Bookworm III (21 page)

The Emperor smirked. “Do
you
think your brother is still alive?”

“I do not think Johan would stay in the Golden City,” Charity said. “All he wanted to do was leave.”

“I see,” the Emperor said. “But he was apprenticed to the Head Librarian, right? He would have had to stay with her?”

Charity pursed her lips. It was ...
improper
for a young man to be apprenticed to a woman, even if there were only four years between them. No, that made it worse, because it was certain that their hormones would push them into bed together. As far as she knew, Johan was still a virgin ... he wouldn’t be able to understand or resist the impulses coming down the link. If he had had to bond with a woman, it should have been with one at least old enough to be his mother ...

“I suppose,” she said, finally. “But he did not seek my approval for the bond.”

The Emperor scowled. “A male submitting to a woman,” he said. “It is never a good sign.”

“The Empire itself submitted to a woman,” Charity pointed out, before she could stop herself. “Light Spinner was very definitely a lady – a Lady.”

“And her power fell when I challenged her,” the Emperor said. “And so will the rest of the Empire.”

He smiled at her, coldly. “Go organise the wardcrafters,” he said. “I want to be in the Great Library as soon as possible.”

Charity paled. “And what about the hostages? Or my other tasks?”

“Forget them,” the Emperor ordered. There was no give in his voice at all. “Just break into the Great Library as quickly as possible. I will not be denied my prize.”

“I will have to organise someone else to look after the children,” Charity said. The thought of young children starving in their rooms, or running around the palace looking for food, drink and fun, was horrific. “I ...”

“Go,” the Emperor thundered. “The children can wait!”

Charity bowed her head, then obeyed.

Chapter Seventeen

“Is she going to be all right?”

“I think so, Johan,” Cass said. “But these spells are always chancy.”

Johan scowled as he looked down at Elaine’s sleeping form. She looked smaller, somehow, when she was asleep, her chest rising and falling as she breathed in and out. He felt a sudden surge of protectiveness that stunned him, then silently promised himself he would do whatever it took to protect her from the world. And yet, she was the one protecting him ...

“The wards,” he said, as he straightened up. “How long will they last?”

“Long enough,” Cass said. “Do you know where we can find showers?”

Johan gaped at her. “You’re in the middle of a library and you want a shower?”

“You need to wash the blood off too,” Daria said. She was still naked, looking down at the bruises covering her body. “There’s stuff in my bloodstream you really don’t want in yours.”

Johan flushed, then forced himself to look away. “There are sleeping quarters on the upper levels,” he said, after a moment’s thought. “You should be able to wash there. I don’t know if there will be any spare clothes, though.”

“I can clean them,” Cass assured him, dryly. “What about yourself?”

“I should stay with her,” Johan said. He looked down at his stained tunic and sighed. “But I’ll go for a shower once you’re back.”

He watched the two women leave the room, then turned his attention back to Elaine. Her presence in his mind was clearer now, as if Cass boosting the link had strengthened it permanently. Johan settled down next to her and tried to clear his mind, calling on exercises Elaine had taught him when he had started to use his magic for the first time. But nothing seemed to work for more than a few seconds. His thoughts kept twitching all over the place.

“We have guests,” Cass said, as she strode back into the room. “There’s a small army outside our walls.”

“Crap,” Johan said. He wished he was surprised. “Can they break in?”

“Not for a while, I think,” Cass said. She leant against the bookshelves, clearly thinking hard. “They would need to break through the wards, young man, and the wards protecting this building are some of the strongest in the world. I don’t think they’ll be breaking through the protections in a hurry.”

She paused, as if waiting for him to comment. Johan hesitated, then took the plunge.

“We have no way out,” he said. “Do we?”

“Not unless there’s another secret tunnel,” Cass said. “They’d see us coming out and snatch us before we could make our escape.”

Johan stood up and started to pace. “So we’re trapped here?”

“For the moment,” Cass said. She didn’t seem that worried about it. “There are worse places to be, I assure you.”

