Vergence (30 page)

Only since arriving in Vergence had some of the subtleties of Master Yale’s teaching become apparent. As if drawing from a concealed sensory range somewhere between colours and flavours, he’d found he could use his enhanced awareness to distinguish subtle distinctions between races and peoples.

The building and objects around them receded into the background, casting indistinct flavour-colour shadows into his awareness, but all around him were hundreds of impenetrably hard points — like standing in the midst of a constellation of tiny flint-sharp stars.

Nearer at hand, he could feel Sash and Addae, and Leth. A peculiar thread wound its way through Leth’s core, but as he focused on it something penetrated the boundary of his perception, distracting him. Like the briefest breath of air disturbing a spider’s web, it reached out to touch him with exquisite delicacy, and was gone.

“Ebryn, is something wrong?” Sash said.

“No, there’s nothing wrong,” Ebryn said. “There are some of ours further in — higher up. Somebody far-sensed us.”

Addae muttered something in his own language, and Ebryn felt a boiling sensory maelstrom form around them. It rolled outwards like a vast wave, crashing through the fine texture of Ebryn's own sensory web, rebounding from the hundreds of tiny chips of sevyric iron surrounding them to form painfully violent eddies and cross-currents that made Ebryn wince.

“I cannot find anything. There is much sevyric iron,” Addae said.

“Perhaps it’s there to protect the books from people like us,” Ebryn said. “Come on, I want to see.”

As they mounted another staircase into the entrance to the inner part of the library, Ebryn felt the presence of the sevyric iron. The quantity was overpowering, and easily enough to block the most powerful caster.

Before them were four rows of tables. Each table had eight large chairs to a side. The tables, polished to a rich red-brown, showed signs of long use and wear. The chairs were of a similar wood and intricately worked with padded leather upholstery. On either side, heavy shelves of very dark wood, jammed with hefty volumes, framed the area.

Light angling through long high windows fell in bands across the tables to their right. A solitary woman sat here with her head bent over a large book. Directly to their left sat two men facing each other across a table. Loosely stacked next to each was a small pile of books, and bundles of loose paper. Between them lay a games board with a collection of white stones, and a single black.

The man on the far side of the table had dark hair drawn back from his face to fall in a long greasy curtain across his shoulders. His face had a hollowed-out bloodless appearance with very pale waxy skin, thin lips, and dark sunken eyes. The second man was older and shorter, with thinning silvery hair. He had some of the features of the Chochin, but the complexion of a local.

All three looked up as they entered the room, but the woman quickly returned to her book. The older man had been about to make a move on the board in front of him, but he started violently when he saw them, upsetting the rest of the pieces, and scattering them across the table surface. “Look Sevoi, new students.”

“I can see Hoi,” Sevoi said.

Hoi struggled to his feet and knocked the board again, sending pieces further across the table, drawing a scowl from Sevoi.

“Tranquillity is not yet complete and we have new students in the library — such enthusiasm amongst the young,” Hoi said.

“Yes … how fortunate we are,” Sevoi said.

Sevoi blinked in a languid fashion and leant back in his chair with an exaggerated sigh, but Ebryn could see him watching from the corner of his eye. His gaze lingered briefly on Sash and Addae, but settled on Ebryn.

Hoi hobbled forward and stopped in front of Sash, leaning on the back of a chair for support. “Good day to you. You are new apprentices?”

Sash stepped forward and held out her hand. “Yes. I'm Sash, and my friends are Addae and Ebryn.”

Hoi hesitated, and then took Sash's hand. He held it for a moment before releasing it, and quickly withdrew his arm. As Hoi pulled his hand back Ebryn noticed a heavy bracelet of sevyric iron fastened tightly around his wrist like a manacle.

“Are you looking for something specific, or just finding your way around?” Hoi asked.

“Yes,” Sash said. “I mean we need to find out about food for my miniature dragon.”

