The Cornerstone (7 page)

Strategies of any kind were quite unnecessary as it turned out. Max simply strolled in to the library an hour later and Imelda Warrington came bustling up to him with a look of tired concern on her face.

‘You’ve got to use the book again, boy. It won’t let me do anything!’ she snapped.

He was taken off guard and had to re-orient himself.  Max had been prepared for a lengthy argument with Imelda before learning any more about The Cornerstone and the blonde girl, so this was a bit of a surprise.

‘Um… okay. Why?’ he asked.

Imelda grabbed Max's arm and frog-marched him toward the staff room. She didn’t say another thing until they were inside with the door locked.

‘The Cornerstone isn’t working for me for some reason. I’ve been trying all night with no success. How am I supposed to find out anything if I can’t make contact?’ Imelda wasn’t quite wringing her hands, but it wouldn’t have gone amiss.

‘Gotcha,’ Max nodded. ‘Any ideas why it’s not working?’

She looked away, embarrassed. ‘It seems to be in a mood with me,’ she mumbled.

‘The book… is
in a mood with you
?’ Max said, resisting the temptation to unlock the door and run.

She gave him an exasperated look. ‘It’s not just a book. I thought you’d worked that out by now! It has more power than you can possibly imagine. It also has a distinct… personality.’

‘Okay…’ Max was dubious about a book having a personality, but was willing to go along with the idea if it got him answers. ‘Why do you think I can help?’

‘You were the last person to use it. Maybe it… it likes you. I’ve never known it work for a random stranger before, so there must be something special about you.’

Max thought for a second. ‘Not me. Nothing special about me. It’s her… the blonde girl. I just found her message, that’s all.’

‘Well, that does make sense. Merelie has a close relationship with the books. It stands to reason The Cornerstone would pick up on that.’

Merelie.

It was a very pretty name, Max decided. ‘That’s her name, is it?’ 

‘Yes it is, but that’s not important right now.’

It was the most important thing in the world as far as Max was concerned.

‘Sit down and let’s see if it works for you,’ Imelda demanded, impatient to see if he had any more luck.

Max sat on a comfy brown sofa and Imelda thrust The Cornerstone at him.

‘Now, hang on a minute!’ he objected, holding his hands up to ward the thing off. ‘The last time I touched that thing I went blind, deaf and was half suffocated.’

‘The
aaaahhh
-ing?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘Yes. I said it had a personality… I didn’t say it was a subtle one. When it wants attention it can make a right racket.’

‘That was
attention seeking
?’

‘Of a sort, yes. It wanted you to find it… and it usually gets its way.’

Max gave The Cornerstone a long look. ‘Got a personality, you say?’

‘Indeed,’ Imelda replied, still holding it out.

Feeling a little silly, Max leaned forward and addressed the book directly. ‘Now listen here, you. This Merelie’s in trouble and I want to help her. From what the librarian is saying, it sounds like you want me to help her too.’ Max gave the book the pointy finger treatment. ‘Having said all that, let’s skip the theatrics, eh? No choral singing, no suffocating, no weird glowing and definitely no blinding white light… it gave me a headache. Got it?’

The Cornerstone showed no sign that it understood - let alone agreed - but Max hoped his admonishment had done the trick.

‘Be careful,’ Imelda warned. ‘And don’t do anything stupid over there. Just find out what’s going on and come straight back, understood?’

Max nodded, opened the book, took a very deep breath and started to read.

- 4 -

 ‘Be careful,’ Imelda warned. ‘And don’t do anything stupid over there. Just find out what’s going on and come straight back, understood?’

Max nodded, opened the book, took a very deep breath and started to read.

The process was easier this time. The Cornerstone had apparently listened to him, because there was no choir and no exploding universe. While there was still some silver light, it was far less blinding and the trip didn’t include another visit with the evil purple space monsters.

As the book did its thing, Max hoped he wouldn’t arrive in the enormous, mist-wreathed library with its unseen terrors.

His hopes were answered as the light faded and he could see again.

