Chapter 22 Look Up
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
LOOK UP
ADELINE
“Is he always this annoying?” I ask.
“Not always,” Ardruna says.
“Great.”
“To be fair… I agree with what he said.” Now she’s licking a paw with her ruby tongue, like an oversized housecat. “Not everything, of course. I don’t think you’re stupid.”
“He didn’t say I was.”
“It was implied.”
“Oh, nice.” My face burns. “I don’t care about his opinion of me.”
“Child…” She lifts her head and puts her paw down. “He is the warrior librarian of Areon. He is the wielder of Sampsera and Makhaira, the shadow and the thorn, the two legendary scimitars, and tamer of Simu, the phoenix.”
“Does he pay you to sing his praises?” I huff, doing my best not to be impressed. “I’ve never heard this story before.”
“Don’t let his familiarity with us fool you. He is a powerful creature. That book… It’s not hurting you because you’re doing its bidding. However, obeying a book’s whims, anyone’s whims for that matter, just to avoid getting eaten by a giant serpent isn’t the way to go.”
Crouching down on the floor, I lift the dried meat and tear a thin strip out of it. Grimacing at the smell and taste, I start chewing. “This is wildcat, huh? You get them in here a lot?”
“Changing the topic, I see,” Ardruna says. “Fine. The wildcats aren’t the kind you’re used to. These ones are gray, not yellow, and have horns.”
“Horns!”
“And saber teeth.”
I chew some more, pondering that, wondering if everything I have taken for granted in all my life will be turned on its head in this strange world. “I’m not used to eating dried meat. At home, we usually add it to broths. This is tough on the teeth.”
Ardruna peels her gums back until she looks like she’s grinning. “Poor little baby.”
“Funny.”
“I’m not laughing, Aline. You’ve created a situation here. Can you somehow guarantee the book won’t attack us again? Can you protect us if it does? You don’t even know how to hold a sword.”
I sigh. I hate that she’s right. “Tell me more about Roane.”
“He gets lonely sometimes,” Ardruna says more quietly. “We keep him company but you can tell he craves the closeness of his kind.”
“He doesn’t seem to want or enjoy my presence. And I’m not his kind.”
“No, you’re right. But you’re a part of him that’s been missing. He needs a smile, a touch. A warm body to curl up with.”
“I’m not curling up with him. Forget it. People are… different from lions, Ardruna. We don’t pile up together at night to sleep.”
“Maybe you should.”
Gods, the image… That long, muscular body curled around me, those corded arms hauling me against him, those clear, dark-fringed eyes gazing down at me…
The skin on my neck and cheeks is turning blistering hot.
I clear my throat. “No chance. I’m not here to warm his bed or cure his nasty mood.”
And all the while, Olm is quiet. He hasn’t said a word since I woke up. The book seems to… hum when I place my hand on it. I don’t know what it means.
I remember it rattling on the shelf where Roane had put it, and the fine hairs on my arms lift.
“What’s wrong?” Ardruna watches me with eyes that seem to perceive too much.
“Nothing.”
I hesitate to tell them what Olm showed me. That image… What does it mean? Does it mean anything at all? Is his story entwined with the library’s, somehow? Or is it magic, too? Did he conjure up that image?
“Can he change what’s inside his book?” I whisper. “Is it possible?”
“Are you talking about this Olm character? No, that’s one thing books and their characters can’t do. They can’t change their contents, only hide them.”
Good to know. Then, is Olm hiding the book’s contents on purpose? What else is he keeping from me?
“So what’s your plan?” Ardruna asks later as I leaf through the book, on the odd chance I notice anything interesting, any clue about Olm’s story.
“Do I have a choice? You said I can’t leave this place.”
And what? You’ll stay in here, eating stinky dried meat and arguing with Roane?
I freeze. The truth is, I tried not to think ahead, my mind stalling, then screaming in panic. My life is out there. How can I accept that I’m stuck?
“What does Roane do?” I ask, buying myself time. “When he’s not wrangling magical books or fighting goblins?”
She gives me a long look. Judging. Kind of annoyed. “Why don’t I show you?” She jumps to her feet. “Come along.”
Stuffing the book into my bodice, I rush after her. “Where are we going?”
“To the tower.”
“I hadn’t noticed any tower.”
“It’s more of a balcony.”
Intrigued, I follow her up a circular staircase. As we go further and further up, I hold onto the wall, my breaths coming short. I try to breathe in deeply and a stabbing pain in my side startles me, turning the breath into a gasp.
“Are you all right?” Ardruna doesn’t stop. “That cut in your side isn’t serious, but the bruise was nasty. You probably busted a rib or two.”
“I’m fine.”
I repeat that to myself—I’m fine, everything’s fine—as we climb higher and finally step outside.
A balcony, indeed, jutting out of the sheer cliff in which the library is carved. My mouth falls open and I grip the low stone balustrade with shaky hands. The view of the world below us is breathtaking, as is the vertiginous drop under our feet.
Ardruna doesn’t seem bothered by it. She props her massive forepaws on the balustrade, peering down. “Take a look at your new home.”
Gritting my teeth, struggling to steady my breathing, I do as she says and take in the world of Areon.
It’s a different angle from the one I had on the ledge near the entrance, and it’s facing another direction.
I see hills, meadows and swamps, I see a river winding its way through the plain and burrowing into the city, and in the distance I see again the mountains.
Actual mountains, jutting like claws out of the landscape, capped in white.
