And if it were true, then he wouldn’t be the only fool listening to people who weren’t even there.
He wished it was true as he pulled out a roll of spice and lit it in the street brazier. Wished it was true as he wet his lips with his tongue and then brought the roll up to it, sucking in the sweet, sweet smoke of power.
And the Bridge opened.
And Lila Cherrylocks grabbed his body so fast and hard that he stumbled.
Sorry, pretty man. I didn’t want to risk anyone else grabbing harder than me this time. Let’s go find the Grandfather.
She drew a breath of smoke through the roll of paper and another and another. Why was she being so amenable? He thought he’d have to negotiate with her.
She threw the paper aside and stepped on it and then she was scaling the slick stone walls of the Court building, climbing with a speed he’d never possessed.
I like breaking into places. Besides, it occurs to me that if I do what you want from time to time, you might not dread opening the Bridge so much. After all, why hesitate when it can benefit both of us?
That seemed uncharacteristically reasonable of her.
I’ll show you reasonable.
Her voice in his mind was too sweet. It made him nervous.
It should.
They were already at the top of the building, tying their rope to a decorative gargoyle dripping from the corner of the structure like hardened candle wax.
She was throwing the grappling hook before he could gasp.
I like these arms, she said in his mind as the hook clattered onto the roof of the palace, far across the moat. With my old arms, I never would have made that toss on the first try – if ever. Keep this muscle up and we’ll go far.
Tamerlan’s cheeks heated. Strange that they would still react to his emotions even though his arms obeyed only Lila. Etienne drilled him in sword work whenever they weren’t hunting the Grandfather. He wasn’t close to good yet, but he was getting tighter, stronger, more disciplined.
Yes. And I like it.
Lila tugged the line one more time, satisfied at the tightness as she tied final knots on this side. She’d better know what she was doing.
It’s harder with one eye, but I’m getting the hang of it.
Everything was harder with just one eye. He’d been learning that.
And here we go!
Before he could object, she slung a leg over the rope so that she was hanging upside down, gloved hands holding the rope, and boots sliding along it as she began to descend hand-over-hand from the height of the Court building to the Palace.
If he dropped...
If his arms were too tired or his hand slipped ...
Queasiness washed over him.
Stop fretting. I can feel you trying to tense. I’ve done this a thousand times.
But he hadn’t.
It doesn’t matter.
Tamerlan let his eyes drift out over the dark city, studying the city braziers and the way they made patterned reflections over the canals like flickering lace. Following the lines of lanterns where people were busy Drawing Bounds, still celebrating this odd Autumngale holiday despite the heavy rains at harvest and the lines of refugees. How odd. How very human to cling to surface things as if they were the bones of their lives while the actual bones melted away.
And then they were on the palace roof, slipping through the shadows like the shade of a ghost. Lila found a door down through this defending outer shell and into the palace within like she’d been born in this place.
I practically was. Well – not my actual birth, but we thieves talk about our “births” to our new life as the time we made our first snatch. When I took the Portrait of a Young Man Named Avatar from this palace it was not my first snatch, but it was my first one that I was truly proud of.
So, she’d been here before! Did that mean she could find the library?
In my sleep, pretty man. In my sleep.
The palace was well-lit despite the late hour. And yet, Lila was hardly seen. Where she didn’t slip quietly in the shadows, she walked with an unquestionable confidence as if she owned the entire palace. Night maids bobbed curtsies to her as they passed. Guards on the night shift made brisk salutes.
It was an epic deception.
Or it would have been.
Tamerlan was just beginning to breathe a sigh of relief when they stepped into the Library – a towering room filled with books to the ceiling and lit by the light of the moon filtering through a domed glass ceiling. But he was breathing too soon. A woman stood in the doorway of the Library. A woman holding a candle in a holder and dressed in a filmy nightdress and silk shell.
Her hand flew up to her mouth and she almost screamed before Tamerlan’s hand joined hers and Lila grabbed her shoulder and pushed her against the nearest bookstack.
“Not a word or you’re dead,” Lila whispered in Tamerlan’s voice and he shuddered at his words. If he could have said anything other than this, he would have.
There was only one other person who could make him feel so protective and so at home and she was locked in a clock in H’yi.
Let me speak! He begged the Legend. Please let me speak!
The moment his tongue was free he breathed her name.
“Amaryllis.”
12: At Home in a Library
Tamerlan
He pulled his hand away from her mouth, though Lila kept her pinned against the shelf with the other hand.
She opened and shut her mouth twice like she was afraid to speak before finally breathing, “Tam! Oh, dragon’s blood, Tam! I thought you were dead. Our father – ”
“I don’t want to talk about Decebal.” Lila was giving him the freedom to use his own voice though she kept control of his body looming over his little sister. “I want to know that you’re okay. That you’re not being hurt.”
“Hurt!” she said it like it was a joke. “The only one who is hurting me is you.”
Lila eased back slightly but she still kept Amaryllis in place.
“Do you want to marry this man? This Renli?”
