“We’re lucky to have him then. He has asked why no women have entered his class, and was surprised when told that Leratian women are not interested in fighting.”
“Not yet.” Tyen smiled wryly, as he thought of the subjects the Empress had expressed desire to learn. “They will in future. Did you check in with Zeke?”
“Yes. He’s taken to being in charge of the machine investigations well. They all seem to respect him and are happy to follow his orders.
“Does he have any good news for us?”
Halyn shook his head. “Not yet. He hasn’t submitted the daily reports you requested.”
Tyen shrugged. “No, he was never one for keeping records. But then, I’m there half the day, helping out, so he doesn’t really need to.”
“Not if they are solely to inform you, but there are others interested in their progress,” Halyn pointed out.
“Academy sorcerers?”
“Mostly.”
“And the rest? Sorcerers outside the Academy?”
“None have yet requested them.”
“Then who?” Tyen looked up. “The Emperor?”
“Of course. And others who are concerned about threats to this world.”
“Who will be receiving reports from me, not Zeke.” Tyen turned away from the window and regarded his chair. “Which I should get around to writing. Is there anything else we need to discuss?”
Halyn sighed. “Well there’s…”
A knock at the door interrupted him.
“Come in,” he called.
The door opened and one of the watchers from the Grand Hall stepped into the room, his gaze flickering to Halyn before returning to Tyen.
“Visitors have appeared in the hall,” the young man said.
“Visitors?” Tyen repeated. He cast his mind out, searching for the minds of otherworld sorcerers. “Did they introduce themselves?”
“Yes. Rielle Lazuli and Qall. Just Qall. No surname, apparently.”
Tyen’s heart lifted, then sank as quickly. If Qall had risked the safety of this world by coming here, something important must have happened. Unless it was someone else… Looking into the watcher’s mind, he saw a memory of a figure that did, indeed, look like the Restorers’ new leader. Standing up, Tyen stepped around the desk. “Sorry, Halyn. Whatever you were about to raise will have to wait.”
His assistant’s eyes were wide. “Is that the Qall who rules all the worlds?”
“Yes and no,” Tyen replied as he strode to the door. “He doesn’t rule all the worlds. He leads the Restorers, who work to keep the worlds from descending into chaos.” He turned to the watcher. “Where are our guests now?”
Halyn blinked in surprise, thinking that Tyen never asked where people were. He always seemed to know. Which meant… these newcomers could be even more powerful than Tyen. And Halyn had just demanded their names and purpose. Had he been too officious?
“Waiting in the hall,” he replied weakly.
Tyen nodded and started in that direction.
“What protocols are there for greeting the most powerful man in the worlds?” came Halyn’s voice from behind him.
Glancing back, Tyen found his assistant following close behind. “None. The Restorers discourage the kinds of elaborate ceremony and ritual that strengthen the divisions of class and hierarchy. Most of their founders came from places where power was abused, so they see such things as manifestations of inequality.”
“I see.” Halyn was quiet for a stretch, then as Tyen neared the hall he spoke again. “If everyone’s equal, how is it that there is a leader?”
Tyen chuckled. “Practicality. They do have a hierarchy but it’s there to aid communication and representation, not strengthen hereditary systems of power or ideas that one race is somehow naturally better than another.”
“Sounds fascinating,” Halyn murmured.
Arriving at the hall, Tyen looked for and found two figures standing where the pile of machines had been before it had been taken to the mechanical magic wing for study. At their feet lay a single machine – something similar to the ones that had attacked him in Kettin’s world. Qall had obviously sensed Tyen approaching, as he and Rielle were facing the doorway. They were smiling, he noted with relief.
“Qall,” he said as he strode towards them. “Rielle. It is good to see you both again.” As he reached them he inclined his head to show Qall this was the customary greeting. The young man returned the gesture of respect.
“Tyen.” Qall’s gaze moved to Tyen’s shadow. “And Halyn. Yes, I am as young as I look.”
Tyen glanced at his assistant in time to see the man hide his embarrassment.
