by Derek Palmer
There was a great deal of sadness in her voice. I wanted to curse myself for being so focused on my own mission, that I hadn't really realized that the change was happening all around the place. Maybe it wasn't that visible outside Aston yet, but for sure it was happening here. Hiding and 'forgetting' all critical plays was only a small part of this. I remembered that, when there had been the 'incident' of the dead Guardians together with those monsters, there had been one or two newspapers that had made a great deal of it, but very soon the critical discussion had more or less died.
"There are copies of those plays in the Dark Floor of the Library, together with some other dangerous books. Should I try to steal them for you?"
It was like a candle had been lit behind those eyes, but then the old woman turned serious again.
"No, it would serve no purpose. For sure, I would be happy to read those plays again, but the plays belong on the stage, not just for me, or hidden in the darkness of the Library. Just make sure that they stay safe, if you can, young man."
"I will, milady. I will do that for you."
I smiled and bowed my head to her, which resulted to few more quotations from her and the discussion continued more freely from there.
""Has Elise talked with you, Stian?""
Fainauriel was resting next to me and only her breathing had revealed to me that she wasn't asleep yet. Neither was Hantaliel, since she was moving her hand carefully along my side, just like she'd be checking that I was still there.
""About what?""
""Oh, you'd know if she had. I was just merely curious, nothing more.""
I guess that was as close to lying as you could come with the Old Language. At least I already knew better than to try to get the answer from her. If my women had conspired behind my back, I would be allowed to know when the time would be right, but not a moment sooner than that. However, it didn't mean that I couldn't tease Fainauriel and Hantaliel about it. Not that it would do me much good, either.
Even though their visit was short, it did wonders for the inside of my head and for some time even the most mindless work inside the Library felt easy. When the work felt easy, I had more energy to plan what I would need to do. Or I knew exactly what I needed to do: I needed to loot the Dark Floor inside the University Library and not get caught while doing it. Unfortunately for me, the environment where I was working seemed to get most of its strength from paranoia. However, I did my work without complaining about the nasty aspects to anybody - but now I did notice how Rudolf and some of the Magicians tiptoed around each other. Without the Old Man, Halvard, something might have happened, but the 'normal' Magicians somewhat tiptoed around him, too. It was clear that he wasn't that much liked even among the Magicians, most likely he was much more feared than liked.
The closer the summer came, the worse my situation regarding the other students became, and it had something to with Rudolf and Halvard. The situation outside seemed to have stagnated, but inside the University walls, even I was able to tell that something was going on. It was like a kettle on a hot stove, the water inside the kettle was heating more and more and at some point it would start boiling and then it might even blow the lid away. If that happened, you'd better be careful and stay at least a tad bit away from the kettle. Of course nobody spoke to me directly, but the other students weren't always too careful when they spoke. Even if I didn't really like it, I carefully mentioned what I had heard to Rudolf. His response was immediate.
"Stay f***ing out of this, kid. Stay out of this and keep your head low."
Well, at least I learned that he cared about me. I did what he asked and when the summer came the situation seemed to have calmed down inside the Library. By the end of the summer or latest a month or two after the studies started again in the autumn, I would have finished cataloging the books I wanted to loot from the Library - including the plays Hanna had talked about. My status among the workers had also risen so that I had my own room in the Dark Floor. Well, it was merely a closet without a window, and I didn't dare leave anything incriminating there since I was sure that its contents were checked every now and then. However, since my new responsibilities included checking and even fixing some books, that little space allowed me to do a few more checks for the books containing hidden messages.
Once the term started again, a new generation of Magic students noticed me and 'cared' about me. Really cared about me so that I would certainly remember my position beneath them. There had been two other students who tried working on the Dark Floor, but they were able to stand the harassment for only about six weeks. This time, there were also some female students doing the tormenting, and that felt even worse. I was easily able to ignore those male students, but with these females, it was much harder. Oh, not hard in that way, not at all. Still, seeing those girls there, studying to become Magicians brought back some nightmares that included the female Magician I had killed. For the first time, I started to really feel that I needed to get out of here.
During the summer I had made some trips to the forest, but now I didn't have that much time for such pleasures since I was working almost alone, again.
The breakthrough happened just before the autumn equinox when Frode had come to me with some old-looking paper rolls. He had 'visited' a house for a totally different reason and he found himself stranded for some time in an attic that was full of paper rolls that had been stored there. As he had had nothing else to do while waiting, he had started checking those rolls and found out that there actually had been some sort of sewer system planned for Aston, even partly built - and totally forgotten, for whatever reason.
