Chapter 222
Jay and Norri arrived at the Library, or at least tried to. They were stopped by a group of massive seven foot Librarians who all wore thick looking black leather armor with teal detail work. The armor was not decorative and it was obvious that each had seen combat. Jay and Norri hadn't even made it on to the manicured lawn that covered the area out in front of the library building.
One hulking Librarian stood and blocked their way, two more stood behind and on either side of him. Their armor differed a bit and the Librarian directly in front of them wore a cross strap over his leather chest armor with five throwing knives stored along its length. The other two Librarians wore less detailed armor with no cross strap. They all carried swords at their hips.
There were Guild guards and students and teachers about and they all watched as Jay and Norri were smoothly intercepted by Librarians before they could step on to Library property. The only people standing on the green grassy courtyard in front of the library were Librarians. Everyone else was watching from one of the paths that led to the library.
It appeared that people had gathered just to watch Librarians turn people away from the library. Some people were turned away quietly – others however made a spectacle of themselves.
Jay expected that more than one person had already attempted to gain entry to the Library even after they had been refused entry. Jay could see a number of people with sour looking faces and assumed that they had tried to gain entry and failed.
Rather than try to push past the Librarians, an idiotic idea that only a fool would try, Jay apologized to the large Librarian and moved aside to join part of the crowd watching the Librarians turn people away. He could use a little time to see how the Librarians were handling the crowd before he went any further.
Jay watched as a well dressed looking woman approached the Library grounds and was stopped by a trio of Librarians – they were everywhere, some patrolling, others standing guard every few feet along the Library land's borders.
The woman spoke with the trio of Librarians before she bowed her head, then turned smoothly and went on her way back the way she had come. She was one of the quiet ones, Jay thought to himself.
Jay watched her go just as he heard a commotion off from his left. Some of the watching crowd had already turned to see what the fuss was about.
“I want to talk to who is in charge!” an older looking man was insisting as he waved his arms about a bit wildly. “I have important work to do!”
A trio of Librarians were blocking his way forward and as the Librarian in front moved to speak the other two Librarians moved to flank.
A seven foot woman with short dark hair and a delicate jawline shook her head. “Librarians in charge! You understand? Your work important. No argument. Still. Library open only to Librarians.”
The two flanking Librarians had by that time managed to arrange themselves to the sides and slightly behind the older man trying to 'speak to a manager.' The man didn't appear to notice. If he did notice, he didn't seem to care.
“I'm not the one that disrespected you! Why should I be punished?” the man insisted with a pleading tone of voice.
The female Librarian stared down at him with vibrant blue eyes, “You can still be punished further. For what you do now.”
Things got quiet.
The older man appeared to suddenly realize that he had been shouting and gesticulating wildly with his hands in a bit of an aggressive manner. The height difference between him and the Librarians was worrisome – he hadn't even noticed that until now. He also suddenly realized that he had become surrounded while he had been focused on the Librarian in front of him.
None of the Librarians drew their weapons, but that wasn't much of a consolation. The three Librarians were large enough to significantly wound the man with nothing other than their bare hands. Still, they remained unmoving, waiting.
The older man quickly attempted to calm things down. “Of course! Of course. I'm, sorry.” he said as he nervously looked behind him at the other Librarians. For a moment none of the Librarians moved and the old man became a bit worried that he had already pushed things too far. Finally the two behind him stepped aside.
The man swallowed and backed away slowly until he had put a few feet between him and the other Librarians. Then he speed walked away from the Library and down one of the many paths that it connected to.
“Idiot.” Jay heard someone say from the crowd he was in. “Who argues with a Librarian?” another person muttered loud enough for those around him to hear but no more. The crowd muttered and discussed the latest fool but eventually quieted down as they awaited the next person to try their luck.
Norri chuckled along with the crowd and quieted when they quieted.
“I think I'm going to talk to them.” Jay said as he interrupted the quiet.
Norri looked worried, “Jay – are you sure you want to do that? I swear some guy just almost got beat up by Librarians and all he did was talk.”
Jay nodded. “Yup. You coming with?” he asked as he looked down at her worried face.
Norri sighed theatrically. “FINE. I'll go with, but if we get beat up I'm turning in to a bear.”
