LSRO: Chapter 301 - This Trick (Patreon)

Yay, so next chapter.

I've actually managed to dictate the next two. So I'll have those up tomorrow. It's just I have to go over them and clean them up a bit. Not too hard, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

Infiltration yeeeeaaaaahhhhhhh

Is it bad that I've gotten used to my hand now? It's ok. I Have a hand surgeon appointment coming up on the 13th. I promise I'll try to save the hand! (It's not that bad, I just have a morbid sense of humor).

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I'm almost back!!!

~~

Chapter 37

This Trick

The silence in the room was so cloying that when Eric spoke, it sounded like a thunderclap.

“We could use the old servant passages,” he whispered.

Quinn cringed at the way the sound rebounded around the entire room. But she needed to clarify. “What do you mean, servant passages?”

“There are secret passages within the walls,” Eric said, glancing about furtively. “Most of us should be able to fit. We didn’t bring anybody too large to fit. Those who’ve infiltrated shouldn’t know about them because, well, they’re not local inhabitants, from what I’ve been able to tell.”

Quinn was inordinately glad that Aradie came with her this time because she was sure that she had seen movies about exactly this—people getting stuck in secret passages in walls or chased through secret passages in walls or something. This way, the bird could find a way out! Quinn wasn’t the best in enclosed spaces. 

Eric, however, didn’t seem to notice her reticence, and continued on. “Can you share the intruder locations with me, like accurate locations?”

Quinn nodded, happy that Eric seemed to be taking this seriously as opposed to his usual flippant nature. But she wasn’t entirely sure how to translate the information from her sensory net through to the HUD. She pulled it up in front of her, glad that the Library had enough power for the system to have all of its functions available anywhere now. It took a bit of trial and error, but finally, in the location section of her HUD, she managed to create a map that she shared with Eric.

“This is exactly what I need,” the Imp said. “I can try to get us there.”

Quinn kept waiting for him to make a joke. She waited for him to examine the map and where the groups of that made up those 50 odd people were. Although there seemed to be one moving into range now, maybe it was more like 60. A shiver ran down her spine. They probably should have brought more backup with them. Quinn was getting worried.

Malakai hovered near the door, his head angled as if trying to hear something in advance. Quinn didn’t have the heart to tell him that she would know. Her sensory data expanded in the world outside the Library too. Milaro was frowning, his eyes half-closed, obviously concentrating.

Eric cleared his throat. “Just give me a few. I’ll use the tunnels to scout this out. I won’t be long. I know my way around.” As he left, it looked like he ran straight into the wall but disappeared through it. 

Secret passageways on top of magic made her grin despite the gravity of the situation.

Milaro let out a sigh. “I could only see one group without your input.”

Quinn cringed. “Better than none.”

“Wait,” Milaro said. “I think there’s another one approaching.”

Quinn nodded at that too. “Yep, definitely.” She felt apprehensive. Milaro managed to avoid scowling. 

Malakai reached over and squeezed her hand. She smiled at him gratefully.

“You know, there aren’t any innocents here that we need to protect.”

“Aren’t there?”

“No, they seem to have cleared most of the Halschius imps out, I guess.”

Quinn nodded slowly. That made sense. “What’s your point?”

“You haven’t seen him fight where nobody innocent can get hurt yet. So just give my grandfather the benefit of the doubt, OK? He’s a lot more powerful than he looks.”

Quinn glanced over at her mentor. “Oh, no, he looks pretty powerful to me.”

“You’re no fun,” Malakai said.

Tingles ran down Quinn’s back. Just as Eric re-emerged from the wall, his eyes were narrowed.

“Technically, we should be able to reach all five groups as long as we act quickly. Before any of them manage to find the entrance down.”

“Down where?” Quinn asked. “Down to Kajaro?”

“That’s where I think they’re going.”

“That makes sense. It makes a lot more sense than doing it as part of a takeover attempt.”

“Yeah, I think they’re here for him,” Eric said.

“Why?” Malakai asked, his expression thoughtful.

