The Myst Reader

by Robyn Miller

  Anna closed the door quietly and hurried over to the middle door. She could explore the stairwell later. Right now it mattered only that Veovis not find her there.

  Slipping into the storeroom, she pulled the door closed behind her, even as Veovis’s footsteps came along the final stretch of the corridor and into the room beside where she hid.

  AITRUS TOOK OFF HIS CLOAK, THEN TURNED TO face his mother.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “It is Ti’ana,” she answered. “I do not know where she is, Aitrus. One of the servants saw her leave an hour back.”

  “She went out? With things as they are?”

  Tasera nodded. “I would have sent a man out after her, if I had known. But she left no message.”

  Aitrus frowned. “Wait here,” he said, “I think I know where she might be.”

  “You know?”

  “Not for certain, but Ti’ana has been unhappy these past few months. She has missed Gehn badly.”

  “We have all missed him.”

  “Yes, but Ti’ana has missed him more than anyone. Last week she asked me if he could come home. I think she may have gone to fetch him.”

  “They would not let her.”

  “Do you think that would stop Ti’ana if she were determined on it?”

  Tasera shook her head.

  “Well, I will go and see. Wait here, Mother. If she is not at the Guild Hall I shall return at once. But do not worry. I am sure she is all right.”

  ONE OF THE GUARDS ON THE BARRICADE REMEMBERED her.

  “She was most persistent,” he said, “but we had strict orders. We were to let no one pass, not even guildsmen, without special notification. She left here, oh, more than an hour ago now.”

  “Did you notice where she went?”

  The young guard nodded, then pointed up the lane. “She went back the way she came, then turned left, under the arch. It looked as if she was heading for the western sector.”

  Aitrus thanked the guard then turned away. If Anna had been going home, she would have walked straight on and cut through farther up. Unless, of course, she was trying to get through to the Guild Hall by another route.

  “Home,” he told himself. He would check home first, just in case she had returned. Then, if she was not there, he would go to the Guild House and ask there.

  ANNA CROUCHED AGAINST THE WALL, TRYING not to make a sound.

  Veovis was just beyond the door. She had heard him stop and sniff the air.

  “Strange,” she heard him say. “Very strange.”

  She closed her eyes. At any moment he would pull back the door and see her there. And then …

  His footsteps went on. She heard the door to the corridor creak open, then close behind him, his footsteps receding.

  Anna took a long breath, then pushed the door ajar. The outer room was empty now, filled with the strange mauve light from the sky. She was about to step outside again when she glimpsed, just to her right, two shelves, cut deep into the wall. She had not noticed them before, but now she stepped across, amazed by what was on them.

  Books! Linking Books! Dozens of them! She took one down and examined it. D’ni! This linked to D’ni! Quickly she examined another. That, too, appeared to link to D’ni. One after another she flicked through them.

  All of them on the top shelf—every last one—seemed to link back to D’ni; each at a separate location: in a specific room in a Guild Hall, or in the cellar of a house; in storerooms and servants’ quarters; and one, audaciously, direct into the great Council chamber of the Guild House.

  So this was how they did it! Veovis was behind the spate of incidents these past few weeks.

  Veovis, yes … and A’Gaeris.

  The Books on the bottom shelf were blanks, waiting to be used. She counted them. There were forty-eight.

  Anna stared at them, perplexed. How had they managed to get hold of so many blank Books? Had Suahrnir provided them? And what of Suahrnir? He had disappeared five years ago, presumed dead, but was he here, too?

  When she had linked through she had not been quite sure what she meant to do. To take a peek and then get back? But now that she had seen the Books …

  I have to stop this, she thought. Fifteen dead. That’s what the guard said. And more will die, for certain, unless I act. Unless I stop this now.

  But how?

  Anna stared at the Books, then nodded to herself, a plan beginning to form in her head.

