Summernight

by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  It was the only way to explain the female voice that spoke in his mind.

  Not the only way.

  Tamerlan got to his feet, his movements smooth and graceful. Even his breathing seemed to slow, the hammering of his heart calming. He looked down at his shaking body, dirty from where dirt on the floor had stuck to nervous sweat.

  This won’t do.

  He was moving to the wash basin before he knew why, washing carefully.

  Aren’t you a pretty man? I don’t think there’s enough fat to even pinch on this body of yours. And there are muscles besides. What do you do to build these lean muscles, potion-boy?

  He craned his head as if trying to see himself from behind.

  Oh yes, I like you. But as pretty as you are to admire, we can’t go out like this. Ugh. Those aren’t your clothes, are they?

  Tamerlan looked at his clothing sprawled across the floor where he’d left them. The second set still wasn’t clean from yesterday’s river adventure. He spun, noticing the clothing on the bed and quickly picked them up, looking them over.

  Good stitching. Nice fabric. Hmmm. I wouldn’t have expected someone as clearly down-and-out as you to be able to find these, but I do like them – even if they have a bit too masculine of a cut for me. And a long red wig? Really? Fake hair is never as good as the real thing.

  He was dressing before he knew it. Why? He didn’t want to wear the Lila Cherrylocks costume or go on a scavenger hunt.

  Is that what this is? I suppose I should be flattered, but honestly, you’re far too broad-shouldered to make a good female. And these trousers are going to be loose in all the wrong places and tight in all the right ones.

  Tamerlan stopped dressing. Or at least, he told his body to stop dressing. And yet, his boots were slipping on his feet and the wig was going on his head. Wait! Help!

  He was stuck inside his own body as the throaty, sultry voice in his head continued to dress.

  I suppose we shouldn’t use the door. Too conspicuous. But that window looks tempting. Shall we?

  And then he – they? – were out the window like a flash and climbing easily down the stone wall as if Tamerlan just scrambled up and down walls spider-style all the time. Instead of wanting to throw up at the very thought of it.

  We are not throwing up. Get a hold of yourself. You’re riding with Lila Cherrylocks tonight!

  Ha! That was a joke! Tamerlan might be dressed as Lila Cherrylocks – dressed like a woman! They needed to turn back before someone saw him like this! - but he was riding in his own head like a passenger while some horrific demon ran his body and chattered in his ears. Who knew what she would have him do?

  Party? Steal a few things? Maybe win this scavenger hunt you’ve been telling me about. What are you looking for?

  Tamerlan didn’t know and he definitely wasn’t going to take her to Master Juggernaut’s to find out. First, he needed to see if she really could break into locked buildings. Then, if she proved she could, they’d need to break into where his sister was being held. He could dress like a girl all night if he could do that.

  I like the idea of visiting this Juggernaut. He has the list for the game? I haven’t been in a scavenger hunt in ages and I love a good chase!

  No. Positively not. What a waste that would be! He’d done all this to save his sister, not to give a demon an evening of fun.

  They were sauntering down the lantern-lit street almost as if the demon already knew which way to find Master Juggernaut. Tamerlan fought against the sway in his walk. He did not walk like that!

  I’m no demon, pretty man. I’m who we’re dressed as – Lila Cherrylocks – and I walk with a sway in my hips.

  It couldn’t be true. The real Lila Cherrylocks had been a famous thief and brigand.

  Yes.

  She’d made her fortune outsmarting the nobles of her time and taking every magical item in the city hostage to store in her haunted catacombs under the city.

  Yes.

  And then she’d died when a rival feigned love for her and seduced her into a deadly trap.

  Indeed.

  So, she couldn’t be here in Tamerlan’s head, controlling his body.

  And yet I am. What did you think would happen when you opened the Bridge of Legends?

  The what?

  They sliced through the streets like a fish through water, Lila sniffing the air and taking in the sights like she was drinking in the city itself, eating its atmosphere, reveling in the excited squeals and hushed whispers of the huddled groups scouring the city with blue rolls of parchment in their hands.

