by Sever Bronny
Augum scrambled to his feet. “What the—”
“Help, Aug!” Leera screamed, voice echoing throughout the hall. She had a bleeding cut on her forehead. Both girls were drenched in sweat and breathing hard.
Augum jolted into action—he quickly used every ounce of his telekinetic arcane strength to lift another nearby block of stone, which had been some kind of prop in a diorama, and strategically set it on top of the rest of the walker. The girls immediately rolled off, panting on the floor, their spells extinguished.
“Thank the Unnameables …” Bridget gasped.
“Thank the Fates too,” Leera added, equally out of breath.
Jaw clacking, the walker rabidly struggled under the stone blocks, but was no match for their combined weight.
Augum stumbled over to the girls. “You two all right?”
They nodded.
He snagged a cloth from Secretary Watts’ desk and dabbed at Leera’s forehead. “Just a minor cut,” he said, tenderly holding her head in his lap.
“Thanks for the help, doorknob,” she said with a wry grin.
“But I was busy with the side effects of—”
“—I was jesting, silly.”
Bridget eventually sat up. “We’ll have to get back before the library opens to release that thing.”
Augum placed his hands over the shattered remains of the delicate statue the walker had been shoved into. “Apreyo.” The pieces reformed with a final glow. “Good as new.” He then went on to repair other things damaged in the struggle. After finishing, he eyed the walker. “Let’s find that tomb, we’ll worry about this thing later.”
Hand lit, he led the way past the dark and silent statues, dioramas, and old paintings. High above them, stained glass windows featuring historical scenes rattled in the wind and rain, occasionally flashing with lightning that would light up the entire room. Distant thunder shook the windows, a noise that combined oddly with the desperate scratching of the walker.
“Spookier without the braziers lit,” Leera whispered from the rear.
They cautiously found their way to the tomb. It was beside Occulus and the incomplete statue of Augum’s father, the Lord of the Legion, who stood proud and regal and strong. Even though the stance was exaggerated, Augum thought the statue a little too life-like, almost expecting it to move and attack them. He recognized the sleek contours of the sword by his father’s side—Burden’s Edge. How he missed that awesome Dreadnought blade.
Bridget, who was studying the founder’s tomb, began reading the inscription. “ ‘Here lieth Theodorus Winkfield, founder of thy Antioc Library. In his hand he doth hold ye Sword of Knowledge.’ ”
They glanced up at the statue behind the tomb. It was of a bald, stern-faced man wearing a scholar’s robe. Much like the attendants they had seen, there was a gargoyle emblem over his breast. His hand was raised, except where there should have been a sword, there was only empty air.
“Someone stole the Sword of Knowledge,” Leera said in a deadpan manner. “Why am I not surprised …” She hovered a hand over the stone sarcophagus. “Un vun deo,” but soon dropped it. “Nothing.”
Augum inspected the sides of the tomb, but found no gaps—by all appearances it looked like a solidly carved and unmovable block of stone.
“Hmm,” Bridget toned, slowly tapping a thumb against her chin.
Leera crouched before the engraved words, smoothing her necrophyte robe beneath her. “What did you say about the Sword of Knowledge again?’
“That it represents light.”
Leera glanced between the outstretched arm and Bridget. “Light, huh? Could it be as simple as—”
“—a candle?” Bridget finished, grinning. “Brilliant.”
“Like I said, I have my moments.”
Augum gestured between them. “You two have, like, some kind of mind meld or something.”
Leera flashed him a deviant smile. “You can call us The Sparrow Sisters.”
“Witches to the core,” Augum said, shaking his head but smiling. “Hey, wait, there was a candle on Watts’ desk, wasn’t there?” and they hurried back to retrieve it, finding a flint and steel in the drawer. They lit the candle, put back the flint and steel, and strode off, hardly paying attention to the struggling walker.
“Now what?” Leera asked after returning to the tomb.
“This, I think.” Augum let go of the candle, using Telekinesis to float it up into the founder’s outstretched fist. As soon as the candle settled, the tomb began to grind open, blowing a cold draft that smelled of ancient mildew. The trio instinctively stepped back.
