The Forbidden Library (6 page)

“You can’t see the person who crossed the barrier on the other side?”

Narbenu shook his head. “Nothing looks any different and the person just vanishes.”

“But how can you step into nothing?”

Narbenu shrugged. “You take a step past the Boundary and you’re gone from this world. Those who go past the Boundary never return.”

“So there might be something on the other side?”

“Perhaps. We have no way of knowing. But every tale we have says that going past the Boundary means you cease to exist. It’s worse than death. You mean you don’t have a Boundary in your world?”

“The continent extends out to the ocean, and if you sail across the ocean you will find other lands.”

Narbenu nodded. “Just as the legends tell us. And is it true that your world’s seas are melted ice?”

“Just water.”

“Amazing,” Narbenu said. “I can’t even begin to imagine such a thing.”

Lu Bei popped out of the pack and fluttered ahead. While flying backward, he patted the sonoke on the nose. The beast grunted and Lu Bei landed on the back of its head. The sonoke didn’t mind. Animals always liked Lu Bei. The other warriors in the party stared at Lu Bei with wide eyes. They muttered and commented. Lu Bei waved at them. A few waved back. A few, including Kemsu, rode a little farther away.

“Hello, fetch,” Narbenu said.

“Hello, big furry man. Thought I’d stretch my wings.”

“Do you want your hat and scarf?” Turesobei asked.

Lu Bei tilted his head back. “I do not need them. Now, what’s this about a Boundary? If it looks like the world keeps going beyond it, how would you know that you’ve reached it?”

“You wouldn’t necessarily,” Narbenu said. “You have to be careful. There are giant stone pillars in a lot of places to warn you you’re getting close. And some people who live near the Boundary have built walls in front of it. If you think you’re getting close, best to move away.”

“How close are we to the Boundary?” Turesobei asked.

“Sixty leagues to the south and nearly the same to the east. Three hundred fifty to the north and two hundred forty to the west.”

“Where is the gate?” Lu Bei asked. “North and east of here?”

“Indeed. The gate is only a few hundred paces from the Eastern Boundary. The Northern Boundary lies beyond the coast of what we call the Glass Sea. An expanse of smooth ice over water that extends over a hundred leagues beyond the land.”

Lu Bei stroked his chin. “Master, this world sounds like it’s about the same size as —”

“Zangaiden?”

“Indeed, and in our world the gate was on the Zangaiden side of the Orichomo Mountains. Plus the distance from the gate to the coast here sounds about the same. I wonder if, under all this ice, the rest of the geography would match as well.” 

“Do you think this world is somehow an ice-covered copy of one of the nations in our world?”

“Maybe.” Lu Bei scratched his head. “Although if it’s true, I don’t see how the knowledge does us any good.”

Narbenu looked at them blankly. None of that would make any sense to him.

Turesobei shrugged. “What about the yomon?”

“The yomon live at the Fire Mountain due north of the Winter Gate. Sometimes the yomon indiscriminately raid other lands and people. We goronku have suffered them many times over the years. Thankfully the yomon mostly sleep, like the wraiths do. Don’t know why they aren’t content at the Fire Mountain, where they live in luxury. What could be so much better in your world that they’re that desperate to go there?”

“Beyond the plentiful food and forests?” Turesobei said. “That’s simple. Revenge.”

“We heard about the yomon moving nearer to the gate a few weeks ago. Figured they sensed something was going to happen. No offense to your world, but everyone here hoped they’d move on.”

“I can understand why,” Turesobei said. “What’s in the middle of your land?”

“The Barrens,” Narbenu said. “It is coldest there, very few hot springs, not much life, not many people. A few caravan routes cross that area, but that’s about it.”

“No cities or towns?” Turesobei asked.

“You mean big villages? There are a few big villages in the West. That’s rare. Mostly it’s like our region everywhere. Tiny villages based around hot springs. Bit different here in that the goronku villages are interspersed with reitsu villages that aren’t built at hot springs.”

“No giant temples or anything like that?”

Narbenu shook his head. “No temples. There is the Forbidden Library, though. It’s on an island that lies on the Glass Sea.”

Lu Bei batted his wings, his eyes wide. “That sounds promising.”

“If there was information anywhere about returning to my world,” said Turesobei, “it would be there, right?”

“I’d guess so,” Narbenu replied. “But it’d be nearly impossible for you to reach it. The trek would be incredibly dangerous not to mention the important part.”

“You mean the it’s forbidden part?” Lu Bei said.

“Legend says that no one is permitted to enter the library,” said Narbenu.

“Then why have one?” said Lu Bei.

Narbenu shrugged. “I’ve no idea. From what I’ve heard demons guard it.”

The wind kicked up. The color of the sun deepened from rose to crimson to blood as it began to set. The temperature dropped rapidly. Turesobei shivered. 

Lu Bei folded his wings around his body. “If you don’t need me master …” The fetch climbed into the pack and returned to book form.

A beast howled in the distance. Something responded. It sounded like a girl screaming.

Chapter 6

Turesobei turned toward the sound instinctively. “Do you think —”

Narbenu shook his head. “A demon.”

“Are you certain?”

Narbenu sighed. “Nothing out here is certain. There are so many dangers. But it’s definitely not one of your friends. They couldn’t have made it this far on foot in a night. Not a chance.”

“What are the biggest dangers to worry about?” Turesobei asked. “I may be stuck here. I’m going to need to know.”

“Well, there’s the bomokagi,” said Kemsu. “They’re as tall as three goronku and twice that length. Razor tusks to rend you, if they don’t just trample you. Big and hairy and hard to kill.”

“The kusokagi,” said Narbenu. “Also known as scourers. Winged demons that swoop down on you. Usually at night but sometimes in the day, especially if it snows. No one even knows where they live or come from.”