It was as if he answered his own question in his head at the same time that Milaro answered the outspoken one. “Well, if they also couldn’t kill him before, because he wouldn’t die and would just come back regardless, popping up in whatever location he’d attached his previous resurrection to... Now that he doesn’t have those extra lives anymore, he’s just as vulnerable to his former allies as he is to us.”

“Why do you say former allies?” Quinn asked.

“Because he’s been in Hal’s custody for months now. You think they’d actually trust him anymore?” Milaro chuckles ruefully. “They’ve probably been waiting for just such an opening.”

Another thing that made a lot of sense in Quinn’s head. “So, you think they’re here to silence him, then?” She didn’t think that was fair.

Milaro grinned. “Exactly. They knew before that they couldn’t because he’d just come back and then he would know that they had tried to off him as well. However, now, now he can’t come back...”

“Yeah, but who told them?” Eric asked.

“I’m not a mind reader. Oh, wait,” Milaro chuckled. “I am. I’ll see if I can figure that out.”

Quinn almost volunteered to do the same, but Milaro held up a hand. “No, you need to concentrate on guarding us. Your protection spells? I’ve got a really bad feeling we’re going to need them. And if you want any information out of Kajaro, you’ll have to protect him from being massacred by his own side.”

For just a split second, Quinn had a flash of guilt. That Kajaro didn’t deserve to be hunted by his previous allies. But those few seconds were gone. She squashed the pity immediately. She remembered everything Kajaro had done. And she remembered those who’d been hurt in the crossfire and knew how many more people over however many millennia had suffered because of him. They needed information, but she wasn’t going to cry over spilled Kajaro blood if they didn’t make it in time.

“We should get going now, then,” Malakai said. He was starting to get a little antsy. She could see his foot tapping ever so softly in a staccato beat.

“Wait,” Quinn said, her sense prickling with the approach of the wandering group. “I don’t think we’re getting into that passage yet. If we go, I think they’ll find us.”

“Well, we can’t have that,” Eric said.

“The group that’s approaching us,” Quinn said, “has about 12 people in it. I think they all do. So we’re looking at about 60 people all up. I’ll have mana and health regenerations running.”

And she paused because Aradie was speaking to her. You put up your shield. Make sure it’s the one with the gaps in the walls.

OK, what sort of radius do you want me to put it up in?

Protect the group and the battle. We don’t want people overhearing it and coming to join in.

Quinn began to visualize it in her mind so they’d be ready when they needed it. 

Don’t worry about filling the walls. I’ll make sure it’s as soundproof as we can make it.

Quinn followed her night owl’s instructions, concerned about the battle about to happen.

Malakai didn’t step into the corridor to engage the enemy. Instead, he let the door fall open slowly. The only thing that would have made it better was if the hinges had squeaked.

It made the intruder scouts hesitate. Peering into the room, they yelled, “They’re here! Quick!”

All of them entered the room, not nearly as cautious as they should have been.

Quinn had to ponder just how gullible they were, or at least she would have spent more time on it if they hadn’t been outnumbered two to one. Instead, she concentrated on placing the barrier around the entire room once everyone was in. It was a large antechamber. They could let loose.

She funneled power into the shielding to give her group some physical protection. After which she threw up both her mana distribution overlay to filter the ambient mana through to all of her group mates. It made sense to keep it running from the beginning. It punished her for its usage but replenished slightly more for her than it took. With her healing buff in place, she hoped it meant Malakai wouldn’t have to perform more than rudimentary healing.

She wished they could have brought Nishpa with them, but the mind healer was still recovering. 

It only took Quinn a few seconds to make sure the barriers and mana and health replenishing buffs were in place. Then she turned and took stock of the situation.

She felt like everything moved in slow motion. It wasn’t. It was just as her perception sped up, allowing her to absorb the information in the surroundings, sort of like she did from the tomes of magic. It must have been a new development. She didn’t recall it working quite like this before.

