The Last Library Ch. 03

Mera's voiceless moans transformed into a steady stream of "Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Yes, yes, yes, please, please, oh yes!" Her hard thrusting and the litany of her begging chant soon brought him to the edge. She must have felt him growing close. Reaching behind her, she grasped the hand of his penetrating finger and pushed it in as far as was physically possible.

"Fill me," she cried. "Please! I need to feel you cumming in me! Do it! Do it!" She slammed down once more and he came. His muscles seized again and again as he filled her with his seed. His finger slipped from her as he grabbed her hips and pulled her down onto him as hard as possible. Breathing in sharp grunts, he held her tightly until he was spent.

Once he was able to see again, he looked down to see his lover collapsed against his chest, her face still nuzzled into his neck. She was making small happy noises. He finished pulling off his shirt and the armor beneath it so that she was resting against his bare chest. Bracing himself with a hand on the floor, he chuckled when he saw the puddle beneath them. It spread out and had soaked part of the unconscious woman's bedroll.

Rolling them both over so that she rested on her back, he extricated himself from between her legs. She made a small noise of negation when his softening member slid from her, but it was momentary. Giving her a soft grin, he grabbed a cloth and headed for the nearest of the amenity bathrooms. Part of him was subconsciously aware that he was walking around a public building naked, but he chuckled to himself again and ran warm water to dampen the cloth.

Once he had cleaned himself a bit, he returned to his slumbering companion and gently wiped her down. Letting the puddle and her bed dry on their own, he picked her up and settled her into his. She turned onto her side and curled up under the blanket with a sleepy, contented little smile.

***

Ashur woke the next morning to the smell of food. Unsure if a guard was needed, he had stood watch through the night until the day's trek and their sexual exertions had started to weigh heavily on his eyelids. He had curled up next to Mera then and fallen asleep.

She smiled brightly when she saw him move and stirred the eggs she was cooking.

"Good morning!" she chirped. He laughed inwardly a bit at her bubbling energy, returned her grin, and headed to the bathroom. When he returned, she had plated the food and was inhaling her portion.

"A little hungry?" he teased. "I can't imagine why."

She snorted and bits of egg flew out between her teeth. She clapped a hand over her mouth and mock glared at him. His laughter filled the aisleway as she did her best to clean up the specks of food, her eyes shining with her own mirth.

They continued their route that day with only one encounter and that was a quiet deer-like animal that shied away as soon as it noticed them. Fortunately, Mera already had her sphere out and ready. Moments later, the skittish thing moved past them purposefully, its path home firmly in its mind.

They returned to the house and their previous routine. They continued this way for several more days until, one morning, Mera came to the breakfast table with a somber look.

"Today, we're heading back to where I was hurt. I need to be sure that thing is dead. I'm not certain if there will still be a body, but we have to check. You'll need to pack for at least a three-day journey. Ideally, it should only be a two-day trip, but I want to spend a full day looking for evidence."

Ashur nodded and went into his room to repack. In addition to the determined look she had shown, there had been a hint of sadness that he couldn't quite place. In the time that he had been here, he had come to know the lonely, ageless woman but, for the life of him, was stymied by the small bit of melancholy.

***

To Ashur's surprise, Mera took him back to the floating platform that had brought him to the Library from his dirt cell. Knowing what was in store, he had asked how long they would be traveling in the grey, formless space. She warned him that it might be the better part of a day, so he packed a book to her wry amusement.

"What if I want some company while we're traveling?" she had teasingly asked. Her laughter when he told her that he had gotten in trouble for disturbing her last time filled the living area for some time. She had patted his arm and stuffed an additional book in his pack. His understanding of her language was still mostly rudimentary, but he liked to challenge himself with harder material. He was a bit sad that all of this effort and learning would vanish in a short time, but was enjoying the learning process, nonetheless.

Mera proved true to her word. He had read almost a tenth of the thick book and was starting to get hungry when she looked up from the podium on the platform for the first time. When he understood that she was taking a break from directing the trip, he pulled some of their food and water from the pack and held it out to her.

