Library of Absolution

by Jennifer Derrick

  There was no one in the quadrangle, but Alarick drew his wand as he followed a vague memory through the darkness to the library. He assumed that the original library was where Elissa was, although he supposed the Ministry could have converted some other building into a repository for stolen books. Still, the library was the best place to start.

  It didn't take him long to find the large square building made from white stone, nor the men guarding it. Alarick didn't see any conflict as he approached; Marius' men were resting but wary. The lack of Ministry was encouraging. Like Marius, though, Alarick had no doubt the Ministry would return once they had a chance to regroup. He had to find Elissa, help her finish her work, and get her out of here before that happened.

  Alarick didn't try to hide his approach. Let them come after him. They might be allies, but he was angry enough to hold them complicit in Marius' betrayal. Anyone who got hurt could take it up with Marius.

  Wand at the ready, he strode toward the doors. When the largest of the men blocked his path and called, "What do you want?" Alarick simply flicked his wand and muttered, "Occido." The man froze and toppled over.

  "My name is Alarick Brandon," he called to the group that was now massing to charge him. "I'm a wizard from England, here to see Master Baines. You can take me to him now, or I can force my way inside. That's likely to be painful," he added dryly.

  One man charged Alarick, wand drawn, prepared to duel, but Alarick was quicker. He waved his wand in the direction of the man's legs and shouted, "Frango!" The man collapsed on the ground as both tibias broke. The screaming sounded very much like the cries of a horse in desperate need of euthanasia.

  "Anyone else?" Alarick asked.

  The mass of men parted, clearing his path to the library door. Alarick yanked open the heavy wooden door and followed the lights through the hall and into the main study room. This room was circular, shelves of books towering five floors above him. The circumference of the room was the equivalent of a decent-sized colosseum. It was massive and made his library at the Keep seem claustrophobic.

  It was also gorgeous, all marble floors, stone walls, and glossy oak desks. Instead of torches providing light, balls of illumination similar to those Elissa had cast during their first meeting floated around the space. These were much larger and brighter than hers, however.

  He wondered if all these books were confiscated or had some of them been here during the Université’s time as a school. Was Elissa was expected to enchant them all? If so, she'd be here for years, and he with her because he wasn't leaving without her.

  Not finding Elissa in the main room, Alarick began searching for other rooms. Voices led him to a small hallway off the main room. He followed them to a smaller, square study room. This one was more intimate with wood paneled walls and a stone floor. The ceiling was only about a foot over Alarick's head. Shelves of books covered all four walls, stopping just shy of the ceiling. Tiny window slits filled the space between shelves and ceiling.

  Elissa sat at the only desk, a pile of books in front of her. Marius sat next to her, holding something for her that Alarick could not see due to the books blocking his view. Two other men paced the room, keeping watch and talking among themselves.

  Upon seeing Elissa, Alarick's control snapped. He charged forward. Marius stood at the intrusion, surprise on his face. Before he could react and before the other two men could close the distance between them, Alarick was upon Marius.

  "You son of a bitch!" he shouted.

  Without hesitation, he plowed his fist into Marius' face. Once. Twice. Marius fell to the floor clutching his bleeding nose.

  The other two men moved toward Alarick, but he flicked his wand at them and said, "Occido." The men froze and toppled over, just as their compatriot outside had done.

  "Alarick?" Elissa asked, rising to her feet and facing the commotion she could not see.

  "Yes, it's me," he said.

  "What are you doing here?" she asked.

  "I could ask you the same thing," he said, moving toward her.

  "I came here to help Marius after you lied to him, Alarick. Why would you do that? He's your oldest friend and you denied him assistance."

  "Because I didn't want you here!" he roared.

  "You didn't want me to do my job?" Elissa asked.

  "Not here," Alarick said. "It isn't safe."

  She laughed at that. "It's as safe as anything can be in this world for a literate witch," she said. "Marius' men have it well protected."

