Ao Shun opened his right hand, spreading his clawed fingers towards her. ‘Irene, servant of the Library. I bid you welcome to my kingdom.’
Thank god, I haven’t done anything too far wrong - yet. ‘Your majesty,’ she answered, her voice as firm as she could make it, ‘I am grateful for your kindness. I apologize that I have no suitable gift.’ She felt a stab of apprehension. After all, gifts were expected on State visits.
Ao Shun inclined his head. ‘I understand that you have come in haste, and I place concern for my nephew’s wellbeing above any number of gifts.’
Irene could take a hint to get to the point. ‘I have already told - ‘ What honorific should she use? Well, he was a king’s personal assistant. ‘ - Lord Tsuuran what I know. I may be entirely wrong, your majesty, and if so I apologize humbly. But I could not risk the possibility that the note was a fake, and that I was leaving Kai in danger.’
Ao Shun gestured for her to continue, and Irene quickly ran through the day’s events.
He nodded as she drew to a close. ‘I see. And your own connection with my nephew is a discreet one, perhaps?’
Irene blinked, and the floor seemed a wonderful thing to examine at this precise moment. Discussing her ‘relationship’ with Kai, with his terrifying and inhuman uncle, was going to be very difficult. But he’s surely not going to have me thrown out for debauching Kai - is he? Especially since I haven’t debauched him. I have gone to great effort not to debauch him. But her cheeks had flushed red, and she could guess how that would look. She had to say something. ‘We do share lodgings, your majesty, but, as you say, we are discreet.’
‘Mnh.’ The noise was non-committal. It wasn’t aggressive, though. Irene tentatively relaxed for a moment, and hoped she hadn’t committed herself to a lifelong relationship.
‘Might I ask the names and family lines of your parents?’ Ao Shun enquired.
‘My parents are both Librarians, your majesty,’ she answered. Ao Shun’s eyes abruptly slitted, and she felt something go cold in her stomach. Had she said the wrong thing? ‘My mother’s chosen name is Raziel, and my father is Liu Xiang.’ A mythical name for the Angel of Mysteries taken from one alternate, and a historical name from another alternate, chosen after the first cataloguer of Han China’s Imperial Library; Librarians couldn’t resist a meaningful pseudonym. ‘They have never told me what their names were before they joined the Library.’
‘You must forgive my surprise,’ Ao Shun said. It hadn’t looked like surprise so much as cold alertness, but Irene definitely preferred it to have been surprise. ‘I had not been aware that those sworn to the Library took partners and sired children. I had been told your devotion to your duty came above all other things.’
Irene could feel a blush crawling over her face again. ‘Your majesty, it’s because of them that I became a Librarian myself. I have always admired their work.’
Ao Shun nodded slowly. She still couldn’t read his expressions, and she wished that he was in fully human form like Kai. ‘In that case, you follow a proper course of action in continuing to serve your Library.’
She heard the door whisper open and close again behind her, and Ao Shun addressed Tsuuran. ‘You have the pictures, Li Ming?’
‘Yes,’ Tsuuran - or should that be Li Ming? - said. Irene turned slightly, enough to see him standing to one side. He was holding a thin tablet whose screen glowed faintly in the dark room.
‘Irene,’ Ao Shun said, addressing her once again. It seemed strange to hear her personal name from him. Perhaps it was because his voice reminded her of Kai, and that made her uncomfortable. ‘Two individuals have been seen observing my territory in this world. It would ease my mind if you could tell me that you had not seen them.’ There was something patronizing about his attitude now, even considering his regal aloofness. Does he really believe me that Kai is in danger? She felt a spike of impatience twinned with dread - Kai could be in so much danger right now, while she chatted with his family.
The tablet showed two separate photographs. On the right, a woman, standing. Her long dark hair was clipped back at the base of her neck, and fell over one shoulder in loose waves. She had a pleasant smile, with just the faintest touch of reserve in her eyes that made the smile look genuine rather than forced. A navy blazer was slung over one shoulder. Under it she wore a white sleeveless top and a pair of navy cropped trousers. The backdrop was the dock of an old port or fishing village. Thin white cotton gloves covered her hands, going up her arms to her elbows.
