Azrael's Twins

by V. J. Mortimer

  ‘Wow!’ laughed Niamh, who looked very surprised at this revelation. ‘The most dangerous thing we’ve ever come across in a library was Mrs McGregor the librarian, back in Harbourside Village – our old home. If she caught you with food near a book or you returned a book late and she had to hunt you down and find you, she would give you an enormous tongue lashing. We used to think she was a witch as the way she could turn up when you least expected it was just not normal.’

  ‘Well Gilly can do that too, but as far as I know he’s a bit like me – he doesn’t use magic very much, or very well. I think that’s why he lets me hang around the library. He’s even shared some of the library’s secrets with me – the sort that normally only the Guild of Magical Librarians know.’

  ‘What sort of secrets?’ asked Grady – suddenly the library was sounding a lot more mysterious.

  ‘Oh, I’m not sure I could tell you that without Gilly’s say-so. Maybe if he likes you he can tell you himself. But I don’t think that’s very likely.’

  After a short while they found themselves in a broad corridor with enormous brass doors at the end of it. Despite the size of the doors they pushed open easily at a touch from Quinn. As they swung silently inward the room beyond was revealed as something very much less than the children had expected. It did not look that much bigger than the library they had in their own wing in the castle. The middle of the room was occupied by a large golden statue of a witch and a wizard poring over the contents of a huge book. There was a glow coming from the pages of the book and every now and then one of the golden metal pages would turn over, making a clinking noise as it dropped down onto the next page. As it did so the giant witch and wizard would change position as their eyes scanned the next page. There were several levels with walkways running around the outside of the room and stairwells running between levels. Each level appeared to have no more than several rows of books on them and the children watched as people moved in and out of these. At the far end of the room was another set of the big brass doors with two large statues either side with red glowing eyes.

  ‘It’s nowhere near as big as I thought it would be,’ said Niamh, unable to hide her disappointment. ‘I was expecting rows and rows of books stretching away forever.’

  Quinn gave a grin. ‘Well, let’s try going up a level or two and see what’s up on the first floor. Follow me.’

  Walking over to the nearest stairway Quinn started to climb up with Niamh not far behind. As they climbed, Niamh had the oddest feeling the ground below her was falling away much, much faster than it should have been and the roof with its domed ceiling seemed to be no closer. By the time they reached the first level Niamh could see it was still only another two floors up to the topmost gallery. Grady stood there scratching his head having also worked out they should have been much closer to the roof than they were.

  ‘Why don’t we try another gallery?’ smiled Quinn, turning his back on them and heading for the next stairway. Niamh and Grady gave each other a narrow-eyed curious look before following on. Climbing the next set of steps they both realised the ceiling seemed to be no closer and even though they were climbing the floor didn’t seem to be any further away.

  ‘How? That’s not possible!’ gasped Niamh as they reached the next level. The crystal dome was still two floors above them and the main floor was still one below, but she knew they had just climbed up two flights of stairs!

  ‘Good, isn’t it?’ said Quinn with a smile. ‘Not quite sure how it works but its old magic. Come see this too.’ Turning off to his left Quinn pointed down the gap between two of the rows on the gallery. ‘See that? Its only three rows to the back wall, right? Well follow me.’

  Quinn broke into a trot before sprinting headlong towards the end of the walkway between the tall shelves of books. But just when it seemed there would be a dreadful crash the wall seemed to telescope away from him and the children found themselves watching him rapidly recede into the distance. ‘Come on,’ yelled Quinn, waving and looking back at them.

  Niamh and Grady gave each other a stunned look before turning and racing after Quinn. As they ran they felt rather than saw the rows and rows of books slide past them. They caught Quinn in a moment and glanced back at where they had come from. They knew they had both run a long way but looking back there was still only one row of books behind them!

  ‘That is awesome!’ shouted Grady in an unnecessarily loud voice.

  ‘That is so weird,’ laughed Niamh. ‘No wonder you like this place,’ she said to Quinn. ‘You could easily get lost in here, couldn’t you?’

