Bookworm III (3 page)

“I
was
happy here,” Elaine said. “And now I will have to leave.”

Books had been her constant companions, first at the orphanage and then at the Peerless School. Fiction had allowed her to dream of other worlds; facts had allowed her to master magic and pass her tests, even if she lacked the raw power of her classmates. Daria had often accused her of lacking ambition, but – in truth – she had never really wanted to do anything other than work with books. Working at the Great Library had satisfied her, even if she had been a recluse with few friends.

And then she’d become the Bookworm. And then she’d been rewarded – and punished – by being made Head Librarian.

She wasn’t blind to Light Spinner’s political manoeuvrings. Elaine represented a danger to the Empire, after all; indeed, she was mildly surprised that the Grand Sorceress hadn’t killed her out of hand. Placing Elaine in the Great Library, even making her a Privy Councillor, had been a way to make use of her, as well as rewarding her for her efforts. But it also kept her firmly under control. The Head Librarian could never leave the city.

But I already have left the city
, Elaine thought, ruefully.
And now I may be leaving for good
.

She’d never
wanted
to leave the Golden City. She wasn’t one of the hardy explorers who had mapped the world, or one of the warrior-magicians who had built the Empire, or even one of the farmers who had tamed the land and purged it of magical influences. Being Head Librarian had been all she’d ever wanted, even if it did mean spending far too long in pointless meetings. The idea of leaving, of severing the connection between herself and the ancient building, was terrifying. And yet she had no choice. No one else could search for the Witch-King.

It would be easier
, she thought,
if we knew how he influenced people
.

Johan cleared his throat, breaking into her thoughts. “Are you listening to me?”

Elaine felt her cheeks redden. “I was distracted,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“My father used to do that too,” Johan said, softly. “He never actually listened to a word I said.”

“I’m sorry,” Elaine repeated, embarrassed. “What did you say?”

“Just that I think your friend was antsy,” Johan said. “You really should go see her now.”

“She always is,” Elaine said. Living with Daria in an apartment had been an education, even if she’d missed a single essential truth about her redheaded friend. Daria moved like lightning, hopping from one boyfriend to the next, darting around so quickly that Elaine couldn’t hope to keep track of her affairs. “But she’s also a very decent person.”

And a werewolf
, she added, in the privacy of her own thoughts.
How in the name of all the gods did I manage to miss that
?

She took one last look around the chamber, then linked into the wards and issued a series of orders. The chamber would be locked down until she returned, ensuring that the ancient books and scrolls would remain safe and untouched. She hid a smirk as she looked at one chest of books, remembering what the owner had told Inquisitor Dread. Only people who shared his bloodline could read the books, he’d warned; anyone else risked everything from blindness to death. But it was astonishing just how easily such protective charms could be put aside if one knew how ...

And that is why they would want to kill me, if they knew what I could do
, Elaine thought, grimly.
I know far too much about how magic actually works
.

Johan followed her out the door and closed it firmly behind him. Elaine took a moment to check that the wards were firmly in place, then led the way up through the book-lined corridors to the private apartments. As always, the corridors thronged with students and visiting magicians, including dozens of Court Wizards. They might have been summoned to attend the Grand Conference of Court Wizards, where they would pay homage to Lady Light Spinner, but they were taking advantage of the visit to catch up on their reading. Elaine didn’t blame them, not really. If there was one advantage to having to leave the Golden City, it was not having to attend the conference.

She frowned as she heard the sound of two students fighting, followed by shimmering alerts from the wards as they started to hurl hexes at one another. Two librarians moved in to separate the two before they could do real damage, then drag them both out of the library and dump them onto the streets. Elaine rolled her eyes in disgust – had she been as desperate to get the books first when she’d been a student? – then reminded herself that exams were coming soon. The students had to be panicking.

Shouldn’t have spent all that time having fun instead of studying
, she reprimanded them silently.
Now you have to fight to catch up ...

