The Lightbearer's Gift

Someone was shaking my shoulder, trying to wake me from my sleep. Sleeping with clothing and the cloak to keep me warm, as well as the relief of having 11 people between me and danger had enabled me to have a relatively restful sleep. Opening my eyes, I noticed it was Lilian, as soon as she noticed I was awake she walked away; She didn’t even offer a good morning.

Everyone else was either awake or in the process of getting up. Sten and Breala were talking to each other. I went over to them hoping to find out what their plans were.

“Ah Moon, did you get a good night’s rest.”

“That I did, you mentioned helping out around camp.” I asked.

He handed me a large satchel that he had strapped over his shoulder and said.

“Here, these are most of our medical supplies, look over them and tell me what you think.” Another test I suppose.

I pulled out items one by one. There was a spool of surprisingly well-made catgut and proper suturing needles inside a cylindrical glass container. There was another bottle that contained a clear liquid. Taking a sniff, I noted it was particularly strong alcohol. The final items were several spools of clean cloth and an opaque brown jar containing a strange green paste, taking a sniff of the contents reminded me of various herbs.

There were various kinds of herbs that were used in more primitive forms of medicine to prevent infection, so I guessed it was some kind of primitive ointment. Finally, there was a primitive looking tourniquet, made of leather with a rod attached to it. Twisting the rod would tighten the leather strap attached to it thus restricting blood flow. All the items were familiar, and I intrinsically knew how to use them. “The green paste. Is it used to prevent corruption and promote healing?” I asked.

Sten confirmed. “Yes, its yarrow root paste. A lot of healers use it.” I had no clue what yarrow was, but Sten did mention that Mark was an old war buddy, and a man that has been to war would likely have the sense to use proper topical ointment on a wound. For now, I would assume that this yarrow root would suffice for that, so as to not risk insulting his intelligence.

“If a wound needs tending these tools will suffice. I can easily use these to treat your injuries.” I said it with confidence. I meant it too. While I couldn’t use a sword worth a damn, I knew in my bones that I could repair and treat simple lacerations.

Sten seemed pleased by this proclamation.

“After talking with Breala, I figured this would be better than you lugging random supplies.”

I did wonder what he meant by Sarah helping me, but it seemed I would have to find out later.

“While we’re traveling would you lend me an ear, I have many questions?”

Sten, apparently expecting this said. “Of course, of course. Once were on the march we can have a proper conversation.”

Pleased that I would be able to have some of my questions answered, I handed him his cloak and asked. “Is there anything else that needed to be done.”

He shook his head and answered, “No. We should be on the march in a quarter hour, Here.”

He handed me a small canvas sack and a quick sniff informed me that there was likely smoked meat inside.

“We have a long day’s march, and we’ll need to keep our energy levels up.” I nodded in thanks.

He wandered off while shouting orders, leaving me with Breala. I looked up at her and she spoke. “It will be a hard march. You will have to sustain it or be left behind.”

She sounded dead serious.

“There will be no problems.”

She looked me up and down, giving me an expression that clearly showed her doubts. “Wait here for marching orders.” She walked off without another word.

So, there I stood waiting for the camp to pack their belongings. I didn’t notice the night before, but their packs were rather large. If I curled up in a ball, they could probably carry 2 of me inside. Looking over at Sarah, Lilian and Mikah, their packs were no smaller. I could see how Breala, Tanner and the rest of the larger men could march with this weight on their backs, but I find it hard to believe that those three had the strength to. But I’m not of this world so maybe people were just naturally stronger than what I expected.

I watched Sarah stare at her pack and reached out a palm towards it. In that moment I felt a ripple that seemed to emanate from her location. Then in the air, in front of her palm a series of small faintly glowing blue circles, roughly a foot in diameter started to appear. Then symbols and shapes, some of which I could identify as numbers, started to fill each ring. Lines flowed from each ring connecting the symbols to lower forming a hexagon. Then with another ripple, the entire thing flashed a slightly brighter blue and disappeared. The entire process lasted only a few seconds.

I had no idea what I had just seen, until Sarah hefted the pack onto her back as if it weighed only a few pounds. I couldn’t even begin to guess how such a thing works. This has to be real spell craft, I realized. What I did was primitive in comparison and took far longer. My curiosity was even greater now having seen what actual magic was.

I watched as she went to each already filled pack and repeated the same process. It took her a little over two seconds for each one. Everything was packed and the fire stamped out.

Sten in a booming voice said. “Alright everyone, it will take a day and a half before we reach the site of the last reported ambush. From there Lilian with track down where the gobbs have decided to nest. They don’t travel for more than a day from their nest to hunt, so we can expect it to take half that to find them.” Sten nodded to Breala.

