The Keepers (4 - short version) - The Librarian

Chapter 4

The Librarian

We ran for the rest of the day and when night fell we slowed to a walk. There was enough moonlight to see the path but not enough to see much else. That’s why we did not see the man sitting on a log beside the path until he called to us.

“Keepers. To where do you go?”

That brought us up sharp. I peered into the darkness and there sitting before us was an old man. As we approached him he stood.

“Hello sir. My name is Con and these are Jot and Pit. Our guide here is Tol” Con greeted him. “Why are you sitting here in the dark?”

“I was weary and here was as good a place to rest for a time as any young Keeper. So, and why are three young keepers walking through the night when they should be in the hold versing.”

“Sir we are rushing to the Keep to warn them about a large band of marauders that can not be far behind us.”

“Ah. I see. Very brave of you boys but let me tell you that there is no need. The Keep has been aware of them for more than two days already. We received news that they landed on our eastern shore though we were not expecting so many nor were we expecting such violence.”

“Sir you say we as if you were a Keeper yet you are not dressed as a Keeper.”

“And Keeper I no longer am my boy. In fact, all of the Keepers have left the mountain and have gone in all directions from the mountain so that when the marauders reach the Keep they will be greeted by the crickets and the fire flies. You boys may call me Don.”

I had been silent all this time while they talked. Now I spoke up.

“Sir, Don, why have you all left the Keep?”

“There reason is simple young Pit. We did not wish to see any further killings. The marauders may have the skills to find what they seek but it is a sure thing that they would torture any Keepers they found to get information.”

“But sir, might they not destroy the Keep?”

“Yes lad they might indeed and it would be a sore thing if buildings that have stood for many hundreds of years should be destroyed.”

Con probed the old man. “Sir, you said that they seek something. What is it that they seek?”

“Young man you have been a Keeper only a short time and it is not for me to break with ancient tradition and disclose all the secrets of the Keep to one who has not passed all the tests we place in your way.” There was a touch of kindness and mirth in his voice. He spoke again. “But who knows what marauders might seek in such a place. Perhaps they have a liking for blue cloth.”

“So sir” Con spoke again. “What are we to do then?”

“Well my boy I would strongly suggest finding some other clothing for these marauders might start looking for Keepers under every rock and it might not be such a good idea to be the only ones they can find. It will be problem enough with our shaved heads but I expect they will grow out soon enough.”

Tol guided us to a farm house he knew of. There was nobody to be seen and nobody answered our calls. Toll disappeared into the house and emerged soon with some old and worn work clothes which he handed to us.

“I guess we’ll just have to borrow what we need and I’ll let them know what happened later.”

We did not grumble. We changed and left our robes hidden behind the house under a pile of rocks. Maybe we’d return for them. I had no idea when that might be.

With that done we were off again. We walked south and east back towards my own lands but we went across country with Tol leading us. The going was slow because the old Keeper required frequent stops.

“Sir” I enquired, “Why were you traveling alone?”

“Well, young Pit, I had watched all the younger Keepers off with a few other older Keepers like myself. Then we had made some final preparations for our marauder visitors and left each going either north or south or east or west. I came west.”

“May I enquire sir what your preparations were?” I pressed.

“My boy “only the Keepers know the answer to that question” he returned with a wry smile. “And now I must rest again my boys. So sorry to be a burden to you.”

I sat with the old Keeper while Tol shot off ahead to scout around and the other two walked at some distance to either side keeping an eye out for anyone.

“Pit, I know you or at least I am sure that I know who you are. You are Brom’s son are you not?”

“Yes sir. I am. But how did you know?”

“I can see your grandfather in you and we were very close friends. He was a great Keeper did you know?”

“I have heard similar from Grom who verses at the hold near our farm.”

“Ah old Grom, what a kind soul he is. I have not seen him for many years. How is he?”

“Sir he is well, it was he who saved my head just the day before yesterday. He told me of my grandfather. I had not know he was so revered.”

