‘Really,’ Vale said thoughtfully.
‘And when we came back this morning to speak with him . . .’ Irene trailed off, wishing she didn’t have to go into the next bit. ‘Ah, we have reason to assume that he was dead by that point, possibly for several hours.’
‘Why?’ Vale demanded. ‘You found his body?’
‘We found his skin,’ Irene said. ‘In a jar of vinegar.’
Kai reached across and touched her wrist. She knew that it was inappropriate for her to show weakness, but she found it comforting.
Vale sat back in his chair. ‘I see,’ he said. ‘That must have been a great shock for you, Miss Winters.’
Irene remembered the pungent smell. Her stomach twisted. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It was. I am sorry, I’m afraid I find it difficult to be as detached as I should be.’ He’d been friendly, helpful, kind, just simply nice . . .
‘And you are quite sure that it was your contact?’ Vale prompted.
Irene nodded reluctantly. She hadn’t wanted to admit this bit if she could have avoided it. ‘All Librarians have a mark on their body,’ she said. ‘It looks like a tattoo done in black ink. It cannot be removed.’
Vale was quite clearly considering asking whether he could see hers, but after a moment’s hesitation he nodded. Possibly the fact that she hadn’t offered to show it was hint enough. ‘And – if I may be frank – would the trap that had been set possibly have killed you?’
Irene had been trying to avoid thinking about it. She had plenty of productive ways to occupy her mind besides yet one more way in which she had almost died in the last couple of days. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘If Mr Strongrock had not broken my link to it, it might well have done. It would certainly have incapacitated me and left me helpless. And . . .’ She frowned, her mind sensing something important. ‘Let me think. Alberich would have known I would touch the door, not Mr Strongrock, because only I can access the Library. Even if I survived, he’d know the chaos contamination would prevent me accessing the Library. He’d also be aware that the contamination would only last for a few days.’
Vale nodded. A spark kindled in his eyes. ‘That seems logical,’ he said with more warmth than he had shown at any point previously. ‘Let us theorize that your Alberich—’
‘Hardly my Alberich,’ Irene snapped.
Vale snorted. ‘Alberich, then. Let us theorize that he expected to have completed his plans in a few days, at which point it would no longer matter if you contacted the Library. As he was still around earlier today, with our murder in mind, those plans can’t be completed yet. Especially as he was still trying to get us, or rather you, out of the way.’
‘That seems plausible,’ Kai said, emerging from his moody self-absorption. ‘But, if he doesn’t have the book, and we don’t have the book, and Bradamant doesn’t have the book, and Silver doesn’t have the book – and if the Iron Brotherhood is responsible for the alligators, so still on the offensive, then they don’t have the book . . .’ He shrugged. ‘Who does have the book?’
‘I dislike dismissing possible culprits without firm evidence,’ Vale murmured. ‘But I see little reason why the Iron Brotherhood would be interested in a book of fairy tales. They tend more towards technological paradigms. Now had it been one of the lost notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, that would be entirely different. Come to think of it . . .’ He levelled a stare at Irene. ‘Why would your Alberich want to steal a book of fairy tales? Out of spite?’
‘Maybe there’s something unusual about this particular copy of the book,’ Kai offered. ‘Possibly there’s something hidden in the binding, or a coded message . . .’
Irene shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. The reason I think the Library wants it is because it might contain something which other versions of Grimm’s Fairy Tales in other alternates don’t. That is, a new story, or several new stories. There would be no point in collecting it if it were just the same as the ones in other worlds. But if Alberich wants it? I don’t even know what Alberich wants.’ She became aware that she was starting to whine, and made herself concentrate. ‘It can’t be because there’s a significant connection between the book and this alternate. It’s not individual enough for that. There are too many other versions of Grimm out there. That sort of connection requires a very specific book with relevance to that alternate.’ Her hand twinged, and she rubbed it nervously, then tried to stop herself before she could make it any worse. Bradamant certainly wouldn’t approve of what she was about to say. And her mentor Coppelia would undoubtedly have forbidden her to voice her suspicions.
