Chapter 29
THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET HAIRY
BLUE
The Vidya tower in the royal domain is a monstrosity attached to a mountain. The air’s cold, but Erabi’s pocket is warm. I peek out from it as she climbs the last of the stairs, taking us into a majestic entrance chamber where a sacred hush surrounds us.
The floor gleams, marble, the kind that’s probably slippery as feck for a little guy like me.
Light streams in through several narrow, vaulted windows set high up in the wall behind us.
It spills across the chamber like golden butter on toast. Toast…
I could devour a slice or two right now. Breakfast seems so long ago.
Several arches lead off from this room, and sitting at an impressively large desk made of silver rock is a woman in a green cloak, spectacles low on her nose, quill clutched in her hand, watching us with an inquiring patience.
“Let me do the talking,” Erabi whispers. “Chandra’s letter should help too.”
“I’ll be as quiet as a mouse.”
It wasn’t difficult to convince Erabi to bring me here.
A few tears and all she wanted ta do was cheer me up, and my stint at the Vidya tower in Prashikshan is no secret.
So when she asked what might help me, I immediately said a distraction.
A job like the last time my Leela was gone, and ’ere we are.
We cross to the sage at the desk, and Erabi hands her the letter. A request from Chandra to allow me a position here.
The sage’s eyebrows shoot up. “The absent queen’s anchor?” Her gaze drops to me nestled in Erabi’s coat pocket, and something in the hard depths softens. “You must be worried about her.”
I nod, keeping to my promise not ta speak.
“And it says that you worked in the Vidya tower with Bhoomika for several weeks…” She chews on her cheeks. “Archiving…”
“He did,” Erabi confirms for me.
“You’ll need to speak to our head sage,” she says to Erabi. “I can take you to her office, but I’m afraid little Blue will need to remain here. We have a small waiting area through the arch to the left.”
Erabi looks down at me. “Will you be okay?”
I nod and give her a thumbs up.
The waiting area has several comfortable seats and a view of a winding track leading to the mountain library. The ceiling is lower here, the floor covered in a patterned rug. Erabi sets me on the windowsill.
“I’ll be right back,” she says.
I doubt it. This place is massive. I bet there are stairs and corridors to navigate. Where will they put me to work if I get the position? Will I have access to the lower levels? What if I can’t get ta where I need go? What if I fail to find the knowledge I need?
Madame Spider sent me ’ere for a reason, and I know that reason is connected to Leela. To saving her. Somehow, that spider lady knew my Leela would be in trouble.
A shiver tightens my spine, and my fur stands on end in warning. I tense and slowly look up, biting back a squeak at the sight of the huge spider clinging to the ceiling. It’s not as large as Madame Spider, but it’s at least three times the size of me. Which is pretty fecking huge.
My brain itches, and a soft sibilant voice fills my mind. Mother said you would be coming.
Mother? “You’re Aserathiin’s child?”
Mother said to show you the below. You’ll come with me now. I’ll take you, and I will bring you back.
“Okay, but how—Argh!”
The thing drops toward me, mouth yawning wide, multitudes of eyes gleaming.
Darkness swallows me.
Wake up, little mouse. You are where you need to be.
I jerk awake, a squeal trapped in my throat, and oh feck, I’m all wet and covered in gunk. Oh…Oh gods.
I scramble onto all fours, alert, ready to bolt.
The eight-legged beast crouched in front of me on flagstone watches me with its many beady eyes.
The air’s musty and heavy, gloom pressing in, but I gets the sense of old stone and ancient depth.
My fur quivers, fighting the slimy residue covering my body as it attempts to warn me of danger.
There’s movement around me. Above me. Behind me.
We’re under the library, and we’re not alone.
You are safe, little mouse.
“Rat. I’m a rat.” A rat who’s surrounded by spiders of all sizes. I’m in a fucking spider nest. Stay calm, Blue, you’ve got this. “Did you swallow me?” Feck, why’d I ask that? Why talk about being swallowed? It’s way too close to being eaten.
Aserathiin’s child makes a strange hissing, scraping sound. My stomach contracts. Is it laughing at me?
I held you within me. Brought you to where Mother said you should go. We welcome you here.
We, as in all the other spiders? Are they all Aserathiin’s children? “Your mother said there was something I needed to see down here. Books and scrolls.”
But this chamber’s nothin’ but bare stone. There’s a low arch leading off into the darkness to my right…Could the books be in there?
There are no books and scrolls here.
“But Aserathiin said there were—”
Did she? What were her words to you?
I cast my mind back to my conversation with Madame Spider. The knowledge you will need will be found deep beneath…Not books or scrolls but knowledge and what else had she said? Something about ask and they shall speak?
“Look, can you please show me where I need to go? I don’t have much time.”
Another voice blooms in the dark, soft, weary, and ancient.
You have time enough, little one. As much time as you choose to give yourself.
The spiders around me skitter and scuttle, moving away from me as a series of thuds shake the chamber.
The dark archway to my left blooms with presence, and then a multitude of red eyes fills the space, pushing into the chamber.
Thick, hairy legs the width of a person come through next.
Fecking hell, my heart feels like it’s about ta explode.
Four legs spill out to grip the walls around the arch, and I see its face, eyes and mouth. The rest remains beyond, too large to come through.
