"Will we be able to see the library today, Taran?" Clover asked, slicing through a sausage before dipping it into sauce and popping it into her mouth to chew.
"After breakfast," I promised, staring down at my sausage.
I wasn't entirely convinced they weren't plague rat sausages, but Grimsby assured me Mudge had properly disposed of the corpses. He hadn't defined what "properly" meant.
"Did you see the maid?" Poppy asked her sisters. "She's a huge knight with a pretty skirt on over her armor! It's so cute!"
Clover nodded. "She was humming Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when she was dusting my shelves."
"I couldn't see under her helmet," Poppy said, pushing half a sausage between her cheeks.
"Helm," Violet correct her.
"Shame Fing."
"Don't talk while chewing. It's not ladylike."
Poppy shrugged. "I'm not a lady."
I squinted at my sausage.
Then sighed, pushing my plate away.
"Aren't you hungry?" Violet asked, looking concerned.
"Not particularly," I said. "Grimsby said you were returning to the Guild today?"
"We have classes," Clover said, holding up her fork. "I'll be doing Alchemy today."
"And I'm taking Manabeast Training," Poppy said excitedly. "I want to learn how to talk to Noodle."
"You really don't," I muttered as the creature slid out of the shadows and up to my leg where he stared up at me.
I smell sausage, mortal. Give me one.
I used my fork to slide one off my plate and held it out to him.
A whip of black detatched from his back and snapped up the sausage before stuffing it whole into his mouth.
"Tsk," I grunted. "Chew it first!"
Why?
"He's so cute!" Poppy squealed. "I want to give him pets and scritches all day!"
Then she promptly fell asleep.
Her head nodded forward and was caught by Grimsby, who smoothly moved her plate aside and plopped a pillow down before letting her rest on it.
"Sir, your robes are laid out in your room."
"Thank you, Grimsby."
"Robes, Taran?" Clover raised an eyebrow. "How… Old Fashioned of you."
"They're battle robes," I said, a little offended.
I wasn't that old.
Was I?
"Battle robes?" Violet dropped her fork in shock. "Has something happened?"
"Nothing important," I said, putting on a brave smile. "I just have to go see someone today, and it's best to take precautions. Call it a formality."
"That doesn't sound scary at all," Clover said, knocking over the salt shaker. She tried to pick it up and knocked over the pepper grinder.
Grimsby reached over to assist, righting them up.
"Thanks, Grimsby."
"You're welcome, Miss Clover."
She gave him a happy smile and cut herself another piece of sausage.
Mortal, I want another sausage.
I took the last sausage off my plate and passed it over.
"That's the last one. Go bother Mudge if you want another."
The big one has a big knife.
"Cleaver," I said. "He calls it a cleaver."
It is sharp.
"Yes," I said. "It is."
"You can talk to him?" Violet asked, glancing at the little void cat as it gulped the last sausage.
"Unfortunately."
"Poppy will be jealous."
"She has nothing to be jealous about," I told her. "Some things are cute on the outside, but monsters on the inside. Which is, by the way, why battle robes were invented."
Clover's eyes went wide and she shook her head, unable to believe what I was telling her. "But look at him! He's so adorable! Aren't you, Noodle?"
I like her, mortal. Have her brought to my altar for lunch. I will gnaw on her heart. It will please me greatly and I might forgive that you disposed of my breakfast last night.
Oh.
I had promised I'd let him eat Reginald Finch, hadn't I?
"I gave you my sausages," I told him.
You weren't eating them.
"Doesn't matter," I said. "They were mine."
Bring me the girl. Or I will lay waste to the world.
"Grimsby, please get some tuna from Mudge for Noodle."
Tuna will not settle this debt, mortal!
"And some kippers," I said. "Three of them."
Five.
"Four kippers."
One day, I will destroy you!
"Four kippers and a sardine."
The void cat twitched his tail, let out a sniff, then pranced from the room with an arrogant strut. The girls watched him go, gazing at him like he was the fluffiest and most cutest thing in all of existence.
Poor things.
They were so innocent.
I felt a need to pat them all on the head.
