“Are you going to follow it?”
I glared at him. “What else should I do? It has Bella.”
“How can we help?” Byrne looked pale, but resolute. I appreciated his courage.
“You two can stay here, with the sprites. If I don’t come back out, get yourselves back to Court and tell them we died doing what we do best.” I bared my teeth in something that couldn’t reasonably be called a smile. “Hunting a monster.”
Library Monster
I walked into the darkness, and paused when I was far enough into it, to let my eyes adjust. Pixies have excellent night vision, but I really didn’t want to walk into it before I was ready. I had strapped on Bella’s pistol. Shooting two-handed was possible, sort of. Not the way human movies showed, and hadn’t those been fun to watch with Dean.
Being alone on a mission was nothing new. I worked with others, but this way was easier. No one to worry about, just the objective, and the adversary. I could move fast, and take time to think in silence when needed. Right now, I was thinking over this direct approach. It was possible the Library was labyrinthine. Likely, in fact. Given time, I might be able to find another way to reach the monster, one that didn’t involve following it into the dark. But time was something I didn’t have.
Distantly, I heard a horrible scream. All my hairs stood on end, and I started running before my brain had time to stop me. The scream died away, and I kept running. Ahead, a tiny light twinkled. I slowed as I got near enough to see that it was an opening. There hadn’t been another scream.
I flattened myself against the wall, feeling the cool stone brushing my hands. It was dry, and the hall I’d taken had been flat, so this was on the same level as the statue room. The hall had a much shorter ceiling than that vast vault, but still far over my head. Alger and I could have stood in the hall with outspread arms and touched fingertips, maybe. The scale the Library was built on seemed to be massive, solid, and inhuman.
Taking a chance, I peered around the corner into the lit area. It was filled with a soft light that seemed to be coming from several windows high up on the far wall. The room was semi-circular, and absolutely crammed with books. Shelves on the walls were full, but there were heaps of them on the floor, right up the door I was hiding in. I didn’t see any movement in the room, but there were three doorways into the hall I was in, extending down quite some ways. I could tell, because they all flooded light into the dark hall.
I sidled into the room, slipping behind a head-high stack of books. No, I revised that. There was a sort of cart, with stacks of books on it. These weren’t the books most would think of in these modern times. These were all old, so old I was a bit surprised they weren’t falling apart. Then again, calfskin vellum has staying power. And the Library positively exuded magic. I tried closing my eyes and looking with the Sight, but the glowing walls, hell, even the books… I opened my eyes again as I heard a rustling noise.
It had come from the center of the room, which was hidden behind a low row of bookshelves. Relatively low. This set wouldn’t need the rolling ladders all the wall shelves had. I looked up. There was a balcony up there, too. I headed toward the rustle, moving as silently as I could, and not in a straight line. Even on this floor, which felt like wood rather than stone, and was inlaid in astonishing designs, I wasn’t going to walk in a rhythm. Move, pause. Move a bit more… slide from one stack to another.
The rustling sounded louder, and I could hear hoarse panting breaths. There was a sudden movement, and a low groan. I could smell blood, when the air moved. My heart sank and my throat tightened painfully.
Now, I had to decide between rushing in to try and save Bella, or staying silent and reconnoitering before I got her killed, maybe. I moved slowly again, coming to the edge of the shelves, and again, risked a look around them. There had been an open space, here. I imagined that once it had been full of tables, chairs, and a comfortable circle of couches. Oh, not human style, but still cushioned and meant for lounging and cheerfully exchanging ideas in the manner of students since time immemorial. I could imagine this because most of the furniture was still visible. It just wasn’t intact. There was a vast, rough nest made up of cushions, tattered fabric, and all manner of debris. The wood, and even stone, had been used to create the rim, while the softer stuff was all piled in the center.
