The Myst Reader (75 page)

Veovis shook his head. “No. I know now how you feel.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Come…”

 

 

§

 

 

A’Gaeris had thought it was a storage cupboard of some kind, but inside was a long, high-ceilinged room, and lining the walls of that long room were rack after rack of guns and swords. Enough to start a small war.

Veovis turned, staring at the Philosopher thoughtfully. “You once wrote that it is fortunate that the common people are unarmed, for if they were armed, D’ni would fall overnight. Do you still believe that?”

A’Gaeris reached out, taking down one of the swords and examining it. He nodded, impressed. “I do,” he said finally, looking to Veovis with a smile.

“Then will this do?”

A’Gaeris grinned. “I see I badly misjudged you, Lord Veovis.”

 

 

§

 

 

Anna stood at the door, listening, then opened it and slipped out, into the adjacent room. There were voices coming from just down the corridor. Was there another chamber down there, one she had not noticed?

It seemed so. Recessed into the wall, partway along, was a door. It was open the slightest crack and she could hear Veovis and A’Gaeris talking within. Realizing that she might have only one chance, she hurried past and on into the gallery. To her surprise the hatch halfway down on her left was wide open. She edged over to it and listened, then peeked her head around. A flight of steps went down.

She went inside, hastening down the steps, then stopped. Ahead of her, just around a turn, she could hear Suahrnir murmuring something.

The bottle containing the sleeping draught was still in her pocket, the iron file in her right hand. Taking a cloth handkerchief from her pocket, Anna wrapped it about her mouth, then took the bottle from her pocket.

With more confidence than she felt, she stepped out around the corner. Suahrnir was sitting on a platform at the end of the tunnel, overlooking the cage. He had his back to her. Calming herself, she walked on, trying not to make any noise.

She was right beneath Suahrnir when he turned, realizing that she was there. Yet even as he turned, Anna hit him hard over the head with the file. As he collapsed, she pulled the cloth up over her nose and, unstoppering the bottle, poured its contents over his face.

A cloud of thick, white fumes rose from the platform.

Anna blinked, her eyes stinging furiously, then, closing them tight, she edged around Suahrnir and climbed up onto the cage, not daring to take a breath.

The cage swayed from side to side as she moved around the outside of it, as far as she could get from the stinging white cloud. As the cage steadied, she leaned out and raised the silk, taking in a lungful of air.

“Ti’ana? Is that you?”

Aitrus was just beneath her, blinking up at her as if only half conscious. Only his head and shoulders were above the surface of the vile, dark green liquid and she could see that there was a large, dark bruise on the side of his forehead. Seeing him thus, Anna winced, her love for him making her forget her own danger. His hands were tightly bound. They had hooked them over the massive padlock to keep him from sinking down into the water. It was cruel, but it had also probably saved his life.

“It’s all right, my love,” she said gently. “I’ll get you out. But you must be quiet. We must not alert the others.”

“I was stupid,” he said, his eyes flickering closed, as if he could not keep them open. His voice was faint and fading. “Veovis said he had you prisoner. I should have known. I should have brought help.”

“No,” Anna said, pained by the way he blamed himself for this. She took the file from her waist and, leaning across, began to try to force the lock. “You did what you thought best.”

Aitrus coughed. Some of the sleeping gas was now drifting across from the tunnel. Anna could sense its stinging presence in the air. She grimaced then leaned back on the file once more, heaving at it, trying to force the lock, but it would not budge. She needed a longer piece of metal, something with more leverage.

A sudden gust of wind, coming in off the surface of the sea, swept back the drift of noxious white gas.

“Aitrus,” she said, reaching through the bars, trying to touch his brow, her fingers brushing air. “Aitrus…I shall not be long, I promise. I’ll come back for you. So hold on.”

But he could not hear her. His eyes were closed, and whether it was the gas or whether he had slumped back into unconsciousness she could not tell.

Time. Time was against her now.

Taking a huge gulp of air, she pulled the cloth down over her mouth again, then turned and, scrambling back around the cage, ducked back inside the tunnel, her eyes tightly shut as she stumbled through the choking whiteness.

