Liliane tried, and failed, not to sneeze, which made all the dust of the surroundings form a wave of filth. The library was unclean, full of cobwebs, scuttling bugs and at least three different species of rats. She hoped the diversion and her husband’s help would keep the cleric distracted enough to find and… Borrow the books they needed. She was not fully convinced of his plan, but she trusted her husband to know what he was doing. He was a pro, after all. “Now”, she thought, glancing around, “where should I start looking?”

  The old woman really hoped they had at least a register somewhere, or had put plaques on the various scaffolds and bookshelves. Her library, back home, was neatly organized, divided by genre and sorted in alphabetical order, but something suggested that it wouldn’t be the same here. She looked around searching for a thick volume, somewhere easily reachable, on the big desk near the staircase maybe, but she came up with nothing. No useful tome on sight.

  The tables were clear, with the exception of a couple plates and forks.

  Someone had also left some rags near a spilled bottle of ink, leaving the floor half cleaned.

  She pouted.

  “I should probably ask someone here.”

  Liliane made three short whistles, then a long, deep one. After a minute or so, a pair of rats - one with a gray mane, the other spotted with black and white - scuttled in front of her feet, silently, and sat in waiting.

  “Hello darlings, how are you today?” she beamed “Such a shiny coat! Did you raid some nice pantry? Here, I have some seed bread with me”, she said to the animals, patting a purse that seemingly appeared out of thin air as they watched her, intently “I just need for you to show me the book that most people, or the old man who smells of incense, take first each time they come down here”.

  The rats looked at each other, then at Liliane, and finally started to slowly move toward one of the scaffolds in the back, silently. They went around a bit, sniffing and scratching the bookshelves, until they reached a thick,leather bound book abandoned on the ground, and started nibbling at it. On the cover, faint gray letters outlined the word ‘library index’.

  “Oh, thank you so much dearies!” she giggled, taking a big chunk of bread out of her purse “This is for you, and there will be more prizes for you if you keep a lookout for anyone coming down the stairs.”

  The rats nodded silently, cleaned themselves a bit and took the bread apart, taking some pieces. After putting it in their mouth, they scuttled away toward the door of the room. They made no sound as they did.

  “Ok, now. Let's see what we have here.”

  The pages of the book were a bit frayed at the edges, but luckily, their content was still legible enough. The system with which the books should allegedly be ordered was simple, if really ineffective. The books were cataloged in the chronological order they arrived at the library, with the oldest book near the far end wall, and the newest ones near the entrance. Thankfully, they wrote down the names of the books, other than just the date they were brought in.

  “A brief history of the human realm, a long story about short bows, ugh, what’s The marvelous misadventures of Marvin Misadventus? I want to curse with illiteracy whoever decided to put these books here.” Liliane was starting to pace, while holding the tome. After a while, she stopped. “Ok, this, this may be something we need” she said, tapping her finger on the page, sliding it while she read out loud. “The complete list of prophetic scrolls and where they belong by Biblio Teconomew. Third row, second column.”

  She counted the rows by hand, reached the right one, and went straight for the book she needed. It was pretty old, but barely worn out, bound with a light blue material. Something like… Wool, maybe? Anyway, she put the book in her purse, which made a light thumping sound from within, and went back to the index, now resting, open, on one of the desks.

  She started going through the pages again, faster this time, looking for whatever may be tied to the Numens, to the silver lion Erad, or the mythical lance.

  After some minutes, she had actually found more tomes that may be of interest in their search: ‘Glory be to the Numens’, ‘The great spirits’, ‘The end of the Night’, and two small booklets concerning the lance of Undoings and the basic chants of the clerics. They were in their supposed place, with the same old-but-not-used look of the other one, and she skimmed them, finding that they seemed to hold very little, and be mostly legends, heresays, or glorified retellings by imaginative bards. Oh, and a comprehensive list of names and titles of the Numens. She still put them all into her purse, where they fell with soft sounds. She then made the satchel disappear under her dress.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Ugh. This was a waste of precious time. Still better than nothing, though. Maybe I should try to find something else, though. And… This uncleanliness…” She turned around, looking at the room, trying to take in details she might have missed. “It feels strange. Constructed, even. You know what? Let’s try something like… this.”

  She started clapping her hands, in a three on five rhythm, while humming unintelligibly. The dust started to pool, twirling in the room, collecting together and forming ghastly figures shuffling around, sitting on the chairs, sometimes sitting in mid air, or moving their hands as they were turning pages. Some were even taking notesm

  One of the dust shadows, though, wasn’t reading, or reaching for a book, or otherwise resting their head on the desk: it seemed to walk slowly, looking around, as if searching for something. It then pressed on one of the books inside a large bookshelf, and then puffed in a cloud when it hit it, trying to phase through.

