Two slave-Kings

Barrus let go of Tomaz, but kept him ahead of him, pushing him through the opened gate.  Ahead of him Shay was being supported still by Annejecta, and the second woman was following close behind them.  As Barrus walked past the gate he turned slightly and stared over his shoulder.  Tomaz, looking back to see why Barrus's steps had slowed, saw him.
"What?" he said, sounding barely civil.  "Are there more of you to come?"
"I'm waiting for the gate to close," said Barrus.  "That's usually what happens in these tricky places; all the doors let you in one-way only."
"Where do you spend your time?" said Tomaz.  "The gate's controlled by the lever, it can't close unless someone closes it."
"What lever?"  Barrus looked blankly at Tomaz and then around him.  "I can't see any lever."
"Ah," said Tomaz.  "You're not attuned to Paimon though.  Shay can still see the lever, he could close the gate if you want him to."
"Can you see the lever?
"No."
Barrus grunted, obviously not believing Tomaz, but Tomaz refused to be drawn, falling silent and following behind the quiet woman, not looking back at Barrus.  They walked in single file, though Shay still leant a little on Annejecta, along a stone corridor that seemed to turn gently; never quite enough to show a proper corner, but just enough that the gate soon disappeared and it was as though they were walking down an endless tunnel.  Their footsteps echoed, and Tomaz found himself unconsciously trying to keep in step with the others so that there was just one, resounding heavy footstep that they all contributed to.  When he realised what he was doing he stumbled a little, in order to break out of synchrony.
The corridor opened out without any warning, becoming a small atrium with a chimney in the ceiling that stretched up as far as the eye could see, and a grey light glowed at the top.  The walls of the atrium were recessed with shelves, on which were stood thin, leather-bound books with gilt lettering on the spine.  Annejecta checked that Shay could stand up by himself and then started browsing through the shelves, running her fingers down spines and tilting her head to one-side to better read their names.  The other woman looked around them, and then seized Shay's arm.  He looked up, and Tomaz noticed that he looked very pale, his eyes darkly shadowed and more deep-sunken than he remembered.
"What is it?"  Shay's voice rasped like a rough file on metal.  The second woman's hands blurred into motion, and Tomaz stepped backwards, retreating from her and walking into Barrus.
"Ow."  Barrus's tone was flat, letting Tomaz know that he'd stood on Barrus's foot without actually expressing pain.  "What was that for?"
Tomaz realised that the second woman wasn't performing a complicated prestidigitation and relaxed a little.
"I didn't know what she was doing," he said, pointing at her.  "I thought she might be invoking one of the Howling."
"What if she was?"  Barrus sounded bored.
"This would be a bad place to do it," said Tomaz.  "What is she doing?"
"Talking," said Barrus.  "Emma's a mute, she talks to Shay with her hands."
"These books are all indices," said Annejecta, walking back from the shelves.  "I think they're intended to help you find what you're looking for."
"What?" said Shay, talking to Emma.  She pointed behind them all, and Shay looked where she was pointing.
"So have you found what we're looking for?" said Barrus.  "Your hands are empty."
"There's no-one there," said Shay, looking at Emma.  Tomaz carefully avoided turning round and looking where they were talking about.  Emma's hands started dancing in the air again, fingers caressing each other, walking over her palms and wrists.
"I need to find the book here that will tell us where the books we want are," said Annejecta.  "It's like a puzzle box."
"Hah," said Barrus.  "I knew you'd come in useful."  He pushed Tomaz towards Annejecta.
"No," said Shay.  "There's no-one there.  Hey, Anna, Barrus!  Can you see anyone following us?"  Emma punched him on the arm.  "Two people following us?"
"No," said Barrus, looking back.  "Either of you two?"
Both Annejecta and Tomaz shook their heads, Tomaz now walking to the shelves with Annejecta.
"What are you looking for then?" he asked, hoping to forestall any more questions, in case they realised that he could quite easily see the slave Kings Labal and Abalim keeping a discrete distance behind them.

