Steadfast Hand

Steelforged Legacy Book 1

M. Tress

M. Tress LLC

Copyright © 2024 M. Tress

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 9798342469913
ISBN-10: 1477123456

Cover design by: Kiera
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309
Printed in the United States of America

Foreword

This is a work of fiction, with interpretations and re-imaginations of classic myths, legends, and ethnic religions. Nothing here is meant as an insult to those who follow those religions, it is simply an experiment in 'what if'.

There are scenes contained within that are of an adult nature. These scenes are marked with a <3 in the chapter title. If you wish to skip them, you will only miss out on a bit of character development, nothing major in the plot.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

“You should have just listened, Sullivan,” growled the looming figure in the blood-spattered police uniform. “Now I have to figure out how to cover this up. And get myself a new partner.”

“Fuck… you… Davis,” Casey ground out. He clutched at the seeping wound in his side.

There wasn’t much he could do to stop the bleeding. The bullet had entered his back, blasted through his belly, and come out the front. There wasn’t a way to get pressure on both sides, not without help.

And the only person that could help me is the asshole who shot me, Casey grumbled internally. His vision fuzzed, and he had to fight to focus on the dingy warehouse ceiling above him.

Rusty iron joists crossed back and forth, supporting a corrugated aluminum ceiling. The only lighting was a handful of the fluorescent bar lights, and over half of those were either burned out or broken. Same with the grimy windows of the old warehouse.

“You are a pain in my ass, Sullivan,” rumbled the other man.

Casey fumbled for his sidearm, fighting the snaps on his holster for a moment before a foot struck his hand and sent a lance of pain through his injury. He felt a tug at the side of his belt when Davis yanked his duty pistol out and tossed it away to clatter on the concrete floor. Another tug as he yanked the cord out of Casey’s radio.

Then there came a quiet click a moment later. A click that warned him that Davis had drawn back the hammer on that great big .357 revolver he carried.

“But I knew that I’d have to get rid of you, eventually. Too good to be on the take. Too principled to just take the money and shut up.”

“It’s wrong! What the hell is the matter with you, Davis?” Casey gasped, shaking his head to try to get the bright lights out of his eyes while his vision swam and grayed. He could hear whimpers from somewhere nearby, and they drew his attention.

A trio of young girls, still wearing the tattered remains of their middle-school uniforms, sat tied to one of the support pillars. Wide eyes that once been filled with hope a moment before were now afraid as they tried to scream their way through the duct tape.

“They are kids!” Casey protested.

“No. You should know this. They are just meat. Meat to be sold,” growled Davis.

The other man leaned over Casey to smirk down at him with a smile rotted through by cigarettes and the cheap whiskey he stank of, even while they were on duty. The blood that speckled his uniform was Casey’s from that first shot that he’d put in his partner's back.

Casey snapped. He might be dying, but he wasn’t going to be the only one bleeding out on the ground today. And Davis had made the mistake of leaning just a bit too close, thinking Casey was in shock and not able to fight back.

Roaring, Casey surged upwards and slammed his forehead into the sneering face of his former partner.

The impact jarred his entire body. White lightning strikes of pain shot up from the gut wound that was killing Casey Sullivan, but the blow had the desired effect. And that made the pain worth it.

With a scream of his own, Peter Davis, his erstwhile partner and attempted murderer, tumbled over onto the packed concrete, clutching his nose, which had shattered with a satisfying crunch. His hands immediately went to his face, and Casey heard the clatter of Davis’ pistol on the concrete a moment later.

Fighting through the pain and gasping, Casey rolled over onto his hands and knees and scrambled for one of the two discarded guns as blood gushed from his wound and his vision grayed again.

“What the fuck, Sullivan! Broke my fucking nose! Why can’t you just die?!” wailed Davis as he thrashed on the ground in pain.

Casey heard a skittering noise of metal on stone and glanced aside to see one of their sidearms, whose he wasn’t sure, sliding across the concrete floor and throwing up sparks as it bounced away. He couldn’t spot where the other had landed.

Too far to get to before Davis is back up. Bleeding out fast. Casey’s mind raced, and the world stretched around him while he crawled on hands and knees.

The blood flow from his gut wound was beginning to slow, but he could feel the creeping burn in the wound that told him things that should remain hidden from the light of day were leaking into the wound. Ruptured organs and pulped tissue meant that he was a dead man walking, or in this case, crawling.

Why am I not afraid? The thought ran through Casey’s mind like a mouse racing along a baseboard in search of its hole. Nearby, the sound of the girls’ fearful whimpering reminded him of his purpose. The reason he’d come here tonight. The reason he’d joined the police force all those months ago to begin with. I am afraid, but not for myself. I’ve made my choices.

Without his sidearm and unable to reach behind himself to reconnect the radio, Casey had limited options.

But one thing he knew to be true: the asshole that was clutching his face only feet away was the man who had killed him. A man who should have been his ally and brother-in-arms had shot him in the back for a payoff from child-traffickers. If he was going to save these kids, he needed to eliminate all threats to them.

Roaring in pain and fury, Casey ripped the last weapon he had out of its sheath on his thigh and threw himself on top of his former partner. The blade of the combat knife was sharp, and the tip was keen. He always made sure it would be ready for any duty it might be called on for.

The veteran that had trained him in the police academy had waxed lyrical about how important it was to have a good knife with him to save people, for cutting seatbelts or prying open doors mangled in a car crash. As his trainer had called it “superhero shit, just without the costumes.”

I don’t think Lieutenant Manes meant anything like this, but I think she’d be proud of me for ending this piece of filth, Casey thought as he drove the sheepsfoot tip of the blade into Peter Davis’ back.

Davis thrashed and squealed as Casey stabbed him.

The impact of landing on top of the other officer — No, he doesn’t deserve that title. Betrayer! — The impact of landing on his betrayer drove stars into Casey’s eyes, and he vomited all over the back of Davis’ head, but his hands never stopped moving in their grim purpose.

Three more times the weapon rose and descended, with the final blow being to the upper back, just below the scapula and into the other man’s heart.

Officer Davis died of severe heart trauma on the concrete of the grimy warehouse he’d betrayed his partner in.

Clutching his side, Casey lay on top of the other man for several seconds as the tensing and thrashing muscles in his back and front subsided. He could smell the foulness of the wound in his side now, or maybe that was the reek of his partn—betrayer! The pain of having to move so quickly was wracking his body, but pain was an old friend for Casey.

Not even as bad as that time I got knifed when I was twelve… though that might be the shock talking.

For a third time that night, the sound of fearful whimpers drew his attention, and Casey felt duty call to him.

It took some fumbling to find the shoulder microphone on Davis’ gear, and he clicked it twice to confirm it was transmitting.

“Code 20. This is Officer Sullivan. Code 20. I have an 11-41 at my location. Use patrol car transponders for coordinates to send EMS to. Three kidnap victims secured, but two officers down,” he panted into the microphone. It clicked a moment later, and Dispatch responded.

“Confirmed, Officer Sullivan. Routing EMS to your location. Where is Officer Davis? What is your condition, Officer Sullivan?”

“Fatality. Securing the victims. Put a rush on that EMS, Dispatch,” he grunted, wincing in pain as the wound in his side tore further open.

Dispatch said something else, but he didn’t listen. Instead, Casey yanked his knife out of Davis’ back and wiped it clean before he crawled towards the other victims in the warehouse. Blood dripped from his wounds and painted the floor with macabre art as the cold weight of his wound reminded him of the ticking clock he was working under.

Blood loss, or is shock finally setting in? Gut wounds don’t kill you quickly, but I also haven’t been trying to stop it. Too much to do.

The trio of girls were thrashing in their bonds as he got closer to them, and Casey did his best to reassure them.

“Hey. Help is on the way, ladies,” he ground out, trying for a smile and getting more of a grimace, but it did seem to reassure them. “Look, this is going to be hard on you three, but I need you to listen.”

First one, then all three heads bobbed nervously in agreement; hope sparkled in their wet eyes.

“I’m going to cut you loose. You need to help each other get the tape off and then get outside. My patrol car is there. Hide nearby until the ambulance gets here. They’ll look after you.”

Distantly, a siren wailed, and all three girls sat a little straighter.

The one right in front of him nodded sharply, and her eyes took on a confident glint, despite the shivers of fear that ran through her entire body. Her long, black hair stuck to the tears on her face and at the tape around her mouth, but she still looked determined in spite of it all.

“Good girls. Look after each other,” Casey ordered, his vision graying even worse for a moment, but he fought through it and moved around behind them.

The handle of his knife was slick still—with blood or sweat he wasn’t sure—but he focused while he sawed at the improvised cuffs that held the girls to the pillar. He was thankful that, whoever had bound them, they were lazy as sin. A chain ran around the pillar, and whoever had secured the girls had just used heavy zip-ties to link them to the chain.

He cut the black-haired girl free first, and she immediately ripped the tape from her mouth with a yelp while he got the other two free.

“Come on!” she urged her friends to stand up.

“But what about him?” asked one of the other two. Casey wasn’t sure because his vision was swimming and now there were nine girls in front of him.

“Go. I’ll be right behind you,” Casey huffed and gestured towards the door with the knife while he fought to focus his eyes.

“Thank you, Officer,” the third girl said in a voice that was barely above a whisper and hoarse from crying.

“It’s my duty and—” Casey coughed and spat to one side. “—my pleasure. Now go. Get out of here so the paramedics can find you.”

The trio said something else, but he didn’t catch it. His head was full of static.

Casey leaned heavily back into the pillar, trying to catch his breath, and watched as the trio pattered across the concrete floor towards the doorway that led to the outside.

He saw their silhouettes against the spinning red and blue lights of his patrol car when they pushed the warehouse door open, and then they vanished from sight.

He heard the sirens of the approaching cars, the wail of the ambulances growing louder, and the crunch of the tires on gravel.

He felt the firm grip of the handle to his knife under his hand, and he looked down at himself.

Blood covered him from mid-chest to his ankles. The combination of the leaking wound and having to drag himself through the mess had coated his uniform.

Casey Sullivan swallowed hard and took a deep breath in, mastering his pain.

Casey Sullivan let that breath out slowly, and his head slumped forward.

Casey Sullivan’s chest did not rise again.

His hand never loosened from the handle of his weapon. Even as his body went slack, his fist remained tight around the hilt of his knife while he sat in the dim light of the warehouse.

It did not loosen when he died.

It did not loosen when the paramedics arrived and attempted to resuscitate him.

It did not loosen until the coroner had to pry his hand open in order to tuck him into the stark, white embrace of the body-bag.

But his story does not end here.

<><><>

“That was one hell of a way to punch the clock, my man!”

The grating sound of the voice interrupted the perfectly good nap that Casey had been enjoying. He wanted to ignore it and just go back to sleep. But, with the spell of unconsciousness broken, it was a lost cause. The memories immediately surged back to the forefront of his mind.

Casey’s navy-blue eyes snapped open, and he immediately rolled over onto his hands and knees to push himself into a crouch. While he surveyed his surroundings, he patted rapidly over his body to check on his injuries. His heart began to race when he realized there were none.

The last thing he remembered seeing was the young girls making it out of that blood-stained warehouse. He’d just been trying to catch his breath before standing upright, but where was he now?

Below him, the floor sprawled out in an exquisite pool of hardwood stained a deep, almost royal, purple. The bright lights cast by polished silver lamps hanging overhead sent flickering highlights across the dark wood. Large bay windows stood nearby in a wall that was set with finely detailed wallpaper of a dark blue, covered with a mosaic of gold leaf in intricate patterns that sent Casey’s eye wheeling away from the bizarre glinting shapes.

Blood-red curtains hung at the corners of the bay windows, held back with tasseled ropes of polished gold. Even though the windows were open, Casey couldn’t see anything beyond the glass as it reflected the shimmering lights of the interior, and the opulent furniture that sat scattered around the cavernous room.

The hint of movement caught his eye in the reflection, and he whirled to confront the man even as he began speaking.

“Seriously! You made it through all the trials, all the challenges, all the hardships, and for what? You got shot in the back by a fat, ugly, waste of space that wouldn’t have been able to hit you unless you gave him a good five seconds to line up the shot. Bonus points for the poignant sacrifice, but you do lose points for the early ‘Game Over.’”

The speaker was a man dressed in a garish, modern suit that would not have been out of place in a boardroom for a Fortune 500 company—if it wasn’t for the fact the suit was an eye-watering shade of pumpkin-orange with a strawberry-red shirt underneath it.

The man was walking through the center of the room, between two fine leather couches and past an end-table wrought of polished silver that held a glass bowl of gilded fruit. His perfectly styled crop of short, blond hair shimmering like spun gold in the light of the room.

“What?” Casey demanded intelligently.

“Your testing!” the other man exclaimed. His bone-pale skin was shining in the light of the lanterns as he continued to head towards Casey at an easy walk. “You did well, at first. Overcame the rough beginning I gave you, fought like a cornered wolf through school, survived the orphanage and the gangs in it. Then you went the entirely wrong direction! You weren’t supposed to go into law enforcement. I wanted you to become a vigilante. Administer some old-fashioned justice to those that had harmed you!”

Casey blinked at the brightly dressed man as he continued to approach. An odd scent filled the air, a mixture of sandalwood and myrrh with just the faintest hint of rotten kitchen scraps underlying it.

“Stay away from me!” Casey snapped, back-stepping and reaching out to snatch a lamp off the end-table nearest him. His fingers phased right through the lamp, though, his touch not even disturbing it an inch.

“Ease up, boy. You can’t touch anything here. You died, remember?” the man said snidely, a cruel twist to his lips for a moment before his face smoothed back to the perfect features of a living, marble statue.

Patting his stomach, Casey checked again for the injury that had wracked his body with pain and, apparently, claimed his life. But he found no sign of it. He was dressed in his uniform still, but his duty-belt with all his gear on it was missing. The sheath on his thigh where he kept his knife was there, but empty. He still had his penlight and pocket knife in their little sheaths inside one cargo pocket. What he did find was the tattered hole in his shirt from where the .357 round had burst out of his side when Davis had shot him.

“No wound to find there, boy,” the man snickered before Casey could check his back for the entry wound. “I didn’t snatch your body up. Wounds to the flesh don’t carry to the soul. At least not with the crude weapons you humans use nowadays.”

“Soul? What the hell are you talking about? No, more importantly…are those girls okay? Did they make it safely home?” Casey demanded, halting his retreat and stepping towards the strangely dressed man. His mind was still whirling with what had happened, and this was the handle it had caught on.

“I don’t know, nor do I care,” the man said blithely, waving one hand over his shoulder. “Their purpose was to bait and test you. I was hoping I could still entice you down the vigilante path, but you were too quick. If you’d taken another hour, their owners would have collected them and you’d have just found the leftovers. I was sure that would push you into ‘righteous vengeance’ mode,” the suited man said absently, rubbing at his square jawline thoughtfully with one long-fingered hand. “That test you didn’t precisely fail, but you definitely scuffed it in the end. Weren’t supposed to die there, or even get shot for that matter. Regardless, on to the scoring! It is possible you might make the cut, so I’ll still review your file. Never fear!”

Casey growled deep in his throat as the suited man turned away in a whirl of bright orange fabric and hurried to the middle of the large room. Now that he could focus a bit better, he could see shelves filling the walls, holding bits of art and trophies. Not a single book was in view in the entire room. Crouched right in the middle of the room was a wooden desk with a polished black marble top.

The ridiculously suited man slapped his hand onto the top of the desk, and an image appeared above it that both took Casey’s breath away and sparked rage in his heart.

“Like I said, good scores early on. Survived the trials of youth and the rough beginning I gave you. That earns you bonus points,” the man chattered.

The image of Casey as a six-year-old nursed a broken hand while three older boys stood over him laughing. The image switched to him hiding under his bed while those same boys tried to get hold of him to drag him out, but the bed was against a wall and too heavy for them to move. So, instead they had gotten brooms and jabbed at him with the handles. It’d broken his nose and cracked two ribs. A number of eighty-three out of one hundred appeared next to the image.

“The gangs were supposed to be a tipping point. I figured with the amount of damage they did to the building and the other kids, that’d provoke a reaction out of you.”

The image switched to a group of six young men and two women wearing bright orange handkerchiefs tied around their left biceps with the sleeve of their shirts pulled up to expose them. Casey remembered them. They’d just tug their shirtsleeve down to hide the ‘flag’ if anyone from the orphanage was nearby.

The image cut to an upwards view of five of the six stomping down on him, spitting on him, and generally doing whatever they could to harm him. The number spun downwards to seventy-nine out of one hundred.

But the girl got away, Casey reminded himself.

He’d found the group of them cornering one of the younger girls who had been lucky enough to have a family interested in adopting her. While he was doing chores, he’d caught one of the gang members talking about ‘sampling the goods before she gets away’. He’d gotten the shit kicked out of him that day for interrupting them, but the girl had hidden until she could get out with her new family.

“I was most proud of you when you finally got the chance to even the playing field.” The man’s voice took on a decidedly cruel edge.

Casey watched as the dancing images cut to a slightly older Casey, maybe twelve now, with a rolling pin in one hand standing over the oldest of the ‘gang’ who was clutching his left arm, which hung at an odd angle.

He was bleeding in that image, too, with a broken nose and busted lip. All around him, the other five boys from the gang circled him like hunting wolves while the two girls cheered their ‘boys’ on from the sidelines. The first one that dove at him received a broken jaw from Casey’s rolling-pin club. Next, the second got an elbow to the throat before the entire group pounced on him. The scrolling numbers rolled up to ninety-three out of one hundred.

“You kept that up for the entire time you were there at the orphanage. Never got picked up by a family—I made sure of that. The orphanage needed to hammer you into shape. It was supposed to push you over the edge, but you kept getting lucky.”

The images flashed through several more encounters where he skirmished with the kid gang. Casey gave as good as he got in the brawls and learned to always keep an ‘equalizer’ on him.

The knife that he stole from the kitchen was persuasive enough that it kept them back, and he made sure to not cut anyone too badly. He’d swapped to the knife from the club when one of the kids he’d been trying to protect ended up with a cracked skull because the club wasn’t intimidating enough to scare the gang away.

The ‘score’ moved both up and down, always above eighty but never more than ninety-two out of a hundred as it scrolled through several numbers to match the scenes. Casey could feel the ghosts of his injuries playing over him as he watched.

Casey felt the spark of rage in his heart grow hotter and hotter as the man continued to ramble and scroll through the ‘highlights reel’ of Casey’s life.

He keeps saying the tests he gave me, or that he made sure something happened… The thought boiled in Casey’s subconscious, and his rage rose higher.

“I’d figured you were biding your time, growing, and training. I mean, I guess I can give you bonus points for the training.” The image displayed a rapid montage of Casey doing just that: push-ups, sit-ups, using water jugs as weights to build muscles. “But you wasted it all! Becoming a cop was a mistake, too high profile. They monitor cops too much to get away with really good vigilante work! Sure, you have the information, but all you need is a crooked cop to pass that to you. You don’t need to have it yourself.”

A second later, the images scrolled through the events of his time in the police academy and the small handful of people he thought he could trust, his instructor being the top of that list. The older female officer had taken him under her wing and taught him all the tricks she’d learned. He’d had a bit of a crush on her, as she was the first to show him honest affection in a long time.

“Then you finished training, and I paired you with that shit-bag. I had to do some manipulating on that one to get your first partner bumped off in the line of duty. That way, Davis would take his spot. A bit of a temptation and I was sure I could entice him to go after some easy targets. Then you could catch him. He was going to be your first true ‘victim’! I figured that if anyone could disillusion you of the ‘honor’ of the police force, it’d be Davis. But nope. Your foolish nobility got you in the end.”

The image rapidly scrolled through the short months that he’d had as Davis’ partner, following leads on a human trafficking ring and several drug busts until it culminated with them pulling up on the abandoned warehouse. At that moment, the image froze with Casey hurrying towards the ancient doors and Davis in the background with a sour scowl on his face, his duty pistol already in hand.

The number spun madly while it calculated and then settled on a ninety-one out of one hundred.

“Look at that! Even with all your fuckups, we still managed to get an A rating out of you! Must have been all the bonuses from the tests and trials I gave you,” the suited man cheered, staring proudly up at the number with his back turned.

Casey was already moving, his stride steady and even across the polished hardwood of the ridiculously decorated room.

It’s his fault. All of this. He set all this up. All the pain, all the injuries, all the torture, all the people hurt. He did this!

“Not quite as vengeful as I wanted, but you’ll still serve my purposes. You just need to understand that you are mine and follow orders. Now, how to… encourage that mindset,” the blond man murmured the last part to himself as he thought. “The only close connection you ever had was with your lieutenant… I suppose I could use her for leverage. Anyway! I have a job proposition for you, Casey Sullivan!”

The man spun about with a broad smile on his face just as Casey closed to within arm’s reach. His righteous rage, indignation, and the determination to have vengeance powered the punch that Casey threw in fury. He’d forgotten the man’s claim that he couldn’t touch anything anymore.

The suited man’s eyes widened in surprise when he spotted the fist speeding towards his head, but he was off balance and unable to dodge.

Casey’s fist connected with the man’s jaw and rocked his head to one side. His perfectly sculpted face deformed, and his lip split in slow motion. Casey followed through with the blow, torquing his hips and pivoting into it to send his entire body weight through the punch.

The blow caused the man to spin around on the spot as a spray of blood and spittle arced out to spatter across the floor.

“ALL YOUR FAULT!” Casey roared with the fury of an angry god while he wound up to throw another punch.

“Be still!” the man snarled as he finished his spin. The split lip had already sealed, and his face was once more pristine.

Casey froze in place. Not because he wanted to, but because his body refused to respond to him.

“How dare you?” the man hissed, his perfect face twisting into a mask of cruelty. His pristine, pale skin bubbling slightly before it stilled. “How dare you strike me? ME?!” The last word he roared into Casey’s face, but his fury was burning too high to care about the strange man’s anger.

Let me go. Just let me take one more swing. I’ll rip his damn jaw off. Casey’s mind raged with indignant fury.

Casey had made it through life understanding that he wasn’t the only one with a shit situation. But this creature in front of him had just admitted to being the agent behind everything that had ever gone wrong in his life.

“Ungrateful mortal trash!” the pale man roared, and his face actually did morph this time.

A split raced up either side of his mouth, extending his jaw until his head could nearly fold open in half. Hundreds of jagged teeth sprouted from his mouth and bristled at Casey menacingly. It was terrifying, but Casey was so far past being anything but angry that it didn’t matter.

“Lay hands on me, will you?! No, this will not stand. I was willing to give you a chance, but you are trash and I will treat you as such. I will mold another tool, as this one dared to strike me! You have one chance to beg for mercy,” the garish man hissed the last sentence with such malevolence that the light in the room dimmed slightly.

“Kiss my ass. I’d rather die a thousand times than beg for anything from a piece of— ” Casey snapped as soon as he could move his mouth, but the man cut him off with another gesture a moment later.

It wasn’t a wave of his hand or a flick of his finger. The pale man in his ridiculous orange suit backhanded Casey with such force that it launched him into the air.

The blow should have killed him, given how far he flew, but Casey just felt the impact and a starburst of pain before he saw the rapidly approaching plate glass of the window. In those seconds turned to hours by pain and shock, Casey finally managed to make out the images in gold leaf on the wallpaper.

People screaming, people dying, people being torn to pieces, and creatures torturing many thousands of others. And they appeared to be moving in slow motion.

Then, he impacted the window with a crunch of shattering glass. Another four ribbons of pain tore into his body as the falling glass cut him.

Casey and pain were old friends. What he wasn’t old friends with, though, was the madness that waited on the other side of the window.

Chapter 2

Colors flashed past him, painful in their brightness and the sheer wrongness of the ideas that they embodied.

The different shades pulsed and twitched in ways they should not have been able to, oozing and moving like the air had a physical form he just couldn’t quite see. Casey could almost see disgust and fury radiating from the window that he’d fallen out of, even as the glass reassembled itself while he plummeted away.

Casey felt his sanity slip for a moment before his focused intent returned. The iron will that had gotten him through all the abuses of his life reasserted itself, and Casey fought the yanking tide of living color and ill-intent that drew him deeper.

“No! I’m not going to go down to just one punch,” he snarled. Casey flailed all around him, still falling into the chaos like a stone sinking into a pond. “I refuse!”

“What do we have here?” The baritone voice that spoke was kind. Casey fought to direct his fall enough that he could turn his eyes to the speaker who had apparently appeared from nowhere.

A redheaded man dressed in a neat black tunic and buckskin pants seemed to be falling right beside him. Lining his chin was a short beard of the same red hair, trimmed neatly to accent his handsome face. A face that was first curious, then concerned.

“Who are you?!” Casey demanded, flailing with one arm to try and take a swing at what he could only assume to be another threat.

“That’s not important. You are a mortal? By the gods, what are you doing falling through the Empyrean?! Come, lad! You do not belong here,” the redheaded man said hurriedly, and he offered Casey his hand.

Casey just glared down at the hand, wanting to refuse it on general principle. This encounter felt far too contrived. His focus slipped, though, and his will softened for just a moment. The seeking colors and whirling madness around him tore at his soul and Casey felt himself grow indistinct for a moment, his vision fuzzing.

“Hurry, lad! I cannot force you to take my hand, but you have only seconds!” the redheaded man urged.

The honest concern in his voice pierced Casey’s defenses. The last time he’d heard that level of care, it was from the Lieutenant.

Moving on instinct, he snatched the man’s hand with his own. But rather than grasping palms, the man wrapped his hand around Casey’s forearm and he clutched the same in return.

There was a jerking sensation as his soul, which had been actively fragmenting up until that point, snapped back together. His falling slowed and then came to a stop as the man pulled him closer.

Casey blinked rapidly and tried to look around to figure out how that had happened.

“No! Do not look upon the chaos. It will drive you mad,” the man insisted and then gestured again. A door oozed into existence in front of them, even as an almighty roar of anger sent out a physical ripple in the soupy colors that flowed around them. “Through here. It is a sanctuary from the chaos for now and not a place that beast can follow.”

The pine-wood door sitting before him looked worn with age. Iron bands bound it together, and only a rounded ring hung on the face at waist height, with no latch to hold it closed. Casey tugged on the ring, and the man ducked inside, still holding him by the forearm, then pulled Casey after him.

The second the door closed, reality seemed to firm up around Casey, and he could think straight once more. The fury in his chest cooled slightly but continued to burn as he looked around him.

Where he stood now was a room that was a far cry from the opulent space he’d occupied with the orange-suited man. The floor was still wooden, but was made of carefully formed and polished boards of a pale, blond wood. The walls were also wooden, though these were of a darker shade. Paintings and tools hung from the walls in equal numbers around the modest room, and log beams crossed overhead to support a roof that looked to be made of thatch.

A small fire burned in a stone fireplace against one wall, and a double handful of comfortable wooden chairs covered in hides sat around it. A table sat on one side of the fireplace with drinks on it. Other than the door they had entered by, the walls were unbroken.

“What is this place?” Casey asked, turning to meet eyes with his host, who was peering at him curiously.

“A bit of a sanctuary. I keep a piece of reality close at hand whenever I scout the Empyrean. The colors give me a headache if I spend too much time there, and this reminds me of home. It’s safe enough to have a word here. Come, have a seat, lad. I did not expect to run into a mortal soul adrift.”

The redheaded man finally released his grip on Casey’s forearm. Casey swayed slightly, a moment of disorientation taking him that was not unlike a head-rush.

When he had his balance back, Casey saw that the man had crossed the room and was piling wood into the fireplace while whistling tunelessly to himself. Once the flames began licking the logs, the man settled into one chair and gestured for Casey to join him in another.

“Sit, if you wish. It is safe as you could ask for and far better than being outside. But I will not bind you here. If you wish to take your chances, I will not stop you,” the man said kindly. Casey considered him and then nodded once, before stepping carefully across the room to settle into the chair furthest from the redhead.

“Little anxious, are we? Then again, given where I found you, I cannot fault you.” The man raised one well-formed eyebrow at Casey.

“Good,” Casey replied. The silence descended over them once more like a glass bowl, only cracked by the popping of the fire as it settled into the logs.

“So. How did you come to be adrift like that? Mortals shouldn’t be able to even get into the Empyrean.”

“I was thrown out of a window.”

“A window?” The man blinked for several moments before laughing. It was an earnest sound from deep within his guts. “Now that is… not what I was expecting to hear. That happened to my brother once, but never heard of it happening to a mortal. What are the odds that a human would be thrown through a window and end up in the Empyrean? Hel! What are the odds that the mortal would then manage to survive that cesspit before running into a native that wasn’t bent on devouring them?”

“Long odds, I’d assume,” Casey muttered, still watching the man warily.

They shared a stare—Casey’s guarded, the redheaded man’s amused—for several seconds before the slim man clapped his hands and proclaimed in his baritone voice:

“I am being rude! I apologize. It is just so odd to find someone like this who doesn’t know me. Call me Loptr! Would you like something to drink?”

“Casey Sullivan,” Casey replied, tension relaxing slightly in spite of himself. “And no, I’m fine at the moment.”

“Sullivan? Hmm. Well, that makes sense. Your eyes are quite a dark shade of blue. An interesting trait to use for a name!” The redheaded man hummed to himself, rubbing at his chin as he thought. Casey wanted to ask what he was talking about, but the other man continued before he could ask. “Well then, if you are going to be polite, my full name is Loptr Laufeyson. I have many names, but that one is my favorite. My mother was a good woman, and I am honored to carry her name as part of mine!”

The man laughed again, and Casey felt the fires of his anger banking even more. It was hard to hang onto the rage now that he wasn’t under threat and was instead in the presence of such a joyful person.

“Pleasure to meet you, Loptr Laufeyson,” Casey replied, still watching the man but not quite as warily as he had before.

So much had happened in what felt like minutes that his mind was still whirling. But with the crackling warmth of the fire on his right side and the sensation of the soft hide under him, Casey was beginning to find his feet.

“Not often I hear someone say that who isn’t a part of my family! The occurrence is increasing though, so that is something to be thankful for! Anyway! Casey, tell me how you ended up here. I already plan on helping get you home. But, well, we have to figure out what direction ‘home’ is.” Loptr laughed again, his teeth glinting in his lightly tanned skin.

Slowly at first, starting out with how he’d found himself in the strange room earlier and expanding from there, Casey explained what had happened.

Loptr was a good listener, his green eyes watching Casey intently as the other man spoke. Loptr interrupted twice with questions, first to ask if the orange-suited man had given his name and then again after a bit to ask why Casey had decided to attack someone like that.

“It’s simple,” Casey sighed, running his fingers through his short, brown hair. “I’ve endured taunts, abuse, betrayals, beatings, harassment, and torture for my entire life. I fought tooth and nail to get my position as an officer and my partner stabbed me in the back. The crowning glory I can say for my life was that I saved those three girls from a fate worse than death. And that man in the suit—”

“That was no man, that was a monster,” Loptr interrupted. Casey shot him a confused look, but the redhead only gestured for him to continue.

“Whatever he is. He derided me for that choice. Said he’d put those three in place to ‘test’ me and to ‘break’ me,” Casey growled, and he felt the fires of that anger flare in his chest once more. “He admitted to being the agent behind all the suffering that I’d endured. Claiming it was to shape me. It’s not right!” Casey said, the last part in a snarl.

“Agreed. What it did to you is not right in the least…” Loptr said gently.

Casey wasn’t sure why he was so willing to talk with this man. It was just as confusing as the encounter with the orange-suited man. But something about Loptr told Casey that he could trust him, despite the situation.

“What was wrong is the number of people he hurt to try and test me!” snapped Casey, the fury in his chest rising and bursting from his throat. “I asked him what happened to the three girls I died to save, and he brushed it off. He didn’t know or care. After he put them there to be victims! After he planned for them to be taken and for me to only find the remains. He planned it to torture me and twist me with guilt so I would become the monster he wanted me to be!”

Loptr nodded silently, watching Casey as he continued to vent the fury like poison from a wound.

“I joined the force to help people! I didn’t want others to suffer like I did growing up! What I wanted was to make a difference, to prove that the world could be better than it is!”

Casey hadn’t realized his voice had risen to a shout until he came to a stop and heard the echoes bouncing amongst the rafters. Loptr continued to watch him, his green eyes empathetic and his fingers steepled in front of him.

“And now?” the redheaded man asked when he was sure Casey was done, his head tilting to one side.

“Now? I want to beat that monster to a pulp!” Casey snarled, his hands fisting in the air in front of him. “I want to flay him alive for the crimes he’s committed to ‘test’ me! The ease with which he said he manipulated events tells me that he could have done so much to help people! The way he tossed me aside, saying he could make a new tool? That tells me he’s done it before!”

“You want revenge?”

“I want justice!” Casey demanded, slamming his fist against the arm of his chair. The sound of the impact echoed throughout the entire room, and Casey winced, realizing he’d been yelling again.

“That is fair. It is good to want justice for crimes against you and others. It is good to want things to be better,” Loptr said quietly, looking thoughtful.

The redheaded man stood and stretched, walking to the wall behind Casey. Casey turned to follow the man with his eyes and blinked in surprise when he found a round window set into a wall that he’d been sure was bare before.

Loptr opened the window and held out a hand through it. Rather than the whirling maelstrom of chaos, the window instead opened into a forest glade filled with cool light.

A moment later, two ravens landed on his forearm. One was much larger than the other and stared up at Loptr with an imperious mien to its beady-eyed gaze. The smaller of the two wiggled and bobbed, croaking quietly to Loptr.

“Go, little one. Ask my eldest daughter to confirm the rolls,” Loptr murmured, and the smaller raven took wing. Loptr turned his gaze to the bigger of the two ravens. “I know it is a favor and that you do not work for me, but I would appreciate the knowledge. If only to ease his mind.” The larger raven continued to stare at Loptr for several seconds before turning to glance at Casey.

They were only feet apart at the moment, and Casey could swear he saw the swirling light of stars and galaxies dancing in the large raven’s eyes. A moment later, the raven croaked twice and bobbed its head.

“Thank you. Tell him that I appreciate the favor and I might be causing a bit of trouble soon. But the good kind,” Loptr said before reaching back through the window and tossing the raven into the air.

A clap of wingbeats later and the room was silent once more, save for the hiss and pop of the fire.

“What was that all about?”

“Getting answers to some questions for you, Casey,” the redheaded man said with a genial smile as he turned back around for a moment. “You sure you don’t want a drink? I’d say that tale deserves one.”

“Sure, that sounds good,” Casey said with a sigh. Seeing the man with the ravens had been distracting enough that his anger had cooled once more, and its absence left him feeling sore, both of body and heart.

Loptr moved away from the window and towards a cupboard set into the corner, leaving the window open for now. A cool breeze that smelled of fresh leaves wafted through, and Casey felt it wrap around him gently, bringing a smile to his face.

“So you went down swinging at least. That’s more than many get,” Loptr said by way of making conversation while he worked. A clunk of glass on wood followed by a pop of a cork sounded from his turned back.

“Yeah, that is true.” Casey sighed and then laughed quietly. “I’m just glad I listened to the lieutenant. I’ve always carried a knife with me, but I figured that I couldn’t or shouldn’t while on duty. She insisted and it ended up saving those girls’ lives.”

“Very true. You are used to using one?”

“I used to use one for defense a lot. The gang kids and others who wanted to hurt me when I was a kid were far less willing to get cut than punched, so it defused a lot of problems.”

“Very true. A bared blade is a threat that one cannot ignore. Too bad you didn’t have your knife with you when you ran into that poncy, orange fool. Might have done some more permanent damage.” Loptr snickered again and turned about with a pair of polished, black horns like those of a bull in his hands. He strode over and offered one to Casey. “Still managed to bloody his lip, an achievement for someone in your situation!”

Casey stared in surprise at the polished horn in front of him. The interior was hollow, and it was now full of a golden liquid that smelled of honey and green apples. He accepted it from Loptr, and the other man raised his horn in a toast.

“To a worthy fight!” Loptr intoned, and Casey responded.

“A worthy fight.” As soon as Casey finished speaking, Loptr drank, so Casey did as well.

The contents of the drinking horn were sweet. The thick scent invaded his nostrils, then filled his throat as the drink filled him with warmth. The spark of anger in his chest shifted and became more controlled, but at the same time burned hotter in response to the heat of the drink.

“Ahh, mead is a glorious drink!” Loptr intoned as he finished his drink and winked down at the still seated Casey. “Always remember though: ‘don’t cling to your cup but drink your share, speak only useful words or be silent.’ At least that is how I believe it goes. Don’t consume too much; wits are hard enough to find. No need to lose them to a drinking horn.”

“Smart advice,” chuckled Casey, savoring the taste of the mead on his tongue. There was a faint hint of something metallic to the drink. A tang that lingered on his tongue, but the tartness of the apples muffled it somewhat.

“Oh, the old man is full of useful idioms. Comes with the territory, I guess. But, now that we have toasted, I have news for you!”

“News?”

“Aye! That large feather-duster you saw me talking with? She knew a bit of useful information that I hope will reassure you, Casey.” Loptr let the statement hang with a smirk on his face, and Casey gestured for the redheaded man to continue with some annoyance. “Your girls escaped just fine. All three will remember your sacrifice. Two will go on to become paramedics, while the black-haired one will join the police force. She’ll be one of the last trainees under your lieutenant before she retires. All three are thankful for your sacrifice.”

The words hit Casey like a cannonball to the chest.

When he had laid there shot, bleeding, and dying in the warehouse, Casey had not shed a single tear for it all. He’d hardened his heart to do what needed to be done.

Now, though, tears came.

“Thank god…” Casey sobbed, letting his head fall back against the back of the chair. He didn’t know how Loptr knew this information, or why he trusted the man so unreservedly. But he did.

“No, Casey Sullivan. Thank you,” Loptr said with feeling. Casey swiped the tears from his vision to look up at the man.

There was a faint glimmer of moisture in the man’s expressive green eyes. Loptr accepted the drinking horn back from Casey’s limp hand and turned to walk to the cabinet once more to put them away.

While he looked away, Loptr continued to speak after sniffing sharply.

“You made a difference for some, Casey. And since they could not, I will thank you on behalf of those girls’ parents. You gave them back hope that they had lost.”

“Thanks,” Casey croaked before continuing to furiously rub at his eyes.

The flapping of wings interrupted the tearful moment as the smaller raven returned. The bird flew in through the open window and glided in a circle around the room before landing nimbly on Loptr’s head, disturbing his neat hair.

“Cheeky bugger,” Loptr laughed as the little raven croaked along with him. “Did you get it?” The raven croaked again and then hopped down onto Loptr’s wrist when he offered it.

“What was he getting?”

“She, actually. And she was getting a bit more information from my eldest. I could have asked the other one, but I don’t like owing him any more favors and this one was easy enough,” Loptr replied while unbinding a rolled piece of parchment from the raven’s leg. Once it was free, he transferred the bird to his shoulder and unrolled the paper. “Oh! Did you know that you had such a hard grip on your knife that the paramedics had to peel your hand open when they bagged your body?”

Casey thought that was an odd thing to ask and shook his head.

“No… but it makes sense. You never drop your weapon while  there’s a threat. Sure, I’d taken care of Davis, but I didn’t know if someone else would show up to try to chase the girls.”

“Honorable intentions.” Loptr came back around and settled into his chair once more.

The raven on his shoulder hopped onto the chair back with a flick of its wings, before bouncing along and down the arm to peer over at Casey curiously. Each little hop reminded Casey of the songbirds he’d seen bouncing through the grass while chasing seeds or bugs.

“So, I need to come clean with you, Casey.” Loptr sighed, and Casey tensed in response. “It’s not anything bad, I promise.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Casey countered, and Loptr nodded slowly.

“First of all, while I didn’t lie to you, I didn’t give you the full truth earlier about my name,” Loptr began. He steepled his fingers as the raven covered the distance between Casey’s chair and Loptr in a single long hop to land on the arm of Casey’s. “Loptr is my name, but it is a very old one. I’ve got quite a few of them and many that do not apply anymore. Live long enough and you’ll have it happen, too.”

“Just spit it out.”

“Fine. Pushy sprog you are,” laughed Loptr, getting an echoing cackle from the raven. “Before we left your world, you would have known me as Loki. But, before you jump to conclusions! I’m not a trickster god anymore. I’ve got better things to do than mess with people’s heads all the time.”

“Just sometimes, Father,” came a feminine voice from the throat of the raven on Casey’s chair, making him jump.

“That is true, Daughter,” snickered Loptr-Loki before gesturing with one hand. “Call me whatever you wish. I still answer to Loptr, but only my family really recognizes the name anymore.”

“Okay…” Casey let the word sprawl out for several seconds before quirking his eyebrows.

