Читать книгу At the Gates of Darkness - Raymond E. Feist - Страница 10

AMIRANTHA GAWKED AT THEIR SURROUNDINGS.

Jim also was astonished by the room but managed to retain a shred of decorum. Pug motioned for them to follow and led them deep into the vault.

‘Vault’ was the only word Jim could think of to describe the room in which they stood, for the ceiling receded into a gloom that prevented the naked eye from perceiving its exact height. Around them, massive columns rose to support the invisible ceiling, and row upon row of shelves joined them in an orderly fashion. The aisles they formed, and the intersecting rows between them, produced a layout like a chess board. At each junction a slender stand had been erected, graceful ironwork that bent, swan-necked, and ended in a hook from which a small crystal hung from a metal chain. The crystal provided just enough illumination to allow those in the room to see to the next lamp.

‘Amazing,’ said Amirantha, as he regarded the row upon row of books.

Jim echoed his tone when he said, ‘I’ve been to the Royal Archives in Rillanon, but this library dwarfs them in scope. How many volumes are here, Pug?’

‘I’m sure I have no idea,’ said the magician as they moved between the shelves; some vanished into the gloom above, and most held ladders set on rails along the wall. ‘Perhaps the librarian can tell you.’

‘This is Sarth?’ asked Amirantha.

‘That Which Was Sarth,’ corrected Pug.

‘I don’t follow,’ said the Warlock.

Turning with a wry smile, Pug said, ‘Before the invasion of the Emerald Queen’s army, the Ishapians abandoned their abbey near the town of Sarth.’

‘I still am not clear,’ said Amirantha following Pug down a long narrow passage between vaults.

Pug stopped and said, ‘The Ishapians have a prophecy, or perhaps had is a better choice of words. It said that a great upheaval would come upon the land, and after the destruction of the west, only That Which Was Sarth would remain.’

Amirantha looked at Jim, then Pug, and said, ‘Was Sarth destroyed during the Emerald Queen’s invasion?’

‘Essentially,’ said Pug, ‘though the old abbey itself survived relatively intact; how it would have fared had the brothers still occupied it…?’ He shrugged.

‘So, they made the prophecy come true,’ said Amirantha, as Pug resumed walking.

As the Warlock and Jim caught up, Pug said, ‘Perhaps. Or perhaps there is more destruction headed our way, and only this place, That Which Was Sarth, is destined to survive it.’

‘Exactly where are we?’ asked Amirantha. ‘I assume somewhere underground, as I did not notice anything resembling a window in the last two vaults we passed through.’

‘We are very deep underground,’ said Pug. ‘As to where, I promised the monks I would never reveal their location unless I have their leave. You were transported here by magic outside your understanding, so I can safely assume that you have no way of returning here after our visit.’

Amirantha chuckled. ‘Indeed.’

They reached a large door and Pug pulled it open. The room behind it was small, a table occupied half its area, over which stood a white-haired magician in black robes. ‘Father,’ said Magnus to Pug as they entered. Then he greeted Amirantha and Jim.

Next to Magnus stood a monk dressed in the simple light brown robes of the Ishapians. He was a nondescript man of middle years, with a round head topped with a thatch of brown hair cut in a tonsure. He inclined his head in greeting and said, ‘Pug. You bring us guests?’

‘Brother Victor, these are our friends; may I introduce James, Baron of the King’s Court in Rillanon, and great grandson of Lord James of Krondor, also known as “Jimmy the Hand”.’

The monk smiled. ‘We possess a wonderful story about your ancestor that you may not have heard before,’ said the monk.

‘And this is Amirantha, Warlock of the Satumbria, a people from across the great ocean. He is something of an expert on demons and I have need of his wisdom.’

‘Your vouching for them grants an indulgence,’ said the monk. ‘But the Father Superior may not be so kindly disposed.’

‘Which is why I came straight here,’ said Pug with a nod.

The monk smiled. ‘So I should mention your visit when? An hour or so after you depart?’

‘That should be ample time,’ said Pug. ‘We don’t plan to stay long, unless the need arises.’

‘Well then,’ said the monk wearing a wry expression, ‘what do you seek this time?’

Magnus turned to Amirantha and Jim, ‘We’ve been testing Brother Victor’s vast knowledge on every subject imaginable.’

The monk held up his hands, palms outward, and said, ‘Hardly that.’

‘He is the living index of where everything in this vast library is to be found,’ said Pug.

Amirantha said, ‘Simply, prodigious; but don’t you keep some sort of written record here, too?’

‘Of course,’ said the monk, ‘and a dozen of our brothers labour ceaselessly to update our records as new material is gathered, but until they complete their task, we make do with cobbled together notes, and this.’ He tapped the side of his head with his forefinger.

‘What do you know of the Demon Brothers?’ asked Pug.

The monk’s expression stilled. After almost a minute, he closed his eyes. ‘I believe there has been mention of them…’ His eyes widened. ‘Wait! I’ll be right back.’ And Brother Victor hurried from the room.

