by Zara Stark
I nodded, my eyes almost glistening with tears.
"Seems like you've made a decision, do we have an accord?" The voice asked.
"Yes, we are agreed," Nevada and I said in unison, our eyes darting to one another again.
"Then so be it," The voice said and we heard a loud shifting from the darkness behind the bookshelves.
I blinked in surprise as a large golden body walked toward us on all fours. It looked like a lion but ten times larger. A long skinny tail with a tuft of white hair on the end of it snaked around the bookshelves. I lifted my head to take in the rest of the creature. Large feathered wings the color of fresh snow were folded against the creature's back. My eyes found its face, instead of a lion's face, there was a beautiful woman's face. Thick blonde hair twisted into rope-like braids decorated her head, anchored in place with a large golden tiara that dripped gigantic gems of all colors. It had curious large violet eyes framed by blonde eyelashes. Her blood red lips were curved into a pleased grin. Her countenance screamed culture and elegance despite being in a cramped basement of an ancient library.
"A-" I started to mumble.
"Sphinx," Nevada finished.
"As in Egypt?" I supplied.
"As in Oedipus Rex," Nevada answered.
"Oh, Socrates?"
"Sophocles, really Raiden is right, what kind of librarian are you?" Nevada mocked me.
"A clearly overwhelmed one."
"I see my beauty has left you breathless, I'll let you take it in for a moment before we continue," The Sphinx offered.
"How benevolent of you," Nevada jeered.
"Aurelius dragons seem to be born of insolence, every one of them," The Sphinx commented, her voice sounded neutral as if she neither liked it nor hated it.
"Well I didn't think I was a stickler for tradition but perhaps I am more than I thought I was," Nevada shrugged, glancing at me, he held his hand out for me and I took it squeezing it reassuringly in my own.
Nevada nodded to me and I nodded back. We looked back at the Sphinx.
"We're ready," We said at the same time.
"At last," The Sphinx sighed. "Here is your first riddle. I am born in fear, raised in truth,
and I come to my own indeed.
When comes a time that I’m called forth,
I come to serve the cause of need."
Nevada and I looked at each other.
Born in fear and raised in truth, I repeated in my head. Justice?
I whispered it into Nevada's ear and he tapped his chin with his index finger and shook his head.
"Any millennium now, I won't age but you sure will," The Sphinx said rudely.
"Courage," Nevada answered and I gasped. He didn't even consult me! What if it was wrong? I was the one that would become a tasty snack for a Sphinx.
"Correct," The Sphinx drawled. "Ready for another?"
"Hit us," I answered.
"I’m pleasing to the eye
A tool for many absent of mind
A tapestry of fickle lies
Blind to even the most pensive spies
I’m often the breeder of fervent lust
But I am by far one you shouldn’t trust," The Sphinx recited. "What am I?"
Nevada whispered the word gold in my ear and I frowned. No that can't be right. It almost made sense, even the lust in a way, lust for treasure and power. But they shouldn't trust didn't make sense. Why not trust gold? I told him so, why not trust gold?
I shook my head at him and he blinked a few times and grinned. He whispered in my ear again. "Fool's gold? Pyrite?"
I bit my lip, it made sense with the riddle but the sinking in the pit of my stomach told me I was wrong. It fit but it didn't make perfect sense. A tool for an absent mind? That might have made sense for gold and treasure but not fool's gold. The Blind to the most pensive spine got to me as well. It wasn't adding up. What was a tapestry of fickle lies and pleasing to the eye?
"Appearances!" I shouted a little too loudly.
"Correct," The Sphinx answered.
Nevada pulled me into a hug, clearly not minding that I had answered without him, he smiled down at me. "Good thinking. It was right there."
"I have to say, I am impressed by your riddles, Sphinx," Nevada told the Sphinx honestly.
"I've had many eons to perfect them for the sole opportunity of impressing an Aurelius dragon," The Sphinx drawled, rolling her pale eyes.
I giggled at the snarkyness. I was suddenly reminded of the Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins riddling with Smeagol within the Misty Mountains. There was even a chance of getting eaten. I grinned, thinking of Nevada and I being Hobbits.
"One last riddle for the two of you, disdain for your species aside, I am impressed with your intelligence. Most don't make it this far," The Sphinx grinned, flashing razor sharp teeth at us. Nevada stood his ground and I wanted to jump back.
"Here it is, I heard of an invading, vanquishing army
sweeping across the land, liquid-quick;
conquering everything, quelling resistance.
With it came darkness, dimming the light.
Humans hid in their houses, while outside
spears pierced, shattering stone walls.
Uncountable soldiers smashed into the ground,
but each elicited life as he died;
when the army had vanished, advancing northward,
the land was green and growing, refreshed," The Sphinx recited. "What am I?"
"Can you repeat it, please?" I asked.
