by Holly Evans
I swallowed down my laughter and waited for her to continue.
“You steal knowledge and sell it!”
I canted my head slightly to one side and kept my tone syrupy-sweet.
“Do we? Strange, I thought it was you who captured knowledge and bound it within these walls where no one else could benefit from it.”
Logan cleared his throat.
“What my companion had meant to say was, we’re unsure who you believe we are, but there has been some sort of awful mix-up. We’re simple researchers hoping to gain a little wisdom from your fine collection,” he said with a touch of incubus charm.
The priestess narrowed her eyes, but we were rescued by a broad-shouldered priest with hair the colour of the setting sun.
“Gertrude, allow them through,” the priest rumbled.
Gertrude spat something in a language I didn’t understand and turned away.
“A pleasure to meet you, Gertrude!” Erin called after her.
It took everything I had to restrain myself from bursting out laughing.
10
Wispy remained quiet and well behaved as we followed the priest through the vast hallways and rooms of the knowledge temple. They had arranged a deal with a weaver or some such to build the majority of the temple in what seemed to be a pocket plane. The ceilings sprawled some three stories above us with elegant scripts written upon the pristine white domes. I swore that the text on the ceiling kept shifting and changing, but we didn’t pause long enough for me to be sure. Books, scrolls, and papers filled every space on the shelves that towered around us and filled every wall. A mix of normal people and priests were bent over the pale, golden wooden tables, examining various written documents and scribbling notes of their own. The quiet hush of the space ate at me. It made me twitchy, and that made Wispy twitchy.
We were led through two large rooms to a medium-sized room that must have been six or seven times the size of my entire apartment. The walls were covered in dark wooden shelves, which were filled with yet more papers and books. The spindly black ladders that stretched up the walls didn’t look strong enough to hold a person.
“You will find what you seek in the east quarter,” the priest said with a smile and a small bow.
We had the room to ourselves. Once the priest left, I exhaled and shook out my shoulders, trying to shake off the feeling of oppression and being watched.
It didn’t work. It felt as though the books and such all had eyes and they were all turned on me, watching, waiting. I’d never been that bookish, unless they were books on alchemy or interesting creatures that could be used in alchemy. There had been a few books on fascinating fighting techniques, but they were few and far between. The quiet was almost a physical weight that bore down on me and made me want to leave the room, or at the very least hide under one of the tables.
“They say that they keep all sorts of things hidden in here,” Erin whispered.
I grinned at her, glad to have a distraction. “Such as?”
“Kit, you are not relieving them of any artifacts,” Logan warned.
I gave him my most innocent expression. He laughed and walked off towards the eastern quarter.
“Rumours say they have a pair of kraken deep in the basements,” Erin whispered.
“I thought kraken were extinct?”
She grinned. “They say that they’re learning from them.”
I mentally ticked off the potential that must have been hidden within a kraken. Surely, its scales would be powerful… and then there was its essence, its breath, blood and bones were always good sources of magic, the possibilities! Maybe I could leave Erin and Logan to do the research, and I’d check out those basements. It would free me from the oppressive quiet and potentially be the find of the decade.
“We only have two hours until they close; we should focus,” Erin said as she hooked her arm around mine and led me towards the shelves.
I sighed. There were so many books and papers. I really wished I could sneak down a hidden passageway trying to find the kraken in that moment. I’d have settled for a Naga.
The temple worked on the theory that the god of knowledge would guide you to the books or what have you that you needed. It was a temple, so it was hardly surprising that it had a god involved in the process somewhere. That meant that I had to relax and allow my body to guide me to the books and such that I needed. Erin had no problems with this endeavour. She half closed her eyes and wandered over to a section full of old red leather-bound books. Logan tensed and gritted his teeth, but his feet did carry him up a ladder to a shelf near the top. I could feel the tugging sensation just below my sternum, but I fought it. I hated the idea of being nudged by a god, but I needed that research.
The sensation became more physical, as though someone had tied a rope to the inside of my sternum and was yanking on it. I muttered under my breath; surely, the god of knowledge was supposed to be gentle and carefully guide me there. The invisible rope yanked harder. I sighed. I never had been very good with authority, and the gods weren’t an exception to that.
Wispy chittered and shot off somewhere. I let him go. I relaxed as best as I could and allowed the feeling to guide me to a section full of green canvas-covered books. Thankfully, I didn’t have to risk climbing one of the ladders. The awful rope sensation vanished the moment I laid my hand on one of the books. I swear I felt as though the gods shook their head at me. I bit my tongue. No good came from arguing with the gods.
I settled myself at a small square table with an uncomfortable wooden seat and began looking through the selection of books. The reading was particularly dry and academic. I fought to focus on the words that swam before me as they talked about the architecture of various lunar temples around the world and how different cultures approached the goddess. There was some argument as to whether there really was only one lunar goddess, or whether there were multiple goddesses and each looked after a particular part of the world. The passive aggressive notes made from one scholar about another’s work made me smile.