“He’s not going to ask, Father. Just tell him,” insisted the raven, its beak only cracking barely open as it emitted the noises.

“Daughter! You didn’t need to spirit-ride the raven back to spy on me. I only needed the information I asked you for,” protested Loptr.

“You involved me by asking, so I am going to see what you have planned for the Sullivan. By rights, he should be going to Auntie or Grandfather.”

“Yes. Well, the Valkyrie did not claim him, so he is not part of their cycle. Something far darker snatched him up. A creature from an older time. You would remember it,” Loptr said firmly, and the raven turned its head to look up at Casey with one black eye that shone like a polished marble.

“That explains why you asked me… and why the others haven’t come to you to complain over the disposition of the Sullivan.”

“Why is it calling me that?” Casey asked, interrupting the conversation between man and bird.

“That is your name in the rolls: Casey the Sullivan. No living family, as you were sent to an orphanage. No spouse or family on your passing. You are the last of your line, so you are the Sullivan,” the raven replied imperiously.

“And how do you know this?” Casey demanded.

“Ah, Casey,” Loptr interjected, drawing his attention back to the redhead. “This raven is acting as a conduit for my eldest daughter. You would know her as Hel, a goddess who governs the dead.”

“Yes,” replied the raven in a slightly irritated tone.

“Ah, I apologize.” Casey cleared his throat awkwardly. “Nice to meet you, Hel. I am Casey Sullivan.”

“I know,” grumbled the raven in its female voice.

“He’s being polite, Hel,” gently reminded Loptr with amusement in his tone.

“Fine…” sighed the raven, and it turned to bob its head to Casey. “Well met, Casey the Sullivan. The Dark Eyes that Brave Battle.”

“What?” Casey asked, but the bird and her father were already on another subject and ignored the question.

“Make the offer, Father. I’ve reviewed his records. He will do well,” Hel urged through her bird-messenger.

“Oh, I know he will,” Loptr chuckled before returning his attention to Casey. “Okay, so you remember how I promised to take you home before, Casey?”

Casey nodded in understanding to the question, doing his best to not think about the fact the man in front of him was actually a god.

“I can’t. You died in that world, and thus your thread is no longer part of its tapestry. Snarled mess that it is,” Loptr sighed, his shoulders slumping. “The Nornir are still upset about that, but they’ll be allowed to put it to rights eventually. I hope.” Loptr blinked a few times before shaking his head. “Regardless, I can’t take you back. I promised you help, though, so I can take you somewhere else. The Nornir owe me a few favors, and even Hel can see you have unfinished business.”

The raven made a noise which he thought was a rather unladylike snort and Loptr sniggered.

“I just got done with one spin of the wheel where a greater power was meddling in my life,” Casey started to protest, but Loptr cut him off.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to meddle. Look, I know that the legends portray me as a god of tricksters, but I have honestly left that life behind. When the winds of fate changed and the Nornir got caught by surprise, we all had to shift our focus. I’m not complaining, because I was able to pull my head out and realize the destructive path I was walking.”

“Something our whole family is thankful for,” muttered the Hel-raven, getting a glare from Loptr.

“I have a feeling that I won’t have to meddle. You are going to be the biggest wrench in the works of this world just by existing with the amount of determination you have, lad.”

“What do you want me to do?” Casey asked, still feeling skeptical about the whole situation.

He’d read stories about the Norse gods, enough that he knew that Loki wasn’t one you could trust normally. But Loptr had been honest with him thus far.

And people can change, Casey thought.

“The tapestry that I can add your thread to is part of the new home my people have made for themselves,” Loptr explained slowly. “There, you can gather power, grow, and become more. You can rise to the point where, if you try hard enough, you can have your justice.”

The spark of anger in Casey’s chest flared sharply at that statement.

“You mean that, don’t you?” Casey asked, his voice low and ominous.

Both god and bird stared at him. Loptr’s eyes were full of pride and glee at what he saw, while the raven watched him with a guarded tilt to its head.

“Yes, I do. We learned from our previous mistake. The gods learned and are growing. We have to in order to overcome the threat to us all. I will warn you that where I can send you is not a safe place. It is very dangerous, actually. But the potential is there for the kind of power you are going to need to get another swing at the creature that wronged you and, even now, plays games with your homeworld,” Loptr explained, the amusement falling from his expression to leave a serious dedication behind. “To forge a sword, you must smelt ore, purify it, and shape it. To be hammered on the anvil of life is not something to take lightly, but—”

“You are giving me a choice,” Casey cut him off, and Loptr nodded, a savage grin splitting his bearded face. “A choice no one offered me before. A choice that would lead to a chance to make a difference and right a great wrong.”

“The gods will deal with that bacraut, eventually. At least we hope to,” Hel cut in, glancing between Loptr and Casey. “But there are many fronts to the war, and his is but one. We have to protect our people first.”

“Understandable. You cannot offer a hand to help properly if your house is on fire.” Casey shrugged off the explanation. It made some sense to him. One of the biggest problems in his home nation had been that so much was focused on helping outside the nation that it was rotting from the inside for want of care.

“It’s not going to be easy, Casey. I can promise you that I won’t interfere myself. But, because of the raw deal that landed you here, there is a bit of… credit that I can tap into so I can help you get started,” Loptr said after a moment. Casey turned his attention to the god in a man’s form in front of him.

“Credit?”

“Karma is a real thing. The universe wants balance, as much as it can get it. Your former ‘patron’ had intended to use the trials he put you through in order to give you power. I’m sure he would have couched it in terms of ‘doing you a favor,’ though,” Loptr explained rapidly, clearly getting excited. “It’s going to be a long road ahead of you—a long and difficult road. But since he didn’t make good on the balance, I can use part of it to move you to a new opportunity, and another part to give you a gift of power.”

“Power?” Casey asked again, his monosyllabic questions seeming to amuse both of the gods in the room.

“Yes, power. In this new place, you will be able to gather might from the environment and grow. It is a unique path to walk for each who strides it. But such is the path of life. That is why the Legacy left behind is unique as the one who finished their path,” the raven replied, bouncing from the arm of the chair and onto Casey’s knee, where it cocked its head to peer up at him.

“So, what kind of power would you like? I can give you almost anything, just in differing degrees. While I could let you be a shapeshifter like myself, you wouldn’t have quite the same degree of freedom of form as I do. No dragons, or even massive horses. But lions, tigers, and bears would work just fine,” suggested Loptr.

“Power over the dead is also possible. No rolling armies of unliving minions, at least not to start, but you would be able to always have a shield against enemies,” offered Hel via her raven puppet.

“Control over an element.”

“The ability to summon creatures to do your bidding.”

“The ability to dominate weak minds.”

“The speed of a racing cat.”

“The strength of a giant!”

Casey waived his hands for the two to stop. He sighed, staring down at the raven on his knee for a moment.

“I don’t want to control dead or living things. Free will is important, after all. I’d never want to take someone’s agency away.” The Hel raven puffed its chest-feathers up and, after a moment, nodded in understanding. Casey turned his attention to meet the carefully controlled gaze of Loptr. “And while I appreciate the ability to control elements or change forms, I’d get caught up in the ‘how and why’ too much. The strength of a giant is good, but I wouldn’t know how to apply it. That and I doubt most tools and weapons I’d use at my size can handle that kind of strength.”

“Fair points,” the two gods said in unison.

“You said it was a long and difficult road, right?” The two gods nodded, still observing him. “And I’ll have my own agency?”

“All I will do for you is set your feet upon the road. The strength to walk that road, and the Legacy you leave behind, is up to you to forge,” Loptr said firmly.

Casey took a breath and let it out slowly before shaking his head.

“I don’t need anything. I trust in my own strength. A man with a shovel and a bucketful of determination can move a mountain. It’s better to not second guess things and just start digging. Because the only person I trust is myself.”

The raven and the redheaded god shared a look.

“I’ll see what I can do to find you the proper tools to move your mountain, then,” Loptr said with a small laugh.

“Do not call—” protested the raven, but went silent at the gesture of the redheaded god.

“I don’t need a handout, Loptr,” Casey growled and pushed himself to his feet. “I appreciate the news you gave me about the girls. And the offer of a second chance. If I want to punch that thing so hard that its head disconnects from its body, I need to get started immediately.”

“Fair enough, Casey. When you wake, seek out the lightning-struck tree to find the tool.” Loptr raised his hand, and a small flare of fire, like the flame of a candle, appeared between his hands.

“You’re a tool,” Casey shot back at the god. However, Casey tempered the insult with a playful smirk, so the god just laughed, knowing it was bantering.

“You sound just like her! Oh, she’s going to love you. If she doesn’t murder you in your sleep,” Loptr cackled before he clapped his hands together and snuffed the flame out.

Casey started to protest, to demand who this ‘her’ was. But, as soon as the god, known as Loki to some and Loptr to his family, closed his hands together, Casey vanished.

Chapter 3

In between one moment and the next, protest still on his lips, Casey’s surroundings changed.Gone was the cozy little cottage with the wood

en walls and floor. Gone was the smirking redheaded god and his talking raven of a daughter. Gone, even, were the clothes he’d been wearing. In their place was garb entirely foreign to him.

Casey was wearing a long-sleeved tunic made of what felt like linen that was pitch black. The tunic was snugged at his waist by a wide belt looped through a metal ring at one end and tied in a firm knot, rather than with a buckle like he was used to. Underneath the tunic, he had a pair of sturdy pants—also made of linen—in a dark blue that tucked into knee-high leather boots that laced up the front and felt like they had a fur lining. A light cloak hung over his shoulders, held with a cloak-pin on the right, with the hood back. The cloak was a mottled brown and had a fur lining for warmth. Hanging from the belt, he had only a pouch over his right hip, also made of leather, and held closed with an antler clasp.

“The hell?” Casey growled, looking down at himself in irritation. All of his gear, the equipment he carried in his pockets and things like his steel-toe boots, even the spare lighter he always kept along with his pen-knife, were gone. What remained was an outfit that resembled something one might wear at a renaissance fair.

Peeking into the pouch, he found a bit of iron in the shape of a squashed horseshoe and a hunk of gray rock, both bundled together in a scrap of soft leather. Other than those two items and the clothes on his back, Casey had nothing and was alone.

“Not a trickster god anymore, my ass,” Casey grumbled and flipped the pouch shut. He had a vague idea what the metal and stone were for, but he didn’t have the first idea of how to start a fire with flint and steel, so they might as well be trash at the moment. “I’m starting to understand why his family hated him for so long.”

Continuing to grumble under his breath, Casey surveyed his surroundings. He took careful note of all he could, tucking important features away into memory as he had learned years ago. People could steal notebooks and paper, but he’d yet to meet someone who could steal your memories.

He was located on the top of a small, rocky knoll that had sparse tufts of long-stemmed grass growing along the edges of its bald crown. The slope was gentle, and it rolled down to his right into a forest of pine and birch trees. Occasionally, he could see a gnarled oak rising over the trees below him. Some miles in the distance, the trees thinned again. He thought he could see a rocky grassland that reminded him somewhat of pictures he’d seen of upper Scotland.

To Casey’s left, the hills rippled and surged upwards into foothills that rose into squat mountains and buttes ranging in either direction. Far above him, the sky was full of gray clouds that dimmed the sun’s light and made him glad for the cloak he now wore.

Not a single sign of life showed in the area, other than the wild animals that chirped and skittered in the forest behind him.

“Well, crap,” Casey muttered, setting his hands on his hips and turning in a slow circle. “I have got to remember to get better directions or information before accepting a job.”

He sighed before squaring his shoulders. Complaining wouldn’t help him right now. He needed to prioritize survival. The flint in his pouch had a somewhat sharp edge to it, so he could use that to cut things or scrape bark. He needed something to defend himself, clean water to drink, food to eat, and shelter.

Since Loptr hadn’t given him any of those, he had to get by on his own.

Not like that’s anything new, Casey thought with a snort. Maybe I shouldn’t have called him a tool. That’s right—he said he’d send me something to help me get by.

While Casey had said earlier that he didn’t want handouts, he wasn’t stupid. Loptr had insisted on sending him help and had warned him that the road he was to walk would be difficult. He would take whatever help the god decided to send his way. He wouldn’t beg for help, but he’d take that which was freely offered.

Turning again, Casey peered about, looking for the ‘lightning-struck’ tree that Loptr had mentioned. Nothing was visible from where he stood on the knoll, though. Several trees canted at odd angles, but none had the scorched or shattered look he’d expect of a tree in the wake of a lightning strike.

“Where the hell is—” Casey began to say when a flash above him drew his attention to the edge of a bluff some several hundred feet over him.

A gnarled tree clung to the edge of the cliff with obstinate tenacity and, as he watched, a fork of lightning arced down from the clouds even as the hair on his arms stood on end.

Casey had just long enough to realize that the lightning was acting oddly. It didn’t crackle or jag; it leaped straight for the tree like it was on a mission.

The bolt impacted, and the clap of thunder boomed out in a deafening shockwave, sending a small tumble of rocks rolling down the hill towards him.

Blinking the flash of light away from his eyes, Casey squinted upwards at the tree. He could see something stuck in the tree on the cliff-top now—something glowing brilliant red.

A small tendril of smoke rose from the gnarled tree where the bolt had touched it, though the tree looked to be relatively undamaged from its brush with the lightning.

Considering where the tree was and the sheer hundred feet of cliff that rose up to the edge of the mesa nearest to him, Casey sighed.

“Nothing’s ever going to be easy. I should get used to that.”

<><><>

It took him almost two hours to scramble up the loose scree and boulders that were piled around the base of the cliff, and then about ten minutes to find a winding goat-track that got him on top of the bluff.

Once there, he had a better view of his surroundings. He could see the forest rolling off into the distance and a sparkle of a river winding through it. Further back from the edge of the cliff was a small pond fed by a stream that ran through the clearing and then down into the rocks. There were a number of trees scattered around, some alive but most dead from exposure on the unforgiving surface of the mesa.

Thankful for the sturdy construction of his new boots, Casey caught his breath from the climb, then strode over to inspect the tree that he’d witnessed being struck by lightning.

It was a squat-bodied tree with short branches that thrust upwards covered with small clumps of white flowers. Casey saw a couple of fat bumble bees buzz between the flowers while he carefully approached. The tree was clinging to the edge of the cliff, and he didn’t want to dislodge the soil and go tumbling over the side of the mesa.

It had been hard to make out when he was looking up from below, but the object left behind by the lightning in the tree was at least no longer glowing. A leather-wrapped handle of dark metal protruded from the front of the trunk, facing out over the cliff.

“Of course it’s right there. No chance it’d be easy to get. I swear, if I fall to my death, then I’m going to find a way to get even with you for this bullshit, Loptr,” Casey growled and stepped up to the tree.

The knotted roots that made up the base of the ancient tree proved to be sturdy and sunk deep into the rock. Nothing shifted or moved as Casey crept up. Gripping the weathered branches, Casey swung out just enough to get a better look at the handle poking out of the tree.

It was clearly a blade of some kind from the look of it. Engraved in the dark metal of the hilt were runes and symbols that Casey didn’t recognize. They were quite angular in their form, even if he had no idea what they meant.

The tang of the blade ran through the handle and then curved forward at nearly ninety-degrees from the butt of the weapon to ensure it wouldn’t slip out of the user’s grip. Around the handle, the leather looked new and fresh, giving the object a well-cared-for look. The lightning-charred wood around the impact site pressed in close to the blade, holding it firmly at a slight angle.

“Well, guess I have no choice. Hope that whatever put you here didn’t jam you in there too tightly. Really don’t want to fall to my death tugging on something, no matter how pretty you look,” Casey muttered to the handle.

Carefully, Casey wrapped his right hand around the grip and, before he could question the wisdom of the move, tugged the blade free of the tree.

The weapon slid from the tree with surprising ease, nearly overbalancing Casey and sending him over the edge. While the wood had looked like it was sealed closed around the blade, instead it allowed the metal to slip free without an issue.

What emerged from the trunk of the tree was a weapon that looked like a knife that was determined to grow up to be a sword one day.

Blackened metal made up the blade, with the edge polished to a dull shine. Easily as long as Casey’s forearm, the weapon was more like a shortsword than a knife. The tip came to an angular point similar to the sheepsfoot-tip on the fighting knife he’d used to end Davis’ life only hours before. Rather than cutting back towards the spine of the weapon, the point was on the blade-edge.

The whole thing felt heavy in his hand. Heavy and deadly.

“Whoa. You really are a beautiful thing,” Casey muttered at the blade, blinking dumbly at the glittering steel in the cloud-dimmed afternoon light.

This was a hell of a tool to help Casey survive, and he had to wonder what sort of weapon this was. It reminded him of something, but his brain tickled away, unable to fully track the subject until something unexpected happened.

A voice spoke in his head and answered the question.

Thank you for the compliment. My form is that of a seax, currently.

Chapter 4

Casey nearly dropped the blade in his hand when he stumbled. He’d managed to throw himself away from the edge, avoiding a fall thanks only to his years of studying self defense and his finely tuned instincts.

That was hardly graceful, Casey the Sullivan.

“What the hell?” Casey spat, rolling carefully to sit up so he didn’t stab himself with the blade in his hand. “You can talk?”

Of course I can talk. I would be a worthless guide for you if I could not communicate. This world is far different from your home, and Loptr believed you could use someone to help you navigate it.

Casey blinked and stared down at the dark iron of the blade in his hand.

He blinked again.

It was on his third blink that he managed to get his brain in gear. He coughed slightly.

“It appears I have a bit of apologizing to do to Loptr then…”

Hardly. He is more than a bit of a bonehead. I can tell he did not properly explain the situation to you, came the reply from the weapon.

Now that Casey was calmer and able to focus more, the voice in his mind was recognizably female in its timbre. It had a husky, almost smoky, tinge to the tone as it spoke. His current situation reminded him of a line from a book he’d read once, about not trusting things that don’t have a brain to think with or something.

Not a very polite comparison. But I will agree on the general principle. There are exceptions for every rule, though, Casey the Sullivan.

“You can just call me Casey,” he said before asking another question. “Did you just read my mind?”

I did, but that is purely because you are holding me right now. As long as I am within close proximity, I can communicate with you like this. But, I cannot pick up your thoughts unless we are touching, and I give my word to not violate the sanctity of your mind. I will only read thoughts directed at me. Those thoughts earlier were just a bit too… loud to ignore. I will do as you ask though, Casey. You may call me Maude.

“Right! Maude… got it,” Casey mumbled, glancing around again to survey his surroundings. The butte was still as bare of animal life as it had been moments before. He breathed a sigh of relief and pushed himself to his feet. A moment to dust off his pants from the less-than-dignified sprawl he’d thrown himself into, and he was ready. “Need to get moving,” Casey muttered while considering what to do next.

A good idea. Sitting in one place wastes daylight, and you have much to do to be able to survive. Maude’s voice was amused.

“I have a question for you that is probably rude, Maude.” Casey walked back closer to the edge where the stumpy tree grew, taking another look over the vista to try to figure out where to go next.

Rude questions arise, Casey. They are best handled as diplomatically as possible.

“What are you? I mean, I know that you said you are a seax and now that you mentioned the word, I know that is a kind of fighting knife or shortsword. But those kinds of things don’t talk.”

I am… well, I cannot say with certainty that I am unique. That would be hubris beyond measure. I will say that I am not just a seax. This is one of my forms, and currently the most comfortable for me. I do not know you well enough to spill my life story to you yet. Suffice to say, I am both a blade and something far more. You have met my father. That alone should let you know that things are complicated, and not as they seem.

“Loptr was your father, right? That makes Hel…” Casey’s eyes widened at the realization.

My older half-sister, yes.

“That’s kind of cool, actually.”

Quite. Hel’s realm is very cold.

“Was that a joke?”

I am the daughter of a trickster god, former though he may be.

“We should work on your material then, being the straight-man—er, woman, is a boring role. I’m sure you can do better.” Casey snorted, hefting Maude’s seax-body in his hand. “Too bad they didn’t bother to send a sheath with you. I need both hands to climb back down from here.”

Slide me into your belt. I will not cut you or your clothing. I only cut what I choose to. Just remember that I cannot hear your thoughts unless I touch bare skin, so you will need to speak verbally to me.

“Handy.” Casey did as directed and tucked the wide-bladed knife into his belt on his left hip. He could feel the cool metal pressing against him through his clothes, but the blade made no cuts in them or his belt.

Casey surveyed the landscape once more, debating where to go.

Find the source of that river. I recognize this land, and the river should lead back to a waterfall with a cave that will provide you shelter while we cover the basics. Also, I need to teach you how to use the flint and steel, so you don’t freeze. I would recommend heading that way now to ensure you have time to get wood and build a fire. You should find some edible greens and berries along the way to tide you over, Maude said to him while he examined the vista.

“Good a plan as any,” Casey sighed and noted the thin ribbon of the river that he could see through the trees below. With his next goal in mind, Casey began to slide his way carefully down the hillside.

True to her word, Maude did not cut him or any of his clothes, despite the fact her blade was in direct contact with both during the trip down. Maude was silent as he moved, allowing Casey to navigate without distractions. Once he was back at the bottom of the bluff on the little, bald knoll where he had first appeared, she spoke into his mind once more.

Casey, there is something I need to make abundantly clear to you.

“Sure. Go for it, Maude.” Casey adjusted the handle of the seax slightly before starting down the knoll and into the trees. The undergrowth was not thick, but it was close enough that he had to step carefully to keep from snagging his cloak on bushes and branches. Navigating with that bit of clothing was not something he was used to.

While I inhabit the form of a weapon and allow you to touch me, I have not consented for you to wield me. Maude’s voice in his mind took on a slightly reserved tone as she spoke. I do not know you well enough for such a thing. In fact, I have not consented for any to wield me yet. Not even my family.

The statement hung in his mind while Casey walked, considering what she had said.

It makes sense, he thought. I mean, if I’m not going completely batty, then she actually is the weapon. I don’t know how she would refuse me the right to use her, but it also seems rather rude to do so without her acceptance.

He considered that for a moment, and the idea of ‘using’ Maude’s body without her permission immediately turned his stomach. Sure, she was a knife, but the brief conversation he’d had with her had already shifted the beautiful blade from an object to a person.

Just not a person with arms and legs.

“Okay. I can accept that, Maude. It wouldn’t be right to take you for granted,” Casey said after a long moment of thought. “You don’t know me from any other random person on the street, so it would make sense that it will take time before you trust me.”

You are surprisingly understanding regarding this situation, Casey.

“It’s just right,” he replied, ducking under a pine branch dripping with hanging moss.

Wait, stop and collect that moss. And some of the loose birch bark that you can peel from the trees without harming them. You will need them for your efforts with the fire later, Maude interjected.

Casey did as she directed, carefully pulling the loose strands of dry moss from the tree and balling it up before tucking it into his hip pouch. He did the same with some scraps of birch bark as he walked. Soon he had several pieces and four balls of the moss in his pouch.

Many in your position would be upset. You were left here without a means to defend yourself, and the first weapon you find refuses to be used as such, Maude said, returning to their previous conversation. It would only be understandable for you to be upset.

“But you told me that you don’t want me to.” Casey could see the river ahead through the trees. He’d been able to hear it for some time as it rushed past loose boulders in the dim forest.

Many would not care.

“I’m not many people, Maude. It’s fine.” Casey patted the handle of the intelligent blade in his belt lightly and received in turn the sense of a smile in his mind.

They followed the river back upstream, with Maude telling Casey to stop and collect berries from a couple of low bushes or explaining which of the mushrooms that grew on logs were safe for him to collect to eat later. He also lucked into a small patch of wild carrots. Casey collected several of them and washed them in the stream before placing them inside his pouch as well.

These are not the meals of a warrior, but they will give you enough strength for now, Maude said as they continued through the trees. You will need meat, but that will take some doing to get.

“We’ll figure it out. Do you know if there are any towns nearby?”

Some, but they are a few days’ travel. Loptr set you down somewhere remote to give me time to coach you. The road you walk on will be hard. But, if you can rise to meet the challenges? They will shape you into something mighty, Casey.

Casey let the silence lapse between them while he walked. He’d broken off a branch from a long-dead tree to use as a walking stick, and the length of wood helped him keep his balance on the uneven ground by the river while he thought over his situation.

Killed in the line of duty. Met with something like a god that admitted to being the cause of my life’s troubles. Punched that one in the face and got tossed into the spiritual equivalent of a garbage disposal. Met another god who played some word games and offered me a chance to get revenge on the first.

Loptr spoke honestly with me when I pressed him, but I feel like there is a lot he didn’t tell me. He said he wasn’t a trickster god anymore, but I feel like it’s still a hobby of his.

Casey used his walking stick to vault over a small rivulet of water that fed into the larger river and continued to think.

Now I’m in another world where I’m supposed to have the potential to grow in power and I have a guide, at least. Maude is right that it would have been nice to have a weapon to begin with, but having someone to keep me from making an ass of myself might be worth more in the long run. Hard roads are right, but I can handle this. I just have to trust yet another complete stranger. Another complete stranger and the fact I’m not losing my mind so much I’m pretending that a knife is talking to me.

The waterfall is right ahead, Casey. You should approach with caution, as the stones around the pool will be slick, and we do not know if something else has taken up residence in the cave since I was last here. Maude’s thought-speech brought him out of his pondering, and Casey looked ahead.

It was hard to see through the dim light that crept through the clouds, then past the tree cover. But he could see it brightening up ahead of him. Light glinted on rippling water, and he could hear the distant roar of a waterfall as well, finally loud enough to be heard over the rushing of the river to his right.

“How long has it been since you were here last?”

Years. The easiest way to the cave is to follow the western bank around, as there is a small ledge that will let you get around the falls without getting wet. It is a small enough walkway that I doubt wildlife will have made a den inside the cave, but assuming no danger is a good way to end up hurt.

“Good point. Well, let’s go check it out, then,” Casey muttered, and he took a bracing breath before picking up his pace, keeping an eye out for any signs of predators that might be stalking the area.

Chapter 5

Arriving at the lake, Casey studied it from the treeline carefully. The mixture of pine, fir, and birch came nearly to the edge of the lake. Stands of cattails girded either shore, their brown heads bobbing in the slight breeze and their stalks swayed in the steady current that flowed away from the waterfall.

The waterfall itself crashed into the lake, a plume of misty water that fell almost twenty feet after launching itself from a wall of granite that loomed above him.

“Are you sure that the cave is going to be a good idea? That much water and mist is going to make everything wet…”

It might be cool if you don’t get a fire going. But the cave is deep enough that you should be dry. Might not be the most comfortable shelter to sleep in, but it will work. Trust me.

“Hypothermia is a hell of a thing to trust someone over.”

If Loptr wanted to kill you, then he would have just simply killed you. He wouldn’t—

“Wouldn’t what? Come up with some elaborate scheme for nothing more than the overblown joy of seeing me fumble and fail at something?” Casey asked pointedly as he picked his way along the shoreline. He had to push past several bushes and short trees growing in the rocky ground. Silence ensued between the two of them for several minutes before Maude finally spoke.

I do not believe Loptr would do such a thing. He has an honest interest in your success, Maude finally said to him, and Casey got the impression of a thoughtful frown. Also, he would not have sent me if that were the case.

“Fair point,” Casey grunted, stopping to untangle his cloak from a briar plant that had caught it.

They remained silent until he’d made his way around the western bank, as Maude had advised him. When he came closer, the waterfall drowned out anything else his hearing might have been able to detect beneath the rumble of falling water. He persevered and eventually found the trail she had mentioned.

It was a lip of rock that protruded from the cliff face and was barely a foot wide. The trail rose at an angle up the cliff until it wound into a cleft in the rock to one side of the waterfall, about six feet above the surface. The cave mouth wasn’t directly behind the falling water. Instead, it was off to one side and shielded from the direct spray. It just looked like a pain to get up to.

“Okay, you were right. The cave looks like it should be fine…” Casey muttered and climbed carefully onto the small ledge.

Provided you don’t break your neck getting up there, that is, Maude replied with a wicked amusement in her tone. Casey did not deign to reply to that, instead focusing on his balance as he moved.

The climb up wasn’t that bad. While the path was narrow and slick from the small amount of spray that made it up onto it from the waterfall, Casey’s boots gripped the stone well, and he was able to lean back into the wall to help balance himself using his walking stick as a prop. The ledge was mostly bare, save for a small handful of pebbles and flat stones that scattered as he shuffled through them.

Casey reached the narrow mouth of the cave and peered inside. It was dark and difficult to discern details because of the overcast sky, but he could see well enough to confirm the cave was empty of any other inhabitants. Something he relayed verbally to Maude, unsure of the limits of her vision.

Maude’s cave was narrow, only about four feet across and maybe fifteen deep with a solid ceiling of a flat plate of granite supported by several other plates that made up the walls. The floor was crooked, primarily just another plane of granite and dirt, and it all sloped down towards the mouth of the cave.

Okay, you will want to collect a whole mound of dry wood and get it stored in the cave. Make sure to get only dry branches no bigger than your wrist, and do not overload yourself, Maude advised, and Casey had the brief thought of using the talkative blade to cut the firewood. He quickly shoved the thought aside, lest Maude overhear it and give him hell for it. Thankfully, she did not show any sign of having detected that idea, instead continuing in a different vein. You will want to keep the fire small and as smokeless as possible. It won’t take too much to warm the cave. If you build up a big fire, it is going to turn this area into a beacon for anything nearby. Not to mention fires in caves can have adverse effects.

“Like what?”

Heating the rock overhead can cause stress fractures. The waterfall will help keep the stone at an even temperature, but we just need to make sure that we don’t heat one point too much.

“You know an awful lot about this kind of thing,” Casey muttered, unpinning his cloak and setting it to one side in the cave.

The fur-lined woolen sheet would serve nicely as a blanket, but it was just getting in his way right now. After a moment of thought, he also left his walking stick in the cave.

I have had the opportunity to observe a fair bit of the world and people’s actions. My parents did not shelter me away from the world, but I normally could only observe at a distance. Also, my aunts and uncles have taken it in turns to teach me. Some of them because they cared, others because they pitied me.

The silence descended once more as Casey made it to the ground and began casting about in the brush for wood.

While he searched for firewood, Casey also collected more of the dangling moss from the trees when he found it. While he worked, he thought about his situation.

You went from getting shot in the back by your shitbag partner in the middle of a rescue attempt, to scrounging for firewood in what feels like a forest in Scotland with an intelligent knife on your hip. Let it never be said you lead a boring life, Sullivan, he thought while snapping branches off an old, fallen tree and tossing them at the base of the cliff where he would bundle and take them up later. What’s next? Gonna have some watery tart in the pond over there hand me a sword and declare me king?

A brief splash in the water made Casey glance towards the lake warily, but nothing more happened.

“Must be a fish.”

Or a fossegrim, but you would hear something different if it was that. If you hear an instrument playing or singing, be wary. You can reason with a fossegrim if they are happy, but don’t interrupt them in their performance. A nixie is not as easy to pacify without violence, Maude said suddenly, and Casey froze.

“You are telling me there are monsters out of folklore in this forest?”

And much more. Part of why I wanted you to camp in the cave—as long as a troll hadn’t taken up residence there. Far more secure.

“And if a troll had taken up residence?” Casey asked warily, glancing around once more, suddenly feeling very exposed as he stood at the base of a large pine tree that was as big around as he was.

You would have had to run quite quickly. Trolls are a quarry that is beyond you at the moment, Casey. Though I doubt that it will remain that way for long. Maude was trying to be reassuring, he could tell from her tone, but Casey was not reassured.

Weapon. I need some kind of weapon. Maude refuses to let me use her, so I need something… a spear or a club. I need some sort of tool to shape a spear, so a club will do for now. I’ll keep an eye out for something I can turn into a spear.

It took Casey the better part of an hour to gather enough firewood together to satisfy Maude.

Hauling it up to the cave was another feat that took time, but he used his belt to secure the bundle of wood together into a more manageable stack once he had set Maude safely in the cave.

The bundles of firewood, once he’d carried them up into the cave, took up a quarter of the space. He took the time to arrange them further back from the entrance at Maude’s insistence so that they would stay as dry as possible.

While searching for firewood, he’d found a knobbly piece of wood on the bank of the lake that came to a knot about the size of his fist and was as long as his arm. Casey had taken to carrying that with him as a club to defend himself.

Finding the flattest area he could on the angled floor, which was a spot right up against the wall of the cave, Casey pulled out his bundles of moss and pine needles he’d collected to use as tinder, and broke up a bunch of twigs to have everything ready.

“Okay, Maude. How the heck am I supposed to get a fire going?” Casey kneeled on the hard stone in front of the bundle of gray-green moss and pine needles, studying the bit of metal and flake of stone from his pouch.

Striking sparks with a flint and steel can be challenging at first. You will need to practice to get the hang of it. Hold the flint in your left and the steel in your right with the ‘horns’ in your palm.

“Horns?”

The steel is shaped like a squashed horseshoe, see? The two points are known as the ‘horns.’ You want to use the back of the steel, the long and flat part, to strike the stone at an angle. It will scrape off some bits of metal and you will see sparks fly. The challenge is in guiding them into the moss tinder you have prepared. It can be difficult to catch, as the tinder is not fully dry, but it is the best option right now. Make sure you always collect it when you see it. You should always try to have several days’ supply on hand. You should also collect any pine resin you find for the same reason, Maude lectured him. Casey stared down at the stone and bit of metal in his hands.

Okay, guess I just give it a try, then? he thought and shifted his grip around on the steel before tentatively striking the stone. It took a dozen tries to find the right angle to strike them together to send sparks dancing. None of them landed on the bundle of tinder, of course.

“Okay, you got this,” Casey muttered to himself. Maude said nothing as he bent over the pile of debris and struck the two objects together again. More sparks, but again, none caught.

Casey repeated the action, harder this time, but ended up accidentally smacking the tinder pile with the steel and sending it scattering.

Swearing, Casey reassembled the bundle and went back to work.

Ten minutes later, he was red in the face and growling to himself in irritation, and no closer to actually getting the fire burning. Several sparks had landed on the tinder and glowed briefly, but they went out before he could follow Maude’s instructions to blow on them.

She’d recommended he bundle up the moss and hold it in his hand with the flint to catch more of the sparks. Still, Casey couldn’t quite get the hang of how to hold the whole thing.

“God damn it. Couldn’t Loptr have left me with some matches or the damn lighter I had in my pocket to make this a bit easier?” Casey swore as he scattered the tinder pile once more.

Nothing of your old life actually came with you in your death. Maude’s voice was full of exasperation. If you wore your old clothes when you talked to Loptr, then it was because your spirit recognized them as familiar. You are not a spirit anymore and thus must find, buy, make, or steal clothes and tools like any other mortal. The clothes, flint, and steel were the last gift they could give you to get by. Mother wanted to leave you an eating knife, but that would have cost you your boots.

Casey started to complain but stopped himself, swallowing the annoyance and sighing.

“Sorry, Maude. This is just… a lot to take in. Quite a lot has happened today and very little seems to be going right. Loptr told me I would have the potential to grow to great heights here, but I’m struggling to light a damn fire.”

Frustration is understandable. It might be easier to show you how. Here, let me do it this time.

Casey was about to voice a protest when he felt something shift in his belt. The familiar weight of Maude’s blade against his side was gone.

A pair of tanned arms reached into his vision and took the flint and steel from his hands. They moved quickly to deftly strike the two together, and a cloud of sparks fell directly onto the tinder, sending embers glowing all through the fibrous strands of moss. All of this occurred before he could even react.

“Blow on the embers, Casey,” a woman’s voice spoke into his left ear, and Casey jumped, whirling to stare.

A woman stood nearly on top of him. She had long, black hair that fell over one shoulder in a loose braid held by an iron hairpiece. Piercing, sky-blue eyes stared out under thin brows in a slender face.

She was dressed in an outfit that looked like someone had used a long strip of leather to approximate a belly-shirt and a pair of workout shorts. The strip wrapped around her body, supporting and compressing her full bust before dropping to wrap her hips and down one leg like a set of shorts but left the other leg exposed. The outfit left her long legs bare and unimpeded, as well as her muscled stomach. She wore no shoes either, for that matter. It was hard to see for sure at the angle he was at, but the dark-brown leather wrap she wore appeared to be the only clothing she had, no underwear or footwear at all. Muscles flexed in her arms and legs as she set the flint and steel down on the ground and gestured to the bundle of moss.

“Casey, blow on the embers,” the woman repeated, shooting him an irritated look. “I can’t maintain this form for long. You have to do the rest!”

A moment later her skin began to darken, and within another two seconds it had turned the same blackened color as the blade of Maude’s seax form before she abruptly shifted inwards and collapsed into a much smaller form. Her body turned into the dark iron of the knife, while the leather wrap she’d been wearing turned into the leather binding the hilt. The weapon clattered to the stone a moment later.

“Maude?”

Yes, Casey. Hurry up and get your fire going. I won’t be able to resume my other form for a few days now. Maude’s voice was tired, and he recognized the same husky tone that she had used when she stood before him.

Blinking a few times, Casey shook off the confusion and turned back to the still smoldering bundle of moss. Bending in close, he began to blow into it. A moment later, a small lick of flame rose up from the smoking ball.

Adding some twigs to it, Casey kept blowing while he angled his head to look back to where the seax lay on the stone nearby, wondering about what he’d just seen.

Chapter 6

Once the fire was crackling merrily, Maude guided Casey to lay the larger branches so that only the ends were in the flames in a half-star pattern. She’d advised him that this would allow for better control over the fire and keep it from growing too large too quickly.

Casey had a moment of panicked scrambling when the heat and the smoke made several small animals scurry out of the cave in fear. None were bigger than his hand, and all of them were some kind of mouse or rat. It was just the sudden movement that startled him.

“So,” Casey said once the fire was burning steadily. He’d experimented a few times and—while he couldn’t get as good of a burst of sparks from the flint and steel as Maude—he had gotten better in his attempts and was feeling more confident now. “What’s next on the list?”

Lay out the moss that you got for tinder to let it dry. But be watchful for any bouncing sparks that might catch it aflame. The old man’s beard makes for wonderful tinder when it is properly dried. Remember to collect any pine resin you find as well and simply bundle it into the center of a knot of the beard, Maude replied. Casey had slipped the seax back into his belt once the fire could look after itself for a few moments and stared into the fire thoughtfully.

“Okay, that is fair. But I was more asking what else I need along the lines of basic survival.”

You have shelter. You have food. There is water right outside your door that is clean, and you have warm clothing. What more could you want at the moment? Maude’s voice was tired and sounded irritated, a tone that Casey was familiar with growing up. Considering for a moment, he pushed aside his own annoyance at her tone, reminding himself that not everyone had his ‘work until you collapse’ mindset.

“Information is always important, Maude. And I have next to none of it. You mentioned predators that I have no means of defending myself against, and that worries me. I have no idea what to expect of this world or the steps needed to get stronger in it. Heck, you mentioned that I have water, but don’t I need to boil it first for safety?”

No, the water of this spring is pure. There is an undine in the lake that I can detect, and her presence purifies the water. She will not harass you unless you pollute her lake intentionally.

There were several beats of silence after that. Casey watched the fire for several seconds, adjusting one log that was burning a little too quickly.

The type of fire that Maude had taught him to make didn’t cast a lot of light, but it did put out a decent amount of heat, and he imagined he could balance a pot on the branches easily enough if he needed to cook. He was still fighting his own irritation at this odd guide of his. He managed to keep that feeling at bay by reminding himself that he both needed the help, and that Maude had said helping him would tire her.

Tired people tend to get snappy. I know I do.

You are right, of course. You need information to make decisions after all. I apologize, Casey.

“No need to apologize. You sound tired. Do you need to sleep? How does a blade recover?” Casey asked, the curiosity quashing his irritation for the moment.

I will recover in time. I do not sleep as a mortal would, and you are unable to help me recover any quicker. Just forgive my shortness for a while, and that will be enough. You should roast your mushrooms over the fire. They will taste better cooked than raw. That will give you something to do while we talk.

“Gotcha. I can do that. So… plans?” Casey cast about through his bundles of wood and found a longer stick that came to a more slender, broken point.

Pulling the mushrooms from his pouch, he grimaced and shook his head before checking the fire to ensure it was still burning. That done, he headed out of the cave to wash the fungi first.

“You are sure these are safe?” he asked while edging out the entrance of the cave.

Yes. They are safe for you to eat. No evil intent lingers in the mushrooms.

“You say that, but I was taught to always mistrust mushrooms. Bizarre little things that they are.”

It is wise to mistrust what you do not understand, but I have learned which are safe to consume and which are not. Trust me.

“That is easier said than done, Maude. Not saying that you aren’t trustworthy, but well… Loptr told you my story, I assume?”

