LSRO: Chapter 101 - Different Definitions (Patreon)

Hey there everyone

Okay I actually had a blast writing this chapter. I really hope you all enjoy reading it.  

Not a Cliffy I would say - but you'll probably still wish you could read the next one now. 

~~

Chapter 101

Different Definitions

For some reason, being surrounded by five of the Esposian Firionas didn't scare Quinn. Instead, she fought back the urge to summon ice balls and tried to calm herself down. She was angry and sort of excited by the confrontation. Probably because she'd been cooped up in the Library for weeks.

What the hell were these guys even thinking, surrounding them and saying they're not welcome? They'd come to get a Library book. Wasn't that like her thing? She needed to sort her thoughts out because if she didn't, she was probably going to act rashly, and that wouldn't be good under any circumstances.

She knew she could think fast, but how much did they want to fight? Their countenance didn't scream violence or readiness to wreak mayhem and bloody murder. No, there was hesitation in the way a couple of them stood. They held what looked like bone daggers in their hands, no metal. She glanced at them. Their stances were a mess if what Malakai had taught her was anything to go by, and their grip on their weapons looked weak. They were definitely hesitant. All of them seemed to have some sort of expectation of a fight, but there was also a hint of fear coming from every single one of them.

She could feel it emanating like a bad smell.

Quinn automatically attempted to identify them because she'd been doing so with every new species that walked into the Library lately, and it was almost second nature now.

Esposian Furionas - Fae Furionas species
Traveled from: Dimensional Portal L24
Ally status: 471,000 years

Current status: Regarding you with desperate hostility

Quinn frowned at the last addition to the information. Desperate hostility? That was oddly descriptive. She knew she had to interact as soon as possible, but still, the Library's reach had expanded exponentially. She couldn't get over the fact that now she had access to everything even out in the field.

She pushed the inspection just that little bit further.

Name: Varyn

She took a deep breath and spoke, "And why are we not welcome, Varyn?" She asked.

"We do not speak to humans." The one in the middle practically spat on the ground when they spoke. If he was surprised that she knew his name, he didn't let on.

Quinn could have kicked herself. She knew they had brought along Geneva for a reason. She was a Fae Firionas and therefore should be able to at least speak to the Esposians. However, as she glanced at Geneva, she realized that her Library assistant was still in shock. She didn't seem to be taking this confrontation well.

Quinn continued, "Well, I guess it's a good thing that I'm the Librarian then."

Whatever Quinn had been expecting to happen, it certainly wasn't what happened next.

Two of the five moved toward her so fast she could barely follow it with her eyes. Their knives held out in front of them. The only thing that saved her was Aradie dive-bombing one of them, drawing blood and a scream, and Quinn's ability to think outside of time. She barely dashed to the left-hand side, missing the blade so closely that a few of her hairs got caught by it.

Two thick curls fluttered down.

Quinn crouched down on the ground, watching the Firionas and trying desperately not to lose her temper. Even Malakai arrived a split second too late to help her against one of those bone daggers. She racked her brains for something to say, for anything to say or anything to do. She hadn't expected to be attacked by Firionas when they were supposedly on fantastic terms with them. The two who were now in the middle of their group, and the three who were still outside of it, were difficult for her to keep track of all at once.

Aradie squawked, hovering up above, keeping herself in place through magic and movement of wings. Somehow, the breeze from them managed to soothe Quinn and allow her to think clearly, even as the other three of the Esposians started to move. This time, they weren't darting in, it was like they were coordinating efforts telepathically which they very likely were. Quinn kicked herself for not having thought to do the same. That anger boiled in her gut, threatening to come up.

She was pissed off. What the hell? All she wanted to do was open the bloody culinary branch. Even as she had the thought, the Esposians began to lunge toward Quinn again.

Geneva recovered. It had maybe taken her twenty seconds, which was a long time when people wielding sharp bone knives were trying to kill you.

"Enough!" Geneva yelled. "That is enough. What has gotten into you?"

The Esposians dropped their knives to cover their ears and screamed for a second as soon as Geneva spoke in that loud, resonant voice. Aradie shot up to the canopy just before the Fae Furionas spoke. Quinn spared a very fast glance at Malakai, who gave her an almost indiscriminate shrug in response. He had no idea what Geneva's voice had done, but she had an idea that it was a frequency that birds and, apparently, Esposian Firionas did not like.