The Sphinx rolled her eyes at me but complied, reciting it again only slower.
Nevada and I huddled together.
"Green growing and refreshed, liquid quick," Nevada mumbled and met my eyes and smiled. I returned it. Despite the length and pomp of the riddle, it was by far the easiest of the three.
"The rain," Nevada and I said in unison.
The Sphinx let out an irritated growl and I drew in a stilted breath. Had we got it wrong? I was so sure it was the rain! What else made even an iota of sense?
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the Sphinx glared at us. "Correct."
"Yes!" I cheered, releasing all of my pent up air and once. I leaped into Nevada's arms and he swung me around in a circle and grinned down at me.
"We did it!" I cheered, smiling wide at him.
"Of course we did, I didn't have any doubt at all," Nevada chastised.
I blinked at him. "Did you truly think there was no doubt we would win? How can you be so sure?"
"I never doubt us, I know we're strong enough to make it through anything," Nevada searched my eyes for something, burning with sapphire fire. "Are you always so full of worry and doubt?"
"Always," I bit my lip, I shook my head. "We'll talk about this later, now is not the time."
"We can agree on that at least," The Sphinx interrupted with a dramatic sigh, her tail lifting and twisting through the bookshelves. "You are two are the first survivors of my game in centuries, how so very disappointing."
"I've said it before and I'll say it again, I live to disappoint," I shrugged, looking away from the Sphinx to grin back at Nevada who patted my head softly.
"As avowed, three riddles for three sources of information on your powers," The Sphinx pulled her long tail out from between the shelves and curled in the tuft of her tail were three very thick scrolls. She dumped them into Nevada's arms who eyed them with a hunger for knowledge that I recognized from when we were in eighth grade and he got to audit our local community college's organic chemistry class. The thirst for knowledge as he ran his hands over that thick textbook was the same look he had now. A thrill ran through me, I wanted so very badly for him to look at me that way.
The trailing of soft fur against my cheek drew me from my reverie. I blushed furiously at the Sphinx catching me watch Nevada so desperately. How greedy the creature must think me. I wore the marks of two other dragons on my neck and I eyed a third, the Sphinx didn't even know about Raiden, or did she?
&nbs
p; "It's a shame really, I was so looking forward to the taste of ichor again," The Sphinx whispered to me before retracting her tail and curling it back around her large golden body. "Safe travels to the both of you. I hope you find the answers you are looking for and can live with what you learn."
I watched the Sphinx turn and disappear back into the darkness, my brow furrowed. What had the Sphinx meant by can live with what you learn?
I glanced at Nevada, watching him run his hands over the ancient scrolls, that same yearning look in his eyes. Had he even heard any of that? What was ichor?
"Hey, we're supposed to be the Hobbits and the Sphinx is Gollum, stop petting the scrolls like they're your precious," I chastised.
He grinned up at me, flushing slightly at being caught. He ran his hand down the scrolls. "My precious."
"Are those old scrolls giving you a nerdgasm?" I asked in a teasing tone.
Nevada raised his dark eyebrows and smirked. "You're just jealous, you want to get pet like the scrolls are."
Arrow right to the heart. He wasn't wrong.
I shrugged and gave him a sheepish grin. I looked down at my hands and dramatically looked back up at Nevada. "Look at that, caught red-handed."
Nevada chuckled and shook his head and stepped closer to me, showing the gigantic scrolls into my arms. They were heavier than they looked and with my broken arm, I struggled to keep ahold of them. I wobbled for a moment before I found a way to prop them on my good arm and rested my broken one on top as an anchor. He pulled the small leather satchel he kept strapped to his back off and opened it. He grabbed the scrolls one by one dumping them inside. Each was that same yellowed old papyrus paper, even the outsides were decorated with dark ink browned with age.
I took in the looping, flowing script of one and the strange language that seemed to be composed of connected triangles and dots. The other looked like Ancient Greek.
"What languages are those in?" I asked Nevada, certain he would at least know what languages those were. He was, of course, Mr. Know-it-all.
He glanced down at the scrolls before looking back up at me. "I'd hazard to say Ancient Sumerian and Ancient Vedic Sanskrit."
"Damn, where is google translate when you need it," I bit my lip.
"I'd say about two thousand years in the future where it belongs," Nevada shook his dark hair out and placed the satchel back on his back. I tried to ignore the contracting of his biceps as he raised them to loop his arms through the satchel straps.
"We're no further than we were before, how are we going to translate that now? We'll have to wait until we get home to our time," I sighed.
Nevada blinked at me and gave me a hard look like he was offended by what I said. "I'm going to translate it you, silly woman."
"Did I hear you right? You can read Ancient Greek, Sumerian and Vedic Sanskrit?" I asked, the shock evident in my voice.