It allowed her to recognize their opponents. There were imps, eerily similar to Eric, yet with an oddly green undertone. The way their magic vibrated reminded her somewhat of Adrito, the Esposian who’d tried to kill them multiple times with a golem that sent islands crashing through the air.

She managed to dodge an incoming physical spear attack, barely rolling to the side as she inspected the strange creature in front of her, which was not an imp. It stood about six feet tall and looked oddly like a thorny devil lizard that was humanoid and had four arms instead of two. She inspected it, species Spinoboli, and frowned. That was all the information it gave her. Maybe it was respectful of the fact that she was in the middle of a fight and probably shouldn’t be reading her HUD.

Quinn shifted and intensified her focus, making sure that she didn’t get hit.

Watch any bladed instrument. Milaro’s voice came through their connection, brushing against her, asking for permission to speak to everyone. He already had blanket permission from her, so she heard him.

Poison? she asked. 

Very likely. I wouldn’t put it past them. Make sure you protect your airways. He directed everybody. 

Quinn could thank her dragon physiology for the fact that she didn’t really need to do that, but then she couldn’t afford to be distracted any longer.

She gathered flame around her fists, her scales working overtime to protect her skin, to protect her body. Incoming attacks began to pick up. Luckily, she only had two of these Spinoboli focused on her. The imps had gathered around Eric.

Are they on Hal’s side? Quinn asked as she parried another spear with a blade of air. And then managed to roll out of the way of a sword strike. She shuddered. Fire. She needed fire to melt the metal.

She grinned to herself as Eric managed to gasp out over their minds, Nope. These guys don’t belong with Hal. Not Uncle Hal’s. These guys belong to Hulishars. She’s never been a very nice person.

Aren’t satyrs known for tricking each other and not being very nice? Malakai asked. Even in mind voice, Quinn could tell he was out of breath. He employed evasive maneuvers, and she could barely see him. It allowed him to take on aspects of stealth and fire from areas that their enemies weren’t expecting. But she was fully aware that it also took a lot of power and energy.

Don’t stereotype, Eric huffed. 

Quinn was even more convinced that this whole thing had been a setup to pull Hal away so these intruders could get to Kajaro. How the hell had they got the information when even Quinn had only just found out a day ago? And she wondered if those imps could have disguised themselves. She asked as much over mind channel, just as a sword nicked a strand of her hair, knocking off a lock. Her scales couldn’t protect her hair.

Damn it, she said, angry. She needed to concentrate more.

No, they can’t, Eric finally answered. We have very specific scents that can’t be masked. You can’t fool us with that. Our olfactory senses are too good.

Other illusions then?

No, probably just somebody who has a vendetta or, I don’t know, got a lot of money.

Quinn didn’t have time for any more banter because the spear hit her shoulder. She let out a scream and yanked it out, realizing it had caught the tip in her protection and the scales prevented it from cutting into her body. It only pushed sorely against the bone and tendons. She grabbed the spear with her scaled hand and activated a white-hot heat, dropping the weapon before the metal dripped down.

The Spinoboli looked up, startled. “That’s not possible.”

Quinn glanced down at the spear as she gusted her opponent to slam into a wall with a wave of wind. “I don’t think that word means what you think it means.”

The sword wielder was next. She rolled back, barely avoiding a strike, 100% certain that if she didn’t have her cosmicisodracus scale reinforcement, there was no way she’d avoid any injuries.

There was a scream next to her, but it wasn’t one of pain. It was of frustration and came from Milaro. 

She wasn’t exactly sure what she was seeing as she loosed another white-hot ball of flame at the sword, effectively melting the tip, and sending her other attacked back into the wall with a gust of wind too.

Milaro stood in the middle of three of his attackers, while his grandson rained arrows down on all of them. Her mentor had them stuck in place, crouched on the ground, weapons at their sides, clutching their heads as if they might otherwise come off. Blood dripped out of their eye sockets, nose, and ears.

Milaro looked up and grinned at Quinn. “I’ll teach you this trick next time,” he said.

~~

Okay, not gonna lie. I want that trick too.

Much love

KT