"Thanks," she said with a smile, enjoying her meal. "This part of the trip isn't really all that complex, so it becomes really monotonous after a while." When he asked if she could teach him to maneuver the platform like the lift, she shook her head. "Maybe with some time, but we really don't have that much..." Her voice wound down as if reminded of something and the sadness he had seen back at the house had returned. The blue in her skin had deepened as well. Without another word, she returned to the podium and resumed their journey. By now, he knew her well enough that she would probably not respond to probing about her reaction at the moment, so he resolved to ask her about it later and returned to his book.

Ashur realized that he had dozed off when he felt a gentle hand on his cheek. "We're here, barbarian," Mera whispered. "It's time to walk again."

"Oh, good," he mused wryly, rising to his feet. "I like to walk." When he looked around, he saw that they were somewhere that resembled the walkway that he had seen when she had first released him from his cell. This time, however, the rails weren't of solid metal, but of chain.

"How far are we from where I first came in?" he asked. Mera waggled her hand in the space between them.

"The concept of distance really has no meaning in this context. We are here and we are now. That's about the best that I can describe it without somewhere around twenty years to teach you all of the theories you'd need to know.

"From here, however, we walk." She patted his arm and set off down the walkway.

***

Ashur had expected their trek to be long, but they had reached the end of the walkway in short order. When they arrived, Mera turned to the right and opened a door only ten feet away from the junction. The soldier expected to see a hallway much like the one that had led to his cell, but this one opened into a wide room with several more doors; one of which she approached. There were several bolt locks on the door and Mera slowly unlatched each of them before carefully pulling the door towards her. Before it was even partially ajar, her manner changed to huntress once again.

This surprised him since he had expected to travel further before reaching the area of concern. With practice built from the last few days of patrol, he followed her to the door carefully and quietly. She looked around briefly and pushed it shut before he could see what was on the other side. Once it was closed, she slid all of the bolts home again with great force.

"I was going to just start looking, but I think it would be better to do that when we are fresh. We'll stay here the night and then begin the search in the morning. I want to be rested if I have to face that thing again."

They set up their bedrolls and the small tripod heating unit to cook their evening meal. Preparations were made with few hiccups since they had been getting practice working together. Once they had eaten, they quietly sat on their beds. Mera was pensive and slightly withdrawn and looked as though she was going to speak but stopped herself and returned to whatever was troubling her. For his part, Ashur tried to speculate where her thoughts were taking her. Eventually, to break the silence, he spoke up.

"Listen," he started," we're going to have a busy day tomorrow, I think, so I just wanted to thank you for everything so far. I've enjoyed learning about this place and being with you. I..uh..Look, if I don't get another chance, I just wanted to say that. Thank you." He searched for something more to say, but everything else he came up with just seemed like random babbling. With her seeming so lost in thought, he wasn't expecting an answer and was surprised when her voice came across the space to him.

"You're welcome. I've...ah...I've enjoyed it too." With that, she drew into herself even more and curled up in her blankets soon after. He watched her for a long time and could see that she wasn't asleep. After a while, he started to come up with arguments and reasons for her to let him stay. She hadn't put up much of a struggle when she let him convince her to help with patrols, but that had been for a short-term arrangement and he was hoping for something much longer. For a long time, he thought of one rationale or incentive after the other and rejected them all.

In the end, he knew that he wasn't the Chosen One she was looking for nor was he of the first races so he couldn't use her kind of magic. Ultimately, he probably would end up killed in one of these encounters because he was merely human. He sighed and wished things could be different. Holding onto that thought, Ashur curled up and slipped into a restless sleep.

***

The next morning, both of them ate breakfast and tidied up their camp without tearing it down. Whether or not they found the corpse of the creature that attacked Mera, they would be returning here before heading back to the house. They were subdued in their actions and spoke little until they were ready to open the door again which Mera did after making certain he was ready.

