He laughed and turned his attention to Elissa.
"Hello," he said, extending a hand to her. For an awkward moment, his hand hung there, and Elissa did not take it. Alarick tapped the corner of his eye and nodded toward Elissa. Adil quickly recovered and took her hand in his.
"Adil, this is Elissa Stone," Alarick said. "She's the Book Mesmer I told you about."
"Honored," Adil said, bending over Elissa's hand. When he straightened, he winked at Alarick, showing his thanks for sparing him the earlier awkwardness.
"Well come in, come in," he said, beckoning them through the door.
They proceeded into a courtyard containing a magnificent fountain tiled in lapis lazuli. A statue of three entwined fish speared up from the center, water artfully shooting from the fish's mouths.
Ringing the courtyard were four large, long buildings, all fashioned from the same red sandstone as the outer wall. Beyond these buildings Alarick saw several smaller buildings that he guessed were houses or possibly apartments.
"Is your fortress invisible to non-magical people?" he asked Adil.
"Barely," Adil confessed. "I'm afraid our protections are not terribly strong. Instead of invisibility, I can only manage disguise. Non-magicals see an abnormally large sand dune that looks slightly square. Most pass us by, but one will occasionally stumble inside if they try to summit the dune. If they do, well, we have no choice. We kill them.
Elissa gasped and Adil turned to her.
"To be fair, we haven't killed anyone in a very long time. This place has gotten a reputation for being one to stay away from. And we're so far away from the city that very few people ever come out this far. However, if the Ministry ever discovers the truth about this place, we have very little to keep them from destroying us. That's why we must kill anyone who breaches our walls, Miss Stone. We cannot have strangers going back to town and reporting us."
"I understand," she said. "And I'm sorry for my reaction. It was thoughtless. I'm sure if my village had any disguise at all, we would have done the same to protect our secret."
"The Ministry destroyed Elissa's village," Alarick explained. "As it has destroyed most of the magical villages in England. We fare poorly."
"We fare little better," Adil said, beckoning them forward into the shade of the largest building's entryway. "There are no magical people left in the city proper, unless they are well-hidden. We haven't found a magical in over a year inside the city. Most live here, although there are a few who choose the nomadic life and roam the desert. They stop by occasionally, but do no stay for long."
Adil guided them down the hallway. Elissa kept her hand tucked in Alarick's elbow for guidance. "Would you like to see the library now, or later?"
"What do you think?" Alarick asked Elissa.
"Now is fine," she said.
"Excellent. This way," Adil said, turning right where two hallways intersected in a small open-air courtyard. Another fountain, smaller than the one outside, burbled happily in the center.
They didn't walk far before passing under an ornate archway tiled in bright red, orange and yellow and capped with a large stone dragon at the apex. The dragon carried a book in one talon and a scroll in the other. Beyond the archway, Adil pushed open a heavy wooden door and ushered them into the library.
"It's incredible," Alarick said. "Bigger than the last time I was here, I think."
"Yes, yes. I suspect we've nearly doubled the size since you were here last and we're still running out of space."
Elissa squeezed Alarick's arm. "Tell me what you see," she said.
"I'm sorry," he began. "I'm still getting used to being someone else's eyes," he said to Adil.
"Your blindness is recent, Miss Stone?" Adil asked.
"About four months ago, now," she said. "It has improved somewhat. I can see the faintest shapes in very bright light, but not much more than that."
"You didn't tell me you could see shapes," Alarick said.
"Because it fundamentally changes nothing," Elissa said. "It requires very bright light and even then, I can't distinguish what the shape is. Neither can I gauge distance. I'm still just as likely to trip over a chair as ever."
"Still, any improvement is positive," Alarick said. "I wish you'd tell me these things."
She sighed. "I will when it's important. Now, please, can you tell me about this library?"
Adil chuckled at her impatience and Alarick hastened to describe what he saw.
