Time drummed his fingers on his arm, frowning. “I do not know. The only healing spells I have personally witnessed were those of the light affinity. ‘Cure’ is used for poison, and ‘Purify’ dissolves basic curses.”

  Great. So there was no way of knowing… unless I got lucky and one of the plant affinity tomes just happened to be in my bag.

  I was never that lucky, but just this once, could I get a break?

  Henry sparked a fire, the warm orange glow stretching across the field as the last shreds of daylight disappeared. The rat’s glowing eyes stood out starkly against the dark, but after a quick glance at the fire, it scuttled back into the grass.

  Finally letting myself relax, I unrolled my bedroll and sank onto it with a sigh of relief. My feet ached from the long march, and my arms were definitely protesting the repeated swinging of my heavy wooden staff. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to mind.

  The soreness would pass with time, and the experience gained was invaluable.

  As Time settled nearby and Henry began preparing the Rock Snakes, I remembered the journal. Stretching just enough to brush Time’s side, I thought:

  Want to take a crack at Silas’s journal while I sort through more books? I doubt I’ll get lucky enough to find a plant affinity tome, but you never know unless you try.

  I’d feel real stupid if we went through all the trouble of tracking down tomes, only to find they’d been in my bag the whole time.

  Time didn’t react outwardly, but his response was immediate.

  Yes. Hand it to me. While I would prefer to wait for privacy, that will be a long time coming.

  I pulled the bag over, reached inside, and focused on the journal. Its weight settled in my palm an instant later. Wordlessly, I passed it to him. He leaned back against a tree, shifting to better catch the firelight, and I turned my attention back to my bag.

  There had to be an easier way to figure out what books were inside.

  Flipping it upside down and shaking it until something fell out worked, but now that I’d seen most of the books, it was taking longer each night to reach the ones I hadn’t cataloged. I didn’t want to waste over an hour digging through the same pile every time we made camp.

  Unfortunately, I hadn’t paid much attention to the covers when I grabbed them from the library, so I had no idea if any bore element emblems. If they did, I could at least try imagining one and see if the bag responded.

  Oh well. No use complaining about it.

  Rolling up my sleeves, I set to work—only to pause when I caught Henry watching me curiously. He flushed at being caught, then shook it off and asked, “Just how many books did you take from Silas’s library? I’ve seen you pull out dozens, and yet, you’re still looking.”

  I shrugged, flashing back to the towering shelves. “There were several full bookshelves, each twice as tall as I am. No telling how many I grabbed, but if I had to guess, I’d say at least a hundred per shelf, if not two.”

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  I glanced at the bag and groaned. “This is going to take forever.”

  Time patted my shoulder with an amused quirk of his lips. “You will live. It gives you something to do other than finding trouble.”

  I sucked in a breath to argue—again—that I didn’t go looking for trouble, but Henry cut in with a startled hiss. “That many?!”

  Shifting to face him, I shrugged. “I mean, it’s a rough estimate, but yeah, probably. Why are you so surprised? Silas clearly had a thing for books, and he was the king—a corrupt one at that. He had gold, connections, and influence. Gathering them wouldn’t have been hard.”

  Henry stared at me, his shock lingering. I frowned, sensing I was missing something. Fortunately, Time stepped in.

  “Books are a relatively uncommon resource due to the cost of making them,” he explained. “While it makes sense that a king could amass such a collection, it is still a staggering number.”

  Right. Sometimes, I forgot this place was basically medieval…

  Henry finally shook off his surprise. “I knew Silas was rumored to collect books, but this is beyond anything I imagined.” He hesitated, his gaze flicking to Maya before returning to me, a question hovering just out of reach.

  When he didn’t ask, I prodded, “Henry, you got something on your mind?”

  He jerked slightly, cheeks dusting pink before he cleared his throat. “Ah, I do. But first… can you read? Most poor and middle-class folks can’t, but since you and Thomas are scholars…”

  Not sure where this was going, I nodded. “Yeah. Only Common, though. Why?”

  Thank God Common was just English. The last thing we needed was me having to learn an entire language and deal with the whole ‘apocalypse destined to wipe out all life’ thing.

  Henry glanced at Maya, curled up against his side, then bit his lip. “My wife and I…” He paused, grief flashing in his eyes before vanishing. “We wanted Maya to have a better life. A better education. But neither of us came from well-off families, and we were never taught to read. We also don’t have the extra gold to hire a scholar.”

  A flicker of guilt burned in my chest.

  I’d never thought of my education as anything special. Back on Earth, all kids were expected to learn at least the basics. But here… education was a privilege, one that many people—here and back home—couldn’t afford.

  I could already see where this was going, but I stayed quiet, letting him get it out.

  Henry forced his gaze back to mine, a new nervousness in his posture. “I know you didn’t set out on this journey to be a child’s tutor, and you’re already busy sorting through all those books, but… if you could teach her, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

  Maya’s face lit up, a huge smile stretching across her lips as she sat up straighter. “I could learn to read?”

  Henry winced, stroking a hand through her hair. “Ah, I should have brought this up later.” He shot me an apologetic glance, but I waved it off with a grin.

  “I don’t mind teaching her. No promises on how good of a teacher I’ll be, though. I’ll also have to find a book in here that’s actually appropriate for a kid.”

  Would there even be one?

  After all, these books came from Silas’s library. He probably wouldn’t have had much use for a children’s story…

  Then again, I could absolutely see him hoarding knowledge just to keep it out of other people’s hands.

  Asshole.