Jacopo acknowledged his bow with a magnanimous nod, and Mo bowed his head again so that the boy wouldn't see his smile.
"My grandfather is having trouble with a book," remarked Jacopo in his arrogant voice. "A lot of trouble. Perhaps you can help him."
Trouble with a book. Mo felt his heart miss a beat. In his mind's eye he saw the Book before him again, felt the paper between his fingers. All those blank pages.
"My grandfather has had lots of bookbinders hanged already because of that book." Jacopo looked at Mo as if working out the size of the noose to fit his neck. "He even had one flayed because the man had promised he could make the book better. Will you try all the same? But you'd have to ride to the Castle of Night with me so that my grandfather can see I was the one who found you, not the Milksop."
Mo managed to get out of answering that as the door covered with letters opened and a man came out, an expression of annoyance on his face.
"What's all this?" he snapped at Tullio. "First there's a knock but no one comes in, then so much talk that my brush slips. So, as you all clearly have not come to see me, I would be greatly obliged if you'd continue your conversation somewhere else. There are more than enough rooms in this castle where no real work is done."
Balbulus… Meggie had described him very well. The slight lisp, the short nose and plump cheeks, the dark brown hair already receding from his forehead, although he was still quite a young man. An illuminator – and from what Mo had seen of his work, one of the best there had ever been, in either this world or his own. Mo forgot Jacopo and Fenoglio, he forgot the pillory and the boy in it, the soldiers down in the courtyard, and even Sootbird. All he wanted was to go through that door. Even the glimpse of the workshop that he caught over Balbulus's shoulder made his heart beat as fast as a schoolboy's. He felt the same excitement as when he first held a book illustrated by Balbulus in his hand, when he was a prisoner threatened with death in the Castle of Night. This man's work had made him forget all that. Letters flowing as easily as if there were no more natural occupation for the human hand than writing, and then the pictures. Living, breathing parchment!
"I'll talk to people where and when I like! I'm the Adderhead's grandson!" Jacopo's voice was shrill. "I'm going to tell my uncle how impertinent you've been again. I'm going to tell him this minute! I'll say he ought to take all your brushes away from you!" With one last glance at Balbulus he turned. "Come on, Tullio. Or I'll shut you in with the hounds!"
The little servant went to Jacopo's side, head hunched between his shoulders, and the Adderhead's grandson inspected Mo again from head to foot before turning and hurrying down the stairs again – suddenly just a child after all, in a hurry to see a show.
"We ought to get out, Mortimer!" Fenoglio whispered to him. "You should never have come to this place! Sootbird is here. It's not good, not good at all."
But Balbulus was already impatiently beckoning the new bookbinder into his workshop. What did Mo care about Sootbird? He could think of nothing but what awaited him behind the door with the silver letters all over it.
He had spent so many hours of his life poring over the art of illumination, bending close to stained pages until his back ached, following every brushstroke with a magnifying glass and wondering how such marvels could be captured on parchment. All the tiny faces, all the fantastic creatures, landscapes, flowers, miniature dragons, insects, so real that they seemed to be crawling off the pages. Letters as artfully entwined as if their lines had begun to grow only on that parchment.
Was all that waiting for him on the desks in there?
Maybe. But Balbulus stood in front of his work as if he were its guardian, and his eyes were so expressionless that Mo wondered how a man who bent so cold a gaze on the world could paint such pictures. Pictures so full of strength and fire…
"Inkweaver." Balbulus nodded to Fenoglio with a look that seemed to sum him up: the unshaven chin, the bloodshot eyes, the weariness in the old man's heart. And what, Mo wondered, will he see in me?
"So you're the bookbinder?" Balbulus inspected him as thoroughly as if he planned to capture him on parchment. "Fenoglio tells me truly wonderful things about your skill."
"Oh, does he?" Mo couldn't help sounding distracted. He wanted to see those pictures at long last, but once again the illuminator barred his way as if by chance. What did this mean? Let me see your work, thought Mo. You ought to feel flattered that I've risked my neck to come here for its sake. Good heavens, those brushes really were incredibly fine. And then there were the paints…
Fenoglio dug a warning elbow into his ribs, and Mo reluctantly tore himself away from the sight of all these wonders and looked into Balbulus's expressionless eyes.
"I'm sorry. Yes, I'm a bookbinder, and I am sure you will want to see a sample of my work. I didn't have particularly good materials available, but…" He put his hand under the cloak that Battista had made (stealing so much black fabric couldn't have been easy), but Balbulus shook his head.
"You don't have to show me any evidence of what you can do," he said, never taking his eyes off Mo. "Taddeo, the librarian in the Castle of Night, has told me at length how impressively you proved your abilities there."
Lost.
He was lost.
Mo sensed Fenoglio's appalled glance on him. Yes, look at me, he thought. Are the words "reckless idiot" written as black as ink on my forehead?
However, Balbulus smiled. His smile was as hard to fathom as his eyes.
"Yes, Taddeo has told me about you at length." Meggie had given a good imitation of the way his tongue touched his teeth as he spoke. "Usually he is rather a reserved man, but he positively sung your praises to me in writing. After all, there aren't many of your trade who can bind Death itself in a book, are there?"
Fenoglio gripped his arm so hard that Mo could feel the old man's fear. Did he think they could simply turn and walk out of the door? A guard would surely have been posted outside some time ago, and even if not, there were soldiers waiting at the bottom of the stairs. How quickly you got used to the way they could appear at any moment, armed with the power to take a man away, imprison him, or kill him with impunity… How Balbulus's colors glowed! Vermilion, sienna, burnt umber… how beautiful they were. Beauty that had lured him into a trap. Most birds were trapped with bread and a few tasty seeds, but the Bluejay could be caught by words and pictures.
"I really don't know what you're talking about, highly esteemed Balbulus!" stammered Fenoglio. His fingers were still clutching Mo's arm. "The… er… librarian at the Castle of Night? No. No, Mortimer's never worked on the other side of the forest. He comes from… from the north, yes, that's it."
What a terrible liar the old man was. You'd have thought someone who made up stories could tell better lies.
However that might be, Mo himself was no good at lying, either, so he kept quiet, silently cursing his curiosity, his impatience, his recklessness, while Balbulus went on staring at him. What had made him think he could simply discard the part he was expected to play in this world by putting on a few black clothes? What had made him think he could go back to being Mortimer the bookbinder for a few hours here in Ombra Castle?
"Oh, be quiet, Inkweaver!" Balbulus snapped at Fenoglio. "Just how much of a fool do you think I am? Of course I knew who he was the moment you mentioned him. A true master of his art.' Isn't that how you put it? Words can be very treacherous, as you really should know by now."
Fenoglio did not reply. Mo felt for the knife that the Black Prince had given him when they set out from Mount Adder. "From now on you must always have it with you," the Prince had told him, "even when you lie down to sleep." Mo had followed his advice, but what use would a knife be to him here? He'd be dead before he reached the foot of the stairs. For all he knew, maybe Jacopo himself had immediately realized who was standing in front of him and had raised the alarm, too. Come quick, the Bluejay's flown into the cage of his own free will!