by Paul Stewart
‘A lot of superstitious nonsense is spoken about glisters,’ Bungus was saying. ‘About them being souls, spirits or the like. In fact, they are the seeds of open sky which blow in from beyond the Edge. This they have done since the beginning of time, sowing the land with life. They are the building blocks of existence itself, carried in on storm-force winds to Riverrise, where they come to earth and flow out into the Deepwoods along the Edgewater River, to blossom into every form and kind of life.’
He fell still, and Quint watched as his expression became thoughtful.
‘At least,’ he said, ‘that is what happened before the great Sanctaphrax rock rose above the Edge. Since then, some sky seeds have inevitably been blown into the great rock itself and taken root in the stonecomb. Here, far from Riverrise, they develop into glisters – the spectral beings that flitter throughout the tunnels.’
Quint glanced round him. Thankfully, there were none to be seen.
‘Of course, most of them are harmless,’ Bungus went on. ‘Occasionally, one will leave a small glister-burn if provoked, but I've never seen any others as huge and deadly as this one.’ He paused. ‘But whether large or small, you can't kill a glister, for the simple reason that they're not alive – at least, not as we understand it. They are the phantoms of things that have never lived. Those that stray outside the stonecomb soon dissolve into nothingness.’ Bungus pulled a leather pouch from the pocket of his cape and untied the drawstring. ‘Inside, I use this to ward them off.’
Maris and Quint peered inside.
‘Sand?’ said Quint. ‘What use is that?’ ‘It isn't sand,’ said Bungus. He reached into the pouch and drew out a pinch of grainy white powder. ‘To earth-scholars, it is known as chine,’ he said.
Quint looked closely at the tiny crystals glittering in the High Librarian's leathery palm.
‘It is gathered from the edges of the lake at Riverrise,’ Bungus explained.
‘Riverrise,’ Quint said, impressed. ‘Even my father's sky ship, the Galerider, has never ventured that far into the Deepwoods. I wasn't even sure it actually existed.’
‘Yet the Scholar Librarians visited Riverrise many times,’ said Bungus. He smiled. ‘I have often dreamt of travelling there myself, but like so much of earth-scholarship, the route to Riverrise is lost. More's the pity.’ He looked down at his hand. ‘What stormphrax is to sky-scholars, so chine is to us earth-scholars. It is the crystallized essence of the Edgewater. And to a glister,’ he added, ‘a crystal of chine is as corrosive as the strongest acid. If one comes threateningly close…’ He raised his hand to his mouth and blew a single grain into the air. ‘Pfff! And it is gone.’
‘I wish we'd had some earlier,’ said Quint.
‘Alas, I fear it'll take my entire supply of chine to deter the monstrous blood-red glister we encountered,’ said Bungus, returning the leather pouch to his pocket. ‘The pinch I caught it with will have weakened it – maybe for a few hours – but it will be back.’ He helped Maris to her feet and picked up his lantern. ‘Come now. We really should be leaving.’
Maris clasped his hand. She had still not fully recovered – either mentally or physically – from her terrible ordeal.
‘My father will reward you well for saving me,’ she murmured.
Bungus smiled and offered his arm as a support. ‘Your father?’ he said. ‘A sky-scholar, no doubt. You are very kind, but no sky-scholar would risk his position to help an old and decrepit earth-studies librarian like me.’
‘My father most certainly would,’ said Maris imperiously. ‘For he is the Most High Academe of Sanctaphrax himself.’
Bungus stopped in his tracks. He turned to Maris, eyes wide and mouth gaping. ‘You are the daughter of Linius Pallitax?’ he said.
It was Maris's turn to be surprised. ‘You know my father?’
‘Indeed I do,’ Bungus confirmed. ‘Or rather, I did.’
‘But how is that possible?’ said Maris, her eyes flashing. She grasped the old librarian by the sleeve. ‘You must tell me.’
‘Earth alive!’ Bungus exclaimed. ‘How like him you look. I can see it now …’ He shook his head. ‘Linius used to visit the Great Library when he was a lad,’ he explained. ‘He would sneak off from the Fountain House, frustrated by the nit-picking tedium of the lessons offered by those so-called teachers and keen to discover more about the true and ancient wisdom contained in the hanging barkscrolls. Initially, I introduced him to the rudiments of earth-studies. Later, once he had got the hang of the library trees, he began to pursue his own interests independently.’