“Well, Pit he became what we call a Poet. This is a very great achievement. Had it not been for fate it might have been him, and not I, who now walks with you. And because of this I will share with you something that, if I had not shed my robes I would be bound to keep from you. I will share this because it might be that I will not survive this journey and it will be necessary for someone to carry a message back to the Keep if ever the marauders leave.”

I waited patiently for him to continue, wondering what sort of a secret he might share.

“Pit, There are not many Keeps around the world. There are perhaps only a dozen that have not been pillaged over the many centuries since they were made. In the early days when a Keep was pillaged what they hold was utterly destroyed. Those that remain survived only because their secrets are so well secured that none of those who have attempted it have succeeded in breaking them. But these marauders, I think that these may succeed where many have failed.”

“Sir, you know then of these people?”

“Yes lad I do indeed. They are servants of a Druid. Not just any Druid but the great Arch Druid from across the Great Sea. Druids, if you have not heard of them, are like Keepers in one way yet not in the way that is most important. Druids crave power. They work Magic. They can work it for good or for ill but when it comes to knowledge there is little but death itself that will stop them.”

“Sir, but this is terrible to hear. What then does this Druid seek from the Keep?”

He glanced around looking to where the others might be. “Pit I ask you to keep this secret from all unless death comes to me whence you might share it with one other so that what I will tell you might survive even your own death.”

“Sir I swear it.”

“Pit, what is hidden secure within every Keep are “Books”.

“Books? Sir I have never heard the word. What are they?”

“Lad, Books are things in which ancient knowledge is stored - knowledge so vast and so profound that few if any of our people have the skill to understand it. Poets are those people who are permitted to study these books and to make new versings from them so long as they protect the people from a terrible truth that lies within the books.”

I was starting to feel sick. What could be so terrible?

“Sir, I do not know if I am strong enough to hold such a terrible secret.”

“Pit, I am sorry, but I had overestimated my health and stamina and it must be you for at least I know that two of your line, at least, have the skill and the heart to hold such knowledge and not disclose it except in dire need.”

I waited, feeling that the doom that was to come would be too much for me to bear.

“Pit, mote than a thousand years ago we humans were like gods. We were vast in numbers and we were powerful beyond your dreams. There was little we could not do. We waked upon the moon, we flew through the air as easy as you or I walk on the earth. We had conquered illness and lived long years beyond the years we live now. But all of this was not through our skill but through exploiting what had been left to us over the vast stretch of time going back to when the earth was made. We drank the blood of the earth. Then, when the blood was exhausted, a great collapse came and billions of people died. All the knowledge that we had had been stored in a huge mind that we had made. The Books that are held in the Keep were but antiques that were lovingly preserved for their historical and artistic value and in case of a collapse – for even then there were some who could see collapse would come.”

“Sir, but how can these books be anything but good. Should we not open them up and copy them and spread them to all the people of the world so that we might become as gods again?”

“Pit, that is the goal of the Arch Druid. And as much as it appeals to us all there is one simple fact that releasing all this knowledge will make clear to all living humans on the world.”

“Sir?”

“Pit, the secret that we protect the people of the world from is that we have no future. We are in decline. We are a doomed species, we can not escape our world and we can never reclaim the greatness of the ancients. They took from the earth the very power that is needed to conquer the universe and they wasted it on things we do not even understand. To achieve what they achieved we would need a population as vast as that of old but the earth can not support such numbers any longer. In all the world now there is barely one hundred million people and may of those live in poverty and struggle to survive each day.”

“Sir, you mean that we will all die?”

“No, lad, no. We will live for a long, long time and we can be happy and maybe over that time we can learn for ourselves much of that which is in the books we Keep. But one day in the distant future there will be none of us left. We just live. And at the core of the human heart is that great thing called “Hope”. We dare not risk the destruction of hope in the hearts of people for then what would we become but animals?”

“Sir, why did you tell me this? How am I to keep hope with this knowledge?”

“Son, now indeed you are a Keeper. I think you will do just fine Pit. Now, I have some secret key codes to teach you and then we can call the others to hunt for some lunch. How does that sound?”

“Sounds like a good idea sir. Better than giving up and jumping in a well.”

I smiled. And he smiled back.