“Cool,” Augum whispered.
Leera glanced over at him and cracked a grin. “There you go.”
Augum brightened his palm, revealing a tight-fitting spiral staircase. He hopped down, leading with outstretched palm.
“Wait.” Bridget reached behind her and telekinetically removed the candle. She snatched it out of the air as the tomb began to close. The draft disappeared as it shut completely. She placed the candle on the steps, spotting a small gargoyle engraved into the stone wall, which she nodded at. “That must be how we open it if we come back this way.”
The trio exchanged an adventurous look and continued down the steps, lit only by their palms.
“Reminds me of Castle Arinthian,” Augum whispered, blood quickened by the excitement of solving such a complicated riddle, and being rewarded with this ancient secret passage. Not even the Legion had found it!
The spiral went on for what felt like ten floors. By the end of it, Augum was a little dizzy and had to sit down in a small cellar-like room. The walls were cracked masonry—ancient fitted stone, on which grew mildew and rugged moss. The floors were uneven flagstone. At the fore of the room was an iron-bound wooden door. A gargoyle crest was burned into it.
“No torch sconces,” Leera remarked.
Bridget approached the large door. “I think they expect you to light your own way, seeing as this place is intended for warlocks. There’s no handle here either.” She placed her lit palm against the gargoyle but nothing happened.
Leera blew at a carved wooden plaque, generating a small cloud of dust. “Hey, we know this word—‘Entarro’.”
Bridget placed her hand over the gargoyle again. “Be ready, you two, we don’t know what’s behind here.”
Augum got up off the steps and drew close, ready to cast his First Offensive.
Bridget locked eyes with each of them before placing her lit palm on the oval. “Entarro.” The door unlocked and creaked open as if pulled by a ghost. The trio stood frozen, listening. And somewhere, in that deep darkness beyond, they could hear a hiss.
“It sees our light,” Leera said in the barest of whispers as they prowled into the room.
Augum felt his heart ramming into his chest. He indicated for them to spread out a little to make room for spell casting. The girls fanned out. Whatever room they had stepped into was vast. Behind them, along the wall, were more doors similar to the one they had walked through. The wall gently curved inward, as if the room was round.
The hissing ceased and a single clack echoed, followed by another. The clacking increased in speed. Then came the sound of bony footsteps that quickly turned into a sprint.
“There!” Augum shouted, pointing. He slammed his wrists together. “ANNIHILO!” His body surged, releasing a massive bolt of lightning through his hands. The bolt smashed through the first walker, obliterating it into pieces of bone and rusted armor that tumbled across the uneven flagstone floor.
At the same moment, “ANNIHILO!” Leera shouted, slamming her wrists together into a different direction. A jet of water smashed into another walker, blowing it apart.
“ANNIHILO!” Bridget’s log-sized vine smashed through a third walker like a giant’s fist, shattering it into smithereens.
For a moment, they listened to the darkness, but there was no other sound.
Leera, breathing hard, hands ready in a combat pose, relax
ed and cracked a grin. “We’re getting good.”
Bridget did not drop her stance. “Don’t celebrate yet.” Just as she finished speaking, the door they had walked through closed with a strained creak, making them jump.
“What did that crazy geezer say about ghosts?” Leera murmured.
“Wait.” Augum walked up to the door frame, placing his hand on a gargoyle crest he had spotted. “Entarro.” The door squeaked open again. “See? We can go back anytime.”
Bridget slowly paced further into the room, brightening her palm light, until they could make out distant walls. The room was indeed round, the walls evenly fitted with doors.
Leera shone her palm light over the ground. “Look down.”
In the center of the room, beneath their feet, under a layer of dust and dirt, was a giant map carved into the flagstone.
Augum kicked some of the dirt away. “We’re here, aren’t we? Round room with doors?”
Leera kicked more dirt away. “Hmm. Not all of the rooms are mapped …”
Augum stared at a gargoyle engraved into the map. On a hunch, he placed his lit palm on it. A ghostly man in a gray robe suddenly crackled to life in front of them, making the trio jump.
