(Path of the Dragon Mage: Exiled) 33. Vial of Blood (Patreon)

The next day, Corvus was put back on the regular  schedule of sword practice in the mornings, chores in the afternoon.  However, there was one notable difference. After three rounds of drills,  he sparred against Solt.

Whatever confidence he'd earned from gaining combat skills was wiped  away in less than an hour. He never once struck a successful hit on  Solt, and broke two wooden swords along the way.

The only positive was he gained a skill level.

You have increased your Short Sword skill.
New level: Beginner 4

Since single-handed combat skills were particularly difficult to level, he considered this a fair trade for his new bruises.

Finally, he was released from sword work and told to tend to the  horses. Solt walked back to the estate where, no doubt, a wine skin was  waiting.

Corvus headed to the stables at a trot. He had been looking forward to this all day.

That morning, Corvus had swiped a tiny vial out of one of the  cabinets. It was empty, but he'd seen Solt sniffing out of similar vials  a time or two and assumed that it was a type of medicine. Either way,  it would serve his purposes just fine.

Corvus sped through his normal chores of feeding the horses and  mucking out the stables, replacing their bedding with straw. Once done,  he turned his attention to the vial.

He washed it thoroughly in a fresh bucket of water to rid it of the  last of the medicine. Then, with a glance outside to make sure Solt was  nowhere in sight, he drew out an Ever-Flame rune in the dust  and passed the vial through the resulting fire. The pamphlet of medical  runes had mentioned fire as a method of sterilizing medical tools.
Finally, using a rune sharpened knife, he pricked his finger and squeezed the bleeding cut into the vial.

The process was disgusting, but necessary. Once the tiny vial was  filled, he recapped it with a bit of softened wax and then healed his  finger using the Knit Flesh rune.

The healing flesh itched as it stitched itself back together. Once it  was done, Corvus brought his finger to his eyes. The warnings in the  pamphlet mentioned scarring, but there wasn't even a mark left behind.  He assumed this was because it was such a minor cut.

Finally, Corvus removed Roan's horseshoe from its hiding place and slid it, and the vial of blood, in his bag of holding.

Now he had to hope Gwen and Roan would be at the lake tonight.

* * *

He was in luck. Both the Horsemen kids were near their usual spot at  the lake's edge that evening. Though they stayed well upwind of the site  of the ratkin slaughter.

Using his Night Vision, Corvus spied them through the brush.  Gwen was busy weaving bright blue flowers into a patient NightShade's  mane. She had a small spray of similar flowers tucked behind one ear. It  matched the red rag ribbons hanging in her hair.

Roan was, once again, fishing. Or at least he was tying his hook to a  piece of string, throwing it in, and hand-reeling it back with a fish  on it every single time.

He was the one who spotted Corvus first.

"Next time, could you make the hook so I only catch decent-sized  fish? Not the minnows?" He groused, making a face at the tiny flopping  fish he'd caught, which was hardly bigger than the hook itself.

Corvus grinned back at him. He was starting to figure out how Roan  worked; the older boy complained constantly, but that was just how he  communicated with the world. Unlike Solt's grouchiness, there didn't  seem to be a bitter edge to it.

By this time, Gwen had jumped down from NightShade's back and ran over to catch Corvus in a tight hug. 

He  took a startled step back, forgetting that she was so effortlessly  demonstrative. By the time he recovered his mental balance, she had  already pulled away.

"We were so worried!" Gwen said. "Neither of us knew how the towners  or guards would take the news of the swarm—I saw the guards on patrol a  few days and thought you were in trouble for sure."

"What? Why?"

She flicked her fingers dismissively and raised a hand to absently  brush away a ribbon of cloth tied in her hair. He tried not to stare.  "Towners get suspicious of demon creatures, don't they? That's why Dad  kept us back in the camp for a few days. Half of them towners think  Horsefolk bring demons with them, other half start pointing fingers at  each other."

