Jaspa walked across the campus of the College of Sorcery toward the main library, as she did most afternoons these days. Although officially she was training to be an assistant librarian, she had a feeling that the College Board would probably disapprove of the things she was learning on the side.
She and the head librarian had an arrangement. He didn't report that she had, until recently, been paying her tuition by robbing coaches outside the city, and in return, she helped him out with the more unorthodox methods he occasionally used to acquire and protect books for the library.
Her familiar, Myertek, flapped overhead, coming to rest on her shoulder as she reached for the doors to the library. A griffet, he looked as if someone had taken a full-sized griffin and washed it in hot water. //Ready for another exciting afternoon of shelving books, Chief?// She could hear the sarcasm in his mindvoice as he dug his claws into her shoulder for stability.
//Oooh, yeah. Count me in,// she replied, and opened the door.
The library was huge, and a source of awe for nearly everyone on the campus. This was due in part to the thousands of magical books that crowded its labyrinthine shelves, making the air taste of tin and smoke, but mostly it was because of the Master Librarian, Kalishk.
Even the professors were afraid of Kalishk.
Nobody knew just how long he'd been Master Librarian. Some said he'd helped found the school, that the books from his private library had been the genesis of the amazing collection. Personally, Jaspa could believe it. Everyone knew he was a vampire, and with his gaunt figure bent over his desk in the dead center of the main floor of the library, he looked as ancient as the old wood under his thin fingers.
He looked up as Jaspa approached, his pale face rearranging itself into something approaching a smile. "Well, Jaspa, Myertek. Good afternoon."
"Good afternoon, Master Kalishk." She looked down at the miniature dragon curled up on the edge of the desk. It cocked an eye open at her, and she said respectfully, "Shtaa, good afternoon." It blinked at her, then closed its eye again. Familiars could only mindspeak to their sorcerers, but Jaspa had a feeling Shtaa wouldn't say anything to her if she could. She was getting old, even for her long-lived species, and spent most of her time asleep.
Kalishk made a complicated gesture in the air, and Jaspa felt a magical sound barrier drop into place. Jaspa felt a thrill run up her spine. When the Master Librarian soundproofed their conversations, it almost always meant something interesting was going to happen.
He pointed at a chair in front of his desk. "Sit down."
She did so.
"Jaspa, something very serious has happened. A book of spells has been stolen from the library." His dark eyes glittered.
"Again?"
"This is serious."
"Sorry, Master." Jaspa tucked a loose strand of her brown hair behind one ear and tried to look contrite.
"It was one of the books about the Old Gods." The capital letters could be heard in his dry voice. "In the wrong hands, it could cause serious damage."
"What are you going to do?"
"We, Jaspa, we. I will be leaving one of the assistants in charge, and we are going to find this book and take it back. With luck, it will be elementary, and a good opportunity for you to learn a little. Come with me." He gestured again, and the sound barrier dropped. Rising, he picked Shtaa up easily and tucked her under one arm as he headed off. After a few quick words to one of the assistant librarians, he led Jaspa to one of the back rooms. Originally designed for the taming of wild books of magic, the back rooms were heavily magic-proofed. Kalishk closed the door and engaged the seals, so that any magic they did would not be sensible from the outside.
"Now, Jaspa, what do you know about summoning demons?"
"Um... I know how to summon the minor informational ones."
"They're only good for simple information, however. We need one a trifle more powerful."
The demon appeared in the small circle in front of Jaspa and Kalishk.
Jaspa stood, Myertek on her shoulder, next to a censer, making sure the smoke continued to rise from the smoldering incense. Kalishk had his sorcerer's blade out, and he pointed it at the creature before him.
It was bigger than any of the demons she'd seen in class so far - well over six feet tall. Its impressive musculature was covered in orange and red scales, and its ridged face was contorted in a grimace of irritation. "Well, sorcerer, I am here. What is it you wish? Oh, it's you." His grimace vanished, and he tried to look respectful.
"Demon, I require the whereabouts of a book. It is called," he pronounced a string of consonants. "Where is it?"
The demon frowned. "I do not know, my Lord."
"What?" Kalishk raised the blade, his dark eyes narrowing.
The demon backed up a step, its hands raised. "Truly! I cannot sense its presence. It was here last night, I know, but then it was gone."
Kalishk frowned, and stepped toward the circle. Shtaa, still on his shoulders, hissed and ruffled her wings.
