The Last Library Ch. 03

What was truly maddening, however, was the fact that whenever he did look up, the optical ghosts disappeared until he focused on the pages once more. Eventually, unable to concentrate on his text, he made a game of trying to catch the images just outside of his visual range.

What he saw, he couldn't really say since there was no definition to speak of. At times, he might have seen a tree or some sort of plant. Other times, he could have sworn he saw great spheres of various colors that were dominated by blue, green, or yellow. Some of these were white and made him think of the moon. He knew instinctively that they were immense, far greater than he could imagine.

For a moment, just before Mera called a mid-morning halt, a glowing yellow line faded into the distance in the direction he thought they might be traveling in. Confused, he asked her about it.

"You said it would take time to teach me how to use this thing. How long does it take to see where we're going?"

She shrugged and took a bite of the hard cheese they had packed as he dug out the water canteen. "I honestly don't know. I kind of gave you a flippant answer before and my mind was on other things. This area didn't show up until after we submerged the Library and it took me a while to figure out what it was. I think it was around the three-year mark when I could really start to make my way along the trails. Why do you ask?"

It was his turn to shrug. "Not sure. I'm seeing little bits of images out of the corner of my eye and was curious. I thought that maybe I was starting to see what you were, but now I think my eyes are just playing tricks on me. Was it clear to you when you found it?"

"Oh yes," she replied. "I was still trying to come to grips with my new situation. This platform should have taken me to one of the other Libraries, but when I tried it, I ended up moving through weird space. What are you actually seeing?"

Ashur looked all around them before answering. "All I see is grey. No images, no pathway, nothing. That's why I think my mind is trying to make things up. It's bored, I guess. What do you see?"

Mera pointed off to her right. "I can see down that path is three dimensions that we can't survive in and one that has life that would survive in the Library space. I've checked it out before, but there's really no where to cross over."

The caretaker turned farther and pointed again. "That way has a world that I've visited from time to time. There is no sentient life, but the border is thin. I try to make sure that nothing is growing that might sneak up on me one day."

Once more, she turned and aimed her finger. "That way leads to a whole new branch with so many offshoots that it took me almost fifty years to map them all. We are currently headed that way, but not very far along it."

The simple soldier's eyes widened as she spoke. Incredulously, he asked," How many trails are there?"

"Too many to think about," she answered. "It would take an infinite amount of time to find and catalogue them all and I have other concerns. The Library lets me know where a possible incursion might come from and I can keep an eye on the most likely overlaps. Truthfully, part of me wants to travel to them all, but another part can't wait to be back in the world so I can stop worrying about them."

She sat down beside him and leaned back against the podium. "I've had some truly terrifying encounters keeping track of this part of the overlaps, but I've also seen some incredibly beautiful and wonderous things and I'll miss those when the Library is back in the world."

After a few more minutes of quiet reflection, she stood, put her hand on the podium and resumed their journey. A few hours later, she looked up and rousted him from his reading. Their discussion had shown him that what he was seeing really was a trick of the mind and he had thrown himself into his book in an effort to block out the ghostly half-pictures.

Taking a moment to get his bearings, he looked around and saw that, unlike the two previous locations that the dimension hopping platform had taken him from and to, they now stood in the middle of a grassland plain. He had marched through several prairies during his time with the army, but this one was different, but he couldn't quite place why.

When he mentioned this to his guide, she pointed at the stalks. Instead of the round, cylindrical stems he knew from his home, these were octagonal and bounced off one another as the wind blew against them. Reaching out to pull one loose, the strange plant vibrated in his fingers. He looked at Mera and she smiled and took it from him.

"Watch this," she said. With her travel belt knife, she cut the end off of the stalk; squaring it. Then she raised it to her lips and blew through it like a tin flute. Ashur's face took on a look of amazement as not one, but three different high-pitched tones sounded from the stem. He was just comprehending that idea when an answering hum came wafting across the expanse. He turned in circles trying to pinpoint the origin of the responding notes.

