by Marcus Sloss
“Nolan! It’s the space mana gift user.”
“I know...what did you find?”
“Half of an orc corpse. The torso was cut clean off—only the legs made it through the portal. What did you find?”
I relayed our findings, further supporting her assumption that the portals had infiltrated the nightmare forest.
“Whatever their aim, it seems they are gone now. I didn’t find any active portals...only the remnants of them being used.”
Aquina pulled me in close, concern on her face, “You don’t think they were stealing the creatures of the forest...do you?”
That certainly made sense. It would explain why we woke to a stampede in the morning and the excessive evidence of the portals being opened on the ground.
“I really hope not...but I can’t see any other reason,” I responded, my mind already racing with how they could use the captured creatures.
A rustling in the bushes startled our small group, and all heads turned in the direction of the sound. We relaxed when Vero and Marta ambled through, their faces relaxing when they saw us in the clearing.
“Only one more group, and we can head back. I think we have enough information to consider the mission a success.”
“Should we get the other tree?” Marta asked.
“No—Mika said the previous two were enough to fill the space in the wall, and we don’t want to delay our return any further.”
As if on cue, Cera and Argent passed into the clearing, making up the last of the volunteers. We quickly left the forest, wanting to relay the information collected to Mika as soon as possible.
When we passed through the hole and back into the village, we found Mika standing nearby, directing some of the villagers as they shaped the trees into usable wood to repair the gate. Again, they were using their elongated claws to saw at the wood, making me wonder if they didn’t have anyone able to make the tools that would make the job a bit easier.
Still, they seemed to be progressing at a decent speed, leading me to believe the wall would be secure again by the following day at the latest.
“Vero—your report?” Mika directed his attention toward our group when the last of us had entered the village.
We had shared what we found in the forest as we crossed over the plain, so now Vero recited the overall findings to the leader. Mika nodded contemplatively, listening to the potential threats that could be coming the village's way.
“How dangerous are the ratkin inside the forest?”
Vero gestured for me to speak, having not seen the invaders himself.
“They looked like prisoners, under armed and vulnerable to the remaining beasts in the forest. I wouldn’t be surprised if none of them even make it out alive.”
“Good. No need to send in a party to finish the job. Still, we will remain vigilant, in case any do happen to breach our territory. I’ll assign a night watch on this side, at least until the wall is secure. As for the rest of the information. We will remain on alert, but if these portals are as unpredictable as you say, there isn’t much we can do right now.”
Everyone agreed with Mika, although it was hard to admit the one that controlled the portals would always have the upper hand. The only promising thing we learned is that while the user seemed to be gaining strength, they hadn’t mastered the ability. This was evident from the severed corpse of the orc that Aquina’s team found—surely not an intended action.
“Get some rest—Thank you all.”
With his final statement, we were all left with the rest of the day free. After grabbing a quick meal in the pavilion, Aquina and Cera decided to return to the stream to bathe, while I decided to search for Illia.
After asking a few of the wolves on my way from the pavilion, I learned that she was headed toward Ondra’s hut the last time they saw her. When I reached the medicine hut, I knocked on the door, not wanting to intrude.
“Come in,” I heard from inside and pushed the door open with a creak.
Again, the smells of all the medicinal herbs mixing hit my senses, but I pushed forward entering the space. On the table in the middle of the room laid Lira, bandages covering her shoulder and torso.
“Nolan, welcome. Did you come to have your wound recleaned?” Ondra asked, already pulling on my shirt to inspect the wound.
“No, it’s fine now,” I responded, in a small tug-of-war with her hand and the hem of my tunic.
“Now, now, just who is the healer here. I will be the judge of that.”
“I came to see if Illia was here,” I told her, ignoring her insistence.
“Sure, sure. Little thing’s been here practically all day. I gave her a bit of space in the back, although she won’t tell me what she is working on. Now—your shirt please.”
I figured she wouldn’t give up, so I obliged, pulling my shirt over my head. I hadn’t taken care of the wound at all since she first cleaned it, and shortly after having it dressed by her, I had bathed in the river—what would it even look like at this point, I thought to myself as Ondra moved to look.
“Wow—would you look at that.”
“What? What is it?” I imagined a skin infection eating away at my back.
I tried to catch a glimpse of my injury, arching my neck over my shoulder, but I saw nothing. I didn’t feel any pain either, so I figured I would be ok.
“Stop—there’s nothing wrong with it,” I told her jokingly.
“That's just it—-there’s nothing wrong with it. Why, it looks like this scar is months old already. I’ve seen fast recoveries before, but this is on another level. Do you have a healing ability?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I think I do.” I answered honestly, still unsure about the specifics of my supposed ability.
“Fascinating.”
As she stared at my back, making the whole encounter awkward, Lira began to stir, her groans catching Ondra’s attention. Her eyes fluttered open, her mind accessing her current situation. It was the first she had regained consciousness after Ondra treated her, so she was understandably confused.
Her eyes shifted to her shoulder, and the stump of what was once her arm. She squinted, clearly unhappy with the state she found herself in.
