As far as I understood, the orcs had a successful hunt a few hours before we showed up. They’d caught a large deer and had already sat down to eat, but their plans were ruined by our sudden arrival.
And that deer was being butchered just now by three men while the women carried the meat over to the fire.
The gremlin and I were sitting on our own a few yards away from the fire on an old fallen log waiting for the harn to return from his hunt. We could have gotten by with potions, but my body was begging for regular food. And so, when our noses picked up the pleasant aroma of meat roasting over coals a few minutes later, our stomachs gave simultaneous groans of hunger.
When the first portion of meat was ready, one of the older women walked up to us. Gaunt as all her friends in misfortune, but sturdy. She was the only woman still on her feet. And her level eight said a lot. Although if I considered it, the orcs were probably not letting her progress as normal.
She was holding a little wooden bowl in her hands filled to the brim with aromatic pieces of roast venison. The fire in the background made the steam coming off the meat especially visible.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that no one had started eating. I wonder why. They must have been waiting for my permission. That was probably it. And to look at the meat it was obvious that I’d been given all the best pieces. These people were treating me like a nobleman.
“Apologies, good sir mage,” she said quietly, her gaze downcast. “We had to overcook the meat a bit...”
At first I couldn’t tell what she was talking about, but then I glanced at the level of the dish and it hit me.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” I nodded, accepting the bowl of hot treats. “Thank you for taking care of us so well.”
When the woman heard the word “us,” she cast a scornful gaze in Mee’s direction. I could see her teeth clenching on her sharp temples. I wonder what is causing this distaste.
Mee by the way immediately grew embarrassed and lowered his big-eared head. I then, as if I didn’t notice her unhidden antipathy for the gremlin, calmly said:
“Honorable Master Mee, I invite you to partake of the fare this kind woman has so graciously prepared.”
The gremlin slowly raised his head and looked me in the eyes uncomprehendingly. Seeing me wink at him, he finally got himself together and reached for the first piece of meat.
A-ha... It was hard not to smile when I saw the woman’s face. Her mouth agape and eyes bulging, she was staring at Mee as if she was seeing him for the first time.
“What is the matter, your grace?” I asked, hiding a smile. “Are you feeling unwell? If that’s the case, is it anything our honorable healer might be able to help with?”
As I said the last phrase, I nodded toward the gremlin who was eating the hot piece of venison measuredly and in a dignified manner.
The woman made a pitiful sight. She looked like a fish out of water. Her eyes went even wider, her jaw hung down, her brain was clearly struggling to give any kind of adequate response. Seemingly, in the end, she failed to find one. This gremlin was a mage and a healer to boot — the poor lady’s whole worldview had been blown to bits today.
Finally, the lady found her footing, gave an awkward bow without saying a word and walked a brisk pace back toward her people. They were waiting for her at the fire. Her delay must have put everyone a bit on guard.
Hrm... and when she started telling her people what she’d just heard in a muted voice, they looked excited. After every word she said, the people would glance over our way, and more accurately Mee’s way. And all that attention had him very embarrassed.
I then was watching the proceedings with a satisfied smirk. To be frank, that was about the kind of reaction I was expecting out of the humans. No matter how strict their society may have been, healers certainly occupied a separate and highly respected niche in it. Not even just that. When I gave the gremlin the iridescent, I understood that it would serve for him as a pass into my world.
The people gradually settled down. For the next hour they were busy cooking and eating venison. And they clearly didn’t have enough meat.
That was enough time for me to figure out who the goddess Fate had bound us together with. There was a total of sixteen of the runaway human slaves. Seven men, five women and four children. After a bit of observation, I was able to easily pick out four couples. One of them still had no children but, based on the woman’s clearly rotund belly, that was a very temporary state of affairs.
The lady who brought us meat had no partner, but that didn’t stop her being in charge of all women and running their little daycare. For the record, the group leader, the one who cut down the first renegade was also single.
Due to the humans’ pitiful physical condition, it was hard for me to tell their age. Off the top of my head the oldest one was forty, and the youngest thirty or twenty-five.
The kiddos were easier. They were all about the same age — seven or eight. Although I could have been wrong.
Despite the levels, the fact that their characteristics were lagging behind jumped out at me. Old man Burdoc jumped to mind all on his own. In his day, the orcs had squeezed him for all they could get...
The kids were not particularly active. Evidence of their deathly exhaustion. Beyond that, I heard the youngest girl giving a strong violent cough, so she must have been seriously ill. She was lying in her mother’s arms, seemingly unconscious.