  ‘Oh no,’ said Quinn. ‘It’s just about impossible to get lost. No matter where you are you will never be more than three rows from the gallery and one floor from the ground. But I wouldn’t try to work out how it all happens. It’s a bit like the castle itself – somehow it knows what you need and will bring up all sorts of weird stuff that you hadn’t been looking for, but which turns out to be exactly what you’re after. Let’s go back down and I’ll introduce you to Gilly.’

  The children raced each other back down – Niamh and Grady marvelling at how the floor always seemed the same distance away no matter what floor they were on.

  ‘How many books are in the library?’ asked Niamh as they reached the bottom.

  ‘No one knows,’ replied Quinn. ‘There are wizards working here full time just trying to map the place. It keeps changing. One day they think they know where all the books are and how many floors they have and the next they find a completely new section of the library they never knew existed. Some wizards have gone mad in here trying to work it all out. Pretty cool though, isn’t it.’

  Niamh and Grady could only nod their heads in wonder as they followed Quinn towards the second set of brass doors. ‘But if you thought this part of the library was good, just wait till you see this,’ smiled Quinn.

  Walking up to the enormous statues with glowing eyes Niamh realised how perspective had played tricks on them. The figures were much bigger than she had realised. They appeared to be made of clay and were at least ten feet tall. They wore no clothes but were shaped to look very human with well-defined muscles over the perfectly proportioned arms and legs. To Niamh they looked like the Egyptian dog-headed guards she remembered from her studies – right down to the loin cloths which covered them from waist to just above the knee.

  As the children moved closer both the statues suddenly moved. They stepped from beside the doors to block the children’s path. ‘Don’t worry,’ said Quinn. ‘They are golems. They’ve been baked from clay but only do exactly what the spell implanted in them tells them to do. These two are here to check out everyone who wants to go into the restricted section.’

  ‘State your business,’ said the golem on the left. The words left its mouth but his lips (Niamh had to think of the creature as a him – no her could look that ugly!) didn’t move. The only discernible difference was a slight parting of the lips which let the red glow inside shine out, making it look just a little bit like a Halloween pumpkin.

  ‘I’ve come to introduce the prince and princess to Gilly,’ said Quinn.

  The golem seemed to cock his head for a moment as if waiting for a reply. For a moment there was no sound except the clinking of the golden witch and wizard’s book turning another page. Then both the golems abruptly stood aside and the door swung open onto the biggest cavern Niamh and Grady had ever seen. They all trooped into a space lit with bright golden floating orbs which dazzled the eyes but illuminated thousands – no – millions of books, thought Niamh, which were arrayed around the walls of the cavern. They stood on a landing which had delicately wrought stone stairs running away in a graceful arc from each side. Around the rough stone walls was the most dazzling array of structures – galleries which seemed to float on thin air, others with flying buttresses supporting floors which extended out from the walls, and staircases which spiralled up and down around the various levels. There were walkways spanning the width of the space which
seemed so impossibly long the children could not imagine how they did not crash down upon the hundreds of desks and tables and people that scurried around engaged in their study of all manner of books on the floor below.

  Quinn gave the children a few moments to take in the view. ‘Follow me,’ he said eventually. ‘Gilly works a couple of floors down from here.’

  They all started off down the stairwell on the left. After dropping down several floors they turned off onto one of the galleries and headed back towards a platform which jutted out over the central space. The platform had a large desk in the middle of it which was covered in piles of books and scrolls. Just poking over the top of the pile was a grey head bobbing up and down as its owner scanned a large tome propped up in front of him.

  ‘Gilly,’ said Quinn. ‘I’ve brought some people to meet you.’

  The grey hair popped up over the rim of the piles of books and revealed a pair of thick spectacles above the bridge of a large nose. The eyes squinted at the newcomers before the rest of the face was revealed. The grey hair was matched by a long grey beard which was hooked over its owner’s shoulder to keep it out of the way.

  Finally! thought Grady – someone who really does look like a wizard.

  ‘Ahhhh, Quinn,’ said the old man. ‘Yes, Ernie told me you were on the way down.’

  ‘Ernie?’ Niamh quizzed Quinn

  ‘The golem on the doorway,’ he explained. ‘Gilly likes to call one Ernie and the other Bert. He thinks it makes them more human that way.’