Breala started to give orders. “Lilian, start scouting ahead.”

Lilian immediately walked off into the forest.

“Move out everyone.”

We set out following in the direction that Lilian went to scout. Breala, Tanner, Caan and Mark were in the front. John, Brandon, Bast and Mikah were bringing up the rear leaving me Sarah and Sten in the middle. For some minutes we walked in silence until the occasional conversation started between each member. Seeing this as permission to talk, I decided to ask Sten more about what we are potentially going to face.

“Sten, what are your plans to deal with the goblins.”

“The basic plan is a frontal assault on whatever cave they have decided to nest in. This usually drives the goblins out to attack us on mass.” That seemed like an effective way to get overrun by sheer numbers, but I decided to hold my judgment until I heard the entire plan since I have infinitely less experience than him.

“At that point Sarah will soften the initial rush with fire magic.” Glancing over at Sarah, I wondered how impressive her fire magic must be if he’s relying on only her to not get overrun by up to 100 goblins.

“That should kill around 20 or 30. After that the melee crush begins and we use superior weaponry and armor to cull their numbers.” Sten said with a smile on his face as if anticipating the upcoming slaughter.

“Kill enough and they will retreat to the caves. That is where you come in.” I wondered how I would be affected in fighting in the dark, the light maybe.

“You mention the wolf became flash blinded, I figure we can use this. When in caves, the goblins like staging ambushed hoping to kill one or two and retreat. If we time your ability with an ambush all we have to do is block our eyes from the light and we’ll have a bunch of blinded goblins we can easily take care of.”

I could see how that would work if we timed it correctly. A simple codeword should be sufficient to keep everyone from getting blinded. However, there was a slight problem. “I can’t keep that projection ready in perpetuity. I after a few minutes I have to dissipate or expel it.”

“Well, that’s why we have Lilian, she can alert us to any ambush. How long do you need to get one ready and how long can you hold it.” Since my life was on the line in this situation, I decided to be truthful.

“15 seconds to get it ready and I can hold it for about 3 minutes.”. Sarah snorted and shook her head.

Ignoring her dismissal, I continued on. Wanting to ensure that my lie about my magic stamina wouldn’t affect our odds of success I asked him. “How many times do you think they will ambush us?” Sten seemed to ponder for a moment and spoke. “2 or 3 depending on how many we kill in the first battle. After that they’ll likely hold out for a last stand to defend the matriarch”

“What’s a matriarch?”

“There's usually only about 1 female for every 50 goblins. They’re much larger and they lead the clan. Since female births are so rare, the males will defend her to the death. They will fall back to her chambers for a final stand.” I idly wondered how goblins actually kept genetic diversity but decided it wasn’t a pressing topic.

“Once she is dead the stragglers will follow in a few years. We collect all the ears, and her head, then bring that back as proof we completed the contract.”

After that was cleared up, I wanted to know more. “What can you tell me about this country, I don’t even know its name.,” Sten began to explain.

“This continent is split into 4 independent countries. We are in the Vendalian empire. To the south of us is Bracken. We’re only a week’s travels from the border.” He pointed south. I noted that south was the same direction that I expected it to be based on the sun.

“Up north we have The Elven Coalition, though they call themselves something else in their native tongue. They live in the Great Isran forest. And in the farthest northeastern area of the continent, beneath the Giskar mountains is the Dwarven Sovereignty. They are the oldest country on this continent.” For now, I wanted to focus on Vendalia. “Tell me more about Vendalia’s Aristocracy.”

He went on to explain more about how the aristocracy of the Vendalian Empire was organized. There were 6 Dukes who were under direct vassalage to the emperor. Under those dukes were either Barons or counts depending on land size.

Titles would usually change during war, so wars of prestige caused by one Noble taking slight at some passing insult were common. This will be taken to their direct ruler in the hierarchy, once rewarded with a Casus Belli, they would then declare war. Losing usually means the relinquishing of land and wealth. Depending on the amount of land, titles could change.

After Sten finished his explanation, I said. “That situation seems ripe for constant conflict.”

“It gets Less common the higher you are in the peerage, there hasn’t been a battle between dukes in years.”

“What can you tell me about the Local Baron? “I asked.

“Well for one thing he’s rich from all the trade with Braken. But that’s mostly from his father’s deals and now since Vernon the elder is dead his son spends most of his time drinking and whoring.” He said with some resentment.

“While he’s not the best of barons, I’ve never heard of him not honoring a contract.”

