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  ‘We are alone, if that troubles you,’ said Hyarn mildly. ‘This is my library. Nobody enters without my permission.’

  ‘Except for us,’ I said, feeling faintly abashed. ‘Sorry.’

  Hyarn merely smiled. ‘As I said: nobody enters without my permission.’

  Well, now. If I was hoping for a clear sign, I was unlikely to receive any clearer a sign than that. ‘You did say…’ I began, and hesitated. I felt uncharacteristically uncertain, which I hate. And what a moment to falter! Having brutally overridden all of Gio’s doubts: now to question myself!

  ‘Are you in need of assistance?’ prompted Hyarn.

  I looked at Gio, who stood like a man condemned. He looked back at me, unspeaking, his face unreadable.

  I took a breath. Now for it. ‘Dwinal has been capturing draykoni,’ I said, and I managed to speak as though I had never known doubt in my life. ‘We discovered one.’

  Hyarn nodded.

  ‘In Gio’s old chambers.’

  Hyarn nodded again.

  His complete lack of surprise confirmed my suspicion. ‘That was no coincidence, was it?’

  ‘It was not.’ Hyarn closed his book and set it aside. ‘I knew that Gio, and his new friends, could be relied upon to do whatever was necessary for the creature.’

  His dispassionate use of the word creature seemed at odds with the apparent interest he was showing in Nindrinat’s well-being, and I was unsure what to make of it.

  Gio was shocked. ‘You placed her there? Why?’

  ‘For the reason I have just stated.’

  ‘But… but you are Dwinal’s second-in-command.’

  Hyarn’s eyes twinkled, a faint smile curving his lips. ‘And you are Dwinal’s grandson.’

  ‘Did Dwinal know that you had done that?’ I asked.

  ‘No. It is my duty to accommodate Dwinal’s… guests, and she takes little interest in how I choose to perform that task.’

  My heart leapt. ‘So you know where the others are?’

  ‘Yes, but so do your friends, by this time. Did you not wonder where they are?’

  ‘You led them to the others?’

  ‘Subtly. I believe they are under the impression that they have discovered the whereabouts of the captives unaided.’

  Hyarn was obviously in possession of a devious nature rivalling my own. I was impressed. ‘Why are you assisting us?’

  ‘I am not, precisely. I am obstructing Dwinal, which amounts to the same thing.’

  ‘And you are obstructing your Lokantor because…?’

  ‘Because someone needs to.’ Hyarn smiled at us, and rose from his chair. ‘You came to me with a specific request, I imagine? Would you like me to take you to the draykoni?’

  I thought fast, and reached a swift decision. ‘No. Our friends will be doing everything they can to stabilise them, and for the moment we lack the manpower to do much more for them. It’s on its way. In the meantime, it is information about Dwinal that we need.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘We came in hopes that you might let us into Dwinal’s chambers, but perhaps you can answer our questions more expediently. Why is she capturing, and draining, draykoni Elders? What is the new establishment she is trying to create? What is any of this for?’

  Hyarn looked as though he did not know how to respond. He stood, lost in thought, and we waited in silence as he weighed up his options. I could guess at some of his thoughts. How far did he dare help us? Would he risk being seen in our company, anywhere near Dwinal’s rooms?

  ‘Come with me,’ he said at last.

  He translocated us out of his library — and may I say, as an aside, how humbling an experience that was? I have never known anybody accomplish the process so smoothly, so imperceptibly. I felt nothing; no rush of movement; certainly none of the sickening lurch that tended to plague my own, miserable efforts. I did not realise we had moved at all, until I noticed that our surroundings had changed.

  We had come out in a large… room. I know that’s an unhelpful description, but its purpose was unclear. It looked like part laboratory, part workshop and part library, mixed up with a range of other things. I saw energy collectors stored in one part of the room, one or two of them set a little apart from the others, as though recently used. There was a draykon skeleton, fully intact, probably awaiting rejuvenation by Rastivan (or another). Books, of course, were prominent.

