“So you said.”
He knew Malachy meant well, but he was in no mood to talk with the tortoise. It took all his willpower not to crash into the Librarian’s quarters with a kitchen knife. Only the message from Astrid in the mirror saying “we’re coming” and his faith in the Time Corps kept him from doing it.
“My friend wanted to leave because of this wife,” said the tortoise.
“Well imagine that. Someone meant something to him. He wasn’t content just helping researchers and serving up food. How ungrateful of him.”
“You are clearly upset.”
“I’m not upset,” he said. “Okay, yes. I am upset. This place is a prison. It’s cruel and it’s inhumane, and everyone just goes along with it.”
“Some of us know when things are beyond our control and are unchangeable.”
“Yeah, I get it. The Librarian does not change. He’s this big scary thing and no one can talk to him.”
“He has killed people before. Or driven them mad. The death of his wife in the fire drove him mad.”
“Lovely. Death, insanity and enslavement.”
“I am here as your friend,” said Malachy, rearing up on his hind legs in that disconcerting way of his. “I want to help you find contentment.”
“Only freedom will make me content.”
“But when Bennu was here, you were happy.”
“She made the prison bearable.”
“Perhaps one of the other librarians might interest you.”
“I’m not looking for a bedmate,” said Elliot. “I wasn’t looking for anyone at all.”
“If you did not want anyone, why did you allow yourself to grow attached to the desert woman? You knew it would cause you pain.”
“Because she was special.”
“There are many rare and special things here too.”
“No. There’s not. It’s beautiful and I could spend a lifetime reading and learning, but there’s a whole world out there. Multiple worlds, and I’ve seen them. I’ve watched the Wild Hunt pour through the sky, screaming. I’ve danced with heiresses and wandered deserts, surfed waves high enough to make me feel like a grain of sand. I’ve seen things so beautiful they would change you. If you had seen them and then you became trapped here, it would burn you inside.”
The tortoise blinked at him, uncomprehending. Elliot carried the dishes into the kitchen and Malachy followed.
“Where did you come from?” Elliot asked Malachy. “Don’t you miss it?”
“An island. There was not much to do. And here, I have plenty to do.”
“It’s still a prison.”
“A beautiful prison. A fair and lovely one.”
“But still a prison. Being trapped here has cost me. And it has cost Bennu. If I could get out now, I could take her to whatever time she liked. Her people would figure out another bride for the chieftain. If diplomatic relations are so critical, they would be forced to. Now, she’s trapped with a man she doesn’t want because of this place. And I’m trapped too.”
“Your heart will be at peace if you accept what is and is not possible,” said Malachy. “I do not like seeing you in pain like this.”
And that was where he and Malachy differed. It wasn’t that Malachy was a tortoise and Elliot a man. It was in their acceptance of what was and their ideas on what could be.
“Perhaps after a good night’s sleep, you will feel better,” said Malachy.
“Yeah, I’m sure that’ll help,” Elliot said, and wondered if Malachy could perceive the sarcasm. The tortoise left him and he finished his work. He brought the marble bowl to the kitchen and filled it with water, keeping it nearby so he could see if Astrid was using it to communicate.
At first, he had thought the Library wasn’t such a bad place to be trapped. But the place had grown hateful to him. It had hurt him. More importantly, it had hurt Bennu and his friend Imee.
Damn the books and the scholars. He wanted to see it burn.
Chapter 37
Astrid found a quiet corner of the garden to make her Door and stepped from Yelbeghen’s island to Mr. Augustus’s office. He was the owner of Luna Park, one of the Twelve, and though he must have seen plenty of strange things in his long, long life, he leapt from his chair when she appeared.
“Christ, Astrid!”
“I need to talk with the Seelie.”
“Fine,” he said, his hand on his chest. He took a deep breath. “Fine. Just don’t do that again.”
He picked up the phone and Astrid took a seat. The radio played a jazz station, something with a heavy brass section. For a moment, she was tempted to ask Mr. Augustus about it. Had he been there when jazz music was born? He loved music, and Hazel said he was an expert musician. Though enslaved by the Seelie in some way Astrid did not understand, he had some freedoms. He ran his park and seemed to keep a low profile. Perhaps he even managed to find some enjoyment in life.
A few minutes later, Gerard knocked on the door. Astrid wasn’t shocked when he appeared as an ordinary man outside, and then changed to his half-equine form as the door closed. Such illusions were necessary to travel in the human world. He glanced around briefly, as if expecting to see someone in addition to Astrid and Mr. Augustus.
“Good to see you, sweetheart,” he said, and he seemed genuinely pleased to see her again. He kissed the back of her hand, and she didn’t pull away, but tolerated it as best she could. Gerard had never been cruel to her, and she had to learn some kind of diplomacy if she were to survive all three of her tasks and not antagonize the Seelie further.
“Good to see you too,” she said.
“How comes your Door making?”
