Page 86 of Requiem of Silence

Zeli stood, looking at the massive building with new eyes. Some folk had evidently been ready for this possibility, though as she understood it the challenge was different each year. About a dozen large men near the front were assembling a battering ram from a bunch of smaller pieces. All too soon they had it put together and surged forward to pound at the giant doors.

Others moved out of their way swiftly, and groups began clustering together all around the base, inspecting what they could see and reach of the building. Zeli didn’t even know where to begin.

“The glass layer starts at about twenty paces up,” she murmured. “They don’t look like windows that can open, but they might be. Maybe with a ladder…”

Instead of watching the building, Varten peered at the area around the pyramid. They stood on the south side, a plaza paved with a concrete slab extending about one hundred and fifty paces to the street. On the east side lay a grassy park surrounded by a low fence. A street bordered the west side, with only the width of the sidewalk to separate it.

“Let’s get a look at the back,” Varten said, already moving. Lanar stayed where he was, a statue sprouting from the concrete, but Zeli and Remi went along. A handful of others had the same idea and toured the perimeter of the building.

In the back was a narrow alley that dead-ended at the park, and no doors were visible along any of the exterior walls. The front doors were the only obvious way inside.

Back on the plaza, the battering ram did not seem to be making any inroads in breaking down the decorated double doors.

“How long has this building been here?” Varten wondered.

“Hundreds of years,” Remi said, now eating a handful of hard candies he’d produced from a pocket. He crunched through them, heedless of any potential damage to his teeth.

“The building must need supplies of some kind, where are they delivered?” Varten mused. “What’s the purpose of the alley if not to facilitate deliveries?”

“Well, if it’s really only open one day every ten years, maybe not many supplies are needed,” Zeli said.

“The acolytes don’t have access the rest of the time?”

Remi continued his crunching, speaking while chewing. “No, but they’ve collected a bunch of Gilmer’s other writings in another building.”

Varten tapped a finger against his lips. His mind seemed to be churning and he had a light in his eyes she’d observed when he was thinking through something. She’d seen it when they’d studied the journal, and when Eskar was showing him how the boat operated. He may say he wasn’t a good student and didn’t like school, but he certainly liked to learn and think. And she suspected he was good at it.

“No electric or plumbing conversions then,” he mumbled, eyes glazed over. “And if it’s full of ancient books, it must have been constructed to deal with humidity properly. Some kind of natural temperature control…”

Zeli had no idea what he was talking about, but didn’t interrupt his process. He turned away from the building to the street,then toward the park. While he pondered, several other groups attempted to scale the pyramid in different ways. One team created a human ladder, with smaller and smaller people climbing on top of one another. The woman at the top had a sledgehammer that she was taking to the glass.

“Are they allowed to destroy it?” she asked. Remi shrugged.

While Varten continued to mutter to himself, Lanar appeared captivated by the red stone at the top of the building. His gaze didn’t waver from it; he looked almost in a trance.

Without any warning, Varten marched off around the plaza, walking in a random pattern, zigging this way and that. Remi and Zeli shared a bemused look before following. They meandered through those observing the battering ram and various wall-scalers. Varten seemed to be searching for something on the ground. Then he abruptly turned toward the grassy park and leapt over the short, metal fencing.

“What is it?” Zeli asked, racing after him.

“Not sure, I just…” Varten turned around and walked back to the fence, then began counting off steps as he crossed the grass again. He stared at the ground for a long moment until Zeli stepped into his line of sight. Then he looked up, sheepish.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about how the Archives must have been here before the city, or built around the time of its founding, but it’s pretty far from the lake. Cities usually begin close to bodies of water, especially fresh, drinkable water. So they placed this building here, while the city grew from way down there.” He motioned south, back toward the lake. “And Gilmer City has been modernized with electricity and plumbing. There’s a whole world below our feet, pipes and tunnels for bringing water in and out.” He spread his hand around to the other buildings.

“So, what are you saying?”

“What if we can get in from below?” He stomped his foot and a metallic thud rang out. He bent to clear away a tuft of unruly grass, revealing a round metal disc in the ground.

They kneeled down to inspect it. While Varten tapped at it, Zeli looked up and noticed that Lanar had finally torn his attention away from the pyramid’s peak and was walking over to join them.

“We may be able to access the building from below,” she told him, motioning to the disc in the ground.

“Hmm,” Lanar said, squinting doubtfully. “It is unlikely this building was ever plumbed.”

Varten stopped inspecting the round plate and sat back on his haunches, shoulders sinking.

“It’s an interesting thought,” Lanar continued, “but rather improbable.” Without another word he turned and ambled back to the plaza.

The dejection on Varten’s face made Zeli’s blood boil. “I don’t care what he says, it’s a good idea. Look, they’ve been at that battering ram for ages and the door hasn’t budged, neither has the window they’re banging on. No one else has any better ideas, least of all him.”

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