//Ya gotta hand it to him, Chief. He sure has a sense of drama.//
//Shut up, Myertek.//
The demon was practically cowering in front of Kalishk, compressing its bulk and trying to look smaller than the slender figure approaching it. "I swear, Lord, I do not know! I cannot lie!"
Kalishk stopped just in front of the circle containing the demon and sighed, dropping his arm to his side. "This is true. Very well. You may depart." He raised his blade again and made the gesture to free the creature. It bowed, thanked him, and vanished.
Kalishk sheathed the knife and turned to Jaspa. "This is more serious than I thought. Whoever took the book has the ability to cloak its existence very thoroughly. Help me take down the circle, and then I suppose I'll try a little scrying.
Jaspa found herself alone in the room, putting away the last of the things from the summoning. The room was clean again, Kalishk was gone. //Now what?//
//We go eat dinner?//
//Myertek, be serious.//
//I was!//
//Maybe we should try summoning a minor demon.//
//Chief, you heard him. It probably won't do any good.//
//Yeah, but I'll at least feel like I'm doing something constructive.// She turned back to the cabinet, and started pulling things out. //Now, help me.//
Once she had the simple circle set up, she re-sheathed her sorcerer's blade and settled down in front of it to chant. Eventually, the words seemed to take on a life of their own, and the circle changed somehow. When she opened her eyes, there was a short demon standing in it, looking annoyed and holding a plate. "Oh, come on. I was in the middle of my bloody dinner. What do you want?"
Jaspa tried not to look at the plate. Something on it was wiggling.
"Demon, I ask that you tell me that which I wish to know, for I have summoned you here using the old words of power which you must obey."
"Oh, for- all right, all right. What is thy question, O Sorcerer?"
"A book was stolen from the library last night. I need you to tell me everything you can about that."
"Oh, fine. The book itself was," the creature said the title, which still seemed verbally impossible. "The person who stole it shielded it and themselves after checking a spell in the book."
"What did they look like? The thief, I mean."
"Eh, medium height, female, blond hair. Was wearing blue robes under a dark cloak."
Jaspa stared at the demon. "You sure?"
"Yes."
"Well, then. I thank you, O Demon, for your assistance. Accept this offering," she dropped a chunk of resin onto the brazier next to her, "and depart swiftly to your own world."
"Yeah, whatever." It vanished.
//Myertek, did you hear that? Blue robes, sounds like a senior student. We gotta tell Kalishk!//
She cleaned everything up in record time, and sprinted off to find the Master Librarian.
Kalishk was back at his desk, looking through a book with a faintly irritated expression on his face. Jaspa paused and regained her breathing before walking calmly through the ranks of study desks that surrounded the Master Librarian's. When she reached him, he gestured without looking up at her, and once a sound barrier was in place, he turned a page and said, "yes, Jaspa? What is it?"
"Master Kalishk, I think I have a clue."
He did look up at her then. "Yes?"
"I... well, I summoned a minor demon, who told me what the thief was wearing. It sounds like it was a senior student, Master. Blue robes and blond hair."
Kalishk stared at her for a moment, then inhaled in anger. "Hlara. I am going to kill her." His voice was calm enough that there was no question he was not speaking metaphorically.
"Master?"
Kalishk stood, and dismissed the sound barrier. "Come, Jaspa." He scooped up Shtaa and the book, and strode off toward the supplies in the back rooms. Jaspa scurried to keep up.
"Master? Don't you think-"
"Jaspa. Hlara has been researching the Old Gods for months for a project. I protested against it from the beginning, but her advisor insisted she was old enough to resist the pull. I limited her access to the books, but not well enough, apparently." He swore under his breath in a language Jaspa didn't recognize. "I sincerely doubt we will be able to subdue her without using deadly force."
"Master, shouldn't we-"
"Summon assistance from the other faculty? There is no time, Jaspa. Tonight is the dark of the moon. The sun has already set. If I am lucky, we will be able to stop her before she summons anything truly dangerous. I had hoped someone who did not know how to use the book had taken it, but Hlara knows more than enough."
"We?"
"Yes, we. Take this." He handed her a case, and then began filling it from the supply cabinet, muttering under his breath. He consulted the book briefly, grabbed a few more things, and then faced Jaspa. "Now we go. It should be easy to find her; shielding magic work of this nature is almost impossible." He put a hand on Jaspa's shoulder, his long fingers feeling like cool steel through the fabric of her student robes. "Jaspa, I will not try to hide from you that this is extremely dangerous. I hope we will succeed, but it is by no means a sure thing. I would not ask you, but there is no one else I trust sufficiently close at hand. Even so, you must not come if you truly do not wish to. This will not work with an unwilling partner."