  What interested me the most was the vast drawing that occupied one entire wall. Incredibly detailed, it looked like a blueprint for a building, if such an impossibly complicated structure could exist. It was broadly star-shaped, with five distinct wings and five smaller ones offset. I drifted closer, fascinated. I could read none of the notes which covered almost every part of the drawing, but the level of detail was mesmerising.

  ‘This looks like a Library,’ I said.

  Hyarn came to stand beside me, and we gazed at the marvellous blueprint together. ‘It is.’

  Gio joined us. ‘It is not the plan for any existing Library, though, is it?’

  ‘No,’ said Hyarn. ‘It is the layout for a new Library. Visionary. Whatever her flaws, Dwinal has a bright, great mind.’

  So, Limbane was right. This was the new establishment Dwinal was trying to develop: a new, great Library, one to be populated not only by pure-blood Lokants but by partials as well, those whose blood was mixed with that of the draykoni.

  ‘Are they always so spectacular?’ I asked. ‘All of your Libraries, I mean.’

  ‘No.’ Hyarn looked long at the drawing, his eyes sad. ‘There was one other, once. Just one.’

  ‘Orlind,’ said Gio, and Hyarn nodded.

  ‘This is to be a new kind, is it not?’ said I, electrified. ‘One heavily inspired by the lost Library of Orlind. That is why she requires a significant supply of amasku. She seeks to bind it into the creation of a new Library, just as it was woven into the fabric of Orlind. And then, perhaps, she will be able to develop a new species, something to rival the draykoni. Or perhaps even to build upon them.’

  ‘Such a project can only go the same way as the Library of Orlind.’ Every word Hyarn spoke was laden with regret. ‘For a time, it would be a wonder, one we would use to create many marvels. And then, eventually, inevitably, there would be war.’

  ‘Dwinal herself said something similar,’ I remembered. ‘To Llandry. She said that the Library of Orlind had to be destroyed, or it would be a source of conflict for your people forever.’

  ‘A mere manipulation, I’m afraid. The prospect of inciting war does not trouble Dwinal, provided she feels secure of coming out on the winning side. That is part of her motive for the school you are presently running, in point of fact. She hopes to identify all the strongest partial Lokants, all those whose brilliance and blended skills offer the brightest prospects. Not only will they assist her in every project she seeks to complete with the use of this spectacular new tool, they will also make a splendid and fearsome army, should it come to that someday.’ He paused, and sighed, and added: ‘For all the violence of my actions of late, I do not support war. If I have killed, I have done it to avert war, not to encourage it.’

  His tone had turned from regretful to bitter, and I began to understand. Dwinal had manipulated Hyarn, too. She had convinced him that she was as committed to avoiding further conflicts as he was, had used him as a tool to remove Galywis and by extension the Library of Orlind, had told him whatever she had to in order to retain his loyalty. Then, somehow, he had found her out.

  However, I detected a flaw in his logic. ‘Such a Library would fulfil all the dreams of those who most regretted the loss of the Library of Orlind,’ I said. ‘It would relieve Sulayn Phay of Dwinal as Lokantor, which ought to be satisfy Ylona. Only those who essentially agree with Dwinal’s approach would join her at the new Library, which would nicely get them out of your hair. And who knows, they might indeed produce something genuinely visionary with such a tool. Are you so certain there would, ultimately, be war?’


  ‘History can only repeat itself. I have lived too long to question this fundamental truth. Over and over again, I see it happen.’

  ‘So you would like to stop Dwinal from founding this Library?’

  ‘She must be prevented from creating this Library. She must be prevented from performing any further abuse of the draykoni in the pursuit of it.’ He looked sideways at me. ‘Or of your students. Her cheerful willingness to turn even our own descendants to use is similarly questionable. I could wish you had not brought them back here. She must not be allowed to “recruit” any of them.’

  ‘I never had any intention of permitting her to claim them,’ I assured him. I could not resist adding, ‘I might not have felt driven to resort to such measures, had I known sooner that we had an ally here.’

  To his credit, Hyarn acknowledged the justice of that with a nod. ‘I could not tell how far you were in agreement with Dwinal.’

  Gio had absorbed most of this in impassive silence, but Hyarn appeared to be irritating him. ‘Grandmother’s abuse of her own descendants is no new thing,’ he snapped. ‘You work in close proximity with her, Hyarn. You know her methods. You know that no one is safe from her ruthlessness, her brutality — not me, not you.’