But Coppelia couldn’t have foreseen any of this. Could she?
‘Sometimes information about the Library gets out,’ she said slowly. ‘Not just in conversations like this. Librarians are observed, or they talk too much, or maybe the Fae are involved. It’s not exactly something that I’ve been tutored in.’ She paused to translate her thoughts into a theory that would also make sense to Vale. ‘And often when this does happen, this information ends up being recorded in works of – well, fiction.’
Kai blinked, eyelids flickering, without moving. ‘I’ve heard as much.’
And that confirmed his nature for her. Trainees did not get told about this. Ever. Only Librarians fully sealed to the Library got even the most basic of briefings about it. Irene herself was a full Librarian, albeit a junior one, and even she had only had a few hints about it. If Kai had ‘heard as much’, then it had been from other dragons, not from Librarians.
‘Indeed,’ she said, keeping her voice even. ‘And if there is some secret pertaining to the Library in this book, then that might explain why Alberich is so eager to get his hands on it. Silver, too. Some Fae know about the Library, and have an interest in it. If Silver believes that the book holds some secret – if only because other people are trying to get their hands on it – that would make it irresistible to someone like him.’
Kai frowned. ‘But if it’s such a big secret, why send – um, forgive me for this, Irene – but why send someone who’s just a journeyman Librarian after it? Why not send in an expert? Several experts?’
‘That could actually be construed as support for Miss Winters’s theory,’ Vale said thoughtfully. ‘In order not to attract Alberich’s attention, your superiors could have chosen to send someone who had no idea of the book’s importance. Someone who would not be seen as an obvious choice for important missions.’
Irene decided that this was not the time to have a hissy fit or make pointed comments about her status in the Library. Especially as Vale was right. ‘But unfortunately Alberich found out about it anyhow,’ Irene continued the hypothesis. ‘And, come to think of it, that would explain Bradamant. One of the senior Librarians might have thought I wouldn’t be up to the task, and decided to send her in.’ With an effort, she added, ‘She does have more experience than I do, after all.’
And then there was Kai. Apparently just an apprentice, but in fact a dragon. Well, probably a dragon. She needed to have a private talk with him. They simply hadn’t had a chance since the river incident. If Coppelia had known that, then assigning him to the mission was far more significant backup than it had originally seemed.
Vale nodded. ‘So if your associate Bradamant – another code name, I take it?’
Irene nodded. ‘We all have them.’ It was simpler than trying to explain the whole Librarianly choice of names to him.
‘Very well. Your associate Bradamant arrived here before you did, and created an identity as the thief Belphegor. An intelligent piece of work. She must have planned to conceal her theft of this specific book among the thefts of other books. A needle in a haystack, as the saying goes. Do you suppose she would be prepared to return the other ones?’
Irene thought about it. Vale’s theory made a great deal of sense, and was a step ahead of where she’d managed to get to. (She’d always wondered, or even daydreamed, what it was like to actually work with great detectives, rather than just read about them. It was more annoying t
han she’d expected.) The odds were that Bradamant had kept the books – after all, if her private mission had been successful, then she could have donated them to the Library as well. ‘I can ask her,’ she offered. ‘The current mission is definitely more important than these other books.’
‘But it’s our mission!’ Kai put in.
Irene sighed. It was well past midnight. It had been a very full day. She was tired to the bone. ‘Look, Kai. At the moment, the most important thing is keeping that book out of Alberich’s hands. If he wants it, then it’s paramount that he doesn’t get it. And the second most important thing is getting it to the Library. I admit it’s not going to look good on my record if I fail. But when it comes down to it, I don’t care if I bring it in, or you bring it in, or if Bradamant brings it in and takes the credit and ends up spending the next ten years rubbing my nose in it. And if that means promising her the book in exchange for handing back the other books to Vale, then I will do it.’