  “I knew it! No old dusty library is ever without secrets. It would’ve been weird if the access was so restricted but was then unguarded, filthy, and full of stuff you could find in a communal library or a bookshop. Now, let’s see how…”

  She placed herself where the dust shadow was, and looked at the books on the shelf. One was a lot cleaner than the others and, on its spine, ‘History of hidden doors’ was written in red. She pressed it against the wall, and, unexpectedly, it sank with an audible click.

  The bookshelf slid slowly to the left, revealing a tight passage, scarcely illuminated. From here, three shelves, full of golden and silver books, could be seen.

  She entered the small room, and was struck by the smell of cinnamon, ginger and clove.

  The insides were all finely adorned, with silvery candle holders above which hovered magical lighting, illuminating the room as it was day. The walls were painted with frescos of the Numens, even though there were eleven, not ten as was shown in the paned glasses outside. The spines of the books, looking closely, had a metallic sheen, hovering half an inch from them. Some sort of barrier, or magical protection.

  She put her hand into her purse, and brought out a small bag. She took a pinch of black salt from it, and started sprinkling it on the shimmering surface. The barrier started eroding, slowly, until there was a big hole into it, big enough to allow the tomes to be taken away.

  “I think I struck it rich. Well. I hope no one will miss them too much.”

  With a twirl of her hand, the books departed from their resting place and willingly jumped into the bag, which had enlarged to ease their passage. One by one they all went inside, making a melodious sound at the end of their fall, while the barrier started mending. She looked at it, fascinated by the changing lights.

  All of a sudden, she felt something bite her ankle. Softly.

  “Oh dear”, she said to the rats “Someone is coming, right? Thank you so much for the assistance, you two. You have been so helpful.” One of them squeaked, then the other, then the first one, again. The rodents looked at her, a hopeful look on their small faces.

  “You need safe passage, you say? To Cranesworth?” the white one squeaked his assent. “You were separated from your colony because you fell into a book crate bound for here many moons ago? Oh, for the Numen's, that’s a travesty!” Liliane looked positively distraught for the small furballs.” You can count on me! Nothing easier, lovelies, just jump into my purse! It's the safest place to be. Now, let’s go before someone notices us.”

  The two small rodents jumped in, and the old woman made the purse disappear again under her dress while hurrying through the passage, closing the contraption behind her and walking straight towards the stairs.

  “Is someone there?” asked the familiar voice of Willgamber, harshly. “Show yourself!”

  Something must have alerted the cleric, since it was weird for him to check the stairs without motive. Liliane thought of a credible excuse.

  “Oh, dear cleric, forgive me, I was trying to find a toilet, you know, with my age and all, we need to go more often, I’m sorry if I created you some problems!” the old woman said, going up the stairs with a face full of contrition and shame, her glasses in one hand and a handkerchief in the other, cleaning the lenses before putting them on again, squinting.

  “I did not want to disturb your work, since my husband said you went into your study, so I tried looking for one alone because my husband was still deep in prayers to thank the Numen's for the life of our son Lucky but my sight isn’t good as it used to…”

  The cleric smiled gently to the old woman, who seemed so sorry about her wandering in the temple’s rooms, and put a hand on her shoulder. “Let me show you the latrines, madame, don’t worry. Age is not something to be ashamed of, it’s the opposite, instead. Every day lived praising the Numens is a testament to their benevolence. But I understand how awful it can be to lose our strength to the tides of time. Keep your fate in the Numens and, as you surely know-”

  “We will begin anew, born in new flesh again, stronger again, happy again.”

  “Yes, exactly! Look forward to that day, mrs. Goodcat.” he said, radiant.

  “Well, I really hope that day comes as late as possible. I'll work hard to make it so” she thought.

  Exiting from the stairs, they took a left, followed a short corridor and arrived in front of a wooden door.

  “Here they are, madam.”

  “Oh, you’re such a nice young man, thank you so so much for helping this old lady!” she said, softly patting his shoulder.

  “You’re welcome, Mrs. Let me know if you need something else.”

  “Oh, no, I don't think I will! I’ll just go and then regroup with my husband, the day is still young, and I thank you again for such willingness. I’ll be sure to sing your praise in the next temple we’ll visit.What was your name again?” she asked, smiling.

  “Call me Edramund, madame. Just my name will suffice.”

  “Well met then, Edramund. Well met.”

  Saying this, the woman made a small bow towards the cleric, and entered the latrines. The cleric, finally, went back to his study. Liliane waited a couple minutes, just to be sure he went back to the study and then, certain of being finally alone, got out of the door, ran like the wind into the temple aisle, caught her husband, still sitting on the benches, by a sleeve, and practically dragged him out of the central door. The two of them were finally out of the Numen’s temple.