Everyone looked at one another and then at the stretch of what was surely a thousand steps or more going up, winding treacherously. Motekeru could do it, but he already had Kurine.
“We’ll have to fashion some sort of device to carry them,” Narbenu said. “But for that we would need our packs.”
From where he stood waiting, a dozen steps up, the Keeper of the Shores made a strange sound, almost like a disgruntled crow cawing. He walked down, picked up the wolfhounds, tucked one under each arm, and continued up without a word. Turesobei restrained a smile and avoided looking at the others. He could feel Enashoma about to burst with a giggle and didn’t want to set her off.
Thighs burning and feet sliding, they climbed the staircase. Fortunately, Motekeru didn’t have any trouble despite carrying Kurine. He had spikes on the toes and heels of his feet and his weight jammed them deep into the ice. The rest of them were not so lucky and they treaded slowly. Lu Bei darted between them all, catching anyone who started to slip by their sleeves to make sure they didn’t lose their handhold.
An hour later they reached the flattened top of the island. A flagstone path led to an enormous doorway. Standing in front of the stone double-doors were two more hooded beings like the Keeper of the Shores, their faces entirely hidden. They also carried rods at their waists. Turesobei opened his kenja-sight for just a moment. The rods emanated a strong combination of storm and fire kenja. It was unlike anything he’d ever seen. And from the library beyond them flowed every sort of kenja imaginable. Yet under it all, deep within, lay shadow. He dropped the kenja-sight.
“I have granted them an audience,” the Keeper of the Shores announced to his comrades.
Turesobei and his companions bowed. In response, the guards at the door cocked their heads strangely, as if considering them. Then they turned and pulled open the great doors as if they weighed nothing.
Chapter 45
Turesobei followed the Keeper of the Shores into the library’s cool, pervasive silence. The scents of decaying paper and lacquered woods hung heavy in the air. Only a few lanterns flickered overhead. Each strike of Turesobei’s boots against the polished marble floor reverberated through the short hallway and echoed into the cavernous central chamber ahead, and as his companions entered behind him, the noise increased to a rattling thunder. The Keeper snapped his head around and pointed at a set of shelves lining the walls.
“Quiet,” the guardian ordered.
They removed their overboots and started forward, but Motekeru’s clawed toes and heels still clanked against the marble. The Keeper stopped, his spine erect, but before he could turn around, Turesobei whispered: “I’ll take care of it, unless you have a rule against me using magic here.”
“No one here shall stop you from using benign magic.”
Turesobei cast the spell of the silent footfall and targeted Motekeru’s feet. The simple spell used air kenja, so he could make it last for hours, especially since he was focusing it on such a small target. Motekeru took a few muffled footsteps and nodded. They continued into the main chamber of the Forbidden Library. Above them soared twenty floors built around a wide rotunda ringed by a spiraling staircase. The top of this center section ended not in the dome that was visible from the outside but with a glass mosaic ceiling depicting abstract shapes.
Each gallery-style level contained floor-to-ceiling rows of mahogany shelves packed with books and scrolls. Vermillion columns held the floors aloft. Thousands of flickering lanterns hung throughout, though only half were lit, leaving the library surprisingly dim for a place intended for reading. Of course, that didn’t really matter since no one but the library’s guardians were allowed inside.
Looking upward, Turesobei spun around. “Wow, this is … this is Paradise.”
“It’s pretty,” Iniru mocked. “Pretty but boring.”
“Don’t tease him now,” Enashoma said. “You know this is amazing. Imagine what it’s like for him.”
“I don’t read much,” Zaiporo said, “but I think I could probably spend a year in here before I got bored.”
“Just imagine what all this library must contain,” said Narbenu.
“A lot of books,” Kemsu muttered. “Books I can’t read.”
“I think it would be worth learning how to read if one could stay here for a while,” Narbenu added.
“I could stay here forever,” Motekeru said.
“You can read?” Kemsu said.
“I’m not savage,” Motekeru replied.
