Lightgiver (7 page)

The demon seemed not to notice the crowd. He just stared upward. Aside from a few clouds, the mid-autumn sun hung in an empty sky, making the obsidian coating everything shimmer. Enki didn’t say anything for several minutes. Slowly, the mood of the crowd went from unease to curiosity. A few took a step toward them. Fina raised an eyebrow to Jez, but when Jez didn’t respond, the destruction master let them pass. Finally, Enki let out a heavy breath, though he didn’t look down as he spoke.

“There is a sun in the abyss, you know.”

Silence spread through the crowd, and the people froze in their tracks. Jez looked to Besis in the doorway. The protection master motioned for him to speak. “No, I didn’t know that.”

“It’s nothing like this. It’s a dim red ball that hangs in a sky that’s constantly full of smoke and ash. Usually, it’s barely bright enough to banish the shadows. Even at its brightest, you can’t see nearly so far. It’s like it was put there to remind us there is no hope. Perhaps it was.” He smiled, and it looked so unnatural on his face that Jez found himself taking a step back. His hand curled around the hilt of his sword, but he stopped himself from drawing. “This is light and hope. I have missed seeing your sun.”

“How long has it been?” Jez asked.

Enki met his eyes, and Jez resisted the urge to shiver. “When I was bound, few of your people could work with stone, and most were still making buildings out of mud.” He waved a clawed hand at the central spire of the Academy. “Look what you have wrought. How wondrous your people are to build something like this.”

“Mages constructed the spire with terra magic,” Jez said. “We didn’t build it.”

Enki shook his head. “Was it not your mind that imagined it? That you did it with Sariel’s power makes no difference.”

Enki didn’t bother keeping his voice down, and people were starting to creep closer to listen. Jez looked around, and Besis cleared his throat.

“Perhaps you can enjoy the sun later,” he said. “There are questions we need answers to.”

Enki inclined his head. “Yes, of course. You wish to know of the demon who calls himself Sharim. I will answer any question you have.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Besis and Fina sent students from the crowd to get the other masters. Then, they went inside. Linala tried to send away Lina and Osmund, but Besis convinced her to leave them alone. Enki kept giving the summoning circle uneasy glances, so they gathered near the entrance. It didn’t take long for the masters to arrive. They each gave Enki a long look. Chancellor Balud was the last one to arrive, and after seeing the demon free of any bindings, he glanced at Besis.

“I take it we’re not in any danger?”

Besis quickly related what had happened, and Jez felt the weight of their attention as the masters focused on him. Finally, Balud took a step forward and inclined his head at Jez. “It seems you were right, Jezreel. Enki, what can you tell us?”

The demon glanced at Jez as if asking permission. Jez gave him a slow nod, and Enki spoke quickly. “The one called Sharim came to me once he returned to the abyss. He pulled me out of my torment, and for the first time in thousands of years, I knew something aside from pain.” He paused for several seconds. “When the demons rebelled, the leaders clawed their way out of the abyss. Many followed them before the greater part of the army was destroyed. Sharim wished to know how the way to your world was opened.”

“Did you tell him?” Balud asked.

Enki shook his head. He glanced at a window through which sunlight streamed in. The light formed a line across the floor of the cavernous room and Enki passed his hand through it in wonder. Besis cleared his throat and the demon looked up. He shrank away from the protection master before continuing.

“That knowledge was never mine. I did not lead the rebellion, and those who did guarded their secrets well.”

“But the shadows said he would use you to get out,” Jez said.

Balud glanced at Jez, but Jez refused to back down. Enki bowed his head.

“Yes, that is why he came to me.”

“You just said you don’t know how to get out.”

“But I know where the knowledge can be found.”

“Where?” Jez and Besis asked at the same time.

Enki’s eyes went from one to the other, and he shrank back. He looked like he wanted to disappear. Finally, he spoke.

“In a time when most of your kind hadn’t yet learned to work stone, the people of Zandra had already constructed a great civilization. Its mages summoned the leaders of those who would rebel. It was then that they first decided to turn against their nature. They worked with the mages to find a way out.”

Linala stared at him. “You mean the great fire?”

Enki nodded. He glanced at the circle that had been used to summon him and shivered. He took a step away from it.

