Orlind (31 page)

‘
Wasn’t he meant to take us with him?’ Tren asked
weakly.

Eva sighed,
feeling bone-weary. ‘I fear he would have if he honestly had a use
for us.’

Tren nodded. ‘You
think we’ve been had?’

‘
I’m
sure of it. Perhaps Ana was right: it’s hard to fool
Krays.’

Tren spent
several moments wandering about the room kicking at things. Finally
he said, ‘Doesn’t bode well for Ana.’

Eva shrugged.
‘She’s cunning. She’ll tell him she brought us in because she knew
we could be useful to him. She was stringing us along, etc
etc.’

Tren lifted his
hands to comb back his hair, remembered he was wearing a wig and
dropped them again. ‘So. If the whole point was to get in here,
what did he take that was so important?’

Eva shrugged
again. ‘I tried to get a look at the box, but there was nothing on
it that looked like writing. I suppose Limbane will know, or he
could guess.’

‘
But
he’s a tiny bit busy.’

Eva crossed to
the bookcase and looked it over. Whatever Krays had seen in the
glass was either gone or invisible to her eyes: it just looked like
glass, with books behind. When she opened the doors, she still saw
books. Whatever magic or technology Limbane was using here was
beyond her.

‘
You
know,’ she mused, ‘it’s odd. This Library - in fact, this
room
-
is full of advanced tech and enchantments, yet
Limbane uses a mere key lock on bookcase like this?’

‘
Good
point,’ Tren said, moving to stand next to her. ‘Wow, something
else odd and nonsensical. Who would’ve thought.’

She couldn’t help
grinning, in spite of her chagrin. ‘I missed you.’

Tren looked
surprised. ‘I’ve been right here.’

‘
Physically perhaps, but the
Tren
part of Tren wasn’t
here.’

‘
You
don’t like me as an arrogant bastard? Surprising.’

Recognising that
as a reference to her erstwhile dalliance with Recender, ambassador
for Ullarn, Eva let that pass. ‘Just to be sure, you’re seeing
glass and books, yes?’

Tren cast a quick
eye over the bookcase, top to bottom. ‘Glass. Books.
Yep.’

‘
Very
well. We’re wasting our time here. What’s the next
plan?’

‘
The
main objective hasn’t changed,’ Tren said, leaning against her
shoulder. ‘We still need a look inside that Library. But we may as
well accept that Krays isn’t going to give us access, at least not
in any useful timeframe.’

‘
Agreed. The only other options, then, are to storm the place
by force or infiltrate by stealth.’

‘
Force
isn’t an option, of course, with almost all the Lokants busy
elsewhere. So stealth it is.’

They both spoke
calmly, as if they were discussing a matter of no great import, but
Eva knew that exploring Krays’s Library without even the semblance
of permission was a more dangerous plan by far than any they had
yet attempted. Tren knew it, too. But what other choice was
there?

‘
Let’s
list the obstacles,’ Tren said. ‘Krays’s alarm system is the
biggest one. There’s also the problem of the whurthag mechs, plus
getting access to the right places. Whatever those are.’

‘
And
of course, we need to... not be seen. And we need a good cover
story in case we are.’

‘
Back
to sorcery, then,’ Tren smiled. ‘I can invis us pretty well for an
hour or so before it’ll start to wear on me. If we’re still spotted
- by anybody but Krays - then our story is that we’re the
Lokantor’s newest recruits. I can keep my Lokant disguise.
Hopefully it’ll take them a while to figure out that we aren’t
supposed to be there.’

‘
I’m
not sure about that last part,’ Eva said. ‘Identifying
accepted
Lokants has to be more complicated than whether or
not they have white hair.’

‘
Probably true. And we can’t solve the alarm problem on our own
either.’

‘
We
need to talk to Limbane,’ Eva concluded.

Tren groaned.
‘How much is he going to hate us for bringing Krays
here?’

‘
Chances of our being eviscerated are quite high,’ Eva agreed
glumly.

