The Duelist 3, page 28
“Like what?” Horus echoed my own question as I tossed the hook over the wall and yanked the rope taut.
“This is the mystery I have been running in circles trying to figure out,” Tovish grunted. “All I know is whatever he’s been plotting will be coming to fruition if we don’t act soon.”
“Thanks again for risking yourself by coming, even if Vane is distracted with his plans for world domination,” I said and then made my way up the rope to the top of the wall.
“All the more reason haste is required,” Jenner added with a sage nod.
We all agreed with his pronouncement and hurried with trying to get ourselves inside already.
Maybe it was the bleak landscape or the evidence of the much-hated previous owner, but it was not hard to want to get in and get out when there were such strong vibes of creepiness emitting from the place.
When everyone was up and over the wall, we all found ourselves inside a courtyard that must have been similar to the one at the palace with the huge potted trees.
That courtyard was known for its healing properties due to the warm ambiance it exuded, and based on the rusted metal incense holders still dangling from the dead trees, it was safe to assume this courtyard was used for a similar purpose at one point.
Which made it even more of a shame to see all the evidence of rampant neglect.
“You know, my father started acting similarly to Vane when he fell further into his obsession with the arcane magicks,” Horus mused as we wound our way through the maze of potted trees. “As you can tell, he gave up maintaining his estate and all that went with it.”
“What was Archus so obsessed with?” Tovish asked with a sharp look.
“Oh, all sorts of things, really,” Horus said as he led us into a breezeway with a line of obsidian columns as tall as skyscrapers. They seemed to shoot up from the ground to support the underside of the strange manor stuck to the mountain’s edifice like a barnacle. “The short answer is anything that could increase his power.”
“And the long answer?” Jenner queried.
“The long answer you will find is in the library, my good sir,” the falcon-man said and was silent the rest of the long walk toward what was hopefully an entrance into this goddess-forsaken place.
At long last we came across another door, which would have been a cause to celebrate, but there was one vital thing missing about this door.
The knob.
“Now what?” I asked the resident expert and watched him scowl at the offending door with no handle.
“Paranoid bastard,” Horus grumbled and examined the space where a knob should have been.
In the center of the black door was something that looked like a hand-carved bullseye.
“What’s this?” Horus reached out to poke the center of the bullseye but was summarily stopped by four people, me included.
“That would not be wise, laddie,” Tovish growled in his old-leather voice.
“It was put there for a purpose, and I’m guessing it’s not for fun,” Jenner chipped in.
“The signature is stronger on this door than the other one,” Anwaar explained right after with her glittering irises.
“Can you break it?” Amaya asked her sister as she tilted her silver-horned head.
“I can try,” the mage-woman said, and she chafed her hands together again until they were glowing.
Then, without touching the door itself, the ibex-woman hovered her palms over the odd sigil.
“This requires more than magic to disarm,” she concluded after a few moments of concentration. “It requires a sacrifice of bone.”
“Yikes,” I said.
“You mean?” Horus held up the finger he was intent on poking into the finger-sized hole of the bullseye.
“If this is a lock,” Anwaar explained as she traced the carving with one finger before holding it up. “Then this is the key.”
“So, you put a finger in the lock, and then what happens to your finger?” I asked just to clarify what I thought she was saying.
“The sacrifice is of bone,” Amaya answered instead. “Archus wanted to make sure anyone willing to come in would also be willing to lose a finger.”
“We gotta find another way in,” I said.
“There is none,” Tovish sighed. “I looked all around this place for another entry three times.”
“We might have to do your plan, Horus, and get in from the moat,” I sighed and hefted my pack higher.
“But we’ve wasted so much time already!” the falcon-man said as his black-feathered crest ruffled in irritation.
“I’d rather waste time than have anyone lose a finger,” I said and felt green just at the prospect. “No offense, H, but your old man was sick.”
“Trust me, I share the sentiment,” the falcon-man grumbled with a hand flat over his stomach and a bitter twist to his lips.
Ever-observant Amaya saw his expression, and her forehead buckled in sympathy. She reached out a hand it seemed on reflex, but then as if she suddenly remembered herself, she stopped short and tucked her hand back by her side.
“You should know, your father wasn’t always that way,” she said with a familiar pearly sheen to her gaze. “It was the desperate need to never let himself be put in a position where he could lose his wife-- your mother-- his heart and soul again that led him to his obsession. It wasn’t your fault.”
Horus sucked in a sharp breath and cast his gold-green eyes down and away from Amaya’s Knowing gaze. I knew the feeling, so I patted him on the shoulder. That ‘nail-on-the-head-thing’ the augur-woman tended to do took a little getting used to.
“Yes, well, they always told us in the Academy not to let the magicks consume you because they are potent indeed,” he finally recovered and adjusted the strap of his bow across his chest. “Well, shall we head back the way we came and go around?”
“Wait, Horus,” Anwaar said and put her hand on his wrist. “Do you also remember what else they taught us? The magicks must follow what is dictated, but as long as it isn’t specific, the fulfillment of an enchantment such as this one is open to interpretation.”
