1Where we last left our Librarian…
After I invoked the Great Pact to return the Sword of the Warrior to its rightful owner, Tarran "The Bold", Sinnifer drug me out onto the Ways and abandoned me in the South. I was found by the Golden Sands Company, led by the mysterious Master Beetle. A surprise attack separated me from my new companions. Inside the Watchtower of the South, I accidentally freed my half-brother, Prince James.
After narrowly escaping from the Guardian's Servant, Malcit. I was forced to work for the villainous "Hippo the Butcher" in order to survive the desert. In Hippo's prison I found my mother. She revealed that the Old King was my father and that she was a Tessar spy. Together we escaped Hippo. One of his subordinates, Dak, joined us. We also stole something that turned out to be the egg of a water xiaoshin.
Reuniting with the Golden Sands Company, I learned that Master Beetle was Captain Tarran, the greatest Tessar of them all. He charged me with proving that the House of Wells should rise again. James joined us with the egg of a fire xiaoshin. By "Signing" the Great Pact, I had unknowningly accepted a mission to deliver four xiaoshin eggs to each of the Watchtowers. When I nearly died giving Malcit his egg, Master Beetle finally picked up the Sword.
Soon after we arrived in Dun Ibak, an army of bandits came to the city, demanding the water egg. Their leader was Queen Miranda, my half-sister, and now a Necromancer. Defeating Miranda cost Master Beetle his life. We obtained the wind egg, and she left me with an unsettling warning about Leviathan. Ma (carrying the Sword), James, Dak, and myself boarded a ship headed East.
PROLOGUE
Twelve Years Ago
The old wizard set a fancy piece of paper on the desk in front of him. I knew he wanted me to pay attention to whatever he was saying, but it was snowing and I couldn't look nowhere else but out the window. The view from his tower really was somethin'. I could see all the way to the last town, Halefed Down-the-Mountain, and if I squinted real hard, I felt like I could see East to the sea.
The snow, however, was awfully distracting. Now, I'd seen snow before, but never snow like that, whirlin' in all directions and painting the sky white. It made me remember that I was on the very edge of the North, and that I'd gotten real lucky, convincing the Masters of Seven Stars to take me in before I froze to death. I didn't know what use I'd be to them, working in their great big library when I barely knew my letters, but they'd already told me they didn't need a farmgirl to mind animals, clean, or cook.
Saying I could cook well, now that'd been a dangerous fish story, and I was glad I didn't have to prove it. I didn't know how to make nothin' but porridge and pie, and half the time I burned whatever I was supposed to be mindin'. A kitchen was no place for me. Back home on the farm, Ma would rather have any of my brothers helping her, and me outside chopping wood.
"Hazel," Master Narien said, reminding me where I was. "Are you listening?"
"Sorry, sir," I said, "Could you start again?"
He gave me a look, like he thought I was some sort of dunderhead. He wasn't wrong about that. While I wasn't as stupid as folks often thought I was, I did have a hard time remembering what I was supposed to be doin'. Particularly, if what I was supposed to be doin' was sittin' still and listening.
"Read the contract," he told me. "Out loud. So that I know you know what you're signing."
I got the feeling that there was some other reason. Why did he care if I got the raw end of a deal? The wizard fiddled with his hands, real subtle. Probably, nobody would notice, except if they, like me, were used to bein' scolded for fiddling. Was he just fiddling? Or was he casting a spell?
There was a little light around him. It seemed like magic to me, but how would I know if it was? The only experience I had with wizards in my whole life had been the last four hours, and all I knew about magic so far was that it was hard to look at, and it made my nose itch.
I took a deep breath and stared at the paper in front of me. There were a lot of big words I didn't know, and I was gonna have to mumble through those.
But I did get the gist of what it said. "Uh, first rule. I'm not allowed to lie to no Masters, and I gotta do whatever they say, except if they ask me to break another rule."
Master Narien nodded.
"Second rule. I'm not allowed to leave the school without askin' first," I said.
"Without permission," Master Narien corrected. "Repeat that."
He was fiddlin' again. When I squinted hard, I saw a little blue light, just under his fingertips, bleeding onto the paper. Was he making the contract magic? Seemed that was what he was doing. What I couldn't figure was why he thought that was necessary. If I wasn't good as my word, he could just throw me out, and winter and wolves would be the death of me.
"I'm not allowed to leave the school without… per-mish-in." The word stuck funny in my throat. I wrinkled my nose. "Third, I'm not allowed to… does this mean what I think it does?"
I must've gone absolutely scarlet, because Master Narien laughed at me.
"Shoot, I got three brothers. I know where they've been. I ain't kissin' no boys. Not now, not never," I vowed.
He didn't make me try to pronounce the words that were actually written. I guess he figured what I'd said was good enough.
"Rule four," I paused.
No lying? That seemed impossible. Fish stories were half my life. "But… what if some lady ask me if she looks pretty, but she looks like an old cheese, or a pig with a kerchief on? Everybody's gotta lie sometimes."
Master Narien sighed. I was annoying him, and that wasn't something I'd meant to do.
"Okay. Rule four. It says I'm not allowed to lie to Masters. But… hunh?" I paused. "But I can lie to boys about stuff they're not supposed to know. Right, what about ladies?"
"You're not likely to meet any ladies here," Master Narien said. "But if you do happen to meet one, please do not tell her she looks like a pig in a kerchief. Or an old cheese."
"So can I lie to keep people from gettin' upset?" I pressed.
"No," Master Narien replied. "You may only lie if the truth is dangerous."
"Mm," I nodded. I wasn't sure what sort of line he was trying to draw for me. Dangerous to who? The person who wanted the truth, or to me myself? It seemed in the latter sense that I could lie to keep people from gettin' upset, if the truth were dangerous to me. I decided not to ask about that. It seemed like the sort of loophole I might need later.
