by Tom Mohan
“We found the staircase,” she said. “Master Eleazar said we go roughly thirty paces from the top of this staircase, and the ladder should be on the right side.”
“I hope he knows what he’s talking about,” Dana mumbled. “This place gives me the creeps. What if this isn’t even the right staircase? We could have missed a turn in the dark.”
“Chill, little sister,” said Ryan. “Master Eleazar was certain about this, and I have every faith that Sara led us just as he instructed. No one could bring us through this any better than she could.”
Sara felt the heat in her face as she blushed at the unexpected compliment. “Careful on the steps,” she said. Keeping both hands on the walls on either side, she climbed the narrow stone staircase. Though she couldn’t see them, based on the varying height and depth of each stair, she guessed they had been chiseled from the rock. She soon lost track of how many steps they climbed. It took much longer than she would have expected. The tunnel reminded her of the one Bishop Joshua had led her down that went on and on, seemingly beyond what should have been the limits of the Keep. Finally, she reached the top.
“About time,” Dana said. “There’s no way we didn’t go up past the library.”
“Well,” Sara said, “the next thing we look for is a wooden ladder that will take us even higher.”
“That makes no sense at all. How can we go higher? We’ll be in Lord’s tower if we go any higher.”
“We’ve always known there was magic to this place,” Ryan said. “Ash-Shaytan’s ways are not our ways, and we can’t always understand him. Just keep going. If Battle Master Eleazar says we’ll end up in the library, that’s where we’ll end up.”
Sara wished she possessed Ryan’s confidence. They had gone much too far to still be in the Keep, let alone anywhere near the library. She shrugged in the darkness. There was no turning back now. She continued down the narrow tunnel, one hand on the wall, counting her steps as she went. Sure enough, at thirty-three paces she felt the rough wood of a ladder.
“It’s here,” she said.
“The ladder? You’ve found it?” Dana whispered.
“Yeah, right where he said it would be.”
“I still can’t believe he’s helping us,” Dana said.
“Neither can I, but I’ll take all the help I can get to find out what really happened to my parents.” Sara grabbed hold of the ladder with both hands and tried to shake it, but it was mounted to the wall. At least that was a good sign. “You two wait here while I climb up and take a look.”
“Hey Sara, why don’t you let me go first now?” Ryan’s steady voice showed no sign of fear.
“Yeah, let the big strong man take the lead now that you’ve cleared out all the spiderwebs for him,” Dana teased.
Sara smiled at Ryan’s offer. She knew he hated the feeling of letting a girl take all the risk, but she couldn’t give up the lead now. “Just wait here. I’ll call down when I get through.”
She started up the ladder. Though it was sturdy enough, a cool slippery substance coated some of the rings. She had no idea what it might be and found herself recoiling with an unexplained dread each time her hand encountered the slime. This time the climb wasn’t long, and soon her head clunked against something solid above her. She let out a curse and pressed a hand over the tender spot on top of her head.
“Did you say something?” came Dana’s whispered voice from below.
“No, but I’m at the top. Hold on.”
Master Eleazar had said the trap door would open into one of the broom closets in the upper library, the same level on which Master Casius’s office was located. What he could not guarantee was that nothing would be on top of it. Sara prayed she wouldn’t tip something over and announce their presence before they even got into the library. She pressed on the trap. Nothing. She could be pushing against a solid ceiling for all she knew. She shoved again, harder this time, but still it remained sealed.
“Ryan, can you come up here?”
“Sure.”
“What? And leave me down here by myself? I don’t think so.” Dana was no longer whispering.
“Quiet down, sis. I don’t know if that ladder will hold all three of us. It might not even hold two of us. You sure it’ll hold, Sara?”
“It’ll hold. Just be careful. Some of the rungs are kind of slick.” Sara waited as Ryan made the climb, wondering again if they were doing the right thing. She really didn’t know just what she thought she would find in Master Casius’s office, or why she thought she had to be the one to find it. Something strange was going on, she had no doubt. The discovery of her parents’ murders, the message from Manasseh, and the attack on Master Casius all in the same day couldn’t be ignored. Of course, she hadn’t told the Holy Father or Bishop Joshua about the message Master Casius had uttered, so she might not know everything they could have told her. Then again, she doubted they had told her all they knew in the first place.
“What is this stuff on the ladder?” Ryan’s voice came from directly below her.
“I’m not sure I really want to know.” Sara said as Ryan slipped up beside her. She could feel the warmth of his body as it pressed against hers on the narrow ladder.
Ryan chuckled. “Good point. So, what are we doing?” His hand rested on top of hers, and instead of moving it, he squeezed it lightly.
“Um, we’re trying to open the trap door.” She hoped her voice remained steady, but by now she was so flustered she couldn’t tell.
Get a hold of yourself, Sara. You’re a warrior, after all. She took a deep breath. “The door’s stuck. I don’t know if it’s locked from the other side, has something heavy on top of it, or is just stuck—but I can’t budge it.”
