The Lightbearer's Gift

John woke me up after what felt to me like a few minutes of sleep. Looking up at the sky, I noticed it was still in the dead of night. With a sigh, I stifled a pain fill grunt and got to my feet. My body felt like a single large bruise; muscles were sore, joints ached, and my feet hurt. I thought about channeling power through my body and hoping that it would aid me. But I was too tired to bother building the focus needed to do it consistently. Once it was clear that I was awake, John didn’t spare me a second glance as he went to his own sleeping bag.

I looked over and saw Tanner waking Breala. She nodded towards the forest once she saw me approaching her. Going in the direction she indicated, I waited at the edge of the camp for her to finish strapping on her weapons. She came over to me and softly said. “We'll patrol around the perimeter until the sun rises.”

I had no idea what the proper way to perform a watch was, so I followed her lead. After moving about 30 feet away from the camp we began to walk in a loose circle keeping the camp to our left. After a few minutes of silence, she said. “You did well today.”

“Thank you, though emptying my stomach in the butchery was not one of my finer moments.” I joked.

With a small chuckle she said, “I wouldn’t be concerned about it. That’s the reaction expected from most people who’ve never seen such violence.”

“Without memories, I expect it will be my first time seeing many things.”

“Yet you can clean, and stitch as wound as if you have done it all your life.” She said looking at her still bandaged arms.

That reminded me of something I was curious about. “Why don’t you wear armor on your arms?”

She gave me a curious look then replied. “What do you think when you see my arms?”

Unsure where this is going simply replied. “You have survived many battles.”

“That is in essence why orcs do this. It shows our strength, resiliency and will to live; though males choose to fight shirtless.” Breala explained.

“Are orcs that resilient? It seems to me that particular custom would simply lead to unnecessary fatalities.”

“We are, and it does.” Breala paused then continued.

“Wounds that would normally incapacitate a human or elf, an orc can simply ignore. Our wounds don't corrupt as easily, and we heal 3 or 4 times as fast as humans.”

Lifting up her arm she continued. “Even the wounds you treated would heal without corruption so long as they had even the most minimal of care. Treating my wounds as well as you have would be seen as a weakness.”

“Sten mentioned you were only a half orc, would this affect your ability to heal?” I asked.

“Yes, my healing is lesser than a true orc.” She answered. Sounding both envious and ashamed.

Sensing that questions that refer to her half-blood nature is a sensitive topic I decided to change the subject.

“Any idea what plans Sten has for me?” She flinched at the abrupt change in topic but answered anyway.

“He means to recruit you, I think. That much I'm sure you've realized.” She seemed to think for a second then continued. “I do not know much about light mages, but I know they are expensive to retain.”

“How expensive when compared with Sarah. And how does one retain the services of a mage.” I asked.

“We are all officially registered members of the bronze spears, meaning we all get a portion of the price of any contract. Those without magical ability get a smaller proportion of that contract price.” She spoke.

Recalling the details, I read from the contract with the baron. “20 gold plus two silvers for each pair of goblin ears; head of matriarch or matriarchs required for confirmation of contract completion.”. After reciting the information, I asked.

“How is that divided?”

“Almost a third of it goes to Sarah, which includes the gold and silver for the ears. Any loot that is not hard currency is split evenly or divided by drawing lots.”

“Everyone is fine with this arrangement?” A single person getting a third of the contract price seemed extreme.

“We would not have gotten the contract without her. Contractors are picky, the baron wanted the Goblins gone quickly and we had the ability to complete it so Sten could negotiate up the price.”

“Without Sarah we couldn't guarantee success in a short time frame so either we would have to sell ourselves cheaper or the baron would have to muster his own forces and subjugate the goblins himself.” With the knowledge of how much more expensive a magic user can be. I had to ask.

“How much more leverage for negotiation would Sten have if he has a powerful Light mage under contract.”

Eyeing me she said “Depending on the contract, if we were hired to escort some nobleman or rich merchant then a lot. You would be expected to provide healing services not only for the contractor but whomever they specify within the contract.” She explained.