“I don’t follow,” he said.
“Feel,” the ibex woman said instead and then took Horus’ hand so she could hover it over the carved bullseye. “Are there any parameters to what is required?”
I could see the struggle it was for the falcon-man to focus while the pretty ibex-woman held his hand, but he managed to pull it together in order to do what she asked.
The alchemist’s eyes flashed gold for a moment before he looked at Anwaar with a big smile.
“It just requires ‘bone,’ but it doesn’t specify where it needs to come from,” he said. “Tovish, Roofus is a seeker moth, right?”
“A gold-seeker, yes,” the koala-elder said.
“Do you think we could send him to go look for the bone of a small animal or something so we could try and unlock the door?” I asked as I caught on to what they were talking about.
“Hm, Roofus really only has a penchant for seeking gold, so I’m not sure how good he will be with your request, but we can find out.” Tovish then turned to look at the yellow gold-seeker. “What say you, Roo? Can you find us a bone?”
Roofus cocked his head back and forth and then turned his bulbous red eyes onto me.
“Bone, Roo!” I said just like I saw proud pet owners do with their dogs at the park. “Go get a bone!”
“Skra!” he said and then took off in a dusty flap.
It wasn’t long before he returned with a stone in his beak.
“No, Roofus,” Tovish said with a weary shake of his big-eared head. “B-O-N-E.”
The crow-moth zipped off for a second time and brought back a knotted and twisted twig.
“No, you ridiculous thing,” the old Archivist grumbled. “Bone. Bone!”
Roofus tilted his head this way and that and spat out the twig.
“It’s no use,” Jenner huffed.
“No, look,” Amaya said and pointed to Roofus as he waved his frilly antenna. “I think he’s picking something up.”
We all watched in fascination as the little crow-moth crawled on the ground as if he was scenting for something. The little creature then made a loop around each person’s legs before coming to mine when he stopped and looked up at me with his big red eyes.
“What is it, boy?” I asked.
Roofus cocked his head a full one-eighty and then proceeded to crawl up my body and onto my travel pack.
“Krt!” he clicked and tried to tug free something half-sticking out of the top of the pack.
“What do you got?” I reached over my shoulder in order to grab the object and saw it was the mysterious wrapped thing Vel-Rala gave me before we departed.
I’d totally forgotten about it, but even when I removed the cloth, I was confused as to what it was she gave me.
“What is it?” Horus asked as he stared down at the object that looked like an ivory chopstick.
“It’s a hairpin,” Anwaar said and brought her glowing palms closer so she could “read” the object in my hands. “And it appears to be made of bone, but not just any bone, it is bone of the La-folk.”
“La-folk?” Jenner asked as his gray-furred ears perked upward. “You mean like Madam Midgen’s ilk?”
“I have heard of this Madam Midgen before,” the ibex-woman said as her eyes and hand turned back to normal. “Most of the La-folk prefer privacy and don’t mingle with the rest of us Aventollians, but Midgen’s reputation precedes her. It makes me wonder how Vel-Rala came to own it.”
“Or how she sensed you would need it in the first place,” Amaya added.
“Will it work?” I brought the bone-hairpin up to get a closer look.
“Try it and see,” Anwaar said.
So, I did just that and stuck the bone hairpin into the middle of the hand-carved bullseye.
A metallic grinding could be heard, and a loud chink sounded before the hairpin dropped to the ground a few inches shorter than it started.
Finally, the door popped open with a hiss as if it hadn’t been opened in years, which maybe it hadn’t.
“Well done, lad!” Tovish cheered and scratched at Roofus’ head when he came to perch back on his shoulder.
“Okay, so we’ll swing by the library first so Tovish and Jenner can get a head start on the books, but then there’s another thing I want to check out,” I said as we all went inside.
“What did you have in mind, chief?” Horus asked as he led us to a series of stairs that dumped out into the main antechamber of The Aerie’s manor.
This antechamber seemed like it connected to the rest of the manor where the stairs branched off in their many directions and went ever upward like the valves of a heart.
“We’ve got to make a stop at the weaponry,” I said with an excited it’s-almost-Christmas type of grin. “I need a new crossbow.”
“Excellent,” Horus said as he rubbed his hands together with a matching grin. “I say we drop off our Archivists and see what the old bag left behind.”
“Sounds fine by us,” Jenner said as he wiggled his fingers. “I cannot wait to see what’s in store.”
“If you do not mind, Horus, Amaya and I would like to explore as long as it’s okay with you,” Anwaar said with her arm looped through her sister’s.
“I don’t mind,” he said. “You won’t get lost, will you?”
“No,” Amaya said simply as her eyes flashed again like two pearls.
“Right, you Know the way,” he chuckled.
“But first, let us see if there are any enchantments that need to be broken on the library,” the ibex-woman suggested, and with a plan in hand, the five of us plus Roofus followed the falcon-man up one of the many staircases and down the many halls until we were all standing in front of an ornately-carved bronze door.
