Archival sleuthing. More than her ability to make copies or her reluctant willingness to pull back-to-back night shifts, Vera's knack for remembering obscure archival entries was the true force behind her promotion.
She all but ran down to the ground floor, where she snatched the ledger from a bewildered trainee and pored through the pages to find the entry for the Blackfire Codex.
Physical Description: Plain calfskin binding, faded gold lettering, handwritten marginalia in three languages; modest size (quarto); last section sealed with wax.
Modest size? She thought. I expected it to be larger.
Her eyes skimmed to the next section, but a voice behind her made her stop short.
"If you're so eager to take items from my trainee, why don't you teach him instead of me?"
Vera bit the inside of her mouth. It was Corvin. She flipped to the next page to hide the subject of her investigation. When she turned to face him, he slid the spectacles up his nose with that same old condescension on his face.
"Just checking some cross references for the almanacs," she said.
Corvin cocked a brow. "On your day off? What marvelous work ethic! I could schedule you more often, if that's what you'd like."
Vera tilted her head in feigned confusion. "Wait, what day is it?"
"Wednesday."
"Ah, I must've gotten ahead of myself. I thought tomorrow was today." She flipped back to the page with information on the Blackfire Codex, committing each entry to memory while pretending to search for the date at the top of the page. "Would you look at that? I have the whole day ahead of me."
"Why don't I still have you take over training for me?"Corvin asked. "Since you're already here."
On any other day, Vera would've relented, telling herself that all experience was necessary on her road to earning her true place in the Archive. But not today.
She snapped the ledger shut, then placed it on the desk in front of the trainee with an emphatic thump.
"My apologies, but I remembered I have plans with a friend today. I'll just have to pick up with work again tomorrow."
Corvin's eyes widened, and his mouth parted in a silent gasp. He recovered quickly, but Vera was hardly able to stifle a scoff at his sudden fish-like demeanor. Was it really so shocking for her to deny him?
"Then I'll ask you to stay out of the way of those who are working," Corvin said through gritted teeth.
"Of course," Vera said, turning away.
She'd seen all she could. The ledger only went back a few days; older copies were kept in the Head Librarian's office, but it would have to suffice.
Vera decided to go back to the beginning of the most recent recordings. Due to its inclusion of astronomical tables, The Blackfire Codex was formally cross-referenced under astronomy and almanacs. Three days before she'd discovered the missing tome, Vera had been assigned there to re-shelve a dozen or so books just as a batch of similarly bound calfskin books had arrived from restoration. They had all been nearly identical to the Blackfire Codex. There was a real possibility that it had passed through her hands without her catching the title.
Vera wove through the narrow rows of the general stacks, letting memory guide her feet to the astronomical section. Those were stored up high, where she needed to position the rolling ladder to access. She climbed up hand-over-hand, jaw clenched.
At the top, she ran her fingers around the calfskin spines, titles flitting past her eyes, until she found a cluster of similar binding to the ones she remembered. A few books were tilted haphazardly, and the dust pattern on the shelf where they sat was interrupted with criss-crossed lines. Vera looped an arm around the rung of a ladder and leaned out as far as she could manage, straining to read the titles on the plaques. After a moment, she retreated. None were the Blackfire Codex.
Still gripping the ladder, she conjured an image of the ledger in her mind. Two days before she discovered its disappearance, another librarian had checked out several almanac texts for a scholar's research project, and had shelved them on the wrong cart afterward, sending them to the chained section instead. Someone else had rectified the mistake the next day, making a note of it beneath the entry for the Blackfire Codex. No names had been recorded.
Vera had hoped that meant the codex ended up in the almanac and astronomy section, but it evidently hadn't. There was a chance, however, that whoever had rectified the misplacement had shuffled some titles around in the chained section during the process.
Vera descended the ladder, arms shaking from the strain. She fought to hold down the sour taste rising in her throat. If the tome wasn't in an outside cache it was most likely still in the chained section. She would have to disregard the plaques and comb through the individual titles one-by-one.
