Sword and Pen (The Great Library #5)(107)

After much debate, we have installed four controls in the Greek fire system beneath the Great Archives. A saboteur might find the controls. To that end, we have taken a lesson from the writings of Great Heron, and carefully concealed what to do in the event of an unwanted activation of this system.

The drawings below show precisely what must be done.

Do not fall prey to the trap we have set, or all is lost.





CHAPTER TWENTY





JESS

Jess looked down at the dead Archivist for a frozen eternity of seconds, and then fumbled the breathing mask from his pocket and dragged down breaths, as many and as fast as he could stand. It helped a little. Working out how to leave the library room took long minutes, but he finally found the switch that moved the god out of the way. The walk from the Archivist’s office to the formal entry area seemed to take forever—an endless hallway, and he moved on leaden legs.

But he made it to the hub at the end of the hallway. From there, a steam-powered lifting chamber took him up to the fourth level of the pyramid. He stumbled out as soon as the doors opened on the right level. He wasn’t sure how much strength he had left, but there was no time to waste. He had to use it all.

High Garda were everywhere, and as Jess approached they shouted at him to stop. He was forced to obey at the point of guns. He looked for a friendly face, found nothing but death staring back.

“Archivist,” he gasped. “I need the Archivist—” He nearly fell, and braced himself against the wall. “Archives are in danger. Tell her.”

“She knows.” Lord Commander Niccolo Santi’s voice came from behind him, and Jess turned to look. Santi was a terrifying sight: exhausted, red-eyed, smoke-stained, and his expression was absolutely bloody murderous. “Thomas sent word. He’s coming, too. Where have you been?”

No point in wasting his breath explaining. Jess doubled over coughing, and fumbled for his mask. Took a couple of breaths and tried again. “The old Archivist said something about Archivist Nobel.”

Santi grabbed Jess by the shoulders and stared at him, and Jess had never seen the man so shaken. “What did you say?”

“He said—Nobel had never imagined destroying the Great Library, but he’d made it possible.”

“Where is the old Archivist?”

“Dead,” Jess said. “In his private library.”

“Jess!” He heard Khalila’s shout, and he looked up and saw her pushing past the soldiers toward him. She was flanked by his friends, and he saw her expression shift when she saw him, but she didn’t ask him what was wrong. She came straight to the point, moving her attention to Santi. “Lord Commander, I’m glad you’re here. We believe the Great Archives are in danger. According to Thomas, who is on his way there.”

“Something Jess just said made me realize he’s right. The old man has a way to do something unthinkable.”

“That’s a word I’ve never heard you use before,” Wolfe said. “Nic, what’s happened?”

“About to happen.” Santi took in a deep breath. “Khalila, you should have been briefed on this; Archivist Murasaki was, but there hasn’t been time to meet with you. The Great Archives have, for more than a full century, had a fail-safe system. It was installed by Archivist Nobel during his reign—a bluff meant to terrify nations into compliance at a time when many wanted to take Alexandria for themselves. In the event of an attack, should any nation seize control of the source of knowledge—it would be destroyed. Everyone would lose. Only the Archivist and the Lord Commander knew about this fail-safe.” He shook his head. “The awful thing is that it’s worked. It’s kept most countries from testing our resolve.”

“That’s . . .” Jess saw the horror dawn in Khalila’s eyes, just as he felt it dawn inside him. “That’s monstrous.”

“It kept the peace. It was never meant to be used, only as an apocalyptic threat.”

“Nobel’s great secret,” Wolfe said. “There were rumors, but—they actually installed it?”

“Yes,” Santi said. “A massive series of Greek fire sealed in tubes running beneath the Great Archives. Only the Archivist or Lord High Commander can activate it. Only the Archivist can stop it once activated.”

“How?” Khalila asked tensely. “How can I stop it?”

“You can’t,” Santi said. “Your name has yet to be written in the official record. You haven’t been fully confirmed. The fail-safe can only be countermanded by an Archivist written in the history.”

“You’re missing the obvious. She only needs to be written into the official record,” Wolfe said. “Immediately. We do that, and this is over.”

“We can’t,” Santi said. “It has to be done after a Scholars’ Conclave. She hasn’t had one.”

“Does a formality matter now?”

“No, Scholar, he’s right,” Khalila said. “The records can’t be amended. They’re locked. Unless Morgan can—”

Morgan, Jess saw, was already trying. She was looking into a strange middle distance, eyes unfocused, and her hands were moving in odd patterns. “Give me your Codex, Archivist.”

Khalila handed it to her. Morgan opened it, and patterns of shimmering, incredibly complex lines formed between her hands and the book. Part of it seemed to waver. Lines disappeared. But then it all just . . . vanished.