Something about the quest didn’t sit right with Brondulf. Before he had forced his way into the group, Hugh had been about to take on a thieves’ den, of unknown numbers, with only three people. His first impression of the party leader didn’t indicate that he was suicidal. Bron wasn’t one to let things sit, so he approached him to ask.
“For the same price as the reward, the client could have hired an entire platoon of soldiers.”
“Oh, probably.” Hugh said, “but out here not all problems can be bought. Out here in the frontier, it is the members of the Adventurer’s Guild who settle things.”
Something about his tone warned Brondulf that something was very wrong. But not soon enough. He heard the creak of Lovell’s bowstring somewhere behind him, and in front, Hugh’s hand grasped his sword-hilt with a very deliberate grip.
“For example, out here you can’t get away with bribing a bunch of town guards to push around an Adventurer’s Guild party.”
“I had no choice, and I didn’t actually bribe them.”
“I’d like you to tell me why Lovell shouldn’t put an arrow in your neck right now.”
“I’m not good at talking my way out of these situations.”
“You’re a noble. I’m sure you’ve talked a ton of people into things you don’t deserve.” Lovell mocked.
“That time at the gate was actually the first time.”
“Bullshit!” Lovell snarled. “Let me shoot him just for the lying.”
“You are under-manned as it is on this quest. Look, I am not blind. I am familiar with what you are talking about. Rich noble’s sons and daughters throwing around their influence to get the most meaningless trifles. People hurt and destroyed over a lark. I have even seen a couple get away with cold-blooded murder. Why do you think I wanted to get away from them? My peers are the nastiest combination of weakness and cruelty you have ever seen. And it has been getting worse every year.”
“The reason I used my influence this time is that I was dumb enough to tell my father that I was leaving this town and never coming back. Before I marched out of the gate, I realized that I could not just wander the damn wilderness with no purpose. I would be back in town once I got hungry enough. Then I passed the Adventurer’s Guild.
“If there is one thing I know how to do, it is fight. I had to get out of town soon before my father sent his men to haul me back to him in irons. So I used my connections with the guards. If it matters, I felt dirty doing it.”
“Lovell.” Hugh said.
“Yea?”
“Lower the bow.”
“Aww...”
Hugh stepped closer to Brondulf. “You’re old enough. Why not join the army?”
“Who controls the army?” Bron asked.
“Nobles.”
“Yes nobles control what the army does as a whole. In fact, most officers will be nobles in control of each individual unit. Nobles on their own and under threat of the law in town are bad enough. I can only imagine how they behave while outside of town and with a troop of soldiers at their very whim. I’ve heard plenty of tales of our own soldiers beating people in our own villages while drunk and out of control.”
Hugh frowned, “I know of the story you are talking about. But don’t believe everything spiteful peasants tell you. Do you want to know how that story ended?”
A look of surprise crossed Bron’s face, “You were involved?”
Hugh smiled a nasty smile, “Only in the retaliation, the alleged retaliation. The noble who was in charge of that troop of soldiers, who assaulted my friends and neighbors, mysteriously disappeared several days later. Took a walk and never came back is what his troops say.
“But I need to make something clear to you. Incidents like that, we on the frontier can deal with. The people out here are tough enough to deal with a jumped up noble with a superiority complex. The problem is the opposite. We don’t see enough nobles or, more importantly, their troops out here. Ever since the peace with the orcs, the city has treated security on the frontier as settled. They seem happy to remain in their ring of mountains where it is safe. Well, until tax time anyway.
“I wouldn’t tell you all this if I didn’t understand you Brondulf. But I will offer you a warning. No quest is ever simple and nothing is guaranteed, not food, not shelter, and not your very life. Why would a noble want to deal with that? Why leave that shield of mountains and come out here?”
“I was born a noble. People have always been around to take care of every desire or wish I have ever had. My father was different. He came from the far north kingdom, long since vanished.” He stood a little straighter as he said this. “I might have given the idea that I hated my father. But he is the only person in Greihold that I respect. It is because I respect him and what he built that I left.”
“Well, that explains why you are so pale in this warm climate.” Lovell said, focused on what Bron said about his ancestry.
“None of my people took to the sun well, or so I was told. But that isn’t the full reason for my pale skin. I am an Acolyte of the God of Light. As such I am resistant to all harmful energies. Even excessive sunlight will not burn me. It’s also how I grew so tall.”
“Damn,” Lovell said, how do I get in on that deal?”
