Chapter Twenty~two

Truth

Part One

~*~

 

 

The library was indeed massive, comprising three floors of the central tower. Entering the main lobby, Kazia marveled as she made her way slowly to the desk where the Librarian sat.

The ceilings were high and vaulted, with carvings in the stone of flowers and the faces of creatures. A broad staircase at the back of the room led up to the higher floors.

The shelves on the walls were at least four human heights tall, and there were staircases on tracks with wheels that could be moved along the wall to reach the higher books.

So many books there were, as well, and this was only the first floor of them.

"Good evening, Lady Devratha, welcome," said the Librarian as she approached his desk. "I am Mister Cardil, and it is a pleasure to finally meet you. Anything I can help you find?"

He was a bright-natured little man, of Derician descent perhaps, going by his pale skin and rosy cheeks, but he spoke with an unusual accent that Kazia couldn't place.

"I am very pleased to meet you as well, Mister Cardil," she answered. "Yes, thank you, I am looking for information on sound - on the traveling of sound to be exact."

"That will be on the second floor," he said. "Just this way, if you will follow me."

He led her up the staircase and to the far wall of the second floor.

"Just there," he indicated a high shelf as he pulled a staircase over. "Let me just check something though."

He locked the staircase into place, and climbed up.

"As I thought, there are several of the best ones out. I believe Lord Meratha has them."

"Not surprising," Kazia called up to him as he descended. "This is for an Artifact of his making after all. He probably took them out for his own initial research."

"Yes, I would think so," said Mister Cardil as he reached the floor again. "A curious subject, sound. Lord Meratha has invented a number of rather ingenious devices. I can't say he's the friendliest fellow, but I'm always wondering what he'll come up with next."

"Well we won't add this one to his number of ingenious devices," Kazia told him, "unless I can get it to work properly."

"Passed one on to you, has he? What sort of device could he not manage?"

"A very elaborate boat anchor, if you ask me."

"He did seem to have moved off this subject. I think he must be working on something very interesting now, judging from the sort of books he's been taking out."

"What sorts of things?" Kazia asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Oh, a lot of deep science. Electricity, astronomy... he's clever enough that if he's looking to the stars, perhaps a trip to the moon is in his sights."

"Oh, I don't think that's quite feasible," Kazia laughed.

The man's cheerfulness was infectious.

"Well, you are welcome to those books that are there. And Lord Meratha is in here almost daily. Would you like me to ask after the others when I see him?"

"No, thank you, that won't be necessary," she answered. "I'll just see what I can find in these."

"Very well," he said. "I'll take my leave and you feel free to peruse away."

The Librarian returned to his desk. Kazia tucked the hem of her skirt into her belt, and then carefully climbed the staircase.

~~~*~~~

Mister Cardil had resumed his task of sorting books to be re-shelved when Kelvaran strode into the library and deposited a stack of books on his desk.

"Ah! Speak of a devil," the Librarian said, "Lord Meratha, welcome. Let's see what you're returning. Oh, good! Lady Devratha will want that one."

"Lady Devratha?"

"Oh, yes. She was asking after some of the books that you have out. I'm so glad I can give her this one before she leaves."

"She is here?" Kelvaran asked.

"Just upstairs on the second floor. What a delight. We were just speculating on what clever Artifacts you may produce next."

"Is that so?" Kelvaran asked grimly.

"Oh, I can't wait to tell her this one has returned. Will you wait here for just a few moments?"

"You needn't bother yourself," Kelvaran said as he headed toward the stairway. "I'll tell her."

~~~*~~~

Kazia was reaching high to replace a book when the staircase began to shake with the footsteps thundering upward.

She turned around carefully to see Kelvaran steaming up the stairs toward her, his face cold and menacing. He stopped at the step below the one she stood upon and leaned close over her.

"Why are you so interested in my activities?" he demanded.

"I don't understand," Kazia answered, at something of a loss. "I am not, particularly."

"Enough of the innocent act," he said. "Since you've been here you have turned up in all of my business. My Artifacts, my lecture, my colleagues, you're prying information from Amelys, and now prying information from the Librarian."

"I am doing no such thing," Kazia said emphatically.

"Tell me what you're reporting. Does Valesk want to know about my work, is that it? You're telling them what I'm inventing here?"

"Now, wait," Kazia protested. "I am not reporting to Valesk. What do you think-"

Kelvaran tapped her forehead with one fingertip.

"Truth," he said.

"No, Kelvaran!" Kazia cried out. "This is forbidden!"

"And now you think you can be familiar with me?"

"You're using magic on fellow Alchemists?" she said incredulously.

Kazia could feel the truth spell settling like a cloud around her mind, but Kelvaran wasn't yet asking her anything she wouldn't answer willingly, so it just hovered, a haze on her perception, nothing more.

"Tell Amelys," he suggested. "Maybe she'll ship me back to Valesk. You can turn me over to your father and return home a hero."

"That is the furthest thing from what I want," she said.

"That is the whole point of this exercise," Kelvaran replied, his voice low and ominous. "To find out what you want."

At a young age, Kazia had been trained to withstand truth spells, and perhaps because of her unique constitution, they didn't seem to work on her the same way they did others, but she could soon tell that Kelvaran was very, very good at this spell.

The moment he spoke this last sentence, Kazia began to feel a sense of something in the back of her mind, some truth that she didn't want to face, struggling to surface from darkness into the light.

She had no idea what would come out of her mouth if she spoke again, so she bit down hard on her tongue, so that tears pricked her eyes at the pain.

It wasn't going to be enough.

When Kelvaran spoke again, he did so with a forcefully clear and clipped enunciation, each word traveling on a stream of ethereal energy connected to the drop he'd just forced into her head.

"What," he said, "do you want from me?"

His face was close enough to hers that his breath brushed warmly across her cheek.

Without any thought, without much awareness at all of her own action, Kazia set one palm against Kelvaran's face, and pressed her lips to his.

It was barely more than a passing brush - brief, soft, warm, and utterly bewildering.

What... am I doing?

For all of two seconds, that lightning bolt she had felt from Kelvaran earlier in the day came roaring back with blinding fury, but then he shoved away from her, revulsion and rage arising in him.

"Is this how Gorvan Devratha trains his daughter?" he sneered. "Do you really think that such low tactics would work on me?"

For a long moment, Kazia was too confused to speak.

"No," she said quietly, but it was all she could manage.

Kelvaran had turned and was now descending the stairs, his feet barely touching them, he went so fast.

"No, wait!" she called after him. "Kelvaran, that's not-"

But he was gone.

Kazia sat down on the stairs, trying to make sense of what had just happened. There didn't seem to be any sense to be made. Her head was swimming in the fog of the truth spell and try as she might she couldn't shake it off.

She brushed her fingertips across her lips.

She remembered kissing him, but couldn't remember how that had happened. Her heart took a strange turn, thinking of him.

"Don't be a fool, Kazia," she said to herself. "This sort of idyll is not for you. And even if it were, why should it be him? It shouldn't... that's why... it shouldn't."

She descended the stairs, unhitching her skirt and giving herself a brush down when she'd reached the floor again.

A steely sense of resolve settled over her and she squared her shoulders and raised her chin defiantly.

She had a meeting to get to, and the Queen would be there.

Mustn't be late.

She strode down to the first floor of the library and past the Librarian's desk.

"Oh, Lady Devratha!" Mr. Cardil called to her. "Lord Meratha has returned one of the books you-"

"I don't want it!" she called back over her shoulder, leaving the poor man alone and bemused.

 

~~~*~~~