he was just frustrated. ‘I have not. But I want to. Where can I find these books?’
She reached out and ruffled his lank hair. It was a gesture of affection that surprised and touched him as well as embarrassed him. He was not used to such things. He looked away. ‘You will not find them here, or in any library outside of the Tower of Hoeth. It’s the sort of knowledge that the Loremasters keep to themselves.’
‘You have been to Hoeth?’
She nodded.
‘You have seen the library?’
‘I have seen the parts of it I was allowed to see.’
‘Allowed?’
‘The library is a vast, strange place, like the Tower itself. There are sections that some people never see and yet others can visit every day. Sometimes, a mage will find a chamber full of books just once in his life and never be able to find the way back. The library is part of the Tower and the Tower has a mind, of sorts, of its own.’
‘It sounds wonderful and terrible at the same time,’ said Teclis.
‘I do not think the mages who built the Tower entirely understood what it was they were creating. I think the spells they cast had unforeseen consequences. It is often the way with magic.’ She sounded a little sad when she said that, as if she had direct personal experience of such a thing. ‘A thousand years in the building, a millennium of work by hundreds of the greatest mages of the elf people. Webs of geomantic power spun within webs of geomantic power, monstrously powerful spells layered upon monstrously powerful spells, built in a place that was already sacred to the God of Wisdom and a font of awesome power. It is the greatest work of the elves, I think it will most likely endure after we have gone. I sometimes think that it will endure the wreck of the world and that it was intended to do so.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I believe the Tower is a vault as well as a repository of knowledge. When the elves are gone, it will still be there, preserving our knowledge, all that we are, all that we were, all that we will be. There was never a place like it built before and there never will be again. Bel-Korhadris, its architect, was the greatest geomancer since Caledor Dragontamer and I doubt there are any living now who can fully compass his design or his intention.’
Her words started a great blaze burning in Teclis’s heart. A desire to look upon this place and to walk through its library and penetrate its secrets, insofar as he might, filled him. He had never heard of anywhere so attractive. He wondered if they might take him there, even in the meanest capacity, as a sweeper or scribe or a warden. He felt like he would do anything required to look upon this place and be part of it.
‘My father never talked of the Tower as you do,’ he said. He had never heard anyone talk of any place with such passion. She sounded like his father when he talked about the dragon armour of Aenarion or Tyrion when he talked about warfare.
‘All elves who see it, see it slightly differently. All elves who go there experience it slightly differently. I am not so sure your father’s experience was as pleasant as mine. Or it may be that he does not like to talk about it the way I do. Some people are secretive that way. In general I do not speak of my time there much. It is odd that I feel compelled to discuss such a thing with you, Prince Teclis. I wonder why that is?’
Teclis could not answer because he did not know. He did feel that in Lady Malene he had found a kindred spirit. Perhaps she felt the same. ‘Why did you ask me what I know of the Art?’
‘Because there is a very great power within you. I can sense it, your father has sensed it, any mage with the Sight can sense it. If you live and are not accursed you may become a very great wizard one day.’
‘Will I get to see the Tower of Hoeth?’
‘Most assuredly.’
‘That would make me very happy,’ said Teclis and once more he fell into a long fit of coughing until he felt like he was almost unable to breathe.
‘Poor child,’ said Lady Malene. ‘Not much has given you happiness, has it?’