The Last Library Ch. 05

Now, two months later, the warnings were becoming commonplace and he shot her a rueful smile at the reminder. She leaned up and casually kissed his cheek.

*It's ok, you're still cute to me. What do you want to do?*

The Caretaker was much more comfortable communicating mentally than he was. She claimed that she was reverting to old habits from before the Cataclysm, but he had private suspicions that the intimacy of the connection helped to reinforce the idea that she wouldn't be alone again. After reading many of the books on behavior she had provided, he was certain that, by the time she no longer needed the reassurance, the pattern would be long ingrained.

His preferred mode of conversation, however, was still physical verbalization. For a week after his first astral trip, the house had been quiet as they interacted mentally, but the silence had gotten to him and he had reverted to using sounds.

"The bipeds are closer so let's see what we can do with them. I know it sounds bad, but I'd like to put off the slime thing for as long as possible." Mera chortled at the bemused look on his face and nodded her assent.

Ten minutes later they came around the corner of a bookcase full of history texts to see the backs of the pair of two footed creatures. Their "hands" appeared to have four short digits covered in long brown fur and five long ones that, amazingly, were constructed out of a shiny green metal. They were wandering aimlessly along the aisle and pointing to various breaks in the Shelves. Ashur thought that they might be discussing where to go next by the movements of tiny heads on long prehensile necks. First one would make small circles in different directions, then the other would reply with motions of its own.

*It looks like they're not only sentient, but intelligent*, he thought to Mera. *I think it's your turn.*

The psychic woman nodded to him and turned to address the alien visitors then came to a stop when she noticed that they had spun to face the Librarians. If their body language was anything to go by, they had obviously heard his mental chatter. With a quick look of confirmation to him, Mera addressed the interlopers and, raising her right hand, asked, *Can you understand me? If so, please copy my movement*.

Neither of their hands rose, but they became agitated and started toward Mera until Ashur stepped in front of them. He towered over them by at least eight inches and they both stopped up short. Grasping his intention, the two backed away several feet and conferred with one another. Eventually, they seemed to regard Mera again, but she looked at him and shook her head.

"I think they can tell I'm speaking but can't understand what I'm saying. I dealt with something like this a while back. Let me try this." Stepping around the Guardian and into view of their visitors, she waved her arms around to indicate the Library around them and then pointed to herself and Ashur. Then she pointed to the two of them and started walking backward in the direction of their overlap.

For a moment, they stood still, but when Ashur followed the beckoning Caretaker, they made tapping motions with their green fingers and did the same. Fortunately, they were only about two hundred feet from the overlap and all four beings passed through the gauzy barrier. Their guests grew agitated again. They tapped green digits and made head circles at the Librarians for a few seconds before racing for the other visible barrier. They crossed over and were soon out of sight. Ashur took in their surroundings, but, having seen so many alien worlds at this point, could see nothing that caught his notice.

"You know," he told his partner, "at first I thought they were angry, then happy, but it looked like they were just scared. What do you think?"

She patted his shoulder and smiled. "I'm not going to argue with that. Are you ready for the gooey one?"

"Damn," he groused. "I guess so. I really hope I don't have push that thing home."

It didn't take them long to find the mucilaginous beast. Mera knew where it was, but, remarkably, the still struggling man had to use his maps. He had thought that would change with the connection he had created to his new home, but, instead, it seemed to be proof of how far left he had to go.

When they came upon the big beast, it was immobile. Instead of wandering and exploring, the thing had simply slumped down. Ashur strained to find any rear legs and gave up when he saw that the hind end was simply a long, wide, and thick tail that also appeared to ooze the same viscous substance that leaked from its legs.

*Is it asleep?*, he asked. *It looks like it just fell over.* Indeed, the animal was laying partially on its side.

*I think so*, she replied. It also might not be reacting well to our air. If that's the case, we'll need to drag it to the platform so we can find its home quickly.* Her steps were careful and slow as she circled around it. For a moment, Ashur thought she was going to reach out and give the thing a shove, but her hand held out her Sphere. It glowed momentarily, but there was no reaction from the slumped mass of hairless flesh.

The Caretaker looked up at him, shook her head, and backed away behind him. Once she was safely protected by his body, he grasped the Staff and expanded it out to around ten feet. This was reaching the limit of his current abilities, but he wanted as much room as possible for what he was about to do.

"Hey!" he called out while prodding the seemingly unconscious creature. When there was no reaction, he poked the grey skin again while raising the volume of his hail.

"Shit," he grunted and return the Staff to his belt when it was obvious that the thing was not going to move. It looked like they might have to cart the unpleasant animal after all. It was quite obviously breathing easily and unhurriedly but there was no other sign to indicate that it was otherwise healthy.

