Muse 9 (ONC 2020)

Chapter 10

I stumbled when I reached the landing. When my foot reached for another stair and didn't find one, my forward momentum sent me sprawling forward across the stone floor. The rifle fell from my grasp and skittered across the smooth surface.

A booted foot stopped it.

I looked up at the owner of the dark leather boot. A woman peered down at me, her curly dark hair falling forward around her face. She wore a floor-length midnight blue tunic, with a broad belt sporting dozens of hanging blue tassels that brushed against her skirt as she moved. In her hand was a weathered wooden staff, an obsidian stone imbedded in the head.

"Hello," the woman said, her tone curious and friendly. "And you are?"

I opened my mouth but before I could say anything, she waved her hand at me. "No, no, don't tell me." She whipped her head back over her shoulder, calling excitedly, "Evelyian!" Looking back at me swiftly enough to give me whiplash – and I hadn't even moved – she continued, "You look like a Huntris. Which must make you...the daughter. Right?"

"Sable," another voice chimed in, and I looked over to see another woman glide onto the landing. Her dark hair was straight and shorter than the first woman, wearing a similar tunic to hers. Her belt was narrow, however, with a silver buckle on the side. In her hand was a short sword, sheathed in a decorative ebony covering. "Her name is Sable."

"How do you know that?" the first woman asked, furrowing her brow.

The second woman, Evelyian, gestured to me with the tip of her sword. "You said she's a Huntris, right? She's not Megana; she's too young. That must make her the daughter. Sable."

The first woman gestured wildly. "I know that."

Evelyian just laughed.

"How do you know who I am?" I asked.

"Your mother was here, once," Evelyian told me. "A long time ago."

She died there.

Mom died here.

"Did you kill her?" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

The first woman looked offended. "No, we didn't kill her. What do we look like?"

I frowned. Whatever I had been expecting from the guardians of the Library, this was not it.

"Who are you?" I asked, pushing myself off of the ground.

"I am Laurelyn," the first woman said.

"I am Evelyian," the other introduced. "We are the Librarians."

[----]

The main room was full of lines of bookshelves, forming intricate patterns throughout the spacious chamber where someone could easily lose themselves. Shelves towered up the walls, tilting slightly forward the further up they climbed, and deep recesses high up in the conical ceiling looked both cozy and frightening at the same time.

Laurelyn gestured grandly to the space. "This is the Library," she said proudly. "Our collection of rare texts."

"Nonexistent texts," Evelyian corrected.

I stared at the room full of manuscripts, wondering if the Muse 9 texts were really here. Were those who were holding Luktor right? Were the texts here?

Were the texts even real?

"I'm looking for something," I said, turning to Evelyian and Laurelyn. "A set of texts."

Laurelyn nodded. "Yes. We know."

I furrowed my brow. "You know?"

Evelyian attached her sheathed sword to her belt. "Your mother was here, Sable. Megana searched for the same texts as you. The Muse 9 manuscripts, correct?"