Taking a deep breath, Tyen let it out slowly and stepped into the space that had formed between his supporters and the crowd. He had been deliberating whether it would be better to attract everyone’s attention with a flash of light or a loud noise, but he didn’t have to do either. The nearest people stopped talking, and some called for the rest to hush.
When the room was quiet, Tyen spoke.
“Thank you, all, for coming here. I would not have called you from your work and your homes if I did not know, with great certainty, that the matter we must discuss and decide upon today is of vital importance, not just to the Academy, but to this entire world.”
Bargeman muttered something. Another voice rose in reply but was shushed by those close by.
Tyen turned slowly, meeting gazes. “When I came back to this world, I sought not only to return to my home, but to establish a place of peace and safety in which to teach and study magic. I could have created a new school in the Far South, where I have friends, but I longed to be in my homeland, and the city in which I was raised, the great Beltonia.
“When the Academy generously accepted me as Director, it was more than I could have hoped for. I knew I could make this institution admired and respected not just in this world, but throughout all worlds. In return for this honour and responsibility I asked Rielle Lazuli, with the permission of Emperor Omniten, to restore magic here.
“This much you know. This much should have been all there was to know.” Tyen paused to let out a small sigh. “This world should have had all the time it needed to catch up with the rest of the worlds before it took its place among them. Instead, we are going to be exposed to its dangers far sooner than I planned.” He hardened his voice and straightened his back. “Because what is happening out in the worlds at this moment is not something anyone could have planned for. Because all of the worlds, both weak and powerful, face a terrible threat.”
He grimaced. “Ironically, the source of the threat facing the worlds originated in this one.” Tyen turned to gesture at the machines. “Mechanical magic.”
He clasped his hands. “When I first left this world I soon learned that my grasp of magic was equal to that of a child compared to the sorcerers of most worlds. Less than a child’s, even. I sought an education at the best school and I paid for that education with the only thing I possessed that was of value to it: the knowledge of mechanical magic.
“The sorcerers of the worlds learned and adapted that knowledge eagerly. Unfortunately, they also twisted it to darker purposes, creating machines of war. And while many set their minds to developing war machines, others…” Tyen gestured towards Dahli and Zeke. “… sought a way to combat them.
“Until now, the conflicts these machines were made for were small – wars that involved no more than a few worlds at most. The inventors of the war machines were motivated only by greed, but recently they acquired a new leader. Kettin united them, and directed their talents towards a grand and terrible purpose: the conquest of all the worlds. Those willing to follow this leader began to form an army of machines capable of destroying whole worlds. Those inventors unwilling to obey were imprisoned and forced to work, their ideas read from their minds.
“Kettin’s armies began their conquest and expansion around a year ago, in this world’s time. Each world attacked by her army was stripped of magic, which was then used to kill every occupant: man and woman, adult and child, sorcerer and non-sorcerer they can find. All butchered without mercy. Then the materials needed to create more machines are stripped from that world and used to enlarge the army. From there it moves on to the next world, and the next, and the next, growing larger each time. At this point, hundreds of worlds have been destroyed and conquered, and the army is expanding ever faster.”
Tyen paused. A low murmur had risen among the listeners. He quickly scanned their minds. Many were frightened and worried, but the news was too fresh for the true horror to have sunk in yet. He caught a brief conversation between students.
“He said ‘her’?” a Leratian boy repeated. “This leader is a woman?”
An otherworld student turned to him. “Oh, you had better believe it. Some of the worst tyrants in the history of the worlds have been women.”
The Leratian thought of some of the fiercer female students. “I suppose I can believe that, though I wouldn’t have until recently.”
“Is anyone fighting this army?” someone called out.
Tyen nodded, and immediately the room quietened. “The Restorers. They are an alliance of the most powerful sorcerers, negotiators and military strategists of the worlds, and they have gathered to fight Kettin and her army. They need all the help they can get, and we have something unique to offer them.”
“You want us to fight? But you said we weren’t ready.”
“No and no,” Tyen replied. “Our task, if we take it on, is to find ways to disable or destroy these.” He gestured to the machines. “Surely the world smart enough to invent mechanical magic can discover how to defend against it.” He managed a half-smile. “I believe it can.”
“That’s all they want?” a woman asked.
Tyen turned towards the voice. “Do not think this will be an easy task. Kettin’s machines have been designed by the best inventors of the worlds. They attack in such numbers that even the strongest sorcerers of the worlds are soon overwhelmed.”
A murmur rose again, this time with an urgent pitch. Above this, a voice made itself heard.
“What proof do you have that all this is true?” Bargeman bellowed.
Tyen turned to face the man, inclined his head respectfully. “An important question and one I have thought about a great deal. I could take you, and a few other volunteers, out into the worlds to witness the destruction of Kettin’s armies, but it would involve a great risk. If she or one of her followers were to read your minds, they would discover the location of this world. She would soon direct her attention to us, since the world where mechanical magic was invented would be a great prize to her.”
He looked around the room again. “Instead, I have asked two of the otherworlders here to show you their memories. They have both spoken to survivors of Kettin’s invasions and been present at some of the Restorer strategy meetings.”