Poppy snored, lost to the bliss of sleep.
I envied her.
Suddenly, she let out a snort and sat up with a dazed expression. "Wha-?"
"You fell asleep," Clover said.
"Oh." She looked around. "Where's Noodle?"
"He stole Taran's sausages and left."
"Oh." She smiled at me brightly. "It's so kind of you to let him have your sausages. I was going to give him mine, though."
"You ate yours," Clover pointed out.
"Oh." She slumped her shoulders. "I'll save one for him tomorrow."
"There's no need to spoil him, Poppy," I said. "He really does get more than enough food."
"Yes, but I'm sure he likes sharing our food. It probably makes him feel special."
"I think he feels special enough."
After breakfast, I led the three girls back upstairs. The tower shifted gently as the library swooped into view.
"I can't get used to this," Clover said, glancing around in awe at the moving stairs and walls which warped and stretched as rooms slid past. "It's so magical!"
I felt a wave of pride go through my heart at her words.
"Thank you," I said. "I worked hard on it. Some of the enchantments were tricky."
"Will you teach me how to do them?"
"I'm not a good teacher," I said. "But the library has a lot of books on the subject. If you really want to know how to enchant things, you'll find the answers there. However, some enchantments need special ingredients, so don't expect to be able to do very much straight away. I advise you to start small."
She beamed at me, and I reached out and patted her on the head before I could stop myself. She was so adorable.
She closed her eyes and took the pat with a satisfied grin.
And I wasn't sure if I could stop myself now I'd started. I wanted to pat her forever!
"I want a pat, too," Poppy said, thrusting her head close.
"Of course." I patted her, too.
Such bliss!
"I'm fine," Violet said, inching away.
The wound in my heart wasn't deep, but I felt it anyway.
"Liar," Clover mumbled under her breath.
The stairs suddenly let out a small click as they settled in place in front of a large blue door which was covered in a bright veil of green light.
I stepped up close and held out my hand.
A small wisp of light stretched out to wrap around my wrist.
I could feel it probing me, testing me.
Analysing.
Then the doors let out a heavy crunch as some mechanism in them unlocked. The sound echoed through the tower's walls like the step of a giant elemental.
Poppy took a hesitant step back. "Eep!"
Then the doors swept open and the welcoming scent of books wafted over us and made Clover swoon. "Oh…" She moaned. "That smells so good!"
I chuckled as I led them inside.
My library was much larger than the Mage Guild's. It was fifteen levels high and the countless aisles of shelving carried books which I'd collected from this and many other worlds. Candles floated in the air, their gentle glow giving warmth to the atmosphere.
A soft whisper seemed to float through the aisles, like a breeze of spirits. Shadows shifted and moved, but you didn't see them move. You just knew they were.
A scroll flipped up from behind a shelf, a feathered quill scribbling notes before it rolled itself up with a crisp shuffle of paper and zoomed away.
Books gently floated across the room as they slowly rearranged themselves.
Stacks of books, many taller than I was, cluttered the library as they waited to be shelved. There were more books than there were shelves available. Which reminded me I need to add a few more levels.
"So amazing," Poppy breathed, causing the others to nod silently with her.
A small stone orb was set up on a plinth beside the door. "Put your hand on this," I said. "It'll attune you to the room."
One by one, the girls placed their hand on the library's orb.
I sent a thread of mana into the orb each time, triggering the enchantment to accept them.
Finally, when it was done, the three girls looked at me, slightly puzzled.
"Is that it?" Clover asked.
"It is."
"So, we can come here any time?"
"Any time you like," I said. "But you can't take the books outside the library. It won't let you. Please don't try."
"We won't," Violet promised, squinting at Clover.
Clover stared back at her. "What?"
"If anyone tries, it'd be you."
"I won't!"
"Good," I said. "Because it really wouldn't be a good idea."
Suddenly the ground rumbled under our feet and a shriek blasted from the bowels of the library's many shelves. The scream carried with it the cold spite of a grave and the vicious promise of a long painful death.
The three girls let out a frightened gasp as the howling scream twisted into a manic roar.
"Who dares to enter my domain?"
***
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