  ‘I know it.’

  ‘She must not be allowed to found a new Library, and not only because of the prospect of war! Ylona is right, she is not fit! You know what would become of such a place, of those who are fool enough to support her. It would be a waking nightmare for those inside, and an eternal blot upon our society. And if she succeeds, do you imagine she will stop there? What do you think she will do, with such a tool at her disposal? Nothing we would ever wish to see!’

  ‘We are in full agreement,’ said Hyarn gently. ‘My question is only: how is such a feat to be accomplished? Long have I thought and thought, sought a way to sabotage Dwinal somehow, to divert her attention, to remove her if necessary. But she is inexorable. Unstoppable, I fear. We were freed from Krays, but I do not believe any such stroke of luck is likely to relieve us of his wife.’

  ‘Luck?’ I repeated, disbelieving. ‘There wasn’t a scrap of luck involved. We went to great lengths, huge risks, to remove Krays from the world, and justly celebrated our success.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘No. Luck is a fabrication; there is no such thing. Luck is made, through action. You do not lack for resolve. Are you so afraid of Dwinal?’

  Hyarn and Gio exchanged a look between them. Clearly they thought me sadly deluded.

  ‘Never mind,’ I said. ‘We will deal with her.’

  ‘You put me to shame,’ murmured Hyarn.

  ‘Then do better,’ I said. Brutal, I know, but I cannot bear feebleness. The best way I know of to fail is to give up before you’ve even started.

  My train of thought was interrupted by a distant buzzing, of which I gradually became aware. Some seconds passed before I realised what it was.

  The voice box.

  I grabbed it, my heart pounding. This was it. Llandry had arrived, and all her people with her. It was time to act, time to carry through on the rash promise I had just made. For all my bold words, I was not impervious to the fear.

  ‘Llandry?’

  ‘Eva! Thank goodness. I had no idea if it would work at such a range, I’m so glad to get hold of you, I thought— the worst thing has—’ She broke off, and I heard her taking a deep breath.

  My heart rate about tripled. ‘Steady, Llan. What’s gone wrong?’

  ‘Eva, I know this will sound insane, but you have to believe me.’

  ‘I will.’

  ‘Promise?’

  ‘Yes! Tell me!’ Honestly, I would have shaken her if she had been before me at that moment. The suspense! Intolerable!

  ‘Orlind is gone.’

  My heart froze. ‘Gone? Orlind? The entire island?’

  ‘All of it. Vanished.’

  ‘What… how did that happen? How can it have been destroyed?’

  ‘Vanished, Eva! Not destroyed, or I hope not. I came back and rounded everyone up, we set off, and the moment we got as far as the mountains into Irbel, the island… that mist came in, you remember how the island used to be? You couldn’t even see it under all the fog? That came back, and when it dissipated the island was gone. Just gone. Empty sea.’

  ‘What…’ I was so shocked I could barely speak. ‘What— how—’

  ‘I was hoping you would be able to answer that.’

  With an effort, I pulled myself together. ‘Actually, I probably can, but that isn’t going to help us get it back.’

  ‘What do we do?’

  ‘I don’t… I don’t know, Llan. Where are you now?’

  ‘Still on the border of Irbel.’

  ‘Who is with you?’

  ‘Pense, and all of Nuwelin and Anshalin. Pretty much everyone.’

  ‘All right, just… just stay there, for now. I need to find out what’s going on.’

  ‘Right.’ The box went dead.

  Gio and Hyarn were staring at me, probably wearing the exact same expression as my own: blank shock, mixed with horror.

  ‘Couple of questions,’ I said, as mildly as I could. ‘This Library. It… moves around, does it not? I am sure I heard that somewhere before.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Hyarn. ‘Most of them do.’

  ‘Whereabouts is it stationed at the moment?’

  Hyarn coughed. ‘Ah… actually, it is anchored in your world.’

  ‘Not far from Irbel, let me guess?’

  ‘Not very far from Irbel, indeed.’

  That explained how Llandry could reach me with the voice-box. ‘Is it the Library building that moves, or the land it’s built upon?’