 

 

§

 

 

Veovis was sitting at a table at the end of the armory, fitting together an incendiary device. Five completed bombs lay in a row just by his elbow; long red tubes with bulbous silver ends filled with explosive chemicals. Nearby, A’Gaeris was still working his way through the racks, looking for the ideal weapon for himself.

“We should only use guns when we need to,” Veovis said, looking up at him. “For what we plan, a poisoned dart is best.”

“And the incendiaries?” A’Gaeris looked down the barrel of a hunting gun at Veovis, then set the gun aside. “I would have thought they would notice one of those going off.”

Veovis continued to fit the device together. “These are not for use as weapons, my friend, these are to destroy the Linking Books after we have used them.”

A’Gaeris stared at him. “And the Hidden Linking Books? The ones we already have in place? Did I take those risks for nothing, Veovis?”

“No, but it might be difficult to use them, now that the guilds are more vigilant. Besides, we have a whole store of Books we can use. If time were less pressing I would be less profligate, but as things are…”

A’Gaeris nodded. “You are quite right. And it will, at least, allow us to slip in and slip out at will.” His eyes gleamed. “Think of it, Veovis! They will not know what has hit them!”

Veovis smiled and nodded, then set the sixth bomb aside, next to the others. “We shall be like shadows,” he said, reaching out to take another of the incomplete incendiaries from the rack by his feet. As he set it down on the desk, he glanced across at A’Gaeris again. “Bring the map from the study. We can discuss things while we work.”

 

 

§

 

 

As A’Gaeris stepped into the room, he saw her. Ti’Ana, Aitrus’s wife. She was at the center of the room, beside the table, hunched forward slightly, her back to him. She was very still, as if concentrating on something: reading, perhaps, or studying something.

The map of D’ni…

Smiling, A’Gaeris drew his dagger and tiptoed across until he was no more than a couple of feet from her.

“Do not move, Ti’ana,” he said, a quiet menace in his voice. “I have a knife and I will not hesitate to use it.”

She froze, her shoulders tensed.

“Turn slowly,” he said. “Very slowly. Make no sudden movements.”

She began to turn, slowly at first, very slowly; then, in a sudden rush her arms came up.

And something else. Something heavy and black that seemed to expand into his face, screeching as it did, its sharp claws digging in deeply.

 

 

§

 

 

Veovis stood, turning toward the door. The first scream had made him drop the incendiary; the second startled him into action.

He ran, out of the room and along the corridor, bursting through the first room and into the study. The screaming was louder here, mixed with the bird’s high, screeching call.

A’Gaeris was on the far side of the room, struggling to fend off the ferocious assault of the bird. Blood ran down his face and upper arms. Nearby the golden cage lay on the floor, the chain snapped, the door forced open.

Intruders…

“Help me!” A’Gaeris pleaded, putting an arm out toward Veovis. “In the Maker’s name, help me!”

Veovis stared at his ally a moment, then, drawing the old, long-barreled gun from his belt, crossed the room quickly, ignoring A’Gaeris and vanishing through the far door, heading for the far room and the corridor beyond.

 

 

§

 

 

Anna slammed the door behind her then reached up and slipped the bolt into place. Hurrying over to the bench, she took the stoppers from bottles and jars then began to pour things into various containers.

She could hear A’Gaeris’s screams, even where she was, through the thickness of stone and wood, and knew that Veovis would be coming after her.

Taking her concoction, Anna poured some of the clear, thick liquid over the door, soaking the wood with it, then laid a trail of it across to the far side of the room, where the Linking Books were piled up. That done, she put the bowl aside and went back to the door, sliding the bolt back once again and pulling the door slightly ajar.

She could hear footsteps now, hurrying up the twist of steps.

Anna scrambled back across the room, setting the Linking Book she was to use to return to D’ni down on the desk to one side, open to the descriptive panel. Then, taking the length of wick, she lit it from the tinder, blowing on the smoldering end of it until it glowed.