The space beyond was a forest of thin, scraggly trees; none of which reached more than ten feet in height. The ground was barren except for the occasional patch of moss and rock. The soil was grainy and black, feeling more like sand than dirt beneath his boots. A fog hung in the air which reduced visibility to no more than fifty or sixty feet.

After a long glance around, his guide stepped back and whispered in his ear.

"The fog is an illusion created to fool your mind. There are beings in it that are watching us even now. They are ambivalent about us, but a wrong move could trigger their wrath and they are much stronger than I am. We are almost out of the Library boundaries right now, so what power I have will be weaker than normal."

This startled him and his hand moved to draw the sword at his hip. Mera's hand grabbed his. "No!" she hissed. "Do not draw that until attacked!" She waved a hand to indicate the mist in front of them. "Right now, they are neutral, but if you show any kind of aggression, that will change. The one we are looking for is different, an aberration. It is actively hostile to anything not of its own kind. That is how I got hurt. It approached me slowly enough that I mistook its intent and it followed me into the Library. None of the rest of them have ever shown any inclination to enter and they avoided the one that attacked me. We are looking for any signs that it might still be alive. If it is, then we need to finish the job. If not, then we turn around and go home. From this point on, do not speak unless I speak first. Promise me!"

Her eyes were a hard dark blue now and he nodded his agreement. Nodding back, she released his arm and started forward again.

They had been searching for nearly an hour when a dark black spot on a rock caught the soldier's attention. Not wanting to speak aloud, he reached out, tapped her on the arm, and pointed out the spot. He mimed a question to ask if the spot had been the creature's blood and she nodded slowly. This seemed to give her a new frame of reference because she walked away from the rock in a different direction and started to pay more attention to the ground than the mist around them.

Had she not been looking for clues on the ground, she might have been quicker to notice the stick thin shape that streaked out of a clump of trees. It was as grey as the mist around them and whipped long multi-segmented arms at the blue woman.

What fingers the creature had ended in points which drew long precise slices along Mera's upper arms. With a pained cry, she jumped back toward Ashur who ripped his sword free and charged in front of her. The spindly apparition raised an arm and swung down at him. His upraised blade took the force of the blow and almost drove the big soldier to his knees.

He quickly dropped the guard and brought the sword in a circular vertical swing in an attempt to lop off one of the thing's hands. Even having seen how fast it moved to attack Mera, he was amazed by the speed in which it avoided his strike. It swiped again at him, but he saw the move coming and stepped backward.

"Your shield!" Mera cried out. Momentarily cursing himself for forgetting, Ashur quickly activated the magical vambrace and held the three-foot tall shield in front of his body. The creature howled wordlessly at him and tried to take hold of the top with both hands. Ashur took the opportunity to attack from the side and the creature went flying as his enchanted blade connected with its torso.

He was chagrined to see that there was no wound, though the lanky thing seemed to favor one side as it got up. He set his arms into a defensive position again and waited for it to come to him. He could feel Mera behind him and was focused on protecting her.

"Keep it distracted for a moment more!" she shouted to him. He didn't know what she was doing, but assumed she was healing her arm.

He took a step forward to engage their attacker and beat at it with short, deliberate blows. It seemed to learn quickly and, in the instant he was pulling back for another strike, shot its hand forward. Stabbing its rapier-like fingers past his shield, it pierced his defenses and struck him in the ribs. He grunted hard and it was his turn to soar through the air. He landed with another grunt and immediately shot to his feet.

The creature had taken the opportunity his momentary incapacitation offered and charged at Mera. Whatever she had been trying to do had come to a halt as she ducked away time and again, but the creature was quick and she had no shield for protection. She screamed when its cutting fingers made another score across her left leg and she stumbled back. The thing raised its arm for what looked like a killing blow and let out its own shriek when the big soldier took it to the ground in a flying tackle. He had landed in such a way that one of its knees had popped the wrong way.

It flailed at his body, but he held it to the ground as best as he could; using his shield to cover as much of its body as possible. He tried to make short stabs, but the angle was awkward and its floundering arms brushed aside what thrusts he could achieve.

