Cave of Wonders

by Matthew J. Kirby

  “I’m Dak. This is Sera and Riq.”

  “Is that so?” The tone of the man’s voice became serious. “Unusual names.”

  “Yes, well” — Sera put on that innocent smile that Riq had seen her use before — “we’re not from here.”

  “I perceive that,” the man said. “I believe you have traveled far. Very far indeed.”

  Riq thought he seemed suspicious. Was he simply talking about their clothes from China? Or did he mean something else? The first guy had said Abi liked to show newcomers around the place, and now Riq wondered why that was. Could it be because Abi was the Hystorian? Maybe being the designated tour guide let him check to see if any strangers coming to the House of Wisdom were from the future.

  Riq decided to test that theory. “We come from farther away than you would probably think. He said you like to show new people around?”

  “I do,” Abi said. “I . . . have an interest in where people come from, and how and why they find their way here to the House of Wisdom.”

  “I bet you hear all kinds of stories,” Riq said.

  “I do.” Abi smiled. “But so far, nothing that would seem impossible to believe. No one has yet flown here, for example. Or come by other means unknown to the people of my time.”

  Time. That settled it in Riq’s mind. This guy had to be either a Hystorian or a Time Warden, and since he still doubted they’d find any Time Wardens here in the House of Wisdom, the moment had come for them to stick their necks out once again. He looked at Sera and Dak, and gave a little shrug. He was going for it.

  “We came here by something you might think is impossible,” he said.

  “Oh?” Abi asked.

  “Yeah, you could say our . . . boat travels backward up the river.”

  Abi cocked his head. “I see. Come, let me show you more of the House of Wisdom.”

  He gestured for them to follow him, and they proceeded down one of the arched walkways around the courtyard. From there, they took one of the corridors deeper into the building, the scuff of their steps echoing back at them. They passed several spacious rooms, each lined with bookshelves set in arched alcoves with borders of intricate paint and tile around them. Scholars were at work within each of the rooms, reading and writing and speaking in hushed tones.

  Riq thought back to the courtyard. If all the corridors were like this, with big rooms full of books, then there were thousands and thousands of volumes here.

  Eventually, they came to what Riq assumed was some kind of sitting area. Except there weren’t any chairs. Persian rugs covered the floor, and cushions and pillows surrounded a few low tables. It was otherwise empty.

  “Please, sit down.” Abi gestured toward one of the tables.

  Riq, Sera, and Dak all lowered themselves to the floor. It was actually comfortable. Really comfortable. More comfortable than any of the chairs at the Hystorian headquarters, that was for sure. Riq thought he might suggest to Brint and Mari that they start conducting all Hystorian meetings on cushions on the floor. But then he remembered his fears and that thought turned to dread.

  “Good. Now we can talk.” Abi took a seat across the table from them. “As I’m sure you have guessed, I, like you, am a Hystorian.”

  Riq didn’t know whether that was cause for celebration or despair.

  SERA WAS finally able to relax a little. They had found Abi, in spite of Dak, but also because of Dak, and it was quiet here. The walls of the House of Wisdom kept the clamor and chaos of the city out, and Sera thought this was a place she could get some work done. Maybe solve the Riemann hypothesis, which seemed appropriate, since the Babylonians were the first to use the number zero, one of the few history facts that interested Sera.

  “So you know why we’re here?” Riq asked Abi.

  “Of course. You are here from the future to prevent a Great Break from occurring.”

  “Exactly,” Riq said.

  Abi leaned forward. “And do you know what this Break is? Does it have to do with Hulagu Khan and the Mongols, who are at our very doorstep?”

  “Yes,” Dak said. “They’re going to sack Baghdad in two days. According to the history books, it’s going to be bad. And I mean really bad.”

  “How bad?” Abi asked.

  “Baghdad will basically be a ghost town for a few hundred years,” Dak said.

  Abi sat back, exhaling sharply. “And what of the libraries?”

