Page 165 of A Tower of Half-Truths
“Oh, you bookworms will love this,” Neldren said wryly. Despite his warning about staying quiet, his voice wasn’t far off fromits normal volume. “Come over here and take a look.”
Alain turned to Neldren and gasped. He and Ellice were removing books from the shelves, opening them, and promptly tossing them onto the mound of books at their feet.
“I always figured some wizards were full of shit about all the books they claimed to read,” Neldren sneered. “Look, this library is full of fakes! All covers, no pages.”
Mavery plucked the book from his hands before he could toss it aside. To her eyes, the pages still existed, though not in any form that was readable. They hovered like wisps of dark smoke from a recently extinguished fire. She caught the same aroma that she’d Sensed back at the cottage. She looked closer. The pages were made of some sort of untamed black arcana.
“They’re not fake,” she said. As she described what she Sensed, Neldren and Ellice gawked at her. Alain had produced a notebook and pen, and he listened on while scribbling feverishly.
“Sounds like they were transmutated,” Alain said. “But into what, exactly? And for what purpose?”
Mavery shrugged. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Your guess is as good as mine.”
Alain grabbed a book from the pile at Ellice’s feet. Just as she and Neldren had done, he opened it, tossed it aside, then grabbed one from the shelf. With each book he discarded, he became a bit more agitated. All of the pages had been transmutated into the same strange substance.
Mavery searched the other shelves and found plenty of books that had been spared the fate of the others, though she couldn’t discern any reason why. It certainly hadn’t been for their entertainment value. One row was devoted to tax codes that were so ancient, they’d been obsolete even in Aganast’s time. Another consisted of a half-century’s worth of farmers’ almanacs. And another housed dozens of copies of a Dyadic devotional for children. All of these books had been printed on cheap paper, not vellum or parchment. Judging by their publication dates, these had to be some of the earliest mass-produced books on the continent.
“Don’t mourn these books too much, Alain,” Mavery said. “Nothing here is even remotely related to magic.”
“Why would a wizard fill his library with so many useless books?” Ellice asked.
She and Neldren looked to Alain, who shrugged. “Just because I’m a wizard, doesn’t mean I can explain every other wizard’s eccentricities. Perhaps we’ll find an answer downstairs.”
The next level down contained another library. Here,everybook had been cleared from the shelves and lay strewn across the floor in heaps of smoldering arcana.
The smell made Mavery’s empty stomach sour. While the other three crossed the room, she hung back and leaned against one of the barren shelves. She breathed deeply, clutching her stomach in an effort to calm it. After today’s events, she could stand going without magic for a few days, if not longer—an idea she’d never imagined herself entertaining.
Alain, noticing she’d lagged behind, doubled back.
“This strange magic is doing a number on you, isn’t it?”
“That’s putting it lightly,” she said through bared teeth. “What about you? How are you holding up?”
“Me? Oh, I’m fine.” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Just worried about you, is all.”
She frowned. “Don’t lie to me, Alain. You’re a terrible—”
Across the room, the shadows shifted. Her breath hitched, and Alain’s grip on her shoulder tightened.
“What is it?” he whispered.
“I thought I saw something just now.”
She raised her hand and sent her orb to where she’d glimpsed movement. But as her light dispersed the shadows, it revealed only another tower of discarded books.
“Nothing,” she said.
“I wouldn’t be too certain about that. Let’s stay close.”
She nodded, and they walked side by side to join the other two. Once again, by instinct, her right hand stayed close to the sheathed dagger on her left hip. Alain clenched his staff, knuckles whitening. They rejoined Neldren and Ellice, who were picking through the books.
“Bad luck,” Neldren said. “No pages in these, either. All these books areworthless.”
“Shh!” Ellice whispered. “Over there—something’s moving.”
Maveryhadn’tbeen seeing things. She didn’t know if that made her feel better or worse.
“Let’s move,” Neldren said, “and hope we find a way out of this godsforsaken tower.”
