Tales of PulchraGea, Vol. 1

13: PulchraGea National Library (Final/1779)

It must have been hours before I woke back up again. My mouth was full of half-rotted leaves, so I slowly spit them out and scraped my tongue with my teeth. I was incredibly thirsty, but when I reached for my pack it was gone. It should have been laying by the tree nearby, but it was nowhere to be seen.

Great, I thought. I was lost in forest hundreds of miles wide and at least a couple thousand long.

I remembered my scroll and patted my pockets down for it. It was gone!

Thunder rumbled above and the first drops of heavy rain fell from the sky. They were heavy and kind of hurt. From what of the sky I could see, the storm wasn't going to let up soon. Luckily for me there was a phoenix ash copse nearby.

Phoenix ashes grow in the stumps of fallen volun trees, which grow large quickly but are brittle. Phoenix ash seeds float through the air, land on the stump, and burn their way in. Entire copses can grow from a single hollowed stump, and their spicy scent has a somewhat repellent effect to predators like the kildragoon.

That's why I decided to duck into a gap in the trees for shelter. Inside was a gateway almost identical to the Gateway Arch I'd come to PulchraGea through. the only difference was that instead of gold, this arch was green. Not painted or enameled green, the metal itself was green. It seemed to be the reason this particular copse was hollow, as if the trees refused to grow within the radius of its influence. There at the base was my pack, with my holophone tucked neatly but conspicuously in a side pocket.

It was very conspicuous because it was ringing. Someone was calling me. I looked at the holographic screen. Robin. I slid my finger along the rippling holographic surface and accepted the call.

"Hello," I said.

"I hope you're not too busy," she said apologetically.

"Not really. I'm just finishing up here. I have the keystone and I found the gate that goes with it."

"That's great!" Robin exclaimed. "Just in time. Katy thinks we might have found another keystone in Oasis."

"Yeah, yeah," I nodded. "If it's possible for someone to come pick me up, I could use it."

"I thought you flew to Silva?"

"I did indeed, but I've subsequently become lost in the forest."

Robin laughed. I was actually kind of hurt.

"I appreciate your sympathy," I said drily. "I'm not in any hurry, take your time."

***

I do believe I've mentioned the famous Thousand Steps of the PulchraGean National Library, and that they stand for the struggle we face to gain knowledge. What I did not mention is how much of a struggle they actually are to climb. I was in pretty good shape, and I still struggled to climb them. You know who didn't have a problem? Katy and Crystal. They glided fluidly up with nary a single misstep or pause. No wonder their legs were so shapely. Doug, however, didn't even bother. There weren't very many portly people in PulchraGea and Doug just happened to be among them.

"I'll just wait at the Law Office," he said.

At last we stood at the back of the library around a large circular table. Katy and Crystal were spreading papers around it. They were written in Sirren-thal. I was by no means fluent so I thought perhaps I was missing something, but Katy agreed.

"Oh, it's utter gibberish," she said. "There's not a coherent sentence in the stack. Not the point."

She tossed a holopad on the table and brought up what looked like handwritten notes. Her script was somewhere between graceful and completely illegible, but I still managed to make it out.