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Beansprout stood at the entrance to the library in the House of the Beloved and sighed. It was a sigh of pleasure, but also of trepidation.
The library was a large room set into the top two floors of the building, the upper floor being a mezzanine. A stained-glass roof cast jewel-like shades of colour onto the room. Both floors were lined with bookshelves filled with conventional books, as well as rolls of scrolls and pamphlets. In the centre of the lower floor, under the square of light, was a large table.
Beansprout headed to a section tucked in the corner under the mezzanine, where it was protected from daylight. It was here that Raghnall had stored some of his oldest books and scrolls, and she presumed that if anything referred to Giolladhe and the curse of Filtiarn all those years ago, then it would be here.
Starting methodically at the bottom shelf, she worked through the texts, finding old treatises on magic; maps, and family histories. Dust rose in clouds as she pulled the books off the shelves, and she was soon smeared in dust, print and cobwebs. She put anything of interest in piles around her, only shelving things that seemed of no relevance at all. But she quickly became side-tracked, also putting things aside for examination at her leisure.
She sighed again. She had to keep focused. Filtiarn’s life was at stake.
Hours later, she moved on in exasperation, using a finding spell that Nimue had taught her, tailored to find mention of Giolladhe and Filtiarn. The spell made the books wriggle and rustle on the shelves, leading her to a shelf of history books. They were all about the dragon wars and the founding of Dragon’s Hollow – this was interesting, but it didn’t tell her about the curse. Maybe Raghnall had known nothing about it? Maybe it was just between the brothers.
She hoped Nimue and Merlin were having better luck searching the rest of the house. Nimue was searching Raghnall’s old room, which both of them had avoided following his death, and Merlin was studying the moon cycle charts.
She was distracted by books rustling in a corner where she hadn’t looked before. As the rustling became more insistent, she headed over and saw a scroll wriggling in the middle of a tightly packed shelf. The shelf was labelled Maps and Plans. Intriguing.
She eased the scroll free and it immediately unfurled, revealing several sheets of paper – the floor plans of the House of the Beloved. One rustled free and fell at her feet. It was the plan of the lower floor. Why would Filtiarn or Giolladhe be mentioned here?
The ink was faded and difficult to read, but the paper itself was in good condition, looking as if it had been barely touched in years. She took it to the table and examined it under the daylight.
It took her a few minutes to get orientated, but then she saw a passageway leading from the lower floor to the mountain behind the house. The end of the passage was just marked Giolladhe.
She gasped. It must be the workshop.
