Alcatraz versus the Knights of Crystallia Read Online Free PDF

who gave out assign ments. But why would she send her own daughter on a mission that was obviously too hard for her?
    " S omething is wrong ,” Bastille said.
    "You mean, aside from the fact that our flying hawk mysteriously exploded? "
    She waved an indifferent hand. "The Librarians did that."
    " T hey did?"
    "Of course," Bastille said. "They have an ambassador in t own and we're going to stop them from taking over Mokia. He nce, they tried to kill us. Once the Librarians try to blow y o u up a few dozen times, you get used to it."
    “ Are we sure it was them?" I asked. "One of the rooms e xploded, you said. Whose?"
    "My mother's," Bastille replied. "We think it might have been from some Detonator's Glass slipped into her pack bef ore she left Nalhalla. She carried that pack all the way t hr ough the Library of Alexandria, and it was set to go off when she got back in range of the city."
    "Wow. Elaborate."
    "That's the Librarians. Anyway, something is bothering m y mother. I can tell ."
    "Maybe she's feeling bad for punishing you so harshly."
    Bastille snorted. "Not likely. This is something else, something about the sword. . . ."
    She trailed off and didn't seem to have anything else to add. A few moments later, Grandpa Smedry waved me toward him. "Alcatraz!" he said. "Come listen to this!"
    My grandfather was sitting with Sing on the couches. I walked over and sat down next to my grandfather, noting how comfortable the couch was. I hadn't seen any other dragons like this one crawling across the walls of the city, so I assumed that the ride was a special privilege.
    "Sing, tell my grandson what you've been telling me," Grandpa Smedry said.
    "Well, here's the thing," Sing said, leaning forward. "This ambassador sent by the Librarians, she's from the Wardens of the Standard."
    " W ho?" I asked.
    "It's one of the Librarian sects," Sing explained. "Blackburn was from the Order of the Dark Oculators, while the assassin you faced in the Library of Alexandria was from the Order of the Scrivener's Bones. The Wardens of the Standard have always claimed to be the most kindly of the Librarians."
    "Kindly Librarians? That seems like an oxymoron."
    "It's also an act ,” Grandpa Smedry said. "The whole order is founded on the idea of looking innocent; they're really the deadliest snakes in the lot. The Wardens maintain most of the Hushlander libraries. They pretend that because they're only a bunch of bureaucrats, they're not dangerous like the Dark Oculators or the Order of the Shattered Lens."
    "Well, act or not," Sing replied, "they're the only L ibrarians who have ever made any kind of effort to work wi th the Free Kingdoms, rather than just trying to conquer u s. This ambassador has convinced the Council of Kings th at she is serious."
    I listened, interested, but not quite sure why my grandfather wanted me to know this. I'm a rather awesome person ( h ave I mentioned that?) but I'm really not that great at politics. It's one of the three things I've no experience what so e ver doing, the other two being writing books and atm ospheric rocket-propelled penguin riding. (Stupid re sponsibility.)
    "So . . . what does this have to do with me?" I asked.
    "Everything, lad, everything!" Grandpa Smedry pointed a t me. "We're Smedrys. When we gave up our kingdom, w e took an oath to watch over all of the Free Kingdoms. We're the guardians of civilization!"
    "But wouldn't it be good if the kings make peace with the Librarians?"
    Sing looked pained. "Alcatraz, to do so, they would give up Mokia, my homeland! It would get folded into the Hushlands, and a generation or two from now, the Mokians wouldn't even remember being free. My people can't continue to fight the Librarians without the support of the other Free Kingdoms. We're too small on our own."
    "The Librarians won't keep their promise of peace," Grandpa Smedry said. "They've wanted Mokia badly for years now – I still don't know why they're so focused on it, as opposed to other