"Master, what will happen if she succeeds?"
"I suspect she is trying to summon the Old Gods. That is usually what those under their control attempt."
"And that's bad, right?"
He smiled faintly. "Yes, Jaspa, it is. It would result in a reign of darkness even the worst of my kind would never wish for."
Jaspa stared up at him. Kalishk never talked about the fact that he was a vampire, and to hear him do so...
"I'll do it, Master."
"Excellent." He squeezed her shoulder gently, and nodded, then led the way out the door.
As soon as they left the magic-rich air of the library, it was easy to feel the beginnings of Hlara's magic. Kalishk paused for a moment on the library's bottom step, and turned his head from side to side as if trying to hear something. Shtaa hissed faintly, and he nodded. "This way."
//Chief, have you gone crazy? You're following a vampire off to fight an insane senior student, a second-level sorcerer?//
//I have to, Myertek. You heard what he said.//
//Yeah, but come on.../
//Nope. I have to do this.//
Ahead of her, Kalishk paused. Jaspa stopped just at his shoulder and looked up at him.
"Jaspa, she is just ahead." Kalishk spoke so softly, she wasn't sure how she could hear him. "Get out the swinging censer, quietly."
She rummaged in her case, then pulled it out.
"Light it. Once the coals are going, stock it well with sage, cedar, and frankincense in equal parts. I will need you to raise as much energy as you can and feed it to me through Shtaa here. You've learned how to do that, yes?"
Jaspa nodded silently.
"Very good. Now, do it. Swiftly, please. And no magic, we don't want to alert her to our presence yet."
Jaspa lit the coals in the censer carefully, then blew on them until they glowed. She scooped the incense on as directed, and snuck a look at Kalishk. He was standing very still next to her, his arms folded inside the sleeves of his dark robes. Shtaa, on his shoulders, looked half-asleep, but there was a set to her wings that suggested she was paying attention. Kalishk looked down at Jaspa, who closed the censer and raised it. He nodded. "Bring your case and the censer. Walk very quietly. When we get in view of her, hang the censer on a tree and cast a protective circle for yourself. Then start raising energy for me. I'll need it."
"Yes, Master." Jaspa followed him through the trees to the clearing just ahead. They could already hear Hlara chanting, strange words that sounded as if no human should be able to pronounce them. When they reached the clearing, Jaspa's hair stood on end. A blond woman stood in a huge magic circle, her arms raised. There was already a mist growing in front of her, looking rather unreal through the faint red glow of the circle.
Jaspa found a tree branch and hung the censer, then cast the fastest protective circle of her life. //Shit, Myertek, she is good. Look at that.//
//You said it, Chief. Now, let's get to it.//
Jaspa sat down in the middle of the circle, and lifted Myertek to her lap. She took a look around before closing her eyes. To her right, Kalishk stood in the center of a circle burnt into the grass, his sorcerer's blade out. He was only a few feet from the edge of Hlara's circle.
"Hlara, hear me," he called. The blond woman froze, and turned to look at him. "Stop what you are doing, right now. You have no idea what it is you are about to call."
She laughed. "I know exactly what I am about to call, Master Kalishk. Join me, and perhaps you will not be among those chosen as sacrifice to the Old Gods."
Kalishk shook his head slowly, once. "You will be their first meal. Stand down, now. I do not wish to destroy you, Hlara. You have great potential."
For answer, she turned her attention back to the mist and began chanting again.
//Well, Myertek, now we get to see how a real sorcerer does this stuff.// Jaspa closed her eyes and focussed on the natural energy around her, drawing it to her. In her lap, Myertek kneaded her leg absently as he did the same, feeding what he could gather to her through their bond. When she felt she had enough, she mentally spun it out into a line and threw the end to Shtaa, who took it.
//How did Kalishk make his own separate circle so that it would accept my power?//
//I don't know, Chief. You should ask him, if we don't both get killed.//
Jaspa managed to open her eyes again without disrupting her energy work. Kalishk was practically glowing with their combined power. He brought his hands together, palm-to-palm, with his blade between them, and concentrated a moment. A sphere of roiling light formed in front of him, and he raised his head with a shout that sent it spinning toward Hlara. It slammed through her circle and knocked her off her feet.
