The knights had grown pale. ‘Impossible!’ one said.
‘This crystal is supposed to be unbreakable!’ the other said.
‘My grandson,’ Grandpa Smedry said proudly. ‘He has the breaking Talent you know. Upset him too much, and the entire floor could shatter. Actually, the entire castle could—’
‘Get him out, then,’ one of the knights said, shooing me away like one might treat an unwanted puppy.
‘What?’ Grandpa Smedry said. ‘Antagonize him by throwing him out, and you could destroy the castle itself! We’ll just have to see if he calms down. His Talent can be very unpredictable when he’s emotional.’
I could see what Grandpa Smedry was doing. I hesitated, then focused my power, trying to further crack the glass at my feet. It was an extremely foolhardy thing to do. That’s what made it exactly the sort of plan Grandpa Smedry would come up with.
The spiderwebs at my feet grew larger. I steadied myself by touching the wall, and immediately created a ring of cracks around my hand.
‘Wait!’ one of the knights exclaimed. ‘I’ll go in and ask if you can enter!’
Grandpa Smedry beamed. ‘What a nice fellow,’ he said, taking my arm, stopping me from breaking more. The knight opened the door, stepping inside.
‘Did we really just blackmail a Knight of Crystallia?’ I asked under my breath.
‘Two of them, I believe,’ Grandpa Smedry said. ‘And it was really more “intimidation” than it was “blackmail.” Maybe with a twist of “extortion.” It’s always best to use the proper terminology!’
The knight returned, then – with a sigh – gestured for us to enter the chamber. We walked in eagerly.
And then Grandpa Smedry exploded.
11
Okay, so he didn’t really explode. I just wanted you to turn the page really fast.
You see, if you turn the pages quickly, you might rip one of them. If you do that, then – obviously – you’ll want to go buy another copy of the book. Who wants one with a ripped page? Not you. You have refined tastes.
In fact, think of all the wonderful ways you can use this book. It will make an excellent coaster. You could also use it as building material. Or you could frame the pages as art. (After all, each page is a perfect work of art. Look at 56. Exquisite.)
Obviously, you need lots of copies. One isn’t enough. Go buy more. Have you forgotten that you need to fight the Librarians?
Anyway, after getting done not exploding, Grandpa Smedry went into the chamber. I followed, expecting to find a courtroom. I was surprised to find only a simple wooden table with three knights sitting behind it. Bastille stood by the far wall, at attention, hands at her sides, staring straight ahead. The three knights at the table weren’t even looking at her as they decided her punishment.
One of the knights was a masculine, burly man with an enormous chin. He was dangerous in an ‘I’m a knight, and I could totally kill you’ sort of way.
Next to him was Bastille’s mother, Draulin, who was dangerous in an ‘I’m Bastille’s mother, and I could also kill you’ sort of way.
The third one was an elderly, bearded knight who was dangerous in a ‘Stop playing your rap music so loud, you darn kids! Plus, I could kill you too’ sort of way.
Judging by their expressions, they were not happy to see my grandfather and me. ‘Lord Smedry,’ the man with the chin said, ‘Why have you interrupted these proceedings? You know you have no authority here.’
‘If I let that stop me, I’d never have any fun!’ Grandpa Smedry said.
‘This is not about fun, Lord Smedry,’ Bastille’s mother said. ‘It’s about justice.’
‘Oh, and since when has it been “just” to punish someone for things that were not their fault?’
‘We are not looking at fault,’ said the aged knight. ‘If a knight is incapable of protecting his or her charges, then that knight must be removed from his or her station. It is not young Bastille’s fault if we promoted her too quickly and—’
‘You didn’t promote her too quickly,’ I snapped. ‘Bastille is the most amazing knight in your ranks.’
‘And you know much about the knights in our ranks, young Smedry?’ the aged knight asked.
He was right. I felt a little foolish – but then when has that ever stopped a Smedry?
‘No,’ I admitted. ‘But I do know that Bastille has done a fantastic job of protecting my grandfather and me. She’s an excellent soldier – I saw her go head-to-head with one of the Scrivener’s Bones and hold her own with only a dagger. I’ve seen her take down two Librarian thugs before I could even finish blinking.’
