by Stuart Jaffe
Everywhere else, debris and blood littered the ground. Five Guardians stood atop a ledge on the wall keeping watch. A robed woman stood amongst them — a magician, no doubt.
At the far end of the main courtyard, a young woman passed by carrying bandages and water. The moans of suffering rose in volume when she opened a door to a small building. It was a sorry mess.
At least Malja understood how to deal with all of this. Far better than having to deal with Tommy. No. Easier not better.
As she made her plans, her eyes grabbing every detail, Fawbry and Tommy finished with the horses. At length, Owl re-emerged from the building. He took a few steps and simply waved for the others to join him.
Malja's men waited for her to lead the way. Good. No matter what else, Tommy and Fawbry knew who to get behind in an unfamiliar situation.
Little light found its way inside the building. The damp, cool air carried that sour odor of magic that permeated everything. Even the walls stank of it.
Owl must have seen her wrinkle her nose. He said, "Please forgive the air if it's bad. The Order is first one of magicians, and they practice their abilities a lot. Or they did before all this."
"How do you stand it?" Malja asked.
"I don't even notice it," Owl said. He gestured toward a hall and led them up a staircase.
Malja had been inside many temples before — particularly those that followed Korstra. But she had never stepped foot inside a Kryssta temple before — didn't even know they had temples. In fact, she didn't realize that was the building's main purpose until she noticed the numerous small rooms on either side of the hall.
Each room was big enough to fit a single person in a seated position. Kryssta followers rarely congregated for a religious service. Prayer was always considered a private matter — sacred in its solitude. Though Malja never felt the need for religion, she thought she would prefer this type of prayer instead of the mass gatherings of the Korstra.
They climbed the stairs, and Owl pointed to an arched doorway. "Master Kee is in here. Thank Kryssta. It's a miracle he's still alive. Now, I've told him all that has happened to me and he has been very understanding. Please, give him your fullest respect."
Master Kee's room looked gigantic compared to the tiny prayer rooms. He had a small bed in one corner, a desk and chair next to it, and a wooden stool by an unadorned window. The green paint on the walls peeled away like flakes of skin.
The Master displayed surprising vitality when he sprang to his feet to welcome his guests. His arms, though wrinkled with age, still showed firm muscle. Malja suspected he could still break a few bones with a punch. Even his long, white hair appeared full of life — thick and flowing — despite the color.
"Welcome," he said, gesturing to the chair and bed. "Sit, please."
Malja took the chair, leaving the bed for the other three to squeeze in. She said, "We've come to—"
"No." Master Kee waved his index finger, his eyes as stern as the statue of Moonlo. "We won't begin this with posturing. We don't have that kind of time, and I hate those kinds of games."
Malja already liked the man. "Fine. Clearly, some of you survived Queen Salia's attack. Is the Library really in her possession?"
"Yes," Master Kee said and lowered to the stool. "She has the Twelve Books and she knows the Library building is just north of here."
"But she needs the thirteenth book, right? And then the building will give her great power."
"The building is just a structure. It's what's inside that gives the power."
"And what's inside?" Fawbry asked like a child caught up in a bedtime story.
"A rock — a boulder, really. The Stone of Antow. When the Devastation struck, it infused this massive rock with great magical energy. At first, the magic would shoot out in dangerous flares and pulses. Chief Master Antow took it upon the Order to serve mankind by watching the rock, making sure nobody got hurt, and to study it. It wasn't much, but he had hoped the people of the world would see this as a small apology for the failures of magicians."
"Hard to see how that's much of an apology. If the Order studied the Stone of Antow, and we know they did, then he was just pushing on in the way earlier magicians had done."
"Except these studies, decades later, led to the Twelve Books which detail how to control the rock's properties."
Owl added, "It was Chief Master Ginto who had the Library built around the rock."
"That's correct," Master Kee said, and Malja saw the pride slip across Owl's face. "And it was also Chief Master Ginto who had the Twelve Books written in code. He foresaw the days that would come when others would try to use the power of the Library for their own gains."
"And the thirteenth book," Owl said. "That has the answer to the code."
"I expect so."
Trying to sound casual, Malja asked, "What exactly can this rock do? I mean is it just magical power to enhance a magician's spells or does it do something on its own?"
Master Kee folded his arms and gazed out the window. "It can enhance a magician's power, certainly, but it has a far greater purpose. You may find this difficult to believe, but it can actually create a hole in our existence and through that hole, it can connect us with other worlds."
"I don't find that difficult to believe at all," Malja said. Fawbry and Tommy looked away, both snickering.
"Good," Master Kee went on, "because it's true. The same energies that caused the Devastation were thrown into this rock and are just waiting to be released. Magicians have tried over the years to get hold of its power, but we've always fought them off. Even the mad brothers Jarik and Callib attempted it once. I suspect seeing the rock is what spurned those two to hunt down every promise of portal magic they could find. But opening portals, though it takes an enormous amount of magical power, isn't the worst thing this rock can do."
Malja's gut hardened. "What else can it do?"
