The Path to Otherwhere: or How I Spent My Summer Vacation

by T S Paul

  “That is actually my line. Who are you, and why have you come?” A voice called out from above.

  Chapter Three

  Back on Earth, a young Russian Witch was on her way to practice her Magick. Scared of the destruction she might cause, she and her familiar used a deep cavern near her grandmother's house. On this night she wasn’t alone. Two bodyguards were with her.

  The deepest part of the cavern looked different than usual. Now, there was a door on the side of the wall.

  “Where’d that come from?” she said. Her body almost involuntarily took a step forward and opened the door. There was a flash of light and a sort of sucking sound. All light vanished from sight for what seemed like hours. And then nothing. A lit hallway appeared before them as another door opened.

  “Welcome to the Mystical Library!” a man said.

  “We shouldn’t have opened that doorway. You are supposed to warn me of things such as that. This cavern isn’t supposed to have a door!” The dark-haired girl bent down to yell at her cat.

  The cat looked up at her and snarled, “I’m not the one with opposable thumbs here, remember? Where in the name of Bast are we, anyway?”

  The cavern door had opened up to a short hallway and what appeared to be a tavern, complete with candles and a chunk of meat roasting on a spit. Several strange looking patrons talked and ate in the darkened corners of the room. A man stood behind the bar polishing a glass.

  “That man over there behind the bar mentioned something about a library,” the girl answered. Tapping her ear, she asked her cat, “How is it I can hear you here and not just inside my head?”

  The cat froze and cocked her head to one side. Speaking mind to mind was something she did daily. Words were now coming out of her mouth!

  “No idea, so...” The cat’s head swiveled around. “Where are the others?”

  The girl looked around, and sure enough her two beefy Russian bodyguards were nowhere to be seen. “I don’t know! They were right behind us.”

  “Don’t be afraid. All travelers are welcome in this place,” the bartender explained. “From whence did you come?”

  “Russia,” the Cat replied meaning to say the town it had just left.

  The girl responded almost simultaneously with, “Russia.”

  Both looked at each other with questions on their faces. Both opened their mouths but nothing had come out. Not even mouthing the name worked. Something or someone was preventing them from identifying who they really were.

  “Oh ho ho! We haven’t had anyone from there in many a year now. How is the old place doing these days?” the bartender asked. “So much of it was destroyed by the Demons. Do the Vampires still rule?”

  Zee felt her mouth drop open all by itself. Vampires? “Where are we again?”

  The bartender paused and set down the glass and rag he was holding. As if he did it every day, the bartender leaped over the bar in one grand and graceful move. Sweeping his arms overhead and around, he bowed suddenly. “You are in the town of the Mystical Library. We are the last redoubt of learning and knowledge in the Universe. When everything is gone and all seems lost, we will hold against the dark.”

  “The dark what?” she asked. The smell of the meat cooking was starting to make her hungry. It was hard to remember if she had eaten lunch.

  Holding up a finger the bartender replied, “Ah that is the question isn’t it? Darkness isn’t just a phrase. It could be the foibles of man or the disregard of Dragons that cause a realm to fall. This place was created to defend against the loss of knowledge. Those who support us do not wish to experience another Universal Dark Age. One of those is enough for anyone. Being from Russia, you might agree with me.”

  “Dark what?” The smell of food was distracting her so much she couldn’t think straight. “Where am I again?”

  The cat in her arms jumped down and approached the bartender and said, “Mystical Library, huh? Is this the place the Sages reference when they talk about monks that live forever?”

  The bartender shook his head and laughed. “No, Miss Cat, that is Shangri-la. We are more of a literary waystation on the road to enlightenment. My suggestion is to go out into the square. Callimachus over at the Library will be able to answer any and all questions you might have. He’s the big brain around here.”

  “I’m hearing Russian in my head but you’re speaking something else. How is that?” The girl looked at the bartender with a confused look on her face.

