Fowlhunter [GL]

They spent the daylight walking all around the perimeter of the library. Then, in the black of night, they slipped in through a back door.

“Such a large library must definitely have multiple doors. And, however renowned a library it may be, I don’t think it’s going to be incredibly well-guarded, when they could be guarding places like the student dorms. We just have to find any one door that’s open.”

By open, they meant open to them. They found a small door with a nice, pliant lock in the basement of the multi-storied library. It only took a daggertip for it to creak wide. Three girls and one boy tiptoed into the space of a dusty, cellar-like corner of a room which didn’t seem to serve any apparent purpose. Probably just a remnant of the multiple reconstructions of this library over the years. Asha still scuttled around the room though, prying at the walls and floorboards.

“There could be a mechanism or something, giving access to a forbidden library!” the makara hissed excitedly.

“...I really don’t think there’s going to be a forbidden library in a space this small,” Ying said.

Asha jabbed a finger. “That’s what they want you to think!” Putting her ear to a wall and tapping the brick, she nodded to herself. “All clear!”

It took a few staircases for them to reach the ground floor of the library. It was a grand, circular structure, its many levels like galleries, circling all the way up to the top where a skylight lived, pouring the night sky over them.

“We can start with the public texts first. Then, we can look at the ‘forbidden texts’,” Ying was saying.

“Awwww…”

“Come on, if we move along we might even find a school uniform laying around for you to wear.”

“Oooooh, really?”

“Shouldn’t you be creeped out to find something like that?” Lochlan muttered.

They were all very relaxed for people infiltrating a building in the dead of night. The group strolled down the rows of bookshelves as if they were really human students browsing the collection in broad day. The windows afforded a view of the scintillating stars outside, while a corkboard of some student’s project bore pictures and labels for different constellations in the sky. But more than that, the Beasts could feel the subtle glow that the moon gave to the night. It filled them with energy, keeping them buzzing and light-footed as they searched for what they needed.

“Ta-da~” Asha was the first, swift on her feet and keen with her eyes. She brandished the thick tome for all to see, while they all picked out relevant books of their own. “The Complete Encyclopedia on All Creatures Mythic! This will surely do the trick!”

…

……..

Hours later…

Stars winked outside the windows. All was silent in the huge, empty library.

They sat around the table, only the rustle of books interrupting this silence.

“Are you learning anything from this?” Ying mumbled to the small woman beside her. A set of candles flickered next to them, lit by her Lunaki. The silver light cast over the eclectic spread of books and scrolls over the table.

“Mmm…” Asha hummed as her wide eyes pored over the pages, red in their crocodilian luminescence.

“Asha… I don’t think you’re reading the right pages.” Ying peered at her. “Why are you reading about fire dragons? All the sources agree that the Kraken’s a sea monster.”

“But it’s really interesting,” Asha protested. Ying pulled at her ears while Asha squawked.

“If you didn’t waste so much time reading irrelevant stuff, we’d be finished by now!”

“Aiiieeeee, stop bullying me! It’s not like the stuff on the Kraken has been helpful so far…”

“Um, ‘scuse me ma’am, but have you noticed there’s still, like, fifty million shelves to go?”

“Uh, guys?” Lochlan said amid the squabble.

“Mm?” The two of them turned to look at him.

He scratched his head. “Jemi’s gone.”

The three of them looked up. Then looked at each other.

~~~

Silver light burned a storm. It ricocheted off the rock-uneven surfaces of the mountainrange and slipped through the pines, casting shadows that were there one second and gone the next, melting into the wind rushing past.

Almost part of the shadows herself, a wiry woman jumped and flipped, taking off from the spurs and ledges that marked out the lateral surface of the outside of Vesuvio mines. She was whisper-fast, her accuracy unnerving. Anyone who might’ve caught sight of her on that night would’ve thought her a droplet of errant rain in the corner of their vision, a flicker of the streetlights.

Jemi Garen didn’t really need to be using that much Lunaki, but the Cockatrice had pent herself up for weeks. She moved like moonlight itself; soft yet sharp as she leapt atop a lamppost, perching on the balls of her scaly boots as she surveyed the road ahead for the briefest of seconds. Dark eyes flashed beneath the contour of her obsidian mask. Then she was off again, train of her ruffled skirt following her like the gauzy tail of a serpent.

At last, she approached the barbed fences around the entry of the Vesuvio Mines. With barely a rustle, she climbed the scantly-grassed rock and stood at the foot of the great fence. There, she reached out to touch the wire with her dark-gloved hands.

A hum thrummed through the air. Then, silver light began to spread from her palms and into the metal, crosses of light in the dark. She pushed her palms up, and the metal bent—then flowed around and under her hands like glowing water. Like this, she lifted the shifting fence over herself like a curtain.

Jemi did feel the tiniest bit bad for ditching her friends. But learning from books was not her forte; neither was doing nice, law-abiding jobs like Commander Ennanis, currently asleep at the inn, ready to rise the next day to continue walking in circles.

Jemi was the kind of person who had to move things along.

The night guards were up ahead. Two of them. Jemi scoffed, crouching behind a row of parked mining carts, and crawled as close as she could make it. Her hands and knees scraped through gravel, but Lunaki muffled the sounds of her movement.

She made it as close as she could. Then, feeling about in the earth next to her boot, she dug up the largest pebble she could find. She hurled it with all her might at the opposite fence.

Flying like a bullet, it smashed against the fence. CLAAAAANG! When the dust cleared, the metal had folded into itself. Oops. Guess the Cockatrice really was pent up.

Heads jerked in astonishment. “What’s going on?” As the guards’ attention was seized, the split second was enough for her to dart the rest of the way. She was into the mouth of the mine when she heard a voice cry out behind her:

“Stop right there! Where do you think you’re going?”

Slowly, Jemi turned around. The guard who had called her out turned footsteps towards her, beam of his flashlight swinging. Jemi was far away and deep enough within the shadows that they could not see her clearly. All the guard saw was a bizarrely well-dressed woman standing in the shadows.

“A… a ghost?” the other guard beside the one with the flashlight suggested.

“Don’t be silly. It’s just some girl playing a prank,” Flashlight said, creeping closer. “Put your hands where I can see them!”

Jemi let out a gurgling laugh. She raised both hands, empty as if in surrender. Both guards visibly relaxed slightly; but then, they heard a bone-chilling crackle from somewhere above them, like crystallising shards of glass.

Schiiing…

Slowly, they turned their heads up: and they saw what looked like two glittering icicles extending from the sky down towards them, like swords unsheathing from the night air. Their faces paled.

The icicles fell. A flashlight went clattering, rolling across the ground. Then Jemi stepped closer, inspecting the bodies. She nodded to herself at the spreading pool of blood. The more, the better. She took care of a few more things before finally heading into the cave.

Jemi ran through the tunnels breakneck. A summoned silver light bobbed behind her, illuminating her path through the pitch-blackness. It was like a rabbit’s warren in here, twisting and winding like they were the gut tracts of snakes, innards made of earth and rock. It was a wonder the woman even knew where she was going, seemingly taking random turns following no pattern at all, but the clacking of her boots never ceased, echoing through the tunnels.

After an unknown amount of running, she finally came to a stop. Huffing and panting, she rocked on her knees. Then she looked up ahead, swishing crest of red-green feathers framing her grinning face.

“Hello there, Kraken,” she said cheerily into the abyss before her. “It’s me.”