Chapter 131 The Library

  The heavy, wet snow ched under our feet as the discordant rhythm of our steps headed toward the western gate of Caelora. Adrian and Konstantin were out front and cut down another specter while Castile took its death essehe dark walls of the city soon shadowed over us, blog some of the snowfall.

  Large stones were scattered at the foot of the wall, having fallen with time. Being close to the city felt wrong, and the aged stone was covered in a bck mold. The gate was glossy, ominous bck wood as we reached it, with one of the rge doors slightly ajar, giving a narrow entrao the city.

  The pany huddled by the wall as Konstantin checked the narrow opening ie. I was standing in front of Schor Favian, who was shivering and did not appear to be doing well. Maveith was standing over the older man, trying to shield him from the wet, heavy snow. The more snow melted on my ned soaked my clothes underh, the more I felt the bite of the cold. Especially now that we had stopped moving.

  A specter of an elven woman in guard armor passed through the stone wall, and surprised Pavel further babsp; Pavel screamed in pain as the arm of the specter passed through his torso. The specter fred, its body being more coherent as it took something from Pavel’s pained wailing. I was the first to get my runic bde on the specter. After four rapid strikes, the creature faded into the ground.

  Castile used the urn to destroy the creature permaly while Linus checked on Pavel. I kneeled opposite Linus, ed for Pavel. Pavel’s face ale, and he was struggling to breathe. “He will recover as long as more specters do not strike him,” Linus told me. He addressed Pavel, “e on, Pavel, orike from a specter ot take down a legionnaire.”

  Pavel struggled to sit up, his breathing was bored, “My lungs feel like cold spikes are stabbing them.” He rasped, “ I have a healing potion?”

  Castile was standing over us, on her face, “It won’t do any good. It attacked your life essenot your physical body. You will recover in a day; just do not get struck again before then. If the specters drain your life essence, you will bee one of them.”

  The wind suddenly seemed to shift, and our minor prote from the wall was gone. Snow was blowing directly into us aing heavier. Konstantiurned from the opening to report. He sounded grave, “Dozens of specters are walking the street, Castile. If everyone had a runic on, we might stand a ce.”

  Adrian shook his head, “It is a death sentence if we stay out here. We will freeze and be exposed to whatever creature the summoner sends at us. I prefer to fight ihe city. We shelter in one of the buildings and have those with ons shield the others.”

  Firth dissented, “Easy for you to say. You have a runic on.” Tension among the men was getting thibsp; It was the first time the pany did not feel cohesive. For some of the men, they were fighting ahey could not injure.

  Konstantine offered a solution, “Give everyone one of the runic arrows. Those without a runic sword hold off the specters long enough with the runic arrowhead for another with a sword to finish it.”

  Silence hung, and the fkes fell. “Do it,” Castile finally said.

  Things were so dire I pulled out one of my aces, “I have this, Firth.” I handed him the elven runic dagger I secretly brought from my ste. He seemed like the best person in the pany to wield it, someone proo stab others in the babsp; “Found it on the elven summoner.”

  Firth uhed the dagger in the light of the glowstone. He grunted, “Pretty little poker. Thank you.” He sounded mollified aurhe runic arrow Bze had given him. I got a look from Castile, but she did not say anything.

  “I want it back after this, Firth,” I tried to make eye tact, but he had just waved his hand in aowledgment. I hope he was not going to hold onto it.

  The snow was almost knee-deep now, and everyone was shivering but prepared as best we could be. Delmar took the lead through the cra the gate, and we followed in single file. We fanned out oher side of the gate, the ruined city id before us. Skeletons of stone roofless buildings lihe streets; some had colpsed walls. Specters, as Konstantin had noted, walked the streets. They moved effortlessly in the field of snow, leaving it undisturbed as they moved. Delmar was dealing with the one, a young elf male.

  The specters noticed our arrival and started moving toward us. Castile ordered, “Remain here at the gate until we thin them out. Let them e to us!”

  I moved to the right to face the length of the inner wall; two specters in guard uniforms walked through the wall of a nearby building, and I was soon fighting in the deep snow. As I engaged ohe twang of a bow behind me sent an arrow into another. “Bze, hold your arrows!” Delmar said angrily. Bze’s arrow passed through the specter, causing a tiny fsh, f it back briefly, but it recovered quickly. The arrow shattered oone beyond, the arrowhead and splinters disappearing into the snow.

  Maveith stood behih the Schor, but there was not much they could do to help against the incorporeal specters. The pany formed an arc at the gate with the five runic bdes proteg everyone. The only sotion was the slow speed of the specters. They all appeared to be walking toward us. Castile was busy utilizing the urn on the dispelled specters. If she did not pull their death esseo the urn, they reformed from the ground in about thirty minutes.

  We found that out when Castile missed one of the specters Delmar had dissipated. It reformed under Delmar and struck his leg. Delmar cursed and backed away, and I had to strike the specter down so Castile could use the urn. Delmar was limping and cursing as he handed his sword to Benito, who took his pce. Castile was doing her best, but it took almost fifteebeats for the violet smoke to be ed by the urn, and the specters seemed endless.

  The wind shifted again, and the snow was now falling straight down. The gate and wall had shielded us from the slow, drawn-out bat for hours. The specters were easy enough to deal with o a time. My shoulder and forearm were starting to fatigue, so I switched hands. My ambidexterity training was ing in useful.

  “Cursed elemental!” Castile screamed at the sky as the snow was getting deeper. “We o get inside a building. Favian?”

