LSRO: Chapter 17 - Falling (Patreon)

Hey there lovelies - you'll get used to her falling. I've decided that's sort of her thing. For now anyway.

Remember: This is a rough draft. To be replaced once I've actually edited this chapter a bit deeper than it is now. Not all system elements are in place yet as I draft with dictation and dictation stats is very difficult lol.

Hope you enjoy it!

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Chapter 17

Falling

The sensation of falling could be overwhelming, regardless of how far you fell. Even when it was only about three feet. As Quinn plopped unceremoniously onto her backside, landing on what seemed like a grassy meadow, she glared upwards. Malakai was stepping through from the library into what appeared to be a field filled with a copse of trees on the side. The door was apparently embedded into a tree.

That was something she was going to have to talk to Lynx about later.

"You have so much left to explain to me," she called out as Lynx closed the door behind them. The next second, the library was gone.

"That's some screwed up shit there," Quinn said. "How does that even- I-"

Malakai sighed. "Look, that library hasn't been around since before I was born, but I've heard the stories. It can appear anywhere and everywhere, all at once, as long as you have a need for it. And well, we're going to have a need for it, because we're retrieving one of its precious books that's going to power it, and you're tied to it."

"Well, then," Quinn didn't dwell on what she didn't know right then. If she did, she'd have already given up, and she just wasn't that sort of person. Usually. Make a plan, execute said plan, get around any roadblocks that exist, and reach your goal. The same method would work here too. "I guess we need to head on our way, right?"

"Yeah, did he give you a map or anything, or tell you where it would be?"

"No, but I have this little reader thing," she pulled out the palm-sized device that had a tiny blipping dot up in the right-hand corner, while there was another stationary dot down towards the middle left. "I'm guessing that's us, and this flashing one is probably where we need to get to." As if in response, the flashing light blinked even more rapidly.

"Sounds like a plan. Should we start walking then?" Malakai looked around.

It really was just a massive open field. There was very little shelter anywhere. Some mountainous rocks, a few other little copses of trees as far as the eye could see, but off to where they needed to walk, appeared to be a very large hill. Maybe even a mountain? She wasn't quite sure.

"Well, I guess we should get going then. I wonder why the library didn't spit us out closer to our destination." Malakai mused as they began walking.

"Probably," Quinn mused, "because Lynx wants me to get time to practice or something..." but that was all she got out. Suddenly, there was a flock of birds simply dive-bombing the both of them. They'd only walked about half a mile by this stage, and there were no trees and no shelter anywhere around them.

Quinn flailed around with the machete she'd managed to unsheath, while Malakai pulled a massive bow out of she had no idea where and began firing at the flock of birds in the sky. He hit two of them dead on and they plummeted to the ground with a resounding thud. She was fairly certain that she managed to clip one of the birds as it attacked her head, but was a bit preoccupied by the thick stream of blood trying to get in her eyes.

As Malachai ended the one she'd injured, it seemed the rest of the birds decided this was probably not a good idea and flew away, leaving them in peace.

"That was really good shooting," Quinn said, still trying to wipe away the blood glulgging down her forehead. She let herself sit down as she examined the birds. They were like a large crow with flecks of silver and white, they were about the size of an eagle. She glanced up at Malakai from where she sat. "Have you seen this type of bird before?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You realize the universe is a very large place and I do not come from here, or we would have just gone and fetched a book for you."

"No need to be rude about it."

"Sorry," he said. "I was not expecting to be attacked by birds, first thing. I misjudged the situation. I'll keep my bow out."

Then he leaned forward and briefly touched her head. For a second she felt slightly disoriented, and then she realized the pain was gone from her wound. "You healed me." she mumbled incredulously.

"Yeah, that should have been one of the basics he gave you, but I think he wasn't well... thinking."

"Yeah. I guess that's another thing I have to add to my list for if I survive long enough." she half joked.

Malachai blinked and focused on her somewhat intensely. "You're going to survive."

No time like the present to change the subject. "Where did you pull that bow from?" she asked, eager to understand how it worked.

"Oh, I have a bag, a storage bag."

"That fits in a storage bag?" She eyed the bow. It had to be at least four feet tall. And it was supple wood, because it was very obviously bendy when he was using it, but it was large, with ornate carvings. There's no way that fit into this mysteriously invisible bag.

"I keep forgetting you're new," he said, "Storage refers to the dimensional pocket storage most of us carry? It's how we function here. We keep everything in them. It's very easy. You're going to need Lynx to hook you up when you get back."

"Apparently, I'm going to need to talk to Lynx about a lot of things," Quinn muttered under her breath.

The farther they walked, the thirstier Quinn felt, even swigging water from the flask on the side of her hip didn't seem to allay the thirst she felt. Maybe it was the atmosphere. While it didn't feel much different than she was used to, it didn't necessarily mean that it wasn't.

"So who is it we're looking for again?" Malachi asked his bow at the ready, no matter how far they moved.

"We're looking for somebody called Denal. I didn't get any more of a name from Lynx. So maybe he just goes by one name, you know, like Prince or something."

Malachi raised an eyebrow. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Figures," Quinn said. "Okay. Apparently he lives in a small town that should be overlooking the ocean I assume is behind those hilly peaks. Lynx seemed to think he'd be pretty good about giving us the book back if he's still alive. That is, Lynx wasn't entirely sure how long his species lived for. He said they have lived for that long, but it could be, you know..."

