“Don’t borrow trouble,” Derek admonished. “Fortune might smile on us.”
Lillith clapped her hands together. “By Gilean’s Book! Fortune has smiled on you. I just thought of something. That kender you’re going to rescue might be able to help you!”
“A kender?” Derek repeated in disgust. “I most seriously doubt it!”
“How could he help us?” asked Brian.
Lillith flushed. “I can’t tell you that, but he might.”
“The kender again! When do we go in search of this kender?” Derek asked in resigned tones.
“Whenever my friends tell me he’s arrived in Tarsis, if he comes here at all. I’m just hoping he will because of that list.” Lillith hiked up her skirts to climb over another shelf. “This way. I’ll show you where to look and I’ll give you what help I can.”
The knights spent two days in the library in what proved to be a frustrating and fruitless search. They decided against returning to their camp, for that would mean passing in and out of the city gates, and once inside, they deemed it wise to stay, particularly if there were draconians about. Lillith suggested they sleep in the library—an ideal hiding place, since no one in Tarsis ever came there. Brian took the two horses to a stable near the main gate, in case they had to make a hasty departure. Lillith brought them food and drink. They made their beds on the floor among the shelves.
Dusk to dawn, they searched through books, manuscripts, treatises, scrolls, collections of notes, and scribbles on scrap paper. They sat at long wooden tables hemmed in and blocked off by a maze of shelves that Aran swore shifted position when they weren’t looking, for if they left, they always seemed to lose their way back. They worked by lantern light, for the library had no windows. Lillith pointed out the old skylights located high in the lofty ceiling that had once let in the sunlight. The skylights were covered over with earth and debris and rubble.
“We thought it best to leave them hidden like that,” she said, and added wistfully, “Someday, perhaps, we can uncover them and light will once again shine on us. Now is not the time, however. Too many people in this world consider knowledge a threat.”
The library was not only dark, it was eerily silent. All sound was absorbed and swallowed up by the books. The world could end in an explosion of fire outside and they would be none the wiser.
“I tell you honestly,” said Aran on the morning of the third day, “I’d rather be fighting death knights.” He opened a book. Dust flew up his nose and he gave a violent sneeze. “An entire legion of death knights with a hundred drunken dwarves thrown in!”
He glanced dispiritedly through the discolored pages. “This appears to have been written by spiders who dipped their legs in ink and ran across the vellum. There are pictures of dragons, though, so this might have something to do with orbs.”
Lillith peered over his shoulder. “That’s the language of magic. Put it here with the other books on dragons.” She shoved her hair out of her eyes, leaving a smear of dirt on her forehead. “Be sure to mark its place on the shelf.”
“This book also has pictures of dragons,” said Brian, “but the pages are so brittle I’m afraid they’ll disintegrate if I continue examining it, and I can’t read it anyway.”
Lillith took the book from him, handling it carefully, and added it to the small pile.
“Perhaps there is a wizard is the city who could translate this writing for us—” Brian began.
“We’re not telling the wizards about this,” Derek stated flatly.
“There aren’t any wizards in Tarsis, anyway,” said Lillith, “or at least any who’d openly admit to it. We’ll wait for the kender. I’m not promising anything, mind you, but—”
“Lillith?” A male voice called out her name. “Are you here?”
Derek rose to his feet.
“Don’t be alarmed,” said Lillith hurriedly. “It’s one of the Aesthetics.” She raised her voice. “I’m coming, Marcus!”
She hurried off toward the front of the library.
“Brian, go with her,” Derek ordered.
Brian did as he was told, wending his way through the shelves, trying to remember the twists and turns that would take him to the front and not strand him on some remote literary island. He kept the light of Lillith’s lantern in sight and eventually caught up with her.
“What’s the matter? Don’t you trust me?” Lillith asked, dimpling.
Brian felt his cheeks burn and was thankful it was so dim she couldn’t see him flush.
“It’s just… it might be dangerous,” he said lamely. Lillith only laughed at him.
A man stood in the doorway. He was wrapped up in cloak and scarves and it was difficult to tell anything about him. Lillith hurried over to him and the two conferred together in low voices. Brian hung back, though he knew quite well Derek had sent him to spy on her. The two didn’t speak long. Marcus left and Lillith came back to Brian. Her eyes were shadowed in the lantern light. She looked troubled.
“What’s wrong?” Brian asked.
“You should alert the others,” she said.
Brian gave a halloo that echoed off the walls and shook the dust from the ceiling. He heard Aran swear and the sound of heavy objects falling.
Lillith winced. “Be careful!” she called out anxiously.
“Oh, I’m all right,” Aran answered.
Lillith muttered something, and Brian grinned. It wasn’t the knight she was worried about. It was her precious books.
“The kender is in Tarsis,” she reported when Derek and Aran emerged from the gloom into the lantern light. “He and his friends entered the city through one of the gates this morning. They’re staying in the Red Dragon, but there’s going to be trouble. The guards at the gate saw that one of the men was wearing a breastplate with the markings of a Solamnic knight and reported him to the authorities. They’ve sent guards to the inn to arrest them.”
“That would be Brightblade,” said Derek irritably, “and he is not a knight. He has no right to wear such armor!”
“That’s not really the point, Derek,” said Aran, exasperated. “The point is that Brightblade and his friends are about to be arrested, and if the draconians find out that these are the people they’ve been searching for—”
“They can’t find out!” said Lillith urgently. “They mustn’t! They’ll search the kender’s belongings, and they’ll discover what he’s carrying. You have to save him.”
“From the Tarsian guards? In broad daylight? Mistress, I don’t care what mysterious thing this kender is supposed to be carrying. A rescue attempt would only end in our joining the kender in prison,” said Derek.
“My friends are going to create a diversion,” Lillith said. “You’ll be able to grab the kender in the confusion. Bring him straight here. I’ll be waiting for you. Now hurry!” She started to herd them up the stairs.
“How will we find this inn?” Brian asked. “We don’t know our way around town!”
“You won’t have any trouble,” she predicted. “Keep to the main road out front. Go back through the Central Plaza, the way you came. After that, just follow the shouting.”
Brian blinked and rubbed his eyes as he walked into the bright winter sunlight. He’d been living in the library in perpetual night, and he had no idea what time of day it was. From the position of the sun, he guessed it must be about midmorning. The knights hastened along the main street as Lillith had told them, meeting no one until they came to the Central Plaza. Here, they found crowds of people, all in a state of excitement. Those who had been inside the shops and stalls were pouring out into the streets, while others were breaking into a run. The knights could hear a low roaring sound, as of waves breaking on a shore.
“What’s happening, my good man?” Aran asked, stopping to talk to a shopkeeper gloomily watching his customers stream out of his store. “Has the sea come back?”
“Very funny,” the shopkeeper growled. “Seems there’s some sort of riot going on over by the Red Dragon Inn. A Solamnic Knight made the mistake of showing his insignia in our city. The guards tried to haul him off to the Hall of Justice, but they may not get that far. We don’t take kindly to his kind in Tarsis. He’ll get justice, all right.”