by Kay L. Ling
“Makes sense,” Jules said, keeping his voice down. “Can you straighten it out?”
Darting another look toward his office, Elias whispered, “I believe so. I know which gems and commands S used in the original spell, and I have those gems at my cave.”
“That’s great,” Lana said softly, “but why are we whispering?”
Elias gave them a strange smile. “The spell book has been a great help, but as you noticed, changing the gems caused side effects.”
“Other than making it nicer?”
Elias motioned for them to follow. “Be quiet, and I think you’ll see what I mean.”
They crept toward his office, stopping a few yards from the door.
“Nothing but trouble will come from helping him,” said a familiar surly voice.
A higher voice replied, “Nonsense. Why must you always be so negative? If it continues to rain, we will be covered in mold. Is that what you want?”
“Certainly not. We are a rare and valuable book.”
“Well then, we must cooperate. Elias is not a bad fellow. He did as we asked and returned us to Shadowglade.”
“Yes, and stuffed us into a chair.”
“Due to your constant complaining.”
Elias mouthed, “See what I mean?”
They retreated up the passageway and Lana whispered, “What now? Do we dare go in? We brought you breakfast, and a server is coming with coffee.”
“The coffee already arrived. Yes, let’s go in now. I just wanted you to hear the book when it didn’t know we were around.”
When they reached the door, the book was still carrying on a conversation with itself. It fell silent as soon as they walked in.
Elias pretended they hadn’t heard a thing. He gestured at the coffee pot and two empty mugs. “There’s plenty left. Help yourselves.”
Lana looked longingly at the spell book while she drank her coffee. She wanted to question it, but the book had just helped Elias solve the rainfall crisis, and that seemed to have brought on its schizophrenia. Better not press her luck. She’d settle for reading it. “Can I take a look at the book?” she asked.
Elias nodded, pushed the book across the desk, and returned to his breakfast.
Flipping through the pages, she bypassed the spells and looked for maps and drawings. Jules looked on with her. She paused when she came to a familiar page. “Here’s the map we saw at Strathweed.”
Elias sat forward in his chair. “Do the place names appear now?”
“Yes. I’ll read some.” She swept back her hair. “Tell me if any of these sound familiar. Shattered Rock, Green Pond, Darmant Town, Six Wells, Mirror Lake, Eliob Mountain, Bloody Knoll, Obek Town, Misty Hills, Twin Teeth, Narrow Pass, Traitor’s Ridge, Anen Town, Last Hope.”
Jules shook his head. “I haven’t heard of any of those places, have you, Elias? I’d certainly like to know the history behind some of the names, like Traitor’s Ridge.”
“And Bloody Knoll and Last Hope. Sounds ominous.”
“The only familiar name is Six Wells,” Elias said, dunking a piece of bread in his coffee. “As for Anen Town, it must have been named for Raenihel’s clan.”
“Traitor’s Ridge,” Lana said with a frown, finding that name especially disturbing, though she couldn’t say why.
“Such a spiteful name,” the book said, startling her, “but I suppose that is to be expected.”
“Do you know the story? Tell us about it,” she urged.
“Silence, fool!” snarled the deeper voice. “Where are your loyalties?”
“But I was only—”
“About to say things better left unsaid.”
“Surely after all this time it makes no—”
“Silence, I said!”
Unnerved and yet fascinated, Lana followed the argument. Which personality would win?
“Very well,” the higher voice said sullenly. “We will not speak of it.”
Lana sighed. Snarky Book had won. She picked up her coffee and took a sip.
“Shall I recite a poem, instead? I know several delightful ones!” Without waiting for an answer, the book said cheerily, “My favorite is on page 172: ‘Oh Gloom of Day upon Your Wings I Fly.’ Would you like to hear it?”
Elias choked on his egg.
“Perhaps another time,” Lana said, grinning.
