Clash (The Arinthian Line Book 4) (46 page)

After a crier announced the toll of the seventh afternoon bell, Augum, too hungry and exhausted from the research, could barely keep his eyes on the page any longer. His thoughts meandered to the training room, wondering if there was a way for them to get some time there. Or maybe take 5th degree classes or something, if the Legion let them. But then he recalled how necrophytes take that special test, the Torment Trial, at the 5th degree … not to mention they’d certainly be expected to perform
some
necromancy.

“We’re being watched,” Bridget whispered, jolting Augum from his stupor. “It’s her again.
Don’t
look now though.”

Leera’s head shot off the page of a book, leaving a small puddle of drool there. “Huh? Who? Are we under attack?” she nearly shouted, drawing condemning shushes from almost everyone in the section. “I hate herbology,” she muttered, rubbing her eyes. “When are we getting some grub?”

“Don’t look now, but we’re being watched,” Bridget repeated, calmly turning a page in the enormous tome she was reading.

Augum cleared his throat and then pretended to cough, stealing a glance. He saw a bell-shaped figure talking in a low voice with the attendant that admitted them.

“Watts,” Augum whispered to Leera.

Leera blew her dyed hair away from her face. “Hate that woman and I don’t even know her.”

“Let’s just leave,” Bridget said. “If she stops us, tell her we’ve been studiously looking for information on the founders of the town, as a historical task given to us by our mentor from back home.”

“From Everscale?” Leera asked.

Bridget gave her a
Well, obviously
look.

“All right,” Augum said, slamming his book closed and making a show of yawning, then rubbing his stomach. “Mmm, I’m hungry,” he said loudly, and immediately got shushed. “Sorry,” he whispered. He pointed awkwardly at the door. “We’re going to the Supper Hall,” then, after getting shushed again, mouthed, “Sorry, we’ll go now … because we’re hungry, not because—”

“Shhh—!” This time, even the girls joined in.

Augum meekly led the way to the door, the girls trailing, both hiding their eyes behind their hands out of shame.

Secretary Watts suddenly placed an arm between Augum and the door frame. She had long and sharp red fingernails perfectly shaped to scratch a chalkboard. “Excuse me, but may I inquire as to what you three have been up to over the course of the afternoon?”

“Studying,” Bridget said, giving her a blank look.

Watts gave her a simpering smile. “I see. And what exactly have you been studying?”

“We’ve been trying to find out about the history of Antioc for our mentor back home.”

“And where is home, pray tell?”

“Everscale.”

“And your mentor is …?”

Bridget hesitated only a moment. “Sanyika Shaeek. Big fellow, very ill-tempered. Hates to be disturbed.”

“Indeed. And he is a Legion—”

“—lieutenant. 14th degree fire element warlock.”

“Interesting, that is most accomplished indeed.” She made a warbling chortle, sounding akin to a choking frog. “Though I confess I have never heard of him. And you say he is stationed in Everscale?”

Bridget shrugged. “He was. Might be in southern Tiberra by now. His Lordship’s commands take precedence.”

Secretary Watts gave a sickly sweet smile. “Of course they do, dear. Forgive the questions, but security is a chief concern of ours here at the library. You understand of course—”

“Of course,” Bridget said. “Maybe it would ease your mind if you wrote to him to confirm that everything is in order?”

Secretary Watts’ knife-thin brows clambered up her oily forehead. “I … I was going to do that very thing.”

“Great.” Bridget stood there, staring blankly.

Watts swallowed, licked her lips like a lizard, and flashed a wide-mouthed but insincere smile. “Very well then, as you will.”

“Good day, Secretary Watts,” Bridget said, and the trio strode off.

The voice was smooth as snake oil. “How did you know my name?”

They froze.

“That worker told us,” Leera blurted. “The chiseler.”

“Basil. Indeed …”

The trio got out of there as fast as they dared.

“I can’t stand her type,” Bridget said through gritted teeth as soon as they were out of earshot. “The meddling, over-controlling—” She made a choking gesture. “Ugh, know-it-all!”

Augum exchanged a look with Leera. “Bridge?”

“Nothing, it’s just I had a mentor like that once, for a very,
very
short time.” She shivered. “Horrible,
horrible
person.”

“Oh, you mean Harvus?” Leera joked, throwing a light elbow. “Or Erika Scarson?”