“Und hallo!” he said with a harsh but jolly accent, extending his hands in welcome and giving a bright smile.
Augum kept his own hands raised defensively. “Uh … hello, who are y—” but the man started speaking over him.
“Greetings, varlock und varlocks! Behold, for ye art in zee secret room to ze library trial groundz. My name iz Zeodorus Vinkfield. I founded zis library on tree principles— vizdom, integrity, und curiosity. But zis is no ordinary library. It truly iz a place of learning …”
“He can’t hear or see us, can he?” Leera said, waving a hand at the man, who now paced as he spoke.
Augum walked around the ghostly imprint, but the man’s eyes remained on the spot where Augum had triggered the apparition.
“… for here ye shall be tested on ze knowledge, unlocking only zat vich ye endeavor to earn. Just as ye have earned zose stripes on ye arm, zo shall ye earn ze knowledge to unlock more. Ze Leyanz taught us zat knowledge iz free. Alzough zey have recently abandoned us to our knave savageries, I see no reason vy vee cannot continue zeir tradishions, tradishions zey have bequeathed us.”
“Can barely understand a word through that accent,” Leera said.
“Und as ye see, before ye are a seriez of doors. In true varlock scholarly tradition, some of zese doors vould be poor choices. Some lead to secret pazzages zroughout ze library complex. Und some … some vill give ye ze chance to unlock advanced knowledge. Zere vill be obshtacles in ze way. Some of zese obshtacles vill be very dangeroush. I beseech ze—knowledge comes viz a price. Ye ought not to undertake anyshing ye are not prepared for. Use ze map und ze clues provided to guide ye path. Omnio insipus equa liberatus korsisi mei. All begin eqval but only ze curioush shrive. Good luck, und I hopen to see ye again.” The man smiled and disappeared.
“Vell zat vas very intereshting,” Leera said with a crooked smile.
Augum joined in. “Let ush talk zis vay from now on.”
“Shtop it, you two,” Bridget said, flashing a brief but mischievous smile. “Focus and help me.” She began studying the giant map, dusting, and clearing the bones of the walkers as she went. Augum and Leera giddily joined in, needling each other with phrases like, “Ya! Look at zis!” or randomly blurting, “Zoot! Zat iz not it!” until they had uncovered the entirety of the map.
Bridget tapped a large rectangular room at the other end of the map. “This is the secret hidden library of all things arcane. This is where we want to go.” She strode to a massive circle in the middle. “This is the labyrinth, the obstacle.” She gestured around at assorted rooms. “Crypts. Dungeons. Sewers. Don’t know how to get into those, but we don’t need to anyway. The trick will be—” and she strode from the room they were in all the way to the arcane library, “—how to get from there to here, and back again.”
“And in one piece,” Augum said, trying to switch his brain back around to stop hearing everything in that funny accent.
“And in one piece, right.”
“Ya, und in vun piece,” Leera said. “So vere do ve start?”
“Enough of that already.” Bridget turned around, eyeing the doors. “With those. See, what I figure is, there are portals behind most of them, that’s why the map isn’t filled in. What we don’t know is, which door to take and where it leads.”
Leera shrugged. “Just open one.”
“Not sure it’s a good idea to just open a random one.” Bridget paced up to the nearest door. “It’s got a rune on it. Three wavy lines in a box.”
“That’s a heating rune!” Augum blurted, striding forth. “From Castle Arinthian, remember? Same thing.” But what did heating an entire area have to do with a door?
Bridget pointed at it. “So that probably represents fire.” She strode to the next door over. “This one, this jagged line, represents ice.” She moved on, pointing at each door. “Air. Lightning. Earth. Healing. And this one with the skull—”
“Necromancy,” Leera said. “Let’s avoid that one.”
“Right. Elements. But then there are other symbols—two crossed swords.”
“Battle,” Augum said. “Pretty sure that one means battle.”
Bridget nodded. “Which is probably some kind of warrior test or something.” She stepped before another door. “Three figures, all identical. Could mean doppelgangers. And this one over here is just a circle.”
