Blood of the Goddess Book I: The Locust King
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Locusts at the Gate Chapter 2: A New Name Chapter 3: The Capital Prepares Chapter 4: The Princess is Dead, Long Live the Princess Chapter 5: Outside the Gates Chapter 6: Inside the Black Tent Chapter 7: Surrender at the Temple Chapter 8: The Cult of the Locust Chapter 9: The Locust's Tenets of Faith Chapter 10: Mourners on the Cliff Chapter 11: The Eye of Betrayal Chapter 12: The Dead King's Bedchamber Chapter 13: The Arms of the Goddess Chapter 14: Zayaan of the Narim Chapter 15: The Eyes of the Priestess Chapter 16: A More Permanent Disguise Chapter 17: Tribute Chapter 18: Sacrifice of the New Moon Chapter 19: The Lost Bird Chapter 20: Manah and the Priestess Chapter 21: Desert Creatures Chapter 22: Become the Swarm Chapter 23 The Price of Betrayal Chapter 24: Life Under the Locust Chapter 25: Wild Rose Chapter 26: The Lady Wren Chapter 27: Thought and Desire Chapter 28: The Lady's Captivity Chapter 29: The Wine Maiden Chapter 30: End of Childhood Chapter 31: The Children of Aisha Chapter 32: The Forest Runner Chapter 33: Three Sisters Chapter 34: The Hunt Chapter 35: Bones in the Forest Chapter 36: Lullaby Chapter 37: The Hunter's Horn Chapter 38: Ways Between Ways Chapter 39: Morning Star Chapter 40: A Prophecy for Baraz Chapter 41: Equinox Fires Chapter 42: The Lord Prince Takri Chapter 43: Evening Star Sets Chapter 44: Chaos in the Courtyard Chapter 45: Dasha Chapter 46: Memories Chapter 47: The Body Slave Chapter 48: Caged Beasts Chapter 49: Message from the Capital Chapter 50: Heresiarch Chapter 51: The Color of Blood Chapter 52: Winter Winds Chapter 53: The Bookmaker's Closet Chapter 54: Wrapped in Dignity and Beauty Chapter 55: Vessel of the Goddess Chapter 56: Cracks in the Walls Chapter 57: Two Brothers Chapter 58: The Court of Women Chapter 59: Favored of the King Chapter 60: The Sweetest Fruit Chapter 61: Daughter of the Temple Chapter 62: A Nation of Bastards Chapter 63: The Lute Player Chapter 64: Aisha's Prayer Chapter 65: Promises Chapter 66: Lives Lost Chapter 67: The Tea Maker Chapter 68: Object of Desire Chapter 69: Empty Shelves Chapter 70: Darkness and LightChapter 69: Empty Shelves
Aisha placed the bowl of porridge next to her sleeping friend. It would be cold by the time Nasreen woke, but at least she would have something to eat. The tremors that came with Nasreen's fever seemed to have subsided. Aisha kissed her friend on the cheek and tucked in the blankets the way she remembered her own mother doing when she fell ill as a child.
She made sure her drawings and the scroll were secured away under her own pallet before heading to the library to continue her work, this time with a purpose that was more than serving the Locusts. Her excitement sped her steps across the courtyard even faster than she would have been if she was only trying to escape the cold.
Old Scribe greeted her at the door with head bunts and a meow. She stopped to scratch him behind his scarred ears before starting her work for the day.
"Old Scribe, I cannot stand here all day petting you. I have serious work to do, you know," she said as she made her way to the table covered with books for Baraz to review. Some had been sitting in the same spot for the past several months. He was rarely in the library. There was no way he could know how many books she was sorting each day. Today, she would take her time and see if she could find that place behind the shelves in the bookmaker's closet if it still existed.
The cat jumped up on the table and found a beam of weak winter sunlight to lie in among the codices. Aisha made note of the illustration the codex of floorplans lay open to, ensuring it had not been touched since she left the library last. It still showed the page with the original plans for the library, along with the larger room for bookmaking. Aisha studied the drawing, trying to memorize the dimensions of the room as it was hundreds of years ago, and then began her morning inspection of the library, making sure she was alone in the process.