He dropped the blade completely when the beast landed a solid blow to his head. His vision went white and the creature took his lapse in attacks to strike multiple times; trying to pierce his body and skewer him. He felt each blow hit, but his fabric armor held. Eventually, it realized that it was while it was not penetrating, it was dealing damage to the dazed man. It levered its good leg underneath the bottom of the covering shield and pushed him off.

Still stunned, he was unable to stop the thing from lifting him by both legs and slamming him to the ground. He cried out as he felt ribs crack and his right leg snapped. Satisfied, the creature hurled him to the side.

"ASHUR!" Mera shrieked. She had finished her preparations and shot her hand out in front of her. In it, the glass ball blazed with red and gold. The creature, somehow ignoring its damaged knee, was racing toward her. When it saw the sphere in her hand, it slid to a halt in the loose black soil and tried to scrabble backwards. It held thin arms up in protection as blades of lights fired from Mera's hand. At first, they were deflected by the tough skin, but as the angry caretaker poured ever increasing amounts of magic into her work, the blades cut deeper and a black ichor started to ooze forth.

Screaming in sudden terror, the gangly thing tried to run, but fear had overcome rage and it was now hobbled by its damaged knee. Suddenly, the knee no longer existed as the blades of light began to slice through the grey skin with no resistance. Mera methodically cut bits of the thing away; removing the other leg and parts of its torse. It dropped and tried to drag itself away but fell to the ground when one of the blades tore through its neck; removing the head.

Looking on from where he had been abandoned, the injured man was surprised to see that she continued her attack. The blades cut the creature into ever smaller pieces. When the hunks of flesh and bone were no more than a few inches long, she dug into her pack and pulled a vial from it. She spread the clear liquid over as much of the pile as she could then stepped back and said a Word. The body seemed to shudder, then crumple in on itself, and became like the dirt underneath it.

Mera raced to Ashur and grabbed his face. There were tears in her eyes as she kissed him frantically. Letting him go, she ran back to her pack and extracted a jar. It looked similar to the one he had used when she had been hurt and was unsurprised to see the green powder as she mixed it into a cup with water from their flask.

She rushed back to him and held the flask to his shattered limb. "This is going to hurt", she warned him. As it turned out, she was right. He screamed into the sky when his leg reset. He could feel burning inside as the multiple pieces of bone and soft tissues started to repair themselves. Suddenly, he rolled over and emptied his stomach onto the ground. After several heaves, he was able to stop.

She handed him the water flask to rinse out his mouth and ran her hands along his body, checking for injuries. He hissed when she found bruises and broken ribs. When he tried to rise, he found that he couldn't. He hurt too badly to move on his own.

After she had given him the water, Mera had gathered their belongings and his sword from where it had fallen. Slinging both packs over her shoulder, she urged him to stand and, with her help, he was finally able to get to his feet.

"We need to get out of here. Now. Once we get back to the Library, we can rest."

He leaned on her heavily as they made their way back to the door. The mist had seemed to close in on them, holding at ten feet away instead of its previous fifty.

"Someone's not happy," he muttered. He figured that the restriction on talking had been lifted at the start of the attack but felt no need to say more. His blue crutch chuckled underneath him.

Forty-five long minutes later, they crossed through the doorway and out of the strange, bleak place. Once they were back in the room, Mera closed the door and slid all the bolts into place.

"That'll keep them out," she said. With her help, the injured man lowered himself to sit against the wall next to the door. He could still feel the sharp burning pain of his cracked and/or broken ribs and his head throbbed. Putting his hand to his side, he rested as comfortably as possible on the cold stone floor.

"Is it dead?" he groaned.

Settling down next to him, Mera looked up at the ceiling. "Yes. It returned to the earth and won't rise again."

They sit like that for some time until Ashur rolled to look at her. "I think we'd better rest here for a while. Actually, to be more accurate, I don't think I can move anytime soon." He patted her arm and settled onto his back.