“Stop it, Qall,” Rielle murmured in the Traveller tongue. Her smile had vanished into such a serious expression it made Tyen’s heart skip a beat. All is not well, he thought, and his earlier foreboding returned.
Qall turned to her. “He doesn’t mind.”
“Yet,” she said. “Tyen’s world is new to mind reading, and you should not take advantage of Halyn’s awe of you to show off. We can’t risk offending this world’s people.” She turned to Tyen and switched to Leratian. “You’re probably wondering why I brought Qall here. Is there somewhere we can talk in private?”
Her expression sent a chill down Tyen’s spine. “Of course,” he replied. “Would you like some refreshments?”
“That would be most welcome,” she replied. “We dared not stop and seek out any in case we were recognised.”
“Come to the visitors’ room.” He gestured to indicate that they should follow, then led the way, Halyn nodding once before slipping away to fetch food and drink.
The visitors’ room was now across the corridor from the hall. It had been used as a storeroom until Tyen had chosen it as a place to meet with important and powerful visitors. The fine decoration told of a less humble past, and arrangements were being made to have the paint and gilding refreshed. A dining table and chairs filled the far end, and a suite of comfortable seats surrounded a low table nearer the entrance. All were quality pieces made of fine materials and decorated in good taste. Good enough for a visit by the Emperor, but not so indulgent as to make it seem that Tyen was wasting Academy funds.
He directed Qall and Rielle to the seats, then sat opposite them. Both had brought well-filled packs, he noted, as if prepared to travel for some time.
“You wouldn’t be carrying those if it were good news,” he pointed out. “So, what has happened?”
“We brought the fight to Kettin,” Qall told him. The young man described the whole battle, and his care in explaining the success and failure of both sides’ strategies hinted that he thought Tyen would need to draw upon the lessons they’d learned in future, despite the fact that they won the battle. Hearing that Kettin’s fighters had been led by a humanoid chilled Tyen, but he’d thought many times about how she might succeed in becoming a machine and what it could cost her. It did not surprise him to hear that she had not used magic, or that the humanoid proved not to be her, and was easily destroyed.
“… but when we examined her body we found the humanoid’s head, though detached from its body, was still animated,” Qall continued. He leaned down and opened his pack, bringing out a gleaming metallic head and setting it on the table. “And a voice from within it said, ‘Fooled you.’”
Tyen stared at the head. It was nothing like that of the humanoid he’d made more than five cycles ago, hoping it might house Vella’s mind. Were these features modelled on Kettin’s face?
“If this wasn’t her, then where was she?” He drew in a sharp breath as he saw the obvious answer. “It was a distraction. They were attacking you elsewhere. The base?”
“Yes,” Qall replied. “When we returned a great deal of damage had already been done. Several Restorers and thousands upon thousands of Affen’s inhabitants had died. We concentrated on evacuating as many survivors as possible, then we scattered. Since then, Kettin has been attacking worlds randomly… well, not enti
rely randomly, as she is targeting worlds important to us too, but her followers and machines are no longer solely spreading outwards from her world in a ring formation as they did in the past.”
“So the Restorers have no base now.” Tyen’s heart lurched. “Is Baluka still alive?”
Qall looked at Rielle. “It would be best he heard this from you.”
Tyen’s stomach sank and filled with dread.
“Don’t worry. Baluka is fine,” she assured him. She drew in a little breath, then let it out. “He was in charge of the base while we were gone. I found him by his mind, trapped in the meeting room with Kettin. She had told him that if anyone but me tried to rescue him she’d kill him. I managed to enter the room underneath the table, grab Baluka’s ankle and transport him away. She followed, and told me she had intended to invite me to join her.”
Tyen frowned. “Do you believe that?”
