“You are aware of your duties, yes, Lady Stonemender?” The library director looked down at Dara, frowning.

“Yes, Savant Tomas,” Dara said, leaning on her staff. “I’m aware of the need to protect the library during the lunar eclipse.”

“Your teachers speak very highly of you, but this will be your first actual solo job,” the director frowned. “An eclipse is a dangerous time when malevolent spirits seek entrance into our world. More commonly, it’s a time when various thugs seek to take advantage of the dark to commit crimes. You’re more likely to deal with vandals than you are a spirit of murder, but…” he glanced around the building. “There are things here that might attract both mortal and immortal threats. I wish that you were not here alone, but the tradition is that one guardian remains during the night of a lunar eclipse.”

“I understand, sir,” Dara said. Because Morrow went into the underworld alone to bring the Moon’s Princess out of bondage and set her up over the world again. The Sun’s Champion and the love he could never touch was an old, old story that Dara had listened to at her mother’s knee. As he’d gone alone, so was anything that needed to be done during a lunar eclipse done with only one person. Any more, and you’d insult the gods.

Dara didn’t know if she believed it. She didn’t know if anyone really believed it. If there was a fire during an eclipse, nobody would say only one firefighter needed to show up. On the other hand, places like Eventide College practically ran on tradition, so half the faculty would probably explode if they didn’t follow the old ways.

Or it’s just a setup for a practical joke on the new girl. Dara’s first year at the college had been full of those, ranging from being sent out to get a left-handed potion to having her bed animated to walk her out into the quad. Mages, it was said, had a weird sense of humor.

Or they were just jerks.

“I will keep the library safe.”

“See that you do.” With that, Tomas turned and swept out of the great chamber, sealing the doors behind him. Dara felt the power of the wards rise around her, protecting the library from any unwanted intruders.

Well, most unwanted intruders. If anyone managed to bypass the wards, they’d have to deal with her.

With that, Dara sat down and started her watch. Anyone who wanted to get through the library would have to get through her!

***

“Gods, this is so boring!” Dara moaned as she lay back on top of the reading table, her cloak forming a makeshift pillow. Yes, the librarian would murder her.

“But she’s not here,” Dara said to the empty air. She conjured a little glowing orb and threw it into the air, catching it as it came down.

Throw.

Catch.

Throw.

Catch.

Throw.

Catch.

I bet everyone is eating. Because you couldn’t work, the lunar eclipse was a time when people ate. Food they’d made that day, preparing it for the night. So nobody was working and the rule about not working together didn’t apply to partying and eating.

Responsible, my ass. I bet everyone is laughing at me while they eat the steak, wait for the soup, and take out the chilled lemon…

Her stomach growled.

No! Bad thoughts. Don’t think about all the tasty food! She looked up through the crystal dome that covered the central reading room of the library. Above, the moon was entering its full eclipse, nearly half of the orb disappearing into darkness. And after that, eight more hours.

Eight more miserable hours.

Throw.

Catch.

Throw.

Catch.

Throw—the orb vanished as Dara felt a shiver in the air. Something had come through the wards.

She blinked and sat up. Something had come through the wards?

“But the doors…” Dara looked around. The front doors were closed and for that matter, they were all warded, so she’d have felt the alarm if someone had come through them. Or, if they were good enough to bypass the door wards, she wouldn’t have felt anything.

Dara licked her lips and held out her hand.

But if I send a messenger and it’s nothing at all… No, she would check out what it was first. Dara hopped off of the table and started walking towards the back of the library. The front was full of textbooks and modern writings, including the fiction stacks. Nothing there was worth breaking into the library for, since you could get it any time you wanted.

So in the back. I hope this isn’t a practical joke. Because if it was, Dara was going to force someone to eat her staff. Unless the faculty was in on the joke. With that, she fastened her cloak around her neck and left the table.

Walking into the back, the light from the stars shining through the dome swiftly faded. There were only a few mage fires burning, the heatless fire twisting up and sending flicking shadows across the tall shelves full of books. But none of those books were worth stealing, so Dara pressed on, her every sense straining to see anything else. But the wards had calmed down, and there were no other sounds.

Maybe I misread it? Dara wondered if she’d imagined the shift in the wards but then shook her head. It had been there, and the disturbance had been severe enough that even a novice could feel it. One sweep through the exhibits and then I’ll head back. The secure chambers were places Dara couldn’t go, and if anything was in here that could open those doors, she’d be best off running as fast as she could and screaming for help.

