Medley was arranged with the commercial district just inside the main gate. The main street ran from the main gate to a second gate and inner wall that led to an inner district. There were commercial premises all along the main street, and lesser establishments running down side streets and alleys. Beyond that, the buildings were mostly residential with the odd shop or business dotted throughout. Inside the inner wall seemed to be nicer houses and municipal buildings.

  Reader asked for directions, showing the library pass to a goblin lady as he passed. She’d directed him, while eyeing him with intense curiosity, towards the inner gate. He’d expected to be stopped by the watchmen at the inner gate. They did eye him up, giving that same look of curiosity he was coming to expect, but made no move to impede him.

  Within the inner wall there was a much quieter air. The street was less busy. The buildings were finer, with more stonework and less lumber on display. They passed a post office, a museum, a public hall of some kind, before arriving at a building that was simply marked as “Library.”

  The building was tall and looming, all stone. It rose several storeys and must have been one of the first roofs he’d seen on his approach to the town. The building also seemed vast, wide, and deep.

  Reader looked at Grim. “I guess… this is it?”

  Grim stubbed out his cigarette on the “Library” sign and shot him a withering look. “What was your first fucking clue, genius?”

  They were stopped the moment they went inside.

  The being that stopped them was a crow—not a crow, a crow amalgamated with the features of a man. This was surprisingly fine for Reader. The creature was stooped and short. It gave him the impression of being aged. It had wings sprouting from its back, and human-like arms from its shoulders. What Reader could not reconcile was the grey mustache on the big dark beak. He could not explain to himself why this bothered him so when he’d been served dinner by an elf and had traded with a Bufo. But, try as he might, his eyes kept drifting back to the mustache.

  “What is it then? I don’t know you, boy,” the bird person said, their voice bearing the mark of long years. The voice was human but rumbled with a corvid flavor.

  “I, um… I wanted to use the library…”

  “Mmmhmm. That requires a pass,” the creature said, eying him with deep suspicion. “If you want to get a pass, you will need to apply for a pass. There’s paperwork, fees, and a waiting period. We don’t let just anyone in here. Show me your band, boy—what’s your path?”

  Reader held up his hand, the wrist bearing his band, the hand holding his pass.

  The crow person didn’t see the path. His eyes only noticed the band at first. “Adept, eh? Well, that’s well enough. Where’s you… Save me! Is that your Tomegeist? What have you done to the poor thing?”

  Grim took this as an opportunity to cough weakly and adopt a forlorn expression. Reader very much wanted to kick him.

  The bird man became immediately distraught. “This is how you treat your Tomegeist! Boy, an adept is nothing without his Tomegeist!” He paused, sniffing. “HAVE YOU BEEN LEAVING HIM SMOKE? Boy, your Tomegeist is everything! Now wait a minute, see this.”

  He turned and called, less abrasively, “Novella! Would you present yourself a moment, please?”

  There was rustling and then two hands appeared on the counter. Small, spindly hands. Then another being like Grim, an animated book, climbed onto the counter. This one differed from Grim. It was distinctly feminine, with supple pink suede covering her form, shining golden frames and bindings, clear white eyes, and glossy red lips.

  “This, boy, is how you keep a Tomegeist!”

  Reader looked from Novella to Grim, then back again. Grim was brown, dirty, slouching, his eyes yellow, nasty little teeth peering from his slack grimace.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Reader said, “Should I… should I wash him?”

  Grim burst in. “I’d like to see you fucking try, dipshit! Remember what I was saying about crawling up your asshole and—”

  The crow cawed. It made an outraged and very loud cawing noise. “Caw-ah! You let him speak like this? To you? To his master? What have you done with his rules? I feel faint. I’ve never seen the likes.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to look at those rules… I’ve been kind of busy…”

  Novella spoke in a sweet, docile voice, “Master Cornelius, I do think you could go a little easier. We don’t know the gentleman’s circumstances.”

  Grim chuckled, “You’re a sweet-talking little thing, aren’t you?”

  Reader shot him a look. “Must be nice.”

  Reader returned his attention to Cornelius. “Fixing up Grim here is one of the reasons I came to the library.”

