tried and it didn’t work? She’d have to test that out later, but for now she certainly wasn’t complaining.

Close your eyes. Repeat what I say. A verbal invocation should get you going along nicely.

“Understood.”

By Dorskina’s grace, I invoke you. Grant me a blessing of heightened sense.

“By D--door--doorskin’s--Dorskina’s grace, I invoke you. Grant me a blessing of heightened sense,” Ceyda repeated.

Nothing happened.

What a strange little prayer.

Hm. Wow. You are severely unpracticed. I greatly underestimated this. Try again.

Ceyda repeated the phrasing four more times. At first, nothing seemed to change, but the more she said it, the more she could feel a faint thrumming in the distance. The words took on a rhythm, and pattern. Colors and sound filled her vision in an unfamiliar manner. Bright oranges filled her vision, as if she was staring at a fire.

And then, just like that, she glowed. Light burst out around her, if only for a moment, and warmth flooded into her heart, as her very being expanded. She was no longer merely sitting on a staircase, but she was down the stairs too, and across the door as well. She could hear and see all within a twenty foot radius of her body.

She had done it.

She had cast her very first spell.

Just so you know, usually the first time someone casts this spell, it expands your senses by about an inch, and not nearly at this clarity. No wonder everyone wanted to steal me, this expansion is incredible, especially considering this is your first time ever casting a spell.

Neat.

Merlin, Opal and Lyle were talking to each other in harsh tones. Despite her lack of glasses, Ceyda could now see in better clarity than she ever had before.

Merlin was a sandy haired boy. He looked young, possibly even under fourteen. He had thick rimmed glasses, a faded red scarf, and a matching wool hat. Otherwise his clothing was largely simple thatched brown clothing, far too large for his frame, with thick rubbery black boots.

Opal had the strawberry blonde hair, but she was also dressed entirely in ragged black clothing. At her waist was a large sheathed knife. She had been taller than Ceyda, but the book was right, she looked young. She was a girl, not a woman. Maybe not as young as Merlin, but young. She definitely looked like she had entered adulthood, at least, unlike Merlin.

Lyle was broad and thick which made sense considering how he was the one to carry Ceyda into this basement. He had dark shaggy brown hair, and a few stray chin hairs. He was probably the oldest of the bunch. Unless he was one of those boys who grew very tall and had a beard but was actually only thirteen. Ceyda had never seen this happen, but her father had told stories about being mistaken for a full adult when he had only just gotten his core.

His clothing was similar to Merlin, only his actually fit him.

“I know you feel bad for her, but don’t. She has lived a life of nothing but luxury up until this point!” Opal said.

“I don’t feel bad because of where she came from. I feel bad because she is locked in a basement. We literally kidnapped her!” Merlin protested.

“I dunno, I’m with Opal on this one,” Lyle said. “She’s our enemy.”

“Yes, but she’s still locked in a basement. With no running water and no food! I hate the Kesterline nobility as much as anyone else, but the person down there is an individual. And she’s around our age too!”

“So?” Opal said. “Do you know what they train people like that at that age? You lot are farm hands. I’ve actually worked at a manor before.”

“Then why don’t we find out who works for her?” Merlin suggested. “My sister works with nobles, maybe she’ll know.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a great idea,” Lyle said brightly. “We could ask around, see what happens. I dunno maybe we can just, uh, knock her over head, give her amnesia and put her back in bed.”

“Do you think we could give her amnesia?” Merlin whispered.

“Probably. Aster works with that weird magic cleaning fluid that the Merristers gave him, right? Maybe we could use that.”

“You do realize that, worse comes to worst, we can’t let her walk out of here alive,” Opal said quietly.

“Whoah!” Lyle jumped up a bit. “Whoah whoah whoah! I’m not for cozing up with the noble, but murder? That’s about three steps in a direction I don’t want to go!”

“She’ll reveal that we exist to everyone. And who knows what that book will be able to do? It already is stuck to her. And you idiots keep using real names around her!” Opal hissed

Merlin rubbed his face and adjusted his glasses. “We’re just fucked, aren’t we? No matter what we do, we’re fucked.”