  VEOVIS STOOD AT THE END OF THE STONE jetty, his left hand resting lightly on the plinth as he looked out over the glutinously bright green sea toward a nearby rock that jutted, purest white like an enameled tooth, from its surface. A circular platform rested on that rock, as if fused onto its jagged crown, its gray-blue surface level with where Veovis stood.

  Veovis glanced at the timer on his wrist, then slowly turned the dial beneath his fingers, clockwise, then counterclockwise, then clockwise again. He waited a moment, listening as the massive cogs fell into place beneath his feet, then pressed down on the dial.

  Slowly a metal walkway slid from the stone beneath his feet, bridging the narrow channel, linking the jetty to the platform. There was a resounding chunk! as it locked in place.

  Veovis waited, tense now, resisting the temptation to glance at his timer again. Then, shimmering into view, a figure formed in the air above the platform. It was A’Gaeris.

  The Philosopher blinked and glanced up at the sky, as if disoriented, then looked across at Veovis and grinned, holding up the Linking Book that both Anna and Veovis had used; that, until five minutes ago, had rested in the study back in the boarded-up house in D’ni.

  The two men met in the middle of the walkway, clasping each other about the shoulders like the dearest of friends, while behind them a third figure shimmered into being on the platform.

  It was Suahrnir.

  HIGH ABOVE THEM, FROM WHERE SHE STOOD at the north window of the tower, Anna looked on, watching the three men greet each other then turn and walk back along the jetty, Veovis and A’Gaeris side by side, Suahrnir following a pace or two behind.

  She had been thinking all along of the Linking Book back on D’ni—asking herself why they should leave the back door to this Age open like that. But now she understood. A’Gaeris had come along behind Veovis and gathered up the Book, then used a second Linking Book, hidden elsewhere, no doubt, to link back to the rock.

  The walkway had been retracted. If anyone now tried to link through to this Age they would be trapped on the rock, unable to get across to the island.

  She stepped back, away from the window, then turned, looking about her. The big circular room seemed to be used as a laboratory of some kind. Three long wooden benches were formed into an H at the center, their surfaces scattered with gleaming brass equipment. Broad shelves on the long, curving walls contained endless glass bottles and stoppered jars of chemicals and powders, and, on a separate set of shelves, Books. Guild Books, she realized, stolen from the libraries of D’ni.

  Anna walked across, picking things up and examining them. Coming to the window on the south side of the room, she looked out. The sea went flat to the horizon, its dark green shading into black, so that at the point where the sea met the pale mauve sky there seemed to be a gap in reality.

  Just below the tower, the land dipped steeply away to meet the sea, but in one place it had been built up slightly so that a buttress of dark, polished rock thrust out into the sea. A kind of tunnel extended a little way from the end of that buttress, at the end of which was a cage; a big, man-sized cage, partly submerged.

  Looking at it, Anna frowned.

  She turned, looking back across the room. There was only one doorway into the room, only one stairway down. The strong wooden door had a single bolt, high up, which could be drawn from inside.

  “Perfect,” she said quietly, smiling to herself. “Absolutely perfect.”

  BACK INSIDE THE STUDY, VEOVIS SHUT THE door, then walked across. A’Gaeris and Suahrnir were already
deep in conversation, pointing to locations on the map and debating which to strike at next.

  Veovis stared at them a moment, then walked around past them and picked up one of the two bags he had brought with him from D’ni.

  “Here,” he said, handing it to A’Gaeris, “I brought you a few things back this time.”

  A’Gaeris looked inside the bag, then laughed. Taking out the cloak, he held it up. It was a guild cloak, edged in the dark red of the Guild of Writers.

  “To think I once valued this above all else!”

  A’Gaeris shook his head, making a noise of disgust, then threw the cloak about his shoulders casually, preening himself in a mocking fashion and looking to Veovis as he did.

  “So how are things in D’ni?”

  Veovis smiled. “You were right, Philosopher. The destruction of the Ink-Works has unnerved them. Before now they were able to keep things close. Now all of D’ni knows there is a problem.”

  “That may be so,” Suahrnir said, “but there is another problem: They now know that you are no longer on the Prison Age.”

