They were sitting together on a small sofa, trying not to stare at Ana and Griel who were sitting opposite, all the way on the other side of the room. Someone had given Ana a cup of tea, and the woman had been calmer since. Eva wondered idly where Limbane had found the perfect, if old-fashioned, porcelain tea set she was using.
They had all been cooped up in the Library for some time. To Eva it felt like weeks. They’d talked and talked; every detail of their experiences with Krays had been gone over again and again until Eva felt ready to scream. They’d slept and eaten and then repeated those meetings all over again, until at last Limbane seemed satisfied.
Whether he’d learned anything more through this exhausting cross-examination, Eva couldn’t tell.
‘So...’ said Tren in a long sigh. ‘Conclusions?’
‘If they aren’t on our cluster of worlds, where else could they be? As far as I know, draykoni can’t cross clusters at will.’
He grunted assent. ‘Got to be Krays, then.’
‘Mhm.’ She thought about that. ‘We need to be sure, though. We might be missing something important.’
‘And anyway, if we’re right we’re still facing the question of why Mr Krays-the-Abominable has carted them off.’
‘In which case we’re stuck.’
‘Mhm.’ Eva leaned over a little and rested her head on Tren’s shoulder. ‘So how do we get more information?’
‘Well.’ Tren dropped a quick kiss on her hair. ‘These two aren’t Krays’s primary agents anymore. Haven’t been for a while. Who are his closest associates?’
‘They might know, I suppose,’ she said, nodding in the direction of Ana and Griel.
‘But Krays’s closest associates are unlikely to betray him, even if we learn who they are.’
‘True,’ Eva conceded.
‘That’s assuming he’s keeping anyone informed about his antics. Seems he’s secretive.’
‘Also a problem,’ she agreed, snuggling a little closer. She waited.
Tren thought.
‘If only there was a way get at him more directly. This dancing about on the edges isn’t getting us far enough.’
‘If only.’
‘It’s no use going back to those warehouses. We know he moves them around regularly. We’d need to get into the Library itself, and of course that’s impossible.’
‘Completely.’
Silence. Eva could almost hear him thinking.
‘Although... no, that’s far too dangerous.’
She sighed and sat up. ‘It is, but this isn’t a matter of choice anymore.’
He stared at her, suspicious. ‘You’ve already worked this out.’
‘A while back,’ she confirmed. ‘I was waiting for you to reach the same conclusion.’
‘You couldn’t have just told me the plan?’
‘After the fuss you made about bringing Griel here? I didn’t want to get into another fight with you.’
‘We’re going to have one anyway,’ he said grimly. ‘Let’s make sure we’re clear about this. You want to use those two, don’t you?’ He jerked his head at the far side of the room, where Ana and Griel still sat in eerie silence. If they could hear what was being discussed, they gave no sign of it.
‘They’re the only link we have to Krays.’
Tren closed his eyes for a moment. ‘So, what? We’re double agents, is that the story? We offer to sell out Limbane, get ourselves accepted into Krays’s Library, and do our worst.’
‘Mostly right, but I was thinking I would do that part.’
That produced a look of pure horror. ‘You’re doing this alone?’
She stroked his arm. ‘I’m not at all sure Krays will allow a non-Lokant in his Library, being so paranoid and all. So I thought I’d leave you somewhere... um, safe.’
His expression softened slightly, but he still shook his head. ‘I appreciate the whole not-wanting-to-get-me-vivisected thing, but it’s out of the question.’
‘Is it? How are you planning to stop me?’
He opened his mouth, shut it again and at last looked so forlorn that her heart twisted in an odd, unpleasant way. ‘You can’t leave me behind,’ he pleaded. ‘We’ve done this together, all the way.’
‘There’ll be plenty for you to do elsewhere, Tren.’
‘I don’t care. I’m going with you.’
She sighed. ‘And the Lokant problem?’
‘We can work it out. We always do.’ He ran both hands through his already disordered hair, looking desperate. ‘Look, I can’t be left here wondering if you’re still alive.’