"They're demon creatures. You can't control them, you can only deal  with them once they arrive," Roan added with the air of repeating  something he'd heard before. He put his hook back in his rolled leather  pouch and come to join them.

That explained why the two of them hadn't been lakeside recently when  he had gone to look. Corvus shook his head. "Solt took me to the  village. The guards rounded up a few free ratkin and made a spectacle of  feeding them to cockatrices." He didn't mention the dragons. Gwen and  Roan had too many of his secrets as it was.

"I went by and you two were gone," Gwen said, "I thought Old Solt took you up to the border to join the army."

"He... hasn't mentioned doing that anytime soon." Corvus rolled a  shoulder ruefully, thinking of the sparring lesson. Solt, half-drunk and  out of shape, hadn't even broken a sweat defending himself from Corvus.

Gwen gave him a half-smile. "Good."

Corvus felt... very odd suddenly. He cleared his throat and reached  for his bag of holding. "I, uh, wanted to give the pamphlet back to  you." He held the pages out but Gwen didn't take them. Instead, she  looked confused.

"Wasn't it what you wanted?"

"Yeah, but I read through it and memorized the runes."

"Already?" Roan said. "You went through everything there?"

All four pages? He thought but did not say.

"Keep it," Gwen said. "None of us have any need for it — I think my  aunt would have liked it to go to someone who liked runes, even if you  aren't a Horseman."

He nodded and carefully placed it back in the bag. "It was a help,  and I think I know how to figure out the runes on Roan's horseshoe… but I  don't know if the the process will work."

Gwen's gaze sharpened. "It won't be dangerous for you, will it?"

"I don't know," he replied honestly.

"Then you should wait until you know for sure."

"Nah." Roan reached out a massive hand and slapped him companionably  on the back. "You gotta walk before you can run. Besides, the fishhook  he charged is doing great — even if it gets me minnows half the time."

"Your fool fishhook nearly killed him!" Gwen snapped.

That gave Roan a pause. He glanced at Corvus. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Just don't tell your father I nearly drowned again," Corvus said dryly.

Locating a nearby log, he sat and started going through his bag;  bringing out the vial, the half-ruined fertility horseshoe, and a  sharpened stick he could draw runes in the dirt.

His fingers brushed the shell of his dragon egg and he felt the  customary pulse of warmth as if it were silently wishing him luck.

Gwen and Roan joined him, watching silently.

"I think the problem last time was that when I activated the rune on  your fishhook with my blood, all the magic was drained out of me at the  same time. But after the rune was charged… I saw what they were supposed  to be, and I understood how they worked." He lifted out the old, rusty  horseshoe and pointed to the remains of the runes. "There are three  runes here — see them, linked in a triangle configuration? I worked out  one, but the other two are too degraded. If I can charge them, I might  be able to see what they used to be."

"But you don't know if it'll suck all the magic out of you again," Gwen said.

"Exactly!" He pointed to the badly degraded runes. "I'm pretty sure  these are more powerful than the ones on Roan's fishhook. They're linked  in a triangle shape and there's three of them. Your aunt's notes said  the amount, and way runes were linked together mattered — it makes them  more or less powerful. Plus, these have ownership stamps on them. See  the names?"

Roan frowned at this as if he were struggling to follow along with  this line of reasoning. Then he pointed to the horseshoe. "If they're  degraded, what makes you think you can charge them at all?"

Corvus hesitated. That was a good question. "It's a feeling. This  isn't like when I draw runes out in the sand. These runes were etched in  deep, and I get a sense... this horseshoe was used a lot in the past. I  think that matters. It's like the magic of the rune soaked in."

"So, if you can charge the runes..."

"Then they should light up — even for an instant. I'll see for sure  which ones they were and how they were made. And I can draw out copies  for myself. You said you can cast them on a new horseshoe, right? After  that, all I have to do is charge the new runes. That'll be easy because  they will be mine to activate," Corvus finished triumphantly.

