The Burning Page

by Genevieve Cogman

  ‘No proof, then,’ the pink-haired woman said.

  ‘Hardly enough evidence to judge by,’ another man said. He smoothed the sleeves of his long blue silk robes nervously. ‘If our superiors have more—’

  ‘Excuse me,’ a woman said quietly as he spoke, addressing Irene. ‘You wouldn’t be called Irene, would you? Librarian-in-Residence to B-395? I think I’ve heard about you.’

  ‘Nothing too bad, I hope,’ Irene answered. She didn’t recognize the woman, or the man who stood beside her. ‘I don’t think we’ve met?’

  ‘I’m Penemue,’ the woman introduced herself. She was comfortably middle-aged at first glance, with greying straw-coloured hair worn loose and an embroidered blue shirt and slacks worn even looser. She nodded to the man next to her, who was fiddling with his glasses while looking around the room. ‘This is my friend Kallimachos. I hear that you fought off an attack on your world from Alberich some time back?’

  ‘That’s drastically overstated,’ Irene said. ‘There was a book that Alberich was after, but it was more a case of me managing to avoid him than actually fighting off an attack. And it was only a few months ago. Might I ask who told you about it?’

  Penemue shrugged. ‘Word gets around. I’ve been wanting to get in contact with you for a while now. Could we have coffee after our mysterious meeting?’

  This all sounded perfectly innocent and reasonable, except for the metaphorical elephant in the room. Irene knew that she’d only managed to block Alberich from Vale’s world because Kai had helped, using his natural abilities as a dragon. But hardly anyone in the Library knew that Kai was a dragon – or, at least, was supposed to know that he was a dragon. Native caution made Irene pick her words carefully. ‘Of course. Though I can’t stay long, I’m expected back shortly and I wouldn’t want to panic my assistant.’

  Penemue nodded. ‘Don’t worry, I just want to set up some channels of communication. I’ve been doing some organizing among the people who work in the field, like us, and I wanted to get you in on it. I’ve heard so much about you, as one of the best operatives in the field.’ She offered Irene her hand to shake. ‘I’m sure that we’ll be able to work together.’

  This was sounding suspiciously like a definite commitment, and Irene didn’t like to commit herself until she knew what was going on. ‘We’re both Librarians,’ she said, forcing a smile and shaking Penemue’s hand. She wished she had some idea who the other woman actually was, and what her record was like. It was at moments like this that she regretted not keeping up on Library gossip.

  ‘They’re letting us in!’ someone called from over by the large door. The conversation broke off as everyone hurried to go through.

  The meeting room was what university lecture amphitheatres dream of growing up to become. Deep banks of seats ran from floor to ceiling, enough to handle hundreds of people rather than the several dozen who’d been waiting to enter. The desks were of heavy iron, inlaid with green enamel vines and leaves, and the glass ceiling high above was fitted with spotlights that focused on the table at the centre. People’s feet rang loudly on the metal floor as they made their way down the ramps to jostle for seats in the front row.

  At the far end of the front row sat Bradamant. She hadn’t been with the group that had just entered, but had already been in the room. It had been months since she and Irene had last met, but she still wore her hair in a sleek razor-cut, and her elegantly draped gown was a deep jade-green silk. She had a computer laptop open and was tapping quick notes, glancing up from time to time at the new arrivals. Her gaze met Irene’s for a moment and then she carefully looked away, not quite quickly enough for insult, but precisely enough that it was clear she wasn’t interested in interaction. Irene wondered why Bradamant hadn’t left with the others in the previous briefing.

  ‘Over here,’ Penemue said, beckoning Irene to sit alongside her and Kallimachos. ‘Let’s hope they get through this fast. And while I’ve got you here, what really happened with you and Alberich?’

  ‘It was really more of a controlled escape than actually stopping him,’ Irene said, looking around.

