Samah stopped talking, stared at him. “Are you well?”
“Forgive me,” Alfred murmured, shading his eyes with his hand. “A nervous disorder.”
The Councillor frowned. Sartan did not suffer from nervous disorders. “Do you understand, Brother, why we like to monitor the comings and goings of all who enter?” he asked somewhat tightly. It was obvious his patience was wearing thin.
Do I understand why a library turns into a trap, sounds an alarm, and holds those who enter hostage until the head of the Council comes to interrogate them? No, thought Alfred, I really don’t understand that at all.
But he only nodded and mumbled something that might have been certainly he understood.
“Come, come!” Samah said, with a forced smile. “An accident, as you say. No harm done. I am certain you are sorry for what you did. And Ramu and I are sorry for nearly scaring you to death. And now, it is dinnertime. We will tell our tale to Orla. I’m afraid, Ramu, your mother will have a laugh over this mistake at our expense.”
Ramu gave a sickly chuckle, looked anything but jocular.
“Please, be seated, Brother,” Samah said, gesturing to a chair. “I will go and open the way out. The runes are complex. It takes some time to render them and you appear to be fatigued. No need to stand around waiting. Ramu will remain here to keep you company in my absence.”
Ramu will remain to make certain I don’t spy on you, discover the way out. Alfred sank down into the chair, placed his hand on the dog’s head, stroked the silky ears. I might be doing more harm than good, he considered, but it seems to me that I have a right to ask.
“Samah,” he called, halting the head of the Council on his way to the far door. “Now that I know the rules of the library, could I have your permission to enter? The mensch are somewhat a hobby of mine, you see. I once did a study on the dwarves of Arianus. I note that you have several texts …”
He knew the answer, saw it in Samah’s eyes.
Alfred’s voice dried up. His mouth opened and closed several times, but nothing more followed.
Samah waited patiently until he was certain Alfred was finished.
“Certainly you may study here, Brother. We would be most happy to make any and all documents relative to your work available to you. But not now.”
“Not now,” Alfred repeated.
“No, I’m afraid not. The Council wants to inspect the library and make certain that no damage was done during the long Sleep. Until we have time to devote to this task, I recommended to the Council that the library be closed. And we must take care that, from now on, no one enters ‘by accident.’ ”
The Councillor turned upon his heel and left, disappearing out the door on the far wall that opened to a spoken sigil, a rune uttered in a voice soft and low. The door shut behind him.
Alfred heard, beyond it, the sound of chanting, but he was unable to distinguish any of the words.
Ramu sat down across from Alfred and began to make friendly overtures to the dog; overtures that were coldly rebuffed.
Alfred’s eyes slid, once more, to the forbidden scroll compartment.
CHAPTER * 17
GARGAN
CHELESTRA
WE ARE HOME. HOME!
I am torn between joy and sadness, for a terrible tragedy occurred while we were gone . . . But I’ll write down all, everything in its proper time and place.
As I work on this, I’m sitting in my room. Around me are all my dear possessions, just the way I left them. This astonished me beyond words. Dwarves are very practical-minded about death, unlike two other races I could mention. When a dwarf dies, his family and friends hold a night of mourning for their loss and a day of celebration for the dead one’s gain in now being a part of the One. Following that, all the dwarf’s possessions are distributed among family and friends. His room is cleaned out and another dwarf moves in.
I had assumed that the custom would have been followed in my case and was prepared for the fact that Cousin Fricka would, by now, be ensconced in my room. In fact, I don’t mind admitting that I was looking forward to bouncing my obnoxious relative and her curly side whiskers out the door and down the stairs.