Hungry Heart - Book 5 - Ch. 24 (Patreon)

Chapter One / Chapter Two / Chapter Three / Chapter Four / Chapter Five / Chapter Six / Chapter Seven / Chapter Eight / Chapter Nine / Chapter Ten / Chapter Eleven / Chapter Twelve / Chapter Thirteen / Chapter Fourteen / Chapter Fifteen / Chapter Sixteen / Chapter Seventeen / Chapter Eighteen / Chapter Nineteen / Chapter Twenty / Chapter Twenty-One / Chapter Twenty-Two / Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four – A Different World

Toru had no idea whether the city had noticed the great battle that had happened just at the outskirts of their settlement, so he took in with surprise the many people who had come out in the street to stare at them. Since it looked like all his friends, old and new, were in an agreement with his decision to see the old librarians first, they were on their way to the library of Coinvale.

All around them, the citizens of the merchant city were whispering and pointing surreptitiously at them. It appeared that they didn’t have the courage to ask them anything directly, and it felt more like they had no idea how to act.

“How much do you think they know?” he asked Varg, who was marching at his right, watching their watchers with keen eyes. If there was anyone thinking themselves brave enough to question them, one look from the wolfshifter would most likely make them think again.

“Not a lot. Since this is such a large city, it is natural that confusion is now filling their minds. They can’t possibly know what happened, unless a few witnessed it at a fair distance. And even then, they can’t realize the significance of the adventure we’ve just been through. They can’t.”

Toru nodded sagely. “Because they weren’t there. Varg, do you think that’s how it will always be? No one can know for sure, not the way we do, what happens when we confront the evils of the world and, ultimately, Hekastfet.”

“I am of the same mind, kitty,” Varg confirmed. “It is the reason why your decision to see the librarians is a wise one. They will be careful with how they explain to the city’s denizens why their Heart of Tradeweaving was the fruit of evil.”

“Will the people listen to them?”

“That’s the measure of each and every one’s heart,” Varg replied. “I wish I could give you more peace of mind but I won’t ever try to fool you.”

“I will contribute,” Sogou announced, hurrying to catch up to them. The young storyteller had been trapped into explaining all sorts of things to Mako, and since the lad had seemed out of sorts after having had his body possessed by Toru through the will of the messengers, Sogou hadn’t been able to continue his thorough interview.

“Will they believe you?” Toru asked. “You make up stories.”

“Yes, that is true,” Sogou admitted, “but I’ve always striven to remain as close a friend to the truth as the information I had on hand allowed. Now that I know the very heroes involved in the adventures that will make it to all the stands in Coinvale, I will be able to tell the story as it happened. It’s fantastic.” The storyteller began to gesticulate energetically. “I will need a bigger office, and more workers too. Since the printing machine can’t be as fast without the shard I had from that heart of evil, I will have to employ a lot of people who can help me with producing copies. But it will pay off. I will make sure that every last person in Coinvale knows exactly how things happened.”

Varg had a sly smile on his lips when he addressed the young storyteller. “And how did they happen?”

Sogou opened his arms wide. “There was a ball of fire as huge as the sun, and Toru was commanding it by holding it in his hands--”

“It wasn’t a ball of fire,” Toru protested promptly.

Sogou looked at him, blinking a few times. “Mister Toru, hyperboles are highly required to alight the imagination of readers. If I say that it was a ball of fire the size of a rock, that won’t make them dream. It’s just a bit of enhancing the truth, embellishing it if you will.”

Toru and Sogou faced each other, with stern looks on their faces. Varg’s loud laughter made Toru forget about scolding the young storyteller.

“Toru, whether you like it or not, you will be made into the biggest hero of our time,” the wolfshifter said.

“Which I am,” Toru replied, crossing his arms. Varg was right. He was the biggest hero, because he had to go head to head with Hekastfet, and that was quite a feat. That was the truth, and he wouldn’t deny it.

“So let Sogou paint you in the most beautiful colors that can flow from his black ink and sharp pen. I’m sure that nothing bad will come of it. People will start believing in you, more and more.”

Since they were now in front of the old library, their conversation had to end. But Toru still wanted to insist that Sogou learn how to portray things the way they truly happened.

***

Duril was beyond words as they stepped inside the dark library. He had wished to visit here, as he was wont to do whenever books and old tomes were concerned, but their adventure in Coinvale had taken so many surprising turns that it had been impossible for him to pay the huge library a visit yet. And now they were here on an important mission that would most likely allow for little exploring on their part. The many tomes the library hid in its bowels would have to wait until Duril could visit this place again.