  At the epicentre of the hall, a group of clearly senior Librarians sat behind a long oak table, which looked painfully out of place against all the glass and metal. Irene saw her own mentor, Coppelia, among them, tapping the clockwork fingers of her left hand against the table as she waited for the Librarians to settle themselves. Of the others, she only recognized one: another senior Librarian, Kostchei. She’d never had any personal dealings with him, but she’d been introduced once at a seminar, and he had a reputation – or possibly a notoriety – for cold competence. He was sitting at the centre of the table, with a pen and paper in front of him. His head was bald and his eyebrows barely there, but his beard was a thick braided mass which reached down to brush the table. And his face had ingrained lines of exasperation and temper around the mouth. The other Librarians were strangers to her, but were all visibly old – apart from one exception, a middle-aged woman at one end of the table in a large wheelchair. The wheelchair would explain her early retirement to the Library, rather than being out in the field.

  ‘If I can have your attention.’ The room fell silent as Kostchei spoke. He leaned forward, folding his hands in front of him. Irene couldn’t help noticing that his knuckles were swollen with arthritis. ‘There will be a brief presentation on the current crisis, during which you will all keep silent. You may then ask questions.’

  He waited for a moment, but nobody was stupid enough to speak, and he finally nodded.

  ‘Yesterday morning, by world-local time, we received a message from the traitor Alberich. He demanded that the Library surrender to him, accept him as its leader and allow him to enter it. If we refused, he threatened to destroy us. Naturally, we refused.’

  He paused.

  ‘Since then, we’ve received reports that a number of permanent gates to the Library have been destroyed. We’ve also received reports of assaults on Librarians who were stationed in those worlds, or in others. There have been several deaths. Confirmed deaths, that is. We have not yet checked on all Librarians who haven’t been in contact with the Library for a while.’

  One Librarian started to raise her hand to ask a question. Kostchei stared at her silently until she lowered it again.

  In the silence, the whole situation rearranged itself in Irene’s mind. This wasn’t just something directed at her and Kai: it was a threat to the whole Library. She felt as Kai had done when confronted with Vale’s drugs – faced with something that couldn’t be happening, that was a challenge to the very way she viewed the universe. She hadn’t thought it was possible that the Library could be threatened. She’d always thought she might not survive, that Librarians might die, but the Library would surely continue . . .

  But Coppelia was somehow down there, with other senior Librarians, confirming that all of this was true.

  Irene wasn’t sure now if the spiders were linked to Alberich. Would it be better or worse if they weren’t? If they were his doing, that meant he had some way of reaching inside Vale’s world, perhaps via an agent. And if they weren’t his doing, then yet another person was out to kill her. Or Kai. Or both of them together.

  She remembered a conversation with Kai’s uncle Ao Shun, when Kai had been kidnapped. Ao Shun had said in tones of iron, ‘This is not to be tolerated. This will not be tolerated.’

  Anger crystallized in Irene’s stomach. Indeed. She refused to tolerate this.

  Kostchei waited another five seconds before continuing. ‘We haven’t yet established whether the gate-malfunctions are triggered by attempts to use the gates, or whether the gates are already destroyed and we only find out when we attempt to use them. Library Security has nothing to report, and we don’t believe it to be an internal matter.’ In other words, there weren’t any traitors inside the Library’s walls. So the problem lay outside. ‘We have made enquiries from various sources, and the dragons don’t appear to be involved in this. W
e’re not sure about the Fae. Under no circumstances will we accept Alberich’s terms. You may now ask questions.’

  Hands shot up. The pink-haired woman received the first nod from Kostchei and fired off her question. ‘How many gates have been hit by this so far? And are they to law-slanted worlds or chaos ones?’

  ‘The table recognizes Ananke. So far, twenty-five gates are known to be affected. The proportions of chaos and order worlds are roughly equal, and there is no clear evidence of more breakdowns on either side of the theoretical balance.’

  The man in blue silk was next. ‘Have there been any previous occurrences like this in the past? Could it be somehow cyclical?’

  ‘Wishful thinking,’ Penemue muttered, but Kallimachos raised a finger to his lips to hush her.

