As was the same yesterday, I take the first two heights and help with the search before coming back to the table to begin my reading. There’s fewer books brought to me this time around but they are getting increasingly larger and more dense in their texts. I spend a good portion of my late morning reading through three massive leather-bound books with print so tiny that I get an aching head just from the first.
Morose interrupts my tedious reading and places some food on the table, quickly announcing a lunch that I can’t even comprehend. Time moves differently in this library, sometimes quick and sometimes slow, and without any windows or the sun above to provide any guidance, I get lost in my reading without any sense of the day.
I sigh at the food and look at the large pile of books on the table. I’m not even close to getting through the texts and still haven’t added anything new to the keep pile. Food seems so trivial when there’s so much reading left to do.
“Eat, Alexis,” Morose commands.
I nod quickly to the old woman and pick up a small roll before taking a bite. She seems satisfied enough and leaves to resume her search of the heights above, while I grab another book from the stacks and head for the settee.
Books pass through my hands one after the other as the stacks slowly begin to dwindle on the table. I start to make a pretty decent headway, and although the piles are getting smaller with each discarded book, I find myself becoming increasingly more frustrated.
Everything, and I meaneverythingI’ve gone through has been something I can’t use. I start doubting myself, wondering if I made the right decision in my analysis of the terms, or if I’m sending Morose and Golem on the wrong search path. Or maybe they’re bringing back all the right books and I’m just missing the text in my reading? Also, how long have I had this aching head? I should probably sleep a bit, if only to feel that sudden sense of revitalization after the nap. Or I could drink some more coffee…Yes, coffee sounds like the better idea.
I head back to the table and down a hefty gulp, picking up another book before pacing behind the table. I move steadfast through another stack until I find something worth noting.
“Golem!” I yell into the library excitedly, “Morose!”
Golem quickly appears from a hall on the southern side of the library two heights below. He grabs the railing and looks up at me in question, nodding when I wave my hand for him to come up. Morose takes a bit longer to reach us but her eyes are determined and ready to hear what I’ve found.
“Listen to this,” I hold up the large book that takes up both of my arms, “and in the entirety of the Old World, there was no being the Ancientsfeared more than that of their brother, Hirovale. For Hirovale also gave birth to the Bird of Ash, his will manifested into a powerful creature.”
Morose’s eyes widen, the flames under her skin moving quicker than I’ve ever seen before.
“That’s it!Ancients, girl, I know where I’ve heard Bird of Ash!”
She hurries to the western staircase and disappears in a blink. Golem and I wait anxiously for her return, the two of us turning when we hear her steps bounding down the southern staircase before she reappears again. She drops a book on the table and opens it up before I can even stop her.
“Firehawks,” she points to a drawing of a red hawk.
Golem and I bend over the table, my heart beating hard in my chest as I wait for the pages to turn to ash.
“It’s not common knowledge now, as they’ve been around for thousands of years, but their origins are still significant. Our hawks are theverydistant sons and daughters of the Bird of Ash! Where firehawks are melded of fire with the flames roaring under their feathers, their father, the Bird of Ash, was rumored to be quite literally made from the discarded ash of the first battle of the Four Kingdoms.”
“And the Bird of Ash belonged to Hirovale,” I sit down hard as my eyes go wide, “a manifestation of his will.”
This is the first time all but one of the words are used in a single book. Not even that, but within a single paragraph.
“We’re getting close,” I smile, reaching for the canteen of coffee.
“You should take a break, Alexis,” the old woman replies.
Golem nods vigorously beside her.
“There’s no way I’m taking a break after this,” I laugh, grabbing the book she brought to read more about Pyre’s firehawks.
“Then at least eat your dinner,” she consoles, pushing a new plate towards me.
I stare at the food in confusion.
Dinner? Wasn’t she just here for lunch?
I reach for another roll and take a small bite, my head bowed over both mine and Morose’s texts. After finding no other references to Zander’s words I move them to the keep pile and grab the next spine from atop a new stack. I’m able to make it through two more small stacks before the creeping feeling of sleep begins to call for me, but at least I’m able to catch it this time and quickly stand up. I stretch my body and will it to stay awake, glaring at the too many books still left on the table to read.
Don’t fall asleep.
I could take a walk down to the ground floor and let the fire wake me up, but the idea of walking groggily down a succession of stairs doesn’t sound safe at all. The climb up, however, can’t be all that bad. I think I could will my feet to move steadily up the mountain even if gets colder up there.
I tilt my head high above, now spotting that icy inlet that Morose mentioned yesterday. Its dark opening is plastered with bright stars in the sky that look like tiny specks of snow, while the actual snow from above falls through that hole in small tufts before vanishing to the semi-warmth of the library inside. I can feel the chill that comes from that opening even on this rise and decide to move towards it, letting the cold force me awake.
