Chapter 95

The group had returned to the map room to rest, eat, and prepare for their next run. It was unoccupied upon their arrival but one table in the corner still held Fred's three books which were currently closed. Each held a bookmark.

Aiden chomped noisily on his travel wafer. “Mmm. Chalk.”

Norri rolled her eyes at his lunch in jest. The rest of the group broke out their travel rations and munched on them quietly. No one asked to go to the cafeteria for lunch. No one wanted more gruel.

“I've decided that I'd rather it taste like chalk than feel rubbery. I think I'm pro-wafer now.” Aiden said to no one in particular as he nodded his head and took another bite.

Koots sat with Jay, M'redith, and Glenda and was going over the path to the library with them so that they could attempt to memorize it.

“Do we have to memorize it?” Aiden asked from behind them. He was at the time making zero effort to memorize their path as he was horrible at directions and orienting himself. The group had decided to keep the other maps far from him and let him stick with healing.

Koots laughed and he turned slightly in his chair to face Aiden momentarily, “What? You think you'll have time to look at your map while being chased? You can't even read a map when everything around you is peaceful, how are you going to read a map when a hundred little things are trying to murder you?”

Aiden pouted and Norri patted him on the back consolingly. No point in letting their only healer sulk. They needed him at his best, just in case.

Jay closed his Mighty Book and let it fall to his side still attached to his belt. He had made a separate page with a more detailed map of the directions to the library in a larger, easier to read format. It would come in handy if they ever needed quick directions.

Jay turned his chair away from the map table so that he could face Aiden and Norri. M'redith and Glenda turned as well. Koots had been sitting sideways already thanks to his precariously balanced hump and didn't need to move.

M'redith leaned up against Jay and sighed as he put an arm around her and gave her a quick side hug which earned him a wide smile from her.

“Gross. Cut it out mom and dad.” Aiden quipped with a grin. The group laughed lightly but quickly turned serious as everyone thought about the library. It was going to be difficult reaching that central desk.

Aiden offered a wafer to Koots who took one out of curiosity only to make a disgusted face after he had eaten one. “This is, ugh, why can't anyone get trapped in here with grape jelly or sweet rolls? It's always some horrific travel-food monstrosity.” Koots sighed.

Aiden stopped pouting and seemed to have an idea. “Hey, we have to return the book, sure, but do we have to do it right away?”

Jay looked up from M'redith to look over at Aiden, “Don't you want to get out of here sooner rather than later? Go home and have some meat on a stick?”

Aiden's stomach growled loudly at the mention of meat on a stick and Norri laughed, holding one hand over her mouth in an ineffective attempt to hide it. Aiden blushed but did not appear embarrassed.

“I would kill for meat on a stick right now but no, I'm thinking about loot. If we have to be here why not look in to a few rooms and see if there is anything useful we could take?” Aiden asked.

Koots looked at Aiden, “You mean other than the possibility of dying or worse to a horde of monsters?”

M'redith smiled crookedly and Aiden sighed.

“There's always horrific monsters when there is loot. I think we need to just get used to that.” Aiden insisted.

M'redith laughed at that. “We don't have to go looking for loot though – we'd be exposing ourselves to danger unnecessarily.”

“I doubt you'll find much of use. Some of these rooms have already been picked over.” Koots offered.

“Ya, but..loot.” Aiden said with upturned palms held out in front of him, beseeching them to help him search for things to sell. “Jay can find hidden loot – shouldn't we take advantage of that?”

The group appeared to be reconsidering at the thought of hidden loot.

Jay grinned, “Ok, well is it even possible for us to do the library run tonight?”

Koots shook his head, “Sure, if you're looking to fail. Otherwise you'd best spend a few hours studying their movement patterns before you give it a go. Go during the day, leave yourself plenty of time to leave the library too. Not something to try at night.”

Glenda nodded in agreement. That was settled, they wouldn't be running the library tonight.

“Ok, what about this,” Aiden offered, “We go back to the library, study their movements for a few hours, then take an hour to search a random room on the way back to our rooms. We have plenty of time to do that before bedtime right?”

Jay pursed his lips in thought and M'redith looked up and to the left as if thinking. The group was waiting for someone to speak and Jay was about to say something.

“Yes.” Glenda said simply with a slow nod of her head.

“But we'd miss dinnertime.” Norri pointed out.