“But they haven’t seen these machines in action? Or this Kettin woman?” Bargeman asked.
Tyen shook his head. “No. I restricted the—”
“I have.”
Zeke stepped forward. He turned to Tyen. “I’m guessing you didn’t want to cause me pain,” he said haltingly in Leratian. “Don’t spare me, Tyen. This is too important.”
Tyen hesitated, then managed a sympathetic nod. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Zeke turned to Bargeman. “Read my mind.” He looked around the hall. “Most of you who are sorcerers will be able to. I am not a powerful sorcerer. That’s why I decided to study mechanical magic. Tyen was my teacher, back when I was at Liftre…”
As he told his tale Zeke let the memories rise. Good ones, to ease into the recollection of the bad. He skipped past his time working for Tyen and Dahli and lingered for a moment on his search for a way to combat machines before Kettin’s followers abducted him. Then his memories became nightmarish. More so because of their harsh clarity. He recalled his solution to the war machines being read from his mind, and then fighting in vain to stop himself thinking of a defence to the solution. Then he remembered the developments he and the other inventers had made. A thousand ways to kill, one of them had said. Next came Kettin’s visits, always wearing her sinister mask, and the monstrous things that had been done to people in her pursuit of becoming a machine.
And lastly, he spoke of the worlds he and Dahli had passed through on their way back to the Restorers, after his rescue. Smoking ruins. Bodies. Enormous factories. A world full of rows upon rows of machines awaiting transportation to the next victim of Kettin’s mad dream. A world under attack. He had not seen his inventions in action until that moment,
and he had sworn he would never invent anything again after he found a way to stop the machines.
By the time Zeke stopped, he was shaking and wiping away tears. Dahli came forward, put his arm around the inventor and guided him back to the edge of the crowd. The Grand Hall had been quiet except for a low murmuring, but now the buzz of voices began to intensify as the audience discussed what they had heard and the sorcerers who had been able to read Zeke’s mind confirmed he’d spoken the truth.
Tyen turned to Bargeman.
“Are you satisfied?”
The former professor was very pale. He swallowed, glanced at the sea of faces turned towards him, then straightened his back.
“Yes. But I find it hard to believe that we, isolated for centuries and with a great deal to catch up on – as you admit – can do anything against such an enemy.” He pointed at Tyen. “You gained too much power here too quickly. You could be using this threat as an opportunity to gain even more.” His hand opened in appeal to the audience. “How could this Restorer army, made up of the most powerful and intelligent sorcerers of the worlds, need us? I say we wait and see if they win, before we commit ourselves to serve a power we know nothing about.”
Voices rose, some in agreement, and then others in argument. To Tyen’s dismay, many were swayed by Bargeman’s caution. Let us know more, before we entangle ourselves in other worlds’ problems, some proposed. If we help the Restorers and they lose, Kettin will surely destroy us out of revenge.
When all had aired their doubts, Tyen raised his hands for their attention. “All I ask is that we examine Kettin’s machines and look for ways to combat them. The Academy is a place of study and discovery, which is all I would have it be. If I had my way, we would be an institution that refused to involve itself in war and violence, but sometimes the only way to hold or gain peace is to study such things for defence.” He shook his head. “I cannot order you to help. This is a matter for your own conscience. If that is not enough, consider this: if we find a defence against Kettin, all the surviving worlds will owe us their freedom and lives.” Tyen paused and swept his gaze across the faces. “If we do not, it will not matter.”
He took a step back. “I will give you an hour to discuss it.”
“What will you do if we refuse?” Bargeman asked.
Tyen looked at him. “Take those who volunteer to help away with me. I have friends in the Far South who would assist.”
“You’d join our enemy?”
“Who decided they were our enemy?” Tyen asked, raising his eyebrows.
“They are not part of the empire. They refused to join it.”
“No,” Tyen agreed. “But if we assume anything not in the Leratian Empire is our adversary, what will happen when we encounter someone or something stronger than us?” He deliberately turned and looked at the machines. “Though since Kettin is not of the empire, by your reasoning we should be fighting her.”
“You twist my words,” Bargeman objected.
“I only seek the truth in them,” Tyen replied. “But don’t waste them on me.” He gestured to the crowd. “You have a whole room to use such reasoning on.”
Turning away, Tyen walked back to Tarren and his supporters. The old man patted Tyen’s shoulder. “Well done.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you could read everyone’s minds,” Tyen muttered.
“I can read enough, and it is not as bad as you fear.”
Now he had to wait an hour while the gathering debated what they had learned and what should be done. Men and women, locals and otherworlders approached to offer their assurances and support. Humbled, Tyen could only murmur thanks in return. Then two professors suddenly broke off mid-sentence, their eyes widening with surprise at something over Tyen’s shoulder. Turning, Tyen felt a small jolt of guilt as he saw the Librarian waiting there.
“Rytan Kep,” he said. “I apologise. I have not had a chance to meet with you.”