‘She lost her sword,’ Draulin said.
‘So?’ I demanded.
‘It’s the symbol of a Knight of Crystallia,’ Big Chin said.
‘Well, get her another sword, then!’ I snapped.
‘It’s not that easy,’ the old knight explained. ‘The fact that a knight is not capable of caring for her sword is very disturbing. We need to maintain quality in the order for the good of all nobility.’
I stepped forward. ‘Did she tell you how the sword broke?’
‘She was fighting Alivened,’ Draulin said. ‘She rammed it in one of their chests, then she was hit and knocked aside. When the Alivened was killed by falling through the floor, the sword was lost.’
I glanced back at Bastille. She didn’t meet my eyes.
‘No,’ I said, looking back at them. ‘That’s what happened, yes, but it’s not what happened. It wasn’t the fall, or even the death of the Alivened, and the sword wasn’t just lost. It was destroyed. By me. My Talent.’
The big-chinned knight gave a chuckle at that. ‘Lord Smedry,’ he said, ‘I understand that you are loyal and care for your friends, and I respect you for it. Good man! But you shouldn’t make such wild exaggerations. Everyone knows that full Crystin shards are impervious to things like Oculator’s Lenses and Smedry Talents!’
I stepped forward to the table. ‘Hand me your sword, then.’
The knight started. ‘What?’
‘Give it to me,’ I said, holding out a hand. ‘Let’s see if it’s impervious.’
There was silence in the small glass chamber for a moment. The knight seemed incredulous. (Crystin don’t let others hold their swords. Asking Big Chin to give me his was a little like asking the president to loan me his nuclear missile launching codes for the weekend.)
Still, backing down would make Big Chin look like he believed my claim. I could see the indecision in his eyes, his hand hovering toward the hilt of his weapon, as if to hand it over.
‘Be careful, Archedis,’ Grandpa Smedry said quietly. ‘My grandson’s Talent is not to be underestimated. The breaking Talent, by my estimation, hasn’t been manifest this powerfully for centuries. Perhaps millennia.’
The knight moved his hand away from the sword. ‘The breaking Talent,’ he said. ‘Well, perhaps it is possible for that to affect a Crystin sword.’
Draulin pursed her lips, and I could tell that she wanted to object.
‘Um,’ I said, glancing at my grandfather. He indicated that I should keep talking. ‘Anyway, I’ve come to speak at this trial, as is my right as a member of the Smedry clan.’
‘I believe you have been doing that already,’ Draulin said flatly. (Sometimes I can see where Bastille gets her snark.)
‘Yes, well,’ I continued, ‘I want to vouch for Bastille’s skill and cleverness. Without her intervention, both Grandpa Smedry and I would be dead. You probably would be too, Draulin. Let’s not forget that you were captured by the very Librarian that Bastille defeated.’
‘I saw you defeat that Librarian, Lord Smedry,’ Draulin said. ‘Not my daughter.’
‘We did it together,’ I said. ‘As part of a plan we came up with as a team. You got your sword back only because Bastille and I retrieved it for you.’
‘Yes,’ said the elderly knight. ‘But then, that is part of the problem.’
‘It is?’ I said. ‘Wo
unding Draulin’s pride caused that much trouble?’
Draulin blushed – I felt pleased, though a little ashamed, for getting such a reaction out of her.
‘It’s more than that,’ Big Chin – Archedis – said. ‘Bastille held her mother’s sword.’
‘She didn’t have much choice,’ I said. ‘She was trying to save my life, and that of her mother – not to mention my father’s life by association. Besides, she only picked it up for a short time.’
‘Regardless,’ Archedis said. ‘Bastille’s use of the sword . . . interfered with it. It is more than tradition that keeps us from letting others hold our weapons.’
‘Wait,’ I said. ‘Does this have to do with those crystals in your necks?’
The three knights shared a look.
‘We don’t discuss these kinds of things with outsiders,’ the elderly knight said.
‘I’m not an outsider,’ I said. ‘I’m a Smedry. Besides, I know most of it already.’ There were three kinds of Crystin shards – the ones that they made into swords, the ones they implanted in Crystin necks, and a third one Bastille hadn’t wanted to talk about.