"They're coming from everywhere," the grinning woman told him. "What you're hearing is the resonating harmonics from other stalks that have been broken or bent. I once spent three days here just figuring that out. It was astonishing to realize."

She handed back the cut shoot and waved for him to try. On his second attempt, the grassland sang back to him. Looking around, he raised the stalk to his lips to try again, but Mera stopped him. "You can play as we travel, but too much from one location tends to attract animals and not all of them are complacent about visitors." With that said, she started to travel towards the slightly orange-ish sun that warmed them.

They hiked for around fifteen minutes before reaching the edge of the vast steppe and crossed into a rocky area. Octagonal trees poked up through the stony terrain. Eventually, they came to a rather tall escarpment and looked down over a vast ocean. Mera sat on the hard stone of the edge and gestured for him to join her.

"This is one of those beautiful spots that I mentioned a while back. It's one of the few that I can sit and enjoy for a few minutes." Leaning back on her hands, she drew in a deep breath of the salty air and smiled softly.

Ashur looked out over the water and reveled in the crash of waves upon the cliff beneath them. Where they met, nearly three hundred feet below, the earth had been worn away. Looking down, he saw a smooth area in the rock face as though the stone itself had been melted. He stared at it for a while trying to figure out how the unnatural liquesce might have occurred.

"That's what we're here for," Mera noted, pointing down to the object of his attention. "Last year, a group of highly predatory birds roosted there. It wouldn't have been a problem, but one of their hunting grounds took them into the Library. I had to track them down here and evict them. I promise that none of the ones here were killed though I did have to dispatch a few that wouldn't leave the overlap. I had to extend out the rock until their nests were filled in and disappeared."

"How did you do that if we are out of the Library now?" he asked.

"It took while," she admitted. "I still have a little power here since the Library overlaps part of this world, but it's weak. All told, I think it took me roughly seven hours to get it done. They flew off across the water, but I come back to check every once in a while to make certain they haven't returned."

They sat for a bit and enjoyed the scenery for another hour before the azure woman stood and brushed off her hands. Taking her cue, Ashur joined her and they departed for the platform and home.

They were trudging back through the oddly geometric grass when a sudden premonition hit the soldier and he leaped forward; taking a startled Mera to the ground. He rolled quickly and came to his feet in time to see a red spear hurtle towards where he had jumped from. Looking at the spot, he saw that another auburn shaft was already sticking up out of the ground.

Ashur whipped his sword free and activated his vambrace shield. He stepped in front of Mera who was rapidly getting to her feet. Two more similar shafts shot at them, but the tall soldier was able to brush them away. He braced himself for another attack from that direction, but his eyes swept behind them and was able to catch the movement of the grass that announced a charge that might have caught them off-guard had he been focused on the spear throwers.

His upraised sword blocked the sideways swing of a short green blade wielded by a creature that was barely as tall as his companion. An elongated snout sported two large front teeth that showed when it screamed some sort of challenge at him. Its arms were neither thick nor spindly, but the force with which it had swung at him was more than he had expected. Mossy fur covered most of its body leaving its chest and stomach bare.

Two more of the green and tan mottled things appeared out of the grass and faced off against him. Their clothing was mostly woven from the tall vegetation that surrounded them and he guessed them to be part of a larger tribe. Mera moved behind him and alerted him that three more had joined the fun. From the direction she pointed out, he assumed these to be the spear throwers.

The two groups faced off for a breathless moment before Ashur's original attacker raised its sword and ran at him. The other two on his side soon joined the fray. The big soldier waited until the first tribesman started his downward swing before ducking low and hitting it in the legs with the flat of his blade. The creature's body spun in the air and landed a good distance away. Ashur had felt its leg bone crack.

Spinning on his knee, he used his shield to counter the strike from another assailant and sent the third flying with a swat to its shoulder. The remaining tribesman took the top edge of his shield in the chin and stumbled away before falling unconscious into the grass.