“We need to tell everyone else. If this is how it’s going down, I’d rather flee the area,” Lyle said. “Kesterline is huge. We’ll just live somewhere else.”

“Easy for you to say. You could survive in the winter with nothing but a blanket and a toothpick,” Merlin muttered.

“And you don’t have family here either,” Opal protested.

Lyle’s eyes narrowed. “No shit I don’t got family here.”

“I didn’t mean it like that…” Opal trailed off.

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter anyway. This whole idea was stupid. There’s six of us--ten of us on a good day. Even if the book hadn’t picked some random lady, what would we have done? Taken on the entire noble caste? We’re just a bunch of hopeless idiots playing dress up hoping that if we get angry enough, something will change. Well, it won’t,” Lyle muttered. He pushed past Opal, and headed down the hallway.

Merlin and Opal were quiet for a few moments. “Well, you’re our leader, so if you want us to keep the chatelaine at arms, fine. But we’re still going to need to feed her and give her at least a bucket or something.”

“Tell you what, Merl, you’ve been wanting more responsibilities, right? I know you want to be a chisel. Well, consider yourself promoted. You’re officially in charge of the prisoner. Make sure she doesn’t die of dysentery or whatever, get her name, and find out what type of person she is. She said she’s lower class, right? There are about… five noble families in the area that might qualify as such. Twelve if we assume she’s underplaying her hand. And if she starts casting any spells or doing anything freaky, notify me immediately.”

Merlin nodded.The vision started to blur, and the voices grew distant. The spell was ending. And Merlin was walking towards the door.

Ceyda yelped, and scrambled back down the stairs, still just as blind as ever.

Merlin returned, no lantern this time.

“You haven’t disappeared, have you?” Merlin asked.

“Nope. Still here. This room has no windows.”

“You could have teleported or something, I don’t fuckin’ know. You’re the one with the magic book, right?” Merlin replied. He sat down on the final step.

“Apparently the book is more finicky than that,” Ceyda said.

“Ah. Well, has it done anything yet?” Merlin asked.

“I have cast a solitary spell. I listened in on the conversation you had upstairs.”

Merlin nearly choked on his own spit. “What.”

Just going to be completely honest and out there. Respect.

“I disagree with Opal. I would not like to be killed, if that’s perfectly all right,” Ceyda said.

“...why are you so weird about this?” Merlin spat out.

“I don’t think there’s anything weird about not wanting to die!”

“...sure.” Merlin said, rubbing his head. “Well. I don’t want you to die.”

“ That is good. I don’t want you to die either,” Ceyda said. “You’re Merlin, right?”

Merlin’s blurry face distorted. “How’d you know that?”

“It was said several times. And it was always said in reference to your voice,” Ceyda said. “Your friends are Lyle,and Aster. You were the three who tried to steal the book. Your leader’s name is Opal. You want to be a chisel and you have a sister. Lyle meanwhile has no family.”

“...that’s impressively recollected,” Merlin said.

“Not really. It’s not that hard to remember that sort of thing, anyone could do it,” Ceyda replied.

“Is there anything else you’ve figured out?” Merlin asked.

“Well, I know we’re about half an hour’s walk from the Blanche’s resident. We travelled off road, and there was definitely a lot of underbrush and mud. And there’s the Erwood forest, which is nearby, so I assume we travelled through that. There are a few locations we could have gone from there, but there’s at least three clusters of production based areas, around it, I believe? If not that, I know there’s a swamp somewhere around here, but I don’t really know much else about it. Also I’ve been smelling burnt leather since I got here, and I smelled it outside of the basement, so I’m assuming I could probably use that to retrace my steps, if I had to ever find my way here again. It also makes me assume we did go through Erwood, and we’re near Whiskey Road. You know, where they make the leather and kill the cows.” Ceyda rattled off.

“...fuck. Fuck.” Merlin swore, rubbing his head over and over again. “Are you serious right now?”

