165. To Find a Place to Rest, Save a Life (Patreon)

“I understand,” one of the girls said.

Her words were spoken softly and with hesitation, coming out strangely accented. She couldn't have been much older than he was, at least biologically speaking. Red-haired, red-eyed, and tall, with a sharp nose and pronounced cheekbones, the girl made him take a glance at the silently weeping Leavara. Some relations perhaps?

The eyes of the peers of the girl started darting left and right, moving between Tercius and the girl.

Raising the metal vial to eye level, Tercius spoke slowly, “I have something here that might help Murain get better, but only if he is still alive.”

“Umm…” The girl’s thick brows scrunched. “I don’t… Understand?”

Tercius’ own dark brows scrunched. “Err… This—” he shook the vial, “can heal him… You don’t understand? What’s the word… oh— Medicine. For Murain.”

They just looked at him, then at each other, then back at him.

Dammit. At this rate, even if Murain was clinging to life at the moment, he would surely die by the time these kids understood him. His jaw clenched and he moved past the kids and towards Leavara and Murain. He crouched near them and touched Leavara’s shoulder, shaking it until the head full of braided hair rose slowly.

Once her tear-filled eyes were on him, he mimed drinking the vial, pouring it over the bloody rip in the leg and he pointed at Murain. “Medicine. For the leg. Might help him.”

Leavara took the vial slowly, looking at it without understanding, then back at him.

Tercius repeated the mimes and the words again, hoping that she would take things over from here. Thankfully, she seemed to have understood him this time. Her hands darted and she grabbed his wrists with a speed that almost made him reach for {Spring of Crystal Thoughts}.

She spoke in a hurry and Tercius barely managed to hear individual words. Tercius frowned. “I don’t understand a word you said. Help. This might help him.”

The woman’s eyes went wide with panic. “Help! Yes, help! Help him!”

Hearing the familiar words of Empire’s Common, even butchered as they were, was a relief. “Listen, we have no time to lose here, but we must clean the wound before we pour this. I will need water and a small fire as soon as possible.”

Leavara nodded rapidly. “Yes, yes,”

The young woman barked words at the children, who promptly scrambled to offer him their waterskins, then ran away to collect something that would burn.

Tercius looked at Murain and went through the mental list that his Mentor gave him once more. Murain's chest was flat, but when Tercius placed an ear on the man's chest he heard a heartbeat. He felt the man's breath. Weak and barely present, but still there. The rip was bone-deep and long, but it was a clean cut. He took it all in and his eyes narrowed. The potion would close the wound perfectly, but he would need something to enhance the man's blood recovery speed and something to hold the man alive. For that, he had… Actually, he had something that would do both. Yes, he nodded, that one should do more than fine. Only… he wasn't quite sure if he should use it. It was a perfect fit, but…

Swallowing, he tentatively picked out larger debris out of the wound with his bare fingers, then washed out the rest with fresh water the best he could. That would have to do. The blood was still leaking slowly from the wound, which Tercius took to be a good sign. Since the blood was leaking, that meant that he had some still. Just how much could a human lose, before the irreversible threshold?

Finally, he opened the vial and poured half of it onto the wound. Murain's leg jerked, but Tercius held it down as the wound hissed and the red liquid started bubbling. The edges of the gash closed slowly, the new skin puffy and reddish. With that done, Tercius stood up and ran to the small fire that the kids had made. From the satchel on his hip, he took out a small wooden box and a pipe. From the box he grabbed a fingerful of dried herbs and stuffed it all down the pipe, lighting it all with a small tinder under the watchful gazes of his mostly teenaged crowd. With watering eyes, Tercius took a few puffs to make sure that the packed herbs were properly caught by the embers. With each inhale, he felt more awake, more alert, and sharp.

On his knees, he paused and took a deep breath and an even longer exhale, preparing himself mentally and physically for the next step. Just don't think about it and do it, he said to himself over and over again. A deep inhale filled his lungs with the smoke and he held it in. Leavara took the pipe from him and the free hand grabbed Murain's nose, while the other opened the mouth. To the gasps of his onlookers, Tercius' mouth covered Murain's and he exhaled, pushing the smoke into the bearded man's lungs.

