The Book of Air: Volume Four of the Dragon Quartet Read Online Free PDF Page B

himself out in the bush with only distant neighbors who fear and mistrust him anyway. He’ll need all his witchy powers to keep his own self safe.
    Cauldwell lets everyone yammer out their anxiety. Meanwhile, he leans over the Librarian’s round shoulder and gets to work. “Gerrasch, call up House. What’s happening at the Citadel?”
    The Librarian keys in the connection. He and Cauldwell have worked together a long time. N’Doch moves in, interested. He’s learned in the Meld how, when Fire awoke, he commandeered the Cauldwell family fortress as his temple and stronghold. But Paia’s presence in the Meld is emotional more than visual, despite her being a painter and all. N’Doch is eager for a clearer look at this place he’s heard so much about. And then there’s the Citadel’s sentient computer, this “House” that Leif’s asking about. The machine that’s been Paia’s mentor in the dragon lore, like Papa Dja for N’Doch and Hal Engle for Erde. N’Doch still can’t quite get his brain around it. There was no full-tilt AI back in his time. He always talked a lot of sci-fi, but he didn’t believe in much of it. So he’s startled by the voice that floats up from the console speakers. Doesn’t sound synthesized at all. Not like the AIs in the old sf vids, which always talked like they’d swallowed a big dose of Prozac.This sounds like just a human, and a kinda panicky one at that. N’Doch has never heard a computer whine before.
    “Finally! Where have you been? I’ve been calling for hours and Mattias kept saying, ‘they went upstairs, they went upstairs,’ but he didn’t know how to patch me through, or maybe he thought, well, I don’t know what he thought! Really, Gerrasch, you have to train your people better! Is he there? He’s not here. He . . .”
    “Was here,” intones the Librarian. “Gone already.”
    “Gone? Gone? Where?”
    “Away.”
    “What do you mean, away? You mean,
downtime
? Is everyone all right? Is Paia all right?”
    Funny how everyone keeps asking that, muses N’Doch.
    “She’s fine, House.” Cauldwell leans in to be heard over the background din of questions and debate.
    “Leif! You made it! I was so concerned!”
    “Everyone here’s fine. A bit shell-shocked, but fine. What’s going on there? Can you put the monitors on-line?”
    “Working on it. Such excitement you’ve missed, Leif! There’s been a palace coup, just as you predicted. Second Son Branfer has declared himself First Son in your absence!”
    “Branfer! That clod can’t manage his breakfast, never mind the whole Temple!”
    “And one of the Faceless Twelve, I forget which, has elevated herself to High Priestess.”
    N’Doch detects conflict on Cauldwell’s sculpture-perfect face. There goes his other seat of authority, poof! Swept from beneath him. But he’d engineered that usurping himself. So dedicated to his cause, he gave up what had to be a real cushy job. Except for having Fire as your boss.
    “Hope she and Branfer hate each other,” Cauldwell mutters darkly.
    “If not now, they will soon, particularly if I have anything to say about it. The Temple is doomed. They’ll all be eating each other alive by noon!”
    N’Doch marvels at the computer’s unconcealed relish for violence and intrigue. Like lots of teenagers he’s known. Proof enough for him that this machine is sentient.
    Cauldwell is less gleeful. “Any injuries? Much damage? What about Christoff and Ark?”
    “Safe. Holed up here in the Rare Books Room with the others. I was able to warn them in time.”
    “Can you keep them safe?”
    “Until
he
comes looking for them . . .”
    “Then we’ll have to get them out of there before that happens.”
    “I’ll tell them. Then we have to figure out a way to rescue me.” There’s a pause, entirely without static. The Librarian’s typing fingers go slack. Cauldwell gnaws his lip. Finally, its voice gone flat, the computer says, “Patching through the