Aiden sighed, “We can eat while we run, or search.” He hated the idea of missing dinner but dinner was going to be gross, chalky nutritious wafers. Eating on the go instead of sitting down and relaxing while eating wouldn't make too much of a difference Aiden thought.

“Great! Then lets head back to the library and take some notes.” Aiden said excitedly as he stood up.

Koots chuckled, “Good luck to you kids.”

“You aren't coming with us?” Norri asked sounding a little worried.

“Not me, no. I have other things to do such as setting the cleansing fires to go off tonight. They don't set themselves you know!” Koots said with a crooked grin.

Everyone had finished choking down their chalk wafers and stood up to get in line for their run back to the library.

“Now are you absolutely sure you have the route memorized?” Koots asked as he stared at Glenda and M'redith as they were the two he had decided were probably in charge of the group.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Glenda nodded ponderously and M'redith flashed a quick smile and a nod. Jay nodded too but no one was paying any attention to him for a change.

“Remember, if you get lost find a room to hole up in and study your maps! You'll be fine.” Koots insisted and gave the door a bang with one fist before he struck it again. Silence.

M'redith grinned, she was at the head of the line followed by Norri, Aiden, Jay, and Glenda. They would maintain that order throughout the time they stayed at the Library as it offered them the most safety if attacked.

Whipping open the door M'redith charged out in to the hallway and the rest of her group followed.

Off to her right a barking could be heard along with a cacophony of screams. The chase was on. How the monsters knew that the group was no longer in a room but running through the corridors M'redith did not know. She knew only that they had given chase and were getting closer.

They turned a corner and ahead was a massive creature with all arms and no legs. It used its thumb-less hands to drag it along the corridor towards their group but it was moving slowly and M'redith had time to consider their route.

As their pursing monsters grew louder as they approached closer and closer M'redith focused. The map was clear in her memory and she mentally drew a new route in her mind before darting down a side passage and led her group to safety, away from the approaching arm-monster.

She slammed in to a door throwing it open before rushing in to a room and out through a door in the opposite wall. Glenda shut each door as they went through. They were in a long hallway now approaching a number of stairways. Something wet and slimy dropped off the ceiling as they ran and landed directly on Norri's head.

Norri screamed. Other screams answered her from all around the running group. The creature's bulbous body opened up and displayed a number of spiny looking teeth with jagged edges. Before it could bite down on Norri's head Jay managed to poke his staff in to the waiting maw before it could even move.

Swinging his staff he threw the monster in to the wall off to their left. It hit the wall before sliding to the floor. Glenda stomped on it and trapped it. They didn't have time for more than that and ran past the injured monster, they didn't even stop running long enough to kill it.

The monster was too addled from hitting the wall and was quickly overtaken by the other monsters chasing Jay and his group. They could hear when the monsters reached the injured monster by the sounds of their feeding. That would keep them busy for but a moment yet that was enough to slow them down and give M'redith a chance to increase her lead.

Referencing the map in her mind once again M'redith led them on a winding path through corridors and rooms. Unlike Koots, M'redith used rooms as side passages to cut down on the amount of time she had to spend in corridors. It was effective but more confusing as the group had to stay close to her in order to not lose her around corners.

They were now in the final corridor. Ahead at the end stood a wide door banded in dark metal and shut tight. Between M'redith's group and the door however stood a shiny black monster on six legs. It reminded Jay of an ant only without the antennae. It was also lower to the ground reaching only up to Jay's waist. Its head opened wide, too wide, and it hissed a spray of spittle at them in challenge.

M'redith stood resolutely as the creature charged her. When they collided Jay was not surprised to see M'redith still standing and the monster rolling on the ground clutching its wounded head and neck. It was clearly injured from the impact. Its body was segmented in to three parts, one part being the head, and it was that part that looked deformed from the colossal collision.

M'redith began to rain blows down upon it with her sword, the majority of which glanced off of its hard moist exoskeleton.

Norri stepped up towards the creature and approached from M'redith's left side. She whipped her staff through the air and beat a tattoo on the carapace over and over again. The sudden repeated blows stunned the monster and it stopped trying to get up for a moment as it continued to roll back and forth in pain or frustration.

The monster whipped its body across the floor in an arc. Norri was caught along her shins by the monster's body and dropped to the floor still clutching her staff. As she struck the ground she used her staff to poke violently at the monster preventing it from approaching her further.

