Clash (The Arinthian Line Book 4) (58 page)

Augum shoved the air before him. “BAKA!” sending one flying back toward the wraith that was now advancing.

Leera made a rapid twisting gesture with her palm. “Disablo!” One of the walker’s swords spun out of its hands.

Bridget carefully drew the figure of a small creature. “Summano elementus minimus—” and a waist-high earth elemental rumbled to life. She pointed at the walkers. “Elementus, attack!” The creature charged ahead, bowling over one of the walkers with its small but mighty bulk.

Three walkers rabidly charged on, and there was only enough time to make one more attack before they would be upon them.

Augum slammed his wrists together. “ANNIHILO!” obliterating one in a lightning crackle.

Leera shoved at the air before her. “BAKA!” Another walker was sent flying back to the wraith, which finally began making its way toward them.

Bridget summoned her leaf and twig shield and ducked as the walker that had been disarmed slammed into her. It twirled right over her shield, through the gaping door, and into the abyss, clacking the entire way. Augum barely had time to note that it did not hit the invisible bridge, but rather fell through it.

There was a crunch as Bridget’s elemental smashed its powerful little fist through a walker’s skull. The walker feebly fought on, but its rabid attacks were no match for the elemental’s supernatural strength. Meanwhile, the walker Augum first shoved back was almost upon them again. This time, Leera made a low yanking gesture and its leg flipped out from under it. It slammed into the ground and slid. The trio just managed to jump out of the way as it careened through the door and fell into the abyss.

The last intact walker sprang to its feet after being shoved, but instead of charging again, merely skulked near the wraith like a chick around its mother hen. Meanwhile, the wraith had slowed to a hissing prowl, maintaining a low attack profile, its oversized limbs sweeping back and forth.

Augum, who had jumped left of the door, was forced to back away along the wall, while the girls, who had jumped right, backed away on the other side.

“We’ve got to send it into the abyss!” Augum shouted, taking measured steps, arms poised. He estimated he could only use his First Offensive once more, twice if he needed to stretch it, but the latter would mean he’d drain the rest of his arcane stamina. Problem was he didn’t know if the spell would even be effective against such a monstrosity.

He began distancing himself from the wall, luring the walker while the wraith stalked the girls. He kept circling around, until the walker was lined up with the giant open doors, then he shoved at the air as hard as he could. “BAKA!” The walker flew through the doors. There was a sickening crack as its skull smacked the door frame, silencing its clacking whilst twirling its body into the abyss.

The wraith looked back and hissed its discontent. Behind it, Bridget’s elemental disappeared, leaving a walker with a mangled skull to feebly crawl toward Augum.

Augum concentrated and began drawing a shape, envisioning his own lightning elemental while following the proper mental procedures. “Summano elementus minimus.” A lightning elemental crackled to life. It was not as powerful as a first-of-the-day casting, but would certainly finish off the last walker. As the elemental ran at the slithering skeleton, the wraith charged at the girls who simultaneously summoned their shields, barely blocking a wide swipe that sent them reeling across the polished floor in a cloud of dust.

Augum considered casting Centarro, but worried his arcane stamina would limit the spell strength. Instead, he picked up a bone and chucked it, making sure to guide the bone with Telekinesis, until it clonked off the wraith’s head. The monster hissed, turning its attention on him.

Augum waved his arms. “That’s it, you stupid bag of bones, this way—!” Now for the tricky part. He needed to position himself in a spot where he and the girls could shove it into the chasm. An idea came to him—he ran for the open doors, shouting, “Get ready to shove it—!” but the wraith, which began charging at him, stopped short, somehow able to sense his plan, perhaps because it had seen its children flung into the gaping maw.

“We have to blow its head off!” Leera shouted. “It has to be at the same time!”

That meant Augum had to get to the girls. He’d have to try something crazy, something he only saw Leera do under the influence of Centarro. He sprinted at the beast, and it sprinted for him, roaring with a wide swipe of its giant clawed hand. Augum summoned his hard lightning shield while dropping to his knees. The blow glanced off as he slid through its legs.

“Baka!” the girls shouted at the same time, knocking the wraith off balance long enough for Augum to scramble to them.

