The Forbidden Library (3 page)

“Too bad. Well, back to business, eh?” She picked up a shirt of leathery blue-grey animal skin with the gray fur still on it. It matched the shirt Narbenu wore, but Kurine turned it inside-out. “Sonoke skin shirt. Wear it with the fur toward your skin.” 

“Toward my skin?”

“Keeps the heat in better that way. And it’s softer. She ran her hands along it. “The sonoke skin would chafe against your pretty smooth skin.”

He reached a hand out and touched the fur. It was very soft. As she turned the shirt over, her hand brushed his, as if by accident. But he didn’t think it was an accident. 

“You … you weren’t here when … you didn’t undress me, did you?”

Kurine sighed wistfully. “No, I wasn’t here.” She glanced toward the doorway. “Oh, by the way, you aren’t going to tell anyone I was in here alone with you, right?”

“Er … I don’t … guess so. Why?”

“It’s not allowed, you know. Boy and a girl alone in a room together. Big no-no. I was supposed to go get Narbenu, but he was busy and, you know …”

He was afraid he did know. “I would never tell on you. I swear.”

She patted him on the cheek. “I knew you’d understand.” She picked up another, larger shirt. “This is the jacket. Same material. Wear it on top of your shirt but with the fur pointing out.” She showed him the laces at the neckline and sleeves of both garments. “You’ve got to keep them tight. Don’t let the heat out. Now, these are underpants. I’d wager you want the fur inward on these since —”

“Yeah, yeah, got it.”

Smiling, she lifted a pair of pants. “Trousers. Notice the fur inside and out. Already sewn together, works better that way for pants. Laces at the top and bottom.” She raised a giant coat with a smooth outer surface. “A parka with seal skin on the outside.”

“We have seals!” said Lu Bei, drowsily. “I’ve seen them.” 

“We don’t use their skins for anything, though,” Turesobei added.

“You should,” Kurine said. “The seal skin is water resistant, especially when treated properly. I can’t stress this enough: Do not get wet when you’re outside. Never. Now, the inside of the coat is sonoke skin and fur. The padding inside is hair.”

“Like people hair?” he asked, a little queasy.

“Yep. Some of it’s mine.”

“Oh … um … okay.”

“You can think of me when you wear it. Really, this is a coat fit for a king. It would sell for a lot of iron. Most of the ones we make don’t have padding like this.”

“I really don’t deserve something so fancy.”

“Not everyday that we have a guest who comes from the world beyond the gate and can turn into a dragon and cast spells.”

“I guess not.”

“I think you could wear your leather breastplate beneath the parka.” 

Next she showed him the waterproof mittens which fit over his gloves. How he would be able to handle anything while wearing them, he had no idea. Then she showed him the stockings and socks. The boots were made of one layer of sonoke skin and fur and another layer of skin that had been boiled and hardened. The treads on the bottom were surprisingly basic. He was about to ask why when she showed him the shoes that went on top of those.

“The overboots are waterproof with seal skin, and these tiny bits of bone on the bottom of the sole will give you traction when walking on the ice. You won’t need them inside, of course.”

“Wow. You must have worked really, really hard last night. That’s a lot of clothes for one person.”

“Like I said, we make similar ones for trading. We’ve done it before and had the materials ready and some parts already cut and in progress.”

“How come the bareskins don’t make their own clothes?”

“They do, but theirs aren’t as good as ours. We use secret treatments on the sonoke fur. We’re the best at it. Now, you need to try it all on. I might need to make some adjustments.”

Turesobei waited for her to leave, but she didn’t budge. He glanced at Lu Bei, but he was falling asleep.

Kurine eyed the doorway, cocked an ear, and said, “Well, go on.”

“Okay, I’ll try them on now.”

“Good. It’s very important that you do.” But when he didn’t move she added, “Well …”

“Aren’t you going to leave?”

“Aww, is that necessary?”

“It would be where I’m from.”