  The Bridge between this world and the next life? The Bridge to the heroes of Legend – to me. You opened it wide and called and it just so happened that I was nearby.

  It was meant to help him. It was meant to be for times of great need.

  Maybe it is. How would I know? I haven’t seen anyone use it in all the time I’ve been a Legend.

  Why the smoke, though?

  Don’t you know that the smoke ceremonies open you up to spirits?

  Wasn’t that a figure of speech?

  Nope. Isn’t learning fun?

  But it was useless if Lila was just going to use it as a chance to have a night out. Worse than useless when Tamerlan only had a few days left until Summernight. They were wasting one of them.

  Ah! Don’t you know that Festivals are a time when magic comes closer to the world? All that belief out there – all that hope! – it opens doors that don’t open at other times.

  And it opened the chance to have my world end.

  Are you always such a gloomy companion?

  She’d found her way through the winding city streets to Juggernauts’ Alchemical Tonics as if she knew the way.

  It’s in your memory.

  The massive building, built of green jade pillars and steps and inlaid with brass polished to look like gold, had a wide-peaked roof with corners that turned up at the ends. Ruddy red roof tiles clashed with the green jade. Like Master Juggernaut, it was bold and eye-catching.

  Its owner stood on the top step, holding his arms up for silence. They had arrived just in time for him to speak. Dragon spit! Dragon spit and the fires of the underworld! He’d been seen.

  Dathan shot him a grin from the crowd, motioning Tamerlan over. Lila moved to join him and Tamerlan gritted his teeth – figuratively. He couldn’t even do that in his own body. He couldn’t even blush as every eye turned toward him with grins and snickers at his costume. Couldn’t even hang his head in shame. She was going to ruin everything.

  Look, you’re spoiling this for me. How about a deal? You go along with my fun and I’ll break into something for you tonight as a ‘test’ just like you want. Then we both get something out of this. Deal?

  What choice did he have?

  Well, I could skip the part that makes you happy and just do what I want.

  Deal.

  Get ready, pretty man! This is going to get good.

  I’m Tamerlan.

  Like I need to know your name. Her mental snort made him want to weep.

  “Alchemists!” Master Juggernaut roared.

  Around him, cheers rose.

  “Are we going to win this hunt?”

  “Yes!” the answer soared from every throat, including Tamerlan’s.

  Beside Master Juggernaut, even Master Kurond was grinning.

  “It’s not going to be easy, boys and girls,” Juggernaut called out. He was loving the spotlight. “They don’t give you a list like this and expect it to be easy! Do we want easy?”

  “No!”

  Great. Lila was yelling, ‘no’ right along with the rest. She was loving this.

  “Do we want to be challenged?” He made a fist. “Do we want to have to slug our way to victory?”

  “Yes!”

  “We have until dawn! Collect your parchment from Kaviness. Bring your treasures here at the end of the night. I expect to see every one of them when gold lights the horizon! Now, tell me, who is going to
win this year’s hunt?”

  “Alchemists!” we roared and then Juggernaut was joining Kurond and the other masters, patting each other on the backs and laughing and poor Kaviness who was balding at twenty-two and who jumped if you said his name too loud, was handing out parchment slips to everyone.

  Tamerlan grabbed his as Lila made his heart race with anticipation.

  “This is crazy!” Dathan said from beside Tamerlan. But he didn’t sound disappointed. He sounded eager. “There are hundreds of things on this list. How will the smaller teams even do half of this?”

  “I don’t know,” Tamerlan said, reading the list. It wasn’t just common things on the list. There were also some things that could only be acquired illegally.

  “A human hand?” Dathan asked skeptically. “Where would we even get that?”

  Tamerlan shuddered. But it wouldn’t have to be taken from the living. There were crypts beneath the city. There were sarcophaguses above it.

  “The Satyr’s Diamond? What is that?” he asked, amazement dripping from his tone. “A Grimoire? I don’t even think those exist! Are you reading this, Tamerlan?”

