The Forbidden Library

by David Alastair Hayden

  “Doesn’t sound like a good strategy,” Iniru said.

  “I could cast a wind spell to kick up loose snow to blind them. That might work better than a fog cloud and it could disorient them. I have plenty of air energy to draw on here.”

  “Do it,” Iniru said.

  “Master, the spell of the screaming wind-blast from Chonda Lu’s grimoire. That would surely knock them back and disorient them. It would be much more powerful than the spell of heaven’s breath. Do you remember it?”

  “Lu Bei, I can’t do that spell.”

  “But you can draw on all the power of the air kenja here to make up for lacking the internal power, like you did with the storm spells using the Mark of the Storm Dragon.”

  “It’s not scripted and I haven’t rehearsed it.”

  “But you do know it, yes?”

  “You know I do.” Turesobei rarely forgot a spell, even after studying one only once, but it was dangerous not to know one perfectly and recite it regularly. One mistake could be fatal, or just lead to a lot of wasted energy. But then this was dangerous, anyway.

  “Master, imagine you are Chonda Lu, like you did before, and quick-cast the spell from memory. I think it will work. If it doesn’t …”

  “All right. Everyone, clear away. Give me some room. The spell could backfire.”

  With the wild sonoke nearly on top of them, Turesobei began chanting the spell. Since he’d only studied once, he cast it slow and steady. As he did, he thought of the dream he’d had, of being Chonda Lu out on the plains battling Vôl Ultharma. He tried to feel exactly what Chonda Lu had felt then.

  One sonoke got close to them while he was casting, but Motekeru and Kurine fended it off.

  Turesobei fell into a trance where he became Chonda Lu, much like he sometimes became the Storm Dragon. He was sitting over the grimoire, writing the spell of the screaming wind-blast down into it, chuckling as he thought of the first time he’d cast it, in a contest against a short, dark-skinned Kaiaru rival. It had been a breezy day, and they were out on a hill, a kite flapping lazily overhead.

  The spell went off, ripping Turesobei back into the present. A screaming, wailing, eardrum-assaulting blast of wind erupted behind Turesobei and his companions. Despite substituting air kenja, the spell drew on so much of his internal kenja that his eyes rolled back in his head, but he stayed conscious, just barely. Air and ice energy poured into the spell, overpowering his intent. The energies far exceeded what the spell called for. And given it was a Kaiaru spell he’d never practiced before, he had no control over it now that he’d cast it — like when he’d attempted the lightning spells at home the first time.

  The wind blast struck the wild sonoke herd. Despite their forward momentum, some slid rapidly backward. Others flipped over and tumbled violently away. Even those that hunkered down were pushed back until they were out of sight.

  The wind-blast kicked loose ice and snow up, forming a cloud behind them. A cloud that began to spin up into the sky and kick snow back toward them, increasing the intensity of the flurries that had fallen all day. In minutes, a heavy snow began to fall over the area as a giant cloud billowed overhead, expanding out in all directions.

  “It’s rebounding,” Turesobei said listlessly, his eyelids fluttering. It was all he could do to stay conscious. “The cloud, the magic. It’s all rebounding. I’ve accidentally triggered a snowstorm. And it looks like the prevailing winds overhead are bringing it toward us while the lower winds I summoned are kicking snow up into the clouds.”

  “You can’t stop it?” Kurine asked.

  “I have no control over spells that powerful and it drew more energy than I expected. Far more. We can take shelter or we can try to outrace it. The magic will have to end eventually.”

  “Let’s try to outrun it then,” said Narbenu. “We don’t have time to take adequate shelter.”

  Turesobei doubted they could outrun it either but said nothing because he was sure Narbenu knew that. Minutes later, a blizzard engulfed them. Visibility became poor and then non-existent. None of them could see each other unless they kept side-by-side.

  A howling wind struck them so hard it blew them apart from one another. Turesobei shouted to the others, but the responses he heard back were unintelligible. Turesobei couldn’t see anyone. He thought he heard a shout from Narbenu.

  “What we do?” Zaiporo shouted.

  “I don’t know!”