"It's a long rectangle and we've entered on one of the short sides. To our left and right are walls of bookshelves, each twelve shelves high. Taller than ours at the Keep," he added for scale. "And full of books and papers. In some places, materials are stacked two or three deep."
"There is a row of regular desks running up the center of the room and three scribe's desks at the back. The floor is red stone, as are the walls. There are no windows."
"The summer sun is too bright," Adil added. "It would damage the manuscripts. Plus it would get too hot in here to work. Here in the desert, darkness is our friend."
"Would it be possible for me to use one of the scribe's desks?" Elissa asked Adil.
"Of course. They are not assigned to any one person, so it will be no trouble for you to use one."
Alarick guided her to the one on the right, as it was nearly empty. Only one piece of blank parchment rested on its surface. He pulled her bag of materials out of his bag and used his wand to restore it to normal size. Then they both worked to set the materials out on the desk in an exact replica of her desk at the Keep.
"Do you want to begin work now?" Adil asked.
Alarick shrugged. "That is for you to decide. We are ready now, or we can wait. We will need the service of your scholars for translation assistance. Neither of us knows any Arabic."
"Then allow me to give you the tour of our home first and show you where you will be sleeping. Ah, I hate to ask a delicate question, but will you need one room or two? Having seen the two of you together, I'm certain there is a relationship here, but its nature eludes me."
Alarick chuckled and Elissa said, "Do not feel badly, Adil. It eludes us, as well. Two rooms, please, if you can spare them," she said as he laughed.
"No trouble at all," he said. "However, I think I can do better. I have a set of adjoining rooms. If you should decide you need one room, simply open the door between."
Alarick raised an eyebrow at Adil, and he smiled innocently. "The desert air is sometimes romantic, Master Brandon," he said with a wink.
Elissa, Alarick noted, was turning bright red, but he also noticed she wasn't offended by the offer. Neither did she decline. That was… complicated, he decided.
Adil saved him from further contemplation of any complications by escorting them out of the library and on a long, informative tour of his walled village. In addition to the library, the building they were in also contained the dining hall. The other three large buildings contained workshops, the infirmary, some administrative offices, and the stables. The smaller buildings were, indeed, residences. There were a few single-family dwellings and preference went to those who had children, followed by prominent members of the village. Singles and couples lived in the apartments.
As there was no need of a kitchen in each apartment, they contained only a bedroom and an adjacent room for reading, relaxing, or gathering with friends. There was a fireplace in each sitting room, though, adding a touch of hominess. A smaller area off the bedroom contained an ewer and washbasin, as well as a chamber pot for necessities.
Elissa and Alarick would each be staying in one of these apartments although, as promised, theirs did adjoin.
"We built several like this so that if a couple had children, but a single house wasn't available, the family could move in here and avoid being so cramped. As we've had fewer and fewer children arrive these past years, these adjoining apartments are mostly superfluous these days."
"We don't have many children at the Keep, either," Alarick said.
&nbs
p; Adil shook his head. "I can't blame anyone for not wanting children now. Why would you bring a child into this world just to have it killed by the Ministry before its first birthday?"
It was a rhetorical question and neither Alarick nor Elissa answered.
Adil showed them to their rooms and then left them alone, promising to come back when it was time for lunch.
Alarick escorted Elissa to her room and helped her familiarize herself with the surroundings. The sitting room thrilled her, as it had no real furniture, simply piles of enormous pillows everywhere. Alarick thought it looked terribly uncomfortable, not to mention a dangerous tripping hazard, but Elissa seemed to enjoy stacking the pillows in various configurations until she found comfort.
"It's pretty at least," he told her. "The pillows are rich jewel tones and there is gauzy material in pastel shades draped over the walls to hide the sandstone."
