Lord of the Libraries (37 page)
“Well then,” Cobner said, “let’s just be having a look at it.” He took the small pickaxe from his belt that he carried with him at all times. The pickaxe doubled as a weapon and as a tool.
Putting his battle-axe to one side so it would be quick to hand, the dwarven warrior reached out to touch the wall. He drew his hand back at once before it ever made contact with the surface of the stone.
Surprise showed in Cobner’s face, made bright by the orange glow from the lava pool. “How did you touch that stone, Juhg? If I was to put my hand on it, it’s hot enough to burn the flesh right off of the bone.”
“I don’t know,” Juhg said. The only thing he knew for certain was that he needed to see what was behind the wall. Even if he hadn’t been experiencing the pull from the gemstones around his neck, his dweller’s curiosity had been fully aroused. On top of that, there was still the mystery of the dwarven “ghosts” walking all over the cavern. He didn’t see how the two things could be separate.
Keeping clear of the hot wall, Cobner struck with his pickaxe. Stone chips flew as the sharp tang bit deeply. As he was pulling the pickaxe back for his fourth swing, the creature they had pursued oozed from the ceiling in a long black stream behind the dwarven warrior. Before Juhg or any of the others could shout a warning, and by the time the black stream touched the floor, the Slither stood once more in its man-beast form. The guardian struck Cobner without warning, driving the dwarf to the ground with a double-handed blow to the back of the head.
Wheeling around instantly, the creature focused on Juhg. Looking the Slither in the face, Juhg realized the guardian hadn’t overcome Craugh’s earlier attacks. The features weren’t quite finished and they seemed to have the consistency of pudding. The wizard’s spells had affected the creature’s ability to hold itself together.
“No!” the Slither shouted. “Stay away! This is not for you! This is for Lord Kharrion!”
Juhg saw Craugh take a step forward and raise a hand.
“Down, apprentice!” Craugh commanded.
Even fast as he was, Juhg barely got out of the way as Craugh’s spell smashed into the back of the creature and drove it over his head. He
twisted, watching the Slither flail through the air as it flew toward the lava pool.
twisted, watching the Slither flail through the air as it flew toward the lava pool.
Groggy and nearly unconscious, Cobner lurched to his feet to do battle, dropping the pickaxe and reaching for his battle-axe.
Juhg picked up the pickaxe and turned to the wall. He lacked the dwarf’s skill but not much skill was required to chop a hole in the wall. The gemstones in the leather pouch around his neck continued to glow. Frantically, he drove the pickaxe into the wall six times. At the end of that, the hollow beyond the wall surface was revealed.
Inside the hollow, two more gemstones in the curious shape of a square topped by a mesa floated in a natural formation caused by lava bubbling as it cooled. Those pieces glowed dark brown as brightly as the gemstones around Juhg’s neck glowed blue.
“Stay away! Do not touch those! I will kill you!”
In stunned disbelief, Juhg looked back at the lava pool and saw the creature crawling out of the molten rock. Flames clung to the creature as it stumbled toward Juhg. The face and the rest of the body oozed and ran like melting candle wax.
Cobner set himself into a defensive position. He held the battle-axe behind and to one side of his body, ready to swing as soon as the creature came within range.
Reaching into the rock formation hollow, Juhg reached for the floating dark brown gemstones. His fingers passed through them but there was a brief cold contact. Concentrating on the task at hand, Juhg tried to find the resonance within the brown gemstones as he had with the blue gemstones. The connection came faster this time, but it also came more powerfully.
Paralyzed, Juhg stood waiting, and was horrified to see all the “ghosts” in the cavern suddenly turn and stare straight at him. Without a word, all of the dwarven “ghosts” approached him.
Craugh and the others sank back to defend him, forming a protective semicircle. They had their weapons raised and green embers swirled like maddened fireflies around the wizard’s staff.
It won’t do any good
, Juhg thought.
None of us are going to get out of here alive.
It won’t do any good
, Juhg thought.
None of us are going to get out of here alive.
Then blackness filled his head and he was gone.
“And This Is the Future, Librarian Juhg!”
