Adventure of Young Dave. 4

Cold light leaks through Young Dave.'s lashes. The stink of herbs, clean linen, and old stone hangs in the air. He lies on a narrow cot in a quiet infirmary tucked inside the Brooklyn Central Library, with shelves standing like watchful walls around him.

At the foot of the bed, Rosemary checks a clay cup and a folded bandage. Yama stands nearby with his arms folded, still as a shield. Stella peeks around a shelf post, eyes wide. Kazeki watches the doorway instead of the bed. The stray dog curls beneath a bench, shaking but alive.

A book with a red ribbon marker rests on a stool beside Young Dave.'s big sword. Its pages are open to a map of service routes, and one margin is marked with Suzanne's name in hard black ink.

The stray dog lets out a small, worried whine and nudges the bench leg, eyes fixed on the corridor beyond the infirmary. The library hums around them, restless, as if waiting for Young Dave.'s next move.

Young Dave surges up from the cot and drives in with the big sword before the hag can settle, forcing the fight into the narrow infirmary lane. Suzanne snaps a spell at him in reply, but the blast catches him square in the body and knocks the breath out of him. He staggers, still upright, while Suzanne skids back a step with one hand raised and her mouth tight, more startled than triumphant. The shelves behind her shiver harder, dust sifts from the seams, and the red-marked route book trembles on the stool as the library strains around them.

Stella snaps both hands up, but the spell sputters short, a thin ember thread that dies against the trembling shelf seam. The air flashes hot for a heartbeat, and the route book on the stool flips open by itself.

A red line bleeds out of the book and crawls over the infirmary floor toward the corridor arch, as if the library is offering a second route under the first.

Suzanne shifts back into the opening, wary now, while dust rains harder from the cracked seams behind her.

The dog whines under the bench, staring at the crawling red line, as the choice opens up between the hag in the doorway and the book on the stool.

Stella throws her hands up again, and this time flame catches. A bright bolt snaps from her palms toward the doorway, bathing the infirmary in red-gold light.

The hag jerks sideways, but the spell still catches the threshold, blasting splinters from the arch and forcing her fully into view.

The open book on the stool flares, and the red line on the floor thickens into a steady trail that points past the arch instead of stopping there.

Dust pours down in sheets as the shelves shudder harder, and the red path waits at Young Dave.'s feet, forcing the next move.

Young Dave snaps a hand toward Kazeki and the mercenary answers at once, flicking a shuriken into the red glow. It whirs low, but the route book’s light bends the blade off line.

The shuriken strikes the splintered arch instead, pinning itself in fresh char and shaking loose a shower of dust.

Suzanne drags one hand across the doorway, and a blackened flap of cover slumps open from the massive red book behind her, as if she is using it like a shield.

The floor trail thickens under their boots, then kinks past the arch toward the deeper stacks, while the shelves overhead groan and shed another curtain of dust.

Young Dave snaps a sharp gesture at Kazeki, and the mercenary answers without a word. The shuriken leaves his fingers in a clean, low arc toward Suzanne.

Suzanne jerks behind the red book flap, but the blade slips past the cover and catches her sleeve. The hag recoils into the doorway, hissing through clenched teeth.

The throw costs Kazeki his balance, and his shoulder slams the bench hard enough to scrape wood on stone. Dust jumps from the shelves above him.

Rosemary flinches at the hit, then points at the floor trail as it thickens and curves past the arch. The library answers with a deeper groan, and the stained route lights the deeper stacks like a warning.

Yama shifts into the gap, sword ready, while Suzanne presses one hand to her torn sleeve and backs deeper into the red-lit opening. The doorway stays open, but the stacks shudder harder around it.

Young Dave drives in for Yama to seize Suzanne, but the hag twists through the opening and ruins the grab before it can land. Yama’s blade stays up, the red trail flickering hard across the floor as the shelves groan around the doorway.

Suzanne lashes out with a burst of raw magic. Young Dave is struck hard, his sword dropping as he collapses at the threshold, the library shaking dust loose over his face while Yama and Rosemary jerk toward him.