The Last Dragon Chronicles: Fire World: Fire World (37 page)

what David was?”

“You’ve seen the time rifts around

him,” Aunt Gwyneth replied. “He is the focus of an invasive force called the Ix. I

managed to intercept an Ix Cluster and keep them at bay for a while. As you can see from my physical appearance I have paid a wretched price for my heroism. Something   which   should   not   be disregarded when Strømberg arrives to gloat over me. The Ix are pure fain, but a negative strain.”

Eliza gulped as she took this in. Negative fain was something never talked about. To imagineer catastrophe or hatred or terror was unthinkable in Co:pern:ican society. She stood up and went to the window. So peaceful. So beautiful. The flowers. The sky. The odd droplet of rain,

falling. Why did that always lift her heart so: the presence of rain? “What do these beings want with David?”

“They believe he is some kind of time agent, which adds substance to the idea that Agawin was borne from another world. It would all be rather exciting if it wasn’t for the fact that the Ix intend to destroy David. Without me, that’s a distinct possibility.”

Eliza whipped round to face the cage again, this time with anger bubbling through her veins. “How can you be so hypocritical?   You   wanted   him de:constructed.”

Aunt Gwyneth laughed this off. “I could have re:moved him many times over, especially when he was in stasis in this very room. One day you’ll understand that

everything I’ve done was meant to test him or guide him or strengthen him. He needs me, Eliza. If you want to help the boy, let me go.”

“No,” she said, after giving it some thought. “For all your pretty words, I still don’t trust you.”

“Well, if nothing else, look at the book!” the Aunt fizzed. “All the time we

spend dithering together extends the possibility of another time rift opening. We could at least find out what made him so anxious.” She pointed at the bookshelf again.

“Oh, very well.” Eliza marched to the shelves and drew the book down. It was a

dictionary.   (One   of   Mr   Henry’s favourites.) It was heavy and she needed to support it carefully as she searched for

the letters her dragon had revealed. There was only one entry which began with the sequence GADZ. It chilled her to see it, though she couldn’t say why. A word she was unfamiliar with, but which seemed to shine a light in the back of her mind: GADZOOKS.

“Gadzooks?” said Aunt Gwyneth when

she heard it read. It seemed to set a nerve

alive in her mind, too. “What is its meaning?”

Eliza put a finger on the page. “It’s an archaic expression for a contraction of the phrase
 
claws of Godith
 
.” She turned a few

more   pages.   “That’s   very   strange. ‘Godith’ is a mythical dragon that was supposed to have created the universe with her breath. Do you know anything about that?”

“No,” said the Aunt. She narrowed her gaze and studied Eliza carefully. “Listen to me, girl. This is important. Hidden in a room upstairs is a claw. I cannot say for certain it came from a dragon, but if you insist in believing in these creatures it would be most unwise to say that it didn’t. We must recover it at once and take it to David. In the wrong hands, such a thing would be deadly.”

Eliza put the dictionary back – and sighed.

Aunt Gwyneth slammed her fists against the bars. “This is not a ruse, you stupid girl. You have the evidence there in front of you. Your sculpture was clearly issuing a warning. You must have felt it when you commingled with David? You heard what Rosa said. They don’t know what awaits

them on the upper floors. Your son’s life and the future of Co:pern:ica might be at stake. Are you going to act or not?”

“All right,” Eliza said, spreading her hands. “Tell me how you know about this claw in the first place. If you can convince me, I
 
might
 
let you go.”

For once, Aunt Gwyneth plumped for the truth. “When I first encountered the Ix, they had taken the form of a black firebird.”

“Go on,” Eliza said, remembering Penny’s claims in the gardenaria.

Aunt   Gwyneth’s   mind   began   to calculate – fast. “It was tracking David’s movements, I suspect. I followed it here and did battle with it. It had the claw then, but hid it when it forced me to turn into a

katt.”

“And you know where it is?”

“I’m not familiar with this building, but any descendant of Agawin ought to be able to extend her fain and tune in to its

whereabouts.”

Eliza tapped her toe. She counted tothree, then marched across the room andyanked up the cage (throwing Aunt Gwyneth onto her bottom). “All right, I’lldo it. But you’re coming with me. I’llcarry you, ‘mother’, but I won’t let youout.”

Aunt Gwyneth stood up and dustedherself down. She made a promise toherself that when she got out of thisembarrassing cage she would make thegirl pay for that bout of heavy-handedbrutality. For the moment, however, thingswere well enough. The Aunt Su:perior

raised a smile. Despite the annoying swing of the cage, she put her hands behind her back and fiddled with the hairpin she’d taken from her bun a few minits earlier. It had been a long time since she’d picked a lock. But even in her fainless state, such a task was not beyond her capabilities. All that mattered now was to have the dragon’s claw. The natural order would then be restored. And she, Gwyneth, would at last become the most powerful woman on all Co:pern:ica.

7

Gadzooks. David carried the name withhim all through the lower floors of thelibrarium. And each time it formed its

shape on his lips, an image of a dragon floated into his mind. Another like the one

his mother had made, a cousin of the sculpture in Penny’s hands. But unlike the book-reading dragon, Gadzooks carried a pen (or possibly a pencil), and a notepad, presumably to write things down. David thought of Mr Henry then, and how the curator had always held the view that if books were windows onto the world, writing was the latch that opened them – in short, the centrepoint of all creativity. Words made the universe turn, he said.

