The Palace Library (3 page)

“Good
morning, good morning,” he said fiddling with his hands impatiently, “if it is
morning.  It’s so hard to tell sometimes.  How nice to meet you,
Eleanor.”  It was immediately clear to Grace that he was a lot more
serious than the previous day, even though he was still terribly polite. 
“I didn’t know whether you would be here at all, but I thought I’d wait
anyway.  The thing is I’m just a little worried about Harry.  He
seems to have vanished and I think he has gone out of another door.”

Grace
wondered whether she should be cross with Harry for not believing her, but for
now she was just worried about him.  There was too much to take in.

Edgar
continued, “Perhaps it was foolish of me to let him go wandering around on his
own.  It has been such a long time since The Library allowed two doors to
be opened at once; I had forgotten it might be a problem.”

“What
do you mean ‘The Library allowed’?  Don’t you mean
you
allowed?’”
asked Eleanor, echoing Grace’s question to Great Uncle Jasper.

“Oh
no, I mean The Library,” said Edgar, without offering more of an
explanation.  “I’m just the Librarian.  But now you’re here and you
should be able to help.  You can go after Harry.  I’m sure he’s gone
through the Great West Door.”

“But
why couldn’t you go after him?” asked Grace.  “I know he’s older than us,
but he’s still not even a teenager?”

“I’m
not allowed out of The Palace Library.  When The Witan and the late King
gave me the position, I knew that would be the case.  It’s a great burden
sometimes, but it is my duty.  Never mind.  I have plenty to
read.  You’re here now.  We should still have enough time before the
door closes again, I hope.”

Eleanor
had been learning about history at school, so she brightly asked:  “The
late King?  Do you mean George VI, the Queen’s father?  We’ve learnt
about him.”

“No,
no,” said Edgar distractedly. “Not him.  Long before his reign… but
there’s no time to tell you now.  We must get you ready.  I’ve been
thinking about books that might help you on your journey.  Then perhaps
you can take one for Harry too.  He’ll need a different sort of book to
you two girls I think.”

“Why
do we need books to help us find Harry?” Eleanor asked.

“Not
to find him.  I hope you won’t have any problem finding Harry. 
You’ll need books to get you ready for going through the door and to help you
all when you get there.  The Library only allows two doors to be open at
the same time at a time of need and it has a way of calling the people who
might be able to help.  That’s clearly why you’re all here, but of course
you don’t know that yet.”

“Yes
we do,” said Eleanor.  “Great Uncle Jasper told us.  He sent
us.  Harry too.”

Edgar
looked at them strangely and with a little more respect.  “Did he
now?  That would explain a lot.  I wish he’d told me too, but perhaps
there wasn’t time.  It’s funny.  I spend so long with nothing to do
but read, and then everything happens at once.”

Suddenly
both girls jumped as a great bell tolled.  It filled the room with sound,
but at the same time seemed very distant, before slowly fading away.  Just
before it finally faded, the same bell rang once more and the girls jumped
again.

Edgar
looked alert.  “We must hurry before the bells finish ringing. 
Quickly now!”

In
spite of what he said, Edgar didn’t move.  “I need to call Sophie.”

“Who’s
Sophie?” the girls asked together.

“Sophie
will accompany you,” replied Edgar. “She is my companion here and she’ll be
your companion on your journey.  Long ago, Sophie was the gift of a great
Queen, who, like you,” continued Edgar, turning towards the elder of the girls,
“was called Eleanor.  Sophie has great empathy, but be warned, although
she’ll protect you and love you, she won’t suffer fools.”

“What’s
empa
~,
empa
~ ?  Oh you
know what I mean,” asked Grace.

“Empathy
means she will know what you think and feel, often before you know it
yourself.  And you,” said Edgar, this time turning to Grace, “have already
met her.”

“Have
I?”

Edgar
did not reply.  Instead he drew a slender silver whistle from inside his
jacket and blew it.  The girls heard nothing but just stared.  A
moment later, silently and as if by magic, Sophie was standing at Edgar’s side
and Grace understood.  Even though she understood, she took a step back
fearfully.  For Sophie was the dog from the carpet and she appeared to be
snarling. 

But
Eleanor, who had a real fondness for animals, was enchanted.  She realised
that Sophie was smiling, even though most dogs do not smile.  Edgar leant
down to pat the neck of the elegant deerhound. “Eleanor and Grace, don’t be
afraid.  Come and meet Sophie.”  They stepped forward, waiting to be
introduced, since they knew you must always be introduced to dogs first. 
As Grace and Eleanor were only just taller than the deerhound, Sophie licked
their noses and smiled again and they both cuddled her and hugged her neck.

“Remember
this girls.  Sophie is not a pet.  Although she doesn’t speak, you
must regard her as your equal, for she is a royal hunting dog and has a lineage
as great as, or greater than many of the kings in the world.  She will be
a comfort to you.”

Just
then the bell rang again and the girls jumped, but Sophie stood firm. 
Edgar was right.  She was a comfort already.

Edgar
was less of a comfort as he said, “Now we must go and find your books and get
you equipped.  If that bell stops ringing before you go through the Great
West Door, the door may vanish and Harry will be on his own.  Who knows if
you will ever see him again?”

“Follow me,” said Edgar the
Librarian to Grace and Eleanor, far too calmly for their liking after his last
statement.  “I’m going to give you each a book to take with you.  Use
them wisely and learn from them.  I’ll give you each gifts to help as
well.  They will be yours to use where you go, but you must bring them
back to The Library.  The Library won’t allow you to take them home.”

“First,
we must go to the astronomy section.  As you would expect, it is right at
the top, near the sky.  Come.  There’s a quicker way than up the
ladder you came in on.”  Edgar slipped behind the book stacks and they
found themselves on a circular stone staircase.  “Don’t worry.  There
are only 127 steps!”

