appeared human, an alien aspect lay just beneath the surface that made him unpredictable.
Mallory decided it was time to go. He rose, choosing his words carefully. 'Thank you for your hospitality, but we have to return to our own kind.' Miller jumped to his feet eagerly.
The Caretaker nodded slowly, watching Mallory so intently with those glimmering eyes that it felt as though he was seeing right into Mallory's head. 'I am not your enemy, Brother of Dragons,' he said. 'In other times we could stand together in this place and look into the infinite with open hearts.' His eyes narrowed as if he were squinting to see further. 'But there is something broken inside you and Existence will not open up until you mend yourself.'
Mallory shifted uncomfortably. 'Is there a way back so we don't have to go through the vault?'
'There is.' The Caretaker pulled himself to his full height. 'You must be careful if you venture into this place again. For the terrible crime that has been committed, there is a desire that you be punished fully. You will never be allowed to leave your refuge, I fear. Even here, powers circle to keep you contained.'
'We've done nothing wrong. Really,' Miller pleaded. 'There's no reason why we're being made to suffer.'
'There is always a reason,' the Caretaker replied, 'even if you cannot see it.'
'What is the crime?' Mallory asked.
'The crime is against Existence.'
For the first time the conversation brought some emotion to the Caretaker's face and it looked very much like distaste; Mallory did not pursue it further.
The Caretaker took them to the doorway through which he had entered. 'Follow this way. Do not deviate from the path,' he said, holding the tapestry back. 'It will return you to your home.'
They hurried away, but as the Caretaker faded from view, his voice floated after them. 'Cure yourself, Brother of Dragons. Existence and all its wonders await you.'
They emerged in the cloisters soon after. Snowflakes shimmered against the night sky, the stonework glittering with a coating of frost. When they glanced back, the doorway through which they had emerged was no longer there.
'So we know something happened in the cathedral to make the earth energy stronger, and that surge of power brought this place here,' Mallory mused. 'And I reckon it manifested so forcefully that it changed everyone who was here… made them think it had always been this way.'
'But because we weren't around, we weren't affected,' Miller said.
'You know what?' Mallory continued thoughtfully. 'I think all the new buildings that appeared are frightening and oppressive because they're reflecting the mood in the cathedral.' 'Because everyone's hungry and trapped?'
Mallory looked at the innocent hope in Miller's face and caught the words he was about to say. 'If everything was right here, maybe we'd see some kind of shining palace. The Jerusalem that everyone wanted to build on England's green and pleasant land.'
'That would be wonderful.'
'We all get what we wish for, maybe. So even our secret thoughts have repercussions.' That thought frightened him immensely.
They found Daniels and Gardener perched on pews in the nave looking weary and worried. 'We thought you were done for,' Gardener said.
'Where's Hipgrave?' Miller asked.
'He's lost it,' Gardener replied. He looked away uncomfortably.
'You saw what state he was in,' Daniels said. 'After we got him out of that vault he was nearly catatonic. Trying to get him through those tunnels…' He shook his head. 'Suddenly he came out of it like a wild man. Nearly tore my good eye out. It took both of us to pin him down. In the end, Gardener had to knock him flat.' He looked towards the altar. 'The things he was saying…'
'Where is he now?' Mallory asked.
'We got him to the infirmary. Warwick's given him a sedative, but I don't reckon it'll do much good. He's completely gone. There was nothing in his eyes at all. It must have got to him, everything we've seen…'
'He was never too stable anyway,' Mallory said. 'So Blaine's lost one of his captains. What's he going to do now?'
Daniels shrugged. 'We briefed him about what happened, but he wasn't really interested. Something else is going on, I think. I heard the Blues had to sort out some kind of fight in the kitchens. Some idiots trying to get food…'
'This place is ready to blow,' Mallory said. 'God knows what's going to happen when they find out about Julian.'
'So what happened to you two?' Gardener asked.
Miller told them excitedly about the Caretaker and what he had said about the new buildings.
'You don't want to be consorting with the Devil,' Gardener said disparagingly when Miller had finished.
Miller began to protest. 'He wasn't-'
'The Devil always lies.' Gardener's eyes were steely and uncompromising. 'The Bible doesn't have any room for things like that. So it's the work of the Devil.'
'You can't beat logic like that,' Mallory said sardonically.
There was a flash like a drawn blade in Gardener's face. 'You can stand there being smart, lad, but the way things are going there's only two sides and you'll have to be on one or the other. And I'm starting to have my doubts about you.'
'Oh, I'm wounded.'
Gardener held his eye for a moment, then began to clean the mud from his boots with a dagger.
Miller looked to Mallory uncertainly. 'So we can't trust anything he said?'
'We trust ourselves,' Mallory said. 'That's all we can do.'
Mallory spent the rest of the night and half the next day pondering the Caretaker's enigmatic comments, before his thoughts turned to Rhiannon. In the Court of Peaceful Days, she, too, had made obtuse comments that had appeared meaningless at the time. Were they both trying to help him in an oblique way, so that they did not feel they were breaking some kind of agreement that their kind didn't assist Fragile Creatures? The more he considered it, the more he thought it was probably true. Her words were lodged clearly in his mind: Look to learning to understand the conflict. He considered this until, in a flash of inspiration, he had an inkling of what she had been advising.
Mallory feigned illness to avoid going to Peter's Christian philosophy class, knowing it would earn him the wrath of Blaine, but it was the only way he could guarantee that the rest of the knights would be occupied. With all the other brothers dealing with the rigorous day-to-day routine of the cathedral, he would be free to investigate unseen.
He hurried through the snow to the cloisters and climbed the stairs to the library. It had changed considerably since the first time he had been there, now straddling the boundary between the old buildings and the new. On his side, it was just as it always had been, but through the window he could see it progressing into a vast gothic chamber, its ceiling lost to shadows, with bizarre stone carvings that appeared to watch over anyone wandering amongst the racks, lit by sizzling torches and with shelves of books that must have gone up twenty feet or more.
The door was locked, as he had expected, and he knew there was no other point of entry. He hoped he was as good a judge of character as he believed.
He rapped on the glass gently until he saw James approaching. When James saw who was without, he shook his head and tried to wave Mallory away, but Mallory persisted, pleading silently. After a moment, James relented. He slid back several bolts and turned the key before opening the door a crack.
'Are we keeping the gold chalices in here now?' Mallory said.
'The library is off limits.' James was patently ill at ease with his new position.
'Yes, you can't let those books fall into the wrong hands. There might be an awful spontaneous outbreak of knowledge and open-mindedness.'
'What do you want, Mallory?' James said wearily. From the moment he had given Mallory the first guided tour of the cathedral, James had never sounded anything less than good-natured.
'A few minutes of your time, that's all.'
