‘So Erritas and Meevel are family names too?’
‘Yes, excellent! So they are.’
‘Their first names weren’t Limbane and Krays, by any chance?’
‘Those are familiar,’ Galywis agreed comfortably. ‘Might have been, at that.’
Tren shot her a triumphant smile. ‘We’ve met them a time or two.’
Galywis shot upright at that. ‘Are they here? You brought them, didn’t you!’
‘No, no,’ Eva said, trying to sound soothing. ‘We came by ourselves.’ She paused for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. Logical reflection was virtually impossible under these circumstances. Too much of her intellect was tied up in the effort to make sense of this contradictory, muddlesome world; the rest had a hard task unravelling the nuggets of rational information from Galywis’s deranged manner of holding a conversation. She cast a desperate look at Tren.
‘Right,’ he said, taking the conversational lead. ‘So Krays and Limbane wanted the Library? Why?’
‘Because it was the best!’ Galywis said grandly. At Eva’s assurances he had sunk back down onto the ground, though he was restless.
Tren struggled with that. ‘So... Orlind was some kind of Master Library?’
‘Mistress, if you please!’ Galywis corrected. ‘No way to speak about a lady, that.’
‘Sorry,’ Tren mumbled.
‘Orlind,’ Galywis said dreamily. ‘She was the centre, the queen...’
Eva tried to piece all that together. Orlind, Queen of the Libraries. A building with an identity crisis that behaved like a Lowers construct but had once been a major Library. A Master Lokantor who was mad, utterly and beyond hope. The only part of it that made sense to her was that Krays and Limbane had fought over it long ago, and had in some way been responsible for its demise. That aligned perfectly with what she knew of their rivalry and the ambition they both shared. It also explained why Limbane had never told her about this; he wanted to appear as the great Lokantor but there had been a greater, once. Nor would it suit him to admit that he had ever erred so badly as she began to believe he had.
But what did Galywis mean about a Master Library? And why had Orlind been so significant that two Lokants had destroyed it in their desire to possess it? Asking him outright would be of no help at all; Galywis’s ability to follow a rational train of thought was too far gone. She had better try another approach.
‘Tell us about the old girl,’ Eva said. ‘What was she like, before she was broken?’
‘Oh, she was magnificent!’ Galywis beamed, spreading out his arms. ‘She flew.’
‘... Flew?’
He nodded vigorously, but advanced no elaboration.
‘You mean she could move around?’
‘Yes. Never could tell where she’d turn up next.’ He spoke with pride, as though the subject of the conversation was his daughter or protege.
‘Just in this Cluster, or across worlds?’
‘Anywhere! Anywhere at all.’
So, Orlind - or the Library that had once been in Orlind - wasn’t confined to any world at all. It had come here, or been guided here, and once broken it had never been able to leave.
‘Why did she come here, Galywis?’
‘Oh, there was such a great deal to be done! So many possibilities, we had to have a Library here. And of course, we brought the best.’
‘Oh? Why did you need the best?’
Galywis began tapping his toes against the tree trunk, as if in time to a tune only he could hear. ‘Populating an empty world is never easy, as you must know. She had everything we needed.’
Eva stared, thunderstruck. ‘You... what did you say? This world was empty when you arrived?’
He fluttered a hand in a prevaricating gesture. ‘Oh, some low-level denizens here, that kind of thing. Nothing approaching sentient. What a waste that was, with such beautiful energies! Nothing quite like it anywhere else.’ He tilted back his head to beam at her. ‘It was my idea, you know.’
‘So... uh, tell us about your project, Galywis,’ Eva prompted. ‘Did you bring some other creatures here?’
He seemed horrified by this idea. ‘No, no! Stupid! Transplants never take, you should know that, Lokant Eva! Construction had to be the thing! Never easy, though, building sentients. We went through some failures.’ His satisfaction vanished and a frown clouded his brow. ‘There were disagreements, of course. Was Maeval who wrought the first success, damn him. Damned unimaginative too.’
Which one was Maeval? Limbane or Krays? ‘What did Maeval build?’
Galywis pointed a finger at Tren, who took an alarmed step backward.