They entered a large, tall room with bookshelves lining the walls sky-high. Duril got dizzy as he tried to tilt his head back and take in the majestic display. There were volumes written in unknown languages, as the fading letters on their spines indicated, but there was none of the musty smell that seemed to make all old libraries alike.

A short man in a dark robe hurried to welcome them. “Toru, you are back so soon.”

“I thought you were the best person for me to come to now that the bad shard living under the city is gone,” Toru said promptly. “Everyone, this is Amimi Kota. He’s the head librarian, so people call him Head, but that’s a bit weird.”

Amimi Kota laughed heartily, holding his large girth with both hands. “Tell us all about your adventures, young tiger. And lend your scholar friend,” he said, pointing directly at Duril, “to my brethren. They will show him around.”

How could the head librarian realize so easily that he wanted to see the place? He wanted to say something, assure Toru that he intended to stand by his side while the tigershifter recounted all that had transpired in the battle he’d had to face, a battle that changed the whole of Coinvale. But Toru was always happy to make him happy, so he pushed him with affection toward the two quiet librarians that had guided them to this large room.

“Will Duril be able to return in time for the big supper?” Toru inquired.

“A supper?” the head librarian asked. “What do you mean?”

Toru pouted. “You have a lot of good steak, and I know it. And this is Sogou, your young author of silly adventures. You have a reputation to uphold, or he’ll surely write otherwise in his little fairytales and portray you as witches. Also, we’re all hungry because we fought a lot of evil. Hekastfet cut through me at least a thousand times.”

“This place is incredible,” Sogou jumped into the conversation. “I can’t believe that I’ve never been inside it in my entire life.”

“That is because the library wasn’t open to just anyone,” Amimi Kota explained. “We had to keep it untainted by all of you users of Hekastfet power.”

Duril wondered briefly about how the name of the evil that tried to conquer the world was spoken so freely here. That had to be the power of the old library. His desire to learn at least a thimble worth of its secrets increased tenfold. Before following the two men in dark robes, he had one last question.

“Master Head,” he said politely, “what will happen to the Aureate Sea now that the sand and its magic are gone?”

Amimi Kota looked at him with clever eyes. “You want to ask whether we’ve known of the messengers gathered there. The answer is ‘yes’. As for the Aureate Sea, it will now turn into a valley. The city will be free to sprawl into its vastness, up to the Sungate. What name it will receive is up to the people living here. But it will be a different world without the bad influence of the shard. Now, on to your next question.”

“I don’t have another…” Duril fell silent as he realized that there was more he wanted to ask. “The people here haven’t turned evil, despite having the fragments of that shard from Sheparon all over the place, besides the one living in the underground. How was that possible?”

The head librarian nodded slowly. “An intelligent question from someone with a matching intellect. It was possible because the people living here are still young and uncorrupted. While they’re not the same people who founded Coinvale, they haven’t been tainted during what seems like a short timespan to creatures of old. They have been given a second chance now, even though they haven’t suffered the consequences of their actions. Would you punish a child who doesn’t know any better?”

“I see.” Duril nodded too. “The evil takes millennia to infiltrate the earth and turn it bad. Is this the lesson, Master Head?”

“Excellent inference, young scholar,” the head librarian commended him. “It is the reason why Hekastfet prevailed. His work of evil has lasted for a time as old as time itself. Join me in a few days for a more intimate dinner. I have things to tell you that will help your young hero in his final quest.”

With that, the affable old man finished his words and turned his attention to Toru and the rest. Duril pondered over the words he’d just heard. Amimi Kota probably knew more than what the entire old library could provide him with. But he had to wait until the date of the dinner he had been invited to in order to learn more.

***

“When we open these gates, the Council will be waiting for you,” Amimi Kota explained, while everyone was all eyes and ears. “Toru, you destroyed something these greybeards thought essential for the prosperity of the city. Do not be surprised if they don’t take kindly to the outcome of your adventure. I assure you that your steps would have brought you here without a doubt. You needed to capture the shard fragments from the mines of Sheparon and eliminate the bigger one living under the city.”

Toru frowned and rubbed his head briefly. “What happened to that one, anyway?”

“Can’t you tell?” the head librarian watched him shrewdly. “It’s already where it should be, in your shoulder.”

He had been so caught up in having his body back that he hadn’t checked on the shard fragments still being there. His shoulder seemed larger now, and the faint glimmer of the newly added shards bounced off his gaze, reminding him of the importance of his quest.

“But this wasn’t the same as the shard that Hekastfet turned into the last time?”

Varg interrupted then. “The last time? What does that mean?”

