The Cornerstone (28 page)

‘It’s so good to see you!’ she told him.

‘I feared for you so much when that monster followed you through The Cornerstone. You’ll have to tell me how you eluded him.’

‘Max and Imelda saved me!’

One librarian looked at the other. ‘Imelda?’

‘It seemed more appropriate over there,’ she explained.

 ‘Where is Elijah?’ the custodian asked, ‘and the Wordsmiths that went after you?’

The Cornerstone started to shake on the pedestal, making a deep rumbling noise. It didn’t sound like it was protesting, merely shouldering a heavier load than usual.

In an explosion of light and sound, the sofa coughed into existence, forcing them to jump out of the way.

‘It must’ve got a bit carried away,’ said Merelie.

‘That’d be the boy’s unwholesome influence on it,’ Imelda pointed out.

‘Before we go much further, I would appreciate an explanation as to what went on over there. I trust it’s a fascinating tale?’ said Garrowain, studying Elijah and his broken porcelain crown.

‘Looks like things haven’t exactly been boring over here,’ Merelie remarked, glancing at the zombified Wordsmith and trampled Codex.

Max popped into the room and breathed a sigh of relief. ‘That was too close. The fuzz were on almost on top of me.’

‘Fuzz?’ asked Garrowain. ‘Is this some kind of malevolent entity from your world?’

‘Depends if your car insurance has expired, chief.’

Merelie took Garrowain’s hand in hers. ‘Where’s Borne? What happened to him?’ she asked.

‘He’s safe, my girl. Though still under the influence of one of those creatures, I’m afraid. I will take you to him, but we should decide on our next course of action first.’

Garrowain used a subtle form of Wordcraft to ensure their prisoners stayed unconscious. Max studied what he did carefully, as the idea of knocking Monica out for a few hours when she was being annoying appealed to him immensely.

After that, he helped bind the five men with ripped bits of clothing for extra security, before using a bit of light Wordcraft to move the sofa over into the corner with a flourish, neatening the place up a bit. He also floated the Codex back over to its pedestal, giving it a quick buff with one sleeve as it drifted into place.

Stuffing The Cornerstone unceremoniously into his jeans at the small of his back, he clapped his hands together, indicating a job well done. Tidying up was so much easier when you could do magic.

Garrowain looked on in disbelief.

‘It’s incredible,’ he said, in an incredulous tone. ‘No training. No apparent need to focus his power. No verbalising of words to assist in shaping. No real effort being made at all.’

‘Sickening, isn’t it?’ Imelda stood at his side. ‘We spend our lives scrabbling around for a tiny amount of the word source here, while he basks in the stuff all his life and doesn’t even know it.’

‘It’s like feeding a hundred weight of fertiliser to a flower,’ Garrowain observed. ‘Only it doesn’t bud for years, until one day…’ he drifted off for a second, thinking about the implications. ‘With more like him, you could build an army that would shake the universe,’ he finished in an awed voice.

Imelda looked aghast. The idea of millions of people from Earth wielding Wordcraft chilled her to the bone. There was enough death and destruction over there without introducing that kind of power into the equation. It’d threaten The Chapter Lands in the long run as well. She told Garrowain as much.

‘Yes… I see your point,’ he conceded. ‘Perhaps the universe should remain resolutely unshaken. One Max Bloom is quite enough.’

A loud booming noise coming from the other side of the main Library doors interrupted the conversation.

‘What’s that?’ Max said, hurrying through to the entrance hall.

‘Our enemy, I would say,’ Garrowain answered and followed. ‘They’ve no doubt discovered that entry to the Library is blocked. I’d say their efforts to get in using Wordcraft have failed and they’ve fallen back on more prosaic methods.’

Another loud boom echoed through the hall.

‘I think we’d better find somewhere to hide,’ warned Imelda. ‘Those doors look sturdy enough, but I wouldn’t want to be standing here if they break.’

‘I bloody would!’ growled Max, rolling up his sleeves.

‘Don’t be stupid, boy. You have no idea what’s on the other side of that door and besides… remember what I said about Merelie’s parents? Right now, you’re only useful as long as they don’t know what you’re capable of.’ Imelda turned to Garrowain. ‘Can you conjure up a safe place for us to hide for a while?’