“The pipe— no, just…” He took the pipe from the woman and repeated the entire thing again and again, until he saw Murain’s cheeks turn rose.

Only then did Tercius breathe a little easier, but that relief lasted a second. His worry spiked and he went over the list, searching for anything he could do for Murain… but nothing came to him. His knowledge of healing others came from the crash course his Mentor gave him and a part of him worried that he might have overlooked something that would be obvious in hindsight.

Still, he could do nothing more for the man.

Tercius rose slowly, feeling tired beyond measure. His stress tolerance was screaming that he was reaching the limit. The last few minutes, and the dozen before it, have taken their toll. The entire day was like that, come to think of it. He wanted nothing more than to find a safe place, curl up and sleep.

The kids stared at him with questions in their eyes and Tercius thought that he could perhaps go and pack his things, instead of standing around uselessly and waiting for something that might not happen after all. He had done what he could, the rest was up to them. Staying here any longer was not advisable. The sooner they move, the better it would be. He ran around the place, collecting his unused spear, bow, and a quiver of leftover arrows, and returning it all onto Lucky's broad back.

“We should go,” he said. “This place could be swarming with those things soon,”

Leavara rose and nodded. “You have my gratitude for what you did, khereshak. I owe you a great debt,”

Khereshak. Priest, in Old Sogean. He might be many things, but a priest he was not. He didn't have the tattoo to mark him. At best, he was a priest in training. Still, she had to know that and Trecius would not correct her. Sometimes assumptions were helpful, but he should be careful never to confirm her assumptions. That was the line he wouldn't cross, but there were words to walk close to it.

“A safe place to spend the night would be welcome.”

The woman bowed her head lightly. “My home is your home,”

“Then let’s get your man on Lucky here and let’s get going,”

*** ***** ***

For hours they walked over the rocky hills, the afternoon sun to their left. The once distant mountains came closer and grass started to cover the base of the surrounding hills, a few thickets scattered here and there, where land allowed for them to form.

They passed by a couple of human communities, where a few dozen souls made their homes in stone houses, their farmlands and animal pens enclosed with tall and thick stone walls. Each time Tercius thought that they had finally arrived at their destination, Leavara would just continue leading them north.

Leavara was the scout for the group, often running ahead and returning back to make corrections to their route. The kids spoke between themselves in low voices, often glancing at him. Throughout the journey Tercius spoke little, his watchful eyes firmly kept on the surroundings.

Murain was alone on Lucky’s back while Tercius led the ram by the reins. He could have been up there on Lucky’s back, there was certainly space for it, but a walk would be good for him. It has been ages since he took a hike.

Along the way, Murain showed signs of waking a couple of times, even speaking some jumbled words once. The man was alive and Tercius counted that as a success. Leavara had been expressing her thanks, in that thick accent of hers, multiple times.

If not for the three-day delay, that his Mentor reasoned him into, he was not sure that she would have been so thankful now.

Without his Mentor’s lessons on some basic first aid, among other things, and her help in picking what he might need for the journey when they made the hour-long visit to Spheros’ markets, Murain might as well have bled out. The herbs that he smoked and the wooden pipe that he used were sold to him by Mistress Prime’era, on his Mentor’s recommendation. He had to admit that he was a little hesitant to use them, even for the sake of saving someone else’s life.

There was magic inside the dried herbs– he saw the mana with his own eyes– but it was all… dull. The colors were… not dark, but smudged and unmoving. Stilled. Mistress Prime'era called it conditioned magic. All magical fields had some form of it, but herbology had more than most. The magic inside these specific herbs was carefully grown along with the herbs' growth cycle and then the herbs were processed to only work when it got activated through heat, transferred via smoke, and delivered into the bloodstream via the lungs. Lacking a single step or finding an unintended destination and the magic would do nothing at all but dissipate harmlessly.

Three lungfuls were the recommended minimum for activating the effect, while the daily maximum was a single pipeful. Any more and… well, strong nosebleeds and pounding headaches were three symptoms he was told to expect in the case of too much consumption, in that order.

At least it worked as advertised.