Rielle’s shoulders lifted. “I’m not sure. She seemed earnest. She said we were alike: both from dead worlds where we were regarded as criminals. That magic is evil – the manifestation of darkness in humans. It allows us to oppress and kill. She intended to strip most worlds of it in order to make people more equal, and wanted me to join her so she could reward worlds with magic as well as punish them by removing it.” She smiled thinly as Tyen raised his eyebrows at the hypocrisy. “When Baluka questioned her killing of innocent people she said she needed a big weapon to defeat a big evil, and that sacrifices had to be made. But it would be better afterwards.”
“How can killing all the people within a world make their life better?”
Rielle spread her hands. “I don’t know. It was strange talking to her. Without her mask… it made her more human somehow. I could not help wondering, later, what had driven her to become so ruthless. She thought she could convince me to join her, despite all she has done. But then, her attitude switched direction suddenly. She had assumed that I would be weaker than her, because I am a Maker and therefore not strong enough to become ageless. When she realised I was stronger, she no longer wanted me to join her, because if I was this powerful I could became ageless, which made me too dangerous… which suggests she really does care about the worlds.”
A thrill ran down Tyen’s back. “She knows of Maker’s Curse.”
“Yes.” Rielle tilted her head a little and narrowed her eyes. “What about that made you sit up all straight and alert?”
He smiled. “Do you remember a young sorcerer named Annad?”
She blinked. “Yes. He is trying to find a lost library containing information about Maker’s Curse.”
“He found it.” Tyen grinned. “Here, under the Academy, in one of Roporien’s secret vaults.”
Qall straightened and leaned forward. “The vaults. Yes. Valhan sought them out. He knew he’d never found them all.”
Tyen turned to stare at the young man. “He did?” Qall nodded. “Well, I suppose he would. Roporien was a seeker of knowledge. It’s possible he’s the true founder of the Academy. It is said to have grown out of a school based in Beltonia more than thirteen hundred years ago, and we know from Vella that he was in this world around then.” Tyen turned to Rielle. “Annad told the Librarian of his quest. Kep saw that his intentions were good and, well, he likes you, so he took Annad into the tunnels below the Academy vault, and they found the record Annad was seeking. But they couldn’t translate it.”
Tyen tried not to smile at the disappointment in Rielle’s eyes.
“They came to me hoping that Vella knew the ancient language,” he continued. “She does, and has stored the record. I’ve left her with Kep, so the two of them can study it.”
“And what did it say?” Qall prompted.
“It describes sorcerers known as the Ancients. They were very powerful – probably more powerful than us – and knew how to connect and separate worlds. The warning that should a Maker become ageless the worlds will be torn apart is a mistranslation of a passage. All it is saying is that a Maker who becomes ageless can link and part worlds.”
Rielle’s eyes went wide. She looked from Tyen to Qall. “I could do that?”
“According to this record,” Tyen replied. He looked at Qall. “It occurred to me that if Rielle could do this, we could isolate Kettin’s worlds.” He paused. “Though if she has abandoned them and is roaming around striking worlds at random that will not work any more.”
“No,” Qall agreed. “But we could lure her into a world, then isolate it.”
“It would have to be somewhere uninhabited.”
“And she must believe it is important to us.”
Rielle reached out to grab Qall and Tyen’s sleeves. “You can work that out later. Does the record say how I can become ageless without losing my Maker ability?”
Tyen grimaced. “No, I’m afraid it doesn’t. I guess you’ll have to work it out yourself.”
She sighed. “If it were that easy, surely other Makers would have stumbled upon it in the thousands of years since these Ancients lived.”
“Unless it has been that long since a Maker of your strength emerged,” Qall pointed out. “Valhan never met anyone like you.”
“I want to see this record for myself,” Rielle declared. “Perhaps there is some code in it. And you should come, Qall. It may be something that only someone with Valhan’s memories could unlock.”
“Tyen has all of Valhan’s knowledge, in Vella,” Qall reminded him.
“Yes, but that is different to knowing how he thought,” she replied.
He looked from her to Tyen. “Well then. Can we see it?”
“I can’t see why not.” As Tyen rose, they got to their feet. “Follow me.”