  "But they can't hold it forever. If the Ministry finds you here, absorbed in books, what do you think will happen?"

  She snorted. "I know better than you what will happen, Master Brandon. It's already happened to me once, hasn't it? Or have you forgotten my injuries so quickly?"

  He inhaled sharply.

  "Of course I haven't forgotten. Haven't I just spent months helping you get back to some semblance of normalcy? And yet still you came here. Does your life mean so little to you that you'd throw it away so easily? Do my help and friendship mean so little to you that you'd throw them in my face and die here? "

  "Of course not. In fact, my life means a great deal to me," she said. "Your help matters to me more than you'll ever know. And your friendship, well, that's something very special to me. But Alarick, you don't get to give me a gift — and make no mistake your help was a gift for which I am ever grateful — and then dictate how I use it. You guided me back to my ability and now I have to use it. To do otherwise is to live only half a life.

  "Marius needed my help. The magical community needs these books. I could not turn my back on that, no matter how much you may wish for me to remain locked up at the Keep. If I die in this service, then it will be a good death."

  "There is no such thing as a good death," Alarick said. "Dead is dead, and there's nothing good about it."

  Marius had made it to his knees, blood pouring from his nose. He retrieved his handkerchief from his coat pocket and held it to his face, trying to stem the bleeding.

  "You know she's right," Marius said to Alarick, his voice stuffy and thick. "And if you'd thought beyond your own selfish interests for five minutes, you wouldn't have crafted that lie. You'd have brought her here and helped her instead of forcing her to act on her own. How did you get here so quickly, anyway?"

  "Margaret — I believe you met her when she brought Elissa here — taught me to peregrinate," Alarick said. "And I was planning to use the skill for Miss Stone's benefit to bring books to her, rather than sending her into war zones.

  "I wasn't planning to leave you with no work to do," he said to Elissa. "I only wanted you to do it in a safer place than this."

  "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked.

  "Would it have stopped you from coming here?"

  "No. But we could have come together. Instead, you lied and told Marius I wasn't fit for work. That's hurtful. You could have at least told me the truth about Marius' request. We could have talked about it. I thought you and I were becoming a team and developing trust between us. But you just threw all of that away. And for what?"

  Alarick stepped over Marius who was now levering himself up into a chair. He moved toward Elissa and took her hand in his. She tried to pull it back, but he kept a firm hold.

  "I was wrong and stupid. It's not the first time, and it won't be the last."

  Marius laughed at that. "Got that right, brother," he muttered.

  "Shut up," he said to Marius.

  Alarick turned back to Elissa.

  "As I was saying, I was wrong. Foolishly I believed the Keep to be a better, safer place for you than the outside world. But that was my selfish desire. I don't want anything to hurt you. More than that, I don't want anything to take you away from me."

  "Oh, Alarick," she began, but he continued.

  "That is not an easy thing for me to admit," he said. "Especially in front of witnesses. Yet I know I cannot keep you to myself forever. You have a rare gift, and it is wrong of me to stop you from usi
ng it to its fullest, no matter how much I may fear letting you go. The magical world needs you more than I do. I lied to protect you, but more so to protect myself. That was wrong of me and all I can do is beg for your forgiveness."

  "You have it, Alarick," she said, squeezing his hand. "You always had it, even at the height of my anger, because I knew why you lied. I only wanted you to admit the truth to me. And to yourself."

  Alarick bowed his head. The truth was out and there was no retreat, now. There was no safe cover for him or his feelings. From this moment on, his heart was Elissa's to break. As if she sensed his distress, Elissa rose on her tiptoes and reached up to smooth his hair away from his forehead.

  "You don't have to let me go," she whispered. "But you do have to let me stretch my wings. You once said we could save each other. We can't do that if one of us lets the other one go. Or pushes the other away. I need you, Alarick, and not just to help me paint or cast spells. I need you. But I need you to need me, too. As I am, in my entirety, even if that means I must do things that make you uneasy."