Her bedroom was functional and nothing more. The quilt was patterned in the same jewel tones as the pillows, but beyond that there was no decoration. There wasn't even a proper dresser for clothes, merely a chest at the foot of the bed. Alarick didn't see the point in unpacking. After all, a bag was a good as a chest for all the organization either provided, but Elissa insisted on treating the place like home, so into the chest went her clothes.
Leaving her arranging her pillows in the sitting room, Alarick went through the adjoining door and into his room. His sitting room offered a single green, hard-looking cushion and not much else. The bedroom was as Spartan as Elissa's except his quilt was patterned in the reds, oranges, and purples of the desert.
Settled, he went back for Elissa and found her lying in the middle of her pillows, looking like some ancient queen waiting for her servants. Or her lover. Alarick quickly banished that thought. Before he embarrassed himself, he coughed to let her know he was there.
"Have a seat," she said, waving a hand at the mass of pillows around her.
"If I get down there, I may never get up," Alarick said.
"Oh, you're not that old and decrepit," she said. "It's fun."
With a sigh, Alarick lowered himself to the nearest pillow. It wobbled as he sat, threatening to throw him off.
"I miss the sofas at the Keep," he muttered.
"Well, what do you think of your adventure so far?" he asked Elissa.
"Amazing. I can't believe I'm in Morocco. And I can't wait to get to the books. Thank you for this," she said.
"You're going to have to stop thanking me all the time," Alarick said. "Otherwise this is going to be a very long trip."
"Sorry. It's just so incredible. I never thought I'd leave my village, much less England."
"Yes, well, those with special talents often travel far. In another, better, world I have no doubt you would have traveled the world. You'd probably have found a home at the court of a king and spent your life working through libraries the size of cities."
"You sound as though the thought makes you sad," she said. "Why?"
He shrugged. "It's just that if the Ministry weren't around, I know you'd have had a richer life. I hate what has been stolen from you. From all of us."
"Were the Ministry not around, I probably would have gone nowhere. After all, there would be no need to preserve books, would there? What king would come looking for a Book Mesmer if he believed his library to be in no danger of destruction?" she asked. "I'd probably be happily ensconced in Keldon, drawing animals for the local children to play with. But there's one thing you didn't think of in your picture of a so-called better world."
"What's that?" he asked.
"If the Ministry did not exist and I was in Keldon, I would not have met you."
"That hasn't exactly been a boon for you," he said.
"It has and don't you ever say differently," she argued.
"You're blind because you met me," he said.
"No, I'm blind because I was an idiot and made the wrong choices. True, that might not have happened had I not met you, but everything that has happened to me happened because the Ministry is in our lives. Yes, they've brought me some bad tidings, but they also brought me to you. And that's not a bad thing. For either of us, I don't think?"
Alarick shook his head then remembered, yet again, that he had to speak his feelings. That was what made loving Elissa so terrifying. There was no place to hide.
"No, it hasn't. Don't you ever have a negative thought, though?" he asked. "Your optimism and goodness make me feel small."
"Of course I do. Every day. But what I want you to see is that much of a person's response to a situation is in how they frame it to themselves. I choose to believe in the better things, rather than dwell on the bad. Of course I know the bad is there. I live it everyday when I wake up and fail to see daylight. Looking for the good keeps me sane," she said with a shrug.
"You have your reasons for seeing the bad," she continued, "And I do not blame you for doing so. Just try looking for the good things once in a while. I think it will make you happier."
"I'm looking at a good thing right now," he said, watching her. "And I keep waiting for you to disappear."
Following his voice, she crawled across the pillows to where he sat. She kneeled across from him and reached up to touch his face. He leaned in to place his face in her hands. Her hands lingered over his lips and then moved to his forehead where she smoothed her fingers over the vertical crease in his brow, deepened now with worry.
"I'm not going anywhere," she whispered. "I tried to run from you once and you came for me. I won't run again."
He took her in his arms and clasped her to his chest. "Promise me," he whispered.
"I swear. Until you tell me to go, I'm staying with you."