They passed through another set of wards, then stepped through the door into Elaine’s private office. Daria was sitting cross-legged in one of the chairs, her face twisted into a bored expression. The bookshelves lining the walls didn’t impress her, Elaine knew, but then they never had. Daria wouldn’t be happy unless she was doing something, anything. There was nothing in the room for her.

“Elaine,” Daria said, standing in one smooth motion. “It’s good to see you again.”

“And you,” Elaine said, as Daria enfolded her in a hug. Her friend smelt strongly of perfume, which she used to dampen her scent. “I’ve missed you.”

“Yeah,” Daria said. “Elaine, I’m afraid I’ve got bad news.”

Chapter Two

Johan had seen many beautiful girls in his time, despite effectively being kept prisoner by his family. His mother and sisters had been beautiful, the girls his father wanted to marry to his brothers had been beautiful ... but there had been something about them that had been
fake
, unreal. They’d used glamours, he suspected, to make themselves look attractive, matching their appearance to their target’s tastes. It had always struck him as a kind of fraud.

But Daria was stunning. Short-cropped red hair dominated a face with large, dark eyes and pale, blemish-free skin. She wore a long grey robe that was tight around her chest, then spilled out to hide her legs completely. He couldn’t help staring at her, even though there was something oddly canine about her eyes. And the way she moved, as she stood and hugged her friend, was smooth and almost inhuman.

A werewolf
, he thought, suddenly. A new-made werewolf wouldn’t show any traces of the curse on his or her body, but a born werewolf would show hints of her true nature. He fought down the urge to panic, reminding himself sharply that born werewolves enjoyed much better control over their nature than made werewolves. Besides, he knew what it was like to be an outcast. The gods knew his family had treated him as their secret shame for years.

“And you must be Johan,” Daria said, as she let go of Elaine. Her voice was sultry, sending shivers down Johan’s spine. “I’ve heard a great deal about you.”

“All lies,” Johan managed. He’d heard enough of the rumours concerning him to know that most of them were complete nonsense. “I’m just her apprentice.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Daria said, briskly. She held out a hand, which Johan shook firmly, in the manner he’d been taught. There were tiny hairs covering the back of her hand, so fine as to be almost invisible. It was another sign of her true nature. “Elaine needs a male presence in her life.”

Johan felt his face turn bright red. He didn’t look at Elaine, but he sensed her embarrassment through the bond they shared. And she
would
be embarrassed ... he cursed mentally, wondering why
that
aspect of the link had to be the one that actually worked. There were some definite advantages to not sharing a full apprenticeship bond – he didn’t like the thought of a person being able to control him at will – but he’d always had a stronger sense of her than she’d had of him. It just didn’t make sense.

Elaine cleared her throat, loudly. “He’s my apprentice, not my boyfriend,” she said, as Daria let go of Johan’s hand. The irritation echoing through the link was overpowering the embarrassment, barely. “And you should know better.”

“Of course, Your Nobleness,” Daria said, archly. “I beg your pardon, Your Nobleness. I ask for your forgiveness, Your Nobleness ...”

“Oh, shut up,” Elaine said.

Johan concealed his amusement with an effort. It was hard to see what the two girls actually had in common; Elaine was shy, almost a recluse, while Daria was outgoing and friendly. And yet, they did seem to have a solid friendship, one that had survived Elaine’s elevation to the Privy Council. Perhaps they grounded each other, he told himself, or perhaps it was their differences that made the friendship work. Daria reminded Elaine that there was more to life than books, while Elaine allowed Daria to relax and actually do something serious with her life. Or maybe he was completely wrong.

Daria clamped her hands over her mouth, then bulged out her cheeks. Elaine snorted rudely, then motioned for her friend to sit down. Johan sat on the sofa and tried to keep his eyes off Daria, fearing that the apprenticeship bond would choose that moment to start working properly. The last thing he wanted was for his mistress to know he was lusting after her best friend.

She must be used to it
, his thoughts mocked him. It was clear, now, why Daria wore her robes. She could shift into wolf form without them getting in the way and, with a little care, could shift back into a human without running around naked.
Daria is gorgeous
.