Ceyda shrugged. “Well you don’t have to be rude about it.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Are you going to tell me your name?” Merlin asked. “I assume you know.”

“Yes--my name is Ceyda Lucrece. My mother’s name is Fenna Lucrece, maiden name Dormand, and my father’s name is Aloysius Lucrece,” Ceyda replied immediately.

Merlin paled. “Wait--the Lucreces?”

Ceyda didn’t know how to respond to such a question. “Are there multiple Lucrece families in Bricketfriar?”

“...my sister is your maid,” Merlin blurted out.

“Oh--oh! You’re Danette’s brother?” Ceyda asked brightly.

Merlin made some strangulated choking noises. “...yeah.”

“That’s wonderful! She’s very nice! Do you think she could fetch me my spare pair of glasses?”

“You can’t just order her around! We kidnapped you!” Merlin shot back.

Ceyda rolled her eyes. “Yes. Obviously. That’s why I’m asking if she can get my glasses.”

This seemed fairly straightforward to her, she wasn’t sure why Merlin was confused by such a request.

Ceyda he thinks you’re expecting the glasses because she works for you, as opposed to you asking for accomodations for while you’re kidnapped.

“No he doesn’t, Danette works for my mother, not me,” Ceyda said.

He called her ‘your’ maid. I don’t think he has distinguished between you and your mother. Especially since he probably. Doesn’t know your mother.

“My book says I should clarify I’m asking because I’m very blind and I’d really like to see. I don’t know why anyone would want glasses otherwise, but there you go,” Ceyda clarified. “If she doesn’t want to get it, I’d ask literally anyone else to also get it. I’d get them myself, but I am currently kidnapped. In a basement.”

Merlin chuckled. Oh good, that had worked.

“Fair enough, I guess. You should be careful giving information away like your family name. Knowledge is power.”

“If I think I have anything worth keeping a secret, I’ll be sure to not tell you,” Ceyda replied.

Merlin shrugged. “You said your name was ‘Ceyda’, right? That’s a pretty old-fashioned name.”

“So’s yours,” Ceyda replied.

“Merlin’s a nickname,” Merlin said.

“Oh. what’s your real name?” Ceyda asked.

Merlin opened his mouth as if to respond, closed it, and shook his head suddenly. “That’s private.”

Ceyda rolled her eyes. Rude. Why even bring it up then?

“Do I get food?” Ceyda asked, changing the topic abruptly.

“Yeah. Yeah I’ll get you food.”

“Can I have food now,” Ceyda pressed. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

“Neither have we,” Merlin replied. “Opal was going to bring food, but she got held up, and the party being a disaster…”

He rubbed at his hair, and took something out of it. Ceyda didn’t know what, since her eyesight was still absolutely Terrible, but it was probably a hair band of some kind.

“Look, I appreciate you not freaking out about this, and I appreciate your lack of yelling, but things are tight enough here without having to feed a hostage,” Merlin said. “I’m going to try and find something, but no promises.”

“Maybe I could grow food?” Ceyda suggested brightly. “That’s something mages can do.”

...yes… some people… can grow food with magic… but that’s not something you can just do.

“Well, teach me the invocation, book. I can at least try. Also I need a name for you that isn’t book.”

You don’t use invocations for growing food, that’s Gretian’s domain.

Ceyda rolled her eyes up into her sockets. “My book is telling me that I can’t. For some reason.”

Merlin’s eye’s glinted. He took a step forward. “So, what was it like?”

“What was what like?”

“You know--” Merlin made a vague movement. “To cast a spell?”

Ceyda grinned despite herself. “It was pretty amazing. It felt incredibly grounding. I always thought it would be strange, seeing that power in front of you, but I felt more like me than I ever had.

That’s because you used something from Dorskina. It would be different if you tried to cast something, from, say, Esterath.

“Also, apparently magic comes with homework,” Ceyda replied.

“What sort of homework?” Merlin asked, his voice softer and less authoritative, not that it had been that authoritative before.

“Well, the book keeps mentioning names. I think they’re the names of categories of magic,” Ceyda said.