Kemsu started to respond but dropped it.
“Feels like … home,” said Lu Bei.
Enashoma poked him in the belly. “That’s because you’re a book.”
Lu Bei giggled then said, “No, that’s not what I mean. It reminds me of the Grand Eternal Imperial Library of Tengba Ren, only it’s about twice the size. Master went there frequently for volumes he didn’t already own.”
The bottom level was free of shelves. An array of tables, each with its own lantern and kneeling cushions, lined the edges. Near the far side stood a freestanding stone cabinet, built kind of like an outhouse, with a single door that lacked any sort of opening mechanism he could see. Beside the cabinet was a pedestal on which lay a tremendous codex bound with copper wire.
The Keeper of the Shores turned toward them and dropped his cowl. Turesobei took a step back while several of the others gasped. The guardian — the Keeper — he was … Turesobei didn’t know what the Keeper was. Certainly not human in the sense of the baojendari, zaboko, k’chasan, or goronku peoples. While his body was that of a brown-skinned human male, leanly muscled, his neck and head matched those of a falcon, with beady black eyes, a sharp pointed beak, and downy blue-gray feathers.
“No, I am not human like all of you, even though I resemble you in a few ways,” the Keeper said. “I am Eirsenda by birth. My people are older even than the Kaiaru, though we came to this world after them. We are no longer a living race. We few carry on in our sacred role as Keepers, immortal guardians of important places and powerful artifacts. Yes, I have wings. Yes, I can fly. Do you have any other questions?”
“We hadn’t asked any,” Iniru blurted out.
He flicked his beady eyes at them. Was that a smile? It was impossible to tell for certain.
“Are those not the questions you wanted to ask of me?”
Wings beat above them, and two more Keepers spiraled down from the top level. When they landed they folded back their brightly-colored wings. One had feathers of blue and purple, while the other had feathers of orange, vermillion, and scarlet. Neither wore cloaks. Instead they wore simple tunics belted at the waist. From their belts dangled those same mysterious metal rods.
Turesobei bowed. “I am Chonda Turesobei.”
“We know,” said the Keeper with vermillion wings. “I am the Keeper of Scrolls. Welcome to the Forbidden Library. I am in charge, and I will see that your needs are met, and that our rules are followed.”
“You’re in charge?” said Turesobei. “What about the Great Librarian?”
“The Great Librarian manages the collections and interviews petitioners allowed in by the Keeper of the Shores, arguing their cases on the rare occasions she deems them worthy. Ultimately, however, she must answer to me and the Gathering of Keepers, and our lord, the Keeper of Destiny. It is our responsibility to protect the knowledge and artifacts stored here. Your chances with the Great Librarian are slim, and your chances of winning over the Gathering dire, but that is how the system works. You may think it is unfair, but the system is not to my liking either.”
“You would help us?” Turesobei said.
“No, I would kill you the moment you stepped foot into my library,” he said nonchalantly, his eyes locked onto the Keeper of the Shores, “regardless of need, unless your coming had been foretold by the Keeper of Destiny. Even you, Chonda Turesobei, heir of the great Chonda Lu.” The Keeper of Scrolls ruffled his feathers and took a deep breath. His voice became slightly more friendly. “Now, as
for your stay, it is warm here in the Library, especially once the cold air you allowed in heats up. We will provide you with a change of clothes, rooms with baths to wash the filth away, and a brief time to rest before meeting with the Great Librarian.”
Anger flared within Turesobei, and with it the sigil on his cheek grew hot. The Keeper of Scrolls focused his eyes on the mark but showed no further reaction. Taking deep breaths, Turesobei restrained his anger. He gestured toward Kurine who lay quiet in Motekeru’s arms, missing the splendor of the library.
“Kurine, my betrothed, she’s dying. She was poisoned by an orugukagi. I don’t have the resources to cure her in this world. I was hoping you could help her here.”
The Keeper of Scrolls shrugged. “If she is dying and you cannot stop it, then that is her fate. There is nothing I can, nor would, do for her. Now, follow me to your rooms.”