"All right, rule five. I'm not allowed to use magic?" I laughed out loud. That was the silliest rule I could've imagined. Sure, Seven Stars was a wizard's school. "I ain't no wizard!"
Master Narien's eyes widened, like my awful donkey laugh was the worst thing he ever heard in his life. He dug his fingers into the arms of his chair, and I thought for a minute his heart had stopped, and he was about to be stone dead.
That made me quiet. "Stars," I said. "You all right?"
"Please," he repeated. "Read it as written."
"Rule five. I am not allowed to try an' cast spells. An' I'm not allowed to read nothin' except what's… ness-nesser-sary for me to do my job. You don't got to worry about that neither. I don't much like readin'," I reminded him.
Master Narien passed me a pen, and I wrote my name. The letters flared like I was lookin' into the sun, and I closed my eyes and said a couple unkind words. Then, the room was as it was. Somehow, it felt a little smaller.
A knock came at the door, soon as we were finished. It was another wizard. Course, there was hardly anyone but wizards at Seven Stars. I hadn't learned how to tell them apart, but the real young ones had plain black robes, the middling-age ones had a little gold on their collars, and the masters had a colored sash that made them look extra fancy. All of em' wore silly, pointy hats. The one that had come, he was maybe twenty or so, and had gold on his collar. Journeyman, that was what they were called.
"Master Narien," the wizards said "Sorry to interrupt, but…"
He whispered somethin'. Master Narien grimaced.
"Stay here," he ordered me. They both walked out in the hall, and Master Narien shut the door between us.
I considered. Master Narien had said "stay here," but so long as I stayed in his tower, that was still "here", wasn't it? I tiptoed over to the door and put my ear against it to listen.
"When did he leave?" Master Narien asked.
"He gave me essays to read four hours ago," the Journeyman said. "It could've been any time between then and now."
"Shit," Master Narien cursed. "Get Rale. Have him whip up a tracking spell."
"Yes, Master," the Journeyman nodded.
I heard scratching very close to me, a sound that made me think of a rat. Something pink and very fast darted across the room, pushed the window open a crack, and disappeared out into the snow. I ran over to the window, trying to get a better look at whatever it was, but I saw nothing. I did, however, hear a voice above me.
"Well?" The voice asked. It was a man.
"Stupid wretch signed it," a second voice replied. "But… "
"But?" The first prompted.
"With loopholes," the second cackled. It was a very strange voice, smallish and high pitched. It didn't sound like a man or a woman. Maybe a little child? "Oh, eat shit, Leoval!"
That did not sound like a child.
The man sighed. "I assume Atticus is already tracking me, or will be shortly? There'll be no getting into the library now. We'll have to come back."
"Master," the little voice interrupted. "What if the girl finds it for us?"
"Didn't she swear not to read any books?" The man, the Master, asked.
"Unless absolutely necessary," the little voice corrected. There was a crackling sound. "And you know what that is, don't you? The mother of all loopholes!"
Through the blowing snow, I thought I saw a barefoot man in a blue robe and huge yellow hat leap off the roof of Master Narien's tower and bound away across the sky, using clouds like stepping stones. Something pink, and smaller than a cat bounded after him, giggling, lightning sparking with each of its hops.
Master Narien returned.
"What are you looking at?" He asked, obviously suspicious of me, hanging halfway out his window.
"I dunno," I admitted. So far as I could tell, I'd just seen a Tessar wizard from one of Ma's stories. Ma's wizards were different from the ones I'd met at Seven Stars so far. They were clever and wild, always getting into mischief with fairies and dragons. Trying to stick a wizard like that in a musty tower like Master Narien's was like tryin' to put a whole ship in a bottle. It seemed impossible, but I guessed it got done somehow.
"Come with me," Master Narien ordered, I followed him obediently down the stairs, all the while wondering about the barefoot wizard I'd seen jumping off clouds and his talking pink rat. He'd said he had business in the library, and he planned to come back. I wondered if I'd meet him when he did.
Master Narien led me to the library, the place where I was going to work and live till I left Seven Stars, maybe in the spring when it was warm enough for me to make it the rest of the way to Corith where I hoped to find my family.
I'd never imagines such a place. There were books from floor to ceiling stretching as far as the eyes could see in all directions, countless up and down ladders, and narrow spiraling stairwells. Some books glittered and glowed. Others were chained to their shelves.
I'd never considered a library to be a place I'd want to spend my time… but I'd never imagined such a library. Under one of the largest sets of stairs was a space not much larger than a pantry. There was a bed and a small desk in it.
"This will be your room," Master Narien said. "Do keep it tidy."
"Course, sir," I said. He didn't need to know that I was the messiest girl ever born, even messier than some boys.
Without another word, he left. I flopped down on the bed. I hadn't slept in a bed in a sore long time, and it was a blessing, just feeling something so soft and warm. Except… I was getting poked in the ribs.
I pulled the blankets aside. There was a book in my bed, a funny-looking little thing with a blue cover and a fancy title inked in gold. Ganwid on the Ways (1).
I knew I wasn't supposed to read nothing I didn't have to, but that book was in my bed, and I didn't know where it belonged. I had to at least look at it a bit, or how would I put it away right? I opened to the first page, and saw a picture that made a lump rise in my throat. It was a barefoot old wizard in a bright Tessar blue robe and huge yellow hat, a pink rat on his shoulder, the very same wizard I'd just seen jumpin' off Master Narien's roof.
Obviously, I was gonna have to read that book.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Ganwid on the Ways: Popular story of a Journeyman wizard, beloved by children. I am convinced that this "fictional" account is actually a historical document of great value.