The Forbidden Library (7 page)

“I believe it,” Sudorga said in a high-pitched chuckle. “I suspect that’s most useful.”

“He has a limited range,” Turesobei said. “Only about two hundred paces away from me.”

“I can’t reach the village from here,” said Lu Bei, “But I can fly up and get a good look ahead.”

Turesobei
cast the spell of blending
on Lu Bei and his skin turned a milky gray color to match the sky. 

“So sorry you had to see that,” Lu Bei told the goronku. “It is quite embarrassing. Please think no less of me. In my younger days I could do that on my own.”

Lu Bei shot up into the sky.

Narbenu laughed. “Why on earth would I think less of him? He can fly!”

“He’s self-conscious about not being able to blend himself anymore. Though, honestly, I’m not certain I believe him when he says that he used to could do it.”

A few minutes later, Lu Bei dove down and landed, shivering. “Even colder up there. We’ve got to ride. Now and fast!” 

“As he says,” Sudorga commanded and the group set off.

Lu Bei dug through the pack and pulled out the scarf and hat. The goronku snickered when he put them on. Lu Bei narrowed his eyes, bit his lip, then shrugged it off. “I really could blend back in the day. Don’t know why no one believes me.”

“You’ve got good ears,” Narbenu said.

“He can magically record anything that I say or do, even from that distance,” Turesobei said. “That’s his purpose when he’s not fetching. Now, Lu Bei, what’d you see?”

“I saw a half-dozen charred corpses in the village.” Turesobei’s heart stopped until Lu Bei added: “Not our companions. The whole village is massing around a tiny house. They’ve fashioned a sort of battering ram. I think they’re about to break down the door.”

Lu Bei tightened the scarf and shot back into the sky.

They raced the sonoke at full speed. After climbing a slight incline, the reitsu village came into view. Sudorga called them to a normal pace so they wouldn’t alarm the reitsu. 

Lu Bei returned. “The door is cracking but holding so far. Something — or someone — is bracing it.”

“Think your friends are inside?” Sudorga asked.

“We’re close enough now that I can find out. Are you certain we can’t go any faster?”

“I’ll send someone ahead to announce us. One goronku coming fast shouldn’t rile them up too much.”

Narbenu flicked his reins. “I’ll do it.”

Still riding, Turesobei cast the
spell of sensing presences
. He was too far away to detect anything except all the goronku around him, so he attuned the spell to seek out energies related to his kavaru. That harmony would resonate much farther. He picked up three signatures.

“Motekeru, Rig, and Ohma are inside. I can tell from their bond with my channeling stone. I’m too far away to sense whether Shoma, Iniru, and Zaiporo are with them. I’m sure Motekeru is bracing the door. He’s incredibly strong. They must’ve fought the reitsu and took shelter in the house during the night.”

“Can they use magic like you?” Sudorga asked. “Is that what charred the corpses?”

“The reitsu drain warmth by touching their victims, right?”

“More than just touch. They have to lock a hand on you and focus, but yes, that’s basically how it works and they can do it fast.”

“Then I have a theory about how the corpses were charred. I think that —”

Lu Bei swooped down. “A contingent of reitsu met Narbenu … peacefully. Looks like he’s talked them into pausing their efforts. They’re not battering the door anymore.”

“Best you climb into my pack now, Lu Bei. Be ready. I might need you to get stealthy and surprise them.”

Lu Bei unwound the scarf and packed it up with the hat. “You got it, master.”

“So what do we do now?” Turesobei asked Sudorga. Not that far ahead Narbenu and a small group of reitsu were talking.

“We approach and ask if we can have your friends,” Sudorga replied.

“And if that doesn’t work?”

Sudorga sighed. “I cannot risk war between our peoples. No matter how much I want to help you.”

“I understand. Do you think they will let them go?”

“Hard to say whether they would under even the best circumstances. If your friends have killed some of them … I’ll do what I can.”

“I know you will. Listen, let’s not mention the Storm Dragon to them. I may need that as a bargaining chip.”

Turesobei cast a simple glamor spell to cover the storm sigil on his cheek. The goronku stopped and dismounted before approaching the six reitsu standing near Narbenu. The reitsu were tall and skeletal thin with blue-black hair and skin so pale it was nearly transparent. From a dozen paces away, Turesobei could see veins on their faces and necks. He couldn’t figure out the gender of any of them. They all looked roughly the same. The reitsu wore simple tunics, stockings, and boots — hardly enough to keep out the cold in an Okoro winter. Turesobei couldn’t imagine what sort of magic they had bound themselves to for that clothing to be warm enough.

War Chief Sudorga half-bowed to a reitsu who wore a copper torc and matching rings on all his, or perhaps her, fingers. “Greetings, Lady Umora. Thank you for meeting us in peace.”

The reitsu nodded respectfully. “Welcome, War Chief Sudorga. An interesting day this is.”

Umora spotted Turesobei. Her pink eyes narrowed. 

He bowed. “Greetings, Lady Umora.”

She didn’t return the greeting. “Your companions have caused much trouble since they arrived last night.”

“Are they all alive?” Turesobei asked quickly.

She pointed back toward the village. “Two girls, a boy, a machine man, and two strange animals are hiding inside that house.”

Turesobei sighed with relief. All of them were safe. Now he just needed to get them out of here.

“The boy and his friends have come from the land beyond the gate,” Sudorga said. 

“So they told me when they arrived here yesterday, when the dragon dropped them. They sought shelter in our village. We do not provide shelter. Our lands are ours and ours alone. They are trespassers, and trespassers are food.”

“I understand this,” Turesobei said, “but my friends didn’t know. We know nothing about your world. And my companions had little choice. The dragon dropped them here. They are lucky it didn’t consume them. I beg you to let them go.”