“Any Healing outside of the contract is an extra cost and there's always work for a healer, not to mention the other things I've seen light mages do, add that all together and the price can be quite high.”

“Do light mages often do mercenary work?” I asked.

“No, it's far more profitable to set up a clinic and have the sick and injured come to you for healing.” She answered then continued.

“Most lords will happily cover the cost of setting up a clinic in their domain. Even an untalented light mage can find great profits if they go to the right village. Nobles often have their own personal light mages and there is never enough of them to go around; this makes retaining the services of one incredibly expensive.”

We walked for a few minutes in silence as I absorbed that information. Sten’s aspirations were getting increasingly clear to me.

“Moon?” she said as if prompting me to look at her. She then asked. “Do you really not remember anything about yourself?”

“No. Nothing that would give me a clue about who I am. I know the treatments to a thousand diseases, most Standard imperial doesn’t have a name for, yet something as simple as my birth name eludes me.”

With a curious look she replied.” That seems on purpose. Perhaps you are under some kind of spell or curse?”

It's best to assume curses are an actual thing in a world with magic. looking up at the two moons I said. “Why only my personal history, why leave me naked in the middle of a forest. It was pure luck that I ran into you, and Lilian didn’t slit my throat.” Apparently, I let a little frustration into my voice.

“I can't imagine what that must be like, maybe a light mage can cure you of it someday.” she said in an almost apologetic tone.

She paused then continued. “As for Lilian, you were probably never in any danger.”

Raising an eyebrow I asked. “And why do you think that?” She seemed plenty hostile in that moment and her attitude towards me afterwards would best be described as chilly.

“Elves are almost always merciless when it comes to dealing with those of the 'lesser races'.” the last bit she said with sarcasm.

“Lesser races?” I asked.

“Anything that isn't an elf, that's at least how most people view it.” she paused for a bit as if trying to find the right words.

“It’s like they simply believe they're better than everyone, but don't blame us for it because it’s not our fault we weren’t born elves.”

Thinking back to my interactions with Lilian I can’t say I got that feeling, other than our introduction she was almost always cold to me. “I suppose she does have a rather cold personality but it’s not that different from Sarah.”

In an almost conspiratory tone. “You do not see how she watches you.”

Stopping in my tracks I had to ask. “How does she watch me?”

Other than a few curious stares I haven’t noticed anything particularly different in her behavior.

“After each fight she always does a quick scan over to you, probably checking if you were injured and then there was the butchery, she has never shown any concern for our wellbeing other than what is necessary for a contract.”

“It was a surprise when she offered you assistance in the butchery. with anyone else I doubted she would have cared.”

“Perhaps it is because I'm an elf.” I guessed.

“Maybe, but I saw her watching you sleep once. That look she was giving you was strange. “She paused, then continued.

“I’m not sure what it could mean. She looked angry, concerned, and pitying all at the same time.” Breala said.

“One thing is clear though; she is concerned for your safety.” She said, finishing her thought.

Then she said in an amused voice. “Or she could just want to bed you, you are quite pretty after all.”

That snapped me out of whatever contemplations I was having regards to Lilians intention towards me. She had a smirk and her face, so I knew she was mostly joking.

It felt strange being called pretty. “Do I look that much like a female?” From my reflection in the water, I could see that I had a very feminine face but surely it wasn't that bad.

She then looked at me as if I said something stupid. “Moon, you're prettier than either Sarah or Lilian, Hells if I didn't catch a glimpse while you were dressing, I would have just thought you were an elven maiden who was unlucky enough not to have any chest or hips.”

“Is that common for elves?” I asked, chagrined.

“From what I have heard only elves can easily tell the males and females apart.” she answered.

“In regard to Lilians actual intentions, your guess is as good as mine.” Breala added.

I suppose that is something else I will have to keep track of, but so long as she doesn’t mean harm, I’ll be content to ignore her frosty demeanor.

“It is nice to have some answers for once; Breala, Thank you.” I said with a smile. She gave me a formal nod in return and replied. “You are most welcome.”