I frowned and wondered why I hadn’t packed a focus aid of some form. I should have known better. My eyes skimmed over the words on the page, leading me to re-read them three or four times trying to make sense of them. I had no interest in the angles of the rooves, or the alignment of the temples with the various constellations. The information was no doubt fascinating to someone, and I understood that most people would quickly fall asleep should they try and read one of my favourite alchemy texts. I glanced around to see Erin and Logan both looking far more interested and relaxed. A frown formed on my mouth as I realised that I felt shallow and inferior, as though I should be more interested. Research was an important part of treasure-hunting, after all, but did that really make me a lesser person because I preferred the action and adrenaline?
I glared skyward as I suspected that the thoughts weren’t entirely my own, but more the knowledge god trying to guilt trip me. Yes, I was in their temple, but that didn’t mean I appreciated such dirty tricks. Finally, I struck on a passage relating to the goddess and the story of her tears. I got two paragraphs in about the potential reasons she had allowed them to be taken when a siren began blaring around me. I half jumped out of my skin and looked around for Wispy.
“Wispy?” I called out, worried that he’d panic with all of the loud noise.
Logan and Erin looked around the room with me. The wisp was nowhere to be seen. That probably meant he was the cause of the siren.
“Wispy!” I shouted.
The sirens turned off, leaving a ringing sound in my ears, and the heavy oppressive silence slipped around me like a horrifying cloak. The god was judging me, likely along with all of their priests. My wisp slowly flew through a narrow archway opposite the one we had entered through and made himself as small as possible. A pair of very angry-looking priestesses were running after him. Upon realising he was being chased, he shot into his cage on my belt and feigned sleep.
I looked down at him.
“You do realise that we saw you shoot in there all of two seconds ago?”
He gave me a snoring rumbling sound. I rolled my eyes.
“You are hereby banned from this establishment! Your wisp was found feeding on the wards surrounding the sacred section of this temple! Leave. Now,” the older priestess shouted.
“Wispy was found doing what?” I asked.
“It wriggled its way into the heart of the wards and was feeding on the energy that fuelled them!” The younger priestess screeched.
“Wispy! You know better!” I scolded.
“It’s too late for reprimands. Get out. Now,” the older priestess screamed.
I gave them a smile and thought about apologizing, but they’d turned awful shades of red and purple. There was a good chance that if I uttered another word they’d turn to violence. I’d really hate to assault a priestess in her own temple. The gods surely wouldn’t look upon that very kindly.
11
We didn’t dare say a word as we were escorted out of the temple. People turned to glare at us as we passed through the various libraries. I held my head high and double-checked that Wispy’s cage was locked. Once we were outside, I unhooked the cage and held it at face height.
“Wispy, what on Earth were you thinking?” I demanded.
He went a very pale blue and pressed himself against the bars, making cooing sounds.
“I don’t care how much you love me, you damn well know better that to pull stunts like that.”
He flattened himself against his nest as best as he could. I sighed and reattached him to my belt.
“I didn’t manage to get very far. There were some suggestions that the thieves were her people and they may have hidden the tears in some of her temples, but that was it. What about you guys?” I asked as we walked towards the tram stop.
Erin wrinkled her nose and gestured towards a lean black cat with a notch missing out of its ear.
“I think we’d best wait until we get home,” she said.
I glared at the cat.
“Tell your mistress I am not in the mood,” I growled at it.
It stalked off with its tail up in the air. Damn witches.
The ride back home was quiet and uneventful. Wispy remained flattened in the bottom of his cage, where he didn’t make a sound. I ran my fingers over the edge of him through the bars as we approached the front door of our building, where I saw the tabby cat again. Logan crouched down in front of it and glared at it.
“Your mistress is playing a very dangerous game,” he growled at it.
The cat flattened its ears and hissed at him.
We headed inside without saying anything else. Erin kept playing with the hem of her shirt. I wrapped my fingers around hers to soothe her and stop the frenetic motion. It wasn’t a conscious decision, and I pulled away once I realised I’d done it. She’d made her views on intimacy between us very clear. I wasn’t going to push that boundary.
“So, what do we know now?” I asked as we stepped into the apartment.
“The thieves returned from the god plane somewhere in South America, but they originated in New Zealand somewhere. They remained hidden, and there weren’t many leads that I could pinpoint in the time I had.” He glared at Wispy.
“There was a magician, a passion merchant, who went from what we’d call a tier four to making tier ones look weak. He was in Rio a century ago. That was as far as I got. He vanished suddenly; one moment he was popular and a good businessman, then he was gone. People hunted for his body for a year and came up with nothing,” Erin said.
“Rio’s looking like a good place to start then,” I said.
“Why Rio and not Sao Paulo?” Logan asked.
“Because Rio’s closer to the rainforest that hides at least one moon goddess cult,” I said.
“But the art came from Sao Paulo,” Erin pushed.
I chewed on my bottom lip and looked back through my notes. Something was pushing me towards Rio.
“Where did that passion merchant originate? Did you get his backstory?” I asked while I looked through my notes.