  “The Mongols are going to destroy them,” Dak said. “Eyewitnesses said the Tigris River ran black with the ink of all the books they threw in the water.”

  “No, no, no,” Abi whispered, eyes wide, shaking his head. “‘The scholar’s ink is more sacred than the blood of martyrs.’ So said the Prophet, peace be upon him.”

  It looked to Sera like Abi felt an almost physical pain when he thought about books being destroyed. But Sera had learned among her ancestors just how powerful a single book could be. Books could save cultures, like the Maya. In the case of Aristotle, books could save the world.

  “Do you have a plan for how to repair this Break?” Abi asked.

  “No,” Riq said. “All we know is that we can’t let Aristotle’s writings be destroyed. Beyond that, we were hoping you might be able to give us some ideas.”

  Abi took a deep breath. “I think it would be impossible to prevent the Mongols from attacking. They have swept through Persia already, and even conquered the fortress of Alamut, which no force has done in nearly two hundred years.”

  “What about the caliph?” Riq asked. “Can’t he just talk to Hulagu? Maybe even surrender?”

  “Hulagu will attempt to negotiate, but the caliph does not believe the city will fall. He will not see reason. That is why he waited until it was too late before he sent out his cavalry.”

  Sera remembered what she’d heard at the Archway of the Armorers. “And they were all wiped out.” She shuddered. “Okay. So the Mongols are coming and we can’t stop them. Can we move the books?”

  “No,” Abi said. “It would take a thousand camels, and even then, where would we move them to? I’ve heard the Mongol army is now on both sides of the river.” He made a fist. “They have the city in a vise.”

  “What about just saving Aristotle’s book?” Dak asked. “That seems easier, and it’s all Brint and Mari needed for the Prime Break, right?”

  “How would you save it?” Abi asked.

  “I don’t know,” Dak said. “Just hide it somewhere.”

  Abi scratched his beard. “And do you think you could find a place where it would be safe for several centuries? How will it be found when it is needed? Who will find it? What if the SQ get to it before then?”

  Dak held up his hands. “Okay, okay. I get it.”

  Sera had another idea. Maybe the safest place for the book was with them. “What if we take it with us?” she asked. “Just take it to Brint and Mari in the present.”

  “And what happens to my time without it?” Abi asked. “How do you know if by taking it, you are not robbing the intervening centuries of needed knowledge? Books need libraries. Libraries are the vessels of the world’s accumulated wisdom.”

  “So we have to save the library,” Riq said. “We may not be able to stop Hulagu from attacking the city. But could we stop him from destroying the libraries?”

  “What?” Dak said. “Like, just ask him? ‘Hey, Hulagu, what’s goin’ on, dude? Hey listen, I know you’re about to conquer Baghdad and all, but do you think you could leave that library alone? That’d be great. Thanks.’”

  “Shut up,” Riq said.

  “You shut up,” Dak said.

  “I’m not the one suggesting dumb ideas,” Riq said.

  “That sure sounded like one to me,” Dak said.

  Abi looked back and forth between them like someone watching a tennis match played by monkeys.

  “Oh, for the love of —” Just when Sera thought these two might be starting to get along, they turned back into bickering second graders, and for the thirty-sevent
h time she wondered if immaturity was a side effect of time travel. “Both of you, grow up!”

  They stopped.

  Dak folded his arms, glowering.

  Riq clenched his jaw for a few seconds, and then said, “I was just thinking that persuasion might be an option.”

  “Dumb!” Dak said.

  “Actually,” Abi said, “you might be close to something.”

  “You think Hulagu might actually see reason?” Sera asked.

  “I have someone else in mind,” Abi said. “When Hulagu conquered the Alamut fortress, he took an imprisoned scholar from there as his advisor. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi.”

  Sera knew that name. Tusi was a famous astronomer and mathematician, and Sera had studied him. She admired him. The Tusi Couple was really important in Copernicus’s model of the solar system and the motions of the planets. And Tusi was with Hulagu Khan?