Turesobei stepped toward him, but Iniru caught his sleeve and tugged him back, shaking her head. Clenching his eyes shut, he sighed. She was right. There was no point growing angry. The Eirsendan Keepers were clearly alien and he would gain nothing by trying to argue with them, especially if he needed their support later. Maybe the Great Librarian could help her. Maybe home and a cure was only a day away. He could hope, even if he knew it wouldn’t be that easy.
“You must at all times follow the rules of the library,” the Keeper of Scrolls announced. “First, you cannot take anything from the library, should you be allowed to leave.” He gestured toward the outhouse-sized box to the left with the pedestal beside the door. “Second, you cannot enter the Lower Stacks. Any attempt to open that door will result in death. Third, you are free to read any book in the Main Library, but handle them with care and replace them on the shelves properly when you are done. Fourth, if you speak amongst the Upper Stacks, even so much as a whisper, the punishment is death.”
What was the point of the rules if they never let anyone in? Who would they interrupt by speaking? Turesobei was beginning to think the Keepers were short on good nature and even more lacking in sanity.
The Keeper of the Shores bowed to them. “I shall return to my duties now. Should you have the chance to face the Gathering, you will have at least one vote in your favor. Mine. It was given automatically when I allowed you in. I do not think we shall meet again, but one never knows for certain. It was a pleasure to meet you all.”
With the silent, purple-winged Eirsenda following silently behind, the Keeper of Scrolls led them to a door on the west side of the library which led into a tunnel that took them into the squat, smaller domed building. It was styled in the same manner as the Main Library with each level a gallery and the center open all the way up, except in this building the dome did open above to the lower levels, all ten of them. But there were no stairs nor any other methods for reaching the different levels. On each of the levels there were many doors, all of them closed. The dome above was not obsidian as he’d expected but some sort of thick glass that was clear from the inside but dark on the outside. The last rays of the setting sun added an ominous crimson glow to the lantern light.
“The first floor contains our guest rooms. There is a free room for each of you. Baths have already been drawn. Tunics of appropriate size will soon be brought to you. We ask that you remain quiet and respectful. My brothers sleep on the level above you. Remember, it is we who will vote on and decide your fate if the Great Librarian looks upon you favorably.”
Enashoma volunteered to share a room with Kurine and take care of her. Iniru offered to come help her, though she took a different room.
“I will stay outside with the hounds,” said Motekeru, “and guard you all.”
“I assure you that we will not harm you,” said the Keeper of Scrolls. “The Keeper of the Hearth —” He gestured to the purple-winged one. “He shall see to your needs.”
“You have your duty,” Motekeru said. “I have mine.”
The Keeper of Scrolls nodded and departed.
“I will remain out here at all times, should you need anything,” said the Keeper of the Hearth.
Turesobei walked into a warm room lined with reed mats on the floor and heavy tapestries on the walls. A single lantern blazed on the far wall. A copper bathtub sat on one side of the room, while a plush sleeping mat was rolled out on the other. There was a desk for writing and a few empty shelves for storing books and clothes. Heat poured into the room through vents in the wall. Which was probably why Turesobei was sweating under his clothes already. This was the warmest place he’d been in since he’d arrived in the Ancient Cold and Deep.
“Wow, this is nicer than my room back home.”
“But the neighbors are stinky mean,” Lu Bei whispered. “And weird. But Keepers are like that.”
“You know about them?”
“From long ago. Never expected that’s what guarded this place. Master disliked the lot of them.”
“Why?”
“Because they would never give him what he wanted,” Lu Bei replied. “Only if the Keeper of Destiny ordained it could you get anything they guarded. Even if all you wanted was to examine it. Master found this inconvenient for they guarded many treasures he would have liked to have.”
“Chonda Lu wouldn’t just take what he wanted from them?”