Gwen bit her lip. "But how are you going to light them?"

"Same as last time: Using my blood." He picked up the vial, which  looked midnight black in the night. "This blood hasn't been in my body  for hours. It's not linked to me, but my magic ability is inside. So it  should light up the runes without draining from me."

Roan eyed the vial. "You're going to, what, dribble that over the runes? Magic is sort of gross, isn't it?"

"You're not doing that!" Gwen gasped.

"Yes, I am." Corvus stomped down on a brief flash of irritation. He  thought this had been a clever idea, but the other two looked less than  impressed.

"But you don't know if it's safe!" Gwen said.

"That's why I waited until I saw you two again. So you can spot me in case… something goes wrong."
To  his surprise, Roan turned to his sister. "What would you have me do?  CloudStrike has maybe another year to kindle if I'm lucky before people  start noticing."

"There has to be another way!" she insisted.

"Oh yeah?" Roan shot back. "Then what?"

Gwen glared at her brother but said nothing.

"Why is your horse getting pregnant important?" Corvus had gotten a  few indications from the quest, and a few more from the hints the two  dropped, but it would be good to know for sure.

The two siblings glared at one another. Finally, Gwen looked down, ceding the point.

Roan turned back to Corvus. "My Dad's the Horseman," he said in a way  that practically capitalized the letters. "I want to lead after him,  but no one will follow someone with a barren horse. And worse, some of  the elders might think it reflects on my Dad. They think he brought me  up wrong, or the whole family line has gone sour."

"You can't just… get another horse?"

"Can you get another arm?" Roan snapped. "Or swap out your foot?"

"Roan, he doesn't know," Gwen said.

Roan turned away as if he had to take a moment to cool his temper.

So, this was very, very important to Roan. Even more than Corvus could have guessed.

"Then it's important we try tonight," he said as he unstoppered the vial.

Gwen looked hesitant and Roan cynically curious. Neither made a move to stop him.

He started to tip the vial over the horseshoe, and then hesitated.  Everything he'd told the two of them was a guess. A well-reasoned guess,  but…

There is only one way to find out, he thought. Ignoring the prickle of anxiety, he carefully dribbled the blood onto the rune.

There was a flash of light that seemed to illuminate the old  horseshoe from the inside out. A sense of completion as if he had just  finished a chore or successfully finished a grueling test.

I did it, Corvus thought.

For one shining moment the lines of the rune lit up in golden yellow  so different from the shining blue he was used to seeing in his own  runes. He saw the lines, the swirling glyphs inside the circles, and  understood.
Notifications lit up in front of his eyes like a silent applause.

Something invisible contained within in the old runes reached back out and sank into him.

Yelling in shock, he dropped the horseshoe. It was too late. Whatever it was, the claws had dug in deep.

More notifications flashed up. These were in dire red.

Warning: You do not have enough mana to complete this action. Ability: Second Wind has activated! Second Wind will draw from your stamina well.

Warning! Stamina has been zeroed out. X2 normal time to regenerate stamina.

Warning: You do not have enough stamina to complete this action. Second Wind will draw from your health well.

Warning! Your health is  under 10%. Your stamina will refill at 25% usual speed. Debuff will be  lifted after you regain 50% of your maximum health.

Warning! Your health is under 5%. Please seek assistance immediately.

Warning! Your health is at 3%. Unconsciousness is imminent!

He was cold, freezing. Each limb weighed the same as a horse. His  knees wobbled and he sank down to the ground—the cold was squeezing his  chest.

The egg, he thought. It had revived him once. Maybe...

Warning! Your health is at 2%!

The bag of holding was just out of reach of his numbing, grasping fingers. Stupid of him. Why couldn't he do anything right...?

Gwen and Roan were yelling—their voices far off and distorted.

The world went gray. His chest was so tight he couldn't suck any more air in... The bag, the egg…

Warning! Your health…

All went black.