"Books. I think." I winced, levering the sticky carcass of my arm; gummy strands snapped like old glue. "But definitely nastier."
Nox looked at me like I was giving her very vital information. Nevermind, that look is annoyance.
As I threw the carcass to the floor, a distant creek echoed out in the direction we arrived from. Something had opened up the locked front door.
Qapla's grip tightened on his axe. "Stay here. Shout if anything moves." He vanished back into the twisting stacks, torchlight dwindling to a restless ember.
I traded a glance with Nox, the pyramid of books looming like a silent audience around us. Dead pages still quivered at our feet, smelling of mold and old ink.
"Well," I whispered, cradling my violin, "so much for a quiet research trip."
The book I killed with sound still glimmered, embers of silver smoke licking up its ruined spine. With Qapla's torch gone, that dull glow was all the light we had. It was just enough to cast Nox and me in long, wavering shadows.
I circled the pyramid. Whole volumes had been punched loose and dumped in heaps. Among them lay puckered pods of hide… eggs? The leathery skins were sagging where something had clawed its way out. Most were split and empty, but one, squat and firm as a fist, still breathed a hush of warmth.
I felt a twinge in my chest as I studied the small yet unborn creature. Nox is still busy my thoughts sang as I reached hesitantly out for it, my hand hovering in brief indecision. How could something so small hold malicious intent in a world that begets only harshness? With that final thought, I slid the unbroken pod into my satchel, nestling it between spare strings and chalk. Certainly, curiosity is a virtue anyhow should we ever face the beasts again.
Across the chamber Nox's blade scratched along a shelf. "Look." I walked over.
In the silver wash I saw gouges: three talons raked deep, then again higher, like an invisible beast had shimmied up and down to watch us. Whatever hatched from the pods, it grew bigger than a book.
"Any idea what leaves tracks like that?" I whispered.
"Nothing from… where I'm from that I have met," she muttered, tail lashing.
"Where's that?"
Boots pounded back through the maze and our conversation died as we turned. Qapla strode in closely followby Velyan, still brushing parchment dust from her sleeves.
"You're done already?" I blinked.
"A quick policy review," she said. "Helena had a pretty solid rank up ladder for the guild. One that doesn't require money, just accepting quests. I made some minor revisions to pay scales and rewards and signed off. Then the general pointed me here." She flashed a wry grin. "Thought you might need backup."
"You left the door open." Qapla grumbled, as he pried the mold leather carcass of the floor, and wrapped in around the torch. The flames turned bilious green, and the stench hit us like boiled vinegar. We gagged behind sleeves looking at the quite proud orc.
"Is that really necessary," Velyan pawned the question we all held.
"What? My torch was dying?" Qapla asked.
"How did you get the door open?" Nox asked, hand over nose, tail swishing side to side like an angry cat. She really was cat like. Ridiculously cute.
"Just picked it, not anything crazy." Velyan said as she looked around. "Qapla filled me in for the most part, but did you all find anything?"
"We found some scratches on the bookshelf, like something with claws has been climbing them." I put a hand over my satchel, "The creatures were born from eggs, they were just children."
"That means their mother is around here somewhere." Qapla input, he looked at all of us. "Ready to go find it?"
We all nodded and continued through the domed area. We pressed together as the large room narrowed back down into a hallway. Qapla led the way, and I followed with the rest behind.
We filled into passages, books stacked from floor to ceiling, that kicked and folded, impossibly long for the library. Sometimes a corridor ended in blank oak. Sometimes it looped to a spot we swore we passed a few minutes prior. The library was larger than the whole block outside.
"Wait." Nox said. We all froze, tense. "Look there"
She pointed at a tower of books leaning against another, creating a ninety degree angle. A line of dull light was shining through them. The first light we had seen in the entire library.
Qapla walked forward and placed a hand on the stack. "I can brace this so you all can squeeze in."
"You sure about that." Velyan looked at the towering books, "There is a pretty big risk of all of that… coming on top of all of us."
"It's the best sign we have had so far." Qapla said as he braced his back against the tower of books. "Three, two "
We all got ready to push through. As Qapla grunted and lifted the tower out of the way, we all s. Velyan and Nox then held open the crack for Qapla to squeeze through.
"See? Easy." Qapla said with a smug smile.
Velyan rolled her eyes as we all looked for the source of light. It came from the first actual room in this creepy library.
It had an archway with no door. A hearth on the right had a glowing dull orange light that illuminated the room. Across from it a high bed, with a chest squatted at its foot.
Opposite to us on the far wall lay a massive roll top desk sprawled beneath toppled shelves, papers littering the floor. A padded chair lay overturned, one leg snapped, dark stains splattered across it. Not crimson, but a dark oily green, tracked from the desk to the archway that we were standing at.
Nox's whisper barely stirred the air. "Either that's Maxim's workroom… or the monster's nursery."
I flexed sore fingers over violin strings. "Let's hope it's the first and be ready if it's the second."
I could only use powerful magic so often before my voice would begin to falter at my limits end. I could feel the hoarseness creeping in already, but it remained manageable.
We split without a word. Nox skirted the nearest wall, blade glinting as she traced more of those three talon gouges. I crossed the far side, brushing past papers scattered on the floor, then dropped to my knees and to peer under the bed. No eggs.
Velyan rifled through the desk, murmuring. "Handwritten notes, ink's fairly fresh. 'adaptive binding… predatory indexing…' what in Balu's foul -"
A wet slam cut her off.
The sea chest at the bed's foot had split down the grain, lid yawning into a mouth ringed by iron fangs. It lunged, swallowing Qapla from helm to belt. The torch vanished with him; firelight leaked between jagged boards, flicking like hellfire in a coffin.
"Qapla-!" The warning died in my throat as Velyan's heavy crossbow cracked. Bolt punched through false wood, dark ichor hissed. Nox darted in, stabbing; her sword skidded off stubborn oak with a shower of sparks.
I smashed my bow to the strings and loosed that same jagged chord of smoke and static. Ethereal vapor billowed, filling the chest's joints; its hinge jaws shuddered but clamped harder. Qapla's legs went slack, boots scraping helpless circles on the planks.
No time to think: heal first, scream later. I shifted the harsh notes to a lullaby's gentle cadence:
"Rest, warrior, rest. Let crimson fade,
Let broke breath be whole and made…"
Magic bled through the melody, silver motes seeping between the monster's boards towards Qapla's wounds, accelerating the healing process.
Nox jammed her short sword crosswise between the teeth, leveraging it like a crowbar. Wood groaned. "Velyan! now!"
Velyan threw the bow aside, wrapped both arms around Qapla's belt and hauled. With a wet rip he came free, gasping, breastplate gouged but knitting where the song was healing him.
The chest convulsed, sprouting eight spindly legs of warped timber. It scuttled straight for Nox. She stepped inside its lunge, severing a fore limb with one savage sweep, and sending the creatures sprawling.
Before it could right itself, Qapla, face pale but burning with a new fury raised the morning star in both hands.
"Library's closed," he rasped, and brought the weapon down.
CRACK. Iron met lid. Boards splintered; fangs flew like shattered quills. Another blow. Then another until the mimic lay in ruin, legs twitching in a slurry of green black sap and half chewed parchment.