The compound was set in a valley between two mountains, a solid three hour ride away from the caravan route. It was arid, and dusty, and Gray had been left locked up in a shack, which wasn’t fantastic, but they made sure to leave him with water. If he recalled, that was the custom of this region: you never left someone without water.

Which wasn’t a bad idea, considering how he had first managed to find the town he ended up at. So much for his vow to not use his power before he reached a town. That had been pure hubris, but there was always something to learn in failure. Failure was a gift you had to receive gracefully.

Though he had no idea what he was going to receive out of this failure. He was dirty and sore from the horse ride, and wanted a bath very badly, and to clean his clothes. It had just been a few days ago that he was clean, and now that was ruined. Even a sponge bath would be nice.

People were talking outside the shack, and he buried down in his cloak. It would be awhile before he was brought out, he was willing to bet, and he wanted to have a bit of rest before he did. He was starving, though, which was a problem. But, he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep well on this hard dirt floor. He would likely wake up with a crick in his neck and a bad back. And he was starving, which he had already thought of, but Gray was well aware that he was a bottomless hole for food. It was likely due to all the walking.

Even so… Now was good as a time as any to internally recite lines. Gray assumed a cross legged position on the floor and took a deep breath as he let his eyes slide shut. No power put into it. He didn’t really like betting on violence when he wasn’t completely certain he’d win. Just a simple silent recitation.

A bird darts through a deep ravine.

Its wings spread out to greet the sun.

It wants to be someone seen.

It wants to be the light of dawn.

A poem about hubris might be the best one to start one to reflect on his foolish actions. His fingers tapped with each stressed syllable, and he focused on matching his breath to the iambic quadrameter.

Feathers must glint in the sunset.

Its cries must be felt through the pass.

Its pride must not be its regret.

Its pride cannot be made of glass.

Something rattled outside the door, and he opened his eyes just as the dying rays of the sun were allowed in to bathe across his face. Two shadows were cast in, that of the boss, who was now without his mask, and one of the guards that had tossed Gray in here.

The boss was handsome. High cheekbones and sharp brows, with a five o’clock shadow on his face and long hair pulled back in a bun. He was resting his weight on one hip, a hand casually laid on his sword hilt as he stared down at Gray, who wasn’t sure if he should move to greet him or not.

“This is a nice shed,” Gray said, because it never hurt to be polite, and the man blinked at him.

“Yeah, okay,” he replied and gestured with his other hand, waving two fingers in the air. “Up.”

Gray climbed to his feet and busily dusted off his hopeless pants, and the boss just abruptly turned around and made his way out to the courtyard, where multiple fires were going with those desert swine turning on spits.

“Someone feed the skeleton,” the boss called loudly, and Gray wondered if that meant him as he cautiously ventured out.

“Ah, we’re barely feeding ourselves, boss!” another called.

“Well, you want your teacher to die?” the boss snapped and stalked to a makeshift throne to slouch down and stare at Gray with unwavering eyes glinting in the firelight. “He could use some meat on his bones.”

“Hey, who said we need to know how to read?” someone demanded, and, ah, yes. That would be a reason to kidnap a Librarian, though they could have just asked. It was part of his oaths that he could not turn down anyone that wanted to learn how to read.

“I did, you uneducated lump of worthless trash,” the boss snapped and then actually snapped his fingers. “Librarian. Here, right now.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Oh! My name is Gray!” Gray said as it dawned on him that perhaps the boss had not caught his name. Also, he didn’t much prefer being referred to as if he was a dog, though it was a welcome change of pace that he wasn’t being called a Wanderer---

“I don’t care,” the boss said and jerked his head somewhere to his left. “Sit.”

Gray abruptly realized that he was meant to sit down on the ground next to the boss’s makeshift throne, and ah. That was uncomfortable for multiple reasons, but he wasn’t entirely in a place to refuse. Besides, he was supposed to be swallowing his pride as penance right now, and so he carefully darted around the ragtag bandits to sit cross legged next to the boss, because that seemed much better than kneeling.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen,” the boss said the second he was seated, and leaned down so he was right in Gray’s face. “I only know how to read in Grentarian. So, you’re gonna teach me and all of these useless piles of flesh how to read in Arizzan, and you have seven weeks to do it. Do you understand?”