Grandmother, we have brought the one you wait for, Aserathiin’s child says.
I see you, little one. You are small in stature but big in heart. I have been waiting for you.
“Who are you?”
I have had many names throughout my existence.
The keeper of time, the weaver of history, the archive.
I have many forms, and many children in many forms. I am the mother of knowledge, the keeper of truth, and the sentinel of time.
The sage are products of my dreaming, tasked to carry the truth of what is and what could be, but that truth has been corrupted by outside forces.
My connection to my kin was muted and in some cases severed when the history of this world was changed.
“What? How? How was it changed?”
By great force, will, and great sacrifice. Once by the deva and once by the Asura. By doing so, they succeeded in commandeering the trinity that maintains the balance.
“The trinity? Do you mean the shakti?”
Yes, little one. But the veil will lift soon enough, and we will find ourselves at a crossroads, and you are one of a handful who can carry the truth. You, little one, belong to me.
“I belong ta Leela.”
Yes, child. You do. You are the part of her that was always bound to the past. To truth and knowledge.
To the keepers of spirit and time and history.
To the archive and remembrance. You are that part manifest, and now it is time to meet those that chose to stay.
To wait for you to return. Now you will meet your ancestors.
Step inside and receive the knowledge that is yours and yours alone.
Her mouth yawns wide, and a soft green glow spills out.
My body tingles, and a strange tugging blooms in my chest, the kind I usually get when Leela needs me. Yeah, this feels right. This light. This calling. I take a breath and walk into the spider’s maw.
One moment I’m in the stone chamber, and the next I’m in a cozy, cluttered library where four women lounge about reading books.
A golden-haired one lies on an armchair, another sits at the table, a cup beside her hand, her short, dark curls falling across her forehead as she reads.
The other is spawled on the floor on her front, red wavy hair spilling over her shoulders, book spread out on the rug, and the final one sits in a window seat watching the stars outside, her dark hair falling over her shoulders like a shawl.
They don’t move, seemingly frozen in time.
“Hello?” I take a step forward, and a tingle rushes over me. Soft laughter fills the silence, and the scent of coffee and fresh baked bread tickles my nose. I’m pulled into the scene, and the women turn to stare at me.
“Oh.” The one in the armchair sits up abruptly. “I was not expecting that.”
“It’s a rat!” The woman on the floor clasps her hands beneath her chin. “How adorable.”
The woman at the table sets down her teacup and looks across at the one in the window seat. “Auralia?”
Auralia swings her feet to the ground, her dark eyes filled with sorrow. “Come join us for tea, little one. We have much to tell you.”
One blink and I’m sitting on the table, a thimble of tea before me, and the women gathered around me.
The tea smells strong and sweet, but I need ta know who I’m dealin’ wiv before I get comfy. “Who are you?”
“The last sages to remember the truth,” Auralia says.
The woman with the dark curly hair speaks next.
“When the first shift happened, we retreated and sought sanctuary in the only place where truth could remain untainted.” She indicates the books around her.
“Here truth is held unfiltered. Undistorted. Untouched. Here you will find an accurate history of what was and what is, but what will be has yet to be written.”
“But it comes,” Auralia says. “It is almost upon us, and that part is inevitable.” Her gaze falls to me, sharpening.
“Only a soul that is divine, whole, and true can defeat it. There were two imprisoned, one justly and one unjustly. And now they both reside in a new prison.” She tuts softly.
“Tethered…like you. No, that will not do.” She looks across at the others. “Agency.”
They all nod slowly.
“Yes, it is required,” the dark-haired one says. She smiles down at me. “Stay still, little one. This will only tingle for a moment.” They all reach out toward me, and I can’t help but duck as their fingers hover over me. A sharp shock goes through me, and I let out a squeak.
“What did you do?”
The golden-haired woman from the armchair beams down at me. “We gave you agency, little one, and trust me, you’re going to need it.”
“Now,” the dark-haired one says, “it’s time for you to start reading.”
“Wait…what?”
“The books, silly,” the wavy-haired one says. “You have to read to absorb the knowledge.”
“I don’t have the time to read all these books.”
They exchange looks and smile knowingly.
“What?” I look between them. “Why you all smiling like that? It’s fecking creepy.”
The curly-haired one answers. “You don’t have to worry about time here, little one. Time here is endless. Now drink your tea. We have much learning to do.”
“Blue? Oh gods, Blue.”
I peel open my eyes and stretch. “Is it mornin’ already?” I blink up at Erabi. “What are you doin’ in the nest?”
“We’re at the Vidya tower,” she says. “We came here to—”
“Argh!” I grip my head as a sharp burning pain lances through it, and flickering images and sensations cascade through my mind. The spider. The keeper. The sages, and the books, and oh…oh gods. The truth.
It washes over me like a tide and settles like sea foam into sand.
I remember, and I know.
“Blue?” Erabi says. “Blue, are you all right?”
I pull myself up to stand on the windowsill of the Vidya waiting room, heart heavy, mind whirring. “I’m fine. Can we go now?”
“Go? I thought you wanted to stay. To work here. The head sage agreed and—”
“Nah. I changed me mind. Let’s go. I’ve stayed long enough.”
I’ve stayed a lifetime, but now it is time to live.