“They have killed seven of my people. Seven. We have not lost so many at once in ages.”

“Please. They were just defending themselves. You would do the same. They were stranded here by accident. They didn’t know.”

“What do you have to barter for their lives? What weregild can you possibly offer us? It would have to be immense for something so vile as what the machine did.” 

“Machine?” Sudorga asked.

“Motekeru, one of my companions,” Turesobei said. “What is weregild?”

“Blood price,” Narbenu said. “If you take someone’s life, you must pay their family or suffer the same fate. Seven weregilds would be a fortune.”

“I have nothing that you would value,” Turesobei said. “Except perhaps knowledge from the world beyond. Stories you’ve never heard. Things you may not know.”

“We would care for such things,” Lady Umora replied, “but not so much that we would bargain even one life for them.”

“Then I have nothing else. I can only beg your mercy.”

“Please consider the boy’s wishes,” War Chief Sudorga replied. “He has been an honored guest of ours and it would please us greatly if you did.”

“I am sorry, Sudorga. I cannot grant you your wish. I assume, given the peace between us, that you do not wish to make this an issue …”

War Chief Sudorga sighed heavily. “No, Lady Umora. We do not, but we are disappointed.”

Turesobei quietly uttered the
spell of compelling obedience
.

Umora shrugged and turned to one of the reitsu beside her. “Break down that door and take them.”

“Wait,” Turesobei commanded. “You will let my friends go, or you will suffer the consequences.”

Unaffected, Lady Umora hissed, “Whatever sorcerous trick you are attempting to play on me, it will not work. We are a magical people.”

Turesobei turned to War Chief Sudorga. “Back off, all of you. I won’t involve you in this any further. Thank you for bringing me here. I must now fight the reitsu.”

“Turesobei, think twice before you do anything rash,” Narbenu said.

“Go,” Turesobei told them, then he dropped the glamor, revealing the storm sigil on his cheek. 

The goronku returned to their mounts but didn’t leave. Lady Umora watched Turesobei cautiously.

“I am the Storm Dragon,” Turesobei said. “You will let my friends go, or I will destroy all of you and raze this village until not even a trace of you will yet exist. I killed over a dozen yomon. You will pose no greater threat to me than they did. The goronku have no part of this. You have made it personal between me and you.” 

He hesitated to unleash any of the energy, afraid that tapping even the least of the power would plunge him into the dragon dream too long or transform him into the dragon again. And he was certain that if he became the dragon he would lose his humanity.

Lady Umora sneered, even as her fellows took a step back. “Become the dragon then.”

“What?”

“Become the dragon and I will let them go.”

Chapter 8

“You don’t think I’m the dragon?” Turesobei asked.

“I have no reason to doubt you. I recognize power when I see it.”

“Then you should know that I can destroy you.”

“I believe you can. However, I do not think you can turn into this storm dragon again. Something is stopping you. Perhaps you do not have control over the monster within. Why else would you drop your friends beside a strange village, unequipped to survive this cold, and then fly off?” She licked her fangs and cocked an eyebrow. “So my offer stands. Turn into the dragon and I will free your companions.”

Turesobei clenched his eyes and thought. He wouldn’t hesitate to become the Storm Dragon if that’s what it would take to save his friends. But it was a last resort effort. There had to be some other way.

“Just as I thought,” said Lady Umora.

Turesobei chose honesty. “I can do it, and if you give me no alternative, I
will
do it. If I become the Storm Dragon again it is likely I will be the Storm Dragon forever. I will destroy you and your people. I have enough control not to kill my friends. I would lose only myself. I am willing to die to save them.”

“Are you certain? Many say they love someone so much that they would die for them, but it is another thing to choose to do so.”

“How do you think I came to be the Storm Dragon before? I did it to save my sister and my companions from the yomon and a cult of assassins.”

Lady Umora bit at her lip. “One of them is your sister?”

“Yes, and her friend and my … um … girlfriend.”

“Your family?”

“They are all my family in a way. The hounds and the machine were made by my ancestor.” He lifted the kavaru. “The wizard who passed this stone down to me.”

“I know what a kavaru is. They exist still in our legends. If one of the girls is your sister and the other your mate, we may be able to work something out. But you will not like it.”

“I’m listening.” He didn’t bother to explain that Iniru wasn’t his mate. It was probably better if they believed that she was.

“In our society, disputes that involve a relative may be settled by a fight to the death.”

“Fine,” Turesobei said. “Name your champion. I will fight him to the death, and if I win, you will let us all go.”

“That is not how we do things.” She eyed his arm. He didn’t know how she could tell, but she clearly knew it was broken. “If you win, you and your companions may go, except for the machine man. If you lose, only one of the others may go free.”

“All of us go free,” Turesobei countered, “if I win.”

“The machine man must pay for killing seven of my people.”

“If I win, I will not command him to surrender. You can try to take him if you dare, but he will fight to the death. Unless you have stronger weapons than what I see here, you will have to sacrifice most of your people to kill him.”

Through clenched teeth she said, “Fine. We agree to this. He may go free as well … if you win. However, we do have a weapon that will kill him.”

“Whatever it is, you’d rather not use it.”

She tilted her head and smiled. “And you’d rather not become the Storm Dragon.”

“I wish the goronku to bear witness that the fight is fair.”

“That is acceptable,” she replied.

Turesobei presented the plan to War Chief Sudorga.

“Are you certain you want to do it this way?” Sudorga asked.

“I feel confident in my success.”

“Lad,” said Narbenu, “the reitsu are fast and deadly. Whatever your machine man did, I don’t think you can duplicate that. No single one of us could take on a reitsu and survive, much less face their champion.”