Paper and Fire (The Great Library #2)(57)
He stepped into the light. “Here, Glain.”
“Good.” She tried for a smile, but it didn’t look right. “You only half screamed. You’re getting better at this.”
“You, too,” he said. “Fast recovery.”
It wasn’t protocol, but no one else except the Medica was in the room, so when she held up her hand, he clapped it in salute. “Dario and Khalila,” he told her in a whisper. “Santi’s lieutenant told me they’re safe.”
“Safe how?”
He shrugged in answer. “Don’t know. But there’s more: Wolfe remembered. The secret prison is in Rome. Morgan confirmed that. We just don’t have final proof that Thomas is inside.”
Glain had a thousand questions, he could see it, but this wasn’t the time. They took up an at-ease position against the wall and waited for the rest to arrive.
Watching arrivals was almost as sickening as going through it himself. Jess stood stoically as one after another, the other members of their squad formed in swirls of blood and bone from the air, solidifying into themselves in the support of the stone chair. Most of the other soldiers made it without giving in to the nausea.
Santi’s lieutenant arrived and swung her legs off to push herself to her feet after just a bare few seconds, as if she’d only sat down for a rest. Santi came right behind her, and with even less time for adjustment. Neither of them seemed impaired in the least.
“Form up!” the lieutenant barked, as Santi walked on. She followed, and the rest of them fell in behind in perfect order.
Then they boarded carriers again. Jess remembered Santi’s observation that the Translation Chamber in Rome was at least a mile from the basilica, and he’d been right, but at least it was a short ride. Jess hardly had time to get uncomfortable before they were ordered out again, formed up, and walked down a long stone-and-column hallway to an arched entrance that glowed with the light of sunset. Beyond was a long, steep fall of worn stone steps; on the steps lounged an entire pride of Library lion automata. They sat still, like the statues they resembled, and they were different from the English versions. These had larger manes that stood out stiffly and curled down in ringlets on broader chests. Magnificent and huge. Beyond a doubt, deadly.
Santi opened his Codex and scrawled something in it, and Jess saw all ten of the lions turn their heads in a smooth, eerie motion to look back at them. Their eyes flickered from dark to red, and one by one, they rose to their feet and began to pace the perimeter. Five remained on the steps, while the others patrolled farther.
Beyond the steps stretched Rome, and though Jess had thought the wonders of Alexandria had numbed him to everything else, the sight of the city stopped him cold. The square—no, this corner of the Forum—was surprisingly small and crowded with marvels. Temples of white marble blushed now with pink and gold by the sunset, and giant golden statues of the Roman gods stood, with citizens passing beneath their feet without any thought for the splendor above. Pigeons lined the broad shoulders of Jupiter and the outstretched arm of Juno, both statues taller than any of the other monuments. The famous hills of the city rolled above, and the spreading palaces and homes of the rich beyond that, growing larger and more lavish the farther up they went.
It even smelled richer here than in Alexandria—fresh pines, lush soil, sweat, the sharp pickling vinegar of the fish being sold across the way in a food stall. That last made Jess’s stomach roil with hunger.
Everywhere he looked, there was the shimmer of marble and gold in the fading light, ancient wonders and modern marvels, and it was so beautiful it didn’t seem possible it had been built by the hands of men.
“Done gawking?” one of the veterans asked him, and he jerked back to awareness of who, and what, he was. Not a visitor who could take his time admiring the sights, but a soldier on duty. The veteran gave him a wide, sudden grin. “Nothing like Rome, boy. Gets us all the first time.”
“And every time after,” said Santi’s lieutenant from behind them. She didn’t sound impressed or amused. “Green Squad, you are down below, on the square. Blue Dogs, up here. Anything gets past Green Squad and the automata, it’s yours to deal with. Stay alert. Rome’s Burners always are.”
The idea that majestic, ancient Rome had Burners lurking in its shadows made Jess feel an actual pain in his chest. He’d seen what Burners could do with their bottles of Greek fire and the destruction they could cause. A small bottle was enough to burn a man to bones. Large glass bombs of it could reduce beauty to ruins, melt the gods, destroy one of the world’s greatest sights.
He hated what the Library did to protect itself, but there were times when he understood why it did it. So much could be lost, so easily, to such hate.
Jess was ordered to a post quite near the arched doorway where they’d come out. It had a thick metal door that Santi’s lieutenant closed behind her as she went inside, and Jess heard the heavy chunk of locks engaging.
It occurred to him then to turn and look back and up at the large, square structure they were guarding. It took a moment to come into focus, and when it did, he felt his body go hot as adrenaline flooded in.
He was standing on the steps of the Basilica Julia, facing the Forum. Though they had no proof, Thomas’s prison might, even now, be only a few feet below where Jess stood. The realization of that made him take a step back and look down at the ancient stone under his boots.