On the left she saw a man, seated, a cigar in one gloved hand. He sat at a table in a restaurant - and a very expensive restaurant, by the look of the decor. He was neatly bearded, with a moustache that framed his mouth. Iron-grey hair receded from his forehead in a widow’s peak, and well-defined eyebrows hooded his eyes. His clothing seemed as expensive as the setting: a business suit and silk tie.
Irene frowned. ‘I don’t recognize either of them,’ she said. ‘And I’m sure that I’d remember them, if I’d seen them. But the reports of Kai’s kidnapping mentioned a bearded man …’
‘Are you sure?’ Ao Shun asked, leaning forward. ‘They might have been disguised in some way.’
Irene shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, but they’re not familiar. But wait, please.’ She hesitated. ‘There was an attack on myself and Kai a couple of nights ago, a petty brawl when we were returning home, late.’ She paused, and Ao Shun nodded for her to continue. ‘They were just thugs, not a serious threat at all. They said that they had been hired by a woman in a local pub. At the time I thought there might have been someone watching from the roof above - but then I supposed it had merely been my imagination …’ She realized that she was in danger of babbling nervously, and shut her mouth.
Ao Shun gave the matter a few seconds of thoughtful consideration, then shook his head. ‘There is scarcely a link. But are you frequently subject to such attacks?’
Irene could feel the temperature in the room drop a couple of degrees. It wasn’t metaphorical. Ao Shun’s regard pressed against her, and she could almost feel a glowing sign above her head reading: LEADING MY NEPHEW ASTRAY. ‘Not without some good reason for them, your majesty.’
Ao Shun finally looked away from her. Irene could hear her own intake of breath, obtrusively loud in the silence of the room. ‘Very good,’ he said, though it wasn’t clear what he was commenting on. ‘You have raised points that I must investigate further.’ He leaned forward and slid open a drawer in his desk, removing a black silk pouch. With a tug to the cords at its neck, it came open, and a small sparkling disc on a bright chain fell into Ao Shun’s palm.
He stared at it. The tension in the room thickened further. From outside, a crawling mutter of thunder echoed dimly through the walls.
When Ao Shun raised his head again, his expression was clear. Anger. ‘When my nephew was committed into my care,’ he said, the thunder echoing in his voice now too, ‘this token was made with our mingled blood. By observing this token, I could be sure he was well and safe, wherever he might stray. But now you have given me reason to examine it, I find that he is beyond even my reach. This means he now inhabits a world so deep within the flow of chaos that I may not venture there myself. Such realms are poison to my kind. And, worse, appearing there would be considered an act of war by those who infest that part of reality - a curse upon their name! And even for my brother’s son, I cannot risk such a thing.’
Irene felt the blood drain from her cheeks. She’d imagined Kai being dragged off to some other world, but not deep into chaos. Even the Library monitored or blocked its links to such worlds. And if she didn’t know which world he was in, then she had no way to find him. ‘But your majesty, surely—’
Ao Shun rose to his feet. ‘This is not to be tolerated,’ he said. The pressure in the room was falling, as though they were miles beneath the sea. ‘This will not be tolerated.’
‘Your majesty.’ Irene forced herself to take a step forward, struggling against the weight on her sh
oulders and the buzzing in her ears. She felt light-headed, dizzy, uncertain, but knew she had to make her intentions clear. She went down on one knee. ‘I intend to find Kai and bring him back. This offence against him is an offence against me as well. I beg for your assistance. If there is any way in which you can help me, then I would be grateful.’
She remembered Coppelia’s warning: that Irene might become a sacrifice, in order to salvage the Library’s relationship with Kai’s kin, if they were blamed. But she also desperately wanted to save Kai.
Silence flooded the room. Irene forced herself to look up and meet Ao Shun’s eyes. And a thousand years of power and anger looked back at her.