Malachi nodded, understood. It was unnerving to spend time in silence as they walked along the vague path embedded into the grass. Some people had walked this way before, but it definitely wasn't that many. There were no crickets chirping in this grass. She couldn't hear any birds flying overhead. There wasn't even rustling or digging or anything that might've given away that there were some forms of life living out here on the plains.

But they did start approaching the hillier area. Maybe a mountain was more accurate. It was a lot steeper than Quinn had anticipated upon seeing it the first time. Still, she trudged on with Malachi next to her, making her way slowly up the incline and wishing she could just jump into a vat of water and drain it all.

Still, at least she'd had food just before they left. She glanced in the corner of her vision and paled. Then she blinked just to make sure of what she was seeing. "How have three hours passed?" She said out loud after There were only 61 hours left and counting.

"We haven't been walking for three hours. What are you talking about?" Malachi shook his head. "That doesn't even make..." And he paused. "Oh, shit."

"What?" She asked.

"Harish Highlands, right? That's located in the Dharanin sector, which means time moves faster here. So yes, three hours have passed in the library, and we've probably only been walking here for 20 minutes. Can you run?"

Quinn tried to push down on the panic. Her nerves flared. Sixty hours left. Why hadn't Lynx told her about the time disparity? Probably because he was trying to avoid her panicking, or else because he completely forgot. Breathe. Okay, I'll make do. I can jog a little bit.

"Looks like we're going to have to jog up an incline." She watched as Malachi took off in front of her, his long legs taking ground-eating strides as he raced up to the top. She plodded after him, frankly impressed by herself. Maybe her beginner's shielding had helped a little bit of her stamina. More and more combinations and ideas for how to improve her chances in this new home came to her as she ran. She put as much effort into climbing that summit as she could. She was sweating. It dripped down her body, until they finally reached the top.

That's when she realized the hilltop was moss-covered crags, with only several trees scattered around.

It was one of the most breathtaking views she'd ever seen in her life, and it took six Library hours to get there. "It had better be worth it," she muttered under her breath.

"Hopefully, the library will be able to open closer to this little village once we need to head back," Malachi said. Quinn took pride in the fact that he at least sounded winded.

She glanced down the narrow path that wound down steeply. "Come on, I can see it down there. Do you see the smoke rising from the chimneys? They're set into like the cliff face?"

"This isn't a cliff, Quinn. This is a mountain region. They've set the houses into the face of the mountain. If you look farther down, you'll notice evened-out plateaus here and there. It's for livestock and training. Sometimes even for trading markets."

"Wow!" Quinn couldn't help but be impressed. The way the paths wound down the side of the mountain, extremely steep, would require a lot of confidence and sure-footedness to navigate. They appeared so precarious to her, she wished she had sure footing like a goat.

They were going to have to walk a lot farther than she felt comfortable doing on this terrain. But it had to be done. That blinking icon on her map wasn't miraculously going anywhere. She took a deep breath and began marching forward, loving the earthen scents that drifted around her and the clover-like freshness of the air, tinged with a hint of saltwater.

"This is really breathtaking," she whispered. Her voice carried on the wind enough for Malachi to hear.

He simply nodded. "Yeah, the Harish Highlands are definitely one of the more attractive hinterlands,"

She laughed. "You're speaking as if all highlands are different."

"Well, they are. Everything's different depending on where it's located and how it was initially created. Stick around for a while, travel to enough places, and you'll realize that and more."

Quinn always prided herself in being knowledgeable about everything she was interested in. It was difficult to hear someone, who looked to be around her age, know so much more than herself. Then she remembered something from a previous interaction with his grandfather. Hadn't said that Malachai studied combat styles for the last 15 years? That had to make him a lot older than she was, which was a little disconcerting in itself.

Still, his grandfather was over 500 years old, so she could easily suspend disbelief, having met the elf. There were so many things she was going to have to get used to.

The bad thing about the path down to find Dinel was that they couldn't go fast, despite the library timer ticking down. It was like a metronome with a fuse attached blinking in her vision. The ground they traversed was strewn with pebbles and steep, easy to lose footing on. And even though time kept bleeding away, Quinn thought it was better to come back alive with the book she needed to retrieve, instead of slipping and falling to her death over the side of the mountain.

Then the library really would be doomed with that whole lack of magically compatible signatures out there.

Malachi's bow was now strung over his shoulder. She wondered if that was healthy for it, but assumed he knew what he was doing. She clutched her unsheathed machete in her left hand, hoping she wouldn't need it. The smells and the sense of peace that drifted to her on this mountain path could easily lull her into a false sense of security. She made an effort not to be swept away by the tranquility of it all. Staying aware was vital to survival.

Just as they were getting closer to one of the smoke spires she'd seen from the very top of the mountain, she glanced back and realized they had probably descended three or four levels so far. It had to be a couple of miles at least. She dreaded looking at the timer in the bottom corner of her vision.

56 hours.

"Oh, that's just great."

All of a sudden, something jumped out in front of her. It stood about eight feet tall and was massive. It reminded her of a walrus with stocky and powerful legs. Massive tusks extended from its mouth down to midway down its chest and it had two arms on each side, four arms in total. It was a dark brown and had tufted black hair spiking out from its head and flowing all the way down its back.

"Who goes there? Who trespasses on the Dinetian village?"

Spear tips dug into her back hard enough that she was pretty sure the tips had broken the skin through her clothes.

This was not the welcome she'd been expecting.

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Spear tips are not fun! Right? Unless you're pointing them

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

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Much love

KT