It turned out to be Duana knocking at the door. She’d come to collect me for our visit to the library.

The castle was designed with a central staircase leading up through the center. It ran from the front entrance up to the top where the throne room lye. There was a landing every ten or twenty steps that branched off to either side for access to each of the seven floors,. There were also smaller stairways on every floor that led up and down. The library had half of of the fourth and fifth floors to itself; on the fourth and fifth landings up, both branching halls provided access to the library, with the fifth floor landing giving access to a balcony that overlooked the main floor.

Duana led me onto the main floor of the library and brought me to a long desk that sat on one side of the room. At the desk sat a middle-aged brunette woman with a large log book in front of her.

”Miss Morrigan, this is our librarian, Madam Juniper.”

Soft blue eyes peered at me with a hint of distaste.

”This is the healer?” She asked.

”Yes, this is Liena Morrigan. She has requested to look through your resources to see if there may be anything useful.”

“You’ll be looking for our books on herbalism, alchemy, and… sorcery I presume?” Juniper said, addressing me.

”That would be helpful, yes, along with any books you might have on Agsidil.”

”You’re out of luck with books on Agsidil specifically. Herbalism is there, alchemy is there, and sorcery is on the second floor. Ask the assistants upstairs to show you.”

“I’ll stay down here, I trust you will handle yourself accordingly,” Duana added. The last part was more of a statement than a question.

The lack of books specifically on SOsiris’ condition would make things a bit harder, but maybe I could figure something out. Taking what was a clear dismissal by the two women, I made my way out into the shelves, heading for the alchemy section first as it was the closest. Only one of the books really seemed of use; a book containing several ingredients common in strong healing potions. Unfortunately most of the ingredients I skimmed through were going to be impossible to obtain, so it looked like alchemy was going to be out of the question, but I took it just in case I got lucky. The herbalism section was a bit harder to find, as Juniper had merely gestured in it’s vague direction, leaving me to do most of the finding on my own. Again most of the books seemed useless, but two books did catch my eye, one on herbal remedies for rare ailments and one on combining herbalism with magic. The final section on my agenda, the sorcery section, turned out to be tucked away in a corner of the upper floor. Several titles caught my eye, many that I’d like to look into given the time.

Sorcery was another method by which someone could perform magic. It consisted of two components; spells involving words of power, and rune configurations. A few different branches of sorcery were studied. Some focused on combat, some focused on protection, one even focused on cooking. The branch I was hoping to find information on today was that which focused on medical practices. A few Druids in the village dabbled in learning the medical arts of sorcery, but I hadn’t really had the opportunity, as I was brought into the war a little over a year after completing my training and by that time I had barely become competent wielding my power as a Druid.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

My wish was granted shortly after I began searching. A book on healing spells and a book on medically assistive wards joined my already quite heavy stack. My searching done for the time being I began making my way back down to the main floor. On my way, I took note of a set of double doors in a corner. I wasn’t sure why they caught my attention, but I filed there location away for use sometime later. I returned to the librarian’s desk and set down my stack of books.

”I believe these will do for now,” I said.

”Very well.”

Juniper logged the books next to my name in the book sitting in front of her.

”You have a week. After that week is up you’ll need to renew them or return them.”

”I understand.”

Stack of books in hand, Duana began leading the way back to my room.

”I don’t think you’ll be able to read all of these in a week, Miss Morrigan,” she remarked.

”I hadn’t planned to read all of them. I just need to skim them for anything helpful.”

”Well, I do hope you find something.”

”Why is that?”

“Oh, for Master Osiris’ health, of course.”

Something about the way she said that didn’t sound like she was being entirely truthful, but I didn’t have time to ask before we made it back to my door. Duana wished me a good evening, before curtsying and turning to leave. I headed into my room and set the books down on my desk, deciding I’d go check on Osiris and then take an hour so to start looking. When I entered his room, he was awake, reading a book I hadn’t noticed before.

“What’s that?”

”Nothing,” he replied a bit too fast, closing the book and laying it face down on his chest.

“If you say so,” I responded, raising an eyebrow.

”Did you find anything?”

”A few things. Not sure if any of them will help, but I guess we’ll find out. Do you need anything before I go take a look at them?”

”Water?”

Nodding my head, I grabbed the goblet he offered me and went to fill it up, boiling the water to make it safe to drink before cooling it down like I had earlier.

“Anything else?” I asked after handing him the glass.

”Not right now, thank you.”

Nodding again, I turned to leave the room, but was stopped by Osiris’ voice.

”Damien.”

”What?” I said, turning back to him.

”My name, it’s Damien.”

“Why are you telling me?” I replied after a pause.

”I just wanted you to know.”

”Alright.”

Not having anything else to say, I continued looking at him for a moment before entering my room and closing the door.

I decided to start by looking at the herbalism books. They weren’t that much more likely to provide a solution than the alchemy book, but the components required for their suggestions were more commonly available and it was much more likely I’d be able to get my hands on them if they could help. The remedies for rare ailments volume didn’t turn up anything, but the herbalism and magic book did.

There was a section in the middle of the book that spoke of a ritual that could be performed using some herbs found in the forest where the Circle made it’s home being combined with a rune configuration and a chant. Unfortunately, while I had a pretty good idea of where to find the herbs, I had no idea how the runes worked other than that you had to draw them on something. That was an endeavor that would have to wait until tomorrow when I could get something to draw with and something to draw on. Maybe Osiris will let me use a page from his journal. With my runic pursuits being haulted for the moment, I turned my attention to the book on healing spells. Most of it was completely unintelligible to me, as much of it was written in a language I was unfamiliar with. Some of the basic information was in the common tongue, however. What I could read explained that this book contained various spells for all kinds of purposes, from simple scratches and colds, to much more dire issues. It also pointed to the title of a volume on reading the script the rest of the book was written in. With all that being said, all I could really do was wait for tomorrow to begin testing some of the ideas. Shutting the book, I returned it to the stack and pulled off the clothes I was wearing, tossing them on the sofa with the other set, and laid down to go to bed for the night.