The Forbidden Library (40 page)

A tap sounded on the door. 

“Sobei!” Shoma called. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Turesobei replied. “I just need to rest and prepare for tomorrow.”

He could sense her hovering at the door.

He cast the
spell of pervasive silence
, placing it over the room. Then, by its silver chain, he held his kavaru up before him and stared into its amber depths, watching its kenja pulse like a heartbeat. If he could’ve taken it off, he would have. He didn’t want it anymore. He didn’t want any of this. He wanted to be a normal sixteen year old. Heck, a normal sixteen-year-old wizard would be fine. He didn’t want grand destinies or ancient enemies threatening to destroy his clan or kill his friends. He didn’t want all this pain, all this responsibility. And he didn’t want to be the Storm Dragon either. That was the worst part of all.

With a wave of his hand, he turned the lantern off, plunging the room into complete darkness. For a moment, he thought he heard the whisper of a laugh.

Turesobei brought his knees to his chest and rested his head on them, wrapping his arm around his legs.

He cried.

*****

An hour before dawn, the Keeper of the Hearth woke them all. Turesobei opened his door and Shoma rushed in and threw herself into his arms, nearly tackling him.

“Lu Bei told us everything,” she muttered. “Sobei … I …”

He stroked her hair. “It’ll all be okay, Little Blossom. I always find a way, don’t I?”

She looked into his eyes. “You’re starting to crack.”

“That just makes me more dangerous for my enemies.”

Frowning, Iniru leaned against the doorframe. “Get some food in you and give the Keepers hell.”

Motekeru brought in a plate heaping with food that the Keeper of the Hearth had provided.

“Let’s all eat together in Shoma’s room,” Turesobei said. 

Because it might be their last meal and he wanted to share it with the ones he loved.

*****

With Lu Bei at his side, Turesobei left his companions on the bottom floor of the Main Library. The Keepers were allowing them to watch the proceedings from there. The Keeper of Scrolls led him back up to the observatory where Ooloolarra beckoned him to the center of the room.

“Stand here beside me.”

The circular portion of floor they stood on sank downward, descending through the ceiling of the Main Library. On this levitating disc, they floated halfway down, fifteen levels. There the disc paused and rotated slowly.

His eyes went wide with amazement. Gathered along the edge of each floor of the library were Keepers, dozens of them, with feathers in every imaginable hue. Aside from that they all looked strangely the same — identical heights, builds, eyes, and even the same white tunics. He’d only seen five of the Keepers before now. Did they sleep all the time?

“Ninety-eight of them,” Ooloolarra whispered. “You have one vote already, from the Keeper of the Shores. You need forty-nine more, plus a volunteer who will present you to the Keeper of Destiny. That will be the hardest part for you.”

“Why is that?” he asked, but Ooloolarra didn’t get a chance to answer.

The Keeper of Scrolls, perched on the highest level, swept his wings out. “We are gathered! Our proceedings shall now begin! Let all who should be heard be easily heard.”

A flicker of kenja passed through the library.

“A voice-boosting spell,” Ooloolarra whispered. “So we won’t have to yell at one another.”

“Present your case, Great Librarian,” the Keeper of Scrolls said pompously.

“Most gracious lords … my dear Eirsendan friends … thank you for hearing me,” Ooloolarra said silkily, her voice echoing throughout the library. “Long have we known each other and few claimants have I presented to you. Four, if I recall correctly, and long has it been since the last. Today I present to you Chonda Turesobei and I ask you hear his plea and grant his wish. His cause is great and just. I say this not because he is the …
descendant
of my Kaiaru brother and friend of old. I say it not because I have pity on him for his youth and his friends. I say it because he is a good person, with good intentions. I say it because of everything he meant to our world, because of everything, both good and bad, that he has yet to become.  

“Can we deny his world the impact he had on ours? Because that’s what we will do by not giving him a chance to return. I know he must first draw Fangthorn from the stone and his chances of doing so are slim. But if he succeeds, he will remove from below us the darkness that ever haunts this place and our hearts. My lords, I beg you, as I have never done before, let him meet with your lord.”

A ripple of murmurs spread amongst the gathered Keepers.

“Now you,” Ooloolarra whispered.

Turesobei fell to his knees and bowed. His palms were sweaty. His body trembled no matter how he tried to still it, as did his voice.

“My lords, I beg your help in returning to my world. We came here by accident while saving my world … your world of old. The Deadly Twelve, assassins from the Shadowland, used the Winter Child to unleash the yomon and eternal winter on Okoro. I had to become the Storm Dragon to stop them, but unfortunately my friends, and members of my family, got dragged through the gate with me. They are innocent, and if I cannot get them home, they will die. My betrothed, Kurine, who is from this world, is already dying, and the rest of my companions will be killed by the yomon hunting us. My clan, back home, they need me desperately. I am their future. Please. My cause is good and just. I only ask for a chance.”

Many of them were shaking their heads, clearly unimpressed. He had to do better. But what could he say? What else was there to say but to explain why he did what he did and hope that they would understand. 

“Surely you remember fighting for what you believe in? Surely you remember being willing to give everything to save those you love? I have never done anything else but give all of myself to save the ones who matter to me. I believe that is the most noble thing a person can do, and I would gladly die for any one of my companions, man or beast or book. I am not claiming to be perfect or flawless, far from it. I have made many mistakes, but my love for my family and friends is perfect in its intent. Give me a chance to see them home, back to where they belong.”

Turesobei shrugged. He wanted to say more but what could he say? Either they would care or they would not. “I rest my case, humbly begging for your support, my lords. I will respect your decision and I shall not fight it.”

“It is put to a vote then!” the Keeper of Scrolls declared. “All those in favor, unfurl your wings.”