  “Yet another mystery to solve, young lady. Ask the owl. He can tell you who and why that is. Do you have a name?” The bartender smiled at his own joke.

  “It’s Z…” Her mouth opened but no other sounds came out. Working her jaw several times she pointed at her mouth in shock. “I can’t say it! My name! It’s Z…”

  The bartender pursed his lips and cocked his head. “Interesting. She must not want you to reveal it to me. Ask the owl. We here at the bar will just call you Zee.”

  “Go out the double doors and turn left. Big building with the columns. You cannot miss it. When you’re done, come back to us. Have a drink and some Mammoth stew. We make the best in town.” He pointed toward the large doors on the wall.

  “My bodyguards, where did they go?” Zee asked.

  The bartender shook his head. “No idea. You came through that door over there. It could best be described as a divinely inspired pathway. Meaning that the Gods chose you to go through it, and who you get to take with you. They might turn up still.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Ask the owl.”

  The Cat, who decided her name should be Dee, if for no other reason than to have a name that rhymed with her mistress’s, gave the bartender a look and scampered over to the doors. “Zee, let’s go.”

  Looking around the room, Zee could see that everyone was watching her. Her eyes swept the place one last time, looking for her men. Then she turned to follow the Cat.

  The bartender watched the two go and commented to the room, “Not very many enter through that door. This doesn’t bode well for the Library. She will be one to watch.”

  Chapter Four

  “Who said that?” I asked as I looked upward. The light given off by the chandeliers was too dim to really see anything. Even my Mage Sight wasn’t working, and that freaked me out even more.

  “I did.” The voice was behind me!

  Spinning around, a fireball instantly in my hand, I saw no one. Nothing but a few statues and decorative pieces lined the walls. “I don’t see you,” I said quietly into the darkness.

  “Because you aren’t looking properly. You would think that for all the time and money invested in you, the humans would have trained you better,” the voice said.

  “You know who I am?” I looked harder through the dimly lit room. My fireball added flickering light to the mix.

  “Of course I do. Marcella, your grandmother, has spoken of you numerous times. Besides, how many other people in all the realms have a micro Unicorn named Fergus. He is with you today?” the voice asked.

  I patted my pocket just to be sure and replied, “Of course. We’re a team.”

  “That’s good, for you will be tested. I’ve been there, you know?” The voice was male, deep and resonating through the dark.

  “Where?” I asked, not sure where this was going. I really wanted to know who and what we were being tested on.

  “Tir na Nog. It was a long time ago in human reckoning. Time doesn’t work the same way here, so for me it was almost yesterday. I was working for a Wizard. What a wanker he was too. He had a whole tribe of humans convinced he was a great and powerful magic user. Human Mages are rare, and he wasn’t one. Smoke and mirrors. Well not exactly mirrors but you get the idea. I performed most of his really cool tricks for him. Let me tell you, those humans were real suckers for a few vanishing swords and some sleeping potions. But I digress. They lived right on top of one of your world’s few stable permanent Gates and the whole thing was simply overrun with Unicorns. Fun times,” the voice explain
ed.

  “You knew Merlin?” I asked. The story was so similar to one that Grandmother used to tell me. He had to be talking about one of humanity's greatest Wizards.

  “Didn’t I just say I did? It figures that he’s the one that everyone remembers instead of me,” the voice replied.

  “And who are you?” I asked, even as another much newer voice chimed in.

  “His real name is lost to the depths of time. Most here call him the Owl of Athena or just the Owl. The Romans called him the Owl of Minerva, even though Minerva was actually a Greek Goddess, not a Roman one. Some do still call him Glaux but seeing as how that is also the name of the coin bearing his picture, it can get a bit confusing. Just stick to Owl. It’s so much easier,” the voice said from the shadows.

  “My name is not lost. I just misplaced it,” Owl argued with the mysterious voice. “It was several thousand years ago. I can’t remember everything in this place like you do. As we’ve argued before, I’m not a trained scholar. I just find the information. It takes you to interpret it.”