  Veovis turned to him. “They know?”

  Suahrnir nodded. “I overheard two guards talking. It seems Master Jadaris himself took an expedition in to check that you were still there. Finding you gone, they will know that someone had to have sprung you.” He turned to A’Gaeris and grinned. “And they will not have far to look, will they?”

  A’Gaeris turned back to Veovis, concerned. “Then we must escalate our campaign. Until now we have had the advantage of surprise, but they will be vigilant from here on. We must identify our prime targets and hit them.”

  “Lord R’hira,” Suahrnir suggested.

  “Naturally,” Veovis agreed. “But not first. First we deal with my meddlesome friend.”

  “Your friend?” A’Gaeris looked puzzled.

  “My ex-friend, then. Guild Master Aitrus.”

  “Aitrus?” Suahrnir frowned. “But surely we can deal with him later?”

  “No,” A’Gaeris said. “What Veovis suggests makes sense. Cut off the head and the body cannot fight on. And who are the men whom we might call the ‘head’ of D’ni? Why, the Emergency Council, of course! Aitrus, Jadaris, Yf’Jerrej, R’hira. These are the four who are really running things right now, and so they must be our primary targets. Thus far we have unnerved the guilds. Now we must destabilize them.”

  “I agree,” Veovis said. “But you will leave Aitrus to me.”

  A’Gaeris smiled. “If you want him, he is yours, my friend. But make no mistakes. And show no pity. Remember that he showed you none.”

  Veovis nodded. “I will not forget that easily. But come, let us formulate our plans.”

  ANNA TIPTOED PARTWAY ALONG THE CORRIDOR, then stopped. She could hear the faint murmur of their voices through the door. There was brief laughter, and then the talk went on.

  Good. While they were occupied, she would move the Linking Books.

  Returning to the room, she gathered up all she could carry at one go, then hurried up the tower steps. Three trips saw all of the Books removed to the big room at the top of the tower. Satisfied, Anna cleared the surface of one of the benches, then began to pile the Books up in a heap, leaving only one aside.

  That done, Anna picked up the Book she had set aside and returned to the door.

  The easiest and quickest way was to burn the Books—to set fire to them, then link straight back to D’ni—but the easiest was not always the best. If she was to be sure of damaging their plans, she would need to make certain that there were no more Linking Books elsewhere on the island.

  Anna listened a moment, then, satisfied that there was no one on the stairs, slipped out and hurried down. She had been depending on surprise so far, but she would need luck now, too, if she was to succeed.

  Her luck held. They were still there inside the study. She could hear their voices murmuring behind the door.

  “All right,” a voice, Suahrnir’s, said angrily. “But I do not know why we cannot just kill him and be done with it!”

  Anna stepped back. At any moment the door might open and she would be discovered, yet she stayed there, listening.

  “I’ll go right now,” Veovis said clearly. “Unless you have any further objections?”

  “Not I,” A’Gaeris said. “But hurry back. There’s much to do before the morning.”

  “Do not worry,” Veovis answered sardonically. “I know how best to hook our friend. I shall take no longer than I must.”

  AITRUS SAT AT HIS DESK IN HIS ROOMS AT the Guild Hall, in despair, his head in his hands. There was no sign of Anna. A search of the upper city had not found her. All inquiries had drawn a blank. And though Master Jadaris had agreed to make a more thorough search, Aitrus knew that they would not find her. Not in D’ni, anyway.

  No. Veovis was somehow behind this. He had to be. And this was his revenge—to take Anna.

  But what had he done with her?

  Aitrus looked up, staring into the air, trying to think.

  If he were Veovis, what would he want? Justice? No. It was far too late for justice. Vengeance? Yes, but not simply vengeance; at least, not the blind, uncaring kind that madmen seek, unless the isolation of the prison rock had sent Veovis mad.

  No. He could not believe that. Veovis was stronger than that.