On this heap of destruction lay a dragon. It was curled up, nose almost tucked under its tail, and it was panting heavily. I could see the ribcage rising and falling. The almost-black wings were tucked up tight along the ridge of backbone, and as I watched, it mewled pitifully. Bella was nowhere in sight. Had she injured it? The wings and tail would have made the sinuous marks in the dust, and blotted out the actual footprints in most places. So… this had to be the monster that had taken her.
There was no way I was going to be able to take on a dragon single-handed. Even if this one was small, in comparison to the, oh, a whole two others I’d seen in real life. My ass was grass without heavy weapons. When I’d taken on Beaker it had been with no options, and without knowing what a dragon was capable of. I knew better, now.
I held still, watching. The dragon’s eyes were closed, and as I watched, it arched, stretching its neck out. Light coruscated off the scales, showing it to be purple, with green highlights in places. I was reminded of a hummingbird I’d once seen, a living jewel covered in metallic feathers. Only this beast had scales.
The dragon screamed, and I fell to my knees. The volume and pitch of the sound rang me like a bell, and I found myself leaning against the bookcase, hands pressed to my ears, until it died away again. Once I had my breathing and shaking hands back under control, I peeked again. The dragon was drooped back into the heap of bedding, looking utterly worn out. The rim of debris meant I couldn’t see all of the nest, and Bella could still be in there. Maybe this was a good time to charge in and challenge it, while it was obviously in distress.
I was gathering myself to spring, pistol in hand, when the dragon’s head whipped up. It seemed to be looking straight at me, eyes shifting colors rapidly through a rainbow spectrum. Something about them reminded me… It got up and rushed out of the nest and before I could even react, it was gone, out of the room through the door I’d come in.
I was torn. It had to be going after Alger and Byrne, but Bella… I ran forward to the lip of the nest and jumped up to grab it, pulling myself up and in with one fluid motion. I fell onto a mess that could only be comfortable to a dragon with scales. Pieces of broken wood, cloth, wads of coarse hair that had once been inside cushions… and in the center, glowing with a light of their own, were two eggs.
Suddenly the dragon’s distress was clear. Still no sign of Bella, but the poor thing had been having labor pains. I circled cautiously around them, looking for any sign that Bella had been here. Other than a few faint bloodstains and fluid on and near the eggs, which had to be from the laying process, there was nothing. I rocked back on my heels, crouched low enough to be out of sight in the nest, and stared at the eggs.
It took me long enough to cue into the solution to this puzzle. When it hit me with a blinding flash of insight, I felt like the world’s prize dummy. I closed my eyes.
The glow of the eggs was piercingly familiar. One pearly white, the other faintly lavender-hued. My children. I reached forward and touched one shell. It wasn’t hard, like a hen’s egg. The leathery skin gave slightly on my contact, and I could feel the pulsing motion that was the baby squirming. It was very warm.
Bella was the dragon. Somehow entering the library had triggered her to change into dragon form, and she had fled in pain to…
I looked around, with wide-open eyes. She couldn’t possibly have made this in the short time since we walked into the library. It had the air of long living, the nest so neatly arranged. I noted that no books were in the nest materials. She was careful of her library. Bella had been here before. No… something had been here. Bella the woman I knew had had no time to come here in person since she had bee
n taken Underhill for me, and she had been given access to the library on that flight.
My train of thought was interrupted by the faint scratching of talons on the floor. Bella was returning to the nest. I stood up and walked to the edge of the nest, and swung my legs over it. I was sitting on the edge when she walked in. We both froze, staring at one another.
I knew where I’d seen those eyes before. When Bob showed us his dragon form for the first and only time, his eyes had looked just like hers. The reflections of inner and outer light as her lenses moved in the big eyes made it look like they were prisms, reflecting rainbows. Her wings, like his had been, were tucked along her sides neatly, and she walked on all fours, snakelike neck held high, and long tail dragging as a counterbalance should she need to rear up.
She tilted her head to one side. I remembered that Bob was non-verbal in dragon for. Beaker could express himself, but we still weren’t sure he had a human form, so there was that.