  ‘So!’ said Gilly. ‘Let me see the two new royals then. Come forward so this old man’s eyes can see you better. Hmmm?’

  Niamh and Grady walked closer to the wizard – Grady sticking his hand out in greeting. Gilly looked surprised at the gesture but then laughed to himself and shook it with both hands. ‘No lack of confidence in you is there, young man. The Prince Grady, is it? So you must be the Princess of the Land of Promise then,’ he said, turning to Niamh.

  ‘Yes, that’s right. Fitzhollow said he could take me to meet the King of the Land of Promise if I wanted.’

  ‘Oh ho ho! Did he now?’ laughed the wizard. ‘Well you should be very careful about taking up a leprechaun’s offer, my dear. Getting to the Land of Promise is one thing, but getting back is another thing entirely. Just make sure you strike the bargain well before you go anywhere with him.’

  ‘Why would that be?’ asked Grady.

  ‘Let’s just say that what leprechauns do and what leprechauns say isn’t entirely the same thing, though it may sound like it. Don’t be taken in by the clever little “Look at me! Aren’t I cute!” act they are very good at putting on. They are an old race and better at words than the best wordsmiths in the kingdom.’

  The children looked a little worried at this but Gilly soon put them at ease. ‘However, you didn’t come here to get warnings about leprechaun’s tall tales, did you? What can I show you about my world?’

  ‘Your world?’ queried Grady

  ‘Oh yes. This is my world in here,’ he said, making an expansive wave of his hands towards the vast space in front of them.

  ‘What are all these books, and why are they in here and not out in the other part of the library?’ asked Niamh.

  ‘These are the most special and oldest books in the kingdom, my dear,’ replied Gilly. ‘All of the knowledge and lore which the kingdom is built upon rests in this room – ancient stories about how the world was first found, how the magical folk from your world originally came here, the lineage of the kings and queens – your lineage actually – it’s all in here. There are great tales of mythology and terribly, terribly dull and obscure pieces of law that the vampires come to read every now and then.’

  ‘Vampires!’ said Niamh.

  ‘Oh yes,’ said Gilly. ‘The best lawyers in the land are vampires. In fact, if you look over ...’ – Gilly scanned the cavern for a moment – ‘... there,’ he said, pointing away to his right. ‘There’s a couple of them searching for some law on the rights of forest faeries to remove faerie gum from trees which weren’t planted by faeries or from naturally seeded trees. I really don’t know how they can stick it, you know. Very, very dull stuff, but then it’s something to do with the single-mindedness vampires have – if they weren’t thinking about law they’d be thinking about how to drink your blood when you weren’t looking. Better they focus on forest faerie gum, I think.’

  As the children watched, one of the vampires stood up from where they were sitting and jumped out over the railing of the gallery. Niamh gasped as it did so, but instead of falling to the ground the vampire simply flew across to another part of the room, scanned the shelf for a book and flew back to his counterpart with the copy. After a moment of flicking through pages they both jumped up in the air and did a little dance with a high five at the end of it. ‘Oh dear,’ said Gilly. ‘I think they’ve just found a way to double their client’s fee. Bloodsuckers that they are.’

  Turning back to the children Gilly went on. ‘Has Quinn told you about some of the other little treasures we have in here?’

  ‘Not really,’ said Grady. ‘He said there were a lot of secrets he couldn’t tell us about, though.’

  ‘Good for him then,’ said Gilly. ‘If the guild of lore masters knew I’d told him about any of the big stuff in here I’d be in real trouble. But as he’s the only likely candidate we’ve seen that could be an apprentice to the guild I’ve been a bit lenient with him. He does show promise, don’t you, boy?’

  Quinn smiled and nodded at the old man’s words, obviously appreciating the compliment.

  ‘What sort of secrets are there, then?’ asked Niamh.

  ‘Well, as you are part of the royal family it’s okay for me to tell you about them.’ He looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘But perhaps you’d prefer to see one of them rather than hear me tell you about it?’

  ‘Yes please!’ Niamh and Grady said together.