Chapter 49

While most of the Keepers eyed one another indecisively, an emerald-feathered Keeper immediately stepped to the edge, stood on his toes, and dramatically flared out his wings revealing their golden underside. Seeing him, another loosed his wings to vote in favor of Turesobei. Then another and another. Many, however, did not budge. 

The flutter of movement stopped. Turesobei counted frantically. The vote was close.

Ooloolarra could scan fast. She put an arm around his shoulders. “That’s something I have never seen before,” she whispered. “Almost there.”

“By a margin of fifty-two to forty-seven, the Gathering supports the claimant,” announced the Keeper of Scrolls. “However, for the measure to pass one of us must volunteer to represent him to our beloved lord, our Keeper of Destiny. You all know what a great and terrible honor that is.”

The first Keeper to have voted, the one with emerald and gold feathers said, “I shall.”

A few Keepers gasped while others stared at him dumfounded, their beady eyes unblinking. The rest chattered to one another in amazed tones. Turesobei choked back a sob and breathed a deep sigh of relief. The tension in his muscles released. 

“Then so shall it be,” the Keeper of Scrolls pronounced. “Present him, brother, with our blessing and love. The Gathering is now over.”

The Keeper of Scrolls stepped away from the edge and disappeared, but the rest of the Keepers continued to speak rapidly amongst themselves in their language of clicks and chirps which the magic of this world did not interpret for Turesobei as it did with the goronku. Turesobei met the eyes of the emerald-winged Keeper and nodded in thanks. The Keeper nodded back and retreated into the stacks.

Lu Bei landed on Turesobei’s shoulders and hugged him. Turesobei allowed, for a moment, a smile to cross his face. 

“Congratulations,” Ooloolarra said. “You did something no one else has ever done. And now you shall do something else few others have done. You will meet the Keeper of Destiny. They will retrieve you just before midnight.”

“Will I be in danger?”

“The Keeper of Destiny will not harm you. Even if he chooses not to grant you your wish to draw Fangthorn, he will grant you a favor. If it were me, I would ask to live out the rest of my days here in the library where it’s warm and safe.”

*****

Turesobei spent an almost festive afternoon with his friends. They’d crossed one of the biggest hurdles. And he wouldn’t think, for now, about their chances of passing the ones still ahead. They ate and talked of the most frivolous things they could think of. No one mentioned Kurine’s deteriorating condition or the possibility that Turesobei could fail to draw the sword. Instead they took a couple of hours to browse the library, looking in wonder at the beautifully illuminated texts all written in strange languages that meant nothing to them.

A half-hour before midnight, the Keeper of the Hearth came for Turesobei. They walked silently to the Main Library, Lu Bei fluttering behind. From there the Keeper led them through one of the connecting passages to the tall, narrow tower.

The emerald-and-gold keeper was waiting for them. Some sort of unspoken message passed between the two Keepers. Then the Keeper of the Hearth nodded slowly and deeply, almost bowing, to the emerald one and left. Turesobei’s representative stood for a long moment before shoving the door open and leading him inside.

“What’s your name?” Turesobei asked. His voice shook nervously and he realized he was terrified, which was strange considering all the demons and monsters he’d faced. But normal Keepers were intimidating enough and they all held their lord, the Keeper of Destiny, in awe.

“I am the Keeper of the Forested Isles,” he said in almost longing voice.

“I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me, being the first to vote, and so dramatically. I think without you the vote would not have passed.”

“You are welcome,” the Keeper replied.

“What happened to your islands?”

The Keeper let loose a sigh. “The isles now lie beneath the ocean.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

The Keeper of the Forested Isles locked his beady eyes on him. “Time undoes everything, good and bad. It is the way of life.”

The Keeper placed a hand on a second door and chanted. A few moments later it swung open. The Keeper spoke a word and a few anemic lanterns on the walls sputtered to life. The building wasn’t what Turesobei had expected. It was full of cobwebs and dust and entirely empty. High, high above he spotted a trapdoor in the ceiling.

The Keeper spread his wings. “I shall have to carry you.”

“I can levitate up there, if you like.”

The Keeper of the Forested Isles nodded. “That would be more dignified for both of us, I should think.”

Turesobei noticed the Keeper’s hands were trembling. “Are you nervous to see your lord, too?”

Was that a smile? It was hard to judge their expressions. “I have never met the Keeper of Destiny before.”

“Never?” Lu Bei asked. “Wow. That seems strange.”

“More than half of us have not. The Keeper of Destiny was ancient even when I was young. He sleeps and dreams almost all the time. When last he walked among us it was to summon us here, but by the time I arrived, he was already in hibernation. So it is an extreme honor for me to finally meet him.”

“Ooloolarra made it sound like getting a representative would be difficult. If it’s such an honor to meet him, why wouldn’t all of you want to volunteer?”

The Keeper made no reply. Turesobei exchanged a look with Lu Bei who shrugged. Turesobei positioned himself directly under the trapdoor and chanted the
spell of levitation
. He rose slowly up into the air, Lu Bei circling around him, and the Keeper of the Forested Isles met him when he reached the top. The Keeper grabbed onto a handhold and chanted again to unlock the door.

“After me,” said the Keeper of the Forested Isles.

The Keeper climbed in through the trapdoor and Turesobei followed him up. A single room, much like Ooloolarra’s, took up the top of the tower. But this dome was crystal clear and it magnified one’s sight so that everything beyond looked closer. Avida, hanging full above them, was enormous — easily four times its normal size. Gray blemishes and pockmarks scarred the moon’s surface that, until now, Turesobei had believed to be purely white and smooth. Only a few stars could peek through Avida’s dominating, magnified light.