  "That's the problem," he whispered, lowering his forehead to hers. "I'm beginning to realize I do need you. And losing you scares me senseless. That's why I lied."

  "I know," she said. "I know. But we're together, now. And I'd like us to stay that way. The magical world may need me, but the way I see it we come as a team. You and I against the Ministry. You and I, fighting to save what we can for future generations, for as long as we can. And if the Ministry kills us, well, at least we went down fighting together. "

  Alarick pulled his face back from hers a tiny bit and reached up to cup her cheeks in his hands. Even though he could see her clearly, he touched her face as she had done his just — Could it really be only a few hours ago? He smoothed his fingers over her cheekbones and eyelids, traced the wing-like arches of her eyebrows. His fingers trailed across her jawbone and over her lips, which parted at his touch.

  Alarick forgot everything. He forgot there were others in the room, that the Ministry might break down the door and kill them all right now. For once he let his mind go blank and as Elissa's face tipped up to his, he lowered his mouth to hers. Gently, so gently, he kissed her, half expecting to be rebuffed at any moment.

  Slowly he broke the kiss and pulled away from her, though it cost him to do so.

  He looked down at her to see if she was disgusted by what he'd done, but she was smiling. She reached up to his face and touched his lips, running her fingers over his cheeks and the lines that framed his mouth.

  "You're smiling, too," she said, as if reading his thoughts.

  "I am," he whispered.

  There was applause from behind Alarick as Marius began clapping. The guards who'd come down the hall to check that everything was all right joined in, as well. Alarick had been so absorbed in making things right with Elissa he hadn't even heard them come in.

  "Well, that worked out all right," Marius said, standing and clapping Alarick on the back. "Took you long enough, though, you fool."

  "What—" Alarick began, but Marius cut him off.

  "You don't believe I'd betray you like that without a reason, do you?" he asked. "When I asked you to send Elissa here, I knew one of three things would be true. One, she would still be unwell and in your care, which would be wonderful because you would be together.

  "Sorry," he added, addressing Elissa. "Not that I wish you ill, but this stupid git needs to be with you."

  Elissa laughed, but Alarick frowned. Why must Marius make such information public?

  "Two," Marius continued, "She would be better, and you would bring her here and the two of you would discover that you should be working together. Or, three, you would lie to protect her, and you'd need someone to make you see that you were, as usual, being a jackass. I had money on three."

  Alarick looked behind him where the guards were passing money around, those who hadn't bet on number three having to pay up to those who did. A particularly burly guard passed Marius his share, which Marius tucked into the pocket of his coat.

  "You planned this?" Alarick asked incredulously.

  "Well, not all of it," Marius said. "I didn't plan to uncover this library. That was a fortunate accident. But I'm an intelligent man, able to see when a situation might be useful in other ways."

  "You're a rat, is what you are," Alarick said, but there was no malice in the statement.

  Marius shrugged. "Probably. But it worked out. Now, do you two have any more arguing to do, or can we get on with the business of protecting and moving these books?"

  Alarick turned to Elissa. "Well, Miss Stone, do you have anything else you'd like to chastise me for? Any other stupidity I've engaged in which requires censure?"

  Elissa laughed. "No, I think we've covered it. At least for now."

  Alarick pulled her into a hug. "Good," he whispered into her ear.

  "So, what do we have here?" he asked the room at large.

  The guards retreated back outside, and Marius freed the other two men from Alarick's curse. They quickly left the room, as well, not wishing to incur any more of Alarick's wrath.

  Alarick took the seat next to Elissa, vacated by Marius, and she began showing him what she was working on.

  "It's a Norwegian guide to deadly potions," she said. "I think it would be of special interest to you."

  "If I could read Norwegian," he said, examining the text. Nothing made any sense to him. "You can read this?" he asked Marius.

  "Some of it. There are benefits to chasing the Ministry around the world. You learn a few things."

