The darkness was nearly impenetrable at that time of night in the forest. The moon and stars barely shone through the thick canopy above them, and when it was cloudy, like it was that night, their eyes could not adjust to the dark. Caleb was striking the flint behind Mallory and cursing under his breath. She and Alex stood close to one another, sensing each other’s warmth in the cold of the night more than seeing each other.
They had their magistrate weapons out, but it was impossible to get a bead on the noises in the woods. Leaves rustled, and grunts and growls moved among the undergrowth. The four-legged beasts of the dark forest had surrounded their little clearing every night for the last three weeks since they set up camp there. The creatures would stay away if they kept the fire going, so they had been sleeping in shifts to continue tending the flames. It was Caleb’s shift to tend the fire, and Mallory was not sure what had happened, but when he called for help, both she and Alex had sprung out of light sleep and grabbed their weapons. Now, they were standing in the dark trying to figure out what to fire at.
“Caleb,” Mallory hissed. “Hurry up!”
“I’m trying,” Caleb hissed back. Then a spark caught in the kindling, and Caleb blew it to life. The flame slowly climbed up through the smaller sticks. The tiny blaze was reflected in multiple pairs of eyes. The beasts had left the underbrush and were slowly making their way toward them from every side.
An explosion tore through the tense silence as Alex opened fire and hit one of the animals directly between the eyes. It winced and dropped dead. The rest of the pack hesitated then, and one nuzzled its fallen companion curiously. When the dead animal gave no response, the beast looked up at Alex with menace and leapt for her. She fired again, and the beast fell at her feet.
Mallory followed suit then and began firing haphazardly at the pack. She had not trained in using the magistrates’ weapons like Alex had, and she missed her targets until the beasts charging her were within a stone’s throw—then she hit one, but two more were closing in quickly behind it. Immediately, Caleb was beside her with his magistrate weapon in one hand, and his short sword in the other. He fired at one beast and stabbed the other as it lunged. As the beast’s weight thrust against the sword, it knocked him off balance, and he stumbled backwards.
Just as he fell, Alex yelled, “I need help!”
Mallory turned to see four of the creatures creeping toward her. Alex fired at one, and it fell. Mallory fired at another and grazed it. However, she knew that they would never be able to stop what was coming. Caleb reached up and grabbed Mallory’s hand, and she braced for whatever death and suffering these creatures had in store for them.
Without warning, a white light illuminated the clearing. Mallory’s eyes were blinded in the brilliance, and she squeezed them tightly closed. The certain death Mallory thought they were going to face never materialized. Soon, behind her eyelids, her pupils adjusted to the light, and she cautiously peaked out at the campsite. The rest of the beasts lay on the ground dead—they had been torn apart just like the ones that had attacked the cattle when the light went down in the city. The white light was emanating from two small orbs floating in the darkness. Then they vanished, and Mallory’s eyes had to once again adjust to the change in luminescence. The small campfire had a comparably dimmer glow, which gradually revealed a strange little bronze sprite.
The sprite looked like it was made of clockwork parts; gears and springs ticked and clicked as it moved toward them. Caleb was still holding Mallory’s hand, and he squeezed it tighter now. After all the trouble they had faced with sprites, seeing a strange one in the dark forest at night was unsettling. Seeing what it had done to the creatures of the dark forest did not help. If it chose to attack them in a similar fashion, they would be helpless against it. They would have stood more of a chance fighting off the fangs and claws of a pack of beasts than the unforgiving, nigh-indestructible power of sprite steel.
The sprite stood between them and the fire now, and it eyed them—the dimly-lit orbs focused and refocused on them. Then it came slowly forward, and reached out for Alex’s scarred hand, which she had not covered with a glove as she usually did because of the confusion. Its eyes focused on the arm, then moved back from them and in a metallic voice asked, “You are from the Lost City?”
The three friends looked at each other with their eyebrows raised. Then Caleb answered, “We are from the city, yes.”
The sprite ticked and clicked, and its eyes scanned over their campsite, their weapons, their broaches, and when it seemed satisfied with what it saw, it said, “You bear the symbols of the Triad of leadership. The Dikaió Archivist requests the city leaders to send a Chorus, that they may study the ancient ways.”
Mallory spoke then, “Our lineage is of the Triad, but I am a Chorus.” She paused and looked at Alex and Caleb, felt a tinge of guilt, and continued, “We are all Dikaió Choruses.”
The sprite responded, “Will you answer the Archivist’s call?”
Caleb and Alex huddled around Mallory.
“What do you think?” Caleb asked.
Alex shook her head, “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of a Dikaió Archivist.”
Mallory laughed a little and asked, “You’d rather stay out here with these things?” She nodded at the dead creatures around them.
Caleb nodded, “I say we take our chances with the sprite and whoever this Archivist is.”
Alex considered their argument, and somewhere out in the darkness a four-legged creature howled. Alex’s eyes rolled toward the sound, and she nodded, “Fair enough.”
Mallory turned toward the sprite, “Will the Archivist accept three Choruses?”
The sprite responded immediately, “I believe she will. She was quite adamant that I not return without one. Three is better than one.”
“Then we accept.”
The sprite turned toward the dark forest. “Very well, you should sleep. I will keep watch, and we shall leave in the morning. It is a long journey to the Library.”