Loptr did not. Only that you had a similar mindset to myself, and that you refused ‘handouts’ or the like.

Sighing, Casey considered for a moment, thinking over the events of the last half-day.

He had trusted his former partner, at least somewhat, and that had gotten him shot in the back. He hadn’t trusted the strange man in the orange suit, and that had gotten him thrown through a window, but he still thought that had been a good call. Loptr and Hel, though, had somehow triggered his ‘trust’ instincts, and they hadn’t led him wrong or lied to him, much.

Maude, however, had been up front with him and given him solid advice so far.

Much like her father and sister…

With another sigh, this time of resignation, Casey began to fill Maude in about his encounter with the orange-suited monster and how the creature had engineered his early life to test and abuse him. He intentionally avoided details of his life, simply mentioning that it was bad and he’d had to find his own way. And that it had all been part of that monster’s ‘plan.’

Winding down his tale with when he’d met Loptr and Hel, Casey carefully climbed down the short cliff and began washing his mushroom dinner in the water at the edge of the lake. He didn’t have as much hesitation talking about them, since they were apparently Maude’s family.

While he talked and rinsed the large mushrooms he’d found, Casey kept careful watch on the lake surface. He didn’t want to offend this… undine or whatever it was that Maude had said lived in the lake. He assumed that dirt wouldn’t be considered tainting the lake, and Maude hadn’t warned him to stop. Several times, though, he thought he saw movement in the water towards the center of the lake. He had an idea that he decided to go with.

After taking a good drink of the cool, clean water, Casey collected his mushrooms while his tale neared its end. Casey left the largest one on a flat rock that stuck up out of the water maybe a foot from the shore. Bowing towards the center of the lake, he headed up the cliff with the small armful of mushrooms.

A quiet splash while Casey’s back was turned made him spin about to find the mushroom was gone.

That was smart, Casey. I didn’t even have to coach you to leave an offering to the undine. Maude’s voice was full of pride, and he felt a slight blush crawl across his cheeks before he ruthlessly suppressed it.

“Just made sense. I was making use of her lake. Wasn’t sure if I should leave it on the bank or just chuck it into the water. Then I saw that rock,” he said while edging up the narrow track to his cave.

The rock was the perfect choice. With spirits like an undine, it is polite to let them choose if they will accept an offering. You wouldn’t like it if a stranger walked past your house and chucked a corn dog through your window, would you?

The mental image that Maude had painted made Casey burst into laughter and nearly drop his collection of fungus. He was saved by reaching his cave and having more space to stand.

“That is entirely too accurate. Thank you for that, Maude.”

Any time, Casey. Now, please eat. You will need your strength, and there is less than half of the daylight left to plan in.

Settling by the fire, Casey adjusted the branches once more to ensure they stayed burning. Then he impaled the first mushroom on his stick and began to roast it while Maude continued.

You will need more supplies. That much should be obvious to you. A stick as a club will not serve you well as a weapon here, but it will do for now. More importantly, we need you to be eating proper warrior’s food if we are to build you up.

“Are you calling me skinny?” Casey demanded, annoyed. He knew that he was on the slender side, but he was proud of the lack of excess weight he carried, unlike many officers in his precinct had.

Yes. You are slender, and that is a good starting point, but you will need to build more strength. Your weight isn’t the only issue, though. How well do you know how to fight with a sword?

Casey’s irritation abruptly fled. He sighed, pulling the mushroom away from the heat, and tested it. The edges had crisped, but it was warm through and felt tender, so he ate it. The mushroom had a soft, almost creamy, mouthfeel except for the crisp edges, and absolutely no flavor. It felt somewhat like eating warm snow.

As I thought. I can teach you, but we will need time and supplies. It will be best if we avoid staying in town at first, as the politics of this world can be volatile. Plus, traveling will allow you to experience a wider variety of the local culture and learn quicker.

“What about getting stronger?”

The goal currently is to find a natural treasure of some sort. And before you ask, I will explain what that is in a moment.

Casey huffed slightly in irritation at how she’d cut off his demand for clarification. He got the vague sensation of a tired smile from Maude while he impaled another mushroom on his stick and set it to cooking over the fire.

We will then take that treasure into the nearest town and barter for supplies and information. Once we know the lay of the land, we can travel further and see if we can find a clan for you to join. The clan will have the means to help you grow, as Loptr mentioned.

“What are these ‘means’ you are referencing?”

Legacies. The seeds of potential left behind by those who have ascended to the heavens to join the gods in their great war, Maude explained calmly. I thought you wanted to know about the natural treasures?

“I do, but you can’t leave bait out like that and not expect me to nibble at it,” Casey groused and again got the mental image of a smirk from Maude.

That is fair. You will have to work hard, but I don’t think that will be a problem. The clans zealously guard the Legacies in their possession, which are considered one of their greatest treasures. But those who work hard and contribute to the clan can gain access. From there, you will grow far beyond this mortal shell.

“So find treasure, trade, and travel, then find a clan that can help me?” Casey asked and got the mental image of a nod from Maude. “Sounds simple enough.”

The best plans are simple, but remember that plans rarely survive after the first clash, Maude reminded him. Casey snorted in amusement.

“Don’t I know that. So, what about this treasure?”

Maude filled him in on what a ‘natural treasure’ was and what to expect about them while he ate the rest of his mushrooms.

He learned that there were a number of plants, animals, and other mysterious objects that appeared in this world, either at the will of the gods or by pure chance. As these relics appeared without pattern or reason that man could discern, and were of some kind of natural origin rather than made by mortal hands, these were termed ‘natural treasures.’

Everything from mystical plants with healing properties to animals with hides as resistant to damage as iron.

They weren’t common, but could be found if one looked hard enough and in the right places. Maude also had the benefit of extremely fine senses, which was how she had detected the undine in the lake.

You should search nearby for any more food. There were berries further along the lake shore that you can collect, and more mushrooms would be helpful. Just circle out and back to the cave to keep an eye on your fire, Maude advised him once Casey had finished with his questions and lapsed into silence.

Casey stared into the fire as the seconds ticked by. He had something to ask of Maude, but he knew it was rude.

Well, she did say that rude questions are best handled diplomatically as possible, Casey thought with a sigh before he spoke.

“Maude, I have a request to make of you. I know that it is rude to ask, but I have a need.”

Ask. Maude’s tone was clipped and irritated now. The tiredness had faded from her ‘voice’ while he ate, but now that tiredness had been replaced with restrained anger.

“I would like to ask for your help in fashioning a better weapon than the club. You are right, it isn’t a suitable weapon for my situation. I know that you won’t permit me to wield you, and I respect that. So instead, I am just asking if you will help me make a spear. I can harden the head in the fire, and it will be at least something to defend myself with,” Casey asked quickly, hoping he could lay out the request fast enough to keep her from getting angry at him. He knew he could probably burn a tip onto a spear with the fire, but that would require a lot more work and would likely take a good chunk of the day right now.

Maude was silent for several seconds and Casey was worried he’d offended the woman-weapon, but she broke the silence after only another three heartbeats.

You are asking if I will allow you to use me to sharpen a stick? The tone of her voice was flat, but no anger came through and Casey pushed on.

“I am asking my companion if she will help me craft a spear to defend myself with in any way she is comfortable. If that includes allowing me to use your blade, I would be happy. If that is just advising me on how to do it with the fire or the tools I have at hand, I will accept that as well. I’m not going to try to make you do anything you don’t want to, or guilt you into anything. I intend to ask politely. If you say ‘no,’ then I will try to muddle my way through.”

Fine. I will help you with this. Find the longest, straightest stick you have with the fewest knots along its length, Maude said at last, a note of confusion in her voice.

Casey took only a minute or two to go through his collection of wood and ended up settling on his walking stick. It was the longest and straightest piece of wood, and the only knot was at the base where he’d been pressing it to the ground.

I will allow you to use me to sharpen the tip, Casey. It would be wrong to leave you without some means to defend yourself. Once you are done, hold the tip well above the rising flame. You aren’t trying to burn it, just harden it with the heat of the fire. Once the wood is dull and dry, you are done. Maude said after another moment of consideration. Casey did as she suggested and carefully drew the long fighting knife out of his belt.

The leather wrap felt warm in his hand, and he could feel the strength of the dark steel beneath the soft leather. It took a few tries until Casey had his grip set properly, then he pressed the edge of the knife against the wood. The blade cut through the hard wood of the staff’s top with surprising ease, peeling a long slice of wood free.

“Damn! You are sharp!” Casey breathed, inspecting the cut. He estimated it would only take another few cuts to shape the tip of his spear.

Thank you. There was pride in Maude’s voice at his compliment, and he smiled slightly. He imagined the woman he’d only seen for a moment earlier, but a faint blush gracing her tanned cheeks. I am not blushing!

Maude’s quick response reminded him that she could, and would, read his thoughts if he directed them at her while he was touching the weapon. He did his best to force away the memory of the raven-haired woman in her tight leather tunic. A brief, throaty laugh rolled through his mind, and Casey bent to his work.

It only took four more swipes with the heavy blade to shape the end of the staff into a sharp tip. Setting the wood aside, Casey inspected the blade. There were no scuffs or nicks in the metal, and it still shone darkly in the dancing light of the fire and the wan, cloudy light coming in from the entrance of the cave.

It would take far more than cutting a bit of wood to damage my edge, Casey. Maude’s voice had a note of mocking irritation in it, but he pushed it aside.

“You assisted me as I asked, and the least I could do is ensure you were not damaged,” Casey murmured. He gathered the edge of his cloak and used the fur lining to carefully burnish the blade on both sides, before setting the seax in his lap while taking up his primitive spear to harden it in the fire.

Maude remained silent while he worked the tip back and forth in the fire.

<><><>

Casey collected more mushrooms and berries that afternoon, always keeping a wary eye on his surroundings while he was outside of the cave.

Every time he stopped by the lake to have a drink, he left something behind for the undine. Casey’s offerings were claimed as soon as he turned away from the water. He never caught sight of what was taking them. Whatever it was, it appeared to really enjoy the blueberries he had found further from the water’s edge.

Dinner was more mushrooms and the carrots he’d found earlier, roasted on a flat piece of slate he’d brought up to the cave and set by the fire.

Besides his exchanges with Maude about their next steps, and what sort of signs he should look out for when he went hunting for a natural treasure, he didn’t hear anything other than the occasional rustle of small animals or muted birdsong in the overcast forest.

Sleeping in the cave turned out to be uncomfortable.

Maude had him looking for any signs of flint or knappable rocks to shape more tools or an axe out of, but he was unsuccessful. She’d wanted him to be able to cut pine branches to make a bough-bed for warmth. But, since he hadn’t found the right stones and she did not even offer to perform that duty herself, Casey had made do with pulling up and bundling long grass to make an impromptu mattress.

He did not get nearly enough grass, though.

The rough nest on which he slept was awkward, and he had to wake up every so often to add more wood to his fire. The stones underneath him were hard, and if the fire dwindled too low, they would grow extremely cold as the stone leached away all his heat.

He also noticed that, due to the slant of the stone floor of the cave, he started to slide down the slope towards the mouth of the cave as the night went on.

The one saving grace was that Maude stood watch for him. She promised that she would wake him if the fire died down too far, or if he looked like he was going to roll out of the cave entirely. He propped her up on top of his woodpile, a spot she promised him gave her a good ‘view’ of the cave.

<><><>

Casey, it is time to wake up, Maude prodded him, and Casey blinked his eyes open tiredly.

The sky outside was just beginning to pink, and every joint in his body hurt from the restless sleep on the hard surface.

“Sometimes, I wish I was still dead,” Casey mumbled in idle complaint.

Maude’s vehement reply that came a moment later worked like a bucket of ice water to startle him awake.

Never wish for such a thing! Life is an opportunity, a chance at better things. If you were dead, you would have no more chances to improve. No chance to grow, and definitely no chance at revenge on the monster you told me tormented you for your entire life!

“Okay, okay. Sorry Maude. I won’t say that again,” Casey assented quickly.

Good. Wishing for death is only acceptable for those who lay at its doorstep already. Even then, it is likely an abrogation of responsibility and all too often a sign of self-pity. I will not tolerate it from you, Casey the Sullivan. You will be mighty. Even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming to that fate.

“That has to be one of the weirdest pep-talks I’ve ever heard, but it worked,” Casey chuckled, getting an irritated snort from Maude. “Okay. Seriously, I won’t talk like that again. Forgive me if I slip, habits take time to break.”

You may have had a reason or a right to speak in such a way in your past life, with some greater power mucking about with it, but no longer. Your opportunities loom large. You simply have to have the strength to claim them. That is today’s goal, though: to find an opportunity to claim.

“Fair enough, Maude,” Casey grunted, sitting upright and groaning as his back popped in three places and his ribs in two.

It took a bit of stretching, but Casey got himself mobile once more. He stoked the fire higher to warm up one last time, then breakfasted on the last of his mushrooms and wild carrots before scattering the ashes and stomping the fire out.

“Not sure if I feel comfortable putting it out like that. You sure leaving the cave already is the right call?” Casey muttered as he crept down the slope from his cave.

If we are fortunate, you will not return to this cave. It did its job for a single night’s shelter, but it is not the kind of place you would want to camp long-term. As for the fire, you will succeed in starting another or you will be cold. I have shown you how, and you now have proper tinder to work with. Next time, be sure to use the birch bark I told you to gather. Shred the bark and use it with the moss.

Casey had found several beads of hard pine resin while foraging before and had picked them carefully off the tree to twist up in the now-dry bits of moss. He stashed them all in his pouch, where they would stay safely dry. Only time would tell if he could actually start a fire with them.

They had discussed their heading the previous night, so Casey followed the bank of the lake to where the river drained out of it, then followed the river downstream. Maude had advised him that towns tended to pop up along waterways, and it was his best bet to find one. Once he located a settlement, he would have a point of reference she could use to help him navigate with. Then they would look for signs of this ‘opportunity’ that they could sell along the way.

The river he followed varied from a wide, flat expanse that chuckled through scattered boulders, to a narrow and deep mass of dark water. The stones beneath his feet were a constant shade of granite-gray, with the occasional patch of white or brown sand in the shallow parts of the river where it slowed for a time.

All the while, Casey kept his eyes out for any of the knappable rocks that Maude had told him about on the off chance he might stumble over one. The entire process made him chuckle, as it reminded him of a number of survival games he’d played on the old PC that he’d bought during his time in the academy.

His spear still worked as a walking stick, and Casey balanced carefully as he walked along the rocky bank of the stream.

The clouds of the previous day had cleared in the night. Now, a bright blue sky rolled overhead, and warm sunlight poured over his shoulders. He had to fold his cloak back due to the warmth, but he wasn’t complaining. The movement allowed him to stretch his body out even more.

Snacking on berries as he found them, Casey enjoyed the clean air and the bright sunshine of the day. Maude was quiet for most of the morning, which let Casey center himself a bit more after his wake-up. He’d been a loner most of his life, and the quiet let him focus. He spent the time considering the events of the previous day and weighing his choices.

You are in one hell of a weird situation, but at least you don’t have to pay rent anymore. Right? Casey teased himself while crossing a small patch of boggy ground that had no trees in it.

Wild onions on your right. Maude broke his thoughts and drew his attention to what he’d thought was a patch of long grass.

Inspecting the patch closer, he noted the stem was flat and solid, but a good deal more substantial than a blade of grass. It stood nearly a foot tall. He could faintly smell the scent of onion in the air as he bent down as well.

“Thank you, Maude,” Casey muttered, and he began carefully pulling up the plants. He didn’t take all of them, instead taking only a third and doing so in a way that would leave spaces in the soft earth for more to grow.

No problem. You were going to walk past them, and I assumed you didn’t recognize them. Wild onions are very flavorful, and you can eat them raw. I’d recommend eating the greens now, then roasting the bulbs later when you make a fire.

“ ‘Onion salad in another world’ sounds like a messed-up anime title, which means it’s probably been written,” Casey snickered while rinsing the dirt from the greens.

He did just as she suggested, snapping off the small bulbs at the bottom and tucking them into his pouch while he munched on the green stalks. They reminded him a lot of chives, just far more sharply flavored of onion than he was used to. It was an agreeable change from the often mushy berries he’d been eating.

“Too bad I don’t have a pot or something. These onions would make the mushrooms tastier, and I bet a soup or stew would do them justice.” Casey muttered while chewing on a stalk as he strode back into the cover of the trees.

Something to look for. We will need to be careful in selecting your supplies though, Casey. You’ll need to travel by foot for some distance, so weight will affect your pace and endurance.

“I’m used to walking everywhere. I never owned a car until I got assigned a partner with a cruiser. So I suppose the statement still stands? Never owned a car,” Casey laughed.

The melancholy of the previous day and his morning’s thoughts had faded as the day grew bright around him.

Lungs full of fresh air and the scent of the surrounding forest in his nostrils were enough to chase away the ghosts of his past for now. The potential that Loptr had promised him felt a lot closer at that moment, walking in the forest under the sun, rather than when he’d been crouched in the cave or searching furtively for wood under an overcast sky.

Casey’s mood shifted when he saw boot prints in the mud that came to the edge of a shallow spot in the river. Squinting across the water, he spotted more on the far bank.

Glancing back at the prints on his side, Casey’s good mood crashed when he saw the large, deep print off to one side of the trail of boot marks. He’d missed it at first, as it was hiding in the shade of a bush, but it was there. It was deep and looked somewhat like a dog's paw, but three-toed rather than four and with far longer pads.

“Maude?” Casey muttered questioningly.

Likely a hill-varg. They are not commonly tamed and none who do so are in this area. So, unless those boot prints are from a group of cultivators, it’s hunting whoever walked through here, Maude supplied. It will be distracted; now is a good time to cross this area if a hill-varg has claimed it for its hunting territory.

Casey scowled down at the track. It was easily the same size as the largest of the boot prints. He could see that there were at least three different sizes of prints mixed in the mud, and all looked recent. Glancing across the stream, he squinted. Now that he knew what to look for, he found more hill-varg prints on the far side, trailing to one side of the group.

It only took Casey a moment to make his decision. He started to ford the river, thankful that his tall boots were apparently waterproof.

Casey, what are you doing? Maude demanded, a note of irritation in her mental ‘voice.’

“Going to check if they’re ‘cultivators’ like you said. If the beast is tamed, then it’ll be traveling with them. No worries. But they might need help if it’s hunting them,” Casey growled under his breath, stuffing the last of his onion-greens into his belt to ensure his hands were free.

Are you mad? A hill-varg will kill you if it catches you.

“If. And if these people are being hunted, they might need help as well. I’m not going to take a chance,” Casey grunted as he cleared the river and shook the water off his boots. Hurrying up the bank, he followed the trail left behind by the others.

The tracks were fresh and recent; it took less than twenty minutes for Casey to follow them into a wide meadow that was several hundred feet long, and at least half that wide.

Odd-looking plants with white crowns bobbed in the breeze all over the meadow, and Casey could see a trio of young men with basket-like packs on their backs collecting the white-flowered plants while they worked their way across the field. While he’d been able to follow the boot tracks, Casey had lost the hill-varg prints.

See, nothing to worry about. They are collecting yarrow. We should head back to the river, Casey, Maude suggested, slight irritation in her voice. The hill-varg is not around, so we should take the opportunity. It must have found something else to…

Sudden movement caught Casey’s attention, and clearly Maude detected it as she fell silent.

A large creature—it likely would stand with its shoulders nearly level with Casey’s if it was not crouching—edged out of the forest to his right and crept forward on its belly.

The creature had a mottled look that let it blend in with the gray stones and brown of the bark and pine needles of the forest floor. Its fur was sparse and only showed along its sides and in a mane down its back that started between its ears. Armored plates of scales ran down its limbs and shielded its forehead. A vicious mouth full of sharp teeth split open in a canine grin of hunger while the three-toed paws looked more like a lizard’s foot than those of a dog. In all, it looked like someone had crossed a hyena with a Komodo dragon, and then sized it up to ‘nightmare.’

Good lord… that thing is terrifying, Casey thought, steeling himself. He couldn’t simply walk away right now. No more than he could have walked away in the warehouse where the three girls had been tied up.

“Fucking monster…” he growled while gripping his impromptu spear tighter.

Yes, Casey. That is a hill-varg. You need to back away slowly. It’s after the herb-collectors, not you. It hasn’t scented you yet, Maude cautioned him.

“Screw that. They don’t look like they have weapons either,” Casey muttered in response.

He could tell Maude was about to protest again, but the hill-varg was tired of waiting.

One of the young men had wandered close enough.

The monster surged upright, lunging at the man with its mouth spreading wide to reveal massive fangs built for shredding meat and shattering bones. The young man whirled and—finally aware of the threat—stood frozen as death bore down upon him.

Chapter 7

Casey was already up and moving as the monstrous canine lizard darted from its hiding spot. There was no way he could catch it before the beast got to the man, so he acted on instinct.

While he had left his improvised club back in the cave with the remainder of his firewood, branches were not hard to find. Casey scooped up a lumpy bit of wood and threw it overhand as hard as he could, mimicking the way he’d seen someone throw an axe on the TV once.

The branch sailed through the air and crashed to the grass well away from the hill-varg. However, it did its job and took the creature’s attention off its prey.

Skidding to a stop, the wolf-lizard hybrid snarled at him, saliva dripping from its vicious mouth. It warned him away with another snarl, but Casey did not stop moving, still running full tilt towards the creature with his wooden spear held ready.

The hill-varg spared a glance over its shoulder to see that the young man it had been about to pounce on was scrambling away from it now. The man’s two friends were also rabbiting with their load of herbs, leading the retreat into the forest on the far side of the clearing.

Are you insane, Casey? That thing will kill you, Maude howled in his mind. Her ‘voice’ rose in panic as the hill-varg whipped its head back towards Casey, glaring hatefully in his direction.

Sure, he had a weapon, but Casey was alone and charging the monster. So, instead of pursuing the others, the creature would go for the prey that was running directly onto its plate.

Exactly what Casey wanted.

“I’m not abandoning anyone to die!” Casey snarled as the monster lunged.

He feinted to the right with one wide step and the creature bought it, leaping into a pounce with its jaws wide and clawed arms spread to wrap around him. Rolling to the left, Casey spun and pulled the shaft of his handmade spear upright and tight against his chest.

As he came out of his spin, he brought the spear up and used the combined force of his charge and the torque of his spin to drive the tip of the wooden spear into the creature’s side as it leaped past him.

All the while, Maude berated him for his foolishness, but he shut out her words while his focus narrowed to the sharpened point of his spear.

The creature’s mottled fur flashed past, and Casey wished that he’d been able to brace the spear to receive its charge. The sheer weight of the beast would have driven the spear deep into the creature’s chest and lungs. But it would have also ended up with the monster directly on top of him. Unless he’d immediately destroyed the heart, there was no chance that he’d have killed it in time to save himself. Instead, he sought the gap between ribs in hopes of wounding it grievously.

Mankind has made tools—both weapons and those used for construction—from oak for millennia to take advantage of its durability and strength. Casey had chosen a length of oak for his spear entirely by accident, though. He had mostly focused on the fact it was relatively straight and free of knots.

The shaft of the spear gave all that it had in that moment. The fire-hardened tip pierced the creature’s hide at an acute angle, allowing a portion of the force of the animal’s charge to translate into the blow. Plunged deep into the beast’s side, the spear found that all-important gap between the ribs and lodged inside.

Casey felt the shaft twist in his grip, but he hung on gamely as he tried to force the point deeper and the weight of the creature tried to knock him over.

Despite Casey’s aim and the strength of the oak shaft he used, wood was just wood, and the hill-varg massively outweighed Casey. The shaft cracked and split, leaving behind a third of its length buried in the hill-varg’s side while the sudden change in pressure threw Casey into an off-balance roll.

Luck was with Casey, despite his weapon’s failure, as the hill-varg’s forepaw lashed backwards through the air. It would have caught him across the thigh, if he hadn’t been thrown sprawling when the shaft gave out.

The world spun around Casey while he tumbled through the grass, fighting to not get tangled up in his broken spear or smack his head. The hill-varg landed nearby with a pained yelp, blood gushing from the ragged wound in its side while the bit of oak shaft still protruded from the wound.

Casey, get up. Up! Casey, get up! Maude’s voice pierced his whirling head, and Casey scrambled to his feet.

The hill-varg lay less than ten feet from him and was thrashing to get up as well. While the wound bled furiously, the loathing in the creature’s eyes told him exactly what it wanted to do. The beast snarled and twisted to grip the ruined end of his spear in its jaws before yanking it free with another gush of blood.

RUN!

He didn’t need Maude’s urging. Casey charged back towards the edge of the trees nearby, looking furiously for one which had low enough branches to climb.

The hill-varg howled behind him, and he could hear the crashing beat of the creature’s steps as it bounded after him, moving much faster than he was and closing the distance rapidly.

Left!

He reacted to Maude’s direction and dove to the left.

The hill-varg barely missed him, its snatching claws shredding the hem of his cloak. Rolling to his feet, Casey continued his mad dash into the trees. He spotted a likely candidate and hurried forward just before Maude called another warning to him.

Down! Get down!

Casey obeyed again without question and threw himself flat on the ground. Pain erupted in his chest at the sharp impact. He felt rocks and tree roots dig into his ribs, but a crash from directly ahead of him startled Casey. He looked up to see the hill-varg slam into the tree he’d been aiming for.

The beast bounced off the tree and, in a fit of pique, snapped at the trunk, tearing off a hunk of wood from it as big around as his calf before petulantly repeating the motion. The two bites had nearly split the trunk in half, and the tree began to list to one side.

Climbing isn’t going to keep you away from it, Casey. You have wounded it. You just have to evade now and hope it bleeds out before it catches you, Maude snapped at him. I hope that your foolish choice hasn’t doomed you and ruined this opportunity for me.

Irritation surged in his chest at Maude’s tone, and he wanted to argue, but he didn’t have time. Turning quickly, Casey dove between two more trees and continued into the forest, always working to keep several trees between him and the monster.

The hill-varg, seeing its prey fleeing, left the savaged tree and gave chase. Its immense size, a weapon it used willingly, was a hindrance at the moment as Casey kept to the tightly packed trees. This forced the creature to either go around thickets or shove itself between saplings. The motion sent more blood gushing from its wound, but its fury appeared undiminished.

Casey’s luck ran out when he sprinted headlong into another clearing with a large boulder in the middle.

Realizing his mistake, Casey turned to try to run back into the trees at an angle, but the hill-varg burst from the brush and snapped at him once more. Only a sudden twist from half-remembered martial-arts training kept the yellowed teeth from closing on his head. One three-clawed paw managed to slash him across the left arm, tearing through the sleeve of his tunic and leaving lacerations down his biceps.

Throughout the entire attempted escape, Casey had not dropped the broken haft of his spear. He wasn’t sure if it was just out of habit, or a faint memory of the way he had died the first time, urging him to never let go of his weapon. It came in handy, though, when the creature twisted like a cat in midair to snap at him once more. Even as he screamed in pain, Casey brought his right arm around to drive the broken haft of the spear into the creature’s mouth.

The blow was not clean. He did not drive the splintery tip of the spear into its gullet, or even its eye. Instead, the blow hit the soft palate at the back of its throat. While it would be painful, Casey did not have the leverage or a sharp enough weapon to kill with that blow.

The pain did trigger a natural reaction in the hill-varg, though. It aborted its snapping bite and thrust its tongue forward to try to spit out the splintery bit of wood cutting up its mouth.

This did not prevent the hill-varg from yanking the four-foot remainder of the spear out of Casey’s hands, his grip strong but unable to counter the twist of the creature’s massive head, and throwing it across the clearing to bounce off the boulder and land on the ground. It did, however, prevent the creature from biting Casey again.

All Casey could think about was recovering his weapon. The splintered spear wasn’t much, but it was all that he had. In his moment of instinctual need, he didn’t even consider the seax in his belt. Maude had already told him that she was unwilling to be wielded by him, and that had caused his subconscious mind to disregard her as a weapon at that moment. Never mind that the spear was barely longer than the seax at the moment. It was what his mind recognized as his weapon.

Blood ran down his arm and side. Casey felt the same chilling sensation of blood loss that he’d felt before, after being shot, but he didn’t experience the same level of shock. Instead, anger filled him from his toes to the top of his skull.

There was no way this creature was going to steal his second chance—not this soon into that chance. It was barely midday on his second day of new life. He had revenge to get to, and a mangy monster wasn’t going to keep him from it.

Casey threw himself into a painful roll, snatching up the shaft of the gnarled wooden spear as he rolled over it. Keeping his left arm tucked into his chest to avoid injuring it worse, Casey lashed out automatically with his ‘weapon.’

The hill-varg was close behind him, intent on rending this annoying morsel to pieces, and it caught the blow on its sensitive nose with a yelp. The blow only turned it away for a moment, but that allowed Casey to roll to his feet and bring the broken shaft of wood up over his head for an overhand chop.

Slamming the knotted butt of his broken spear down on the hill-varg’s skull, Casey belabored the massive creature like he was driving a nail with a hammer.

The hill-varg yelped in pain and surprise as the blows rained down on its already-smarting nose and its small eyes. Those yelps turned quickly into snarls, and with a snap of its jaws, it broke off the bottom foot and a half of the spear, leaving Casey with less than two feet of oak.

Less than two feet of oak. But with a fresh, splintery end.

Mimicking the hill-varg’s lunge, Casey threw himself forward on the creature’s enormous head and stabbed downwards with the jagged tip of his former-spear, now more like a dagger of wood, and drove that tip into the creature’s eye.

The hill-varg let out a shriek of pain and thrashed, but Casey bore it to the ground, his bodyweight behind the blow, and drove the wood even deeper as he landed on top of the hill-varg. There was a crunching noise, and the creature went limp under him.

Panting, Casey ground his improvised weapon into the creature’s ruined eye for several long seconds before Maude’s shouts finally registered.

Casey! By fire and steel, what possessed you to do that?! Maude chastised him, her voice high with worry and anger in his head.

He didn’t respond at first. Instead, Casey forced himself to his feet and stared down at the dead monster for another moment, then kicked it in the side of the head. The monster’s head lolled over, but did not react to him. Only to the power of the kick. It was dead, finally.

Damn it, Casey! We are supposed to be working together right now. How am I supposed to help you when you won’t listen to my advice? Maude’s demand pierced his pained mind, and he shifted his left arm slightly. He’d been intent on responding, but the movement sent a bolt of pain shooting through his savaged limb.

Rather than replying verbally, not sure he could talk through the pain, Casey carefully gripped his left wrist with his right and lifted it to hook the limb behind the leather-wrapped steel of Maude’s hilt so he was in direct contact with her.

Maude, he thought with some effort.

He could feel her presence in his mind and pushed it towards the memories of his first death. She’d promised him before that she wouldn’t read his mind, but now he was dragging the memories out and setting up a projector for her. He could feel her attention on them as the memories played in his mind at a rapid pace. Despite the speed, he could feel her comprehension.

You sacrificed yourself for them. You might have survived if you had done things differently, Maude’s words were more restrained now, but there was a note of understanding there.

Maybe, but I took an oath. Some people consider ‘to serve and protect’ as nothing more than a load of shit, but I don’t, Casey replied mentally, grimacing in pain as he looked down at his left arm.

He needed to put pressure on the wound. Blood was leaking from a pair of long slashes that ran several inches down his upper arm. He was going to need stitches, he knew that much, but he had no medical supplies. For now, he wrapped the ragged sleeve around the wound to absorb blood and applied pressure, hissing in pain.

You will need medical treatment to survive that. Hill-varg are not known for their hygiene. I can teach you to make a poultice of yarrow that will help combat infection, but we will have to go into town to get it properly seen to, Maude said after a long moment of silence.

Casey was considering her words when the sound of something crashing through the nearby brush distracted him. Before he could react, three men came charging out of the undergrowth and directly at him with weapons drawn.

All three wore the same style of clothing as he was dressed in: a tunic with pants and high-top boots, with a cloak over the top.

The largest of the trio was in the middle, a broad man with a barrel-like chest and arms thick with muscle. He had a war-hammer in his right fist and was raising the weapon when he saw Casey standing in the middle of the clearing with the obviously dead hill-varg behind him.

The men on either side of the hammer-wielder had spears in their hands and moved out to flank him, watching Casey warily as the hammer-carrier came sliding to a stop just past the boulder.

Casey and the big man stared at each other for long seconds, the hammer-wielder peering at him from under a sturdy brow and a mop of brown hair with blue eyes that took the entire clearing in, including Casey’s injuries.

The staring contest lasted for several seconds before the man with the hammer lowered his weapon slightly and nodded towards the dead monster.

“That your doing?”

Chapter 8

“I certainly hope so, or else I’m going to have a lot of questions as to who was chewing on my spear,” Casey quipped, gesturing with his left arm slightly and hissing in pain at the result as the wound opened wider and more blood flowed before he shifted his right hand to get better pressure on it.

“Frigga’s tears! That’s your blood?” the hammer-wielder swore and took a step forward.

Casey took a step back on instinct. He already wished that he hadn’t left his club behind in the cave. He hadn’t wanted to carry it and deal with the awkward weight of it on top of the spear, but now he was regretting that.

He still did not even consider drawing Maude’s seax form from his belt. She’d expressed her refusal, and he had accepted it. He would find a way out of this.

Thankfully, the big man with the hammer didn’t pursue him further. Instead, the man came to a stop and glanced between the corpse of the hill-varg and Casey for several seconds before clearly reaching a decision.

The big man slid his war hammer into his belt with a flick, making the metal ring that supported the hammer chime against the curved head. Unarmed, he held his hands out to Casey and spoke carefully.

“Drengr, you are injured—Injured fighting a creature that was preying upon those under my protection. Will you let me help treat your injuries?” the big man spoke in a lilting cadence, and Casey stared at him.

Maude, what is a drengr? He asked internally.

It’s a title of honor. Anyone can be a warrior, but a drengr is someone who has earned honor and is a person of repute. Slaying a hill-varg in single combat with a stick definitely makes you qualify, the spirit woman answered quickly.

In his peripheral vision, Casey also saw the other two men staring at their companion in surprise, spears still held ready and pointed at Casey.

“Einar! Why don’t we just drive this freeman off? He trespasses on clan territory and clearly has not announced himself, or his intent to travel and hunt on clan lands. The hill-varg’s hide alone is a worthy prize. It would be worth good silver, and this outsider has no right to hunt on our lands,” the one on Casey’s left hissed.

The hammer-wielder, Einar, turned to glare at the speaker.

“I will not steal a trophy from the rightful hunter, Lars. You heard the gatherers. If he had not intervened, the creature would have killed at least one, if not all of them. You pay poor credit to your honor to propose stealing from one who fought to save the lives of those under our clan’s protection,” Einar barked, not bothering to be quiet in his reprimand.

Lars scowled ferociously at Einar and opened his mouth to speak, but Casey felt the world buck under his feet. He stumbled slightly, nearly going down as his balance rocked.

Casey, you should accept his proposal. Invoke rights of hospitality and ask for his assistance as repayment for your favor, Maude counseled him. The sound of her smoky voice in his head helped Casey stabilize himself.

“…can just leave him. He will succumb to his wounds if we don’t help. None but us will know,” Lars was saying, still pushing the issue.

Casey was about to reprimand the man for his attitude when Einar did it for him.

“We will know! And that is enough. My honor will not allow such a transgression. You will speak no more on it, Lars Tragarsson! Shame on you for even suggesting such a thing!” Einar growled with a depth of disgust that Casey had to appreciate before the big man turned back to him. “Stranger, will you accept my aid? You are bleeding heavily, but I have supplies that will help.”

“I will accept your offer of hospitality, Einar,” Casey said carefully, having to fight to speak clearly.

Give him your name, just your first name. To be polite, Maude said to him.

“I am Casey,” he tacked on after a moment’s pause. The endorphins that had been numbing the pain were beginning to fade, and he was starting to feel a pulsing throb in his arm telling him just how bad the injury was.

Einar did not hesitate. The big man’s angular face split into a smile that showed off polished teeth, and he strode forward. He had wide shoulders and a thick waist. The idea of someone ‘built like a barrel’ seemed to have been designed for Einar, and he was happy to fulfill the stereotype to an extreme. His long, brown hair was folded back in a short ponytail, and he had a number of small scars across his forearms of a sort that Casey was intimately familiar with.

Scars from knife fighting, he thought idly as the big man guided him over to the boulder and began talking him through what he would be doing to help Casey.

“I’ll have to cut the sleeve off to get to the wounds properly. You will probably need stitches, but my great sausages of fingers aren’t for that. We will clean out the cuts and bandage it, then you can come back to town. If there are stitches needed, then one of the healers can help you. Their hands are deft and gentle. Battlefield medicine is what we are after right now,” Einar spoke in a comforting patter, and Casey nodded, doing his best not to sway. Resting on the boulder helped him to brace, and he was grateful for the support.

Casey, listen to him. You need to stay awake and aware. If this Einar is half as honorable as he is portraying himself right now, then you should be safe. But trust no man until you know his measure fully, Maude’s voice wound through his mind, and Casey nodded.

“Got it,” he muttered to Maude.

“Good!” chuckled Einar. “Now, let’s get a look at this wound. You two, ensure the hill-varg is dead and prepare it for transport back to town. Lars, since you were so determined to steal friend Casey’s kill, you will atone for your insult by transporting it back to town for him.”

The sour-faced spearman sneered at Einar’s back, but he did not argue. The third man remained silent, nodding in understanding to Einar’s orders and turning to hurry over to the cooling body.

“There. It will take some time for them to prepare the body and build a carry frame so Lars can do his penance. Something about your appearance tells me that you could use the coin, friend Casey.” Einar’s voice had a hint of amusement to it that drew a pained laugh from Casey in turn.

“What gave it away?” Casey drawled.

“The fact you killed the beast with a sharpened stick?”

“Oh, come on, some of the best weapons are sharp sticks.” The banter was helping to distract Casey as the big man worked.

Einar carefully cut the torn sleeve of his tunic away with a small knife and exposed the pair of ragged claw wounds on his upper arm. One ran from shoulder all the way to elbow, and the other was about half that size and on the inner edge of his arm.

Einar hissed in appreciation at the wound and nodded his head several times while wiping the blade of his knife off on the sleeve he’d removed before sheathing it.

“Definitely going to need the healers and their needles for this. Here, chew these to help dull the pain.” Einar produced a trio of fat leaves that looked like aloe, but barely the size of Casey’s thumbnail. “Don’t swallow, just chew them up and pack it under your tongue when it’s good and mashed.”

Casey accepted the leaves with his good right hand, while his left hand remained tucked behind Maude’s hilt on his belt. He could feel the cool touch of metal against the back of his hand and directed his thoughts towards her.

Are these safe?

Golia leaves. If you use them too often, you might become addicted to the feeling of euphoria they can impart. For now, though, they will do what he said and numb the pain. Three leaves will not be enough to numb your wits. You’d need at least six for someone your size.

Thanks, Maude. You are a tremendous help, Casey thought and stuffed the thick leaves into his mouth.

They crunched and squished between his teeth, releasing a bitter juice for just a moment before his sense of taste faded and he began to feel numb.

“Ugh,” Casey grunted. He continued masticating the bundle of plant matter before tucking it under his tongue.

It felt like he’d chewed up four or five sticks of gum at once, but it had the texture of overcooked broccoli in his mouth.

“Disgusting, I know. But effective,” Einar snickered, watching Casey carefully for several moments before nodding. “I’m going to wash out the wound with water and make sure that it is clean before we bandage you. Both of those steps will hurt despite the golia, so I would appreciate it if you didn’t stab me.”

“Got it,” Casey grunted. Thankfully, the numbness of the leaves was not enough to slur his speech.

Einar was true to his word. He worked quickly and efficiently, his large hands moving deftly despite his earlier comments about having sausages for fingers. Washing out the wound was the worst part, but Casey endured it with stolid determination while Einar carefully rinsed the gashes with water from a leather skin and wiped at them with a folded square of soft cloth. Casey had had to deal with similar painful sensations while cleaning out his own wounds from various fights as a teenager. Two of his worst scars were from then, as he’d not had the confidence to stitch it up himself or the money to see a doctor for it.

One thing that helped Casey not focus on the pain was Einar’s voice. The big man verbally walked him through every step so that Casey knew what was happening as he did it. Any time he could potentially cause pain, he would warn Casey as well.

While Einar worked and talked, Casey watched as the two other men cooperated to haul the hill-varg to the nearest tree that was sturdy enough for the job. They then tied a rope around the creature’s back legs and used that to haul it up into the branches of the tree to hang. The two men then opened the beast’s throat to bleed the creature, before falling to the task of building a rough drag-harness of small trees secured with leather ties they produced from packs kept under their cloaks.

