LSRO: Chapter 112 - Anything But (Patreon)

This chapter has no cliffy

It was also sort of difficult to write.

We're nearing the end of the second book, and there are certain things that I need to finish, things I have to set up for the next one, and others I have to have take care of themselves inbetween 2 and 3.

~~

Chapter 112

Anything But

Apart from the salamanders and the drake, Quinn thought retrieving the book had been almost too easy. They didn't linger in the Library after they brought the book back. Quinn slammed the book onto the counter and stared at Lynx.

"I am returning Emergency Supplements and the Taste Palette," she said, flashing him a big grin.

Lynx sighed. "You could just come in and scan it in yourself."

"Nope, I'm technically still on a mission." Quinn grinned. "No Librarian stuff for me!"

Lynx at least had the grace to laugh and then he wrinkled up his nose. "You guys kind of smell," he said.

Quinn blinked and sniffed herself. "Oh, that's us," she said, glancing over at where the Aracnio brothers had been serving some patrons who'd come into the Library. They smiled and waved at her. Quinn felt slightly guilty for having thought the odor came from them. Not knowing them or their species too well, she had no idea if Aracnios smelled. She should probably get to know that.

"We're just gonna renew some supplies, have a quick shower, and head straight back out." 

"What did you do?" Lynx looked over their bedraggled, if magic-cleaned attire. "Wrangle an entire herd of salamanders?" 

Quinn narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes, this sounds like you knew something and didn't tell us again, Lynx?"

"No," he said hurriedly, "they're just native to that world, that's all. I didn't think that you would encounter an entire flock of them."

Quinn paused, curious. "Is it a flock or a herd?" 

"I don't know." Exasperation leaked into Lynx's tone. "They're salamanders."

A short while later the small expedition group congregated back in front of the check-in desk and Lynx looked them over. "You have the location of the next one. The door should open to allow you into the world. 

"Which one are we after this time?" Malakai asked, and proceeded to swallow a large yawn.

"Making the Most on the Road: A Field Cook's Guide to Culinary Reinforcement," Lynx said, as if it was a lot of effort to tell them the name of the book. "Thank you so much and when you get back I'll have the approximate location of the other one for you."

"Consider it done." Quinn winked at him, feeling oddly in a great mood. 

"Just remember," he called after them as they approached the double doors, "there's a reason the books haven't made it closer on their own."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Quinn said. "They don't have arms."

"Well yes, and sometimes they've been put in a spot for safekeeping," 

Quinn cringed. "Oh, to keep it so safe that you actually forget where you put it."

"Exactly," Lynx said.

This time Quinn activated her hover defense before she stepped through the Library door and successfully avoided falling flat on her backside.

"You're getting better at that," Malakai said, grinning.

"Well, I figured maybe I should use my brain instead of completely forgetting that I have magical powers and just plowing through the door and falling flat on my face because the Library, it seems, has some weird sense of humor that wants to see me fall..." She trailed off. The Library door closed behind them, shrouding them in darkness. "Why is it so dark in here?"

"Are you scared of the dark?" Eric asked, and suddenly there was light before Quinn could call on her light spell.

Quinn frowned. "Is your tail on fire?" she said to Eric.

"Don't even. Not a word, nothing, no comments or I'll let you walk around in the darkness." His scowl appeared more sinister in the dim light.

Quinn didn't comment on anything else. She frowned but she understood that she shouldn't pick on him right now because he was slightly sensitive about using his tail as a torch. Even if it was sort of cute. She wasn't about to tell him that.

She studied their surroundings. They appeared to be in a large basement-type area if the brick walls and lack of windows were anything to go by. The room had columns all throughout it, just brick columns that supported the ceiling that had to be maybe 10-12 feet above them. She couldn't quite get a grasp on the scope of the space due to the lighting.

It was quite tall for a basement but since coming to the Library Quinn had realized that architecture, the worlds over in the universe, were very often different than she expected. Plus depending on the creatures or species who lived there, they required that the buildings fit their bodies.

As her eyes became accustomed to the darkness and the flickering shadows, she noticed a very strange sound.

The noise sounded like something scraping, or being scraped, across the stone floor. Given the stone walls, Quinn had half-expected tiled floors, but these were smooth, more like concrete. She looked around,  peered in all the corners, walked around all the pillars, and then heard a sort of dragging thud but it wasn't as if it was something heavy. It was almost as if it was something light like perhaps a book.

Quinn still couldn't see. "You hear that right?" She said to Malakai.

"Yes and I'm trying to find it." He sounded irritated.

Aradie hooted and held up a wing while she sat on Quinn's shoulder. She'd taken up residence on the right-hand side while Quinn's left shoulder was still somewhat tender after being roasted by the drake they'd fought.

"What? Where?" Quinn followed the wing and looked at the stairs that she hadn't seen before because the stairs were in darkness too and that's when she realized there was literally a book dragging itself down the stairs toward them and where the Library door had initially opened.

