Terror Twenty-Seven - Dorks

Felix and I walk along a wide street, where a few overhanging lamp posts mark off a section where pedestrians can move without having to worry about being run over by a passing cart.

There’s more than enough traffic here to make that a concern. Montele is a busy place. More so than I’d imagined, even if it’s the capital. It’s noisy, with people talking, music playing from a few street performers, and the barks of dogs in the distance punctuating the surprisingly festive feel of the city.

“I’m not sure if I like it here,” Felix says. She raises her voice over the clattering of wagon wheels on cobbles to be heard.

“Why not?” I ask.

“The wind moves weirdly,” she says, with a vague gesture at the air around her for emphasis. I can’t feel what she can, but I imagine the taller buildings and the lack of a persistent breeze from any nearby lakes might throw her off.

“We shouldn’t be here too long,” I say. “I think I’ll need to sneak out of the city soon, if only to see if Mom has tried to contact me again.”

Felix nods along. “Okay,” she agrees.

Semper’s library isn’t difficult to find. The homeless man’s directions are pretty accurate. The building is tall and squat, made entirely of local stone, with two stairwells on either end meeting by the middle, and a large statue at the front and centre. A woman, tall and wearing a complex skirt with a half-cape over her shoulders, half her face concealed by a veil.

I think Semper is one of the very few gods Mom gets along with. More or less. She’s never said they’re friends, but Mom visited her for tea once or twice, so I imagine that’s a good sign. She’s a goddess whose domain is very close to Mom’s, but not so close Mom thinks of her as a rival, which is great.

She also likes to brag to Mom about having a bigger library. I can see why she gets away with that if this is one of her library-temples.

Felix and I cross the road—after looking both ways! I haven’t forgotten basic safety!--and move closer to the library. I don’t notice the trouble until I’m near the steps.

There are guards by the library doors. Three for each door, though one of those three isn’t in the same garb as the city guard. Long brown robes, with armoured plates over them, and longswords by their hips—those are Semper’s Combat Archivists.

“Don’t bother,” someone says.

I blink, then look over to the side where a girl is sitting on the bottom-most step leading up to the library. “Don’t bother what?”

She looks up to me, sunlight reflecting off of her glasses before I see her eyes looking for mine under my hood. “The library is closed.”

“Is that normal?”

She shakes her head. “No. It’s never closed. Not even on most holidays.”

I look back up to the library. “Well, it’s closed now,” I say.

The girl jumps to her feet. I thought she was about my age, but I’m not so sure now. She’s half a head shorter than me, and I’m not tall. She stomps a foot, and I expect anger to radiate off of her, but there’s nothing. “I know! They won’t even let me in. And I’m a junior librarian!”

“That’s awful,” I say. She nods her agreement, then flushes.

“Oh, uh, sorry. I was supposed to be brooding in anger, but I forgot.”

“Does that happen a lot?” Felix asks.

“The library?” she asks.

Felix shakes her head. “You forgetting to brood or whatever.”

The girl sighs. “Yeah. I want to be a Contempt mage, like Semper, and like my parents, but I keep getting distracted. I can do a few tricks with sparks though!”

I nod slowly. Spark magic is pretty far off from the combined magic Semper uses.

“So, there’s no way into the library?” I ask.

The girl shakes her head. “Nope. The guards won’t let anyone in. It’s not fair.”

“Is this because of their disgusting book banning thing?” I ask.

The girl nods. “That’s it! They’ve been going on and on about it, and today they decided to shut down the library for an inspection. Semper’s Grand Librarian himself showed up and told Héroe’s people to skedaddle or else. So now they’ve stationed guards at the door. It’s stupid!”

I nod. “It is.” I hate it when Mom grounds me by not letting me use the library. Not often, because I usually do what Mom tells me, and it never lasts long—Mom’s a softie—but it’s super annoying when it happens. “You were trying to get in before?”

“I told them I worked there. Imagine, a whole workday with no one to bother me. I could have done so much reading.”

“Don’t you have books at home?”

She blinks. “Well, yeah, but those are my books. I could read them whenever.”

Perfectly understandable.

“We were planning on learning a few things while we were at the library. Maybe you can help, though,” I say.

“Oh?” the girl asks.

I nod. “My name’s Valeria, this is my friend, Felix, and we’re having book trouble too.”

“Because of Héroe’s church?” the girl asks. “Oh! I forgot to tell you my name back. I’m Esme! Feel free to inspect me anytime!”

That’s kind of her. Some people find it impolite to inspect others, not that the vast majority of people can tell they’re being observed that way.

[Esmeralda Fidelis – The Shocking Reader]

Novice Librarian

Novice Spark of Surprise

Two classes. Not hard to get, but I wasn’t expecting it on someone my age, not around here. “Thanks,” I say. “And yeah, because of the Church of the Hero. You... don’t happen to know much about them, do you?”

“I know a bit,” she says, then her cheeks puff out and her brows draw together. “I wish I knew more. No-good, bothersome busybodies, banning books! What’s next, banning air? Making the act of drinking water illegal?”

I nod. They are jerks. I’m surprised by how nice the people here are. Or at least the current sample size of people (currently one) I’ve met in Montele. “Say, I don’t think talking out here is for the best. Do you know a place where we could sit down and chat? Maybe somewhere with food?”

Esme perks up at that, and I see Felix standing a bit taller. “Like a café? Oh, so many books I’ve read have scenes set in cafés. But I don’t spend much time in them. They’re a bit pricey, and they always insist that I leave.”

“I’m sure I can cover some of the cost,” I say. “Also, we’re both new in the city—do you know any good inns?”

“I know the best one,” is her immediate reply. “I can show you after.”

With Esme at the lead, we start another trek across Montele. Well, not so much across it as across a tiny portion of the city. Pedro was right when he said it was a big city. The place just goes on and on. Sometimes, between two buildings, I can catch sight of the rooftops of hundreds of homes stretching out in waves over the hilly landscape. It helps that the parts of the city nearest the mountains are elevated from the rest.

“This is a nice one,” Esme says as she points across the road.

There’s a cute little café, with a balcony encroaching on the sidewalk and an awning above, protecting the seats from the sun.

We move over and occupy one of the free tables. I notice a serving woman within spotting us, but she doesn’t come out right away.

“So,” Esme asks. “What kind of book trouble do you have with the church? Did they confiscate some of your collection? They’re really terrible about that, but so far they’ve been sticking to the poorer parts of Montele with their surprise book inspections. At least until today.”

“Something like that,” I say. “You wouldn’t happen to know where all of the books they take are being stored?”

Esme nods. “Yeah, of course. The Heroes’ Academia. The priests there are the ones looking over all the books to check them.” She glares at nothing in particular. “Bunch of old guys who can’t even read a book a day. It’s going to take ages for them to get anywhere.”

“Well, maybe we can help them along,” I say.

I’m going to take a risk. A small one, but I think it might pay off.

“The church stole some books from my... family. So I was thinking, why don’t we just steal them back.”

Esme jumps in her seat, eyes going wide and electrical sparks snapping at the air around her. Then she leans forward, hair all poofed up and in disarray. “You’re going to rob the church?” she whispers.

I grin. She really is a spark mage. “Yeah, and I could use your help.”

***