“Hmm—” Hoi said, scratching the back of his head, “—I believe we have some works on Senesella—”

Sevoi snorted derisively. “There's a large section of references on ephemerals and other exotics. You’ll find what you want there.”

“Ah, yes,” Hoi said, his face colouring. “Silly of me to forget. I can show you the way, if you would like me to?”

“Yes, please,” Sash said.

Hoi hobbled to a gap between two bookcases and peered at a small engraved plaque on the side of the nearest. “Hmm, lets see then. Down here I think … or perhaps the next row.”

As they neared the back of the room they heard footsteps fast approaching.

“I didn't think he would be able to resist,” Hoi said, half to himself, as a man rounded the corner in front of them.

Hoi stopped and half turned towards them. “This is Ben-gan.”

Addae frowned. “This is a name I know.”

“Yes, I'm sure I've heard it too,” Ebryn said.

Ben-gan was broad though the shoulders, and as tall as Ebryn. He appeared to be of early middle age, with silver flecked dark hair, moustache and beard, wearing a simple short-sleeved tunic over loose trousers, and short boots. He reminded Ebryn a little of Sarl, with quick eyes which seemed to take in everything as he approached.

Ebryn had the unsettling impression that Ben-gan's gaze had lingered on him longer than the others, and over the last few days he'd become accustomed to being all but invisible next to Sash in public.

Ben-gan stopped in front of them, facing towards Addae, and touched the tips of his fingers to his lips, and then to his forehead. He grasped hands with Sash, and half-bowed to Ebryn.

“I am Ben-gan,” he said.

“I am Addae Bohma,” Addae said.

“I think you are here to discover what your dragon can eat?”

Sash looked surprised, but nodded. “Yes, how did you know?”

“He looks thinner than he should. Few students find their way here during the Tranquillity celebrations unless they are lost or need help.”

“You know about Senesellan dragons?” Sash asked.

“I've been to Senesella. It was a place which held much interest for me when I was young.”

Hoi looked from Ben-gan to Ebryn. “But he's—”

“Yes, thank-you, Hoi,” Ben-gan said, turning on his heel. “Follow me. We shall see what we can find.”

Ben-gan walked so briskly they almost had to run to stay with him.

“The section you need is about a third of the way to the back. We need to be swift as I have a duty to perform in a short while.”

Ebryn scanned the bookcases as they passed. Jammed onto the shelves, and sometimes stacked on top of rows in loose piles, were books in hundreds of different bindings, colours, and sizes. Text on the spines of some hinted at the contents, but on many the outer covers were blank. They were arranged haphazardly with sections on seemingly unrelated subjects placed next to each other.

The bookcases were crammed tightly, forcing them to follow a winding path through the narrow lanes in between, and within a dozen yards Ebryn had no idea which direction they were facing.

Further in, Ben-gan produced a small light globe from his pocket, and held it above his head. Ebryn had seen similar items touted in the market place from sellers claiming they would last as long as a lifetime, but his eyes were drawn to the bracelet of sevyric iron on Ben-gan's forearm.

Ebryn hurried to catch up. “I thought sevyric iron would stop things like that working?”

“At the heart of a creation such as this there is crumb of sevyric iron. Has no-one explained the working of sevyric iron to you?” Ben-gan asked.

“No, we just had the tests. I hadn't heard of it before I came here.”

“Ah yes, the tests,” Ben-gan said with a hint of a smile on his face. “I think the tests must have been a surprise if you knew nothing of sevyric iron.”

“Yes.”

“You are here now, so you have passed the tests?”

“Yes,” Ebryn said. “I wasn't the only one surprised though, when I made the sevyric iron disappear.”

”And how did you accomplish that?” Ben-gan asked, looking at Ebryn with obvious interest.

“I don't know. I just folded them and they disappeared.”

Ben-gan held out his free arm so Ebryn could clearly see the bracelet. “So you would be able to remove these from me the same way?”