Master Kee didn't speak at first. His mouth moved as he continued to stare out the window. When he finally spoke, his voice sounded far away. "Losing control of a portal can cause a massive blast of power — the kind that caused the Devastation. But that blast left much of the world intact. More people died from falling buildings and being trampled in panics than from the magic. The blast itself was like a giant wave of air. A storm of epic proportions but still just a storm.
"This, however . . . if Queen Salia deciphers the Twelve Books, if she tries to use the power of the Library, and if she fails to control it, the result would make the Devastation look like an afternoon shower. There will be nothing left. No buildings, no forests, no animals, no people. We'll be as dead as the moon above."
Owl stood, his chest heaving with tension. "Then we've got to find that thirteenth book."
A knock at the door drew Master Kee from the window. With short, calm steps, he crossed the room, opened the door, and lowered his head to a young man. When the man left, Master Kee faced Malja and her team.
"Brother X and his army are approaching."
Owl
Through all his years of training — listening to Master Kee lecture, listening to Master Kee count reps, listening to Master Kee demand more effort — never had Owl heard such defeat in that old man's voice. The strong-bodied man aged before Owl's eyes. He even bent forward a little as if the weight of his words pressed against his back.
"How far out are they?" Malja asked.
Master Kee looked lost for a moment, then embarrassed. "I forgot to ask," he said.
Owl wanted to step in front of the Master, to somehow protect his image, but he could see Malja and Fawbry and Tommy. Their faces spoke enough — they had seen the change in Master Kee as well. A thought sprang into Owl's mind, a memory of this wonderful Master teaching a class on tactics. Owl smiled. Only one thing to do when all sides are blocked and the retreat is cut off —
"Go forward," he said, pulling all eyes onto him. With a stronger tone, he continued, "The thirteenth book. We've got to find it. It's all we have left."
Malja gave a single nod. "It's got to be somewhere you're capable of finding; otherwise, your Chief Master wouldn't have left it to you. Wouldn't ever have told you about it."
"Which means it has to be close. He knows I rarely ever left the compound, so if he wanted me to find it, he would put it somewhere here in the Order."
"Good," Malja said. "Tommy, Fawbry — you two help him figure this out. I'm going to secure the defenses of this place as best as can be done. You all go find that book."
As she left the room, Owl felt a surge of energy fill his chest. This was something he could do. Chief Master had entrusted him with this book — he had to find it.
Master Kee appeared rejuvenated by the assignment as well. Sometimes just having a task could fill one with hope. "Let's start in the kitchen," he said, setting a brisk pace out of the room. "That's the closest of Owl's three most frequented places."
Fawbry grinned. "Likes food a bit much?"
"Training uses a lot of energy," Master Kee said before Owl could rise to the bait. "All of our people are healthy eaters."
Over the next half hour, the group tore apart the enormous kitchen. Designed to feed the entire Order three-times daily, plus all the large groups walking in for food, the kitchen was actually four fully-equipped kitchens united by a central island made of marble. Knives and bowls, metal pots and metal trays, mixers and choppers — all lined up, ready for use. Half the room, however, had been wrecked during the previous attack. Rock, wood, glass, and rubble covered the floor. Though they exhausted every possible nook, they found nothing resembling a book beyond a handful of cookbooks.
A thought gnawed at the back of Owl's mind — they'd never find the book in time. Too much has happened. When the first attack had come, the Order was unprepared. There most likely had been a panic. Anything could have happened to a book during the mayhem that followed.
Owl shook off the thoughts. Those that persisted in plaguing his mind, he shoved down where he could ignore them. He had to hold out a bit of hope. Otherwise — he didn't want to consider that.
"I don't think it's here," Fawbry said.
Master Kee tapped his chin. "Let's try the dormitory."
Each step closer to the dormitory encouraged Owl. It made more sense than the kitchen, and he knew just where amongst his possessions to look. He had blundered a lot since being promoted to a Guardian, but now he could make up for that. Redemption took the simple form of a book.
The dormitory room consisted of a long, open area filled with beds. A waist-high bookshelf stood to the right of each bed. Small trunks were at the foot of each bed. All very precise and controlled. This had been Owl's home for most of his life.
"I'll check my own things," Owl said.
He walked to his bed, a quarter of the way in, and opened his trunk. While Master Kee, Fawbry, and Tommy rifled through the rest of the dormitory, Owl carefully checked his folded clothes. No book hid between them. He reviewed every title on his bookshelf, looked under his bed, and ran his hands over the sheets. He neither saw nor felt any sign of a hidden book.
Finally, he reached under the bed and pulled loose one of the floorboards. He hid personal items here, things that he didn't want others knowing about. Most of the items had to do with girls. A stolen garment. A braid of hair or a napkin with a distinct lip imprint. Though Owl had been careful to never get caught, it wouldn't surprise him to discover that Chief Master had known all along. And it would be a perfect place to hide the book.
He reached in, his blood tingling as his fingers danced over the dusty items. But there was no book.
Owl slammed the floorboard in place and slapped his bed. "Nothing," he said. The others kept working through the dormitory, turning over beds, opening trunks. An urge to stop them hit Owl — they shouldn't be going through all this personal property without permission. Except the people who had slept in these beds were all dead.
