The Last Dragon Chronicles: Fire World: Fire World (34 page)

that they always spoke openly of their battle plans. Isenfier. The Shadow. What they called ‘The Inversion’. Aunt Gwyneth was as much confused by these terms as the firebirds were after centuries of

guarding the tapestry on Floor 108. But she was in the unique position of commingling with the beings, who not only knew of the connection between the three worlds, but had visited time points on two of them at least.

She chose one of the terms and askedabout it. “Tell me about Isenfier. You lost

a battle there?”

No, the battle is suspended in time.

“Suspended? How is that possible?”

It was done with a creat:or.

Aunt   Gwyneth  thought   about   thedragon’s claw, which, for safety’s sake,

she’d hidden. “Those things can control

time
?”

The creat:or can shape dark matter, butthose   who  wield  it  must  resonate

precisely with the nexus and the universe.

“Who could wield such a thing?” (Apart from David, she added as an afterthought.)

The Ix fizzed around her mind like

water molecules coming to the boil. She could sense their resentment well before

they said,
 
There are dragon elementals on the Earth, responsible for aiding the protection of the planet.

The katt twitched a whisker. “Explain the term ‘dragon elementals’.”

Humans born of dragon auma
,
 
able to create the living likeness of a dragon from the physical crust of the Earth. It

was a creature such as this that wielded a creat:or at Isenfier.

Crust of the Earth? Aunt Gwyneth thought of Eliza in the Dead Lands and what David’s mother had done with clay, particularly the birth of Penny. So intense was her musing that she let her attention slip for a moment, almost allowing the Ix to reform. For a second time the katt let

out a violent hiss as Aunt Gwyneth forced the Cluster back into submission.

“It’s doing that ripping thing again,” Rosa said as ‘Felix’ dug his claws into the base of his bedding.

Once again, David stopped what he was doing. “Maybe it needs some thera:peutic   input.   When   Counsellor Strømberg arrives I’ll ask him to check it over. I’m going to send that :com today,

whether we’ve found the book or not.”

That, thought the Aunt, was all she needed. Strømberg picking her up and stroking her. Once again she intensified her auma, smashing the Cluster into scraps temporarily. She picked on a scrap and neutralised it. It left a burning hole in her mind, a void in her memory she knew she would never be able to fill. But as a

demonstration of power it was quick and

effective. The Ix took the hint.

We will answer your questions
 
, theysaid, weakly.

“Very wise. Tell me more about David Merriman. How can he have the auma of adragon when no such thing exists on thisworld?”

The Ix paused.
 
He is between worlds
,they said.

“There are
 
three
 
Davids?”

Negative
, said the Ix.
 
There is oneentity
,
  
varying   at  quantum  speedsbetween the time points. His aumaalternates across the planes
 
.
 
This is aprimary condition of the nexus.

“Is his life on Earth different – when

he’s ‘there’?”

Yes, but his purpose remains the same. Only the connections vary.

“Connections? What connections?”

The Ix took a moment to consider this question.
 
The mammal in the book is one
 
.

“The   squirrel?   Why   would   an insignificant creature mean so much to someone like him?”

On Earth, he has resonated stronglywith them. We do not know what their

function is.

“And where do I, Gwyneth, fit into

this?”

You are another connection
.

Suddenly, the tic around the eye wasback. “Are you telling me that
 
I
 
haveanother life – on Earth?”

We must Cluster to answer that
.

“Do it,” she snapped, flashing the katt’s tail. “Try anything and I’ll neutralise you all.”

We accept this
, said the Ix.

She let them regroup. After several moments of neural activity, they reported they had an answer.

“Well? What is it?”

At the time of Isenfier, Gwyneth does not exist.

“What?” The katt’s teeth began to chatter fiercely.

On Earth, you are called Gwilanna
 
.

You die before Isenfier begins.

“How? In what circumstances?”

Fear
, they said, buzzing round her

brain.
 
Fear of the Shadow. Fear of the Ix
.

“Fear of
you
?” she spat. “Then—” ‘die yourself’ she was about to say, when a light began to flash in a corner of the room and a strange combination of clangs and whistles and hoots and bells went off all over the building. The katt leaped to its feet, jumping round to look at David and Rosa.

“Well,
 
that
 
doesn’t happen every day,”

David said.

There was someone at the librarium

door.

4

“Maybe it’s your squirrel,” Rosa said drily.

But when David popped his head out of the window to see, he was even more surprised than he might have been if Rosa’s suggestion had been correct. He dashed to the front door and flung it wide. “Mum!” he cried in delight. “And… Penny,” he added, as his grinning sister popped out from behind their mother’s back.

“We’ve come to see you,” Penny said, waving a hand.

He smiled to see her holding a daisy to her chin.

“Is it a bad time?” Eliza asked. She

flicked a look beyond him, into the

librarium.

“No,” he said, “but… erm?”

“Why are we here?”

“It’s ’cos
 
I
 
want another
 
book
,” chirped Penny. She stepped up and punched him lightly in the ribs. (
 
Why did sisters
 
do
 
that
? he wondered.)

“And we miss you, of course,” his mother added.

