Alcatraz versus the Knights of Crystallia (19 page)

S
he nodded absently.
How were we going to involve her
in helping expose t
he Librarian pl
ot
–
and
thereby get
her knighthood back
–
if
she could barely talk?

Grandpa
S
medry glanced at me.
"What do you think?”

"I think I'm going to go break some crystal swords," I
snapped.

"Not about Bastille, lad," Grandpa said.
"I can assure
y
ou, we're all in agreement about how she's been treated.
We've got larger problems right now."

I shrugged. "Grandpa,
I don't know anything about pol
i
tics back in the
Hushlands
, let
alone the politics here in
Nalhalla!
I have no idea what to do."

"We can't just sit here!" Sing said.
"My people are dying
as we speak.
If the other
Free Kingdoms remove their sup
port, Mokia won't have the supplies to keep fighting."

"Maybe . . . maybe I could look at the treaty?" Himalaya
said. "If I read it over, perhaps I would see something that
you Nalhallans haven't.
Som
e trick the Librarians are pull
ing that we could show to the monarchs?"

"Excellent!" Grandpa Smedry said.
"Folsom?"

"I'll take her to the palace," he said.
"There's a public
copy there we can read."

"Lord Smedry," Sing said, "I think that you should speak
to the kings again."

"I've tried that, Sing!"

"Yes," the Mokian said, "but maybe you could address
them formally in session.
Maybe . . . I don't know maybe
that will embarrass them in front of the crowds."

Grandpa Smedry frowned.
"Well, yes. I'd rather do a
daring infiltration, though! "

"There . . . aren't many places to infiltrate
,” S
ing said.
"The entire city is friendly toward us."

"Except that Librarian embassy," Grandpa
S
medry said,
eyes twinkling.

W
e sat for a moment, then glanced at Bastille.
She was
supposed to be the voice of reason, telling us to avoid doing
things that were . . . well, stupid.

S
he just stared forward, though, stunned from what had
been done to her.

"Blast," Grandpa
S
medry said.
"
S
omebody tell me that
infiltrating the embassy is a terrible idea!"

"It's a terrible idea," I said.
"I don't know why, though."

"Because there's not likel
y to be anything of use there!”
Grandpa Smedry said. "They're too clever for that.
If any
thing, they have a secret base somewhere in the city.
That
’
s
where we'd need to infiltrate, but we don't have time to find
it!
S
omebody tell me that I should just go speak to
t
he kings
again."

"Uh," Sing
said, "didn't I just do that?”

"I need to hear it again, Sing
.”
Grandpa Smedry said.
"I'm old and stubborn!"

"Then, really, you should speak to the kings
.
"

"Spoilsport," Grandpa Smedry muttered under his
breath.

I sat back, thinking.
Grandpa Smedry was right
–
there
probably
was
a secret Librarian lair in the city.
My bet was
that we'd find it som
ewhere near where my mother van
ished when I was trailing her.

"What are the Royal Archives?" I asked.

"They're not
a library," Folsom said quickly.

"Yes, the sign said that," I replied.
"But if they aren't a
library, what are they?"
(I mean,
telling me what something
isn't
really wasn't all that useful.
I could put out a blorgadet
and hang a sign on it that s
aid "Most certainly not a hippo
potamus" and it wouldn't help.
I'd also be lying, since
“
blorgadet" is actually Mokian for hippopotamus.)

Grandpa Smedry turned toward me.
"The Royal
Archives –“

"Not a library
,”
Sing added.

"
–
are
a repository for the kingdom's most important
texts and scrolls."

"That, uh, sounds an
awful
lot like a library," I said.

"But it's not," Folsom said.
"Didn't you hear?"

"Right . . ."
I
said.
"Well, a repository for book
s –“

"
W
hich is in no way a
library
,”
Grandpa
S
medry said.

"
– sounds
like exactly the sort of place the Librarians
would be interested in."
I frowned in thought.
"Are there
books in the Forgotten Language in there?"

"I'd guess some," Grandpa
S
medry said.
"Never been
in
there
myself."