  "He doesn't have to know it all," Elissa said. "We don't need a perfect translation. All I need is enough to illustrate the book. Since it contains deadly information, it's getting full protection instead of just an anti-opening charm."

  Alarick looked where she pointed. She'd begun drawing a picture of a Viking berserker, all red-haired, overly muscled, axe-wielding fury, ready to strike down any enemy in his path.

  "I didn't realize you could draw people into books," Alarick said. "Death is an abstract concept and animals don't have personalities, of course. And mythical beings aren't actual people. But to draw someone who could be a real person? I didn't realize that was possible."

  "Oh, yes," Elissa said. "I can draw all kinds of people. There are only two conditions to drawing people that I know of. I can't draw myself into a book. I tried it once and when the other me emerged from the book, she burst into flames. Stopped my heart, I'll tell you. And I cannot draw a person who is still living. So, I couldn't draw you, for example, or Marius.

  "I think it's because there cannot be two of the same person in the world at the same time. Messes with the universe, I expect. What's interesting is that if I draw someone who does exist, even if I don't realize I'm doing it, the drawing won't activate. It will just burst into flames and disappear. I've done it a time or two, drawn someone that must resemble a living person and had them flame out. It always makes me want to meet the actual person."

  "But if someone was real but deceased… You could draw that person into a book?" he asked.

  "Sure," she said. "I've only done it once. It was creepy, to say the least. But it can be done." She said this with some finality and Alarick sensed she didn't want to discuss who she'd drawn or why. Or what happened after. He was intrigued but possessed enough sense not to push.

  Alarick gave this some thought. Her job was much stranger than he'd realized. It seemed so simple to draw things into books, but there were apparently rules built in to keep the universe from collapsing into a temporal paradox. The idea of formerly dead people coming to life, even if only for a few hours at a time, seemed dangerous to him. And disturbing.

  "What if you can't control him?" he asked, bringing the conversation back to their Viking berserker. "I haven't mastered Aperire Foraminis, yet and you can't cast it reliably. Why are you taking chances?"

  "Because we no longer have the luxury of time. If he gets out of control, so be it. I'll hav
e to try to control him on my own and pray I don't blast you or Marius into the other dimension. Either that or Mr. Viking will kill us. But we must get these books protected before the Ministry returns. It's all about risk management. As I recall, you're a master at mitigating risk."

  He winced as he recalled his earlier lecture which had driven her from the castle and straight into the Ministry’s hands.

  "There's a greater risk that the Ministry will show up in the next hour than there is that the berserker will elude my control."

  Alarick wasn't calmed by her logic, even if she was right about managing risks. The fact that this berserker might hack them to death once she activated the drawing made him uneasy. But then he reminded himself: Death stalked them every single day. What was one more potential danger, particularly one crafted from ink and paint?

  "Okay," he said. "What do you need me to do?"

  "Hold the grid steady while I work, and make sure the drawing actually looks like a Viking and not a potato, please."

  Alarick smiled and slid the grid into position. Elissa hunched over the book and continued drawing. He watched her hand fly over the paper and thrilled every time her hand bumped his. She worked tirelessly, guided by his suggestions and directions. Occasionally, he would stop her and reposition her hand within the grid, assuring that the segments of the drawing matched up. They worked shoulder to shoulder for hours.

  He watched her as she worked. Her hair glowed red from the light orbs orbiting above. There was a funny scrunch to her nose as she concentrated that made him want to lean over and kiss it. And her hands were mesmerizing. The fingers were long and delicate, but sure and skilled as she drew, switched brushes and colors. What would her fingers feel like on his skin, he wondered? He'd felt them on his face but wondered what they would feel like trailing down his back or across his chest.

  Alarick shook his head to clear those thoughts. That way lay madness. They'd just kissed, and he still had to re-earn much of her trust. Anything more than one simple kiss was too far in the future to contemplate. Still, he shivered in spite of himself.