Weighing everything up, Eva faced a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, the prospect of seeing Tren hurt or killed for any reason, let alone because of something she’d planned, was appalling.
But she could also understand, all too well, how much torture it would be to leave him behind. For both of them.
‘Well,’ she said in the end, ‘there’s still the problem of your not being a Lokant, or even a partial. If we can get around that, then...’
‘Then?’ he prompted.
‘Then we’re both going.’
Tren let out a long sigh of relief. ‘Thank you.’
Eva couldn’t speak. She was too busy praying she wasn’t making a terrible mistake.
Of course, arranging this crazy plan of hers wasn’t easy. When the idea was broached to Krays’s disgraced former agents, Ana just looked at them both like they were completely mad.
‘You want to go into that Library?’ she said in disbelief.
‘Not really, no. But it’s necessary.’
Ana’s mouth twisted nastily. ‘Why don’t you just send your new lackeys?’
Eva realised she meant Griel and herself.
‘Because Krays doesn’t trust you,’ she replied frankly. ‘And neither do I.’
‘Yet you expect him to accept the two of you on our recommendation.’
‘Yes,’ Eva said. ‘And this is why. Limbane is convinced that Krays’s goal in all of this is to take over this Library; that he’s got some kind of vendetta against Limbane himself. If that’s true on any level at all, Krays will want people who’ve got access to this place.’
Ana wasn’t impressed. ‘What if it isn’t true?’
‘That’s possible,’ Eva admitted. ‘But I don’t believe the opposite is true either. We’ve asked why Krays is so absorbed by our cluster of worlds, but we didn’t ask the same question about Limbane. Whatever is going on, they’re both bound up in it. Limbane’s got something that Krays will want.’
‘Maybe,’ Ana said, ‘but what if he’s already turned some of Limbane’s people?’
That silenced Eva for a moment. What if he had? How could she know?
‘We’ll have to risk that,’ she decided. ‘If he doesn’t need us, hopefully the worst that will happen is that he’ll say no.’
‘Hopefully,’ Ana snorted.
Eva shrugged. ‘I can’t think of anything better, can you? Storming his Library isn’t going to help. He knows Limbane does that from time to time, so he’ll be prepared for it. He won’t leave anything important lying about for intruders to stumble over. If we want his secrets, we’re going to have to get him to trust us.’
Ana laughed at that, a despairing sound. ‘Krays doesn’t trust anyone.’
‘We’ll bear that in mind.’
Griel spoke. ‘We may be able to get you in. But not him.’ He indicated Tren with a brief glance.
‘No? Why not?’
‘Krays recruits extensively from the non-Lokant population, but they are only used for ground work in this cluster. They are never given Library access.’
‘Never?’
‘Never that I have heard of.’
Eva thought briefly about trying to persuade Krays otherwise. But on what grounds? Tren’s sorcery wouldn’t be enough; Krays would have access to that already through people like Griel. She looked at Tren, prepared for a fresh round of objections.
But Tren wasn’t l
ooking upset. Instead he looked... cunning.
‘Question,’ he said. ‘Can you spot another Lokant, or partial Lokant, without using the hair colour as a clue?’
That silenced the room. Eva could see the same thoughts flitting over Ana’s and Griel’s faces as were passing through her own mind. Could they? She was thinking of Andraly, who affected a chestnut-coloured wig. ‘It’s dull looking the same as everyone else,’ Andraly had once said by way of explanation. She hadn’t known that the woman was a fellow partial until much later, when she had first seen her without the wig.
But then, she was only a partial Lokant herself, and at the time she had been untrained.
She shared all of this.
‘Exactly,’ Ana nodded. ‘You’re asking a roomful of partials. Full Lokants may be more adept at spotting their own kind. But as far as we’re concerned? No, we probably wouldn’t be able to say that someone definitely isn’t a Lokant.’
Tren smiled.
‘Tren,’ Eva said warningly. ‘You aren’t seriously considering this?’
He looked at her in astonishment. ‘Not serious? Me?’
She gripped his shirt. ‘You told me off for crazy ideas. What do you call this?’