  Tamerlan was. Lila was reading it, too. He hated how she clutched that scrap of parchment, like she wanted to keep it forever.

  This is going to be great. We just need to lose this guy. I can tell you know where the libraries are.

  Libraries?

  For the grimoire, obviously.

  If the libraries made you stamp your blood on the pages to take out a book, what would they do to someone who tried to take one?

  Tamerlan clapped Dathan on the shoulder as Lila spoke with his tongue. “I’ll get the grimoire. You work on that hand. You’re friends with that kid who works for the crypt-keeper, aren’t you?”

  Dathan looked as ill as Tamerlan felt.

  Well, you are the one who wanted to break into something. Let’s go try out my lockpicking and theft skills, shall we? And maybe we can find a grimoire in the process!

  12: Grimoire

  Tamerlan

  TAMERLAN HAD EXPECTED the University District to be nearly empty at this time of night. The only district not to use street lights at all, and the district with the largest plazas and open spaces, the University District was wreathed in shadows made long by moonlight, but it was far from empty.

  Groups of people – anywhere from knots of five to single individuals – roamed the streets, checking the doors and windows of the Libraries, seeking a way inside.

  “Are you here for the Hunt?” A woman asked from a mysterious booth set up against the Queen Mer library.

  The booth hadn’t been there yesterday. It didn’t look like something the Librarians would approve of. They liked things that fit their rules. The garish colors of the booth and the glowing green lantern set on the front table were not the kinds of things they would approve of. Neither was the young woman with hair pulled back under a high hat, her figure hidden under a floor-length black coat with a high collar. It was partly unbuttoned to show a golden waistcoat and a green scarf around her neck. I knew this legend. She was dressed as Grandfather Timeless.

  “I might be,” Tamerlan answered, smiling. He should be avoiding attention, not speaking to someone who might remember him later. But Lila had other plans. “Can you help me with it?”

  The woman smiled mysteriously. “Time knows no beginning and no end. No master and no friend.”

  “And does ‘Time’ happen to know where I can find a grimoire?” Tamerlan asked, leaning in a little closer than he would have liked as a blush crept up on the woman’s face. She was young, he realized. Not much older than he was.

  “All things are the same to time. What is a grimoire now was a sheep and berries before it was parchment and ink. What it will be hereafter is dust and then maybe brick or road or house. What it will be after that ... who can say? Perhaps a seed will sprout and pull from it enough life to rise into a tree. Perhaps a man will eat of the fruit. Perhaps what is a grimoire today will be a king tomorrow.” She held out a handful of dust on a velvet-gloved hand. “Grimoire for your thoughts?”

  It was just religious talk. The Timekeepers were popular around here. And they all said the same thing – embrace the all. Everything is inside everything else. Time is timeless. Life is lifeless.

  “Maybe I’ll be back,” Tamerlan said with a wink, hating himself for it.

  The girl laughed and the dust was back under the counter. He wondered how many people had bought a handful of dust tonight. He didn’t care if Lila wanted to buy dust as long as she did what she needed to do and stopped wasting time talking to cultists as they swindled hopeful treasure seekers.

  As Tamerlan turned away, another group of seekers strode up to the booth, laughing and jostling one another impatiently. One of the girls – dressed like Maid Chaos, winked at him as he sauntered by. She elbowed her friend – a laughing Deathless Pirate and they both doubled over in laughter.

  Yeah, yeah. What was a guy doing dressed as Lila Cherrylocks? He knew he looked ridiculous.

  So ridiculous that no one saw me swipe the lockpicks from that huckster selling dust.

  She stole lockpicks? From a thief?

  What did you think we were doing there? Flirting?

  Ummm ... yes?

  Ha! I like men with broad shoulders and not a pinch of fat, Tamerlan. I don’t like girls in Grandfather Time outfits.