Elias washed down his egg with coffee, and then pushed himself up from the chair. “I don’t think I told you, Lana. Tyla and her family agreed to move in. In fact, Tyla is already here. I promised to meet her in the library after breakfast.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “We can ask her about the towns on the map.”
“I’m glad she decided to come,” Lana said. “When you teach her to use cyanistone, can Jules and I try it too?”
“Certainly. The more translators we have, the sooner we’ll find important information.”
“Such as things better left unsaid,” Jules said softly.
Chapter 20
When they walked into the library, they found Tyla, looking rather intimidated, standing by one of the many tall bookshelves full of ancient books. A guard stood with her, an older fellow with a long gray beard and a few extra pounds around his middle.
“Good morning,” Elias said to Tyla. “All these books—it’s a bit overwhelming, isn’t it?”
Lana paused and let the men go on without her, distracted by the sight of S scuttling about in her cage, feelers waving furiously. It looked like S wasn’t very happy about Tyla coming to study her books. Well, that was just too bad. Lana went up to the cage and gave the beetle a spiteful grin. S’s compound eyes couldn’t distinguish Lana’s face, much less her expression, but it still felt good.
“Once you finish these, you can translate the ones in S’s suite,” Elias was saying when Lana joined the group. It was clear by his tone and the twinkle in his eyes he didn’t really expect Tyla to get through all these books, but Tyla looked worried.
“I should get back to work,” the guard said. “You’ll like it here once you get used to it.”
“I’m sure I will,” Tyla murmured, but her tone was less than convincing.
On his way out, the guard gave S a mocking bow. Lana smiled. How many similar insults went over the beetle’s head every day?
“It’s nice to see you again.”
Lana realized Tyla was talking to her, and reined in her wandering attention. “Thanks. I’m glad you decided to come. And don’t be intimidated by all these books. You may be the only live-in reader, but Jules and I will help whenever we can.”
Jules smiled. “We’ve never used a cyanistone either, so Lana and I will learn along with you.”
“But you’re experienced with gems, and I’m a novice. I may be a slow learner.”
Elias waved a dismissive hand. “You’ll be fine. From what I’ve seen, gnomes with gem powers are able to use them as soon as they’re activated. It’s different with humans. Our powers awaken slowly and strengthen over time.”
Yes, that was true, Lana thought. Someone less stubborn than herself would have given up. To be honest, she was a little jealous of the gnomes since their powers came as easily as flipping on a switch.
Jules said, “Shadow is more conducive to gem powers. I suppose that has something to do with it.”
“And their gems are more powerful than ours,” Lana added, realizing she sounded a bit defensive.
“You’ll all catch on quickly enough,” Elias promised. “By the way, Tyla, I’m sorry we kept you waiting. We’ve had an eventful day so far.”
“I haven’t been waiting long. Jesbon took me to the kitchen for rakka before he brought me here.”
“That was kind of him. Everything is on schedule for your family’s arrival. We cleaned and furnished your rooms. If everything meets with your approval, I’ll send for your family after lunch. I imagine their personal items will all fit on the cart, but if not, we’ll make a second trip.”
“We aren’t bringing much. Most everythin
g we need is here.”
“Would you like to see your suite now?”
Tyla nodded shyly.
“We’ll wait here,” Jules said. He glanced belatedly at Lana. “I shouldn’t speak for you. Maybe you’d like to go.”
“That’s all right. I was hoping to visit with S. We haven’t had time to chat lately.”
“By all means,” Elias said. “Take your time. I’ll give Tyla the full tour of Shadowglade, including S’s personal library.”
As they walked out, Lana called after them, “If you’d like your furniture reupholstered, we have some spare pythanium skin.”
Elias looked over his shoulder and winked.
“That was cruel,” Jules said, grinning.
At first, the gnomes had harbored an irrational fear that even in beetle form S could avenge her pet pythanium’s death, but now jokes about the dead pythanium were commonplace.
“The breghlin hardly ever visit you, but now that Tyla’s here, you’ll have daily company,” Jules told the beetle as they approached the cage.
