"Wake up."
Magister Saagar sat up with a start, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the gloom of his chambers. A shadowed figure stood at the end of his bed, a black silhouette against the window, beyond which the first glimmers of dawn were just beginning to snuff out the stars.
"Who's-"
"Get dressed, Saagar," said the intruder. His voice gruff, harried. "And be quick."
"M-my lord Gavos?" said the magister, wiping sleep from his eyes and pulling himself from his bed.
The magister struck a match and lit a gas lamp on his bed table. He was scowling, annoyance overcoming tiredness and shock alike. You could always count on the Synod for these sorts of unpleasant surprises. Likely Gavos- thinking nothing of disrupting another's sleep since he needed none- was here for some esoteric text from the Scholam Library, probably to settle some
wizard's dispute that- in Gavos' magic-addled mind at least- could not wait. Whether aether could be said- univocally or analogously- to have weight, or whether the life-force of beasts was intermediate between the human and vegetative or merely an advanced form of the vegetative, humankind's
anima being different in kind from beasts, or whether, should secondary worlds exist, they could...
The intruder stepped into the yellow circle of light. Gavos' weathered face was pale, strained, his eyes- usually bright and sly- were haggard and watchful. He pulled absently at his grey-black beard with one gnarled hand. The other was wrapped tight around the black metal of his staff.
"Hurry and get dressed," said the wizard, "they are coming. We must go."
"Who's coming?" asked Saagar, alarmed.
"The Darkwatch," said Gavos, "We need to get out of here, but first we must to the Library."
"Darkwatch...but why?"
"No time," said the wizard, "We're going to the Library. I need you to find me something, several somethings. Then we're getting out of here. Let's go, put on pants, man!"
Saagar dressed hurriedly while the wizard paced between the window, with its view of the Scholam's courtyard below, and the bedroom door, to peer down the empty hall. He was clutching his staff with both hands. He looked genuinely afraid.
"What have you done, my lord?" asked Saagar, "Why is the Dark-"
"What have
I done?" snorted the wizard with a humorless laugh, "I've done nothing. I've spent too long doing nothing, not seeing what was under my nose. The question is what have
they've done. You're dressed, grab anything you'll need to bring with you, we're not coming back here."
"Not coming back? I must pro-"
Gavos muttered something. It was guttural and deep and in some subtle way
different than the normal tongues of men.
The magister twitched, shuddered, and then went silently to his armoire. He pulled out a satchel and quickly packed a few extra clothes and small personal oddments.
He came back to Gavos, who was waiting by the door.
"Now to the library," said the wizard.
"I'll go, I'll go," said the magister, pale and sweating, "just please, don't do that again."
"I won't," said Gavos, not unkindly, "You'll understand soon, but we must hurry now."
***
They met no one on the way to the Library, the shadowed halls of the Scholam silent as the grave in the cold hours just before dawn.
The Library itself was quite grand, even in the shadows. A high hall of white marble rising to a silvered dome. Crowded shelves covered the walls in every direction.
Gavos handed the magister a small piece of paper. "Find these, quickly, meet me back here."
Saagar nodded. He was afraid now, mostly of the wizard, with whom he had been friendly-if not exactly friends- for many years. But now he realized how little he knew the man. Why was the Darkwatch coming for him? The thought of the Watch sent a new chill down Saagar's spine. It was unlikely the Invigilators would spare the magister despite his innocence, they were not known for clemency. He was, willing or not, an associate of their main quarry, and would be treated like an accomplice.
Saagar glanced down at the scrap of paper. Five titles were scrawled there in the wizard's spidery hand.
Atlas of Nagath and the Dark LandsSalazar's Elements of RuleThe Serpens CycleVerses of the PrinceThe Last Months of the Nagathi WarThe last two in particular caught his eye. They were in the restricted section of the library, behind lock and-
Gavos gave the magister a small, silver key.
"Get moving," he growled.
The wizard lingered at the library entrance while Saagar plunged into the gloom of the stacks, holding his oil lamp close as he scanned the spines of books.
He found the first three titles easily, slipping them into his satchel, and was headed for the iron grating at the back of the library that sealed off the restricted section when he heard a loud bang and muffled voices coming from the library entrance.
"IN THE NAME OF THE DARKWATCH, IN THE NAME OF THE SYNOD..."
Saagar cursed, freezing in place where he stood, hidden deep in among the shelves.
"I am Gavos, fourth of the Synod," the wizard's firm reply echoed throughout the library.
In his ear, Saagar heard the wizard's urgent whisper:
keep moving, fool!The magister spun around, confused, but Gavos was nowhere to be seen. Indeed, Saagar could still hear his voice booming from the front of the library: "By what authority do you invade the sanctity of the Scholam?"
Saagar hurried to the restricted section, unlocking heavy iron grating and slipping behind it. He wondered, once he found the books he needed, what he would do.
There was a loud crack at the front of the library, and a voice that certainly wasn't the wizard's shrieked in pain. Sounds of a fight followed, with bellowed yells and the ringing of drawn swords.
Saagar hustled into the darkness of the restricted section. He found the
Verses of the Prince easily enough. Though censored the book was not particularly rare and the library had a number of versions. The
Last Months of the Nagathi War was a different matter. He thought he remembered seeing it once at the back...
He turned a corner around a cobwebbed shelf and let out a cry of surprise, dropping his satchel of books. A man was standing in front of him, leafing casually through a thick tome. He was tall, handsome, of indeterminate age, with steel colored hair and a trim beard. His robes were white, fringed with gold.
He smiled at Saagar.
"Looking for this, Magister?" he asked.
It took Saagar a moment to recognize the figure in the gloom. Another wizard. Qux. Head of the Darkwatch. Saagar had met him once or twice at various Scholam functions.
"My lord I..."
"Not to worry, not to worry," said Qux, "I know you had no part in Gavos' little scheme. You hardly know what you're up to, I'm sure."
He sighed, and placed the book back on the shelf.
"Still," he said, almost sadly, and took a step closer to Saagar, "still we'll need to-"
There was a flash of light and a splintering
crack. Qux was sent sailing backwards.
Saagar turned to find Gavos behind him, drenched in blood that did not look to be his own.
"Grab the book, let's go," said the wizard, who was advancing on his prostrate colleague, his staff lowered.
Saagar plucked the
Nagathi War from the shelf and dropped it in his satchel.
Qux sat up, nose bloody, snarling.
"You're either blind or complicit, brother," said Gavos. Qux began to speak but Gavos hit him crosswise with his staff and sent him sprawling, "My guess is complicit. I'd kill you but I haven't the time."
Gavos grabbed Saagar's arm with one gnarled hand and slammed his staff onto the white marble of the floor with the other.
There was a roar of wind; the magister's vision failed and he felt himself falling.
When his sight returned and he could feel once more the ground under him, he wasn't in the Library any more.
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