  Night had given way to a gray dawn filled with tinued snowfall. Favian was shivering and buight. He looked up, his face blue, “The library should be entirely stone and still have its roof.” He looked left, right, and then straight, “It should be that way. Maybe a hundred yards from the outer wall.” His teeth were chattering.

  “Eryk and Konstantin at the front!” Castile barked her orders. We were in the best dition of the men wielding the runic ons; at least, eared the least fatigued. Adrian handed his own bde off to another man to get a rest, as did Brutus. I moved to the front and walked with Konstantin. Not only did we have to fight the specters, but we also had to break snow, which was thigh-deep now. We had defihihe specters in this part of the city, but it was a city, and if everyone iy had bee a specter, that meant there could be thousands.

  Many tripping hazards were hidden in the snow, but we pressed forward in a sliding walk. We moved one bloto the city, and it attracted a wave of two dozeers. We were forced to retreat back to the gate as Konstantin and I killed them one by one. I found my air shield did not deter the specters, but Castile’s shadow s could hold them in pd prevented us from being overwhelmed. The problem was Castile o stantly utilize the kettle of souls, or the specters would restitute themselves.

  We moved fain once Castile had eradicated the spectral essences. At the interse of the street, Schor Favian shouted, “There it is! That building there!” A vague outline of a building through the dense snow could be seen in the gray m light. The street had widened as we moved to the building and climbed the steps ued. The rge front doors were missing, but Favian had been correct. The building did have a stone roof.

  I took out my glowstone aered with Konstantin. A specter greeted us, but we dispatched it quickly together. Even in the frigid air, the pu smell of mold hit me. The antechamber to the library was round and had mosai the wall, mostly covered in thick green and bck mold. A sed and third specter greeted us from deeper ihe structure as the others moved into the room. While we hahe specters, men gratefully cleared their bodies of snow.

  “Grab what you to start a fire,” Adrian said, taking back his sword. There was not mu the room besides some dried vines.

  Konstantin had already looked further in. “There are a lot of colpsed shelves and moldy books further in. Only noticed three specters, as well.”

  “We will move deeper then,” Castile decided.

  The shivering pany pushed into the room. It was a massive, high-ceiling room with hundreds of shelves and books. Most of the shelves had been knocked over or just colpsed on themselves with time. The specters Konstantin noted were on the far side and seemed ued in us at the moment. As soon as we started hag up the shelves for firewood, the three specters moved toward us, and two we had not seen. Castile used the kettle of souls after we destroyed them. The urn now sounded like it was half full of sand. Castile also looked beyond exhausted.

  It was not long before we had a fire going. Mateo was warming his hands, his fiips white with frostbite. He was not the only oh frostbite. Some men had swollen red fingers, pale white skin, or the extremities bing like Mateo. I finally had time to sit and take off my boots, as my feet had been hurting for hours. Felix took my bck bde while I rested. For now, there were no specters.

  My toes were an angry red, and some skin eeling. I had been fighting nonstop for hours, which probably saved me from more severe frostbite. I focused my healing spell form on my feet, and the skin fked off, giving rise to fresh, healthy pink skin. Linus came over and requested I give him all the potions in my dimensional ste. When the skin turned bck, it meant the skin was dead and o be treated with healing.

  “Don’t burn those!” A shivering Favian stood as Kolm was about to toss some moldy books on the fire.

  Castile tur the otion, “Burn the shelves first. If we run out of wood, burn the damaged books first.” Favian nodded in thanks. I could tell he wao explore the tomes, but he was still in a miserable state.

  I was close enough to hear Adrian and Castile talking. “I hope we have not just trapped ourselves ihe city.”

  “The kettle of souls is doing its work, Adrian. We just o not rush into the city a overwhelmed,” Castile said tiredly. She removed the leather gloves I had given her, and her fingers were pletely bck.

  Adrian yelled at her, “Gods, Castile! Why didn’t you say anything!” He took her hands, and they tried to warm them. “Linus! One of the lesser healing potions for Castile.” Linus rushed over and gave it to her, and she drank it with Adrian’s help as her fingers were not w. Her bck skin slowly regained color.

  We ended up using half of our stock of potions as we got a rge fire going. Men removed their armor and id out their wet clothes to dry. Specters arrived sporadically from both inside and outside of the plex. They were easily dealt with, and every time we slew one, Castile stood and used the kettle of souls on it.

  The snowfall was not slowing, and by midday, it was almost five feet deep. At this height, traveling iy was impossible. Not only would you have to break the snow, but you couldn’t see the specters until they were on top of you.

  was growing, and Fvius said, “The summoner and the specters are not going to be the death of us. He is going to bury us ue of snow, and we will starve to death.” His pronou did not help the pany’s mood, but he was right. Most men had dropped most of their extra food at the tower to lighten their packs.

  Maveith cheerfully offered up his bag freely, “I have twenty-seven ration bars left.”

  “I would rather starve,” Firth said, ughing at Mavieth’s offer. If things got dire, I repared to reveal my additional ste capacity even though I had regretfully just given way to most of my food stores.

  Delmar tried to be optimistic, “If we find the dungeon, there should be plenty of meat to harvest inside. I have never been in a duhat didn’t have something edible in it.”

  “How are we going to search for it ue of snow?” Fvius said bitterly.

  “I think this city has a sewer system,” Schor Favian interrupted the growing diste of the men. All eyes turo him as tempers cooled. “Most of the great elven cities had expansive undergrouworks. I think one of the books Eryk has detailed their maintenance. Unfortunately, there were no maps inside.” The few of us who realized it turned and looked out at the sea of thousands of books. Most were probably useless, but there had to be a map of the city’s undergrouwork somewhere in the mess.