by Bill Ricardi
Lizzy fly in cave, I follow. First forty pace, can stand. Then for ten step gotta duck. Then all crawl. Real dark inside, not even moonlight. Lizzy signal me if Silverfish in, or out for hunt. Long time waiting. What if Lizzy get ate? Shaman kill me if Lizzy get ate. Not hear nothing. Start to wonder if this all long joke from Shaman. If so, real good one.
Feel sharp tug on finger. Two. Silverfish is in. Slow and quiet, I crawl in. At tight point, feel clothes scrape cold wall. Feel pouch press into belly. Never like small place. Never like dark place. What I doing here? Plan dumb. Shaman dumb. I dumb to listen. Feel string tug again. Dumb flying lizard.
Cave open back up again, enough to stand. So slowly. So quiet. Small tugs on clothes. Bitey flying lizard line me up. Then feel string flutter when Lizzy bite through. Lizard fly out now, job done. Wind string up and put in pouch. Feel inside… Rock still there. Somehow, feel better now.
Know what gotta do. Would be dumb stand there and wait for Silverfish to find. But I just think how dumb I gotta be, so... no, no. Plan is best plan. Shaman say so.
Is time.
I hold hands high in front, way up in air, like announcing important thing to tribe. Not just say magic words, scream magic words. Silverfish about to know where orc is anyway. Maybe scare it some. It never hear smart orc with magic. Not many have.
Feel the drain, make sure plan still in head when brain shrink. It is. The lair fill with light, like noon sun right inside. Can see now, lair is fifty paces deep, twenty paces wide, two orc tall. Smell like death. Everything glitter, wet or metal. Silverfish almost look like glowing, while it scream. Sound like ape mix with demon get squeezed to death.
If I was as smart as at start of night, might not have stared at it for so long. But first spell like first drink: Make you dumb enough to go do dumb thing, and dumb enough to drink more.
Silverfish like nightmares. Tall like child orc. Long like two orc. Eight legs got big claws. Head got two antenna, look like whips. So does butt, with huge stinger too. Body like bug, plated silver. Crouching away from fake sun. It hate sun. I throw Rock at it. Not even hit, but it hate me even more than sun. It scream again, make spine feel like cracked glass.
Time to run.
I dive back into tiny cave. At least light from behind now. Light go away when squeeze through tiny part. Hear Silverfish right behind. Feel it right behind. For second, think I’m stuck. If stuck, I dead. Pull hard with arms and push with legs… make it through.
Claw at ground to try get away. Don’t want hear scream, cause each one louder, closer. Crawl forward enough to turn and sit up. No light from lair, huge body blocking. Just firelight behind me. As Silverfish squeeze through tiny bit, I yell, “Lizzy!”
Now two thing happen at same time.
One thing, I use other spell. Fire from camp let me aim. Bolt like wild horse fly from hand. Miss Silverfish, it charging too quick. Is okay. Silverfish not where aim. Big pile of rocks in nets near roof held up by wood, now behind Silverfish. Hit wood part real hard. Rocks in nets fall, roll back. Block tightest part of cave just when Silverfish through.
Other thing happen, Lizzy finish chew through vines.
If one thing smart orc know, smart orc know rocks. Shaman know water. Help carve out spot on river bank. Little rock wall where me and Shaman dig behind, so mostly little rock wall and some lizard hide holding back water. Patch with moss and stuff and things. Then we haul up real heavy bit.
Lizzy-vine hold big-big rock in tall tree. Big-big rock fall now, smash little rock wall near river. Little rock wall we build before now just pile of nothing.
Much of river now charging into little cave.
Grab guide rope just in time. Water crash over me, crash over Silverfish just behind. Hold onto rope so hard, palms bleed. Rocks in nets mostly clogging back of cave now. If let go of guide rope, get pinned and drown. Gotta hold on til more water, til easier to climb out.
Silverfish no have rope, but strong. It fight against new river smashing it down. It lunge at me and I feel it. A big claw rake right side, that hurt. Second claw dig into left shin though, and body feel like on fire. Feel claw on bone. Want to scream, but need keep air, or die. Only good part is, two less claw on slippy rock make Silverfish slide back. Too much water, too much pressure. Hear one last demon scream before ears cover with water.
