Lord of the Libraries

by Mel Odom

  “It was,” the Grandmagister said in his weak voice, “beautiful. You should see it.”

  “Juhg tells me that I can if I come to the Library.”

  “Of course.”

  “Now, if you’ll drink this we’ll see how you feel.”

  Juhg held the Grandmagister as Ashkar poured the contents of the potion down his throat. Weakly, the Grandmagister lay back on Juhg and breathed deeply and evenly for a moment. Juhg thought he saw a faint shimmer around the Grandmagister’s body. The potion didn’t heal the Grandmagister’s wounds, only time and rest would do that, but it would give him strength. The potion helped when necessary, but it had drawbacks to its use.

  “We’ll get you out of here,” Juhg said.

  “Do you have the pieces of The Book of Time?”

  “Yes. They were where you said they would be in your journal.”

  Looking up, his eyes already more alert and filled with less pain, the Grandmagister touched Juhg’s wounded face. “Someone has hurt you. I am so sorry, Juhg, for having to send you after those things.”

  Tears ran down Juhg’s face. “We’ve both been hurt, Grandmagister. We will get better. Just wait and see. We will get better.” He fumbled the leather pouch from around his neck as the Grandmagister sat up.

  Cobner and the rest of the warriors held the dungeon, waiting to see what the Grandmagister wanted to do.

  Pouring the pieces of The Book of Time into his palm, Juhg showed them to the Grandmagister.

  “Well, I have to say it doesn’t look like what I had figured. I had envisioned something with more—more—”

  “Pages?” Juhg supplied.

  “Frankly, yes. Though I know I should realize by now that not all books are made of paper. Still, they are more comforting and handy when they come in that fashion.” The Grandmagister tried to pick one of the pieces up between his forefinger and thumb. His fingers slid through the green gemstone. “And that’s certainly surprising.”

  “I know,” Juhg said.

  “They look like they go together,” the Grandmagister mused. “Have you tried putting them together?”

  “Yes,” Juhg answered. He folded the pieces in both his hands, trying combinations. “They’re slotted, and it looks like they should slide together, but—”

  One of the blue gemstones slid into a green gemstone and locked into place.

  “That’s never happened before,” Juhg said.

  “How long have they been glowing like that?”

  “Since we climbed to the top of the mountain.”

  “Then proximity to the fourth section does have an effect on them.” The Grandmagister frowned. “Which could well mean that Aldhran Khempus knows the other three pieces are here. Give me your hand.”

  Standing quickly, Juhg helped his mentor to his feet. The Grandmagister looked at Ashkar. “I do feel much better. Thank you.”

  “Of course, Grandmagister,” Ashkar replied respectfully.

  The Grandmagister looked at the elven warder. “Well, that’s something new, too.”

  “What?” Ashkar asked.

  “Respect. That’s not something I’ve seen a lot of.”

  “But you’re the Grandmagister,” Ashkar replied. “You have read the books and histories of many people. How can anyone not respect everything you’ve done?”

  “Believe me,” the Grandmagister assured him, “it’s far easier than you think.” He turned his attention back to the gemstones. “Let’s have another look at these.”

  Together, solving another puzzle together, Juhg and the Grandmagister put The Book of Time together. Juhg was surprised at how easily everything seemed to fit when he had spent frustrated days with them.

  “It’s a tesseract,” the Grandmagister announced when all the pieces were formed.

  Amazed, Juhg looked at the device. All the pieces were hinged together and could be swung open for viewing. He’d learned about tesseracts in books on geometry written by dwarves, who had the best heads for imagining spatial alignments. When the tesseract was fully opened, it could lay flat, then closed and opened again another way.

  “A four-dimensional equivalent of a cube,” the Grandmagister said. “I suppose it was selected because the fourth dimension, after height, length, and width is—”

  “Time,” Juhg whispered, making the connection as well. “But where does the four gemstone go? The one that Aldhran Khempus has?”

  “I’ll show you. Fold the tesseract back into a cube.”

  Juhg did.

  “Now, what do you see in the center of the cube?”

  “An empty cube space.”