The moment was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Dammit," Alarick swore as he released Elissa and got up to answer it.
"Yes?" he asked, his voice clipped, as he yanked open the door. Adil stepped back as Alarick towered over him in the doorway.
"Ah," he said, seeming to understand that he'd intruded on a private moment. "Lunch?" he finally managed to ask.
Alarick relaxed. "I'm sorry," he said. "Thank you."
Elissa got up and Alarick took her hand in his. Adil led them to the dining hall. The food was aromatic and delicious and Adil's stories of desert life were fascinating, but Elissa and Alarick ate quickly, wanting to begin work as soon as possible. Adil seemed to sense their desire and ate quickly as well and soon they were off to the library.
Alarick settled Elissa at the scribe's desk. Three scholars clad in brown robes entered the library. All three were male. Alarick had hoped there might a woman in the group for Elissa to befriend, but he had known it was not likely. Even without the Ministry's restrictions on the education of females, female scholars were a rarity.
Two of the men were fairly young, younger than Alarick, at least. The other one appeared to be close to Adil's age.
The eldest handled the introductions. "My name is Tazim. This is Kadin and Mehdi," he said indicating the two men with him. "Brothers," he added.
Now that the relationship had been pointed out, Alarick could see the resemblance between the two younger men. Not quite enough to be twins, but they shared the same high cheekbones, long nose, and almond-shaped eyes.
"I am Alarick and this is Elissa," Alarick said.
"You must be the Book Mesmer," Kadin said, reaching for Alarick's hand.
Alarick clasped his hands behind his back.
"She is," he said, inclining his head toward Elissa.
"Apologies," Kadin said, taking Elissa's hand in his.
"A woman?" scoffed Mehdi. When she turned sightless eyes toward him, and he realized her blindness, his incredulity grew.
"And a blind one at that? This cannot be the famous Book Mesmer."
"But I am," Elissa said, cutting in before Alarick had a chance to berate the man for his insolence. "Is there a problem?"
"Women can't read," Mehdi said. "Especially not blind women."
"Quiet," Tazim hissed to Mehdi. Kadin edged to the outside of the group, clearly uncomfortable at his brother's outburst.
"No," Mehdi said. "We're entrusting our library to her. What good can she possibly do?"
Alarick raised his wand. Elissa, sensing the movement at her side, placed a restraining hand on his arm.
"No, please," she said. To Tazim she said, "Please give me one of the books you'd like protected. And summarize it for me, if you don't mind."
Tazim went to the shelves, took down a book, and placed it in her hands when he returned.
"It's a book of magical medical remedies. Cures for various diseases and injuries," he said.
"Oh, lovely," Elissa said.
Alarick, beginning to see what she had in mind, opened it and thumbed through until he found a likely page.
"Serpenspox. It's a pox caused by contact with an infected reptile, usually a snake but sometimes lizards," he whispered into her ear so the scholars could not overhear. "It causes large blue blisters to appear on the skin, high fever, and is often fatal if not treated immediately."
"Excellent," she said as she set to work, drawing a quick picture of a man suffering from a severe case of serpenspox. Without her grid to guide her, the picture wasn't the best she could do, but it was adequate.
As she worked, Alarick whispered to her, "I know what you're doing. This is something I would do, and I'm a complete bastard. Are you sure you want to do this to him?"
She nodded absently, her fingers flying over the page. "It's curable," she muttered.
She waved her wand over the picture, binding it to the book. Then she sprinkled Alarick's hair as well as her own into the spine and repeated the incantation that would allow only the two of them to safely access the book.
"Please, Mehdi, open the book," she said in her sweetest voice as she held it out for him to take. Alarick, knowing what was coming, had to admire her skill as an actor.
Mehdi took the book and opened it, flipping through the pages. Nothing happened at first, but after he'd held it for about a minute, a cloud of blue smoke billowed from the pages, directly into Mehdi's face. He screamed and dropped the book, but it was too late.
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