Idly, Casey noted the other equipment they carried. All three of the men carried short axes on their belts as well as their primary weapons, though Einar was the only one of the three with a shield. It was a round and wooden thing bound in iron and covered in leather, and he wore it across his back like a turtle shell. They also had pouches and small belt-knives, but no large packs to indicate that they had spent extended time out in the woods.

“There!” Einar declared at last, finishing the bandaging and tying off the rough cloth at Casey’s wrist. “Not my finest work, but serviceable enough to get you to town. Keep an eye on it, friend Casey. If you start to bleed through, let me know so I can adjust the pressure of the bandages. You’ve watered the earth with your heart-fluid enough. It does not have the right to demand more of a successful drengr such as yourself. Give me a moment to fashion a sling so you can rest the arm easily.”

“Appreciate it, Einar. I’ll have to find a way to repay you,” Casey mumbled as the big man used another length of the clean, tan bandages to make a crude, wrap-sling for his arm and draped it over his head. They got Casey’s arm settled into it before Einar began bundling up the scraps of cloth and wiping the blood from his hands.

“No. There is nothing to repay, friend Casey. The Silver Hammer Clan is the one who owes you a debt. You put your life on the line to protect those under our aegis when we were not present to do so.” Einar waved one hand broadly, spraying droplets of pink-tinged water while he was trying to rinse them off using what was left in his waterskin.

“Still…” Casey began to protest, shifting his arm in the sling to try to get it more comfortable.

“Friends do not count favors owed,” Einar said jovially and clapped Casey on the right shoulder, being careful not to jar him too much with the injury present. “Come, they look to be about done preparing to drag the hill-varg back to town. We will find a buyer for the carcass who will give you a reasonable price for it. At the very least, my clan will buy it from you as a favor for saving our harvesters.”

Casey was about to ask about these clans and how they worked, as Einar had mentioned them twice now, but Maude interrupted by speaking into his mind once more.

Don’t ask him. Asking about that in this situation would display so much ignorance that it would be suspicious. I will explain.

Casey glanced down at the seax still tucked into his belt. With the sleeve removed and his arm in the sling, the metal pommel sat pressed to his side and against a patch of bare skin on the inside of his arm.

Nodding, he carefully got to his feet. Sitting for a bit had allowed his blood pressure to normalize. With the pain-relieving herbs, he was at least functional for the moment.

I’ve definitely got questions, Maude. A lot of questions.

And I’ll do what I can to answer them, Casey. I’d expected we’d have a day or two more before you ran into a local, but that was false. Einar seems trustworthy, though, so he’s a good bet to make.

I hope you are right.

Chapter 9

The two men with Einar had strapped together something that looked vaguely like a travois to Casey. The largest difference was the sheer size of the device. It looked to be constructed of smaller fallen trees rather than the poles he remembered seeing in the museum he’d gone to once with a school expedition in his younger years. When they strapped the horse-sized hill-varg to the bottom of it, he wondered if the entire contraption was about to snap in half.

“Is he going to be able to lift that?” Casey couldn’t stop the question to Einar as the big man got his gear settled into place once more.

“Lars may have a big mouth, but his Legacy gave him the strength of an ox.” Einar said dismissively before calling to the two men to hurry up. “I will lead our group to find you a path, Lars. Owen, you will follow at the rear to cover Lars’ back.” Both men saluted him, Lars with a scowl and Owen, the other spearman, smirking.

“Casey, you are with me. We shall set a slower pace to accommodate your injury. No need to get your blood pressure up and make the bleeding start again. You can spit out the golia leaves now, by the way. They will just turn to mud under your tongue, and the effects will last for another hour regardless. If the pain grows too much, I have more.”

Casey nodded and extracted the wad of greenery from his mouth with a sigh of relief. The underside of his tongue was tingling like he’d just spread concentrated wintergreen extract there, but he couldn’t taste it, just feel the effect.

It took another minute for Lars to get settled between the front fork of the knockoff travois. The entire thing looked like someone had drawn a very lopsided ‘X’ where only the top two or three feet protruded past the cross and the rest was tall and narrow. He squatted and then lifted the entire thing before he set the short end on his shoulders with a grunt and a growl before looping his arms up and over his shoulders and trapping the logs against them. With the wood frame secured, he took a few steps and dragged the entire contraption along like it weighed nearly nothing.

So what did he mean by ‘Legacy’? Casey thought towards Maude as the four of them got going. Does it have anything to do with this pack animal impression he’s doing?

Yes, it does. Again, this was something I was planning to explain more to you later, Casey. I wasn’t keeping it from you intentionally. It’s just a complex subject to explain at once.

Give me the cliff notes version of it then.

Cliff notes? Casey sighed at the confusion in her tone and explained.

Summary? A general overview or the like so I can get the basics.

Ah yes. So a shorter summary is that a Legacy is a fragment of power left behind by someone of great strength and prowess. That fragment can be assimilated by another to use as the basis of their own power growth. Think of it like… like the flint and steel in your pouch, Maude said slowly as she felt out the best way to explain.

When you strike it with the flint, you generate heat and peel fragments off of the steel. These fragments are very hot, and you rain the sparks onto tinder. The steel is the Legacy in this example, as you are slowly eroding it with each strike. The sparks are the basis for future Legacies, just as the sparks in reality are the basis for a fire. In both examples, not every spark will kindle a fire, but each and every one has the potential to do so.

And how does that lead to him being able to deadlift something that likely weighs a thousand pounds on a frame that weighs around a fifth of that and drag it like he’s using a wheelbarrow? Casey winced as an awkward step on the trail jarred his arm.

Einar was leading the way confidently, taking a winding path that would ensure they kept to relatively open spaces for the drag-harness that Lars had, but Casey wasn’t thinking clearly and kept tripping on small things in his way.

Legacies affect their bearers in many ways. These three are likely not far along their paths, so the effects are minor by comparison to what they could be. One thing that all Legacies do is affect the body. The further down the path one is, the more perfect and refined their body becomes. This leads to perfect strength, dexterity, and constitution. The gods sent Legacies here to empower the drengr. After all, a drengr must be strong, Maude answered his question, amusement in her tone. Einar is speaking to you, by the way.

Casey focused his attention in time to catch the bulk of what Einar was saying.

“—either a lucky man, or a powerful one, to have taken down a hill-varg like that with a wooden spear. Why do you not have another weapon? I can tell with how fluidly you move that you are a drengr, friend Casey. Did you fall afoul of bandits or thieves? If such filth infests my clan’s lands, then I would know where so we can deal with them,” the big man was asking as he threaded them through a thick part of the forest.

“No bandit attack. Though, I was ambushed by someone I thought to be… well, if not a friend, then at least someone I could trust. He injured me, and when I woke up, I had nearly nothing on me.” Casey was quick with an answer, adapting reality to fit his purposes, but trying not to lie outright.

He felt Maude gasp in his mind as he remembered the event with his partner in the warehouse. When he’d shown her the vision before, he hadn’t given context to Davis’ role as his partner—he’d only shown her that someone had betrayed him and he’d died of his injuries.

“Betrayal is the worst way for a drengr to fall,” growled Einar with some vehemence. “I hope you were able to give as well as you got to the one who turned on you?”

“Yes, I definitely got even with the man. I can confidently say that he got off worse than I did.”

Casey remained guarded with details, but he answered Einar’s further questions, implying that he’d been traveling along the line of the mountains and had been following the river through the forest on a whim.

You can trust Einar, Maude said after half an hour of following the man at the steady pace he set. I have a good feel for people. When you weigh his actions and words from earlier alongside his attitude now, I’m sure he’s a good fellow.

I will reserve judgment, Maude. It was trusting the wrong person that got me killed in the first place. Even if all I trusted him to do was not be stupid.

Again, he felt Maude wince, and there was a long pause before she responded.

That is fair, Casey. Just… do not hold your mistrust too close to the heart. This world is not one you can survive in without at least a few allies. You trust me, don’t you?

He considered the question for several long seconds before he responded.

I do, Maude. You have been nothing but honest with me since I met you, and I can respect that. So you get one chance. Not to mention I cannot think of a reason why killing me would benefit you, yet. Unless you find someone whom you think is worthy of wielding you.

Doubt it. Einar is a good fellow from what we have seen, but I would not consent to him wielding me either. Maude’s voice rang with amusement this time, and Casey could imagine the tanned woman brushing some of her long, black hair out of her eyes and smirking at him wryly. The mental image surprised Casey enough that he tripped on a stone and had to catch himself against a tree.

“Is your wound troubling you, friend Casey?” Einar turned to check on him and Casey nodded.

“Yeah, just a little woozy. I guess the land drank more of my blood than I had thought before,” Casey replied, turning the big man’s phrase back to him. Einar nodded solemnly, watching him for a moment before continuing on while speaking over his shoulder.

“The wilds are a dangerous place. Full of opportunity to be sure, but also full of danger. We are not close to the wastes, but threats still abound in this area. I do not mean to pry, but what clan are you from?”

Casey hesitated for a moment, not sure how to answer the question when Maude supplied him with an answer.

Tell him that you have not sworn to a clan. It is true and does happen sometimes. You may not have a Legacy yet, but they seem to believe you do. Power is respected, and they believe you have more strength than you currently wield. It would be best not to disabuse them of this.

I thought you said I could trust Einar? Casey thought furiously and got a thoughtful hum from Maude.

You can, but you may not be able to trust the other two, or those to whom they may speak with later on. Better to keep wisdom close to your chest, no?

“I’m not with a clan. Was traveling to see more of the world and hopefully find some opportunities. Now I suppose I’m going to be recovering from an opportunity that found me instead,” Casey said after a long moment.

Einar laughed, but the big man sounded sad this time.

“Yes. That does sound accurate. Sometimes you find opportunity, sometimes it bites you in the arse! But you survived, and your Legacy carries on. The gods stand watch over us all, and they cheer as we rise from our falls.” Einar spoke with a confidence of the ‘gods’ that startled Casey a little. He’d never encountered a god or any kind of supernatural being until after he’d died, and then he’d tried to punch one of those in the teeth.

“Have you met one?” The question dropped out of Casey’s mouth before he could stop himself, and he immediately chastised himself for giving away something, but Einar just laughed again.

“Met one of the gods? No, I haven’t been fortunate enough for that. But my journey along the Road is just beginning! The gods rarely descend into this world. But, if I am lucky, I will meet with the gods before my dying day comes. If I am very fortunate, my Legacy will carry me to them, instead!”

I’ll explain more later, focus on not tripping again. If you fall and reopen your wound, that would be very bad, Maude told him before Casey could ask.

“So! As you don’t have a clan, and the Silver Hammer Clan owes you a boon, you could request to join us if you wish,” Einar suggested after another few minutes.

The trees were beginning to thin, and Casey could see the same rolling hills that he’d witnessed from his spot on the bluff where he’d found Maude the previous day. He thought he could see a winding dirt road below now that he was closer.

“That might be a good idea, but I don’t know if I am ready to settle down somewhere yet. All depends on how long this takes to heal,” Casey said guardedly and nodded at his arm. “I mean no offense to your clan, Einar. I just don’t know it well enough to make a decision.”

“That is fair, friend Casey! The Silver Hammer is on the smaller side, but we are respectable! Maybe not as respectable as the Roaring Mountain clan to which we ultimately owe fealty, but what can you do? One’s liege lord should be more powerful than their vassals, so they can do their duty to protect them.” Einar took the gentle rebuff in good humor and, as they crossed into the grassy hills by the road, he began to wax poetic about the Silver Hammer clan, anyway.

During that last leg of the journey, Casey learned several things: Einar was clearly proud of his clan. Despite his pride, he was hoping to join the clan that his own owed allegiance to, the ‘Roaring Mountain’ clan that he had spoken of earlier. As he was a younger son, doing so wouldn’t be an issue. Especially since the Silver Hammer clan owed allegiance to the Roaring Mountain, so it would be seen as honorable rather than a betrayal.

He also learned that, despite his wiry build, Lars was equal to any ox, not just in his strength, but his stubbornness, too. Several times when Casey glanced over his shoulder to check their rear, he locked eyes with the red-faced man who was hauling the carry frame. Lars huffed and puffed, but never slowed in matching the steady pace that Einar set. He also refused to speak to Casey at all, instead sneering at him whenever they met eyes.

Ignore him. Actually, no. Do not ignore him. His pride is injured and he may do something stupid, so keep an eye on him. Just don’t let him get to you, Maude recommended, breaking her silence when he locked eyes with the other man a third time.

Casey just nodded as he turned back to Einar. The man was waxing lyrical about the mead and ale that was available in town.

“You should stay with my family, friend Casey. My father has space in his home, and I am sure he wouldn’t mind you bunking with us. News from the other clan lands you have traveled through would be welcome,” Einar was saying, and Casey didn’t need Maude’s hissed warning to know that this would be a bad idea.

He hadn’t actually traveled through other lands, so any ‘news’ he gave would be just lies, and it would be far too easy to get caught up in those.

“I appreciate the offer, but I would not feel right taking so much advantage of your hospitality. If there is an inn or a hostel I can stay at, that would be enough for me,” Casey said quickly. Noting Einar’s frown of concern, he thought quickly before adding: “Not to mention, I have to see the healers. I have no idea if they are going to have an opinion on the matter.”

That seemed to satisfy Einar, and the big man nodded once, his smile firmly in place again.

“True. The healer may wish for you to remain close to observe. Still! The offer stands, and I doubt the healer will keep you more than a day. Even with their salves and magics, it will probably take a few days for that wound to heal properly. In that time, we will make you welcome!” The big man’s friendly smile took on a playful hue. “After all, how else am I going to convince you that the Silver Hammer clan is worth joining? You took down a hill-varg with a handmade spear! And you walk the Drengr's Road. A strong clan is the least that you deserve!”

Wanting to put the big man off, but not outright argue with him, Casey said the first thing that came to his mind.

“Maybe. I might have a look at the Roaring Mountain clan, though. Since that’s your goal as well, it must be worthy, right?” Einar’s playful smile turned into a full-on grin at that thought.

“That’s the spirit! The heavens await those brave enough to reach for them! The Roaring Mountain clan accepts new recruits every year around the same time, about four months from now.”

Chapter 10

Stepping into the town felt like stepping both back and forward in time for Casey. Back in time because there were no cars, blacktop, or streetlights around. Buildings were constructed primarily of wood with small amounts of stone. A large stone wall encircled the town as well, and a few men and women stood on the wall to keep watch.

Forward in time because instead of oil lamps, glowing crystal spheres held in iron sconces produced the light. Levitating stone platforms carried goods from building to building, while strange beasts stood in pens or carried passengers back and forth.

The entire city wrapped around the base of a hill on which a stone fortress crouched like a watchful beast surveying the countryside.

It felt like a bizarre mish-mash of fantasy and science fiction at first. Maude had to remind him not to stare twice before he just focused on following Einar.

“This way! Grigori is a butcher that my family uses, and we will get a good price from him for your meat. We can deliver the carcass and then—no, I am being a fool. To the healers first!” Einar stopped in the middle of the street and abruptly changed directions to head down a narrower side-street. “Lars and Owen, deliver the carcass to Grigori and tell him I will be arriving shortly to negotiate once our friend is being seen to. There is no reason for you to drag that stinking creature into the healer’s home.”

“Thank the gods,” Lars growled under his breath. “Come on, Owen. You can clear the way for me.”

“I will, but only to stay further away from the stinking beast,” Owen grumbled back, speaking for the first time in quite a while.

The two groups separated, and Casey watched as they headed off, noting the stares of surprise from the village folk at the sight of the massive carcass of the hill-varg being dragged through town. The citizens were all dressed in a manner similar to Einar and himself, with tunics, pants, cloaks, and tall boots. Even the women wore tall boots, and quite a few wore pants.

Most of those that are wearing pants are carrying weapons. Well, more weapons than just a dagger, at least, Casey thought wryly.

They are drengr. Either cultivators at the base ranks or those aspiring to set off down their Drengr’s Road. Those who live that lifestyle must be prepared to be challenged at any time. It’s the only way they can seize the chance to prove themselves: either to rise in a clan or to earn a fragment of a Legacy from a clan, Maude explained to him. This is not a kind or safe world. Threats come often and from places unexpected. Notice that no one is screaming or fleeing at the sight of the beast. All who look on it are either curious or proud to see one taken down.

Casey had noticed that, as well as the fact that there were more than a few people watching him curiously. Einar patting him on his unwounded shoulder jogged him out of his introspection. The big man had come back when he noticed Casey wasn’t following him.

“Come, friend Casey. Let’s get your wound properly seen to. If Gretta thinks it will take longer than a few minutes, I will go and deal with the bargaining on your behalf and return. You will need enough funds to buy yourself a fresh shirt, at least. While the tattered sleeve and blood stains make you look rugged, it isn’t appropriate to be walking about town like that.” Einar gave him an exaggerated wink.

Casey couldn’t help rolling his eyes and sharing a smile with the big man. There was just something about Einar that put him at ease.

The walk to the healer’s house showed Casey more of the town. The further they went from the gate, the nicer the houses became. Thatched roofs gave way to first wooden shingle, and then slate roofs. More stone began to be used in the older-style buildings. The roads remained the same. Stone cobbles were sunk into packed earth that was a little uneven, but well looked after. The roads were without any of the potholes that Casey was used to even before he’d died the first time.

One thing that stood out, though, was the steep roofs of all the houses. He vaguely remembered that the higher the incline on a roof, the more snow was expected in the area.

Not a place I’d want to winter then, he thought to himself.

It would be cold, but that is due to the proximity to the mountains. Far better to winter in a town than out in the wild. Unless you are very well prepared. Winter brings its own threats out of hiding in this world, Maude answered idly. Einar drew them up in front of a stone, two-story building with large, open windows that allowed the scent of drying herbs to emerge.

Einar led the way through the gate with a grin and pounded on the front door with a ham-sized fist.

“Gretta! I’ve got a wounded man to be seen to! I started your work for you, but—” he called through the door. It was wrenched open mid-sentence by a glowering woman who looked to be in her late thirties or early forties.

A collection of bone combs held back her lustrous, brown hair to fall down her back, and she was dressed in a plain dress of a pale blue with a simple rope belt.

“Einar! I swear to all the divines, I told you last time to just bring them to me and not waste time with your ham-fisted doctoring! Where are the wounded?” she demanded in a stern voice that made Casey stand up straighter.

The tone the woman used just struck too many familiar mental chords and reminded him of the lieutenant that had taught him to resist the urge.

Casey’s sudden movement must have made a rustle of cloth or something, because the woman’s eyes immediately snapped to him, despite Einar’s larger size mostly blocking Casey from view. She studied him quickly for a moment and nodded.

“Come in, lad. Shift yourself, Einar. You make a better door than a window, you great oaf! Let the boy through!”

“I’m always a window to you, Auntie. You could see through me ever since I was just a lad!” Einar teased while stepping back from the doorway and gesturing for Casey to precede him into the house.

“Don’t call me that. If I were your blood, nothing would stop me putting you over my knee! I swear you get into more trouble than three grown men.”

“That’s because I’m as big as three grown men!” Einar said with pride, falling in behind Casey and closing the door.

The interior of the building was all wood. Underfoot, the floor was smooth and polished with time and wear. The hut’s exterior walls were thick and sturdy, while the interior walls did more to divide spaces than really block the line of sight. This allowed the breeze to flow through the windows and stir the many bundles of herbs that hung from the high rafters above them.

Vegetables hung in bundles as well, and the walls held either trophies, tools, or bits of art. The front half of the building seemed to be a space for treating patients, as there was a quintet of beds—two to each side and close to the windows—as well as a large table stained with age and spilled concoctions. A large, round fireplace made of river stones sat to one side of the door, and a small fire burned in it while a kettle steamed on the iron hook over the fire.

“You certainly eat like three grown men,” grumbled the healer, bringing Casey back from his survey of the home.

“I must if I’m to grow strong, Auntie,” protested Einar with a grin.

“I told you not to call me that!”

“Very well. Will you look after my new friend here?” Einar stopped his playful needling of the healer and gestured to Casey, who had stopped by the table and turned back to look at them. “He fought and killed a hill-varg by himself. My patrol only arrived after the finishing blow. I’ve washed out the wound and bandaged him, but nothing else. Oh, I gave him golia leaves for the pain while I worked. I think he needs stitches.”

“You would know about stitches, you great oaf,” the older woman grumbled as she collected a large, round tray made of woven strips of wood and began to load things onto it. “The divines know I’ve put enough of them through your mangy hide. Help your friend up on the table so I can have a look at his arm. And bring over one of the baldrsteinn! I need to see well.”

“Yes, Auntie,” Einar said with a wicked grin. He ducked when she threw a wooden bowl at him. The bowl flew over the big man’s head to clatter across the floor and under one of the beds.

“And pick that up!” Gretta collected the last thing she needed, a pair of polished iron shears, and hurried over with her tray to where Einar was helping Casey up onto the thick table. “All right, my boy. First off, what happened? Then tell me of the pain and any strange sensations you might have. How many leaves did the idiot give you?” The tone that Gretta used when addressing Casey was far kinder, and it took him a moment to process the sudden change in the woman’s attitude.

“Hill-varg clawed my arm up. It hurts, but I’ve had worse. No burning or feverish feelings; it just kind of itches. And he gave me three leaves, ma’am.”

Gretta made an amused noise in her throat and turned to glare at Einar.

“See? This is how you should act in front of a healer. Respectful, and to the point!”

“Gretta, you’ve been stitching my arse up for most of my life. If I didn’t respect you, then I’d stop coming to you,” Einar said jovially, and got a light swat on one thick shoulder from the older woman.

“Aye. I remember having to do that. So undignified that you managed to get bitten right on the arse. Why did you moon that dog, anyway?”

“Because it was barking. And I was dared to.” Einar shrugged, though a faint blush colored his cheeks.

Gretta had already turned away and was carefully unwinding Casey’s bandage after cutting the knots. Casey hissed as the cloth pulled at the wound, but Gretta was as gentle as she could be at the moment, wetting the cloth from a bowl of water she’d brought over to keep from dragging at the wound.

The cuts were soon laid bare, and Gretta chewed her lip while inspecting them. The baldrsteinn turned out to be a cloud-gray stone the size of a chicken’s egg that glowed with a soft light when Einar had unwrapped it. He’d taken it from a bowl against one wall that held a number of other leather-wrapped bundles.

Gretta took the stone from the big man and held it close to the wound. She prodded at the deep slashes several times and wiped away the fresh blood that welled up from them—slower than before, but the wound was still bleeding.

“You did a decent job of cleaning these out, Einar. I’ll need to stitch the drengr up and prepare a poultice, but I don’t see anything in the wound to cause problems,” Gretta said after a minute or two of poking and peering at the injury.

“How long do you think his treatment will take?” Einar’s voice was serious for once.

“An hour or so. The stitching will be quick, but the poultice must cool first.”

“Casey,” Einar directed his attention fully to Casey this time. “I will go and deal with the carcass, then come back. It is doubtful it will take longer than the hour, but if so, please wait for me here. I want to see you rewarded for helping the gatherers. So I will pay Gretta’s fee for you as part of that.”

“Sure thing, Einar. I know better than to argue with doc—er, the healer,” Casey replied with a nod, which got a laugh from Gretta.

“Your friend is smarter than you already, Einar.”

“Smarter, or just more experienced. Either way, look after him for me, would you, Auntie?” Einar ducked another thrown bowl, this time one made of stone, and beat a hasty retreat out the door.

“Oaf,” muttered Gretta before turning back to Casey with a small, fond smile on her stern lips. “Now then, let us see to your injuries. Do you need more golia for the pain?” This close to the severe woman, Casey could see that she had brown eyes to match her hair, though tiny flecks of silver danced in the brown.

“I’ll be fine,” Casey said without hesitation. Gretta stared at him for a long moment before rolling her eyes. She collected three more of the fat leaves from her tray, and set them on Casey’s thigh.

“If you happen to change your mind. Stoicism is all well and good in battle, but in front of a healer it is unnecessary,” she chastised him gently, then collected a length of cloth and carefully wiped the blood still leaking from his wounds. “Now, these are deep, but did not cut an artery. So you are lucky in that. I will start the poultice as it needs to simmer a bit, then wash your wound once more to be sure before stitching it up. When that is done, I will spread the poultice on it and then bandage you. Washing and stitching will hurt. So if you need something to bite down on besides the golia, let me know.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Casey replied automatically, getting a smirk from the healer woman before she set to work.

Gretta moved gracefully as she collected herbs from the bundles hanging from the ceiling, then minced and ground them before mixing with liquids and bits of resin from bottles and jars on her shelves. When she was content with the mixture, it was scraped into a short, fat-bellied pot and set by the fire to heat.

Occasionally, Gretta would pause in her work to dab at the wounds in Casey’s arm to ensure he didn’t drip blood everywhere. He worried at first that she would take too much time preparing this poultice thing. But she had the goop heating in a bare handful of minutes and set to threading a curved bone needle with a heavy, transparent thread that he didn’t recognize after washing the wound out with a sharp, herb-scented water she retrieved from a jar.

It’s catgut. And no, it’s not actually made with the guts of cats. Not sure where the name came from. You’d have to ask one of my aunts or an elder healer amongst the mortals, Maude spoke up while Gretta delicately stitched the worst of the cuts closed, her movements quick and sure. It’s a natural fiber and will leave minimal damage to the skin. The scars from the cuts themselves will distract the eye from any marks the thread might leave, and it is far less likely to bring something dangerous into the wound than a cotton thread.

Got it. Have I done anything dumb yet? I feel so out of my depth in this environment, Casey thought back towards the woman in the form of a seax.

While Gretta had unbandaged his arm, she had left it in the sling to keep it level, as the cuts did not go past his elbow. Talking to Maude helped him ignore the pinch-tug of the stitches.

Staring is the worst you’ve done so far, Casey. And that can be excused as someone in a new city. So far, you’ve been polite and reserved, which is not a bad thing when in a new place. We will need to talk more once you have the funds from Einar, and a place to rest without distractions. Already being in town has moved up our timetable a bit, and we have some choices to discuss.

“What possessed you to attack a hill-varg by yourself?” Gretta asked after a minute of quick stitching. The sound of her voice brought Casey out of his thoughts about what Maude might want to talk over now. He struggled to find an answer at first, before settling on the truth.

“It was going to attack some young folk who were gathering herbs. They didn’t appear to have weapons to defend themselves and I did, so I stepped in.”

“Foolish of them to leave town without a means to defend themselves. It would have been their own fault.” Gretta’s reply was not condemning or judgmental. Instead, she kept her tone conversational.

“People make mistakes all the time. It wasn’t as if they were goading the hill-varg or anything. I wouldn’t have intervened if that was the case,” Casey said simply, though he could feel the lie in his words.

Probably would have still tried to help them, anyway. Fool that I am.

Gretta did not respond to his statement, either to judge or applaud him. Instead, she began to hum quietly while she worked. Casey felt the minutes slip by, only marked by the steady pricking and tugging sensation of the stitches. The golia leaves sat ignored on his leg. Gretta moved them back to her tray after it was obvious that he didn’t need or want them.

The healer bandaged his arm lightly while they waited for the poultice to cool before unwrapping the arm and smearing the still-warm paste over the wound. It stung at first, and the flesh of his arm felt swollen under her touch. Casey knew that it was normal for cuts like this, given how often he’d been cut in his past life.

At least I didn’t have to stitch myself up this time. That was a pain in the butt. Casey did his best not to react to the sensation of sympathy he got from Maude.

Gretta was in the middle of wrapping another bandage around his stitched arm when Einar returned with a thunder of boots on the wooden floor. Owen and Lars were with him, and the trio came through the front door without knocking, which earned them a scolding from Gretta that made all three men wince.

“Good to see that Casey hasn’t annoyed you enough that you stitched his mouth shut,” Einar said in an effort to direct the woman’s ire from him.

“The young drengr has been nothing but polite to me. Unlike some of you cretins,” sniffed Gretta before turning back to Casey with a far kinder expression. “Now. You are to take it easy with this arm for the next few days. The stitches will need to stay in for several days. I want you to come back to me in three to check on them. If you feel feverish, if your arm swells, or if you see dark lines following your veins, then come to me immediately. Leave the poultice on for the next half-day at least and be very gentle washing the wounds. Once the poultice comes off, you must wash the injury very well. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand,” Casey replied automatically, and got a gentle smile from the older woman.

Gretta tucked several rolls of bandages into the opening of his sling, advising him to change the bandage at least twice a day, properly boil the old bandages to clean them, and let them dry entirely before reusing them if he had to. The idea of reusing bandages gave Casey shivers, which got a laugh from Maude.

Cloth is not as easy to come by here as it is in your homeland, Casey. They cannot waste it. Boiling cleans the bandages just fine. If it bothers you, then just do not get injured in the future, Maude told him in a teasing voice while Einar counted out a stack of small silver coins into Gretta’s open hand.

Easier said than done, Maude. His mental reply got an amused laugh from the spirit inhabiting the blade in his belt.

A blade that I need to get a sheath for soon, Casey reminded himself. Maude had told him that she wouldn’t cut him or his clothes, but he still felt nervous having a bare weapon just stuffed in his belt. Plus, it made him stand out when everyone else carried weapons in sheaths.

As they bid farewell to Gretta, she reminded Casey again to take it easy with the injury and to return if anything felt off. Einar got another scolding for his choice of words as he thanked his ‘auntie’ for looking after his friend, before the four men left the healer’s house.

“Why do you stir her up so much?” Owen asked once they were safely in the street once more.

“Because it is fun. She used to let me call her ‘auntie’ when I was a wee lad, and I want to continue the tradition. Recently, she decided it makes her feel old and tries to get me to stop, but I don’t want to. She is like family, with how often she’s patched me up,” Einar answered with an easygoing grin before turning back to Casey and handing him a leather pouch half the size of his fist that jingled quietly.

“What’s this?”

“My butcher’s payment from the hill-varg carcass. He bought the whole thing for a good price. I didn’t bother to tell him that it wasn’t a sale for the clan,” Einar said with a wink and another broad grin. His two companions grumbled under their breath but quieted when Einar glared at them. “It is not my fault that Grigori didn’t ask and just assumed. Either way, the hill-varg will be processed properly and, rather than feed on our people, it will instead feed us. A fitting end to such a loathsome creature.”

“I still find it hard to believe those things are edible,” Casey mumbled before he could think on it, but Einar just grinned, not offended.

“Yes. They aren’t the tastiest of foods, but they do fill the belly and have plenty of qi in them.”

“Qi?” Again, the question escaped before Casey could consider it, but this time he heard Maude’s hiss of warning in the back of his mind.

“Yes! The energy that fuels the fires of the soul. All beings have it, though the mighty and the dangerous carry more within them. It is the stones that pave our way on the Drengr’s Road. You probably know it by another name, but our clan has always called it qi. There are a few legends that speak of the knowledge either coming from the gods, or that it came from distant lands. But regardless, it is the power we use to grow our Legacies,” Einar explained with an amused smile.

Casey could detect a hint of questioning in the man’s eyes. It was clear, even without Maude’s reprimand, that this was one of the questions which would make him stand out in the world, and he scrambled for an explanation.

“Ah. Okay, I just hadn’t expected it. I… uh… remember hearing something about certain beasts being corruptive to it, and wasn’t sure if this was one of them,” Casey said quickly, spitting out the first idea that came to mind.

“Oh, you are thinking of the Fomori. No, they are quite dangerous. Their mere presence can harm those without the strength to resist it. None would dare eat a Fomori. Hill-vargs are nothing like those beasts. They are dangerous and cunning, but not outright corruptive like the Enemy.”

Casey wanted to ask more about what a Fomori was and more about this ‘Enemy’, but Maude’s hissed warning allowed him to keep the question inside his head this time. Instead, he just nodded along as if he had just remembered what Einar was saying, and the big man clapped him on his good shoulder.

“Well then, friend Casey. I will let you get about your day. You should get your supplies replaced and a stronger spear this time before you hunt monsters. The blade on your hip is a sturdy one, but you experienced today what happens when a vicious beast gets too close to you. Don’t let the tradesmen take all your silver, though! There are inns in the market as well. If you happen to change your mind, I’m sure the clan will put you up for a few days. Just ask for me at the clan compound’s gate.” The big man turned and pointed up the hill that the city was built around at the large stone fort built at the top of it. “Also, I’m sure the elders will want to reward you for your valor, so head up there later in the evening. I will leave word at the gate that they should admit you.”

“Einar, are you sure—” Lars began to protest only to go silent when Einar whirled on him with a glare.

“You have been allowed to whine like a whipped dog long enough. I will not have you continue,” Einar snapped at the other man, who shrunk under the big man’s glare.

I swear, it feels like everyone here can barely keep their tempers on a leash. Even someone as easygoing as Einar is ready to snap, Casey thought to himself.

It is the threats from the outside world. People try to find joy where they can, but it also leads to tension boiling under the surface, Maude explained quickly to him. Casey grunted quietly as Einar turned back to him.

“If you need help with anything, feel free to contact me. Okay?”

“Sure thing, Einar. Thank you for your help today. I will see you tonight at least, but first I will look into replacing lost supplies.” Casey bounced the coin pouch in his palm before tucking it safely into the only real pocket he had—the hip pouch with his flint, steel, and tinder bundles.

“Good man! The Drengr’s Road is a path that never ends, and you must be eager to return to it.” Einar grinned down at him once more before nodding and turning to lead his small group off.

Owen nodded to him in passing, while Lars sneered, but Casey just watched them go until they turned down another lane and vanished from sight.

Chapter 11

“Well, that was fun,” Casey mumbled. “I should get those supplies. First, though, I need to figure out how much money I have and what things are worth. Gotta find that market.”

A good plan. Have a look in the pouch and I can advise you on what to expect to pay for most things, Maude said in his head. The market is nearby, just smell for the scent of cooking.

Following his nose to the market was surprisingly easy. One of Casey’s initial worries was based on the myriad portrayals of the Middle Ages that he’d seen in movies and books growing up. Specifically, he’d been worried about hygiene.

Thankfully, there was no sewage flowing in the streets, nor was there the rank smell of piss or blood in the town. In fact, most of the smells he could detect were honest ones: cut lumber near a carpenter’s shop, hot metal as he passed a blacksmith’s, and fresh bread when approaching a bakery. As he wound through the cobbled streets, Casey could smell the thick scent of animals that was occasionally cut through with the sharp scent of herbs underneath it all.

The city’s major streets had been laid out on a rough grid, but secondary streets and alleys would wind out at random from these organized rows to reach the bulk of the smaller buildings or workshops.

At a glance, Casey guessed that several thousand people lived in this town wrapped around the base of the hill on which the fortress was built. The quality of houses varied wildly. Though from what he saw while he followed the scents of cooking food, there tended to be nicer houses closer to the base of the hill.

The citizens were polite, nodding or greeting him with a wave or a word, but all eyed him somewhat warily. Casey couldn’t really fault them. He was still wearing his tattered clothes and had a bandaged arm, after all. And that did not even mention the bare steel he had tucked in his belt.

It was just as he was beginning to hear the market that Casey made a connection that had been niggling at the back of his mind the entire time he was in the town—ever since he’d met Einar and the other two, actually.

All the people that he saw were in very good shape. Wherever he looked, Casey saw muscular men and women who were well groomed and clean, save for the occasional sweat-stain from lifting or moving something or an occupational smudge like the soot on the blacksmith’s face and arms as he emerged from his shop to drink water from a rain barrel by the door.

Clothing was neat and well maintained, even on the handful of people he saw scraping animal dung off the street with shovels or emptying barrels of scraps left by buildings that smelled of food. The dichotomy of what one might have expected from a town with such a rustic look and the reality of the moment was a bit confusing, to say the least.

The roar of talk and the shout of vendors hawking their wares told Casey he was getting close, so he checked to ensure a bare part of the arm in his sling was in contact with Maude’s handle.

Maude?

Yes, Casey? Came the response from the… spirit?

He wasn’t entirely sure how to describe Maude, really. She was so much more than just an intelligent weapon, but he didn’t really know how to describe her in his mind. She was just… Maude? He shook off the question and focused instead on what was coming.

What should I prioritize first? I know we were going to search for some kind of natural treasure to sell, but the carcass of that hill-varg got us some money to work with. Haggling is something I understand; I learned to do that when I was younger, though I’m a bit out of practice. I would appreciate your advice on both what to look for and how to tell if someone is trying to cheat me.

Of course. First, I would recommend survival supplies, such as a pack, tent, water skin, bedroll, and replacement clothes. Hearty trail food as well, but not too much. I can teach you to build traps to get your food when you have the proper tools. Oh! Also a small knife for eating with specifically, a larger utility knife, a small cooking pot and bowl. You can carve a fork from some wood if needed. Maude reeled off quickly in response to his question, and Casey blinked in surprise at the list. Maude then seemed distracted for a moment as she mumbled something that he was sure wasn’t meant for him to hear.

Need to ensure he’s properly groomed and presents himself as well… hmm. The eating knife can serve as a razor to shave with, unless you decide to grow your beard out. Then I’d say you need a small set of shears. Soap and a comb for maintaining yourself, at the very least. You will need to present yourself well to be taken seriously.

“Whoa,” Casey spat out verbally, his surprise drawing the words from him rather than the silent communication. “Do you think I’ll be able to afford all of that? What about a weapon?”

If that pouch is mostly silver, then yes. Maude’s response was so straightforward that he could even hear the shrug from her tone. You should check the pouch to get an idea. And a weapon is important, but you only might need it. You will definitely need the tools for survival.

Grumbling wordlessly to himself, he disagreed about the might part of needing a weapon considering his current injuries. Casey fished the fat leather pouch of coins out and untied it slowly. The motion sent a brief surge of pain through his arm as he had to shift it.

Inside the pouch, Casey found a small handful of coins that shimmered with precious metal in the afternoon sun. He also found a wicked-looking hunk of ivory tucked in amongst the coins.

“The hell is this?” Casey fished the tooth out, for that was what it was. A curved fang that he recognized almost immediately, given how close it’d come to sinking into him during his fight with the hill-varg.

A trophy taken from your kill. Not sure if that is an eye-tooth or not, but it’s certainly big enough. Einar must have realized you hadn’t taken a trophy yet and had it extracted before selling the beast, Maude answered simply. It is proof of your prowess—proof that you killed the creature if you ever need to convince someone of your abilities. Hang on to it. I’ll explain more about it later. Put it in with your tinder.

Doing as she suggested, Casey wrapped the fang in a bit of the loose moss he’d collected and dried that wasn’t already balled up around a nub of resin. He tucked that inside of a fold of birch bark to shield the sharp tip. That would keep it from stabbing through the leather or cutting anything in his pouch.

Worst case, I have something to carve with now, Casey thought idly and got a snicker of laughter from Maude.

Very true. Now have a look at those coins. The copper ones are called claws, the silvers are called fangs, and the gold are called horns. Ten of one makes up one of the next largest. There is another coin, called a crown, that is worth one hundred of the gold horns. Those are rarely seen outside of the clans making purchases, though. They are normally reserved for big expenditures. Only the Roaring Gold clan is allowed to mint them in the Nation. Look at the impressions.

Casey dumped the coins out into his left hand and picked one of each up to look closer. Each had the imprint of a hammer, head down, on an anvil on one side, while the other had a stylized version of its name on the other. A curved claw on the copper, a sharp fang on the silver, and a curling ram’s horn on the gold. In all, he had three gold horns, twenty silver fangs, and a dozen copper claws.

That should serve us well. Actually, it is more than I expected. I think we can get most of the supplies at a basic level for the fangs, and the horns will buy you a decent weapon. We don’t want to rush the last bit, though. Finding you the right weapon will take time. You handled the spear well enough, but it was obvious you have no training with that weapon.

The only martial training I’ve had was with my police baton and self-taught knife fighting growing up, Casey admitted. He tucked the coins back into the pouch. He was about to slip the coin-purse into his belt pouch when Maude stopped him.

Don’t put it in there. Slide it in your sling, under your wrist with the mouth up and open. That way, you can fish out coins without having to pull the whole pouch free. And if someone tries to mess with it, you’ll feel it.

Do pickpockets often harass people?

No idea, but better not to take a chance. Come on, let’s go check this market out.

Without any real objections, and a stomach that was beginning to complain with hunger, Casey did as suggested.

The market was a short distance away, less than a minute’s walk. It was situated in an open square that sat at the base of the hill and was linked on all four sides by wide roads that either ran up the hill, around it on either side, or back towards the gate.

While varied, the market was made up mostly of small stalls under awnings and tents with goods spread on tables inside them. Several stalls sat tucked up in the edges that were literally windows that opened up into shop walls. Those were the ones that sold food almost exclusively. Each of the stalls had a banner or flag hanging from it with a shop's symbol, and Casey guessed that most of the crafters that lived in town sold some of their wares here as a means to tempt people to their shops.

