Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jane stretched, twisting her body from side to side to relieve the soreness in her muscles from a morning spent sparring and training. She squeezed her eyes shut, sighing a little. She was frustrated, and it wasn’t just because Gunther had actually bested her during two rounds of staves today. 

Jane’s brain always buzzed with life when she moved her body, so she’d hoped doing her routine training would help give her some clarity when it came to the runes she was trying to decipher in Dragon’s cave, but so far, nothing. The runes bounced around her skull, still no closer to making sense. And really, after spending years of her life digging for all she could about dragon lore, and still finding more secrets layered upon secrets, she was starting to lose her patience. Why couldn’t she have solved all the mysteries of dragonkind already? Would she never meet another human who knew anything about dragons? Were she and Dragon doomed to wander the skies forever, alone, never truly knowing if he was the last of his kind? Would all those runes go unsolved? Was there anyone on earth who could possibly provide any sort of clues in this tiny kingdom?

“Jane?” Pepper’s voice interrupted her gloomy reverie. “Would you mind being a dear and making a quick delivery for me? The Wizard has requested that someone deliver a serving of fish stew up to his Tower for his lunch today, and-”

“The Wizard,” Jane breathed. 

“Yes, the Wizard,” Pepper tilted her head a little, looking at Jane. ‘What grand ideas are you cooking up in that fiery head of yours right now?”

“Hopefully a good one. Yes, Pepper, I’ll deliver that stew quick as a flash, and hopefully come back with a filling serving of answers!” she took the bowl from Pepper’s hands and darted off. 

Pepper chuckled a little as she watched her go. 

---

Years ago, a few years before Jane had realized she wanted to be a knight, she developed a sudden obsession with the Wizard. 

Growing up in such a small castle and kingdom meant the notion of a total stranger was almost entirely foreign to little Jane. In a place as tiny as this, you tended to always have an idea of who someone was, their name and face, even if you didn’t know them personally. So when Jane discovered the existence of this man who spent all his days in a tall castle tower, doing who-knows-what up there, she had to know who he was for herself. 

She’d managed to sneak away from her mother and her lessons for the day- she didn’t remember how- and crept up the long staircase to the Wizard’s Tower. 

She’d gently pushed the door open and tiptoed in. She had been in awe- the towering piles of books, the imported Middle Eastern carpet, the piles of innumerable objects that only someone like a Wizard would know the purpose of.

There had been a noise, and Jane had jumped behind a pile of books that was bigger than her entire body. Unfortunately, the Wizard had needed one of those tomes for whatever he had been doing, and he had screamed like he had been wounded when he moved a book and found a pair of bright green eyes staring up at him. 

Once he’d collected himself, Jane had gotten the sense he was not exactly pleased she’d snuck in his Tower without his permission, but he still answered the questions she peppered him with. Yes, he really was the Wizard. No, he could not show her how to do magic. Yes, he really had read all of the books in his Tower. He only got bored sometimes. He didn’t want to tell her how old he was. Yes, it was a little lonely up here sometimes, but that was not an invitation for her to sneak up here by herself again. 

Many things in this Tower are delicate or dangerous for children. He’d said firmly. If you are to come back here, do not creep in like a mouse and touch things without asking. Come with another adult, or simply knock next time. 

Jane had felt both exhilarated and oddly disappointed. She had met the Wizard! But…he was just an ordinary looking man. He had light brown skin and his dark hair was graying, but his face was oddly youthful and unlined. If you took away his brightly colored clothing or the piles of arcane items around him, he would look like any other traveling merchant in the street. And he wasn’t even going to show her how to do magic! How unfair! 

The Wizard wasn’t cruel, but he wasn’t exactly affectionate either. He was, frankly, the most scatterbrained person that Little Jane had ever met. He had chattered away about the uses of tarot cards and the healing properties of various herbs, and then promised to read her a book on any subject she chose if she promised to stop touching a bottle of what appeared to be some kind of potion. She’d agreed immediately, then chose a book about war. She had sat obediently as he showed her pictures of all the ways you could torture someone, but their little lesson was cut short when she started crying at the sickeningly detailed depiction of a dead man’s innards. He’d hastily tried to soothe her by patting her back and mumbling there, there, but it didn’t work.

Jane was not exactly allowed to visit the Wizard after that. Jane had protested, saying that she was the one who’d asked for the book about war anyway, but the matter was settled in the eyes of her parents. By the time Jane had immersed herself in her journey to knighthood, the Wizard flickered in and out of her life, offering little more than a polite nod or brief casual conversation on the rare occasions he left his Tower. 

