“Thank you, E’olin. Speaking of the castle, what's with the fence? That wasn't here the last time I visited, was it?”
“We were forced to up our security after a break-in and a murder. A very important necklace was stolen.”
Gramps raised his eyebrows.
“No, don’t worry. A wonderful half Light Elf named Leira has helped us. Still, we’ve learned our lesson here. Better safe than sorry,” E’olin said.
“Sorry to hear that, E’olin,” Gramps said.
“Yes, sorry, E’olin,” Maria said softly. E’olin? More and more her life was turning into something out of The Lord of the Rings or The Wheel of Time.
Sherlock sniffed the air deeply. Gnomes, he said. I smell them.
“Leave the Gnomes alone, Sherlock,” Maria said.
“Ah, yes, your friend must have a strong nose,” E’olin said. “I admire that.”
Sherlock ignored him.
“What do you say, Sherlock?”
He looked up at her with his blood-rimmed eyes. There was a slight anger in them.
“Sherlock?” Maria repeated.
Sherlock barked a thank you.
“What a lovely creature!” E’olin said.
Yeah, yeah, your mother, pal, Sherlock replied.
Maria gave him a death glare, which he promptly ignored.
“So, Ignatius, what brings you here to our lovely home?” E’olin asked.
Gramps shifted. “Well, about that…our friend Sherlock here speaks true. We are here to visit the Gnomes. There is certain information we need extracted.”
“Ah, the library. A wonderful place it is. We’ve heard of beings traveling the world to visit our stacks, but never someone from another world. Earth; it’s been so long since I’ve been there. How is it these days? Do folks still travel by horseback and wield six-shooters? Oh, how I loved playing cowboy!”
“No, you’re a couple hundred years off,” Maria said, then, “Geez, how old are you?”
The Light Elf smirked. “It’s not polite on any world to ask one their proper age.”
“Oh…sorry.”
E’olin leaned over with his hand covering one side of his mouth and whispered, “Very old.”
Maria and Gramps caught eyes. Gramps was smiling.
“Come, come, I’ll take you to the stacks.” E’olin stepped aside. Sherlock was the first one to go inside the invisible castle, snarling.
“Sherlock,” Maria snapped. “Behave yourself.”
Don’t tell me what to do!
“I saw a nice patch of vegetables a little ways back. I won’t hesitate to whip up something healthy for you to snack on,” she threatened.
That reined him in. Maria caught up to him with Gramps behind her.
They were walking on nothing, then, all of a sudden, they were walking on the most beautiful floor Maria had ever had laid her eyes on. It sparkled. Marble, maybe, but Maria wasn’t sure if they even had marble here on Oriceran. It was probably some kind of exotic mineral from somewhere even more exotic on the planet.
Sweeping staircases emerged from the walls. The castle was huge; there must’ve been a hundred floors.
“This way,” E’olin said, motioning to one of the staircases, which was also made out of the same beautiful material as the floor. “But I must warn you, if you are trying to extract information from a Gnome, you are going to be quite disappointed.”
Two female Light Elves passed them on the steps. “Ignatius!” they said simultaneously, tittering.
“Ladies,” Gramps said. He smiled at them and tipped an imaginary hat.
“Not now, fair maidens,” E’olin said, shooing them down the steps. “Ignatius Mangood has business to attend to.”
“Well, actually—” Gramps started to say.
“Gramps.” Maria used the same voice she was so fond of using on Sherlock.
“What?” Gramps said defensively. His arms were out in a “Who me?” gesture. “It’s not my fault I’ve still got the moves.”
“Oh, Gramps, I really, really, really don’t need to hear about your moves,” Maria said.
I second that. I’ve seen enough of his shirtless dancing in the mornings when he’s getting dressed and listening to the radio, Sherlock said.
Maria burst out laughing even though that was an image she didn’t particularly want in her head.
“Ah, Ignatius was quite the ladies’ man, wasn’t he?” E’olin mused.
Maria plugged her ears and shook her head. “No, thank you!”
The steps were revealing themselves one at a time to the newcomers as their shoes touched them. It was quite scary. Maria wondered if one tried running up them what would happen. Would the steps be able to keep up with her? She thought yes. The answer was simple: Magic.
Finally, sweaty and short of breath, the group stopped at a landing. At one point, Sherlock looked as if he were going to collapse. Maria had whispered, “Gnomes,” into his ear and it hadn’t done much to perk him up at all. He was that tired. But once the prospect of a landing presented itself in front of them, Sherlock let out his growl.
The smell is worse here, he said. Those damn Gnomes.
“Try to keep it in your pants,” Maria said. “I know you got a thing for the Gnomes. All this growling and big bad talk is just a front. It’s okay. I understand.”
How dare you!? I’m not even wearing pants! I can’t keep something in my pants if I’m not wearing them, Maria.
“It’s a figure of speech.”
Gramps and E’olin were walking ahead of them. The library revealed itself in much the same way the steps had. Maria was, surprisingly, getting used to the idea of an invisible castle that manifested itself with magic.
Sherlock turned his head away from Maria and went after Gramps.
I’ll show you, he said. As soon as I see a Gnome, I’m going—
A Gnome came out of nowhere, stopping just a few feet away from Sherlock. The Bloodhound skirted to a halt abruptly, as if another invisible wall were there. The growling immediately stopped, too. They stared at each other like two gunslingers meeting in a dusty, desert street—only if Sherlock were not a gunslinger at all, but was instead a scared dog, almost three times larger than the Gnome, with his tail stuck between his legs.
Maria had to put a hand over her mouth to hold back her laughter; Gramps and E’olin had already continued down the still-appearing corridor