“Well, it is here, too, of course. But no one’s around.”

“Woo woo!” cried Lu Bei, suddenly fully awake. “Show it off, master!”

Chapter 3

Turesobei elbowed Lu Bei. “I don’t have fur. I would be naked. It wouldn’t be right.”

“Awww, but we don’t have furless humans here in the Southeast,” Kurine whined. “And even if we did, I’m sure they wouldn’t be as cute as you. I was just hoping to see —”

“No. Sorry. You’re going to have to leave or turn around.”

“Oh fine,” she huffed. “Spoil my fun.” She spun around but then glanced back and winked. “I won’t hold it against you, though.”

Sheesh. 

With an eye on Kurine, he climbed to his feet, wobbled half a step, then caught his balance. He reached toward the underpants, grimaced, started to bend his knees …

“I’ll
fetch
it for you, master!”

“Thanks. I could use the help.”

“I would be happy to help,” Kurine said.

“Oh no,” Turesobei said. “You stay right like you are.”

With Lu Bei’s help, he managed to get on his pants and stockings easily enough. The shirt was another matter. The splint was made from a thin piece of bone and it ran from the back of his hand to his elbow. The shirt was tight and he was having trouble pulling it on. He got both arms in but couldn’t pull it over his head. Lu Bei perched on Turesobei’s shoulders, reached over his head, and pulled at the collar, but that led to it getting stuck under Turesobei’s chin and then slapping him in the nose.

Turesobei sighed. “Okay Kurine, you can help me now.”

She skipped over. As she pulled the shirt over his head, she lightly stroked one hand down his back along the spine. Turesobei shuddered from a mixture of pleasure, tickles, and fear. Otherwise she went easy on him and neither said nor did anything else flirtatious. In fact, she soon got down to business by inspecting how everything fit and tutting over her work. The sleeves were a tad too long, and so were the pants, but she said she’d erred on the side of too long since it was easier to make it smaller than bigger.

“How old are you, Turesobei?”

“Fifteen.” He rapidly calculated the days and weeks that had passed since he left Ekaran to rescue Iniru. “Actually, I’ll be sixteen in several weeks.”

“That’s fantastic! You’re almost a man! If you’re still here in Aikora then, we
must
throw you a feast.”

“So goronku are adults when they turn sixteen?”

“Naturally. Wait, are … Say, what are you exactly?”

“I’m baojendari.”

“Ah. Are baojendari not adults at sixteen?”

“Eighteen,” he muttered.

“If we did that, I’d still be three months away from adulthood. It’s silly to wait until then. What’s the point?”

“That’s exactly what Iniru said when she found out. Her people become adults at sixteen, too.”

“What’s an Iniru?”

“She’s my …” Was Iniru his girlfriend? Was that the right term? They’d never really discussed their relationship. They hadn’t actually spent that much time together. She obviously wasn’t his betrothed.

“She’s your …” Kurine prompted, frowning ever so slightly.

“She’s … a very good friend.”

“Oh,” Kurine said brightly.

“Do you have a betrothed, Kurine?”

“What’s a betrothed?”

“Someone you’re supposed to marry.”

“Goronku women select their husbands,” she replied, as if doing it any other way were ludicrous. “Do you have a betrothed?”

“Yeah. It was arranged when I was still too young to even speak.”

“That’s terrible! Why would someone do that?”

“I’m a prince in my clan. It was a political thing.”

Her eyes went wide. “You’re a wizard, a dragon, and a prince?! How wonderful.”

“It’s really not.”

“Is your betrothed this Iniru person?”

“No, my betrothed is Awasa and … I think she died … when we came through the gate. I can’t imagine how she could’ve survived. And she wasn’t herself anymore. She’d been attacked and possessed by a demon sorcerer. It’s a long story.”

Kurine touched his shoulder. “I’m so sorry. You must be devastated.”

