The Amber Menhir by Jonathan N Pruitt

Author:Jonathan N Pruitt [Pruitt, Jonathan N]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-24T16:19:54+00:00

That afternoon, Roland and Tara were both hunched over the Weaver

section of the Central Archive, looking for thought paddocks on beached carcasses.

“Scrivener says a group of scholars from the Pearl Menhir came here last year to look at one of these, but found the record missing,” said Tara. She lifted a thought paddock from her tray and set it into its allocated groove. A pale blue light hummed to life as it fussed into its place among its brethren.

“M-maybe there is no such thing as useless thaumaturgical knowledge,” said Roland. He still vacillated on whether he deemed that true. He surveyed his ledger and sighed with satisfaction. “Seems we found all the missing ones here. Maybe that’s a good sign?”

“What do you mean?” shouted Scrivener in a fluster. She was nearby. “This? This is Primara Nash’s response?!”

A muffled, quieter voice mumbled something in answer.

Tara touched a finger to Roland’s lips and gestured for him to follow. The pair tiptoed to the end of their aisle and navigated toward the exchange.

“Nash expects us to believe this?” huffed Scrivener. “None of the latter works of Panirovo nor any of the works of Delvers Otvlech or LaTorre are among the Delvers? What, does he think they all just vanished? Ha! As sure as he’s a Delver, he lies!”

A small voice mumbled in reply, “He proposes that the thought paddocks might have been misplaced . . . by the archivists.”

“Misplaced?” Scrivener scoffed. “You can assure Nash that there have been no misplacements. The very idea that the works of all three would be misplaced in unison is impossible.”

“I tried to tell him—” the quieter voice began.

Scrivener cut her off. “Three generations of scholars, mentor to protégé? No, this is deliberate manipulation by one of his Delvers!”

“Might LaTorre have misplaced the thought paddocks?” inquired the smaller voice.

“Impossible!” announced Scrivener. “LaTorre’s room was searched following the incident. No thought paddocks were recovered.”

“Ah,” replied the other. “Can we determine when the thought paddocks were removed? Was it one at a time, or all together?”

Sounder Scrivener’s voice was low. “LaTorre’s paddocks were removed after her accident. I already checked. Few Delvers visited while the menhir investigated her death. I might have seen two of those greasy eels in as many months. Nadmenny started whining about missing Delver paddocks soon after.”

“Perhaps there’s something wrong with our security system,” suggested the second voice. “Perhaps it’s been tampered with?”

“Impossible!” Scrivener insisted. “It required a Delver to take those thought paddocks out of here. We’ll remind Nash of that! Come!”

Footsteps crescendoed in their direction.

“Let’s go!” whispered Roland.

Tara nodded, and they made their escape without even agitating one of the archive’s guardian mau. They were back within the ascendants’ quarters before either of them spoke.

“Either Nash is lying, or the archive’s system is compromised,” breathed Tara. “Either way, we need to help the archivists find out what happened. The menhir needs for the Central Archive to be functional and whole.”

“I think this is another c-conflict we should stay away from,” countered Roland. “Like the mau attack.

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