“Do not underestimate the Keepers. A Keeper is nearly a match against a Kaiaru, and just because he didn’t like them or their methods didn’t mean that Master didn’t respect the Keepers’ mission to protect things that shouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. And the Eirsenda and the Kaiaru had a long-standing agreement not to fight against one another.”
Turesobei peeled off his many layers of clothing and climbed into the steaming water. He felt as if he’d formed an outer skin of ice and that it was now melting away.
“Ohhhh, I have missed baths and heat so much. This might just be Paradise. Warm baths, warm rooms, millions of books.”
He pushed all the worries he had from his mind. Kurine, getting home, the great shadow, the Keepers — all of it. He needed to rest and relax or he’d never get through this.
Lu Bei sat on the edge of the tub and dipped his feet in with a sigh. “I wish they’d give us a week. A whole week to rest.”
“I know, but Kurine won’t last that long.”
“You’ll convince them to help us and get her cured, master. I know you will.”
“I don’t know. This time … this time may be different. I wish this was something I could solve with a spell or a daring plan, but it’s not. And the shadow from my nightmares … I think it’s a dragon. And it’s here … somewhere.”
Chapter 46
A tap sounded on the door. Startled awake, Turesobei sloshed water out of the bathtub as he nearly jumped.
“Come in!”
Lu Bei popped back into fetch form — he had been lying on the sleeping mat — and rubbed his eyes.
Motekeru stepped into the room carrying a second towel and a saffron-colored tunic.
“Oh, it’s you,” Lu Bei said, and he turned back into a book.
“I offered to distribute the clothes,” said Motekeru, “so that I could check on everyone.”
“Thank you, Motekeru. That was … that was incredibly thoughtful.”
Motekeru nodded. “Of course, master.”
“You know, when I first met you I thought you’d be nothing but a killing machine, since that’s what you were made to be.”
“Master … Chonda Lu … he did not like for me to be anything else.”
“Because you were once an enemy and he wanted to keep punishing you?”
“Yes, master.”
“What did you do?” Turesobei asked.
“I killed one of his lovers, an assassin named Shi-Kun. Chonda Lu sent her after my liege. She was supposed to be unbeatable, but I stopped her. After he found out, Chonda Lu unleashed his full might against us. Once we were defeated, he made me into what I am now so that I could always guard him.”
“That’s awful, truly awful
.” Sometimes Turesobei was completely embarrassed to represent Chonda Lu. “I’m so sorry that he did that to you.”
“That is why I gladly serve you, master. Because you are everything a liege should be.”
“I am honored, Motekeru. But you don’t have to serve me. You can be free once we return. You can do whatever you wish.”
“What would I do? In this form there will never be joy for me. Before, I wanted to be left in limbo. Now, I choose to help you. I trust you to always do your best to do what’s right.”
Motekeru bowed and left. Turesobei said to Lu Bei, “You two didn’t get along because of Chonda Lu?”
Lu Bei returned to fetch form and sighed. “That was part of it.”
“And the rest?”
“We are very different beings Motekeru and I. He wasn’t always this casual, carefree, light-hearted and friendly, you know. And the bigger reason is that by the time I came along, Master had tired of giving the orders to Motekeru himself. It no longer brought him the same old pleasure as it once had. So …”
“You were the one who had to deliver the orders?”
“No one likes the messenger that brings bad news. Motekeru doesn’t like killing, not humans anyway, even if he’s made for it. He couldn’t refuse the orders, so he hated me. There must be at least a dozen spells inside Motekeru binding him to Chonda Lu. Master bragged to me once that not even he could break the spells and free Motekeru.”
Turesobei got out of the bath and dressed in the silk saffron tunic, belting it at the waist. The tunic went down to his knees. He drew the sandals Motekeru had brought onto his feet and wound the cross-gartered straps up his calves.
“After all those thick clothes for weeks, I feel absolutely naked in this. Honestly, it’s way too little for decorum. No one in our world wears anything this skimpy. Are they going to make the girls wear these as well? Even I don’t think that would be decent. Narbenu’s going to lose his mind.”
The Forbidden Library Page 27