“Bella.” I spoke softly. “Are you all right?”
She lowered her head and hissed softly, eyes narrowing. I didn’t like the looks of that.
“It’s Lom. Do you know me?”
She answered this by blurring into motion, forepaws with talons outstretched toward me. I dove off the nest and as far to one side as I could go. She hit the nest with her shoulder as she tried unsuccessfully to turn in midair. I ran.
When I hit the hall, I didn’t go in the direction I had come from. I had only one hope, that in her dragon form she wasn’t thinking clearly, and I could put some distance between us without having to hurt her. I’d lay my life down for her, but this wasn’t what I’d had in mind. I got several bounding strides down the hall before I realized I wasn’t thinking clearly, either, and I bubbled myself out of there.
Transport with a spell like this was used only if you knew where you were going. A bubble into an unknown place risked coming out intersecting with something solid. Which would be a very bad death. So when I threw up the bubble I was headed for the lions sleeping in the statues. I wanted to collect Alger and Byrne and give Bella enough space to settle down until we could figure out what was happening, and how to talk to her.
Where I came out was not where I had intended. To begin with, you try to land as close to the ground as you can without being in it. The more expert you are with this spell, and after all the years I’d been using it, I could call myself that, the closer you get. The margin of error is slim. It certainly isn’t the four foot fall that left me sprawling on top of a heap of papyrus scrolls.
Thanks to that ancient cushion, I was only damaged in the amor propre and a gale of sneezes that seized me after I gasped and sucked dust. I looked around and confirmed that I had no idea where I was. After regaining control of my breathing, I listened. Nothing. Only a heavy, muffling silence. This was a long, low room absolutely chock full of bins of scrolls. The dust looked like it had been undisturbed for longer than I cared to think about.
I floundered out of the bin I’d fallen in, and got to my feet. One thing for sure, I wasn’t going to risk another bubble for transport. I composed a message and sent it, wondering if even that small magic was going to work. Then I sent another, even though she probably couldn’t understand it in her current state. Finally, I started looking for a way out.
Both Bella and Alger had alluded to the size and disorganization of the Library. It took me about three rooms to realize that neither of them had a hope of ever making this place make sense. It would take a whole city of librarians. Who, I wondered, looking up at the size of the doorway I was walking through, had built this place? And why here, on a plane where nothing worked right?
I sent another message spell. I was hoping that Alger would get them, that he would recognize where I was from my descriptions, and that, if nothing else, he was staying well clear of a certain mother dragon.
My stomach growled, surprising me. I had no idea how much time had passed since breakfast, or even if time meant anything here, in this place. I found a room with tables and chairs. Sitting there, facing the door while I ate and drank icy-cold water from my stash in nospace, I contemplated the whole ridiculous situation.
Bella was the least of my worries. I had a plan when it came to her. Our children, on the other hand… we were stuck here until they hatched. I didn’t even want to think about returning to Underhill with them on the outside. Which meant we’d be here for a while. I needed to get an update to Corwin, and Ellie, and my mother, and Holy Mother Titania, how was this going to impact the situation with Dionaea?
I wanted to put my face into my hands and laugh hysterically at the mess, but I didn’t dare let down my guard. Time to go find Alger and get the plan rolling. He wasn’t going to like it. Hell, I didn’t like it. Lavendar was going to absolutely hate it. I cleared up, even though I would never be able to find this room again. The Library was confusing, and laid out irregularly.
I went round a corner and frowned to myself. I was tired, dusty, itchy, and this looked a lot like somewhere I had been before. I looked down. Sure enough, there were my tracks… I’d made a full circle. Most of the rooms had windows, and those which didn’t, had lightsources which could only be powered by magic. I had been trying to use the windows to navigate, but what if this was…
I leaned against the wall. I was lost. I couldn’t think how I was supposed to find the statue room, the lobby, I’d dubbed it. I was tired, and if Bella had already found Alger and Byrne, then all was already lost. I’d been walking for hours.