‘
No
sense delaying then,’ Tren said with false cheer. ‘On with the
disembowelling!’

Eva grinned. ‘One
kiss, in case we’re to die.’

‘
How
romantic,’ Tren murmured, happy to oblige. ‘A joint
evisceration.’

Eva bit his
lip.

‘
Ouch.’

‘
Right, glasses on and let’s go.’

Limbane heard
their story with more patience than Eva had expected, especially
since they found him in the middle of taking reports from a number
of small Lokant teams.

‘
We
can only apologise,’ Eva finished by saying. ‘I hope Krays’s theft
won’t prove to be too big a problem for you.’

‘
None
whatsoever,’ Limbane said in the most dismissive manner. Was that
even a hint of a smile? Eva stared, her suspicions rising by the
second.

‘
Do
you know what it is he’d have taken?’ she asked.

‘
I
can’t imagine.’

Eva’s eyes
narrowed. That answer was too flippant, and he showed no sign of
concern at all. That he knew exactly what Krays had taken seemed
indubitable, but as usual he wasn’t saying. Her thoughts strayed
back to that simple key... was Krays
supposed
to be able to
get into that bookcase? What in the world for? And wouldn’t he have
been suspicious to find a straightforward lock instead of the
complicated coded locks the Lokants used everywhere
else?

Probably not, she
concluded with growing annoyance. Limbane knew that Krays would
find a way into his reading room; he’d probably expected that Eva
and Tren would end up serving this role. And Krays likewise knew
that Limbane would play games with him in return. These people, she
reflected grumpily, were utterly maddening.

But why wasn’t
Limbane more worried about Krays being in his Library? After all
his apparent conviction that Krays sought to wrest his Library from
him, that knowledge ought to unsettle him a bit. If Eva had still
doubted before, now she was certain: Krays wasn’t after Limbane’s
Library, and Limbane knew it.

Andraly was
right, damn her. They were being played from both sides. She
understood in a flash of sudden conviction that Limbane had set
that little trap for Krays. Whatever he’d taken, he was
meant
to take it.

But Limbane
wouldn’t tell, no matter how much she asked.

Concealing her
anger with difficulty, Eva forced herself back into her usual
semblance of calm. ‘We are still eager to explore Krays’s Library.
Can you help us with this?’

Limbane eyed her.
‘Why do you still want to do this?’

Eva pondered that
question. The original point, of course, was that they were to
discover Krays’s secret plans. But she was increasingly certain
that Limbane already knew what those plans were. He had probably
known all along. So where did that leave her and Tren? Still in the
dark. Limbane wasn’t going to share what he knew, so Eva would have
to find out what was going on for herself.

But if Limbane
was keeping secrets, she could too. She didn’t have to tell him
that she knew about his deeper games.

‘
Nothing has changed,’ she replied. ‘We still need access to
that Library if we’re to uncover what Krays is doing. It’s just the
approach that will have to change.’

Limbane looked at
her for a moment without speaking. She was learning to decode
Limbane’s manner and expressions; once, this particular demeanour
would have struck her as thoughtful. Now she recognised it as
calculating.

‘
All
right,’ he said. ‘Tell me what you wish to do.’

Eva explained
their plans, with an occasional aside from Tren. When the whole had
been told, Limbane honoured them with an impatient nod. ‘Fine, but
I can’t spare too many people for this. Take Iwa back with you.
She’ll fix you up with the necessary devices.’

A serene-looking
female Lokant separated from a knot of her colleagues and stepped
up to them. ‘Yes, Lokantor,’ she said, her manner icily
cool.

‘
Come
back as soon as possible, Iwa,’ he instructed. ‘I’ll need you
soon.’

‘
Yes,
Lokantor.’ Iwa turned her attention to Eva and Tren. ‘Lab
Seventeen,’ she said, and vanished.

‘
Thanks, Limbane,’ Eva said, managing to sound grateful. He
waved her away.