‘Crazy,’ he smiled.
‘What are you going to do, wear a wig? You’ll be in far more danger of discovery than I will be.’
‘I’ll have to be careful then, won’t I?’
Griel interjected again, his deep voice expressionless. ‘And your Lokant abilities? How will you explain the lack?’
‘Well. Hm.’ Tren gently loosened Eva’s grip on his shirt and held her away from him. ‘Am I right in thinking you can’t use the Map, Griel?’
‘To my regret, that is correct.’
‘Well then, the same is true of me. Sadly I’m a much diluted Lokant; I can’t use the Map and I couldn’t master healing either.’
‘Why healing?’ Eva said.
‘Because you can’t do it either. If we’re ever put on the spot, neither of us could fake it.’
‘Good point. And the rest?’
‘I can fake the camouflage thing well enough. Sorc disguise is almost the same.’
‘Almost but not the same, Tren.’
Tren shrugged impatiently. ‘What’s he going to do, make me sit an exam first? We’ll tell him Limbane trained us. It only makes sense that he would, and that resolves the problem of Krays’s people trying to train us again. And after that we’ll just wing it.’
‘Wing it,’ Eva sighed. ‘Of course.’
‘It might work,’ Griel said.
‘What of domination?’ Eva said, feeling desperate. ‘You can’t try to tell him you failed at that, too. Even a partial ought to have more than one Lokant skill.’
‘Not necessarily,’ Ana put in. ‘One of our former colleagues has only a little Lokant blood. He excelled at domination, but could do nothing else.’
‘There, see?’ Tren beamed. ‘It can work.’
‘We still have to check with Limbane,’ she reminded him. ‘If he could spot you as a fake, then all this discussion is useless.’
‘Then let’s ask him now!’
To Eva’s chagrin, Limbane backed Tren.
‘Your manner is unsuitable,’ he warned. ‘No one will believe you’re a partial and a trained agent if you behave like an optimistic boy. But other than that, I see no reason why it couldn’t work.’
‘No problem,’ Tren said cheerfully. ‘I’m an actor.’ And he proceeded to metamorphose into a man she’d swear was ten years older: competent, confident and composed, with a commanding air. As she watched, his black hair changed to white and his face aged a few years.
Oh no, she thought weakly. It might actually work.
‘Can you keep that up?’ Limbane said, meaning his sorcery.
‘I’d rather use a wig. Using sorc disguises for long periods of time is draining, and if I get tired I might slip up.’
‘Then I shall find a wig,’ Limbane said. ‘How soon can the two of you go?’
All of this was happening too fast. ‘You’re sure about this, Limbane?’ she asked.
He turned on her that look of mild surprise he had when he was pretending to be amiable. ‘Of course, my dear. Aren’t you?’
Word of their proposed adventure travelled, it seemed. Somewhat later that day, or perhaps it was the next, Eva was in her room alone while Tren was working with Limbane. She was trying to read, but her worried mind wouldn’t focus on the words. When a knock sounded at her door, she dropped the book with relief.
Andraly Winnier stood at the door.
‘Can I come in?’ she asked.
Eva blinked. ‘Of course.’ She stepped back to let the older woman past, then closed the door again behind her.
‘You’re surprised to see me here,’ Andraly said, accompanying this comment with the saucy smile Eva rather hated.
‘Somewhat.’ That was an understatement. Andraly disliked her. Tren had eventually admitted that the woman had made a pass at him, soon after they’d first come to the Library. He’d turned her down on Eva’s account. That gave Andraly reason enough for her dislike, though Eva suspected there was more to it than that. She feared Eva would take her place as the star partial Lokant among Limbane’s crew.
Andraly had avoided her as much as possible since then, yet here she was, deliberately seeking her out. Why?
‘I imagine it must be important,’ Eva prompted, without trying to be friendly.
‘I heard about your plans,’ came the reply. Without waiting for an invitation Andraly sat in Eva’s favourite armchair, lounging with every appearance of comfort. For once, she wasn’t wearing her wig and her hair shone bright white in the low light of the room.
