Book 1 Chapter 13: A Sealed Book

Vero trailed behind Ylva as she headed to the library. He could still feel the matted wet fur from his training. He controlled his breathing, but felt out of breath. Only when they closed on the doors did his breathing calm enough that he felt he could speak.

“Do you have questions for me?” Vero asked.

“Of course.” Ylva responded as she reached for the handle. She pulled the door open and Vero noticed the mess. He gawked and pushed past her in disbelief.

Ylva slowly walked past him, as if she expected this.

“My Lady,” Vero growled out. Books and Paper cost fortunes. She couldn’t treat this place like this.

“Hush Lad. If you’d read the things I have, you would be furious as well,” she reprimanded.

“That’s no excuse to-“ Vero started and then she threw a dagger at him. He ducked and it hit the wall before bouncing off the stone.

“Calm yourself,” she said as she released a breath that chilled him. Vero internally back-peddled. He had little ability to challenge her. He shook as he tried to think over what she had said. She clearly didn’t want to repeat herself and something she had said could be a clue to what to do now. He walked back to her dagger and grabbed it, presenting it as mannerly as he could to her. She grabbed it and tucked it into one her hidden stashes.

She had been furious. That was the first time he had heard her mention anything about her feelings. Vero pondered and walked over to one of the stacks of open books. They all were stopped on a similar page. Passages that held similar symbols yet he couldn’t read it. He pattered over to another stack. Recent passages in a more familiar script. He let a sigh escape and began to read. He heard Ylva beginning to pick up pages and scrolls. He ignored her for the moment as he read.

Our god and protector. His benevolence saves us from the dark ones. Created in his image as we are, we are the foundation of the world.

Vero cringed. This made it seem like the black wolf god favored the Yowlume. While this wasn’t the normal dogma of the church in recent years, it was unsettling. The Master had many friends in the human population. In fact, he had offered their people the option to migrate to his lands and live with the Yowlume. He even knew of half children in ages past that had high rankings among his people. Perhaps there was more to Ylva’s outburst. She was far longer lived than him. Perhaps some past trauma had triggered her reaction?

He walked along the mess and inwardly felt his stomach curl. This seemed excessive for fury. Perhaps they should copy the humans and chain the books to the shelves. At least then it wouldn’t be such a massive deal to put things back.

He noted a strange book still on the shelves. It’s binding was impressive and he reached up to grab it. He faintly heard Ylva shout at him as something coursed through him and he fell to the ground. He felt his eyes grow heavy and cursed as Ylva appeared at the edge of his vision.

Vero felt off. He seemed to be following a Yowlume. He was tall, strong and had a regal bearing. His hair and fur was black, like the description of the black wolf god. He shifted into a wolf and it was jet black. Somehow, he kept up with the wolf as it charged into the landscape. It approached a desert and then a set of towards some ruins. The ruins changed as if restored and inside was the book he had seen earlier. The wolf sat next to it and Vero felt his capabilities return. He looked around and then walked up to the wolf. The wolf touched his hand with it’s snout and Vero felt his hand lifted to the book.

As he watched, his hands moved across the pages until the words began to be readable. He turned to a page and his hand stopped. When he looked over at the wolf, he stared as it was the Yowlume again in his human-like form. He was holding a strange writing implement and he began to write. Vero noticed words appear on the book in front of him.

And he shall come when Veles wills it. A leader that will prevent the rise of the dark and end the ignorance of my people. Should he accept it, like unto I, seven others will join him and be a help and tool to ending the destructions of my people.

The words paused and Vero noticed the Yowlume had stopped writing and seemed peaceful as he closed his eyes. But it wasn’t a feeling of completion, but rather of contemplation. Then he began to write again.

This record will be sealed with our magic, only able to be opened by him in it’s due time. And I Amarok will preserve this record so that it may reach him. And in those days will it shed a light to my people and bring them out of their fallen state. Veles willing. The light of his moon guiding.

Vero watched as the whole scene faded and he was staring up at Ylva. She looked worried. Well… as worried as her soldierly face could portray. He tried to move and bumped around. His limbs weren’t moving how he remembered them. He closed his eyes and shook his head before stretching.

“I’m alright,” he said, still recalling what he had seen. He then felt his limbs cooperate and he sat up. As he focused his eyes, he saw the book. It lay open and he noticed the page was similar to what place he had seen in the… well, he would call it a dream for now. He wasn’t sure what else to call it, but a dream just seemed too superficial.

He froze as he began recognizing the words on the page. It was in that old script, but it seemed to resonate. Ylva reached over and pulled the book closer. Her eyes were glued to the pages and she read. It was as if she had forgotten her worries. Vero nudged her, a bit dejectedly. She stiffened and looked over at him.