"Well," Quinn said, "there's something you don't see every day." 

Malakai and Eric actually laughed.

"I wasn't trying to be funny," she said.

"No but you were," Eric said. "You know we like our entertainment Quinn." She glared at the imp.

"Well," Quinn said as the book continued to drag itself toward them. It didn't have far to go now. She felt like giving it a sense of accomplishment. "Lynx did say that they usually find their own way mostly home?"

"Yeah," Malakai said. "Somehow I pictured them growing little legs or something not really this strange torturous dragging." 

"Sort of like a shambling zombie..." Quinn muttered. It didn't appear as if Malakai or Eric heard her.

As they watched the book basically inched along by using its covers as legs. It moved the front half and then dragged the back half. Moved the front half. Quinn shook her head, partially hypnotized by the movement. She reached down and picked it up once it got close enough. Sure enough, Making the Most on the Road: A Field Cook's Guide to Culinary Reinforcement had found the Librarian. 

There was a release of power of some sort, like a whoosh of relief and wind that happened when she held it firmly in her grasp. She looked around. There was nothing else in the basement. There were no sounds, no ominous feelings, no sensations of cultists sacrificing to open dimensional portals above them.

"I guess we head back to the Library," she said.

"Yeah," Eric sounded just as confused. Malakai shrugged. "Don't look a gift book in the mouth," he said, and Quinn summoned the door.

Back in the Library, Quinn realized they'd only been gone for about an hour. It was late afternoon now, and she didn't want to retrieve another book that night. She plopped the book she'd been clutching on the return desk. Lynx raised an eyebrow in her direction.

"What's up with you?" he asked.

"Well, that one was anticlimactic," she said. "I mean, the first one we had to kill like eighteen, twenty salamanders, not to mention the damned drake, which really hurt. My shoulder is still tender. But this one was sort of lame. We just walked in and the book was already making its way to us, slowly, kind of creepily, almost like a corpse dragging itself along the floor, but it was genuinely trying to get to the Library. I just sort of..." she shrugged

"...expected more fighting," Lynx finished for her.

"Yes, exactly!"

"Quinn, do you secretly like having powers that can kick the crap out of things?" Lynx grinned.

"Yes, I think I do. I'm not ashamed to admit it," she said.

"Good, because everybody else can tell. But the good news, Quinn,” Lynx continued, "is that because the book was legitimately trying to get to the door or as close to it as it possibly could, that means the Library signal is getting stronger. It's reaching its destinations with more efficiency. We should be able to pinpoint with more accuracy pretty soon and there's actually hope it won't take forever to get all the books back."

"Well, I guess that's a good thing," she said, feeling less grumbly. Malakai already headed to the kitchen. She was pretty sure he hadn't eaten much when they picked up food to take with them before leaving the last time. Aradie had already flown off. Quinn rubbed her left shoulder again. Eric was nowhere to be seen. "I might... Who could help me heal my shoulder?"

"Quinn, it's healed." Lynx sounded like he was trying to be gentle. "Aradie healed it, right?"

"Yes." Quinn said, "which reminds me. I had no idea she could do that."

Lynx sighed. "Aradie can do a lot. It's her choice to be here, just like all the night owls. Your shoulder is going to be a bit tender. It was burned pretty badly from the information she sent back to the Library. Take it easy."

"Fine, I'll sleep or shower or something." 

"You came back to the Library to return the book, and I get the feeling you're not heading back out tonight, so go have some food, go relax, and frankly, you should probably talk to Cadre." Lynx smiled softly as he spoke.

"Cadre's here to help with the process of sequence replacing?" Quinn's eyes widened and all thoughts of fatigue fled her mind.

"Yes, because you and Milaro agreed that he could be here." From Lynx's tone, Quinn could tell he didn't exactly feel the same way.

"I know we agreed. I'm not arguing that point," Quinn said, and changed the subject slightly. "So how goes the restrictive tome location?"

"Yeah, that's why you're going to need to meet and talk to Cadre. The process as you suggested it, is obviously not going to be quite that simple."

Quinn pursed her lips in thought. "So is he already here? I thought he was going to be a few days."

"Well, it's been almost two days, Quinn, so it's pretty close to a few. No need to be pedantic." Lynx raised an eyebrow.

Quinn gave him a scowl. "Fine. Maybe we could all have dinner together." 

Lynx hesitated. "I wouldn't recommend eating with one of the Migalexutal, that's Kadri's species. But the good news is, that they only really eat every couple of days, so you could probably just talk to him after you have a nice sit-down dinner yourself." 

Quinn raised an eyebrow this time. Then she shrugged. "We're not leaving till tomorrow anyway, so I'm going to get a few more books to absorb and eat, shower, and meet Cadre."

"Didn't you say the last book that we have to retrieve is Honour Among Pies: Regeneration at its Finest. Didn't you say the person who borrowed those books will probably also be reluctant to give it to us?"