Probably dying now. But after spells, too dumb to know for sure. Feel arms working, pulling broken orc body out of flood cave. Fight pressure, fight new river. Follow guide rope as leg go numb, as chest burns, as shoulders scream. Body going to give up and try to breathe like fish. But next pull on rope make head find air. Gasp it in. Keep pulling on rope until dragged up to camp. Collapse by fire.
If Silverfish live, should burst out of water-full cave soon. But never happen. Even insect need breathe, so say Shaman. Silverfish is drowned, helping clog little hole with our rocks and nets now. In end, magic ambush, traps, and lotsa water did what whole tribes not do.
Not bad for dying smart orc.
Something in head still work. Know it will hurt, but grab one of burny bashing sticks from fire. Press against left leg. Scream. Wet pants steam, broken flesh burn. But blood stop. Can’t see bone now. Throw stick back in fire. Go into bags, find Shaman’s moss and bandages. Put most moss on leg, wrap tight. Put little moss on side and wrap up chest. Use rest of bandages to wrap bleeding hands. Then wait minute to see if gonna die.
Nope.
River now all backed up, flowing over entire rock part of camp. Water circle, then spill back into main river between two trees. Not much of stone part show now. But dirt part of camp now have good riverside view.
Lizzy land on wrist. Look smug for flying lizard. Did good job though, so give special treat that Shaman packed. Bone marrow from giant rat. Doesn’t take Lizzy long to finish. Then we go ‘round hill, to bigger cave. Me grab mostly empty sack. Grab other burney branch, daylight spell done by now. Limping bad, but moss help with some pain. If make back to tribe, not going to get any sleep before rituals. If not make back to tribe… screw rituals. Kenvunk gotta keep smart orc living if he want any thanks.
Bigger cave not as steep or narrow anywhere. Can walk right down to lair. Flooded parts, but not bad. Even with rocks and nets and Silverfish body, some water still getting into lair. Good though, wash away some of bad smell. Grab Rock first, most important. Then reach into puddles and gather all silver pieces. Throw in sack. There more metal, but all rusted. Lose count after hundred silvers. But at least that much more again. A couple of silver rings and chains, take them too. Seven silvers look very strange. Weird face on them, weird color. Put them in pouch for later.
Go back to camp, gather things, put out fire. Lizzy going to have to navigate. Too much pain. Must concentrate on where feet go, one slip and smart orc might not get back up. Lizzy always tugging on clothes, steering orc here and there. She probably save me ten times, can’t really know. Not smart now. Not well either. Life is Lizzy’s now.
Flying lizard true friend though, Shaman raise her good. If she ever has clutch of eggs, would love to raise baby Lizzy for own.
Was past dawn when make back to tribe. Problem. Guards all around before ceremony. Blood on me, blood in black hair, they see if I go. I stop, crouched behind big rock. Lizzy look confused, then sees what I looking at. Flying lizard go over to guard and hisses. He look annoyed. But look much more annoyed when Lizzy steal his feathered headpiece. As she fly away with it, guards hoot and holler and chase. Let me limp into camp and into Shaman’s tent.
Get yelled at by Shaman for getting hurt. Lots of yelling. But can tell he happy to see me. He call on Kenvunk to start healing wounds, and soon feel much better. Still ache like worst beating ever, but not going to die. Shaman say will take another day of Kenvunk healing for leg, but hands feel better and shoulder more okay now.
Shaman fill tent with smoke again, make sure I not cursed, nothing I grab cursed. Only amulet glow. He peers at every coin and chain and ring, make sure they safe. Lizzy com
e back, without stolen headpiece. She stare at all the shinies.
Shaman say, “You do good. You do real good. Kenvunk proud, I proud. Lizzy proud too.”
I grunt. “You take stuff and hide. When chief see me, think I’m done for. Get food for village.”
Shaman wave hand in air. “No, no. I got good plan for that. Smart plan. I show you soon, you’ll see.”
I must not look like I believe, ‘cause he scowl at me. I change subject. “Half this yours anyways. Take it, use to barter for food and stuff and things.”