The footsteps came to the head of the steps and stopped. There was a moment’s hesitation and then the door on the far side of the room was kicked open. Veovis stepped inside, the cocked gun raised, its dark mouth pointed directly at her.

Seeing her, Veovis gave a surprised laugh. “Ti’ana! You were the last person I expected.”

Anna stared back at him defiantly, her left hand hovering over the glowing panel, her right holding the smoldering wick.

Noticing the Books, he blinked, reassessing the situation. “What are you doing?”

“I am putting a stop to this. Before things get out of hand.”

His face grew hard. “Give me the book, Ti’ana. Give it to me and I shall spare you. You and your son both. The rest will die. They have to. But you and Gehn can live…
if
you give me the Book.”

Anna smiled and dropped the wick onto the pile of Linking Books, igniting it, at the same moment placing her other hand against the linking panel.

As the Books went up in a great rush of flame, Veovis roared and pulled the trigger. The sound of the detonation filled the room as the bullet hurtled toward her disappearing shape. At the same moment, the trail of liquid chemicals flared, the flame running along it like a rail of magma searing through the rock.

There was a great hiss and then the door behind Veovis exploded into flame, throwing him forward, his hair and cloak on fire.

But Anna did not see it. Anna had already gone.

 

 

§

 

 

The great chamber was almost dark. Only at its center, where the five great thrones were, was there a small pool of light, where a single flame flickered between the pillars. Beneath its scant illumination the five great Lords of D’ni sat, their ancient faces etched with deep concern.

“We must search the city from end to end,” R’hira said, echoing what Master Jadaris had said to him not an hour before. “Every room, and every drawer of every desk. We must find these Linking Books and destroy them, else no one here is safe.”

“Is it possible?” another of them asked. “Have we the time or the numbers to make such a search?”

“No,” R’hira admitted, “yet we must make the attempt. Unless we do…”

He stopped dead, staring in astonishment as a figure materialized in the space before the thrones.

“What in the Maker’s name…”

“Ti’ana!” R’hira cried, standing and stepping down from his throne.

Anna looked up, her face pale, then slumped down onto the floor. Blood poured from a wound in her shoulder.

“Bring help!” R’hira cried, speaking to one of the guards who stood in the shadow surrounding them. “Quick now, Guildsman! Ti’ana is badly hurt!”

Yet even as he stooped to try to help her, another figure shimmered into being right beside her.

The man’s face was blackened. His hair was aflame. Smoke curled up from his burning clothes. He was doubled up, almost choking for breath, but even in that state R’hira recognized him at once.

“Veovis!”

 

PART SEVEN: LAST DAYS

 

It was over. The evidence had been heard, the verdict of the Council unanimously given. It remained now only for the Five Lords to announce the sentence.

The great chamber was hushed as Lord R’hira got to his feet and, stepping from his throne, stood over the kneeling Veovis.

Veovis was chained at hand and foot. His head had been shaved and he wore a simple prison gown of rust red, which showed his bare arms and calves. Seated just behind the kneeling prisoner, looking on attentively, were Aitrus and his wife, Ti’ana, who, because of her part in things, had been allowed to attend this final ceremony.

It was only two weeks since that moment when, to the astonishment of the five great Lords, both Ti’ana and Veovis had linked through into this self-same chamber. Both Aitrus and his wife were now much improved from their wounds. Aitrus sat there with his head bound, Ti’ana with a bandage about her wounded shoulder.

There was a silent tension in the chamber as R’hira looked about him at the seated ranks of guildsmen.

“Veovis,” R’hira said quietly. “You have betrayed the trust of this Council. You have deceived us and stolen from us, destroyed our property, and…yes,
murdered
our fellow guildsmen. Such behavior is without parallel in all our long history, and it is felt that our sentence ought to reflect that. I therefore declare that you, Veovis, son of Rakeri, Lord of D’ni, shall be taken from here to the steps of the Library and there, at the seventeenth hour, before witnesses, be beheaded for your treachery.”