Her eyes went wide. “Of course I do, Tamerlan. Do you have any idea ... you don’t, do you? Tam, they were going to sell me to be the Lady Sacrifice! If Renli hadn’t stepped in. If father hadn’t convinced him to marry me ... I’d be dead right now!”
Tamerlan couldn’t control the anger in his voice. “Father? Who do you think they were paying the sacrifice fee to?”
Amaryllis’ lips tightened. “Don’t be like that, Tam. I’m so happy to see you that I just want to think about happy things. For years I dreamed we’d see you when we visited Jingen and we never did and now here you are – in my home!”
“Your home,” he echoed. The words felt like a slap. He was out there trying to fix things and save the world from sacrifices and risen dragons and everything and she was here making a home in a palace.
She laughed a tinkling, musical laugh. “My home with Renli, of course. We’re marrying on the last day of Autumngale and then all of this will be mine. Father is so pleased, and of course, so am I!”
“Father is pleased.” He sounded like a sailor’s bird repeating everything she said.
She frowned. “Tam, don’t spoil this. It’s just nice to see you again. We had such magical times when we were children, didn’t we? You and me playing together ... before you went away?”
“I didn’t just go away, Amaryllis,” Tamerlan said gently. What was the point in raging against her? None of this was her fault. “I was sold. I was ripped from my home and sold like a stock animal. Like one of our blue bulls. And my family took money for my life.”
She blinked back tears. “I know.”
“And they would have taken money for yours.”
“It’s how things are. But I was saved at the last minute. By Renli.”
“Who also paid a price for you. A bride price, but still a price.”
Her frown deepened. “Renli loves me.”
“Renli owns you.
That’s different than love. Come away with me.”
She gasped. “I would never.”
“You don’t have to marry him.”
She scoffed. “You don’t get it, Tamerlan. I want to marry him. I don’t care that he paid for me. Don’t you get it? He saved my life. And why should I be mad at Father? He was just trying to help our family – like he did when he sold you. If he hadn’t sold you, we wouldn’t have been able to pay our debts to the Di’Sham family. He wouldn’t have garnered us the favor that made all of this,” she looked around her at the Library, her meaning clear, “possible.”
Tamerlan felt the blood rushing from his face. If he’d had control of his body, he would have stumbled backward.
I think we’ve heard enough, don’t you?
He would have died for her. And she wasn’t even sorry that he’d been sold all those years ago. Not once she began to benefit from it. Horror filled him. And a betrayal that felt like a stab to his belly.
Lila took his voice and for once he gave it to her willingly.
“I wish you well then, sister. Many happy returns on your wedding and may your bond be blessed. Would you be so kind as to show me where your books on Legends are located? Surely you wouldn’t deny your brother a chance to browse through your library?” She smiled charmingly with his lips.
“I promise, I will put all the books back in place before morning.”
His lips were still smiling as he released his hold on her and while Tamerlan’s heart withered in his chest, Lila’s words brought a familial smile to Amaryllis’ lips.
“I knew you’d understand. And of course, you can look at the books. Just be sure to be gone by morning. Father wouldn’t understand why I indulged you.”
Indulged him? It was his life that made hers possible. First when he was sold. Then when he gave up the shreds of his life that were left to try to save hers.
Ignore her. Fools are a dozen to a half-copper. Use them as needed, then discard.
“I’ll be certain to leave this place in order,” Lila said with Tamerlan’s voice before leaning down to kiss her cheek. Tamerlan wanted to close his eye. To stop the pain of kissing his sister goodbye with the bitterness of her betrayal still on her lips. Amaryllis. He would have died for her. He had been so certain that she loved him, too.
“Take the light,” Amaryllis said lightly, handing him her candle. “I have no need of it.”
“Good-bye, dear sister and may you find what you seek.”
Maybe it was best that Lila was controlling him. He wouldn’t have been able to force out those words. He fought against waves of sadness that threatened to steal his mental focus as Lila slipped into the library, never looking back when the library door shut behind Amaryllis with a click.
See? It’s good when I’m in charge.
The light was a boon. They hurried along the shelves, Lila’s fingers running along the spines of the books. But it was Tamerlan who felt a thrill of pleasure strong enough to temporarily erase the hurt of the last few minutes. This library was amazing. It had every volume he’d read or heard of on each subject. It was almost painful when Lila dragged his body past them but there was no time to stop and browse each one. No time to run fingers lovingly over the spines of familiar friends or delve into the first pages of books he’d never read before. No time to flip through, perusing the more interesting ones and making stacks of which ones he would read.
No time.
Here they were. The books on the Legends. His heart was racing quickly with anticipation.
Oh, look! He’d only ever heard of this volume!
Exploits of Cherrylocks stood out, the red leather of the spine enticing him. He tried to reach for it, but Lila stopped him.
Nice try, pretty man, but I think I’ll keep my secrets from you for now.
Tamerlan’s eye skimmed the shelves.
No books rumpled or torn or sticking out further than the others. Hmmm. No sign of dust disturbed, or parchments stuck in pages...
What was she doing? He was here to find books on Grandfather Timeless, or of anything that might trap a Legend.