“Magic has categories?” Merlin asked.

Ceyda shrugged. “I guess? I never learned anything about it. I don’t know what actual mages are taught.”

“Me neither. Opal might know. I’ll ask her. She knows a lot about what nobles know, maybe it will help?” Merlin suggested.

“I’m surprised you’re letting me keep the book at all,” Ceyda said.

“Well, we tried to take it away from you when you passed out. It didn’t go well,” Merlin said sheepishly.

Ceyda looked at the book, and then at Merlin. Experimentally, she forcefully threw it against the wall. No sooner did she do this, did it immediately go flying back at her, clocking her straight in the nose.

She yelled and clapped her nose from the pain, which activated her bracelet, sending it into a shock frenzy.

“Shit!” Merlin yelled. Instead of running to comfort her, he ran out up the stairs and out of the room, leaving Ceyda to spasm on her own.

After a minute, the cycle of stress died down, and the bracelet stopped vibrating. Ceyda rubbed her head.

How about you. Don’t throw me anymore.

“Well how was I supposed to know?” Ceyda asked.

The boy clearly knew, you could have asked him.

“If I had known that you would ricochet back into my face I would have!” Ceyda hissed, jumping slightly at the shock from her bracelet.

At this, Merlin returned, with what appeared to be metal pliers, and rawhide gloves.

“I think that thing needs to come off,” Merlin said, holding the rather large pliers up.

Ceyda stared at her bracelet, than back at Merlin. “These bracelets are very expensive.”

“You’re also kidnapped and in a dark, damp basement. I think everyone will forgive you if it got lost,” Merlin said, trying to angle himself properly. He was thin, and didn’t have much muscle on him.

Ceyda extended her arm. “I suppose the book can heal me if things go badly.”

...no. Do not rely on me for that. Dear gods.

“Never mind. Book says no.”

“I thought magic could be used to heal? Opal talks about it. How people like the Blanche never get sick,” Merlin said as he awkwardly positioned himself over Ceyda’s arm, his own hands trembling as he held the heavy metal tool for a prolonged period of time.

There are four ways I know of how to heal people, and the one where you professionally train to become a doctor and use magic to enhance your abilities is the easiest way.

“Apparently it’s very difficult,” Ceyda said.

“What’s the point of an all powerful book if it doesn’t make anything easier?” Merlin complained, as he gently placed the pliers on Ceyda’s arm.

“Maybe this would be easier if the pliers are also on the ground,” Ceyda suggested.

After several minutes of incredibly awkward angling and confusing physics, as well as Ceyda and Merlin’s collective lack of strength, they finally settled on using the book as a slight platform raise, in order to rest the weight of the pliers, while they clamped down around the bracelet.

After another minute of struggled and clamping on the thin piece of metal, a successful dent was made, only for it to immediately shock Ceyda again.

Slowly, the bracelet was narrowed at a single point, until it could be snapped off.

“ I’m gonna go chuck this down a river, or a sewer hatch. I dunno if this sort of thing can be tracked or found, but I’m not gonna take any chances,” Merlin said, as Ceyda rubbed her rather sore and abused arm.

“So we’re near a river, then,” Ceyda said quietly.

Merlin sighed. “Yes. You got me. Do you actually plan on escaping?”

“I’m thinking about it.”

Merlin deflated and gestured. “How are you not afraid? You realize you should be terrified, right? Did that bracelet really addle your brains that much?”

“Actually, I was like this before the bracelet,” Ceyda said, grinning as she realized what advantage she had in divulging this story. “As a child I used to charge straight towards animals, convinced I could fight them. We had to get rid of our cat.”

“Child you sounds like a little monster.”

“So I’ve been told.”

Merlin began to descend up the stairs, when a realization hit Ceyda.

“Wait!”

Merlin turned, or at least, she assumed he turned. He was still mostly just a human blob.

“I’d like you to find blankets, a pillow, and glasses. Especially glasses.” Ceyda said.

Merlin came closer again, and handed her his own glasses. “How are these?”

She put them on, and squinted.