  Turesobei and Zaiporo’s sonoke crashed suddenly into the mount Iniru was riding. She must have stopped for some reason. As the two sonoke struck each other and recoiled, they plunged over a ridge and slid down a steep incline. The sonoke tumbled and threw them out of the saddle. Turesobei slid until he crashed at last into a deep snowbank.

  Chapter 26

  Buried under an avalanche of snow, unable to breathe or move, Turesobei fought back the urge to panic. He attempted a spell, but when he spoke snow filled his mouth.

  A clawed hand shot down, grabbed him by the collar, and yanked him free. “You okay, master?”

  Gasping for breath, Turesobei gazed up into Motekeru’s horrible, jagged bronze face and nodded. He’d never been so glad to see that face before. “The others?”

  Motekeru nodded to where Enashoma and Iniru stood huddled together beside two sonoke. “Still looking for the rest.”

  A small section of snow nearby lit up and melted somewhat. With another burst of light more snow melted. A spark fired upward and Lu Bei burst free, shaking the snow from his wings. He zipped over and flew into Enashoma’s arms.

  Turesobei stumbled toward Iniru and Enashoma. Judging from their ruffled, snow-covered, somewhat battered appearance, they had gotten buried in the avalanche, too.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I’m okay,” Iniru wheezed.

  “Bruised,” Enashoma panted. “Motekeru rolled over me. Zai … We gotta find him.”

  Lu Bei zipped up into the sky immediately and began circling. Motekeru stomped around. Though the snow still rained down heavily, it wasn’t as bad as it had been. Visibility had improved to the point where Turesobei could clearly see Motekeru from twenty paces away. Probably because the snow was only falling down from overhead. It wasn’t also blowing in from the side.

  As he prepared to cast the spell of sensing presences, a sonoke squirmed free from the snowbank. Zaiporo came up along with it, one hand clutched to a saddle stirrup.

  Enashoma ran to him and gave him a hug which made him groan. “He’s all right … I think!”

  Two sonoke appeared out of the blizzard — Narbenu and Kemsu, unharmed.

  “We were worried you’d gotten buried in the avalanche,” Narbenu said. “Kemsu thought he saw you go over the edge.”

  “Couldn’t be sure in all that,” Kemsu said.

  “We collided,” Iniru said. “Motekeru dug us out.”

  “Kurine’s not with you?” Turesobei asked.

  “Haven’t seen her,” Narbenu replied. “She’s not with you?”

  Iniru shook her head. “She wasn’t in the collision.”

  “We’ve got to find her,” Kemsu said. “Fast! If she’s buried she’ll suffocate soon.”

  Turesobei shook his head. “Lu Bei?”

  From where he was still circling above, Lu Bei called down, “No sign, master! I can’t go any higher! Winds are too strong!”

  “Kurine!” Kemsu shouted.

  Turesobei cast the spell of locating that which is hidden. He thought of Kurine … of kissing her, because he needed the best connection he could make in case she was far away or buried deep. Her presence popped into his mind instantly.

  “That way!” Turesobei said, pointing. “She’s not far.”

  “Hop on,” Narbenu said.

  Turesobei leapt into the saddle behind him. A few minutes later they discovered Kurine. She was leaning against her mount, gasping, and clutching her knee. The amber hounds, Rig and Ohma, nestled against her barked happily as Turesobei approached. Kemsu leapt down and Tur
esobei followed him.

  “Is it broken?” Kemsu asked.

  Kurine shook her head. “Wrenched my knee. I’ll be okay. My mount got free on its own, but I was buried. Not deep.” She scratched Rig under the chin. “The hounds pulled me out.”

  Kurine took Turesobei’s hand. “You found me with magic, didn’t you?”

  “Um … yeah,” Turesobei said. “How’d you know?”

  “I just knew you would,” she said. “We have a bond.”

  Kemsu sighed. “It’s not like you were all that far away. We would’ve found you by searching.”

  Kemsu and Narbenu checked over Kurine’s mount. “He’ll be fine,” Narbenu said. “Sonoke are tough.”

  They helped Kurine into the saddle and rode back to where the others were. While Narbenu checked Turesobei’s mount, Turesobei checked to see if any of their gear was missing. Zaiporo’s spear was snapped in half. “One of our supply packs is gone.” Motekeru dug around searching for it but came up empty-handed.