Can’t you tell he’s been here? I can feel his residue like an oilslick in the spirit world.
Who’s residue?
Grandfather Timeless. Now, concentrate and look for what is out of place.
But it was obvious which one the Grandfather had been looking for. Tamerlan had seen it immediately. Queen Mer and the Sea sat innocently between Abelmeyer’s Conquests and Orange Wars of the Dragonblood Plains. That wasn’t where it belonged. Those books were histories of wars, whereas the Queen Mer book was purely autobiographical. Anyone looking would have noticed it at once.
I didn’t notice it.
Anyone who loved books would. It was out of place.
Lila snatched up the little book, riffling through the pages. Ah. That page was slightly torn. This was the book they were looking for. This was the one the Grandfather had been reading.
Are you sure?
It was the one.
Any librarian worth their salt would have noticed that as quickly as Tamerlan had and replaced the book. The change had to be recent. Maybe even earlier that day. This was the book that would give a clue to where the Grandfather had gone. Tamerlan felt a stab of anxiety slashing through him. And then what? Would they be able to track him down again? And when they did – how would they catch him when he could blink out of existence?
I don’t think he’s blinking out of existence. I think he’s moving to a different time.
What, like he was suddenly ten minutes in the past?
Or twenty years. Or a decade in the future. Who knows? I’m not time. I’ve taken a lot from people – gems, gold, fine clothing. But I don’t steal time like he does. I leave people with their days, their beauty, their memories, their health. The Grandfather snatches all of that – eventually.
Tamerlan shivered as Lila tucked the little blue book into his shirt.
They’d promised not to take any books.
And she was supposed to love you and be on your side. Consider us even.
What do you have to do with any of that, Lila?
I’m just restoring balance to the world. You’re welcome.
And now they needed to find a book that would teach Tamerlan how to trap the Grandfather once they found him. They couldn’t bet on beating him senseless. They needed some device, some amulet, some ... something ... that didn’t require his eye.
Nah. We don’t need that.
And then she was slipping through the shadows and back up to the roof.
We do need it!
She ignored his protests. Frustration filled him as he fought uselessly against her hold. She ignored his protests as easily as ignoring an itch, slipping through the palace like a shadow.
If it had been Tamerlan controlling his body, they would have been caught. There were so many eyes on him, so many guards watching, so many chances to mess up. But Lila seemed almost giddy as she slid past every palace defense and left her small candle in front of the last staircase like a burning bright flag. She tucked the little book into the front of his shirt, jamming it down behind his belt.
It’s fun to be free – if only for a few hours!
Did Lila have an avatar somewhere, sleeping beneath earth or sea or in a clock?
I’ll never tell!
Was that why she didn’t want him to read about how to trap Legends?
There’s no such book. There was only ever one true way – not the way of Abelmeyer’s Eye, that’s a temporary thing – and that way was never written down. Hopefully, it was forgotten.
If that was true, then what hope did he have? Maybe she was lying.
She was scrambling back up the rope in his body, ignoring the protests of his muscles as she climbed, hanging upside down. She’d better stick around until the climb was done! Tamerlan didn’t think he could complete it on his own.
Isn’t this your body climbing?
It was. But it was
n’t his mind. This kind of thing took mental toughness as much as physical strength.
I’d say ‘you’re welcome’ but I already said that.
She was the most puffed up creature on the planet.
I’m only being accurate.
But he still breathed a sigh of relief when their feet were back on the gargoyle and they were sliding back onto the roof of the Court building.
“And what were you doing in the palace, boy?” a gravelly voice asked in the darkness. It was like a knife sliding between his ribs as he realized just who was waiting for him.
Anglarok.
13: Meeting of Players
Tamerlan
When Tamerlan had been a child, he’d been the most afraid of the things that you found in the dark. The things you couldn’t see that crept up on you. The things whose weaknesses you couldn’t assess, because they were hidden. There was nothing good in the dark, because even good things morphed into terrifying things when the lights went out.
When he’d lost his eye, he’d lost half the light of the world. And here in the dark the sound of that voice cut him to the soul. He was cornered on the edge of the roof by an enemy. There’d be no daring escape here.
You forget that I’m in charge.
Lila spun him around. She was crazy if she thought returning to the palace was a good idea. They were caught between one side and the other!
But she wasn’t listening to him. She was already scrambling along the rope, hanging down so that his head and back were to the canal moat below and his face was looking up at his hands furiously climbing. The rope jostled. He looked back. A knife glinted in the moonlight as Anglarok carefully sawed through the rope.
He didn’t have time to scream – wouldn’t have been able to anyway with Lila in charge. They were plunging through the air before he realized what was happening, swinging head down with the rope still clutched in his hands and the wind of their fall whistling around him.
He could see Jhinn’s gondola below in the moat of the palace. He could see Jhinn there with his mouth open and a figure in the shadows behind him. He could see the moonlight glinting off the moat and the bobbing light of Jhinn’s gondola lantern. They were going to hit the water of the moat. And it was going to hurt.
Bridge of Legends- The Complete Series Page 48