Loremaster suspected him of wanting to steal the helmet. ‘Sometimes,’ he said, ‘one has a feel for certain objects that are involved with one’s destiny. This may be the case with you and the Crown.’
‘It is a beautiful thing but I hope I never have any use for it,’ said Teclis. ‘It is something for a warrior not for a wizard like myself. I do not see myself going to war at any time in the near future.’
‘You can never predict what your fate might be,’ said the High Loremaster. ‘It is not something that even the greatest of wizards has any control over.’
Teclis doubted this, but he did not want to get into an argument with the head of his order.
‘What do you plan to do now?’ the High Loremaster asked.
‘All this talk of the alignment of moons and stars and Chaos gates has made me curious. I wish to do some research of my own in the library.’
‘That is a dark and serious subject. In theory, you need the permission of the High Loremaster to pursue it.’
‘Do I have it?’ Teclis asked.
‘I think it is safe to say that you do.’
‘I thank you for the work you have done on the slann text.’
‘I should thank you, Prince Teclis. It is not often I have had such a fascinating subject to study.’
Teclis walked down the steps into the Great Library. Over the arched doorway was the symbol of the moon, the same symbol that appeared on the War Crown of Saphery and was the mark of the ancient princely realm. Sword Masters guarded the entrance.
Within this place were treasures uncounted: ancient books and scrolls, tablets of forbidden knowledge, palimpsests and metal etchings. It was one of the greatest treasure houses of knowledge in existence.
Of course, the guards were symbolic because it was very unlikely that any thief would even find his way into the tower. Not impossible though, Teclis thought, or else the Sword Masters would be deployed elsewhere. Or perhaps they were there to report on the mages studying within. It was not unknown for them to seek forbidden lore.
He nodded to the guardians as he limped past. They acknowledged his presence and a clerk wrote down his name in the register. If he checked that huge leather bound book he would find the names of the greatest magicians that Ulthuan had ever produced. Out of curiosity he had done just that in the past. It thrilled him to think that he was walking now where once those legends had walked.
He entered the main hall of the library. It was gigantic, eight stories high, with books running all the way to the ceiling. On each level was a balcony that ran around the entire chamber. Steps led up to these balconies. In the centre of the room were many tables at which wizards and scholars sat studying ancient volumes of lore.
At the far end of the chamber was another exit which led to a room very similar to the first. He progressed through a dozen such chambers until at last he came to a room with a much lower ceiling and several exits.
This was where things started to get tricky. In the main chambers of the library, which he had just passed through, nothing ever went astray. It was easy to navigate them and no one ever got lost. Once you passed through this area you were into something else entirely. Soon he would be in the Maze of Books.
From here there was a labyrinth of corridors and tunnels walled with volumes of lore which seemed to stretch off in every direction. He had walked through this place on many different occasions and had come to the conclusion that this part of the library was several times greater than the area of the tower which contained it, impossible as that was.
He knew that some sort of magic was at work but, as with all of the magic connected with the tower, it was infinitely subtle and very hard to detect even if you were looking for it. Occasionally he felt the flicker of some spark of power when he passed from one room to another but he never quite worked out what was happening, which annoyed him, for he was very proud of his skill as a wizard.
When he entered these corridors, he was entering a realm where the normal laws of the world did not apply. He had known other mages to claim that they were in