‘I should think so. The Codex won’t function, so we’re restricted to the areas we can access, but there’s an empty area of the Library we can reach. Through the first door on the left.’

‘Right, let’s get out of here,’ Imelda said and marched back through to the Hub as another blow landed on the heavy double doors, making them rattle on their massive hinges.

‘Um… there is just one slight problem with my idea,’ Garrowain admitted, thinking of Borne still held behind the wall of books.

‘We’ll worry about that when we get there, whatever it is it can’t be worse than what’s about to come through those doors,’ Imelda pointed out. ‘Come on all of you, let’s go!’

Max remained in the entrance hall for a moment, studying the doors as another loud boom indicated whoever was outside wasn’t giving up in a hurry.

He turned and followed his companions back into the Library, somewhat annoyed he wasn’t getting the chance to get stuck into a fight.

He needn’t have worried. The fight would shortly be coming to him.

- 4 -

Osgood Draveli was not at peace with his world.

Everything had been going well when he’d left his Wordsmiths with what should have been the simple task of cracking the Carvallen Cornerstone and retrieving that annoying girl.

He’d waddled up to Jacob Carvallen’s study in the heights of the Chapter House and had a good gloat at Carvallen and his wife, enjoying the experience with almost child-like glee.

He’d always hated Jacob - with his strong voice, piercing eyes and commanding good looks.

Osgood’s voice was whiny, his eyes were pig-like and his looks couldn’t command a fish to breath underwater. Therefore, seeing Jacob reduced to the status of prisoner was
glorious
.

After that he’d gone to find his master.

Lucas Morodai had set up camp in the Carvallen Great Hall. From there, he managed the destruction of those few forces still holding out against him across the Chapter Lands.

Pockets of resistance were attempting to fight off his army, but were crushed at every turn. Morodai knew that very soon everywhere would be under his control, and he could turn his attention to stripping the other worlds of whatever assets he desired - Carvallen’s being the prime target.

Both men had been as happy as the proverbial pigs in muck, but their moods had soured at the unwelcome news that the Library had been barred from them, with the Carvallen Cornerstone on the other side of the door.

Morodai raged at Draveli.

The fat little toad had been given one job to do and he’d still managed to make a mess of it.

‘How could you leave those idiots alone knowing the custodian was still free?’ Morodai yelled, face red with anger.

‘I thought they could handle it, Lucas!’ Draveli simpered.

‘
You
should’ve handled it, you idiot!’ Morodai grabbed the front of Draveli’s robe and pulled him closer. ‘Get down there, get that door open and get me that Cornerstone. Otherwise, I will feed you to the nearest Dweller!’

A terrified Osgood Draveli now stood in front of the Library doors, sweating heavily and screaming at the Wordsmiths he’d corralled into helping.

‘Get those doors open now! Your lord commands it!’ he squealed.

His men had uprooted a massive stone column from a nearby courtyard and were smashing it into the doors with their combined Wordcraft.

It wasn’t subtle, but was having the desired effect.

The doors splintered, looking like they could give way at any moment. Several Dwellers waited beside the Wordsmiths, champing at the bit to get in.

With a final surge of effort, the stone column rammed right through, shattering the doorframe as it breached the Library.

The Dwellers were first in, clambering over the shattered remains of door and column, ready to suck the life out of anything they encountered inside.

The first people they came across were the unconscious Wordsmiths left behind by Max’s group, so they got a decent meal for their efforts.

They left Elijah alone, recognising that he carried one of their brethren around in his head. The Dweller inside had still not reanimated Elijah’s body and had no intention of doing so until someone could guarantee it there were no toilets or gnomes in the vicinity.

Draveli’s Wordsmiths cleared away the larger chucks of debris and Osgood walked in, his eyes darting everywhere.

Making his way through to the Hub, he saw the creatures swarming over the Wordsmiths he’d left in charge of breaking The Cornerstone and knew something had gone horribly wrong.

‘Find The Cornerstone! Kill anyone you see!’ he ordered.

His troops fanned out through the open doorways as commanded, and Osgood Draveli gratefully lowered his enormous behind onto the floral sofa that sat nearby - wondering where in the world the thing had come from.

- 5 -

Max was no expert on Renaissance art, but knew a pretentious book when he saw one.

‘He’s behind this?’ he said to Garrowain.

