Chapter 12

“He’s our good luck charm today, boss,” Ebba said. Danel blushed. He would not look at either one of them; instead, he gaped at the revealed room.

“I think the god is with him and that worries me,” Sunder said. “These puzzles worry me. Someone wanted this collection to stay hidden from most others. Why?”

“There is only one way to find that answer, boss” Ebba said loudly for everyone to hear. After she tested the floor stones, everyone piled into the room, taking their time to look at every nook and cranny without touching anything.

The room was octagonal with a high ceiling, at least double the height of the passage leading to it. In the middle of the room was a white marble statue of a naked woman whose flowing hair draped over her shoulders and down her back. She was sitting on a tree stump with flowers at her feet. Her breasts were unfettered, and a lazy piece of fabric was cast over her lap to hide her modesty. Her face was kindness and concern as her right arm reached out as if ready to caress a child or a lover. She was stunning and as such, her presence dominated the room, making the contents diminished in her light.

Each of the seven walls held one bookcase with six shelves made of a gray, unpolished stone. Some of the shelves had books, many of them large and thick. Other shelves had scrolls, and some had ceramic baskets, mimicking wicker in their designs. Inside were leaves of paper filled with words, drawings, and scribbles. The back bookshelf was the one everyone gathered around. The same iron bars that had blocked the entrance blocked access to the two shelves they could see.

“This must be the one we want,” Danel said, putting into words what was obvious to everyone.

They pushed and prodded every stone. They tapped the floor. They checked the other shelves for hidden levers or any such device. Danel gave up quickly, believing that they were facing another puzzle with a different solution. He went and stood in front of the statue and stared into the woman’s eyes. Her expression made him feel almost whole, but she was not looking directly at his face, but at his stomach. He found it strange that the sculptor created such a beauty and got the angle from high to low wrong. He walked around the statue, examining the back, which was just as detailed. Then he saw the gap where the bottom of the statue did not quite touch the ground.

“Sunder,” he called out, pointing to the ground. Everyone ran over to look at where he was pointing. “See the gap at the bottom. I think the statue moves backwards.”

Rahim and Tsum ran to the front of the statue without waiting for orders. They both gave the base a once over before they leaned into it and pushed. At first the statue did not budge. Then Rahim shifted lower, almost to the floor and then tried again. The statue moved, up and backwards.”

“It’s on a wheel,” Sunder called out. “Push like you are trying roll a boulder.”

The statue moved four hands-breadth when it stopped. “The bookcase is open,” Danel called out.

“The door is down again,” Malchus said. “Are we locked in?”

Sunder walked over the bookshelf, but he touched nothing. He strode past the statue and examined the door with the bars down. “We have a toggle switch, I believe,” he said. “When we move the statue back, the shelves will close, and the door will open. Very sophisticated and yet again, I must ask why? Librarian?”

On the first shelf was one tome, massive with a fabric cover permeated with mastic over a stiff material. There was a metal clasp to keep the book closed. When Danel lifted the text with an audible grunt from its heft, the shelf popped up slightly. “What have we here?” he panted.

He brought the book to the floor and with help, laid it down. Sunder cautioned him before he could undo the clasp. Ebba took a knife from her boot and slid it under the arm. Slowly she raised it until it cleared the bar holding it in place. The arm fell to the side with a simple flick of her wrist.

Danel opened the cover to the first page, and everyone gasped. The frontispiece was a sketch of the front façade of the Library of Ibados. The picture was drawn with powdered lead, not an ink or paint as Danel would have expected for an important text. Powdered lead was a poor printing substance, subject to smears from simple things like sweat and easily erased with certain prepared tree gums. Grand books were meant for ink on the pages.

He turned the page and grunted. Both pages were filled with script and not one line was straight. The writer had not used a guiding rod or drawn lines by pressing the edge of sharply cut wood into the page. Danel recognized what the alphabet was, but it was not one of the languages he could read. This was a Phit box alphabet. The letters were wavy, but each could fit inside the same box with every letter touching at least three sides of the box. In the bottom right corner of the right page was a crude drawing of a rabbet joint.

“This looks like my work journal,” Sunder said, holding up his little book.

Danel turned the page. The writing continued but in the middle of the page were two drawings, one of a blunt chisel and the other a feathering chisel. There were words beside each of the drawings. There were cuneiform numbers under the words.

“I think he needed more chisels, both kinds,” Danel said. “These are words, and these are numbers. I think Sunder’s observation is valid. This may be the site supervisor’s journal for the building of the façade.”

“Which makes this book one of the oldest if not the oldest one in the Library of Ibados,” Sunder said.

Danel turned the page and saw more of the same writing and different little drawings. “If we could read it, we would learn all about the building of the façade, which we can still see today with our eyes. We need the bottom layers below the façade though. With the drawing at the front telling us what the subject of the text is, I think this book is too late in the building of the Library of Ibados to help us.” He flipped through more pages, hoping to find more clues. He stopped and pulled out his pen and journal. He wrote down a random paragraph, carefully copying the letters. Somewhere in the library, was a key to the alphabet to translate it. As with everything else in the library, it was a matter of where.

Danel sat up and asked. “What is on the top shelf?”

Rahim reached up and carefully removed the two objects. He held them up for everyone to see. Malchus came forward and gently fingered each object. “I know these for what they are. They are exquisite examples of a plumb line and a measuring rod. These are the two measuring tools they used to build accurately. A cut stone was one rod, two rods, five rods long,” he said, pointing to the metal pole. “This is the vertical, how they kept the walls straight and upright,” he said, tapping the plumb with his fingernail. “Imagine, they measured to build this entire edifice with these two simple architect tools. The thought boggles the mind.”

“What’s on the other shelves,” Ebba asked, glancing around the room.

“This is the only book that matters according to the makers of this collection,” Sunder said. “We can come back here for the lesser works now that we know how to enter. Let’s take this text and bring it to the Head Librarian. Rahim, Tsum: move the statue forward and open the door.”

The two men bent down and pushed the statue for all they worth. She did not budge. “Not moving, boss,” Tsum declared.

Danel closed the tome. Standing up to stretch the muscles in his back and to rub his knees, he took another look around the room. While the others fussed with the statue, he wandered over to the other shelves. He pulled out several leaves of paper from one ceramic box. The same alphabet was used to write, but the entire page was a table with eight columns. Words were in the left hand column and numbers were scribbled, some erased, in the other columns. He took two leaves and put them in his journal. He found more of the same notes and notations in the other baskets.