The Shadow Key Part 5

Books to the face also hurt like being thrown into a glass.

“Why did you do it, Wesley?” Melanie asked her friend, standing in the depth of the Shadow Library. Her face swimming in the pool of blackness cast by her hood and her arms hidden from sight by the black cloak of her Rank. She didn’t let the Palace guards know about the thief on the grounds. Nor did she let any of the other Hoods know about Wesley either. She wanted to deal with this matter herself.

                Wesley sighed, putting the book back. He glanced up at the ceiling. “I’m going to have to hurt that Alchemist. He made the poison too weak.”

                “Wesley, tell me why,” Melanie demanded. “Why would you hurt me like this?”

                “Why?” Wesley said, facing her. “Why? Because you left us, Melanie. I had no choice but to live on the streets. I had to do what needed to be done.”

                “Who hired you to steal the spellbook?” Melanie asked.

                “No one hired me,” Wesley said. “I wanted the book for myself. I learned about a time spell from a Spellcrafter, and I knew this place had to have it. Or at least, the Spellcrafter said it was here.”

                “The Spellcrafter you killed?” Melanie questioned him.

                “Wow,” Wesley nodded, “you work quickly.”

                “I have to do so,” Melanie told him. “I am the best at it.”

                Melanie didn’t move, but she studied the bookshelves' tightness between them. The shelves were made from black marble with golden Owl heads at each end of the alley. The Owl heads were the size of a closed paw, and the eyes of the Owls looked at them, studying them like prey. She had always hated Owls, along with most squirrels in the Realm.

                The Hoods more so among them because if the stories were true about the Owls, they were the true master of the magic. They were also worshiped as gods from the Dark Ones.

                “I want to cast the spell,” Wesley said, “get myself a better life, change a few things. Maybe, even keep you around.”

                “There is no kind of spell like that,” Melanie said. “There are no time spells that can change the past. You have been lie too. You were fooled.”

                “No, you are lying. I know it is real. I’m willing to try it,” Wesley said. “Anything would be better than this life.” He sighed, dropping his shoulder. “Let me try, Mel. I’ll do something good for both of us. We can live in the Palace. We could be the Emperors or whatever you want.”

                “I can’t let you.”

                He dropped his head. “You don’t understand -“ He shook his paw at her - “you don’t understand what it is like out there. You get to live here behind an ivory wall turning a blind eye to everything out there.”

                Melanie huffed, not saying a word.

                “What is it like for squirrels like Scott or me,” Wesley almost shouted.

                “You both choose your paths,” Melanie said,” just as I did. Your choice to poison me. Scott choice to lie to me, and now we are both here.”

                “You’re not going to make this easy for me, huh?” Wesley asked, but Melanie could see his paw falling to his back, reaching for the throwing knife hidden there. She had been here too many times to know what he was planning. She had seen many horrors and fought too many monsters to be taken out by a mere street thief.

                The blade sailed past Melanie’s head like someone had tossed a snowball at her. She side-stepped the knife, dashing forward, and then threw her’s return. Her blade didn’t miss nailing Wesley right the arm. He cried, spinning with the force of the hit, but he let the motion give him a helping paw to run down the ally. He tossed books from the shelves as he went knowing Melanie was quickly following him.

                But she wasn’t following him; she had stepped back, dashing behind the shelves and running along the parallel alley. She hoped he went left, heading right in her path, going to the door, but Wesley went right, going away from her. He had to have a way out of the library. An escape path, but there was only one way in and out of the library: the front door.

                Where are you going?

                She didn’t stay on his back. She moved down another alley, planning to cut him off. She knew the library like the back of her paw. She knew almost the whole Palace like the back of her paw. It was a part of their training, all the Hoods, but mostly the Five; if the Palace was every attack, they could get anywhere, fast.

                There was nowhere Wesley could go without her knowing.

                She spun around the alley, being whacked in the face by the book. The hit tossed her back against another shelf, making her see stars and forcing her eyes to start watering. It would only be a matter of seconds before blood started to drip from her nose.

                Melanie shook her head, trying to knock the stars free from her sight. When the stars fell from her eyes, she saw Wesley go left, dashing back to the library's exit.

                She smirked, racing from her spot, not letting him see where she was going.

                Wesley could see the door in front of him with no one around. None of the other Hoods were standing there. They might have said something about the hilt of a knife standing in his shoulder, but he could still get away. He reached for the opening and tried to run out, but -

                He landed on the ground seeing a massive squirrel standing over him.

                “Hello, I’m Dante.”

                “Thanks,” Melanie said, stepping in the doorway. Wesley looked up at her trying to smile, but she kicked him across the face knocking him out cold. She kneels over him, taking her key back and hiding it on her belt.

                “You know you should have told me sooner,” Dante said, crossing his arms.

                “I’m not in trouble?” Melanie asked.

                “No, not at all,” Dante said, waving for some guards to carry Wesley away into the dungeon. “I lost my key like a year ago after losing a card game. Eloise helped me get it back. You should ask him about it sometime.”       

Author's Note

I have been working on these story little tales for Whispering Oaks for some time but have kept them in the background. As I’m sure many of you have noticed, I haven’t been posting a lot; lately, there is a reason for it, but sadly, I can’t get into that right now.
However, I am going to start posting more stuff for Whispering Oaks. I wake up most mornings thinking about this world, missing it if I’m honest, and I can’t keep walking away from it. Mostly due to the fact, that it keeps pulling me back to it.
I have to work on another world which I also love, but I’ve been letting Whispering Oaks sit on the back burner for a while now. I think I got overwhelmed with the dream of the world. Now is the time to get back into it, and I hope you enjoy what is to come.
As always, please remember when you are about to critique any of my work on here that most of these are world-building notes for me. These stories or letters you are reading are my warm-up writing to the novel I’m currently slaving away on. I say this in the hopes you will go easy with my poor grammar and spelling errors. I try my best to catch what I can when editing, but I’m not that good at it, as you will see. By all means, please help me with story flow, plot holes, characters, and so on. And if you like a character or a world or a tale, let me know. I would love to build more of what you guys like. Also, feel free to interact with me on any matter when it comes to this world. I want a relationship with my readers, and my door is always open.

With a tip of the hat
Chase