The four remaining men exchanged curious glances, which became expressions of deeper puzzlement as they continued to wait. Half an hour passed before the monk finally returned, a dusty, old, leather-bound volume in his hand.

‘It should be in here,’ he said as if he had only just stepped out of the room then reappeared.

‘What is it?’ asked Pug as the monk laid the book down on the table and opened it gently.

‘It’s the chronicle of one Varis Logondis, a Quegan trader who lived about four hundred years ago. He was a compulsive journal keeper who believed every detail of his life deserved to be recorded.

‘In fact, most of his life was unremarkable, unless you happen to be an aficionado of travelogues, long discourse on mercantile trends, or the state of Varis’s digestive health on any given day during his life. But, he does remark in passing on many contemporaneous issues, which are useful in providing corroboration or refutation of other histories and accounts of the same period.

‘But one of his remarks has stuck with me over the years.’ He scanned the page. ‘Ah, there it is. Let me read it out loud, the dialect is somewhat antiquated and his spelling is atrocious. “In the evening, we came upon a village, by name, Hamtas on Jaguard, whereupon we were welcomed at an inn by name, The Restful Station. There did we encounter soldiers of the Empire, at their ease after a battle.

‘“I remark upon this for two counts,”—I am certain he means reasons here—‘“the first, that they were not of the militia, but were legionaries from Queg that had been haste posted to this region, and the last, that they had struggled mightily against the Demon Brothers and their living dead.”’

‘Four hundred years ago, most of the Bitter Sea was still under control of the Empire of Great Kesh,’ Pug remarked.

‘What is truly interesting about this passage, Pug, is that its timeline supports two other sources that we are aware of, one of which is in our possession.’ He looked at the magician and his two companions with a satisfied smile. ‘Varis wrote sixty five volumes over his lifetime, so I had to skim a couple before I could locate this passage.’ He pointed to the page and said, ‘The other source we possess on that struggle is a fairly standard tally of captured goods returned to Queg by the expedition Varis encountered. We know that he was surprised to find Imperial Legionaries in that town instead of local soldiers, and both accounts imply that something significant was being undertaken. Legionaries were only stationed in three garrisons around the Bitter Sea at that time: Durbin, Queg City, and Port Natal. They were not used elsewhere unless there was an uprising or some other menace of equal weight.

‘If we look at what that expedition brought back with them, we discover an unusual list: besides a remarkably short inventory of precious metals, livestock and slaves, we also see a very long list of idols, books, and scrolls.’

Pug looked interested, but unsure of what Brother Victor was implying. ‘It sounds as if they raided a library.’

The monk smiled. ‘There were no libraries nearby, neither imperial, nor any maintained by the religious orders known to us at that time; no libraries existed west of Malac’s Cross or north of Queg! Oh, there were perhaps some rooms full of books here and there, but nothing on a scale that would have required a detailed catalogue that the Empire was so famous for at that time.’ There was a merry glint in his eyes as Brother Victor’s smile broadened.

‘What is it?’ Pug said, unable to resist returning the man’s smile.

‘It’s your Demon Brothers!’

‘According to this inventory of booty, over a score of the volumes seized came from the “frateri demonicus”, which is a very bad Quegan spelling for Demon Brothers.’

‘The necromancers?’ asked Pug.

‘Not a common name by any measure,’ said Brother Victor. ‘And there’s more.’

‘More?’ asked Magnus a moment before Jim echoed him.

‘The title of one of the volumes…At that time, legionaries were not much better educated than the common Keshian Dog Soldiers of today. Their officers could read and were literate—a necessity for the giving and receiving of orders—but the common soldiers were not. This list must have been complied by a relatively uneducated officer, or possibly the task was given to a lower ranking soldier who was barely educated. In any event, the title they have recorded is Libri Demonicus Amplus Tantus and translated as “Really Big Demon Book.”’

Amirantha laughed. ‘I speak Quegan, and that’s not a phrase I recognize.’

‘It’s four-hundred years old. I originally assumed that the scribe didn’t understand that amplus and tantus have similar meanings—ample and large—but it now occurs to me that our less-than-scholarly-scribe was simply trying to describe two of the book’s aspects: that it’s a large volume, but also that it’s important. “Tantus” can mean “of such great size”, but “amplus” can be read as “of great importance”, as well as meaning “ample”. So, what you may wish to consult next is this very large, very important book concerning demons, which was written by a necromancer four-hundred years ago.’

‘I don’t suppose you have that volume here?’ asked Amirantha.

‘No,’ said Brother Victor with a regretful expression. ‘I wish we did. It sounds fascinating.’

‘But you know where we might find it?’ suggested Magnus.

The monk nodded. ‘Indeed, if it still exists.’

‘The Imperial library in Queg, perhaps?’ suggested Magnus.