Eleanor
and Grace looked at each other, but before they had time to think about what a
long way it was, Edgar turned and said: “Come on.  Sophie will wait
here.”  Then the bell tolled again and they jumped to follow him.

The
steps did not seem to bother Edgar, but both girls were quite out of breath by
the time they arrived at the top.  They found themselves in a gallery, a
little like the one underneath the dome at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, but
this one was lined with books.

Half
way around, Edgar paused and pulled out a large book from a shelf at the
bottom.  He struggled with it and they had to stop him from falling over
backwards with it.  It was very nearly as big as the book with the
chocolate cake.

Once
the book was on a table, he opened it.  Both girls gasped. On the pages
were maps of the skies.  Drawn beautifully, they were similar to star maps
the girls had seen at home.  Better than this though, the stars shot out
of the pages like shooting stars and clung onto the dome, which now glowed dark
blue.  There, the stars glimmered and glittered.  It was like looking
directly up at the night sky.  In fact the only way you could tell that it
was not the night sky was that the lightning through the lantern window was
still throwing patterns across the bookshelves and the inside of the dome.

“Wow!”
Grace cried out.

“This
is for you, Grace,” said Edgar.  “It seems that you’re an explorer and so
this book will help you navigate.  With the other gift I’ll give you, you
can use the stars and the Sun to find your way.”

“Thank
you,” stammered Grace, “but how will I carry it?”

“I’ll
make you the pocket version,” answered Edgar.  “Will you just open that
drawer there, please?”  He pointed to a deep wide drawer at about eye
height for Grace.  It was between bookshelves and she opened it. 
Edgar struggled with the book again and put it inside before locking the drawer
with a golden key from his pocket and saying, “Move across to the other side of
the dome now please.”

At
the other side of the dome, Edgar found another much smaller drawer and opened
it with the same golden key.  When Grace opened the drawer, she found a
much smaller copy of the same book.  “It’s such a handy system for taking
books with you when you’re travelling.  I’m afraid you’ll find it’s still
quite heavy, but much more manageable.  You look after it now,
Grace.  We’re going to take the quick way down.”

With
that, Edgar slipped behind the book stack into a tiny space.  “There’s
just room for three!”

Just
as soon as they stood on it, Edgar released a brass lever at the side and said,
“Hold on!”  It was like the sensation of jumping off a tall diving board
into a swimming pool, but it lasted much longer.  The girls were glad they
had not eaten breakfast as they felt as if their stomachs were left behind
them.  Moments later, the platform bounced several times, rather like
landing on a bouncy castle, before staying still.

“That
was fun,” said Grace trying to disguise her nerves and the fact that she felt a
little sick. “I wish we could do it again.”

“No
time I’m afraid,” replied Edgar, adding, “personally, I try to take the steps
if I have the time!”

As
they all stepped off the platform, the girls realised they were in a quite
different part of The Library.  The air was colder and much of the
glamorous panelling in the main part gave way to stone walls.

“It’s
down here in the basement that we’ve come to find your gift, Eleanor,”
explained Edgar.

They
walked along the corridor and passed several metal grates, locked with large
padlocks.  They could have been prison cells, but behind each one the
girls could see row upon row of books lit by a strange greenish light. 
Each ‘cell’ went on so far that they could not see the end.

Eleanor
was more than a little in awe of where they were and asked, “Are these secret
books Edgar?  Is that why they’re locked up?”

Edgar
stopped and turned to her, apparently now taking his time.  “No these
aren’t secret books.  These books are locked up because they’re
dangerous.  Just here,” he said, turning to one passage, “is the section
on crocodiles.  Now we wouldn’t want them escaping would we?”  He sighed,
bumbling, almost forgetting his haste.  “It’s the arachnid section I
really don’t like.”

“Arachnids?”
asked Eleanor.

“Spiders,”
said Edgar.

“Yuck!”

“The
gates just there are never cleaned just in case we muddle the real spiders and
the magical spiders.  It’s such a mess.  I’ll show you one
day.”  Then the bell tolled again reminding them of the need for more
haste.  “Come on.  Less chat!”

Grace
and Eleanor both wished Sophie was with them, wondering whether they were more
frightened of crocodiles or spiders.

Edgar
had not moved though and was suddenly serious.  “It’s time I explained
something to you both and it’s something that you must explain to Harry. 
There are no secret books in The Palace Library.  The Library represents
both the freedom of knowledge and the memories and justice of England. 
That is why The Witan set it up and wanted it protected. It’s my duty to look
after it.  The fact that The Library often remains hidden is due to the
very fact that sometimes people want the knowledge in The Library to be hidden
and want to suppress freedom.  It is The Library’s paradox, but it is
always open to anyone who truly seeks knowledge.”

“What’s
a
para
~,
para
~,
para
~… you know?” asked Grace. 

“It’s
something that appears to be contradictory, but turns out not to be and yet at
the same time is difficult to understand.  You probably think it’s a bit
strange that The Library is hidden but not secret.  That is a paradox.”

“OK,”
said Eleanor as cheerfully as the circumstances allowed, wanting to make it
clear to Grace that she understood, although she did not quite.  Grace
remained silent, unconvinced either by the explanation or by Eleanor’s
confident understanding.

“Come
on now,” said Edgar. “We must get you your book.  It’s in the next book
stack on the left.”

Eleanor’s
book was a quite different colour and size.  It would not need shrinking
like the astronomy book and it was bound in beautiful burgundy coloured
leather, with pictures of thistles embossed in gold on the cover.

“We’ll
open this one upstairs,” said Edgar, mysteriously.

At
the top of a short flight of stairs, they nearly tripped over Sophie, who was
waiting for them, wise enough to know they would appear from the basement.