  “That is exactly the same size as the gemstone Aldhran Khempus taunted me with when he brought me here.”

  “He showed it to you?”

  The Grandmagister nodded. “Of course. He’s a big gloater, Aldhran Khempus is.”

  “Then the fourth section of The Book of Time goes in there.”

  Nodding, the Grandmagister said, “One would have to think so.”

  Juhg turned the cube, feeling the power pulsing through the thing now. Lights gleamed along the cube’s surfaces. As he studied them, he realized that the light wasn’t a reflection of the lanterns the warriors carried or the pitchblende torches on the walls.

  “Do you know how this works?” Juhg asked.

  “Not exactly. The book I read wasn’t a manual on The Book of Time. More a general history.”

  “Oh,” Juhg said.

  The Grandmagister clapped him on the shoulder. “Nothing to worry about. We’ll figure it out.”

  Nothing to worry about? Juhg wanted to scream. We’ll figure it out?

  “There’s really nothing else we can do,” the Grandmagister went on as if sensing Juhg’s reservations. “This thing was let loose in the world and Lord Kharrion has already used it, managing to destroy four cities and thousands of lives. It has got to be stopped.” He looked around. “Where’s Craugh? Didn’t he come with you? He usually has an opinion on these things.”

  “Grandmagister,” Juhg said, not wanting to deliver the bad news. “There is something—”

  “Beg your pardon, Wick,” Cobner interrupted, “but maybe I need to remind you that we happen to be in a somewhat delicate situation at the moment. This is Aldhran Khempus’s keep right now, and he’s apt to be purely vexed when he figures out we’ve come and freed you.”

  “You’re right, Cobner.” Stronger and obviously feeling less pain, the Grandmagister said, “And he’s going to be even more vexed when we take the last piece of The Book of Time from beneath his nose.”

  Cobner didn’t appear pleased. He looked the way that Juhg felt.

  “Mayhap that isn’t such a good idea,” the dwarven warrior said.

  “Cobner,” the Grandmagister said, walking over to the dwarf and looking up at him, “if this were not necessary, I wouldn’t ask you. Aldhran Khempus has learned how to tap into the power of the red gemstone Lord Kharrion gave to the goblinkin all those years ago. That stone represents the vagaries of Time, the whims that seem to come out of nowhere and topple empires and make heroes of the village idiot. The humans had the power to see into the present, the dwarves the power to see into the past, and the elves the power to see into the future. But those powers pale beside what can be unleashed from that final piece of The Book of Time.”

  Looking at the other warriors, Cobner asked the question without saying a word. The assent was mutual.

  “All right then, Wick,” Cobner said with a crooked grin. “I never figured on living forever, and dying in bed doesn’t appeal to me.” He took up his battle-axe. “Lead on. I’ll follow you wherever you go.”

  “It’s not far,” the Grandmagister said, and took off toward the door.

  Cobner ran at the Grandmagister’s side, like they had done for years.

  And, like he had done for years no matter what they’d been up against, Juhg ran after him. Raisho trotted beside him. Running through the keep wasn’t a happy thought, but if
the attack had gone according to plan, the warriors massed in the forest would have attacked by now.

  At least Aldhran Khempus’s attention, and his goblinkin forces, would be divided.

  22

  Deadtime

  Outside the dungeon proper, the Grandmagister trotted up long curving stairs toward the door at the top. Only two pitchblende torches lit the way, so the group moved through patches of lights, leaving darkness at their heels just before their vision failed them.

  Juhg couldn’t believe how fast the Grandmagister was moving. For himself, Juhg rediscovered all the aches and pains he’d collected since One-Eyed Peggie had dropped Craugh and him off at Imarish. Thinking of Craugh brought the newest pain thundering into his mind and struck him through the heart. He could only imagine how the Grandmagister would feel when he found out the friend he’d shared untold adventures and all those long years with was no more.

  Pushing the thoughts from his mind, Juhg concentrated on surviving the coming engagement. Bearding Aldhran Khempus in his lair was daring. The man had nearly conquered Greydawn Moors with his surprise attack, and he had certainly crippled the navy and destroyed much of the town.

