“A million!” Starflight felt momentarily faint, thinking of a million scrolls he’d never read. It would be just like his dream.
“That wasn’t a real guess,” Fatespeaker said, stopping to give him an amused grin. “I just meant ‘lots,’ really. I didn’t try to count them.”
“Lots is exciting, too,” Starflight said. He felt a little silly getting so excited over scrolls. But there had never been enough of them under the mountain. He’d read the same ones over and over and over again. Something new … something with more answers, more of the information he needed … that would be everything.
“Here it is,” Fatespeaker said, pausing at a tall open archway.
Starflight peered inside, his heart pounding. The room was cavernous, even bigger than the council chamber. Instead of coals lying open in wall niches, here the light came from fire that was carefully trapped in metal globes and kept away from the scrolls. Square nooks were carved out of the wall, all the way up to the ceiling, and in each square there were between three and six scrolls, neatly rolled and labeled and organized — organized! — with a mark next to the square and a large scroll rolled out on a main table as a catalog. He could see how it worked in the first glance and his talons ached to rush inside and start reading.
“You are so cute,” Fatespeaker said. “Look at your face — like someone just opened up a giant treasure box and it’s all for you.”
That was exactly how Starflight felt, looking at all these scrolls. He took a tentative step inside and Fatespeaker immediately grabbed his tail.
“Oh, no you don’t,” she said. “We find the queen first. You can come back and moon over scrolls tomorrow.”
“If Morrowseer lets me,” Starflight said wistfully.
Fatespeaker dragged him away from the library and stopped two doors down, in front of a round stone room that was completely empty, with no windows and no furniture and only one niche for glowing coals. The wall opposite the door was a strange lattice of stone studded with diamond-shaped holes no bigger than ladybugs.
“I did see this room,” Fatespeaker said. “I just didn’t guess it was the throne room. Shouldn’t a throne room have a throne in it? Even if no one plans to sit on it?”
“Maybe there’s a throne behind the screen,” Starflight suggested.
“Hmm,” she said. “Still seems like it shouldn’t get to be called a throne room, then.” She stalked up to the lattice wall and pressed one eye to one of the holes.
“Fatespeaker!” Starflight said, shocked. “We’re not supposed to try and look at her!”
“Don’t panic,” she said. “It’s all dark back there anyway.” She tilted her head and tried another hole lower down. “Maybe there’s something glowing, but it just looks like fire. I can’t see the queen. Do you think she’s there?” She rapped on the screen. “Hello? Your Majesty?”
Silence from the wall.
“Queen Battlewinner?” Fatespeaker tried again. “We really need to talk to you. It’s us, the dragonets from the prophecy.”
“Well, the two NightWing options,” Starflight amended.
“Hello?” Fatespeaker said.
Nothing. Fatespeaker knocked and kicked the wall a few times, but there was no response.
“That is SO FRUSTRATING,” she growled. “Your Majesty! I’m not impressed!”
“It is the middle of the night,” Starflight pointed out. “She’s probably not even there. She must sleep somewhere.”
Fatespeaker hunched her wings, then sighed and nodded. “All right. We’ll sneak away from Morrowseer and try again tomorrow.”
Starflight did not love the sound of that plan. But he already knew better than to try arguing with Fatespeaker.
They turned to go … but just then, Starflight heard a noise.
A noise like scraping, coming from behind the wall.
He looked at Fatespeaker and saw that she’d heard it, too. They both returned to the screen.
“Your Majesty?” Fatespeaker said.
When there was still no answer, Starflight said, “If she’s back there, she doesn’t want to talk to us.”
Fatespeaker folded her wings in close and scowled. “Then we should make her see us.” She started pacing along the wall with the screen. “There must be a door here somewhere. She has to get in and out somehow, right?”
“Unless she always stays in the same room,” Starflight said. His mental map of the fortress started clicking together. “I think — I think the room behind this wall could also overlook the council chamber. Maybe that’s where she lives.”
“So we just have to find a way into it,” Fatespeaker said, charging into the hallway.
“Is that a good idea?” Starflight asked. His claws caught on the rocks as he hurried behind her. “I’m pretty sure she won’t be pleased.”
“Too bad!” Fatespeaker cried. “We’re her subjects, too! She has to listen to us!”