“That could mean anything.” Leera snorted. “Marriage, for all we know.”
“Why marriage?” Augum asked.
“Because it’s a ring. Really? You didn’t get that?”
He shrugged. “Just looks like a circle to me.”
“That’s my point—”
“Unnameables give me patience,” Bridget muttered as she moved to yet another door. “This one shows an arrow bouncing off a line. I think that means mirror. And this one over here, with two interlocking symbols, might mean a puzzle. And over here a square, which could be a room of some kind. This one over here I don’t understand, it’s just gibberish—”
“That’s just upside down writing,” Leera said, tilting her head. “Look, it says, ‘Opposite is illusion’. Ugh, that just sounds like it’ll be super frustrating.”
“The door we came from only has a rectangle,” Augum noted. “Interesting. If a rectangle is a tomb, what would a circle be?”
Bridget took a moment to think about it. “Another secret passage I suspect, probably one the Legion found and locked up.” She pointed at doors near the one they exited. “There’s a triangle, and there’s a diamond, a half-circle, and so on. Those must all be ways to get back upstairs.”
Augum studied the map again. “So which door do we take?” he said more to himself than anyone else. Then it hit him. He spread his hand over the map. “Un vun deo,” and immediately saw a bunch of symbols light up crimson that were invisible before.
The girls jubilantly raced over.
“Hold the spell, Aug,” Bridget said, studying the map with furrowed brows.
“They’re not elements necessarily,” Leera muttered, tapping at a fire symbol. “They might be elemental tests of some kind, like this one is some sort of wavy fire river we’d have to cross or something, which—and I’m just guessing here—would mean we’d have to fight it with water.”
“Look, the crypts join up with the maze, as do the dungeons and the sewers,” Bridget said. “The arcane library also joins up with the maze, just at the very top. And every symbol matches up—either to the maze, the dungeons, the sewers, or the crypts. But which way will get us through to the library?”
Augum finally lost his concentration and the symbols disappeared. “Looks like wherever we go, there’ll be a test of some kind. And maybe all of them will get us there.”
“Or maybe just one,” Leera said, glancing around at
the doors. “Should we just choose then?”
Bridget stood up. “We could, but if some are indeed going to be dead ends, we could waste a lot of time, or worse … get lost.”
“And we can’t spend too long down here,” Augum added.
“Well then it’s simple,” Leera said, “we choose the one that gets us closest to the library straight away.”
Bridget shook her head. “No, that wouldn’t work, it’d be too easy, and labyrinths penalize quick and easy solutions.”
“So then we choose the … hardest path?”
“Not necessarily. Remember what the founder stood for— wisdom, integrity, and curiosity. Those three paths—any of those would be best, in my opinion.”
“Works for me,” Augum said. He paced around the room, glancing at all the runes, muttering the words, “wisdom, integrity, and curiosity” to himself over and over, until he stopped before a door with what they assumed was a puzzle symbol. “These two locking pieces—this is most like our experience here. Riddles and all that kind of stuff. What do you say?” He wasn’t that great with riddles, but he’d rather go with something familiar.
The girls promptly agreed. They all gathered at the door as Augum lit up his palm. He gave them one last grave look before placing it on the gargoyle rune next to the door frame.
“Entarro.”
The door blew open, instantly sucking them in with a windy roar.
A Land of Nothing
The trio was roughly spit out onto a field. It was dusk, and they could just barely see from one flat horizon to another. Dark blue clouds raced overhead as a chill wind howled, rustling stubby dry grass. Other than the lonely leagues of grass, there was only one thing visible—a dilapidated wooden cabin. A loose shutter repeatedly creaked open before thunking closed.
Leera looked around, hair and robe blowing in the wind. “Where are we?”
The fields reminded Augum of the Tallows, except the grass was shorter and more rugged. “I have no idea. It’s got to be some kind of—” but suddenly a dark shape stepped out of the cabin. The silhouette was tall and muscled. Two points protruded above a bald head.