The Esposians were pushing the heels of their hands against their ears, their weapons and grievance momentarily forgotten.

Finally, Varyn turned to Geneva. "We have to stop you."

"What's the matter?" Geneva asked again. She looked bewildered, lost almost, her eyes a little wild. "I don't understand why you attacked us."

Varyn scowled at her, baring his teeth. His eyes looked like they were almost on fire, with a yellow-orange tint to them. They were filled with fervor and desperation leaked out of his very pores. "We can't let you go any further."

The other four of the Esposians began to fidget. A couple of them went to retrieve their daggers, only to have Malakai loose an arrow right in front of their feet. They darted back, scowling at him.

"Why do you have to stop us from going further," Quinn repeated, in a low and very menacing tone. Her patience had just run out.

This time, the cantankerous little Esposian scowled at her, baring his teeth again. Three of them, completely disregarding Malakai's loosed arrows, sat right in front of their daggers and darted in to fight, their fingers extended, their nails just like claws. This time, Quinn was ready. She cast two streams of ice at them, hitting one in the foot and one in the hand. They yelped and darted back, but the other three darted toward the Librarian and toward Geneva.

The Library's Firionas fought deftly, so fast that Quinn couldn't keep track of it. Not that she had time to.

Aradie flew at them, pecking at them madly, but one of the two approaching Quinn almost reached her. She shot out more ice at them, even as Malakai was taking care of the one Aradie pecked at.

"Don't kill them. It'll only make things worse," Quinn called out.

They were coming in so close, that Quinn almost touched them a couple of times while casting her ice. It was so cold, she could practically hear it blister the almost translucent skin of the Esposians. But still, they only crept out to recover for a few seconds before darting back in.

A few scratches got through here and there, but Quinn kept her self healing active and thanked Malakai and her lucky stars that she'd insisted on learning the self healing book when she had. She got into a quick rhythm of dodging and casting ice shards, ice bullets, and a plethora of other ice waves. It was a lot more difficult to use her powers when she was deliberately trying to hurt her attackers the least.

Geneva let out a cry, and Quinn's attention wavered only for a split-second, but it was enough for her ice blast to go slightly off target.

Her ice caught one of her attackers' wings. The membrane froze so fast, Quinn could practically hear it crackle. The scream of pain emanating from the Esposian Furiona's mouth almost shattered Quinn's eardrums. She could feel fear and fury and this horrible, complete and utter sensation that the Esposian gave up.

"Damn it," Quinn said. "I didn't realize the wings would be that sensitive."

"Have you not seen my wings?" Geneva said. "Do you not see how transparent they are and how fine they are? Can you imagine something like that? Freezing. Do you know how much ice..." But she stopped, dashing down to help as their attackers stepped back for a moment, concern and bewilderment in their expressions.

"I'm sorry, Librarian." Geneva said as she landed. "I can just imagine how much pain she's in."

"Yeah, I get it. I get it." Quinn acknowledged her assistant. The little Esposian seemed almost doll-like. She was still and paler if that was possible as she lay on the ground. "Mal, can you hold her down just in case she wakes, and heal her?"

Malakai held the little Esposian down gently at its feet and shoulders. They were so tiny. It wasn't difficult for the six and a half foot man. Even as Malakai muttered his 'heal' out, the tiny little Esposian didn't wake up, but her breathing evened out. Quinn wasn't surprised. Healing required energy from the body, not just the healer.

Quinn brushed herself off as she stood up while the other four stared on, their faces still a little bit full of anger and fervor and a decided willingness to stab them if they could find an opening. Quinn stood, hands on her hips, and gave them her own scowl. "That's enough. Now I know ice will hurt your wings. If you try and stab me again, I'm going to ice your wings. Okay? So how about we just stop this and you tell me why you decided to come and attack me and my group with a bunch of knives. I don't get it. We didn't hurt anything in the forest. I've just retrieved the Library's property. That's all we've..."

"You've retrieved the Library's property?" Varyn asked, his voice high-pitched for once, almost in panic as he asked the question.

