Reina rears in response, tail thrashing in agitation as the books take flight.

"They're enchanted! There must be some sort of trigger." she huffs, her eyeline skirting across the library. "Check the floor for runes, check the shelving, check for some sort of switch, ANYTHING!"

Flying tomes cut through her mane as she searched. What magic is this... what language could conjure such malice out of... tomes of history?! She ponders, her mind racing. She knew of magic, and she knew it well. Necromancy, destruction, manipulation? What could give life to inanimate objects...

"Do any of you know of conjuration? Of the enchanting of the inanimate?" she whinnies to her companions, ducking to avoid an airborne encyclopedia of dragonology.

The tripped mechanic was probably his fault, Jay realized as he lifted his hoof. Beneath it had crumbled an old skeleton covered in a thousand layers of dust, most likely the former owner of this library. Or worse, just another unlucky wanderer. Oops.

All too quickly did the room begin to fill with the shrieks and cries from both horse and book alike. Jay twisted on his heels to spot his companions, picking out the red and black coats running from their flying assailants. Reina's voice called out first, Jay's dark eyes immediately flitting to her location.

"I'm the wrong horse to be askin' princess." He threw a grin at the bay mare, jerking his head to dodge incoming literature. "My expertise ain't anywhere close to magic." The smile was immediately knocked from his face as a book slammed into his jaw, a slew of curses flung at the retreating novel.

Once recovered from the (humiliating) blow, the Courser kept his head low, cantering to the edge of the room in hopes the books wouldn’t follow. Pressing his flank tightly to the wall, he stared back at his companions. With the other three stuck in the middle of the room, the tomes were circling and raining down on them as they ran. Maybe they were attracted to moving targets? The grin, now sore, returned to his face.

“Hey!” His voice rang over the thousands of languages screaming. “Who wants to be book bait?”

They've hardly been in the library long enough to catch their breath when the books animate. They spring to life, flying and fluttering about, Andrej already souring as one cuffs him upside the head. "Motherfucker," an annoyed roll of his eyes, plucking one of the projectiles out of the air and throwing it forcefully into the rest. The two of them clatter to the floor, resting there for a long moment before bouncing back. Sounds of clamoring, crashing, and ruffled pages aren't enough to drown out Reina's voice. Andrej's attention snaps back to the bay woman, lunging to snag one of the books headed straight for her. Grabbing the struggling not-quite-beast and hurling it with great force into another, repeating his earlier maneuver with some success.

Andrej grits his teeth, trying to focus. The books were set up as an elaborate defense system, there had to be something of value in this library. If they could bat their way through them, there would be riches for them to collect. Reina's question about enchanting, about magic, tugs at his chest. Magic had been Zora's domain-- surely a trap like this wouldn't have caught her. Andrej pushes thoughts of his sister from his head, for now. Focus up. Right, a stark reminder to himself.

"No magic for m-- shit," another annoyed grunt as one of the tomes whacks him in the rear, Andrej kicking out recklessly in its general direction. Disgruntled, but he picks up Jay's words over the din. Picking up what he's putting down, a rakish grin spreads over Andrej's face. Bait? Bet. "Alright you ratfucks, come at us." Moving to the center of the room, still grabbing and reaching for the animated books. Khors taking flight, dodging and dipping between the fluttering pages. The two of them paint a menacing picture, stirring up as much movement as they possibly can between them. Game on.

Rosery let out a squeal more befitting of a knob kneed foal then a fully fledged courser. Around them was a flurry of pages, hooves, and teeth. They hunkered down, dropping their head so low, they might as well have been hiding it between their front legs. Their ears pricked at Reina’s call.

“I know a little- I just need some time to think!” They called back. But it was time that they didn’t have. Magic, Magic... Where had they heard of magic like this? Surely they had, but when-

An ancient dictionary clocked them in the head, spine first. The collision knocked the book from the air, and Rosery pounced on it, stomping it - and whatever magic had breathed life into it - to death. Shredded paper lay under their hooves and Rosery’s mind swirled with ancient, indecipherable texts. Their eyes searched the scribbled lines for any information that they could use. Hell, even a diagram would help! It was useless, they couldn’t begin to make heads or tails of this script.

Animate objects was the name of the spell, but that didn’t help. What were the components? Verbal and… somatic? But whatever had cast this was long dead! They snorted in frustration, swatting another book from their air with a well timed kick. The party was alone in this chamber, there was no one else who could’ve casted this. It didn’t make any sense!

With Andrej and Khors causing a distraction, Rosery made their escape from the cyclone of books, darting to the side of the room. Their breath heaved in and out of their nostrils. They tried desperately to ease their addled mind. They needed to think.

A spell scroll? No, someone would have had to read it aloud. Rosery scoured their mind, recalling different tales of heroes they had heard and recounted. Heroes with enchanted blades and magical items- Wait! There were plenty of stories of magical items causing extraordinary effects. Most were used for good, but… What about a cursed object? A spell set long ago on something mundane, that when disturbed would trigger the desired effect.

“Did anyone notice anything before the books started flying? A piece of jewelry or a staff? Anything! If we can take control of it or destroy it, maybe it will stop this!” Their eyes flickered between their companions desperately. Surely someone had to have seen something!