Prince of Storms by Kay Kenyon

Author:Kay Kenyon [Kenyon, Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction And Fantasy, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Space Opera
ISBN: 1616142057
Amazon: B00CCONW8O
Publisher: Pyr
Published: 2010-09-09T00:00:00+00:00

“A fine place for an ambush,” Quinn muttered to Noheme.

They were deep in the undercity, in the Red Society Archive. Beginning in the Great Hall of Scrolls, the Red acolyte led them on through a warren of hallways lined with shelves and crammed with scrolls and manuscripts. Somewhere in this repository they would find Master Rekior, reputed to be in charge. Not a priest of the Red Throne, but the Archivist.

The acolyte led them on into the—but for them—deserted repository.

“We wouldn’t be here,” Noheme said, “if I hadn’t given your name. The Archivist sees no one.” Noheme kept a sharp watch at every juncture where the hall bisected another corridor. Down each new corridor, more stacks, all empty of visitors, readers, worshippers.

“What are these books?” Quinn asked their guide.

The acolyte murmured, “Here, the Sixth Form records. Genealogies of the navitars from the first archon of the Age of Radiance.”

Quinn thought no one had asked to look at these manuscripts for a thousand years. “One doesn’t think of the navitars as having families.”

“You might not. We do.” The Chalin youth was proud of his faith, and in the way of minority religions, managed to find it superior to all others.

The young man stopped at a modest door. “The Archivist will greet you in the reception room.”

As they entered, they found a spacious but shabby room. On the far wall, a begrimed window showed onto the Nigh’s underbelly. A toxic green light spilled onto a table covered in scrolls.

It took a moment before Quinn made out the Archivist seated at the table’s far end. By his stooped shoulders, he was very old. A Jout, as so many of the Red Society adherents were.

“Titus Quill?” came the high-pitched voice.

“Titus Quinn, Excellency.”

“A good name for a scholar, Quill,” the Archivist squeaked. “I like it. It’s the reason I agreed to see you, although they say you’re important”—he pointed—“up there. We pay little attention to up there.”

Quinn wondered how far removed Rekior might be from the events above; did he even know whom he had agreed to see? If not, it was uncertain whether the Archivist would be happy to find out.

“This is my associate, Noheme.”

“Of the Society?” Rekior asked.

“I keep my own society,” Noheme answered, stationing herself at the door.

“Alas. We grow small and smaller....” Rekior looked around the reception room as though hoping to find at least one more adherent. “Well then, your business. You’ve wasted half your allotted time already.”

“Master Rekior, I hope I have more time than that.”

“When you’re older you’ll learn the value of time. I have read just eleven thousand scrolls, Quill; against the hundred thousand tomes I have yet to read, does it not suggest the need for haste?”

Quinn needed this Archivist’s cooperation if he was to follow the clues Nimday had given him. The ship keeper’s story of serving Geng De was important in some way. But which piece of it? Geng De reading an arcane book? Bringing children onto his ship? Or had Nimday left out even more important information?

“I’ve come with a question about a book.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.