But now? Now he might be able to offer her something very special indeed. 

---

“Hello!” The Wizard said as he opened the door of his Tower, the  word a little drawn out due to apparent surprise. “Jane! My, it has been too long since you have come up to this door! Come in!”

He was a lot more comfortable talking to her now that she was no longer so little, it seemed. 

“Now, what can I offer our one and only girl knight?”

The Tower was almost exactly as she remembered it, eerily frozen in time. The only real difference seemed to be that the Wizard’s piles of various goods had grown larger, some towered at almost perilous heights. The Wizard, too, had remained largely unchanged over the years, only a little grayer and more wrinkled than he had been when they first met. She wondered if he was cooking up a potion that slowed aging.

“Do you have any books about dragons, Wizard?”

“Pass me my stew, and then we shall talk,” he said mischievously. She smiled as he began gulping it down, only stopping to avoid staining his clothing or his rare goods. 

“I shall give your compliments to Pepper.”

“Please do, her cooking keeps me sane. Well, as sane as a Wizard in a tower can be, anyway.” he laughed. “As you were saying: Dragons! Come this way.” He led her over to a pile of books, and she stifled a gasp when she saw one of Dragon’s scales propped atop the pile. 

“When I first came here, I was utterly entranced with all things draconic. I spent years researching, like you, but while you get your information straight from the source, I was restricted to collecting information provided by fellow humans. There are years’ worth of various accounts about dragons in here. Some from China, others from closer by. I don’t know how useful some of these might be, but I hope you will find something that interests you.”

“May I?”

“Yes, yes, read them all!” he paused. “I wanted to tell you about these books when you first befriended Dragon, but you were so young, I felt I had to wait for you to mature so you could understand them better. Now, I think you are finally old enough.” He was looking at her with that fond look adults sometimes get when they think about how fast the children in their lives grow up. “Time flies by so quickly, doesn’t it?”

“It certainly does. I am glad my negative reaction to your book of war did not cause you to permanently ban me from your collection.”

“What are you talking about-ohhh. Yes. That. I am sorry. I never really know what to do with children, and I forgot how detailed the illustrations were-”

“It’s all right Wizard, I only had a few nightmares. Hopefully these books about dragons will not stir such a reaction in me.” She laughed. 

“They might,” he said, and he was quite serious. 

---

“Adapting well to the heavy burden of knowledge, I see.” the Wizard said, half-teasingly. 

Jane managed a small smile. For the past week, she’d spent every ounce of free time she had pouring over his dragon books, often having animated discussions with Dragon or Jester about them. She hadn’t been able to tell Dragon about her latest finding, the fact that one tome briefly mentioned that odd symbols tended to be found around places where dragons allegedly dwelled, and they varied based on region. Regional runes? It was enough to drive a dragon-loving knight mad! She was starting to think it was driving her a bit mad, for she wasn’t sleeping very well, and right now all she wanted to do was rant and rave and hold her head in her hands. There were dark circles under her eyes and a bit of a wild look to her now, and that was why he was teasing her. 

To Jane’s relief, he actually let her ramble incessantly about all the things in his books keeping her awake at night, like how there were rumors that dragons had been hunted to extinction by humans and she couldn’t figure out why, the wide range in appearances of dragons from various parts of the world, the rumors of a rare order of people dedicated to worshiping dragon-like beings like deities, and more. It had been years since he’d read those books, but he still nodded like he completely understood what she was talking about. 

“You know, Jane,” he said once she caught her breath. “You’ve inspired me. For so long, my old books have been gathering dust up here in my lonely tower, when they could have been igniting life in the eyes of readers like yourself all this time. I think I want to share my gifts with others who can appreciate them. If you want to, you may help me carry some of these books down the staircase and we can bring them to the literate residents of this castle to spread joy and knowledge among the people. I can even teach the illiterate how to read, if they so wish!”

“Really?” Promising to teach the illiterate was a big deal, and the fact that the reclusive Wizard was agreeing to bring his precious goods out of his tower was an even bigger one. 

“Yes, yes, now hurry up and help me before I regret this!”

“What is all this about, Jane?” Adeline asked as she walked up to Jane and the Wizard, who were organizing piles of books and sweating. 

“The Wizard wants to share his gifts of knowledge with the rest of the castle! Anyone literate is welcome to read any of these books, and anyone who wants to read can be taught!”

“Anyone?” Piped up the Merchant, who walked up with a curious little smile on his face. 

“Well,” the Wizard said, his smile not fading even a little. “Maybe not just anyone.”