The Librarian smiled. “I understand. You have your hands full.” He moved a little closer, and as he glanced at the other people watching nearby they turned away and started conversations with their neighbours.
Tyen looked at the man closely. How had he never noticed that Kep was different? He had old eyes in a too-well-preserved body. As he puzzled over this, he suddenly realised he had never seen Kep in the company of more than a few others. The Librarian’s agelessness was more obvious in the crowd. And that included the otherworld sorcerers – except for Dahli, of course.
“Are you able to contact Rielle Lazuli?” Kep asked.
It wasn’t the question Tyen was expecting, though he wasn’t sure what he had thought the man was about to say. “I can, but it would involve such a risk to this world that the cause would need to be extremely important.”
“Ah,” Kep said. He pursed his lips. “Well, perhaps you had better come down to the vault in her stead so you can judge that for yourself.”
“For what reason?”
The Librarian shrugged. “That would be best discussed when you get there. Be assured, it is no threat to you or the Academy, and yet may be the most important and dangerous discovery the worlds have seen in millennia.”
Tyen raised his eyebrows. “More than Kettin?”
Kep shrugged. “Perhaps. Or perhaps not.”
Not sure whether the man was being obtuse because he did not know, or was reluctant to speak of the matter where others might hear, Tyen simply nodded. “I’ll come as soon as I am able.”
The man retreated, leaving Tyen free to be mobbed by alarmed and concerned questioners. The hour came to an end far sooner than he would have liked. A bell rang out, the crowd returned to its former arrangement, Tyen stepped back into the centre of the hall and waited until a near-silence fell, broken only by the shuffle of feet and the odd cough. Then he waited a little longer to allow the tension to rise.
“Let us decide,” he said finally. “Those in favour of the Academy searching for ways to combat Kettin’s machines, please stand behind me. Those not, please stand before me.”
The rustle of clothing and tapping of shoes filled the room, then a voice cut across the noise.
“So, this is not to be an anonymous vote?” Bargeman stepped forward to stand twenty paces from Tyen.
“No,” Tyen replied firmly. “Wouldn’t you want to know, in the hour of defeat and destruction, who did not act when they could have saved the Leratian Empire and this world?”
Bargeman did not answer. His face was stiff and he watched the crowd intently, but he stayed in place as the last, hesitant ones chose their side.
Tyen looked behind, then in front, and nodded.
“I thank you,” he said. “The challenge we face is great, but I have every confidence in the collective intellect and determination of the Academy and her supporters. We will find a way to defend ourselves and the worlds against Kettin.”
And then he turned and walked back to join the slightly larger gathering of supporters standing between him and Kettin’s machines, his heart racing. We won, he thought, but not by much. Which means it will not take much for it to turn the other way.
He would have to tread very carefully in the coming days, or all that he had built here would fall apart.
CHAPTER 18
Following the Librarian through the door, Tyen could not help feeling a shiver of nervousness at the void below his feet. Rytan Kep had created a platform of stilled air for them to stand on, and Tyen saw no ill intention in the man’s mind, so he was not worried about falling. Maybe it was only that the wall of the circular room seemed to rise upwards, rather than that he and the Librarian were moving, as they slowly headed downwards.
“Before I returned with Rielle, what was the Academy planning to do about access to the vault when magic ran out?” he asked.
Kep shrugged. “They had no plans. The subject was raised now and then – usually when someone accompanied me down – but as far as I know, nobody truly believed the situation could get that bad.” He let o
ut a small huff of amusement. “Or realised I was using up my last supply of magic whenever I transported them in and out.”
Examining the man’s face, Tyen saw no sign of anger. Kep’s calm exterior was not faked. He had resigned himself completely to ageing and inevitable death some years before, starting the search for a replacement Librarian who could handle the work and keep its secrets as well as meet with the Academy’s approval. The search had proven fruitless so far, and he’d begun to wonder if the best protection for the most valuable items in the vault was for access to become impossible.
“There is much more down here than the former Directors knew,” Tyen observed.
Kep nodded. “Ancient records they would have destroyed to hide ideas they didn’t agree with. Objects that once belonged to sorcerers they considered dangerous.”
One of these records was what the Librarian was taking Tyen to see. And a man. Tyen frowned at the Librarian’s thought. A young sorcerer and researcher who had recently arrived from another world. Tyen drew in a sharp breath and searched for the visitor’s mind, finding a young man waiting, radiating anxiety. His concern was that Tyen would be angry about him coming here, though he hadn’t known the world was supposed to be hidden until he’d arrived. Tyen read no intention of harm.
“Don’t be concerned,” Kep said. “Our visitor understands the importance of this world’s location remaining a secret and is willing to stay here for the rest of his life if that is what is needed to save the worlds.”
Tyen looked down as the bottom of the drop appeared in the gloom. “I hope that won’t be necessary.”
The invisible platform supporting them dipped to one side, then rose upwards as the tunnel curved and became another shaft. They ascended this to the top, where another curve took them into a third shaft. They descended again, further than before. A flat floor appeared, drew closer, then met the soles of Tyen’s shoes as they arrived.
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