Jay laughed as he and Norri stepped out of the crowd and approached the same trio of Librarians that had turned him away earlier.
The three Librarians stopped them before they could get too close to the Library grounds.
“Stop. We already tell you no. We no tell twice.” the Librarian in front with the bandoleer of knives said a bit threateningly.
“Only Librarians allowed, right?” Jay asked as the other two Librarians shifted their weight on their feet.
The two Librarians took a step to the sides and began to flank Jay and Norri slowly. Norri watched them move and nudged Jay with an elbow.
The Librarian in front of him nodded. “Librarians only.”
Jay smiled as if that settled things. “I'm a Librarian. So is my friend here. We both have titles,” he said a bit quieter, “but we'd rather not turn them on in front of everyone? Is there somewhere we can meet with someone and show them the titles?”
The two Librarians were now on either side of Jay and Norri and were about to pass behind them where they wouldn't be able to see them.
“You no Librarian. You have no title.” The Librarian said and sounded quite sure of themselves. The Librarian wasn't from K'tharkle and so hadn't yet heard any gossip about Jay, the Glimmerhides, Redgrass, or anyone else who had gotten a title. As far as the Librarian knew, no one had titles anymore.
Jay already had his menu open to the right section in the corner of his vision. All he had to do was mentally flip a switch.
Norri, who had been watching Jay, had already guessed what Jay was planning on doing and so had done the same that Jay had and already opened her menu to the right setting. She flicked her title to Always Active and it popped up over her head just as the same title appeared over Jay's head.
Pan-dimensional Librarian appeared over their heads and the crowd, who had been muttering about how foolish Jay and Norri were for trying to get in a second time, suddenly quieted as the titles bloomed in to existence over their heads. A few people made oooo sounds in appreciation while others let out a quiet gasp of shock.
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The Librarians did not gasp, but the two Librarians to either side of them suddenly stopped their attempts to flank them and gave the third Librarian confused looks. The Librarian in front of them stood silent for a moment, not sure of what to do.
The Librarians might be huge and imposing but they weren't infallible or all knowing – they were just massive.
Jay was counting on the Librarians to have some system or chain of command in place. The Librarian in front of him might not know what to do but he should know who to ask next.
“You wait. Here. No go,” the Librarian in front of Jay insisted. Then he raised his hand as if he were in class at school. The Librarian didn't leave it up long, maybe five seconds, but that was all it took.
Additional units streamed towards his position. They looked at Norri and Jay and their titles in a bit of shock and immediately moved to separate them from all of the others. Two trios formed up and took up positions between Jay and Norri, and the crowd behind them.
As they arranged themselves another Librarian had wandered over to their position and Jay knew that he had found the manager.
The Librarian was a few inches over seven feet tall and wore black leather armor just as many of the others did. He wore a silver rank insignia – an opened book. He moved to ask the Librarian that had raised his hand what he needed but stopped as he caught sight of Jay, Norri, and their titles.
The ranking Librarian spoke quietly with the one directly in front of Jay for a moment before he turned again to speak with Jay.
“Name?” he asked. “I'm Sergei,” the Librarian stated in a formal sounding tone of voice.
“Jay.” Jay responded shortly. “This is Norri.”
Norri smiled a smile that was not returned by the Librarian.
“Library?” the Librarian continued in a way that made Jay think this was more than just idle curiosity.
Jay and Norri shared a look before Norri answered.
“Ashagi,” she said and Sergei's eyebrows rose. Some of the Librarians that surrounded them gave each other surprised looks.
Sergei looked like he was about to challenge her answer but with the titles glowing in the air over Jay and Norri's heads he quickly reconsidered. What was he going to say? No one escapes Ashagi? They were standing in front of him with titles for Goddess-sakes, the Librarian thought to himself.
Like a cluster of white blood cells the Librarians had gathered around the invader and cut it off from its surroundings. Now they were learning that the invader might not be an invader at all. The cluster of people all gathered in one spot stood out from the rest of the Library grounds though and it wasn't long before word of Jay and Norri's titles had spread.