“I haven’t really had time to be. It just happened yesterday, and I’m trying not to think about it. Trying just to focus on rescuing my sister Enashoma, Iniru, and my other companions. I can be upset later and … Awasa and I didn’t get along. I cared for her, but we never loved one another. I don’t think.”

“Well, if you want to save your friends, I’d best get back to work. Walk around and let’s see how well you can move with all of it on.”

With the parka, the clothes weighed almost as much as his full suit of armor, and it was far more bulky. He walked around, awkwardly. “If I wear my breastplate, I’m not going to be able to move. Are you sure I’ll need all this?”

“I’m afraid so.” She took some measurements. “All right. Clothes off. I need to make some quick adjustments before you leave here.”

She helped him undress all the way to his pants at which point he said, “Turn around.”

Kurine didn’t complain. Swiftly once he was naked, he crawled back into the covers. She picked up the clothes and hurried out. He napped until a plump goronku man bounded in with a tray of food. 

“Don’t know if it’s what you’re used to, lad, but it’s what passes for food around here. Cooked it up special for you. A real fancy meal. Enjoy!” He kissed his fingers and left.

“Thank you!” he called out as the man disappeared.

One bowl had three different kinds of smoked meat. The second bowl had smoked fish on top of a thin layer of purplish leafy vegetables. And the third held steaming broth with bits of … something. He didn’t care. He was starving. He drank down the broth, which wasn’t soothing. His lips and the back of his throat burned by the time he finished. The fish tasted great, as did one of the meats. The other two were chewy and tangy, and heavily spiced as well. He drank all the water available and his mouth still burned.

Narbenu entered carrying a bowl of water with some herbs mixed in. “How’s it going, lad?”

Turesobei took the bowl and stared into it with dread. Sweat dripped down his forehead and from his lips.

“You look like you need a drink.”

“It’s not spicy is it? I can’t take anymore spice.”

Narbenu laughed. “No, it’s just cold water. Cook likes his spice, more than most of us, and it occurred to me you might not eat spice in your world.”

“We have loads of spices in my world. We use them a lot. But they’re not this hot.”

“Lots of spices? Huh. We only have the one. You’ll have to tell Cook about them.”

Turesobei drank the water. It helped, but the burn didn’t go away completely.

Kurine stepped into the room with the bundle of clothes. “Alterations are done.” She spotted Narbenu and made an
oh-no
face.

“You’ve already been in here?” Narbenu asked suspiciously. “You were supposed to come get me. You weren’t in here alone, were you? You know that’s forbidden, Kurine.”

Turesobei quickly replied, “She came in and —”

“I was here!” Lu Bei said, popping into fetch form. “I made sure nothing improper happened. Very sure.”

“It’s true,” Kurine said.

Narbenu frowned. “Well … no offense to the little demon —” Lu Bei slapped himself in the forehead. “But he takes orders from young Turesobei. I don’t think it’s quite all right. Next time make sure another adult goronku is with you, okay?”

She sighed. “Of course, Narbenu.” Kurine set out the clothes. “Everything should fit perfectly now.”

“I’m going to need some help getting dressed,” Turesobei said. Seeing that Narbenu was about to ask Kurine if she had helped, he added: “Lu Bei helped me before but it was clumsy. And poor Kurine had to stand over in the corner with her back turned listening to us fumble about for half an hour.”

“I’ll help you,” Narbenu said. 

“I’ve got to get something anyway,” Kurine said.

Narbenu and Lu Bei helped him get all the clothes on. This time he added his breastplate, and immediately thought he might collapse under all the weight. Finishing that, he put on his sword belt and instinctively reached toward where the scabbard would hang. But it wasn’t there. Sumada was gone. He cursed.

“What’s the matter, lad?”

“My father’s white-steel sword … I lost it while I was fighting the yomon.” Awasa had it. Out on the plain where … He couldn’t let himself think about it. Survive and save the ones you can. Mourn later. That’s what he had to do. Something he’d sadly already done before. Something that was becoming far too common.