“Okay, let me get a better stance on the ladder.” Sara felt Ryan center himself on the ladder, a move that also pressed his body tighter against hers. She forced herself to ignore the position and pushed her right hand against the door while slipping her left arm through the top rung for balance.
“Ready?” Ryan asked.
“Yeah,” Sara said, putting pressure on the door. She felt it begin to lift.
“That’s it,” Ryan said. “There’s definitely something on it. A little more, and I can get my arm through and find out what it is.”
Sara pushed harder and felt the door rise several more inches.
“Hold it there,” Ryan said. She heard him grunt as he forced his arm through the narrow opening. Sara expected to see at least a little light through the opening, but everything was still pitch black.
He grunted. “Books. It’s a pile of books. I thought this was supposed to be a broom closet.”
“Master Casius would stack books in any empty space until he could get to them,” Sara said. “I guess a closet is as good a place as any. Can you move them?” She felt Ryan’s body pull away from her as he shifted position.
“Yeah, I think so. Put some more pressure on the door. That should shove them out of the way now.”
Sara pushed as hard as she could. She heard a muffled clump from above, and the door rose more easily.
“I’ll hold it, you slip on through,” Ryan said. He moved as far out of her way as possible while still holding the door open with one hand. Sara pulled herself up through the opening. Her back scraped the door on the way through, but with some wiggling she managed to clamber into the closet. It was still too dark to see anything, but she moved as much out of the way as she could by touch to allow the trap door to open all the way. She helped Ryan climb through.
“Any idea where we are?” Ryan asked.
“No, but I felt the closet door when I was clearing the trap. Hang on a second.” Sara stood up and felt her way to the door. She put her ear against it and listened for any indication that they might not be alone. All was silent. She turned the knob and the door opened. She could see shadows of bookcases in a dim room. At the far end, she made out the flickering light of a lamp. She ducked her head back into the closet. “It looks clear. Tell
Dana to come on up.”
She turned back to the door and opened it far enough to slip out. The library lay eerily silent as she crept closer to the flickering light. She approached a blind corner and recognized her location. The outline of a door to her left would be one of the study rooms. The rooms on this level of the library were rarely used, but she stuck her head inside just to make sure it lay empty. A faintly burning lantern was the only sign of life. She closed the door and resumed her original course. When she reached a spot less than ten feet from the corner where the light originated, she felt a touch on her shoulder. She held back a scream as she reached over and grabbed the wrist attached to the hand that had brushed her. Spinning around, she twisted the intruder’s arm.
“Ow, stop! Sara, it’s me.” Ryan’s voice boomed in the quiet confines of the library, and she could almost imagine the Keep’s guards flooding into the room to investigate the commotion. She released her friend’s arm and pushed him against the wall, motioning him to hush. The library remained silent as a tomb.
Sara realized she was holding her breath. She let it out, blowing a strand of hair from her face. “What do you think you’re doing, trying to give me a heart attack?”
Ryan held his hands out in front of him. “I’m sorry, really, but something’s happened to Dana.”
“What do you mean? What happened to her?”
“I don’t know. She’s not answering when I call down to her. I need to get back down there and find out if something’s wrong.”
Sara was torn. She worried for her friend, but she still felt she needed to find something here. She sighed. “I’ll go with you. We should stick together.”
Ryan shook his head. “No, I’ll go find her. She probably just wandered off into the tunnel. You go ahead and look around up here.”
Sara wasn’t going to argue. “You’ll need light. Now that we know the tunnel is clear, it should be safe. There’s a lantern in that room behind you.”
“All right.” He started to go, and then turned to face her again. “Be careful up here.” He smiled at her. “Don’t do anything stupid. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.” Then he disappeared into the room, only to emerge a moment later and head back the way they had come.
Sara watched him until the light disappeared into the closet, and then she turned back to her own mission, Ryan’s words still echoing in her ears along with her pounding heart.
I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.
Sara peeked around the corner. To the right, more overloaded bookcases formed a domino-like maze, while the wall on the left ran straight to Master Casius’s office. The flickering light that had drawn her came from the half-open door. Was someone in there? Had a lantern been left lit when the last person had gone? She heard nothing beyond her own breathing as she slipped along the wall to the office door. The jagged edges of the broken doorframe testified to the events of her previous visit. From her vantage point she could see only half of the office, but she detected no sign of movement. She nudged the door. It moved only a few inches before hitting something on the other side. She gave the door a harder push and heard something dragging across the floor behind it. Finally, she slipped through the narrow opening and into the room.
Books, papers, and other assorted junk were strewn everywhere. It defied logic that all of this stuff could even fit into the office, let alone have been somewhat organized at one time. She tried to remember just what the office had looked like before the attack, but for some reason the image seemed fuzzy, as though her visits to the old librarian had happened years ago instead of hours. Probably just all the excitement, she told herself as she began studying the room. She scanned the clutter, but nothing stood out. Father Caleb had said a portal would leave some kind of trace, but she didn’t know what she was looking for. She had never even seen a portal.