“And then there are wild sonoke,” said Kemsu. “Don’t underestimate them because these sonoke seem so peaceful.”

“All manner of demons and beasts unnamed prowl our lands,” Narbenu added. “Hardly any two are alike. The worst things come out at night.”

The sun was halfway down the horizon. War Chief Sudorga called everyone to a halt to set up camp for the night.

“When will we get to the reitsu village?” Turesobei asked.

“Just before dark tomorrow,” Narbenu said.

“That won’t be soon enough to do anything.” He rode forward to speak to War Chief Sudorga. “Can we travel a few more hours? Avida is rising. That will give us some light.”

“Not enough,” Sudorga replied. “Maybe in your world, but Avida is not bright enough to travel safely by. Travel is more dangerous at night anyway.”

“I can see in the dark if I wish and lead us,” Turesobei said. “And I can summon a light to guide us. Just two more hours.”

War Chief Sudorga stroked his beard and studied Turesobei. “Show me.”

Turesobei chanted the
spell of the dancing fire globe
, hiding the pain casting even such a simple spell caused him. Three globes of fire the size of his head appeared. Everyone gasped in amazement. But then fire globes fizzled out. 

“That’s — That’s strange.”

Someone said something to him, but Turesobei ignored them. He opened his kenja-sight and studied the terrain. Bright blue and white energies flared across the landscape, mixed with thin green and yellow currents. The only traces of fire energy came from him, the goronku, and the star-stones. 

“Of course,” he said, “there’s not much fire energy for me to draw on here. Hold on, I’ll have to use another spell.”

A harder one, unfortunately. He cast the
spell of the moon mirrors
which relied on air energy and was easiest when Avida was in the sky like it was now. Six white disks, like glass mirrors, appeared. Light radiated from one side of them. By concentrating he angled them to shine ahead of the column. 

“It’s a simple enough spell. I can keep this going for two hours.”

“There will be dangers,” Sudorga said.

“I have no desire to put your people into too much danger,” Turesobei replied. “If you wish to stop, that’s your choice. I’m just trying to get to my friends in time.”

Sudorga narrowed his eyes. “You swear that the spell is simple?”

“There are easier spells, like the fire globes, but it is a basic one.”

“It’s hurting you to do even that spell, isn’t it?”

Turesobei sighed and admitted the truth. “It does, but I can manage.”

“If you are so brave and strong that you would dare the night and go to such effort in your condition and in a world you’re not suited for, then how can we proud warriors of this land not continue on. We ride!” As everyone set into motion, Sudorga added, “I have honored your strength, but be smart. If you start to falter, let me know and we will stop. Don’t wait until your spell fails. We need light and half an hour to make camp.”

After another hour of riding, Turesobei grew tired. Summoning the moon mirrors wasn’t much harder than the fire globes, but maintaining them was. If not for the overabundance of air kenja here, he wouldn’t have dared the spell in his condition. Narbenu chose a location to set up camp. Turesobei sent the mirrors up above them and illuminated the site. Beasts howled in the distance. He hoped the lights wouldn’t attract them.

The goronku drew their long knives and began to cut into the ice and packed snow. Turesobei drew his knife as well, but Narbenu shook his head. 

“You rest and watch me do it. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll just waste your strength and make a mess.”

The goronku cut ice and compacted snow into blocks, making a trench as they went. They stacked the blocks in a circle and then laid blocks on top of one another until they built a domed structure with a short entrance tunnel jutting off to one side. As they stacked blocks they shaved them so they’d fit together perfectly. Three goronku worked on the outside of the structure while two work inside, building the dome overhead. He was certain it would collapse on them, but the structure held. 

“A house of ice?” Turesobei said. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s a snowhouse,” said Kemsu. “Keeps the wind off you, and it keeps in warmth, from your body or your star-stone.”

“Five goronku to each,” said Kemsu. “It’s a tight fit. You can join us.”

“What about the mounts?”

“They’ll sleep in the trench,” Kemsu replied. “It gets them out of the wind. They really don’t even need that. They can huddle together and survive just fine on their own out here anyway. The trench also makes it harder for predators to spot them.”

They cut angled slopes into each end of the trench and led the sonoke within. The sonoke, trained for this, fell quiet and snuggled up together. Following War Chief Sudorga, Kemsu, Narbenu, and a goronku whose name he’d forgotten, Turesobei crawled through the entrance tunnel into one of the snowhouses. The central chamber was only as tall as a goronku could reach, since they had to set the blocks by hand. And there wasn’t a lot of space for all of them. It was cold, but not as cold as he would have expected. In the center of the snowhouse, Kemsu placed a star-stone on its wrappings and tapped it three times. The light was dim and only a little warmth came out.

“Don’t want to melt the ice,” Kemsu said.

Turesobei dismissed the moon mirrors, unfurled the blanket from his pack, and placed it on the ice.

“Best to eat something first,” Narbenu said. “You’ll …”

Falling into a deep sleep, Turesobei never heard the rest.

Chapter 7

Turesobei woke in a surprisingly warm space, relatively speaking. It was like sleeping in a tent in a regular Okoro winter. The snowhouse had captured all their body heat. He still felt the chill in his bones, and he was ravenous. He stuffed himself on dried meat strips and cheese. 

The goronku left the snowhouses intact. It wasn’t worth the effort to dismantle them and some other traveller might find use of them. 

By mid-afternoon, they neared the reitsu village.

War Chief Sudorga stopped the group. “We need to approach carefully. They may think we’re attacking and overreact. Once they get riled …”

“How about I send my fetch to scout ahead?”

“He can do that?” Sudorga asked.

Lu Bei popped out, landed on the head of Sudorga’s mount, spun on his heel, and took a deep bow. “I am, sir, so very much most talented.”