Shaman shake head. “All silver coins yours, was point of this. If you force me, I take these rings and chains. Can trade for much food, will really help tribe.”
I nod, slowly. No point in argue with friend. Point at seven metal chunks with ugly face. “You take special coins though. Don’t know what is anyway.”
He lift one up to show. “These electrum. Part silver, part gold. Think from desert tribe somewhere. You keep, may need later.”
My turn to be hard head. “You keep. If part gold, could help huge next season!”
He sigh. “Three for village, four for you. No argue now. We hide this stuff in chest, and get you ready for ceremony.”
Shaman have dumb plan.
Okay, not dumb plan. But make me feel dumb. I dress in weird lizard skin robe, act as assistant. Ceremony always have people move slow, so nobody really notice how hurt I be. No need to cast more magic, cuz I sitting by Shaman all day and night. Sometimes I use fan on him, or hand stuff and things from table, or fill cup, or hold book. Even quiet times where catch quick sleeps. Mostly, nobody see how hurt I be.
After ceremony, we figure when try new smartening spell. Two days, after Shaman’s healing done on leg, after I sleep some. He get quiet invisible hands to cut up some silver too, so none wasted. Soon we see if this worth time.
Chapter 4
Happy birthday.
I’ve realized that the orc calendar is good for seasonal planting, but not great for keeping track of annual events. So I adopted the Kingdom calendar, used by both the elves and the humans. It’s going to help me track dates and times much better. The Kingdom calendar splits each season into three parts: Early, Mid, and Late. Each part is split into thirty days.
This is Late Summer of the year 2717, day 17. And because I can’t be sure, but I want to celebrate anyway, I’ve declared this to be my birthday.
I’m not really celebrating my natural birth, although it may have been around this time of year if Shaman remembers rightly. I’m celebrating my rebirth, or at least my mental rebirth.
My name is Sorch Stonebender, and I’m a very smart orc.
With the help of my friend Shaman, I’ve developed a new spell. I call it Augmented Intelligence. The amount of intelligence that is gained is greater than the old spell, and the amount taken back by the curse is far less by comparison. The augmentation lasts longer as well. Eventually, Shaman and I figured out how to make it work as part of my daily routine.
It took several days of tinkering with my sleep patterns, using the old Enhance Intelligence spell to get me to the point where I could understand and cast the new spell, and figuring out how my amulet attuned to a spell for the day. But eventually we did it. I was able to keep enough brain power overnight, so that the first spell I cast in the morning was Augmented Intelligence. The amulet imprinted to it, and any additional castings of it were far more potent.
That was the key. With the new spell imprinted to the amulet every day, I just had to cast it once more at night to keep the cycle going. Even without imprinting, casting the old spell over and over again to feed the Voodoo Engine was helping as well. All of those tiny intellect gains add up.
I end up needing a lot of rest. A full night’s sleep, my normal mid-day rest period when I’m working, and another rest period in the Shaman’s hut before I study the spell book. We’re all eating a little better due to Shaman’s keen bargaining skills, and contacts that he’s maintained in certain non-orc communities. He deals with one orc sea captain in particular, because he cheats us less than anyone else. The treasure that we shared from the Silverfish’s lair has been put to good use. The healthy resting patterns and better diet have really helped me to progress.
There was a wonderful side effect of this healthy living: The Bashers stopped coming around the Voodoo Engine. There were no more beatings. I had supposed that because we were healthy and well fed, and because Shaman was helping to provide for the tribe’s needs now, the smart orcs had less of a reason to be targets for angry warriors. But after thinking about it a while, I suspected that the real reason was my new confidence. I would look them in the eye when they passed. They knew that I wasn’t afraid. Perhaps they suspected that my confidence was because I was more dangerous. Either way, the smart orcs worked free of bruising and terror, and the Voodoo Engine was humming along better than ever.
But was I really more dangerous? I think so. I’ve done the calculations. I can cast three non-intelligence spells without risking the new routine, or five spells if I’m willing to fall back to the old intellect enhancement for at least a couple of days. Any more than that would be a permanent drain.