  Perhaps, but what of A’Gaeris? What was his role in all this? And how had he persuaded Veovis to ally with him against the Guilds?

  Betrayal. That was the seed A’Gaeris had planted in Veovis’s mind. Betrayal. The guilds had betrayed Veovis, as they had once betrayed A’Gaeris. And now the guilds had to be punished.

  Punished … or destroyed?

  Aitrus stood, realizing that there was only one thing to do. They would have to search every inch of D’ni for Linking Books.

  “If we can find out where he is linking back to …”

  Aitrus looked up. Footsteps. There were footsteps farther down the hall.

  He went out into the hallway.

  “Ti’ana? … Ti’ana, is that you?”

  Aitrus had barely gone two or three steps when the door at the far end of the hall swung open. He stopped dead.

  “Veovis?”

  Veovis stood there, smiling, a Linking Book held open in one hand.

  “Yes, Aitrus, dearest friend. I have your wife. If you want her back, you had better follow me. And no tricks, or Ti’ana will die.”

  “No! Wait!”

  Aitrus started toward him, yet even as he did, Veovis brought his other hand across, touching the glowing panel.

  “Veovis!”

  The Book fell to the floor.

  So it was true. His darkest thoughts were thus confirmed. Walking across, he bent down and picked up the Book.

  Help. Common sense told him he ought to get help.

  But what if Veovis meant what he said?

  Then common sense would kill his beloved wife.

  “No choice,” he said, as if to excuse himself. Then, sensing that only ill could come of it, he lay his hand upon the panel and linked.

  DOWNSTAIRS THE DOOR SLAMMED SHUT. THERE were footsteps on the stairs. A moment later A’Gaeris appeared at the top of the stairs, looking about him. Seeing the Linking Book he smiled, then he went across and bent, picking it up. For a moment he studied the glowing panel, his smile broadening; pocketing the Book, he turned and went back down the stairs.

  It was time to link back to the island.

  ANNA SLIPPED THROUGH THE OPEN DOORWAY and into the dimly lit chamber. To her right was the study. Through its thin, wooden walls she could hear the low murmur of two voices—those of A’Gaeris and Suahrnir.

  She sighed. It looked as if she was never going to get the chance to search the study.

  Anna turned, looking about her. There was a narrow bed in one corner of the room. Beside it, against the back wall, were a small desk and chair. A worn silk coverlet lay over the bed. On the desk were a number of thin, coverless books, like child’s ex
ercise books. She picked one up and opened it. It was one of A’Gaeris’s pamphlets—one of his endless ranting tirades against the guilds that had won him notoriety, mainly in the lower city.

  Putting the pamphlet aside, Anna quickly examined what else was on the surface. There was a small notebook, locked, she noted, with a tiny silver clasp. A D’ni symbol—a simplification of A’Gaeris’s name—was burned into the leather of the cover. She picked it up and pocketed it. Beneath it, to her surprise, was a tiny picture in a gilded frame. It showed a young woman, barely Anna’s own age by the look of her, her dark hair swept back from a stunningly beautiful face.

  That, too, she pocketed.

  Anna turned, looking about her once more, checking that there was nothing else—no hidden panels and no hatches in the floor. Satisfied, she hurried back across the room again, meaning to make her way back to the tower.

  She had delayed too long. Every moment now increased the chance of her being discovered. Best, then, to cut her losses: to go back to the room at the top of the tower and burn the Linking Books she had.

  It would be a start. Besides, she knew much now about their plans. If she could reach Master Jadaris with that knowledge …

  There was a sudden noise behind her, a buzz of voices from the central room. Veovis had returned. She heard his voice giving hasty orders. Then there was a strange grunt and the thud of a body falling to the floor.

  There were other noises—scraping and scratching noises that she could make no sense of—and then Veovis spoke again, much louder this time:

  “Take him down into the cellar. We’ll put him in the cage. I’ll use him as bait for another, much more tasty fish.”

  There was laughter, unwholesome laughter, and then the sound of a body being dragged across the room.