“I believe you,” Johan said. He looked back down at Elaine. “Might she know a way out?”

“Let us hope so,” Cass said. “And then, of course, where do we go from there?”

Johan considered it. “They’ll have blocked the tunnels under the mountains,” he said. “What about climbing the mountains and escaping that way?”

“Only if we want to commit suicide the hard way,” Cass said. “There’s enough wild magic flaring around the peaks to make trying to climb over them suicidal. Whoever designed the weather manipulation spells surrounding the city never expected them to be so badly disrupted, I imagine. We can’t drain the reserves until they dampen down of their own accord.”

She shrugged. “There are easier ways to commit suicide,” she added, darkly. “You don’t want to try climbing the mountains these days.”

Johan gave her a sharp look. “The Watchtower is up there,” he pointed out. “And it’s safe.”

“The Watchtower is heavily warded,” Cass reminded him. She sighed. “And we have seriously considered evacuating it for a few years, until the magic calms down. If it ever does. The spells manipulating the weather are so old that disrupting them had a whole series of unexpected side effects.”

“Snow, for one,” Johan said. He’d seen snow, outside the Golden City, but the residents weren’t used to anything more than a temperate summer day. Legend had it that it was permanently sunny in the Golden City, reflecting off the gilded buildings that made up the heart of the Empire. It was how the city had got its name. “And colder weather.”

“Yeah,” Cass said. “I don’t know how many people are going to survive the coming winter.”

“I don’t understand,” Johan said. “Why ...”

“Because hardly anyone would have anything suitable for winter wear,” Cass pointed out, sharply. “Why would they stockpile clothes for colder weather when few people even bother to leave the city for a holiday? But, right now, it’s getting colder and colder and it’s only going to get worse.”

Johan swallowed. “They could ward the buildings,” he said, slowly. “Or import clothes.”

“I doubt the Emperor will give a shit,” Cass said. “And warding every building in the city would be an impossible task. The poor will freeze to death if the weather gets much colder.”

She shrugged. “But I doubt you understand that, really. You were born to a Great House.”

“I know what it’s like to be deprived,” Johan countered.

“Do you?” Cass asked. “I fancy you never really lacked for anything you needed to keep you alive.”

“Except respect,” Daria said, as she entered the room. She had a towel wrapped around her chest, much to Johan’s relief. “And without respect, you have nothing.”

Johan shrugged. “I’ll go wash myself now,” he said. At least
he
had a couple of changes of clothes in his quarters, even if they had been planning to abandon them. “You two keep an eye on Elaine and try not to kill each other.”

Daria made a rude gesture; Cass merely snorted. Johan laughed to himself, then walked out the door and down the long corridor, past an endless series of portraits of library staff through the ages. Elaine’s portrait sat at the end of the corridor, but if her name hadn’t been written below the painting, Johan wouldn’t have known it was her. The painting looked so prim and proper that Elaine looked a great deal older, as well as cleaner. She’d never had such an air of authority in her life.

“They’re meant to imply that we were all the same, really,” Elaine had said, when he’d first found the paintings and asked who they were. “Look at the expressions.”

Johan nodded to himself. The library staff had come in all shapes and colours, but their paintings showed them with the same cold expressions, the same unspoken warning that anyone who dared desecrate the books would suffer torments beyond imagination. It was a warning people would do well to heed, Johan knew, as he turned and walked the rest of the way to his quarters. There were books in the Great Library that were literally irreplaceable.

It felt warmer now that Elaine had returned, he noted; the lights had come on, allowing him to pick his way through the building without risking using his magic to light his path. But it still felt eerie, as though the library had been permanently abandoned. It was a relief to enter his quarters, glance at the bed and then start to undress. His clothes were right where he’d left them, in compartments under the bed.

Good thing Elaine insisted I buy more
, Johan thought. He’d dreaded the thought of spending hours picking through clothing stores with her – Charity had loved spending days shopping – but Elaine had been almost brutally efficient.
I ended up with more than I could take with me
.