She trudged up to the second floor's corner wing, as dimly lit as ever. Vera picked a shelf and began searching, one spine at a time. For the books without titles written on the edges, she was forced to remove it and check the front cover manually.
Very quickly, it became clear that this was not going to work. It took her an hour to comb through the As and reach the Bs. When she kneeled down at the empty spot where the Blackfire Codex was meant to be, her knees gave out from beneath her. She sat for a second, head cradled in her hands. So much for archival sleuthing.
Footsteps sounded, stopping right beside her. Vera glanced up, dreading the look on Corvin's face when he found her hunched between the stacks in so unprofessional a manner.
It wasn't Corvin, but nearly as bad. Somehow the Duke of Ruin had managed to find her within the maze of the Silent Archive.
"Of course it's you," she said aloud, then immediately regretted it. Even beneath the hood he wore, he looked as unhappy to see her as always.
His brows lowered. "Is this how one prepares for a perilous trek through Witherstone Isle?"
Vera waved a hand. "In a way."
She half-prayed he'd walk away, but he didn't.
"Have you obtained the equipment you promised?" he asked.
"I will," she said.
"When?"
"Soon." She released a breath. "By midday."
"It's already midday."
Vera glanced up to the windows. The thick crimson curtain did a fine job obscuring the position of the sun outside.
"It is?"
He shook his head. "What have you been doing all morning?"
Trying to get out of this stupid deal I made.
"Gathering information on the Blackfire Codex," she said. "I need to know exactly what we're looking for."
"It's a book," he shot back. "It will say 'Blackfire Codex' on the cover. Information gathered."
Vera frowned. "You can't be certain. It might only say the title on the inner page."
Faded gold lettering, the description had said. She was exaggerating, but he didn't need to know that.
"I'm just trying to be thorough," she continued, gesturing to the shelf before her. "See that empty space there? That's where it's meant to be."
The duke was unimpressed. "And?"
She pushed herself onto her knees so she could lean forward and examine the iron chain that was meant to bind the codex to the shelf. One link shined brighter in the candlelight than the others, like it had been polished recently. The link below it had a tiny fleck of black wax.
Vera sighed. The ledger had described the final section of the codex to be sealed with wax. All this told her was that the book was likely chained here not long ago, but no longer was. Nothing she didn't already know.
"Never mind," Vera said, hauling herself to her feet. "Forget it." She turned away. "I just have to check one more thing, then I'll get the equipment."
If I can even expedite the request, she thought. And then I have to get the time off…
Gods. It was incredible how quickly her plans were falling apart. Save for checking the titles of a hundred chained books, there was one option left. It was in the Head Librarian's office, where previous ledgers were stored. Vera began to head for the stairs.
"Where are you going?" the duke called after her.
Vera didn't respond. Footsteps followed her soon after, though, and she groaned when she found him only a pace behind her.
"Why are you following me?"
"I'd like to see this equipment you promised," he said flatly.
She scrunched her nose. "I'm not doing that right now."
"Then I'll see it when you're done."
She began to ascend the stairs. Stray librarians cast her sidelong glances as she passed, and Vera twisted back toward the duke, scowling when he continued to trail her.
"What are you, an overbearing supervisor? I already have one of those. I don't need another."
He glared in response. "You wouldn't need any supervision if you hadn't wasted half the day."
She threw up her hands. "It's not a waste! I'm trying to ensure that the book is where I think it is before we go running around Witherstone to all the caches."
"You should've done that before you came to me with a deal."
"Yes, probably, but it doesn't matter to you. If I find it here today, I'll still make you the replica. You get what you want either way." At the third-floor landing, she turned left. "Just let me check one thing."
"What thing?"
"Previous ledgers. Maybe it got mixed up with something last week…"
The duke stepped in front of her, blocking her path. "You mean to tell me that you've lost track of this tome for weeks?"
Vera had half a mind to kick his shins out from under him if not for the fact that he would most likely smite her in response, and, more importantly, their conversation was drawing the gazes of too many passersby for her taste. As if she needed to give the rest of the Archive another reason to stare at her.