She walked the perimeter of the building, along shelves and compartments now emptied of their contents, until she came to the stairs leading to the second level where empty tables now stood. She paused for a moment, picturing the room as it once had been, full of silent priestesses and scholars seated at oak tables pouring over books. Amanuenses sat to one side taking dictation from the holy women, all assisted by a small army of scribes and librarians.
Now, the building was empty except for herself, an old cat, and what remained of the knowledge of Adyll. She turned to face the center of the room and the bookmaker's closet, pulling her veil away from her face now that it was safe to do so. The closet lay directly under the large flight of stairs leading to the study area above. Aisha knew that the second level was a more recent addition to the library, as the stairs were not included in the codex's drawings. Behind the stairs lay the entrance to the bookkeeper's closet.
She went back to the codex to check the drawing again. The missing space had to be under the stairs. Now, how to get there? It would take three strong men to move the heavy oaken shelves. There was no way a skinny girl child of thirteen could manage it on her own.
I will figure out a way. There was a way into the catacombs behind the altar in the sanctuary. There must be a way into the hidden room here. The drawings show both.
Aisha entered the closet and began removing the contents of each compartment and shelf one at a time, examining the wall behind it and replacing the contents of the shelves exactly as they had been before moving to the next one. After an hour, Old Scribe joined her.
"You are a good cat." Aisha gave him a few pets before returning to her task. "If you know how to get behind this wall, you can show me."
The cat yawned and curled up on a stack of parchment for another nap.
"It must be tiring work to keep all the mice and rats away," said Aisha. "There must be a lot of them here to keep you as fat as you are."
Old Scribe ignored her.
Aisha finished going through the first row of compartments at the top of the shelves with no success. The wall behind showed no indication it anything other than solid wood.
She began on the second row. Then the third. By the time she reached the bottom shelf she was tired and hungry. Her stomach growled audibly, disturbing the cat where he napped a few feet away. "Some days I wish I could eat rats like you, Old Scribe. Our meals in the dormitory are getting smaller and smaller. Maybe I could suggest rats to the cooks and see if they approve?"
The tom cat got up and stretched before jumping down from his spot on the table. He rubbed his face on Aisha's arms where she knelt on the floor in front of the shelves, meowed once, and headed for the door.
"I guess he has better things to do than keep me company," said Aisha to herself as she began on the bottom shelf.
Old Scribe stopped just outside the doorway where he turned and meowed plaintively at Aisha before returning to rub himself on the young bookmaker and the shelves. He repeated this process three times before finally leaving. A moment later, Aisha heard caterwauling from outside the closet. She stopped her sorting and went to check on the old cat, who was seated at the base of the stairs, scratching at a hole in the corner where the step met the base of the next.
"Did you find me a mouse to bring to the cook?" asked Aisha.
Old Scribe turned and gave her a disapproving look before stalking off into the maze of shelves.
"I wouldn't presume to take your food, old man," Aisha called after him. "I don't want to eat rodents unless I have to!"
She started back into the bookmaker's closet when she heard a faint scratching from inside the hole. A moment later, a mouse emerged. Old Scribe pounced from his hiding spot in the in the shelves, launching himself at the creature who scurried away as fast as he could. Old Scribe caught his prey with his front paws, allowing it to run a few inches before swatting it again. Aisha watched as he played with his next meal, wondering how a creature who spent so much time sleeping could suddenly be so energetic, and how it must feel for a mouse to be hunted by a much larger predator. Soon, Old Scribe tired of his game, took the dead mouse in his mouth and left Aisha alone at the base of the stairs.
She looked at the hole for a moment, before sweeping the dust and chewed wood away from the corner. She pressed her eye to the hole. It was too dark to see anything inside. She returned to the bookmaker's closet and came back with a flat tipped knife used to cut leather and set to work, trying to pull the wooden plank away from the rest of the stairs. By the time Old Scribe returned from his meal, she had the board loosened enough to swivel it away from the step using the one remaining nail as a pivot point. She looked inside, seeing nothing but a mass of chewed wood, leaves, and leather. The little beast was using the contents of the library to make itself very comfortable and warm in its hiding place.
Then Aisha saw it. The end of a cylindrical wooden case, like the one she found before only larger and bound with leather straps. She reached inside and pulled it free. Behind it, the stairs held codex after codex stacked so tightly within she could barely fit a finger between them.
The missing books, hidden by the librarians and scribes before the fall of the city. This was their hiding place.
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