Erin frowned and skimmed her own notes.
“There are rumours about a small dilapidated temple on the edge of the rainforest in the middle of Rio with a heavily guarded blue stone in it,” I said.
“The passion merchant was born in Belize, but travelled throughout South America. He spent a year in Rio before he suddenly became a tier one,” Erin said.
I grinned at Logan.
“I still think it’s the wrong thread, but we’ll start there. We need to make maps of important locations, where the temple is, anything we can get on that security, and any contacts we have around there. I might have a guy who knows the rainforest, an ocelot shifter. He’s skittish, but he could be talked into helping us,” Logan said.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Are you trying to take point?” I teased.
He flashed a grin at me.
“I’m not trying, Kit.”
Erin laughed and looked at the clock.
“We need to let Fein know about the transport and pack,” she said.
“We’ll need some breaker gloves to handle the tears with, and breaker-made bags too. Oh, and jungle gear, what do we know about the magic around there? Are there any special precautions we should take?” I asked Logan.
He’d spent more time down in Rio than I had. I’d done other parts of the Americas, but hadn’t really visited Rio.
“Watch for pretty men with quick fingers, the passion merchants are unscrupulous in Rio. The jungle has its own branch of elves that don’t much like strangers; you’ll want some anti-poison healing things. And good blades, there are lots of vines in there.”
“I’ll call Fein and tell him the good news,” I said.
I pulled out my phone and called Fein. He didn’t feel the need for excess words or niceties. We’d have the details on the transport within the hour.
“We can go shopping tomorrow. Will they have what we need here, do you think?” I asked Logan.
He shrugged.
“They should have the breaker things; you’d be better making the anti-poison bits yourself. The clothing shouldn’t be too difficult,” he said.
I went looking for my wake-up tablets. It was going to be a long night.
12
I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to make my eyes focus. I’d been in the lab all night and eaten nothing but a chocolate bar I’d found stashed in one of the drawers. Oh, and wake-up tablets. Unfortunately, the sun had risen a few hours prior, and my body was hitting its limit. Logan hadn’t been able to tell me what sort of poisons I was preparing for, which left me with no choice but to try and make broad-spectrum healing lotions and tablets.
Selkie fur provided some protection against water-borne poisons - I’d heated that gently over elemental flames to give it some resilience against fire. That had been added to redcap blood (which was vile, sticky stuff) to encourage the victim’s natural healing ability. Redcaps were tough, nasty beings; poisons didn’t affect them anywhere near as strongly as other people. The spring dew provided the rejuvenation that the body would need to help it heal. It was my third batch of anti-poison tablets. I’d managed to make two salves and two batches of tablets through the night. Each of them had a different focus. I hoped it would be enough.
“Come to bed, Kit,” Logan said gently.
I almost dropped the tablets all over the counter instead of into the small vial I’d been placing them in. I’d been so focused on placing each one in the vial and keeping my hands steady, I hadn’t noticed him come into the room. He rubbed his hand over my lower back and kissed my temple.
“The bags under your eyes have developed bags. You need sleep before getting on the transport. And no, you cannot just sleep on the transport,” he said firmly.
I put the glass stopper onto the vial and tucked it into the pouch on my belt alongside the other anti-poisons. I’d made more of my fire powder, and a
dded in a new shadow armour tincture to my little arsenal. I grabbed two small bottles of my own poison, which I’d drip onto my blades, and I was ready to fall into bed.
The exhaustion claimed me before I’d even stepped foot out of the lab. I was vaguely aware of Logan’s strong arms around me, but everything else was blissful darkness.
I woke up to Wispy chittering at me. I glared at him, which made him shrink away. I hadn’t entirely forgiven him for the disaster in the knowledge temple.
“You had better behave yourself on this trip, little wisp,” I muttered.
“I packed for you, Kit. You have fifteen minutes to get dressed and eat as much as you can. The transport won’t have food,” Logan said as he pulled the nice warm, soft, blankets off me.
I groaned and pulled on my favourite lace-up knee-high boots, a good pair of magically reinforced jeans (they had basilisk essence woven into them, making them lightweight armour), a lightweight long-sleeved shirt, and, of course, my leather jacket. It would likely be too hot for the jacket in Rio, but I wasn’t leaving without it. The jacket had been through the wars with me. It had become almost a friend.
Erin handed me a plate full of wonderful food that I stuffed into my mouth as quickly as I could before Logan gently led me out the door with my backpack in his hand.
“What don’t I want to know about this transport?” I asked.
Both Erin and Logan had been oddly quiet and uptight as we walked through the hallway out onto the street. I was greeted by an older man with half of his hair freshly blackened and singed and metal gauntlets on his hands.
“Miss Felis, I assume. We’ll be taking you to Athens,” the man said.
I looked around for the other person making up the ‘we’. My eye finally settled on a metal fox with a blue glowing sigil in its chest.
“That’ll be Renard,” the man said, nodding to the fox, which was eyeing Wispy.