Paper and Fire (The Great Library #2)(83)
“Jess,” Thomas said. “It’s a machine. But I think I will call her Frauke. Do you like that name, Frauke?”
“It’s an automaton. It can’t like—” But the lion was turning from him to nudge her nose against Thomas’s chest now. Purring. It seemed beyond odd.
Morgan came next, and she smiled when the lion’s massive nose pushed at her. “Frauke,” she said. “It means ‘little lady,’ doesn’t it? It suits her.” She stroked the metal ears.
“If you’re finished making a pet out of this monster—” Wolfe said, and stopped as Frauke’s head snapped in the direction of his voice and the purring switched to a low, ominous rumble.
“No, no, Frauke. He’s one of us.” Thomas gestured to Wolfe, who looked back as if he thought they’d all gone mad. “Come, Scholar, she needs to learn who you are.”
Wolfe didn’t like it—at all—and that didn’t change even when Frauke’s growls changed to purrs. He suffered the nuzzling with a bitter expression of distaste before he moved well back, and pushed Santi forward in his place.
“Brilliant,” Santi said, and patted Frauke on the head. No hesitation there; he clearly liked the creature. Santi stepped aside to let Khalila crowd forward, and then Dario. “She’ll not only confuse our enemies, but confront them, too. No one questions a party of Scholars and High Garda walking with an official lion as escort, do they?”
The only one Frauke hadn’t nuzzled was Glain, who still watched the door. When they all turned toward her, she shook her head. “I’m not coming near that thing.”
Morgan tried. “Glain. It’s safe. You saw—”
“It’s wrong. It’s wrong that you just . . . changed it. Is it just that easy for you? Just rewrite a killer into a pet?” She glared straight at Morgan finally. “It’s Obscurists who make all this possible, you know. Without them, things would be different, wouldn’t they? Without the automata, the Translation Chamber, the Library wouldn’t have nearly the advantage, and we’d be fighting fair.”
“I’m trying to help!” Morgan said. “And you know I never wanted this! I never wanted to be—”
“Whatever you wanted, you’re one of them. Doing this proves it more than anything else you’ve ever done,” Glain said. “And that’s why we shouldn’t trust you. How hard would it be for you to give us away?”
“She won’t,” Jess said, and got the full, scorching weight of Glain’s scorn.
“Says someone who can’t ever be rational on the subject of Morgan Hault. We shouldn’t do this. What if some other Obscurist rewrites this creature into a killer again?”
“It can’t be done without the same process I went through,” Morgan said. “It doesn’t work that way. You can order them to do a limited number of things by Codex commands, but not change their loyalty—”
“I don’t trust you,” Glain said flatly, and looked Morgan right in the eyes. “I have no idea what happened to you in that tower. What might have been done to you. All I know is, you’ve shown up here and we’ve all just accepted that you’re safe, like this lion. You aren’t. You’re even more dangerous.”
Santi stepped in the way, facing Glain, and said, “Glain. She’s given you no reason to distrust her, has she?”
Glain didn’t want to answer that, but she finally muttered, “Not as yet.”
“Then the matter’s settled. Keep your eyes open and not just on Morgan, all right? We have enough enemies without inventing more.” She nodded but didn’t change her position from the door. “Go introduce yourself to the lion. That’s an order.”
She looked at him for so long, Jess was afraid she’d refuse, but then she pushed past him and stood in front of Frauke to be nudged and cataloged like the rest of them. She didn’t touch the lion. Didn’t stand it for one second longer than she was forced to before she stalked away.
Frauke tried to follow, then checked herself as Thomas said, “Frauke. Stay.” She padded back to Thomas’s side and sat down, as obedient as a dog on a leash. “Frauke, you obey our commands now, yes?”
Hard to tell if she understood that, but Thomas had been right: there was an eerie simulation of thought in these creatures. Even intention. It was impossible, looking at Frauke now, to see the relentless killing machine she’d been before. Glain was also right: Morgan had, with a few simple, powerful strokes of the pen, made a killer into a pet. That kind of power shouldn’t exist, and it made him cold to think what could be done with it in the service of the Archivist. This is how they’ve kept power. Frighten us with monsters. Kill us when all else fails.
Maybe that was the nature of power. Jess didn’t know, but he didn’t like to think of himself as being part of it.
He held to one thought: if they could change Frauke, maybe . . . maybe they could also, eventually, change the Library.
EPHEMERA
Text of a message from the Artifex Magnus to the Archivist Magister, marked URGENT
They are together. Free. They have the young Obscurist.
If they get away as a group, if Wolfe and Schreiber together can make their machine and teach others how to make it, then we lose everything. Knowledge becomes a common currency, as cheap as paper and ink, and all of the sanctity of the Library is lost.