“Yes … but—”

“Do not concern yourself,” Ben-gan said, smiling. “I am not asking you to do that. I am content to keep them.”

“Why are you and Hoi, and the others, wearing those things?” Sash asked.

Ben-gan laughed. “Senesellan directness … these are a punishment. It was the custom in Volane to exile wrongdoers. Now the Margave prefer maiming or execution. For me they could do neither, so I suggested this. In Volane we called this clipping a singer's tongue.”

Ebryn could see Sash frowning, and hurriedly tried to prevent her next question. “Where—”

“What were you punished for?” she asked.

Ben-gan paused before answering. “There were a few who were tempted into binding ephemerals with living vessels.”

“What would you desire in doing this?” Addae asked.

“There are certain things which are achieved only in this way. There are ailments which such a binding alone can relieve — a fever of the brain, or poisoning of the blood.”

“That's unfair,” Sash said. “What's wrong with trying to help people?”

Ben-gan gave a wry shrug “What some of us did was, I think, a violation of the law. A lesson for others who allow the obsessions of the heart to rule their heads.”

Somewhere inside, Ebryn imagined Fidela frowning at him, but his curiosity won out. “Why couldn't they exile you?”

“There are things Vergence needs only I can do,” Ben-gan said after a lengthy silence.

“Like what?” Sash asked.

“Provide an excellent library service to new students, I think … ah, this is the place,” Ben-gan said, stopping before a musty smelling alcove. “Let us see what we can discover.”

Ebryn scanned the titles on some of the books. Most were written in old Volanian, and nearly all the titles had something to do with ephemerals. “This is the section the other man told us to look in — the thin one.”

“Master Sevoi?”

“Yes, Master Sevoi. He seems to know a lot.”

Ben-gan nodded. “Master Sevoi is very knowledgeable, and has considerable skill.”

“What's he wearing the iron for then?” Sash asked.

Ben-gan turned his head to one side, reading the lettering on the book spines. “We are all here for the same reason. He was head of the Exemetuer order once, which is to say, summoners. Regrettably, the order was disbanded after our mistake.

“Let's see, I think what you need is in one of these. Unfortunately, I have not studied any of these in what seems like a lifetime, so I don't recall which specific volume you need. We can carry these back to the tables and go through them where the light is better. Do any of you read old Volanian?”

Ebryn nodded.

“Good. Here, take these. I think some have illustrations, so you two will be able to page through, even if you can't read the text.”

“Why would Senesellan creatures be in books about ephemerals?” Ebryn asked as Ben-gan piled each of them with an armful of heavy tomes.

“Good question. Do you know Senesella lies at the heart of the ephemeral planes? It is the only stable world in the ephemera I know of. One of those unique places which I think make life so interesting.”

“Is that why you visited?” Sash asked.

“Yes, your home has much to teach the inquiring mind, and I was very inquisitive when I was younger. Fortunate for you, I think, by some odd chance of fate,” Ben-gan said, looking at Leth.

Back at the inner library entrance they found Hoi by himself, carefully collecting up the playing pieces, and returning them to the board on the table.

Ben-gan placed the books he'd carried on an adjacent table. “I think you'll find something in one of these to keep our small friend well enough fed. Now, would you like to see something interesting, something unique to Vergence? Hoi can mind these until you return.”

The Weatherstone

B
EN-GAN LED THEM TO
a small door in an alcove concealed behind a bookshelf, up a narrow spiral staircase and into a large semi-circular half chamber, opening out onto a broad open air walkway. Three large cheg warriors stood facing them, and as Ben-gan appeared they reared up on hind-legs and spread their upper four limbs wide with palms held outwards.

“I would do as I do,” Ben-gan said, spreading his arms wide. “The one in the middle is second ranked amongst the Volanian guard in Vergence. The other two will expect you to show him respect.”

“What is this Volanian guard of which you speak?” Addae asked, spreading his arms to imitate Ben-gan.