"What do you want to do?" He turned to his companion and she stepped forward. She pondered their situation and, ultimately, puffed out a hard breath.

"We're going to have to move it, but something about this feels off. I think I want to get some restraints on this guy." She circled around it, tapping a finger on her chin in her usual gesture.

"We have restraints?" He looked at her in surprise then smacked the side of his head with an open palm. "Of course we have restraints. Sorry. I don't know the spell for that though. You're going to have to teach me."

Mera grinned at him and pointed in the direction of the Hub and house. "We'll need some supplies for this," she told him.

"What?" Ashur was shocked. He had never heard of any of the Lexicon-based spells needing anything but Words. Was this some new, advanced technique that Mera was going to train him on?

"Yup!" she continued. "We'll need several lengths of that thick strapping material that you are currently using in the training room and a bit of rope! The spell should work easily with those."

He gawped at her for a second before dropping his face into his palms and groaning heavily.

"Mera, I love you but by the gods you are incorrigible sometimes." Without looking up he turned and started to trudge away. It was a good hour walk back to the house and he had no intention of letting the sleeping creature wake up and wander the aisles throughout the night.

He stopped, however, when shock flooded through their mental link. Thinking that the sliming creature had woken, he spun and reached for his sword, but it was still motionless.

Instead, the normally blue woman was a deep and dark violet. Her eyes were wide and luminous and her hands hovered in front of her mouth.

"What? What did you say?" Her voice was tremulous and full of wonder. "Did you just say what I think you said?" She took a hesitant step in his direction.

Confused, the big man tried to replay his words, but her shock was filling his mind to the point of distraction. "Umm..I don't know. What did I just say?"

Her arms wrapped around her own body as she tiptoed closer.

"You said you love me."

Finally recalling the words of his muffled complaint, he stared into her incredulous face. For what seemed like an hour but was, in reality, an instant, he looked hard at his feelings for his companion, partner, and friend.

Did he love her?

He knew that he was, indeed, very fond of her; more than anyone else he had ever known outside of his long-deceased family. Her intelligence and humor made her enjoyable to be around, her compassion and kind empathy was often a balm to his weary heart, and her energy and casual physicality made him feel wanted and more alive than he had in the last few years.

Did he love her?

Yes, he did. He felt the truth of it in his core and knew she felt it too. The flood of emotion emanating from her was immense. She was breathing rough and heavy and tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Reaching out to him, she took the first long step to run into his arms.

The long wide tail not only swept her feet out from under her, but it sent her flying down the aisle. She grunted when she landed and rolled in one of the controlled falls he had been teaching her as part of her combat training.

The now alert beast was standing and turned four large eyes on the startled Guardian. Opening a large, wide mouth, it roared at him. Serrated teeth sprang from its gums and it started to stalk toward him. Its front legs pulled the tail along on a trail of mucus.

"Friend," Ashur growled while pulling his sword free of its sheath, "you just lost visitor privileges." The big man extended his vambrace shield and braced himself for the thing's charge. He had no clue how fast it might or might not be and had learned from previous encounters not to underestimate unknown monsters and this one was larger than most. At its standing height, the top of its back reached to just under his chin.

When the beast saw that he was not going to make the first move, it rushed him. It closed to less than five feet and spun on one of its front legs, whipping the heavy tail at him. Forewarned by its attack on Mera, he pivoted on his right leg and let the strike hit his shield, using the force to give his own spin more power. His sword came whipping around in an arc and carved into the thick skin. The thing shrieked and lumbered toward him again.

This time, he took the initiative and charged, driving his sword point towards the junction of shoulder and torso. With luck, he could sever a tendon or artery and render it harmless enough to restrain.

His hopes were dashed however, when he saw that his first cut was already healing. Grey flesh knitted itself back together with nearly the same speed as he could.

"Shit" he said. "This is not going to be fun." With a sinking feeling, the soldier knew that this fight was going to last until one of them ran out of energy. Seeing Mera hobbling from where she had landed, he threw up an arm in her direction and put some space between him and his adversary.

*Are you okay?* he asked silently.

*Yes,* she answered. *My leg is badly sprained, but that's about it. Can you beat it?*

Ashur deflected a swipe from one of the monster's front arms and struck back. One of the four eyes burst in a spray of ichor and another pained howl filled the air. It rushed him again. He jumped out of its path and moved so that he was between it and Mera.

*I'm not sure. It can heal like I do so this is going to be a battle of attrition. So far, I'm faster, but I don't know how long that will last. After that, its going to be dicey.*

He dodged another tail strike and his blade sheared off a corner of it. For several more minutes, the two clashed. Ashur still held the speed advantage, but the monster was adapting. It was countering his moves easier now and taking fewer deep hits. To make matters worse, its attacks were getting through his defenses.