‘I don’t understand...’ began Eva, but then she stopped, electrified. ‘You mean... humans?’
‘Don’t know why he bothered,’ Galywis said in irritation. ‘Nothing new there! Built them on the same old pattern, and such plain beasts! Should’ve made better use of the unique energies around here, but no! He had to have his damned engineers.’
Eva blinked. ‘So humans were... were built here, to be engineers?’
‘Right! Sharp in the brain area, I’ll say that much for them. Handy with the fingers too.’
Thinking back, she remembered Limbane had always spoken of Krays as predominantly interested in engineering. If she had to guess, she would bet that Maeval was Krays.
In which case...
‘What about the draykoni, Galywis? Did Erritas build those?’
‘Wrong!’ he cackled. He jumped up without warning, tumbled forward again in a roll and landed flat-out on the floor between a startled Llandry and Pensould. ‘Want to guess who made those marvellous creatures? Guess!’
His self-satisfied grin rather ruined the suspense. ‘You did,’ Eva tried.
‘My beauties,’ he crooned. ‘There was perfection! There was imagination, vision! Our greatest achievement.’
Eva suppressed a sigh. She’d yet to meet a Lokant with any notion of modesty. ‘Why were they so special?’
‘Besides beauty, grace, searing intelligence, strength, nobility?’ He directed a dazzling smile at Llandry, who returned only a white-faced stare.
‘Yes, besides those things,’ Eva said dryly.
Galywis’s mood turned thoughtful. ‘I could’ve gone Maeval’s way, and built them in the Labs. Didn’t do that. Not good enough, see? Not for a genius. I bound part of the old girl to your glorious world, merged them up nicely. Once those delicious amaskan energies were flowing well, off we went! The first draykoni were steeped in that stuff. Up to the eyeballs. It changed their brains. Definitely the most interesting thing I’ve done.’ He folded his arms behind his head, quite comfortable.
Eva raised an eyebrow. If Galywis was to be believed, all of this went a long way towards explaining the differences between humans and draykoni. The latter were so sensitive to the three worlds, especially the Off-Worlds; they were truly merged with the energies that Galywis called “amaskan” and Eterna spoke of as “amasku”. Yet humans only possessed a shadow of that ability, if they had draykon blood somewhere in their family tree. It wasn’t inherent in them in the same way.
Galywis’s story also explained why the Lokant language was so similar to her own. The languages of the Seven must have evolved from the Lokants’ own tongue. Some of those languages had developed along similar lines; others varied a lot more.
But what of these amaskan energies? What did it mean to say that Galywis had “bound” part of his Library to their Cluster, via this strange force? And how did any of this explain why Krays was so urgently interested in Orlind?
‘Another question, Galywis,’ she began.
‘Full of questions, you,’ he grouched. ‘I’m getting tired.’
‘Sorry. Just a couple more.’
He sighed. ‘Fine.’
‘What did you mean when you called your Library the centre?’
‘It was the first. All the rest came later. Lesser ones. After all,’ he said, beaming, ‘you can’t have all those Librarian
s just wandering off, can you? Building Libraries anywhere you please and doing who-knows-what. We needed a centre. Keep them all in line.’
Eva knew from long experience that people resented anything that “kept them in line” - and coveted that power for themselves. She was going to ask for an elaboration, but Galywis waved a hand.
‘I know, I know. You want more. All the Libraries were connected to the old girl, right? No way out of that.’
‘Unless you destroyed the old girl,’ Tren said. ‘Right?’
‘Or controlled it!’ added Eva. ‘Mastery of this Library must’ve meant mastery over them all.’
‘That was me,’ Galywis confided, smiling. ‘I was the Master.’
‘I’m sure you were marvellous at it,’ Eva smiled.
‘Marvellous,’ he sighed with infinite satisfaction. ‘Yes.’
‘So did Krays and Limbane want to destroy the Library or rule it?’ she mused, thinking out loud.
‘Either way, I wonder how it ended up like this,’ Tren said, gesturing at the glass walls of the temporary greenhouse.