Arizzan was the local tongue of the country, something Gray had mastered when he was nineteen and had the country circled as the tail end of his five-year beginning pilgrimage before he returned to his homeland of Verdova for a year or so. It wouldn’t be a challenge, but seven weeks was a bit much to expect out of men who probably only spoke one language, and had adult brains on top of it. It was much harder to learn languages as an adult who had never spoken or read another language before, which was why Librarians were expected to know at least three living languages and one ancient or dead one before the age of fifteen, when they were chosen for their Orders.

Of course, Gray knew better than to voice these concerns.

“Well, you didn’t need to kidnap me for that,” he said as offense boiled up. “I took an oath to teach anyone willing to read. That’s a part of being a Librarian. I couldn’t even refuse you.”

“Please, Librarian. You were practically begging to be kidnapped,” the boss said dismissively, and Gray almost let his mouth drop open, but resisted the urge.

“Well, I’m not entirely excited about the rope burns and sore frame from being thrown over a saddle like a sack of loot,” he said primly and rubbed at his burnt wrists. “You could have just let me sit.”

“Are you really going to argue with me in front of all these men?” the boss asked, something dangerous glinting in his eyes, and Gray licked his lips.

“Fine,” he agreed and looked away. “I’ll teach them. But some of them may be unable to learn.”

“Well, we’re on a schedule here,” the boss said and Gray’s eyes darted over in interest. The boss squinted at him, catching his curious gaze, and he tilted his head. “No.”

Gray wasn’t stupid, contrary to popular belief. He was well aware a new branch of the Library had opened in the capital, a three week ride away along the caravan route, faster if you were alone on horseback. It had only been three years since it had been unveiled, after a solid fifty years of the government refusing to allow Librarians even within its borders. It was only in the past ten that they had been allowed inside the borders, thanks to the new progressive king who was sick of the infighting between the religious factions.

However, opening a new Library caused great upheaval to the economy. Rare books were imported, and even more books that had never reached the borders were transcribed and mass produced. Part of their tenets were the mass production of texts for the major populace, typically sold for very little money at all. But, there were ranks, all agreed upon with local governance. Common, uncommon, and rare were the permitted editions. Rare texts were typically magic in nature, and hard to produce, as magic could interact with ink and paper in strange ways. They could not be mass produced and required training to transcribe.

After three years, there was going to be a mass influx of rare texts now that the department was up and running, and that meant magic texts were also going to be imported to make more copies in Arizzan now that the transcription department was running smoothly.

But, in order to know which books were rare and would sell well, you had to be able to read at least the titles.

So, he was teaching these bandits to read so they could steal from the very religious sect he belonged to.

Technically, the rule was clear. No matter the intention behind learning, he had to teach. But, he might run into some trouble for this. Even if the boss refused to tell him why he was teaching them, it only took a process of deduction to figure it out. Magical texts could sell for hundreds of platinum at a time, and if this band was any good, the Library could take a massive financial hit. For such a young Library, still getting on its feet, it could be devastating without outside aid, and Libraries were typically expected to be independent once they got on their feet.

… Yes, Gray couldn’t bat his eyes and ‘oh poor stupid me’ his way out of this situation, and now the Boss was studying his blank face like he was looking for tells.

“Here.”

Oh.

There was a plate stacked high with steaming, succulent meat in front of his face, and the bandit looked none too happy to be giving it to him.

Ah, who cared? Gray had taken his oaths. His oaths were unquestionable. He would teach them.

“Thank you for the meal!” he said happily and picked up a piece of meat to toss it right into his mouth. “Ah, that’s better.”

It was sweet and fatty and savory, and he closed his eyes in sheer bliss.

“Well, at least we know how to bribe you now,” the boss muttered and Gray wiggled to look up at him.

“Librarians only take donations, not bribes,” he said very seriously and popped another shred of meat into his mouth. “I assume your donation will be ‘you are permitted to live’, yes?”

The boss stared down at him for a long, long moment, and then gave Gray a feral smile.

“That’s right, Librarian. You get to live.”

“Excellent! I accept this trade.” He could get a new stipend when he reached the Arrizan Library, anyways.

Ah, this was going to be fun.