Lord of the Libraries

by Mel Odom

  A purple nimbus flared to life inside the bottle, then spread outward.

  For a time, Juhg saw only the monster’s eye floating in the colorless liquid inside the bottle. Then it disappeared, lost in the purple nimbus. When Juhg next blinked, he peered into the world in another place.

  The panorama of the view was outstanding. To the left—to the east, Juhg reminded himself, knowing that the mainland was east of their position a good half day’s sailing—the canal city of Imarish lay spread across the coastline. The gray-green waters of the Ravening Sea (called so even though it was connected to the Blood-Soaked Sea—though not burgundy colored as the waters were around Greydawn Moors—because it insisted on drinking down one of the tiny islands that made up Imarish every so often) leaked curved claws between the dozens of islands.

  Several of the larger islands had ports that opened to the Ravening Sea, but most of the travel between the islands of the interior of the mass was by canal boats. All of the islands bore tall stone columns that plunged into the water at the dockyards or the small boat landings that held sculpted sea creatures. The sea creatures announced the political affiliation among the merchant classes that ruled the islands.

  Some of the islands, usually the larger ones with a number of buildings but some of them were tiny islands with only two or three houses, had tall buildings made from the stone and shells taken from the sea. Some of the rock had been transported from the mainland, from quarries cut deep into the Shattered Coast by dwarven clans.

  Most of the populace of Imarish were humans, though elves and dwarves could often be found there plying their trades or merely passing through while speculating on trade goods. A number of the islands were dedicated to one trade or another, ranging from houses that made tea, spun silk, and made candles to dwarven smithies that hammered weapons as well as farm tools, to mercenaries that trained on islands that were no more than barren outcroppings of rock where houses might be built, and some were outposts of elven bands dedicated to a deeper understanding of the sea and the creatures that lived within deep bodies of water.

  Magic was stronger and more uncertain on the islands as well. Few wizards ever lived in the islands, and none of those had ever stayed unless they were unfortunate enough to be killed before they could leave.

  Lord Kharrion had unleashed a spell that had destroyed the mainland here after the Unity armies had holed up and tried to last through the winter. Horrible forces had riven the land, breaking it and creating upheavals that had even freed the ocean floor to rise to the surface in places. Imarish was located at the northernmost point of the Shattered Coast, as Teldane’s Bounty had come to be called over the years.

  “Closer, O beastie,” Hallekk murmured in a taunting lilt. “I ain’t seen nothin’ yet to be a-feared of.”

  The view changed, gliding in toward the cluster of islands as if on the wings of a seahawk. In the space of a drawn breath, the viewpoint hung over the coastline, showing the stone buildings and tall towers that had been constructed there over the years. Nausea rippled through Juhg’s stomach as the view lurched to one side. Then it focused on one particular ship and closed in again.

  Edgewick Lamplighter, Grandmagister of the Vault of All Known Knowledge—at least, Grandmagister of all that remained of the Library—stood in chains in the ship’s stern. He was dirty and unkempt, standing in the same clothes he’d had on when Greydawn Moors had been attacked. Bruises darkened his face.

  “No,” Juhg whispered before he knew he was even speaking.

  Slowly, the great sails that propelled the goblinkin ship filled as the goblinkin sailors turned them to the wind. The ship came about and sailed once more to the south, heading for the open sea away from the islands. Two other ships flanked the first, all of them filled with goblinkin warriors.

  Aldhran Khempus came up from amidship to stand at the Grandmagister’s side. The human spoke with the Grandmagister, but the Grandmagister said nothing. Without warning, Aldhran struck the Grandmagister with the back of his hand. Trapped by the chains that bound him hand and foot, the Grandmagister sprawled onto the deck, then raised his arms over his head as best as he could to protect himself.

  The human gestured toward the fallen dweller. Four of the goblinkin came forward and picked the Grandmagister up. For a moment, Juhg was afraid that they were going to toss their prisoner over the ship’s side and let him drown. Instead, they marched back to the hold and dropped the Grandmagister down.

  “Enough,” Hallekk whispered hoarsely.

  The scene vanished. In the large glass bottle, the eyeball blinked and looked royally perturbed.