‘And?’
‘And I came to warn you.’
‘I see,’ said Eva, sitting on the end of her bed. ‘And why do you think I need a warning?’
‘I’m afraid that Limbane is playing you.’
That was a shock. Limbane could be maddening, but she hadn’t imagined that he seriously couldn’t be trusted. ‘What?’
Andraly waved a hand. ‘Not in any nefarious way. Just in that secretive, manipulative, Limbane-ish kind of way.’
‘You’re saying he’s keeping secrets.’
‘Oh, plenty,’ Andraly said, turning her sharp brown eyes on Eva’s face with a knowing look. ‘And that’s why I think you ought to be warned. There’s a lot he hasn’t told you. A lot.’
‘Is that why you’re here? To fill in the missing information?’
Some of the taunting satisfaction left Andraly’s face, replaced by a touch of real regret. ‘I can’t.’
‘If you know what Limbane isn’t telling us, then you can.’
‘It’s not that simple.’
‘Why isn’t it?’
Andraly sighed. ‘The biggest problem is that I don’t absolutely know what he’s been keeping back. I’m not a full Lokant, you know that. Limbane was already ancient when I was born. I don’t know what Limbane’s hiding because I wasn’t there. All I have are guesses, inferences, deduction. Lokants are secretive by habit.’
‘Then tell me your guesses.’
‘What if I’m wrong? I’ll be sending you in completely the wrong direction.’
Annoyingly, the woman had a valid point with that. ‘Then why did you come, if you can’t tell me anything?’
‘I just wanted you to know not to trust Limbane, not completely. I don’t think he’s actually lied to you, but he’ll never tell you the whole truth either. He’ll let you believe things that aren’t true if it suits him. And now he’s merrily sending the two of you right into the heart of Krays’s Library. It bothers me.’
‘Why?’
‘Because he’s playing some kind of game, that’s why! He always is. They all are. And they don’t always let me play, because as close as I am to being a full Lokant I’m not one.’
‘All right,’ Eva said. ‘Thank you.’
‘There’s one thing
I’ll tell you,’ Andraly added. ‘The details have never been clear to me, but a lot went on back in the early days of this Library, before I came here. There was some kind of major quarrel between Limbane and Krays, and it caused some damage.’
‘What kind of damage?’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. But their interest in your worlds isn’t a new thing.’
That interested Eva much more than anything else she’d heard. ‘How do you know that?’
‘As I said, I hear things. Nothing specific, but I’m pretty sure they’ve been to your worlds before. Many times. And it all started a long time ago.’
‘Before the draykoni-human war? Because Limbane told us he was involved in that. That’s when they started keeping the records in the chart room.’
‘Certainly before that. Long before. Anyway, why do you suppose Limbane was helping the draykoni at that time? Why did he help them to survive?’
‘Are you telling me you know the answer to that?’
‘No. But it’s a question worth asking.’
It was indeed. Eva nodded, watching Andraly closely. ‘You’re teaching me to question the motivations of everyone out here. Sound advice I don’t doubt, but what’s yours? Why are you telling me these things?’
‘I’m tired of being left out,’ Andraly said with a pout. ‘If you find out anything interesting, I want to know.’
‘Done.’ That couldn’t be the sole reason; it was too trivial. Eva waited for more.
‘And... there’s Tren,’ she continued, without looking at Eva. ‘He’s sweet. I don’t want him to get hurt.’
Eva didn’t even reply to that. Andraly didn’t possess a drop of sentiment in her character, and it was highly doubtful she cared much for anybody but herself.
Andraly sneaked one look at Eva’s unmoved face and sighed. ‘Fine. Since we’re busily promoting Honesty and Forthrightness and other words with capital letters at the beginning, I’ll tell you a secret.’
She paused for a reaction but Eva gave her none.
‘Limbane is my grandfather,’ she said.
‘I see.’
‘That’s it? Just “I see?”’
Eva shrugged. ‘I knew your father was a Lokant, and that explains the relationship you have with Limbane.’
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