He dug out a change of clothing, then stepped into the shower and sighed in relief as the warm water washed over his body. It was tempting to stay in the water – he knew the Great Library had an unlimited supply of spell-cleaned and warmed water – but there was no time to waste. Instead, he stopped the water, towelled himself dry and stepped back into his room, where he pulled his shirt and trousers on. Once he was dressed, he looked at his desk – a handful of letters still sat there, where he’d left them – and then reached out and picked them up. Most of them, sent before his supposed death, were useless – or worrying. The Great Houses had moved from being completely unaware of his existence to trying to court him into their ranks.

And to think I could have been something better, if my powers had developed earlier
, Johan thought, as he picked up an envelope and opened it carefully.
But I had soured on my family by the time my powers emerged into the light.

He glanced down at the contents, then shook his head in disbelief. It was yet another offer from his father, written before their final meeting; yet another attempt to lure him back into the fold. Angrily, Johan tore it into scraps of paper and dropped them on the desk, then turned and strode out of the room. Magic flickered around him – the lights dimmed for a long moment – as he walked, leaving him puzzled and alarmed. Was it his fault?

“Cass went to watch our enemies,” Daria said, as Johan entered the reading room. “They’re trying to break the wards.”

“Let us hope they hold out,” Johan muttered, as he knelt down next to Elaine. His mistress was still fast asleep, so deeply asleep she wasn’t even dreaming. “Has she moved?”

“She’s just been lying there,” Daria said. “But her scent doesn’t indicate she’s in trouble.”

Johan looked back at her, realising – once again – just how
open
the werewolf packs had to be with one another. There was no point in trying to hide one’s feelings, not when no one could control or even deaden their scents. Daria would know if one of her brothers had had an intimate moment with his girlfriend, or ... Johan shook his head, grimly. He knew more than he wanted to know about Jamal’s activities and
he
had no inhuman sense of smell. But, for the werewolves, it was natural and right.

Perhaps that makes them the better people
, he thought, dryly.
They would know if their words were causing distress.

“Good,” he said, dully.

“Cass left a potion for you on the desk,” Daria said, indicating a small bottle. “It should give you enough energy to remain awake for a few more hours, if you need it.”

“But then it all catches up with you,” Johan said, softly. He’d used such potions before, only to find that they worked well ... until tiredness came crashing down like a hammer. “I might not wake up in time to help, if they broke down the wards.”

“Then take a nap over there,” Daria said, pointing to the corner. “I think we should be fine, for a while. The Great Library is protecting its mistress from all harm.”

Johan looked over at the corner. It didn’t look very comfortable, but it probably looked better to a werewolf. He thought about going back to his own bed, then dismissed the thought. It would be better if they stayed together, he told himself, no matter what else happened. The Great Library was too large for them to risk being separated, if the wards fell.

“I’ll read for a while,” he said, instead. He walked over to the bookshelves, selected a book at random, then sat down at one of the desks. “I don’t want to fall asleep.”

He looked at the book, then started to flick through the pages, taking in nothing. It was so hard to concentrate on the written word when Elaine was in trouble and they were under siege, even if they were relatively safe for the moment. There were ample stocks of food in the basements, he knew; Elaine had supervised the purchases personally, just to make sure she could feed the Court Wizards who had reserved quarters in the Great Library. They could survive for years, if necessary, without having to leave the building. But the Emperor would never leave them alone.

“If nothing else, he wouldn’t be able to leave us here without admitting he’d lost control of the Great Library,” he muttered to himself. “And the Court Wizards would take note.”

Daria looked up. “We can’t stay here indefinitely,” she agreed. “But where can we go?”

Johan closed the book and looked at her. “House Conidian,” he said. “It’s the last place they would look for us.”

Cass swept into the room, looking disgustingly alert. “They’re struggling with the outer wards,” she said, shortly. Her blonde hair gleamed under the light as she sat on one of the desks and crossed her long legs. “I think we have days, at least, before they start posing a real threat.”

“But we will have to leave eventually,” Johan pointed out. “House Conidian would be a good place to hide, at least until we can leave the city.”