Leo dreamt he was at Skyborn University, testifying to Gianna’s character before the council of Archmages. An irascible fellow with a purple goatee was grilling him about Gianna’s past. Leo had to finesse the questions because admitting that she was a former pickpocket was disqualify her from admission. But it was difficult for him to focus — he was distracted by the presence of another Archmage who sat at far end of the dais. His head lay flat on the table, and he was moaning in pain.

Moaning… moaning…

Leo's eyes fluttered open. Bjørn stood over him holding a knife at his throat, but Bjørn’s attention was focused on what was happening behind him. Danieli was chanting in a husky, guttural voice, invoking some dark enchantment. Bronze vines of arcana extended from her temple to Nico’s. Nico was slumped on the desk, moaning in pain. Cosimo watched the scene with detached curiosity.

No one seemed to realize Leo had woken up.

Leo seized the moment. Dodging the blade at his throat, he rolled out of bed, ducked low, and grabbed his swords Ice and Wraith, which were leaning against the wall. In one fluid motion, he drew them both on Bjørn and Cosimo.

“Morning, Leo,” said Cosimo casually, not even turning to face him.

“Thanks. Now kindly fuck off, or you’ll be tasting my steel for breakfast.”

“Threatening your client on the eve of your mission? You, sir, are a bold man.”

“And you, sir, will be a dead man,” he said, mocking Cosimo’s Qirini accent, “if you do not unhand Nico.”

“Can't.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Can’t. The enchantment has already commenced.”

“What spell?” Out of the corner of Leo’s eye, he saw that Gianna was wide awake, seemingly paralyzed with fright.

“Mindlock — an enchantment to tether his mind to Danieli’s. While you are inside the Library, Danieli will be privy to his thoughts, emotions, and sensations.”

“What? Why?”

“Why? Is that not obvious? Because we just met and I don't trust you. Because you fucked me over and turnabout is fair play. Because whatever you find inside that Library, I wish to see it with my own eyes. Or with Danieli’s eyes, anyway.”

Spittle drooled from Nico’s mouth, and his torso spasmed. He appeared unconscious.

“That sounds like your problem. Release him, or I’ll cut down the three of you into mincemeat.”

“Told you — we can't. The enchantment has already commenced. Aborting now would cause massive and irreversible damage to his psyche. It might strip him of his sanity, or leave him catatonic, or even kill him. I know the spell may be slightly… err, discomfiting—”

“—Agonizing, you mean—”

“—but there are no deleterious long term effects.”

Leo’s eyes wandered back to Bjørn, who seemed humiliated at being disarmed. The thick cords of muscle by his neck were stretched taut.

“I'm done,” Danieli said in her dreamy voice. Nico lay motionless on the desk, unconscious. Red welts had appeared on his temple where the arcane energy had penetrated him.

“How long will he be like this?” Leo asked through clenched teeth.

“The tether will slough away in a day or so,” Danieli replied. “It may take him a few hours to recover his senses.” She winked at Leo, and then the three of them departed the room.

***

Nico could always sense when someone was staring at him — even if his eyes were closed, even in a dark room. It was like a sixth sense, an odd feeling that crept up his spine and made his skin crawl.

What he felt now was like that, multiplied many times over. The queer sense that some foreign presence had burrowed into his mind — a sensation both alien and terrifying. When the diviner had accosted him, the pain had been immeasurable. Like fingers of boiling hot lava pouring into his skull.

For a time his mind drifted in a daze, more dead than alive. It might have been a minute, a day, a year, or an eternity — he did not know.

Then, he heard Leo's voice calling him, saying his name.

“Nico?”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

The words were gentle tugs, lifting him back to consciousness. He opened his eyes. Two figures swam above him.

“Nico?” Leo said again.

“Mmyeh.” He could only grunt. His whole body ached with pain, especially his head. Gianna was pressing a damp cloth to his forehead.

“Are you okay? Does it hurt?” she asked. “I brought food and water.”

“Fine,” he croaked, finding his tongue. “I’m fine.”

“You don't look fine,” said Leo. “You look like hell.”

“You have such a soothing bedside manner, Lee,” Gianna said. “You should be a physiker.”

Nico laughed, though it came out as a strange whine. He took a sip of water and nibbled on the cinnamon pastry Gianna had brought. Within minutes he was already feeling substantially better. When he woke he had been dazed and disoriented, now suddenly he remembered the task before them.

“The Library… have we arrived?”

“We docked an hour ago,” said Leo. “You sure you still want the job? I’ve half a mind to disembowel Cosimo. You were right that we can’t trust him.”

“Why did he do this?”

“I told him last night that we'd be entering the Library without him. He decided he wanted to keep tabs on us while we’re inside. Danieli applied some enchantment to you — Mindlock, it’s called. She can see everything you see, hear what you hear, think what you think.”

