Book 1 Chapter 17: A Plan

It had been a few days since the Master had left, and the castle had begun to feel a little lifeless without his vivacious attitude. Mistress Ylva had secluded herself to her room and he wasn’t expecting her to come out at her usual schedule to train. Instead, Vero had decided to spend the day studying in the library. Their plan would keep moving forwards, and with the instructions written in the old language, they were far less worried about anyone discovering their plans. Vero rose and tidied the stack of papers with him. He headed for the door and heard footsteps outside, cautious, he tried to quietly open the door. Ylva stood in the doorway and he looked up at her in surprise.

“Ylva!” he said quickly. “I wasn’t, I mean… I didn’t expect you, uh,” he stammered and Ylva gave him a wry smile before holding up her finger in a shushing motion. Vero quieted and shrunk back in embarrassment.

“What do you mean, weren’t expecting me. I come here every day since we found out the truth,” she commented and Vero looked away from her constant gaze shuffling his feet.

“I just thought that, well you know, with the Ulrikan gone and you pretty much alone, that,” he said softly, embarrassed and slightly upset.

“Vero,” Ylva said, stopping him once again. “No matter what my personal feelings are, I am an Ulrikan now and must do what I can for the good people of this place, even if I would rather curl up on a bed and go to sleep,” she explained and Vero nodded once at this.

“The Ulrikan said something like that once,” Vero said trying to explain that he understood.

“Then he is a wise man,” Ylva said, jokingly, to which Vero rolled his eyes and smiled. She could be much kinder about her husband when he wasn’t around. He would let Filtiarn know about this when the master was discouraged. If only Ylva would show this side of her to him. Perhaps he wouldn’t be called to help Filtiarn’s confidence.

They entered the library together and Ylva had another servant fetch them food so that they could focus on the plan and the books. She seemed anxious to have this completed soon and she would look at him as if she knew something that he did not. She had talked with him about her visits to the sermons led by the priests of the black wolf god and none of them were very good. Thankfully she was adept at maintaining a disguise and they had not caught on yet.

The servant returned with their food and Ylva wrote down a few more notes in old tongue and then paused when the servant came and set their food by them. She dismissed the Yowlumne before resuming. There was a sense that time was not in their favor and made all their efforts more fervent. Vero felt glad that Ylva had come to her senses, but as usual she was working them both hard.

He also felt privileged to be working with her on their project. The corruption of the church ran deep and lately he had some servants and spies reporting that the church seemed to be on the move. Perhaps they knew that the master was gone for now and were trying to take over, or make Ylva their pawn. Unfortunately, for the church, they were onto them, and that was just one piece in their favor.

Other tidbits of news were about the new method for cheaper paper. Vero could see this working in their favor, but if the church got word of it, then he worried what they might publish to the people and the confusion that would sow.

Vero quietly finished writing and noticed that Ylva was also done. She looked over at him and he cocked his head thoughtfully, a spark of an idea forming.

“What if we were to translate some of the black wolf’s teachings. You know, about god and what the black wolf was trying to do. Nothing about the church and his prophecies about our time. The priests would probably not give us a grief on that, and we could slowly put in the rest, in a way that they would hardly be able to do anything about it,” Vero said quietly, pondering at the prospects. His research into the cheaper paper had led to this idea.

“You mean undermining their authority by dulling their sensitivity,” Ylva said, more as clarification than question. Vero nodded.

“So long as they aren’t too bright, we could pull it off,” Ylva said as she stood and walked over to one of the old books that she had gone through before. “Thought the cost could get unbearable…” Vero padded after her and they both looked at the book.

“Mi Lady, I am aware of a few shops that have figured out how to produce cheaper paper. It should ease the finances.”

“Hmmm…” she hummed, then began flipping through the book.

“This one would be doable,” Ylva muttered and Vero quickly scampered off to grab a quill and paper. He hoped this would work. He really wanted to surprise the master by fixing the problem before he could return. And he had a nagging feeling that if they didn’t, it could lead to the Ulrikan’s death.