‘That’s very noble,’ Kai said dubiously, ‘but it doesn’t solve our original problem. Where is the book?’
‘I believe that is something we can discover when Madame Bradamant is here to be questioned,’ Vale said briskly. ‘She agreed to come and see you tomorrow, I think? And if Singh does not release her, then we can go and question her in prison.’
Irene nodded. She was about to continue, when Vale held up his hand. ‘One thing more. When you made that reference to “significant connections” and “books specific to an alternate” – would you mind expanding on that?’
Damn him. Irene had been hoping to skate past that without going into further detail. Belatedly, she decided that she should never have mentioned that bit in the first place. Stupid of her. ‘Some books have a significant connection to the alternate that they come from,’ she said reluctantly. ‘They help anchor the Library to that alternate. It’s not a bad thing in itself. The Library’s a stabilizing force, so it even helps ward off chaos influences like Fae.’
That was half of it. The other half of it – the possibility that books with a significant connection to the alternate world could affect that world itself, could somehow even change it – was only a theory at her level in the Library. It was a theory that she was increasingly wanting to research in more detail, but there wasn’t time for that at the moment. It was also something that she definitely wasn’t going to tell Vale. Call her a cynic, but Irene suspected that if she were to tell him that, then there would be no way in hell that he’d cooperate in getting the book for her. He’d be far too concerned at what it might mean for his own world. After all, he’d made it clear that he didn’t necessarily trust the Library’s intentions.
‘And my world?’ Vale pounced on her words. ‘Which books are “significant” here?’
‘I don’t know, sir.’ She saw Vale was about to object, and she shook her head. ‘No, please. Believe me, Mr Vale. We don’t get told. They don’t tell us. It’s dangerous knowledge.’
He leaned back in his chair, his expression hungry and unsatisfied. ‘And aren’t you ever curious, Miss Winters? Don’t you want to know?’
‘You’re suggesting that I have some sort of academic curiosity about the fact,’ Irene said curtly. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kai leaning forward. ‘I’ve already told you that our interest is in books. Not . . .’ She looked for words that would convey her meaning with sufficient strength. ‘Not in overarching world-changing forces.’
‘Yes, Miss Winters,’ Vale said drily. ‘That is indeed what you have told me.’
The unspoken accusation of lying, or at the very least prevarication, hit her like a slap across the face. It didn’t help matters that it was in some respects true. She lowered her eyes and couldn’t answer him. Worst of all, for the first time in years, we’re just doing this to save the books sounded petty, and choosing not to know more seemed childish.
‘And yet there might be good reasons for not knowing,’ Vale went on, talking over her bowed head. ‘Perhaps for fear this Alberich fellow might find out. Perhaps simply the senior members of this library would refuse to tell you, if they knew themselves. And perhaps you would simply refuse to tell me, for your own safety, or for mine.’ His voice was dispassionately kind. She didn’t deserve it. ‘It must be very frustrating, Miss Winters. Wondering.’
She still couldn’t bring herself to look up. ‘If it was important,’ she said, ‘then they’d tell me.’
‘Or possibly it is too important to tell you,’ Vale answered. ‘Just as with the suggestion that the book contains classified information, which we discussed earlier. We lack sufficient information to know for certain which is true. But one thing is sure. We cannot allow this book to fall into Alberich’s hands.’
‘You’ll accept that?’ Kai demanded, his face brightening.
‘I may be suspicious,’ Vale said, ‘but I hope that I am not stupid. He has already made his position towards me extremely clear, after all.’
Irene took a deep breath. ‘If you have no objection, there is one more thing I would like to do before we sleep.’
‘What is that?’
Irene smiled a little. It was good to know that this was within her power again, now that the chaos contamination was out of her system, and that Vale trusted her enough to consider it. It helped her feel less ashamed of herself. ‘It’s possible to link a suitably similar space to the Library.’ She surveyed Vale’s office again. ‘In practice, that means there has to be a reasonable number of books present, or some other sort of storage media. It won’t enable passage, but it will . . . well, it can make that area a sort of annex of the Library, and that would prohibit creatures of chaos from entering. Or, more specifically, it will prevent Alberich from being able to get in. If he does realize that we survived . . .’
