Apex Magazine Issue 46 by Lynne M. Thomas

Author:Lynne M. Thomas
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Apex Publications
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Artwork credit: Kat Beyer

“Because,” Faylinn said patiently, “it has never been translated into that language before.”

“How many languages do you know?”

“All of them.” Faylinn winced and shook her head. “No, I apologize, that was imprecise. All languages that have a written form, I mean.”

“That’s… impressive.”

Faylinn shrugged, almost imperceptibly. “I am a librarian.”

That put me in my place. Emily walked around the counter toward the tapestry, remembering what Mellifera had said. She reached out for a corner of the cloth —

And Faylinn was there, her hand gripping Emily’s as tightly as a raptor’s talon around a mouse. “That tapestry is very delicate.”

Emily looked at her inhuman eyes, forcing herself not to flinch. “Then perhaps you’d like to move it aside yourself? I’m interested in seeing what’s behind it.”

Faylinn pursed her lips, then let go of Emily’s arm. She took one corner of the tapestry and, with infinite slowness and bad grace, lifted it up from the floor.

Emily gasped. The wall behind the tapestry wasn’t a wall at all. It was a gate of black metal, the bars wound tightly with vines that appeared to grow up straight from the stone floor.

Visible behind the gate there were shelves. Scores of shelves, rows of them extending into the distance as far as she could see, all stretching up to a distant ceiling, sixteen or eighteen feet high, absolutely crammed with volumes. “What are all those books?”

Faylinn let the tapestry drop. “The very rare volumes.”

“How many are there? Thousands?”

A shrug. “They have not been catalogued fully, to my knowledge.”

Emily grinned. “Well, then. Now I know how I’m going to fill my days.”

“What? You don’t propose to… to disturb them?”

Emily frowned. “Disturb? I wouldn’t put it that way. But a resource like this, not even catalogued? What a project!”

“But… they’re rare,” Faylinn said. “Many are one–of–a–kind! Precious and irreplaceable and —”

Emily’s grin returned, even wider. “Remarkable. Even more reason. I can’t wait to get started.”

“Those books need to be protected,” Faylinn said. “Not… mucked about with.” She sniffed. “Not that it matters. The gate is locked, and the key has been lost for ages. There’s no way in.”

“What do you mean?” Emily lifted up the tapestry again, ignoring Faylinn’s squawk, and discovered a plate with a keyhole, like you’d see on an old prison door. She tried to rattle the gate, and it didn’t so much as shiver. She might as well have rattled a marble column. “Your people can make it so I can get from Berkeley to Treasure Island in just a few steps. You mean you can’t get past a gate?”

“It’s an iron gate.” Faylinn’s voice dripped contemptuous patience. “Our magics don’t work on iron. It’s supposed to be impregnable — that’s the whole point. Those volumes are valuable. We can’t have anyone looking at them. I’ve never even touched them. The gate has been locked since my predecessor’s time.”

“What’s the point of having a library where no one’s allowed to look at the books?” Emily tugged on the gate again in frustration, but it was so solid it didn’t even rattle.

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