  Tamerlan was still blinking in surprise when he ducked into a thick shadow and rushed up the stairs to the Queen Mer Library. The octopuses and curling waves carved into the friezes around the main doors seemed to be mocking him as he sidled up to the doors – twice his height and carved of stone – and pulled a set of gleaming tools out of a velvet bag in his pocket.

  She hadn’t been lying. She really had picked the pocket of Grandfather Timeless. And she’d done it without being caught ... even by Tamerlan.

  See? They don’t call you ‘Master Thief” because you bake great bread. I earned my reputation.

  The picks sank into the lock, maneuvered by his expert fingers and with a series of clicks and a gentle hand on the door handle, the door swung silently open.

  Tamerlan gasped as he tucked the lockpicks away and slid into the doorway.

  The library was dark. Instinctually, he slipped to the front desk, lit in a circular halo by the round window in the wall of the lobby. Moonlight gilded the desk in silver and velvet black. And on the desk, bright in the light of the moon, was the logbook with his own name and fingerprint on the ledger. His thumb pricked where it had been poked to make the mark.

  Tamerlan reached past the logbook to a set of books so massive that they were chained to the desk along its length. He’d never opened one before, but Lila seemed to know her way. He lifted the front cover of the first, his index finger sailing down a list. Closed the cover. Moved on. The next book was the same and then the next and then on the fourth book, Lila paused, noting a series of letters and numbers beside a single entry.

  Books of Magic, practical XIV34 Z26 A53

  He opened the book further, turning four inches of thick paper all at once, his finger twisting the top corner closer to get a better angle on the moonbeam.

  XIV13

  He flicked through the pages, licking his finger to turn them more easily.

  XIV34

  There was a list:

  Magic: A Chronicle

  Magic of the Neverworlds

  Magic Potions: a practical primer

  It carried on across both pages and probably further still.

  Tamerlan’s finger skimmed along until it found:

  Magic: Grimoire of the Taslan Empire

  He was moving before he realized what Lila had come for, slipping into the library beyond. He’d never set foot so far into the library! The shelves loomed like mountain ranges waiting to be mined for golden secrets and silver sorrows. He felt a thrill of delight just looking at them all. If only he could spend all night flipping through them and investigating what the Lib
rary held.

  He ghosted along the corridors between them. How did he even know where to go?

  Don’t you see the numbers on the plaques?

  And there they were B16 D42.

  A little farther.

  And farther they went, into the mouth of the library. Tamerlan felt as if he were being swallowed by an ancient beast, a creature of imagination and memory, a creature that would swallow him whole. Perhaps in time, it would spit his body back into the land of the living, but it would never again relinquish his mind.

  It was the teeth, he decided. The teeth carved along the tops of the shelves between the glowing, moonlit skylights.

  Are you always so fanciful?

  He’d reached his destination.

  Z26 A53

  And now his hands skimmed along the leather-bound books, stroking them like the hair of a lover as his fingertips skimmed their bindings. Thick, thin, rough, smooth, each a repository of a world known only within the pages of that one tome – that one, momentary glimpse into the nebulous mind of the one who penned it.

  You’re a daydreamer. I should have known. A practical person would never have opened the Bridge of Legends.

  His hand snatched a book off the shelf – a small book, no bigger than his hand, but thick as his wrist. On the cover, the title was stamped: Grimoire of the Taslan Empire.

  Success!

  They were already rushing down the aisles back the way they came, Tamerlan wishing he could stay just a little while longer. Lila ready to bring her prize back to Master Juggernaut.

  I’m surprised you want to stay. After all, I proved I could break into anywhere. Isn’t that what you wanted? Didn’t you have somewhere else you wanted us to go?

  He did!

  If they hurried, there would still be time!

  He skidded around the shelf and right into a shadowy figure. He tucked the grimoire into his belt in a fluid motion and then his hands came up, grabbing the figure by the neck and slamming her against the end of the bookshelf.

  His victim cried out, her voice sharp and muted at the same time. He was cutting off her breath. He could feel her kicking and fighting against his hands.