It was a square, stone courtyard, surrounded on all sides by corridors visible through tall, narrow windows. There was an archway in each wall allowing access to these corridors, which went who knows where.

The place had a medieval vibe to it, but didn’t look rustic or run-down. In fact, it seemed well-kept and quite tidy.

Warm sunlight filtered through a wide sky-light above. Max could see deep blue sky and a single white cloud scudding happily along in the gentle breeze.

He stood on a neat square patch of grass, split down the middle by a shallow canal of running water. The water came from a plain stone fountain at one end of the courtyard and flowed into a drain at the other.

Picturesque was the best way to describe the place… with a little quaint thrown in for good measure.

The patch of grass Max stood on was bordered by smooth, grey flagstones and he stepped over onto one, stamping his foot down.

Seems real enough.

This was certainly a better place to materialise than the gloomy library. The chances of a hideous tentacle monster smashing through the skylight and sucking his eyeballs out were quite remote, he felt.

‘You’re back!’ a voice said from behind him.

Max spun around.

Standing in the nearest archway was Merelie.

This was the first opportunity Max had to get a good look at the girl and he was struck by how beautiful she was. Her deep blue eyes were exquisite and her hair was a glorious honey-blonde.

She was quite breath-taking, all things considered.

Given what limited knowledge there was about this strange world, it might have been tempting for Max to fill in the blanks with romantic images of a wondrous fantasy land full of elves, dwarves, wizards and such.

This is due to narrative conditioning - which more or less dictates that any alternative universe in a story like this will be an idyllic medieval paradise… possibly featuring hobbits.

On this theme, one could therefore expect Merelie to be dressed in a flowing, beautiful gown; every inch a princess from King Arthur’s court. She might even have a wimple on her head, if we’re going the whole hog.

This was certainly what Max had been imagining, so he was just a little bit disappointed to find Merelie dressed in simple black trousers and a pale green shirt. There wasn’t a wimple in sight.

The cut of the fabric was a little odd in truth, but the girl wouldn’t look out of place walking through John Lewis on a busy Saturday afternoon.

Ordinary looking clothes or not, she was quite stunning, leaving Max at a loss for words.

Anyone who’s been paying attention so far will know this is something of a rarity.

‘Um… er… ‘

Merelie walked over.

‘Did Borne hurt you?’ she asked with concern. ‘He can be a bit heavy handed sometimes… but it was an emergency.’

Max supposed that Borne was this Arma thing Imelda Warrington had mentioned.

‘Er… no, I’m ok thanks. Just gave me a bump on the head.’

‘Thank goodness!’ Her smile was like the sun coming up. ‘I thought I’d make sure The Cornerstone was somewhere more pleasant for you to arrive this time around.’

What Merelie did next was very nice, but at the same time
deeply
traumatic. She leaned forward and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

This turned Max redder than an angry beetroot.

‘Thank you for reading my message and coming here,’ she said.

‘S’not a problem, really… wasn’t doing much else,’ he replied, now completely unable to make eye contact.

‘What’s your name?’

‘Max… M’name’s Max.’ he said, looking at his feet.

‘Max. That’s a nice name.’

‘Thanks,’ he said, looking at the wall.

‘Mine is Merelie.’

‘I know. The librarian woman told me,’ he said, looking at the other wall.

‘Did she?’ Merelie’s expression darkened.

‘Yeah. She told me a lot, actually.’

Max failed to see Merelie’s reaction as he was looking at his feet again. ‘Well, I’m not sure how she could,’ she replied, ‘stuck over there… not knowing what’s been going on.’

There were a few awkward moments as he tried to get over his embarrassment and she seethed privately over Imelda’s interference.

‘Er… where am I, exactly?’ he asked, breaking the silence.

The sun came up again. ‘Sorry, Max. This must be all very confusing for you.’

‘You’ve got that right,’ he replied, looking into her eyes for the first time.

She took his hand in hers, causing embarrassment levels to peak. ‘Come on, we’ll go somewhere a bit more private to talk. A Chapter Guard could walk by any time and explaining you away would be a real problem.’

