Heg whistled softly. “Should some of us wait here at the doors?”
Farfalee gave a nod. “That might be a wise position for anyone lacking a particular assignment. I recommend that Aram lead a party to the top of the highest dome to keep lookout. Unless I am mistaken, the vantage will be outfitted with an array of optical enhancers. I’ll keep Jasher, Drake, Jason, and Nia with me, to assist in my research.”
“All right,” Aram said. “Three with me. The rest man the door.”
Farfalee led Jason, Drake, Jasher, and Nia through the entryway and into the lobby. High above, one of the smaller domes capped the vast chamber, perhaps forty yards across. The murals on the walls looked freshly painted. The lower murals depicted underwater scenes with exotic fish swimming among sharks, squids, eels, and other aquatic predators. Higher murals featured wizards on land, harnessing the elements to attack cities, combat armies, and battle monsters. The paintings and carvings on the domed ceiling showed clouds at sunset, birds, and a variety of fanciful winged creatures.
“I thought the Repository of Learning was big,” Jason said, head craned back. “It was just a tiny satellite branch.”
“Only two other libraries in Lyrian ever rivaled this one,” Farfalee said. “Before abandoning us, Eldrin demolished both of them, together with several lesser repositories and the former residences of many wizards. Only the Celestine Library has remained untouched.”
“I suppose we can thank the Maumet for something,” Jasher said.
“I consider the guardian much easier to thank now that it has scattered on the wind,” Drake remarked.
Three large archways led out of the impressive lobby—one directly across from the entrance, one to the left, and one to the right. All the archways had strange characters engraved above them.
Farfalee walked purposefully toward the archway across from the entrance. “We should find the index records this way. Dare I hope that some of the guides have survived?”
“Guides?” Jason asked. “As in workers? Librarians?”
“Not living guides,” Farfalee explained. “No loremasters or historians would have survived these secluded centuries. The guides principally assisted in cataloging these larger libraries. They were Edomic constructs, not living, but brimming with information.”
“Like computers,” Jason said.
Farfalee looked at him blankly.
“In the Beyond, our libraries have complicated machines with information about all the books.”
“Your computers might serve a similar function,” Farfalee said. “But the guides are not mechanical. Nor are they truly sentient. Some nearly possess the illusion of life thanks to complex Edomic workmanship. Certain wizards devoted their careers to such projects.”
They passed beneath the archway into a short hall. Along either side, heavy doors alternated with arched recesses housing stately busts. Instead of ending, the hall became a downward stairway, not steep, but quite long. It took fifty steps to reach the landing. Farfalee ignored the doors there and descended another long flight. And another. Jason realized that, as immense as the library had appeared from outside, much more of it was concealed underground.
The stairs deposited them in a tubular room that looked like the inside of a long barrel. No sunlight reached this deep place, and the stones in the walls glowed dimly, leaving much of the room in shadow. A counter stretched from wall to wall, restricting access. Behind the counter, rows of tall shelves extended into the distance. The smell of leather and old paper saturated the air.
“Look at all those books!” Nia exclaimed.
“This is merely the index,” Farfalee said. “If we can’t find any guidestones, we’ll search here by hand.”
Jason gawked in despair at the endless shelves. How many of those thick tomes would they have to examine simply to find the right area to begin their search?
Drake stretched his arms over his head and grimaced. “I think this is where I wander off and go for a swim.”
Farfalee glared at him.
“Let me rephrase,” Drake tried. “My instincts warn that I had best hasten to the beach to help keep watch.”
Placing both hands on the countertop, Farfalee kicked her legs sideways and vaulted it nimbly. “Don’t lose heart,” she said, scanning the rear of the counter. “A facility of this quality would ordinarily boast any number of— Here we are!”
Farfalee crouched behind the counter and came up with a wooden tray of hemispheric stones. After placing the tray on the counter, Farfalee selected a blue hemisphere with light green veins.
Cupping the stone in her hand, she spoke in conversational Edomic without commanding intent, and a bluish, translucent man appeared beside her. Wearing a breastplate and helm, a hefty sword at his waist, the spectral figure stood tall, with broad shoulders and brawny limbs.
He greeted Farfalee in Edomic. She asked a question. Something about what other languages he could speak. Jason found that as he attempted to focus on the individual words they spoke, his comprehension grew muddled. He understood better when he only paid casual attention.
“Did she have to pick the dashing soldier?” Jasher grumbled.
“My sister has an eerie sense for these things,” Drake replied, suppressing a grin.
“I don’t mind the choice,” Nia chimed in, sizing up the ghostly soldier appreciatively.
Pausing from her conversation, Farfalee turned to the others. “This should dramatically accelerate the search. Meet Tibrus. He is one of more than a hundred guides at our disposal.”
“Do the others look like him?” Nia wondered innocently.
“If so,” Jasher mumbled to Drake, “I may join you for that swim.”
Farfalee rolled her eyes. “If I have a knack for finding attractive males, as my husband perhaps you should find the implied compliment.”
“Do they only speak Edomic?” Jason asked. He had missed the answer about languages.
“Our current common tongue was in use well before this library became inaccessible,” Farfalee replied. “The scholars of my youth worked hard to obscure certain knowledge by expressing it in Edomic. But many guides are capable of conversing in other languages if I first issue Edomic instructions to unlock the ability.”
“I’ll take one of those,” Drake said. “My Edomic is out of practice.”
Farfalee arched an eyebrow. “Ironic, since you unlawfully employ the language to ignite your cooking fires.”