Quint nodded. ‘That would explain how he knows so much about the place,’ he said. ‘He was able to tell me exactly where to go to retrieve the barkscroll he needed.’
‘So that's what you were doing in my library,’ said Bungus, thoughtfully. He looked up. ‘I don't suppose you remember which barkscroll Linius was after?’
‘I … didn't read it properly,’ said Quint. ‘It…’
‘Then where exactly did you find it?’ said Bungus. ‘Do try to remember.’ He fixed Quint with an intense stare. ‘Which tree of knowledge did you climb?’
Quint racked his brains, fearing for a moment that his encounter with the rogue glister had erased that crucial part of his memory. But then, in his mind's eye, he suddenly saw the golden plaque. ‘Aerial Creatures,’ he said.
Bungus nodded. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes,’ said Quint, ‘I had to climb right up to the top, following the “not” branches – not bird, not reptile, not mammal … The barkscroll was hanging from where two twigs crossed,’ he said. ‘Celestial and … and … I just can't remember.’
Bungus's face darkened. ‘What can my old pupil be up to?’ he mused. ‘Come to think of it, what is he doing allowing his daughter and apprentice to go wandering off through the stonecomb on their own?’
Maris and Quint caught each other's eye. Standing there in the empty lair of the blood-red glister, both of them suddenly felt very small, and very alone. Perhaps this strange ragged librarian with his papery clothes and powerful potions might actually be able to help. Quint squeezed Maris's hand in the darkness. She squeezed it back.
‘Can we trust you?’ said Maris.
‘Trust me?’ Bungus smiled. ‘I may be an earth-scholar, but your father trusted me once.’
‘Very well,’ said Maris, suddenly very tired. ‘Tell him, Quint.’
Quint nodded. He told him all about the Most High Academe's recent obsession with his work and how he, Quint, had been taken on to help him. He told him about the nightly trips down to the stonecomb and the terrible wounds the professor had sustained there. He described the shifty individual with the silver nose-piece, and the suspicious guard, and he explained about the sabotaging of the sky cage…
All the while Bungus listened in silence, head down and brow furrowed, his face betraying nothing of what he was thinking. It was only when Quint told him about what he had glimpsed and heard inside the chamber that he finally looked up.
‘A great sphere of light?’ he said. ‘Sobbing cries?’ The colour drained from his face. ‘Can it be true?’
Maris trembled. Her encounter with the terrible rogue glister had left her feeling weak and light-headed. ‘Can we just get out of here?’ she whispered. ‘Please.’
But Bungus made no reply. He gazed into the darkness. ‘So long ago,’ he breathed, almost to himself. ‘So long ago as to be almost a legend … could my old pupil Linius really have discovered the lost Ancient Laboratory of the First Scholars?’
Quint frowned. ‘But I thought the Great Laboratory was turned into the Treasury,’ he said, remembering the brief history lesson he'd received from the individual on the Viaduct Steps.
Bungus shook his head. ‘Once there were two laboratories,’ he said. ‘The Great Laboratory and the Ancient Laboratory. They each had very different purposes. The Great Laboratory was the heart of earth-studies, a place where any new discoveries – be they animal, vegetable or mineral
– were analysed and categorized … Before it was seized by the sky-scholars and turned into the Treasury,’ he added bitterly. ‘Whereas the Ancient Laboratory … Oh, Quint, lad,’ he said, ‘even back then when the rock was young, it was known as the Ancient Laboratory, because that is where the scholars of the origins of matter carried out their accursed work.’
He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and patted away the cold sweat which beaded his forehead.
‘What did they do?’ said Quint.
Bungus shuddered. ‘They were arrogant,’ he said. ‘They were vain. Understanding the world that already existed was not enough for them. They …’ His voice trailed off.
‘What?’ said Quint urgently.
‘They wanted to unlock the most ancient mystery of all, the secret of life,’ he said. ‘They played at creation.’
Quint's jaw dropped. ‘And … and were they successful?’ he asked.