  A short man in a toga stepped out of the shadows. Smiling at me he introduced himself. “Callimachus. Nice to meet you.”

  I looked at his outstretched hand for a moment before taking it. “Hello. My name’s Agatha.”

  Callimachus gripped my hand lightly before dropping it. “The name’s a bit long, so you can call me Mack in a pinch. Many of the newer visitors have trouble with Latin names.”

  “Thank you, Mack. Can you tell me what this place is?” I asked.

  Mack smiled and waved at the darkened area around him. “This place? It’s the Library of Alexandria of course. Do you like it? I brought it here myself.”

  In a flash, the entire place burst into light and life, as if by Magick. Which, of course, it was.

  “Whoa!” I commented as I looked up, up, and up. More than three levels high, the building really was bigger on the inside than the outside.

  What I thought was a statue sitting just inside the entranceway was an owl half the size of a human. As it flapped its wings I visualized being carried high into the sky and dropped. Jack Dalton, my mentor and previous Director of the Magical Division, once told me a story about a Harpy. He was just that big. I could only stare in wonder.

  “Too much?” The owl again spread his wings. “I told her that making me bigger was a bad idea but Nooo, don’t listen to the victim here. You humans are less threatened by small things. Like your Unicorn,” Owl stated.

  “Would you like to taste horn? I hate things with feathers!” Fergus popped up and yelled in his tiny little voice.

  “Come at me, tiny!” Owl yelled.

  Mack stepped in front of the very large bird of prey and held up his hands. “Take it easy now. No fighting in the library.”

  “It’s my library and I can fight if I want to! Important or not, that Unicorn is going down,” Owl barked.

  “Give it your best shot, hootie! I may be short but my horn is sharp.” Fergus hopped out of my pocket and tumbled down to the floor. Like a child’s rubber ball, he bounced a couple of times then landed on his feet. “Get ready to taste horn, birdie.”

  Instinctively I threw a freeze spell at my companion even as I remembered he was immune to most Magick. The spell failed, and he continued to charge the large Owl.

  Hopping off his decorative perch, Owl flapped his wings again. Fergus was suddenly lifted into the air, hovering between us.

  “Sit. Stay.” Owl looked at me with keen eyes before speaking again. “For a Witch you don’t have that big a handle on those powers of yours, do you? Aren’t the bracelets helping?”

  Mack perked up and stepped closer to me. He reached out and moved the struggling, floating Fergus to one side, then got very close to me. Lifting my arm, he commented, “Very nice. Egyptian. Third century maybe. Khonsu’s work possibly. Not something you see anymore.” He gave his feathered companion a strange look. “You should have mentioned this part.”

  “She only shared it recently. You were busy with that last group of paperbacks. Who names a dog Opus, anyway?” Owl asked.

  “Someone who has great taste in both words and information. I’m adding them to my pile, just so you know,” Mack replied.

  “Whatever, half the books in the world are in that pile of yours,” Owl commented.

  I fingered both bracelets. They were quieter than usual. Of late they’d been talking to each other and only answering me with single words. I’d seen the Egyptian markings but assumed they were just for decoration. “Did you mean Khonsu the Moon God?”

  Owl broke off his argument with Mack and responded immediately. “More like the God of Travelers. Specifically, travelers between the realms. It was He that created the Guardians. They used His power to keep your world free of those who would exploit it.”

  “Guardians. My grandmother mentioned them once I think. Isn’t that what the European Councils call their enforcers?” I asked.

  Mack snorted, “They wish. Owl knows all the details, but they started calling the enforcers both protectors and guardians after the first Human crusade. Several Council representatives went along for the ride and discovered many ancient relics that spoke of Guardians and the power they represented. So much was lost when Rome fell. It is one of the reasons we are here. To preserve the knowledge.”

  “Come along,” Owl directed. “Grab your companion and follow Mack. There is much we have to discuss and your training is about to begin. I will join you soon after I round up the other one.”

  “Other one?” I asked, grabbing Fergus as he floated past me.