A message spell popped in the air about two inches from my nose, making me flinch backward. I slid to the floor in sheer relief, sitting against the wall while I listened to Alger’s voice.
Locked in the Library
“Got your message. I think you’re in the Phoenician wing, m’boyo.”Alger sounded gruff, but I thought I heard overtones of concern. “You ought to be able to find the central passageway from there, if you don’t get sidetracked into Norse.”
Who the hell had sorted the collections out in this place? That made no sense geographically or chronologically. I knew I’d seen a room with ‘books’ made of thin wooden slabs, not too long before. Maybe that was Norse? I certainly hadn’t seen anything that looked like a central passageway.
He went on. “I understand your plan. I’m to go get help. You’re going to stay where you are. Byrne and I have been playing hide and seek with the dragon, er, Bella. We’ll be just as glad to get some space between us. She’s not happy. Good luck, Lom.”
His voice ended and the spell faded away. I stared off into midair. I’d sent him to go get the only person I thought could get through to Bella in her state. And he’d have to take Lavendar along, to prove his bonafides. In the meantime, I was stuck here, in the library, avoiding a dragon. There was only one thing I could do.
Look for the Charter. Also, learn how to navigate this rabbit warren. If only there were something sensible, like a map. Alger could have at the least…
Another message spell popped into being, this one across the hall from where I sat. I lunged forward and caught it, triggering it. Alger’s voice sounded out, again, repeating the same thing I’d just heard. I let it play through, in case he’d added more content with this attempt. When it had faded away, with no new words, I got to my feet.
A clever human once proposed a certain hierarchy of needs. Food, shelter, clothing… I’d add to that a bathroom, which was something I hadn’t seen this far into my explorations. I’d begun to think the Librarians were a most impractical race, whatever they had been. Human, Fae, and other materials all mingled here in a vast building, and no place to leave waste. Shelter I had. Food, a limited stock of nutritious if boring comestibles and plenty of water. Even a flask of good whisky, although I’d intended that for the sprites to begin with. Clothing, a few changes. If this went on, I was going to need a place with water, for bathing and washing up.
So I wanted a fountain. A garden would be nice, to accompany the Library. Sure the b
eings who’d made this place had liked such things? I knew they shared similar tastes in statues and art. I’d been largely ignoring the paintings and tapestries on the wall, but I’d seen them in passing. A place of great beauty.
I found Alger’s central passageway. It was long enough to go almost to a vanishing-point in both directions. I swore to myself, loudly. My voice echoed back to me. Some needs were becoming pressing. I walked into the long corridor, and looked.
There were footprints, here. Some that looked human – Alger, I decided. – and the sweeping marks of a dragon. They went in both directions. I stood very still, and listened.
The sound didn’t register, at first. I was listening for footsteps, not the continuous low murmur of running water. Look, in the real world, total silence is a rare thing. Your brain is trained to filter out the background sounds. Otherwise you’d walk around in a state of total panic all the time. You catalog and dismiss the majority of sounds as harmless and go on with your life. Add to that my level of fatigue, and it took me a minute to catch what I was hearing.
Then it took me a little while to find it. It wasn’t a garden. Well, not a traditional one. This was more like a terrarium. It was enclosed in a dome of windows, set into stone shapes that made the whole overhead effect like being covered in an upside-down colander. There was a running stream passing through it, and when I opened the door to walk in, a burst of tiny, colorful birds that flew overhead and into the cluster of dwarf trees on the far side of the stream.
I’d found a place to stay, if Bella didn’t know about it. I jumped over the little stream and explored the grove of trees. They gave enough cover I could sleep without worrying about being immediately visible to someone coming through the door. First order of business was a cathole far from my sleeping spot, and taking care of pressing needs. After that was done, I could relax and make myself comfortable. Sleep followed almost immediately once I was curled up on the deep forest duff in a sleeping bag pulled from my stash.
Dragon Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 3) Page 14