To be honest, that isn’t much of a problem right now. Because I have to dedicate mental energy to an Augmentation every night, I can only realistically prepare a couple of the basic spells, and a couple of the new advanced spells. It isn’t a question of intelligence, it’s simply a matter of rote memorization and experience. I’ll need to master new techniques and find new mentors in order to do more than that.
But now, the good news: I’ve come to understand three new spells from Shaman’s book. Again, I didn’t bother with any spells with material components that I had no access to.
The new Levitation spell didn’t require any materials at all. I couldn’t fly around like Lizzy, but she was fascinated as I was able to slowly drift around the tent, easily able to reach the top of the central support pole.
Spider’s Web, sometimes just called Web in the notes, required a little bit of natural webbing from a spider. It produced a field of strong, sticky strands that could slow or stop even a strong orc for some time.
Acid Bolt was quite an eye opener. You needed the innards of a beetle, but the effect was potent. The bolt of acid it shot out ate through wood almost instantly. It was shockingly destructive. Without a doubt, this was the most potent offensive spell in my collection.
I now keep two sets of notes. One set is still in very simple terms, just in case I can’t keep up this new routine and I need to start over. But the other set of notes is required to grasp the more complex thoughts and rituals that need to be understood to take on advanced magical spells. I copied all of my spells and all of the simple and advanced notes into a new book gifted to me by Shaman. This one was bound with fresh lizard hide, waterproofed, and made rugged for travel. He said that he would keep my simple notes so that he could teach others if he could, but he didn’t want to hold me back. I was grateful for the book, and for the chance to re-organize my thoughts. I told him that I would maintain both books for the moment. My writing had become faster, more precise. It took me less time to keep two sets of notes than it had just one set when I was only working with the copper version of the Enhancement spell.
Shaman was excited when I demonstrated my new powers and new knowledge to him. But every word I spoke seemed to make him sadder and sadder. For days, I was worried. Was I disappointing him? Was the result of our experiment not what he expected? Then I realized: I didn’t sound like an orc anymore. I was sounding more like the humans that I met in the hills. He might feel like he’s losing his friend.
So the next time we met, I made a conscious effort to talk like we would in the old days. I walked into Shaman’s tent after finishing work.
Shaman said, “Oi, you gots ta finish simple note, then plan next thing.”
I replied, “No worry, me get done.”
Shaman’s eyes narrowed. He asks, sharply, “You screw up
smartness spell? You miss morning?”
I shook my head quickly, “No, no, I did all.”
The older orc practically snarled. “Stop. You no do dat. No act dumb.”
Lizzy quietly flapped her way out into the night air. She wanted no part of this argument.
I stammered, “Thought that y-you be more comfortable if-”
My old friend cut me off. “Thought wrong. You talk dumb, mean you think me dumb. Maybe not get every word out of smart-mouth, but follow good enough.”
I hung my head. “But whenever I talk… it seems to make you sad. You were never sad when we used to talk. I don’t want to lose our friendship.”
All of the anger drained from Shaman’s face. He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “No, no. Not you make sad. Well, not smartness make sad. Sit, sit. Me explain.”
I sat down, quietly.
Shaman started pacing at the side of my writing desk. “All dis. New book for you, extra shinies for you. More train for you. All dis because me know what come next.”
I looked up at Shaman, confused. “Well I hope that my new magic will help on the hunts. I can help feed the village and stuff and things.”
The older orc shook his head. “No. Bones been cast. Kenvunk agree. You gotta go.”
Those simple words shocked me. I stood up so fast, my chair fell over. “Go? Go where?!”
Shaman’s voice remained calm, if a bit sad. “Away. Me know, Kenvunk know, even Lizzy know. You always last to know, ‘cause you got big heart. Wanna help all. You smart, but trust too much. That dumb.”
“I don’t understand, Shaman. Why would I leave? We did all this, we risked our lives, and now you’re saying that I can’t help around here anymore!”
Shaman pointed his rattle at me. “Dat what I say. You no get it. Bruisers talk. Say you dangerous, cause you no afraid no more. Chief listen, he watch. He see threat in you. He not know all thing, but he no have to. You stay, they kill you in sleep. Maybe not dis season, but next. Or next after.”