  ‘The table recognizes Sotunde.’ Kostchei tugged on his beard. It looked solid enough to be used as a weapon. ‘While it is a matter of Library record that gates may shift their positions inside a world, we have no previous reports of any going up in flames. We realize that this in itself doesn’t prove that they can’t go up in flames every few thousand years. Your comment is taken under advisement. Next!’

  ‘Did Alberich give any means to locate him?’ This was from a middle-aged woman in a neat grey linen kimono and geta sandals, her face painted to bland immobility. Circuit-embossed metal bracers encircled her wrists and forearms.

  ‘The table recognizes Murasaki.’ Irene blinked. That was the name of the woman who’d recruited Kai as a trainee Librarian, but hadn’t noticed the fact that he was a dragon. It would be interesting to speak with her later, if there was a chance. ‘Alberich said if we were to surrender, we were to publicly announce it on the media in several specific alternates, and then have some of the elders leave the Library and wait for him to contact them. While we have agents checking those worlds, as yet they have nothing to report.’

  Interesting how little detail he’s giving on where, how or when Alberich made his announcement, Irene thought. Could it be that Kostchei wants to make sure nobody actually follows those instructions? Are they afraid that some people would try and surrender, if they knew how?

  ‘Brief was the mention of sources of enquiry.’ Gwydion had wedged his way into a pause in the dialogue, without waiting for Kostchei to signal him, and was frowning. ‘While none of us would dally untowardly with our enemies, should our ears not remain open in the service of the Library? If aught can be learned, then surely we should ask for information wherever we can find it.’

  Kostchei started to speak, then paused when the woman in the wheelchair raised her hand. ‘The table recognizes Gwydion. I yield to Melusine.’

  Melusine had dirty blonde hair, trimmed close to her head, and she was in a plain checked shirt and jeans, rather than the more dramatic robes or dresses that some of the other elder Librarians wore. Her voice was light and cool: Irene couldn’t identify any traces of a national accent. ‘To cut aside the circumlocutions: yes, we have some contacts among the dragons and among the Fae. Yes, we have spoken with them. No, the ones we’ve spoken to don’t know anything about this. However, the information we have access to is far from exhaustive. If you have an inappropriate friend out there, don’t be shy. Get them to talk. Just be careful. There have been rumours that Alberich has Fae contacts . . .’

  Not rumour, fact. Irene had met a Fae or two who’d boasted of his acquaintance.

  ‘. . . so be careful you’re not being led up the garden path.’

  Gwydion nodded, lowering his hand and looking relieved. Nobody else actually made any signs of agreeing with Melusine’s comment, but a number of the other Librarians present were looking blandly thoughtful, in a way that suggested they were mentally reviewing lists of their acquaintances.

  ‘I’ve had some Fae interference in my work over the last week,’ a man in velvet coat and breeches said diffidently. His blond curls had been carefully styled into position, and he held his feathered hat in his lap. ‘Nothing life-threatening, but meddling with a current assignment of mine. Could there be a link?’

  ‘The table recognizes Gervase. We can’t rule anything out at this stage. Please leave your information with my assistant, Bradamant, who will be showing you out.’ Ah, that would explain Bradamant’s presence, Irene noted. ‘We’ll correlate it and see if any pattern emerges.’

  Penemue had her hand up. ‘Has there been any actual consultation with Librarians in the field about this, or has senior management simply taken the initiative here?’

  ‘That is senior management’s job,’ Coppelia said, her voice as dry as sifting sand.

  ‘I feel that we need a more complete picture of what’s going on, before we make any definite moves here,’ Penemue said. ‘I’m sure that I speak for everyone here when I say that we need more information, if we’re to give a properly directed response. And surely that includes full details on these threats?’

  ‘My pleasure,’ Kostchei growled. ‘I will expand my statement about his threats. Alberich said that he would destroy the Library utterly. He failed to provide us with any helpful information about how. Any more questions?’

  ‘Yes,’ Kallimachos said, picking up from Penemue as neatly as if they’d rehearsed it. Perhaps they had. ‘I think we may be over-reacting here. Alberich has apparently existed for centuries. He is used as a threat to frighten new Librarians. But we know he’s not invincible or invulnerable. We even have someone here who’s dealt with him before.’ He pointed to Irene. ‘Are we seriously suggesting he’s that dangerous? Shouldn’t we consider a more measured response?’