They walked on and on, the lands unmarked by roads. The kids were visibly tired, their pace slowing the more time went by. The sun started to dip when Leavara returned winded, speaking first to the children and then running to him. “Bad luck… uhh… Three rippers… at us,” she whispered, pointing north. “We cannot go around. We must reach home while Apia still shines and Sarnia’s… hands are… bound.”

Tercius nodded slowly. Apia was the old Sun Divinity and while he had no idea just who Sarnia was, he could make a few guesses from the context. The Divine was either Moon, Darkness, Night, or something along those lines. In any case, Leavara was right. They couldn’t risk going around this group, like they did with all others Leavara scouted out throughout the entire afternoon. The night was upon them and they had to finish the last leg of the journey while there was still light.

Moving at night time was far from advisable. Things worse than packs of Steel Beaks roamed the lands under the cover of darkness.

“You will need help?”

Leavara nodded. “Alone, I will fail,”

Tercius nodded, his gaze falling. He would help, of course, but could he leave Lucky behind? He couldn't take the ram with him, that was for sure, be it for the ram's eye-stabbing size or for the sake of the man recovering on Lucky's back.

“Will they be safe here, without us?” he asked, nodding to the kids and at Lucky.

Leavara shrugged. “I am no khereshak. Safe or not, we have to do this,”

Tercius nodded slowly. “Let me get my weapons.”

Leavara glanced at the spear that he had used as a walking stick so far.

“My other weapons,”

She nodded and went to the kids, leaving him, Murain, and Lucky alone. Tercius turned to Lucky, his unblinking eyes locking onto the ram's. Slowly petting the beast's muzzle, Tercius prodded {Teaching} to form the bond and the connection snapped to life between them with practiced ease.

“Stay,” Tercius commanded.

Lucky’s giant eyes blinked at him. Through the bond, he could feel that Lucky didn’t quite understand. Tercius shook his head. It had been barely a day since they last practiced this and it would seem that Lucky had gotten a bit rusty.

"Stay," Speaking more slowly this time, Tercius focused intently on the tiny bond. He imagined his word slipping through the channel from him to Lucky, the meaning resonating in that language of feelings, senses, and previous experiences that he had learned with Amber's help. Lucky's rectangular irises went wide and he slightly bowed his head in acknowledgment, just as Tercius taught him.

Tercius smiled and nodded, petting Lucky and scratching the base of his horns.

As Tercius collected everything he thought might be of use, the smile slipped off his face as he started mentally preparing himself for the hunt.

*** ***** ***

They sneaked ahead of the group with speed and silence, dropping low to the ground when they reached the place where Leavara found the trio of Steel Beaks. Neither Tercius nor Leavara dared to utter a grunt or a sneeze as they crawled at the top of the small rising and looked over the edge. He could see immediately why Leavara chose to attack. Before them was an enormous piece of flat grassland, with very little cover in sight. In the far distance, on the other end of the field, the land started to rise again and he could see the forested mountainside behind the grassy hills.

Their destination was somewhere in those forests, he suspected.

Unfortunately, to get there, they would have to get rid of this obstacle. Their prey was nesting for the night in a small thicket of low bushes right in their path. Tercius's eyes narrowed. With the noise Lucky, Murain, and the kids made simply by moving, all of them would likely have to make a long trek east or west before continuing north across this plane. The trek alone would take an hour or more, and Apia was already more than halfway behind the western mountains. Even then, something else might come to bar their path.

Leavara’s decision was an optimal one, Tercius had to concur internally.

Tercius looked to the native hunter for guidance. Her cherry eyes looked at him for a while, before he nodded and inclined his head towards the thicket. I’m ready, you can begin.

Leavara dug up a stone out of the grass and chucked it down the hillside. The rock hit and bounced and rolled, only to finally find peace with a dull thud somewhere at the base of the rising. Tercius stilled as the thicket stirred, the bushes shaking. A single feathered head peeked out of the bushes and looked around.

In silence and with barely two breaths between them, Tercius and Leavara waited for the beast to come out and inspect the disturbance. Instead, after a moment or two of inspection, the Steel Beak retreated back inside. Tercius and Leavara shared a look. Was the beast just too lazy to check properly or were they hoping for too much?