“
Not
funny.”

“No, I suppose it isn’t.”

“We’ve had our share of bad mentors now,” Augum added.

“At least Mophead taught us how to cast SME,” Leera said.

“Not really,” he replied. “Left out a bunch of stuff we needed to know, remember?”

“Oh, right.” Leera gave Bridget a proud smile. “Didn’t know you’re such a good liar.”

“We had a story prepared ahead of time. You know, just for such an occurrence?”

Augum guiltily recalled the evening before and how they made all these plans, but he had gotten sleepy and stopped paying attention after a while.

“Besides,” Bridget added, “hopefully we’ll be long gone by the time anybody figures out that mentor doesn’t exist, or that we’re not really from Everscale.”

They made their way into the hallway of bronze statues, slowing to a lazy stroll.

“Anybody learn anything back there with those books?” Augum asked, hoping Bridget had something juicy.

Leera stayed silent, flashing him a guilty look. He guessed she hadn’t soaked much in either.

Bridget rubbed her eyes. “Not too much, unfortunately. Kind of feels like all the important books were missing. Read about some of the founders, all crotchety old men. Oh, but I did learn a lot about symbolism, which could be useful. For example, I learned that fire represents understanding, and that the original symbol of knowledge was a sword—the Sword of Knowledge, it was called. Anyway, the Sword of Knowledge represented light and—” She stopped, narrowed her eyes at Leera, who was suddenly pointing at her yawning mouth.

“I should point at my ears too,” Leera added, “because everything that you’re saying is going in one and out the other. Come on, didn’t you learn anything interesting?”

Bridget stopped and ballooned. “Interesting?
Interesting?
And what have
you
learned? I’ve been studying for five straight hours while you did nothing but drool and pretend to—”

Augum groaned, too tired to intervene. But he did notice they had stopped right in front of the giant embroidery of Atrius Arinthian and his family. “Tap into a part of ancestry,” he muttered, examining the family portrait. This was his ancestry. Did it have anything to do with the riddle?

He rolled his eyes at himself. How self-centered. Not everything had to revolve around him …

“Bet you it’s something stupid,” he mumbled to the arguing girls, who ignored him completely. “Like literally adding a tap into—”

Suddenly he froze, took a step forward and placed his hand on the ancient fabric. Basil had even hinted at it! It was so simple—

The girls stopped arguing.

“Found something, Aug?” Leera asked.

He took a step back to admire the whole of it. “Tap into ancestry.”

“Yep, that’s the riddle,” Leera said.

“Tap
into
ancestry—!”

“Uh,
yeah
.”

He glanced between the girls. Each had one brow raised skeptically. “Don’t you get it? It wasn’t
tap into ancestry
like literature ancestry, it was
literal
, like, literally adding the word ‘tap’ into the word ‘ancestry’. Now do you get it?”

Bridget smacked her forehead. “
Tapestry!
Of course it’s something obvious!” She rocked back and forth on her heels giddily. “That’s great, Aug, really great job. How did we not see it?”

Leera was staring at her. “All that studying sure came in useful, huh?” she said dryly.

Bridget stopped rocking. “Sorry, Lee, I haven’t been getting much sleep. I apologize.”

Leera smiled. “Don’t you give it a second thought,
Sister.
”

Augum returned to studying the tapestry, specifically the spot with the gargoyle holding the candle. “Have you noticed these, you two? There are gargoyles in some of the tapestries.”

Leera blinked. “There are?”

Bridget paced over. “The gargoyle represents wisdom, integrity, and curiosity.”

“It’s not the only one I’ve seen either,” he said, keeping his voice low as an initiate strode by. He led them to another tapestry further back in the hallway. “See, here’s one too.”

“This one’s winking,” Bridget said.

“But not all the tapestries have the gargoyles,” Leera pointed out, glancing around at the others.

“Spread out,” Augum said. “Let’s see what else we can find. Meet back here at the cry of the eighth bell. And keep your eyes peeled for Watts.”

The girls nodded and dispersed.

Augum had a very hard time finding another gargoyle, eventually glimpsing one high up a tall tapestry, hidden in a corner. It was sitting in a wheat field, all but invisible among the chaffs. He resumed searching, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, but found no more of them.

When the cry of the eighth toll of the bell came, the trio once again assembled in the hallway, now deserted.