‘You bond to those neck crystals,’ I said, pointing. ‘You bond to the swords too, don’t you? Is that what this is all about? When Bastille picked up her mother’s sword to fight Kilimanjaro, it interfered with the bond?’
‘That’s not all this is about,’ the oldest knight said. ‘This is much bigger than that. What Bastille did in fighting with her mother’s sword showed recklessness – just like losing her own sword did.’
‘So?’ I demanded.
‘So?’ Draulin asked. ‘Young Lord Smedry, we are an order founded on the principle of keeping people like yourself alive. The kings, nobility, and particularly Smedrys of the Free Kingdoms seem to seek their own deaths with regularity. In order to protect them, the Knights of Crystallia must be constant and coolheaded.’
‘With all due respect, young Lord Smedry,’ the aged knight said, ‘it is our job to counteract your foolhardy nature, not encourage it. Bastille is not yet right for knighthood.’
‘Look,’ I said. ‘Somebody decided that she was worthy of being a knight. Maybe we should talk to them?’
‘We are them,’ Archedis said. ‘We three elevated Bastille to knighthood six months ago, and are also the ones who chose her first assignment. That is why we are the ones who must face the sad task of stripping her knighthood from her. I believe it is time for us to vote.’
‘But—’
‘Lord Smedry,’ Draulin said curtly. ‘You have had your say, and we suffered you. Have you anything more to say that will productively add to this argument?’
They all regarded me. ‘Would calling them idiots be productive?’ I asked, turning toward my grandfather.
‘Doubtful,’ he said, smiling. ‘You could try “nigglenut,” since I bet they don’t know the meaning. That probably wouldn’t help much either.’
‘Then I’m done,’ I said, feeling even more annoyed than when I’d first entered the room.
‘Draulin, your vote?’ the aged knight – obviously in charge – said.
‘I vote to strip knighthood from her,’ Draulin said. ‘And sever her from the Mindstone for one week to remove her taint from Crystin blades that do not belong to her.’
‘Archedis?’ the elderly knight asked.
‘The young Smedry’s speech has moved me,’ the large-chinned knight said. ‘Perhaps we have been hasty. I vote to suspend knighthood, but not remove it. Bastille’s taint of another’s sword must be cleansed, but I believe one week to be too harsh. One day should suffice.’
I didn’t really know what that last part meant, but the big knight earned a few points in my book for his kindness.
‘Then it is up to me,’ the aged knight said. ‘I will take the middle road. Bastille, we strip your knighthood from you, but will have another hearing in one week to re-evaluate. You are to be severed from the Mindstone for two days. Both punishments are effective immediately. Report to the chamber of the Mindstone.’
I glanced back at Bastille. Somehow I felt that decision wasn’t in our favor. Bastille continued to stare straight ahead, but I could see lines of tension – even fear – in her face.
I won’t let this happen! I thought, enraged. I gathered my Talent. They couldn’t take her. I could stop them. I’d show them what it was like when my Talent broke their swords and –
‘Alcatraz, lad,’ Grandpa Smedry said softly. ‘Privileges, such as our ability to visit Crystallia, are retained when they are not abused. I believe we have pushed our friends as far as they will go.’
I glanced at him. Sometimes there was a surprising depth of wisdom in those eyes of his.
‘Let it go, Alcatraz,’ he said. ‘We’ll find another way to fight this.’
The knights had stood and were making their way from the room, likely eager to get away from my grandfather and me. I watched, helpless, as Bastille followed them. She shot me a glance as she left and whispered a single word. ‘Thanks.’
Thanks, I thought. Thanks for what? For failing?
I was, of course, feeling guilty. Guilt, you may know, is a rare emotion that is much like an elevator made of Jell-O. (Both will let you down quite abruptly.)
‘Come, lad,’ Grandpa Smedry said, taking my arm.
‘We failed,’ I said.
‘Hardly! They were ready to strip her knighthood completely. At least we’ve got a chance for her to get it back. You did well.’
‘A chance to get it back,’ I said, frowning. ‘But if the same people are going to vote again in a week, then what good have we done? They’ll just vote to strip her knighthood completely.’
