The Destruction of the Books Read Online Free Page A

said. “As he made homes fer others over the years who he brought home from his travels. Ye could still be there. An’ if’n ye so chose, why, I’m sure the Grandmagister would welcome ye back with open arms.”
    Juhg knew that.
    “Way I heard it,” Raisho said in a softer voice, “ye were like to a son to him, ye were.”
    “I know,” Juhg said. “But my family may still be out there.” Then he corrected himself. “ Here. They may still be here . I’ve got a mother and a father, two brothers and a sister that I know of.”
    “If’n the goblin slavers the Grandmagister freed ye from didn’t do fer ’em.”
    Juhg glanced at the young sailor.
    Raisho’s blue eyes held a stricken look. “Didn’t mean no harm nor foul, Juhg. Just tryin’ to put everythin’ in perspective fer ye because I care about ye. Which is why I put in a good word with Cap’n Attikus fer ye.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Embarrassment colored Raisho’s face. “Nothin’. I meant nothin’. Just me mouth betrayin’ me mind again.”
    “You meant something,” Juhg said with a little force. During their three-year friendship, he’d never put too much pressure on the ties that bound them. “What did you mean?”
    Raisho scowled. “Don’t ye be botherin’ the cap’n with it. Like as not, he won’t be overly fond of either of us if ye go off askin’ him about this. Better we should just keep it betwixt us.”
    “What word did you put in?”
    Shrugging, Raisho answered, “Weren’t much. Cap’n Attikus, he just wasn’t too happy about takin’ on a scribbler, is all.”
    A scribbler! Juhg couldn’t believe it. Captain Attikus was one of the few ship’s captains in all the world who knew Greydawn Moors laid across the forbidden expanse of the Blood-Soaked Sea. The captain knew why the island had to remain hidden. If the goblin ships discovered the existence of the Vault of All Known Knowledge, they would sail on Greydawn Moors and burn the island down to the waterline, showing no mercy to man or beast.
    Librarians at the Vault held great respect from those who knew of them. Unfortunately, not many knew of them.
    “A scribbler !” Juhg gasped in disbelief. Anger stirred within him. “The term is grossly offensive.” Accepting it meant accepting an insult to the time and effort his teachers had put into him as well. He couldn’t do that.
    Raising his hands meekly, Raisho said, “Now, now. Don’t go off an’ get yer dander all riled up.”
    But Juhg couldn’t stop himself. He had lived as a slave for fourteen years before Grandmagister Lamplighter had freed him and brought him back to Greydawn Moors. “Librarians offer so much more than merely readers and writers. They hold storehouses of knowledge, hold keys to information that many would consider to be magic, and ways of understanding that can give people access to worlds. Real worlds as well as made-up ones. Where would civilization be without biographies, volumes on agriculture, sailing, and construction? Where would the imagination be without the heroes in stories? Where would the heart be without passionate tales of love and loneliness and sacrifice?”
    “Avast there, matey,” Raisho said. “It’s not me ye’re in need of convincin’.”
    Juhg slumped back in the rickety wooden chair. He nearly tumbled off the worn cushion his height had forced him to use in order to reach his meal. “I thought the captain was an ally.”
    “The cap’n is an ally.” Raisho scowled. “Ye’ll find none truer than Cap’n Attikus an’ the crew of Windchaser. ” He paused. “He just weren’t very happy about takin’ on someone so … so…”
    “Short?” Juhg supplied with just a hint of sarcasm to point out his friend’s poor attempt to excuse the sea captain.
    “New to the sea,” Raisho said.
    “I am a skilled sailor,” Juhg protested. “I learned my skills aboard One-Eyed Peggie when the Grandmagister returned from the mainland all those years