The important thing for me was that one arm of the system started under the University Library and ended at the bank of River Aston! That was when a plan started to form. The fact that I was able to work in the Dark Floor didn't mean that I could get any books out of there. Every time any person left the Library she or he was checked for permission to actually take books away from the Library building. There was no way that I could get all the books I wanted out that way. Nor did I want anything pointing at me if the books were found missing. I was still figuring out how to cover the fact that the books would be gone. Before getting there, my first task would be to find the other end of the sewer from the river bank.
Even with the map it turned out to be difficult, since it took me three tries to find it. On the other hand it was a good thing, since there was no way that the entrance at the river could be found by accident. However, that turned out to be only a small part of the problem, since once the tunnel came close to the University, it became a maze. Dark, dusty, yet wet maze. Had I been afraid of rats there would have been no way that I could have gone there. A few times I had to use my special magic skills to persuade those rats to stay away from me. After I had wasted two days in that maze, I figured out that I needed to have some better way than the inaccurate map of the tunnels to find my way under the Library.
One night I stayed behind, doing the cleaning that had once again been left for me. Only this time I had some ultramarine pigment with me. At the back of the Library I had found a drain that was partly under a cabinet. A drain that I wasn't able to fill - so it was the most logical starting point of the sewer. Especially if they had planned to connect it to the upper floor, too. I really hoped so. However, this possibility was way too good to be ignored. So, once I was sure that I was alone there on the floor, I carried several bucketsful of water to that distant corner, mixed the ultramarine pigment with the water, and carefully poured it into the drain, careful not to leave any trace of what I had done.
The next day, I once again entered the tunnel with a lantern and a piece of chalk. Going uphill inside the maze of tunnels was a chore I wasn't too happy with since I had to walk with a stoop because the shallowness of the tunnel. Still, I almost shouted with a joy when I noticed a pale blue color in the water on the floor! After a few turns, I found an opening on the wall going steeply upwards where the blue water had come from. As soon as I
had climbed though that opening to the upper level I noticed that, if there hadn't been as much water as there was, none of it would have entered that quite steep main tunnel system.
I had come to a slightly higher part of the system. I was really happy about that and I found it was actually a bit too level to really work as a sewer. In the middle of it, there was a depression that must have been quite full of water and the bucketful I had poured from above had been just enough to give the water a blueish tint and cause it to overflow just a bit.
Without that trace of blue water it would probably had taken me weeks to find the right drain inside the maze and I cursed my own stupidity for not thinking of that sooner. Since the ceiling was higher here, I was able to stand straight and look at the blue stripes on one wall and the drain next to it. Only then did I start to worry about the light I was carrying, I didn't want anybody to notice any light coming out from the drain into the Library! I carefully opened my sensing and sighed in relief when I couldn't sense anyone close to the area. Even if the solid rock affected my sensing skill, I was able to tell that there wasn't anybody inside the Dark Floor, probably just the guard at the top of the stairs.
With that knowledge, I dared look around this small, connecting cave that joined the Library to the sewers. I thought that whatever the reason to stop making these sewers had been, I didn't mind it. I had been worried that I couldn't find the way to get the dozens of books I wanted to have, out of the Library. When I looked up, I noticed that the grate covering the hole in the Library floor was actually bigger than I had suspected; I just hadn't noticed it up there since it was partly covered by a heavy cabinet full of books. I gave one more look at the grate above me and an idea started to form inside my head. Yes, it might work out - now I just needed some more supplies.
The University wasn't that far from the River Aston, but it was on high ground and the reservoir that stored the water for the University was even higher on the hill. Had they built the sewer system they could also have built a system to deliver fresh water from the reservoir to several parts of Aston, at least on this side of the river. Instead, they only had fresh water coming to the University - and to the area where the Magicians mostly lived. In order to keep the water fresh and check the pipes, they sometimes allowed some water to flow into the open dikes next to the University. I guess that it proved that the current leaders had no idea about these old sewers.
I shook those thoughts out of my head and again concentrated on the task in hand - getting the barrels through the sewers, and all the way into the small space under the Library. At least I knew how to take barrels apart and put them tightly together again. I had tried to estimate the number of books I wanted to have and adjusted the number of barrels accordingly. I hoped that these barrels would be so sturdy that, once I got them out of this cave, they could be more or less rolled down towards the river. The only problem with these extra-sturdy barrels was their weight and I wondered if there were any other way of doing this. Most likely there was, I just was way too stupid to figure it out - and at the moment way too sweaty and dirty. Well, after a three or four more trips, it wouldn’t matter anymore. At least I learned the correct way to get under the Library and down the sewer. Most likely I could now do it in the darkness, too, if needed, by counting my steps.