“
A
h, Librarian Juhg. You have returned.” Cautiously, Juhg glanced around. This time the mantis didn’t meet him on the mountaintop. All around him, as far as the eye could see, were beautiful orchards interspersed with artesian wells.
A
h, Librarian Juhg. You have returned.” Cautiously, Juhg glanced around. This time the mantis didn’t meet him on the mountaintop. All around him, as far as the eye could see, were beautiful orchards interspersed with artesian wells.
The mantis walked toward him, coming down a bricklaid walkway. Nothing had changed about the mantis. It walked toward him on its four back legs and clasped its upper arms behind its back as if it had been deep in thought.
“I see you have found the second piece of
The Book of Time
,” the mantis said. “Congratulations.”
The Book of Time
,” the mantis said. “Congratulations.”
“My friends,” Juhg said, remembering the situation he had just left them in, “are in a lot of trouble. The creature known as the Slither is attacking them, and so far he’s proven unkillable. Also, there are dwarven ghosts—”
“Ghosts, you say.” The mantis drew itself up straight and tall in front of Juhg. “And they’re dwarves? I guess it’s no surprise, really. That whole area used to be overrun with them. Many of them died over the years of old age, sickness, war, and—of course—when Kharrion’s
spell shattered the mountains they lived in and dragged it into the hollows of the earth.”
spell shattered the mountains they lived in and dragged it into the hollows of the earth.”
“Yes,” Juhg replied. “But I have never seen a ghost before.”
“Nor have I.” The mantis smiled. “It would be hard for me to see one, though.”
“Why?”
“Because ghosts are always past their expiration dates.”
Juhg wanted to groan. The pun was simply awful. Instead, he said nothing at all.
The mantis laughed at his own joke. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.” It didn’t act like it was really apologetic, though. “Actually I can see ghosts. But here I see them as they were before they were ghosts as well as after. And, of course, during the moment of death. Would you like to see a ghost here?”
“No,” Juhg said, shuddering at the thought.
“I feel like walking,” the mantis said. “Walk with me.”
“I really should get back. My friends—”
“Are in trouble again.” The mantis nodded. “Yes, I know that. Trust me, you will have plenty of time to get back to them. Now please walk with me. I feel like stretching my legs.” It started walking, heading past Juhg.
Having no choice, Juhg fell in slightly behind the creature and started walking. As they walked, he couldn’t help but gazing down at the rows of trees. Apples, pears, and oranges all filled the limbs. Flowers grew in wild abandon in the shadows under the trees.
“By now you’ve found that the first set of gemstones has powers,” the mantis said.
“‘By now?’ You talk like time has passed here.” Juhg was confused.
The mantis looked at him. “You asked me to talk to you like time passes, remember?”
“Yes,” Juhg said.
“And you thought I was the one having trouble keeping up with things. All you have to remember is what is in the past and keep up with what is happening now. I, on the other hand, am constantly immersed in all that you perceive, plus what—for you, at any rate—is yet to be.”
“I see,” Juhg said, though he really didn’t see at all.
“That’s why we’re not meeting upon the mountain.”
Juhg looked at the mantis.
“I knew you were wondering,” the mantis said.
“We’re not meeting on the mountain because why?”
“Because we’re already meeting there.”
“Oh.”
“You doubt me?” the mantis demanded. “I picked this place because it is beautiful—don’t you think?”
“Yes,” Juhg said, struggling to make sense of everything. It didn’t help that he was distracted by thoughts of his friends getting killed by the Slither or the strange dwarven “ghosts” while he was talking to a giant bug.
“You do doubt me?” Now the praying mantis looked incensed.
At least, Juhg was fairly certain it looked incensed. Since he’d never seen an angry praying mantis before—or, if he had, he’d never taken notice—he wasn’t certain. Before he could tell the mantis that he was only agreeing that the orchard was beautiful and steer the conversation back around to his need to rejoin his friends—as well as secure any help that might be in the offing—the mantis grabbed his wrist.
The strange thing was, the mantis’s foreleg
looked
like chitin-covered hide, but it felt like a … tentacle?
looked
like chitin-covered hide, but it felt like a … tentacle?
“Come,” the mantis ordered imperiously in a tone that reminded Juhg of Craugh’s haughtiness when the wizard was vexed at someone or something.
