Chapter 14: The Sunken Library

A fear, primal and gripping, washed over those below, for walls and castles, keeps and forts meant little to a creation that could squash them in a single step. There was nowhere to hide.

Briddy often found that books were the best balm to lighten a blackened mood. After a particularly disastrous Relic Mastery class and a Bestiary Study that she barely remembered, she skipped dinner and instead wandered her way across the Palanquin campus. Her feet brought her to another large dome on the north-eastern slice of the wheel, its curved shape sunken mostly into the ground and made of a murky blue glass that was edged in black iron. It wasn’t that the dome sat atop a building, but rather that its shape seemed to begin beneath the ground, emerging like a beast breaking the ocean’s waves.

Wandering around, Bridget searched for the entrance, trying to put out of mind the exhausted expression that Hennigan had worn on his face while working with her. ‘At least you can produce consistency in your mediocrity, Vasily,’ He had said. Thurston and Abaget had only taken a few weeks to be allowed to practice with the rest of their cell, but Briddy remained alone, the one student in the first-year class that was unable to worm her way through the wall that prevented the summoning of her relic.

Leaning forward, her long horsetail of hair slipping over her shoulder to cling to the sweat-slicked skin of her face, she examined the loops of iron that formed a scalloping pattern around the edge of the dome where the ground met the glass. There, she spotted a spiral of iron that curved inwards rather than out, and pressed the backward piece with one hand. A small hiss sounded, like the lid being taken off a pot left to boil too long, and a round line appeared in what before had been seamless glass, tracing a circular path within the iron scallops before popping outward, handle and all. Seizing the piece of reversed metal that she had just pressed, Bridget took a step into the darkened interior, letting the round door close behind her.

The doorway led to a wide sloping staircase that descended sharply down into the ground, either side lined with a pair of open chutes large enough to fit an adult. They reminded her of the slides used to amuse very young children, though the students had been firmly informed in their very first Library Study that the shafts were only to be used for book returns. Briddy still had to resist the urge to slide down them just one time before she turned to descend the stairs. At the bottom, a spot of yellow light awaited her, distant and blinkingly warm.

Crisp and earthy, the smell of paper and parchment mixed with the metallic tinge of ink reached her nose as she made her way down, the long-strapped satchel that Gail had let her borrow slapping her side. By the time she reached the bottom, cool, dry air had completely enveloped her, wicking away every droplet of sweat that the sun outside had wrung from her body. Exiting into the light, she came out of a small archway lined with rich brown wood and walked into the central building of the library.

The round room was completely lined with bookcases, from floor to far-away ceiling, each neatly divided into cubical sections, a thin bronze track laid into the dividing wood. A kaleidoscope of tomes in every size and shape imaginable filled the nooks, bound in colors both bright and faded with time. Knowledge from every corner of the reach was gathered here, though a close observation of the dates written in the oldest scrolls had revealed to Briddy that it was all from after the Titaness’ Fall.

Making her way across the wide, black tiles that lined the floor in a honeycomb pattern, Bridget glanced at the golden grate to her right, shining bars shutting off access to another staircase that curved further into the library’s depths. She remembered asking Professor Murdock what was down there, and receiving the vague answer of “Nothing that concerns greencoats, my dear.”

Grimacing, she turned toward the center of the room, where an enormous column shot up out of the polished floor, stretching its considerable mass to the top of the dome. This too was filled with bookcases carved deep into the wood, with shining tracks lining the dividers. Near the top floated a large layer of water that filled the curvature of the glass and cast wavy, shifting lines of curving light over everything below. Library Study had taught Bridget that almost all of the moisture from everything in the library was magically siphoned up into this pool, helping to preserve the longevity of the library’s contents.

It was over a hundred paces around, this central pillar, and seated neatly in front of it was a curved desk, fastened from beautiful red bloodwood and currently staffed by the two librarians who oversaw the entire tower.

Demeter and Dimitri, as Professor Murdock had introduced them in the first class, were middle-aged twins with dreamy dispositions. Demeter kept her brown hair cut short, the back sticking up in all manner of directions, while her brother kept his long, fastened up in a messy bun atop his head. Both of them wore round spectacles and faraway expressions, their noses almost always buried in one book or another. Briddy hadn’t had much reason to interact with them thus far, most of her time spent in the library being heavily monitored by her Library Study teacher, who had apparently ‘looked away from her brother for one moment and next thing I know, he’s turned half the floor into a swamp.”