“Didn’t find another one,” Bridget confessed.

“I found one,” Leera said. “A gargoyle, that is. It was camouflaged and held a skull, whatever that means.”

“And I found one sitting in a wheat field,” Augum said. “That makes, what, four?” He counted them on his fingers. “A gargoyle holding a candle, a gargoyle winking, a gargoyle sitting in a wheat field, and a gargoyle holding a skull.”

Bridget ran her fingers through her dyed hair and expelled a tired breath. “I need food. Can’t think straight.”

“Place closes in an hour,” Leera said. “If we want food, better to get it now before the Supper Hall closes.”

“Good idea. We can discuss the riddle while we eat.”

Sneaking In

“I can’t help but feel there’s some sort of connection,” Bridget was saying over a nearly empty bowl of potato stew. They were in the Supper Hall and there was hardly anybody there. Rain beat against colorful stained glass windows. Braziers burned low. The library castle would close within the hour, which is when they had to be back in their rooms.

Leera dipped bread into her stew. “Between the gargoyles?”

“Yes. Well, I mean …” Bridget waved her spoon in the air. “There’s something awfully familiar about the symbolism. I don’t remember if I read it or heard it or …”

“We’ve got four of these symbolic hints.” Augum counted them on his fingers once more. “A gargoyle holding a candle, a gargoyle winking, a gargoyle holding a skull, and a gargoyle sitting in a wheat field.” But what did they
mean
?

Leera finished her bread and grimaced. “The skull symbolizes death, that one’s obvious.” She glanced tentatively at Bridget. “Right?”

“Yes, I agree. But I think it’s a riddle, very much like the one that man gave us. And I suspect it has to do with ancestry.” Suddenly she peered between the two of them. “What have we been trying to find information on all day?”

“Ancestry—?” Leera replied uncertainly.

“Exactly.” She leaned a little closer. “Come on, help me here, you two, there’s something
really
familiar about these symbols, I
know
it.”

Augum scraped the last of his stew from his bowl. “Did we ever find out who the ancestor of the library was?”

Bridget opened her mouth to speak. “I … I don’t know.”

Leera pointed at Augum with her spoon. “Didn’t what’s-his-face, the weird old geezer we met by the gargoyle, didn’t he say something about the founder?”

Bridget’s face lit up. “He did, didn’t he? The arcane quote … it was said by the founder. But what was his name again … Theodorus … Theodorus what?”

The trio murmured names to each other, feeling they were onto something.

“Wasn’t it Winky or something?” Leera finally asked.

Bridget gaped at her. “Yes! It was wink-something … wink what?”

Augum recounted the hints. “A gargoyle holding a candle, a gargoyle winking, a gargoyle holding a skull, and a gargoyle sitting in a wheat—” He froze for just a moment, and then the trio blurted it together.

“Field!”

“Theodorus Winkfield,” Bridget said in a hushed voice. “That was the founder’s name! That accounts for the wink and the field. Now we just have to figure out how the skull and candle factor in.”

Leera’s hands froze in midair. “A tomb.” She glanced between them. “It’s got to be his tomb. That’s what the skull means—death. And we know where the tomb is, don’t we?”

“The Hall of Ancestry,” Augum whispered slowly. “Except that’s Watts’ domain.”

“That’s not the biggest challenge though, is it?” Bridget asked. “The man said this secret passage is only accessible after the ninth bell, when the library closes—but we’re not supposed to be caught in the hallways. So how do we get in there?”

“We hide,” Leera blurted. “We go there right now and hide before it closes.”

Bridget scrambled for the map. “But there’s only the portal entrance that we know of. How do we get by the guards and Watts at the same time?”

“We do it right at the cry of closing,” Augum said. “I mean, there’ll be a changing of the guard, right?” Or the guards might leave the place altogether.

“Risky, but it might work.” Bridget pushed her empty bowl away. “It’ll mean we won’t get a chance to see Malaika and Charissa. They’ll think something’s happened to us. Wait, no—I’ll send a message by attendant, tell him to leave it under the door.”

“It’ll also mean we might be stuck down there until morning,” Augum added. “But if we can get into the part of the library that’s forbidden, that holds information on how to use the
biscuit
—” using the codeword for the Agonex, “—then it’ll be worth it.” Not to mention they might be able to discover information on all the other stuff they’ve been meaning to research.