‘Nobody knows,’ said Bungus. ‘But obviously something went badly wrong, for legend has it that the First Scholars shut the laboratory and blocked off the stonecomb leading to it. Soon after, the Great Schism between earth-studies and sky-scholarship took place, and both the laboratory and the experiments carried out there were forgotten.’ Bungus sighed. ‘From that day, it has remained a great mystery – yet from what you have told me, there is one person in Sanctaphrax who could know the answer. Linius Pallitax.’
Maris, who had been finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate, looked up as she heard her father's name being spoken. He'd done something dangerous, that much was clear, but she was confused. She could barely breathe. Her head was spinning and her legs had returned to jelly. She stood, rocking back and forwards on the balls of her feet, threatening to tumble to the floor at any moment.
‘Maris,’ said Bungus, stepping forward to support her. He turned to Quint. ‘She went through far, far more with the glister than you did,’ he said. ‘Hanging on to life by a thread she was when I found her. It's amazing that she's still standing at all after such an attack. We must get her back to her father.’
Quint nodded.
‘It's going to be fine, little one,’ Bungus whispered to Maris. He pulled off his papery cape and wrapped it round Maris's shoulders. ‘We're going now. Lean against me and put one foot in front of the other.’ He set off once again, murmuring encouragingly as he went. ‘That's the way. You can do it.’ They soon came to the entrance of the tunnel. Bungus stopped and turned. ‘I shall go first,’ he said. ‘Maris, I want you to follow me. Quint, bring up the rear. And make sure that she doesn't stop,’ he added in a low whisper.
One after the other they climbed the scree slope, dropped to their hands and knees and entered the dark, narrow tunnel. Quint shuddered as he crawled into the blackness. With Maris in front of him, the light from Bungus's lantern was all but invisible. Chewing anxiously into his lower lip, he inched his way along the tunnel.
It was cramped and claustrophobic, and when it narrowed and he had to squeeze through the unyielding rock that pressed in on all sides, his heart beat loudly. No-one who had been born and raised above ground would have felt comfortable in the confines of the stonecomb, but for Quint – used to flying across the vastness of the sky – being locked inside the terrible rock was torture.
He tried to block his unease, to return to the reason he and Maris had first entered the stonecomb and concentrate only on what he now knew he must do: find the laboratory – the Ancient Laboratory – and discover what lay behind its locked door. And his heart thumped all the more furiously as he wondered exactly what might be there, imprisoned inside that strange, ancient place…
‘Unkkh!’ His head slammed into something solid in front of him. He looked up, but could see nothing. His hands reached out to find a pair of feet and ankles directly in front of him. They were not moving.
‘Maris!’ he hissed. ‘Maris, you have to keep going.‘
There was no response.
‘Maris!’ he cried.
From farther along the tunnel he heard Bungus calling back to them. ‘What's going on? Come on, we're nearly there.’
‘Maris, don't give up now,’ Quint urged her. ‘You heard him. It's just a little further. Keep moving.’
‘C… can't …’ came the tremulous reply. ‘S-so weak…’
‘But you must!’ said Quint and, in his desperation to escape the terrible tunnel, he shoved her hard.
Maris moved a little – then stopped again.
‘Maris!’ Quint shouted. ‘For Sky's sake!’ He felt as if the walls were closing in all round him.
‘Grab hold of my belt,’ Bungus called from up ahead. ‘That's it. Now hang on tight and I'll pull you.’
In front of him, Quint felt Maris moving forwards. As she did so, Bungus's cape was tugged from her shoulders. Quint picked it up and squeezed hurriedly through the tunnel after her.
‘Just a little further,’ he could hear Bungus saying. ‘That's it. That's the way …’
Hand after hand, Quint struggled on. His grazed knees chafed against the rough rock beneath him. All at once, he heard Bungus cry out.
‘That's it !’ his voice echoed. ‘Well done, Mistress Maris!’
The next moment, Quint's own head popped out of the narrow opening and into the broader tunnel. Maris was sitting on the floor. Bungus was crouched down beside her, lamp raised, looking into her staring, unblinking eyes, one after the other, and whispering reassuringly.
‘The difficult bit's over now, Mistress Maris,’ he was telling her softly. ‘We'll have you out of here in no time.’