As if to emphasize the point, it feinted a tail swing, but, as the Librarian held up his sword to slice, the creature turned back suddenly and clamped on his arm. Jagged teeth bit down and he dropped his blade with a scream of his own.

Blood sprayed over the things face and it bit down harder. Ashur was shocked to see his hand and part of his forearm separate from his body. He rolled away as fast as possible and leapt to his feet. Looking down at the remains of his appendage, he cursed and focused on healing.

The wounded man was given a few moments as the beast tried to swallow what it had gnawed free, but it soon gave a racking cough and his amputated hand went sliding across the floor. It turned back to him to take another piece, but the brief respite was all he had needed to seal the bleeding stump and his arm started to reform itself.

"This isn't working," he muttered to himself. Backing away, he refolded his shield and mentally called out to his partner.

*I need you to hide for a few minutes. I'm going to see if I can lure this thing back to its world.*

Mera slid slowly around the corner of a bookcase and tried to make herself as unobtrusive as possible. Meanwhile, Ashur quickly cast his mind out to find the overlap this troublesome animal had come from. Fortunately, it wasn't far. He started to distance himself again and he was relieved to see the angry fiend follow him.

Knowing that he would have to keep its attention, he charged rapidly and then shied away. Aware that he wouldn't make a good meal, it was more wary now and simply approached him.

"Dammit, I need you to come this way." He felt a weight settle at his hip and looked down to see that he had apparently gotten far enough to trigger the magical return of his sword. It made him feel a bit better and gave him an idea. It was childish and not really likely to work, but fixing his arm was tiring him out faster than he had hoped.

Jerking the weapon from its enchanted sheath, he jumped forward and slashed the animal's face in three rapid strokes before it could defend or return the favor. It cried out and rushed him. This time, instead of holding his ground, he spun away and started running.

At first, he thought that his trick hadn't worked, but when he looked over his shoulder, he saw the true reason for the slime it was excreting. The front legs pumped madly and what had seemed to be thick, viscous fluid was providing more than enough glide for the creature to follow right along on his heels.

"By all the...!" he cried out and sped up. He definitely hadn't expected it to move that fast, but he supposed the stone floor was a helping factor.

He grabbed the corner of a Shelf and, sliding a bit himself, made the last turn before facing the overlap that his pursuer called home. He raced past the barrier and into a field of fistful sized rocks. He stumbled for a few steps but caught his balance quickly. Not trusting his feet enough to look back, he tried to judge how far he would have to run in order to make certain that the Library was down by one visitor.

He did, however, glance around to find the edges of the overlap. Perhaps if he could get the thing across the second barrier, it would decide he wasn't worth the trouble anymore. His arms pumped and he was happy when his lost hand had finished reforming.

Suddenly, he realized that, although he could hear his own footsteps, he could no longer discern any others. He stopped and turned around, ready to lash out if needed. Seeing the boundary of the Library nearly three hundred feet away, he put his hands to his knees and tried to draw in great gulps of air.

There was no sign of his attacker.

*Mera? Can you hear me?* He shot his thought out to her, not certain if it would penetrate the edge of the overlap.

*Yes! Are you hurt?* Her reply was worried, but not frantic.

*No, I'm ok. A bit winded, but ok. I think I need to integrate some more running into my training. I don't see that thing anymore. Did it cross over?*

After a brief pause, her voice returned. *Yes. It's gone now. Come on back*

Ashur nodded to himself and started to walk. His steps were long but slow as he tried to conjure up a second wind. They could head home when he got back to her and he could rest.

*Ashur! Where are you?* Mera's voice was more concerned now.

*I'm almost back. Why?*

*Hurry! The Library is moving on!*

"What?" he shouted. He stepped up his pace and peered toward the hazy veil. With every second, it was getting harder to see. With an oath, he broke into a run and shot forward.

*Ashur! Hurry! Please! Hurry! Ash...*

Mera's voice disappeared from his mind as the ghostly image of the Library disappeared. He slid to a stop nearly twenty feet from where it had been. Dumbfounded, he stood immobile. Walking up to the line of the vanished intersection between this world and his, he waved his restored hand around, trying to feel anything. He couldn't.

"Shit."

******

The exercise in concentration is a real exercise that I used a long time ago to help a young girl overcome her ADHD and went on to teach in a class setting. Many people don't realize that the point of meditation is to train your mind, not become more spiritual. The relaxation, stress relief, etc. that corporate trainers espouse are all side benefits, but none of them appear if you don't practice daily.

I'll get off my soapbox now.