The Valley of Lies (Lightkeepers #1)

Chapter EIGHT: Liss

Liss paced the back room of the Healers Cottage, waiting until Dev's and Pile's footsteps faded before rounding on Mell. The old elf ignored her accusing stare and set off about the room, dusting inside drawers and crates, weaving around Liss when their paths crossed.

"Do you think I orchestrated that little encounter?"

"No." Liss sighed, leaning against a wall that kept her out of Mell's way. "Dev wouldn't lie. He'd never risk it."

"Now you're seeing reason. And as to why you came to see me, you yourself admitted you wouldn't have gone to the ceremony had you known what was coming in the announcement. I was the one who told Dev what might have happened in that case."

"Why did you talk to him at all?" Liss threw up her hands, then thought better. It was inappropriate to yell at an elder, even if the elder probably deserved it.

"I didn't plan on it. He stopped here yesterday morning after you, and we got to chatting. I wanted to get my feel for the boy, although I suppose he's a young man now, and a handsome one, isn't he?" Mell grinned and went back to dusting, somewhat less dexterously. "I like him, dearie, and it's obvious he's smitten with you. It's a good thing he didn't let you do anything drastic last night, like run away or yell at the Council."

"He's not smitten with me, he's just protective because we grew up together."

"If you say so." Mell shrugged. The wrinkles around her mouth looked like rivers on a map when she pursed her lips. "Either way, he's a good one to have at your side. Someday your feelings about him might change, and you won't mind the other side of things."

Liss made a gagging sound. "There won't be any 'other side of things.' I'm finding us a way out of here, and Dev's agreed to help."

"Oh, Liss my girl, you don't really believe it will be so simple, do you? The mountains are impassable. Hona herself cast the barrier over the valley."

"No, I'm certain there's a way out. There has to be. Tomorrow, we're scouting the edges of the valley for clues." Dev would agree. Once she told him.

"Goddess bless you, child, if you aren't of my blood. I was so like you when I was young. I swore I could feel the magic calling to me, thought I was the only one who could save the clan. It took many years before I realized I had a savior complex from reading too many fairy stories."

"I don't have a savior complex." Liss unbuttoned her jacket and opened the front panel, revealing her secret pocket to Mell. "I have runes, and I'm going to look for weak spots in the barrier."

Mell's eyes widened. Before she could reply, one of the younger Healers–-a female with curly green hair and round brown eyes–-knocked on the wall near Liss' head. "Sorry, Mell, but we need you over in room three."

"Be right there," Mell called to the young woman who had already started back down the hallway. She tossed her feather duster into a crate, wiped her hands on her greens and turned to Liss, pointing an arthritic finger. "Wherever did you find that? The Tome of Runic Ethos has been missing for a century!"

"I... found them in a book."

"Does it have a green cover, about this thick?" She held up her thumb and first finger spaced a generous distance apart.

"No." Liss shook her head and held up her own two fingers, about half as far apart. "Brown, and more like this."

"Then it's not the missing tome, maybe an incomplete copy. But where in the world did you find it? Not that runes will do you any good, mind."

"It was in a crate behind the Juniors Cottage. I've been sketching the runes for years. If there's magic out there, somewhere, I'll find it."

Mell took a long, dragging breath. "I know you will, but will you do me a favor?"