  ‘The… all of it, everything.’

  ‘Uh huh. Do you happen to know where Dwinal was planning to build her marvellous new Library?’

  ‘She was looking for a suitable place—’

  ‘Apparently she found one!’ I lost my temper a little, for which I apologise. The pressure was getting to me. ‘Did you know about this? Either of you!’ I may have shouted. I know that I advanced upon the pair of them, most likely a vision of fury, because they both backed up a step.

  ‘No!’ said both of them. ‘You have to understand—’ (this was Gio) ‘—Grandmother doesn’t have confidantes! Not for things like this!’

  I glared at Hyarn, who echoed Gio’s words. ‘To the last, she told me she was looking — searching for the perfect place — I had no idea she had her sights set on Orlind! I have fought with her, since Galywis, questioned her. She does not trust me as she used to.’

  Composure, composure. Screaming at people is productive on occasion, but right then wasn’t one of those times. ‘That vision of old Orlind,’ I said. ‘Llandry told me of it. Gio has seen it. It isn’t just a memory, is it? It is a blueprint, a far more developed one than that.’ I waved a hand at the drawing on the wall, which had now assumed a new, much more ominous character. ‘Memory it might be, but it’s also a vision for the future! Dwinal isn’t trying to found a new Library, she’s trying to recreate an old one! That’s why she was so damned happy when Galywis blew up Old Orlind, broken as it was beyond repair! It got it out of the way, so she could re-use the spit of land it was sitting on.’

  I wondered, then, whether our worlds had ever really been composed of Seven Realms at all. I think we had all assumed that the island we call Orlind had once been a far larger piece of land, and joined to the rest of our realms. Originally no island at all, it became so during the literally earth-shaking conflict that destroyed the Library that once stood upon it.

  Maybe we were wrong. Perhaps it was always an island, just a larger one. Maybe Galywis and his colleagues anchored it off our shores in the first place. And now Dwinal had merrily unanchored it, and spirited it away!

  Bitch.

  I took a few moments to think. For all that I have a reputation for unflappable composure (and a carefully cultivated reputation at that), I can be shaken. I can
be at a loss. Just then, I felt frozen in panic. What to do? What could we possibly do? Too many problems faced us at once. There were the sixteen draykoni who urgently needed to be extracted from Sulayn Phay, and taken home. Dwinal had to be stopped and the island of Orlind somehow retrieved, but in order to do either of those things Dwinal had first to be found and the island, too. The people we needed in order to accomplish either task were spread all over the Library of Sulayn Phay and the Seven Realms — where was Ny, right then? Our only Elder and I had let him wander off with Rastivan, leaving behind himself nothing but an airy promise to come back in a day or two!

  I wasted some little time cursing myself, as Gio and Hyarn debated in low, urgent tones and nobody arrived at any useful conclusions whatsoever.

  Then I remembered who I was supposed to be. I was the person looked to for solutions. I was the unflappable one, by my own connivance. The one with all the answers, the one who always knew what to do and had the gumption to do it, too. I could panic later.

  ‘Gio,’ I said. ‘I imagine Ori can be found wherever those captive draykoni are. Hyarn will tell you where to find them. Will you join him, and the others, and see what can be done for them?’

  ‘Of course,’ he murmured, though he looked uncertain. ‘What of—’

  ‘Hyarn,’ I continued. ‘I will need your assistance in locating the island of Orlind. I imagine there is something you can do to help us discover where it has been taken to.’

  Hyarn looked uncertain, too, and the look he exchanged with Gio was faintly pleading. But Gio said nothing, and Hyarn found his courage. ‘Very well,’ he agreed.

  ‘Good. Gio, I will need a report from you, or from Ori or Tren, as soon as possible. Find out the status of those draykoni. We will need Llandry’s aid in getting them out, but right now the combined citizenry of Nuwelin and Anshalin are hovering on the Irbellian border awaiting instructions. Since we may also need their assistance with the matter of the island of Orlind, I am reluctant to bring them here until we have better information, in one direction or another. Is that clear?’

  ‘Perfectly.’

  ‘Good. Go then, please.’