Lord of the Libraries

by Mel Odom

“Our deal was for you to bring the dweller back alive,” a cultured voice said. At least, it sounded cultured in tone because it spoke goblinkin fluently.

  Juhg had learned the language down in the goblinkin mines, starting out with swear words and insults. He remained quiet, knowing he was strung up by his wrists by iron manacles from the feel of them, and listened. All he had to do was stay quiet and learn what he could. For sure, he was going to learn he was in a lot of trouble.

  “He ain’t dead,” another voice protested. “He’s still breathin’.”

  “I’m talking about his mind, you moron,” the cultured voice said, sounding a little less cultured now. “If you’ve killed his mind with that blow, why, then it would be the same as him not breathing.” He cursed vehemently. “Would you look at the cut on the side of his face? That’s going to take a lot of stitches to fix.”

  Cut? The announcement caught Juhg by surprise, triggering images of seeing his future self in the In-Betweenness, and he breathed in sharply.

  The voices stopped bickering. Someone put a hand under his chin and pulled up. Even that slight pressure made the pain in the side of his face excruciating.

  “You’re awake, aren’t you, Juhg?”

  That came as a surprise, too. How did the goblinkin know his name? Had he said it while he was unconscious? He immediately doubted that. Judging from the pain in the side of his face and the throbbing in his skull that made even his teeth ache, he’d been quite unconscious.

  “Come, come,” the cultured voice said. “Open your eyes and let’s have a look at you.”

  Stubbornly, Juhg refused to give up the unconscious ruse.

  Petulance entered the cultured voice. “If you don’t acknowledge me, I’ll allow Nhass to slice off one of your ears for his collection.”

  Slowly, Juhg opened his eyes. Well, he opened one of them anyway. The other was swollen shut. He swallowed and tasted blood. A brief exploration with his tongue revealed that he had three loose teeth and that touching them sent new explosions of pain cracking through his head.

  The fat human he’d seen in the sandsail out on the desert stood before him. His greasy black hair lay tightly against his skull. He wore a thin mustache and a wispy goatee that would have suited a rat better. His clothing indicated wealth, or a predisposition to wearing fashionable attire, although a cape for a shirt and breeches seemed a little overmuch. For a human, he looked to be in his middle years.

  Four goblinkin stood behind him. All of the goblinkin carried clubs or swords.

  “I am Orgon Tuhl,” the fat man said. “Perhaps you’ve heard of me.”

  Juhg started to shake his head and instantly regretted it. He said, “No.”

  That put the fat man off. “No? Well, surely the Grandmagister mentioned me.”

  “No,” Juhg repeated. Then he recognized the man. “I’ve seen you before.”

  Tuhl preened. “I see my fame precedes me.”

  “You were in Fringe this morning,” Juhg said, knowing it was true. “When Craugh had the sandsails delivered.” Thinking about that reminded him of his friends. He looked around the room where he was being held.

  The stone room was twenty feet square and seven feet tall. Just tall enough to hang a dweller by his wrists and keep him on his tiptoes. Evidently he wasn’t in the desert any more.

  Thankfully, Craugh, Raisho, Cobner, and Jassamyn were not there.

  “Your friends got away,” Tuhl said. He waved a perfumed hand. “But that was only because I didn’t tell Nhass to bring them in. We only wanted you, you see.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re Juhg, the handpicked apprentice to the Grandmagister of the Vault of All Known Knowledge.”

  Juhg felt shock radiate through him and he knew it must have shown on his face.

  “Oh yes, we know about your little secret,” Tuhl crowed. “We’d known about it for years, actually. And thanks to the trap that we set up, we learned where your precious hiding place was. We would never have thought to look in the Blood-Soaked Sea. None of our maps showed an island out there. Just the monsters.”

  Juhg kept quiet, trying to figure out what to do. The pain inside his skull made it hard to think.

  “We are contemporaries, you and I,” Tuhl said. “I am also a Librarian of renown.”

  “I’ve never heard of you,” Juhg said, and saying that gave him a certain sense of satisfaction. He just hoped, on further reflection, that it didn’t cost him an ear.