The first thing he bought was something to calm the grumbling in his stomach, as it had been hours since his meal of berries and fungus.

A hand-sized pastry filled with meat and vegetables in a heavy gravy cost him a single copper claw, and he bit into it with gusto. The filling was hot and savory. Casey felt a rush of energy flow into him when he swallowed and didn’t need to ask before Maude was already answering him.

While you don’t have a Legacy to nurture yet, the qi in the food will help you recover. It doesn’t hurt that this is the first meat you’ve eaten since arriving.

Casey let that thought roll through his head. He hadn’t noticed any effect like this from the berries and mushrooms he’d eaten already, but it could be something in how the cook prepared the food that he didn’t recognize.

Instead, he focused on sorting through the open-air market to find what he needed.

The stalls sprawled over the square, not arranged in any sensible way. It seemed to be determined by whoever managed to get there first and set up. Many were semi-permanent, with sturdy tables or counters to display wares on. They were likely left up overnight, even if the owners took their goods back to individual shops.

He’d fallen out of practice on bartering, but Casey brushed off the rust relatively quickly with Maude there to coach him on what was overpriced to start with.

The first thing that Casey decided he needed to pick up was a pack to carry whatever he bought in and a few more belt pouches to store supplies he needed easy access to. Pockets had not caught on here, so he needed to find other ways to store necessities.

The scent of sun-warmed leather hung underneath the smells of food in the air and the mild odor of so many people moving back and forth. While crowds did not pack the market yet, there were definitely plenty of people flowing between stalls, with the majority shopping at the food vendors.

There were a few stalls selling leather goods, mostly belts and small hip pouches, rather than what he needed. He did spot one that sold leather armor, though, and he noted it to return later if he had time and funds.

Casey spotted what he was looking for at one stall that sat facing away from the center of the market, tucked between two vendors that sold drinks from large kegs that they used to fill mugs customers brought with them.

The man who sat on a stool behind the table looked like he was part-way to becoming one with the leather goods that he sold, with how tanned and weather-beaten his face was. Stacked on the table in front of him were a variety of pouches, purses, straps, belts, and packs.

“Well met,” the man greeted as Casey squeezed between two men who were drinking and standing in the path.

“Good day to you,” Casey replied automatically with a nod to the man, and got a quirked eyebrow in response.

“We will see if the day is good. That will depend on whether you are here to buy or just look.”

“First one, then the other. I lost pretty much everything and then ended up injured, so I need to start replacing what was lost,” Casey said easily.

The man’s gruff attitude didn’t bother him. He’d gotten used to sour attitudes from the flea markets and pawnshop owners that he had dealt with growing up.

“That is fair. Just try not to finger my wares too much if you don’t plan to buy them. While it won’t damage them, I’d rather they remain in good condition,” the man warned, and Casey just nodded.

Grumpy old badger. Maude’s comment was nearly enough to break the genial mask of politeness that Casey had been wearing. He had to smother a laugh by bending close to inspect the packs. Pouches would replace pockets, but he couldn’t store a tent in one, he’d need something larger.

Well constructed, the leather looks tough and evenly tanned. Not used to full leather backpacks, but I suppose this is better than a cloth one. I doubt they have rip-stop nylon here. Kind of wish I’d gotten to go backpacking before I died the first time. I’m sure there would be applicable skills I could have used here, Casey thought while inspecting the stitching along the side of one pack that was almost as big as his torso.

That one is too large for you. You have broad shoulders, but that will ride too high on your back, Maude suggested, and Casey agreed silently. The pack just had shoulder straps with no waist cinch like he had seen on hiking backpacks. Go for a smaller one, and then a cross-shoulder bag for the more everyday supplies. You don’t want to weigh your belt down with pouches. Your weapon will do that.

Good point, Maude. Thank you again, Casey thought to his companion before nodding to one of the leather packs that was sized more appropriately.

“How much?”

“Twelve fangs for the pack,” the old man replied idly, his eyes watching Casey’s face intently.

Casey didn’t need Maude’s snort of amusement to know that the price was well beyond what the item was worth. With a quick internal conference with Maude, he replied.

“Twelve is far too much for a simple pack. I’d give you four for this pack and another two for that one as well,” Casey said, indicating a cross-shoulder bag with a broad strap that looked a bit like a courier pouch. But twelve for just this?” The counteroffer had the old man wrinkling his brow and frowning.

“Eight for the pack and four for the pouch,” the older man grumbled.

“Five and three. I like the designs on both, but they are still just packs. I have a lot to buy to replace what I lost,” Casey countered, shifting his arm in the sling. He wasn’t against using a bit of pity to get a decent deal.

“Six and three,” the man countered, still scowling, his unmoving eyes locked on Casey’s, clearly unimpressed by the bandages.

“Five and two now. Last offer. I’m sure there are other stalls.” Casey’s flinty reply finally got the man to react. The leathery man blinked, and his scowl deepened. Casey was fairly sure he could get the man to take it, as no one else had even glanced into the stall since Casey had stopped here.

Fairly sure he’s charging me the ‘strangers price’ as well, Casey thought, but he kept the frown off his face.

“You are not supposed to push it lower than your last offer,” the man grumbled.

“And you are more greedy than is fair. Good day.” Casey shrugged and turned to walk away. His suspicion that the day had been slow for the vendor was confirmed a moment later when the man called out to him.

“Wait. Five and two is fair for the two of them.” The tone of the man’s voice was still tinged with grumpiness, but there was a grudging acceptance to it as well. “My fault for judging you since I didn’t recognize you, lad. I did ask for more than is proper to start.”

“No harm in trying to get your best deal.” Casey turned back with a calm smile. It was surprising how often the feigned walk-off had worked on vendors in the flea market in his youth. “Are these waterproofed already?”

“Yes, part of my process is a treatment with beeswax and oil to ensure they are as sturdy as possible.” The old man held his hand out for the coins, and Casey counted them out quickly for him.

It took a bit of wrangling to get the shoulder bag over his head to hang on his right hip. He pushed the pouch with his tinder around to the other side to sit behind where Maude’s seax form was tucked into his belt.

The pack he slung over just his right shoulder for now, as he would be loading it down soon, and he didn’t want to have to keep removing his sling to get the other shoulder strap on.

“Appreciate it.” Casey glanced down at the table for a long moment but didn’t see what else he was looking for. “Anyone that you can recommend for sheaths? I need one for this lovely gal on my hip before she decides to slash up my clothes.” Casey lifted his elbow to show off Maude in his belt, and the old man hissed in surprise.

“Brave of you to tuck a blade in your belt like that. I’m surprised it hasn’t cut you yet. Dermak’s does sheaths and other blade-related gear. He’s that way. Look for a skinny man that looks like a walnut with a drinking problem. He’s got a number of daily goods, too. Not the cheapest, but solid quality. His shop sign is a pouch on top of an eating knife,” the old man replied while tucking the coins Casey had given him into a pouch at his belt.

“Appreciate it,” Casey said while giving the man a nod before stepping back into the crowd.

Well done, Casey. I was astonished at the gouging price he asked to begin with, but you were almost perfectly on the money with a fair price initially. We need to make sure not to load your packs to bursting. You can make decent money in markets like this selling herbs, ores, and other resources you find in the wild, so you need space to transport them.

That’s the plan, Maude. I figure the courier bag will be for things I find while out, or stuff I need to have access to quickly. Like medical supplies.

Good point, you should move your bandages in there now. No reason to have things stuffed in your sling besides the money pouch.

Casey did just that while they wound through the market on the way to Dermak’s stall. He stopped along the way to pick up a short eating knife in a simple leather sheath that was barely as long as his palm. The blade was simple and tapered to a point with no guard and a brightly polished wooden handle. It cost him another two silver fangs, but the comforting weight of a blade on his hip was worth it—at least a blade that wasn’t actively talking to him.

Dermak was exactly as the old leatherworker had described him. Tall and slim, with skin the color of a walnut and a polished sheen except for his nose. That feature was large and had the telltale reddening and swollen look of someone who liked to drink quite a bit. The man was jovial and friendly, though, bidding him to step right up and let ‘old Dermak’ know what he needed.

From the much friendlier man, Casey purchased a sheath made of wood with a leather strap for his belt. The sheath was well-polished ash, without adornment besides the metallic ring at the mouth and at the tip. The sheath had even been designed to hold a blade with a unique shape like Maude’s.

“Seaxes are good fighting knives. Little short for most folks, but solid nonetheless! You take good care of that one. It’s a fine blade.” Dermak chattered while counting the coins Casey handed him. “You got the care supplies for your blade?”

Casey was about to deny that he needed them, but stopped. After a shrug, he shook his head in denial, and Dermak was quick to produce a small jar, a whetstone, and a soft cloth for polishing.

“The oil will keep the blade from rusting and help polish it up nicely. The whetstone will help keep the edge sharp, but that’s a fighting blade, not a shaving one! Don’t go trying to put a razor edge on it, or you’ll end up with one too easily dulled while fighting,” Dermak advised, and Casey nodded along.

You don’t need to get things like that for me, Casey, Maude said to him.

They are practical things to have. And besides, you deserve to be well polished for all the help you have been giving me. I still owe you for letting me use your blade to make that spear. It saved my life once already, Casey thought back with a mental shrug. Besides, I’m sure I will find a use for them.

Maude had no response to that, remaining silent while Casey haggled for the blade-care supplies, as well as several other bits and pieces. Dermak actually had a fair bit of what he needed: from a small pot and a forged ring that could be used to build a tripod over a fire with just some branches, to a bone comb for his hair and cakes of an unscented, yellow soap.

Loading them up in his pack, Casey thanked Dermak and stepped away from the man’s stall. He made his way to the edge of the market once more and leaned against the wall of a building that smelled of fresh, yeasty bread with the undercurrent of cooked berries and pies.

What else is there to get? Bedroll and clothes, I think. I have pretty much everything else. Dermak had the right of it, basically a secondhand shop.

Accurate description. I’m sure he buys spare bits and pieces off of travelers, or gets things from the apprentice crafters so they can earn a few coins. He probably represents an outfitter shop for hunters or the like. Thank you for the sheath. It didn’t require much thought to keep from cutting you or your clothes, but it required a steady thread of focus.

No problem. Let me know if there is anything else you need or want, Maude. I owe you that and more, Casey thought back while going over his list. He’d expected the odds and ends to have filled the leather backpack he was carrying, but it was barely half full now. The pack even had straps on the bottom to tie a tent or a bedroll on the exterior. I should try to get a needle and thread. Would help if I can mend my own clothes and stitch up my cloak’s hem where the hill-varg slashed it up.

Casey’s mind was wandering, lost in thought about the various bits and pieces of gear he might need or could afford depending on his budget when he spotted the young woman, a child, really, edge between the bakery and the building just beside it that sold roast meat on a stick.

The girl was wearing a ragged set of pants and an oversized tunic. If she hadn’t stepped out of the alley a few feet from Casey’s side, he would have likely missed her.

While he watched, the young woman—he couldn’t get over how young she looked—crept up to the open counter while the vendor chatted with one of their customers. When the customer left and the big man turned to check on the meat grilling on the oven behind him, she darted forward. The ragged girl-child snatched a pair of the cooked skewers off the counter where he’d been laying them to cool while he prepared more. Prize in hand, the young thief turned and scampered back towards the alley, only to freeze when she saw Casey staring right at her.

She was thin, obviously undernourished, and her cheekbones stood out against a face that would have been cute if it wasn’t desperate. Casey’s heart went out to her. He knew the kind of hunger he could see in the lines of her thin face.

“You shouldn’t steal. It’s a hard habit to break when you fall into it,” Casey said quietly. He glanced between her and the vendor, who had turned back to the counter and was now counting his skewers with a suspicious look on his face.

Making a decision quickly, Casey dipped his fingers into the pouch and fished out a coin. He fought back a wince when he pulled out a gold horn, but he did not put it back in his pouch. The girl’s eyes went wide as he offered it to her.

“Here, something to help you up while you find honest work,” Casey spoke gently to the girl, keeping a watch over her shoulder while the vendor looked around. She was smart, though, and had the skewers blocked from sight with her thin body.

“I don’t need no handouts,” the girl spat and made a single step to the side, as if getting ready to duck down the alley. Her eyes never left the glittering coin in his hand, though, pride and hunger warring on her face.

Casey almost let her go. But the look of hunger in her eyes and the way the tattered clothing clung to her thin shoulders was far too familiar. The image of the young woman brought up memories he ruthlessly squashed in the moment.

A flick of his wrist sent the coin bouncing to the ground. It rolled into the alley and came to a rest in the shadow of one of the buildings. The girl watched the coin bounce away before turning to look at Casey in confusion.

“Oh no, I seem to have lost some money. I wasn’t watching and have no idea where it went. I hope that the gods can use it to bless someone or that someone in need will seize the opportunity,” Casey said in a dry, deadpan voice while looking the girl directly in the eyes.

Then, he turned and walked into the crowd with the elbow of his left arm tucked behind Maude’s hilt so he maintained contact with the weapon.

She picked it up.

Good. I wish I could do more, but there are always more people in need than means to help them.

Either she will take the hand up, or not. Either way, you have bought her a measure of comfort. I hope you will not regret it.

Helping someone is not a thing to regret. I would regret not offering more.

Maude was silent as Casey moved through several other vendors over the next hour. He purchased a trio of tunics in brown, blue, and dark green and two more sets of trousers in a light tan. A bedroll made of several wool blankets consumed all of his remaining silver and left him with two horns and half a dozen claws in his pouch.

With his purchases secured on his person, Casey found his way back to the center of the market.

A simple fountain of polished stone sat there, with a plinth holding an anvil and a hammer resting on top with its handle raised to the sky in the middle of the fountain. Several benches were scattered around the bubbling feature. Most of the benches were occupied by people sitting, chatting, or eating, and Casey settled onto one of the empty benches with a quiet groan.

Well, that is the majority of it. I just need to get a weapon and a place to stay. Any idea how much a night at an inn might cost? he thought towards Maude while watching the crowds go by.

There were many couples moving back and forth with children in tow, and just as many groups of children of all ages racing back and forth while fighting with sticks in the open spaces of the market. He watched them for some time before realizing Maude hadn’t answered his question.

Glancing down to ensure the seax was in its sheath and he was touching it, he tried again.

Maude? Are you there?

Hm? What was that, Casey? Maude’s voice sounded distracted, and he shifted to get a better look at her on his belt—a move that made him feel a bit silly, as a knife, no matter how fancy or empowered, didn’t exactly have expressions to read.

I was asking if you had an idea of how much a night at an inn might cost. Is everything okay?

Depending on the inn and the kind of fare you order, Maude replied after a pause. Everything is fine. I was just considering something.

Anything you want to talk about? It’s better to get it off your chest than to internalize concerns or problems. Well, off your blade, Casey chuckled at his lame attempt at a joke, but Maude rewarded it with an amused snort, so he called it a win.

Casey, I have a question for you. I want your honest answer on it, too.

Sure. Go for it.

How serious are you? About all of this? Growing, overcoming, and all that. You are going to have to work hard to earn a fragment of a Legacy, and the Drengr’s Road is a long one.

I have nothing else to pursue, Maude. I want revenge on that creature that tormented me and others back on Earth. His machinations robbed me of everything, so I have nothing left but chasing revenge to stop him from hurting someone else. Loptr said this was the best way to acquire the power to get even. Casey sighed gustily and looked up at the blue sky overhead. A handful of fluffy clouds scudded across it, teasing the sun with their edges.

You could beseech the gods for a Legacy. It’s been quite some time since they granted such a request, but I know my father. He’d find a way to send you one. If only to stir things up down here.

I don’t need any handouts. I am thankful for your help, Maude. Though even that is more than I asked for, Casey replied obstinately, pointedly ignoring the fact he was repeating the words of the young thief from earlier.

I can appreciate wanting to earn your power. But what if I could give you a leg up?

“I don’t want handouts,” Casey growled under his breath, now glaring down at the seax. He was entirely unaware of how bizarre he looked while scowling at his own hip.

I could just drop it on the ground and hope someone ‘seizes the opportunity.’ Just like a coin thrown into an alley. Maude’s words were pointed, but not cruel.

Casey sighed harshly and ground his teeth for a moment. Swallowing his annoyance, Casey forced himself to consider her words and think her offer through.

It could take years to earn one of these Legacy fragments that she’s talking about. Years for which I’ll be fighting to catch up from behind. I learned earlier today just how deadly this world can be. I don’t have the kind of skills to do anything besides fight or enforce laws. It definitely would not surprise me if the people enforcing laws here are those who hold Legacies already. The way Einar talked of the clans makes this world feel quite feudal.

Silently, the thoughts flowed through Casey’s mind without a care, and he forgot entirely that Maude could hear all of them from his skin-to-metal contact. The intelligent weapon waited for him patiently. This was not a choice she could force on him.

Maude waited until Casey was beginning to loop around on his logic and repeat things before she finally spoke up.

Casey, this would help both of us. And it would be simply the equivalent of helping you step out of your door and onto the Drengr’s Road.

“The first step?”

The first step. Moving beyond that will be up to you, but I can help you get on the Road. It is a risk to me, I won’t lie. But if the risk pays off? It will help me as well. So it’s not as if I get nothing out of this.

That admission actually made it easier on Casey, and he nodded once to himself, the decision settling in.

“Okay, what do I need to do?”

Chapter 12

Maude was quick to respond to his agreement.

First, I need to explain more of how the Drengr’s Road works and how you will grow. What I’ve told you so far I have given you piecemeal. Loptr should have told you before he sent you, but the man refuses to do things the easy way. I may repeat things you already know, but bear with me so you have a solid foundation of understanding. While I walk you through this, follow the road around the base of the hill. We should look for a quiet place so that you won’t be disturbed. A temple would be good, but I have no idea what temples they might have here.

“And whatever god the temple is devoted to won’t mind us being there?” Casey muttered, still half-glaring down at the seax on his hip.

Doubtful. It’s not as if every god is watching every temple. Unless you invoke a name, then they won’t even realize we are there.

“Fine.” Casey sighed and rose to his feet once more.

It took a bit of maneuvering to get his pack on again, still only using the one shoulder since the other arm was injured and still restrained in its sling.

Once he had everything tucked back in its place, he followed the larger road that ran around the base of the hill. A few people stared as he walked away, but for the most part the market-goers ignored the strange man in ragged and bloody clothes.

Where to start, then?

Maude’s question echoed in Casey’s mind, and he tried to be patient while he walked carefully through the streets. It took only a handful of minutes to escape the bustle of the market and return once more to the backstreets of the city.

At the beginning? Casey thought at her while he turned onto a smaller side-street that was lined with trees bearing tiny, still-growing apples, on one side and several quaint homes on the other.

Too far back and not pertinent at the moment when you don’t need more than the basics. The Drengr’s Road is a path forged of knowledge taken out of myths and legends from the distant past, and applied to this world. The term is used to describe the growth of power that occurs by allowing yourself to be hammered on the anvil of life. But to be tested is not enough. You need the proper materials to forge yourself into a true weapon. In the beginning, the gods gave the first Legacies to those they believed embodied their ideals. Now the chain passes from men and women to their fellows. Maude began the lecture in a reserved tone that felt to Casey like she was reciting a poem or a story.

There are three different Journeys on the Drengr’s Road: the Mortal, Immortal, and Divine. Only the first two Journeys are meant to be completed here on the mortal plane. The third you walk amongst the gods, to see if you have the strength to join them. Each Journey is broken into ten Steps separated into four Phases that are thresholds of power. The first three Phases are each three Steps long, while the fourth Phase is the final Step and prepares you to embark on the next Journey. Make sense so far?

“Three journeys of ten steps, but divided into four unequal phases. Why divide it that way?”

Casey turned down another lane and glanced around, finding himself back on the main road at the base of the hill. The side path he had taken had wound back around to dump him on the road.

Around the bend of the hill, he was fairly sure he could see what looked like a large, wooden building and several wooden pillars sticking up over fences. Shrugging, he decided to check that out next.

I do not know the exact reasons. Perhaps the elder gods designed it this way, or maybe they found it like this and decided to keep it. What I know is that it works. Your friend Einar is on the Mortal Journey—likely no more than a Step or two along the Road. Same with his two companions. Even so, being on the first Step means you will be stronger and more dangerous than a normal mortal. That’s what I’m offering you: the first Step of the road.

“I thought you needed a Legacy for that?”

You do. Normally, Legacies are created by the core of a cultivator who ascends from the Immortal Journey into the Divine Journey. When they step onto the Divine Journey, those who succeed leave behind their purified cores, and these become their Legacies to those who would follow them. Maude paused for a moment to let that sink in before she continued again.

The Legacy itself dictates how your power will grow. A fire Legacy will guide you to magic surrounding fire, heat, and temperature control while molding your body for rapid movements. The Legacy you start with is not the only thing to shape you, as each Drengr’s Road is unique and will test the drengr differently. So, if you were to ingest a Legacy of Boiling Earth, you would learn earth magic and your body would grow solid and strong, but not tall. During your trials, you learn to move quickly and apply your strength and solid stature by wielding a spear. When you ascend, you might leave behind the Legacy of the Earthen Lance. Influenced by what you start with, your Legacy would form and grow based on your actions as you follow the path. It is nearly impossible to recreate a Legacy in its entirety.

“Sounds like picking my Legacy is going to be important. You implied that Legacies were precious, though. So I doubt that many people get a choice at all.”

Just so. It depends on their clan and station, as well as opportunities that present themselves. Those who do get to choose only have a few options, usually fewer than you have fingers on one hand.

Casey turned a corner and the narrow side streets and looming houses that rose up on either side fell away to reveal an open park with a dozen or more shrines in it, as well as a central temple. There were maybe a double handful of men and women either at the shrines or walking along the paths that wound amongst bushes and trees interspersed with totems or large wooden statues of different gods.

Ah, good. Find a comfortable place to sit where you will be undisturbed. Do not crowd someone who is meditating, as it is considered rude. Especially here. And that same principle will ensure that no one else bothers you.

Got it, Casey thought silently, now that they were around people once more.

He stepped off the cobbled road onto the sandy path that wound between the bushes. While he walked in the park-like temple grounds, he listened to Maude continue her explanation.

Those who have started the Drengr’s Road are given many benefits simply from taking the first Step. Longer lives, fewer physical ailments, and improved bodies are just a handful of them. I can delve more into the specifics as we go along and they become pertinent. You will also grow more resistant to the corruptive forces of the Enemy.

Enemy?

Yes. They have many names, but the chief one used is the ‘Fomori.’ They are foul creatures with dark natures whose bodies and minds are twisted to match. The Fomori are the reason the gods blazed the Drengr’s Road and gave the first Legacies to their followers. It allows those who follow the gods to better defend themselves and those they hold dear. All with the goal of rising to join the gods in their greater war within the Realms Eternal, all in hopes that the war might one day end.

I don’t know if I want to sign up for some war, if that is what is expected with growing a Legacy, Casey thought bluntly.

He wound past several of the open-fronted shrines, glancing inside to see more people meditating. Most were carrying weapons or items that must have some connection to the deity who the shrine was dedicated to. It was the only reason he could think as to why someone would meditate while holding a wheat-scythe across their chest.

You aren’t obligated to join the war on either the mortal or the divine planes, Maude reassured him. It is just how the Gods recruit. If you wanted to assume a seat in the pantheon, then you would be expected to join. But if that is not your goal, then do not worry. Free choice is very important in this. The Fates know and dictate so much of our lives, even those of the divine, that what freedoms of choice we have left are considered sacrosanct to many.

Casey was about to say something in response when he felt a tugging sensation towards one of the shrines and changed course.

In short order, Casey was standing in front of a shrine that stood shorter than the others and was of humbler make. It had simple, wooden walls and a clay tile roof all around a stone carved into the shape of an anvil. No one sat inside, though a collection of three-legged stools of simple but sturdy make sat along the wall.

“Here…” Casey muttered as he stared at the anvil made of cool, gray stone.

Interesting you would choose this one. You will definitely have privacy here and it fits. Maude’s voice was amused, and Casey could just imagine the slight smirk on the face of the beautiful, raven-haired woman he’d only seen for a handful of seconds the night before. Find a comfortable seat and settle in, Casey. I will tell you a bit more about the Drengr’s Road before you take this first Step. I want you to know what to expect, so that you can make the final choice with confidence.

“Appreciate that, Maude,” Casey murmured aloud and stepped out of the afternoon sun and into the low-ceilinged shrine.

The temperature shifted as soon as he was out of the direct light, cooling off considerably. The floor of the shrine was made from smooth stones of irregular shape, carefully fitted together so only fine seams remained between them. Giving the stone anvil a wide berth, Casey headed for the stools, but stopped after only a handful of steps.

The anvil altar was radiating heat like a crackling fire, and he could feel it brushing against him as he moved.

Casey stared at the worked bit of stone for several long moments, looking for any sign of why it radiated such heat, but could not spot anything. After staring at it for some time, he steeled himself and moved to take the seat he had been angling for. It was towards the back of the collection of low stools, with a beam just behind it for him to lean against.

Settling his pack between his feet, Casey got comfortable. Once he was seated, he checked Maude’s sheath to make sure she was also well-secured, getting a slight laugh from the intelligent weapon that claimed to be related to the gods of this world—for all that she played down the connection usually.

So, what else do I need to know to make this decision? Casey thought questioningly as he grew still and the room grew silent. Something told him not to speak aloud right now, so he let his eyes settle on the stone anvil in the middle of the room.

The Drengr's Road is one walked with purpose. You cannot just stumble along and expect to grow. You must train and prepare yourself, as well as refine qi from your environment, Maude began to explain. Qi comes from many sources: the water you drink, the air you breathe, the food you eat, and the blood you spill. As it is known as the Drengr’s Road, the last one is considered the primary way to grow, but all four are valid options to shape yourself around. You must treat your Legacy like a tree you are cultivating to full size. The qi is the nutrients it needs, and there are many sources.

Casey considered that silently for several moments. Outside the shrine, he could hear solitary steps along the path that neared the shrine he was in before the steps turned away.

Does using any one style of qi collection in particular endanger the final product? I don’t know the specifics about farming, but I remember reading that too much of one type of fertilizer could damage the plant.

Very wise already. That concern can be true. But you would have to go to great lengths to taint the growth beyond the natural balance your body will find. It would be far more likely you would simply waste the qi than have it added to your Legacy and allow your core to grow. There are more specifics, but I will relate them to you as they become pertinent.

There feels like there is a lot going unsaid right now.

This is the path to power that Loptr promised you. When he sent you here, and me to guide you, he expected you to find a clan you deemed worthy and join them. From there, you would work to earn a fragment of that clan’s Legacy and then go on to forge your own path. How long it takes is entirely dependent on how much you apply yourself and the chances you take. I have an alternate path to offer you. Maude’s voice sounded like it was from just a bit further away and Casey shifted unconsciously, stroking the smooth wood of the sheath with the fingers of his right hand while his left elbow remained in contact with the metal pommel to allow him to converse.

What is it that you are offering? Casey asked after a moment of thought.

Casey was still hesitant. His life had not been one filled with trust, after all. Despite being burned repeatedly, Casey was still curious about what Maude would say. She had been with him for all of a day so far and had been entirely honest with him the whole time. The only thing that she had asked him to do was not die—a request he was happy to comply with—and to respect her choices.

I want you to understand that I do not make this offer lightly, Casey. Maude’s mental voice was firm. Casey swore he could see the silhouette of the woman in the brown leather wrap outfit in front of him, slightly distorted by the heat waves rising from the anvil’s surface as if she stood just on the other side of it. In the day that I have known you, you have shown honor and integrity, as well as respect. You have shown valor and pride in your work, as well as determination. When I told you that I did not permit you to wield me, you respected that choice and did not press on it, when even my kin have pressed me for that right.

You said you didn’t want me to. So I wouldn’t. End of story. Your agency may be limited due to the fact you wear the form of an item more often than not, but that doesn’t remove your right to bodily autonomy, Casey interjected.

Yes. And that mindset, as well as what I have viewed from your thoughts and memories you have shown me, is what has convinced me to make you this offer. The silhouette stared at him for a silent moment, eyes shimmering like two glowing points.

Casey the Sullivan, I will permit you to wield my physical form as a weapon. We shall both walk the Drengr's Road. I already stand upon it and will offer you a hand to step up onto it. My Road differs slightly from yours, as I have a core already and am born of the Divine. I grow through being applied in combat and can draw qi from sources you cannot. This will not hinder your growth. Instead, it will help you, as I can utilize and purify some sources that would be dangerous for you. I will be the tool that helps you move mountains.

Something about how Maude spoke brought Casey’s mind into focus, though his eyes continued to drift through the heat haze in the shadowed shrine. She was offering quite a bit of help—to work with him and teach him—but it didn’t feel right.

The ringing of metal on metal increased. It sounded like there must be a blacksmith at work somewhere nearby. Before it had sounded like two people practicing with metal weapons.

I’ll accept. But I don’t want you to just be a tool for me to use, Maude. You have your own mind, your own goals, and your own life. Casey had a moment of hesitation, remembering the betrayal of the last person he’d even slightly trusted before his death and then steeled himself. I don’t need tools, but I could use an equal, a partner, Casey thought towards the weapon at his side.

Maude was silent at first and he could get no sensation of what she was thinking or feeling. The apparition in front of him wavered, but her eyes remained locked on him.

Partners then, Maude said at last into his mind. The face of the apparition went through several expressions before settling on a determined one. The ringing sound of a blacksmith pounding on metal stopped, and everything was still as death in that moment. I will fragment off a portion of my own Legacy for you to use as a seed to begin your own. I was going to beg my father to gift you one, but this will bond us together more firmly.

It won’t hurt you? Casey asked into the silence, and the apparition smiled at him.

Growing always hurts, but this will only hurt for a moment and will heal in time— even quickly, if you are as determined as I think you are. You remember our lessons of building a fire from the cave? What is the first Step? The sudden shift in topic made Casey blink, and the apparition above the anvil vanished as if it had never been there.

Collect the wood?

Close, but not quite. First you need tinder, then you can build a fire around that. Maude’s voice was amused, but Casey thought he could hear a hint of determination in it. Draw me.

Doing as he was told, Casey shifted so that he gripped the leather-wrapped hilt of the seax that was Maude with his right hand and drew her free of the sheath at his hip. The metal ring at the mouth of the sheath chimed quietly as the blackened metal of the blade rasped against it. While Casey had been carrying her unsheathed until only recently, he’d only studied her weapon form once, when he pulled her from the tree. Now, knowing more about her as he did, Casey studied the weapon once more.

The blade was keen. It came to that angular, low point on the front edge that made it different from most knives he was used to. But rather than being a dagger or knife, the seax was a shortsword. The blade was a bit longer than his forearm and two or three fingers across. Looking closer now, Casey swore he could see faint etchings along the spine of the blade, but his thoughts were distracted when Maude spoke to him again.

To you, Casey the Sullivan, I gift the means to lay your tinder for the fire that will forge your body and soul. May the Legacy of Steel grant you an unshakable foundation.

As Casey watched, the very tip of the blade, less than half an inch from the sharp point, cracked and fell free to land in his lap.

Chapter 13

Casey wanted to panic. He started to, in fact, but Maude’s voice speaking into his mind with only a tinge of pain in her tone quickly reassured him.

Place the fragment on your tongue and swallow. Do not fear being cut. The Legacy is mine, and given willingly. It will not harm you.

“You want me to swallow a chunk of razor-sharp steel and not worry?” Casey demanded, speaking aloud for the first time since taking his seat.

The air in the shrine tightened, and he felt something—several somethings—turn its attention to him and Maude, as if someone had just pointed a spotlight onto him.

I promise nothing ill will happen. If I wanted you dead, there would be far easier ways to kill you without risking myself, Maude replied dryly. Be at peace, Forge-Fathers. I do what I do willingly. The last part that Maude said did not feel like it was directed at Casey.

Abruptly, that feeling of pressure and awareness faded some, but it did not leave.

Grimacing slightly, Casey picked up the chunk of blade and placed it on his tongue. The metal was cool, and he could feel just how sharp it was as it laid there.

Hope you are being honest, Maude. If this kills me… Casey didn’t hear a response so much as feel the amusement from the blade in his hand. He gathered up his courage and swallowed.

Good boy. No… Maude’s voice trailed off. Good man. Now, brace yourself to experience my Legacy as it lays your foundation.

Maude’s words were the last thing Casey heard as the cold piece of metal slipped down his throat like a chip of ice. It did not leave a burning cut behind. Instead, the bit of metal fell down his throat like a frozen star and hit his gut with the force of a meteor crashing to earth.

<><><>

Casey was standing in a void surrounded by a maelstrom of stars and swirling ribbons of light in a multitude of colors, but primarily green and brown.

The roiling light of a brilliant sun burned in front of him, a marble of fury that threatened to consume Casey whole.

In the space between him and that wrathful orb of burning gas sat a plane of space debris.

Slowly, bits of gravel and other debris began to accumulate together until another, far smaller, sphere formed. The sphere continued to grow, but far more slowly after it had cleared a path through the debris for itself.

Casey could see other spheres beginning the same process, but he was focused on this one. As it hung there in space, it began to glow and shift. In moments, the surface of the planet turned molten.

As Casey watched, the nascent planet’s life cycle continued. Tectonic upheaval shifted and rearranged the surface of the planet. Next came smoke, fire, and steam as the planet itself gave voice to a demand for protection, creating an atmosphere and magnetosphere to shield the planet from the sun’s rays.

The surface cooled, but was still bombarded with meteorites as the rest of the planets in the system fought over material needed to grow until only a pair of thin bands—asteroid belts he guessed—remained between three of the larger planets on the outside of the system.

Just as the planets finished gobbling up the dust and detritus from the forming of the star, Casey felt himself pulled headfirst towards the surface of the planet he was watching. Unable to resist the pull, he fell.

A corona of fire surrounded Casey as he dove through the natural protections the planet had generated until he impacted the side of a young mountain. His impact disfigured the face of the young peak, but the mountain did not crumble or even tremble at the impact.

In the space of seconds, eons passed.

From his point of view, lodged high in the cliff and sheltered inside the hollow the impact had created, Casey watched the world surge and grow beneath him.

Forests rose and fell, great beasts and monstrous creatures walked, hunted, and consumed each other. He saw people: men, women, animals and so many other species fighting for survival at high speed.

A star fell onto the open plains. Plains on which a tropical jungle had once grown, though it had faded as waters receded.

Around that impact site, a circle of strange flowers sprouted before trees surged to giant proportions to encircle it and cut off his view for the first time in seconds—or millennia. Magnificent beasts returned to this primeval forest, even as people tried to colonize it with cities made of stone and wood.

Nature repeatedly drove off those people who dared intrude.

Watching as he did, Casey couldn’t help but cheer on one particularly valiant man in ragged clothes as he fought off a massive forest cat to protect a female of a different species. Casey wished them well.

A group of a half-dozen people—humans, elves, and a short woman he thought was a gnome—walked by underneath him. The giant forest watched them, allowing them access to a moldering ruin of a stone tower. They emerged moments later, beaten but unbloodied and carrying treasure and history. Casey thought this was interesting.

Something glittering soared overhead, and Casey finally had the moment to wonder how this all tied into what Maude had described before as the Legacy of Steel.

Like it had been summoned by his thoughts, a stout form with an immaculately tamed beard as black as the void between stars popped his head into Casey’s view.

The man wore sturdy clothes made from a mixture of cloth and leather in the colors of the earth and autumn leaves. His eyes glittered like polished gold.

“Hello there! Oh, you will be wonderful to work with! I must save you for a special occasion,” the little man said.

He lifted his other arm into view, and Casey was startled to see he was wielding a pickaxe made of some silvery material.

Casey tried to wince, to roll away from the man, but he couldn’t move. The pickaxe struck him above his left ear, but Casey felt no pain. He tumbled free to be caught by the short man.

“What did you find, Eitri?” called another gruff voice, but Casey could not see who it belonged to. Instead, his view was now that of the sky and what looked like massive tree branches that encompassed the world like the fingers of a hand. Those branches swam and wavered, like a mirage half seen.

“A seed from the creation of this world! Meteoric iron is so hard to find in one piece, but this bit was lucky to stay whole. I don’t know what to use it for, but I feel like it has a fate to fulfill. What do you think, Brokkr?” spoke the first of the two.

Casey was passed to another set of hands. He couldn’t feel them, but he could observe the movement in how the sky shifted.

A moment later, another craggy face loomed over him, also with black hair and a thick beard. But rather than braided like his companion, this one’s beard was held in a multitude of bundles by glimmering links of silver, gold, and a shining white metal Casey did not recognize. It made his beard look like a star-speckled night sky. This man’s eyes were the color of bright silver.

“I agree. I know just where to rest this little one in the forge. Come. Let us return, brother.”

Movement, and then Casey was resting on a tall shelf in a room that looked straight out of a fantasy book. A dozen different anvils, each one made of a differently colored metal, sat amongst two dozen different furnaces and forges.

The two bearded men—dwarves if Casey had to guess from their actions and looks—moved through the space like they were on fast forward.

He could hear their singing as they worked, the ringing of hammers on anvils, and the quiet scratch of engraving as they detailed their work, the rasp of a sharpening stone, or the hiss of the quenching oil.

Whenever one of the two stout men finished a project, Casey got a glimpse of that item's fate.

Crowns sat upon brows, observing as both men and women decided the fates of their people.

Elaborate chalices held wine in celebration, or poison to sow chaos.

Rings and necklaces twinkled merrily on bodies in celebration.

Elaborate sculptures of precious metal shone with quiet pride in silent halls.

For each glimpse of a treasure though, Casey saw three of simple items. Items forged of iron and steel.

Hoes turned soil and rusted in peaceful relaxation in an afternoon rain.

Sword clashed with sword, drinking blood and exulting in a singular purpose.

A simple iron hook dutifully supported a cauldron over a fire.

A scythe cut through grass without a care in the world, the work-song of its wielder ringing along the blade as it drew back again.

Spears flew and brought down a charging boar.

Chisels carefully dug grooves in wood to add to an elaborate carving.

An arrowhead rattled against its brothers before taking to string and leaping from a bow to bring down a man on horseback.

An iron comb carefully sorted out snarled hair.

A war-hammer creased an armored helmet.

Nails bit into wooden beams.

The executioner’s axe rose in the air.

A knife diced vegetables.

All the sins and glories of worked metal flashed through Casey’s mind, accompanied by the joyous song of industry and the ringing of hammers on anvils.

“It is time.”

The voice of the first bearded man. Casey remembered it distantly as the one named Eitri, the braided brother.

His visions flashed to a stop as he was drawn down off of the shelf and set into the warm embrace of a fire.

“Are you sure, brother? The man is tricky. I do not trust him after his past insults.” Brokkr continued to work the bellows for his brother as he spoke, the movement sending a million sparks of light through his beard and its metallic links.

“He is a desperate father, with a desperate wife. A man who wants to give the world to his unborn child. It is only right to use this seed from the birth of the world to do just that,” Eitri insisted, and Brokkr sighed.

“You always were as much a poet as a blacksmith. I blame our father for that. Filling your head with stories while you worked.” Brokkr’s chastisement had the sound of an argument long settled, one brought up anymore only to tease.

“One of us has to be, brother. Meteoric iron is a good start, but this needs to become true steel. I need to prepare the other ingredients while you smelt it properly.”

What happened next came in a half-dozen instants that appeared frozen in time.

Casey felt fire and changed shape before being pulled from darkness to see a hammer descending for him. He welcomed the sensation of being shaped, rather than fearing it. Brokkr had an intense look in his eyes just above that large beard.

Eitri bent over him once more and carefully worked a graver across him. Casey felt shapes grow on his side, a sensation that he imagined might have felt like being tattooed. Power flooded those marks.

Brokkr lifted a bit of squiggly wood into the air and reverently shaped it into two flat pieces, each maybe as long as Casey’s finger. Moments later, he felt the impact as the two pieces were attached to him.

Eitri held a piece of ragged, black glass that shimmered with starlight and set it on Casey’s other side with pride in his eyes and carefully began to attach it, his hands moving faster than Casey could perceive.

Brokkr sang, the faintest glimpse of his mouth visible through the beard. Sparks flew like a cascade of fireflies over the short man’s head as Casey was sharpened.

Eitri had a cloth in hand, carefully polishing with a smile barely visible amongst his braids.

The moments snapped to an end as he was tucked into a simple wooden box that was lined with soft leather. Before the latches were closed, he could hear the brothers talking once more.