Soon after Elise heard about my success, she invited me to her quarters and this time, Alva was also there. I greeted and hugged Alva like a family member I hadn't seen for a while. Which was the way I now saw her. Which was the way she was to me. I guessed that this must be about the issue Fainauriel had mentioned. It was something that I had pushed to the back of my mind, since there had been so many other things to think about.
"Stian, you know that I talked with your other family members, first with Bellcauniel and then with Fainauriel. That Hantaliel didn't really say that much."
I nodded. "I know. Even though they didn't even hint me what it was about."
"Because I asked them not to."
I didn't say anything because I was sure that Elise wasn't finished yet.
"The thing is that... "
Elise stopped for a moment and turned to look at Alva who smiled and put her hand over Elise's. Then Elise turned back towards me. I couldn't help wondering what this was about, since she hadn't been this distracted since the Twins had been killed. I waited.
"The thing is that we want to have a baby or babies, Alva and me. We would have asked Frode, but he can't... "
My first thought was that Frode probably didn't want me to know that, but the thought was a very brief one. Immediately afterwards, my mind was filled with images of my little girls I hadn't seen for ages and my heart started to ache. Then came the thought that if I would have a child with Elise or Alva, he or she wouldn't be a natural Mage and therefore I would probably outlive him or her - and I wasn't sure that I could deal with that.
"We haven't talked about this, since we aren't sure if it would be a good thing that you would see that child or those children, as we want to raise them to be part of our families. Maybe later when they are adults... According to what we have heard about you, we know that this may sound quite harsh, but... "
I raised my hand and stopped Elise. "But it's the only way, I agree. However, there's one condition: I'm not really a healer, but I'd like to try to do something about those scars on your face. Once you have a child I want her or him to be able to also see you as the beautiful person you really are, inside. If you agree to that, then, how do you two want to do this?"
The session that followed was probably one of the weirdest I'd ever had; and one of the easiest, since the only thing I needed to do was to lie still. Or that was the only thing I was allowed to do, which didn't make it unpleasant at all, but different. Afterwards I tried my healing skills to Elise's face, but the results would remain to be seen.
Back inside the Library, I decided to use that heavy cabinet to my advantage, and as a part of the freedom allowed by my job, I re-organized the cabinet and started using it as a place to store the books that needed cleaning or some other kind of care. Since nobody else really cared about the books I was interested in, there were no problems in doing that. Once I noticed that I could drop books through the grate, I constructed a net that caught the books before they fell to the floor. With some effort, I was able to fasten the net to the grate and hide the holding ropes under the cabinet. Soon, I had two barrels filled with books and rolled them down the sewer close to the River Aston. My plan was actually working! Maybe slowly, but it was working.
"Kid, come here!"
Each and every time, I wanted to say to Rudolf that my name was Stian, not 'kid.' On the other hand, what probably would have meant that those Magician students would have started harassing Stian instead of 'Kid'. Somehow it was easier to ignore them when they called me 'Kid' - even if I was several years older than most of them. So, I accepted that I would be 'a kid' a little bit longer and picked up another stepladder and joined him near the roof of the Dark Floor.
"Yes, Rudolf?"
"See these two main valves here?"
"Yes, they seem okay to me. Closed, as they should be."
The older man snorted at me. "Yes and closed they will remain unless we get a few new T-connectors out here. The last ones we got a few years ago were worthless. I complained about them immediately but those mighty ones told me to shut up. That bronze was needed elsewhere - and Kid, you certainly understand that if there's fire, and these valves need to be opened, those shitty connectors will just break and flood this floor."
I nodded at Rudolf. I knew that those pieces of pipe were expensive, and they were made from the same bronze as the cannons used in the Guardian ships. I wondered if the guys who occasionally smoked inside the Library knew that they were really playing with fire here. However, there was something unreadable in Rudolf's face when he made sure that I looked directly at him when he continued.
"At the moment I'm certain that nobody, other than the two of us, knows about
this minor thing. Those fucking guys in their robes couldn't care less about us lesser mortals - and Kid, remember that there are also some other places where you can work, besides this Library."
Now I knew what that look in his face meant. Resignation. The look in Elof's face had been similar when he had attacked the alien creature. I was about to say something, but Rudolf shook his head and waved his hand.
"Now, go do your work, and stay as far away from me as possible. Far away."
After that, nothing happened for weeks. But, just weeks before the winter solstice, some younger generation Magicians started coming into the Library and occasionally met Halvard in his room on the Dark Floor. I ignored them the best I could while I also paid extra attention to the maps stored in the Library, and also to all the books that dealt with the different languages, including dictionaries. Unlike the older books about geography and biology, those books and maps were still used. There was no way they could be missing for long. No, those were things I needed to take at the same time that I would finish this, not a moment sooner. At the same time, I would need to cover my tracks - and disappear.
