The Cornerstone (8 page)

Max remembered what Imelda had said. ‘You sent that note because you think something bad is going to happen here… that
they’re
coming? Something awful?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Nobody believes you?’

‘No, they don’t.’ Merelie said, slamming a bolt at the top of the door into place. She moved away and sat at a long low table in the centre of the room, which was covered with paper, pencils and books.

Max joined her and put The Cornerstone down between them.

This seemed like a good time to kick start the conversation he was desperate to have.

‘What’s going on, Merelie? Why did you ask for my help?’

‘It wasn’t really you I was asking for help from, Max. It was anyone suitable I could find from your world.’

That was a bit disappointing. ‘Oh, ok.’

‘Don’t worry! I’m very glad somebody like you came. You look clever and brave… and that’s what we need right now. I guess I got lucky. And anyway, The Cornerstone seems to like you.’

‘Like me? It nearly killed me!’

‘Well there you go then. If it hadn’t liked you, it would have killed you.’

‘Great… that’s very comforting to know. Why did you send that note in the first place?’ Max asked. ‘And how the hell did you get it into Farefield library?

‘Is that what it’s called? The library you came from?’

‘Yep.’

Merelie’s eyes went misty. ‘Is it beautiful? Your library? I bet it is.’

Max pictured Farefield library in his head: The woeful window displays. The lack of decent books. The grey concrete walls. ‘I wouldn’t quite say beautiful, no.’

‘Anywhere there are books is beautiful, Max… because they are.’

‘You obviously haven’t read anything by Clive Bonnet,’ Max muttered under his breath.

‘What?’

‘Doesn’t matter… how did you get the message through?’

‘You just have to know how to craft the words, that’s all… and know how to access the doorway.’ She said this like it made any sense whatsoever.

‘That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.’

Merelie looked at him with disbelief. ‘I know your world doesn’t work like ours, but I had no idea it was this bad.’

He gave her a blank look.

She sighed and continued. ‘Words have weight, Max… they have power. All written words capture the thoughts and dreams of the people who write them. When enough of them are collected in a book, their weight grows.’

Merelie paused, giving Max time to digest this.

‘The more you have in one place,’ she explained, ‘the heavier they get. The
stronger
they get. Understand?’

Max nodded. He didn’t want her to think he was an idiot.

‘Books gain energy from one another, the same way we gain energy from each other, like this.’ She took his hand in hers. It felt a little cold. ‘If I keep my hand in yours for long enough, it’ll get warm like yours, yes?         

‘Um… yeah.’

‘Words work the same way.’

‘That’s silly. You’re talking like they’re living things.’

‘They are! If you understand them, anyway.’

Merelie picked up a piece of paper from the table and gave it to Max. ‘Hold this up for me, and keep it flat.’

He did so, wondering where this was going.

‘When you get enough books in one place - thousands and thousands, I mean - they can get so heavy that with a little help they can… well, rip through space itself.’ She prodded the paper with one finger, tearing a hole in it. ‘Those rips always go somewhere else. Once you know that, it’s just a question of finding out where. One rip leads to your world and I sent the note through it.’

‘So you knew it would end up in Clive Bonnet’s book?’ This was a weird choice to Max. He thought she would have picked something more appropriate. Alice in Wonderland, perhaps.

‘I’ve never heard of that book. I couldn’t be that accurate. The whole thing was random… a bit hit and miss. I just knew the note would end up in the same library The Cornerstone was in.’

‘But it might never have got read,’ Max pointed out. ‘It could have been a waste of time. It could have taken ages for anyone to see it, if nothing else.’

‘True, but I had no choice. Contact with your world is so restricted. I had to hope The Cornerstone would help me. It helped me write the note, after all.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Flick to the back page,’ Merelie said, a guilty look on her face.

Max saw why as he opened The Cornerstone and saw that the last page had been ripped out. A ragged sliver of paper was still visible, poking out from the binding.

‘Defacing a Cornerstone like that is a horrible thing to do,’ Merelie said, ‘but I had no choice… and it let me do it. I knew someone would find the note sooner or later… and here you are!’

‘Yeah, here I am,’ Max said with uncertainty.