‘Here.’ He walked towards her. She could see the item dangling from his hand now: it was a pendant of black jade on a silver chain as fine as thread. The decoration was a twisted intaglio carving of a dragon, done in the Chinese style and coiled around itself in multiple loops. The disc was only an inch or so across, but it had a presence all its own. ‘You may have contacts that I do not. I suggest that you use them. This token should help you to find my nephew, if you are both in the same world.’
He held the pendant before her. Guessing what he had in mind, Irene cupped her hands so that he could drop it into them. His skin did not touch hers, and the pendant fell into her hands, as cold as ice. ‘It may also be of some use to you as a sign of my favour, should there be need. But most of all, if you are in danger - or if my nephew is in danger - place a drop of your blood on this and cast it to the winds. Help will be sent.’
‘Thank you, your majesty,’ Irene said. She bowed her head again.
‘You have little time,’ Ao Shun said. He stepped back from her. ‘I can perceive he is weak and in distress. And know this, Irene.’ There was something uncomfortably specific in the way he said her name. ‘I acknowledge that any specific fault in guarding him may be shared between us. Myself, for not taking better care of him, and you, as his instructor. But should he perish, or worse, then the world where he was kidnapped will be a lesson for those who would challenge my kin. And my brothers and I will not delay in delivering that warning. Do you understand?’
There was thunder in his voice, and hurricanes, and tidal waves, and all the brutal fury of unleashed Nature. ‘Yes, your majesty,’ Irene murmured.
‘Then you may go.’ He seated himself on his throne again. ‘You may inform your superiors that we have no complaint about your behaviour. Pray give my compliments to those in authority above you.’
Irene rose to her feet and bowed again. ‘Thank you, your majesty. I am grateful for your concern in this matter. I will do my utmost.’ Urgency to get going buzzed in her, fighting the pressure of his authority.
The door whispered open and, as she walked towards it, the currents of the room pulled around her legs like water, dragging her out with them. It was easy just to follow them, to work on holding herself upright, to focus on putting one foot in front of another …
She stepped out into the light of the exterior office and the weight abruptly lifted from her shoulders, leaving her suddenly so light and unrestrained that she nearly stumbled. The ache of the brand across her shoulder-blades was gone too, though it had only seemed a minor irritation compared to the dragon king’s presence. And while great storm clouds were massing on the far side of the windows, darkening the room, there was still an entirely different quality of light here than in the depths of the throne room beyond. Irene had never been a great believer in the value of sunlight as a child (as in Put the book down and go out and play), but right now she thought her teachers had had a point.
Tsuuran - or should she think of him as Li Ming, if that was his real name? - closed the door behind her. ‘May I be of any assistance with your return travels?’ he asked politely.
It seemed pointless to try and hide her method of travel, and speed was vital. ‘I need access to a library,’ Irene said, trying to make it sound commonplace.
‘Of course,’ Li Ming said. ‘I am sure that his majesty would not want you to be troubled by any delay. Now, will any library do?’
‘As long as it is reasonably large,’ she said. ‘A few rooms of books at least, please.’ The pendant was still in her hand, and she placed it over her head as Li Ming murmured into a small telephone. The jade was cold against her skin and stayed cool, a reminder of its presence. She couldn’t sense anything from it, as Ao Shun clearly could. But perhaps if she was closer to Kai, or if she used the Language in some way, she could coax it into providing information.
Half a minute later, Li Ming was escorting her out to the lift. ‘A vehicle will be waiting for you downstairs,’ he explained, striding beside her. She had to walk fast to keep up. ‘It will take you to the Bibliotheque du Panier.’
‘Thank you,’ Irene said. She was running out of polite ways to express it. ‘I am very grateful.’