  “The caliph has already refused to surrender,” Abi said, “but I have heard that Hulagu will send Tusi to the caliph to attempt to convince him. If we can persuade Tusi, then he might have enough influence with Hulagu to get him to spare the library.”

  “It’s worth a shot,” Riq said. “Do you know when he’ll be here?”

  Abi shook his head. “I think very soon. Let me reach out to my contacts in the palace. They will know more.”

  A short while later, Abi brought them food. Really good food. There were dates, olives, cheese, and flatbread, with a couple of spicy dishes that reminded Sera of curry. They drank water flavored with the juice of melons. While eating around the low tables, they mostly used their fingers and the flatbread to scoop food into their mouths. Dak seemed to really enjoy eating with his hands. And of course, he especially enjoyed the cheese.

  “Mm,” he said. “It’s a goat cheese like feta or chevret, but saltier.”

  Abi didn’t eat, but instead asked them questions about the future world they had come from. Sera was surprised at some of his reactions. He readily accepted some things she thought he might not believe them about, like cars.

  “Automata are well known to us,” he said. “The Banū Mūsā brothers created many ingenious devices here in the House of Wisdom centuries ago.”

  But when they talked about the other Great Breaks, Abi grew surprised, and even doubtful. He was especially amazed at their adventure with the Maya.

  “Do you mean there is another land across the sea that we know nothing about?” he asked.

  “Yes.” Sera sat up straight when she talked about her ancestors now. “The people there have a powerful empire with an amazing culture.”

  “And you saved their writings, too?” Abi asked.

  “Yeah,” Riq said. “This is actually the second book we’ve had to save.”

  “Not just a book.” Abi looked around. “A library.”

  Dak cleared his throat. “And now you guys see why history is important, right? Not just the facts of what happened, but how we remember what happened, too.”

  Sera had to admit Dak had a point there. The SQ had proven there were a lot of ways they could mess with history. Sometimes, they didn’t even need to change a particular event. All they had to do was get rid of certain books or change what was written about those events. So, yes, history was important, but that didn’t mean she had to obsess over it the way he did.

  “Sure, Dak,” she said.

  After that, Abi led them to another room he had prepared with more cushions and pillows and blankets.

  “You’ll sleep here,” he said. “You must be tired.”

  Between their adventure in China, a whole day walking and running through the city, the big meal in her stomach, and the comfortable-looking bed in front of her, Sera was suddenly very tired.

  “Get some rest,” Abi said. “Hopefully, we will have news of Tusi in the morning.”

  They said good night, and he left.

  Dak threw himself backward onto a pile of pillows. “I love this place.”

  Riq fell sideways onto a thick blanket. “I gotta say, it’s pretty nice. I can’t believe Hulagu’s going to destroy it.”

  “He’s not,” Dak said. “We got this.”

  But something nagged at Sera. It had started when they were talking about history and books, and hadn’t let up. She reached up to tug the hair that wasn’t there anymore, a nervous habit left over from a time before she’d cut her hair short to disguise herself as a boy.

  “What is it, dude?” Dak was looking at her. “You’re pulling on air there. Something’s bothering you.”

  Dak was right about that, in a couple of ways. There was something bothering her, something huge — she’d seen the Cataclysm. But that wasn’t actually what she was thinking of at the moment.

  “The SQ,” she said. “We haven’t identified a Time Warden here. They could be anywhere. They could be anyone. That just makes me nervous.”

  “The SQ will show themselves,” Riq said. “They always do.”

  Abi woke them the next morning with a delicious breakfast of fruits and nuts, with more bread. “It is just as I suspected,” he said as they ate. “Tusi is coming to the palace today.”

  “Will we go see him?” Sera asked.

  “Yes, we leave shortly.”

  Sera was excited about the idea of meeting the great mathematician, someone she actually knew about for a change. She was certain he would help them, once he knew the situation. She didn’t know how she would explain that situation, exactly, but she thought Abi would probably be able to do a better job than any of them.

