A Smidge of Magic

Chapter 43

Past the Gallery of Opulence and through the randomly chosen door was a vast library. Yellow crystals hung from the ceiling at regular intervals revealing an unbroken line of bookshelves. The shelves stretched on as far as the eye could see. Each shelf housed thick tomes, books of every size, and bundles of loose parchment tied into neat stacks. There were sprawling oakalla tables littered with open books and parchments just inside the doorway.

"If I were a Chart what better place to be than an infinite library?" Ian asked, more to himself than the others.

They crossed the threshold each of them scanning the open books and scrolls on the tables. One red leather-bound tome on the nearest table called to Ian, and he found himself drifting toward it. Seductively it whispered secrets and knowledge that could be his if he only reached out and touched it. He knew he'd felt this way before, at the lake in the woods, but he couldn't remember why it had been so dangerous. After all what could be the harm in looking? His hand was mere inches away when Ban's thick fingers clamped around his wrist.

"Do not touch," Ban said as he pulled Ian back. "There are many magical tomes here, and like all magical things they seek use. If you listen to them, they will promise you the world. But at the cost of your soul. Block them out any way that you can."

Ian came out of the daze and shook his head to clear it, making a silent nod of thanks to Ban. From that point on Ian did his best to block out the pitiable sounds that echoed in his mind. It was like having a mewling, hungry tiger in his head. He started reciting police codes, Delving and Demons rules, and any other odd fact he could call from his memory. The more he recited the duller the sound became until it was as soft as the purr of a kitten and then nothing at all.

Vale left Ian and Ban at the tables and moved deeper into the library, her attention drawn to the high shelves on the left. These shelves extended out from the wall forming aisles between them. The aisles were wide, far too wide. She guessed they were twelve feet across, and it made her wonder if it was for show or necessity. There were many creatures she could think of that would be happy to guard such a wealth of knowledge, and none of them took kindly to intruders. She pulled her bow from her back and nocked an arrow as she continued down the path between the towering stacks.

Ban and Ian split up to cover either side of the many tables with their many books. Ian drifted through seemingly random books with increasing frustration. Most of them were written in languages he didn't understand, and some of them calling out to him as the red-bound book had. It made it increasingly difficult to concentrate on his search. He soon found himself at the center table where an exceptionally thick book rested, and what's more, he could read it. As he flipped through the pages he realized it was an index and he began flipping madly through the pages.

"I found an index," Ian called as quietly as he could to Ban.

"Good, find the Chart, I'll go get Vale. Don't wander off alone." The minotaur said and left to retrieve Vale.

It took Ian the better part of an hour to find what they were looking for. And every minute he expected they would be caught. He couldn't fathom how anyone could read a tenth of what was in this place in a lifetime. Titles like: How to serve Dragon and the Do's and Don'ts of Spells. His personal favorite was the title: Recall the Unknowable. At the back of the index was a map that marked off the sections of the Librus Infanaitum (as the index called it). Once he understood the layout it was easy to look for the Star Chart.

"I got it, this way." Ian took off leading his companions to a nearby aisle and then to an alcove in the back where an ornate scroll rack resided.

The rack was recessed into the alcove and held perhaps forty scrolls, a few slots were empty. Ian began rifling through them, searching for his Star Chart. The scrolls themselves varied in size. Some as long as Ian could stretch his arms, others were less than a foot. All of them custom fitted to the slot on the rack they resided in. Each scroll had a braided blue string hanging from the bottom, creating a pull-tab. On his seventh try, he found it.

Star Chart was an underwhelming term for the document. The picture on the parchment mirrored the many published images that Ian had seen taken from the Hubble Telescope. Except there was one major difference, this image was moving. The millions of stars that created the galaxy Ian held in his hand made subtle shifts, he caught the flash as a star went supernova, then the document zoomed in of its own accord. Galaxies popped up, solar systems flashed by, individual planets flipped past, and then it zoomed back out, coming to rest on a nebula the color of the ocean depths. And at long last, he beheld the spiral galaxy of the Milky Way.

"Ha, here it is!" Ian said in triumph. He pulled the Chart from the rack and clenched it tightly in his fist. He got down from the scroll rack and when his foot touched the floor, the lights snuffed out.

"Aw frak." Ban spat.