She was in good hands, Quint realized. Bungus would take care of her and ensure she got back safely to Sanctaphrax and her father. As for himself, it was not yet time to return to the professor – even though, as he looked round, his former resolve began to waver. The maze of tunnels stretched out dauntingly in all directions, he had no lamp to help him find his way – and, worst of all, the blood-red glister was still out there somewhere. However, terrified as he was of a second encounter with the monstrous creature, his need to discover the laboratory was greater.
‘Be brave,’ he told himself. ‘We set out on a quest to discover the secret laboratory. I can't give up now.’ He squinted into the darkness. ‘Anyway, the glow from the walls should just be enough for me to find my way. And as for the rogue glister, it'll be weak at the moment. Bungus said so …’
He took a few steps along the tunnel. Good! The old librarian hadn't noticed him sneaking away. The light from his lamp disappeared but, as Quint's eyes grew accustomed to the deep dark glow of the rocks, he found he could see well enough – and there was bound to be a lamp in the laboratory when he found it. He hesitated. If he found it…
Quint was wondering whether he ought to return to Bungus and Maris after all when he saw something that made his heart jump. It was a small, black arrow chalked onto the wall just by his shoulder and pointing further along the corridor.
‘There's no mistaking that one,’ he murmured. ‘I'm back on track at last.’
His mind was made up. Without so much as a backward glance, Quint hurried off down the tunnel, the papery cape still clutched in his hand. A dozen strides further on, a second arrow confirmed he was still heading in the right direction.
‘I'll find that Ancient Laboratory,’ he told himself, ‘and discover its mysterious secret.’ He smiled to himself. ‘I'm going to make you proud of me, Maris!’
In the distance, he heard a low, crackly voice. It was Bungus.
‘I'll carry Maris,’ he was saying. ‘And you, Quint, stay close behind. You hear?’ There was a pause. ‘Quint? Quint …?'
· CHAPTER FOURTEEN ·
UNWANTED VISITORS
Maris breathed in deeply, filling her lungs with the early-morning Sanctaphrax air and feeling it course through her entire body. It was cool, fresh, invigorating. Her head cleared, her muscles flexed, and the fear-filled lethargy which had held her in its grip down in the stonecomb finally melted away. She
turned to Bungus.
‘I‘m worried about Quint,’ she said.
‘Linius's apprentice?’ said Bungus.
Maris nodded. ‘How did we manage to lose him?’
‘I don't know,’ said Bungus. ‘One minute he was right behind us. The next minute he was gone.’ He paused. ‘He must have gone off to find the Ancient Laboratory.’
‘On his own,’ Maris said sadly.
Bungus took her hands in his own. ‘I'm sure your friend will be fine,’ he said. ‘He struck me as the type of lad who's well able to take care of himself.’
‘He is,’ said Maris. ‘But we were supposed to be checking out the laboratory together. I should be there with him now. Oh, I feel such a failure,’ she groaned, and looked up into Bungus's dark brown eyes. ‘Will you take me back down into the stonecomb?’ she asked eagerly. ‘I feel so much better now. Will you, Bungus? Please…’
‘Let's get you back to your father before we plan our next move,’ said Bungus. He frowned thoughtfully. ‘It's high time Linius and I had a heart to heart. I need to find out precisely what he's been doing down in that laboratory.’
Just then, the bell at the top of the Great Hall chimed.
‘It's seven hours!’ Maris exclaimed. ‘I can hardly believe it. We were down in the stonecomb all night.’
‘All the more reason to make haste now,’ said Bungus. He released Maris's hands and raised the hood of his papery jerkin. ‘Come,’ he said, and scuttled off into the shadows of a side alley.
‘Where are you going?’ Maris called as she struggled to catch up. ‘It's this way.’
‘Not for me, it isn't,’ said Bungus. ‘I can't afford to be seen out on the main streets of Sanctaphrax.’
‘Why not?’ said Maris.
‘Because I'm an earth-scholar,’ Bungus replied irritably, ‘and earth-scholars have no place in the modern Sanctaphrax – apart from the halfwits who rant and rave on the Viaduct Steps. If anyone caught me up here, I'd be expelled at once and banished for ever to a life in the slums of Undertown. That's why I have to remain hidden in the Great Library by day. No-one visits the place any more, so no-one knows I am there.’