“The rebels came out of the abyss into the city, and the others followed, determined to bring all those who would dare turn against the demon lord back. By the end of the battle, the city was in flames, and those who hadn’t been banished were carried back by force. Once in the abyss, all who rebelled were destroyed.”

“Except for you,” Jez said.

Enki shivered. “They delight in torture, and I was a favored subject.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jez said, “but you said something about knowing where Sharim can find the information he’s looking for.”

Enki blinked at him and let out a long hiss. “In the Library of Zandra, of course.”

All seven masters as well as the three students just stared at him. Enki’s eyes darted to every face, and when he met Jez’s gaze, a chill ran down his spine. He found himself wanting to summon his crystal sword.

“The Library of Zandra? The greatest repository of knowledge the world has ever known?” Linala asked. Enki nodded. “The same library that burned to the ground along with the city nearly four thousand years ago?”

Enki hissed, and the sound echoed through the large room. Jez half expected him to taste the air like a snake would, but he just shook his head. “The library did not burn.”

“The entire city burned,” Linala said.

“The library was saved by Gayel and his Lightgivers.”

“What?”

“They could not allow such a repository of knowledge to crumble to ash.”

Linala’s jaw dropped. “You main they saved the volumes? Where are they? How can we get them?”

“No, not just the volumes. The entire library.”

The silence that followed stretched on for several minutes. Jez realized everyone was looking at him, and he wondered when he had become the person the masters would look to. Finally, he stepped forward.

“I thought the pharim couldn’t interfere.”

“There was no interference. The library and everything within it would’ve gone up in flames. Rather than let it be destroyed, Gayel took it. Either way, your kind would no longer have access to it, so the result was the same.”

Jez blinked at him. “So if we want to get the information, we have to go where? The Keep of the Hosts?”

At the sound of the home of the pharim, Enki drew back a step and started shaking violently. He took several deep breaths as he forced himself to calm down. When he spoke, his words were quiet, and Jez had to move closer to hear him. “Of course not. The...” he winced. “The Keep is a place for pharim, and the library is a thing of mortals. It could not exist there. Gayel made a place for it where your kind would never find it.”

“Where?” Linala asked.

Osmund gasped, and every eye turned to him, but his gaze remained focused on Enki. “You’re being literal aren’t you? He made a place for it. He created it out of nothing.”

“Osmund, pharim can’t create,” Rael, the secrets master, said.

“Not in this world.” He turned to Jez. “Do you remember when Sariel saved us from Dusan? He created a place then.”

Jez gave him a slow nod. It made sense. Short of the abyss or the Keep of the Hosts, there was only one place Jez knew about that would be all but inaccessible, though he supposed ‘place’ wasn’t the right way to describe it.

“Between,” Enki said. “Gayel put the library Between.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Between?” Balud asked. “Isn’t that...”

“The place between worlds,” Jez said. “Except it’s not really a place. It’s a little hard to explain, and I don’t really understand it.”

“If Sharim can reach it, he’ll have the knowledge he needs to escape from the abyss,” Enki said.

“I thought only pharim could reach Between.”

Enki shrugged. “Sharim is a demon. Demons cheat.”

“Surely it’s not that simple,” Besis said.

“Not quite, but few rules are as binding as they appear, Sharim is among the most cunning of the creatures of the abyss. If there is any who can find their way to the library, it is he.”

“Provided he knows his answers are there,” Besis said.

“He knows.”

“You told him.” Jez said. It wasn’t a question.

Enki shuffled away at Jez’s tone until his back touched the wall. He took a deep breath and forced himself to look Jez in the eyes. Though his voice wavered, his gaze remained steady. “I have endured more tortures than you can comprehend for far longer than you can imagine. Yes, I told him. When he asked, I told him everything I knew.”

“I suppose that is to be expected,” Fina said. “After all, you are one of them.”

Enki’s back stiffened, and for the first time, he showed something other than timid fear. He took a step toward the destruction master and his eyes glowed yellow. “I am not one of them!”

Flames whooshed to life around Fina, their edges catching the demon. Enki hissed, and an acrid smell filled the air. Enki fell back. If such a creature had been capable of crying, Jez was sure he would have tears in his eyes. His next words came out barely above a whisper. “I am not one of them.”