“That’s odd,” Anwaar said as her eyes glittered with their magic. “There doesn’t seem to be anything keeping us from simply turning the knob and walking in.”
“That’s good,” Horus said. “But very suspicious. I would have figured if anything needed some serious protection, it would be his coveted library. Keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual, gentlemen.”
“You do not have to worry about a couple of old codgers like us, lad, go on and do what you need to do,” Tovish said with a shooing motion, and I could tell he was just as excited as Jenner about getting his furred hands on some books, if not more so.
With that, the four of us broke away to go back down a flight of steps where apparently Archus’ weapons’ cache was located behind another set of bronze doors.
After breaking a mild enchantment that required the work of both mage and alchemist alike, the armory was open and ripe for the picking.
I hoped.
Since Archus was a bibliophile, there was a chance he liquidated anything he could in pursuit of his so-called coveted knowledge.
However, when I walked in to see what we were working with, it was clear my worry was for nothing.
“Score,” I said in stunned awe when the falcon-man and I entered the armory.
Case upon display case was organized and filled to the brim, and they lined the walls and took up almost all the floor-space. Narrow aisles stood in rows and made the whole place look like the fucking Tiffany’s of weapons.
“Where’re the crossbows?” I asked as I rubbed my hands together like it was my birthday.
“If I’m reading the method of his madness correctly, then I believe we should start over there,” he said and gestured to the far right.
Horus was right.
If it was long-ranged weaponry I was looking for, this was the section to go to. Archus probably had every form of bow or sling imaginable. There was even a bevy of leather whips coiled up under one of the glass cases, which caused my old Indiana Jones fantasies to come to the surface.
“Here, try this one, chief,” Horus said and snapped me out of my twelve-year-old daydream.
“Which?” I asked and then rounded a tall case to get to him.
“This,” he said with a grin and handed me a crossbow as shiny-black as patent leather with a case of wicked-looking bolts that bore barbs on the boltheads.
I knew if I shot anybody with those, removing the bolt on their own would be next to impossible.
When I put the stock against my shoulder, I found it fit comfortably and acted as an extra appendage like it was a part of me and not just some tool I was holding in my hands.
“This thing is a work of art,” I said to the falcon-man and adjusted the strap so I could sling it across my back.
“I’m glad someone will be putting it to use,” Horus remarked.
“Why this one?” I questioned. “If it’s yours or something, you can have it back, and I can always find me another one.”
“No, it isn’t mine, well, it is only in the sense that I actually made it,” the falcon-man placated. “But my preference will always be that of my trusty longbow.”
“That’s cool you made this,” I said while I continued to admire the quality craftsmanship put into this device. “I’d be honored to have it.”
“It’s yours!” Hours declared with an over-the-top bow.
Suddenly, a loud crash could be heard coming directly from the room above us, and we both stopped our chortling and looked at each other.
“What was above this room again, H?” I asked.
“The library,” he answered.
“Thought so,” I said as another huge boom thundered through the ceiling.
We exchanged one more horrified glance before we both bolted toward the door.
Chapter 20
In the time it took Horus and I to reach the library, I’d already gone through a dozen scenarios of what could be making all the crashing and booming sounds. My imagination ranged anywhere from enchanted suits of armor coming to life to the terrifying gelatinous cubes I always managed to get trapped in whenever I played D&D.
Fucking gelatinous cubes.
I would be so pissed if it ate my friends.
Boom.
Another almighty crash sounded just as Horus and I barreled through the doors with our weapons drawn, me with my sword, and Horus with his ever-present longbow.
“Where’s the danger?” the falcon-man ordered as he aimed the point of his nocked arrow to every nook and shadowy corner of the massive library.
“There is no danger, other than Tovish’s appalling dance skills.” Jenner’s slightly slushy voice drifted from around a towering pile of dusty books. “Toby, you old fool, sit down before you end up with a second wooden leg.”
“I’ll have you know, I’m a great dancer!” The voice of the koala-elder sounded off somehow just like Jenner’s did, but before I could put my finger on it, a stack of thick tomes at least eight-feet high tipped over and crashed to the ground like a fallen tree.
“Hah! You’ve done it now!” Jenner cackled, and now that the tower of books was on its side, I could see the two Archivists leaning heavily into each other as they snorted and laughed.
“What’s going on?” Anwaar asked as she and her sister also came to see what all the commotion was about.
“Nothing,” Horus growled as he returned his arrow back to its quiver and slung his bow over his chest. “Just a pair of kooky old men.”
“Are they-- Jenner, are you and Tovish drunk?” I asked when their behavior finally made sense.
“Of course, we are, lad!” Tovish thundered in a voice so loud I didn’t know how it could come from such a small dude. “How do you expect us to get through all this otherwise?”
“Now I’m confused,” I said but was no less entertained.
“That’s right,” Amaya said as she sidled up next to me. “You are probably unaccustomed to how the Eng-folk work as Archivists, but it’s usually better for them to imbibe high amounts of alcohol as they catalog.”