“It’s fine. That’s not the problem. Yelbeghen said to tell you the deal is off.”
“What? Didn’t you deliver the orb?”
“Yes, but it broke on the way, and he’s unhappy because one of the girls isn’t a virgin. He wanted a matched set.”
“Well, that does make things more difficult. You were supposed to bring back a Seelie girl that he has on his island. That was the task.”
“No, my task was to deliver the orb. I delivered it. Task complete. I’m heading back there soon to get my friend and then we’re leaving. I just wanted to deliver his message and be done with it.”
“That won’t do, sweet pea. You have to bring back the girl.”
“I was there when you gave her the orb,” said Mr. Augustus from behind his desk. “You told her to deliver it, not to strike any additional deals. You said the deal had already been made. I’m an unbiased witness.”
Astrid shot Mr. Augustus a grateful look. With a tight smile, he crossed his arms and waited for Gerard’s reply. Astrid supposed any small act of defiance toward his masters must be gratifying.
“The task was complete according to what you told me,” Astrid said. “There’s no getting around it.”
Gerard rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to catch hell for this, but I’m going to have to make this your second task. You bring back the Seelie girl and you’re finished.”
“What, you want me to kidnap her? The drake would notice and be upset. Isn’t there some kind of mystical deal that makes her belong to him or something? You people have all sorts of rules about that.”
“You can’t kidnap her, no,” said Gerard. “You have to get Yelbeghen to agree to release her.”
“And how to do you propose I do that? Why would he give up one of his treasures?”
“That’s up to you to figure out. You managed to outsmart both the Seelie and Unseelie in the past. I’m sure this will pose no problem. Now, I need to be going.”
“No,” said Astrid.
“Pardon me?”
“No. I won’t do it. It’s impossible and there’s no way I can succeed.
What am I going to give him in return? Sing him a song? I have nothing to offer him in exchange.”
Gerard sighed. “Let me put it this way. The father of this girl did not give her up willingly. He has been part of the court for years, but as long as he was the only one pressing for her return, he could accomplish little. Now two of her cousins and her sister are also on the court, and it has taken years to get them there. The family has power, and they want the girl back.”
“I don’t particularly care for your court members and their intrigues,” she said.
“I don’t expect you to. But I do want you to understand that I’m not assigning you this task lightly. We truly are without any recourse. You have to bring her back.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Astrid, I know you don’t believe me, but I do like you. You were one of my favorite students.”
“You helped imprison me in the Seelie world, you lied to me about my parentage and tried to teach me Door-making so the Seelie could use me for their own purposes.”
“And the alternative?” he said. “Let you go to the Unseelie? How much of a pleasant sightseeing trip was that for you? From what I understand, with me you were provided food, a lovely house, room and materials to create art and you were treated kindly. The Unseelie beat you, hurt you and cut out your duplicate’s tongue.”
“You could have left me in the human world.”
“With your mother? Who hurt you and was cruel to you? Ah, my Astrid. I have known many people in my life, human and otherkind. And I know that your human mother harmed you far worse than your biological Unseelie mother. With the Seelie, you were better off.”
This conversation had turned in an unpleasant direction. She wasn’t here to discuss her abusive human mother, her evil Unseelie mother or anyone else in her life. She simply wanted to get the task over with, get information from Yelbeghen about the Library and start art school.
“That’s all in the past,” she said. “It has no bearing on this task.”
“But it does! You see, I am authorized to alter our deal, if necessary. And as I am forced to assign you a second task, I am also forced to assign a penalty if you do not complete it. Please understand, I don’t do it out of any personal malice.”
“I’m sure you are only doing as you’re told,” she said dryly. “Only following orders, right?”
“I’m glad you understand. Now, if you do not return the Seelie girl from Yelbeghen, the Seelie will do something dreadful to you.”
“Like imprison me?”
“Yes, somewhere you can’t escape.”
“That might be interesting to see. I have four psychopomps for friends who can make Doors, multiple time agents who can go through time and some very strange near-immortal friends who might not be okay with that. The Seelie world attaches to the human world easily. It’s not too hard to get there from here.”
She wouldn’t say it, but the psychopomps could very well give her up, as they weren’t supposed to make Doors to other worlds aside from death. She didn’t know if they’d break the rules to recover her. And the Time Corps had no way to get to the Seelie world yet, but the Professor might develop one. After all, this was the hub world, and many worlds branched off from it. She was pretty sure the Time Corps valued her enough to go to the trouble. And if they didn’t, then the older Elliot, the one who would get out of the Library, certainly would. She just had to get him out of the Library first.
“We could imprison you in cold iron, make you suffer.”
“And what good would that do? What fun is having a Door without using her? And in using me, you take your chances that I won’t make a Door straight into the void and kill you all.
“You might die with us.”
“A price I’d happily pay.”
She knew she wouldn’t die in the void, that she could remain there quite happily for some time. That was assuming that the resident void wyrms didn’t devour her.