"Of course I do, great fiction isn't exactly plentiful in this time period, I had to occupy my mind somehow for the last ten years or I would have gone insane, I do have to say that I had a pretty good handle on Ancient Greek before we came back to this time, so many applications of science use the Greek Alphabet and it hasn't changed very much," Nevada explained nonchalantly while I could only gape at him in shock.
"How many languages do you know?" I asked.
"I can read over thirty but I can only speak eleven fluently," Nevada shrugged.
"Wow, I'm impressed," I admitted.
"Do you speak or read any other languages?" Nevada asked. "We took Spanish together in middle school."
"I kept taking it in high school and college but I don't have a lot of opportunities to put it to use except for television novellas," I explained. "I know some American Sign Language too."
"You'll have to teach me ASL, that's one I don't know," Nevada drawled. He cocked his head to the side and watched me with keen eyes.
"Sure," I grinned.
"Now that you're done being wowed by my intelligence, how about we get out of here before something else comes along that wants to kill us or eat us?" Nevada asked.
"Sounds like a good idea all around," I chuckled and Nevada held out his hand for me to take.
I used my good hand to tap my Alpha of Shields back into place in my cast, making sure it was still securely attached to me then I took his hand.
We started up the stairs, our morale victorious. At least mine was. We had busted into an Ancient library seeped in magic, survived a Kyōrinrin and a Sphinx that wanted to turn me into a tasty snack. We were the Bonnie and Clyde of Ancient Rome. Except for the dying and toxicity and Clyde being in the closet. Maybe we weren't Bonnie and Clyde, I think my Hobbit metaphor might have been better.
I sighed and shook my head. I suffered from CWMS, Chronic Wandering Mind Syndrome. A condition I just made up.
"What are you grinning about?" Nevada asked in a whisper as we made our way back up the never-ending staircase back up to the second basement floor.
"My own weird thoughts," I answered honestly.
We were far enough from the Sphinx's level that I could no longer see in front of behind me but I was sure I felt Nevada shaking his head in amusement.
We made it back to the second level and my thighs and ass burned from the exertion of climbing so many steps. I would have buns of steel by the time we made it up the next two gigantic flights of stairs. I better hide them from Cobalt, he liked the taste of steel. I bit my lip to keep from laughing but giggles escaped me anyways.
Nevada sighed. "I'm starting to think there isn't enough Oxygen down here, you've got the giggles."
He might be right, the air was particularly thin and stale.
"Sorry," I said.
"Stop apologizing, I should have realized there wasn't enough fresh air and here I am rushing you and your little legs up the stairs. The pace was fast, even for me and I have much longer legs than you, no wonder you're a bit delirious," Nevada squeezed my hand in his, his thumb rubbing circles softly on the top of my hand.
"If you're worried about maintaining my magic, I can, it's almost easy with my Shields at this point," I told him pointedly.
"Damn, Tavia, I know I can come off as cold, no pun intended, but I care about you not your magic," Nevada sighed.
"I didn't mean it like that, I know you care, I just don't want you to worry," I told him, my voice coming off whinier than I would like.
He pulled me into a hug and ran his fingers through the strands of hair that had escaped my tight bun.
"I think your shields come so easily to you because you're so used to being closed off and guarded," Nevada murmured and a flash of red hot anger rushed through me. How dare he?
"Well I've had to be, I couldn't get hurt again, not after you four left, not after my parents died," I admitted.
"We'll never be separated again," Nevada whispered into my hair and I clenched my eyes shut.
"Of course not, I'm not letting any of you out of my sight ever again," I squeezed him into my arms tightly, enjoying the chill of his cold skin.
We continued up to next flight of stairs, Nevada slowed our pace to almost a snail's pace. My legs were growing sorer by the minute. I tried to ignore it and push through but every time a tremor of pain would pass through me and made my body shake, Nevada squeezed my hand tighter. I knew he felt guilty but he couldn't really help it. Men. I shook my head.
The higher we climbed, the better the quality of the air. Nevada was still pulling the cold from the air. I could feel the power thrumming through him, the magic dragons had was far different than mine or the Concilium’s. Wild magic, elemental and arcane. So very different but I could still feel it.
We made it to the first basement level and came across the frozen body of the Kyōrinrin.
"If you leave it frozen, someone will just find it and wonder who froze it in place, there are only so many ice dragons here in Rome and only one person who can turn invisible," I reasoned with Nevada. "They might be assholes but they aren't stupid, the
y'll connect the dots and know it's us."
Nevada sighed and ran his free hand through his curls. "Exactly what I was thinking."
The both of us carefully stepped over the thick midsection of the Kyōrinrin. I let my eyes trail over the creature's form. I couldn't help but think of how cool it was. A dragon made of paper. I reminded myself to give the old collectible books at my library back home some attention when we returned. A paper dragon wandering through a Midwestern public library wasn't the best idea.