  They finished eating, and then Abi brought them some clothes to change into. Dak and Riq put on robes like most of the other men she’d seen. Sera put on a silk dress, with a beaded vest over a silk shirt with flowing sleeves. It was yet another dress, which she hated, but they all agreed they couldn’t go before the caliph dressed in their Chinese clothing. After they’d changed, Abi led them from their room, back down the corridors of the House of Wisdom, around the central courtyard, and out the front door. He turned toward the palace they had seen the day before, and guided them to it.

  As they drew closer, Sera’s mouth hung open just a bit at the sight of it. The high walls, the domes, the towers. The palace guards admitted them through an imposing gate, after which they passed into a garden full of color. The plants here were obviously well cared for, and the air was heavy with floral fragrances. The scent of roses, in particular, struck Sera like a wave.

  The dizzying fog of a Remnant fell over her, different from any she had ever felt before. Her past Remnants had always been vague, mostly feelings and impressions. But now, in this Remnant, she actually saw her mother. She was standing in a garden, pruning a white rosebush, a big, floppy hat on her head to keep the sun out of her eyes. She looked up, smiled, and beckoned for Sera to help her.

  With that, the Remnant folded up and fluttered away, leaving Sera aching at what it had shown her. Her mother. Sera knew she had a mother now, out there somewhere. She wasn’t going to let the Cataclysm take her away.

  DAK NOTICED Sera rubbing her forehead. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “What?” She blinked and took a deep breath. “Yes, I’m okay.”

  “A Remnant?” Riq asked. “In the barn?”

  Dak did a double take. Sera had told Riq about her parents’ barn? It sounded like Riq knew more about what Sera experienced than Dak did, like the two of them had talked about it or something.

  “No.” She shook her head. “Let’s — let’s just keep going. I’m fine.”

  Riq looked worried, and so did Abi. Dak watched Sera, wishing he knew what Remnants were like, so he would know what she was going through. He didn’t like Riq knowing things about his best friend that even Dak didn’t know. But based on Riq’s behavior, Dak guessed Riq must have Remnants, too. He wondered what those Remnants were.

  “This way,” Abi said.

  They continued through the garden, and Dak heard a trumpeting sound up ahead.

  “Is that” — Riq turned his h
ead toward the noise — “an elephant?”

  Abi nodded. “Yes, we are entering the Park of Wild Beasts.”

  They entered a new part of the garden where pens and enclosures lined the path. They saw giraffes and zebras and four elephants decked out in huge sheets of pink silk with silver embroidery. They passed cages rumbling with bears, lions, leopards, and tigers, some of which were led by chains held by what Dak assumed were very, very brave men.

  “It’s a zoo,” Sera said.

  “No, it’s a menagerie,” Dak said.

  Riq lifted an eyebrow at him.

  “What?” Dak said. “You’re not the only one who knows words.”

  Riq chuckled and they moved on, past a large fountain, between two marble columns and into the palace. The floors were made of marble, too, carpeted by enormous rugs woven with many colors and intricate patterns of vines, flowers, and animals. Tapestries and silks hung from walls of stone and wood, which were covered in carvings. It all looked just how Dak had imagined it would when he’d read One Thousand and One Nights.

  Guards patrolled the palace, but they didn’t stop Abi. He led the three of them through vast rooms, more courtyards, and into a second, inner garden. At the center of this garden was a shade tent, open on three sides. Near it stood a silver tree, with leaves of different colored metals. Jeweled birds of silver and gold perched throughout its branches, and they fluttered their wings and sang with the wind. Dak thought this must’ve been the kind of automata Abi had been talking about. Beneath the canopy, a man reclined on a sofa. His clothing was the fanciest Dak had seen so far, embroidered with golden threads, his turban made of a shiny material.

  As soon as they’d taken a few steps into the garden, another man approached them. He was round, and he teetered toward them like a bowling pin. “What is the meaning of this, Abi?” he asked.

  “Greetings, Grand Vizier,” Abi said. “We have come hoping to speak with Tusi, once he has spoken with the caliph.”