“Figures. But we’ve come this far… may as well see it through. We need to prepare our disguises.”

“What disguises?” said Gianna. “We didn’t bring any outfits.”

“Don’t need outfits. Just tattoos.” This was why Nico was so eager to obtain an Illusion attunement. Being adept at illusion magic would make it far easier to stage disguises with Leo and Gianna, he would be able to readily change their mannerisms, their physiognomy, their voice and their gait — things which, for someone who had no experience in theater, was difficult to accomplish. But with magic it would be easy.

As it was, this was a fairly simple disguise to pull off. He fished through his alchemy supplies and pulled out a vial of Alderwood sap. It was a dark ochre sap found in fae kib trees and commonly to ward against banshees, but the compound was safe and nonreactive, and could be used to rub on fake tattoos in a pinch.

“For today’s performance, we are to be Kerchmen seeking a cure for Bluebruise fungal rot — a plague that is destroying our bamboo crops, Kerch’s chief export. I’ve forged a letter from the Duke accordingly.”

“Kerch,” said Leo, thinking over the plan. “The island chain about 200 miles southwest of the Myriad, right?”

“Right. It’s under Duke Ferdinand’s dominion. Kerchman look identical to Genovese people, and they speak their own language. One signature difference is that they each have crescent moons tattoed to their temple, hence this.” He held up the vial of Alderwood sap. “The claim is plausible enough to not arouse suspicion, and if they start asking too many questions, we feign confusion, pretending to not understand them.”

“Clever,” said Leo. “So long as we don’t encounter a real Kerchmen in the Library. In this disguise, what is our relationship to Gianna? Is she our apprentice?”

“She’s—”

“—I’m a dwarf,” she said confidently. The girl was terrible at disguises and usually liked to make a game of them.

Nico shrugged. “Suit yourself. Before we go, there’s something else you both should know. The Library — I know now why the Empress is so touchy about trespassers. Scholars within the Library are attempting to harness its mana for occult rituals.”

“Well that sounds delightfully ominous,” Gianna said. “How did you find out?”

“Lucius’ dossier. Whatever they’re doing, it’s quite lethal. At least a dozen scholars have perished from their studies.”

“Fear not,” Leo said, “for I shall have Whisper with me.”

“No,” Nico said. “Leave your weapons behind. We have to keep a low profile.”

***

The Floating Library of Azkaya was located in Capri, an isle in the northern Myriad — or as far north as civilized man could venture without being preyed upon by ravenous dragons or Diji raiders. The town clung to a small spit of land thrusting into the sea, a sickle-shaped breakwater sheltering its modest harbor. Capri was still a haven for Diji encampments, and so the Empire had built a stout wall on the edge of town. Mailed guards manned the ramparts, their gazes fixed west.

Capri was but a village, in truth, and thinly populated. The Library anchored the local economy, and nearly all Capri’s citizens were scribes, scholars, and mages. It was oft said the three trades held a deep-seated enmity for one another; each distrusted and disdained the other two.

The town was easy to navigate, being both small and well-ordered. Nico led the way, threading past pubs and inkshops, scroll shops and apothecaries. Everything here, even the pubs, catered specifically to scholars and mages. One local alehouse they passed was luring customers with the promise of free ink with the purchase of two mugs.

Nico and Leo hurried past it all, and they soon arrived at their destination.

Across a wide, empty square rose the Floating Library of Azkaya: an onyx orb suspended in midair, resting upon an ethereal white cloud. From this vantage, it loomed like an unassailable mountain. The nimbus at its foundation glittered like opals.

“Who built this?” said Gianna. “How is it sitting on a cloud?”

"Azrael did,” said Nico, answering both questions with one answer. The god of gods, who resided in the Ice Court at the southern tip of the world.

“When Azrael created the world, he peopled it with men and monsters, and erected monuments and buildings — some as temples for his children, the gods of magic. Those temples became attunement spires. Other monuments remained mysterious, their purposes unknown.”

Leo spoke next, recalling what he’d read last night: “For eons it lay uninhabited, until a hundred years ago when Ambrose tamed the magic within.”

“Everyone knows that story,” said Gianna.

“It’s beautiful,” Nico said, “in its own bizarre, preternatural sort of way.”

“Pity,” said Leo, “that Azrael forgot to build a door. Or a flight of stairs for that matter. How do we get in?”

“We simply walk in,” said Nico, smiling. “The cloud is a portal entrance. Follow me.”

He led them across the square, pigeons fluttering at his approach. Reaching the Library, he hesitated a moment with trepidation. Mustering his resolve, he stepped into the opalescent mist, and entered Azkaya.