Lord of the Libraries by Mel Odom Page B

tell it. In addition to the friction over what should be done with the Library —what survives of the Library, Juhg amended—he also had to deal with the wall keeping Craugh’s secret would compel.
    “Wick is still alive,” Craugh said. “I visited with Hallekk before I came to find you. He consulted the monster’s eye. Given their course and their present rate of speed, the goblinkin ships will be at Imarish tomorrow.”
    Juhg hadn’t known that for certain, but he believed that Craugh would have told him if the Grandmagister had been killed. The declaration reignited his anger, though, and he lost his appetite.
    “You’re not eating,” Craugh said.
    “No.”
    “Why?”
    “I’m not hungry.”
    “Nonsense. Of course you are. You’ve been working every waking hour on those books and this ship for days.”
    “Yes.”
    “And there have been other … distractions.”
    Learning that someone you thought was your friend could be an enemy is a distraction? Juhg sipped his breath. “Yes.”
    “You know that Wick and I did not foresee this eventuality,” Craugh said. “Him getting kidnapped at Greydawn Moors, I mean. We planned on him getting kidnapped, of course. Just not there. That had to happen at some point so we could get the information we needed from Aldhran Khempus. So when Aldhran Khempus showed up with the goblinkin after the trap in the Library was sprung, we took best advantage of it as we could.” He paused. “Not that we could have truly forestalled the kidnapping. Aldhran Khempus was going to have Wick one way or another.”
    “You should have told me.”
    Craugh mopped his bowl with the last biscuit and ate it. “We couldn’t tell you what we had planned.”
    For the first time, Juhg looked fully at Craugh. After the Grandmagister’s kidnapping at Greydawn Moors a month ago, Juhg had immediately asked how the Grandmagister had known an attempt would be made to take him. Craugh had brushed away the questions, telling him they needed to concentrate on what needed doing instead of what had already been done.
    “Why couldn’t you tell me?” Juhg asked.
    “You were leaving Greydawn Moors, apprentice. For the second time.” Craugh frowned. “Or don’t you remember it that way?”
    “Of course I remember it that way.” Juhg hadn’t been able to stay on the island. The Library and the outlying town had grown too small when he’d felt certain the books needed to be released out into the world again, and the Grandmagister would have none of that.
    That place had grown even smaller after the Library and most of the books had been destroyed because he had brought the trap there. The guilt had been overwhelming. Even though he knew the Grandmagister was busy with saving what he could of the books, and with all the internal problems of some of the dwellers revolting against responsibility they
owed to the Grandmagister, Juhg had still felt that the Grandmagister pointedly stayed away from him. He had been more than ready to leave. In fact, he’d been aboardship when he’d found out about the Grandmagister’s Council meeting.
    “Good,” Craugh said. “At least we won’t have that to argue about.”
    “If I had known the Grandmagister had something like this planned—”
    “Would you have stayed?” Craugh looked at Juhg reproachfully. “It seems to me that you were only too happy to leave the island even after the Dread Riders, Blazebulls, and Grymmlings had leveled the library.”
    “That’s not fair.”
    Craugh studied Juhg. “Would you have let Aldhran Khempus—or anyone like him, for that matter—abscond with Wick?”
    “No.” And that’s only one of the differences between us, Craugh. I don’t trust villains. And I suspect you convinced the Grandmagister to risk his life with your clever words. Still, Juhg felt a stab of guilt over his belief, though at this juncture it was unavoidable.
    “That’s exactly my point.”
    “Why did the Grandmagister have to allow