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windows were large enough to let him see what he was
doing. But there wasn't a title anywhere, not on books
or scroll cases. There wasn't any sign of a librarian,
either. There probably wasn't one, judging from the
dusdness of the room.
All right The sooner he started looking, the sooner
he'd get this whole stupid job finished.
By mid-afternoon, Kevin was dusty, weary of climb-
ing up and down the rickety library ladder and sick to
death of the whole room. Ha, by now he probably
knew more about the contents of the count's library
than anyone, including the count! And what a weird
collection it was, without any logic to it! Why in the
world would anyone want to keep not one but three
copies of The Agricultural Summaries ofKendall County for
the First Twenty Years of King Sendak's Reign? And what
was a treatise on politics doing tucked in between two
volumes of rather bad love poetry?
How can the Master even know for sure the manuscript's in
here?
By Bardic Magic, of course. Kevin started to sigh,
then coughed instead. Blast this dust!
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The bardling stopped his hunt long enough to snag
some lunch from a startled page, then dove into the
library once more. A book about farm tools. Another. A
catalog of cattle diseases. One on swine, wild and
domestic. A book on
"Ow!"
Kevin nearly fell off the ladder, just barely managing
CASTLE OF DECEPTION 41
to catch his balance in time. Something in the shelves
had bit him!
No, no, it hadn't been a bite at all, more of a weird
tingling in his fingertips. Kevin looked warily at the last
book he'd touched and let out a whoop of joy. Yes,
yes,yes, he'd found the manuscript he needed at last!
The bardling scurried down the ladder clutching his
prize, and took it over to the library's one desk, wiping off
dust from the manuscripts leather binding as he went. A
good chunk of the day was already gone, but at least he
could get the copying started. Someone, presumably at
D'Krikas' command, had left him supplies. Kevin found
an inkwell and two quill pens on the desk, and a nice
stack of parchment in a drawer. Sitting with the
manuscript open before him, the bardling paused for
one anticipatory moment, then dove into his work.
But after a moment, Kevin straightened again,
blinking in confusion. He could have sworn the whole
manuscript had been written in the common script
used by most of the human lands here in the West
yet now some of the words seemed to be in a different
language completely.
The bardling rubbed his eyes. He'd spent too much
time in this dusty place, peering at old books.
Manuscripts did not change themselves from one lan-
guage to another.
Yet when Kevin took a second look, he saw, without any
doubtabout it, that some of the letters were actually, slowly
and gracefully, changing before his eyes, altering from the
human scriptintoelaborate, beautiful, alien figures.
Elvish, he realized with a shock, recognizing the
script from some of his Master's music books.
Kevin bit back a groan as he realized what lay ahead.
He could only read a few words in elvish. That meant
he'd have to copy the symbols line for line, much more
slowly and carefully than he would the script of a lair-
guage that meant something to him.
42 Mercedes Lackey f^Josepha Shermcm
Ohf wonderful. More tine wasted.
But as the bardling started copying the manuscript
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word by word and symbol by symbol, a sudden little
shiver of wonder raced through him. Even though the
elvish wasn't miraculously translating itself for him,
even though he had no idea what he was copying, the
very fact that he'd been able to see the letters transform
could only mean one thing: his long-sleeping gift for
Bardic Magic had finally started to wake up! His
fingers fairly itched to try his lute and see if the magical
songs finally had some Power to them!
First things first There was sdll the manuscript to finish.
Maybe his magic was starting to wake, but his eyes were
beginning Go ache. It was getting more and more difficult
to see the pages. Kevin looked up, mildly surprised to real-
ize how dark the library had become; he hadn't been
aware of the passing hours, butbynowitwas very obvious-
ly too latetodo any more copying. Srifl, he'd made a good
start. And. ..magic, he thought with a renewed thrill of
wonder. Bardic Magic was going to be his.
Kevin got slowly to his feet. But in the middle of
stretching stiff muscles, he froze. Acting on an impulse
he didn't quite understand, the bardling warily hid the
manuscript behind a shelf of books.
There. That should keep it safe till tomorrow.
He scooped up his copy. Returning to the squires'
quarters, the bardling followed his Master's orders
(though they seemed unnecessarily wary) and hid the
copy in a secret pocket in his saddlebags, which in turn he
hid under his dothes in the chest- Withadredsigh, he sat
down on the cot and picked up his lute. Warily, he tried
one of the magical songs. Nothing much happened
except for a faint, yet very real ringing in his fingers.
It was true. Grinning, Kevin knew he really did have
the gift for Bardic Magic. And who knew where that
might lead?
"Bard," Kevin whispered joyously.
CASTLE OF DECEPTION 43
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