  Irene desperately wished that she could vanish into thin air, or at least hide under the desk. Everyone was looking at her. Worse, they were now assuming that she was allied with these two. Irene didn’t object to the theory that junior Librarians should have a bit more say in how things were run, but she objected very strongly to an attempt to grab the metaphorical wheel in the middle of a metaphorical multilane car crash. Even more so when they tried to involve her in the power play.

  ‘It’s obvious that the man’s mad,’ Kostchei said. ‘He’s also a megalomaniac.’

  ‘Doesn’t that count as mad in any case?’ someone muttered in the seats behind Irene, then fell silent as Kostchei stared in his direction.

  ‘He believes the Library should take a more active role in influencing and controlling other worlds,’ Kostchei went on. ‘You all know that is not our role. We aren’t here to make moral judgements about the Fae, the dragons, or anywhere in between. We’re here to keep the balance, and let the worlds in between stay free. What Alberich wants is completely against our principles.’ His voice lowered to a growl, and he pulled at his beard as if it was a hangman’s rope. ‘We stand for preservation. We are not rulers. We are Librarians.’

  ‘Yes, but surely we can handle this in a more balanced way,’ Penemue said firmly. Her words came out with the smoothness of a prepared speech. ‘This is just one more case of a lack of communication, which has become far too common lately. The Library isn’t served by having the people who are supposed to be running it ignoring the input of a large number of the people who actually do the work. There have been plenty of previous cases of this. I know I’m not the only person here who—’

  Irene wished, again, that she was sitting on the other side of the room. She didn’t want to seem associated with this faction. Which was no doubt why Penemue had arranged for them to sit together. She hated internal politics. Low-voiced conversations were breaking out among the listeners. Kostchei was lowering his head like a bull about to charge. The whole situation was about to degenerate into a list of complaints – and an argument between the elder Librarians and anyone who thought Penemue had a point. There wasn’t time for that. This was an emergency.

  Irene desperately thrust her hand in the air.

  ‘The table recognizes Irene,’ Coppelia said.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ‘I have some new information, which I haven’t had a chance to tell anyone else
yet,’ Irene said. ‘This morning I received an urgent in-world message in the usual Library manner, but it was tainted with chaos. It said – in the Language – that the Library would be destroyed, and that I would be destroyed with it. That Alberich was coming. I’m guessing it was a message from Alberich himself.’

  The gasps and muffled exclamations would no doubt have pleased Zayanna greatly. Irene gritted her teeth and focused on looking professional. ‘I was coming to report it, when I saw the message to attend this meeting.’

  Kostchei tugged on his beard again. ‘The table recognizes Irene, Librarian-in-Residence on probation to alternate B-395. You are sure that this message was delivered in the Language?’

  ‘Yes,’ Irene said. ‘Though it had a chaos aftertaste to it.’ She was conscious that the words on probation had affected the rest of the room. She was now officially unreliable.

  ‘Did it name you personally?’

  Irene shook her head. ‘It just said “you”.’

  ‘Then it could have been addressed to any Librarian in the area?’

  ‘It could,’ Irene agreed. She tried to guess what Kostchei was suggesting here. Did he want to imply that any Librarian was in danger from Alberich? She let her eyes slide sideways to Coppelia, and saw that the other woman had her lips pressed firmly together and was frowning. I’ll take that as a hint. ‘I do have reason to believe that Alberich has contacts with the Fae, too,’ she added. ‘It’s in an earlier report of mine, concerning a claim by one of the Fae. A few months back.’

  Kostchei nodded. His face was impenetrable, a stone mask with beard and eyebrows. ‘This appears to be another example of Alberich’s threats. If there are any further such direct messages to other Librarians, they’ll be examined for a possible triangulation on his location. Kindly speak to your supervisor after this meeting.’ He glanced across to Coppelia, who nodded.