‘Ok.’

Max had no idea what a Chapter Guard was, but had heard so many strange things over the past couple of days he’d given up on asking and had just elected to go with the flow.

Merelie led him through the archway and along one of the corridors.

‘What is this place, Merelie?’ It felt nice to use her name.

‘This is the Chapter House… our Chapter House I mean… my family’s.’

There was a note of pride in her voice that suggested being in a family with a Chapter House was a very good thing indeed; like having a swimming pool or a pony.

She led him down several more corridors. All of them were lit from above with the same type of skylight as the courtyard, and there were large windows spaced regularly along their length. Soft, glowing blue orbs sat on metal sconces attached to the walls, augmenting the natural light provided by the skylights.

Many rooms and other courtyards led away, giving Max the impression he was in a very large building.

As Merelie guided him along, he looked out of the windows and was offered a snapshot of the surrounding environment.

They were in what appeared to be the tallest structure of an elegant city. Most of the buildings looked built of stone, but there were a few metal and glass constructions dotted about.

Neat parkland areas were spread throughout the section of the city he could see and the streets were lined with healthy, stout trees.

Long, sleek airships floated above the buildings, most of them coloured a deep, rich green. Some were moored at the top of the highest buildings.

Max could see people teeming in the streets below, going about their business on this sunny day.

While there was nothing he could recognise as a car, there were vehicles down there, trundling along the wide, paved avenues on tracks - like the trams he’d seen on a trip to Blackpool a few years ago.

Between the buildings he could see green rolling hills behind the city, which gave way to the sea a couple of miles beyond.

The whole place looked sickeningly clean and tidy.

Max got the distinct impression that the city was new and hadn’t had time to get grimy and stained yet due to centuries of accommodating messy human beings.

He would’ve liked to study his surroundings a bit more, but Merelie was in a rush, so there wasn’t much time for sight-seeing.

They went through a set of heavy green marble doors and entered a large hall, which had a grand looking wooden staircase at one end and several comfy looking chairs and tables dotted about for anyone who fancied a sit down.

On the walls were several large paintings, depicting strong and handsome looking people, staring off into the middle distance. They were dressed in a variety of styles, continuing the elegant, simple look of Merelie’s clothing.

Some paintings looked quite new - especially the one of a tall, thin bald man with piercing blue eyes. Others looked older, with a distinct patina of age.

The one constant in all the portraits was that every person had their left hand resting on a leather bound book sat on a tall plinth beside them. It looked a little like The Cornerstone, but much larger and more ornate.

‘You lot really like books, don’t you?’ Max said, as Merelie hurried him across the hall.

She glanced up to the paintings. ‘It’s more than just liking books, Max. Our world wouldn’t exist without them. I’ll explain more, but I don’t want us to be caught here… come on.’

She pulled him up the flight of polished wooden stairs and underneath a large, lavish tapestry that depicted the world, hanging right above the landing where the staircase split to the left and right. 

Merelie yanked him left and headed along a gallery running above the hall.

They stopped at a pale blue set of double doors and Merelie pushed one open, leading Max into what looked like her private rooms.

The chamber was large and circular, with two other rooms accessible from a couple of doorways. The plain interior design of the Chapter House continued here, though there were more flourishes of colour and personality, with several hangings and pictures adorning the walls.

I’m in a pretty girl’s bedroom... and all it took was travelling to another world.

Merelie closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Thank the Writer for that. Nobody saw us. We’re lucky my parents are at negotiations with the other Chapters in the Great Hall, otherwise there’d be far more people about.’

‘Are your parents important then?’

‘My father is Chapter Lord here. He rules this land.’

‘Of course he does,’ Max sighed. That was it then, he had no chance with her. She was even more out of his league than he thought. ‘Why aren’t you there with them?’

Merelie laughed bitterly. ‘I’m not exactly my father’s favourite person at the moment. My presence wouldn’t go down well. I have opinions that aren’t shared by others.’