  Luckily all the mounts were fine, having suffered no more than a few bruises and scrapes. The snow had cushioned the impact. Kurine’s wrenched knee was the worst of their injuries. It all could’ve been much worse.

  The snow kept falling, showing no signs of letting up.

  “We need cover,” Kemsu said. “Maybe there’s a cave or an overhang somewhere nearby.”

  “What about snowhouses?” Turesobei said.

  “Not an option,” Narbenu replied. “We’d likely get buried inside. They’d be our tombs. All we can do is keep riding, unless we find shelter, but I don’t know how we would in all this. Do you have any magic that can help with this?”

  “Nothing that I can manage,” Turesobei replied.

  There was geographical spell in Chonda Lu’s grimoire that gave the caster an impression of the area around them, in a way similar to the way the spell of sensing presences allowed one to detect other creatures or people nearby. But it was primarily an earth kenja spell, and the earth energy in the Ancient Cold and Deep was slightly depressed. Most of it was air and water because of the ice. No way for him to do it.

  “Let me try to study the kenja currents, see if I can get a feel for the terrain that way.”

  They rode slowly, with Turesobei concentrating. A solid cliff face that went straight up stopped them a few minutes later.

  “Can’t go this way,” Narbenu said. “And the slope we came down is too steep. We can’t ride back up.”

  “We must be in a canyon then,” Iniru said.

  “Eew!” Kurine said to Turesobei. “Your eyes.”

  Enashoma chuckled. “They’re supposed do that.”

  “It’s creepy,” Zaiporo said, “but you get used to it.”

  Turesobei’s eyes turned a solid milky-white color when he studied the kenja currents.

  With the snowstorm overhead, air and water currents swirled violently all around making it difficult for him to get a feel for anything. He dismounted, knelt, and placed both hands on the ice. Slowly he attuned himself to the flow of the earth kenja in the area. He climbed back into the saddle.

  “We’re definitely in a canyon, but I can’t tell which way we should go. I can’t feel the flow well. I’m guessing it’s fairly steep on both ends but I don’t know for sure. It may just be a long canyon.”

  “I’ve heard about this place,” Narbenu said. “It is a canyon. A very long one, twenty leagues or more. I’ve heard the rangers talk about. There’s a way out on one end, but I can’t remember which way that is or anything else about it. Don’t even remember the name of it. Sorry.”

  “Twenty leagues?” Iniru said. “That’s massive. We could be stuck in here for days, maybe longer.”

  “Once the storm clears I may be able to get a better sense of it,” Turesobei said.

  “Until then?” Kemsu asked.

  Turesobei pointed to his right, the direction he thought was north. “That way seems as good as the other.”

  *****

  They rode north, miserable, bruised, and cold. Visibility worsened again as the blizzard grew stronger. Tiny beads of moisture slicked Turesobei’s skin under all his clothing — the result of being buried in the snow. He knew the moisture would freeze on his skin. Ultimately it could kill him. But there was nothing he could do about it until they got out of the storm. Changing clothes with snow falling down on him wouldn’t do any good.

  The canyon narrowed and the walls grew steep on both sides. Slowly those sides closed in at the top, almost forming a cave. There was still an opening above and snow fell through it, but by riding to one side they were able to get out from under the snowfall. But what blocked out snow also blocked out light. Turesobei cast the spell of the moon mirrors.

  “Should we continue?” he asked. “Looks like it’s going to close up into a proper cave soon.”

  “Let’s ride a little farther then,” Narbenu said.

  And so they rode until the two side of the canyon merged above them to form a ceiling.

  “Well, it’s not the way out,” said Narbenu. “But we can wait out the storm here and rest. How long do you think the storm will rage?”

  Turesobei shrugged. “I was going to ask you. My spell created a small storm but I think that triggered a larger one from the snow that was already falling. My spell has ended and the effect from it should be fading.”

  “Blizzards rarely last more than a day,” Narbenu said. “Maybe by daybreak it will end. We can rest up and then continue on. But we need to be careful and not go any deeper than this. Caves like this can hold … well, you name it. Sonoke herds, demons, beasts.” He jumped down and started unloading the packs from his mount. “Everyone remove your saddles and check your mounts again, carefully. Make certain they’re okay. Check the straps on your packs and saddles, be certain they’re secure. They might have gotten damaged.”