Galywis’s face darkened. ‘If they were going to have a war over it they should’ve kept it among themselves!’ he bellowed in a sudden rage. ‘No use dragging the whole world into it!’
Llandry, silent up until now, let out a sudden gasp. ‘I think I know,’ she said. ‘It was the draykoni, wasn’t it? They got pulled in on one side or the other, and... well, when they were attacking Waeverleyne they started manipulating the... the amasku? Trying to use Glinnery itself to destroy us. What if there were numerous drayks on both sides, all doing the same thing? Imagine the chaos!’
‘Such a mess,’ Galywis agreed. ‘I did what I could to hold onto my Library but it was me against a war. How much could I do?’
Eva shivered, picturing that conflict. It wasn’t hard to imagine that Orlind had been a larger, populous realm at one time, housing the emerging human and draykoni races together, until the Lokant civil war had spilled over. How little now remained! A tiny island and a crippled, diminished Master Library...
‘Galywis,’ she said suddenly. ‘Do you think the old girl could ever be restored?’
‘Nope,’ he said with finality. ‘Too far gone. Amasku’s out of control, can’t be fixed now.’
‘Are you sure?’
He eyed her. ‘Why? You planning to try?’
‘I think that Krays Maeval is planning to try. That’s why he wants those energy collectors; the plan is to drain out most of the violently unstable amasku until it’s back to manageable levels. Then he’d need access to draykon talents to bring it under his control, to get into the Library and wrest it back into shape. Supposing that can even be done. But he’s tried allying himself with drayks before and it seems it didn’t work out well. How much better if he can do it himself?’
‘But why wouldn’t he just build another drayk-style race?’ Ori asked.
Galywis gave a shout of laughter. ‘Just build another one! Can’t be done, young man. That was the greatest undertaking of our history, and we needed the Library and the binding to make it work. Besides, Maeval could never have done it. Hasn’t got the wit.’ He sniffed.
‘Okay,’ Ori said, ‘so he has to work with what’s already here. I wonder whether the goal is to take back that mastery over all the Lokant Libraries, or whether it’s about regaining Orlind so he can attempt another project like the draykoni?’
‘Probably the former,’ Eva guessed. ‘He built hundreds of constructs, many of them war machines of one sort or another. He didn’t build them for the Waeverleyne war - he started building much earlier than that. Why would he need them? Because he was planning a war against the rest of his kind.’
‘Maeval’s ambitious,’ sneered Galywis. ‘He tried several times to take mastery from me.’
That didn’t surprise Eva at all. ‘And Erritas?’
‘Him too.’
That surprised her, just a little. But not much.
‘I wonder what Limbane’s up to,’ she mused. ‘I’d wager that he knows Krays is making a bid for Orlind, but perhaps he doesn’t know how. Does he mean to stop him, I wonder, or to let him do the hard work then wrest the mastery from him afterwards?’
‘The latter sounds very Limbane,’ Tren ventured.
‘Doesn’t it though. That explains the trick with the book in his reading room. He probably fed him something that will “help” Krays, and therefore Limbane too, by extension.’
Tren sneered. ‘I think Galywis is right; building purely biological creatures is not Krays’s strong point. All his constructs are at least partly mechanical. The best he’s managed is to build some bio features in.’
‘And who knows who he’s got helping him?’ Eva added.
‘I foresee a problem,’ Pensould said. ‘I cannot see how it is to be possible to “drain away” the amasku. My understanding of machinery is minimal, so supposing we accept that it can be done... where is it to go?’
Five people stared at him in incomprehension.
‘It certainly cannot be destroyed,’ he continued. ‘I do not personally imagine it can be contained either. So it must be redirected. Where to?’
‘Somewhere else within our Cluster,’ Eva realised with a sinking feeling. ‘The return of the draykoni caused some similar chaos, am I right?’
‘The effect is similar,’ Pensould agreed, ‘though in this place it is much exaggerated. That is why there are no beasts here. They cannot bear it; it drives them mad. They have all long since fled or died.’
Eva shivered. ‘So if this corrupted amasku were to spread into the rest of our Cluster?’
‘The impact would be severe,’ Pensould said.