Sara moved across the tiny room and slipped behind the desk. She gazed down at the place where she had found Master Casius’s injured body, but aside from a small stain that might or might not have been blood, there was no sign of his presence. She spent the next several minutes digging through the books and papers that littered the office. She was ready to give up the search and go look for her friends when something on the wall behind the desk caught her eye. The tapestry that hung there was somehow not right. It took a moment to figure out just what bothered her about it, but then it hit her.
It was perfectly straight.
Every other item in the room was crooked, broken, or tossed from its normal place, yet that tapestry hung as straight as if the attack had never happened. It depicted an image of Ash-Shaytan doing battle with his fabled nemesis, El-Shadai. The two immortal beings were locked in deadly combat with the world at their feet. She remembered the first time she had seen the tapestry. It had confused her that a picture of Ash-Shaytan battling a god that did not even exist would be found in the very Keep of the great god. Master Casius had smiled at her lack of understanding. “You are the first to make that observation,” the old master had said. “While it is true that no gods exist aside from Ash-Shaytan, the simple fact that others believe in them creates a very real battle for the great god himself. False beliefs can be powerful, especially when dealing with fanatics. Great Ash-Shaytan must battle these false beliefs, as must his humble servants.”
Sara had nodded in understanding, yet something in the old man’s explanation rang untrue to her, just as the straight tapestry in the very un-straight room rang untrue. She pulled the tapestry aside and found a door hidden behind it. Her pulse quickened at the discovery. Could this have been from where the librarian’s attacker had sprung? It made more sense than some magical portal. She yanked on the tapestry and let it fall to the floor. The door had no knob or handle. She felt along the edge, trying to work her fingers far enough into the crack to pull it out, but it was latched. After struggling at it for a few minutes, Sara smacked the door in frustration. It opened inward. She felt like slapping herself, but instead pushed through the opening. It was dark inside and smelled of dust and ancient parchment. She opened the door all the way to allow in as much light from the office as possible. The small room, roughly the size of the librarian’s office, contained two large cases that held a few scrolls. Nothing else was visible as she moved farther into the room. She randomly pulled scrolls from their places and inspected them for anything significant, but they all looked pretty much the same in the shadows.
As Sara turned to the wall at the back of the room, she noticed a form in the corner. She moved closer, and then paused and jumped back. A foot protruded from beneath a black cloak.
After her encounter with the injured Master Casius, she was in no mood to take chances. She hurried back to the office and pulled the lantern from the wall, looking around for anything to use as a weapon. In the corner by the desk stood Master Casius’s cane. She grabbed it, feeling some satisfaction at the stoutness of the heavy wood. Holding the lantern in one hand and the cane in the other, Sara made her way back into the hidden room. The light revealed that it was indeed a foot—or at least a shoe—and it had not moved in the brief time she had been gone. She held the cane out in front of her as she approached the cloak and whatever lay beneath it. Once she drew near enough, she poked the cloak with the cane. It moved slightly, and then fell back in place. Next, she poked the shoe. It, too, moved, but was too heavy to be just a shoe. She wiped cold sweat from her forehead and took a step back. She knew she should get out of there, run back to the tunnel, find Ryan and Dana, and forget all about discovering the truth about her parents.
She also knew she would do nothing of the sort. Again, she advanced on what she now thought of as a body. Maybe it was only unconscious? Possibly, but given the way her day had gone so far…Taking a deep breath, she lunged forward, slipped the cane beneath the cloak, lifted it up, and jumped back. The cloak slipped off the end of the cane, but it pulled far enough away for her to see without a doubt that a person lay on the floor before her. Breathing hard now, sh
e held the light out. The first thing she noticed was bright red hair. Sara moaned. Though the body lay face down, she had no doubt.
Sam.
Every instinct told Sara her friend was dead, but she had to make sure. An image of Master Casius grabbing her when she’d knelt next to him flashed through her mind, and she forced it away. No matter how much respect she had for the old librarian, he had never been a friend like Sam was. The feeling of déjà vu overwhelmed her. She set the lantern on the floor beside Sam and touched his neck in search of a pulse. The coldness of his skin told her all she needed to know.
“What are you doing there?”
Sara spun. She brought the cane up, but her foot tangled in the cloak that had been covering Sam’s body and she tripped, sprawling with her back against the wall. She struggled to catch her breath as she held the heavy cane out before her.
“Who is that? What have you done?”
“Kyle?” Sara gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” He looked down at the body beside her. “What the—is that Sam? You killed Sam?”
“What? No! I didn’t kill him. Why would I kill Sam?” She pushed herself to her feet, hating how he towered over her with his accusations. “I just found him like this.”
“This is twice in less than twenty-four hours you’ve been found with a dead or nearly dead body. What am I supposed to think? And with the rumors—”
“Rumors? What rumors?”
Kyle sighed and gave her a hard look. “Some are saying you freaked out when you saw your parents killed. You shouldn’t have said anything about Manasseh, you know. Everyone thinks you’re losing it and probably attacked Casius.”