  Tuhl breathed out as if he’d been slapped. “You will.”

  Juhg remained quiet and still.

  “You see, I was the one who figured out the mystery of The Book of Time.” Tuhl approached Juhg and tried to touch the leather pouch that still hung around his neck. His fingers passed through, and though he’d doubtless tried to take the gemstones several times while Juhg was unconscious, the fat man frowned unpleasantly. “How did you get these?”

  “I found them.”

  The fat man’s face darkened. “Mayhap I’ll tell Nhass he can have both ears. You obviously don’t listen.”

  The biggest, ugliest goblinkin in the room grinned. “If I get a pair, I always eat one. Have a hard time stoppin’ with just one, though.”

  “Do you know where you are?” Tuhl asked.

  “No.”

  “At the excavation site of Sweetdew, the famed city of the Crown Canopy elves.” Tuhl grinned, obviously relishing Juhg’s surprise.

  “Excavation site?” Juhg asked.

  Tuhl shrugged. “A relatively new endeavor. My Library was grateful to learn that I had uncovered the lost secret of The Book of Time. Unfortunately, we lacked the manpower to manage the excavation here. So I made a deal with Nhass. He and his goblinkin get to raid the ruins of the city—taking whatever gold and silver and gems they find—and they help me find the piece of The Book of Time that I knew was here.”

  Juhg looked around. “The elves never built anything of stone.”

  “Wood doesn’t last forever. Especially after it’s dead. During the excavation, Nhass and his goblinkin had to … ah, recruit workers to handle the physical effort required.”

  “Slaves,” Nhass growled. He smiled again. “Lots and lots of slaves.”

  “The partnership has worked out quite well,” Tuhl said. “Nhass and the goblinkin have gotten quite wealthy conducting their enterprise—and getting richer every day. And they found the section of The Book of Time for me.” He paused. “Unfortunately, I can’t get to it. No one can.” He smiled. “When I saw you and recognized your face from drawings other Librarians have done from past engagements we narrowly avoided with the Grandmagister, I was elated. I knew you could only be here for the section of The Book of Time. You can imagine my surprise when you were brought here at my insistence and I found that pouch around your neck. Since I can’t touch it, I knew that you had at least one other piece in there.”

  Juhg said nothing.

  “I suppose you got them in order?” Tuhl asked. “We hadn’t yet learned the order, and we didn’t know where the section was that Lord Kharrion gave to the dwarves he had aligned himself with during his first bid to take over the world. Since we didn’t know the location of all the pieces, it was hard to know in which order to even begin. Since you are here, and since you have been successful in your endeavors, I have to presume that the section here is next.”

  Juhg just watched the man without making a reply.

  Turning to Nhass, Tuhl said, “Release him and bring him.”

  “Release him?” Nhass didn’t like the idea. “He is a Librarian.” He stopped, then hastily added, “Enemy Librarian.”

  Tuhl shook his head. “He’s a dweller. Bring him.” He walked to the door and stood waiting.

  Unable to stop himself, Juhg groaned as Nhass had two of the goblinkin release his manacles. Unable to stand, he dropped to the stone floor and lay there.

  Nhass kicked him. “Get up.”

  Knowing it would be pointless to argue with the goblink
in, Juhg made himself stand, then he hobbled after Tuhl. A brief examination of his ankle showed him that it was swollen to twice its size. Fortunately, though, nothing looked broken.

  Outside the room, Tuhl walked down a narrow tunnel lined with wooden panels and lit by pitchblende torches. Sand seeped down between the cracks in the panels but they appeared to be holding.

  They walked for a long time, and Juhg got the feeling that he was traveling through an anthill. Everywhere he looked, wood panels and timbers held back the desert sand. Goblinkin overseers abused slaves—primarily dwellers, though there were some elves and dwarves in the mix.

  The tunnels in most places were narrow, scarcely more than enough room for a full-grown goblinkin to go through. Farther down, he saw a room with a large artesian well that had evidently tapped an underground river. He’d been wondering how the goblinkin could care for so many slaves. Not that they would have worried about it, but going out and constantly getting new ones would be a waste.