“What if I pay you?”

“Can you give me anything I ask for in exchange for a book of your choice?”

“Of course, good sir,” the Merchant said smoothly. 

The Wizard beamed innocently at the other man. “I’ll trade you anything you want in exchange for one Simurgh. One Simurgh, take it or leave it.”

“I will take it. You will have a pocket full of Simurghs by the day’s end!” The Merchant strode away confidently. 

Jane shot the Wizard an alarmed look. He simply winked. 

“A Simurgh is a mythological creature, dear.” he whispered. “Even if they do exist, he would never be able to bring me a single one by sunset, let alone a ‘pocket full of them’ as he claims. For once, I’m grateful that man thinks of nothing but money all day.”

“He has a terrible temper,” Jane warned. “If he realizes you have made a fool of him, he may try to harm you.”

“I am aware, but I also have several bottles of poisonous liquids at my disposal, so we shall see who emerges victorious from that fight.” he said it so casually it almost alarmed her. 

Adeline politely pretended she had neither seen nor heard any of the previous exchanges. Her eyes wandered to two books the Wizard had about knights. Her eyebrows raised a little, and she selected them to read and walked away. A few minutes later, Jane saw a giggling Lavinia trying to scamper away holding a book much too large for such a small girl to hold. 

“What book is she trying to get away with?” Jane asked. 

“I don’t know, and I doubt she would be able to understand it anyway. I think as long as she doesn’t run to her father crying about having read something scary, we should be fine. Anyway, I have lessons to get to, I promised your friends I’d help them learn to write.”

---

Lavinia looked around hurriedly, making sure no one spotted her sneaking into the stable. She hoped the presence of the horses didn’t disturb anything, for this was delicate work. 

As soon as she saw the Wizard had a Book of Alchemical Spells, she knew she had to get her hands on it. Now, she was about to put this dusty old book to the test and see if it could really do what it claimed. 

She had wanted to start off by immediately summoning a demon like one spell proclaimed, but realized she had to pace herself first. A simple little spell that involved turning straw into gold should be easy enough for a princess’s first spell. Yes, it was true that she barely understood half of what she was reading, but she could figure it out, right? 

---

Adeline took a brisk walk around the castle to clear her head. She had been intrigued by the Wizard’s books about knights, but now that she had read parts of both, she found herself a little overwhelmed. These books were not the gilded ballads of knights that most kings favored. These depictions of knights were strange and dark, full of passion and fury and subjects that most respectable writers and balladeers shied away from. She was no sheltered child, she knew that the life of a knight was a cruel and dangerous one, but being reminded of this fact in such exquisitely written detail had been…a lot. One of the knights in one of the books had red hair, and Adeline kept finding herself accidentally picturing Jane’s face transposed on top of his. Adult Jane, going on a rampage in the battlefield. Adult Jane, being forced to survive alone in the wilderness. Adult Jane, being injured in bizarre and brutal ways.  Adult Jane, trying not to descend into madness. 

It hurt so much, thinking about that. It also hurt, thinking about her father and what he had likely done while he was away on his knightly duties. Had he ever done anything like some of the knights in the books? Some of them were quite wicked, and brought shame to the title of knighthood, they were meant to be the villains (mostly). She knew her father was no saint, but being reminded of the true evils some knights were capable of when they abused their power…she shuddered to think about it. Did people hide some aspects of his legacy from me? A dark voice in her head whispered. She had wondered about that many times before, but now, after reading those books, it was back with a vengeance. 

And of course, there were the other parts. Adeline, despite how her daughter saw her, did not consider herself prudish, she was simply a normal woman adhering to standards that Jane had spent her whole life making a show of ignoring. So while Jane might have rolled her eyes or even laughed at some of the more…sensual scenes that depicted knights and their lady lovers, Adeline found herself…confused. There were some things that had made her flush and gotten her heart pumping and she could not entirely explain why. Why couldn’t she explain why? Why couldn’t she stop thinking about it? Why was she suddenly desperate to read it again? She was too old to be blushing and giggling like this over the thought of- 

Asking questions about my father, asking questions about myself, what are the Wizard’s books doing to me right now?

She was immediately distracted by a much better question. 

“Princess Lavinia, why are you covered in horse dung and straw?” she demanded.

The princess slumped, but Adeline knew she was likely not actually guilty for what she was doing, not one bit. 

“I was trying to summon a demon.”

“You were trying to do what, Your Little Majesty?” 