"Something like that," Lynx said, "Almedes is, hmm, how can I put this, can be very stubborn. I'll see you when you're ready to talk to Cadre."  Lynx said as she turned to leave.

Jim and Bob nodded their heads in her direction as she walked past, and Quinn returned the gesture. 

"Hello," said Jim

"There," continued Bob.

"Hi, Jim and Bob. Are you enjoying yourselves?" she asked, trying to be polite.

"Oh, the Library is a wealth of information," they said in unison. Almost robotic-sounding sometimes. 

Quinn nodded. "That it is. That it is. Thank you for everything you do." She headed to grab some food.

Later, after a scrumptious meal that tasted suspiciously like shepherd's pie, Quinn sat in her office. She didn't like the sound of this Almedes person, and she was really hoping that they weren't anything like Kajaro. She didn't need another alien object in her head trying to blow her up. Although her mental defenses were quite formidable now, even if she did say so herself.

Done with dinner, she sipped on a cup of tea, one which she'd never heard of before in her life and wasn't even going to risk pronouncing incorrectly.

Siliqua and Harish walked into her office, trailed by somebody she assumed was Cadre, only from the vague references to his species, she had to admit to being a little shocked at his appearance.

"Well, Librarian," Siliqua said, "please meet Cadre."

Quinn stood and tried her best not to ogle their guest. Cadre looked sort of like a gecko. Except much, much larger. He stood about four feet tall, was extremely slender, but had beige and red skin tones instead of being green or brown. He was actually quite beautiful, and his double-lidded eyes flickered constantly through different hazes of red. He was delicate almost in appearance, thin arms, thin legs, slender body, and a robe that covered him from head to foot with a cowl pulled over his head.

"Good evening, Librarian," he said with a lilt to his voice. She secretly thought he looked like a TV celebrity animation that she'd seen on television, just a lot larger than that one had been.

"Good to meet you too, Cadre. Do you think it's going to be possible to do what we want to do?" She was suddenly too tired to beat around the bush. She was about to get post-food sleepiness.

He cocked his head to one side and said, "Yes and no."

"Elaborate, please?" Quinn asked. 

"From what I've studied of both your and the Library's specific genetics. The solution should be possible, yet it's not going to be simple. It will take time to engineer the solution, and in that time I would suggest that the Librarian and her allies seek ways of becoming stronger." His voice was soothing, soft enough that Quinn would have expected to strain to hear it, but didn't have to.

"Is that advice," Quinn asked. "Or are you prescient?"

He shook his head, "No, I am not. But there are likely reasons the sabotage was performed in this intricate way. Once we reverse this, and we will be able to reverse it in time, then nothing will protect you from the knowledge of those who are involved."

Quinn could feel the ominous overtones in his words. It wasn't a warning, just facts. "Do you think it's a trap?"

Cadre shook his head. "No. I don't believe they thought this far ahead to such a unique solution for this puzzle. What they set in motion... has taken thousands of years. If we undo it, they'll know, and I doubt they'll be so subtle next time."

Quinn nodded, and could feel the color drain from her face at the thought. "Thank you. Do you need anything from me?" she asked.

Cadre smiled. "Not right now. I realize the Librarian is busy. But in a few days, I'll need of your assistance. If it's okay with you, might I borrow Harish again. We were figuring out several different approaches. And I must say... this is a welcome conundrum. I was finding new stimuli difficult to obtain. My thanks."

"Sure. Go and figure stuff out." Quinn watched the men walk out, Harish paying rapt attention as Cadre spoke. Then she turned to Siliqua. "Like peas in a pod?"

Siliqua laughed. "A very apt description."

"How are we looking on the Restricted vault books location recovery?" Quinn asked.

Siliqua hesitated a second and sighed. "We're gleaning some information, but... it's difficult. However, Cadre did have a few ideas that I'm about to implement. Still, I'm thinking it'll take at least a week until we can pinpoint any with accuracy."

"And failing visiting every world and seeing if I can feel out if there's a magical book trying to usurp the dimension through sacrifice - we basically have to wait?" Quinn asked, already resigned to the answer.

"Accurate." Siliqua was quiet for a second. "I'm sorry, Librarian. But at least you can get the branch opened while you wait."

And get stronger. Quinn thought, but didn't say. A whole week to just work on her abilities and grow? That would be ideal. 

"Yes." she answered instead of spilling all the ideas in her mind. "Tomorrow we'll get the last book for the culinary branch, and get it opened."

"I'll take my leave and assist Cadre with my husband." Siliqua smiled. "I'm glad you were found Librarian. Thank you for everything."

Quinn watched the wood elf walk away, a thoughtful smile on her face. This was good. Just one more cookbook to go and the Library would gain another link of power. 

All they had to do was get one more book. 

It sounded so simple. And yet Quinn couldn't shake the feeling that it was anything but.

~~

Why yes, for those curious, there will be a very slight time skip from books 2-3

This was fun but difficult to pull off

Hope you enjoyed it

Much love

KT