Ashur spun yet again to see Mera holding up a hand toward her opponents. She had formed some sort of shield of her own and they were hacking at it for all they were worth with little effect. He could see her arm shake with every blow, but she held firm.

Noticing that his last move had brought him close to the abandoned spears, he rammed his sword back into its sheath and grabbed one of the protruding poles. Coming up behind her opponents, he struck the nearest one a sharp clip across the back of its skull with the butt of his spear. The motion caught the attention of the next closest tribesman and it turned to face him only to be hit between the eyes by the soldier's downward swing. As it crumpled to the ground beside its friend, the last one gave up on Mera and turned to face him. Apparently possessing more skill than its friends, the furry fighter successfully blocked several blows before launching an attack of its own with another of the short-bladed swords. With practiced ease, the human parried before slipping past a stab and tangling the creature's legs up with the spear. As it fell over backward, Ashur pulled the spear free and held its point under the fallen tribesman's snout. As soon as it felt the blade against its neck, the sword was dropped and it held its hands out in surrender.

"Mera," he called out," are you okay?"

"Yes," she panted, "I'm fine. Just don't kill him." She walked up behind him and put a hand to his shoulder.

"Hadn't planned on it unless he does something monumentally stupid. He seems to be smarter than that though. How far to the platform?" He had eased the pressure a bit, but the spear remained in place.

"About a hundred and fifty feet, I think. Are you hurt?"

"No," he replied. "I'm fine, but we may need to run as soon as we turn our backs though." Ashur planned on breaking both spears so as not to catch one between the shoulder blades, but a quick sprint to safety couldn't hurt either.

"I don't think they'll come after us anymore today," the blue woman said. "You've shown that you can out-match them and he looks to be more worried about his friends." Indeed, the big man noted that, once it became clear that he wasn't going to kill the mole-like native, it had started to look around for its companions. Ashur nodded and stepped back. Taking the spear in both hands, he brought it down across his knee, snapping it in two. He repeated the action with the other one while the supine creature looked on.

It remained still as Mera and Ashur backed away toward the platform. Once they were out of sight, they turned and started walking at a decent clip. Neither spoke until they were traveling back to the Library.

"Well that was exciting." Ashur rolled his shoulders and massaged his forearms as the adrenaline started to fade from his system. The muscles felt tight and swollen, but he knew that would fade soon enough. Lifting her hand from the podium, Mera slumped down to sit on the floor. Breathing out heavily with a soft raspberry, she rolled her neck and worked her own hands, clenching and un-clenching them.

"Yeah," she agreed. "That was definitely not how I planned this trip. I think they must have heard us blowing the grass, but I didn't think any of them would be so close." Turning her head, she looked at him with a small frown. "Why didn't you kill them?"

At his shocked look, she hurriedly held up her hands in protest. "I'm glad you didn't, but I thought it would be your first reaction since they tried to kill us first."

The soldier gave his arms one last shake and shrugged. "I've dealt with a few aboriginal tribes over the years. Most of the time, they are just defending their home. Since they didn't really give us a chance to let them know we were just passing through, I thought it the best course of action. We are going to have to go back there at some point, so I'm hoping that they remember that we only wounded when we could have killed. Maybe next time, they'll give us space."

Mera looked as though she was going to speak when he said "we" but stopped herself. "Maybe you're right," she said. "Let's get home."

***

The trip back didn't seem to take quite as long, but Ashur was certain that the faded fancies his mind kept throwing up into his peripheral vision were becoming more clear. At one point, he turned his head and saw two glowing lines create a crossroad of sorts in front of him. The almost unfelt shifting of the platform coincided with his vision of taking a turn to the right. However, it happened so fast he chalked it up to his imagination. He suddenly wondered about an anomaly in their travel and, once they had reached the Library proper, brought it up to Mera.

"If we have to travel so far to get to their world to deal with these intruders, how is it that they can just show up among the bookcases all of a sudden?" He had wrestled with the concept during their trip back, but eventually decided that he didn't have enough information.