“Well, first I tried to turn straw into gold just to see if the magic in the Wizard’s book really was real, but then Cuthbert found me and I got bored of messing around with straw anyhow, so I started trying to summon a demon to scare him. We were around the horses, which is where the dung came from. Mostly because he threw some at me after I started chanting in Latin to scare him.”

Adeline could not handle this right now. “The Wizard and his books!” she cried. “They are bringing mayhem to every corner of this castle!”

“Do you really think they are magical, Lady Adeline?” 

“I do not know, but if they are, it is likely dark magic! We are getting you cleaned up before the King or Queen sees you, and then we are putting a stop to this madness!”

“R. A. K. E.” 

“That’s right!” The Wizard said. “Only a few hours and you already know how to write your nickname!” He pulled Rake into an awkward half-hug, which was the most physical contact Jane had ever seen the Wizard engage in. This ‘awakening’ he was having was really drawing him out of his shell. 

Jane and her friends clapped for Rake’s progress, Pepper cheering loudest of all. Rake had already promised that he would learn how to spell her names-both Pepper and Verbena-once he got more of a hold on this whole writing thing. Jane suspected he wanted his handwriting to be perfect before he presented it to her. 

“How does this look, Wizard?” Smithy asked, sounding as if he was restraining his excitement. He held up a piece of paper, on which the word PIG was scrawled in earnest but clumsy letters. Smithy was having a surprisingly hard time focusing on reading and writing, and the Wizard thought it would be best if he started practicing with very short words first, like SKY and CAT, and his favorite…

“Pig!” The Wizard clapped in approval. “You wrote ‘pig!’”

Another cheer went up, and Smithy blushed a little. He then turned a little to Pig, the real pig sitting next to him, and pointed at the piece of paper, saying, “I wrote your name.” 

Pig oinked in approval. Smithy repeated “I wrote your name,” a few more times, in a voice of soft wonderment, like he was trying to convince himself this was real.

“Hello, Lady Adeline!” The Wizard said. “Just look at all the progress the young people have made in just one day! We covered the alphabet, and while we don’t have it all memorized yet, we started with the basics of writing, and Rake has learned how to write his own nickname!”

“R. A. K. E. Rake.” Rake said with a nod. 

“I wrote Pig. ” Smithy said, beaming. 

“I wrote cook!” Pepper added. “Look, Lady Adeline!” She presented her with a piece of paper that said COOKE. 

“Isn’t this wonderful?” The Wizard asked. “A more literate workforce has the power to bring the whole castle, maybe even the whole kingdom, to a much brighter future! Soon we’ll all be able to read all sorts of books, and more!” 

“That,” Lady Adeline said in a tight, clipped tone. “Is precisely the problem. I have no objections to these fine young people knowing how to read, but it is what they may read that I object to. Your books, Wizard, are bringing chaos to this castle. The Princess was caught trying to summon demons, and I have been positively disturbed by some of the most grotesque things I have ever read. You may keep teaching them how to read, but I do not approve of the books you might give them.”

“Why?” The Wizard asked. “What is the worst that could happen if they read something that upsets them? One of my books gave Jane nightmares when she was small, yes, but I should have known that book was not for a child’s eyes. And so what if they read something frightening, something they do not understand? Isn’t the point of reading to learn new things about the world? You say you read something awful, but there are many facts of life that are awful. It would do us no good to try and spend our whole lives avoiding hearing about awful things. If one of my books upset you- tell me about it. Tell me why. Let us not ignore it, let us talk about why it is upsetting to you.”

There was a lengthy pause. 

“I do not think I am the kind of person to read a whole book,” Smithy said. “It’s too much sitting still. But if I am to read books, I want to know everything that is in them. I do not want to hide from any of it.”

“I don’t like it when my plants suddenly die or rot,” Rake offered. “But if I never wanted anyone to talk about rot or decay, then I would never have learned some remedies that can keep them from sickening.”

“Many people often object to my terrible jokes,” Jester volunteered, for he had been watching the others learn and helping them. “But no one’s ever told me to stop telling them entirely.”

“And you’ve tried to stop me from wearing a knight’s tunic at a ball,” Jane said. “But I think you realized fairly quickly that you were fighting a losing battle.”

“What was in the books that made you so upset, Lady Adeline?” Pepper asked. 

Lady Adeline opened and closed her mouth several times. 

“War.” she said finally. “And death. And many other things. Some of them were very awful.”

“Those are very upsetting,” Jane agreed. “But books about war can be very useful tools for someone who knows a lot about the battlefield. Maybe you do not have to read it, but someone else can.”

“Well,” Lady Adeline said stiffly. “I suppose I feel rather silly now. Jane reads runes that say all sorts of things like forest fire and kill and sea monster and I’ve never stopped her from reading them.”