‘Unless we show them she deserves it,’ Grandpa said. ‘By, say, stopping the Librarians from getting that treaty signed and taking over Mokia?’
Mokia was important. But even if we could do what he said, and even if we could get Bastille involved, how was fighting a political battle going to prove anything to do with knighthood?
‘What’s a Mindstone?’ I asked as we walked back to the Transporter chamber.
‘Well,’ Grandpa Smedry said, ‘You’re not supposed to know about that. Which, of course, makes it all the more fun to tell you. There are three kinds of Crystin shards.’
‘I know,’ I interjected. ‘They make swords from one type.’
‘Right,’ Grandpa Smedry said. ‘Those are special in that they’re very resilient to Oculatory powers and things like Smedry Talents, which lets the Knights of Crystallia fight Dark Oculators. The second type of shards are the ones in their necks – the Fleshstones, they call them.’
‘Those give them powers,’ I said. ‘Make them better soldiers. But what’s the third one?’
‘The Mindstone,’ Grandpa Smedry said. ‘It is said to be a shard from the Worldspire itself, a single crystal that connects all the other Crystin shards. Even I don’t know for certain what it does, but I think it connects all Crystin together, letting them draw upon the strength of other knights.’
‘And they’re going to cut Bastille off from it,’ I said. ‘Maybe that will be a good thing. She’ll be more her own person.’
Grandpa Smedry eyed me. ‘The Mindstone doesn’t make the knights all have a single mind, lad. It lets them share skills. If one of them knows how to do something, they all get a fraction of a tad of an iota better at that same thing.’
We entered the room with the box, then stepped inside it; apparently, Grandpa Smedry had left instructions for the boxes to be swapped every ten minutes until we returned.
‘Grandfather,’ I said. ‘My Talent. Is it as dangerous as you said back there?’
He didn’t reply.
‘In the tomb of Alcatraz the First,’ I said as the doors to our box closed, ‘the writing on the walls spoke of the breaking Talent. The writing . . . called it the “Dark Talent” and implied it had caused the fall of the entire Incarna civilization.’
‘Others have held the breaking Talent,
lad,’ Grandpa Smedry said. ‘None of them caused any civilizations to fall! Though they did knock down a wall or two.’
His attempt at mirth seemed forced. I opened my mouth to ask more, but the doors to the box opened. Standing directly outside was Folsom Smedry in his red robes, Himalaya at his side.
‘Lord Smedry!’ Folsom said, looking relieved. ‘Finally!’
‘What?’ Grandpa Smedry said.
‘You’re late,’ Folsom said.
‘Of course I am,’ Grandpa said. ‘Get on with it!’
‘She’s here.’
‘Who?’
‘Her,’ Folsom said. ‘She Who Cannot Be Named. She’s in the keep, and she wants to talk to you.’
12
Right now, you should be asking yourself some questions. Questions like: ‘How is it possible that this book can be so awesome?’ and ‘Why did the Librarian slip and fall down?’ and ‘What exactly was it that exploded and made the Hawkwind crash in Chapter Two?’
Did you think I’d forgotten that last one? No, not at all. (The crash nearly killed me, after all.) I figured that the Librarians might be behind it, as everyone else assumed. But why had they done it? And, more important, how?
There just hadn’t been time to ask those questions, important though they were. Too much was going on. We’ll get to it, though.
(Also, the answer to the second question in the first paragraph is obvious. She fell because she was looking through the library’s nonfriction section.)
We approached Keep Smedry’s audience lounge, where Sing – with his hefty Mokian girth – stood guard. It was time to confront She Who Cannot Be Named – the most dangerous Librarian in all of the Order of the Wardens of the Standard. I’d fought Blackburn, Dark Oculator, and felt the pain of his Torturer’s Lens. I’d fought Kilimanjaro, of the Scrivener’s Bones, with his blood-forged Lenses and terrible half-metal smile. Librarian hierarchs were not to be trifled with.
I tensed, entering the medium-sized castle chamber with Grandpa Smedry and Folsom, ready for anything. The Librarian, however, wasn’t there. The only person in the room was a little old grandmother wearing a shawl and carrying an orange handbag.
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