Given how high the sun was in the sky, Einar decided that looking for anyone in the dining room would be pointless, so he immediately led everyone upstairs to the library. Even whilst still in the corridor on the upper floor, his father’s laughter confirmed the boy’s suspicions. Toinen stepped inside.
The library was the largest room in the house, second only to the banquet hall. Half of its floor space was taken up by bookshelves crammed with books bought or plundered by previous generations of the Stairon jarls. The collection was extraordinarily extensive and contained works on virtually every conceivable subject.
However, thorough research carried out by Einar during the long, cold and dark winter evenings had shown that, whilst there might indeed be a book here on every subject, these were often incomplete sources of knowledge. For example, on the bookshelf opposite the entrance lay the fourth volume of The Chronicles of the Kingdoms and Empires of the North by Histylius of Thesud, but the previous three volumes were nowhere to be found. There were more such exceptions, many more.
The other half of the room was taken up by a large dark-wood table surrounded by delicate chairs that did not match it. At the head of the table stood a large armchair, in which Einar's father loved to sit on winter evenings, warming himself by the stone fireplace that took up almost the entire wall behind the table.
Just as Einar had expected, his father was engaged in a lively conversation with Captain Svenson, whilst Legate Xives listened in, sipping something from a large mug. As soon as the jarl realised his son had entered the library, his face lit up even more.
‘Einar! You missed your brothers and Knight Livitus. They’ve all gone to look for you and Knight Ru’tseh in the forest.’ The smile on his father’s face froze as the remaining imperial officers entered the room, out of breath. ‘Something’s happened,’ he said grimly, placing his hands flat on the table to calm himself.
‘Oh yes, it has.’ Toinen approached his father and stood