Invoking Paimon

"I still don't see why we couldn't do it upstairs," said Shay.  "Your office is warmer and more comfortable than this... cave!"
"We could have invoked Paimon there," said Tomaz.  "It would have taken a lot longer and been much more dangerous, and we'd have had to come down here in the end anyway.  The point of entry to the Library for books in Paimon's realm is this gate in front of you."
"Huh," said Shay.  "At least we'd have been down here for less time."
Tomaz didn't answer that, but opened his slim little box instead.  Inside it looked like a rectangular artist's palette, with little indentations set at regular intervals and filled with what looked like solid colour.  Annejecta craned her neck to see more clearly, and Barrus sniffed once and twitched his nose as though he were smelling something disagreeable.  They could hear Tomaz counting softly underneath his breath, moving his finger along the indentations.  When his finger stopped it was next to the only amber colour in the box, on which he rubbed his finger.  The amber was soft enough for him to rub a layer off, roughing up the surface of the disc and lightly coating his finger, and Annejecta thought immediately of fat-based cosmetics.
"Hold still," said Tomaz to Shay.  "I need to draw a sigil on your face.  It won't hurt."
"It's only wax," said Barrus.  "Why would it hurt?"
While Tomaz carefully copied the sigil on the gate onto Shay's face, the waves going on his forehead and the cross-lines going through his nose and mouth, Annejecta shuffled a little closer to Barrus and said quietly enough that only he could hear her,
"Not all of those coloured discs will be painless to put on.  Some of... of... of the things we might want to talk to won't talk until they can feel your pain."
Barrus looked startled, stepped backwards and nearly colliding with the fourth member of their little group, who glared at him but said nothing, adjusting her position so that Annejecta was between her and Barrus.  Annejecta closed the gap between them again, speaking quickly to stop him from saying anything.
"Paimon isn't like that, he embodies dignity and there's nothing dignified about needless suffering.  But there might be some of them we might want to talk to one day who will make that demand.  That's just the way they are.  It's like, I don't know, the terms of a contract.  You sign on with someone and they say you have to wear their stupid, heavy, scratchy uniform all the time, so you do it because they're paying you."
"Fine."  Barrus's voice was flat and his eyes showed that he didn't like what he'd just heard.
"Normally," said Tomaz, as he finished his drawing, "you would need to learn a set of phrases first that you'd repeat, but because of where we are right now, we can omit that step.  Stay right where you are while I fetch something; don't move around much now.  You're attracting attention just by being here, and we've marked you now.  Remember that you're going to be judged."
"What does he mean, judged?" asked Barrus, his helmet shifting slightly.  Annejecta surmised that he was frowning hard beneath it.
"We're asking for something," she said.  "Knowledge about the Hinterlands in this case.  Just like when you go to the Librarians and ask them for a book, they decide if you can have it, if you can take it away or if you have to read it where they can watch you.  It's just like that, only Paimon's a bit... bigger than a Librarian."
"Well, I think I know how to deal with Librarians," said Barrus, the volume of his voice rising a little now.  "Doesn't matter what they call themelves."
Tomaz reappeared from underneath the stairs carrying a tiny clay bottle with a cork stopper.  As he walked past Annejecta and Barrus they both smelled something strongly resinous and then an undercurrent that reminded them both of sick-rooms.  Tomaz stopped in front of Shay and pulled the cork from the bottle, thrusting it under Shay's nose as he did so.  Shay inhaled, ready to step back and away, and his eyes rolled up in his head as his nose smelled something incredibly strong and potent.
"Paimon rebharat, maccaresis ca ta fïeldur.  Laimat ta rebhara.  Paimon et urfeld maccara." said Tomaz, his voice sharp and high.  It felt like his voice cut through the air in the room like a knife through soft butter, and Annejecta took a step back, feeling off-balance.  The mark on Shay's face lit up redly, with the flesh behind it appearing purple and bruised, and the moss beneath his feet changed colour to red as well, a straight path rolling out both before and behind him.  His feet moved jerkily, carrying him forwards as though managed by an inexperienced puppeteer, and Annejecta saw that the sigil on the gate was also glowing.  They all remained silent while Shay stumbled forward, and when he reached the gate he put his hand out as though to stop himself from walking into it, but his hand passed through the bars like they were a mirage.  He walked through, stopping on the other side and turning around to face the rest of them.  Then the light faded out of his face and he staggered a little, catching himself against the wall.
"What the fuck good's that?" said Barrus, the first to speak.  "I thought we were getting books from this."
"You are," said Tomaz. "The lever for opening the gate is on Shay's side."