The Tomes Of Magic by Cody J. Sherer

Druids.”
    Ellesar nodded, but said nothing more. Gareth knew what it meant. The others would be hard to convince in the matter. A war council , the former Holy Order member thought as he turned away. It was the kind of compromise that people would agree with. He had no idea what the long-term effects of such a change would have, but he did know that the elves, Druids, and Rangers wouldn’t last long without better familiarizing themselves with war. His own place in all this was becoming quite clear. The Druids would be his advisers in the matter, while the elves and Rangers would act as his sword and shield. Whether he could successfully lead them against the dragons was unknown, but he knew that his knowledge of the Holy Order would come in handy. He threw back the flap of the tent and found Leniya lying face down on the bed with her face in the pillow.
    “Go away!” She yelled when she heard his footsteps.
    “If that is what you wish,” Gareth turned to leave.
    “Wait, no. Don’t leave. I thought you were one of them.”
    “All the same, you might not like what I have to say.”
    “Try me,” she replied, wiping tears from her eyes.
    “I want you to join the Council.”
    “I will never be a Druid. My people need me, I will not betray them.”
    “What if I convinced them to start another council?”
    *
    Septimus pored over the records that Leoth had given to him. He had been surprised to learn that the man had kept an account of every book that had entered or exited his library. The Emperor-to-be was turning out to be quite enigmatic. Thanos handed a piece of parchment to the Warlock. There was an underlined title halfway down the page. It read “Tome of Fire.” The column to the right of the title held information on who had taken this particular book. Septimus sighed as he put down the paper. One of the neighboring Warlords had taken the book in a raid several years ago. The Warlock turned back to the records and began looking through them again. Leoth had stayed true to his word and provided them with as much information on the tomes as he could find. They had been able to figure out the location of the “Tome of Fire,” and the “Tome of Air.” Each of the tomes was held by one of the Warlords.
    “That puts us at three,” Thanos said as he took a seat next to Septimus.
    “Three?” The Warlock asked.
    “The Tome of Death, the Tome of Fire, and the Tome of Air. Two of them are within our grasp. I’ll contact Emily to see if she knows of anymore.”
    “We know where the Tome of Death is?”
    “My apologies, I thought you knew I had it. That was the reason you asked for my help, was it not?”
    “I asked for your help because you are one of the few that I trust. William is a good lad, but not fit for a mission of this magnitude. Rolin, James, Melissa, Janessa, and Paul have all thrown their lot in with the dragons. I barely know Emily. That left you.”
    Thanos, not knowing how to respond, turned back to the stack of records. The two of them had already managed to look through half the stack and both were eager to check the rest. Their hope was to locate at least two more tomes before embarking on the mission of retrieval. Five out of nine was far from perfect, but given their situation they had few other options. Every now and again, in between pieces of paper, Septimus would look up at Thanos and wonder how he had acquired one of the tomes. He had no doubt that there was some connection with the necromancers, but he knew not what the connection was. Talia had entered the room twice in the past few hours, but the two magicians barely acknowledged her presence. Septimus had nodded and smiled to her the first time, but was engrossed in his word the second time. The Archwizard had seemed to be lost in his own thoughts both times.
    “Are you feeling well?” Septimus asked.
    “Yes, of course. I feel perfectly fine,” Thanos replied.
    “You’ve done that thing multiple times in the last couple