Pulled stumbling behind the mantis, Juhg took two big steps and turned sharply to the right three times and once to the left. When they stopped, they were standing on the mountain again.
The mantis pointed farther down the narrow trail. “See?”
Turning, Juhg saw that he and the mantis were talking. His past self happened to look up and looked squarely at him.
“That’s enough,” the mantis said. “Your mind isn’t going to be able to handle much of this. And I need your mind working at its best.” It took his hand again and walked over the mountain’s edge.
Two quick turns to the right, three to the left, and—somehow, though Juhg could not remember seeing steps—two steps up took them from the mountain to a river where big brown bears fished for salmon swimming upstream. The bears’ claws flashed and they fed with ravenous teeth that tore at the pink flesh.
“But … but …” Juhg struggled to marshal his thoughts. “That didn’t happen.”
The mantis looked at him. “Didn’t it? Think back, Librarian Juhg. Think back long and hard.”
Juhg did, closing his eyes with the effort. He couldn’t believe it when he
could
remember the incident. He
had
looked up the mountain just after seeing his multiple selves,
and
he
had
seen himself.
could
remember the incident. He
had
looked up the mountain just after seeing his multiple selves,
and
he
had
seen himself.
He could even remember the mantis telling him that was his future self and he would understand what had happened later.
“I do remember,” Juhg said hoarsely.
“Of course you do.” The mantis folded its arms over its chest and looked satisfied.
“But that’s a paradox. I know I didn’t remember being there until we went there. And if I didn’t see me then till now, how can I remember that my future self was there then?”
The mantis held its arms up and took a step back. “Stop! Now you’re confusing me.”
“Things can’t happen like that,” Juhg insisted.
“Okay,” the mantis said, “it didn’t happen.” It stood with crossed arms and waited.
Juhg shook his head. “But it
did
happen.”
did
happen.”
“Make up your mind.”
“How can something like that happen?”
“I thought you said it couldn’t.”
“It can’t, but it did.”
The mantis sighed and shook its shining head. “This is why I have seldom, do seldom, and will seldom talk with beings outside of the In-Betweenness. This inability to grasp what is so simple.”
“This isn’t simple.”
“Because you’re impaired from living all those years outside the In-Betweenness.”
“If I can see into the past, then can’t I see into the future?”
“You really shouldn’t do that, Librarian Juhg.”
“But it’s true. Unless this is the last time I visit you here.” That possibility scared Juhg. If he never visited the mantis again, after setting a pattern of seeing it after getting two sections of
The Book of Time,
what did that mean? “Am I already dead in the future? Did I not make it out of the dwarven caves in the Molten Forge Mountains?”
The Book of Time,
what did that mean? “Am I already dead in the future? Did I not make it out of the dwarven caves in the Molten Forge Mountains?”
“Of course you made it out of the dwarven caves. We talked, you went back, and you saved your friends.”
“But I haven’t done that yet.”
“You will.”
“How do I know that?”
Sighing again, the mantis took him by the arm and marched past the bears, who barely took notice of them. A few turns later, Juhg couldn’t remember how many because he was almost tripping all over himself, they came to a bleak desert covered with rolling sand dunes.
The mantis pointed to where it was talking with yet another Juhg. Instead of being clad in the First Level Librarian robe he had worn last time as well as this time, the other Juhg wore torn breeches and a ripped shirt. A long cut on the side of his face promised a bad scar to come when the wound healed.
“And this is the future, Librarian Juhg,” the mantis declared in an exasperated voice. “As you can clearly see, you have some interesting things still coming up.”
Appalled, Juhg stared at the other two of them, wondering where he’d been and what he’d gotten into. Whatever it was, it looked bad. Besides the blood from the cut on his face, his other self was covered in smoke and soot.
“That is you,” the mantis said. “After you have gotten the third piece of
The Book of Time
in the Drylands. And, oh my, that was, is, will be an exciting time.”
The Book of Time
in the Drylands. And, oh my, that was, is, will be an exciting time.”
At the Oasis of Bleached Bones
, Juhg remembered. Fear paralyzed him when he wanted to go talk to his future self and find out everything he was going to know. Most of all, he wanted to know what had happened to himself.