Her simple shrug was less than encouraging. "If you ever figure it out, let me know," she quipped. "I've been trying to figure it out for millennia and the best I've ever come up with is that the overlap where they come into the Library is fleeting and momentary, but stable enough to allow constant travel. I tend to think of it like a doorway into a house. The door itself might not always be open, so you can't come and go whenever you want. On the other hand, when it is open, it stays open for long periods of time; letting you walk in and out whenever you want." She scrunched her face up in frustration. "The worst part is that I can't always follow, even if the door is open. The few times I've been able to follow a creature back, I almost got trapped in their world.

"Whenever a new doorway is made and something comes across, I have to go wandering along the pathways to figure out where it came from and how to keep the incursion from happening again. The problem with the uncertainty of the overlaps is that a new one could pop up within ten feet of the old one on their end and I have to travel to the same world several times to close another door."

He thought about that for a moment, working through the puzzle as they walked.

"So basically," he finally ventured, "they get the shortcut and you have to take the long road? Huh." He shook his head. "That's really not fair."

Mera raised her hands, palms up, in a "What can you do?" gesture.

"If you don't mind me asking," he continued, "what do you normally do in situations like that? I know you said you didn't like to fight, but it seemed like you were in a tight spot. Did you not have enough magic to fight back?"

The caretaker grimaced at his question. "I said I'm not a melee kind of girl. It's not that I don't want to fight, but more like I don't know how to. Our duties as caretakers didn't exactly cover the martial disciplines. I'd learned some basic hand-to-hand over the years, but never felt it necessary to learn how to use a weapon until we had to submerge the Library. At that point, there was no one to teach me or practice with. I've read all the theory and techniques and practiced a little, but, with no one to show me where I'm going wrong, I don't really know if I am doing it right. The few times I tried to fight in the field, I ended up really hurt. Over the years, it just became easier to defend myself until I could get away."

Ashur perked up. "If you want, I could help with that. I've lost track of how many youngsters I've trained from scratch over the years. The army basic training really didn't cover much except block, swing, and stab so they got most of their polishing from me. I can train you to fight with or without weapons."

His heart soared! At last, here was something he could help her with! He had a reason to stay!

Her next words popped the bubble of his eagerness.

"No, you can't," she stated simply. Her shoulders slumped and unshed tears started to well in her eyes. She stopped walking, took a shuddering breath, put her face in her hands, and held it there for a long moment. When she finally looked up at him, the sadness and despair in her expression matched the darkening color of her skin.

"Ashur, look...," she started. Another deep breath stopped her and she walked over to the end of a bookcase. Leaning against it for support, she slid down it into a sitting position. As she had during one of their first talks at his dirt cell, she brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

Giving her a worried look, the soldier watched her sit and walked toward her. Out of habit, he glanced up at the glowing script on the bookcase and realized that he could finally recognize a few letters. The slight triumph was quickly forgotten in the face of the curled-up woman's obvious anguish. He squatted down in front of her and laid a hand on her knee. She had been staring into the distance and his touch brought her back to him with a jerk. She reached a hand out to him and he took it.

"Please don't hate me," she whimpered. The pain she was experiencing was palpable. "I've been lying to you, but I couldn't stop myself. I couldn't!" Her eyes begged him to understand and he sat down next to her, still holding her hand.

"You can't stay because you're not a part of the Library. Even if you did stay, you'd get hurt or get killed. You'd grow old and die and I'd have to watch you do it and wouldn't be able to stop it. I can't do that!"

She shuddered against him and he put his arm around her shoulders.

"I've been so alone for so long and then you showed up and I wasn't alone anymore. I kept telling myself that it was temporary, that you'd be gone soon enough and that this was just a little treat that I could enjoy while it lasted. But I knew that it wouldn't, it couldn't last for long and then I'd be alone again but this time it would be worse! Because I had this time with you, the loneliness would be so much worse!"