Page 5 of Legends and Librarians
I’d hoped the library would be as beautiful and magical as she remembered, but that just wasn’t how the world worked.
“I’m sorry,” I said, reaching out to comfort her, but she didn’t look upset. She was practically glowing. “Wait, you still love this place even with it looking like that?”
“Of course I do. I knew it would need some repairs, so this gives me the opportunity to make it even better.” She glanced back at me and shrugged. “What else am I supposed to say? That I give up on my lifelong dream to work here? Not a chance.”
“Your determination is impressive. I respect that.” Maybe Ishould spend a few days helping her clean up the place. I could help fix the big things at least. “Do you need a volunteer by any chance?”
She grinned. “Well yeah, but aren’t you busy?”
“I’m in between jobs right now.”
I should probably stop by an adventurers’ guild to pick up more missions, but I’d rather wait until I got out of town. No matter what guild I stopped at, the local guild master always seemed to have some big job for me. That’s the last thing I wanted to have happen in Mistfall.
“Excellent, then welcome to the Misty Mountain Library.” Nyssa opened the door with a grin. Noises filtered out like people talking followed by a roar that sounded like it came from the depths of the earth, shaking the windows.
Nyssa slammed the door shut, spinning around and pressing her back against it. “On second thought, I don’t need any volunteers. I’m all good here. You can head back to the guild.”
My body tensed, waiting for whatever made that roar to rush outside. “You really think I’m going to ignore that noise?” I gripped the hilt of my sword tight. “What’s in there?”
“Oh that? It’s nothing. Just an alarm system to scare people off since the library’s supposed to be closed.” Nyssa laughed awkwardly. “It’s really fine. You should get going.”
Her eyes were on the ground and her hand gripped the door handle tight behind her back.
“Are you sure? Handling things like this”—I nodded at the lending libraries—”is part of my job. I don’t mind taking a look inside. And I won’t charge you if that’s what you’re worried about.”
I wasn’t hurting for money since the jobs I took usually paid pretty well, but it didn’t feel like that was the issue here.
“It’s really nothing,” she said, meeting my gaze firmly. “This is library business, nothing to do with the adventurers’ guild.”
That was true, but it felt wrong just leaving her here without looking inside. Being an adventurer didn’t give me permission to force my way into places though and she did seem pretty sure of herself. Who was I to doubt her word?
“Okay,” I said slowly. “Why don’t I come back later for those book recommendations then?”
“That sounds like a great idea.” She nodded, sagging against the door in relief.“Thanks again for everything.”
“Anytime.”
I forced myself to walk away against my better judgement. In all my years as an adventurer, nothing had made me more curious than that woman and what she was hiding behind her back. There was more to that library than she was saying and I was going to find out what it was.
“I’ll see you soon,” I promised.
Chapter 3
Nyssa
Sending Roan away might not have been the best idea ever, but he was basically a stranger and I didn’t know how he’d react. I’d only just gotten this endowment and I wasn’t about to lose it to...whatever I’d seen inside.
Creatures. Dozens of them. From tiny flying dragons to giant hulking things I hadn’t gotten a good enough look at.
I leaned my head back against the door, staring at the sky. There weredragonsin there. I’d heard stories about them, sure, but I’d never actually seen one. It was like how I knew bears were real, but I didn’t expect to find one in a library. And now there were dozens of them, just flying around like it was normal. Not to mention the other...things I’d seen. Things my mind wasn’t making much sense of yet.
The Librarian’s Guild would want an investigation, and if that went badly, they might never let me reopen this library. Or let it be part of the Tales and Tomes Festival. Without the gods’ blessing, the Misty Mountain Library would fade away as if it were never here. Eventually a new library would grow somewhere else and the cycle would start again.
I couldn’t let that happen though. This library held too many memories for me, important ones that I wasn’t ready to let go ofso easily. The best thing I could do now was keep those creatures to myself. At least until I knew more.
Once my racing pulse settled a bit, I dared to open the door again, just a crack. I peeked inside, but there was nothing. No dragons, no creatures, nothing. I swung the door open wide as silence greeted me.
Did I imagine them?