I took a fleeting glance at the gremlin. Mee had spotted her too. I could sense that he was waiting for the go-ahead to run off and help her. But alas, no matter how badly I wanted to, her parents or the group’s elders had to take the first step. In other words, we couldn’t force our magic on them. The people might have had a hostile reaction to that. Their fear of unfamiliar sorcery was incredibly great. It was somehow easier with the trolls in that regard... Although, we fought shoulder to shoulder — that was totally different.
Hm... Before an hour had gone by, my remark about the fact we had a healer among us hit fertile soil. A whole procession came in our direction. All seven of the men and women were carrying the ill girl in their arms.
Stopping a few steps away, they bowed in unison which put me even more beside myself.
“Good sir mages!” the lumberjack addressed us in a respectful tone. “Maya told us what you discussed...”
“We haven’t offended her, I trust?” I asked.
“Come now!” the man waved his hands. “Nothing of the sort! You brought her joy!”
“How so?”
“She told us that there is a healer among you.”
“That is true,” I said and nodded toward the gremlin: “Master Mee.”
As if on command, they all turned where I pointed and gave another deep bow, embarrassing my familiar even more.
Hmm... Where were their scornful gazes now?
“Master Mee!” the group leader proclaimed. “Little Rita is very ill. I’m afraid she won’t survive until morning. She wasn’t even able to eat normally. She needs your help. But alas, we have no way to pay you. The only thing we can do is swear a debtor’s oath for however much money you like.”
Mee glanced at me, puzzled.
Yes, brother, get used to it. This is how people treat healers. But as for oaths, we don’t need them. Who knows what nonsense might come into the heads of these desperate people if they suddenly wanted to get out of the oath?
Coughing loudly, I drew their attention.
“In other words, if you’re asking for help, you trust our magic? I want you to understand us. We don’t want problems with the authorities when we reach the western lands. Who can guarantee that you won’t go shouting about some gremlin subjecting you to sorcery?”
While we discussed, the other members of their group appeared behind the men’s backs.
When I finished talking, I slowly ran a gaze over everyone and stopped on the lumberjack. The people didn’t have to think for long. One after the other, oaths rained d
own on us agreeing to our use of magic. Two of the kids also shouted out promises, to which their fathers just nodded in agreement.
Reading over the text of every oath again, I glanced at Mee and said, pulling out a few bulbs of potion of satiety:
“Here, this should be enough. Try and get them on their feet as fast as you can. We cannot afford to stay here long.”
* * *
It’s been three days since we met the former slaves. Thanks to Mee’s efforts, my potions and the Lair I set up for the night, the humans had made a marked improvement. We managed to save little Rita. She’d been able to walk at her mother’s side for some time already.
As for our relations with the humans, they’d been coming together fairly strangely. Despite all our efforts to help them, the humans still treated us with apprehension and mistrust. And yet it wouldn’t have been very apparent from an outside perspective.
In theory, I could understand their thoughts. The initial shock of the battle and escape had passed — the people had probably started asking questions because they suddenly had plenty of time on their hands.
A kid mage, a gremlin healer and a strange beast travelling at their leisure through the Stone Forest in the heart of the Wastes. There’s a ton of questions to be asked there. So although we were moving as a group, we still weren’t a unified cohort. More like temporary allies. Although if I truly considered it, these people were a burden to us. And we were helping them purely out of the goodness of our hearts.
Despite the fact that our movement speed had obviously fallen, I had to give the people their due — they were carrying out all my orders unquestioningly. Clearly the slave’s habit of obeying and the fervent desire to survive were both playing their part.
But alas, Tom the “lumberjack” did not engage. My attempts to get the man to talk all failed. I was only able to get the basics out of him. They’d been captured, enslaved, and now escaped. Nothing more.
To sum it up, they were all subjects of the Steel King. They were taken captive during an orcish raid. They’d tried to flee many times, but never succeeded. Overall, they didn’t have anything new or unusual to tell me.
The only peculiarity that stood out was that Tom was clearly not the same as the others. And to be fully accurate, he was the opposite of them. All the other people in his group could be summed up in one word — peasants. And they’d been taken captive young. But as for Tom, if he really was a “Tom” at all, he had certain distinguishing mannerisms. Seemingly he was the only one who knew how to hold a scimitar for example. And he was also quite deft with an orcish bow. He also had a large number of burn scars on his body both old and fresh, which only added to the overall picture. It was clear that Fate had brought us together with a very obstinate man that loved his freedom dearly. Honestly, based on the fact he was level ten, he must have been taken captive many years ago, while still a child. And now he was probably more than thirty years old.
Despite all the distance in our communication, I saw sincere gratitude in the peoples’ eyes. After all, for the last three days, Gorgie had been providing us meat without fail, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding countryside.