Eva took Tren
back to her room in the Library first, wanting a few moments’
private discussion.

‘
So
what do you reckon is going on between Limbane and Krays? Two-way
con?’ Tren said without preamble.

‘
At
this point I’ve no idea who is conning who. Or rather, I don’t know
whether Limbane is deliberately conning us or whether we’re just
getting caught up in his on-going Krays-con.’

‘
Either way, not good.’

‘
Nothing to be done about it, though. Nothing can pry
information out of Limbane if he doesn’t want to talk.’

‘
Too
true. So we go ahead?’

‘
I
don’t have any other ideas. Do you?’

Tren shook his
head. ‘I wish we could wash our hands of the whole thing, but
Limbane’s scaring me. If he does know what Krays is doing, he
doesn’t seem to be working to put a stop to it.’

‘
I
wish he’d made at least a
little
effort to deceive us,’ Eva
grumped. ‘It’s patronising.’

‘
Unless he wants us to know we’re being deceived.’

She thought about
that. ‘Would that make it a triple or a quadruple con? I’m losing
track.’

Tren laughed. ‘At
this point I believe we’re up to at least a twelve-layer
deception.’

‘
I’m
getting tired of it,’ Eva muttered.

Tren gave her a
quick hug. ‘Me too. So let’s make an end of it. Onward to Lab
Seventeen!’

Iwa awaited them
with obvious impatience.

‘
Sorry,’ Eva said blandly. ‘Limbane had a couple more things to
say.’

Iwa didn’t answer
that, leaving Eva to reflect without satisfaction on how facile a
liar she was becoming. ‘I’ve prepared these for you,’ Iwa said,
pointing to two tiny devices on the bench before her. ‘This one is
yours, Eva, and this is for Tren. Don’t get them mixed up. What
these will do is mimic the frequency of the implants Krays gives
his people. He changes the codes pretty often, of course, but these
should be up to date.’

‘
Lovely,’ Eva said, peering at one of the gadgets. ‘So if we
carry these, it’ll seem like we have the right implants with the
right codes?’

‘
Yes,
though it isn’t a perfect camouflage. Every one of those implants
has a serial number, the same way ours do, so the bearer can be
identified. These use numbers in the same sequence as those Krays
is using, so it’ll look authentic, and I’ve just built each of you
a profile that will pass cursory inspection. But if anyone looks
too closely, they’ll realise you are carrying serial numbers that
haven’t been assigned yet. I advise you to complete your business
quickly.’

Eva nodded.
‘These will fool the alarms, will they?’

‘
At
least for a while, yes. Also if anybody decides to check your
credentials, they’ll gain you a pass - for a while.’

‘
What
about my own implant?’

‘
It
will mask it. Temporarily.’

That was good
news. Krays knew they worked for Limbane, but presumably most of
his people did not. If she and Tren were stopped, it would be
easier to explain their presence if they didn’t have to first
explain away the presence of a rival implant. ‘Temporarily,’ Eva
repeated. ‘Understood. We have no intention of
dallying.’

‘
Good,’ Iwa said curtly. ‘I don’t have time to do surgery so
you’ll have to carry these. Keep them well hidden. If anybody spots
these on you, they may realise what they are.’

‘
Do
you have any advice for us?’ Tren asked.

Iwa directed a
cold smile at him. ‘Keep out of Krays’s way.’

With that she
disappeared.

Eva picked up one
of the tiny gadgets, handling it with extreme care. To her eye it
resembled a silvery metal button, and that made her afraid of it.
She could damage the invisible workings all too easily when she
didn’t know what or where they were.

‘
Hmm,
where to keep it,’ Tren murmured, looking down at his
clothes.

‘
Somewhere it can’t fall out,’ Eva advised.

‘
Inside coat pocket!’ he said with triumph, and duly buttoned
it inside.

‘
Good
thinking.’ Eva did the same, shaking her coat a few times to make
sure it wouldn’t fall out.

‘
Well
then,’ she said after a moment. ‘Ready to go?’