The flames around Fina died, leaving a blackened circle around him. He glanced at the other masters, all of whom looked as taken aback as he was. Jez didn’t blame them. He had never seen a demon look so afraid. Jez took a slow step forward, and Enki whimpered but didn’t look away.

“Do you know how to reach the library?” Jez asked.

Enki nodded so hard Jez thought his head would fall off. “Yes.”

“Then, Sharim knows too.”

“Not exactly.”

“But you said you told him everything you knew.”

“I know how to get to the library, but I don’t know how to leave the abyss save by a summoning. If I’d been able to give him that knowledge, he wouldn’t need to get to the library.”

Relief washed over Jez, but it only lasted a second. “Sharim almost certainly has allies in this world. If he can communicate what you told him to them, they might be able to reach the library.”

“If they could do such a thing, he might soon be free.”

“When did you tell him?”

Enki hissed. “Time doesn’t work the same way there as it does here. I told him when he first came to me, but whether that was a day or a year ago, I cannot say.”

“Six months at most,” Jez said. “That’s how long he’s been trapped.”

Enki inclined his head but said nothing. Balud cleared his throat.

“Will you tell us how to reach this library?”

“It is not a matter of telling. It is a matter of understanding. There is a ritual, but I cannot teach it by words and deeds alone, not unless I had a century.”

“Then how?” Balud asked.

“I can impart it into the mind of one who is strong enough.”

Besis and Osmund glanced at Jez who had started rubbing his forehead as a dull pain blossomed there. He’d been through such a teaching before. It had almost been more than he could bear, and it had left him unconscious for days. He took a breath. It had worked though, and they were desperate. He nodded at the demon. The protection master opened his mouth to speak, but Jez cut him off.

“Give me the knowledge.”

Instantly, Horgar, Fina, Kerag, and Rael started to protest, but Linala, Besis, and Balud remained silent. They argued for several minutes and would have probably kept going, but Jez stepped closer to Enki.

“Do it,” Jez said. Fina started to say something, but Jez shook his head. “You said so yourself. I’m the one who’s been studying this for the past six months. There’s no one more qualified.”

“I won’t deny that you’ve done impressive things, but to go into the emptiness between worlds?” Kerag shook his head. “I wouldn’t even want to send a full mage to do that. Mortals can’t survive there.”

“He is a limaph,” Besis lied. “He might have the best chance.”

“What about Osmund?” Fina asked. “He’s a stronger limaph than Jezreel, from what I’ve seen, and he’s far more skilled in battle magic.”

“Battle magic wouldn’t help me there,” Osmund said. “I’ve been there. Twice. If anyone can do this, it’s Jez.”

“Jezreel, you’ve been through enough,” Horgar said. “There’s no need for you to do more.”

Jez smiled at the beast master. “I appreciate the concern, Master, but these are difficult times, and we all have to make sacrifices.”

He huffed and looked at Rael. “I thought he was Besis’s adept. When did he become such an expert in philosophy?”

The secrets master smiled. She gave both Jez and Osmund level looks. “If I could steal either of them away to my dominion, I would.” She let out a breath. “He has a point, though.”

“He’s just a boy,” Fina said.

“A boy trusted by the high lords of the pharim,” Linala said. “I don’t like the thought of sending him into this kind of situation any more than you do, Horgar, but who else would we send? I doubt any of us would survive.” She turned to Enki. “Can he?”

“A mere mortal does not have the will to survive Between unless he is sustained by a greater power. If this Jez is partially pharim, he might be able to make it.”

“Might?”

“Nothing is certain. I can but try.”

Jez nodded. “Do it.”

Enki looked at the masters as he took a step forward, though none tried to stop him. He placed a scaled finger on Jez’s forehead, and agony erupted from every inch of Jez’s body.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Library of Zandra had been four stories tall and as big as a city block. Its yellow stone almost shone in the sunlight, and in its highest tower, a brilliant fire had burned golden. The inside was incredible, dozens of chambers, each a library in its own right. Shelves lined the walls while others were freestanding, forming long halls. They were crammed with books. So many books it would take a year just to read all the titles. Volumes had been gathered from all over the world. In a time when most of the world was primitive, Zandra had been a center of learning to rival any in the modern world. The stories said there was more knowledge gathered in that place than in all the rest of the world put together.