  They walked by one dig site where dwellers passed back buckets of sand that were poured onto a big wagon that was then pulled up the steep incline to be empted elsewhere. As they worked, a section of the roof over their heads fell. For a few moments, a dozen dwellers lay trapped under a huge pile of sand. None of the goblinkin ventured into the unsafe tunnel. Other dwellers and a few dwarves rushed in to save them.

  Nhass put a spear to Juhg’s back and kept him moving. Everywhere Juhg looked served to remind him of the goblinkin mines he’d almost died in—the goblinkin mines that his family had died in.

  Farther on, a dwarf found a cache of gold coins and gems. Goblinkin rushed over to take the loot away, cursing and slapping the dwarf and the other slaves to work faster now that they had found part of the riches again.

  The goblinkin had built another stone room around the area that held the elves’ section of The Book of Time. Even across the room in the dim light, Juhg saw the bright green glow of the gemstones.

  Tuhl walked over to the gemstones where they floated in midair. “I think they were kept cached in a tree,” the fat man said. “After the forest was killed and the desert formed, the wood rotted and disappeared. For a while the sand hid them.” He waved his hand through the gemstones, showing that he could not touch them. “Come over here.”

  Juhg didn’t want to. Nhass gave him a sharp poke with the spear in his already sore ribs. Crossing over to the gemstones, Juhg stood still.

  “Touch them,” Tuhl commanded.

  Reluctantly, Juhg put his palm against the gemstones and began feeling for the resonance that told him he could pick them up. They felt cold and smooth, and—except for being green—they were a match to the four gemstones he’d already found and now carried in the leather pouch. He felt the link beginning to take place.

  Just then, Tuhl pushed him back. “How do you do that?” the fat man asked.

  “I don’t know,” Juhg said. At a sharp poke from Nhass, he went on. “I just feel for the resonance of the gemstone’s movements. After a bit, I can feel it. Then I take it out.”

  “Who told you how to do it?”

  “No one.”

  Tuhl studied Juhg as if looking for the truth. The fat man let out a sigh. “Do you know why no one else can touch the gemstones?”

  Juhg shook his head, which immediately throbbed in response. He didn’t know which hurt worse: his head, his ankle, or his eye.

  “Do you recall the story of the two princes of the In-Betweenness?”

  “No.” Juhg’s curiosity was raised in spite of the pain he felt.

  “I’m surprised at you, Librarian Juhg. The story of the two princes of the In-Betweenness is very important to understanding The Book of Time.” Tuhl cleared his throat and began. “You see, they were once two brothers back near the very beginning of time. These brothers had wondrous powers, but they were jealous because they did not have control over everything. Nor were they gods. With all the power that they had, they decided that they should be gods. All they had to do, they thought, was find the Old Ones and convince them of their worth.”

  Juhg stood still as Tuhl walked behind the floating gemstones and waved his hand through them one more time, as if not believing he could not touch them.

  “The brothers searched for many years and finally found the bridge that led to the place of the Old Ones,” Tuhl continued. “Never before had anyone done such a thing. Of course, the Old Ones punished the two princes for their audacity. Both princes were made to serve in the In-Betweenness. However, living in that place, where time has no meaning, drove them both quite insane. With only each other to interact with, they battled incessantly. But when they weren’t battling, they were planning their escape.”

  Sharp cries of pain sounded outside, followed immediately by the familiar lash of a whip. Both sounds sent shudders through Juhg.

  Tuhl went on. “One day, the brothers came up with a plan. They would entice wizards in our world to come across and try to steal the Gatekeeper of Time’s great book that he had kept about the things he had done.”

  The story sounded eerily familiar.

  “Now, the brothers had been forbidden to ever touch The Book of Time or have anything to do with the Gatekeeper. They plotted for one thousand years before they were able to find a group of wizards strong enough to break the barrier between this world and the In-Betweenness.”

  Juhg listened intently. Things that happened so long ago, could Craugh have forgotten some of the things that happened? Or could the wizard have been fooled by the two brothers?

