Chapter 37

An oppressive invisible cloak he did not know he was carrying dropped from Danel’s shoulders when he stepped into the linen cupboard where he had begun. The threat of the geas was over and the task was accomplished. As was normal, the hallway was empty. Without waiting for the other three, he strode over to the corridor, peeking around the corner. Nothing.

“Where to?” Danel asked Frage once she joined him.

“Someone should have been keeping an eye on this corridor,” she said. “We will shift to Plan B. We shall make our way to the Order of Skirghe, who worships Erta’s sister, the goddess of the home. They have already agreed to act as my couriers with our classmates. From them we will get an update on the state of the Library of Ibados.”

“I don’t know the goddess of the house by that name,” Danel said. Aiya shook her head, silently confirming that she knew the goddess but not the name. “Where is their main temple located?”

“North of my home country, in area of the Frigid Sea,” Frage answered softly. “Skirghe gave humans the sauna before she was tricked by the wolf god and fell into the long sleep every winter.”

“Ah, the goddess of the bears and hibernation,” Aiya said. “We should be moving. You Librarians get a new topic, and you stop to discuss. You have unhealthy habits that could get you killed. Which way?”

“The staircases have shifted,” Frage said.

“I don’t think that is a problem for us,” Danel said. “Between the blessings and my gem, I think we can navigate wherever we need to go. Floor, corridor, and hall, please.”

“Second, second, eighty-fifth,” she said. “Ice blue flag with a black swirl.”

Danel surprised his friends by turning left. When he came to the first staircase on the left, he stepped onto the landing and placed his hand on the rail cap. “I can get us to the ninetieth hallway if we climb down the stairs. Everyone, come onto the landing.” When everyone stepped in, he released his hand and led them downward.

“We’re on the Second Floor,” Aiya asked more than spoke.

“No,” Frage and Edel answered simultaneously. “Third Floor at the ninetieth hallway,” Frage concluded. “Eighty corridors north of where we were a moment ago and still on the same floor; I don’t want to know. Where to now?”

Danel sought both corridors in his memory. “We can take this hallway to the First Corridor and either direction should have a staircase that leads downward.” They turned right and took off eastward to the First Corridor. Carefully, they peaked around the corner. The corridor was empty as well. Since the apartments were to the right, they went left.

“This stairway skips the Second Floor,” Danel declared, “we’ve got to retrace our steps.”

Edel stuck his head out and immediately pulled it back in. “I don’t know who, but they had a blue cord. I couldn’t see their face with their back turned to me. They were crossing the corridor to another hallway.”

“Do we really need to sneak?” Danel asked. He received dirty looks in return as he sought out their faces. When he saw the corridor was clear, he led them down to the next stairwell, which happened to be the eighty-fifth hallway. He touched the rail cap to confirm what he already sensed before he led them down to the Second Floor.

Frage took the lead and brought them quickly to the doorway with the ice blue banner hung over the entrance. She pushed them in, and with a final scan of the hallway both ways, she stepped inside, pushing the door shut behind her. The young acolyte stared at them wide eyes, but Frage ignored her, ushering her people down a hallway, and then into a second one, which ended in a small sanctuary with a statue of a woman wrapped in a diaphanous gown with stars sown into the fabric.

A matronly woman with hips and breasts walked into the room with two acolytes in tow. “Librarians, welcome,” she announced with a gracious bow. She looked up and gave Danel a puzzled look. “Do I know you?”

“Mother Svetsa, may I introduce Librarian Danel, servant of the jade god Yudi, and his betrothed, the Princess Aiya.

“I heard of her arrival but of the Librarian Danel, I had heard rumors that he was lost down in the basements and feared perished,” the priestess said.”

“Only rumor, praise the gods,” Danel responded with a slight bow. “I am alive and well enough to tell the tale. Can you tell us what has passed in the last week?”

“Slowly, some people return to the Library of Ibados after the Day of Collapse,” Mother Svetsa said. “One or two Librarians have appeared in the Grand Hall, but all the rest have not been seen. The cooking fires in the great kitchen have been restored and certain deliveries have restarted. I must sadly report most of the library collections remain closed. The only two guaranteed functioning entities are the taverns and security. We have hot water again as of two days ago.”

Danel looked at Frage as she looked at him. She nodded, “Mother Svetsa, can you get word to my two Librarian brothers and one sister?”

“Yes, we have cultivated access to the private areas on the Third Floor as you suggested. Quite easily, truth be told. Your fellow Librarians need much help but trust few.”

“None of them have access to the goddess Erta as I do,” Frage answered. “They have no guidance on whom to trust but must rely on their own wits. We need to speak with Librarians Bello, Yoodma, and Gerber as soon as possible.”

“We can meet in the Explorers Cadre office,” Danel suggested. “The location is one hallway north of the private domain.”

“What is the kitchen offering today?” Edel asked, and everyone groaned. Frage reminded him to stay on task, and he appeared slightly abashed. Mother Svetsa pretended that she did not hear anything, turning to her aides and giving them marching orders.

When they were alone, Edel turned to his fellows, “Sorry, I’m hungry and she mentioned the kitchen. In any case, we need a detailed plan quickly. I’ve a feeling that fumbling through the next day will be a missed opportunity.”

Danel put his hands together. “I agree. However, I think we need solutions before we can put together a plan. Head is ineffective to the point of uselessness and Second is the enforcer of the status quo. More to the point, neither of them understands how the Library of Ibados functions from its foundations.”

“What do you propose?” Frage prompted.

“I propose that a Librarian cannot be Head or Second unless they have traveled to the foundation of the Library of Ibados, starting today.”

“You mean to say that Head cannot be Head anymore,” Edel said. “Only you qualify.”

“You two almost qualify,” Danel pointed out. “What I am trying to provoke is forcing our elders to travel down to the Talurie. There is a fundamental disconnect and one cannot lead upstairs effectively without the connection and knowledge of downstairs.”

“You have one solution, but surely this one is not enough,” Aiya said. “You are suggesting changing the quality if not the nature of your leadership. Does that address the other problems you face?”

“No,” Edel said, more strongly than he expected, as Danel saw the surprise across the man’s face. “Too many collections, too many disconnected archives, disparate art collections, museum rooms full of stuff from musical instruments to weapons, even farm implements and, and cooking gadgets. There’s too much crap and no easy-to-follow structure to store it. We have become the world’s storage barn.”

“Well put,” Frage added. “We lost the archive for mortuary science until Danel stumbled into it. What have the undertakers here been doing with our dead? I’m afraid to demand answers.”

“You need the goatman,” Aiya said. “He remembers everything and forgets nothing, at least within the boundaries the god built into him.”

“Almost. Like the goatman, we need an artifact to act as our organizing anchor,” Danel said. “The gods were the masters over the builders of this place, but after the mad god was sealed away, they have distanced themselves. Master Ibados imposed an enduring order upon the foundation, yet the same enduring order is lacking upstairs. Having an artifact would solve the issues that Edel articulates.”