“How are his men and forces, for that matter how would people react to me being an elf.” I wasn’t sure how common Caan’s response to me would be, but I wanted to at least be prepared for the occurrence.

He seemed to consider it for a moment and said, “Depends on the village, mostly they’ll just stare since elves don’t come this far south. Breala is far more likely to get treatment like the one you got from Caan.”

I was curious as to why that was. “Why her more than me.” He seemed to hesitate at the answer then finally blurted it out. “You’re not as threatening.”

I don’t know why he seemed to think I would be offended by that. The woman was massive after all. Regardless I just nodded.

“Sometimes an orc clan would wander past the border hunting, doing banditry or sometimes slaving. When that happens there’s always the threat of war. Even if Breala’s only a half orc, a lot of people have inherent distrust.” Sten explained.

So Breala was a half orc; I immediately asked. “What’s the other half.”

“Human of course.” Sten said.

Breala didn’t look much different than a standard human except for the green skin and size.

“Pure blood orcs are bigger?” I asked.

“The males are larger than the females with larger tusks. The females have them too but not as big. In regard to their size the females are only slightly larger than Breala and greener.”

Thinking back on his mention of war I asked. “Why threaten war for the actions of an orc clan?” Sten mentioned that Braken was a human kingdom so I don’t see how they would be blamed.

“They used to employ orc clans to go slaving for them. After they lost the great war. Braken lost most of their land and had to surrender their slaves and abolish it completely.”

“The more powerful Braken nobles still practice it by skirting around the definition of slave.” Sten said.

I suppose stumbling into The Bronze Spears was more of a boon than I thought. We talked for some time explaining the details of a war that spanned the entire continent over 200 years ago where a Braken king known as Argon the Defiler tried to conquer the entire continent using necromancy. Eventually the various races band together to destroy him and his kingdom, reducing the Braken to a shell of its former self.

“Grudges can last generations and there are still many elves and dwarfs alive who fought in that war. “Sten said, finishing the story.

“How long do elves and dwarves live? “I asked.

“Around 150 to 200 years for dwarves; for elves I’m not sure; I do know some of them get really old, maybe four or five centuries; that something you’re going to have to ask Lilian.” He looked at me as if asking her was a fool’s task.

Dropping that topic, I asked. “What can you tell me about Ether.”

Sten gave me a chagrined look and spoke. “Mages don’t like talking about it to non-mages so anything I might tell you would probably cause some confusion. Try asking Sarah about that.”

Lilian would occasionally return to either Breala or Sten, whispering something, then disappear into the woods. My conversation with Sten petered off after a while so I opted to approach Sarah. She seemed to not be paying attention to our conversation. I was hoping she would join in at some point so I could segway into a discussion on magic, but that didn’t happen now I have to get past her taciturn nature to learn something.

“Sarah that spell you did earlier with the packs was quite miraculous. What was it?” Sarah looked over to me and spoke. “A simple lighten spell.” I expected her to continue but to my disappointment she didn’t. I wanted to pry more on exactly what magic and the ether was.

“Did the spell reverse gravity or is it somehow applying a force that acts in opposition to gravity?” I asked.

She seemed to think for a moment and said, “The latter I suppose; It is a rather simple use of primal Ether.”

I finally decided to ask the question that had been plaguing my mind. I wanted to have the explanation to come from an actual practitioner.

“What is the Ether?” Her expression went from bored to annoyed.

“Moon I’m contracted as magical support and artillery, not teacher.”

Her was attitude was grating on my nerves, but I desperately wanted an answer so I said with as much sincerity as I could muster, “Sten plans to make use of my light in the hive to counter ambushes, any amount of insight into what I’m actually doing could prevent the loss of life.”

I projected my voice a bit louder than needed, so the others could hear. As expected, Sarah got some dirty looks from some of the others, especially Tanner. Sten mentioned that was likely the most dangerous part of the contract, so naturally someone who wasn’t doing their best to prevent potential losses would bear some resentment.

She gave me a suspicious look, but I kept the same deeply concerned expression on my face. “The Ether is an energy that permeates everything. There are 6 commonly accepted attenuations, Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Shadow, and Light, primal Ether has no attenuation. All mages have an affinity. The stronger the affinity for an attenuation the weaker others become. “

“You have a strong affinity for light; For me, its fire. It takes years to the learn natural philosophy and magical theory required to cast proper spells, so there is nothing I can do to improve your effectiveness. simply perform as instructed.”

She finally finished and gave me a look that said. ‘This conversation is over.’

“That was insightful Sarah, you have my thanks.” I wasn’t sure what she meant by natural philosophy, but I’m sure that I’ll figure it out in the future. We continued along on our journey before we stopped for the night.