  “Yes, another Witch has joined us from afar,” Owl said.

  Chapter Five

  “Didn’t that man say to turn left and go to the library?” Dee asked her mistress.

  “He did, but I want to know where the boys are. They were right behind us in the cavern. Grandmother entrusted them with us. I don’t want to have to tell her that I lost them!” Zee cried out.

  The cat jumped down from Zee’s arms and attempted to look around the rear of the tavern they’d just left. But there was no rear. The buildings were part of the wall. “This place is strange.”

  “It’s supposed to be,” a voice commented.

  Zee dropped into a combat stance, her sword and athame at the ready. “Who said that?”

  “You humans. Always with the jokes. I could stretch this out and ask who’s on second, but I can see you won’t get it,” the voice replied.

  There was a loud flapping sound and an enormous owl dropped out of the sky, landing in front of the surprised pair.

  “Die Demon!” Zee struck out with the sword, only to have it bounce off thin air like it was hitting invisible steel. Dee struck as well, letting out a sonic blast that should have turned the owl into pillow stuffing. Neither attack succeeded.

  “Are we done? Trust me when I say I was blocking idiots with swords before your people even settled the Russian steppes,” the owl explained.

  Zee gazed at the owl with her Magickal sight but could see nothing. It was as if the gigantic bird didn’t even exist. “What are you?”

  The owl flapped first one wing then the other. “An owl. I know you have them in Russia.”

  “How did you know I’m Russian?” Zee asked him.

  The giant bird clacked its beak in a sort of chuckling laugh. “You’re dressed like a peasant carrying a Russian Blue cat and you have a horrible English accent. There are not many places upon your world where an outfit like that would fit in. Trust me when I say that I’ve been most everywhere on Earth.”

  Zee’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the owl. Carefully, she slid her weapons back into their hidden sheaths. “Who are you?”

  “Still with the jokes. Although that one belongs to Kosh, not I. My name is Owl. You were supposed to come and see me,” the owl answered.

  Zee shook her head. “No… The man at the bar told us to talk to the owl, I guess that’s you? What do you want?”

  Owl chuckled. “
You just never quit, do you? That show is my friend Mack’s favorite.”

  Spreading his wings wide, Owl twisted his head in all directions. “Everything that you see here is part of the Library and I’m in charge. You were told to speak to me because this is your first time here. And because of your rather unusual entrance. Not very many come through that particular door.

  “But I’m getting off topic here,” Owl went on. “You clearly want answers and I want to tell them to you. Another Witch and her familiar have arrived as well, and there is much to discuss. When you get as old as I am you don’t like saying things more than once, so come along. I will tell you both at the same time.” He flapped his wings as if to push them forward. “Climb the stairs and push on the big doors. I’ll see you inside.”

  With a big flap Owl launched himself upward and flew out of sight.

  Dee looked up at her owner. “We should go.”

  “No! We need to find the men. I’m responsible for them,” Zee protested.

  “The big flappy bird said it had answers. Maybe where they are is one of them? We won’t find them here. These buildings don’t have backs to them,” the cat replied.

  Zee looked disgusted but nodded. “Fine, we will ask the bird. This is a very strange place.”

  “It is, but trust me when I say that I’ve seen stranger. At least that thing didn’t grab me and carry me off to more classes or whatever,” Dee the cat replied.

  “Classes? Why would YOU have classes?” Zee asked as they exited the fake alley and walked toward the staircase.

  The cat sneezed and said a word at the same time. “I misspoke. I meant your classes, with your grandmother.”

  Zee pursed her lips and gave her familiar a stern look. “We will discuss this again. Bet on it.”

  Dee winced. The others never said she couldn’t tell her Witch, but it wasn’t recommended. Secret familiar training is such a bitch to hide from humans.

  “Have you ever seen anything like this, D…” Zee paused as her mouth tried to say the cat’s real name. Like before, she couldn’t say the name. “Dee” was the closest she could come.