  Juhg’s own eyes burned from the strain of the ensorcelment that bound the monster’s eye to the crew of the pirate ship.

  “Wick didn’t stay at Imarish,” Hallekk said. “Means we’re gonna have to make a decision.” He grabbed the bottle containing the monster’s eye and slid it under the bed built into one side of the room.

  The captain’s quarters had remained as meager as Captain Farok had ever kept them. There was scarcely room to turn around and personal belongings were kept to a minimum. Most of them were things that Farok himself had kept over the years. Hallekk wasn’t one for sentiment when it came to things instead of people.

  Hallekk used his foot to push the bottle farther under the bed. Then he dropped the bedding low so it hung to the wooden floor. No one liked talking in front of the eyeball.

  “We have to go after the Grandmagister,” Juhg said. And what of The Book of Time? He knew that question was going to come up from the look on Craugh’s face.

  Craugh said nothing.

  Hallekk pulled at his beard and looked uncomfortable. “We will go after Wick,” he said. “But that isn’t your place, Juhg.”

  Angry immediately, Juhg glared at the wizard. “He put you up to this.”

  “No,” Hallekk said in a clear voice that brooked no argument. “I’m captain of this here ship, an’ no one tells me what to think or do. Been thinkin’ for meownself an’ fer the crew since Cap’n Farok passed on.” He paused. “Yer place is here, Juhg, a-doin’ what Wick bade ye to do. What I needs to know—”

  “We don’t even know if what we seek is here,” Juhg argued.

  “Wick,” Hallekk stated slowly, “he told ye that it were here. He wouldn’t a-told ye that if’n it weren’t here. This thing, this Book o’ Time Craugh mentioned, why I hear tell it’s a powerful piece o’ magic. Can wreck the world if’n it’s in the wrong hands. That’s why Wick trusted this job to ye.”

  “You can send other crew to look for the book,” Juhg protested.

  Hallekk shook his head. “Most of ‘em, why they wouldn’t know all forms a book takes the way ye can, Juhg. Wick knew that. That’s why he up an’ set ye free from them goblinkin what had ye. He counted on ye a-finishin’ what he’d started.”

  Juhg opened his mouth to argue but couldn’t find the words to get it done. His shoulders slumped.

  “Ye ain’t no warrior neither,” Hallekk said. “Ye can’t stand up in no fight.”

  “I have fought,” Juhg said in a voice that carried more pleading than conviction.

  “I knowed that ye has,” Hallekk said. “I seen ye with me own eyes. But that ain’t yer callin’.” He paused. “I think we both knows that.”

  Juhg wanted to argue more, but he couldn’t. Not without calling Hallekk a liar, and that would have been a lie itself.

  “What I needs to know, as I were about to ask ye, is if ye needs One-Eyed Peggie to stay here with ye,” Hallekk said.

  Suddenly, Juhg understood. “You would stay here? And let the Grandmagister be taken away by Aldhran Khempus and his goblinkin ships?”

  “If’n it meant keepin’ ye safe,” Hallekk returned, “aye. Wick, why he’d chew me ears off was I to leave ye here not a-knowin’ if ye’d be all right.”

  Thinking quickly, realizing that he was fearful of leaving the Grandmagister stranded among enemies without help, Juhg said, “We need to go after th
e Grandmagister.”

  Hallekk shook his head. “We needs to finish Wick’s mission. That’s what he’d want us to do. Me, I been with him through good times an’ bad times enough that I know what he’d want us to tend to. If’n that book is as dangerous as everybody’s a-puttin’ on, why I’d be foolish to go a-harin’ off after Wick when they’s more important business here to take care of.”

  “So if I choose to go after the Grandmagister—”

  “We’ll stay here an’ tend to what you should be a-doin’,” Hallekk said. “An’ probably not with very much success.”

  “I need a ship to go after the Grandmagister.”

  “Aye,” the big dwarf agreed. “That ye do. But I don’t have an extry one in me pocket what I can give to ye. If’n we stay here, we gots to have a means o’ escapin’.”

  “But if I choose to stay, and I tell you that you can go on—”

  Hallekk smiled. “Why, we’ll have no choice but to put to sail as soon as we can to go after Wick. We can find him right away with the monster’s eye, but I prefers to stay close to him.”