"Lots of books," Fawbry said, "but nothing that's about a code or anything."
Master Kee frowned. "You and Tommy go to the sparring room. It's a place Owl has spent a lot of time. Just across the compound — you won't mistake it."
"If we find something, where will you be?" Fawbry asked.
"Right here. We'll keep searching."
Owl caught a look between the two men before Fawbry ushered Tommy out of the dormitory. Master Kee waited a few moments in silence. When he walked closer, Owl didn't bother hiding his frustrations. Master Kee knew him too well for that.
"We're not going to find the book here," Owl said.
"No," Master Kee said as he sat on the edge of Owl's bed. "Chief Master would never leave something as important as this book just lying around for anybody to pick up."
"It's not in the sparring room, is it?"
"I doubt it."
Owl's face reddened and he let at a garbled growl. He kicked his bookshelf hard, knocking it onto the neighboring bed. "Then why are we wasting our time?"
In a voice so calm and quiet, it forced Owl's attention, Master Kee said, "Because you are showing so much uncontrolled emotion that I fear for you."
Owl looked at the toppled bookshelf. "Of course I'm emotional. Everyone we cared about is dead, and we can't find the only thing that'll help us."
"I think it's more than that. You've been trained, and trained well, to handle stressful, combative situations. The loss of our friends is horrid, and we will mourn them when the time is right. But Kryssta and the Way show us that we must control ourselves, even at the worst of times, or else we are controlled by irrationality."
"You don't understand."
"I'm a Master. I understand a lot more than you realize."
"Then tell me — why was I made a Guardian? I've done nothing but mess up."
"You earned your position just like all Guardians."
"You lie," Owl said, surprised at his own vehemence. "Other Guardians had to formally test for the promotion. They appeared before all the Masters in closed ceremony. Or they were challenged in a tournament. When did a student ever get the rank of Guardian just like that?"
"I admit your case was a bit unusual, but—"
"Tell me the truth. Was I promoted just because Brother X had left and Chief Master needed an official Guardian?"
Despite Owl's abrasiveness, Master Kee remained calm. "It was Chief Master's decision. We discussed who would make a good candidate, but he made the final decision — you. Not a different student. You were the one he chose."
"And he's dead because of it."
"He's dead because he was betrayed by Brother X. We all were." Master Kee peered deeply at Owl. "Something has happened to you, something more than Chief Master's death, more than the loss of the Order, more than Brother X's betrayal or his march upon us. Whatever it is, it's clearly hurting you. And if you don't let me help you with it, if you let it overcome your ability to think clearly, then I think we'll lose any chance of surviving."
Trust and warmth poured out of Master Kee, yet it made Owl cringe. He wanted to believe Master Kee, on some level he knew the Master was right, but he couldn't reveal the full extent of what happened on the Great Field, how he feigned death, cowering against the lifeless body of Chief Master. Master Kee would despise him for such acts. No amount of explanation would bring forgiveness. If anything, Master Kee would demand Owl use his Honor Bullet.
Owl bowed his head, and when he straightened, he made sure to be as stoic as possible. "I am a Guardian of the Order of Kryssta, trained in the Way of the Sword and Gun. I have full control of my body and my mind. You have nothing to fear."
Master Kee stood with a sad gaze. He looked as if he might say more on the subject but instead just shook his head. He stepped away from the bed. "Come. We have to get to safety."
"But the book."
"It's not in here. We must collect Fawbry and Tommy, and I will show you a safe place where we can use our brains for a while. See if we can figure out where Chief Master would have hidden such an important book."
Owl didn't move at first. He ached inside. He almost blurted out the truth of his cowardice, almost crashed to the floor crying and begging for mercy. But his training kept him still. Though he tried to think through the problem more, his emotions made it difficult. He kept seeing Master Kee's sad eyes.
But nobody had given up yet. Owl held on to that. He had managed to get Malja on his side. Surely, that had to be worth something. Malja had to be able to help.
Malja
Malja walked along the wood planks that formed the narrow ledge against the compound wall. Though barely adequate room to mount a defense, it would suffice. The wood showed signs of decay — running or fighting on this would be dangerous, at best, but it would be more so for the invaders who would be unfamiliar with where to step.
The few magicians still alive took to her orders well. Perhaps it was the glare in her eyes betraying her disdain. Perhaps they just understood that their lives depended on doing as she commanded. Either way, they worked surprisingly hard at blocking the gaps in the wall and gathering anything useful for weapons.
She had the Guards collect guns from their fallen friends. Those were loaded and set at intervals along the ledge. With only two shots per weapon, they wouldn't last long. But they would do some damage.
As she watched from above, the magicians stopped mid-stride. Malja could feel the reverberations straight up through the wall. The magicians looked at each other as if one of them might be able to dismiss what they felt. But Malja knew those vibrations too well. They came from hundreds of feet tramping the earth. Brother X and his army had arrived.
She hurried along the ledge until she reached the east wall. Even without her dented spyglass, she could see the dust on the horizon. With it, she saw the crimson clad betrayer astride a black horse and hundreds of soldiers behind him.