Toru gestured at the head librarian. “It’s not only tigershifters who have been fighting Hekastfet again and again. All sorts of shifters have confronted him over the centuries and millennia. I’m sorry I couldn’t save that wolf, Varg. I really wanted to save him for you.”

His friend seemed overwhelmed by that revelation. “Then he must have been a representation of such a wolf. Don’t worry, Toru; I doubt he was real. The more I fought him, the more I realized that he was only a puppet for Hekastfet to use.”

Varg seemed saddened by that realization, and Toru understood why very well. All the wolves of the world felt like his friend’s pack, no matter how far or close they were to him. It didn’t matter if they belonged to a different era, either.

Toru turned to face Amimi Kota again. “If this shard was here, but it wasn’t part of the one Hekastfet used to break into who knows how many pieces, is it possible to discover others like it?”

The pensive gaze of the old librarian made him frown. “That is a difficult thing to say. The messengers at the Aureate Sea kept its evil power contained and, along with Coinvale’s innocence, they stopped its possible tainting of the world around here.”

“Messengers might be spread all over the face of Eawirith,” Claw said. “They have the power to keep the evil contained.”

“To a degree, as you very well know. It is of the utmost importance for them to find Toru or for Toru to find them. They are frailer than they may seem to you.”

“They’re old people, but they have magic, so they can’t be that helpless,” Toru retorted.

The head librarian smiled. “Let’s leave those worries for another time. Now, we must prepare for the meeting with the Council and its angry members. Since I do not allow them in the sanctity of our library, we will have to talk to them outside.”

“What should I tell them? I was after your shard fragments all along, and now they’re gone?” Toru asked.

“That is the truth but leave explaining things to me. Their dark guards, those fiends, disappeared when the underground shard was destroyed. They have no power.”

***

Varg thought that the head librarian was enjoying himself quite a bit as they all went out to the front of the library to face the Council. The only one not present was Duril, who was busy poring over old tomes, but Amimi Kota had assured Toru that the healer wouldn’t miss anything important if he didn’t attend this little meeting with the de facto rulers of the city.

He took in the stern faces of the merchants and the crowd gathered behind them. By now, all of the households in Coinvale must have been deprived of their evil-powered machines. The old librarian had told them that Toru didn’t need to chase the fragments all over the city. They were all in his shoulder, where they would remain for as long as needed.

Varg had a vague impression that Amimi Kota wasn’t telling him everything, but they didn’t plan on leaving the city right away unless chased by an angry mob. Although he knew that it was easily in their power to hold their ground against such a crowd, as they were shapeshifters and stronger than all the people there, their beliefs were based on doing the right thing always.

Vetor, his new friend, stood right in front of him, turned into a short old man, as he seemed to prefer. The former curator was most likely interested in what his fate would be, now that his role was finished.

“Let the one responsible for the disappearance of our Aureate Sea step forward,” a man in ornate clothes, who appeared to rule over the other merchants in the Council said loudly.

Toru didn’t hesitate for a moment as he appeared in front of the crowd. Amimi Kota expressed his approval by nodding slightly.

“I am the one. My name is Toru and I’m a tigershifter.”

“Lies!” the merchant yelled, pointing at Toru. “You’re hiding behind these foolish librarians, but you will have to answer for your deeds!”

“Your Heart of Tradeweaving was made of pure evil essence,” Toru continued calmly. Varg admired his young friend more and more. Although he kept his youthful energy, he wasn’t as quick to react to the slightest provocation as he had in the past. “And now it’s here.” The young tiger rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and presented his shoulder.

Soft cries of wonder emerged from the crowd, followed by whispers. It looked like the merchants were taken aback by that revelation, as well.

“That is nonsense!” the same merchant cried out. “You are a clown, and you’re trying to fool us.”

The roar that emerged from Toru’s throat as he turned into his tiger made the crowd shriek in fear. They had reached the limits of Toru’s wisdom in his young age. Varg hid his smile with one hand.

“Good people of Coinvale,” Amimi Kota said, a lot louder than his rickety old bones should have allowed. His tone seemed to command authority, and the crowd fell silent. Their cries of panic turned into awe as the old librarian caressed Toru’s large tiger head. “Toru is our friend. He is the tigershifter destined to save our world.”

“Isn’t that just a story?” someone from the crowd asked.

“Yes, it’s a story written by Misar Sogou,” another shouted.

“And his name is Tigris, not Toru,” a third added.

The young storyteller chose to emerge from behind them. “That was based on the wrong information. I didn’t have the real names of the main heroes, it seems.” Sogou scratched his head and offered everyone an apologetic smile. “But didn’t I write in the introduction of the book that all the events described in this fantastic story had actually happened? I wasn’t telling you any lies.”