Too angry to form words, S circled, waving her feelers and making inarticulate noises.
“We’ll have Tyla spend some time in your private suite,” Lana said. “You kept your most valuable gems there; maybe you kept your most valuable books there, too.” That seemed to touch a nerve. S stopped circling and turned toward her tormentors, but she didn’t say anything.
Lana kept needling her. With luck, S might slip and tell them something important. “We’re looking for books on Shadow’s history, B.S—before Sheamathan. And maybe you have a few volumes about gnome gem powers.” S’s feelers suddenly stopped moving. “We’ve found nearly a hundred gnomes with gem powers, and there’s bound to be hundreds more.”
S’s legs trembled noticeably. If she was upset over this revelation, wait till she heard about the room with the gnome artifacts. Lana was tempted to tell her right now, but Elias liked to dole out information a little at a time, and Lana had other news to share today. “I was surprised to learn that in addition to spells, your spell book includes poetry. My favorite is, ‘Oh Gloom of Day Upon Your Wings I Fly.’”
S finally cracked. In a brittle voice she cried, “You cannot be reading my spell book! You cannot see the words!”
Lana leaned closer to the cage. “Then how would I know about the poems? Sorry, S, not only can we see the spells, the book helped us find the ones we need.”
“The book would never help you—not willingly. What have you done to it?”
“Poor S,” Lana said, ignoring the question. “Everything in Shadow is changing. It’s a whole new world and you’re not part of it. Someday, you’ll be no more than a legend. Gnomes will tell their youngones, ‘Sheamathan was such an evil being that one day she turned into a giant beetle, and she lived the rest of her life in a cage.’”
“Detestable gnome lover!” S cried. “The gnomes will all be dead soon. My breghlin will destroy them.”
“You can’t be serious,” Jules said, laughing. “When your breghlin discover the gnomes have gem powers, they’ll run away screaming.”
“And they’re not your breghlin,” Lana said. “They’re doing fine without you.”
“Every year, on the anniversary of your defeat, we’ll hold a Beetle Festival so gnomes and breghlin can celebrate their freedom,” Jules said.
Lana looked at him in surprise. They’d never discussed an event to commemorate S’s defeat, but that was a great idea.
S crawled to the far side of her cage.
“I don’t think she wants to talk anymore.” Lana could only imagine what went on in S’s head all day; she certainly had plenty to think about now.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Jules suggested. “I promised you we’d have a talk today.”
“Where do you want to go?” We can’t walk on the grounds without getting drenched, and the terrace isn’t much better.”
“I’m not in the habit of having private conversations, so I’m not sure what to suggest,” Jules told her.
They left the library, still undecided where to go. Lana thought a minute. “I know a place. It’s dark and dusty, but no one will bother us there.”
“All right. Lead the way.”
They went down to the basement, and Lana led him through storerooms full of barrels, kegs, and crocks until they eventually came to the low-ceilinged room full of grain sacks where she had sat months ago with Raenihel, Greg, and Jordy. She put the lightgem on the floor.
“How did you find this place?” Jules sat down on a stack of grain sacks. “No one will find us here, but it’s not very romantic.”
She sat down beside him and he pulled her close.
“Greg and Jordy brought us here—me and Raenihel—the day I escaped from the dungeon. The boys told us their story—how they got here, and how S turned them into rats. We talked about your knife, and then I gave Raenihel the terrible news.”
“Terrible news?”
“That you were Sheamathan’s wolfhound. I’ll never forget the look on his face. I was almost as upset and confused as he was. I didn’t know what to think about you. Or whether I should trust you.”
He rubbed her arm affectionately. “I knew you’d help me once you knew my story. I’m less certain about you now. I mean, about you being involved with me.”
“I won’t deny it’s an odd relationship. You want to stay here and rebuild Shadow. It won’t be long until I own Grayson Jewelers, and giving up the store is not an option. So, where does that leave us? I don’t know. I feel drawn to you, but if there’s no chance of being together, it would be smarter to walk away now while it’s not too painful.”