Kalishk allowed himself a faint smile and started another sphere. Hlara pulled herself to her feet, her face contorted in rage. She screamed, and sent a bolt of what looked like lightening toward Kalishk. It rebounded off his circle, and he threw his sphere of power into her circle again, this time at the mist, which was beginning to look like a doorway. The sphere rocketed through the mist, dispelling its shape.
Jaspa grinned and pushed a bit more energy into the line to Kalishk's familiar. Shtaa turned to look at her and nodded with something like a smile. Kalishk had another sphere ready, but Hlara had figured out what he was up to and when he threw it, it rebounded off her circle and dissipated. Kalishk pulled his hands apart, blade in the right, and, muttering under his breath, drew a complex sigil in the air before him before slamming his left hand into the glowing design and sending it flying at Hlara's shield. It stuck, and the shimmering sphere began to thin. Kalishk pointed his blade at the sigil and chanted, his voice harsh. It glowed more fiercely, and the circle began to change color, turning golden as he took over the spell that held it in place.
Hlara looked alarmed, and began chanting herself as she tried to take the circle back. She couldn't quite do it, though, and Kalishk soon had it under his control. He smiled grimly, and gestured with his blade at Hlara, saying a quick series of fluid syllables. The woman shrieked as glowing cords materialized around her and, at a sign from Kalishk, tightened, pulling her arms to her sides. One closed around her knees and she fell over. She thrashed on the ground, yelling incomprehensible words until Kalishk sighed again and a final rope spread into a gag and tied itself around her head.
Kalishk turned to look at Jaspa for a moment. "Jaspa, I need everything you have to close this gate. Quickly!"
He shed the small circle around him and strode forward, opening a doorway in the larger circle before him with his blade and closing it again after stepping through. Jaspa shut her eyes and focused everything on the glowing line in her minds' eye that connected her to Shtaa. She swelled it, and poured everything she could gather through it, pulling from her own body energy. She could almost see through her eyelids as Kalishk took up the book Hlara had been using and, raising his blade, began to chant. He was giving off amazing quantities of power. And then, she couldn't see anything except the funnel of power she was sending herself into.
Her head ached. No, everything ached. Jaspa took an inventory of her body, head to toes, and realized that every nerve in it was sending complaints her way. She groaned and turned her head against the pillow under it.
"Jaspa?" It was a strange voice, and she looked up into an unfamiliar face, all concerned smile and gray beard.
"Who're you? Where's Myert'k?" Her voice sounded strange in her ears.
"I am head surgeon at the medical center. Your familiar is beside you." Jaspa looked down. Myertek was curled against her side, sleeping. "You're both very lucky you were brought here in time. We almost lost you."
"Wha? Where's Kal'shk?" She struggled to sit up.
"He's recovering. Lie down." Strong hands pressed on her shoulders.
"Di' we win?"
"If you mean, was Master Kalishk successful, yes, he was. Barely."
"Wha' hap'ned?"
"We were hoping you could tell us. Several members of the faculty arrived just as Kalishk was closing the circle. Hlara Parko was unconscious, as were you. Kalishk was able to close your circle, and he insisted that you be brought here. He wasn't strong enough to lift you."
"Where's Hlara?"
"In custody."
"Good."
"Now, go back to sleep."
"Jaspa?"
This time, the voice was familiar, as was the cool hand against her forehead. She opened her eyes. "Master?" Her voice sounded better this time, but still weak and a touch slurred.
"I am relieved to see you are on the mend."
"We won?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"Indeed. We were very lucky. It was well that you were there."
"Glad to help. Are you okay?" She focused on his face, which was even paler and more drawn than usual.
"I will be." His dark eyes were bloodshot. Jaspa looked closer, and realized that they weren't bloodshot, there was a film of red over them, as though blood rather than tears were keeping them damp.
"Good."
"I think in view of your recent activities, you may take some time off from work at the library. Rest. You can catch up on your classes after you are back on your feet."
"How long will that be?"
"Several days, perhaps a week."
"Thank you."
"You are very welcome, Jaspa." He stood slowly, and walked out, closing the door behind him.
//Wow, some time off!//
//I should hope so, Chief! After all the hard work you did.../
//Aw, heck, taking down a madwoman to save the world? All in a night's work for an Assistant Librarian.// She tucked one hand behind her head and went back to sleep.
copyright 2002 Ealasaid A. Haas