Scavengers of the Deadlands

Chapter Five: Blood is the key

 Musty, dry dust filled Abigail’s nostrils and she sneezed, once, twice, ducking beneath the low eaves to try and reach the books. The library was one place where she did not feel comfortable, despite an enjoyment of books. It consisted of an erratic jumbling of rooms, some no bigger then a closet, others so vast that one had to literally scale the shelves to reach the books they required. Crazy angles ran amok and the books appeared to have been catalogued by a madman. Beside her, half-concealed beneath a shelf Willow snuffled and vainly attempted to groom the dust from his fur, gagging all the while.

“Don’t they have cleaners in here?” He muttered. “My poor paws and whiskers.”

Abigail reached forward over a precarious tower of books and grasped a thin volume that had half-slipped down behind the shelves. “Here,” she said, flourishing it victoriously, “Runes, an illustrated guide. That sounds about what I need.”

“Good,” Willow muttered. “Wait, there’s something under here.” She heard the sound of something small, like a pebble, being batted across the floor and a moment later the cat appeared in a cloud of dust, sneezing and wheezing. “Oh,” he said, disappointed. “It’s just one of those things you folk use to acquire other things.”

“An opate,” Abigail replied, picking it up. It was a clear one, just as the first had been worth no more then a few grains of uncooked rice. Such small change that hardly anyone bothered to carry it anymore. It did seem unusual that it was the second such item she had found in as many days. She pocketed it.

Some time later, after further research and some crawling around on her stomach under low eaves and strange twisted shelves, she managed to find a couple of other books about runes and even one on a history of Kalimere, to aid her in her homework. She also found a particularly large and hefty book entitled “Tirra-Inle enrolments, 3144-3154” which consisted of a list of names organised by year and followed by a comment such as “graduated, 3150” or “failed, 3148”. There were others too – “expelled” and “withdrew”. But although she pored over it until the small text set her headache throbbing anew, there was no record of anyone disappearing. Either the rumours weren’t true, or “withdrew” was being used to cover more then those that announced their willingness to give up and leave. She slammed the book in frustration and tossed it back onto the shelf.

“Not a clue in sight,” she muttered.

“Of course not,” Willow replied, licking his paw and wincing at the taste of dust. “Those are just print-outs taken from the databanks, and those are something that you, as a humble student, do not have the access to. Do you really think they would print ‘ran away’ in a book that students were able to read? You must be foolish. Come along, we’ll work that one out later. For now we have runes to solve.”

The librarian Shrew looked at her somewhat askew as she plonked her volumes on the desk. “Whatever are you wanting all these books on runes for, dearie?” She asked, “surely you haven’t started decoding them yet.”

“Not yet,” Abigail put on her most dutiful face, “but I have a really bad memory and thought it would be a good idea to learn some beforehand. You know, so I don’t look too stupid.”

“Right.” For a moment Abigail fancied a strange frown flickered on the librarian’s face, to be quickly replaced by her usual saccharine smile. “Learning about Kalimere then, are you?” She asked, signing the final book out to her. “You’ve got to admire those Meerkats, taking on the Felid overlords. The sooner it is learned that us smaller folk are not to be trifled with, the better.”

Abigail smiled, nodded and hurriedly scurried off to her room, keeping her eyes down so as not to see anyone on her way. She swung open the door to find Connie sitting morosely on her bed.