Approaching the desk, Bridget pulled out the copy of The Theory of Swords that she had borrowed previously, hesitantly putting it on top of the wood and waiting for either of the twins to notice that she was standing there. Between Tuck’s assistance and Gemma’s cold rejection of her help earlier in the week, a small bloom of curiosity about healing magic had opened up in her chest, and more knowledge was required to help it flourish. At home, she had read a few books that Nolan called ‘absolutely necessary, even if it’s just for bruises’ that instructed on different forms of medical spells, but most of Badger’s Vitalic Cycle had focused on the theory, not the application, behind the magic.

A small thud alerted her that one of the twins had closed their book, and Briddy looked up to find both of them studying her, an odd expression perfectly mirrored across both of their narrow faces.

“Hello,” Demeter said.

“Or rather, hello again.” Dimitri corrected.

“Are you lost?” They both asked, voices blending in an unsettling harmony.

Bridget blinked a few times. What were they talking about? “I don’t think so?” She said, her voice rising at the end, making the statement sound more like a question.

“You look lost,” Demeter remarked, slowly adjusting the spectacles that had slid down her nose.

“I meant to come here, I just need help with some directions and an activation spell for the tile trolley.” First-years were not allowed to operate the traversal system for the shelves, although it was a simple enough incantation to direct one of the black tiles along the bronze track.

“Just because you know your current location,” Dimitri murmured, looking back down to the still-open tome in front of him.

“Doesn’t mean you understand your destination.” His twin finished, still looking at Briddy with her odd, almost vacant eyes.

Blinking again, Briddy paused. How was she supposed to respond to that? It didn’t make any sense. “Alright then.” She said slowly. “I’m looking for some medical books on healing magic, more practical than theoretical.”

In response, Dmitri pulled out a small ledger, bound in brown leather and embossed with the domes of the Palanquin’s logo on its front, frowning as he ran a finger down one of its pages. “It says here that you are a student of the Heir course, Miss Vasily.”

“Though the same information could be gleaned from her uniform,” Demeter said, speaking directly to her brother.

“Suggested perhaps, but confirmed this way.” He replied, looking up at his twin. They gazed at each other for a moment before turning back to Briddy with expectant expressions.

“I ah… thought it’d be useful.” She said, unsure of what it was that the librarians wanted.

Closing the ledger, Dmitri looked down his nose at her with a quizzical expression. “Do you think that it will make you more useful, Miss Vasily?”

The question knocked her off-balance for several reasons, Bridget’s guard flying up as she suspiciously looked between the two figures in front of her. “I don’t understand how that’s relevant.” She replied. Alarms were going off inside of her mind that she tried to muffle with a blanket of assured safety, but she still felt her body going on edge. “How did you know my name?”

“You’re not unlike your brother, you know. He spent much of his time dwelling in lore and legend.” Demeter said, a small smile on her lips.

“The same light behind the eyes.”

“The same spark for knowledge outside of your assigned purview.” Demeter finished after her sibling had finished speaking.

Briddy shuffled back and forth, shifting her weight as she tried to decide whether the twin’s comments were good or bad. She finally settled on a befuddled, “Thank you?” in what she hoped was a respectful tone.

“A curious mind is always welcome,” Dimitri said, as though the words were as true as stating that water was wet when touched.

Demeter leaned forward, the angles of her face catching some of the broken, aquatic light cast down from above. “Though please be gentler with the materials than your sister was.” The librarian said with a serious expression.

“She seemed to see books more useful as tools to be thrown or slept on than for the wonders they contained.”

“Which is a shame, considering the amount of time that she spent here.” Dimitri shook his head, the bun bobbing atop it.

“I’m sorry,” Briddy said, toying with the strap of the borrowed satchel. “I’m not like them though.”

The twins tilted their heads simultaneously, the tops pointing in towards each other as they looked at Briddy with questioning eyes.

“Really?” They asked together, sounding surprised. Bridget was taken aback by their reaction and found herself searching for an appropriate answer as they continued.

“But you are of them,” Demeter said, turning to look at her brother.

“Yet still different. Branches can stem from the same tree, and still stretch in different directions.” Dimitri looked back at his sister.

“Unique, but of the same creation.” The two spoke as one, as though some sort of judgment had been passed.

Saying nothing, Briddy looked at the librarians, her eyes bouncing between the two as she took in their words. Their manner suggested that they were trying to be helpful, but the way they were going about it was just… odd.