  ‘Are you going to show them the Twins?’ asked Quinn, with a pained expression on his face.

  ‘Shhhhhhhhhhh!!’ said Gilly. ‘You know we don’t talk about it out here!’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Quinn, hanging his head. ‘But you know I’ve been dying to see them,’ he said in a mildly petulant voice.

  ‘I know, I know,’ said Gilly. ‘But it’s not something I can do yet. And you know why too. Its restricted to all but a few – and these children are allowed to see them as you also know.’

  ‘Excuse me,’ said Grady, very interested now in the conversation. ‘But what are we going to see?’

  ‘Only the biggest magical prize in the land, of course!’ said Gilly, beaming. ‘Let’s go down to the vaults. I’d like to introduce you to Azrael’s Twins.’

  Chapter 12

  Azrael’s Twins

  Gilly led them down from his space over the library archives to the floor of the giant cavern. As they moved down through the levels, Niamh and Grady noticed the different creatures lurking around the galleries and walkways – leprechauns, vampires and elves predominantly, with plenty of human-looking wizards and witches. The very occasional and nervous-looking dwarf or goblin hugged the darker shadows, and here and there hunched creatures which neither of the children could put a name to and which made them shiver as dark stares came from livid lidded and heavy black eyes. Gilly gave no indication of what the creatures were and the children did not feel inclined to ask, but stayed close to the old man as they passed. Around the shelves flitted the librarian faeries, all of whom looked very similar on first glance but which the children were now starting to see as subtly different. Some had different coloured wings while others bore more ornate glasses and embroidered coats than others. Their features were all marginally different though each had the unmistakeable sucked lemon face they had come to associate with all the librarian faeries.

  They reached the bottom floor and headed towards a tunnel carved into the base of one of the walls. The tunnel was brightly lit with the floating globes and there were several o
f the officious-looking elves barring the entranceway. As the children and old man approached the entrance one of them stepped forward and spoke.

  ‘Good afternoon, Guillemot. What brings you down here today?’

  ‘I thought the princess and prince might like to see the vaults. It wasn’t on the schedule, I know, but I thought they might like to take a look seeing they are here.’

  ‘I’ll have to check with Murdock before you can go through – you know the rules,’ said the elf.

  ‘Yes, of course. Do what you must. Wouldn’t want to get you in trouble.’

  The elf took out his iWand and flicked it open. As he did so a bright bubble appeared at the end of it as the elf said ‘Murdock McLir’ in a clear voice and waited. The bubble flickered red for a moment and then back to blue as Murdock’s face suddenly appeared in the middle of the bubble. ‘Yes?’ he said. ‘What is it, Finnegan?’

  ‘Pardon me for interrupting your day Sir, but Guillemot has the Prince Grady and Princess Niamh with him. He wants to take them down to the vaults, but it wasn’t on the list for today.’

  ‘Tell Guillemot he’s going to get into trouble one of these days for treating the vaults like his own private horde, but that should be fine. I’m sure he’ll get the usual wet slap on the wrist from the king for his trouble,’ said Murdock, smiling.

  ‘Yes Sir,’ replied the Elf. ‘Sorry to disturb you.’ He gave the wand a flick and it telescoped down to its pen-like proportions. ‘Follow me, please,’ he said, turning back to the children.

  The elf and one of the other guards walked down the passageway towards what appeared to be a solid wall of stone indistinguishable from the rest of the cavern walls. Taking out their iWands they pointed the tips towards the top of the wall and a golden beam of light came from each. Tracing down the wall they drew a complicated pattern of interweaving spirals and loops which Niamh recognised as a Celtic pattern like those she had on her Irish dancing dresses at home. As the patterns were drawn in the air above the wall they moved over the top of each other and then settled onto the surface of the rock. As the last loop glued itself to the surface the whole wall shimmered and the rock seemed to melt away. In a moment the rock wall disappeared, replaced by a golden doorway. A third guard walked down to join them and, at the same time as his captain, placed his wand at the lock. A bright burst from the end of the wands turned the mechanisms inside. The children heard bolt after bolt slide back and stood in awe as the door swung silently open. Beyond was another bolted door with one of the globes lighting the space.