“I wouldn’t say there’s no chance. It’s just that for now my place is here. In a year or two I may feel differently.” He looked her in the eye. “Our world has changed so much. I feel out of place. I’m afraid of embarrassing you. After hearing about Franklin’s problems, I don’t know how I’d support myself much less anyone else.”
“Assuming things got serious between us, I’d be running the store. Profitably, let’s hope. I’d be pulling my own weight.”
He didn’t answer, and she could sense he was fighting an internal battle.
“Times are different now. I know that. But I’d feel less of a man if you had to—if I had to depend on you. I suppose I’m a little sensitive about things like that.”
“Because of your upbringing?”
“No. It’s one of the subjects that I—well, one of those things you wanted to know about me.” He sighed, and she wondered if he planned to say more. “I was engaged to be married at twenty-two,” he went on hesitantly. “Sarah and I had been childhood sweethearts. Her family owned a very prosperous millinery shop, and since blacksmithing was a dying trade, her parents thought I should leave my father’s business and strike out on my own. Sarah agreed with them, and we had more than one argument on the subject. It was one of the few things we disagreed about.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Everything was fine, more or less, until Sarah’s cousin Edward came to town. Technically, he and Sarah weren’t blood relations; her widowed aunt had recently married a man with two boys—Edward and his much younger brother, Walter. I’m sure you can see where this story is going.”
Lana said softly, “Yes. You don’t have to tell me the rest if you’d rather not.”
“I don’t mind. It was a long time ago, even if it doesn’t feel that way,” he said with a trace of bitterness. “Edward had studied law and passed his bar exams. His father’s law office, an up-and-coming firm in Albany, had bright prospects. And the family’s connections insured that Sarah would move in a higher social circle than my country village. No doubt Sarah’s matchmaking family influenced her decision to break our engagement, but they’re not to blame for the cold, matter-of-fact way she told me. I realized then how much she’d resented the fact that I’d put my father’s wishes ahead of hers.”
Lana said, “She did you a favor by letting you go. If you di
sagreed on something as major as your occupation, you’d never have been happy together.”
“Maybe so, but it was still a crushing blow.”
“The family blacksmith business meant a lot to your father. I got that from your letters to Elias. It sounded like you were only staying to please him.”
“That’s about the size of it. You of all people understand how it feels to be part of a family business, but the difference is, you want to take over the business, and I didn’t. It’s a fine thing to carry on a family tradition. I would never dream of asking you to choose between me and the jewelry store.”
“I know you wouldn’t. You’re not that kind of person. If you don’t mind me asking, did you swear off women after Sarah, or did you find someone else?”
He gave a humorless laugh. “There weren’t many eligible women in our rural community. And I wouldn’t have been good company, anyway. Sarah and I had spent so long dreaming about our life together, I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. I threw myself into my work, got more involved with our church and the Odd Fellows Lodge, and pursued my gem studies.”
“And that’s when you met Elias?”
“Yes. It was wonderful to find someone else who knew gem lore. We didn’t spend a lot of time together, but our mutual studies and experiments took my mind off the drudgeries of life and helped fill the void.”
“I’m glad. Did your family meet Elias?”
“Yes, everyone in the area knew Elias. My father had been in the jewelry store many times and spoke well of him. My two younger sisters thought Elias was very worldly and sophisticated. My mother died when I was sixteen, but I’m sure she knew him, too.”
“I’m sorry about your mother. Your sisters must have inherited a lot of responsibilities. Did you like having sisters? Did you all get along?”
“Usually. I was a merciless tease at times, but that’s what brothers are for.”
“It must have been a horrible blow when you disappeared.”
“Yes. I still find it hard to think about that. In fact, if you don’t mind, let’s talk about you now. There’s so much I’d like to know. I grew up the oldest of three. What was it like being the youngest?”