‘Think nothing of it,’ Li Ming interrupted. ‘It is the least we can do, under the circumstances. I can only apologize for the haste of my behaviour. Now, if you will forgive me …’
We both have work to do. The unspoken subtext was so clear that Irene let herself be hurried through polite goodbyes and shooed down and out. In a way, it was reassuring that Li Ming was clearly in such a hurry, assuming his pressing business was to do with Kai - or that he wanted Irene to be getting on with her rescue attempt. There was indeed a vehicle waiting, a luxurious chauffeured hover-car, which flicked her off to her destination in minutes, under a sky that was knotting itself into a full-blown thunderstorm.
When Irene reached the Bibliotheque, she created an unobserved passage back to the Library out of sheer instinct, far too busy visualizing threats to Kai to worry about being observed. That urgency stayed with her, even back in the Library. Past the endless bookcases, through the empty rooms, until she found a terminal. And then she had to summarize it all into a quick email for Coppelia, one that she knew might be cited later in evidence against her: The Librarian responsible for Kai’s security when he was kidnapped …
And what did she have to say? It’s worse than we thought. Kai’s deep in chaos and if it’s a world that would poison his uncle, then it may well kill him. He’s weak and in distress. Ao Shun may not hold this against the Library, but he will certainly hold it against me. And he’s even threatened to destroy Vale’s world. As an object lesson. But all she could do was report the facts.
The pendant was still cold against her flesh.
Irene waited for a reply, tapping her fingers against the wrought-iron table on which the computer sat. An impatient glance around the room confirmed that it was decorated in an outdoors-pastoral style - whitewashed bookcases, wrought-iron painted furniture, rough floorboards.
She didn’t bother to check what books were on the shelves.
With half her attention, she summoned up a map of the quickest route to the Traverse back to Vale’s world. Astonishingly, it wasn’t too far away. An hour’s walk. Perhaps half an hour, if she ran.
No answer from Coppelia.
The minutes were ticking by.
I know that you prefer to run to your superiors for orders, Vale’s voice echoed in the back of her mind from past arguments.
I needed to gather information and talk to Kai’s people, she told herself. It was the right thing to do. And Coppelia had endorsed it. However, going to hunt for Kai was a different thing entirely. Librarians-in-Residence were supposed to stay in the alternate world to which they’d been assigned. Running off on her own would be reckless, unwise, unprofessional. She might lose her position. She might lose more than just her position. New information could arrive at any minute and she wouldn’t be there to see it.
No answer on the screen. No further data about the Guantes. Nothing.
The thought came to her in a sudden moment of terrifying release. What could Coppelia tell her to do that she wasn’t going to do anyway? Coppelia knew that Irene would do her utmost to find and protect Kai.
And what if the orders weren’t to
find and protect Kai?
‘Well,’ Irene said out loud, standing up. She leaned down to turn off the computer. ‘In that case, I suppose … that I didn’t receive any orders. What a pity.’
The high heels were appropriate business wear. But it was easier to run in stockinged feet, carrying the shoes down shadowed corridor after shadowed book-lined corridor.
Nobody had crossed her path by the time she reached the Traverse. She readied herself, brushing her feet off and slipping her shoes back on, then steadied her handbag under one arm. For a moment she hesitated, as though Coppelia was going to step out of the shadows and offer assistance. But Irene was past needing that. She stepped back through the door and into her current home.
The room on the other side was full of large hairy men. They had guns. And they were pointing them at her.
CHAPTER NINE
Irene’s first impulse was to freeze. She didn’t have the reflexes for action-hero moves - at least, not without preparation. Also, dramatic action heroes were usually taller, fitter and more athletic than their adversaries. She, on the other hand, was five foot nine in her socks and not overly muscular - unlike her five well-built new adversaries.
Although they were all pointing guns at her, cluttering up the room and backing into display cases, they didn’t look as if they’d actually expected her to emerge from the cupboard. Maybe she could use that to her advantage.
One of the men snorted in surprise, choking off a laugh behind his hand. ‘So here she is, after all. No wonder someone had this bunny tucked away in his cupboard,’ he grunted. His gun wavered as he looked her up and down, taking in her anachronistic, inappropriate, short-skirted clothing. ‘Ain’t hard to guess what all them professors round here like keeping under their desks, innit?’
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