Somewhere within that revolving world,as distant but as vibrant as a shining star, David knew he shared a place with thedragon, Gadzooks. He simply did notknow in what sense yet, though it felt asnatural as the air in his lungs and aspermanent as the creases in the centre ofhis palm. He looked at the dragon in Penny’s hands, solid now, inert, holdingits book to the fore like a sail. To the

untrained eye it was a model, nothing more. And, like everything else on Co:pern:ica, from the lowliest button to the puffiest cloud, it had a certain level of auma – to the casual observer, a fairly low reading. But there was something strange about this creation, which Eliza herself might not even be aware of. There was a spark inside the sculpture, right at

its middle. A glint of white fire. A
 
fire
 
within. How could a creature created from

earth, with the properties of earth (its solidity, basically, was just a disguise), hide such powerful auma inside it? How could something made of clay be
 
alive
?

“Will you tell me about our father?”

“Umm?” David said.

Penny rolled her eyes sideways. “I didn’t know we had a father. What’s he like? Why isn’t he at home – with us?”

From the head of the party Rosa called out, “Get ready. We’re going in.”

“Later,”  David  whispered,  patting Penny’s arm.

They had reached the corridor on Floor 42, approaching the door to the fiction department. This time there was no need for passwords or codes, they simply

sailed through on Aurielle’s command. Azkiar was waiting on the other side, perched, half asleep, on the swinging sign.

“Wow, I like that one!” Penny said.

But he clearly did not think the same of her. His ear tufts swivelled so far forward that the feathers above his eyes were nearly ejected like a row of arrows. Filling the space like a blood red stain, he glided onto the librarium floor and began a heated exchange with Aurielle. Aleron, ever calm, fluttered to a shelf and blew a snort of air.

“Rosa, what are they saying?” David asked.

She pinched her lips together as if she’d been expecting something like this. “He wants to know what took her so long and what the kid is doing here.”

“Tch! Why doesn’t anyone
 
want
 
me?” Penny tutted. She stuck out her tongue, which only made Azkiar glare at her – hard.

“And there’s been a development upstairs.” Rosa cocked her head to listen. “I’m not sure I’ve got the translation right, they’re speaking very fast, but I think he just said that something’s got away and he can’t find it.” She leaned closer so Penny couldn’t hear. “What was that about the danger being over?”

“All right, I’ll deal with it,” David said. “
RRRH!
” he went loudly.

Aurielle   and   Azkiar   immediatelystopped arguing and turned in unison tolook at him.

“Impressive,” said Rosa, folding herarms. “You’ve learned enough of their

words to be able to say ‘Oi’.”

“Tell them I want Aleron
 
and
 
the red

one to guard Penny while she searches for a book. They’re to stay on this floor and take her back to Mum as soon as she’s

done.”

“Oh… ” Penny started.

“No arguments, Penny. Something’s going on upstairs. It would be better if Rosa and I dealt with it alone. Here, come with me a moment. Let me show you where I found
 
Alicia
.” He guided her to the space where the book belonged and slid it back into place. “I’m sure any of these stories would be very entertaining. What about this one,
 
The Twonks
 
?” He pulled it down off a shelf her height. “Look, it’s got a silly picture of a man with food in his beard.”

Penny  gazed  at  it  without  muchenthusiasm. “Maybe,” she said. It did
 
look
funny.

“Well, it’s here, if you want it,” Davidsaid, leaving
 
The Twonks
 
on the shelf. “He’s done a lot, hasn’t he, Roland Darl? Take your time looking through them. Borrow any you like.”

“David.” Rosa came up and tapped hisshoulder. “Azkiar – the red bird – doesn’twant to stay. He wants to be upstairs whenwe see the ‘sheet’ or something. I can’tmake out what he’s trying to tell me.”

David sighed and flicked his gazetowards Aleron. “Can you get him to stickreally close to Penny?”

Rosa thought for a moment and tried afew words.

The next thing Penny knew, she had a

green firebird sitting on her shoulder.

“That means he likes you,” David said. “Have fun. He’ll look after you. I’ve got to go.”

Too startled to argue, Penny merely waved goodbye.

The journey picked up speed. Azkiar flew on ahead and was out of sight by the time they had reached Floor 52. There was little time to stop and look around properly, but David was soaking up the rooms as they went. None was shaped quite the same as any other, and many had chairs and lounging areas, but the one thing they all had in common were books. Shelf after perfect shelf of books. All in order. All the spines level. Every row the same distance from the edge. This was repeated all the way up to Floor 81,

where the pattern suddenly began to change. On some shelves, gaps began to appear. Only a few at first. But by the time another four floors had been climbed, the lines were radically broken. The books were now spread out in irregular groups, as if they had chosen to huddle together by common acquaintance or kin. At first David simply assumed that whoever had done the ordering here had left (or even died) before they could complete their task. Then he noticed something very unusual. The books had no titles or authors

– or words. When he took one down and

opened it, the pages were blank. And yet he could feel more auma in his hands than

would be present in a whole roomful of books further down the building. He shouted to Aurielle to slow down for a

moment, so that he might investigate further. But the female bird was so close

to her goal that she squawked and pushed on. David put the book back, in not quite the same place – and saw it move to its correct position. If ever he needed proof that the librarium was alive, there it was.

He caught up with Rosa and Aurielle on Floor 108. The firebird had perched on a tall wooden pedestal just to one side of a closed arched door. Above the door was a

large old clock with a carved wooden face. Dragons decorated all the numerals. David turned and walked a few paces in reverse, so that he might look back the way they’d come. The shelves of books seemed to blur and stretch, way out of proportion   to   the   distance   they’d travelled. Yet the way through the arched

door was simple enough. Aurielle tipped her beak towards a twisted cord of rope, suspended from the ceiling. When Rosa pulled it, the clock hands began to spin and the sound of chiming spread through the building.