  Turesobei and Zaiporo stripped their mount and Narbenu and Kemsu checked it. No injuries worse than a scrape, so they strapped the beasts back up and Narbenu inspected their work to make sure they’d done it correctly.

  “If your clothes are wet inside, you’re going to have to switch to dry gear,” Kemsu said.

  Everyone but Kemsu and Narbenu had wet clothes, so they had to switch. But the only extras they had were inner shirts and pants. Turesobei didn’t really want to expose his bare skin to this cold. He reached for a star-stone then thought of how little warmth it could provide even at its maximum capacity.

  “Could we risk a fire, for a short time?” he asked. “Enough to warm up and dry out our clothes a bit.”

  “A magic one?” Narbenu asked. “I guess it wouldn’t be any more attention-getting than the mirrors. Go for it.”

  “I thought it was difficult to do fire spells here,” Zaiporo said. “Your fire-globes fizzled.”

  “It is hard, but I figure it’s worth it. A quarter hour is probably the best I can do.”

  “Don’t overdo it,” Enashoma said.

  “I won’t. Promise.”

  With a flat, ice-free rock as his target, he summoned a basic fire. The effort he put into it was enough to normally summon a small bonfire, but he expected the intensity of a flame suitable for roasting a rabbit. What he got was a roaring campfire. The heat blasted out causing everyone to back up a few steps.

  “Wow,” Kemsu commented. “Didn’t expect that.”

  “Neither did I,” Turesobei replied. “There’s a lot more fire kenja here than I would’ve thought. Perhaps there’s a hot spring deep inside the caverns.” He motioned toward the fire. “Well, ladies first.”

  While standing near the fire, Iniru, Kurine, and Enashoma swiftly changed their inner layer of clothes and laid their outer layers out to dry. When they were done, Zaiporo and Turesobei changed. He felt like he’d been plunged into ice even while standing beside the fire.

  “It’s mid-afternoon and still snowing heavily,” Kemsu said. “Maybe we should go ahead and set up camp here. Unless you think the cave is too dangerous.”
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  Narbenu groaned. “I’d rather not, but we can’t go out into that.”

  The fire sputtered out after an hour. They put their outer layers back on and brought out the star-stones to give a little warmth. Because the space was large and airy, the cave wasn’t going to be as warm as a snowhouse.

  Lu Bei stood and twitched his nose and ears. He flicked his forked tongue out a few times and made a face, like he’d bitten into a lemon. He shot up and zipped around them several times but didn’t venture farther in.

  “I don’t like this place, master. Something’s wrong.”

  “What is it?” Turesobei asked.

  “Don’t know, master. Just a bad feeling.”

  Turesobei remembered the stronger-than-anticipated fire energies. He activated his kenja-sight. “I’m seeing strong fire and earth kenja and … Wow, forest kenja here. And it’s incredibly strong.”

  “Forest energy in a cave?” Kurine said. “How’s that possible?”

  “Don’t know,” Turesobei replied. “Based on what I’m detecting, I would guess that at the heart of this cave there’s an enormous hot spring that’s exposed to a lot of sunlight and surrounded by a forest. Naturally, that doesn’t make sense. And … And there’s something else about the energies, something that’s just not right.”

  “Like what?” Narbenu asked. “Demons? Beasts?”

  Turesobei shrugged.

  Motekeru peered deeper into the cave. “I can take the hounds and explore deeper, master.”

  Lu Bei plunged down and landed on Turesobei’s back. He leaned over and whispered, loudly. “Trouble and trouble, master. We’re not alone.”

  Turesobei reached for the sword that wasn’t on his belt. Zaiporo backed up to the mount and drew a spear.

  Iniru lifted her head. “I smell … a tree … coming toward us.” Her ears twitched. “Maybe a whole forest worth of trees … somehow.”

  Everyone drew weapons and backed up together toward their mounts.

  Tiny emerald eyes sparked at the edge of the darkness, reflecting the light from the moon mirrors. Dozens and dozens of eyes sparkled from deep within and from the walls and from the ceiling.