Something else occurred to him. ‘We’ve got The Cornerstone here, right?’ he said, giving it a poke.

‘Don’t poke it, Max.’

‘Sorry. If it’s here, how can it also be back in the library in Farefield?’

‘It’s the same book, Max. Two ends of the pathway between worlds.’

‘It’s the same book, but there’s two of it.’

‘Exactly!’ Merelie beamed, thinking Max understood.

He didn’t, of course.

‘Forget it!’ he said, before Merelie could launch into another explanation. ‘I’ll just pretend I understand and we’ll call it quits for now.’

‘If you say so.’

‘How did you know the other book - that’s actually also this book, but isn’t – was in Farefield?’

‘I’ve always known The Cornerstone was there, along with someone from my world.’

‘You mean Imelda the librarian?’

‘Yes… she protects the book and uses it to communicate.’

‘…through the doorway it creates.’

‘That’s right! No-one can open it by themselves. You need The Cornerstone to do it. That’s why it was created - as a means for people to travel between worlds.’

‘Which brings us back to my main point,’ Max remembered. ‘Why did you bring me here? Why do you think I can help you?

‘Because only someone from your world can stop them Max, that’s why.’ Merelie looked frightened for the first time.

‘Stop
who
?’

Dramatic timing can be a blessing or a curse.

It usually crops up in TV shows and films, but it also happens in real life – a lot more than you’d imagine.

For example, helpful dramatic timing is when the baby is trapped in a burning building and about to be crushed by a falling roof beam. Suddenly, a big fireman bursts into the room and plucks it from danger.

Or when the girl is boarding the plane to leave the country and the boy who’s loved her for years - but has never been able to admit it - catches her and declares his true feelings.

Examples of
un
helpful dramatic timing are when the soldiers think they’ve killed the enemy and have started celebrating, only for a Panzer to roll into view from behind a convenient hedgerow.

Or when the girl thinks she’s slain the masked killer once and for all - and the sneaky bugger wakes up and grabs her ankle.

Or when Max Bloom is finally about to be told what the hell’s going on - and somebody comes barging into the room, ruining the moment.

Max jumped two feet in the air and Merelie let out a yelp of surprise as the marble doors slammed open and a wall with arms ran in.

Actually, it wasn’t a wall with arms - but a tall, broad shouldered man, of a size that’d make Arnold Schwarzenegger think twice about starting something.

‘Borne!’ Merelie exclaimed.

Borne was the kind of square-jawed, muscle-bound idiot Max could really learn to despise.

He had short cropped brown hair, arms like a sack of walnuts and a definite military air about him. He wore a dark green leather tunic, black combat trousers and polished black boots.

‘Merelie! Your father is on his way up!’ Borne thundered. He stabbed a finger at Max. ‘He should not be here, girl!’

‘We need him!’

‘Your father doesn’t agree.’

‘My father has his head in the sand, Borne. You know that!’

‘I’m your Arma Merelie, not one of your little friends. I keep my opinions to myself.’

Max guessed an Arma was a bodyguard of some kind. This Borne looked liked he could guard several bodies at once.

Merelie looked at Max in panic. ‘He mustn’t find you here! I used The Cornerstone without authorisation,’ she said, sounding almost hysterical.       

‘We’d better leave then, yeah?’ Max said.

Borne gave him a look that made his eyes water.

‘Come on Merelie,’ the big man said. ‘We’ll head out of the Chapter House and into the city. We can say you were in the commerce square again. Once we’re out, we can send this one back to where he comes from.’

‘But I haven’t told him everything yet! He needs to understand if he’s going to help!’  Merelie’s voice had risen to an octave range that was bordering on painful. Max had heard the same tone from both his mother and sister at one time or another – usually when they thought he’d done something wrong.

‘We don’t have time to discuss this!’ the Arma roared and took Merelie’s arm, pulling her to her feet. ‘Come on both of you!’

Borne marched Merelie away and Max - still frustrated that he understood so little - gathered up The Cornerstone and followed them out of the chamber.

All three walked at a brisk pace towards the stairs leading to the large hall below. The Arma looked in every direction as he went, as if on the look-out for an ambush.