But when she poked her head around the corner, looking back to the secure rooms, their doors were all shut, the gleaming sigils showing that their wards were still intact. None of the guardian statues had animated either.

Okay, not the secure rooms. Maybe some of the restricted books? But that didn’t make much sense. Sure, they were restricted, but that was due to the danger of letting someone who didn’t know what they were doing access those magical tomes. But if someone really did want to get their face eaten by a pissed-off spirit, they could buy them from the market. The tomes weren’t illegal, just dangerous.

And breaking into the college library was illegal.

So a prank?

Dara paused as the sound of… chipping echoed through the building.

Someone was chipping something? Dara moved quickly. If someone was damaging the library on her watch, she’d turn over their twitching body to the Dean. The sound was coming from the sculpture gallery.

Better hurry. Dara moved as quietly as she could, her cloak flowing out behind her. As she got closer to the gallery, the sounds grew louder. Finally, Dara paused at the edge of the portal that led to the library gallery. Then she bit her lip and peeked around the corner.

The gallery was full of artwork, mostly from students. There was the animated statue of the bodybuilder, which would flex for anyone who asked. A sculpture of flowing water morphed from mermaid to ice maiden, and then to a pillar of water, before repeating the cycle, each iteration a little different from the one before.

It was set far away from the fire sculptures. The spells didn’t get along very well.

But that wasn’t where the chipping was coming from. It was coming from the far end, where some of the statues that had been taken from the temple just outside of town had been placed on exhibit while the temple itself was refurbished.

There was a figure, cloaked and hooded, who had opened a gap in the chest of the King Zeras, shards of stone littering the floor around him.

Why is he? It wasn’t even blasphemy. Nobody had worshipped Zeras’ pantheon for centuries. The temple was a tourist attraction and why—

Dara shook her head and stood out from the side of the wall, holding her staff in front of her. “Intruder! Surrender and prepare to be taken to the college proctors!”

The figure paused, then turned and Dara saw that he was holding…

A gem? A gem that had been taken from where it had been buried in the statue’s chest?

“I think not,” he said. And then things got very busy indeed.

***

Even as he was speaking, the thief pulled out a rod, and thrust it out at Dara, speaking a single, sharp word.

Dara was picked up and flung back, striking one of the shelves with bone-jarring force. A book landed on her head, and she saw stars for a moment, before she shook her head and tossed the book (A History of Canal Building During the Third Dynasty), to the side. She gestured and her staff flared with energy as she got up, preparing to—

To see her quarry run down another aisle.

“Oh no you don’t!” Dara shouted. She skidded around the corner and charged after him, but he was taller than she was, and was outpacing her. Dara gripped her staff and cast the first spell that came to mind, the working speeding her legs and blurring the books on the shelves as she ran past them.

And I thought this was only good for making it to class on time!

“Oh my,” the man said as he paused. “However will I stop you?” He made a gesture, and Dara laughed as nothing happened… and then the ground went slick under her feet and she fell and was skidding over the ground. He stepped aside as she sped past him until she hit one of the study tables.

Dara groaned and staggered to her feet.

“You know, there’s a reason why few war mages use that particular spell. Easier to fly and less likely to… well, you know.” He smirked down at her. “Now, I must be off.”

“Really?” Dara asked. “Run off? You can’t leave… yet!” She gestured with her staff and golden glowing tendrils exploded from the end of her staff.

The man leaped back, a counterspell emerging from his rod. Dara’s spell paused, then exploded, the wind whipping around her as the sound of alarms started up, the wailing sound loud enough to be painful.

“Now!” Dara shouted. “Everyone is going to be coming after you, so you’d better just surrender!”

But he’s good. He’s not a student, not even an advanced student. What is…

Then he was leaping up, propelled by his magic, a bolt of energy blowing a hole in the dome.

Oh no you don’t! Dara wasn’t great at flight sorcery, but she didn’t have to be. Another spell, and another tendril lashed out, grabbing one of the support beams and pulling Dara after her quarry. As she emerged from the library, Dara looked down and saw people starting to emerge from the dorms and other buildings where the feasting had been going on, staring at the library in shock as the howls of the alarm echoed over the campus.

Dara didn’t care. She was going to chase down the person who had ruined her first day to be trusted with the library, and she was going to present his beaten body and the gem he’d stolen to the Dean, so that everyone knew that this wasn’t her fault!