"You haven't?" I asked, shocked.

"Too much like a library," Grandpa
S
medry said.
"Even
if it isn't one."

You Hushlanders may be confused by statements
like this.
After all, Grandpa
S
medry,
S
ing, and Folsom
have all been presented as very literate fellows.
They're
academics
–
quite
knowledgeable about what they do.
How, then, have they avoided libraries and reading?

The answer is that they
haven't
avoided reading.
They
love books.
However, to them, books are a
little like teenage
boys:
W
henever they start congregating, they make
trouble.

"The Royal Archives," I said, then quickly added,
“
and I
know it's
not
a library. W
hatever it is, that's where my
mother was going.
I'm sure of it.
She has the T
r
anslator's
Lenses; she's
trying to find something in there. Something
important."

"
Al
catraz,
the place is
very
well guarded,” Grandpa
Smedry said.
“I doubt even Shasta would be able to sneak in unseen.”

"I still think we should visit," I said.
"We can look and
see if there's anything suspicious going on."

"A
ll right," Grandpa
Smedry said.
"You take Bastille and
Sing and go. I'
ll
compose a stirring speech to give at the
final proceedings this evening!
M
a
yb
e if I'm lucky, some
one will try to assassinate me during the speech.
That would
make it at least ten times more dramatic!"

"Grandpa
,”
I said.

"Yes?"

"You're crazy
.”

"Thank you!
All right, let's get moving!
We have an
entire continent to save!"

People tend to be
lieve what other people tell
them.
This is particularly true if the people who are telling
the people the thing that they're telling them are people
who have a college degree in the thing about which they are
telling people.
(Telling, isn't it?)

C
ollege degrees are very important.
W
ithout college
degrees, we wouldn't know who was an expert and who
w
asn't.
And if we didn't know who was an expert, we
wouldn't know whose opinion was the most important to
listen to.

O
r at least that's what the experts want us to believe.
Those who have listened to
Socrates know that they're sup
posed to ask questions.
Q
uestions like "If all people are
equal, then why is my opinion worth less than that of the
expert?" or "If I like reading this book, then why should I
let someone else tell me that
I
shoul
dn't
l
ike reading it?"

That isn't to say that I don't like critics.
My cousin is
one, and
–
as
you have seen – he'
s a very nice fellow.
All
I'm saying is that you should question what others tell you,
even if they have a college degree.
There are a lot of people
who might try to stop you from reading this book.
They'll
come up to you and say things like "Why are you reading
that trash?" or "You should be doing your homework," or
"Help me, I'm on fire!"

Don't let them distract you.
It's of vital importance that
you keep reading.
This book is very, very important.
After all, it's about
me
.

"The Royal Archives," I said, looking up at the vast
building in front of me.

"Not a library," Sing added.

"Thanks, Sing," I said dryly. "I'd almost forgotten."

"Glad to help!" he said as we walked up the steps.
Bastille
followed; she was still barely responsive.
She'd come to us
because she'd been kicked out of Crystallia.
Getting cut
off from the knights' magic rock also required a period of
exile from their giant glass mushroom.

(Those of you in the Hushlands, I
dare
you to work
that last sentence into a
c
onversation.
"By the way, Sally, did
you know that getting cut off from the knights' magic rock
also requires a period of exile from their giant glass
mushroom?")

A dragon crawled along the sides of the castles above
me, growling quietly to itself.
The Royal Archives (not a
library) looked a lot l
ike a building out of Greek hist
ory,
with its magnificent white pillars and marble steps.
The
only difference was that it had castlelike towers.
In Nalhalla,
everything has castle towers.
Even the outhouses.
(
Y
ou
know, in case someone tries to seize the throne.)

"It's been a lo
ng time since I've been here," S
ing said,
happily waddling beside me.
It was good to spend time with
the pleasant anthropologist again.

"You've been here before?" I asked.

Sing nodded.
"During my undergraduate days, I had
to do research on ancient weapons.
This place has books
you can't find anywhere else.
I'm actually a little sad to
be back."