  Exhaling loudly, irritated beyond belief, Juhg said, “That’s blackmail.”

  Thinking for a moment, Hallekk grimly nodded. “Aye. I suppose ye might reckon that it is. But that’s the wind that’s a-blowin’, an’ ye can go with her or agin her. Ye set yer own tiller in the matter.”

  Finally, Craugh put in, “We all have our responsibilities, apprentice. You appear to be the one with all the control.”

  Angrily, Juhg tried to express how he truly felt about the situation. His hands clawed the air before him, but his voice was strangled. At length, shaking, he asked, “How soon before we sail?”

  As he’d approached the captain’s quarters he’d noticed that most of the rigging was back in place. The mainmast had been reset, bridged mightily with new timbers.

  “Before midday,” Hallekk said. “I’ll give ye me word on that.”

  “Then put me ashore in Imarish,” Juhg said shortly. “And you will go after the Grandmagister.”

  Grinning broadly, Hallekk reached out and clapped Juhg on the shoulder. “Fairly called, Juhg. Break your fast an’ make ready. Won’t be long now.”

  Juhg turned and trudged from the room.

  Hours later, Juhg stood at the starboard railing as One-Eyed Peggie came sharply about in Imarish’s Garment District docks. Canvas cracked overhead and the repaired rigging held up to the strain. As always, he enjoyed watching the rapid movement of the dwarven pirates as Critter set them about their paces. The pirate ship was a sharp vessel.

  The stench of lye and ash and dye pots tickled Juhg’s nose. Several buildings spewed noxious black and colored smoke streamers into the clear blue sky. Lines filled with brightly dyed cloth swelled and fell in the gentle breezeways between buildings as they dried.

  Other ships lined the large docks. Cargo handlers ferried raw goods from some vessels to warehouses and transported finished goods from warehouses, sometimes to the same vessels. The workers sang as they labored, all of them passing the time they spent in physical drudge.

  Children ran through the cobbled streets pestering sailors and merchants, begging for small coins. Here and there, a few horses waited at hitching posts or pulled small wagons. Hawkers stood in front of small pushcarts calling out their goods, or in front of inns and taverns bawling out the bills of fare and what there was to drink.

  “Ye been here afore?”

  The dwarven pirate captain’s voice rumbling near his ear scared Juhg. His hand almost darted down to the small knife at his waist. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked at Hallekk. Juhg still hadn’t decided whether to be mad at the ship’s captain or not. Hallekk had made a good case, but Juhg didn’t care for the way he’d been made responsible for all the decisions no matter what he decided.

  “I’ve been here twice before. With the Grandmagister,” Juhg replied.

  Hallekk shaded his eyes with a hand. “They’s got free halfers here. Ye shouldn’t be bothered overmuch with folks wantin’ to tell ye what to do. An’ slavers fight clear of this place for the most part.”

  “I know.” Irritation grew inside Juhg. Don’t sound like you’re worried about me when it was your idea that I abandon the chase for the Grandmagister.

  “We’ll work our cover here for a few hours,” Hallekk said. “We’ve got gold enough to make some wise purchases that we can sell farther down the mainland.”

  The statement made Juhg remember the last voyage aboard Windchaser when he and Raisho had left Greydawn Moors together. He’d copied information he’d written about during earlier travels from Greydawn Moors and built a list of potential investments for them to pursue. Until they’d discovered the book in goblinkin hands in Kelloch’s Harbor, they’d done quite well for themselves.

  Posing as a merchant ship was One-Eyed Peggie’s first line of defense.

  “We’ll be in port for a few hours at most,” Hallekk said. “Staying any longer is problematic. We’re not from around here. An’ we don’t wanna give Aldhran Khempus too big of a lead.”

  Juhg leaned down and picked up his bedroll. He had a change of clothes, his writing utensils, the latest journal he was working on and a blank one, a compass, and a few journeycakes. He carried coins and a few small gems in a pouch around his neck to pay his way.

  Turning, he extended his hand to Hallekk. “May the winds treat you fairly, captain.”