Oh, shut up
, he told himself, angrily.

He looked around the office as Elaine moved a pile of books from one chair and sat down, heavily. The room was crammed with books, ranging from magical textbooks that had been added to reading lists for next year, to various tomes that hopeful authors had sent to the Head Librarian, requesting their inclusion on the library shelves. Johan had devoured as many of the textbooks as he could, in-between studying with Elaine and trying to determine the exact nature of his powers, but he hadn’t found them as helpful as he’d expected. His magic just didn’t seem to behave according to the normal rules.

But you weren’t allowed to read them at home
, his thoughts reminded him. His father had reluctantly enforced the law forbidding non-magicians from touching books of magic, but at least he’d been kind about it. Jamal had taken great delight in rubbing Johan’s nose in the fact there were books he would never be able to read.
And now you’re making up for lost time
.

He scowled as he remembered his elder brother, the now-powerless brother. The gods alone knew what had happened to him; Elaine had said, rather dryly, that Jamal had left the city, shortly after the Inquisitors had released him from custody. Johan honestly wasn’t too surprised. Jamal had been horrible to just about everyone who wasn’t a social superior – there hadn’t been many of those – and his victims would want a little revenge. The thought of Jamal turned into their plaything was darkly amusing. Jamal had, after all, treated Johan as
his
plaything.

“The seers have been having dreams of impending disaster,” Daria said. There was an edge in her voice that cut through Johan’s thoughts, bringing them back to reality. “They don’t want to stay in the city any longer than strictly necessary.”

“I’m not sure I blame them,” Elaine said. “What are they dreaming?”

“Nothing specific,” Daria said. “But they still want to leave.”

Johan looked at Daria, trying hard to keep his eyes on her face. “Don’t they see actual events in their dreams?”

“The Sight doesn’t work like that,” Daria said. There was a hint of annoyance in her tone, although it didn’t seem to be directed at Johan. “They never see specific events, merely hints and insights into the future – and feelings, of course. In this case, they’ve been telling everyone who will listen to them that they have a sense of impending disaster.”

Johan looked at Elaine. “Is this reliable?”

Elaine frowned. “Sometimes,” she said.

She didn’t seem inclined to say anything else, but Johan could sense her worry through the bond. True Seers were rare, very rare. His father had once told him – more accurately, he’d told Jamal while Johan was in earshot – that a True Seer would be snatched up by the Grand Sorcerer, if his powers were proven to be real. But most Seers tended to only see hints of the future, little details that could be anything ... and then use hindsight to
prove
they’d been right all along. Jamal had sneered at the concept and, for once, Johan had to agree. A prediction about meeting a tall handsome stranger could be spun in any direction, with a little ingenuity, while the absence of specifics made it impossible to disprove the prediction.

But people still believed their personal futures could be mapped out for them, if they asked the right fortune teller. Johan’s father had sneered at the concept, pointing out that it rarely worked as advertised – and when it did, the results were sometimes unpleasant. Once told, a future would come true, even if it was nightmarish. Johan didn’t pretend to understand how ignorance could be bliss, but he wasn’t going to dismiss his father’s warning. There were some fields of magic that, no matter what anyone said, were poorly understood.

“They were warning the Travellers to abandon Loch Leven,” Daria said. “They kept having shadowy dreams of impending disaster. A few weeks later, the city was struck by an earthquake that left most of the buildings in ruins. None of the City-Fathers had listened, of course.”

“Of course,” Elaine agreed.

“Stupid bastards,” Daria said. “They might not trust us, but they should know we don’t lie.”

She got up and started to pace. Johan found himself staring again as he realised just how well the robe clung to her body as she moved. It showed no bare flesh, but it revealed the shape of her limbs and buttocks ... embarrassed, he tore his eyes away and found himself looking at Elaine. Her face was impassive, but he could sense a flicker of amusement through the bond, mixed with embarrassment. He looked down at the wooden floor instead, telling himself it was safer. At least there was nothing on the floor to distract him.