The Royal Library
Martin got to sleep in the next day. Normally, Rosie woke him up for breakfast, but this time she didn’t. He got up from his bed and noticed that there was a pair of crutches next to the door. They were made of polished cherry wood. Someone must have requested someone in the castle to make him custom crutches. He picked them up and put them under his arms. They fit him perfectly. He didn’t know what to do now. He couldn’t go outside the castle, everyone would stop him. He could try and get them to follow along with him, but they might just force him back inside. He didn’t want to go see Tim, as he would probably yell at him for leaving. Sasha would fuss over his injuries and want to follow him around to make sure that he doesn’t hurt himself again. There didn’t seem to be a good, quiet place in the castle for him to go to just hide from everyone.
The library…
Martin decided he wanted to go to the library. He wanted to read his book again, and the new archivist had probably already cataloged it, so he would go and pick it up today. He opened the door and left his room, heading into the hallway. He tried to make his crutches sound as quiet as possible, and he made it to the library without attracting a lot of attention to himself. He opened the door and went in. He saw Jon’s tall, skinny frame sitting at the desk. He was writing something down on a piece of paper.
“Good morning.” Martin said. Jon set his pen down and looked up at Martin. He had an annoyed expression on his face, which changed to slight concern and confusion. He stood up and walked over towards Martin.
“Are you alright, your highness?” He asked. His voice sounded forced, like he was trying to sound kind.
“I’m fine. Something happened in the forest last night, but I’m fine now.” Martin shrugged.
“You don’t look fine.” Jon sighed.
“Well, I am. I don’t really want to talk about it right now.” Martin said. He tried to say it firmly, but it came out a little shaky.
“Are you looking for a specific book?” Jon asked, changing the subject.
“There was a book I was reading that I had brought to you yesterday.” Martin said.
“Which one?” Jon asked.
“I believe it was The streams, the flora, and the fauna of the magical.” Martin said. Something changed in Jon’s demeanor, but it was gone as quickly as it had arrived. Martin didn’t have time to ask him about it.
“I believe I put that one in the pile with the other legend books.” Jon said. He walked over towards the piles of books on the floor and Martin followed him.
“There’s a lot of books in here.” Martin muttered.
“Yes, there are. It might take a while to organize them all, but I suppose I have all the time in the world.” Jon said. He kneeled down next to the stack of books and started looking through them. Martin immediately felt bad for not helping and shifted his weight onto his left leg. He put his crutches in one hand and slowly lowered himself down to the floor.
“Can I help?” He asked.
“With?” Jon asked.
“The library. There’s no way you can do this all on your own.” Martin said.
“I’d rather not have your personal servants in here.” Jon said.
“I meant me, Jon. I want to help. I know my way around the library, I’ve spent most of my life in this library.” Martin said. Jon didn’t respond at first. He looked like he was thinking it over.
“I’ll think on it.” Jon said. It was a maybe. Martin smiled at that.
“Found it.” Jon said, handing him the book.
“Thank you.” Martin said. He put his weight back on his left leg and tried his hardest to stand up. He was almost up completely before he started to fall. Jon moved quicker than Martin’s reflexes and used himself as a crutch for Martin, stopping him from falling into the bookshelves.
“Thank you.” Martin said. Jon waited until Martin had shifted his weight back to his left leg before he took a few steps back so that there was space between him and the crown prince.
“You needed help, so I helped you. Nothing to thank me for, your highness.” Jon waved him off.
“Well, I’m going to.” Martin said.
“Alright.” Jon shrugged. Martin smiled.
“Did you need anything else, your highness?” Jon asked.
“Martin.” Martin said.
“Pardon?” Jon said.
“Stuck up nobles call me ‘your highness’. You can call me Martin.” Martin said.
“Well, Martin. Do you need anything else?” Jon asked.
“Unless you’ve chosen to let me help you, no.” Martin said.
“I’ll have an answer by tomorrow morning, that’ll be enough time to consider it.” Jon said.
“Alright. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.” Martin said. The two stood there in silence for a few beats.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Jon said.
“Right.” Martin said. He turned to leave, but stumbled again. Jon caught him again, this time with an arm around Martin’s torso.
“You might want both of your crutches before you leave.” Jon said. He let Martin stand back up before handing him the other crutch from the floor.
“Right! Thank you.” Martin smiled. He put the crutch under his arm.
“Alright, now I’ll leave.” Martin said.
“Don’t fall on your way back to your room.” Jon said.
“No promises.” Martin said. He had meant it as a joke. Jon didn’t catch on.
“Don’t fall, Martin.” He said warily.
“I won’t.” Martin said, leaving the library. He had his book and was making his way over to his room. He got there and set the book down on his bed.
“There has to have been something magical about those woods. That kind of stuff doesn’t just happen.” Martin mumbled to himself. He flipped through the book a bit, stopping over different bits. He dog-eared the pages about hellhounds, as he had been wanting to read about those. He flipped through a few more pages before stopping on the flora section of the book. He skimmed the pages a bit before stopping. The page was entitled ‘Hawthorn Trees, The Faerie’s Tree’. He continued reading the page. He didn’t think much about it when he put the book down. There was a knock at his door and he opened it. Tim was standing there.
“Martin.” Tim said.
“Tim. Come in.” Martin said, opening the door wider. He did go in. Martin pulled two chairs over to the table in the middle of his room. Tim sat down in one and Martin in the other.
“How are you doing?” Tim asked.
“Did Sasha put you up to this?” Martin sighed.
“No! No. No she didn’t. I know this seems like something she’d have me do, but I need to know for myself, Martin.” Tim said.
“Know what? Martin asked.
“Why.” Tim said flatly.
“What?” Martin asked.
“Why did you go into the forest?” Tim asked.
“Tim, I don’t want to talk about this.” Martin said.
“If there’s someone who’s threatening you, I can help.” Tim said.
“No, it’s not that.” Martin said.
“Did someone agree to meet with you there? Did they say why?” Tim asked.
“No to both. No one asked to meet me there.” Martin sighed.
“Then why?” Tim asked.
“Because I just wanted to go for a walk.” Martin said.
“They would’ve just let you out the front gates, Martin. There was no reason to sneak out your window.” Tim sighed.
“It felt more fun to go out the window.” Martin said. He wasn’t sure why he had gone out the window, he just had.
Tim smiled. It was warm and nice, but it felt wrong. Tim never smiled at him like that before.
“You should’ve asked me. I could’ve given you so many tips for getting out and coming back unseen.” Tim joked,
“I think I will, next time.” Martin said.
“I’ll hold you to that.” Tim said. The 2 talked for a bit longer before Tim stood up.
“I should get going,” He said.
“Alright. See you later, Tim.” Martin said. Tim left and Martin got up and went back over to his bed. He picked up the book and flipped through the pages. He was flipping through randomly when he noticed that a few pages had been torn out. They had been in the middle of the creatures of the great depths section. The pages detailing the Sirens had been ripped out. Martin wasn’t sure who could’ve done this. Surely Jon wouldn’t have done this… right?