Grabbing the paper Valentine immediately shot back from the tree line and pressed his back against the wall. Raising his sword in his right hand in front of him toward the trees and aiming his left palm at the sky. “Rise up… Flare” the words left Valentine’s mouth as he felt the heat of the magic rush to his hand and then exit, shooting into the sky causing a loud bang and filling it with a purple hue. As soon as the flare lit up the sky Valentine moved toward the entrance of the tunnels, waiting for what seemed like an eternity for the sign he could enter. As he breathed heavily, scanning his surroundings, he heard the muffled sounds of knocking on the other side of the wall his back was pressed against. Immediately following the knocking Valentine knocked back on the wall with his left hand, still raising his sword to the unseen enemy.
When Valentine’s own knocking was over he felt as the wall behind him slowly crumbled. “Close the entrance as soon as I get in!” Falling backwards through the hole Valentine never let his eyes leave the forest, only looking away when the wall fully closed in front of him.
“What's going on? Why did you use a flare?” Kaedric gave Valentine a concerned look as he questioned him. “Was there more goblins than you could handle or something?” Kaedric’s concern only grew deeper as he realized how alarmed Valentine was
“I found something; I don’t know what it is exactly, but we might be in trouble.” Valentine barely got the words out between the gasps of breath. His heart was beating fast, this was the first time since the first goblin attack that he felt this way. Unfolding the paper Valentine almost half expected to find nothing, but he wasn’t so lucky. The paper didn’t have any words on it exactly, rather it had strange symbols, like writing, but nothing that could be recognized by Valentine. There was three lines of the symbols, the first only having two symbols, the second having 3, and the final having 7.
Valentine struggled to find words for a moment, not knowing what to take away from the strange scratchy writing, or what he though must be writing. As he stared at the paper his eyes began to strain, feeling a slight headache Valentine forced his eyes closed and felt relief. Opening them again the paper had changed suddenly. “Hello, I mean no harm, I wish to meet at the river tomorrow.” Seeing the message only confused Valentine more. How had the indecipherable words suddenly become English?
“Is this what you are so freaked out about?” Kaedric snatched the paper from Valentine only to have the same reaction as him. Confusion, headache, then even more confusion. “How the fuck?” Valentine gave him a knowing glance as the words slipped out of his mouth.
“We have to show Professor Roxanne, that's the only way we can decide what to do.” Valentine sat up and began walking down the tunnel with Kaedric following behind him. As he made his way through the maze he closed the bulkheads behind him.
When Valentine and Kaedric finally made their way to the entrance of the tunnel Professor Valentine had just begun to enter. “Professor you need to see this” Valentine stopped her at the entrance and handed her the note.
Again, the reaction was the same, this time however there was no cursing or questioning of how it happened. “I assume you both saw the same thing I did?” Professor Roxanne asked the question, though by looking at the faces of Valentine and Kaedric she already knew the answer.
“Yes, I found it outside the wall when I did my morning patrol. I heard a noise in the forest and found this when I went to check. I didn’t see who or what dropped it.” Valentine recounted his experience.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Was this the reason for the flare earlier?” Professor Roxanne asked her second question. Though she also felt that she knew the answer as well.
“Yes, I needed to make sure I wasn’t ambushed entering the wall.” Valentine gave a stern look, he disliked using magic that gave away the library’s location like that, but it was a desperate situation that had no alternatives.
“Good, lets bring this to the other senior students, no need to scare the first years.” Professor took the note and began walking to the entrance of the library. Along the way she called Michael, Taylor, and Jesse to follow.
Professor Roxanne finally stopped when she entered the room that Terran was resting in. While Valentine had thought it was weird that they would discuss in the room of a patient, he understood when he saw the now awaken Terran.
“Holy shit man, you’re finally looking alive, took you long enough.” Kaedric was the first to speak, though his words were crass, Valentine shared the sentiment.
“Shut it, I look better than you even when I am dying” Terran cracked a smile at Kaedric’s words.
“Kaedric, what did I say about foul language?” Professor Roxanne shot Kaedric a dirty look as he inched away from her defeated.
Everyone gave a light chuckle as they entered the room. Since Terran had fallen ill it was tense among the group, but now that he was back a weight had been lifted from the atmosphere. Valentine was most relieved however, it meant that soon he would finally be able to stop doing so many chores.
“So, there is a reason why I have gotten everyone gathered besides the news of Terran’s partial recovery. Valentine found this in the forest outside the wall.” Professor Roxanne unfolded the paper and showed it to everyone in the room one by one. Each having the same distinct momentary headache followed by a grim look.
“We have to go” Terran was the first to speak, however his words were uncharacteristic of him, everyone expected him to be the most against anything seemingly dangerous.
“I think so too.” Valentine backed Terran up, though he wasn’t sure if it was for the same reason that Terran wanted to go, Valentine felt like they absolutely needed to go to this supposed meeting.
“I’m not sure, we don’t know if this could be a trap, why risk it?” Michael was the first to speak in opposition. Valentine thought he did have a point, the danger is unknown.
“Taylor and I agree with Michael. If whatever left that needs us to go somewhere separate from the library, it means they have plans. We should just fortify ourselves here.” Jesse spoke for herself and Taylor.
“We will need to get food eventually, and right now the river is the only way for us to get food. If we don’t go now who knows what will happen. I think we should go, and just prepare as best as we can for whatever might happen. I mean we fought off all those goblins, right?” Kaedric made a valid point Valentine thought. If nothing else, they will be prepared for this, but in the future there could be even more to go against.
“I am in agreement with going to the meeting point. But I want all of us to agree on something before we do anything.” Professor Roxanne finally put her view into the argument.
“If we go, we could get hurt, or worse. They could be waiting for us to go and then attack the library when we aren't here to defend it.” Michael began his argument, his frustration and fear for his sister apparent.
“That's why I think we should split up. Some of us go and some of us stay here. That way they can’t ambush the library.” Professor Roxanne spoke up again, not arguing with Michael but remaining calm. “You can stay her if you would like to remain on defense.”
“I would be fine with that. But what about Taylor and Jesse?” Michael’s anger subsided and now he looked toward the pair of girls for their opinion.
“I just don’t want to get hurt” Taylor said slightly frightened.
“Same here. I want to stay on defense” Jesse gave her own view. Since the battle with the armored goblins Taylor and Jesse remained together at almost all times, and both had become frightened of even leaving the walls.
“So, we all agree that some of us shall stay here, while others will go and meet these strangers?” Professor Roxanne ended her statement by standing up. “Kaedric, Valentine, and myself will go meet them tomorrow. Michael, Taylor, Jesse, and Terran will stay here.”
At this Terran shot up “Professor I said I wanted to go!”
“Terran you are still recovering. You have done nothing but eat and sleep for the past week, your body is in no condition to be fighting. I will not have you leaving the wall until you have fully recovered, understood.” Professor Roxanne gave Terran a stern but caring look.
“Okay Professor.” Terran gave a defeated look. At that everyone began to file out of the room, going their separate ways to prepare for the following day.