“On the count of three we hit its head,” he said, panting. “Ready?” They nodded. But the wraith began to charge and Augum had to hurry the count. “One two three—!” He and the girls slammed their wrists together. “ANNIHILO!” A fat vine combined with a bolt of lightning and a sharp jet of water smashed into the monster’s head, obliterating it into mush. It slammed into the ground, bowling them over in the process.

“Ewwww,” Leera moaned, untangling herself from the goopy wreckage.

Bridget rolled clear but remained on the ground, prostrate and gasping. “Close one. Good teamwork.”

“And a good fight,” Augum said, slowly freeing himself of the corpse. He went over and closed the doors, plunging the hall into silence. Then the girls joined him in exploring the vast hall, one end of which seemed to go on and on. The walls were the same as before the abyss—exquisitely carved marble shelves, complete with carved-in books and scrolls. The marble here was blacker and shinier, but still caked with dust and mildew. The occasional tapestry hung in framed squares.

They soon discovered polished marble steps as wide as the hall, steps that climbed for many stories. They climbed them just to see what they led to. At the end loomed two familiar massive black doors.

“These are the ones in the library hall,” Bridget said. “Where we met that weird old man by the gargoyle statue.”

“We got through then,” Augum said with a proud nod.

“I’m surprised the guards on the other side didn’t hear the fight,” Leera added. “Then again, since it’s the middle of the night, there’s probably a wraith there instead, or walkers.”

Augum placed a hand on the massive doors. They were bound with ornate strips of iron and studded with giant bolts. “They’re way too thick anyway. Probably arcanely sealed too.”

They descended the stairs, returning to the hall where they had battled the wraith and walkers.

“And here are the doors we want.” Bridget led them to the wall opposite the doors to the abyss, embedded with sets of towering doors, doors so tall they went all the way to the distant ceiling, making them appear stretched. They were carved with minutely detailed scrollwork and had no handles. Before each set of doors stood a muscled statue of a gargoyle with its palm outstretched, wings folded neatly behind. They numbered on into the darkness identically, as if mirrored. Above each gargoyle was an inscription.

“ ‘Pay thy toll of five and gain entry forever thus’,” Augum read. “Guess we give it the gargoyle gold to get in.”

“Well spotted, Captain Obvious,” Leera said with a wry grin. She craned her neck at the oaken doors and stretched out her palm. Her light barely made it to the ceiling. “But what’s inside this room?”

Bridget was about to place her shining palm on the statue when a crimson inscription and a coiled symbol appeared on its chest, one that seemed sensitive to her palm light being near. “ ‘Healing arts’,” she read. “And that coiled snake symbol means healing venom, which corresponds with the art.” She paced over to another gargoyle statue. The inscription and a lightning symbol lit up for her as she drew her palm close. “ ‘Lightning arts’.” Augum and Leera followed as she read out all the main elements. The hall seemed to stretch on forever. Then came the degrees—the 1st all the way to the 10th, a room for each, followed by History, Archives, Philosophy, Cartography, Kingdoms, Luminaries, Folklore, Planes, Monstrosities, Restricted (which made them share curious looks, especially because it appeared that the sign had been recently changed), Tongues (which they guessed meant languages), and at long last—

“ ‘Artifacts’,” Bridget read with a nod. “Finally. This is what we came to Antioc for.” She withdrew five golden coins from her pouch and placed them in the gargoyle’s palm. It closed its fist, inclined its head, and stepped aside, its great stone bulk making a grinding noise as it moved. Bridget pushed hard on the doors and they slowly opened. “They’re heavy,” she said.

“Let us help.” Augum came near but was suddenly blocked by a muscled arm. The gargoyle was looking at him with blank stone eyes.

“It’s just as I feared,” Bridget said. “We
each
have to pay five gold for entry. That means—”

“We’ll have to be picky,” Leera concluded.

Bridget rooted through her pouch. “Now that I paid, we have nineteen coins left, which will get us into three other rooms.”

“I need to find information on my father,” Augum blurted. As much as he wanted to read up on the Agonex, he needed to know about his father, needed to find a weakness. Besides, Bridget was more than capable of researching the Agonex on her own.

The girls stared at him.

“Right, of course.” Bridget handed him five gold. “Then you want to go to the room marked ‘Luminaries’.” She turned to Leera. “Did you want to come help me or—”

“Restricted—” Leera immediately said. “I want to see what’s in there. What, don’t look at me like that, you know I find this research stuff about as exciting as taking a nap.”