Honestly nearer evening today, while we were setting up camp for the night, the harn came back without prey and with some unpleasant news. We’d finally drawn the attention of the locals. Our camp was gradually being surrounded by trolls.
“Tom!” I shouted. “Gather your people in the center of the clearing! Ready your weapons, but don’t use them without my command!”
“What’s happening?!” the man asked in agitation, never forgetting to urge on and push the others. I must give the people their due. Even though they were afraid, they were acting in an organized fashion.
In response, he got a predatory howl of many voices that seemed to come from every direction.
It scared me just to look at the people. Grimaces of fear and horror on their faces.
Another roar came, this time closer. The trolls understood that we wouldn’t be running anywhere.
“We’re being surrounded!” I shouted to the men. “Prepare yourselves! Attack only on my command!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I looked over our pitiful warband. Erg would only need to swing his club a few times to take down our whole flimsy formation. Trying to at least somewhat raise the peoples’ fighting spirit, I shot my right hand over my head and it was instantly enshrouded in magical lilac smoke.
Hm... I guess that did the trick. The people suddenly remembered they had a mage with them.
Gorgie and Mee stood at my sides. The scales on the back of the harn’s neck stood on end. The beast, already baring his teeth at our unseen opponents, was nervously flicking his own sides with his flexible tail.
After a few minutes of tense anticipation, gigantic silhouettes started appearing from the darkness of the forest. One of the women squeaked pitifully, while little Rita started crying in fear. Her mother immediately covered her mouth.
Quickly looking around, I counted seven of the giants, but Gorgie warned me that there were another six somewhere in the darkness. The trolls were slightly lower-level than Farhas’ warriors. The highest among them was fifteen. For the record, that titan appeared to be their leader. Compared to Erg, I’d even call him a bit feeble if that kind of designation could ever apply to forest trolls. Not quite as considerable or broad-shouldered as Erg, but the tight muscles on his arms, chest and stomach bore witness to a high physical strength.
But as for his face and especially eyes, I’d never seen such an intelligent look even in Farhas’ best warrior. Seemingly this troll had not neglected Mind when spending his tablets. I don’t even know if that’s good for us or bad.
For now, the titans were not attacking, just taking position. I hurried to start negotiations the way Farhas had taught me.
“Peace be upon you, masters of the Forest!” I shouted in the language of the trolls.
The giants, not expecting such a turn of events, froze in place and exchanged puzzled glances. And to be accurate, all the trolls gazes turned to their leader.
“Outsider, do you know our language and our laws?” he asked, tilting his large forehead to the side.
“I speak your language, but I do not know much of your laws so I beg forgiveness if we have broken any of them!”
“You are outsiders and have come to our land! That in itself is a violation of our laws!” Sure the troll was accusing us of a crime, but there was no menacing in his voice, just intrigue. “Tell me, outsider. Is there any reason for us not to kill you?”
I led my gaze over all the trolls and stopped on their big-foreheaded leader. After that I slowly raised my right hand, showing them the amulet Farhas had gifted me. Mee did the same. But in his hand was a whole bunch of medallions and amulets.
“The trolls that gave us these artifacts said that we are no longer outsiders in this forest!” I announced solemnly.
A graveyard silence hung over the clearing. This must have been the first time such a thing had happened in these parts. What puzzled looks they wore.
The troll ringleader, slowly and without any sharp movements, took a few steps forward and stopped six feet away from me. As he walked, I got ready to activate lightning just in case.
Finally, the titan broke the silence and, smiling openly, asked:
“So you’re the ones that helped fend off the attack of the spirits at Black Fang?”
Chapter 26
“YES, IT WAS A GLORIOUS BATTLE,” I answered very melodramatically. “The heroes that laid down their lives to save the Forest will forever remain in our memories!”
The troll ran a gaze over his warriors and nodded:
“Your words warm our hearts, shaman! I am Narg and I affirm the word of our brothers from the tribe of Farhas!”
After he said that, he raised his big huge right hand over his head and gave a loud roar. The other trolls joined his war cry, including the ones hiding in the forest.
I
t took me a lot of effort to hold back the sigh of relief. The humans then, not understanding a word of the growling speech of the forest giants pressed up closer to one another. I’m sure our conversation didn’t look peaceful from their perspective.
“Are these the slaves you took from the orcs whose bones are now being picked clean by scavengers at the foot of the Giant’s Brow?” Narg asked, nodding at the crowd of people.
“Yes,” I answered calmly. “Now they belong to me.”
I didn’t want to tell them the people were free. Who’s to say how the trolls might react to that? After all, the former slaves don’t have friendship amulets of their own. But if they were travelling as my supposed property, there shouldn’t have been any problems.
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