“I’m sorry,” I moved closer to her, feeling the need to apologize for some reason.
Her eyes softened a bit, “Please, I should be thanking you. I thought for sure I was dead. That damn slime.”
I patted her other arm, trying to reassure her that things would be okay now. Ondra dipped a clean rag in a bowl of water, wringing it out before she blotted the sweat from Lira’s forehead.
“It’s going to be a painful recovery,” Ondra told her straight.
“Beats dying in the nightmare forest,” she replied immediately, gritting her teeth as she tried to sit up.
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
“That’s good to hear. Now drink this,” Ondra picked up a cup of a murky colored liquid holding it out in front of Lira.
Her nose wrinkled almost immediately, the color enough to imagine the horrid taste. Still, she said no words of complaint, taking the offered cup and downing the whole thing in a single drink.
Illia peeked around the corner, noticing that Lira had woken up. Silently, she stood beside her, a measuring tape in her hand. Without asking for permission or even giving Lira a heads up, Illia wrapped the tape lightly around her wounded shoulder, jotting down the measurements on a piece of paper.
Lira watched in silence, not sure if this had something to do with her recovery. In fact, everyone else in the room remained quiet, simply watching Illia’s actions with no real comprehension of her intentions.
Just as silently, Illia walked back to her corner, measurements in tow. I shrugged at Ondra when she gave me a look that asked whether I had any idea what that was about. Curious, I left Lira to Ondra and went to where Illia worked.
“What are you working on?”
I squatted besides her checking out the metal and leather scraps
she had strewn about a small worktable.
“There was once a prisoner that was brought into the dungeon by the Lezric. He was a con artist—-sleight of hand, ya know the type. Well— he swindled the wrong beastman and they chopped off his arm—right to the elbow.” She didn’t stop her tinkering as she talked, so engrossed in the work.
“Well, that happened long before the Lezric caught him...anyway he had a mechanical arm to replace the one he lost. Of course, I was super curious, and he was bored, so he let me examine the machinery. I’m thinking it’s something Lira could use, ya know once she gets healed enough to tolerate the rub on her skin. The only difference is hers is gonna need to be bigger and accommodate for the joint. It’ll take some experimenting.”
“I know you’ll figure it out.” I encouraged her, impressed by her solution, wondering how the final product would turn out.
I left her to her work and walked back over to Lira and Ondra. A knock on the door shifted our focus once more, and Ondra set the bandages she’d been preparing down to check on the visitor.
After a moment, she re-entered the hut, looking to Lira.
“There is someone who wants to see you. It’s Marco. What should I tell him?”
I wasn’t quite sure who Marco was until he pushed his way into the hut. I recognized him from our volunteer mission to collect wood. The beastman who had assessed Lira as unsaveable and fled first with his team.
“Please Lira. Hear me out. I…“
Her canines were out in full, her face in a snarl as she looked at him.
“I don’t want to hear it, Marco. Get out of here.”
“Please, I need you to hear this.”
“Why? So you can feel better about leaving me to die?”
“That's not—I just.” There wasn’t really anything he could say that would sound believable.
I was there, and had Vero not insisted we try to save her, I would have assumed she was dead by the way Marco had reacted. In his defense, she would have been if not for the decision to cut off her arm. Regardless, her aversion to his presence was justified.
They stared at each other for a moment, neither one wanting to concede.
“Now, now. It is not the right time for this. Lira has a long recovery ahead of her—we don’t need her getting worked up.” Ondra announced pushing Marco back toward the door.
The beastman gave in, letting himself be pushed out of the door. When he left the area, Lira visibly relaxed, the tension releasing from her shoulders.
“Are you ok?” I asked.
She exhaled the stress that seeing him again had created. “I will be.”
Ondra removed her soiled bandages, exposing her wound. She gingerly touched the burn on her shoulder, the whole surface area an angry red. Ondra dipped clean cloths into a lotion concoction before starting to wrap Lira’s wound once more.
“Don’t worry too much, my dear. The god of this great land deemed it was not your time. I know you will be stronger after this.”
While she meant well with her words, I’m sure hearing them in the moment—when the recovery had just begun—made it difficult to get much motivation from them. Still, Lira had survived, and by the determined look in her eyes, I too believed she would be ok.
After successfully finding Illia and checking on the state of Lira, I decided I should help with rebuilding the wall. The planks of wood had already been prepared by the time I showed up, the timeline much quicker than I had anticipated, and the only task left was to secure them in the space.
While the wall didn’t look as good as it once had looked, the beastmen made quick work of filling in the gap, ensuring no more unwanted visitors would be allowed into the village. Illia appeared by my side when the last nail went in, asking if we were able to finish off the spiders from the earlier attack.
Mika answered that question from among the crowd, already preparing to ask for her help when he noticed Illia walking toward the group. He directed one of the other beastmen to open the gate as we were no longer able to simply exit through the once gaping hole.