‘Why hasn’t it already, though?’ Tren asked. ‘Orlind’s still connected to the other six realms, even if there’s a sea in the way.
Llandry spoke up. ‘We didn’t start to feel those effects until we were almost at the island. It’s centred around this area and here it stays. Perhaps it doesn’t “spread”, precisely, on its own.’
Eva looked at Galywis.
He grinned. ‘Clever, clever Maeval, to build such clever machines! Sadly for him, he is not the first. Shame...’ He began whistling a simple tune, keeping time with his feet.
‘You’ve got devices around the island,’ Eva guessed. ‘Buried I suppose, so they aren’t affected by the Changes. They direct the amasku around in circles?’
‘Mmhm,’ Galywis nodded.
‘Is that why you’re still here?’
‘Somebody’s got to keep an eye on the old girl.’
Eva gazed at his lined face sadly. How many centuries had he been here, tucked inside the Library’s stuttering time-altering field, guarding “the old girl” and what was left of Orlind?
‘Right,’ she said crisply, ejecting these thoughts. ‘We probably haven’t much time before Krays is ready to make his attempt. There must be a way for us to stop all this.’
Tren nodded his head at Llandry, Pensould and Ori. ‘Drayk powers seem central to all of this. Luckily we have a few with us.’
Eva nodded. ‘And you and I aren’t helpless either. If we keep together, we can all work on the amasku. If we’re lucky, he won’t expect any such interference. They’ve all gone to great lengths to keep Orlind a secret.’
She would have said more, but a shudder ran through the Library, almost knocking her off her feet. Llan, Pense and Ori all cried out as if in pain.
‘Too late,’ said Pensould through gritted teeth. ‘It’s starting.’
Chapter Thirty One
Ever since Llandry had arrived in Orlind, the thrumming energies of the place had kept a perpetual buzzing sense of explosive energy running through her. It was not unlike the heightened alertness and heart-pounding dread she suffered in one of her fits of anxiety; her body was unable to cope with the interference and it did not react well. Throughout Eva’s conversation with Galywis, she had been obliged to keep part of her mind on the struggle to stay calm and in contr
ol of her breathing and her trembling limbs.
Then a jolt had shot through the floor, a powerful burst of energy that sent her rocking back on her feet, almost tumbling to the ground. Her heart had jumped in tandem and now pounded harder than ever. She couldn’t breathe and was rapidly growing dizzy.
Pensould’s hands steadied her as she swayed. He whispered a few words of comfort, which helped, although she could sense that neither he nor Ori were in any better state. Tren and Eva’s confidence in them was gratifying but also alarming. How could they prevail in any confrontation when the very measures Krays took to subdue Orlind had such a powerfully negative impact on the three of them as well?
But they would have to manage, for she doubted not that Krays’s arrival was the reason for the additional disturbance. A second jolt shook the building again, harder this time, and she had to cling to Pensould to remain upright.
For some minutes a palpable sense of panic reigned in the corrupted Library. They weren’t ready, weren’t prepared; they’d only just arrived at some degree of understanding about Krays’s motives and had only the vaguest idea how to combat his methods. Further, the extent of the possible consequences appalled and frightened her.
She looked across to where Eva was helping a recumbent Tren to his feet. ‘Eva, do you have a plan?’
‘Stick together, for a start,’ she said, looking around for Ori. ‘Galywis, if you can keep him from finding your energy devices that would be a big help.’
Galywis had hitherto been more frightened than any of them as his beloved “old girl” shook around him, but at Eva’s words he snapped back to alertness. ‘I’ll do that!’ he cried as the greenhouse dissolved. The Library rushed through three Changes in as many seconds, flashing from a laboratory to a reading room to a kitchen back to a greenhouse with disorienting speed. By the time the Library settled again, Galywis had disappeared.
‘Time for an experiment,’ Eva said, lunging across the shivering floor to grab Llandry’s hand. ‘If contact with draykon bone is enough to amplify my draykon side, I should get the same effect if I keep in contact with one of you.’ Llandry blinked as a statue of Eva appeared a few feet away, made from solid gold and wearing an ironic expression. ‘Theory confirmed,’ Eva said, and the statue went away again.
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