“And we want to see
 
Rosa
,” Penny said, putting so much slant on the name that she almost curtsied. She jumped up straight and put her head back. “Wow, it’s big, isn’t it? Can I go in?” This turned out to be a non-question. Before David could speak, she’d dashed past him into the foyer.

“Penny, come back. You’ll get lost!” he

shouted.

“I’m in here,” she called faintly. “Wow, there’re books
 
everywhere
, Mum!”

Eliza stepped forward and took her son’s hands. “You OK?”

“Sure.”

“What’s the burning smell?”

Even now, the after-effects of the blaze

still lingered. “We had a fire—”

“A fire?
 
Here?
 
”

“—and a bit of trouble, but everything’s under control now.”

Eliza looked at him as if she suspected that the ‘bit’ of trouble was really rather serious, but she let it pass. “Were the birds affected? I don’t see any.”

“Slight misunderstanding with the birds. I’ll explain later. Come on in, I’ll show you round.”

He stood back and let his mother gopast. As she entered the foyer she pausedto listen to a rustling sound. “What’sthat?”

“That will be the books saying ‘hello’.

It means they like you.”

“The books do?”

“Mmm. You’ll get used to that.” A slight breeze found its way down the stairs to caress the ends of Eliza’s hair. It was as if the building had sighed with joy to see her. “So, would you like a cup of tea before your tour? Or do you want to meet Rosa first?”

Suddenly, there was a thumping clatterfrom one of the rooms and a voice went, “Ow!”

“Oh, Penny,” Eliza tutted. She set off inthe direction of the sound, only to have

David stop her and say, “No, it’s this way,

Mum.”

“But?” She pointed to the left of the

stairs.

“Doesn’t work like that. You don’t go where you think you ought to, you go where the building tells you you should. The two things often coincide, but it’s always best to put your faith in the building.” He gestured her to follow.

They found Penny on Floor 5, standing sheepishly beside several piles of books that had collapsed in a slicing domino effect. Rosa was there already, silently picking them up.

“I didn’t mean it,” Penny whispered, hiding her face behind her knockedtogether fists.

Rosa lifted a dark eyebrow.

“Rosa,” David said, taking a book from her hand and separating her away from the clutter. “This is my mum and my, erm, little sister. They’ve come to pay us a visit.”

Rosa tossed her hair. Just for a momentshe was twelve again. “We’ve met,” shesaid to Eliza.

“Yes, but you’re rather different now,” Eliza said. “You’re very beautiful, Rosa.”

David switched his gaze between thetwo women. Though neither of themwanted to break their proud stares, he wasconfident   his   mother’s   remark  had

softened the tension. And he couldn’t fault her observation. Since Rosa had acquired the mark on her arm, she seemed to be even more striking than before, in a darkly intense and moody sort of way.

Penny tugged her brother’s sleeve. “Honestly, I didn’t mean it.”

“I know,” he said. He gave her a quickhug.

“It was the katt,” she said.

“You’ve got a katt?” said Eliza.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Rosa glanced at David. “It shot out of the basket when theroom alarms went off. I thought it waswith you.”

“It made me jump,” Penny said. “It gaveme a funny look.”

“I doubt it,” said Eliza, flicking througha gardening book. “Most katts have gotone look: permanent confusion.”

David saw Rosa’s mouth twitch into a

smile. It was brief. Almost negligible. But there all the same. It was surely only a matter of time before she and his mum

became friends. “So, shall we go to a resting room?”

“OK, I’ll do these later,” Rosa said.

“She’ll help you,” said Eliza, nudging Penny (who grinned as if she’d got something stuck in her teeth).

“She can’t,” Rosa said. “Only David and I know exactly where the books need to go.”

Before Penny’s lips could thicken into a sulk, David brought his hands together in a clapping motion and said, “Right. Let’s… go and relax then, shall we?” And he turned his sister round and marched her

away. (This time when she socked him in the ribs, she meant it.)

Thankfully, Penny had brightened up by the time they’d reached the room where Mr Henry had kept his favourite reference

books. The table Thorren Strømberg had constructed there was a fading shimmer. David re-imagineered it, adding cups and saucers. While Rosa set about preparing drinks, Penny squirmed into a chair and said, “Shall we give David his present now, Mum?”

“Present?” He brushed Felix off a chair so his mother could sit down.

“It’s something for the building, really,” said Eliza. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I didn’t have you in mind when I made it. Well, no, that’s not strictly true. I

was
 
thinking
 
about you – because you’d just gone away – but I’d intended to create a more natural dragon—”

“Dragon?”   Rosa   said,   suddenly becoming interested.

“—and it just came out the way it did. It

was as if it already existed somewhere and I just gave it… form.”

Eliza reached into her bag and put a sculpture on the table. It was about twice the height of a cup (in its saucer) and made of solid clay. It was sitting upright on two flat feet, balancing on a tail that swept out behind it and curved up at the end in a triangular point. The scales were cross-hatched over its back, but arranged in a pattern of crescents on its chest. The wings were half-folded down. Apart from the general form, two things really stood out for David. The whole profile of the head was far gentler than the images of dragons in his mind, mainly because of the oval-shaped, violet-coloured eyes which inspired warmth and kindness and trust. And secondly, it was holding an open

book.

Eliza turned it so that Rosa could see.