Chapter 3
Guided by another monk, Willow and Raven left to find their father.
Sage remained with Brother Nicolas. She walked about the cave-like room, running her finger over the stacks of books lining the walls, eyeing them with awe. “Where did you get all of these books?”
Brother Nicolas chuckled softly. “Some were donated. Some I’ve collected. Some were here before I arrived.” He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at her. “You were the little one who always wanted to know why. A long time ago, I taught you some things before you left. Do you recall?”
Sage spun on him, a fond grin on her lips. “Of course, I remember.”
Brother Nicolas nodded and sat back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I remembereverythingyou taught me.”
“Everything?” Brother Nicolas repeated, amused. His smile faded, and he surveyed her through pensive eyes. “Can you read?”
Sage sighed, and her shoulders drooped. “No. I can sound words out, and I can read two-letter words like ‘in’ and ‘to.’”
“Do you know the alphabet?”
Sage nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you remember anything about ciphers?”
Sage cocked her head to the side, trying to remember. “It was so long ago. I remember you telling me about a cipher.” She thought about it for a moment. “You said a cipher is a code where each letter has been changed to hide the message.”
Brother Nicolas smiled in admiration. “How do you break the code?”
Sage shrugged and walked up to his desk. “It depends what type of code it is.”
Brother Nicolas pushed the book across the desk toward her. “Can you read anything in here?”
She stared down at the black leather cover. “No,” she answered without touching the book. She had already leafed through the pages and couldn’t pick out any words. Not even the simple ones that she knew.
“And why can’t you read it?”
She shook her head, frustrated and embarrassed. “Because I can’t read.”
“But you told me you could read simple words.” He tapped the book. “Why can’t you readthisbook?”
Sage looked at the book for a moment before picking it up. She opened the book and scanned the letters on the parchment. There were no two-letter words that she recognized. She frowned. “There are no simple words. No ‘and’ or ‘to’ or ‘at.’”
“Why is that?”
She considered his question. “It’s in code,” she stated, staring at Brother Nicolas with excitement. “These letters don’t form words we know. We have to crack the code to understand the text.”
He grinned proudly. “Exactly.”
She continued to peruse the parchment page. She rested her bottom on the desk, her back to him. “But what kind of code?”
“That’s what we have to decide.” He bent and opened a drawer in his desk.
Sage didn’t pay attention. The words themselves made no sense. Her gaze settled on a two-letter word. When she tried to sound it out, it wasn’t a word. It made no sense. “Here’s a two-letter word. If I sound it out, it says ‘zoo.’Zand aU.”
“It’s coded. Those letters are attributed to other letters in the alphabet. We have to figure out what word that is. What two-letter words do you know?”
Sage rolled her eyes. “There are dozens. To. Do. In. It.”
Brother Nicolas smiled and picked up a quill. He dipped it into an inkpot and wrote down the alphabet on a blank piece of parchment. “It’s trial and error. Figure out what letter the letters correspond to and we figure out the code. Look for single letters. Those might be easier. There are only a few of those.A. I.”
