The Forbidden Library (37 page)

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.”

“I think he might be too exhausted to — No, you’re right. He’s going to throw a fit.”

Turesobei went to Kurine and Shoma’s room and tapped on the door. Iniru opened it. She wore a burgundy tunic that was no longer than Turesobei’s. It wasn’t revealing, and he’d seen her in less — her shorts and shirt that she wore under her uniform. But he wasn’t supposed to have seen her in so little. 

She was
stunning
. He’d seen so little of her on the ice except when he’d healed her that night that he’d forgotten how beautiful her red-brown fur was, how supple her muscled limbs.

A hint of playfulness danced in her eyes and she started to smile but stopped. “Gonna stare at me all day long?” she whispered. It took him a moment to shake his head. “Good, because it wouldn’t be right to do that in here with your betrothed.”

“How is she?” Turesobei asked.

“Getting worse.”

Enashoma joined them. Her tunic was solid black. 

“You look beautiful, Little Blossom.”

“I feel —”

“Naked? I know.”

“You baojendari!” Iniru said.

“You’ve got to admit,” Turesobei said, “that after all that cold weather gear …”

“That even I feel naked?” Iniru asked. “No, I feel free at last. That was torture.”

“Enjoy it while you can,” Lu Bei said. He landed beside Kurine and looked her over. “This doesn’t look good, master.”

“I’m going to do one more poison delay spell on her,” Turesobei said, kneeling beside Lu Bei. “Diminished returns, I know. I can’t heal her anymore. I’ve done all I can.”

“Master, her fevers have been high. The longer this takes … a cure may not be enough. She may die anyway … or be damaged.”

“I know.” Turesobei cast the spell on her. He kissed her on the forehead. “I’m doing all I can for you. Hang in there.”

Motekeru entered. “Master, you are needed.”

The Keeper of Scrolls waited for him outside. “The Great Librarian will see you now. You and your fetch. The others should wait here. Their presence is unnecessary.”