, Juhg remembered. Fear paralyzed him when he wanted to go talk to his future self and find out everything he was going to know. Most of all, he wanted to know what had happened to himself.
Then his other self looked up at him. Recognition flared in the other Juhg’s eyes. He pushed away from the other mantis, breaking its grip on him and running across the dry yellow sand at him.
“No!” the other Juhg yelled. “Don’t do it! Don’t let Craugh push you into the tunnel in the gemstone room! You don’t know what’s going to happen! You can’t let him—”
The mantis with Juhg grabbed his hand again and marched off with him. The first step raised a blistering sandstorm that obscured the other
Juhg and ripped his words away. Juhg couldn’t hear the rest of the other Juhg’s warning.
Juhg and ripped his words away. Juhg couldn’t hear the rest of the other Juhg’s warning.
“Wait!” Juhg cried. “I—he—I think there was something that I needed to tell myself!”
The mantis didn’t stop walking. “You’ve seen enough, Librarian Juhg. Most people never get to look into their own futures. In your world, I’ve found, glimpsing what is yet to come can have dire consequences. You can’t really do anything about it, you see, but just knowing something bad is coming makes you so unhappy before the end.”
The end? The end is coming?
That didn’t relax Juhg’s mind whatsoever.
That didn’t relax Juhg’s mind whatsoever.
“I was trying to warn myself,” Juhg said. “There is something that I think I’m not supposed to do. Something that has to do with Craugh and a tunnel.”
And I’ve already got enough problems with believing in Craugh.
And I’ve already got enough problems with believing in Craugh.
Once more back in the orchards, the mantis released Juhg and looked at him sharply. “Nothing you could tell yourself is going to matter, Librarian Juhg. You’re going to do what you’re going to do.”
“But I can change what I’m going to do,” Juhg said. “All I needed to hear was what I was going to say. I just needed to listen to myself a little longer.” He looked around, hoping to see himself charging out of a desert. But he didn’t. He was the only self he had in the orchard.
The mantis shook its head. “The future can’t be changed any more than the past. All of those are anchored in your world. That’s why I could never live there.”
“But if I knew what it was I wasn’t supposed to do, I could not do it,” Juhg protested.
“That isn’t how Time works,” the mantis said. “Time simply is.”
Juhg thought desperately.
“The Book of Time
is supposed to have the power to change time, to go back and change a moment or a year or a life.” He remembered Craugh telling him that aboard
One-Eyed Peggie,
and he had written it himself in his journal and the one he’d given to Jassamyn.
“The Book of Time
is supposed to have the power to change time, to go back and change a moment or a year or a life.” He remembered Craugh telling him that aboard
One-Eyed Peggie,
and he had written it himself in his journal and the one he’d given to Jassamyn.
The mantis was quiet for a moment, as if he’d brought up something it had not thought of.
“The Book of Time
has that power in your world, outside of the In-Betweenness,” it said finally. “That is one of the reasons it is so dangerous in your world and why it must be brought back here.”
“The Book of Time
has that power in your world, outside of the In-Betweenness,” it said finally. “That is one of the reasons it is so dangerous in your world and why it must be brought back here.”
“Do I bring it back here?” Juhg asked.
“You are not yet ready to know that answer.”
Angry and scared, feeling all the responsibility of what he was doing,
Juhg wouldn’t let the question go. He couldn’t. “Will I bring
The Book of Time
back here?”
Juhg wouldn’t let the question go. He couldn’t. “Will I bring
The Book of Time
back here?”
“You have noticed that the pieces of
The Book of Time
possess powers,” the mantis said, ignoring him. “You can use the blue gems you got from the human city of Seadevil’s Roost to peer into places around the world, to see things that are happening at the same exact minute as you’re looking.”
The Book of Time
possess powers,” the mantis said, ignoring him. “You can use the blue gems you got from the human city of Seadevil’s Roost to peer into places around the world, to see things that are happening at the same exact minute as you’re looking.”
“I have done that.” Pain sparked inside Juhg’s head as he remembered his visit to the Grandmagister in the torture chamber. “Do I bring the book back to you?”
“The brown gemstones allow you to see into the past,” the mantis went on. “You can use that power to examine the history of things if you need to.”
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