  Hallekk’s hand swallowed Juhg’s. “An’ ye, me friend. Do yer mentor proud, an’ us of ol’ Peggie as well. We brung ye this far. See that we made good use of our time.”

  “Take care of the Grandmagister when you find him.”

  “I will. An’ soon’s we can, we’ll come for ye.” Hallekk winked. “Remember, we got our eye on ye now.”

  Only that morning, Hallekk had sworn Juhg in as a pirate. Now the same curse that linked the eve to the crew watched over him as well.

  Juhg said his good-byes to the crew. Critter even flew down to rest on his shoulder for a moment, then tossed off a few choice insults about dwellers in general and Juhg in particular, and flew away to remonstrate the crew.

  As Juhg marched down the gangplank the crew had run out to the docks, studying the unfamiliar faces before him, he felt a new and awkward vibration settle into the thick boards beneath his feet. He stopped and turned around, seeing Craugh walking after him.

  Suddenly seething and scared at the same time, Juhg walked back to the wizard. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Craugh crossed his arms over his bony chest. He wore a bedroll over his shoulders as well. His staff was in his right hand. “What does it look like I’m doing, apprentice?”

  “No,” Juhg said. “You’re not coming with me.”

  “And why not?”

  Juhg was grimly aware that his confrontation with the wizard was bringing on a few interested stares. “You need to stay with the ship.”

  “Whatever for?”

  “So you can help save the Grandmagister.”

  Craugh frowned. “And who will save you?”

  “I’ll save myself.”

  Craugh shook his head. “I’m going with you, apprentice. Wick is safe enough for the time. Aldhran Khempus won’t dare do anything to threaten Wick’s life until he has The Book of Time in his hands. You and I both know that ship is headed away from here and away from the book.” He paused. “You can trust me to—”

  “No,” Juhg snapped. “I can’t. For all I know, you’re still wanting power just as much as you did all those years ago. The Book of Time is much too tempting.”

  Slowly, Craugh leaned down. He was close enough that his large brimmed hat shadowed Juhg’s upturned face as well as his own. “Apprentice,” the wizard said in a low, cold voice.

  Juhg stood his ground but his knees felt weak.

  “Would you rather trust me as a dweller,” Craugh asked, “or as a toad?”

  Juhg swallowed hard. “If I am a toad—”

  “I�
�ll make sure you retain your wits,” Craugh promised. “I can do that, you know.”

  Actually, Juhg didn’t know that for sure. He’d never met any of the people Craugh had turned into toads over the years. For all he knew, they could talk and hawk an alesman’s goods in three-part harmony.

  “So,” Craugh said, straightening the line of Juhg’s jacket the way he might that of a child, “your choice is in whether you dine on real food or flies as we travel.”

  “I don’t trust you,” Juhg announced in a hoarse whisper, “and I don’t like you very much either.”

  Craugh’s left eye twitched. Juhg fully expected to plop to the gangplank on a brand-new, warty behind.

  “Well,” Craugh said, straightening, “we don’t have to like each other if we’re going to save the world.” He adjusted his hat and stamped his staff on the gangplank. “Lead on, apprentice.”

  Grumbling to himself, Juhg resettled his bedroll and continued down the gangplank. He was grateful that he could walk instead of hop. In Hralbomm’s Wing while perusing some of the romances the Grandmagister had put on his required reading list, Juhg had read tales of heroes who had been turned into snakes and fish and birds who had still managed to rescue those they had been sent after or had retrieved magical objects they were supposed to get. Those tales had suggested such an endeavor was possible, but he didn’t want a book written about his part of the adventure—if it even turned out to be significant—to be of him hopping along like a toad.

  Besides that, toads didn’t seem to fare well when confronted by cats or dogs, let alone goblinkin.

  7

  Imarish

  The Garment District island was a large, rambling affair a maze of warehouses and textile mills. Cotton came in from the agriculture islands by ship and by boat, then was processed by huge looms powered by waterwheels turned by the incoming and outgoing tides. All of the mills possessed two waterwheels, one set on either side of the building, and the drive axle was shifted between the two as the tide changed from incoming to outgoing. That way crews could work all day and all night if necessary to meet demand. As a result, the Garment District creaked night and day.