“Do you think it will be enough? Did we make it too strong? Too weak?” Brokkr’s voice was oddly worried. The dwarf had always sounded gruff before.

“If the Fates are willing, it will serve its purpose and save her life. Remember, it is not for the makers to decide the fate of our creations once they leave our shop. Only the hand that wields it will decide what sort of legacy this steel will leave behind. Be it fair or foul. May the Nornir bless her.”

Darkness sealed him away while that question rang in Casey’s mind.

<><><>

The ringing sound was what woke him. A single blow of iron against iron, the song of the hammer and the anvil.

He was back in the little shrine. The darkness was thicker now. The late afternoon light glimmered through the entrance, but the rest of the room was nearly pitch black. The three-legged stools were Casey’s only companions in the room.

That and the giant stone anvil.

Four eyes, two made of polished gold and two of polished silver, stared at him from the shadows on the other side of the anvil for a long moment.

Casey felt the full weight of that regard from before, when he’d first accepted the fragment of metal that Maude had called her Legacy. The eyes continued to stare at Casey from the depths of the shadows.

Casey felt something shift in his lap and glanced down. Clutched in his right hand, which had been holding the handle of Maude’ seax form until now, was a simple dagger made of black glass with a twisted wooden handle.

He felt a brief surge of worry for Maude, wondering what had happened to her, but he didn’t drop the blade in his hand.

It was simple, but looked wickedly sharp.

Oh, I am always sharp, Bearer, Maude said in wicked amusement. One moment.

Right before Casey’s eyes, the black glass dagger shifted colors and flowed. The wooden handle under his palm became soft leather, the black glass became blackened iron. Moments later, Maude was back in the familiar form of the seax, her tip still bearing its chipped damage.

“Are you okay, Maude? You didn’t hurt yourself doing that, did you?” The first words out of Casey’s mouth were of concern, and he felt a soft sensation from Maude that he guessed was a smile.

I will heal. Thank you for your concern. I don’t think you could have said anything more perfect to satisfy those two old meddlers than that. A silvery laugh followed Maude’s comment.

Casey felt it, then. The pressure of being watched shifted and split. One half to wry amusement, tinged with irritation at being caught. The other half become approval, tinged with gruff annoyance at the impertinence.

Forge-Fathers. Thank you again for the opportunity you gave me. I hope to make all three of my fathers proud going forward. Maude’s voice shifted, and Casey could tell, somehow, that she was directing the words towards the anvil and the eyes that glowed beyond it. He heard no words in response, but both eyes bobbed slightly, like the heads that held them nodded. Then they blinked closed and vanished.

“What was that, Maude?” Casey asked cautiously while he set her seax form across his lap to free up his right hand.

That, Casey, was the memory of the forge. A glimpse at the potential of steel and its parent iron, Maude explained while he dug about for the tin of weapon oil and soft cloth he had bought before. It is the foundation I spoke of to you. If your Legacy had been one of fire, you might have experienced the birth of a volcano, or the first spark of a fire. Your foundation is laid, and you have taken the first step along your Drengr's Road.

Casey considered what she said as he carefully daubed some of the thick oil onto the cloth and began to polish Maude’s blade.

His hand moved automatically in the familiar passes back and forth that he had experienced while Eitri polished him in the vision. Maude made cheerful noises at the attention, almost like he was scratching an itch on her back that she hadn’t noticed until he started.

“What does it mean for me?” Casey asked as he worked, examining the chipped tip of the blade to ensure no damage remained that the cloth might catch on. The chip was clean, with no stress fractures or cracks to mar the blade.

It means—oh you learned this lesson of polish and care well—that you have begun and are now cultivating your body. I will teach you to fight with me in the coming days, and how to draw and refine the qi from your environment and food. For now, you are iron ore, ready for the smelter in your soul which you have just now lit. You remember what I said before, about the Journeys, Steps, and Stages?

Smiling at her compliment, Casey thought back to what she had said before he answered. “I’m on the first step of the first stage of the Mortal Journey along the Drengr's Road, right?”

Yes, you are at the Tinder Step of the stage known as Preparing the Fire. The stage’s other Steps are Ember and Blaze. Once you exit the Blaze Step, you will enter the Smelting of the Body stage. At that point, you will start to see more rapid advancement. But for now, you will be more durable, more resilient to sickness, and you will heal far quicker. Just taking this first Step has elongated your natural lifespan by a further twenty to thirty years as well. You will discover powers and abilities as you come to understand your Legacy better and cultivate. Can you feel the Legacy inside you?

The sensation from earlier, of swallowing an icy star, was gone. Now, Casey felt a slight pressure deep inside him.

A single burning point of energy that simply dwelt there, ready to flare into brilliant life.

A spark ready to grow.

“Yes. I can feel it. How long will it take to grow in power?”

Eager! That is good, so long as you temper it with caution. Racing into danger to force growth is the path of a fool. Steady steps along the Drengr’s Road are how you reach the end. A drengr must pace themselves so they arrive ready to do battle. Depending on the opportunity, you should grow to Ember within a few weeks to a month, if things work out how I expect. If you laze, it may take a year or more.

“Where do I start?”

Chapter 14

So what was with the stone dagger I held? Casey thought as he walked through the evening market crowd and turned up the sloped path that led to the fortress above.

His injured arm still ached, but not nearly as badly as it had only hours ago. Casey could already shift the arm without pain. Still, it felt odd to have the wound pulling slightly, like a metal burr catching on cloth.

So instead he kept it in the sling and resolved to have the healer inspect it tomorrow.

That was my first form. I have three total. The stone knife, my current form as an iron seax, and my womanly body. All three are me, but each represents a distinct part of me. As I grow, I will gain additional forms, as well as the ability to maintain them longer. If I exhaust myself too much, I will revert to the form of the stone knife, as that is the simplest one. The most exhausting is, of course, the woman form I took while sparking your fire that first night.

I’m curious to know more about how you ended up like this, but I won’t press. When and if you want to talk about it, I am ready to listen, Casey thought as his steps took him along the road.

He paused for a moment to glance back over the city and appreciate the organized chaos of life there. Lights twinkled and danced within the circle of the city’s walls.

I appreciate that. It is a story for another time, and the story is not a short one. I’m not withholding it from you for any shameful reasons. It is just… personal. And now is not the time to talk about it. You should focus on meeting Einar and his elders. They will be surprised at the change in you.

Change in me? Casey asked, turning back to the slope and continuing towards the fort that sat on the top of the hill. The walls slowly began to loom higher as he got closer to the top.

You have not looked in a mirror yet, but your eyes will have changed, and your body grows more defined. I doubt your injury will trouble you beyond tomorrow. Steel is resilient. It bends rather than breaks.

Maude’s amused tone brought a smile to Casey’s face as he came level with the top of the hill. The sight of two guards greeted him, one on either side of a large gate set into the solid stone wall.

“Halt. What brings a beggar to the gates of the Silver Hammer?” sneered the man on the left. Casey glared at him and opened his mouth to speak when the other guard beat him to it.

“Oh shut it, Torig. You heard what Riggsson said when he came back with his team. This is obviously the wanderer that he was talking about.” The other guard turned back to Casey with a friendly smile on his face, though his arms remained crossed over his chest. “You are the one called Casey, right?”

Be gracious to him, but cool to the other. Though they are the same rank, return insult with insult, just do not stoop to his level, Maude counseled him through their link. Casey nodded both to her and to the speaker.

“Yes, that’s me. Einar told me I would be welcomed here. If that is not true, then I can take my leave and simply let him know of his mistake when next I see him.” Casey turned a glare at the guard who had been insulting.

The man wilted but did not speak, letting his companion take over after he’d already made an error.

“Not necessary, Casey. Come and be welcome. They will be serving dinner in the hall shortly, and I am sure that Einar Riggsson will be looking for you.” The polite guard pushed open the massive iron-bound gate with one hand. He did it with as much ease as Casey might have opened a swinging door in a wild-west saloon.

That sort of strength will be yours, too, Casey. Just do not rush it. Racing towards such a goal can lead to injury, as you lose track of yourself in the rush.

I understand, Maude. I’m relying on you to point the way and help me figure out everything as we encounter it. Partners look after each other. You just let me know what I can do to return the favor, Casey thought.

Will do, Casey. Maude’s voice sounded tired, but satisfied.

Casey wondered briefly if what she had done to help him had taxed her too much, and felt worry bubble in his chest. He made a note to keep tabs on Maude to be sure and to check on her later. She’d clearly enjoyed the oiling and care he’d given her blade earlier, so at the very least he could do that for her in thanks.

Pulling himself back to reality in front of the gate, Casey realized he’d been standing there for a moment too long and was getting strange looks from even the kinder of the two guards.

“Sorry, it's been a long day. Got lost in thought about all that has happened so far.” Casey tried to brush off his lapse in attention and got a nod in return.

“The hall is on the right side of the yard. It’s the building with a thatched roof. You can either follow your nose or your ears there,” the guard said with a nod before gesturing Casey through.

When he stepped into the compound on the top of the hill, the view reminded him of some of the hill forts he’d seen in history shows.

The central area was extensive, easily several hundred feet across and taking up the entire top of the hill, which was enclosed by the tall wall. Said wall loomed at Casey’s back, easily three times his height and made of close-fitting stone blocks.

The road he stood on was wide enough for two wagons to pass on their way through the gate, and the wall was at least four or five feet thick. About a dozen different buildings, each decorated with elaborately carved woodwork, were scattered across the top of the hill. A drilling yard for sparring and practice clearly took up most of the open space, though he saw several smaller yards between buildings. Small handfuls of trees poked up in different spots, carefully curated in open spaces with the additional decoration of carved boulders around them.

A scent of hot metal immediately drew his attention to an open-fronted smithy that sat near the gate. Moments later, he heard the ringing of a hammer on an anvil, and the sound echoed through his very soul.

The echoes of that song are now part of you, Casey. Keep the rhythm in mind and the song of ringing blows safe in your heart, Maude spoke into his mind quietly, and he nodded.

Moving forward, he found several long buildings that ringed the outside of the open practice field. One of the largest had a thatched roof, and he could hear the sound of laughter and conversation coming from it, as well as smell the scent of roasting meat and cooked bread.

Opposite the hall, which was clearly serving food, there was an even larger and more stately building made of stone and wood with a curved roof that reminded Casey of a ship’s hull. The massive building bore even more elaborately carved decorations and statues of men and women at war, working in forges, hunting strange beasts, or sailing on great ships.

The longhouse. It is the meeting ground, as well as a place of shelter and celebration. Maude's explanation confirmed his suspicions. Some clans use their longhouse as the dining hall, too; others reserve it only for special occasions.

Nodding slowly while he walked, Casey finally reached the wide-open doors of his target and glanced inside.

Two rows of scrubbed wooden tables ran the length of the room, with glowing fire-pits in the center that cast heat and light into the air. The interior was also lit by a collection of the shimmering stones hanging above each of the tables.

Baldrsteinn, I think they were called? Casey thought to himself as he studied the glowing stones.

Each one was a slightly different shade of amber. They threw a shimmering wave of colored light, and the shadows they cast through the room the fires did nothing to beat back. It was easy enough to see, but it gave the men and women inside a faint patina to their skin.

At the moment, no food was visible on the tables, but the people seated all had mugs carved of wood or shaped from animal horns and were drinking and conversing. Most of them were dressed well, though a handful wore sweat stained clothes.

Seeing this, Casey scowled slightly since it reminded him that he hadn’t bothered to change into one of his new tunics yet. He was still wearing the ragged one which was missing its sleeve from the fight. He’d been too distracted learning from Maude to think of it.

“Friend Casey! You made it, I am glad to see!” Einar’s thundering welcome caused silence to fall in the rowdy hall as everyone turned to see who the big man was shouting at.

Einar had been sitting to one side of the door and just out of Casey’s direct sight, which was why the big man had spotted him first. Einar’s ruddy cheeks were beginning to color from whatever drink he had in his large mug. While the big man had changed into a new, dark-blue tunic, he was still wearing his weapon at his hip.

Einar rose from his seat at the bench and beckoned for Casey to join him, a broad smile on his open face.

“Einar. Good to see you as well. Apologies for my ragged appearance.” Casey shrugged the shoulder of his wounded arm, and the big man chuckled into the silence full of stares.

“Of course, Casey. You slew a hill-varg by yourself and are fresh from the healers. That easily excuses a tattered visage. You made it before the meal was served. Come, have a seat and join me!” Einar boomed, pointedly not looking around as he watched Casey with a smile.

A ripple of murmurs ran down both tables as people discussed what they’d heard, but Casey ignored it.

Casey walked  around to Einar’s side of the table, slid into the empty spot at the end of the row that Einar indicated, and set his pack down by his feet.

The barrel-shaped man snatched a wooden mug from a shelf behind him and plunked it down on the table in front of Casey. He took another smaller mug down, this one made of a smooth, black horn, and set it beside the first.

“Gretta would skin me if I gave you ale when you have a wound like that,” Einar confessed to him with a regretful smile. “So it will be water for you instead, friend Casey. But! Mead is good for the soul, and a single glass will not harm you!” Einar said this last part with a flourish of pride and snatched a blue-glass bottle from where it had sat next to his own mug. He then poured a healthy share into the horn mug.

“Understandable. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble with Gretta,” Casey laughed and nodded his thanks.

The mention of water had reminded him of just how dry his throat was, and he glanced around the table for a pitcher or something.

“What is it?” Einar asked him earnestly, straddling the bench so that he was facing towards Casey on his left, his broad back acting to block Casey from the rest of the room as he took a healthy drink from his own mug.

“Was looking for the water pitcher. Just realized how thirsty I was,” Casey explained, and was surprised by another bout of laughter from Einar.

“No need! Look.” Einar reached forward with his mug and bumped it into the wooden one in front of Casey.

The mug, which had clacked hollowly when it hit the table, sloshed now. Peering into the cup, Casey found it full of cool, clear water.

“How?”

“Magic, of course! The Silver Hammer is a clan that prides itself on creating things, and not just in the forge. These mugs fill themselves from a cistern of clean water that we keep. All you have to do is inject a bit of qi into the handle and it will link up, then fill itself,” the big man explained happily, a grin splitting his face as he shared this information with Casey.

“That is creative. Why not do the same for other drinks?” Casey asked. The other occupants of the table laughed while Einar flushed with a guilty look.

“Einar tried that on the sly a while back,” said one of the table’s other occupants—a blonde-haired woman with broad shoulders and a scar on one cheek. “Unfortunately for him, he crowed about it a bit too much. So the mug got nicked off him, and we drained his barrel. Now he only brings his mead to the hall in bottles, or a pony keg if he’s feeling generous.”

“With good reason! I don’t mind sharing, but what you did was just cruel! I didn’t get more than a taste from that entire barrel,” Einar grumbled playfully while taking a noisy drink of his mead. “Try it, Casey. I’m sure that you will enjoy it. While it might not put hair on your chest like the harder drink, it is hard to be sour when you’re drinking mead!”

After first taking a sip of water to wet his throat and soothe the dryness there, Casey raised the horn mug of golden liquid and peered at it.

He’d had mead before, but it’d been the cheap stuff that you bought at a renaissance fair. This smell was sweet and herbal at the same time, like a sweeter version of a Ricola cough drop. It was a dark, orange-gold color, and he had to agree with Einar. It was hard to scowl with that scent in his nose.

He took a sip and tasted lavender, tart cherries, and the sweetness of the honey with a faint bite of alcohol to it. Low in his body, around where he’d felt the frozen star of the Legacy fragment settle, Casey felt a warmth rising up in response to the mead.

Einar waited with a broad smile, watching Casey roll the drink around in his mouth and then finally swallow before speaking.

“Excellent stuff. Thank you for sharing.”

“I make it myself! And, given your feat earlier today, you deserve your share.” Einar held his mug out, and Casey tapped his together while the others at the table rushed to do the same. It wasn’t the hard slamming that Casey would have expected from movies in a tavern. Instead, it was a respectful click of the mugs touching, and everyone waited until the entire table joined in before they chanted a single word toast.

“Skaal!”

At that, everyone took a deep drink, and the conversation at the table picked back up once more as he was bombarded with questions.

“So, Casey was it? Einar was just telling us about how he brought a wanderer in that was bloody from a fight. That was you, right?”

“Gretta patched you up? I’d recognize her bandages anywhere. She’s had to stitch me together often enough that I’m sure she thinks I’m a pair of trousers.”

“Where are you from?”

“Why would you do something daft like challenging a hill-varg alone?”

The questions rained down from all sides, and Casey did his best to answer them truthfully. Maude helped coach him through the more difficult answers without giving too much away. Einar also helped keep the folks from pressing too much, as well as prevent a crowd from forming around the table when others in the dining hall approached to talk to them.

The arrival of the food gave him a respite, and Casey sighed in relief as the small crowd dispersed to their chairs.

Servers, both male and female, hurried out of a room in the back of the building carrying broad platters heaped with roast meat and vegetables, mountains of round bread loaves, platters of cheese, and bowls of fresh fruit. These were distributed to the tables in waves, with each table getting at least one of each type, taking alternating turns until all the tables had the same food.

Trailing behind the swarm of adult servers came a wave of children with stacks of wooden plates that they quickly distributed. Those seated at the tables fell on the food with gusto.

“Eat, friend Casey! Eat and enjoy the hospitality of the Silver Hammer,” Einar laughed while he snatched several loaves of bread off the tray as it went by. He then pulled a curved eating knife from his belt to spear several slabs of meat and transfer them to his plate next.

It took a bit of work for Casey to get used to eating everything with just his knife and hands. But watching the others, he figured it out quickly enough.

Though they didn’t use cutlery like he was used to, the men and women at the table ate neatly and without making a mess of themselves, for the most part. There was the occasional glutton with ale or drippings running down their face at the other tables. From the irritated looks their companions were shooting at them, this was clearly not considered the norm.

The meat was flavorful and roasted to perfection, dripping with juices that made Casey happy for the crusty bread to sop it all up. The vegetables still had just enough backbone to them to have texture and were seasoned with herbs and coarse salt.

As soon as he got his first bite of the rich food, Casey felt energy sing into his veins. It reminded him of the energy he got from the meat pie earlier, but far stronger.

That is the qi in the meal. All those in this building walk the Drengr's Road, so their food is richer in qi than in what is available to the common man. One benefit of being part of a clan, Maude explained to him while Casey ate. Alongside other resources, training, and equipment, the strong food is one of the major draws of joining.

So I should eat all that I can without looking greedy then? Casey thought back to her. With his left arm still in its sling, it was easy to keep his skin in contact with the metal pommel of the seax in its sheath at his side.

Precisely. We will hunt and collect stronger and more qi-infused food while we travel, but enjoy this meal. It will help solidify your foundation and help you heal.

You really expect the cuts on my arm to be sealed up by tomorrow?

Definitely. I know my Legacy well, so I have a good idea of what you can expect. Einar just asked you a question. Maude deflected his attention back to the table, and Casey looked over at the brown-haired mountain of a man.

“Sorry, what was that?” Casey asked, and Einar grinned while taking a bite out of a wedge of cheese before he spoke again.

“I was asking if you’ve had a chance to get supplies already or not. I’m guessing you did at least some shopping, from the sheath your blade is in now as well as the bags.”

“Oh, yeah. I got pretty much all of that taken care of,” Casey replied, carefully tearing open one of the crusty loaves of bread and stuffing cheese and some of the meat into it before picking it up to eat one-handed. Einar raised an eyebrow at that before copying him with a grin.

“Ahh, I see why you did that. Easier to eat one handed,” Einar said after taking a big bite and washing it down with another swig from his mug. “You look better than you did this morning, Casey. What has changed?”

The question slipped in offhandedly but caught Casey by surprise, and he shrugged, not knowing how to respond.

“You just feel different, have you taken another Step?” Einar inquired further. The big man had shifted to face the table when the food was served, but he turned to look at Casey with an intense focus for a long moment. “You have!” Einar’s intense look turned into one of joy, and he slammed an open palm on Casey’s back with a laugh, making the smaller man choke. “I can see that your Legacy is leaving its mark on you already. That is good!”

“Really? Already?” one of the other diners asked from the other side of the table, this one a slender man with black hair dressed in a simple tunic of brown linen.

“Look at his eyes and tell me that is a normal shade, Toma,” Einar laughed, slapping Casey on the back again. Thankfully, Casey didn’t have anything to choke on this time. Several of the others at the table peered at Casey and swore.

“What?” Casey fought back the urge to growl at the people staring at him. Maude had told him that his eyes had changed, but he had no idea what they had changed into.

“Haldor, pass over your mirror. I know you have it on you, vain thing that you are,” demanded the blonde woman who had told him about Einar’s mistake with the mead and the enchanted mugs.

Further down the table, another man dressed in immaculate clothes with a carefully combed and braided beard huffed, but passed over a palm-sized object wrapped in soft leather. The blonde unwrapped it and held it up for Casey to see. A mirror made of polished silver showed his reflection, and Casey studied it.

His face looked normal to him, though his cheekbones and jaw felt sharper than before. The shadow of a beard was growing on his cheeks, as it had been days since he’d shaved. The sharpness of his new features might have been his imagination, though, as his gaze was drawn to the intense eyes that stared back out at him from inside the bit of polished metal.

For most of his life, Casey had dark-blue eyes, almost the same color as new navy jeans. Now, his eyes were the same color as Maude’s blade. Darkened iron with a thin ring of polished silver around his irises, like new steel. Like the edge of a blade.

Told you, Maude laughed inside his mind. He pushed the mental image of him rolling his eyes at her, which only made the laughter worse.

“Hadn’t noticed until now. Been a busy day,” Casey said with a laugh, gesturing to his arm in the sling.

The others at the table accepted his excuse with a variety of nods or shrugs. The mirror was returned to its owner, who insisted on polishing it with his sleeve, even though no one had actually touched it except through the leather wrapping.

“Einar!” The voice that cut through the conversation was older, but no less powerful for its age and drew the attention of everyone at the table.

Another man, as broad across as Einar, stood at the door with a serious look on his face. A bit of gray shot through his hair and beard, but except for that, he could have been Einar’s brother.

“Yes, Father?” Einar said, his voice filled with respect.

“Prepare your squad for a Fomori hunt. Scouts located a nest of the beasts, and it’s time for some of you to whet your steel on them. We will be testing a group of aspirants first, and then letting you younger drengr loose on what’s left,” the big man ordered, his eyes darting to examine Casey for a moment before turning his impassive gaze back to Einar, who nodded to the man. Accepting that, the big man strode down the line to find an open spot at a table and sit there with several older fighters.

“Fomori?” Casey asked before he could stop himself, but thankfully Einar misinterpreted his question.

“I know. It is odd for them to delve this deep into the settled lands, but they still manage to pop up. Like mushrooms after a rain, but not nearly as useful,” grumbled the big man as he glared into his mug of mead.

“Still gotta stamp them out. A small nest can easily grow. And they poison the land,” the blonde woman from earlier sighed in agreement.

There was a quiet that surrounded the table as everyone considered what was going on. Casey was about to ask Maude for more information on the Fomori when Einar hummed thoughtfully and then turned to look at him.

“Say… you ever fought Fomori before, Casey?”

Chapter 15

Maude? Casey asked mentally, while he pretended to consider Einar’s question. All around them, the other occupants of the table were talking amongst themselves, but a few watched him and Einar.

The choice is yours, Casey, Maude said simply. You are my wielder, so you will choose the battles we engage in.

I know, but we are partners, so you at least get a say. And will fighting with your tip damaged be an issue? Casey felt a warmth from the sentient weapon at his side and got the distinct impression of a smile from Maude.

I appreciate the sentiment, but you do not need to confer with me every time. Fighting with the damaged tip will not be a problem. It might actually help restore me quicker. I walk my own version of the Drengr's Road, and I draw qi from the world differently. Fighting will help me recover what was lost in giving you the fragment of my Legacy. The only restriction is that thrusts and stabs will be impossible without the tip.

Which, if you were more of a dagger, would be a problem. Since your length is closer to a sword in size, then it should be fine. More important question though: ‘am I ready?’ I’ve taught myself to fight with a knife and learned the basics of baton fighting when I trained as an officer. I know some of that translates to sword work.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to yet. What can I expect?” Casey said aloud, so Einar did not think he was being ignored.

“Fomori are twisted creatures. No single one is exactly the same as the other. As such, each will fight differently depending on their base form and how the foul magics that create them have twisted their form,” Einar explained, the joviality fading from his voice as he lectured. “We rarely find them in our lands, so the nest will be small. Likely no more than a dozen or so of the creatures. If my father is leading the attack, we will have at least the same number of cultivators with us. We will have the advantage of weapons. At this level, the creatures do not do more than use crude, natural ones such as clubs.”

He’s right. The Fomori are twisted versions of natural creatures—anything from a wolf with a dozen legs, to a bear that has wings, or a man with five arms. They are a blight upon the world and should be stamped out. The vehemence in Maude’s response surprised Casey. She’d been playing it cool and collected until that point, but apparently she felt passionate about the subject. As to whether you will be able to fight them, you took down the hill-varg with a stick for a spear. As long as you have time to visit the blacksmiths for a proper weapon, you will be fine.

I have a proper weapon, Maude. Casey’s response startled Maude, as she went abruptly silent. So he continued to speak to her while Einar took a deep drink from his mug. I have you, after all. What better weapon could I ask for?

Casey thought for a moment that Maude might protest or counter him, but then the feeling of contented warmth again rose from the intelligent blade at his side.

You are right, Casey. I can help you learn to wield me better in the coming weeks. But, based on your memories of your past life, I think you will do just fine. As long as you do not do something stupid and get killed in this first engagement. Confirm that you will participate with Einar if you believe you are ready. This will be a good way to christen your first Step on the Drengr’s Road.

Casey considered Maude’s advice for another moment while he chewed on another bite of cheese before nodding to Einar.

“If you are offering me a spot in the hunting party, I’d be happy to come along. Only thing keeping me back is this.” Casey rolled his left shoulder to indicate the injured limb before snatching up his smaller mug of sweet mead to enjoy a drink.

“Good! I will confer with my father and see when they plan to head out. Just a moment.” Einar pushed himself up from the table and strode around to go and speak with his father while Casey continued to eat.

“You think you’ll be up to hunting Fomori? You look like you are half-dead,” snapped one of the men further down the table, someone who had been noticeably silent the entire night.

Casey turned to look at him and met eyes with a slender man whose brown hair was oily, his short beard unkempt. He was one of the men eating with gusto and making a mess, which explained why he hadn’t been talking before.

“Oh, go back to rooting in your slop, pig,” sighed the blonde woman with the scar sitting across from Casey.

The comment earned her a sneer from the messy man, who then turned his glare back to Casey. For his part, Casey just ignored the man as he mopped the meat drippings from his plate with a hunk of the crusty bread.

“Well, whelp?” snarled the man a moment later. Casey looked up at him with raised eyebrows.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t understand you through the squealing noises. I haven’t learned to speak swine. I notice you only waited to squeal so loudly until Einar left,” Casey replied dryly, getting a snicker from several of the folks at the table.

“Ignore him,” the blonde replied with another roll of her eyes. “I’d rather hear more about this hill-varg you supposedly fought.”

<><><>

Einar returned while Casey was in the middle of explaining how he had managed to kill the hill-varg with a sharpened stick.

Several of the men at the table scoffed in disbelief, the messy eater being one of the main ones, until Casey dug out the fang from his tinder pouch at Maude’s internal prompting. With the hunk of ivory on the table, the onlookers gave his story far more credence.

This set off a session of lively storytelling, as the others began to produce trophies of their own, strung on braided necklaces or mounted on lengths of thin, bronze chain. Casey knew they had to have something to do with why Maude had told him to hang onto it, but these trophies were far more elaborate than just the tooth he had.

“Father is planning to leave the day after tomorrow,” Einar explained during a lull in the stories. “I want you with us if Gretta approves of it. You should have her check your stitches tomorrow and see how the healing is going. She’s normally right about healing times, but for those of us on the Road? It can change quite a bit.” Einar’s grin was boyish in its brightness. “Besides. If you enjoy the hunt, I might be able to talk you into joining the Silver Hammer clan!”

“We will see, Einar,” Casey agreed, if only to keep the big man happy. “I don’t know if I’m ready to settle for any one clan in particular. No slight meant to the Silver Hammer, but it isn’t a choice to be made lightly. Right?”

Good. Very diplomatic way to phrase it. Joining the first clan you come across would be foolish. Maude coached him from her spot on his hip.

“Fair enough. Though, if you are uncertain then I can still hope to persuade you in the future—if not to join the Silver Hammer, then to at least consider the Roaring Mountain. Queen Runa is a good clan-head, and they hold some of the best land in the Nation, though some deride them for their choices.”

“I would still rather ride a sky-ship than a spirit beast,” grumbled one of the men from further down the table.

The comment sparked another debate on the merits of different modes of transportation, though Casey ignored it. The combination of his earlier vision, his injury, the rich food, and the drink was finally starting to wear on him.

“I think my bed is calling to me,” Casey said with a sigh, draining the last of the mead that Einar had shared with him.

The statement got a few disappointed looks from others at the table, and a couple of derisive snorts from others. Einar, though, just nodded.

“Wise. You should sleep to recover better from your injury. I would be happy to guide you to a guest room,” Einar offered. Casey could see several of the others at the table directing sour looks at Einar’s back, so he declined politely.

“No. I appreciate the offer, Einar. But I do not want to take advantage of your hospitality. I’ll find a room in town, if you can recommend a good inn? Once I check in with Gretta tomorrow, I can let you know for sure if I will be fit to join in the day after.” Einar frowned at Casey’s polite refusal, but did not argue.

The big man is a model host, Maude commented in his mind. If he offers again, do not turn him down. It could be construed as an insult, and there is no need to make a friend into an enemy over something as simple as a night’s rest.

Got it. Thanks, Maude. I really just want some privacy right now to decompress and go over all that happened earlier during that vision.

That is fair. There is no shame in seeking an early bed, rather than getting lost in drink—something that several of these aspirants to the Drengr’s Road would do well to remember. Maude’s tone was derisive now, and Casey couldn’t help but think it was directed at the messy eater from earlier.

“I’d recommend White-Gold Rain,” the still-nameless blonde woman said from across from him. “My sister works there. The rooms are clean and they have a sauna out back that is complementary. It’s a good way to relax and de-stress after a hard day. I actually go over there occasionally, instead of using the clan one. Fewer people staring,” she said the last part with a pointed glare at one of the other men further down the table. The man being glared at winced and looked away with a mumbled apology.

“Got it. I’ll check in with them. Where is it located?” Casey asked while he got to his feet and shouldered his pack. The blonde woman gave him directions from the main market square to the inn.

“My sister looks like a younger version of myself, without the beauty marks,” she said with a laugh and a gesture to her facial scar. “If you see her, let her know that Trida sent you. Callie will make sure you are looked after properly.”

“Thanks, Trida. Hopefully, I will see you during the hunt in a few days,” Casey replied, getting a broad grin from the scarred woman and a chuckle from Einar. “Talk to you tomorrow, Einar.”

“Rest well, friend Casey,” the big man boomed with a nod before turning back to talk to Trida.

Casey headed out of the eating hall, ignoring the questioning looks and suspicious glares from several of the tables.

<><><>

The White-Gold Rain was a sturdy building that took up most of a block and bordered the market square at the base of the hill.

The entrance to the building was off of one of the side streets. The inn, like many of the buildings on the edge of the market, had a long, flip-up window from which drinks and the like could be served to shoppers in the market without them having to come inside. Built entirely of pale wood with a high-peaked roof of clay shingles, the building was stately. Carvings of leaves and vines decorated the support beams. A mug tipped on its side pouring foam was the symbol on the sign that hung over the large door. Casey could hear the rumble of conversation from the open door as soon as he turned down the alley.

After entering through the front door, Casey paused to survey the room for a long moment.

A central firepit with high sides of river stone threw a steady wave of heat from glowing coals, while baldrsteinn hanging in simple brass cages on chains dangling from the ceiling shed better light. Unlike those in the other hall he’d been in, these were of a relatively uniform color and shade. The stones shed a soft, almost cloudy, light around the room as men and women gathered around tables and a bar at the back of the room, where an older woman with arms like a blacksmith served drinks.

A trio of waitresses slipped through the crowds, made obvious by the serving trays in their hands. A hallway disappeared under a set of stairs that lead to the upper floor on the side opposite the market square.

Head to the bar. The keeper will be the one who can rent you a room.

Casey followed Maude’s advice and began wending his way through the tables.

Unlike in the hall of the Silver Hammer clan, people ignored him save for a quick glance as he approached. He spotted a slender, blonde woman who he guessed was likely Callie, but she was on the far side of the room delivering food to a table.

“What can I get you, drengr?” The broad-shouldered woman behind the bar asked as Casey slid into a spot just vacated by a tipsy man with a mug.

“Room for the next few days,” Casey was quick to reply.

“Just yourself? Need meals or drinks?” The woman replied with a polite indifference as she topped up a mug that was slammed on the counter just to one side. She didn’t need to ask if the refill was wanted.

“Yes, room and meals. Though not dinner tonight. Just came back from a meal up on the hill,” Casey added the last part on a whim, and the woman hiked an eyebrow at him. “Callie’s sister, Trida, recommended the place. Said your sauna alone was worth it.” He wasn’t against buttering up staff to get better treatment, and from the small smile on the woman’s face, his effort was appreciated.

“Four claws for the room a night, seven if you want breakfast and supper. The baths and sauna are included with the room,” the woman offered, brushing her curly, black hair back from her eyes. She stepped away for a moment to refill several tankards that one of the servers had brought back before returning to Casey.

“Is there a discount for paying ahead?” Casey’s question brought a smirk and a gleam to her eye.

“You pay for a room for five nights? I’ll make it six a night with meals and throw in a drink for free with dinner.” Casey didn’t need Maude’s advice to take the offer.

He still had enough coin on him to pay for another week or more of staying at the inn after this. Now that Maude had accepted him as a wielder, he didn’t need to buy a weapon now and could afford to stay longer if needed.

“Done.” Casey fished the coins out and set them on the counter, which the woman swept up quickly. She then produced a thick iron key.

“Room four is yours. Do you need a thrall to help you bathe?” The woman asked the last part with a nod to Casey’s injury, and he blinked in surprise at her.

Maude? Help? Casey sent to his companion quickly.

Thralls are basically slaves. They are either laboring to pay off a debt or to atone for a crime they have committed. I’m betting her thralls are serving debts out. It’s a way for someone with no options to get back on their feet, and their masters get cheap labor, Maude was quick to explain. They are not slaves like you are thinking of. Though that is closer to the truth for the criminal thralls. They still have far more rights than the sort you are thinking of.

“No, I am fine. Thank you.” Casey shook his head quickly as the woman quirked an eyebrow at him.

“If you change your mind, just let a server know. One of the thralls maintains the sauna, so they can summon someone as well. Callie!” The big woman spoke the last word at a bellow that made Casey jump.

As if summoned by a magical charm, Trida’s blonde sister appeared at Casey’s elbow with a smile.

While her sister had been muscled and was obviously a fighter, Callie was far more slender of build and had an elfin beauty to her slim face.

“Callie, your sister sent us another customer with her talk of the sauna,” the barwoman said at a more reasonable volume. “Would you see him settled into room four?”

“Yes, Malda,” the smiling blonde said in reply, before collecting the key from the counter, and turning to Casey. “This way, drengr. I’ll show you to your room and then to the sauna. I personally recommend taking the steam first and then bathing.”

“Lead the way, then, Callie. You can call me Casey, by the way.” She flashed him another winning smile before turning and leading him to the stairs and up.

The room that Callie showed him to was simple but clean.

There was a small table and chair with a single bed dressed in soft linens. On the table was a baldrsteinn the size of an apple inside a squat metal contraption that looked similar to a miner’s lamp. Callie showed him how to close it up so that the room would be dark enough to sleep.

She waited patiently while Casey settled his things. She even helped him unwrap the bandages from his arm, hissing in sympathy at the stitches.

Casey was surprised at how much the wound had healed already.

It had only been hours since Gretta had stitched him up, and the angry red slashes marked with thread were now nothing more than thin, pink strips that were tender to the touch. When he shifted his arm around, the movement only twinged a bit, and Casey couldn’t help but smile.

Told you, Maude said smugly in his mind. Steel bends, but does not break. Your body will recover rapidly from injuries. That doesn’t mean you can skimp on first aid, but wounds will not keep you from a fight for long.

I believed you, Maude. It’s just different to see it right in front of my eyes, Casey countered mentally while he carefully folded up the soiled bandages and sling and set them aside to deal with later. A bit of fishing in his pack and he had a fresh shirt and clean pants.

“I can have your clothes laundered while you bathe, if you wish?” Callie asked with a twinkle in her eye, and Casey considered for a moment before nodding. “Let me step out while you change. There is another stair that leads down to the sauna and the bathing area, so you don’t have to go through the common room. Most just wrap up in a cloak for the short walk there.”

“Understood. Give me a moment.” Casey had to fight down the blush at the thought of walking to the bathing area in just his cloak. He also felt a surprising reluctance to go without Maude at his side.

Go. It will be fine. My thoughts can still reach you while you are away, Casey. I just won’t be able to hear your responses at a distance. If anything happens, I’ll be able to let you know. I doubt a thief would try anything, but one can never be perfectly sure. Go relax, enjoy the steam, and bathe. Just try not to stare at the women.

Why would I be star— it’s mixed bathing, isn’t it?

A quiet giggle was all the answer he got from Maude.

<><><>

Thankfully, there were only three other people in the sauna.

It felt surprisingly indecent to be sneaking down a hallway while naked under his cloak, with his clean clothes bundled under one arm. Callie acted as if nothing was out of the norm as she led him to the sauna, so he had nothing from her to cue him in.

The blonde woman had produced a basket out of nowhere while he was digging out his clothes. She had secured the dirty garments in it, before promising they would be returned to him in the morning.

A change from wood to stone construction marked the transition from the main part of the inn. The wooden plank floor merged into flat slate stones merged. Callie told him to enjoy with a wink before turning to hurry off down another hallway, her hips swaying distractingly.

Uncertain of what to do, and without the ability to ask Maude for a recommendation, Casey decided to just wing it.

The room that he’d been led to had cubbies that held the baskets for clean clothes. A pair of doors led deeper into the building, one marked with a water drop and the other with a gray cloud. A stack of coarse towels sat on a small table beside the tight-fitting door with the cloud, so he wrapped one around his waist once his things were secured and hurried through the door.

Inside the sauna, the air was thick with moisture and quite foggy. It was also very warm.

A pair of older men sat side by side at the far end of the room, near to a collection of rounded rocks that were glimmering wetly and steaming. Between them and the door sat a muscled woman with scars on her arms and chest that showed she was a fighter. All three of the room’s occupants were naked, save for the loose loincloth the woman was wearing, as well as a simple leather collar on her neck.

When Casey entered, the woman glanced up at him with a stern expression and nodded in greeting, before using a long-handled ladle to scoop water from a barrel at her side and scatter it over the already damp stones. The stones hissed sharply, and a fresh billow of steam rose from them. The motion sent her breasts swinging before she settled back into her spot by the barrel and stared into the distance silently, not bothering to cover herself.

I’m betting she’s the ‘thrall’ they mentioned. Guessing the collar marks her as one. Wonder why she’s here? Maybe working off a debt for healing on those injuries? Casey wondered while looking over the room.

The two older men nodded to him silently before relaxing once more into their seats. The sizzle of the water on the hot stones broke the silence intermittently, accompanied by the quiet shuffle of Casey’s steps while he moved to a spot on a bench.

In case you didn’t know, talking in a sauna is considered bad manners. Just relax there for a while, then wash up before coming back to the room. Nothing to report from here. Maude’s voice broke into his thoughts and made Casey jump.

The sudden movement and shuffling sound drew the attention of all three others. But when Casey relaxed again, they did, too.

Casey began to sweat profusely, as the heat was quick to work its way into him. The sauna attendant kept careful watch on the stones and would add water every so often. The sizzle was the only sound besides the quiet breathing in the room. It was surprising to Casey that the sounds of the tavern did not come through the walls. It was eerie at first, but as the heat worked its way into his muscles, Casey began to relax more and let his mind go over the events of the last two days.

Has it really only been two days? I swear it feels like I’ve been here a week or more already. I woke up this morning in a cave above a waterfall. That was the only time I’ve slept in this world. So much has happened over the course of two days.

Sweat dripped down his chest, and Casey felt a twinge in his injured arm, which drew his attention to it for a moment to inspect the remains of the wound.

That slash should have taken weeks to heal, but less than six hours later and it’s already at the point the stitches should be removed. Or is it just two hours since the whole ceremony with the Legacy? I wonder how Gretta will react when she sees this.