“How did you open this?” she asked and Vero shrugged.

“How should I know. It wasn’t sealed was it?” he teased and she nodded. Vero thought she was playing along but quickly recalled that she didn’t do that.

“Wait. Really?”

“Yes. Why is that so surprising. It’d be on the floor otherwise,” she said confidently. Vero felt the hairs on his back stand on end. He would retrain her on this book etiquette issue.

“No more of that,” he scolded and she only briefly showed a hint of amusement. “Mi Lady. These are priceless works.”

“And they rot and waste away on the shelf.”

“And since when have you cared about books? You seem the more soldierly type,” Vero quipped. She frowned and Vero instinctually ducked. That look could kill him if she wanted. Instead she sighed.

“My master, instilled it in me,” she eventually said as she looked at the book. “I have no notion of being a scholar. But I prefer truth. If I were to be employed then I want to know the terms and contracts the nobles in human society like to use and with the old script still available, it is important to understand our heritage,” she said with such solemnity that Vero became silent. He watched her read the book before rising and starting to clear the mess.

“Amarok…” he heard her mutter. Vero froze and the papers he held slipped from his hand. He shouted and grumbled as they floated everywhere.

“Are you alright?” Ylva asked as she ran over. Vero scowled.

“What where you saying earlier?” Vero asked back, feeling frustrated at the mess.

“What?”

“Something you said broke my attention and now I have this mess. So what exactly did you say?” Vero asked her as he bent down to start cleaning.

“You mean Amarok?” she said as she also knelt down opposite him and began grabbing papers. He paused and set his somewhat full hands on the stone. He let out a gusty sigh and watched a few papers rise form it before settling back down.

“Do you know that name?” he asked. She sat back on her feet and tucked her tail around as she tilted her head in confusion.

“Well, it’s in the book.”

That confirmed it wasn’t some memory of hers that she was reminiscing. But did that mean that line existed in that book? The one he had read? And how had he read it? Was that just a dream? He was already hesitant to call it that. And this was really beginning to unnerve him.

“And he shall come when Veles wills it,” he muttered, loud enough for her to hear it. He noted her eyes flew wide. Unlike normal, she stared at him in shock, instead of returning to her stoic state. “What?”

“That’s… I’ve only read that in the one book. How did you know about Veles? And…” she said, her words petering off. Vero shrugged. How should he know how to explain this.

“What else does the book say?’ he asked.

“Well…. It’s more like scripture. What to do and what not to do. But he also shares stories about his life. Something like a war with something he called the great dark. It’s riddled with prophecy. Some that has happened and some that hasn’t.”

“You read all that in that short of time?” Vero asked.

“Skimmed it, really.” She corrected. That made more sense. Vero paused. All his experiences with the religion surrounding the black wolf god had him imagining vague and incomplete jargon that only made sense when the church revealed it was a prophecy. It made him doubt their legitimacy, but sometimes, it seemed really possible. He wondered what the prophecies were like in that old book. His mind raced with ideas as they cleaned up the papers.

“Do you want me to translate it for you?” Ylva asked. Vero looked at her, his ears flicked forward in anticipation.

“Would you? I- I mean, you don’t have to. That would be a lot of work.”

“Call it intuition. It feels important to you, and perhaps I’ll have a convenient excuse to hide here in the library than working with the church,” Ylva remarked. Vero nodded slowly. They wouldn’t need to know why she was here, just that she was busy in her studies. But could they pull it off? She had her duties as Ulrika to perform… then again, she seemed to skip those or had them to the servants that remained. If they brought some of their trusted Yowlume staff back… he mused over this while they cleaned.

“It’s a good idea,” he said at last.

“What is?”

“Oh, sorry. Just thinking about the translation. I’d need to recruit some more staff to keep up on your other duties, but we could keep you away from the church and that’s probably best.” He noticed her cringe at the mention of more staff, but her ear twitched when he mentioned the church.

“And just why is that?” she asked almost threatening him to dare avoid the answer.

“It’s just-“ he sighed. She could be persistent on the most odd times. “The church sees you as a stepping stone to get at the Master. They’ve been vying to take over the control of the Ulrikans and dictate more like the humans do in their sub nations…” he said, his ears dipping down. He could see her tail twitch in annoyance but she patted his head.

“They’ll never win. But it sounds like we should get this translating thing going as soon as possible,” she said as she walked past him. He watched her head to the window and sit in the sill, staring out like she had done in the past. She seemed deep in thought.

“Then. I’ll get to work Mi Lady,” Vero excused himself as quickly as he could. He only hoped she wouldn’t undo their work in cleaning the archive.