For the first time, I take a good look at the vertical walls of this gigantic cavern. They are riddled with openings, only these aren’t slots for books. These are caves.
“What lives in the walls?” I whisper.
“Demons.” At my startled look, she says, “That’s what I call them. All sorts of winged creatures who escaped from books.”
“You have an infestation, don’t you?”
She harrumphs. “What?”
“Roane may be a formidable warrior librarian of legend, but he has trouble sending all the monsters back into the books, even though he pretends to have everything under control.”
Ardruna drops her paws from the balustrade. “Fine. It’s true. There are simply too many monsters. Nobody can keep the situation in check, only… control the damage.”
“Are you saying the problem existed before Roane’s arrival?”
“I suppose.”
“But it doesn’t make any sense.” I tap my fingers on the balustrade. “Why send in these warrior librarians if they can’t control the books? Why not just… drop the books inside and let this world take its own course?”
She watches me but I can’t read those flat, blue lion eyes.
“So where is Roane?” I ask after a long, awkward moment, still thinking. “You said you were going to show me.”
Maybe having a librarian is simply a tradition. Or maybe without one, this world will break apart and burst open into ours, a thought that makes me feel cold.
Or maybe… maybe Ardruna pretends to know more than she actually does.
“Let’s see if we can locate him.” She finally looks away and I heave a small sigh of relief as her attention shifts away from me. “He often hunts by the river where the hairy beasts go to drink.”
“Hairy beasts?”
“I believe Roane calls them “hairy bastards,” but I’m not sure that’s their official denomination.
” She laughs. “They look like oversized donkeys but have yellow spots on their hides and long manes. That’s the best meat you can get in this world, although hunting it is dangerous. The beasts are unpredictable.”
“So that’s the meat you gave me? Not wildcat?”
“That was wildcat. You can’t get too picky here. I think…” She growls. “I think he’s hunting lunch for you. He’s a terrible host, but he’s trying his best. He seems worried about how weak you are.”
I don’t know what to make of that. My mouth flaps but no sound emerges. I clear my throat and try again. “Am I in the way of his plans?”
“Well, he has enough on his plate without worrying about you fainting again.”
I bristle. “That’s hardly my fault.”
“Indeed. There, look. By the river Achlys. Can you see him?”
I squint in the diffuse light that seems to emanate from the hole-riddled walls and roof of the massive cavern we’re in, gazing down at the glittering river meandering through the city and the meadows. “Where?”
“You should see the glint of his knives and scimitars soon enough.” She puts her paws on the rail again.
“Look down. From here you can see the small plains, the hills, the deserted city, the fields and gorges. There are areas connected to major books that have opened in the past, maybe still leaking magic and monsters, and occasionally, we also get new breaches.”
“Breaches. So that’s how more monsters escape? Is that what Roane meant?”
She nods and offers no other comment.
This world doesn’t quite make sense, and I don’t have all the information I need to figure it out. I think of the book hidden in Roane’s nest. The journal. I wonder what he’s writing in it. What’s lurking in his heart.
Where is he? I study the slope of the city underneath us, the ribbon of the river crossing it, the crumbling bridges, the overgrown hedges taking over entire quarters. The meadows and groves beyond, the hills and the mist-wreathed mountains.
Up in the sky, against the cave’s faintly glowing roof, winged shapes fly. Not dragons. It’s strange not to see dragons above, although it’s hard to be sure of the creatures’ nature, too high up to make out more than the long wings and tails. Were they griffins?
I open my mouth to ask what they are, when a glint down by the river catches my eye.
“There!” I point down. “Is that Roane?”
“Well spotted,” Ardruna says. “Look at the herd. Can you see it?”
A dark mass jostles and writhes on the riverbank, and when I squint, I make out ox-like bodies and domed heads, steam rising from them in white clouds.
“You said those beasts are dangerous?” I ask.
“Indeed.”
“He shouldn’t put himself in danger for my sake. I’ll be fine soon. Nothing some rest and food can’t fix.”
“Even if it’s wildcat jerky?”
I make a face and laugh. “I suppose I’ll get used to it. Naida is a great cook. She spoiled me.”
I miss her, the scent of oil she used on my hair after washing it, her cooking, her tales. I miss Brogan, carving me animals out of wood, offering them with a quiet smile, asking how my day was.
And Eiras, laughing as he tickles me. Sitting on my pallet and telling me stories of his wanderings. Teasing me about my mark and my unladylike manners.
Gods. My lungs won’t get enough air. I need to get out of here. Staying here was never the plan.
“Let’s head back down,” I choke out. “Shouldn’t we help him?”
“Roane? He told me to stay put and watch over you.”
“Then why don’t you go make sure he’s okay? I’ll be fine.”
“Great.” Ardruna growls. “So now I’m supposed to babysit both of you?”
“I said I’ll be fine,” I grind out. “I’ll play with my dolls and suck on my thumb until you get back.”
“Oh…” She barks a laugh. “You and Roane do have something in common after all.”
“And what might that be?”
“A nasty sense of humor—”
“It’s called sarcasm,” I say.
“—and thinking you know it all.”
“I don’t—” A huge shadow falls over us, and I stumble backward, lifting my arms to protect my face. “Hells!”
An impression of enormous feathered wings, white and black, an enormous beak, claws—
“Griffin!” Ardruna yells. “It’s a griffin!”
And I’m airborne, those wicked claws wrapping around my middle, digging into my back. My scream is snatched by the wind as the griffin carries me off the balcony and up, toward the ceiling of the cave.