Thinking of the healer reminded Casey of the poultice the woman had applied to his arm, and he glanced over it again.

Nothing remained of the herbal paste that had been smeared on his skin. Now that Casey was thinking about it, the discoloration in the bandages hadn’t been that bad either. The salve had mostly been absorbed by his skin, apparently.

Thinking back on the ritual he’d just undergone, Casey turned his attention inwards once more and considered the events of the day.

I’ve fought a monster, met and made friends with at least one, if not two, of the locals. And I agreed to go deal with more monsters the day after tomorrow. All while starting a process that is supposed to sculpt me into a superhuman and give me special powers. I need to ask Maude about that so I can figure out what to expect and how to train. I have tomorrow to get ready for the hunt.

Thinking about the hunt reminded Casey of the word. ‘Fomori’ sounded familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite place it.

Like something from a past life.

Digging through his memories, Casey tried to remember where he had heard the term before. He knew he could just ask Maude when he got back to the room and could touch the intelligent weapon again, but his independent streak was flaring up.

The squeak of the door opening broke him out of his concentration. Casey looked up to see another person, this one a full-bodied woman with red hair, stepping into the room.

She had her towel over her shoulder and her well-endowed form on display while she chose her seat. She settled onto the bench a short way from Casey and leaned back into the wall with a contented sigh.

Remembering Maude’s warning, Casey closed his eyes and focused on his thoughts again to prevent a reaction to the woman’s figure. It had been quite some time since he’d been intimate with anyone, being lusted after by him or any other man for that matter was not why she was here. This was a cultural thing.

The steam and the sweat rolling down his body definitely felt good to Casey. It opened his pores, and his muscles began to relax in the heat.

The shimmering star he felt in the pit of his gut, tucked in next to his spine, drew his attention now.

Casey could feel a quiet stirring from the point of energy that he recognized as the chip of the Legacy that Maude had given him. It felt like the flickering dance of a candle-flame as it greedily gobbled up the melted wax through its wick.

The sensation grew stronger the longer he focused on it. Casey swore that he could feel it growing ever so slightly, but it was like watching ice freeze. A glacial process.

Focusing on the tiny mote of energy, Casey tried to urge it to grow faster. He wasn’t sure what it was feeding on, but he guessed it must have been the qi that Maude had mentioned. He tried to find that bolstering sensation he had felt while eating earlier and feed it to the mote.

His concentration was broken when the older men rose and shuffled past and out into the changing room. Casey saw them turn to head into the second door and caught the sound of water splashing from that direction.

Must be the actual baths that way then, he thought to himself. Would make sense with the water drop.

Casey spent another handful of minutes focusing on the mote of energy that he was sure was the Legacy fragment he’d been given. He spent some time wishing that this was like the isekai stories he’d read about online before his death, as having an interface to reference would have been nice.

Would make things so much easier, he thought while wiping the sweat from his brow. Just flip through menus and select what I want to do. Oh well. That would require a lot more micromanaging than I really want to deal with.

The heat finally got to be enough that Casey decided it was time to rinse off and head back to his room. He nodded his thanks to the collared woman, who nodded back silently.

The redhead did not stir as he walked past her and back into the changing room, then into the bathing space.

A collection of six wooden tubs sat in a recessed section of floor lined with stones that all angled towards a central drain. A water-pump sat nearby with a stack of buckets beside it. On a shelf above that was a lumpy block of yellow soap the size of a football, a small knife jabbed into the top. There was a simple fireplace in the corner with a stack of copper kettles next to it for heating water.

Working on a guess, Casey tugged the knife free of the scored surface of the soap and cut a slice off the block before filling a bucket with cold water from the pump.

The two older men had apparently already left, and he had the room to himself, so Casey took his time inspecting the room while he prepared.

It didn’t take much to figure out that if you wanted a hot bath, you had to heat kettles of water by the fireplace. He also found a washboard tipped against the wall. He guessed that was for people who just came to bathe without taking a room and wanted to wash their clothes.

Each of the wooden tubs had a chained plug in the bottom to drain them without having to tip them over.

Huh. Seems pretty serviceable. Kind of a pain in the butt to heat water, but that might be nice to soak rather than the sauna. Wonder how they heated the stones for that? Heck, I wonder if the sauna-stones are magical somehow? Since they seem to use these baldrsteinn as their regular sources of light everywhere, that would make sense.

Casey inspected a trio of the glowing stones hanging in their cages with a squinty look before shrugging and getting started on scrubbing himself off.

He hadn’t brought a washcloth, so Casey just unwrapped the coarse towel he was wearing around his waist. He used that and the scrap of soap he’d taken to lather up and rinse off with the cold water from the pump. After the time in the sauna, he didn’t really feel the need to soak in a hot bath and the cold water felt good on his skin.

After washing his short hair and rinsing it with another bucket of water, Casey poked his head out into the changing room to grab another of the towels to dry with before changing back into his clothes.

A basket he had not seen initially sat behind the door that led back out into the main hall. It had a few soiled towels already in it, so he added his two before heading back up to his room.

Feel better? Maude asked him as soon as he entered his room. He’d left her in her sheathe on the small table so she had a ‘view’ of the room, and he was happy to be back in contact with her again.

“Yeah. I feel a lot better. It’d only been two days, but getting clean felt really good,” Casey said aloud while rubbing his eyes.

You should sleep as well. You will need your energy for tomorrow. I plan to begin teaching you how to properly wield me then.

“Fair enough,” Casey said with a sudden yawn.

He made sure the door was latched tight before shucking off his clean shirt and draping it over the chair.

In just his pants, Casey draped the belt that held Maude’s sheath over the bedpost so that she hung within easy reach before climbing into bed.

He had planned to ask her a few questions while dropping off, but as soon as he wrapped the blankets around himself, Casey fell right to sleep.

Chapter 16

Gretta was indeed surprised to see how quickly Casey had healed, but the woman did not hesitate to remove the stitches from the wound. She provided Casey with a salve that he was to rub into the scar to ensure that the muscles underneath knitted properly and the skin didn’t pucker, then sent him on his way.

Emerging from the healer's house into the light of the morning, Casey stretched his arms over his head and rotated his left shoulder in a full circle. There was a slight twinge at first, but the motion was painless by the time he’d repeated it twice.

Feeling better? Maude asked him as Casey started down the street, heading towards the central road that would lead them back toward the market square.

“Yes. A bath and fresh clothes helped a lot. A night’s sleep on a bed did even more,” he answered in a low voice.

Casey was only carrying his smaller hip-pouch at the moment, having left the heavier pack in his room at White-Gold Rain.

Enjoy the bed while you can. Unless you decide to take up with the Silver Hammer clan, we will be spending a lot of time in the wilds. A bed is a luxury that you will not always be able to have.

“I can’t imagine I will get to enjoy one often without joining a clan. Einar would certainly welcome me, but something is telling me that I need to travel more—see more of the world here before I choose to settle in somewhere,” Casey replied.

He made sure to speak only in a low tone while anyone else was nearby, so as not to draw attention.

While you take these early Steps on the Drengr’s Road, there is no harm in exploring it alone. You will want the support of a clan in the future. But without being born into one, you will need to earn a place. That’s what we will be doing for now. You need to build a reputation and collect trophies to show your strength. Only then will it be good to seek to join a Clan. If you do so too early, then you will end up locked into a far weaker position.

“What’s the next step then, Teacher?” Casey’s question was greeted with a snort of laughter from Maude that trailed off after a moment.

You are serious in giving me that title?

“Why not? You said you’d teach me how to fight best with you. You’ve already taught me about society. Why not give you the title?” Casey paused for a moment to buy another of the meat and vegetable stuffed rolls that he’d had the previous day while Maude considered his words.

Breakfast at the inn had been simple—an oat gruel with several slabs of roast meat and bread. It was filling, but not enough in volume. He could feel his body craving more meat.

Normally, you would address your teacher as ‘master’ or ‘mistress,’ Maude said cautiously, her tone carefully neutral.

“I’m my own master. Just as you are your own mistress. That doesn’t mean I cannot learn from you still,” Casey replied after swallowing the bite he had taken.

Maude was silent, but he got the faint sense of approval from the intelligent weapon at his side.

Well, the first step is going to be training. I want to see what you know and where we can go from there. Finish your meal and then head out of town. We won’t be going far, just far enough into the fields that you aren’t being watched while you train.

<><><>

Casey had followed Maude’s directions, and they had headed several minutes' walk outside of town back the way that they had come the previous day. The gate guards had only stopped him long enough to confirm that he would be returning that day.

Once they were out of sight from town, Casey had gone off the road and into a small copse of trees for some privacy.

While they walked, Casey went through all that he knew of knife and baton fighting. After trying to describe it to Maude a few times, she’d just advised him to imagine it while touching her hilt so she could view the memories directly. Casey had been hesitant of this at first, but Maude reassured him several times that she would only see what he drew directly to the top of his mind.

It took the better part of an hour for him to review the scraps and fights he’d gotten into, as well as the training he’d done in the police academy.

Armed with that information, Maude planned out how best to refine Casey’s style. The first thing she had him do was start working on his stances and drawing her from the sheath.

The draw and the way you stand are equally important for any fight. You learned the hard way to be ready for an attack at any time, so now I will train you both to be ready to receive an attack, and also respond with my blade form.

Maude coached him into repeating the drill of assuming a standing position and then dropping into a fighting stance while drawing her from the sheath repeatedly until it became natural. She also worked him through a basic sword drill that could be used for a shortsword or large knife.

A lot of what they worked on was dodging and picking his strikes. Casey was surprised to find that the clashing of swords edge to edge he’d seen in the movies was not something people normally did.

It’s bad on the weapon to clash like that. Sure, if it is a choice between your neck or your sword, you should choose your sword. But still! It is far better to avoid a strike and be ready to strike back. My blade is thick and sturdy. So, if you have to block a blow like that, turn me so that it hits my dulled spine. It will cause a bigger notch in the enemy’s blade and preserve my cutting edge. Also, if you have to block, you should use the section of the blade closest to the hilt. I don’t have a large crossguard to protect your hand, but that is the most durable part of the weapon.

“Makes sense, I suppose.”

Casey was in good shape from training and the hard life he’d had to live up to that point; however, the drills Maude was running him through were working muscle groups he wasn’t quite used to yet, and it left him sore in a matter of minutes. He was already looking forward to another steam bath in the sauna after dinner tonight.

The actual clash of combat will be different. Once we get you properly trained, sparring with willing partners will be a good way to maintain your flexibility. I’m already quite happy with the foundation you have here.

Casey continued to train with Maude until the sun crossed the sky’s midpoint and began to fall towards the horizon once more.

When Maude declared that he had spent enough time practicing the basic attacks and strikes for now, she started coaching him through meditation. Rather than the seated, deep introspection that he had expected, Maude actually had him doing something similar to tai chi.

The motions were slow and steady as he swung Maude’s weight through a series of movements he couldn’t help but imagine as a slow-motion sword dance. Maude had him moving in ways and taking poses that were well past his normal point of balance, but stretched his muscles to their limits.

He’d been sweating all morning, both from the day’s heat and the exertion. The waterskin he’d bought the day before and brought with him was long empty by the time Maude finally had Casey stop.

While he worked through the motions, Maude coached him to focus inwards and feel the tiny spark of energy that was the remnant of the Legacy fragment he had swallowed—the spark that she dubbed his ‘core.’

That day, she just had him feeling for it and then letting go of the sensation. She would then wait for him to make several more maneuvers before telling him to find his core and reconnect to it once more.

“What… is the point of this?” Casey grumbled, nearly falling off balance as he stretched out into a lunge that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a fencing class, but felt odd with the short, heavy length of iron in his hand.

You need to get used to finding your core and drawing qi from it. As it is still forming, right now you are just teaching yourself where to look while your body is distracted, Maude answered primly. Once you have this down, you will be able to find it, even if you are beaten bloody and half dead. The Drengr’s Road is a long path, Casey. A dangerous one, too. You know this.

“Of course, Teacher.” Casey moved through to another motion that had him stepping into and through a long lunge. He then dropped down into a wide-legged stance, with his left leg and arm forward while his right arm held Maude over his head, blade upwards but point towards his front.

Holding the position, he reached inside to tickle the spark of cool energy where it sat next to his spine.

Their conversation was kept mostly to instructions from Maude for the next hour. Casey moved through a dozen different stances, some matching his previous fighting stances and others that did not feel practical. Standing on one foot with his other cocked like a crane felt both awkward and unstable, but Casey didn’t question Maude’s guidance. She had yet to lead him astray so far.

The sun was a bare two hours from setting when Maude declared their training at an end. Sighing in relief, Casey stowed the weapon and collected his things.

“Going to have to buy another waterskin if this is how things are going to go,” he grumbled while stuffing the empty pouch of leather into his pack. His stomach was so empty now it felt like his belly was sticking to his spine.

Don’t let one difficult day of training dissuade you. I’m going to be giving you history and etiquette lessons as well once you are further along and can focus on more than one thing, Maude teased lightly. You are doing well. Don’t focus on how many steps are left on the journey. Focus only on the next one.

“One step at a time, I know,” Casey replied while pinning his cloak into place. “And the next step is dinner. I am starving.”

Good. Eat a double portion at dinner, even if you have to pay extra for it.

<><><>

Casey did just as Maude ordered and got a double portion of dinner.

The meal was a hearty fish soup made with lots of potatoes and cheese and soft bread to go with it.

Malda, the large woman he’d bartered a room from the previous night, was happy to give him extra for a pair of copper claws and a couple of compliments. To go with the meal, he drank a light ale that tasted of tart apples and winter wheat, but he only had the one mug.

Malda also had a note for him that had been delivered earlier in the morning by one of the thralls of the Silver Hammer clan. She gave it to him with his meal, and Casey unfolded the heavy parchment to read it while digging into his stew.

My father will be leading our expedition out to exterminate the Fomori threat at sunrise.

If you wish to come with us, please send word as soon as you are able. We will meet in the market square, as my father is using this as an opportunity to test a few hopefuls who wish to join the clan. They have just set foot on the Drengr’s Road and come to us from other, smaller clans.

My squad and I will be there to ensure none die, but we are to give the unbloodied a chance to test themselves first.

Father has agreed that you are welcome to test yourself in the same fashion without any obligation to join the clan if you do.

If you have changed your mind about trying to join the Silver Hammer, just let me know in the morning.

This will be a single day hunt, so you only need to bring your necessities and your weapons.

Looking forward to the fight,

Einar Riggsson

Casey folded the parchment back up and considered for a moment. As was becoming her habit, Maude offered her opinion to be mulled over as well.

I think that going along will be good. Not only can you get a bit of practice against an actual target while I can observe, you will also be dipping your feet into the deep end. Those who walk the Drengr’s Road will clash with Fomori in the future. That is a given. Even if you do not seek to ascend and join the War of the Gods.

Agreed, Casey thought to himself. I cannot help but like the idea of testing myself and seeing how I stack up against the locals. I don’t think I’m going to hesitate or anything, but I want to see how I react to these enemies. From what I heard, the Fomori are the single largest threat out there, but no one can really describe them well.

Because the Fomori defy description, Casey, Maude answered. They are creatures of chaos and perversions of life. It is hard, if not impossible, to describe them properly. You will learn when you see them tomorrow. Such fights like this are a common test for joining a clan. Those who cannot stomach their twisted forms will never complete the Road.

Malda bustling up to check on him a moment later, again interrupted his introspection. Casey had taken a spot at the bar, and the large woman wandered back and forth in her domain behind it, ensuring all the mugs were kept full.

“Read your message?” The question came with a smile, and Casey nodded. “I can have one of the thralls carry a reply if you need. Just costs a claw,” she offered offhandedly, as if disinterested in the extra coin. Casey heard a quiet chuckle from Maude in his mind, but he nodded.

“Sure, it’s just a verbal message. Can you have them relay to Einar Riggsson up in the clan complex that I will be there to meet the hunting party in the morning?” Casey patted the parchment with one hand, laying two of the copper coins marked with a claw on top of it.

The woman nodded with a smile and swept the coins off the counter. A moment later, a second mug of ale was set next to the first, which he was only half finished with.

I guess they don’t really have a tipping culture? Casey wondered silently.

No, coins for appreciation are common in service like this. But she chose to interpret the tip as payment for another drink. This means that the money stays with her, rather than going to her thrall.

That’s not very fair. Casey stirred his bowl with the spoon in his right hand while his left remained on Maude’s hilt.

Life is not fair, Casey. Unless the thrall is one she claimed herself in a conflict, then they have a time of service rather than some amount of coin they must pay to earn their freedom. Their masters are obligated to look after their needs during this time, but all the money they earn is meant to be turned over to their master. Maude’s sigh was gusty, and Casey swore he felt his hair stir like she was standing behind him. You should finish dinner and go clean up before resting early. We need you well rested for the hunt tomorrow. How many beasts you kill will dictate how long we can stay in town. There is a bounty on all Fomori, after all.

Casey nodded without responding, digging into his stew with gusto. The tingling sensation that he was beginning to believe was qi was restoring his exhausted muscles.

Even now, only halfway through his dinner, Casey felt like he could go back to training again.

Chapter 17

The sauna felt just as good as it had the previous day. It was attended by the same scarred, female thrall as he remembered, but no one else appeared while he was inside. They shared a brief nod but no words the entire time he was there.

Maude spent a bit of time that evening discussing the economy of the Nation and how trade was conducted. This was all so he knew what to look for when they would leave town and begin traveling.

Another night in a bed was a glorious thing, and Casey slept well until Maude’s insistent prompting pried him free of his dreams and got him dressing for the hunt.

Since Einar had warned him he didn’t need to bring all his gear, Casey left his larger pack behind and just brought the satchel like he had the day before.

At Maude’s insistence, he’d purchased a skinning knife the previous night. Casey made sure that it was in the day pack along with some medical supplies and his two waterskins.

The city was just beginning to wake up, with the stall owners getting their wares set up and conversing quietly while they ate their own breakfasts, when Casey made his way to the fountain that sat in the center of the square.

This spot gave him a good view of the road leading down from the walled complex on top of the hill, and he settled in to eat the breakfast that the gruff man behind the bar had pushed on him when he left the White-Gold Rain a moment earlier.

His food was a cold slab of roast meat tucked into a split loaf of bread smeared with an herbal butter, and it hit the spot in the cool light of predawn.

The sun was just beginning to draw its colors across the sky when the gates of the hill compound opened and a crowd of warriors began marching down the slope at a steady clip towards the market.

A few people pointed, and many stopped to stare as the group approached in curiosity.

Einar was in the middle of the pack, and he caught Casey’s eyes before motioning for Casey to join him.

Falling in beside the brown-haired mountain of a man, Casey mumbled a greeting just before the group came to a stop beside the fountain. The grizzled man from the evening before, Einar’s father, barked an order out.

“Aspirants, present yourselves!”

“Not you,” Einar said before Casey could consider if he was supposed to move up to them. “Unless you actually want to join the clan. At the moment, you are viewed as my guest. That would change if you went up there.” Einar’s voice was low and steady, so Casey just nodded and watched instead, taking a moment to glance around at the group of warriors.

The dozen men present wore a mishmash of gear. Some of them were going entirely unarmored like Casey was, while others had chain shirts or breastplates. All carried at least two weapons and shields on chest-straps slung over their backs. The symbol of a silver hammer held over an anvil was embroidered on the backs of all the cloaks in careful stitches—a symbol that matched the one pressed into the coins in Casey’s pouch.

It is the mark of their association with the clan. Some wear torcs, some embroider it on their clothes, most wear cloaks with their clan affiliation displayed when going out in public like this. Each will carry a medallion with their clan mark on it at all times, though. Think of these open clan-marks as making this an official function, Maude explained while the ‘aspirants’ assembled in a loose group in front of Einar’s father.

The group of aspirants was even more ragtag in their gear than the clan’s fighters.

There were four of them, three men and a woman, and each of them carried only a single weapon. The woman also had a shield and some simple boiled-leather armor. Two of the men had swords at their hip. The third man had a two-handed sledge in a sling across his back as his weapon. The woman had a broad-bladed axe in a holster on her hip.

None of the four stood with the confidence of the clan drengr, and all of their clothing was more on the ragged side.

“I do not need to blather on to you four about the honor being offered to you today,” Einar’s father began. “You already know its weight. You who walk the Drengr’s Road know that tests await you along the path. This is one of many. Prove your mettle and the Silver Hammer will forge you into true weapons of the gods!”

There was a smattering of applause from the watching crowd. Most of the aspirants straightened their backs and bowed smoothly to the older man. One of the two sword-wielders just bobbed like he was a nervous bird, which ruined the effect somewhat.

“This is probably the first time any of them will have wet those blades they carry,” a droll, female voice said from just behind Casey.

He turned his head to spot the scarred face of the blonde Trida a few paces behind him. She gave him a wink and a nod, which Casey returned.

“Probably. But we all stood there once,” Einar gently reprimanded.

The byplay between the two made Casey miss the rest of the speech from the elder. Then the entire group surged forward in a quick march that took Casey a moment to find the cadence.

Stumbling along at the front of the pack were the four aspirants, two on each side, with a single minder each from the group of veterans talking to them quickly while the group headed out.

“So, how far do we have to travel?” Casey asked quietly as the group emerged from the city and stepped onto the road he had come in on previously.

“Two hours’ fast march. We’ll only get to use the road for part of that, though. The Fomori are prideful, but they aren’t stupid. They don’t camp anywhere near the roads,” Einar answered as the group picked up speed and stretched out along the road.

Cloaks began to flap in the wind of their rapid march, the moving cloth making a quiet whipping sound in counterpoint to the pounding of boots in the dry soil of the road.

Overhead, the sun continued to rise and paint the land with colors like it had not a care in the world as the group marched to the fight. The only thing to break the open expanse of the sky was the black, circling form of a raven.

<><><>

During the march, Einar and Trida both quizzed Casey on what he’d been doing the previous day. Trida was quite happy that he was enjoying his stay at the White-Gold Rain, rightfully proud of the inn and the work that her sister did there. Einar was more interested in the fact that Casey only had his seax at his side, though.

“You are confident in yourself with just that short blade?” the big man asked for the third time. Casey huffed in irritation.

“Yes. I could not ask for a better weapon than this one.” Casey patted the hilt of black iron at his side. He half expected an appreciative comment from Maude, but the intelligent weapon remained as silent as she had been since they left town.

“If you are sure.” Trida’s voice was full of doubt and concern.

“I am.”

“If you need to borrow a—” Einar began to say, thumbing the head of his war hammer, only for Lars to interrupt him.

“He will learn the hard way, Einar. Some people need to step on a nail to learn to wear boots,” the other man grumbled. He shot a glare at Casey from the other side of Einar, with his spear held vertical and his shield already in hand.

“And some people can’t keep a civil tongue in their head until the rude one is first evicted, Lars,” Trida snapped from Casey’s other side.

“Enough, children. Squabbling on a hunt brings bad fortune to us all,” Einar cautioned, and the two went silent. “If you change your mind, Casey. Simply say the word. You are still working on replacing everything that was stolen from you, after all.” The finality with which Einar spoke prevented the argument from starting again, and they instead returned to safer topics.

The group had left the road almost an hour before, striking out overland and deeper into the plains on the opposite side of the road from the mountains that Casey had come out of.

Now, they passed through a waving sea of long grass with occasional islands of scrubby trees. They had to cross a river at one point, having angled towards a broad, slow section that they forded rapidly.

More than once, their passing scared up game and sent rabbits or birds fleeing. As they passed a cluster of trees, the group startled an entire herd of bounding animals that reminded Casey of deer, except for the fact they had an extra set of rear legs just ahead of the normal pair. Those legs gave them a great, bounding leaps that allowed them to flee rapidly from danger.

Einar had gotten onto a tangent about a batch of mead that he had just barreled the previous day when word was passed back along the group that they were nearing the site of the creatures camp that the scouts had marked out.

The entire group drew their weapons and went silent at the news.

Beyond the group of marching fighters, Casey could see a thicket of much taller trees standing in the bend of another river. All the greenery they had passed so far was healthy and hale, drinking in the warm morning sun with gusto.

The trees ahead, though, had a sickly pallor to the leaves they still had. Most of the trees had lost their greenery and reached to the sky with gnarled hands.

Einar’s father, who Casey had learned was named Rigg, called a halt while the sickly thicket was still distant. The group immediately huddled around him to receive their orders.

“Trida, scout ahead and confirm the beasties are still there. Get me a headcount. If they’ve already spotted us, just come back.” The blonde woman nodded in response and trotted into the grass, keeping low to the ground. “As for the rest of you, our aspirants and guest will be getting the first shot at these Fomori. Aspirants, we expect you to take down at least two Fomori if you are to have any hopes of joining the Silver Hammer.” Rigg’s hard eyes glared at each of the four before landing on Casey and clearly judging him as wanting before skipping away. “Trida and Einar’s squads will move in behind them to support and extract anyone who gets in over their heads. Einar, I expect you to keep an eye on your trophy hunter. Hill-varg are beasts, dangerous ones, but still beasts; Fomori are far different and more cunning.”

“My name is Casey.”

The statement fell into the silence of the group like a stone into a pond as all eyes turned to him. Casey was staring at Rigg with a stony expression.

“What?” the older man growled.

“I said, my name is Casey. I’m not a ‘trophy hunter,’ and I certainly don’t belong to Einar. Rather than talking over me like I am a child, I would appreciate you using my actual name.”

Silence fell over the group once more as Rigg glared down at Casey. The quiet continued for a dozen heartbeats, only to be broken by the quiet rustle of Trida’s return.

“Twenty-three lesser Fomori. They appear to have captured some wildlife and are distracted torturing it. Two larger varieties were watching, but not participating. Our presence has not been noticed yet,” Trida said as soon as she got into the circle, only to pause and glance between Casey and Rigg as their staring contest continued.

“Fine. You want me to use your name, then prove yourself.” It was Rigg who spoke first of the two.

Casey just shook his head in irritation and turned away from Rigg towards the trees.

“Walking away already, coward?” taunted Lars from back in the group.

There was the sound of a thump and a groan as Einar backhanded the man in the chest.

“I am not here to prove myself to Rigg, or to any of you,” Casey said quietly, but his voice carried nonetheless.

A thought occurred to him, and he could feel Maude’s silent approval through their bond. He drew Maude from her sheath smoothly, the metal ring at the mouth of the wooden sheath chiming quietly against her blade. He stared around at the gathered men and women who watched him, some with disdain and others in curiosity.

“I’m here to test my steel on the Drengr’s Road.”

The words sank into the grass and the silence returned for a bare second before someone else spoke.

“Well said, young drengr.” The one who spoke was a grizzled older man who had been marching with Rigg. This was the first time Casey had heard the man speak. “All right, you lot. You have the orders. Aspirants and Drengr Casey to the front. Trida and Einar, your squads next. The last two squads will swing wide to encircle them. Hammer them till they shatter!” the old drengr grunted.

The last part of the sentence was repeated as the drengr of the Silver Hammer echoed the war cry.

There was a bit of shuffling as they rearranged themselves, and Casey was the first one to move forward, pushing through the waist-high grass with the four aspirants close behind him.

Keep an eye out for traps. Fomori love to sprinkle them around their camps. I’m surprised Rigg didn’t warn you of them, Maude said into his mind, speaking for the first time since they’d left town.

Understood. If you sense or see anything that you think I have missed, please let me know, Casey thought back at her.

Partners look out for each other, was Maude’s amused response.

They made it within a hundred yards of the thicket before Casey spotted the first trap.

A sapling had been driven into the earth and then bent so that it would whip upwards and into the chest of whatever disturbed the simple tripwire that was strung between two rocks.

Casey stopped his advance and quickly slashed through the crude animal-gut string that would trigger it harmlessly while glancing at the aspirants nearby to see if they’d noticed.

The female aspirant watched him with wide eyes before hissing a warning to the other three, who had kept moving. From there, the aspirants slowed down significantly.

Several traps were found, and one of the male aspirants actually triggered one by stepping into a covered hole.

Thankfully, one of the others was close enough to grab his hand in time to keep him from impaling his foot on the wooden stakes inside the hole.

Maude pointed out two of the five traps that Casey had to disable on his route forward. He wasn’t sure how she did it, but Casey felt his attention being pulled to something that he had glossed over until he spotted whatever it was that had triggered Maude’s wariness. From there, she told him how to disable the trap.

They made it to twenty yards from the thin treeline before the Fomori reacted.

Shrieks and screams of fury rang out over the grassland before the Fomori boiled forth from the trees like an upturned anthill.

Casey had tried to get a good description of a Fomori from several sources on the trip out. But they had only ever agreed that the creatures were twisted, chaotic beasts and that their nature defied explanation—which made sense now that he was looking at them.

The creatures looked like a mad scientist with a fetish for needlework had decided to stitch together abominations without even bothering to draw a diagram or measure dimensions first, then turned an angry toddler loose with a bucket of paint in all the shades of vomit to color them.

A creature maybe half his size was the first one to reach Casey, running on four legs like a wolf. But, rather than a wolf’s head and body, it had the head of a goblin and the body of a man merging into the twisted and fur-covered limbs. Gnashing a mouth full of broken teeth under a protruding nose shaped like an eggplant—and roughly the same size—the creature snapped and lunged at Casey like it was going to bite him.

Reacting smoothly, Casey yanked the targeted leg backwards and brought Maude down in an overhand chop.

The heavy-bladed seax slammed into the crown of the creature’s skull with a thunk like he was splitting wood, and the creature collapsed, boneless, to the ground.

Cut its throat. Take no chances.

Casey did just that, grabbing it by the protruding nose and yanking its head up and back before dragging the sharp blade over the creature’s throat. This sent a fountain of black blood into the earth that hissed and made the plants it landed on wilt.

Another snarling hiss drew Casey’s attention upwards in time to block a sideways swing of a crude club from another of the creatures.

This one looked more like an emaciated man with eyes stitched shut using coarse thread. The only part of it that wasn’t stick thin was its right arm, which was grossly over-muscled and hung down below its knee.

The block threw the creature off balance. Casey stepped through into a lunge like Maude had taught him, but he remembered at the last moment the damaged tip of his blade.

Rather than trying to stab the creature, Casey drove his fist clutching the handle of his weapon into the monster’s throat. The blow turned its roar into a squeaky scream of fear, and it dropped its club to swipe at him with the muscled arm.

He felt, rather than saw, Maude’s instructions, and he repeated his block from earlier. This time, he angled the blade to catch the swinging hand on the wrist.

The block, combined with the creature’s flailing blow, took the fist off the end of its arm neatly. The creature’s squeaky scream went up another octave as it fought to breathe and clutch at the much thicker wrist with its remaining, far skinnier, hand.

Stomping on the creature’s leading foot to keep it from retreating, Casey slashed at this one’s throat as well, remembering Maude’s previous advice to take no chances. The creature collapsed in another fountain of blood that speckled Casey’s face with burning droplets.

This all happened in a bare handful of seconds, and it took a long moment for reality to return around Casey.

To his right, the pair of swordsmen were fighting side-by-side to fend off a creature that had six long limbs with three different joints emerging from a body like that of an over-sized spider.

To his left, the woman was yanking her axe free of the shoulder of a squat creature that reminded him of a dwarf, but only if the creature had been molded from shit rather than stone.

The maul-wielder was on his ass near her, trying to scramble backwards as he clutched at a wound in his arm with his weapon nowhere to be seen. Two of the Fomori cackled madly while taunting him with jabs of crude wooden spears. The two threatening the man on the ground were bizarre in that they each only had one arm and one leg, as if someone had taken a goblin with two heads, split it down the middle, and given it the ability to function in halves.

Moving automatically, Casey stepped around to confront one of them and take the pressure off the man. The right-handed monster spun at him, hissing threateningly between teeth that looked like the shards of broken glass bottles. The hiss cut off abruptly as Casey’s lashing front kick caught it in the chin and slammed the mouth shut with a crunch of breaking teeth. Before the creature could recover, Casey had lopped its arm off at the wrist and dragged Maude across its throat.

With his free hand, Casey snatched the crude spear out of the air with the monster’s hand still attached to it. Turning, Casey drove it into the single thigh of the left-handed monster just as it was preparing to stab its spear into the downed man.

The creature fell to the side with a howl of pain and clutched at its leg before Casey’s boot descended to crush its head into the ground.

A surge of energy flowed into Casey at that moment. Barely half a second later, a second surge hit him like a truck and nearly took him off his feet.

That is the qi from your kills. Fomori may be tainted creatures, but they still are creatures of this world. Direct it to your core! Maude’s words exploded into his mind, and Casey followed her directions, reaching for and connecting to his core like she’d taught him the previous day.

The surge of power traveled down the connection and fed into the flaring spark there. Casey felt the energy swirl and collect into a spinning pool of energy deep inside him, feeding slowly into that flickering spark. He could see the myriad colors of the energy as they poured in before the swirling action began to slowly blend their colors into a solid, iron gray.

Just as he established the connection, a third, then a fourth pulse hit him as the last Fomori whose throat he’d cut finally expired.

The impact of those pulses threw him off balance at first, but Casey had drilled diligently and had Maude encouraging him. He was able to recover and re-establish the link to flood the energy into his core immediately.

“Up you get!” Einar had arrived at this point and was dragging the man Casey had protected to his feet. “Well done, Casey. Fight isn’t over yet, though!” The grin that split Einar’s face was manic rather than friendly this time, but Casey could feel a similar smile on his face as well. The adrenaline was high, and he was ready for more.

<><><>

All in all, the fight took less than five minutes. Four people were injured, three of those four were the aspirants. The only one of the aspirants to escape without injury was the woman in armor. And she was unwounded purely because of said armor. There were several deep slices in the hardened leather showing where it had saved her.

The fourth was Lars, who had taken a claw to the leg in one of his fights. None of the Fomori survived the battle. The clan fighters ruthlessly put the creatures down. Rigg and the grizzled, older drengr that had encouraged Casey earlier took the two larger Fomori down. Both creatures looked like someone had decided a bear needed extra ways to kill you, but couldn’t settle on whether extra limbs or a stinger was the better option.

Casey did his best to ignore the fact that both of the creatures also had second sets of arms tucked against the chest that were bizarrely human.

Casey was responsible for downing six of the monsters, which was three more than any of the other Aspirants.

He was covered in the stinging black blood that felt like it was slowly burning its way through his skin, and Casey wanted nothing more than to jump into the river to wash, but Maude had other plans first.

I know that you want to clean up, but this needs to be done first. For all their twisted natures, Fomori actually have cores like spirit beasts. I need you to harvest them from the creatures. There’s no reason to wash first, then get dirty again, right?

Casey sighed but didn’t argue. Squatting down next to the first creature he’d killed, he wiped Maude’s blade clean on the creature’s fur before repeating the motion on a patch of grass nearby.

“I’ll wash you up in just a minute, Maude,” Casey muttered before setting the still-bloody blade on the ground next to him.

Thank you. Please never sheath me while there is blood on my blade. It can contaminate the sheathe. Now, get that skinning knife you bought out. You want to make the first incision just below the ribs. We aren’t trying to preserve meat or anything—simply extracting the core.

Casey got to the grim work, focusing on the cuts and getting the dirty job done by reminding himself that there was a stream nearby that he could wash in. He was able to find an irregular stone twice the size of his thumbnail right behind the creature’s breastbone. It took a bit of digging to pull it free, and the act ensured that Casey’s hands were liberally covered in gore, but he managed it.

After wiping the stone on the grass, Casey looked closer. It was hard to see through the gore smearing it still, but it looked like an irregularly shaped lump of sea-glass. The edges were not sharp, instead rounded off lightly, but there was enough definition to show where those edges should be.

That’s one. You killed five more. The sooner we get this done, the sooner you can wash. Oh, don’t forget to take a trophy off this critter. A claw or a tooth should do.

“Remind me why that’s important again?” Casey asked verbally, as he wasn’t touching Maude at the moment. He made sure to pitch his voice low so others wouldn’t hear him.

You remember how Rigg was challenging you to prove yourself earlier? That’s what the trophies are for. You will be assembling what is known as a ‘hunt-necklace,’ which is a personal set of trophies that proves one’s valor. That’s the real reason for it. Rather than just getting free drinks at the bar, Maude’s voice was teasing as she finished the explanation.

“Got it.” Casey muttered before cutting one of the oversized claws off the creature’s paw before moving to the next one.

Maude was guiding him through the fourth, one of the split goblin creatures, when Einar came over to check on him.

“You did very well in that fight, my friend!” Einar thundered.

Casey was glad he’d just set aside the skinning knife to try to pry the Fomori’s core free, otherwise he might have stabbed himself in surprise. For someone so large, Einar could be stealthy if he wanted to. It just felt like he didn’t want to very often.

“Thanks, Einar. You did a good job as well,” Casey said through gritted teeth as he fought his own disgust at the slippery sensation under his fingers.

A moment later, the core popped free with a sickening squelching noise, and Casey tossed it onto the ground next to the others. The grasses continued to wilt wherever the blood touched them, so he was trying not to spread it around as much as possible.

“Why are you gathering their cores? Those tainted things can’t be used for anything good. Trying to cultivate with them will only stain your own core.” Einar’s voice was concerned now as he peered down at the small pile of irregular stones.

Casey blinked up at him for a moment. He hadn’t even thought about it. Maude had told him to get them and she’d not lead him astray yet.

Before indignation or anger could set in, Maude was already explaining. Since the seax was not in his hand, he couldn’t respond, but Maude could still talk to him.

Tell him that you are collecting them to ensure they are safely destroyed. Cite… cite an unpleasant encounter you had in the past where they weren’t properly disposed of as the reason. I do have a good reason for you collecting them, but it’s not one that you can explain to Einar without revealing who or what I am. Please do not do that.

Casey thought for a moment before deciding to accept Maude’s quick explanation. He turned his attention back to the still-waiting Einar.

“I want to make sure they are properly disposed of. I’ve heard stories of folk getting hurt if it’s not done correctly. So, since I killed the things, disposing of the tainted cores is my responsibility,” he explained while he collected his things and moved over to the last two corpses.

“That is quite conscientious of you, my friend. It is your right to claim them, just as you are claiming trophies here,” Einar said, following along with him. “We will pile the bodies and burn them. Several of our number have Legacies associated with fire, so that will cleanse the earth and prevent the taint from lingering. You should wash before we return to town, though. I doubt they’ll let you in the gate looking like that.” Einar said the last part with a laugh. Casey just rolled his eyes at the big man.

Though he’d killed four Fomori himself, Einar had not a spot of blood on him. Somehow.

“I plan to. Does the river run back toward the settlement at all?”

“No, it runs out into the plains. Water will purify itself naturally, now that the Fomori aren’t living beside it. I will go and help them begin stacking the bodies.” Einar nodded as he finished the statement before beginning to drag the bodies into a central pile.

At a glance, Casey could see that he was the only one collecting cores from the creatures, and his efforts were getting him odd looks from a few of the warriors. All of them had taken trophies, so he felt less awkward about that.

Going to have to wash all of this off in the river, too, Casey thought with a sigh as he cut into the fifth corpse. The fighting wasn’t too bad, but the aftermath is just… disturbing. I hope I can get used to this.

Chapter 18

“So falsifying a hunt-necklace is considered that heinous?” Casey asked while carefully inspecting Maude’s blade in the light of the baldrsteinn of his room.

Yes. False trophies and false honor are considered deceit of the highest caliber. If you are caught falsifying your hunt-necklace, you are branded an oathbreaker. Lying to that degree is taboo. Most who get caught end up resorting to crime to survive, as none will trust or speak with them.

“What prevents those caught from just moving away to somewhere that doesn’t know them?” Casey took up the polishing cloth and carefully scrubbed at Maude’s blade before daubing a bit more of the weapon oil onto the cloth. The woman in weapon form groaned happily at the attention.

Oh, a little closer to my hilt. Right there. To your question though: some try to, but it is pointless. When I said brand, I didn’t mean figuratively. Their faces are literally branded with the symbol of the oathbreaker. It’s not something that can be hidden or healed. This threat is what keeps people honest and allows for trust in these dangerous times.

Casey paused at that, staring at the black iron of the blade in front of him. Several thoughts ran through his mind, first being that the practice sounded barbaric. He throttled that thought, though.

If things really are dangerous here and so much weight is put on someone’s fighting prowess, I can see why they’d be very unhappy with those who lie about it, Casey thought silently.

His eyes went to the small pile of trophies sitting in the crude wooden bowl on the small table beside him. He’d bought some leather strips to braid the trophies onto—a practice that was common for those on the Drengr’s Road. He needed to be able to display them at a moment’s notice, after all.