‘Ah. A good thought. Will this involve any sort of “magic”?’
‘Only the innate force of the Library itself,’ Irene said, she hoped reassuringly. She didn’t want to go into the whole question of the Language. She’d already said more than enough for one night, to an outsider. ‘You probably won’t notice anything at all.’
‘Why did your colleague who was murdered not do this?’ Vale asked. ‘Or did he?’
‘It wouldn’t have lasted,’ Irene answered. She’d been through this in basic training. ‘The problem with declaring an area in sympathy with the Library is that it only works as long as nobody takes any books away from it. Your lodgings will be safe because nobody will be removing any books from here this evening. Mr Aubrey couldn’t have done the same to the British Library. The protection would have come down the moment someone took a book out of it.’
‘Ah.’ Vale sat back in his chair. ‘Very well. You may proceed, Miss Winters.’
It didn’t take long. She simply invoked the Library, in the Language, in the shortest possible way that it could conveniently be done without damage to the speaker or the surroundings. The more precise the definition, the more harm it might do to everything around it by linguistically shaking its surroundings into conformity. Declaring the Library’s unabbreviated name, a single word, would remove everything that was not Library.
Irene therefore used half a dozen sentences. She felt the snap of coherence as the synchronization took place, and with it a greater sense of comfort. She felt in control again.
‘Odd,’ Vale said. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose, frowning. ‘I thought that I would feel something more than that.’
‘What did you feel?’ Irene asked curiously.
‘Something of a headache, like the high pressure before a storm.’ Vale shrugged. ‘I have no talent for such sorceries. Another reason for my differences with my family.’
Irene was about to say, It’s hardly sorcery, but decided that it wasn’t worth the argument. She was also wildly curious about Vale’s break with his family, but this was hardly the moment to pry. ‘It should keep Alberich out, which is the important thing,’ she reiterated.
‘Excellent.’ Vale
brushed his hands together and rose to his feet, all business once more. ‘Then, for the moment, I suggest we all get some sleep. Madame Bradamant’s information is necessary for any further hypotheses. Unless it is possible for you to reach her via some arcane method?’ he added hopefully.
‘I’m sorry,’ Irene said. ‘I have no specific link that I can use to reach her.’
‘Your connection to the Library?’ Vale suggested. ‘Would that work on its own, or could it be used as the focal point for some other spell?’
‘That wouldn’t work,’ Kai said. ‘The Library link is to the Library rather than other Librarians, and it surpasses lesser sorceries. Irene and Bradamant are safe from Fae glamours and minor spells because they’re directly connected to a greater power. Such glamours would be as insignificant as starlight in sunlight.’
Vale raised his brows. ‘But not yourself?’ he asked, giving Kai more friendly attention than he had done since the river-spirit incident.
‘I’m still a trainee,’ Kai said, smiling as he stood in turn, then offering Irene a hand to help her rise. ‘For the moment I don’t have that sort of connection. What powers I have are my own and my family’s.’
‘Your . . . family?’ Vale enquired, in a tone that was an invitation to expand on the subject.
‘There is a temporary disagreement on the subject of my future,’ Kai said. ‘I hope to win them round.’
Irene suspected there was more to it than that. The dragons – very well, the single dragon whom she had met – seemed to tolerate the Library as some sort of human eccentricity. It seemed notable only for its admirable taste in fiction, and certainly not a prospective life for one of their children. (Spawn? Eggs? Younglings? She didn’t have vocabulary for this.) It was now quite obvious why Kai had claimed that his family was dead; she could understand why he’d told the lie, in view of the greater secret. What she didn’t know was how he was going to resolve the situation. Or how the Library would resolve it for him.
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