Page 14 of Tomes and Tribulations

He peered at the runes, muttering to himself, and Hali turned to Osric, her eyes shining. He was watching the professor with a furrowed brow, his expression guarded, but she could see the wheels turning in his mind. She knew he was just as curious about this as she was, even if he was loath to admit it.

After a few minutes of poring over the scrap, the professor let out a low whistle. “Intriguing, intriguing. This is quite a curious amalgamation of several different scripts, but I believe I may be able to make some headway with it. The trouble is, I’ll need to cross-reference it with a few other tomes in my collection, and I fear they may be at the library.”

“The library?” Hali’s heart sank. The University library was a treasure trove of knowledge, to be sure, but it was also a bureaucratic nightmare to gain access to, even more so now that she was no longer a student. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

Professor Thornsley considered this for a moment, his bushy eyebrows knit in concentration. “Well, if you don’t mind waiting a day or two, I could certainly make the trip up there and see what I can find. I’ll need to consult with my colleagues, of course, but I think we can make some progress.”

Hali glanced over at Osric, but his expression was carefully neutral. She had half expected him to protest, to demand answers right here and now, but to his credit, he remained silent. Still, the tension in his shoulders told her that this was all going against his better judgment.

“The Obsidian Circle,” Hali said at last. “What more can you tell us about them?”

“Oh, dreadful business, dreadful. They were a secretive cult, you see, practitioners of dark magics and ancient rites. Some say they were the very antithesis of the First Forgers, but in truth, their origins are shrouded in mystery. They believed that true power came from embracing chaos and darkness, rather than seeking to contain it.” He shuddered. “And the things they did to harness that power . . . unspeakable. Sacrifices, necromancy, dark rituals that twisted the very fabric of reality. It’s no wonder they were driven underground, but some say they still lurk in the shadows, biding their time, waiting for the right moment to strike.”

“Or so the stories go,” Osric said, but there was a troubled look in his eyes.

“Stories that are based in some semblance of fact, I’m afraid. But rest assured, my boy, the First Forgers’ descendants and their devotees are always on the lookout for any signs of their resurgence. It’s just that, well, the nature of shadows is that they are hard to pin down, you see.”

“I understand.” Osric’s voice was tight, and he glanced over at Hali. “Thank you for your assistance, Professor. I look forward to hearing what you find.”

“Of course, of course. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must be off. The library, you know. Terribly long lines at this time of year.”

He scurried back towards the University, his robes flapping around him, and Hali let out a long breath. “Well, that was . . . interesting.”

“Or ominous,” Osric said, and the words hung over them both like smoke as they departed.

“Miss Brightminer, you are positively glowing with mischief,” Osric said, as they strolled back to the bookshop. “What’s running around in that head of yours?”

Hali giggled, the sound high and tinkling. “Oh, nothing. I’m just considering a few . . . possibilities, that’s all.”

By the time they returned to Folio & Fancy, Hali had worked herself into a fine frenzy of speculation. She was convinced that members of the Obsidian Circle were using her shop as a drop point for their nefarious schemes, and she had a veritable mountain of evidence to support her theory. There was the coded message, of course, and the strange man who had tried to buy the grimoire, and the fact that it was a new moon, which was almost certainly a significant date for a cult of ancient darkness. She explained all of this to Osric in a breathless rush, complete with dramatic reenactments, and by the time she was finished, she was practically dancing with excitement.

“You see? It all fits together perfectly. Well, more or less. But it’s a good story, isn’t it?” She winked at Osric. “Just the sort of thing to set a brooding, mysterious type like yourself on the path of adventure.”

Osric regarded her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then, to Hali’s vast relief, he broke into a slow, warm smile.

“It’s . . . something, all right.” He shook his head, laughing. “All right, my dear. I’ll help you get to the bottom of this. If only to keep you out of trouble.”

Hali clapped her hands together eagerly. “Oh, thank you, thank you, my handsome prince. I knew I could count on you.”

Their good-natured chatter was interrupted by a soft clearing of the throat, and they both turned to see Sooty standing in the doorway of the back room.

“Um, not to interrupt, but we might have a problem.”

“What is it, Sooty?” Hali asked, all traces of levity gone. “Is it that same customer from earlier? The one asking about the grimoire?”

Sooty shook his head, his face pinched with worry. “No, it’s not him. It’s . . . well, it’s a whole bunch of them.”

Hali followed Sooty into the front of the shop, where a quick scan confirmed her worst fears. The store was packed with customers, more than Hali had seen in one place since the annual Midsummer Book Faire. But these patrons had a distinctly shady air about them, with their tattered cloaks and furtive glances, and as Hali made her way through the crowd, she saw that many of the shelves had been picked over.

“What in the name of the hells is going on here?” she asked, her voice low and urgent.

“I don’t know, but they’re giving me the right creeps,” Sooty said. “And one of them asked me about the grimoire again.”

Hali’s heart sank. She’d suspected that the book might be the cause of all this trouble, but she’d hoped it was just her overactive imagination getting the best of her. She scanned the crowd, looking for any sign of the mysterious customer who had asked about the book, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Stay here,” she told Sooty, and she set off to confront the interlopers.

There were three of them clustered around the reference shelves, all with their hoods pulled low, and as Hali drew closer, she saw that they were frantically digging through the books. Without a word, she planted herself in front of the nearest one and crossed her arms.

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