I don't know how I didn't realize this before, but she was incredibly well spoken. Though perhaps I am judging her based on her people.

Deciding to indulge more of my curiosity I asked. “You are quite well spoken at least compared to Mikah and Tanner, is that common among orcs.”

She seemed displeased by that question, but the shadow that came over her face quickly faded, and she answered. “My father taught me.” Her voice and gone back to than near emotionless tone she wore for the first time I heard her speak,

“I see.” Was all I replied.

It was clear she did not want to talk about her father, and I didn’t want to pry. We spent the next hour or so until the son rose in companionable silence.

Eventually the sun started to rise above the horizon, which was our signal to wake everyone for the day's travel. Returning to camp, I noticed that Lilian was already awake and was arranging her equipment. We went around gently urging everyone awake. There were grunts and groans similar to when I was awoken, but soon enough the entire camp was up and packing away their equipment for travel.

Once that was done, everyone was giving Sten impatient glances, and he finally said. “Alright, alright time to divvy up the loot.”

Eager faces watched as Sten started to methodically arrange items on the ground. Among them were 6 swords, two of them were sheathed with one attached to some kind of waist strap with multiple buckles, the hand ax and a handful of random silver necklaces, rings, and bracelets.

Brandon came over and handed Sten a bundle of sticks. “Since Moon here helped so much with this contract, its only proper he gets a share of the spoils, any objections.” Nobody, not even Caan, seemed poised to voice any opposition. So, one after another we stepped forward and drew a random stick from Sten’s hand leaving the last for himself. Then he explained how it would work, probably for my benefit. The one with the longest stick would get to choose an item and it would continue in a round robin fashion until all the items were gone.

After everyone revealed their sticks, it appeared that I had the third longest one. Mark drew the longest stick and immediately picked up the rather ornate looking hand ax. Then Bast stepped forward and picked up a well-polished silver ring with small designs that I couldn’t make out. Next, I stepped forward. I had no use for the jewelry or the ingots. So, I opted to pick up one of the swords sheathed in the waist strap. Then Tanner picked up a shiny chain necklace. This continued until all the members had a turn and were gone and it was back to me. All that was left was a rough unpolished ring and one of the poorer quality swords. Taking the ring I slipped it onto my left thumb as it would fit no other finger.

Breala noticed I was having trouble with the waist strap for the sword and came over.

“Here let me help you.”

Giving up on doing it myself, I raised my hands in defeat. She adjusted the belt straps slightly higher on my waist and tightened it. Wiggling around a bit I noted that it was much more secure, and the sword stopped hitting my leg while I walked. “Thank you, as you can tell I’ve never held a sword before.”

“That much is obvious, your hands are as soft as a babe’s. We’re planning to break our fast on some proper food, how about I show you how to not hurt yourself with that thing in the meantime.” She said jokingly.

In the half hour it took for john to make his stew, Breala showed me the basics of swordsmanship. Once it was clear that I truly had no familiarity with swords, the short lesson consisted of how to not harm myself while holding or drawing it, along with a stern warning to run away from any fight instead of trying to match swords with anyone.

Some of the other members came to pass jokes at my ineptitude, but I didn't detect any malice in their words, only genuine good humor. Lilian watched from the forest at my poor attempts to copy the basic sword forms with a displeased expression on her face. I wasn’t sure what her problems were, but until she actually came to me and spoke her mind, I decided to simply ignore her.

John called us over to break our fast and to my surprise the fatty stew actually tasted palatable.

Sten stood up and started to speak. “Everyone, we did excellent work yesterday. We'll be setting a fast pace back to Mistle for our pay. Then head back to Vernon, rest for a week or two and hopefully pick up another contract.” There were some cheers at that proclamation, and we finished our meal.

As usual we got into the travel formation, though this time it was much looser, and we could see Lilian scouting a little farther ahead, not attempting to hide her presence as she usually does. Sten came over to me and spoke. “Come up front with me. I want to exchange a few words with you while we travel.” Seems I will finally get to hear his proposition.