“Much too weak.”

Merlin stared at her. “You’re kidding.”

“I have very bad eyesight!” Ceyda said. “Trust me if my eyes were only slightly bad, I would have never been allowed to wear them, but after a few years of running into things, my mom lost that war.”

“Hah--why?” Merlin asked. “You can afford all sorts of glasses, right? The only reason I have my pair is because Opal stole them for me.”

Ceyda shrugged. “My mother said chatelaines wearing glasses is incredibly unbecoming and sexually provocative”

Merlin was silent for a moment, before he burst out laughing. “Wait, seriously?”

“Yes.”

“That’s so… stupid.” Merlin chuckled.

“It is! It’s extremely stupid and no one I talk to understands this,” Ceyda replied enthusiastically. Having someone automatically affirm her belief was not something she was used to. It was nice. She wanted to continue this feeling.

“Right, well, I’m gonna ditch this bracelet and find you some blankets. You uh, hang tight. I dunno, practice cursing or something. It’s a lot of fun,” Merlin said, waving goodbye. With that, he went back up the stairs, this time far more quickly.

Ceyda was now alone, save for her magical book of supreme, if extremely underwhelming, power.

She was a tad cold, and nothing really felt good to touch. Her dress had turned into some moist mess, with a covering of grime on every layer of fabric. She fidgeted with her hair, pulling out hair pins. She didn’t know how many had been put in her hair, but she assumed it was more than ten.

Burnt dead crisps of hair hit her in the face. She hated her hair like this. Well, on the bright side,being kidnapped would give her great leverage over her mother. She could probably wear her hair normally for months.

“I don’t suppose you can summon a bed for me, book,” Ceyda asked.

I’m beginning to suspect your education in magic was supremely underwhelming

“And I am beginning to suspect you don’t know anything about Kesterline.”

I think I can agree to that.

“We both need to explain to the other how we work. And then I can use magic, and you can… not constantly ask me questions every time I ask you a question,” Ceyda said.

That would be highly ideal.

Would you like to start now? I should warn you, if you know as little as you and everyone around you seems to know, it is going to be a very long explanation.

Ceyda yawned. It had to be past midnight.

“I don’t think I have the brain for that.”

Tomorrow, then. Unless it’s early in the day? I can’t actually tell. I only became conscious recently, and most of it was spent in this basement.

“It’s late, book. Also we need a name for you. Unless you like book?”

...I don’t think I like book.

Ceyda stared into the darkness. “Gregor”

I do not want to be named Gregor.

“Jocelyne.”

I do not like that either.

“Uh, well, what sort of name do you want? Can’t you just make up your own?” Ceyda asked. “Maybe dig deep into that subconscious?”

Uhhhhhh I got nothing. Maybe a title of some kind? Doesn’t have to be my actual name, but just something to call me by?

“What sort of title do you want? His royal bookness!” Ceyda said, gesturing vaguely towards the sky.

The book did not reply for a while. It vibrated slightly, as if thinking.

“Well, you know magic, right? You could be named mage. Or magus. Or head magus. Or urmage. Or--uh, grimoire? We could call you grim for short!” Ceyda started rattling off names.

I don’t know magic. Well, I do but-- I dunno. This is weird. I don’t think I’m just this book. I think there was more to me, at some point.

“Well, what do you think you were?”

Human.

“That’s pretty damn obvious,” Ceyda said, relishing as the word formed in her mouth. Damn was a good word. She should use it more. She could use all the curses. Sacred skies. By the Crown. Crap. Bastard.

Yes. Good.

I think I...I think maybe I helped people? I think I was a healer.

“We could call you Tower. That’s the core for healers.”

I don’t think I like that, no.

“Then just Healer? Doctor Healer Book?”

Doctor. I like that. I think. I think I was a doctor.

“Oh. Then all right, how about we call you Doctor? Doc for short?” Ceyda asked.

...yes. I would like this.

Ceyda grinned. “Well, Doc, I’m Ceyda. Nice to meet you.”

Heh, nice to meet you too.