“You
like
napping,” Augum said.

“Shush, you!”

Bridget held back the coins. “I don’t think going to the Restricted Room on your own is a good idea. There could be an arcane guard in there or something, or a trap.”

“I agree,” Augum said. “It’s too risky. Either we all go in or no one does.”

Leera flipped her palms. “There could be a guard inside every room though—”

“That’s why I’ll check mine first and report back,” Bridget said. “But still, restricted means
restricted
, so I don’t want you going in there.”

Leera crossed her arms. “You two are infinitely fun. Fine, I’ll explore my element then.” She stuck out an open palm. “Gimme, gimme.”

Bridget handed her five coins. “We meet out here in about two hours, all right? That should give us enough time to get out of here. Now wait for me while I check to make sure there aren’t any nasty surprises inside.” She slipped into the room as they waited, peeking out a short time later.

“Everything all right?” Augum asked.

“All clear. Good luck, you two,” and disappeared back inside. The gargoyle soon resumed its post before the door, a silent stone sentinel.

Leera followed Augum to the Luminaries room. He paid the toll, watched the gargoyle step aside, and entered through the heavy doors, soon poking back out to let her know all was well.

“You going to be all right?” he asked.

“I can handle myself. Go on, have fun and good luck,” she said, waving and winking as he slipped inside.

Lividius Stone

The first room beyond the towering doors was a vestibule, with another smaller set of golden doors ahead. Augum shone his blue light around, taking everything in. Marble statues of historical figures marked the corners. The walls were lined with tapestries reaching all the way to the high vaulted ceiling. There were hooks for coats and a clean brass tray for boots. A small empty booth sat near the doors. He imagined past attendants greeting visitors with a smile.

He stepped before the golden doors and pushed on them. They swung inward soundlessly and he immediately caught the heavy scent of ancient musty books. Before him was a vast, long room in which everything seemed to glimmer and glint in his blue light. The walls were lined with the most ornate bookshelves he’d ever laid eyes upon—scrolling works of art in their own right, with motifs of ivy intertwining with gargoyles and cherubs. Gold was everywhere, even worked into the fine masonry between shelves of books. Scattered about were gilded claw-foot study tables.

But it was the center corridor that was of most interest to the eye—oversized statue after statue stood on a long and ornate runner carpet, each posing with books before it, except the books
hovered
in mid-air. Some statues only had a few books, whereas others had dozens.

One thing stood out—the absolute silence. It was as if he was inside a tomb, frozen in time. Nothing moved here. Nothing made noise. It was so quiet he swore he could hear his own thoughts crashing about in his head.

He stepped before the first statue, depicting the founder of the library, Theodorus Winkfield. Everything on him was gilded, with accents of silver and bronze. His robe was gold and had a glittering gargoyle over the breast. The fringe was tarnished silver. Even his bald head had a sparkle to it. His hands were splayed in a gesture of welcome, with no less than twenty books floating between them, each on a different subject:
Formative Years
;
Elementary Teachings
;
Accomplishments
;
Institutional Biography
; and so on.

Augum moved on, admiring the workmanship of intricately inlaid wooden pedestals, twisting ornate obelisks, and fine silk carpets. He passed many statues of historical figures, including Attyla the Mighty, Occulus, Atrius Arinthian, and even his great-grandmother, Anna Atticus Stone. She was portrayed, as in the Hall of Ancestry, in her prime. Although the statue was undefiled, not a single book floated before her, which was terribly disappointing for Augum. Perhaps they were hidden somewhere in the library …

He strode on to the end, where a somewhat newly-erected statue stood looming over all the others. This one wore great golden full plate with the Legion burning sword engraved into the chest. His fists were at his hips, one arm crooked over a plumed helm, iron gaze fixed ahead. Seven clear orbs hovered around his head—they were absolutely still, eerie replicas of the real things. Inscribed into the base in golden lettering was the name
Sparkstone
. Underneath was written
Lividius Stone
,
of the Arinthian line
,
followed by a series of titles that included
King of Solia
,
Lord of Death
,
Lord of Dreadnoughts
,
Lord of Scions
, and
Lord of the Legion.
A set of ornate golden-covered books floated before the man.