As dust settled from their entrance, the trio instinctively moved deeper into the library, the sound of the raiders’ laughter fading into the background.
Jace peered down the dimly lit aisles, a mix of dread and excitement sparking in his chest.
‘We can’t stay here long,’ he said urgently, feeling a weight in the air. ‘If they catch up…’
Lila found an old lantern sitting atop a crumbling shelf. ‘Let’s light this and see what we can find,’ she suggested.
With a spark, the lantern illuminated ancient tomes adorned with languages they had never seen. ‘Look at this!’ Lila exclaimed, running her fingers over the embossed titles.
‘We need to focus on what can help us survive,’ Marco replied, scanning the room and listening for any signs of their pursuers.
From a dusty corner, Jace thudded a heavy book onto a nearby table. ‘This one has maps. It might show us safe routes and stash points!’
Lila rushed over, her eyes alight with curiosity. ‘Maps? You know our little secrets might be in here too,’ she smirked.
‘Secrets that can fetch us a price,’ Marco added, his gaze fixated on a map depicting long-forgotten underground tunnels.
Suddenly, the loud crash of the front entrance brought their attention back, a few stray raiders filtering through the dust clouds.
‘Quick! We need to barricade this!’ Jace shouted, pushing bookshelves against the door as Marco stood guard.
‘It’s not going to hold forever,’ Marco hissed, shooting furious glares at the approaching raiders ruining their sanctuary.
‘What do we do if they break through?’ Lila asked, panic creeping into her voice.
‘We fight,’ Jace said resolutely, gripping the weathered book even tighter. ‘As long as we have knowledge, we’ll forge a new destiny.’
The raiders heard their movements, approaching with disdainful chants and derisive laughter.
‘You think you can hide behind dusty pages? The sweet scent of old parchment won’t save you!’ one raider jeered.
Just as panic threatened to engulf them, Lila remembered an old trick. ‘If we can find the right books, there might be some kind of defensive knowledge here!’
She dashed toward a shelf of military strategy books, furiously flipping through pages. ‘Aha! Here!’ She yelled, pointing at a schematic of traps and defenses.
‘Is it a trap or a defense?’ Marco queried, as he shoved more books to form a barricade.
‘Both!’ She snapped, thrusting the book into his hands. ‘Help me set it up!’
While they hurriedly prepared, Jace recalled a verse they once joked about: ‘Knowledge is power, but power comes with a guard.’ He smirked despite their precarious situation.
The helmets of the raiders clanged menacingly as two of them tried to climb over the barricade, only to be met with a trap of rebounding heavy tomes.
One raider fell with a grunt while the other was caught off balance, grasping for anything to hold onto.
‘Looks like we’re a decent match for them,’ Marco said with an odd gentleness, reflecting on their quick thinking.
‘Only until they call for reinforcements!’ Jace warned, an anxious edge clinking his voice.
‘We can’t just defend. We also need an escape route,’ Lila added, eyeing the maps more intensely. ‘If we’re going to make it out alive, we need a way out before the whole pack arrives.’
‘What about the underground tunnels?’ suggested Marco, his mind racing as Jace revealed another map folded carefully inside a large leather-bound volume.
‘This connects to the south side. It might lead us away from here,’ Jace said, feeling a flicker of hope springing afresh.
With newfound determination, they bolstered their resolve and prepared for the fight ahead. ‘We’ll make our stand, but not for long,’ Jace declared, glancing nervously at the flimsy barricade holding their enemies at bay.
‘Then let’s create a diversion!’ Lila shouted, frantically flipping through the military book again as Marco and Jace exchanged confounded glances at her perceptive tendency.
‘A diversion? We could stall them long enough to reach the tunnels,’ Marco hesitated, sceptical yet intrigued.
‘I have an idea,’ Lila said with a wry grin amidst the chaos – this was no ordinary library; it was the beginning of their new chapter.
Determined and emboldened by the treasure trove around them, they formulated a plan that would not only save their lives but perhaps salvage humanity’s lost knowledge.