“The God of Light is very jealous of his follower’s attention, so you would lose most interests in relationships or family. Casual relationships or sex is right out. Spend hours a day in mediation to regain your strength. Lose much of your enjoyment of smell, taste, and touch. Also it wouldn’t work as well on you now that you are an adult. You have to be given to the Temple of Life as an infant.”
Lovell seemed to consider it, “Hmm, my girl wouldn’t like it. I guess I’ll have to pass.”
“I doubt you’d have the money to afford it either,” Hugh interjected. “Your father must have spent a fortune to have you purified at the temple as an infant.”
Bron nodded, “I am sure it did, luckily he had just become a noble of Greihold. He was probably still in debt for years.”
“How did your father become a noble of Greihold?” Hugh asked.
“The story I have heard is that he saved the king’s life. But he never told me how it happened. To this day he is the king’s official bodyguard; so I guess I believe it.”
“Did your father ever tell you about his life before being a noble?”
“Very little. But every so often, one of his friends from his adventuring days would come to visit. It was one of the few times you couldn’t shut me up. I would wring every bit of information out of them. But the thing that stuck with me most was the respect they had for him. “
“The nobles of the court treat him properly. But they keep him at a distance. I think the king is the only real friend he has. Nothing like the bond he has with his old adventuring comrades. I wanted out of the life of a noble. The people are disloyal and weak.”
“Do you know why the people in the frontier are so strong?” Hugh asked, with a serious tone.
“Because they have to be?”
“Because the ones who weren’t are buried in the ground. I warn you, you have chosen the hard path.”
Bron stared up at the looming, broken mountain, “I think it might be the right path all the same.”
Hugh nodded, “I understand. I suspect that before the end of this quest we’ll see if you have what it takes to walk it.”
He held out his hand, “Let me welcome you to the party properly. Hopefully, you can forgive us for this little conversation.”
Bron’s massive hand enveloped Hugh’s in a handshake strong as steel. “I have got no problem with it.”
*
The wilderness was on fire. Half the bushes were ablaze and a nearby rock was scarred by the impact of a firebolt. Smoke was everywhere, affecting Rhunal’s breathing. She desperately cast another firebolt, but her target was too quick and the explosive radius of the spell too small.
Sweat poured down her face and limbs from the exertion of constant spell-casting. Magic use drained stamina like nothing else , and elemental spells were some of the most tiring. She gathered her strength and ran after her fleeing quarry once more. She was breathing heavily but figured she had enough left in her for a couple more firebolts.
She launched one towards her prey. It leaped clear once more, lunging towards a large boulder. Below that boulder was safety, with a burrow underneath it. The second firebolt, launched immediately after the first, caught it in midair and blasted it against the rock. The charred remains plummeted to the ground and left a smoky crater with a rabbit-shaped void across the rock.
She snatched the smoldering prize almost as it hit the ground. It burned her hand, but she wasn’t about to let it go. Her breath came in gasps as she eyed the carbonized rabbit. She smiled as she sized up the meal, and it was almost cooked already. A rush of wind came whistling through the flat brush-land, an ear and a foot from her hard-earned meal turned to ash. She had gone a little too far blasting the small animal.
“Grr!” She put her hand to her face in anger. Her hand came away slick from sweat. She had exhausted herself for such a tiny morsel.
The sky had turned a brilliant shade of orange. Night was falling fast. It had taken her hours to catch one small animal, that was now mostly cinders. Her joy quickly faded to bitterness as she began walking back to the campfire that she could see glowing far in the distance. She had burned through far more energy catching the rabbit than she would get back from eating it. A mage she might be, but that wasn’t enough for every problem.
'I’m not even a proper mage. I never could create of a focused spell like Carinus could.'
A focused spell usually involved both hands to cast and took more time to channel. But the results were four times as destructive. It was also much more efficient from a stamina perspective. Nothing was more tiring than rapid use of weak spells.
She thought she had made peace with her limitations. She was the first known orc to use human magic. She wondered if half the reason that her Teacher had posted such a large reward on the thieves heads, was in the hope of getting her back. She had gone missing on the same night that the manor was attacked. He probably believed the thieves had taken her.
'As if thieves would take an orc with them. They would have killed me along with Gilbert and Avise.' A tear threatened to form as she remembered the sight of them lying there in the moonlight. She rubbed it away with a low growl.
'I’m not a proper mage, and I’m not a warrior at all. It was a mistake joining this party to hunt these thieves. For a moment I thought I would get vengeance on them. But I’ll probably help them finish the job they started in the manor.'
Dark thoughts hounded her all the way back to camp.
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