“They grew while they were here,” Dimitri said, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Perhaps you will find a way to do the same.”

“Even branches struggle under a Legend’s weighty fruit,” Demeter said.

Clearing her throat, Briddy acknowledged his words with a nod, glancing at the shelves that surrounded them. “So… the books then?”

“Ah.” The pair said, their eyes going slightly vacant once more, minds no doubt ruffling through an enormous catalog of the tower’s contents.

Bridget sat there as they thought, thankful for the cool, dry air of the library that made standing in one spot much more bearable than the oppressive weight of the heat outside.

“Have you read the Vitalic Cycles, Miss Vasily?” Demeter was the first to speak.

“Yes, and it’s almost all theory, where I’m trying to figure out the practical applications, what the spells actually do…”

The librarian nodded in reply, returning to thoughtful silence with her thin lips pursed in consideration. After a few moments, the duo gave a quick inclination of their heads, as though they had come to a decision and were ready to share it. Opening their mouths simultaneously, the twins spoke at the same time, their words flowing over the others.

“Mindane’s Cures-”

“The Seven who Stood amid the Fall-”

They paused, looking at each other with raised eyebrows. It was the first time Briddy had heard them speak at the same time and not say the same thing, and it seemed that the librarians were as surprised as she was.

“Why that one?” Demeter asked, her voice remarkably calm.

“It’s a more advanced tome on the subject she seeks.” Her brother replied, matching his sibling’s tone. “Why did you recommend the other? I fail to see how children’s tales of guild founders fits her request.”

“She is lost. Perhaps old paths will help carry her to her own. Legends of old still whisper the way.”

The twins nodded, in sync once more, turning back to a befuddled Briddy, who swallowed the statement of protest that had been about to be voiced.

I’m not lost. She whispered inside her heart.

Are you sure?

Bridget almost jumped into the air at the soft reply, clear as a bell within her mind, and yet completely foreign.

Vex?? She called out, but the resounding wall was there once more, muffling her cries.

A small sigh escaped her before she could stop it, and Briddy looked up at the librarians, who were watching her with intense curiosity. “Can I look at both of them?” She asked.

With a nod, Dimitri swept out from behind the desk, his bobbing bun leading the way as he followed the curve of the inner pillar.

Briddy hastened after him, mumbling a quick thanks to his sister as she followed the librarian’s long frame across the wide, polished tiles of the library floor. On the other side of the pillar was the only section of wall not taken up completely by bookcases, instead a series of hexagonal nooks were set deep into the wall, the cluster going about three-quarters of the way up to the ceiling. They reminded her of the Ashbee hive that Nolan had set on fire when they were little, the spell burning through the minor monstrosities and leaving only their oddly structured colony behind to fall to the ground.

Each of the six-sided areas held a large round table which was bordered by an angled bench that reached all of the way around the interior. The seats were covered in dark blue cushions mirrored in cloth by the long, heavy curtains strung up across each of the openings, the drapes tied back by lengths of golden cord that could be loosened for privacy. There was a small smattering of students from the upper classes spread across a couple of the higher nooks, stacks of tomes, and papers spread across their tables as they worked on whatever tasks had been assigned.

“Miss Vasily? If you would.” Dimitri’s quiet voice directed Briddy to where he stood, waiting on one of the wide tiles near the wall. She hurried to stand on it as well, waiting as the librarian murmured something under his breath. Beneath their feet, the center of the black tile glowed briefly, a soft blue light seeming to shimmer from within that seemed somehow natural alongside the fractured light that broke through the water overhead. With a small jolt, they began to ascend, the piece of floor attaching to the track in the wall with a tether of blue energy, peeling away from the ground like the skin off a ripe fruit. In its absence, another plate of polished black popped up to take its place, as though it had been held down on a loaded spring by the weight of the one on top.

As they slowly ascended, Bridget sat in silence with the librarian, the twins’ strange comments rattling around in her head and vying for her focus alongside Hennigan’s criticisms. Lazily, her fingers trailed along the spines of the various books that they passed by as the tile made its way along the bronze track laid in between the shelves. The feel of vellum and leather under her hand never seemed to get old, the embossed titles sliding across her mind without ever registering what they said.