Once outside the village, Mika checked the status of the spiders. He determined they were ready to be disposed of and Illia stepped forward. With a swift motion, the ground opened, swallowing the monster corpses before returning to its former state.
“Thank you,” Mika told us, leading us back into the village.
“I’m going to work on Lira’s prosthetic.”
I nodded as Illia jogged forward, ready to return to the task she had given herself. I spent the rest of the day talking with Mika, Vero and the others before we all turned in for the night.
∞∞∞
The following three days passed peacefully with no sign of any disturbances. The Lezric stayed away, the creatures of the forest remained there, and having yet to encounter any of the Rexco, we decided the remaining prisoners had perished in the nightmare forest.
Illia announced that she would only require the rest of the day to finish her project, so I decided it would be best for us to move on after that. The stay with the Silverwolf village had allowed us time to rest, but we needed to continue our journey.
Mika heard of our plans and decided to throw us a farewell feast, thanking us for all the help during our stay. I insisted it wasn’t necessary, but everyone had agreed, so eventually I accepted their generosity.
An hour before the feast was set to take place, I went to visit Lira who still resided in Ondra’s hut. I knocked on the door, and Ondra answered, quickly inviting me inside.
Lira’s complexion appeared brighter, a good sign that her recovery headed in the right direction. Lira sat on the edge of the table as Ondra finished redressing her wound.
“How are you feeling today?”
“Better every day,” she replied with a smile, a reply I’m sure she had to repeat countless times with every new visitor.
“Ondra’s even allowing me to go to tonight’s feast,” Her smile grew wider at the thought of leaving the small medicinal house.
“It’s done!” Illia could be heard from the back of the hut.
She quickly moved to stand beside us, the contraption in her hand, the excitement painted on her face. Holding out the device to Lira, she pointed out how she would wear it and exactly how it was meant to work. The process she described was in depth, the use of runes a necessity for it to function as intended.
“I’ll leave the picture for when your wound heals completely, but after you get the inscription, you just place the two sides together, strap it in place and ta-da! It’s like you never lost it in the first place.”
Lira’s eyes shined as she managed the device around in her lap, admiring the meticulous work Illia put into it.
“Thank you. I never thought something like this was even possible.”
Illia puffed her chest up a bit, proud to provide something others couldn’t.
“I’m glad I could help.”
“Should we all head to the feast together?” I asked, realizing we would be late if we stayed much longer.
Together we moved to the public pavilion, where tables were set with massive amounts of food, ready to celebrate. Aquina and Cera spotted us, coming to join us as we searched for a table amongst the crowd.
Mika stood at the front, reminding everyone of the events of the last few days and giving out appreciation for the roles everyone fulfilled to keep the village safe. At the end, he brought our group forward, thanking us for our involvement and letting us know we were welcome to come back any time.
After the speech, everyone ate their fill of the roasted meat, veggies and fresh fruit provided for the occasion. Then we all sat around talking and laughing as we enjoyed the spiced wine that flowed freely.
More than half-way through the event, a wolfman entered escorting a frail looking beastwomen, her eyes a pale, clouded blue. I watched her walk in before she pointed out our table, directing the beastman to lead her to us.
Immediately, she went over to Illia, placing her han
d on hers, patting it gently.
“It’s good to see you, Princess.”
Princess? My mind wondered about the word—was it a term of endearment or something else? Illia remained silent, clearly contemplating the same thing, but also unsure of how they knew each other.
“Do I know you? I think you might have mistaken me for someone else,” she told the old beastwomen, feeling a bit guilty about not recognizing her.
“No, my dear, you wouldn’t know me. But I know you. I met your father when you were but an idea in his head. He came to me, as an oracle, for my advice.”
“Advice about?”
“Come, let us go somewhere quieter.”
Illia gave us a pleading glance, wanting us to follow. Our own curiosities peaked, we stood up from our table and followed the old woman and her escort away from the pavilion. When the sounds of the commotion faded into the background, the old wolf stopped, sitting on a log situated in the area.
“I never met my father.” Illia broke the silence.
“Whenever we would ask about him, our mom always told us he would be with us if he could. She didn’t talk about him much. After we got older, we realized how sad she looked when we brought him up, so we just stopped talking about him.”
“Heartbreak is something you never truly get over.” The old oracle commented thoughtfully.
“What happened? What did he come to see you for? Is he still alive?”
“No, I’m afraid his spirit has been returned to the world. But know that it was his choice and that he believed the sacrifice was worth the reward.”
“The reward?”
“You and your sister, of course.”
“Please. What happened? Who was my father?” Illia questioned again, tired of all the vague responses.
“Your father, Theo, was a fae prince. He gave up the right to the throne when he met a young dwarf and fell in love.”
I watched Illia’s expression change as she listened to the story, drawn in by the new information she’d never been told by her mother. For me it sounded like a fairytale, but to her it revealed a new reality.
The oracle said, “The fairy king warned Theo of the dangers of mingling outside of the fairy race, but he chose not to listen. He came to see me hoping my advice would vary from that of the king.