"Will you keep it down?" she hissed, ducking around him. "And no. I lasted logged my own contact with it two days ago. I'm only trying to make sure."
"Sounds like you're wasting time."
At the end of the wing, Vera reached a door with Restricted Access etched into the plaque above its handle.
"Oh, would you look at that," she said, lacing her voice with fake cheer. "The Head Librarian's office. Restricted access only! No visitors allowed."
The duke stepped close enough to force her back against the closed door. "Do you often make deals with visitors?"
"Well––"
"Then it's a special circumstance. I'm coming in."
"No you're––"
He reached around her for the handle, swinging it open behind her. She stumbled backwards at the motion, which left enough room for him to step inside. The office was rather large, but the shelves and cabinets were stuffed so thoroughly with books, pamphlets, ledgers, and loose papers that it made the room feel much too small.
"Hey, will you get out?"
The duke wholly ignored her and began to peruse the notes scattered across the desk. "You're just checking the ledger, aren't you? What's there to hide?"
"I'm not hiding anything, but you can't be in here. So will you please..." She scooped up an open scroll, rolled it up, and swatted it in his direction, "get… out––"
Another voice came from beyond the door, feminine and raspy with age. "Verena, is that you?"
Wonderful. Vera thought, groaning. The Head Librarian was here.
She spun to the duke, pointing to the desk and fighting to keep her voice at a whisper. "At least hide or something!"
He didn't move, only frowned. "No."
Vera curled her fingers into fists. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.
She faced the figure standing in the doorframe. "Hello, Idonea."
Idonea had deep brown skin lined with the wrinkles of a woman well into her elder years, but her height and posture was as stately as it was in her prime. She wore her long white hair in a neatly coiled braid and flowing cobalt robes. A set of long brassy keys jingled at her belt.
Idonea swing her gaze between Vera and the duke."I see you have a… visitor." She said it without accusation, like it was just a observation.
Vera knew better, though. Idonea didn't play around with her office's privacy. She was likely calculating exactly how to remove the duke from her office without provoking him into incinerating the entire Archive.
"He got lost." Vera said quickly. "You know how confusing the Archive can be for outsiders."
The duke clenched his jaw as if she'd stabbed him. "I did not––"
Vera shook her head in emphatic disappointment. "And to think there's a 'restricted' sign on the door. Perhaps we should offer him literacy lessons if he's going to be staying long, seeing how he's having such a hard time."
Idonea gave a single nod. "I see." She stepped aside, gesturing to the exit. "Why don't you show him out then?"
"Why," the duke said, glancing about the room, "what's so important in here?"
Vera bit her tongue to keep from cursing at him.
"It's only some benign housekeeping," she said.
"Oh, yes," Idonea agreed. She stepped up to the duke, matching his glare with practiced ease. "Duke Elias, was it? I understand that you're of high rank in Esmya, but we have regulations here. All operations within the Silent Archive must remain neutral and free of an outsider's meddling. I hope you can understand."
The duke held her gaze for a long moment, then dropped it. "Politics, yes. I understand. I'll be on my way."
Vera released a breath, then pointed cheerily towards the door. Good riddance.
"Bye now––"
"Verena," Idonea cut in, "you'll show him out?"
Her smile thinned. "Of course."
Vera waited for the duke to move first, then followed him out and shut the door behind her. She grimaced as the lock latched. The chances Idonea believed that the duke had gotten lost were slim. She likely only went along with Vera's story so he would leave faster.
Vera leaned back against the door, mind spinning.
"Well thanks for that," she muttered. "I could've at least checked the ledger."
The duke shook his head. "I'm not hiding under a desk for someone who made me out to be illiterate."
The annoyance brewing within her boiled over into acute irritation.
"Well, the gods know you can't listen. Couldn't rule out the ability to read either."
"What––" Vera walked away before he could finish. "Where are you going?"
She threw him a glare over her shoulder. "Equipment. Looks like we're trekking across the island after all."