“If that’s the tiger,” a young boy asked, bravely pointing at Toru, “where is the wolf?”

Sogou gestured toward Varg, as his smile widened. “This is the brave Varg, hailing from Whitekeep. Yes, now I know the correct names of all the places.”

“He’s a man, though,” the kit insisted.

Varg grinned and when he landed on all four paws, the crowd erupted in another shout of awe.

“What about the orc? He must be hideous,” the child said. “And frightening. His tusks must be this big.” He gestured with his thin arms, as his eyes lit up. It looked like Sogou’s stories had quite the following, after all.

“He’s not hideous at all,” Toru protested. “He’s beautiful, and his tusks are very cute.”

“That’s just another thing I got wrong,” Sogou intervened. “Mister Duril is an esteemed scholar, and he’s now deep in the study of the old texts housed by our library.”

“And you also have a bear here to witness,” Claw added.

This time, the crowd fell silent. Even among other bears, Claw was an incredible sight. A few children yelped and hid behind their mothers’ skirts. The braver men struggled to pretend that they had seen such fantastic creatures before, but their tense stance suggested that they were ready to break into a run, should the beast glance in their direction.

“That wasn’t in the story,” the first child said. He appeared to have the bravery of the innocent, because he hadn’t hid behind his parents like the others.

“He will be now,” Claw assured him and offered the child his large paw. The child touched it eagerly, and when everyone saw that the bearshifter wasn’t getting ready to swallow his poor prey, they seemed to forget that they were about to run only moments ago.

“Do not believe these clowns,” the merchant yelled again.

“Your protests make me think that you knew something about the true nature of the Heart of Tradeweaving,” Amimi Kota said and stepped in front of the Council members.

“The Heart of Tradeweaving is sacred. You destroyed it,” the merchant insisted. “I’m sure you had a hand in it, librarian.” He spat the last word as if it was poison.

“Yes, I think you can say that,” the head librarian agreed. “All young heroes need help and guidance. As the ones they save, we must do our best to help them. Accept it. Your reign is over. And your guards are no more.”

The merchant paled and took a few steps back. “The Rules for Harmony--”

“An instrument for inflicting your view of the world on the unaware visitor. The city will need new rules now.”

“That is not possible! Without rules--”

“I didn’t say that the city will descend into lawlessness. Only that these new rules will not condemn people for imagined slights. There is someone here who will wisely put together a new set of rules. Curator Vetor, you will be that someone.”

Varg looked at Vetor, who seemed taken aback by the librarian’s suggestion. However, he seemed to recover quickly and stepped to the front. “I have a lot of experience with old and new texts alike. I have excellent organizational skills and--”

“Yes,” Amimi Kota interrupted him with a half-smile, “we are sure that you are the most suitable choice for this role.”

Varg had to admit that the head librarian knew how to handle a crowd, as well as the individual guest, with grace and confidence.

“To celebrate getting rid of the evil in our city,” the head librarian announced, “tomorrow a large feast will take place in the city square. As for you, merchants of the Council, you will be overseen by the library from now on. Your foolish decisions led us down a dangerous path.”

Varg moved closer to Amimi Kota as the crowd dispersed. “Can you truly keep an eye on them? And how come you allowed them to do as they pleased in the past?”

“Why do you think? We were prevented by the power of those guards moved by unnatural forces. We protected the library so that it didn’t become tainted by the shard, but that was all we could do. Toru saved us all. Who knew how infected this part of the world would have become if he hadn’t arrived? The messengers could only do so much. Therefore, we can afford to be forgiving.”

“As you wish. But if we happen to travel back here again, we better not see another Heart of Tradeweaving hanging in the sky.”

Amimi Kota laughed wholeheartedly. “Fair point, master wolf. These people will learn their lesson.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask. Why did you send Duril away during our little confrontation with the Council and the whole city?”

“He is happy where he is. And I was sure that you and your fellow shapeshifters would have no qualms about showing off a little, but I didn’t want your friend to be forced to become a spectacle for these people. He has too noble a heart for this sort of public exposure.”

“That is quite wise and also thoughtful of you. You invited him over for dinner, only you and him. I couldn’t help overhearing it.”

“I didn’t intend it to be a secret. Of all of you, your scholar speaks our language best. Therefore, I want to entrust him with important wisdom. He is the correct person to receive it.”

“I see. I must thank you for that in his name, then.”

Amimi Kota nodded. “With my utmost pleasure, young hero.”

“Young?” Varg couldn’t help snorting.

“In our eyes, you all are,” the head librarian said, patting his back.

TBC