Field Notes from Diamonds Hadder: On the topic of Zabble finding "The Coin Book" in Medlins library.
The library was quiet… candles flickered while strange little golden dusk globes danced in the stale air of the hidden room. Medlins magic silver light switch hovered in the air on the desk and made a strange humming noise as its magic lit the room. If there ever was a sound of spells in motion, I suppose that would be the sound of it. A low winding noise, almost like an unsettling vibration of time and space. Like poetry to a wizards ears. Zabble sat a moment.. just staring at all the shelves and all the books… he imagined the words that were dancing in the pages and the stories behind them all. The very idea of such a thing had him grinning from ear to ear… an excited grin… skylark was snoring huddled on the floor at his feet while Mattix was just wandering around the shelves looking in holes as though that’s all it was programmed to do in life. The strange occasional knock of it’s limbs bumping into one an other could be heard occasionally breaking the almost silence of the room.
“Well, I suppose it’s time master” Zabble spoke in a soft whisper to himself with a little sigh. He rose up from Medlins desk, glancing at Medlins portrait suspiciously as he arose, and walked over to the library ladder. Skylark jumped up as he dragged the ladder across the floor rather noisily… alert all of a sudden, pretending as though she hadn’t fallen asleep at all. Zabble looked over in her direction with a little, “Welcome back” he grumbled under his breath. Skylark groaned to acknowledge his dig.
Zabble began climbing the ladder… hmm… he couldn’t help but notice more books along his journey to the 4th shelf.
“Wooden Spells: The Art of Puppetry”
“Ravens: Everything you need to know and why”
“The Yarn Spinner by Samuel Iscariot”
hmmm… Zabble was finding it hard to climb any further… every inch of him wanted to grab every book and drink it up. He groaned as he climbed as though letting Medlins portrait know that he would do as he requested even though he didn’t want to. A good student even after master Medlins passing, Zabble knew in his heart that there was a reason Medlin asked him to read that book first and so he climbed a bit more and came upon the 4th shelf. As instructed he counted the 08th book from left to right… a rather unique book it was… slightly older and larger than the books surrounding it, the title on its binding was slightly obscured by some cob webs that had collected dust and surrounded it… Zabble reached for it to brush it off and as he did the necklace around his neck holding the key to the secret library suddenly started to glow a little… it startled him a bit… he paused a moment as it was occurring, the further he reached the more it glowed he noticed as though the two were connected somehow… the letters hidden under the cob webs and dirt glowed as well…. There was a magic at play here that Zabble didn’t fully understand… in the dark the title of the book came to life as Zabble clung to the rails of the ladder…. “The Coin Book” it read.
As Zabble touched the book… the candles flickered, and his key began to vibrate slightly… a low rumble that he could feel in his chest. It’s as though the two had met before, or at least that’s what Zabble thought in the moment. Like two old friends saying hello in a language he didn’t yet understand. He pulled the book from the shelf and a cloud of dust came along with it.. a cloud eerily glowing in the red magic light that was surrounding Zabble as he clung to the ladder in that moment. Mattix quickly appeared from nowhere rather deliberately to inspect the hole that was left from the removed book… it perched and peered as though ready to pounce on whatever might be hiding back there in the dark. It’s purpose was rather evident and Zabble pondered a moment that whatever magic brought it to life, was very powerful and well served. He marveled at it. Mattix, the true protector of the word.
Skylark manned the base of the ladder as Zabble made his way down to the floor. “Move over you big fury elephant,” Zabble muttered under his breath, in a playful but hurried manner. Skylark’s mouth was drooling a little as she panted and smiled, obviously interested in what Zabble was holding.. balancing her excitement and eager focus on the glowing coin book clutched in Zabbles hand as well as the knocking noise on the 4th shelf and what Mattix was up too.
Zabble made his way to Medlins desk… and sat with a heavy sigh.. "hmmm", he thought to himself staring at the book now in detail. It was bound in leather sleeves with very ornate carvings and etchings along the rims of its cover. The etchings seemed to be burned or carved into the material. It certainly looked to be old and unique. The valleys of these etchings seemed to be active… like electric water that was settled there in the canyons of the lines and carvings. They moved and danced and interacted with the hum from the key around his neck. Like little red magic dust. Suddenly Zabble noticed the etchings seemed to be slightly more than just etchings… as his key dangled from his neck, swinging like a pendulum.. he noticed some letters began to appear on the cover of the book as the key swung past them. Hidden otherwise, the key seemed to reveal letters hidden in the etchings. Skylark looked on as though she was amazed and bewildered as much as he was. Zabble held the key and waved it across the front of the book reading aloud the message that graced it's elaborate cover.
“To the place, this coin delivered be just,
Where the sleepy narrows run, by a diamond prince and a dream master must.
To the deep, returned, below the hidden fall
That giver be, forever granted, his evermore.”
Hmmm. Zabble was quiet a moment. He loved a good puzzle. Odder the better. Skylarks head turned to the side staring at Zabble as he was frozen a moment. "The narrows... a prince... his evermore... hmmm...." he muttered to himself. He then glanced up at Medlins portrait… thinking about Medlins request beyond the black forest and that mysterious thing he would find there during the first winter moon.
Turning his attention back to the book, he opened it. It made an odd mechanical noise and seemed to crack as though it hadn’t been opened in a while… inside a strange silver hand carved coin was embedded into a perfectly fit pocked cut into the very first thick leather page of the book, the coin was etched and glowing in the same red magic which now illuminated zabbles bewildered face in a bright amber light, casting his large wizard like shadow on Medlins portrait behind him as he stared in absolute amazement at the coin. Medlins eyes secretly glowed in the shadow of Zabbles discovery.
“Well well’ Zabble muttered quietly… glancing back at the portrait once again….humming an old Bokonean hymn softly under his breath…. “hmmmm…. hmm….hmmm… Such winter moons be juggled free, of life and duty needs… come round the winter tree…. Hmm hmmm hmmm…. Old moon… come round the winter tree.”
“Ok, master, I’m listening.” Zabble said… as he turned to read the first page of the book.
"hmmm hmmmm hmm... Come round the worry tree... .oh winter moon to be"
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