Without pausing the tile, Dimitri’s hand shot out, grasping a thick tome and smoothly pulling it from the shelf as they continued to move, the direction seamlessly changing from vertical to horizontal once he had the book tucked under his arm. He made another selection moments later, pulling a tall, thin volume with a light green cover and adding it to the one he had already pulled out. After getting both, the shining plate under their feet began to slowly descend, coming to a halt in almost the same spot that they had started.

Handing the books over to Briddy, the librarian neatly deposited her into one of the cubicles with a show of flapping hands, turned back to the tile to murmur another soft incantation, and then made his way back to the desk on the other side of the massive column of central shelves.

Briddy perched herself atop the bench in the honeycomb-shaped cubicle, tossing the borrowed bag onto one of the cushions beside her. She tucked her feet underneath her legs, irritably pulling at her uniform when it got caught in the crease of her knee and looked down at the two books laying on the table in front of her. Frowning, she pushed the book about guilds to the side, picking up the tall tome labelled “Cures and treatments for Common Ailments” by Mindane Kuvsky. Shifting slightly, she settled in, getting lost in a world where every problem had a noted solution nearby, and neither Hennigan, her siblings, or an odd pair of librarians could touch her mind.

Time flew even after Professor Murdock and the rest of her Library Study class arrived, piling into different nooks to complete their classwork underneath the teacher’s mustached gaze. By the time she looked up, the class was already beginning to leave, the hour streaking by in a blur of illustrations and illnesses. Gathering her things, Briddy made her way up the massive staircase that led out of the library, both books tucked away into her satchel.

Outside, she meandered her way down the white stone paths of the campus, the once arid air of the desert rapidly cooling to a frigid breeze that swept down from the many domes of the nearby buildings. Her Shroud flapping, Briddy made her way to the back of Liberty house, pausing to retrieve a wrapped bundle that she had hidden behind a small cluster of sparsely leafed bushes nearby. Behind the dorm, Gail and Tuck were waiting, the sandy-haired boy slowly raising his hand into the air while the other girl stretched out her lithe form nearby.

They had been meeting like this for weeks now, waiting until after the last class of the day was finished to practice with the wooden weapons that they had smuggled out of Weapons Proficiency.

Briddy waved a greeting, launching into her own set of quick stretches after unwrapping the bundled sword she had just retrieved.

“Enkandes.” Tuck intoned, sparks of light flowing from his outstretched fingers up into a small ball over their heads. “You’re always welcome to help, Gail.”

The tall girl shrugged, “Hate using magic.” She muttered, wrapping her fists with cloth strips.

As they launched into practice, taking turns sparring with one another while either Gail or Tuck watched from the sidelines, Briddy found that she couldn’t keep her mind on practice. Her lack of focus soon landed her on her rump, a blow to the jaw from Gail’s fist leaving a streak of throbbing pain.

“You’re not paying attention,” Tuck said, offering a hand to help her up. On the finger next to his pinky, a golden band glittered, the black stone catching in the spell light. “And you’re going to end up with more bruises like that if you’re not careful.” He gave her a quick grin, the expression softening his words.

“Easy for you to say, you can just instantly wipe away all your hurts with a spell or two regardless of how smacked up you get.” Briddy retorted, wincing as she ran a finger over her jaw. “Vigni.”

The spell slowly ebbed into her skin, the warmth of its magic pushing back the throbbing at an agonizingly slow pace. Even as the swelling went down, the sting of the blow remained until Tuck stepped forward to remove it almost instantly with his own ‘Vigni’.

“You’re not half bad at it, for never receiving training in healing magic, your Vignis are just weak.” He said, matter-of-factly. “We should probably be done for the evening anyway, it’s getting too cold to move.”

Briddy hummed, letting the wordless statement fill the place of a response as she moved to wrap up her training sword.

“Have you thought about talking to Doctor Mastiwel about his healing class?”

She looked up at Tuck, considering the question. “I don’t think it would matter. I can’t choose my classes.”

“Mentor week is coming up, though,” Gail remarked, speaking for the first time after knocking Bridget on her rear. “You could ask him to recommend that you be switched.”

“Mentor Week?”

“Mmm.” Gail nodded, stuffing the strips of cloth into her pocket. “You follow around older students, see what more specialized courses look like, goof off for most of the time…did you not read the events calendar in your common area?”

Briddy pushed herself up, shaking her head. “I didn’t but… you two might be onto something.” As she brushed her pants off, something finally bloomed in her chest, and she found herself looking forward to something for the first time since she had arrived at the school.