Starlight Jewel: Gifts of the Auldtree, Book One by E.L. Lyons

Author:E.L. Lyons [Lyons, E.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: lyonspen.com
Published: 2022-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

She was nine years old, not yet a Starling. Greg wasn’t conceived. She knew nothing of Watchers and Waiters, though she knew she was different, Roarik’s daughter. She knew the Ashites were bad—they’d ruined her mother. And she knew things weren’t quite right in Minalav—that someone like Baj might have gone without a name or a place without Axly’s intervention was wrong. She needed what knowledge she could find if she was going to change the city and make it a better place.

She’d read all sorts of books about adventure, other cultures, other countries, places far away. She’d read about making things and fighting wars, about history and the Stars. And then, there were no more books in the library to read. No way for her to learn more and get better.

Her eyes fell on the locked door in the furthest corner of the library. The Austringer’s Library was behind it. Not just one lock. There was a tumbler lock—that was no problem. A blood lock—her blood would do just fine. The pressure plates she could figure out. It was the puzzle lock that had her stumped. A series of rings and gears and slides. She’d never been any good at puzzles. She waited for Tarley to go in, thinking to watch him solve it. It took her months of sleeping in the library to realize Tarley didn’t have an interest in books—she wasn’t sure he could read at all.

She convinced Jory to try the puzzle, then lay atop a bookshelf in the library and watched. He got it wrong. A loud sound came from the door and a gas of some sort. He fell, unconscious. The librarian ran over, cursing at him and dragging him out with threats of banning him from the library.

She felt a presence behind her. She turned over on her back and looked up at the boy. He was a couple years older. He had a mess of brown hair just long enough to curl at the ends and a bronzy complexion. His green eyes suggested he might have a gift of sight.

He looked down at her with a wicked grin. “What a terrible thing to do to your friend.”

Was it? Jory doesn’t care about getting banned from the library. Better him than me. “I didn’t do anything. I was just watching.”

“Of course not. You’re innocent, I’m sure.” He pulled a book from his jacket and held it up. “You know what this is?” The Life of Darigo Venson. She’d never seen the book, but she’d seen the name. It was inscribed on the puzzle lock. “If I give it to you, what will you give me in return?”

“I don’t want it,” she lied.

He nodded, his charming grin making it hard for her to keep a straight face. She rarely smiled before then. Not that she’d been unhappy, just… focused. He made it hard to focus.

“Right, only someone who wants to get in that door would want it. Not you. You’re just watching.”

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