  Cornelius’s eyes went wider. “One of the… are you saying you don’t know how to alter his rules? But you’re… you’re a stone rank! How could you possibly have gotten this far without… Oh my heart, I need to sit down.”

  The crow sank into a chair and waved Reader on, “Go on, off with you. I can’t bear any more of this.”

  Reader hesitated but then took the hint, and the chance to get away from the judgmental creature, and moved into the library.

  He couldn’t say exactly why it was he had come here. He had ten books stored in Grim that he had yet to peruse properly. He explored, taking some time in the quiet of the building to compose himself. His hunger had been eased and now at least he could focus on the task before him: finding a way to get home.

  He walked the halls. The building was cool and dimly lit. The halls were a warren. There were, shockingly, rooms and rooms of books. But there were other chambers as well. He found rooms where cloaked figures seemed to be practicing weaving. In other rooms, men in robes like his own sat hunched over desks grinding powders, mixing liquids, drawing sketches of devices.

  “Guess the library is really sort of… what? An adept centre?” Reader said.

  Grim’s response was not atypical, “What was your first fucking clue?”

  Reader found a chair at the end of a hall, nestled between a window of clouded glass and a looming bookcase. He sank into the chair and stared back down the hall. “This is more than a little overwhelming. I don’t know where to start. I’ve got fourteen coins that will last… not long, maybe a few days. The shopkeeper said he could send me home, but he needs ten million coins! Or a boatload of sigils. Or a blue syntra.”

  Grim shrugged, looking glum and bored, “He only said you need one of those. Why don’t you start with that?”

  Reader said, “Do you know what a syntra is?”

  Grim gave him the look and Reader mouthed an apology. His eyes glowed, mirroring Grim’s, and the connection reached between them. After a few seconds Reader slumped, “Oh. There’s nothing in any of those books about a syntra…”

  Grim said, “Pretty fucking weird, to tell you the truth. If that creepy bird-faced fuck would count that as being the same as ten mil then it’s got to be pretty fucking important. Well, guess that means we’re staying here for a fucking while. Whoop-de-fucking-doo, not like I just spent the last fucking forever in a room full of fucking books.”

  Reader ignored the tantrum. “How does this knowledge-storing thing work now? You’re full up so I can replace one of the books you’re storing with another one? But what about what I’ve learned?”

  “Fuck’s sake, alright. Anything you learn for yourself is yours, the connection doesn’t reach into that puddle you call a fucking brain and just pull it out. But once you purge it from me it’s not there for searching no more.”

  “Is there a way to… like absorb the knowledge into me? This connection thing is cool and everything, but I think with this path I need to learn a lot of things as fast as I can.”

  Grim said, “On your path you can get sigils that will let you do shit like that. But for now you’re shit out of luck.”

  Reader said, “Well, at least we can search fast with you. I guess we’d better start scanning, searching, purging, rinse, repeat then?”

  “Fucking lovely. All I ever fucking wanted in this world was exactly fucking that.”

  Reader stared at him nonplussed. “Hang on.” Their eyes glowed and knowledge flowed. Nice, that rhymed. Then Reader’s expression darkened, “Aw… To work on your rules I have to learn a whole bunch of new weaves.”

  “Heh heh. I know.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Listen, asshole, it doesn’t do me no fucking good to facilitate you figuring out how to set my rules. I got them nice and the way I want ’em. Well, mostly. Could do without some of the fucking prohibitions, but at least I’m not all tied up like that pink suede piece back at reception. Not that I wouldn’t mind having her all tied up, if you know what I fucking mean.” Grim arched his eyebrows devilishly.

  Reader frowned, his eyes sweeping over Grim’s body.

  Grim snapped, “Hey! What you fucking doing? You looking for my dick? Well, I don’t got one, asshole! Get your head out of your mammalian-normative paradigm. There’s more ways to have fun than just plunging your winky into something. Hell of a lot of ways. Heh heh.”

  Reader blinked and shook his head, trying to rid himself of the imagined images that had just erupted in his mind. “Thanks for that. Okay, let’s get to work.”

  Grim said, “Fucking great.”