“I have met with this kind of deception, Akeel,” Cicero said sadly. “I fear that I have not been a wisest of Guardians.”
“Do not blame yourself, Cicero. We have all had encounters with betrayal and treachery.”
Marco had a question forming in him that seemed to have nothing to do with Akeel’s speech. Nothing and yet, everything. Only a short time ago, he longed to regain his former life. Now he felt an even stronger attraction to being here, to the Library and Akeel. In fact, he never wanted to leave. “Would it be possible for me… to stay?” Marco blurted out.
“Dear Marco,” said Cicero in a rare moment of grandfatherly affection. “Be careful what you ask for.” Cicero then climbed into Akeel’s lap. “But I know exactly how you feel. I would stay forever too, if it were my choice.”
Akeel looked at him curiously. “Hey Cicero, I have never known you to be so affectionate.” He stroked Cicero’s head, and they sat together for a moment.
Suddenly Chuluum darted out, aiming straight for Akeel. Cicero sorrowfully, but graciously surrendered his spot to its rightful owner. Marco had a newfound respect for both cats.
“Cicero?” Marco asked, realizing that the humans in the room had never given them a glance. “I think that nobody else knows we are here. Only Akeel and Chuluum.”
Cicero answered with nothing more than a cryptic smile. At that moment, Alaniah flew over to join them.
“Enjoying your visit, Alaniah?” Cicero asked.
She answered by flying in wide, ecstatic loops over their heads. Trails of colored crystalline sifted downwards and Alaniah disappeared amongst the others.
“What is she?” Marco asked, after licking the fine dust that glowed momentarily on his coat.
“Alaniah is a creature of stardust,” Akeel answered. “She’s a Losring.”
Marco tried spotting her in the swirling radiance high above them, then she was suddenly right in front of his face, like a glowing butterfly.
To Cicero she said, “Shouldn’t we show him coming events?”
Chapter 15: The spiral staircase
“I’m not ready,” Cicero answered heavily. “Because I know what’s coming,”
Alaniah hovered over her earthly charges. “He must see for himself,” she insisted gently.
Cicero sighed. “For that we need to take another trip.” He closed his eyes.
“Dear Cicero,” said Alaniah. “We will try a new means of travel, very easy. Follow me.” She raced off. Marco and Cicero both hung back, not ready to leave their friends. Akeel bid them farewell and Chuluum, who had recovered his dignity, came over and ‘nosed’ Marco goodbye.
Alaniah led the two cats into the grand hall, where they had first arrived. The room glittered and she glided among the others, as if they were all exotic sea creatures.
“Okay, Cicero,” she said, startling him as she landed on his head. “Are you ready?”
Cicero wiped his paw over his eyes, as if brushing off worrisome thoughts. “Show me this new method of traveling.”
“We will use the Golden Spiral.” They had arrived at the foot of the staircase and turned to look at the transparent floating steps winding from the floor in an enormous curve upwards to ever-narrowing circles.
“Most unusual, Alaniah,” Cicero said. “I have seen spiral staircases, but none like this. Why is it so oddly shaped?”
“Odd? I think it’s beautiful-iful.”
“I’m wondering why they are so wide at the bottom and so narrow at the top.”
“Oh earthling, this is a transition spiral, used for mortals. Mostly human, not cats. But then, you are not a normal cat, are you?” Alaniah whirled. “Are you trying to delay this journey, Cicero?”
“No. No. We’ll be on with it, but I am curious about the staircase.”
“Like Akeel explained, it is a means to let humans experience what they are too dense to see. It’s also a doorway from your limited earthly world to… well, to other worlds.”
With that, Alaniah twirled upwards, disappearing in what would normally be a ceiling, but nothing was quite what it appeared to be in this library. Then she spiraled downwards and came to face them, hovering in her rippling nature.
“Come, follow me.”
They followed Alaniah up the floating staircase, rising and turning with each step, making Marco light headed, especially when he made the mistake of looking down.
“Keep your head up, Marco,” counseled Alaniah. “Mortals who climb the Golden Spiral get… what do they call it? ‘Dizzy,’ I think. What a funny word.”
Marco grew dizzier as they approached ever-smaller circles of the higher spheres. Cicero kept close to his side and Marco wondered how he, who loved the highest branches of the trees, even when the wind swung him to and fro, could be having difficulty climbing these simple steps.
“This is as far as we can go. Even cats are not advanced enough to travel higher. Please sit and observe,” Alaniah commanded. She raised one graceful wing and pulled back something like a gauzy veil, which had been invisible until then. She held it open so they could enter.
Then Alaniah flew through, and the veil closed behind them.
Chapter 16: Paradise Lost
Alaniah took Marco and Cicero forward through time in their journey into the past. It was a unique placement, between past and future, but not in the present, and only beings like Alaniah could successfully navigate this realm.
“Now we will see what became of the great grand idea called the Library of Alexandria.”
They were in a vast arena covered by a dome the color of a pre-dawn sky. After a small flicker of light, the dome filled with images, all spinning around him, making him slightly dizzy. Gradually they slowed until the same room where they had left Akeel and Chuluum came into view, but Marco hardly recognized it. People who had been quietly reading were now sweeping books and scrolls off the shelves, stuffing them into bags.
The library, which had been a place of calm, was filled with chaos and confusion. Alexandria, where earth-shattering ideas were born out of the very atmosphere which people breathed, had been attacked. Even viewed through the filter of this cosmic display, Marco smelled panic and knew he was witnessing the birth of tragedy. Paradise had been invaded.
Akeel was there, in the middle, like a well-anchored tree in the midst of a storm. He urged them to take as many books as possible.
Marco flinched when the banging began, angry pounding from somewhere he couldn’t see. Akeel shouted, “The tunnel! Go! Now!” He was shepherding everyone towards the back. “Leave the rest!”
The men and women, toting leather bags heavy with books, stumbled over each other in the mad rush to escape the assault of invaders.
The main door, battered by brute force, splintered open. Shouts of the soldiers were harsh and quick, like knife jabs. There were perhaps a dozen of them, their faces hidden behind metal helmets with black holes in the headgear where their eyes should have been. Marco shivered at the sight of them.
Akeel, after ushering the last of the guardians out, grabbed his bag and Chuluum. But the helmeted men were at his back, and the foremost soldier drew his dagger. Akeel swung around, dropping the bag and cat in one smooth motion. He moved through the hooded men as though his body was his weapon, with fluid movements that resembled a dance more than a fight.
One after another his attackers fell. Metal clanged as soft-bodied men in their exoskeletons of armor collided with each other. Akeel had no armor that Marco could see, but his defense appeared effortless, as though he had some invisible shield around him.
When the turbulence died, Akeel opened the tunnel door to join the exodus of librarians. He did not see the lone black figure creep out from the shadows, dagger aimed at his back. Marco jumped up, certain that Akeel was about to be killed, and here he was, helpless to do anything. Again. He didn’t want to watch, but he couldn’t keep from it either. The man’s blade plunged. Marco cringed.