  “One of the brothers, however, had a plan that he did not tell his brother about. He had figured out a way to get back into this world. So he did. And he took The Book of Time from the wizards who had found a way into the In-Betweenness. The other brother, once he found that had he’d been tricked, flew into a frenzy. Using the same means that they had used to bring the group of wizards over into the In-Betweenness, he brought forth a champion of his own and equipped him with powers to defeat his brother. The champion defeated the brother and broke up The Book of Time.”

  “Why did he destroy The Book of Time?”

  “It was not destroyed.”

  “But why break it apart?”

  “The story goes that if The Book of Time was left together, the other mad brother would have come through into this world.” Tuhl shrugged. “But that’s just a story. Since you are a Librarian, you should know that most stories about an object with infinite power always have some repercussions.”

  “Then why are you searching for The Book of Time? Juhg asked.

  “Because however that book arrived in this world, it has power. Mayhap it even has the power to change the past.” He frowned. “As to the reason why only you can touch the sections of the book, the story goes on that the brother who was left in the In-Betweenness is the only one who can select a champion to once more gather the book’s pieces and make it whole again.”

  “So it can be a gateway to this world again?”

  “Yes. Tell me, Librarian Juhg, were you chosen to be the champion?” Tuhl’s tone was mocking.

  Juhg shook his head. The only person who had chosen him to do anything in this matter had been the Grandmagister, and that assignment had come late and now appeared unwise because he hadn’t been able to complete it.

  Tuhl laughed out loud. “I was only joking, of course. No one would choose a dweller to do something that was important.” He looked at the floating gemstones. “The only reason you’re able to touch the gemstones is because you figured out the trick with the first one by accident. All the myths I’ve read about The Book of Time indicate that it can only be assembled by one person who is attuned to the pieces. The first person to recover the first piece will then be able to use the other pieces as long as they are gathered in order.” He smiled. “As it stands at the moment, you are that person. The fact that I cannot touch the gemstones and you can bears witness to that.”

  A chill of dread skated up Juhg’s spine.r />
  “However, it occurs to me that if you were no longer alive, perhaps I would be able to retrieve the gemstones.”

  At Tuhl’s order, Nhass and his goblinkin warriors herded Juhg from the room, guiding him down several tunnels till they came to a deep pit filled with carrion beetles. The familiar black carapaces with the crimson underbelly made them immediately recognizable. All of them were nearly as big as Juhg’s head.

  Juhg tried to fight against the guards, but there were three of them in good shape and himself who was not. After only a brief struggle, they threw him into the pit. He landed hard upon the ground, rolling over a few of the carrion beetles with sickening crunches. Unfortunately, the sound didn’t signal the fact that he had crushed them. They were much hardier than that and the crunches came from the breaking bones of earlier victims that all looked dweller-sized, telling him what the goblinkin did with the slaves who perished.

  He pushed himself up with his hands and stumbled away from the predatory insects. They scented him at once, coming after him. Inside the circular pit, there was no place to go. He pressed back against the wall and tried to sink into it.

  I’m sorry, Grandmagister, Juhg thought. I tried my best. Truly, I did. Then he waited for the beetles because there was nothing else to do.

  20

  “Finish Your Task, Librarian!”

  With the goblinkin’s unkind and anticipatory jeering ringing in his ears, Juhg hunkered against the wall, dreading the bite of the carrion beetles’ mandibles. His death would not be slow, but Tuhl was right in saying that there would be nothing left of him. Would that break the spell that linked him to the gemstones? Juhg didn’t know, but he believed that if anything would, the gruesome death that awaited him would.

  A lit pitchblende torch suddenly dropped into the midst of the pit in front of the first line of beetles. The loathsome creatures reared up on their back legs as they came to a stop. Their mandibles clacked together in frustration and green ichor dripped to the sandy bottom of the pit. Some of the beetles took refuge under the broken bones left from previous victims.

  Then one of the goblinkin dropped into the pit as well. A familiar violet-and-white-fletched arrow stood out between his shoulder blades. The carrion beetles crawled over their newest victim and began tearing hungrily at the goblinkin flesh.