Pug said, ‘If the book remained among the property seized by the legionaries, and if they didn’t loot the library when recalled to Kesh during the abandonment of the north…’ He tapped his chin in thought. ‘It’s possible. They might have taken the gold and other valuables south with them, but books and scrolls? Not as likely. It’s as Brother Victor said, ‘I must leave you now, as evening prayer is about to begin. I assume you do not need me to show you out?’ His merry expression revealed that he already knew the answer.

‘No,’ said Pug. ‘Thank you my old friend.’

‘No, thank you for all you have given us. Too few people realize how much they owe you, Pug.

‘Until we meet again,’ he finished, turned and left the four visitors alone in the library office.

Magnus said, ‘We have a new problem, Father.’

‘I know,’ said Pug. He turned to Jim and said, ‘Queg is the one court in which we have no friends.’

Jim sighed as he anticipated what was coming next. ‘I thought you had agents, or at least friends, everywhere?’

Pug gave him a tight smile. ‘Queg is strategically unimportant. We manipulated some information during the invasion of the Emerald Queen, so they believed they were attacking a foreign treasure fleet; instead they ran into her armada, half the Imperial Keshian Fleet, and the Kingdom Navy. Not wishing to attack nations they were at peace with, they did their best to loot a few ships which instead of treasure held angry soldiers. It made them distrustful of information that doesn’t come from reliable sources.

‘To the point, they resisted all attempts to infiltrate their intelligence.’

Jim smiled ruefully. ‘I know. I have had the same problem.’

‘What about Kesh?’ asked Magnus. ‘Have they placed anyone within the Quegan Court who might prove useful?’

Jim slowly shook his head. ‘No, they’re just as frustrated by their small neighbour as the Kingdom is. If Queg didn’t possess such a formidable navy, they’d have been reabsorbed by the Empire, or conquered by the Kingdom, a century ago. There aren’t many resources on the island worth seizing, but they are a serious annoyance; while they may not be strategically important to you, Pug, controlling Queg would prove a significant advantage to Kesh or the Kingdom.’

‘Which is why neither of them will let the other gain influence,’ finished Magnus.

Amirantha said, ‘Back to the point, if you don’t have anyone at court to help with the search, how do you propose we discover if this tome exists there?’ He smiled dryly. ‘Are you just going to appear one day and ask to browse the shelves?’

Pug’s expression became distant for a moment, and then he smiled slowly. ‘That may be just the thing.’

‘What?’ asked Jim. ‘I was certain that you were going to ask me to swim ashore, sneak into the library and steal the book.’

‘No,’ said Pug, looking amused at the suggestion. ‘You’re going to use your rank to get the Prince of Krondor to send you, with three advisors,’ he indicated the three of them, ‘on a scholarly delegation, with the intention of correcting distortions of the truth in Kingdom history—which will appeal to Quegan vanity when you explain that in the process their glorious past will be forever enshrined in our annals. You will then seek permission for your three scholars to spend a few leisurely days browsing the shelves of the Imperial Library.’

Jim’s face went through a spectrum of emotions, from surprise, to doubt, to agreement, then delight. ‘Play to their vanity!’

‘Yes,’ said Pug. ‘Then, if we find out that they have the book, you can sneak into the library and steal it.’

Jim rolled his eyes. ‘Can’t we just study it there for a while?’

‘No,’ said Amirantha. ‘We will need to examine it closely, and that could take weeks. If it’s written in some ancient variant of the Keshian language, we’ll need to find a scholar who can help us understand it.’

‘And the Quegans may become interested in why we are focusing on one ancient, obscure text about demons when we were supposed to be looking at their histories,’ finished Magnus.

Amirantha said, ‘It would be helpful if you could convince the Star Elves to let their Demon Master return once we hold the book.’ Shaking his head slightly as if he hated making the admission, he added, ‘He knows much that I don’t. I taught him a few tricks when he was on the island, but I think we’d work faster if Gulamendis was with us.’

Pug looked at Magnus. ‘Have we heard any more from the taredhel?’

Magnus shook his head in the negative. ‘Only through Tomas. He and his Queen are still in contact with the Regent Lord, but you know how elves are about taking their time.’

‘All too well,’ conceded Pug. ‘Let’s worry about getting the book first.’ He looked at Jim. ‘Can you do it?’

‘Of course I can. The Prince is an eastern caretaker who doesn’t have any sense of, or much care about politics. He’s content to hunt, drink, chase serving girls and allow me to reassure him that all is well. Then he reports the assurances back to the King, that all is well in the west.

‘I’ll have my personal scribe draw up the messages to the Emperor of Queg and…will sign them. If you think it would help, I can use the royal seal to suggest that the documents come from the King, himself.’

‘Forgery?’ said Pug with newfound respect. ‘Is there no end to your larcenous skills?’

‘I have a few limits,’ said Jim with no hint of modesty. ‘It will take a couple of weeks, and the sooner begun, the sooner done.’

Pug said, ‘Very well. Magnus get us to the island, please, and then take Jim to Krondor.’

As they assembled to transport to Sorcerer’s Isle, Amirantha said, ‘I wonder how that demon loving elf and his brother are doing.’