Quinn frowned. "Yes, I just retrieved 'Dire Consequences of Misusing Monster Parts: How to Avoid Pitfalls'. Of course I'm taking it back. It's one of the four books left so we can open the damn culinary branch. Why don't you want us to open the food branch of the Library?"

All of the despair leaked out of the Esposian. "We didn't realize that was the book you came for," he said. Now his eyes darted around, not meeting her own. The fire was gone. The passion was gone. Now he was being secretive.

Quinn liked that even less. "Okay, so you were just willing to kill me for taking a book with me. A book that isn't the book that I went and retrieved. Why is that?"

"I don't know what you mean," he said, and made to fly away. But Geneva muttered under her breath. And he was stuck in place in midair.

"How dare you use one of the punishments on me," he said, snapping at her, some of that fire returning to his gaze.

"I dare." Geneva said. "You have given affront to the Library and its Librarian. You owe us answers, and you're not going anywhere until we've got them."

Panic flitted through his eyes. One of the Esposians made a run for it, but they didn't get very far. Aradie swooped down, pecking the top of their wing. It would be easily healed. But the thing about wings is when one is injured, flying can become painful or impossible. Quinn didn't like resorting to hurting somebody who was supposed to technically be an ally of the Library. However, in this case, since they'd flown at her with sharp things, trying to stab and claw her to death, she figured she had the right to be just a little bit retaliatory.

"Malakai, you good with keeping an eye on the other three?" she asked him, her voice low.

"Oh, very. I'm sure Aradie will help me," he said, focused on the others. They shrank back ever so slightly.

"Will they fly away?"

Geneva shook her head. "Oh, no, I have seen to the fact that they will not fly away."

"Okay, Varyn? So how about you tell me why you attacked me?" she asked, trying to keep the angry tremor out of her voice. Involving emotions didn't usually help things, but she didn't like being ambushed by a supposed ally.

A sudden pulse rippled out from the center of an island like a stone dropped into a lake. Almost like a locating beacon. Varyn shuddered as it came into contact with him, and then he sighed. Two of the others fell down to the ground, wordlessly.

"Are they okay?" Quinn asked.

Malakai checked. "They're breathing, just unconscious, I think."

Quinn scowled and turned to Varyn. "Spill it, now." She didn't like the sensations crawling over her skin and up her spine. It felt like somebody was trying to intrude into her, through her, trying to read her mind, trying to figure out exactly why they were here and who they were.

And how it could devour them.

"You've got about 60 seconds, Varyn, before I really lose my temper and I use some of the mind magic stuff that I've been learning from King Milaro." It was sort of an empty threat, but he didn't know that.

He trembled ever so slightly. "It's not the cooking book. We don't care if you open the culinary branch, but if you come and find the other book, they'll kill all of us."

Quinn perked up at that. Who the hell were they? "What do you mean they'll kill all of you? Who are they?"

Varyn shook his head, quick, rapidly. "I can't, I can't tell you. I've said too much." His eyes darted wildly from side to side. He started shaking. In the air, Geneva lowered him down so that he could sit on the ground.

"Varyn, calm down. It's okay. It's okay. We just need to know what's wrong. We can help." Quinn attempted to sooth the Esposian.

"No," Varyn said, "you can't help. Nobody can help. That's why there's nobody here. They've been killing us off this whole time. Don't you see? We're sacrifices. And that book. They're never going to let you go now," he said.

"What do you mean?" Quinn asked.

But before he could answer, his mouth opened in a silent scream as he began to disintegrate from the hole that emerged in his throat outward. Spiraling around the disintegration was almost hypnotizing.

Quinn looked around wildly to see the other four suffering the same fate.

Their bodies slowly turned into nothing. The smell of rotting flesh lingered for several seconds before it too had disappeared. Nothing but the dropped bone daggers on the ground left any trace behind that they'd been confronted at all.

Quinn gulped as uneasiness spread down her spine. Now she felt like she was being watched, and as Geneva and Malakai shifted uncomfortably, she knew they felt it too.

"Well. Shit." She said and sighed, turning toward where the ripple had come from. It was very obvious and easy for her to track that magic. So much so, that she was fairly certain it was a trap. "I guess we have to go find out where that ripple came from now, don't we?"

Malakai nodded, a grin spreading across his face. "Now this. Is much more interesting than a cooking book, don't you think?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "You and I have very different definitions of interesting."