He led them out into the corridor. As they passed one of the hall entrances, Tyen glanced in and saw Zeke and a few other inventors examining the machine. “When we come back, tell Zeke how it was used in the battle,” he said to Rielle and Qall. “It might help.”
“We will,” Qall assured him.
They passed a handful of Academy members and staff on the way to the Library. These eyed Qall with curiosity but not alarm. They were used to otherworld newcomers appearing in the institution’s corridors now. Most noted how handsome Qall was, and it amused Tyen to see how this made them more inclined to trust him. He then began to wonder how much of Qall’s adopted appearance had been chosen to have this effect. Or is it more for his own benefit, because he wants to feel he is a friendly, easily trusted person? It would certainly be easier than constantly seeing people assessing you and deciding you’re suspicious.
That reminded him of the hunt for a place to settle that had led him to Doum. No matter where he went, he was an outsider and stranger. Only in Leratia was he truly home. He’d never thought he’d be welcome here again. That he was made him even more determined to protect his world. If it was destroyed, he would have lost his home.
As he led Qall and Rielle into the library, he sought and found Kep and Annad’s minds. They were down in the vault already, studying other rare records. He took Qall and Rielle through the tunnels and locked door, noting their amusement at the safeguards.
“Yes, this is definitely Roporien’s work,” Qall said as they arrived in the vault. “Valhan would have recognised it.”
Kep had looked up as they’d entered, and now he stared at Qall intently. As he opened his mouth to speak, Annad spoke.
“Rielle Lazuli!” he exclaimed. “You’re here at last!”
“I am,” she replied, smiling and coming forward to meet him. “I hear you have succeeded in your search. Tyen has told me what you’ve learned.”
He nodded and looked at Tyen. Taking advantage of the pause, Tyen made the introductions.
“I thought you might be,” Kep said as Tyen announced Qall’s name and responsibilities. “Nobody else could be so certain about the Raen’s memories.”
Qall’s eyebrows rose. “Rielle told you of my past.”
“Vella did. Not all of it, I’m guessing.”
Q
all nodded. “We are here to see the record that contains information about Maker’s Curse.” Qall glanced at Rielle. “I think we’d like to see the record itself, before we read Vella’s translation.”
Kep nodded, then turned to Tyen. “As Director, it’s your decision who may see the inner vaults.” A habitual reluctance to reveal the secret store had risen in him. He wanted to be sure Tyen was considering carefully who had access to them.
“I give permission for you to show them,” Tyen replied.
The Librarian nodded, then beckoned and led the way to the secret door.
“I’ll stay here,” Annad said. “So it won’t get too crowded in there.”
Once again, the Librarian opened the sliding door and led them into the crack in the rock.
“Well, this is not for the faint-hearted,” Rielle muttered as they slid along the narrow space. Tyen noted that Qall was eyeing other protected alcoves containing tablets, carvings and various objects. Kep stopped beside the Scroll of the Ancients, giving Rielle and Qall room to lie under it. The linked gold plates gleamed softly in the magical lights floating above their heads.
Qall stared at the scroll in silence for some time before he spoke.
“Some of the characters seem familiar, but I can’t make sense of it.” He sounded disappointed. “I doubt Valhan would have.”
“But Vella can,” Rielle reminded him. “She must have picked up the language from someone.”
“From a scholar,” Kep told them. “More than thirteen hundred years ago.”
“So what’s on the other side of these gold pages?” Qall asked. “Have you turned them over?”
“Ah… I’d not thought of that,” Kep admitted. “I am afraid to move it though, in case I break it. Sometimes ancient things look perfectly solid but disintegrate at a touch.”
“The plates are gold and quite thick,” Qall noted. “Even the links are gold.” He looked at Tyen. “I think it is worth the risk, but the decision is yours.”
Tyen nodded. “If there’s a chance Rielle can become ageless again, we must try.” He looked at Kep. “It may be all that we need to stop Kettin destroying the worlds. We have everything on this side of the plates recorded in Vella. We won’t lose the information if they are destroyed.”
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