A good natured laugh went up among the group. 

“Wait,” Jane said. “Sea monster?” 

“Yes,” Lady Adeline waved a hand. “Those runes you scribbled down the other day, they said sea monster or something of the like.” 

Jane stared at her mother like she had grown a second head. 

“What?” Lady Adeline said. “You left that rune translation guide you wrote laying around, of course I saw it! Then when I peeked at those new runes, I thought one of them said sea monster. Or something like that.”

“Mother.” Jane said, as if Lady Adeline had displayed her with a chest full of gold. “I think you might be right. I think you might have deciphered the runes that have been haunting me this whole time!”

“Let’s not be too hasty. Let’s get Dragon and take a look at your writings again.”

The two walked away, talking fast. 

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier? How long have you been able to read runes?”

“Well I can’t really read them very well, I only know what’s in your translation guide, and when I thought one of them said sea monster I thought ‘oh, she probably figured that one out already…’”

“What’s all the ruckus?” Gunther said, walking in the courtyard to find the Wizard’s postponed reading session.

“We’re learning how to read!” Pepper beamed. 

“Really? That’s wonderful!” His happiness was genuine, without a hint of sarcasm. It was a rare sight, and was like seeing the sun peek out of the clouds on a rainy day. But it disappeared quickly, for he turned to the Wizard and said: “Oh, by the way, Wizard-you might want to run. My father’s been running himself ragged looking for a Simurgh. A thing I’m starting to suspect does not actually exist.”

The Wizard reached into his pocket and handed Gunther a vial of liquid, it looked oily. 

“If he gives you any trouble, about what I did, or just in general, just slip several drops of this into his food or drink.”

Gunther paled. 

“It will not kill him, but if he eats enough, it should dull his senses. He will be drowsy or fall asleep soon after consuming it. I can show you the exact dosage. It’s not a permanent solution by any means, but I hope it helps, even a little.”

Gunther suddenly looked unnerved by how knowing the Wizard looked in that moment. He opened his mouth as if to say thank you, but instead just nodded. He looked like he was about to dart off again, but there was a loud crashing noise nearby and the distinct sound of the Merchant screaming in pain. A lot of pain. 

“No!” The Merchant bellowed. “The feathers!”

“Gunther,” The Wizard said in a voice of eerie calm. “What does your father know about the Simurgh?” 

“Uh, he asked someone and they told him that they can fly and have special feathers, so I wager he might have been looking for one in a tree just now.” Gunther looked around a little bit, then lowered his voice. “But more likely, he was trying to capture a normal bird and trying to pass its feathers off as something from a Simurgh because he thinks you’re a mad fool. I think he might have set a trap for an ordinary bird and tried to get it himself while I distracted you. But that’s just my theory. I don’t actually know anything about what he does or how he thinks.”

“I see.”   

“My arm!” The Merchant bellowed. A bird squawked. 

The Wizard reached into his pocket again and pulled out another vial. 

“This one is mostly harmless,” he said softly. “But if you sprinkle drops of it on an open wound or bruised skin, it will burn like fire.”

“Do you just carry bottles of poison around with you wherever you go?” 

The Wizard’s expression was not angry or cruel, but it was clear he was not willing to answer that question. 

“Right.” 

The Wizard turned to his mute audience of students.
“I can trust you all to not speak of what just happened?”

There were several silent nods. 

“Excellent. Well, my promising pupils, it looks like today’s lesson is officially over. I shall see you all tomorrow!”

---

“Tell me about those runes again, Jane.” Lady Adeline said. “I think I have a theory- Milton!” 

Milton bolted upright as if he’d been caught committing a crime. He held one of the Wizard’s books about knights in his hands, and it was open to a very specific passage. There was an illustration of a knight and a lady kissing on one page. 

“I found that particular passage very illuminating ,” Adeline said in a mischievous tone. Milton, who had already been rather pink in the face, got redder.  

“I just remembered I have to do my nightly patrol,” Jane blurted. She was out of the door before her parents could protest, but judging from the looks on their faces, they would not object to some alone time right now.

---

Jane made her way through the halls of the castle, but nearly tripped over a bolting Cuthbert, who was screaming and running away from his sister, who was chanting in Latin and occasionally saying “I’m going to turn you into a frog!” in English. She laughed. 

She went outside, and saw the Wizard returning to his tower. He waved at her. She waved back. 

“You would not believe the day I’ve had,” she told Dragon as he settled down next to her and she hopped onto his back.