Max was feeling decidedly put out at this juncture.

Considering he hadn’t asked to get caught up in this mess, he’d been led around by the nose and kept in the dark about proceedings for far too long now.  It was really starting to grate.

About the only thing Max was sure about was that he was so far out of his depth he was bumping into giant squid and angler fish.

Thinking things through caused his pace to slow.

Borne noticed the drop in speed and glared at him.

‘Keep up boy!’ he ordered, between clenched teeth.

Right, that’s bloody it!

The Arma continued up the corridor a few steps dragging Merelie along, before he realised Max had stopped.

‘What are you doing, boy?!’ he hissed.

‘Max?’ Merelie said, in a small voice.

‘You know what?’ Max said in a matter-of-fact tone. ‘I don’t like being confused… and I really don’t like being scared. Especially when I’ve got no idea what I’m supposed to be scared
of
.’ He warmed up the pointy finger. ‘I’m also not keen on running around like a headless chicken in a place I’ve never been before, having no idea where I’m going!’ The finger not only pointed now, it waggled a bit too. ‘But most of all, I really, really don’t like being ordered around by people
I’ve only just met
!’

Borne looked surprised, like he’d just been attacked by a wet flannel. Merelie looked half way between shocked and amused.

‘I can see why The Cornerstone likes him,’ Borne said. ‘They’ve got the same temperament.’

‘They have, haven’t they?’ Merelie agreed, smiling despite herself.

‘Oh, I’m glad you’re both finding this funny,’ Max said, his temper now at boiling point. ‘Let’s laugh at the idiot from another dimension shall we?’

‘I’m sorry, Max’ Merelie apologised.

‘Are you really? Well then Merelie, if Captain Steroid Abuse will let you, could you please tell me why the hell you brought me here?’

‘Because my daughter thinks she knows better than her elders, boy,’ said a calm, clear voice from behind him.

- 5 -

Ten minutes later, Max found himself in a large, book-lined study.

The room was dominated by a large, highly polished marble desk in a deep sea green colour, with a high backed chair in the same shade behind it.

Embossed on the front of the desk and back of the chair was a large circular symbol. To Max it looked like a pair of antlers crossed with one of those tribal tattoos people have. He supposed it must be a coat of arms for Merelie’s family.

All four walls of the room were covered in book cases, carrying on the love affair these people had with the written word. It reminded Max of his grandfather Charlie’s front room.

It was just as well the study was large, as it had to contain a lot of people this morning.

Max and Merelie sat in front of the massive desk, like school children called to the headmaster’s office for letting off stink bombs. Borne stood between them - arms crossed and looking slightly ashamed of himself.

The Cornerstone sat on the desk, having been taken away from Max the second they’d been captured.

Lined up along the back wall were several enormous men in armour - the Chapter Guards Merelie had been afraid of running in to. They’d marched Max up to this room against his loud protests.

He could attest to both the strength of their grip and the hardness of their armour - nursing a painful bruise on his left elbow due to the latter. It was like the Kevlar bullet proof vests he’d seen American soldiers wearing, but coloured the same green as the desk. They wore helmets as well, adorned with the odd looking coat of arms.

Sat behind the desk was a man looking at Max and Merelie over steepled fingers. He was tall, thin - just this side of gaunt, in fact - and bald, with a wreath of short grey hair at the sides. He had the same piercing blue eyes as Merelie.

He wore a long cream coat, buttoned to the neck and dropping almost to the floor. The coat of arms was embroidered in green on the left breast.

This dude looks like he should be standing on the bridge of the Enterprise, telling that one with the pastie on his head to ‘make it so’.

The man noticed Max’s attention and focused his gaze. ‘Has my daughter even bothered to tell you whose house you’ve trespassed in, boy?’ he said, cutting through any pleasantries.

‘No she hasn’t,’ Max replied, adding a hasty ‘sir,’ at the end, because good manners couldn’t hurt in a situation like this.

Merelie’s father favoured her with a stern look. ‘I’m not surprised at all,’

Merelie said nothing.

‘My name is Jacob Carvallen, Chapter Lord of this House,’ he announced.