Page 131 of The Book That Wouldn't Burn

“I—I don’t think so.”

“He had a collar on, and dressed like a sabber,” the boy said.

“He looked like you.” The middle girl—a blonde child with blood spatters on her cheek—pointed at Livira.

Livira set off up the stairs. Crimson footprints made a trail. One or more of the sabbers carried wounds now. “Come on.” She glanced back. “Arpix, make sure the trainees come too.”

Arpix nodded. He paused then held her book of darkness out. “We came looking for you when there was trouble. You’d left this by your bed. We took it...”

“I’m glad you did.” She pushed his hand away. “Keep it for me.”

—

As promised, Yute and Yamala were waiting before the great white door to the library. A small crowd of librarians, trainees, staff, and guards stood with them. Livira picked up speed crossing the cavern floor, practically running across the narrow bridges that spanned the larger fissures.

“You got away,” Livira said redundantly as she approached Yute. She was acutely aware of the woman beside him in the black robe, and the pink-eyed stare aimed her way. Yamala looked uncannily like Yute. They might be twins rather than husband and wife. “We went to the librarians’ quarters... So much blood.”

“I’m glad you were able to find other survivors.” Yute managed a weary smile.

In the group behind him Livira saw friendly faces, most in shock. Master Jost was there too, wearing her customary scowl. Deputy Synoth also, though Livira would not have bet on the old man to be a survivor.

“Four sabbers came this way,” Livira said. “The children saw them climbing the stairs.” She indicated the trainees coming up behind her, and suddenly wondered how Yute’s party hadn’t seen them.

“Lies,” Master Jost snarled. “This door opens only for humans.” She looked around in an exaggerated search. “So where are these sabbers hiding?”

Livira blinked. In her extensive reading no author had ever made that claim. There did appear to be some confusion as to which chambers were forbidden, but that was normally attributed to mismatched numbering schemes.

“Master Jost is correct,” Yute said. “This door will only open to a human. A willing human, moreover. Duress will not succeed. We must find time later to discuss how you came by this information, Master Jost...” He gave the woman a sharp glance.

“But...” Livira thought furiously. “Does that mean...”

“That there are doors which only sabbers can open?” Yute asked. “Indeed. And there are doors that neither humans nor sabbers can open. Every species on this planet that has ever produced a written language has chambers given to them within this structure. Go far enough and you will find doors that can only be opened by the denizens of other worlds.”

“They had a man with them,” Livira said. “Oh...”

“Now you see the curse,” Yute said.

“Or the blessing.” Yamala even sounded like him. “A library that peace and cooperation will fully open.”

“A library that rewards slavery.” Livira wanted to ask who the man had been. A child from her settlement? One that the sabbers had escaped with? In the end, though, did it matter if it was one of Alica’s babies, or little Keer who had been holding her hand that day? The fact was that a child from her settlement, or one of those nearby, had been raised among the sabbers to one day become their key to the library. Yute had known this could be done but had kept the knowledge from the public. If he hadn’t then King Oanold wouldn’t have waited a day before sending his troops to capture sabber babies so that the forbidden chambers might be accessed.

Yamala scanned the cavern. “We’ve waited long enough. Inside!”

The survivors fell in behind Yamala as she led the way into the first library chamber and down the great stair. Livira walked with Yute, Malar and her friends close behind. She set Meelan to making sure that Salamonda didn’t pitch over the side since the woman only had eyes for the endless acres of towering shelving and the silent tonnage of dusty books they held.

“What about Wentworth?” Livira exclaimed halfway down, the thought emerging from the chaos inside her skull.

“Oh, don’t worry about him, he’ll be fine,” Yute said. “The sabbers aren’t animals.”

“No,” said Malar behind them. “Once you get a bunch of them together and make them angry, they’re worse than animals, just like humans.”

Yute still didn’t seem concerned. “Even so, I feel sorry for any of them that get on the wrong side of Wentworth.”

Many authorities declare the library to have been Irad’s work—but in truth it is the work of Irad and of Jaspeth and of neither of them. The structure that we are familiar with—or at least as familiar as a man may be with a possibly infinite building that reaches into many realities, many worlds, and many times—is something that neither brother would claim as their own. It is both far less than Irad’s vision, and far more than Jaspeth would have exist. It is, like every good compromise, displeasing to all parties concerned.

The New New Testament, by various authors

CHAPTER 55

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