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Zani’s jaw had rigid set to it. “He wrote it roughly two hundred and forty years ago.”

“And how was it I could understand everything those gentlemen were saying?” Buffalo asked.

“I slipped a translation charm in with the wards.” Zani shrugged. “Seemed prudent.”

“So good old Callimachus is still here,” Will mused.

“He’s still here.” Zani was working something out behind her eyes. “For a magical practitioner, that’s not—it isn’t impossible, extended lifespan is documented, but two hundred and forty years is⁠—”

“Extreme,” Buffalo said.

“Yes.” Zani looked up. “Extreme.”

“And if he’s drawing power from the books themselves…” Amrita pondered.

“Then this is not a library anymore,” Will said. “It’s a larder.”

Nobody argued with that.

Buffalo, for once, did not reach for anything. “Shall we finish up?” he asked. “Seems like the playing field just got a little muddy.” He seemed eager to get back to the ship.

Will noticed the three linked tablets lying out on the table in the next chamber. Each one was the size of a large book and much heavier than they looked. They were connected by tarnished metal rings and each bore a different symbol: a flower, a compass, a sword.

“Could these tablets be saying something about the fates?” Will asked warily.

“Could be,” Zani said. “I certainly wouldn’t mind examining them further.”

“That’s the problem with this place.” Amrita sighed. “I wouldn’t mind examining everything further. But we can’t take it all with us.”

“We should probably leave them alone,” Will said.

“I think we should bring them back with us,” Zani argued.

“They are very heavy…” Will countered.

“That’s what you’ve got me for,” Buffalo said. “It’s all the same to me.” He turned his back to present the padded case and didn’t even seem to notice the added weight when Will put them in.

The group continued for another hour, picking and choosing from magical texts mixed in with the usual accounts of cattle and mathematical theorems. Alchemy, astrology, lost myths and legends from several cultures and anything that looked or smelled like a grimoire went straight into the case. The bag was starting to get crowded.

Periodically they took breaks to feed Will. Their porter needed to regain his strength quickly, before they attempted the long port home. Will snacked on the cookies and snacks packed by Granny Luna, careful not to leave any crumbs behind.

“Whoa! What do you make of this?” Buffalo could not resist picking up an unusual tome.

He had finally graduated, sometime during the course of the last hour, from liability to asset. Everyone recognized what a boon his strength was. They couldn’t have carried out half as much without his help.

But all that goodwill came crashing down as Buffalo came around the corner with the strange book in his hands.

Amrita looked up from the section of shelving she was visibly scanning and stared.

The book, bound in a surprisingly modern fashion, was no larger than an encyclopedia for Ordinaries. But its exterior was extraordinary, unlike any other book she’d ever seen, and different from the more primitive codices in terracotta containers, tablets and scrolls they’d been running into all night. This book’s cover was smooth as glass and a deep dark blue. She watched, entranced, as the surface of the book shivered, affected by the air rushing by as Buffalo approached.

“I found this book sitting on the floor in the middle of the last chamber,” Buffalo said, with the tone of a hopeful child presenting something for approval. “Do you think it’s anything important?”

Zani came around the other side of the shelf and looked at it. Her expression changed. Wonder, then concern.

“Where was it?”

“Right on the floor over there. Tucked under the lower shelf. Like someone left it sitting out.”