With a truly scientific spirit, Leavara chucked another stone.

This time, the Steel Beak slowly waddled out and approached their rise. Tercius gripped his spear tightly.

Leavara chucked another stone, this one closer to their position. The stone stopped before it rolled down the rising and Tercius heard the hollow rattle. His blood froze but he held still. That was the most important thing— no matter what happens, keep your wits and calm. Even merely appearing calm was far better than showing panic or fear.

He heard the beast’s feet thump against the land and he saw the colorful crown of feathers rise into view. It saw them and opened its signature beak. Tercius cursed himself when he saw that Leavara was already up and sprinting at the beast with a raised spear. This was not the type of fight he fought earlier, but it didn’t mean that he was any less prepared.

Standing up, Tercius broke into a run. {Running} surged, filling his lungs, abdomen, and legs with power and he moved past the running Leavara within moments, only to halt in spot and let his spear fly, carrying away with it most of the momentum he accumulated. Half of the spear’s length buried itself into the base of the Steel Beak’s neck and the beast wailed in pain as it threw itself to the ground, the long legs, small forearms, and thick tail thrashing and kicking about.

Leavara sprinted past Tercius, her long spear flashing, slashing and stabbing at the neck of their prey, riddling it with wounds and blood. The long reach of her weapon allowed her to completely ignore the sharp talons, the tail, and the neck, simply dancing around. Death came for the Steel Beak as Leavara's spear pierced the head, a shudder running down the beast's thrashing body before it settled and fell limp.

Two more screeches pierced the evening sky and Tercius ran to retrieve his spear as Leavara moved to protect him.

The Steel Beaks were big from afar, but from up close they were enormous. Standing, the dead male likely came up to Tercius’s elbows. Add to that almost a meter of neck length and it could literally reach over him. It took him all he had but the spear slid out with a squelch, blood leaking out of the deep dark wound.

“Move,” Leavara hissed.

“I’m done,”

Tercius and Leavara ran back where they came from, leaving the corpse behind. They looked over their shoulder often, but as they expected, the Steel Beaks didn't follow them. A few minutes later they sneaked back and Tercius just put a coated arrow into both beasts. Gripped by the feeding frenzy, they didn't even react. Minutes later, with the beasts prone and defenseless on the ground, Tercius and Leavara just slit their throats.

Tercius frowned at them, wiping his knife on the grass. From afar, a Steel Beak could pass as elegant and maybe even pretty. From up close, with dozens of tiny sharp teeth in their large beaks, their beady eyes, and cracked dry-looking whitish scales, along with their overgrown talons, Tercius had to say that he had never seen a beast quite as disturbing.

“A bad year,” Leavara said and spat at the beasts. “Too many rippers everywhere. Eat everything they find.”

Tercius nodded. The book mentioned that a single Steel Beak female could hatch between twenty and thirty eggs per year. Most Steel Beaks never even hatched, their eggs destroyed or eaten by other predators or even their own species, but any that did survive developed fast. At two years of age, most were at their full size, ready to mate, and dangerous to anything in their path, even if their skills took longer to develop.

“The Mother tests us,” Leavara whispered.

Maybe… or maybe, just maybe, last year was one of those where too many eggs survived… Depends on how you look at things, he supposed.

They found everyone alive and well where they left them. Lucky seemed glad to see Tercius and the kids ran to Leavara. All together, they hurried to finish the last leg of the journey and find a safe haven for the night, where food and anything that resembled a bed in function awaited.

******************************************

AN: Hey, everyone. This chapter took me an additional day because I got a little bit too critical to it and I noticed that that tends to happen to me the more I write. Even with this version, I am a bit unsatisfied with. I just couldn't release it before I got at least partly where I wanted it to be. 

On one hand I want this story's pace to be faster than the old one's, and yet while I write I don't want to  just skip to the end of something. I want to show a bit of Tercius' interaction with others, or rather a lack thereof. It's frustrating.

Anyways, that's it from me. Have a good night— or day, depending on where on the globe you are. :D