“We can also harm your family,” said Gerard.
“I don’t have family,” she said.
It was only partly the truth. She had never known her father, her mother had hurt and disowned her and had not spoken to her in months and Elliot was in the Library. Aside from Elliot’s mother, her aunt, who was there to hurt?”
“You care for your duplicate? The human you were made to replace? We know you took her place in Unseelie to free her. You sacrificed yourself for her then because you cared about her, correct?”
Her heart began to pound. Not Sister. The girl had been beaten, burned, mutilated and driven half mad.
“What would you do to her?”
“I’m not sure. Take her for a hundred years. Make her bear half-human children to be cup bearers in the court. Any number of things.”
“And what’s to stop me from making a Door and getting her?”
“A Door through time? You can’t. Time passes differently in various parts of the Seelie world. We could take her to a place where she’d age a day while a century passed here. You’d never find her.”
“I’d find her or die trying. Then you’d be without your Door.”
“How interesting,” said Gerard. “If we threaten your safety, you don’t mind too much. But go after the girl and it matters to you.”
“That’s because she’s not like you lot,” said Augustus. “You didn’t count on that, did you?”
“You should not talk,” said Gerard. “It was not your bravery and fearlessness that landed you in your current position.”
“You’re both equally badly off,” said Astrid. “What I want to know is why you two don’t do anything about it? Surely there are enough people angry with the Seelie to fight back.”
“It’s not so easy,” said Gerard. “You have your sister, your cousin, and even your mother. We have loved ones too. We do as we’re told.”
“It’s like the Mafia,” said Mr. Augustus. “But some of the dons have animal heads.”
Chapter 38
For three weeks, Huginn, Yukiko and Pangur Ban sailed up and down the fjords of the icy Norwegian coast. More than once, Yukiko asked Huginn if he could remember anything more. Each time, he saw her disappointment when he said that he had told her everything he could. He remembered the white Bast statue and could even remember the strange, unreadable script on the bowl as well as the words he could understand but not recall. But he had no other information on where the thing might be.
Even Pangur Ban was losing patience with him.
“You’re certain it was on the coast?” said Pangur Ban one afternoon.
“Yes. Men were carrying things from a village to a ship. So it had to be on the coast.”
“We need more,” said Pangur Ban. “We are wasting too much time.”
“We’re time travelers, we can return to the moment we left Hazel and Astrid, and the three of us will live centuries more,” he said. “We have time.”
“You do not understand my meaning,” she said. “We are not making progress. We are wandering.”
“If I knew more, I would tell you,” he said.
“I know you would. I had only hoped that perhaps you had another memory come to you. Do you remember anything more about the ship?”
He thought back. “I know it was my ship. I had been on it, because I knew that there was a tear in the sail that had been patched. I remember flying over it and landing on it.”
“Was it Skidbladnir?”
“No. I don’t think so. But I suppose it could have been.”
He knew that was no help. And so they continued on up the jagged, irregular coastline, stopping at various towns along the way, the Asian woman taking the appearance of a Northerner walking beside a cat with a raven flying overhead, going through the Norse towns, searching and asking questions about the white Bast and
about a bowl. Even so, they were no closer to finding the statue than they had been when they started.
“Bast was an Egyptian goddess,” said Huginn one evening after another day of fruitless seeking. “Was she ever worshiped in the North? If we can narrow that down, we might have better luck.”
“We’ve considered that possibility already,” said Pangur Ban. “Bast wasn’t worshiped anywhere in this region, not by any city, people or tribe. We discussed this weeks ago.”
“Sorry,” he said, ashamed that he had not remembered.
“But why would Elliot say ‘Bast’ instead of just ‘cat,’” said Huginn. “He must have meant for us to know the Egyptian connection. He wants us to look for something Egyptian.”
Yukiko got up and left for the captain’s quarters, where she was staying. No doubt she too was weary of Huginn’s inability to remember their conversations.
“It wasn’t only the Egyptians that worshiped her,” said Pangur Ban. “Her cult spread throughout the Middle East and even to the Roman Empire.”
“Yeah, but the Romans would worship a tortoise shell if it was shined to a nice polish,” he said. “No, it’s Egyptian, or at least North African.”
“Very well,” said the cat. “How does that help us? We’ve already been looking for any people who honor the deity. We’ve found none.”
“Instead of looking for a whole tribe or people who worshiped her, maybe the statue was the possession of an individual. Maybe Elliot himself. He’s a time traveler. Maybe he already owned or made this statue and put it somewhere for us to find.”
“He’d have given us a more detailed location than just ‘Norway’ if that were the case.”
“True. He would have. He definitely would have. That means he himself doesn’t know where in Norway it is. That means he didn’t see it himself in a certain year, or he’d have told us the year. So it must be that he knows the area, but not the time and not the exact place.”
The Time Corps Chronicles (Complete Series) Page 107