That was probably why they were soon joined by another group of Librarians, but this trio was different. First of all, the head of the trio was thick with muscles. Jay thought the Librarian's thighs were as wide as Jay's torso. Second of all, he wore a rank insignia with a golden open book. A tiny teal fabric bookmark hung over the metal book.
The new ranking Librarian spoke with the others in a cluster as Jay and Norri looked on. He looked up and peered at Jay and then his title, then the same but for Norri.
The Librarians talked for a bit but then devolved in to arguing as they each seemed to have a different read on things. They all got to share their opinions and Jay noticed that they had who he thought of as the lowest ranking Librarian speak first, then the next, and so on. The Librarian with the golden book rank device on his armor finally peeled away from the others and walked over to Jay and Norri.
“Librarian?” the massive Librarian asked Jay and Norri.
“Yes.” Jay said. “We're titled Librarians. Untrained.”
The Librarian nodded and after a moment smiled. “Good. Librarians serve. Will you?”
Jay thought he should be very careful how he answered a question like that and Norri put one hand on his arm as if in warning.
“Yes?” Jay asked and his voice let everyone know he still had some reservations.
“Good. You help Library, you get Librarian access. Yes?” the hulking Librarian asked Jay and the giant's leather armor creaked as he leaned down so he could see both Jay's and Norri's eyes.
Jay decided why not? How much help could they really need. “Ok,” he agreed.
Norri looked at him like he was crazy and refused to answer until he had nudged her, twice.
“Yes, I'll do it, dang it,” she finally said but didn't look at all happy about it.
The Librarian chuckled. “Grumpy for Librarian. Come,” he said as he led Jay and Norri on to the lawn in front of the Library and towards the steps that led inside.
Norri gave the Librarians around her a worried look and placed one foot on to the grassy lawn.
The crowd watched in suspense as Norri placed her other foot on the grass and no Librarian made a move towards her.
“Come.” the Librarian said again a bit more forcefully and the crowd began to talk and yell as Jay and Norri were led across the lawn.
The crowd continued to yell as they walked inside the library and the doors shut behind them with a heavy thump.
A young boy split off from the crowd and ran towards the Guild offices.
-----
“What is it!” Walter yelled as a heavy thumping sounded at his door. Didn't anyone else work? How did people find all the time to constantly interrupt him, he wondered. He could feel a hot pain in his stomach as his stress ate away at him.
A Guild guard entered and tried to hand him a slip of paper but Walter shook his head and motioned towards the table. “Just put it there with the rest. I'll read them when I'm finished.”
The guard frowned. He hated this part of the job, when the boss said one thing but the guard knew he should do another. He decided to offer a little bit of information. “It's about the library, sir.”
Walter let out a huff and looked at the guard like he was an idiot, “Of course it's about the library! Everything is about the library lately! We can't even get inside it and all we do is talk about it!”
The guard pursed his lips and shook his head. Should he try again? It wasn't like they would pay him extra for a good job or anything – he collected his pay either way. The guard enjoyed doing a good job at work though, and he knew that Walter would be furious later when he did read the message if no one had tried to tell him about it earlier. Maybe one last try? The guard gave it another go.
“Er – someone did, sir. Two someones,” the guard offered and that was enough for Walter to look up from his paperwork and frown with a confused look.
“Someone got in the Library,” Walter asked as he stopped what he was doing.
The guard nodded and smiled. “Two.” he said. He knew that Walter would want to know about this sooner rather than later.
Walter looked furious, “Who sneaked inside?! Are they ok? Are the Librarians holding them?” He had shot up out of his seat and was struggling to put on his dress shirt.
“No sneaking, sir. The Librarians escorted them inside,” the guard answered as he nodded with his head towards the sheet of paper with all of the answers that he had tried to hand to him once already.
Walter picked up the message slip and began reading, as he should have from the beginning. He read it until he reached the part where the names of the two people who had gone in to the library was listed.
Jay, and Norri.
“Goddess-sakes!” Walter yelled at the ceiling as he crumpled the note with one hand out of frustration. “What have they gotten us in to now!? Quick, send a copy of this message to the Captain of the Guard. Notify the on-scene commander to take no action until our arrival, you understand me?” Walter said in a rapid fire pace as he finished buttoning up his shirt and ran out of the room with the guard close behind him.