David Zindell - The Lightstone

'Behold!' he said to me. 'Behold and rejoice!'

Then he gazed lovingly at the crystal in his hand as he said, 'Ah, my beauty – did you really think I'd let anyone else have you?'

From the top of the tower, Lord Grayam called down to him, 'Thank you, Maram Marshayk!'

Other Librarians nearby by took up the cry: 'Maram Marshayk! Maram Marshayk!'

In a moment, their exultation spread up and down the wall so that knights and archers were now cheering out: 'Ma-ram! Ma-ram! Ma-ram! Ma-ram!…'

The sound of so many voices lifted up in praise carried out across the pasture to where Count Ulanu sat on his horse. Hundreds of his men lay slaughtered beneath the wall, and only a few moments before, a whole company of his finest cavalry had perished. One of his siege towers and battering rams were now nothing but charred beams. And still Maram had his firestone. So when the enemy's bugles sounded again and Count Ulanu began pulling back his lines to make camp for the night, no one was surprised.

'Ma-ram! Ma-ram! Ma-ram!..'

A rope ladder was called for and cast up to the Lord Librarian – and to Atara and me. We climbed down it and embraced Maram, taking care with his wounds. The blood dripping down his legs caused him to turn and look back at the arrows embedded in him. And then he gasped in outrage and pain, 'Oh, my Lord, I'll never sit down again!'

'It's all right,' I said to him, I'll carry you, if I must.'

'Will you?'

I gripped his hand in mine with great joy as I watched him holding his red crystal in the other. I said, 'Thank you, Maram.'

In his soft brown eyes was a fire brighter than anything I had seen lighting up his gelstei. 'Thank you, my friend,' he told me.

Lord Grayam came forward and clasped his hand, too. 'You would do well, Prince Maram, to repair to the infirmary – with the other warriors wounded here today.'

Maram managed a painful but proud smile. 'We won, Lotd Grayam.'

Lord Grayam stared down through the ruins of the wall at the bloody ground beneath us. He said, 'Yes, we won the day.'

But the Librarians, too, had lost many men, and the Sun Gate had been breached.

Tomorrow, I thought, would be another day of battle and even more terrible. pasture to where Count Ulanu sat on his horse. Hundreds of his men lay slaughtered beneath the wall, and only a few moments before, a whole company of his finest cavalry had perished. One of his siege towers and battering rams were now nothing but charred beams. And still Maram had his firestone. So when the enemy's bugles sounded again and Count Ulanu began pulling back his lines to make camp for the night, no one was surprised.

'Ma-ram! Ma-ram! Ma-ram!..'

A rope ladder was called for and cast up to the Lord Librarian – and to Atara and me. We climbed down it and embraced Maram, taking care with his wounds. The blood dripping down his legs caused him to turn and look back at the arrows embedded in him. And then he gasped in outrage and pain, 'Oh, my Lord, I'll never sit down again!'

'It's all right,' I said to him, I'll carry you, if I must.'

'Will you?'

I gripped his hand in mine with great joy as I watched him holding his red crystal in the other. I said, 'Thank you, Maram.'

In his soft brown eyes was a fire brighter than anything I had seen lighting up his gelstei. 'Thank you, my friend,' he told me.

Lord Grayam came forward and clasped his hand, too. 'You would do well, Prince Maram, to repair to the infirmary – with the other warriors wounded here today.'

Maram managed a painful but proud smile. 'We won, Lord Grayam.'

Lord Grayam stared down through the ruins of the wall at the bloody ground beneath us. He said, 'Yes, we won the day.'

But the Librarians, too, had lost many men, and the Sun Gate had been breached.

Tomorrow, I thought, would be another day of battle and even more terrible.

Soon after that a messenger arrived to give Lord Grayam news that made his face blanch and set his hand to trembling: The enemy had been thrown back from the Sun Gate, but in its defense Captain Nicolam had been killed and Captain Donalam and several knights captured. The gate itself was ruined beyond repair; Kane and a hundred knights stood in a line behind it in case Count Ulanu should order a night assault of the city.

'They've taken my son,' Lord Grayam said. In his quavering voice, there was sadness, outrage and great fear. 'And if we try to hold as we did today, tomorrow they'll take the city.'

He issued orders then to abandon the outer wall – and with it most of Khaisham. So many Librarians had fallen that day, he said, that there were just too few left to hold this extended perimeter. It was an agonizing decision to have to make, but a good one, or so I judged.

And so all the citizens of Khaisham not killed or captured by Count Ulanu's men retreated behind the city's inner wall. In its height and defenses, it was much like the outer wall; it surrounded the Library on all sides, its easternmost sections being almost flush with the outer wall where it turned along the contours of Mount Redruth. To the north, west and south of the inner wall, between its blocks of red sandstone and the houses of the city, an expanse of ground five hundred yards wide had been left barren of any buildings or structures. This provided a clear field of fire for Lord Grayam's archers, who quickly took up their stations behind the wall's battlements. It also kept any enemy from mounting an assault upon the wall from any convenient window or rooftop. That there had never been an assault of any kind upon the inner wall in all the thousands of years since the Library had been built cheered no one.

We took Maram to the infirmary to have his wounds tended. Atara and I half-carried him there, with his thick arms thrown across our shoulders. Master Juwain drew the arrows as he had with Atara. But when he brought forth his green gelstei to heal him further, he had only a partial success. The varistei glowed with only with a dull light as did Master Juwain himself. With the infirmary's beds filled with moaning warriors who had been hacked and maimed, it had been a very long day for him. Although he staunched the bleeding of Maram s wounds, they still required bandages But at least Maram could still walk, if not sit very easily, ft was more than most of the wounded could manage.

'Ah, thank you, sir, It's not so bad,' Maram said with surprising fortitude. He reached back his hand to pat himself where the arrows had pierced him. 'It's still very sore, but at least I won't be laid up here.'

I looked about this place of carnage and anguish that the infirmary had become. Its smells of medicinal teas and ointments assaulted my senses. I built up my inner walls even higher Although I couldn't wait to get back to the open air of the battlements, it surprised me that Maram felt the same. Courage, once found, does not very quickly melt away.

We said goodbye to Master Juwain and liljana and left them to a sleepless night of tending the wounded. Then we walked back through the Library. Almost everyone in Khaisham not dead or stationed along the walls had crowded into it. It was a vast place indeed, but it had been built to house millions of books, not thousands of people. It pained me to see aisle upon aisle of old men, women and children camped out there, trying to rest upon little straw mats that they had put down to cover the cold stone floor. It seemed that no yard of floor space in the Library's center hall or any of its wings was unoccupied. Even the walkways circling the great islands of books, at least at the lower levels, had been taken over by brave souls who didn't mind trying to sleep on a narrow bed of stone suspended thirty or fifty feet in space.

It was good to exit the Library through the great arched doorways of its west wing and breathe fresh air again. We crossed a courtyard crammed with food carts, piles of planking, barrels of water, oil, nails and other things. Sheaves of arrows were stacked like wheat And everywhere masons and carpenters hurried to and fro beneath the orange blaze of torches to prepare the inner walls for the next day's assault.