  The Grandmagister paused at the door at the top of the stairs, allowed the warriors who followed him to catch their breath, and listened.

  Beyond the door, Juhg could hear the squalls of goblinkin. Evidently the assault on the front gate had started—and had caught the goblinkin by surprise.

  At a nod from Cobner, the Grandmagister shoved wide the door and stepped out into a large room. Armor and swords filled shelves and stands, testifying to the nature of the room. At least ten goblinkin were in the room trying to grab weapons and armor. They went down like wheat before a thresher as Cobner led the attack with a dwarven war cry.

  Juhg walked through the spilled blood and over the dead goblinkin that the warriors left behind them. The stark violence was not new to him, but it was jarring. He steeled himself to it, knowing it was only the first to come.

  The Grandmagister continued to lead the way, turning outside the armory to the right and heading for wide stone stairs that led to the great room on the floor below. Evidently the front half of the keep was built lower on the western side of the mountains.

  Without warning, the multicolored cube in Juhg’s hands yanked violently. He held on to it, not believing when he was yanked from his feet over the stairway railing. He landed hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs and was hauled across the stone floor by an invisible force toward the wide doorway behind the curving staircase that the Grandmagister and the warriors followed.

  “Juhg!” Raisho yelled, vaulting over the railing after him.

  Spinning and kicking on the stone floor, feeling that his arms would surely be yanked from their sockets, Juhg clung fiercely to The Book of Time. He called out for the Grandmagister, but he feared his voice was lost in the sudden squawking of the goblinkin warriors that stepped through the doorway ahead of him.

  Too late, Juhg saw that dozens of goblinkin stepped out of hiding places around the great room. Then he saw Aldhran Khempus standing at the center of the doorway, one hand raised imperiously as he called The Book of Time to him through the power of the square-cut red gemstone that floated in the palm of his hand. Maybe he couldn’t physically touch the gemstone, but his magic evidently held sway over it.

  It was a trap! Juhg realized then. Somehow Aldhran Khempus had known they were coming. Perhaps one of the man’s goblinkin spies had gotten through the elves and the dwarves after all.

  Juhg came to a halt in front of the man, straining to hold The Book of Time from leaping out of his hands to Aldhran Khempus.

  The man stood straight and terrible, dark with fury in his wrath and confidence. Lean and in his middle years, cruelly handsome, he wore short-cropped brown hair that matched his chin beard and mustache. He dressed in a mail shirt with long waist.

  He grinned down at Juhg and said, “Hello, witling.” Then he glanced up at the Grandmagister leading the warriors down the staircase. “And hello to you, Grandmagister Lamplighter. Do you see how this has worked out? I have The Book of Time after all, and you have lost your good friend, Craugh.”

  The warriors kept coming, following Raisho as the young sailor rushed toward Juhg.

  Moving his other hand, Aldhran freed his gleaming sword in a canny move and put the blade to Juhg’s neck. “Hold them back, Lamplighter, or I swear by every darkly evil thing that I will kill your apprentice and feed him to the goblinkin.”

  The Grandmagister held up his arms, stopping the tide of warriors. The elves, dwarves, and humans circled, eyeing the overwhelming odds with angry pride. Even Raisho obeyed the Grandmagister’s authority.

  Everything in the room balanced on a single heartbeat, Juhg realized, and that heartbeat was his.

  “What do you want, Aldhran Khempus?” the Grandmagister demanded.

  “Nothing.” Aldhran lifted the red gemstone Lord Kharrion had given the goblinkin with his power. “I have what you caused to be brought to me. You thought by letting your apprentice escape that night in the ship that you would buy yourself time, sell your pain and maybe your life to keep me from getting The Book of Time. Instead, your lackey has delivered it to me.” He paused. “As I had planned after he escaped that night.”

  The Grandmagister said, “You can’t have that book.”

  “I already have it. And I wouldn’t have for a lot more years if you hadn’t found Vios Thrault’s hidden sanctum in that cemetery in Hanged Elf’s Point all those years ago. Only he had known what Lord Kharrion had done with the pieces of The Book of Time. Thrault had it in mind to go after the book himself, but he lacked the nerve both to do the deed and to share his information with anyone else.”