All this happened in the matter of a few seconds and Jay poked at the monster as well aiding Norri in keeping back the wiggling body of their foe.

They were beating the hell out of the monster but upon closer inspection Jay saw that the monster still looked uninjured.

“Can't seem to hurt this thing!” Jay quipped nervously, calling out to his group-mates.

Finally getting to its feet the monster used its body to bash up against Jay's hip and sent him flying across the hallway. He struck the wall and fell to the ground unable to get up. His thinking was muddled and he felt groggy from the head injury.

“Jay!” yelled M'redith as she tried to approach him but was unable to do so, the segmented monster still thrashing on the floor between them.

A scream sounded from behind them. Something had found them and it was getting closer. Moments later Aiden turned to find that Glenda was grappling with a smaller monster with only two arms and a body. It was roughly two feet long but its arms were only a foot long with five fingers and no thumb. It had used its hands as feet and ran at Glenda at high speed before using those same hands to rapidly climb up her body in an attempt to attack her face.

Glenda howled in anger and grabbed one of the arms. Still howling she tore it free from the monster's body and threw it back down the hallway it had come from. Something picked it up and she could hear chewing off in the distance.

Aiden was terrified and the three segment monster noticed. Instead of attacking M'redith further or going for the injured and collapsed Jay it attacked the closest and easiest enemy it saw – Aiden.

It scuttled quickly towards him and Aiden screamed in terror as he threw his staff at the creature, striking it in the side. It momentarily interrupted the monster's approach and gave Aiden the time he needed to riffle through his pack using touch only to find a one foot long branch with one end wrapped in leather.

Aiden whipped the branch out of his bag and almost snapped it with the quick motion. Holding it with both hands he pointed the branch towards the approaching monster and concentrated on attacking it in an attempt to trigger the wand.

The wand reacted to Aiden's intent and became too hot to hold. Aiden did not release it however and his scream turned in to a screech as his hands were badly burned. Still, he refused to let go of the wand and continued to concentrate on attacking the monster. Held in bleeding, crispy hands, the wand glowed a dark splotchy blue before a beam launched out of the tip and struck the creature with a sizzle.

Once contact was made the beam disappeared and the wand stopped burning Aiden's hands. The creature however was not so lucky. As the beam struck the monster it began to change. The monster's body began to break up, the very bonds that held its flesh together becoming undone.

The hard armor like carapace began to flow like sand as it screamed and shrieked, its body turning in to nothing but a pile of black granules. Aiden immediately stuffed the branch back in to his bag.

Glenda shouldered past Aiden and quickly picked up Jay and lifted him up in a princess carry. Cradling him in both arms she charged towards the door.

M'redith picked Norri up off of the ground and threw an arm around her shoulder to help her limp towards the door. M'redith grasped the handle and the door swung open noiselessly.

Aiden was careful not to touch anything with his cracked and bleeding hands and followed everyone in to the library.

They were hurt and injured but needed to be quiet. This was one library where being loud could get one not just yelled at or kicked out but potentially killed.

M'redith lay Norri against the wall once they were all inside and pulled the door shut. It clicked as it did so and the group gathered to recover.

The library was just as they had remembered it, dark and foreboding with vague dark shapes flying far above them, a thick gray mist that made vision difficult, and a number of strange monsters all patrolling the aisles. Before they studied their movements however they would need to tend to themselves.

Aiden was first. He grasped one hand in the other and mumbled to himself as he cast his only healing ability, Patchwork. It was his only ability period. His hands were soon covered in patches that wound around his palm and fingers. He looked like he was wearing mittens and he wouldn't be doing any staff work until those bandages fell away.

Now that his hands were no longer injured he went to work on the others. Norri had a sprained ankle from landing badly when the monster struck her. Aiden had no problems healing her, thankfully there was no damage to the bones – something that would have required an infirmary to heal properly.

Glenda and M'redith were uninjured and kept watch over the others while Aiden worked. Jay was the final patient and required multiple attempts before he was healed.

Jay's head was a mess of patches which stuck to his head resolutely. They would remain until he healed up completely. That process could take anywhere from five minutes to an hour. Thankfully none of the patches interfered with his eye sight. Jay rubbed his head, his fingers catching on the patches. He was careful not to disturb them.

“Now,” Glenda said in a low voice, “we watch.”