‘Yes and still under the control of a Dweller, I’m afraid,’ the old man replied, walking up to his hastily constructed barrier. ‘Are you alive in there?’

The book wall bulged outwards as the Arma slammed into it, roaring with anger.

‘I’ll take that as an unequivocal yes.’

They all heard a crash from far behind as the Library doors gave way.

‘We’d better hurry up and do something!’ Merelie said. ‘It sounds like they’re in. They’ll be on top of us any minute!’

‘Right then, chuckles,’ Max said to Garrowain. ‘You get rid of the wall and I’ll make sure Captain Steroids doesn’t get too fist happy.’

The custodian had now been around Max Bloom long enough to have a rough idea what he was talking about and dispelled the Wordcraft holding the books in place.

As Borne came barrelling out with murder in his eyes, Max picked him up with a deft turn of the wrist and pushed him back into the empty hub room, pinning the Arma against the far wall.

They all went in and Garrowain re-established the barrier.

‘How long will it take them to find us?’ Imelda asked.

‘A little while, I shouldn’t wonder,’ he said. ‘This is a remote part of the Library and not easily accessible. I’m not sure how long this barrier will last when they do though.’

‘We’ll worry about it when the time comes,’ she replied. ‘In the meantime, we could all do with a rest. I haven’t stopped since this morning and my ankles are killing me.’

‘Poor Borne.’ Merelie walked over to where he was trapped against the wall, snarling and staring at her with those hideous smoke filled eyes. ‘What should we do with you?’

‘If there was a way to extricate the thing inside, it could restore Borne’s faculties and he’d be able to assist us,’ Garrowain said.

‘We could try ripping it out,’ Max suggested.

‘Do… and this mortal dies,’ the monster spoke from Borne’s lips.

‘Oh, Mister Talkative now, are we?’ said Max. ‘Got yourself caught and fancy a little chat, eh?’

‘I will eat your mind!’ it screamed.

‘Good grief, talk about a broken record… haven’t you got any other threats? That one’s pretty bloody lame when you get right down to it.’ He thought for a second. ‘Maybe you could tell me you’re going to rip my head off and crap down my neck? That’s a good one!’ Max was warming up now. ‘Or how about threatening to kill my pets? …use my lungs as punch bags? …my skull as a fruit bowl? …have my balls for breakfast?’

‘Is this accomplishing anything?’ Imelda asked.

‘No, it just irritates me when people aren’t original. It’s a sign of laziness,’ said Max, a boy who could waste an entire day playing Resident Evil given half the chance.

‘These are monsters from the void between worlds, Mr Bloom,’ Garrowain said. ‘I don’t believe where they come from offers much of an atmosphere for creative thought.’

‘Tell me about it, I’ve been there.’

This was met with universal looks of dumb-founded surprise.

‘You… you’ve
been there
?’ Garrowain said in a strangled voice.

‘Yeah. First time Corny brought me over. Hasn’t happened again. It was pretty weird and scary though, so I’m not fussed.’

‘Are you trying to tell us that The Cornerstone showed you where they come from?’ Merelie said, pointing at Borne.

‘I guess so. Why, is that unusual?’

‘Of course it’s bloody unusual!’ Imelda snapped. ‘It should just transport you between dimensions, not show you the bits in between! Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?’

‘I didn’t think it was important!’

 ‘I think we should concern ourselves less with when this piece of information came to light and more with what it means,’ Garrowain said. ‘The Cornerstone took Max somewhere it has taken no-one else. It must be significant.’

‘It
knew
,’ Merelie said with awe. ‘It knew Max had the power in him and wanted him to know what he’d be up against.’

‘Possibly,’ the custodian conceded. ‘We’re discovering more and more that The Cornerstone has its own agenda in all of this. I’d go so far as to say it’s been manipulating us all for its own ends… especially you, Merelie.’

The girl thought for a second. ‘The dreams you mean? The nightmares? That was The Cornerstone warning me?’

‘I’d hazard a guess,’ Garrowain smiled, ‘…correctly, I believe.’

‘Why didn’t it warn her dad?’ Max argued. ‘Why tell just Merelie about it?’

‘I imagine it thought it far easier to manipulate a young girl than a Chapter Lord,’ the custodian said. ‘She was far more likely to do its bidding.’ He patted Max on the shoulder. ‘You’re here my boy, because The Cornerstone wanted you here.’