  “I can see how trusting you might promote grave doubt,” the Grandmagister said.

  Aldhran seemed to take no offense and laughed uproariously. “Then you and I shall not enter into a bargain of trust, Grandmagister. You had my best offer years ago when I asked you to tell me where The Book of Time was.”

  “I didn’t know then,” the Grandmagister said. “Only your constant questions led me to believe the answer was somewhere within the Library. That was how I found Vios Thrault’s old journal, which I hadn’t been able to decipher. And why I spent so much time on it.”

  “You did well. I give you my compliments. But now I choose to reap my reward.” Aldhran looked down at Juhg. “Now, dweller, open The Book of Time that I may complete it.”

  “No,” Juhg said fiercely. “I will not.”

  “You will.” Aldhran gestured and Juhg felt his will begin to evaporate like sand castles before an incoming tide.

  Juhg watched in horror as his hands moved and laid open the gleaming tesseract that was The Book of Time. The bright lights danced even more quickly inside the gemstones, becoming a whirling concoction of colors.

  Aldhran gestured again and the square-cut crimson gemstone floated toward the cavity inside the tesseract that had been designed for it. Sparks flew as the final piece neared the opening.

  A familiar voice floated into Juhg’s head. It is time, Librarian Juhg. Now our goals can meet.

  Recognizing the voice of the mantis, Juhg was confused.

  Let me through. I can handle him. This is what I was made for, what I waited all these years for.

  Trusting the voice, Juhg relaxed and The Book of Time clicked shut on the final gemstone and became complete. The cube flashed, but Juhg continued to hold on to it, reluctant to let Aldhran have it.

  In the next moment, a beam of light opened a hole in the empty space between the goblinkin and the warriors who stood with the Grandmagister. The mantis stood on the other side of the opening, on the mountain trail where Juhg had first seen it.

  Aldhran didn’t seem surprised to see the creature.

  Too late, the suspicion that had scratched at Juhg’s mind blossomed into realization. He’d been tricked. The mantis hadn’t lived in the In-Betweennes
s all its life. Little things it had said, the way it had become casual with conversation and made references to time. More important than that, the mantis had insisted on cracking jokes and making sharp rejoinders, all of which depended solely on a sense of timing.

  Remembering Tuhl’s story in the sandy graveyard that was all that remained of Sweetdew in the Oasis of Bleached Bones, Juhg wasn’t surprised at all when Aldhran Khempus said, “Hello, brother. It has been a long time since I have seen you.”

  “Truly a long time,” the mantis agreed. As it stepped forward, the top half of the thing started changing, becoming the twin of Aldhran Khempus.

  They are the two brothers Tuhl spoke of, Juhg realized. Knowing that two of them in the same world would be far more than the world could bear, Juhg spun to avoid Aldhran Khempus’s sword and kicked the man in the shins. When the man’s concentration lapsed, so did the spell that controlled The Book of Time.

  Freed from the paralysis that gripped him, Juhg got his feet under him and ran, digging at the multicolored cube as Aldhran yelled for the goblinkin to seize him. He worked at the pieces of The Book of Time, willing the gemstones to come apart so that he could free the red one at the heart of the cube.

  A goblinkin threw a spear at him and Juhg leaped to avoid the missile. Still, the heavy wooden haft tangled in his legs and tripped him as he came down. Even then, though, his hands managed to separate The Book of Time. As he hit the floor, he struck out at the red gemstone in the center. When the gemstone dislodged, the beam from the cube ended.

  Rolling over, sprawling across the stone floor of the great room and trying to recapture the tumbling red gemstone with one hand and hold on to The Book of Time with the other, Juhg saw the opening to the In-Betweenness wink out of existence with half of Aldhran Khempus’s brother inside the great room and the other half still in the other place.

  Sliced in two—and several other pieces, as was the case because he hadn’t stepped evenly through the gateway——the twin fell to the floor in bloody ruin. His head bounced against the stone floor, eyes wide and staring in shocked disbelief.