Whatever. It’s not the strangest thing I’ve dealt with here, Casey thought at last before turning his attention to tending to Maude’s blade.

He’d taken the time to give her an initial wash when he’d also washed himself, still fully clothed, in the river. The clothes he’d worn were stained beyond recovery. Thankfully, Einar advised him that he’d be getting a bounty for each of the Fomori he’d killed, so he could afford more. It would just take a day or so to get it released.

Casey had immediately set to checking Maude’s edge and polishing her as soon as he got back to his room, even before going to wash himself again. That had been a surprise to the intelligent weapon, but she hadn’t complained.

Despite having cloven into the skull of one of the monsters with Maude’s bladed edge during the fight, there was no visible damage to the blade other than the missing tip. But Casey still carefully examined it with his eyes and the pads of his fingers to ensure he didn’t miss any small nicks or chips. While he worked, the two of them talked over their plans for the next several days.

So you have another three nights here at the inn. Do you think you’ll stay longer in town after that? Maude asked from her spot in the middle of the little table that sat in Casey’s room.

He’d just finished oiling her, and the iron of her blade gleamed in the brilliant light of the baldrsteinn. Casey was now working on his skinning knife, which was showing more signs of damage and needing a sharpening after he’d pried the tainted cores out of the Fomori.

“I don’t think so. I’ve never been one to spend unnecessarily, and you said something about wanting to train,” Casey said quietly, carefully working the whetstone over the blade to resharpen it.

Training will be easier while out in nature. You will be able to find places of strong natural qi that you can draw on, as well as natural treasures such as herbs and spirit beast cores that you will need for your own cultivation. You can only find them in town at exorbitant prices.

“What do I do with those?”

Casey pointed with the skinning knife at the irregular, cloudy lumps that were the tainted cores he’d extracted from the Fomori at Maude’s insistence. They sat in another bowl on the other side of the trophies that still waited for his attention. Three purple, two muddy blue, and one sickly green lump of what looked like sea-glass.

I will teach you to cultivate them. Maude’s response made him twitch, and he shot the weapon a pointed look.

“How? I was under the impression that they could not be used without damaging my core,” Casey asked while trying to restrain his temper.

Without my help, they would. It is one reason of many that we are keeping my existence a secret, Casey, Maude explained without concern. We will draw from them together. I can filter the slag out from the useful ore, so to speak. You cannot use it, but I can.

“I feel like a broken record here, but how? I would think that dangerous materials would be dangerous, regardless.” Casey inspected the skinning knife one last time before setting it aside as well.

Maude took a moment to walk him through how to braid the leather strips so that they would grip the various fangs, claws, and teeth he’d taken as trophies so far. Once he had the hang of it, she answered his question.

It is one benefit of my Legacy. Your homeworld understood the secret of steel, correct? Casey grunted an affirmative. So you understand it is the choice of impurities in steel that gives its strength. That is what I am using them for. My body grows as I can absorb such things, as well as natural metals. It was because of the gift of star-steel that the Forge-Fathers used while my new body was being created that I was not stuck in this form when you first found me.

The black iron seax shifted and melted into the shape of the simple obsidian dagger with a rough wooden handle made from what looked like a gnarled root. A moment later, Maude returned to her familiar, larger form.

Casey had around a dozen questions to ask, but wasn’t sure where he should start. So he picked one at random.

“Tell me about these Forge-Fathers?”

The two dwarves you saw in the vision. The Sons of Ivaldi were the ones who forged this body for me. It was their temple you chose to meditate in and where you accepted the fragment that began your Drengr’s Road. I call them my ‘Forge-Fathers’ as they helped shape the body I inhabit most often.

“I thought Loptr was your father?” Casey knotted the last bit of leather into place around the large fang from the hill-varg.

He is my true father. I suppose you could look at Eitri and Brokkr as uncles then. They had something of a feud going with my father for a long time—a deal he reneged on—but he made things right when he came to them for help. Maude’s tone made it clear she didn’t want to talk about the subject much more, so Casey let it drop and returned to the original line of questioning.

“So you know how to filter out the dangerous stuff in those tainted cores? People would be envious of that?”

Oh yes. The Fomori are far easier to hunt than spirit beasts, and many times more numerous. Fomori cores are discarded due to the taint in them, as you know. Some clans require that they be turned in to claim the bounty on the Fomori if one kills them in their lands, but that is just to ensure they are properly destroyed. If a tainted core is simply left in a location, it will aggregate qi until the Fomori can form a new body. This process takes years, though, so we have time to deal with them.

Casey was about to ask another question when there came the thunder of a fist on his door.

He was on his feet with Maude at the ready before the third blow fell. A familiar voice made him relax a moment later.

“Friend Casey! Are you in there?” Einar called through the door.

Sighing, Casey walked over and unlatched the door to reveal Einar doing a passable impression of a second one on the far side. The big man had a grin splitting his face and a small leather pouch in his hand, which he tossed to Casey.

Catching the pouch, Casey heard a clink of coins and raised his eyebrow at Einar.

“Your bounty payment. I was heading this way to remind you of the celebration up in the clan compound,” Einar said with a grin. “You should get changed. Wearing clothes still stained from the fight won’t fit the celebration’s atmosphere. Tonight we welcome several new members to the Silver Hammer, and I know several will want to talk to you as well. My father will probably try to talk you into joining us.” The roll of Einar’s eyes showed his own failure to dissuade his parent from that course.

You should go, Maude said as Casey was about to decline the invitation. You need to build your reputation, after all. Reputation is just as important as your skill with weapons and your hunt-necklace. You don’t have to stay late, but it will give you a chance to talk and mingle with the other drengr. Casey sighed, but agreed.

“Okay, let me go wash and get changed real quick.”

<><><>

Rather than meeting in the dining hall, Einar had led him to the longhouse this time, the massive meeting hall that Maude had pointed out to him on his first night in town.

Inside, the building was filled with members of the clan, both old and young. Large fire pits cast both heat and smoke into the air while amber colored baldrsteinn hung from the ceiling in their cages to cast better light for those celebrating. Tapestries draped the walls as well as tanned hides, skulls, and weapons as trophies.

The wood of the support pillars were carved into the shape of stacked anvils studded with posed hammers, and there were simple balconies that ran around the upper edge of the room from which elders watched over the celebrating fighters.

A small, raised dais sat on one end of the room and held a table for the clan leaders and their families. Einar’s father sat amongst them, but not in the high seat. That chair was empty when Casey arrived.

Casey spotted two of the aspirants in the crowd as he came in with Einar, the two who had used swords. It hadn’t taken long after he arrived before Trida had shown up with her squadmates, a pair of fit and lovely women who were happy to chat and drink with them. Their names were Arna and Dagny.

“It was quite impressive. He split the beast’s skull from the crown of its head down to the point of its jaw.” Trida had apparently taken it personally that Casey wasn’t going to brag, so she’d decided to do it for him to her companions.

Dagny had missed most of Casey’s fight and was listening raptly as Trida explained it. The redheaded woman eyed Casey in between drinks with obvious interest. Arna added her two coppers into the conversation when she saw the opportunity.

“Yes, I never expected him to be so proficient with that over-sized boot knife,” Arna teased, her blue eyes twinkling under her brunette brows.

She’d claimed the seat beside Casey while Trida and Dagny had sat opposite. Einar was his usual solid presence on Casey’s other side.

“You should have seen him after the tussle with the hill-varg,” Einar barked laughingly. “Bloody and wounded, standing over the corpse with a broken stick protruding from its skull, and he had barely a foot left in his hand. But he stood ready to try and take me and my two on.”

“That’s the way of a drengr,” purred Dagny, biting her bottom lip lightly as she stared at Casey.

For his part, Casey was just focusing on the food in front of him. They had done up some kind of spiced roast that was making his core sing happily even as the greedy point of energy still worked to consume the swirling nimbus of power inside him from the fight with the Fomori.

“And he took down six! Not to mention saving that idiot, Bjarne. I mean seriously? A driving maul as a weapon?” Trida laughed before draining her mug. “He’s lucky he only got injured. Sure, he killed one of the Fomori once he got back to his feet, but that was more chance than skill. Caught the thing while it was distracted.”

“He should have practiced more before putting himself forward to join. If that is the weapon he chooses, then he needs to be faster with it,” Einar grunted, shifting in his seat to nudge Casey lightly. “Like Casey and his blade. Still, those of us who fight with a hammer make the mistake at least once. He will have the chance to apply again when he has trained more, at least.”

“What about you, Casey? Got any stories of other fights to relate?” Dagny redirected the attention back to Casey.

The redheaded woman nursed her mug of ale slowly, leaning back to reveal the fact that the top several buttons of her tunic were open now to expose a wide slice of defined curves beneath them. She toyed with a lock of her red mane with the other hand and had pulled the straight mass over her shoulder—but not over her chest—in order to contrast the pale skin under her tunic.

Casey fought the urge to roll his eyes at the heavy-handed flirting while he chewed. Once his mouth was clear, he took a drink before responding.

“None that I have evidence of. As I told Einar, I lost basically everything a few days ago when someone I thought I could trust betrayed me.” The faces of the three women twisted into matching scowls at the mention of betrayal, but Dagny soldiered on.

“Try us anyway. I don’t always need proof to be convinced, especially when I respect someone already,” the redhead suggested. Arna got in on the encouragement as well.

“Oh yes, I’m curious what else you did before you got here. Traveling alone is dangerous enough, but I’m sure the opportunities are vast!”

Casey half hoped that Maude would pipe up with suggestions for him, but the intelligent weapon was strangely silent from her place at his belt. She’d been quiet ever since he arrived on the hilltop and met with Trida and her girls. So he had to wing it.

“Well, the day before I met Einar, I was staying by a lake up in the hills that had an undine in it.”

“Undine are dangerous if you stray into their waters,” cautioned Arna, while Dagny’s eyes twinkled with interest. “Did you speak with her to bargain for safety?”

“No, I left offerings of food from the forest by the lakeshore. She collected them when I wasn’t looking and did not bother me,” Casey said and shrugged.

All three women shared a look of surprise before turning back to him.

“Is it really that simple?” Dagny asked, getting another shrug from Casey.

“It worked for me. Undine can’t leave the water, right? So I guessed they would have trouble gathering some types of food. A bit of rare food would be a treat. I also didn’t try to fish or wash myself in the lake. I would only take water to drink and rinse the food I gathered in it.”

“That is another reason she didn’t harass you, then,” Trida suggested. “You showed respect to her domain. I’ll have to remember that if I encounter one of the water-folk.”

“I want to know where you learned to handle a blade like you did, Casey?” Dagny asked after a moment of pause, again dragging the subject back to Casey himself. “I only saw bits of your fight, and you moved so smoothly.”

Casey debated for a moment on what was safe to tell them, and he spotted Dagny’s fingers toying with another button on her tunic out of the corner of his vision. Fighting the urge to roll his eyes again, he began describing his training in the police academy in very general terms.

The meal continued for another two hours, and Dagny never stopped flirting openly with him. Arna made it a point to flirt with Einar. She managed to squeeze between him and Casey when she came back from collecting refills for their drinks.

As the night went on, both girls continued to relentlessly pursue their targets while Trida watched them in amusement.

Einar was, unfortunately, entirely oblivious to Arna’s words and actions. At least he appeared that way. Several of the men from the group came over to compliment Casey on his fighting and share a drink before wandering back into the crowd.

While only a dozen fighters had gone out with the four aspirants and Casey, there were over a hundred people in the longhouse celebrating. The chaos, noise, and fervor were beginning to give Casey a headache when he felt something soft rubbing against his calf.

Twitching in surprise, he glanced under the table to see that Dagny was rubbing her bare foot teasingly along his leg. Her empty boot sat beside her other foot. He shot her a questioning look and got a saucy wink in return.

Trida didn’t miss the exchange, and she elbowed her friend which nearly sent Dagny falling over backwards when the blow knocked her sideways.

“You drink far too much, woman!” Trida chastised playfully, catching the redhead by the forearm and dragging her back upright.

The motion had disturbed Dagny’s balance enough that she was no longer playing footsie with Casey, and he decided to seize the opportunity.

“While I could spend the entire night enjoying the good company, I will have to call it a day now,” Casey said, standing with the remaining mead in his mug. Einar had shared another bottle with him, and Casey had been carefully nursing it, remembering Maude’s recommendation from several nights ago.

“Aww, leaving already?” Trida frowned, but her eyes danced with amusement. “You should stay longer. It is a night to revel in victory. We stamped out that nest of Fomori before they could harm anyone from town.”

Dagny nodded her agreement, pouting up at Casey. Einar was distracted by Arna and had missed his words, though. The brunette had finally gotten through to the big man by draping his arm over her shoulders, and the two were whispering to each other.

“Yes. I need rest and to meditate on the fight. Not to mention I am still stiff from my previous injury.” Casey had no problem using his healed arm as an excuse. In reality, the raucous noise was beginning to get to him, and while he liked Dagny, he wasn’t about to give into her flirtations without knowing her far better first.

He also had noticed the elders at the high table eying him. So far, he had managed to avoid any propositions to join the clan and wanted to keep it that way to avoid awkwardness.

Instead, Casey raised his mug over his head and spoke a little louder, and the noise at the nearby tables quieted.

“To the drengr of the Silver Hammer! May your weapons always be true to you!” Casey toasted, getting a roar of approval before draining the last of his mead and stepping away from the table.

“Rest well, friend Casey,” Einar called to him as he passed.

“You, too. When you are allowed to at least.” Casey nodded to Arna, who was still plastered to the big man’s side, and got a grin back.

Nodding once more to the smiling Trida and still pouting Dagny, Casey turned and strode out of the loud interior of the longhouse.

Emerging into the evening air, Casey took a deep breath and let it out slowly before making his way to the gates. By now, the guards recognized him, and one unbarred the gate to let him through with a nod and a salute.

I’m surprised you did not take the redhead up on her offers. Maude spoke to him for the first time in several hours as Casey strode leisurely down the hill towards the town. I don’t think she could have been more blunt about her interest unless she sat down in your lap. Here I thought no man could resist a redhead’s temptations.

“Dagny is a nice girl, but I wouldn’t want just a fling like that,” Casey answered quietly.

Why not, if I might ask? Releasing stress through sex is natural, after all.

Maude’s question was quiet and respectful, which was the only reason Casey considered answering it.

“There are few times when a man is more vulnerable than during sex. I like Dagny, but I don’t trust her enough to sleep with her.”

You sleep with me, though, Maude teased lightly, and Casey rolled his eyes.

“I sleep beside you. That is different.”

I could still harm you in your sleep, though. You know that this isn’t my only form. Maude’s teasing continued as Casey turned off the market square and down the alley that led to the entrance of the inn.

“The difference is that I do trust you, Maude. I might be a fool to trust someone I met only days ago, but I do.”

Casey’s reply was enough to silence the intelligent weapon as she considered his words.

Chapter 19

“So this will help restore the damage to your tip?” Casey asked as he settled into a comfortable stance in the small grove of trees near the city.

I still haven’t found out the name of the place. I should ask someone. The thought crossed his mind idly as he stretched his arms out.

It will. It is not a quick process, but the six cores you collected should do it. If you can get the hang of it, we should be able to drain at least one today.

“What flavor do you want to do first? Plum, blueberry, or lime?” Casey asked while digging in his pouch for the irregular lumps of stone that were the corrupt cores.

Even touching the cores felt weird, so he’d wrapped them in a scrap of cloth taken from his damaged clothes before stashing them in his pouch. Now they sat on that same scrap of cloth on an ancient, gray tree stump in front of him.

They aren’t flavored or anything, Maude grumbled at him before sighing, a strange sensation to have occur inside his head. Do the green one first. It’s likely earth aligned. That will be the most stable of the six. Do you remember the stances from the other day?

“Sure. It was a lot like tai chi, and that helped me memorize most of it. Do I have to do them perfectly?”

You should be as perfect as possible. The motions not only stretch your muscles and tendons, but also the spiritual channels in your body. Each Legacy will have its own method of drawing qi into the body and using it to temper and prepare. As you are still in the Stage known as ‘Building the Fire,’ you are mostly just accumulating qi in your core, Maude explained while Casey finished loosening up.

“Like the qi I got from killing the Fomori yesterday?”

Casey could feel the little whirling pool of energy inside him. Overnight, that pool had compacted down as it swirled around the spark of energy that he could feel deep inside him.

Yes, and no. That qi is already free and safe. What you collected from their deaths was simply what they had not personally devoured yet. As your store of qi grows, it will begin to draw in latent qi from the environment. Until you reach the next Step on the Drengr’s Road, that qi won’t be secured in your core.

“Wait, what? You have to explain that, Maude.” Casey twitched and nearly dropped the green core on the ground. He bobbled it for a moment before catching it finally, though he nearly cut himself with Maude. “You make it sound like someone could come along and just rip that qi out of me.”

That’s because they can.

Maude’s answer made Casey’s head ring as he considered her words. She let him think for several minutes before she began to elaborate.

Casey, until you complete the Step that you are on, the qi that your core is using is not fixed. If someone were to fight you and defeat you in a duel, they would take a portion of your qi as a trophy. You haven’t seen it here, as the Silver Hammer seems to be a very welcoming and intelligent clan. But there are other clans which would automatically attack a wandering cultivator such as yourself to try to capture whatever qi you carry. What is worse, it is impossible to tell how much qi someone might have at a glance unless you vastly outclass them.

“And what keeps elders and far stronger people from hunting those weaker than them?”

Decency, reputation, and the fact that if they outclass you, then the amount of qi you possess will not be enough to motivate them to attack you.

Maude’s answer actually allowed him to relax some. He’d honestly been worried that he would run into some monstrously powerful warrior who was unscrupulous enough to just focus on dueling and defeating weaker fighters.

Listen, Casey. This Stage’s name of ‘Building the Fire’ is quite literal. At the moment, you have a spark and sit at the Step of Tinder. Soon you will begin to fill your being with qi. When your spark becomes a flame to begin the process, you will reach Ember. From there, you will continue to fill and flood your body with qi and then hopefully reach the Step of Blaze. That is all part of preparing to temper your body. The first Step of the second Stage is known as Smelting. That is where the qi you will have built up in your body is fed into your core and it begins to burn impurities away. Once you reach the Step of Ember, you will never again fall back down to Tinder. Each Step is its own minor threshold. But the beginning of each Stage is a major threshold. Part of the reason I urge you to avoid clans right now is to allow you to grow without threat.

“I doubt Einar would be a threat,” Casey grumbled while he stared at the lump of murky green stone in his hand.

The Fomori core was irregular and shaped roughly like a blunted arrowhead, but the smooth edges ensured it was only a passing resemblance. Just touching the stone with his bare hand made his skin creep and feel slimy, though he knew the stone was dry.

Einar is not the problem. Others in the clan would be. We both know that Lars has an issue with you and would seek to cause problems.

“Yeah. Okay, I’ll worry about the rest later. We only have so many hours of daylight left. How do I start this thing?” Casey said the last in a rush and felt approval flow to him from Maude down through their bond.

As you move into each pose, take a deep breath in slowly. You will feel your body expand as you do so. You are going to feel a pressure through your right hand, and I need you to focus on ‘breathing’ in through that hand as well. I know the idea doesn’t really make sense, to breathe through your hand, but that is the easiest way to envision it. Grip my hilt with just that hand and extend your index finger along the spine of my blade. You need to press the core into the spine of my blade with that finger and hold it steady.

Casey took a moment to get the stone balanced and shift his grip on the blade. It felt awkward, and he knew his wrist and hand would be sore as a result, but he got it settled before waiting for Maude to continue.

Okay, perfect. Start going through the stances I taught you the other day. We will do a few repetitions to ensure you have them memorized and then focus on your breathing. The process will be slow at first until you get used to this. Give it a few weeks, though, and you will be able to do this without any conscious thought. At that point, we will be able to refine tainted cores like these in a matter of minutes, rather than in hours or days.

Not arguing, Casey began the slow and steady motions of moving through the different stances and strikes with his weapon. He did his best to listen to Maude’s running commentary of how to correct his elbow’s position or the position of his feet as he went. The weight of the seax wasn’t that bad. But Casey knew that it would grow heavier and heavier as he continued through the motions. This was also training of a different kind: to build up his endurance for a longer fight.

Focusing on his breathing and making sure that each stance was correct, Casey was surprised when he felt the pressure against his palm. It felt somewhat like when he would hold his hand out of the window while driving, but it came in slow pulses in time with his breathing. With each inhalation he felt something press against first his finger and then his palm as he moved through each kata.

Turning his attention inward, Casey connected to the spark of his core and saw that the whirling disc of gray qi that surrounded the spark pulsed faster with each inhalation, before slowing once more when he exhaled.

Maude? Casey asked nonverbally, since he didn’t want to mess up his breathing cycle.

Focus, Casey. You are feeling it beginning. The energy is seeping into your body now through the channels as you continue. The longer you do this, and the more used to it you get, the better your channels will become at absorbing ambient qi. It normally requires someone to be much further along the Drengr’s Road to draw from the ambient levels or focus intently in meditation. That is purely due to the way the qi tends to draw more of itself in. If you can spare the focus, look inside and watch the qi as it collects around your core. This loose qi that is collecting there—the part that I warned you others could ‘take’ from you if they defeated you? It’s also what will fuel your abilities as we develop them. You will have to balance how much you spend on powers and how much you hoard to grow along the Drengr’s Road.

Not responding to Maude’s words, Casey focused instead on the sensation pressing against his skin. The pressure continued to run over his hand, but it slowly began to narrow until it was only on the inside of his palm.

There was a pop sensation suddenly, like his ears popping from a pressure change, and then Casey could feel the warm breeze of the energy flowing into his arm. It ran along channels that felt like veins, but spiraled around his limbs and through his chest before being deposited into his center.

As he observed the whirling disc of qi, Casey could see the threads of glittering green energy pour into the spinning gray pool and cause it to grow, while tinting the color of the energy ever so slightly towards green. The spinning motion continued, but the faint green tint never grew stronger as the qi melded with his core.

Maude remained silent as he moved through the kata, though as the hours slipped past Casey swore he could occasionally feel a touch of a hand on his arm or leg to push him into the correct positioning if he had strayed.

<><><>

“I still am surprised that it is that easy,” Casey muttered while he wound his way through the back streets of the city.

Casey could hear the distant ring of a blacksmith’s hammer several blocks over, who was probably working on the last project of the day. That distant chiming resonated in his bones like a second heartbeat.

The sun was already dipping below the horizon and casting long shadows over the city. He’d been here for four days now, and tonight was the last night he had the room at the White-Gold Rain reserved. At the moment, he was heading to meet with Einar for a talk at the market fountain, but walking a more circuitous route to kill time, as the meetup was supposed to be at sundown.

It is only easy because I am here to assist. Without me to filter the impurities out before the energy reaches you, it would taint your core and kill you in quick order, Maude explained in a smug tone.

Casey had managed to get through three of the Fomori cores so far, leaving just the sickly purple trio. The missing tip of Maude’s blade was partially sealed as well, the dark iron growing back into position like a plant rather than metal. He’d tried to watch for it, but so far had been unsuccessful in spotting when it grew. Though each time he checked, the damaged portion was smaller.

“Well, makes sense that you can use them. Impurities are what give steel its strength, right?” Casey teased quietly.

Carefully curated impurities make the best steel. Having your mind included in the process already accounts for some of those, Maude sniped back at him.

“I told you, I am focused on maintenance. I thought you liked it when I oiled your blade?” Casey tried to protest, but he’d spoken too loudly and got an odd look from a passing woman with a load of dirty clothes in a basket.

I do enjoy being looked after, but having a man running an oily cloth over my body would be considered inappropriate in virtually any other situation, Maude teased back, the laughter in her mental voice blunting the barb. I do appreciate your attention to my care, but it is unnecessary and consumes resources to oil me every day. Honestly, I do not need such care, as long as I have qi to draw on.

“And if I do it by hand, that saves you from having to use qi to maintain yourself. You told me that the Drengr’s Road is a long one, so efficiencies pay off.”

You just like polishing me.

“I never denied that fact.” Casey’s response got another giggle out of the intelligent weapon as they emerged into the evening market. “Seriously, though, how do you turn something that is toxic to me into something useful for you?”

Privilege of my origins. The gods of the world are able to revert the corrupted qi in the Fomori cores and make it safe once more. I am just doing it on your behalf and letting you take what is good for you, then converting the tainted parts as my share. A mutually beneficial partnership, I would say.

“Agreed. Just make sure you take an equal share, Maude,” Casey reminded her firmly while scanning the market for Einar. He felt rather than heard her agreement and sensed the small smile at his insistence at fairness.

The town’s market was once again bustling with activity. People rushed back and forth in search of last-minute deals from vendors who did not want to carry their goods home, or were just trying to find something before heading home themselves. Several of the stalls were already empty, as people had packed up and returned to their shops or homes as they finished for the day.

Several groups of people were already clumped around the stone fountain. They were likely friends meeting before heading to dinner, or family waiting for someone to finish a task. It wasn’t hard to pick out Einar amongst them. The big man tended to tower over others even if he wasn’t trying. He was also one of the few standing alone.

Einar’s head snapped in Casey’s direction as soon as he exited the side street, and a big grin split his face.

“There you are!” Einar boomed happily, and the other conversations stopped as others turned to look and see why he was being quite so loud.

“Einar, how are you doing after the fight? Are the new recruits settling in with your clan?” Casey clasped forearms with the man, a greeting that Maude had talked him through the previous day. It’d come up when he’d tried to shake a merchant’s hand after striking a deal for trail food and Maude had to quickly coach him on it.

“They are doing well enough. Fresh blood in the clans always end up with the roughest duties. Thankfully, none of them had been too badly injured in the fight. You should know that Dagny was rather upset with you for skipping out so quickly after the post-hunt feast.” Einar’s grin and dancing eyes told Casey that, while Dagny might be irritated at him, Einar was not.

“Oh? I hope it did not trouble her too much. I was just exhausted and didn’t think the clan wanted me falling asleep on the table. While my wound is healed, I haven’t recovered all my stamina yet. Don’t let on about that, though. It would ruin the good impression I made.” His words weren’t exactly a lie, which made it easier for Casey.

Einar just smirked and nodded.

“Don’t worry. She may be annoyed at you, but Dagny is not one to hold on to her anger. I should thank you. Since her target wandered off, she decided a ‘hunt’ alongside Arna was likely to yield better results.”

“Oh? Who was the lucky quarry?” Casey asked, though he had an inkling of the answer already.

“Ah, it would be impolite to tell stories of their pursuits without them present. Let it just be said they were successful. If you want details, you can ask them yourself next time you see them.” The wink from Einar left any doubt in the dust, and Casey grinned up at the larger man.

“Congratulations, then. No shame in being run to ground by such pretty hunters,” he said, and Einar laughed, clapping him on the back.

“True words! Though you did not hear it from me. I would not want to lose respect. Just wanted to reassure you that neither was left wanting after you took your leave.”

“I appreciate the sacrifices made for me,” Casey snorted. “Shall we get something to eat? I’ve been exercising all day and I’m planning to head out tomorrow. I appreciate the hospitality shown to me here, but the Road calls to me.”

“As it calls to us all. Come, friend Casey. Let us go to your inn and eat there. That way, you can stumble off to your room with little effort when we are done. I would hate to tax your still-healing body,” teased Einar.

Casey punched the big man lightly on the biceps, the recoil feeling like he punched a young tree, but Einar just laughed more.

After walking into the White-Gold Rain, Einar was quick to commandeer a table and order a large meal for them.

Drinks were brought to the table, a thick, dark ale made with rye and juniper berries. The result of the combination was a strong ale with citrus and pine undertones that Casey rather enjoyed, and which went well with the meal.

The food that was delivered shortly was a pair of dense loaves cut trencher-style and filled with a hearty stew of venison, potatoes, and carrots. There was also a stack of lighter flatbread set on the table, along with pots of honey and butter.

Once their drinks and food were delivered, the two men moved from friendly jabs and jokes to a more serious topic.

“I won’t ask you again if you are sure you do not want to join the Silver Hammer,” Einar said before taking a large bite of his stew with a wide-bowled spoon made of iron that he had pulled from his belt pouch.

Casey had been amused when Maude had explained to him that most tavern meals were intended to be eaten with nothing more than an eating knife. She’d advised him that eating utensils would be a wise purchase, as the taverns didn’t supply them even when the food of the day would need them.

Maude’s point had been proven the next day when the innkeeper gave him a thick oatmeal for breakfast and he had to just slurp it from the bowl as quietly as possible. Casey had immediately gotten himself a set on the off chance he needed them, and tonight was the first time he’d had to break out his new spoon from the set.

“I appreciate the offers, Einar,” Casey said when he finished chewing his own bite.

“But ‘the Road calls to you.’ Don’t feel bad about that, friend Casey. The gods themselves cannot be certain of our fates, not even the Nornir. They weave the tapestry of existence, but even they can be surprised. The Fomori are proof enough of that.” Einar sighed through his nose before picking up a loaf of flatbread and tearing it in half. He dunked the bread into his stew and took a bite.

Maude? Casey asked while the big man chewed.

I can tell you more about it later. Short answer is that the Fomori were what threw off the future that had been predicted for the Aesir and led to the state of the universe being how it is. I don’t know the specifics, as it happened well before my time. I can tell you more later.

“Just be careful in your travels, my friend.” Einar pointed at Casey with his spoon before throwing a thumb over his shoulder. “Not all who walk the Drengr’s Road are honest and kind. People are people and driven by their desires. Most are honorable, but it only takes one deceiver to put a knife in your back.”

“Oh, trust me. I know,” Casey sighed, taking a hunk of flatbread himself and spreading some of the butter on it.

Einar winced, obviously remembering the state he had found Casey in, the story that he’d been told of the betrayal, and the implied theft of all he owned.

“Yes, you would know well about that. Do you know which way you will head?”

“Not yet. I was planning to decide in the morning. I am unfamiliar with these lands, after all. I had figured I would just step out in the morning, see which way the clouds were traveling, and follow them. That or just flip a coin.” Casey took a bite of the buttered bread and had to hold back a happy moan. The thick, fresh butter was a slightly odd color—light green rather than the yellow he was used to—but it tasted wonderful on the hot bread. Creamy, soft, and just the faint hint of savory herbs.

“A fair enough choice. If you follow the road north from here, you will remain in the lands of the Silver Hammer for some time. The road will fork, and you can either head west or east from there. East will take you further into the clan lands and closer to Jarl Alfsson’s capital. West will take you towards the lands of the Bronze Fist and the Howling Bear clans. They are not on the best of terms with our clan, but we are not actively at war.”

“Would they be upset with me for coming out of your lands?” Casey asked when Einar paused to drink. The brown-haired man considered for a long moment before shaking his head.

“No. I don’t think so. We raid each other on occasion, but there is no war between us. They might be suspicious, but I doubt they will cause you trouble. I have heard that they are a bit more heavy-handed with the freemen under them, but you are a karl and you walk the Drengr’s Road.”

Okay, I knew that Jarl was like a chief or the like, but what the hell is a karl? Casey asked Maude while he took a big bite to buy time to consider Einar’s words.

Karl is the rank given to the freemen who take up arms and fight. Cultivators who walk the Drengr’s Road and mortal soldiers who do not have a Legacy share the title. It is not commonly used, as one in three people qualify for it. It is similar, but lesser, to being a drengr. Drengr are all karls, but not all karls are drengr. He’s basically saying that while they may watch you, they likely won’t cause trouble. And that since you are on the Drengr’s Road you do not fall under their domain as a freeman wanting to settle in their lands, Maude explained quickly.

Got it. Thanks Maude. I figured you’d explain this on the road, too, but wanted the context, Casey thought back at her and got the sensation of a smile pressed into his mind.

He turned his attention back to his dinner partner as Einar continued to talk while carefully smearing honey on another lump of the flatbread.

“Personally, I think you could go either way. As you are heading north, you will eventually find the edge of the Windsong Valley. Some call it the Valley of the Goddess, too.” Einar shrugged before taking a bite of the bread and chewing with a pleased smile.

“Which goddess? Depending on which one, the appeal of the valley would be vastly different.”

“Aye, if the goddess in question was Idun, it would be far different from say… Hel.” Einar’s amused response was muffled a bit as he hadn’t finished the sticky mouthful yet, but he was careful not to spray crumbs all over the table.

“I can imagine.” Casey laughed along.

Watch it. That is my sister after all, Maude cautioned, a hint of irritation in her voice.

He is right, though. I can only imagine that if the valley was dedicated to Hel, then it would likely be a bit less hospitable than most would like—her being a goddess that rules a realm of the dead and all. No slight on her. She seemed nice when I talked to her. Though she was in the form of a crow, Casey thought to her, hoping to placate the irritated spirit.

Maude made a ‘hmph’ noise in his mind, but remained silent.

“Regardless, the goddess in question is actually a more primal one than the Aesir.” Einar took a swig of his ale before continuing. “The story goes that the Valley is dedicated to the Earthmother herself. There are many legends about it, though, from the valley being a place where she gave birth to different races, to it being the place where she wed the Skyfather. I never bothered to memorize them; never wanted to be a skald after all.”

“So what’s the big draw of the place, then?” Casey asked, turning back to his stew. Einar laughed, shaking his head slowly back and forth.

“What is the draw of the Windsong Valley? You jest, friend Casey. Everyone knows that it is the home of the Roaring Mountain clan. Also, it is a place of dense qi that gives rise to elementals and a great number of spirit beasts. It’s said that there are ancient monarchs of their kind that dwell within the valley as well. The Roaring Mountain and Windsong Valley are legends!”

“Well, obviously. I was meaning what do you see as the big draw of the place?” Casey scrambled to explain the gap in his knowledge.

Good save, quipped Maude in an amused tone.

Shut it. You could have warned me, Casey thought back. His only response was the sound of his guide blowing a raspberry.

Einar spent a moment in thoughtful silence while swirling the drink in his mug, looking down into it. He sat for almost a full minute in thoughtful contemplation before he answered.

“I would say it is the Roaring Mountain clan and their great herds of spirit beasts. Not only do they cultivate them for consumption, but one of their defining traits is that each of them bonds with a spirit beast to share their cultivation with. I’ve heard skald tales of the great cavalry charges of the ice elk herds and the packs of ember foxes that harry and turn away the Fomori hordes which try to raid the borders of the Nation. The Roaring Mountain dominates most of that border and turns back more Fomori than any other clan. They stand resolute as a shield against the forces from the wastelands.”

Einar spoke with such longing when describing the Roaring Mountain that Casey felt a tug at his heart. He couldn’t help thinking of the ancient cavalry charges of his home world’s history and wondering just how different it might be with creatures like hill-varg.

It might be worth heading that way. I know he’s right about the Roaring Mountain killing more Fomori than any other clan. Since we can draw from the tainted cores, it would be well worth it to see if we could hunt with them or join that clan. If only to get access to more of the cores—a resource that no one else can tap and is useless to others, Maude suggested, and Casey couldn’t help but agree.

“How far is it to the Windsong Valley?”

Chapter 20

“I am going to miss the sauna the most,” Casey muttered as he strode out of the northern gate of the city.

His new pack rode underneath his old cloak, the only piece of clothing besides his boots and belt he had left from the original set that he’d landed on the world in.

The morning sun was barely a hand-span above the horizon, and the air was still crisp from the chill of the night. All around Casey, the fields near the edge of the city were full of either the greenery of growing crops or the swaying, pale green stalks of early-season grains. The mountains and forest that Casey had exited a week previous drifted off to the west, curving away into the distance as open, hill studded lands sprawled out in front of him.

I can understand that. It has been far too long since I had the luxury of a bath or a steam, Maude replied in an amused tone.

They were alone on the road at this time of day, the merchants or farmers coming into town having already passed by in the predawn light. He’d learned from Einar the previous night just how far the lands of the Silver Hammer clan extended. It was surprising to find out that this was just one small town in their domain.

“I was wondering about that,” Casey asked thoughtfully while he set a steady pace away from the town and the Silver Hammer enclave. “You took the form of a woman before when showing me how to start a fire. I’m hoping you won’t need to do that again, by the way. Seems like a waste. Anyway, what can you tell me about that? Does it hurt you? Drain you? How can I help you with it?”

Silence descended between them as Casey walked. He could tell Maude was considering his question and how to answer it. The sensation wasn’t a direct response, but he could just feel that she was thinking. He hooked his left hand around the pommel of the seax sheathed at his left hip, keeping it balanced in its sheath as he walked.

Casey traveled in silence for a good ten minutes, enjoying the breeze laden with the fresh scents of growth that blew in from the fields while the distant sounds of the town faded away behind him.

Maude finally broke the quiet as the road bent around a low hill. It’s a complicated matter. There are some portions I am not quite comfortable explaining yet. But, to put it into terms that I have already explained to you, using that form consumes some of the qi that I am holding in hopes of progressing to my next Step.

“So it’s like a technique? You mentioned that the other day when you explained that we gather qi into our centers to form our cores. Until we move on to the next Step of the Drengr’s Road, it is loose and usable for other things, or can be taken as a result of a duel?” Casey made sure he asked tactfully, rather than demand the information.

Yes, that is it exactly. Advancing to the next Step solidifies and secures the qi. But until you take that Step, the amount of loose Qi you have will vary a fair bit. It would take a great expenditure to consume enough qi to go from the verge of the next Step to the beginning of the current. So don’t worry about that too much. Normally, this would only happen as a result of losing an honor duel, which is considered the most serious form of formal challenge. It was one rule the Gods put into place to prevent cultivators from killing one another. The amount one would claim in a duel is the same regardless of whether you just defeat your opponent or kill them.

“That’s good, but how does it tie into your other form?”

You remember the stone knife form? Casey hummed in agreement, and Maude continued. That is my most basic form. It costs me nothing to assume that shape. Maintaining my form as the seax, which is actually viable in combat, is a minor expenditure. I take in more than it consumes from the environment, so it is not a problem to simply exist in that form. As we progress, I will be able to take larger or entirely different forms for you, my wielder. They will cost me some of my stored qi, but those transformations will be akin to the techniques you will be unlocking as you progress. An expected expenditure.

“What keeps people from just not spending the qi and instead only storing it up to advance as fast as possible?” Casey asked after considering her statement for a minute or two.

Practicality. Combat is the way of the Drengr’s Road. To progress will require you to use the techniques. I suppose one could hone their weapon skills to the point where they might not need to use techniques, but the time that would take wouldn’t be worth it for any but a prodigy. For us, though, using qi has a specific purpose. Taking in and releasing small amounts of qi is akin to forging steel as the smith folds and hammers it. The action stretches your reserves slowly and allows your core to collect the ‘choice’ parts of the qi you take in as they begin to crystallize. While those choice pieces can be taken or used still, they will settle to the bottom like gold in a prospectors pan, the last to be used.

“Makes sense. So don’t hoard qi, but don’t spend it without thinking, then? How does this tie into your human form though?” Casey wondered aloud as the surrounding fields began to transition to wild grass once more.

He could see a herd of some kind of bovine creature with massive horns in a fenced-off field away from the road. Pausing for a moment, Casey studied the massive animals while he waited for Maude to respond.

While it is how I would appear if I had a normal body, I do not have a normal body. The blade on your hip is my natural body. So, that form is actually a projection of what I would look like. Over time, it will become easier to shift into that form and cost me less, thus allowing me to maintain it longer. Just as I will eventually be able to take the form of a longsword, a bearded axe, or even a polearm. Eventually, I will be able to assume a form like I would have had originally whenever I choose. Though I doubt it will occur before I reach the Immortal Journey on the Drengr’s Road.

“I thought you were already on the Divine part of the Road?”

It is different for an entity like me. My birth was amongst the divine, given my parents' status as gods, but I must walk the entirety of the Drengr’s Road. While you are on the first Step in the first Stage of the first Journey, I am on the fourth Step overall in the first Journey. That puts me at the beginning of the second Stage.

“I remember. Each Journey is broken into four Stages, the first nine Steps being three of those four Stages, with the last Step also being a fourth and final Stage. It’s about the different thresholds of power, right?” Casey questioned carefully, trying to remember what Maude had told him while he had practiced.

Exactly. I’m precisely one threshold ahead of you in power, but that was because I refused to advance until I chose a wielder. Those four Steps I advanced through using only environmental qi that I absorbed naturally. Now that we are working together, this fourth Step will require some exercise to properly alloy itself and the preceding Steps while my core is tested. Nothing you need to worry about. It basically means it will take me a little longer than usual to proceed to the fifth Step.

“Makes sense,” Casey said after a moment of thought. “So basically that body is one you can look forward to and even use on occasion right now, but it costs a lot of energy. So that means if I want to see you that way more often, I need to get the lead out and train properly.” Casey’s voice was both teasing and determined as he said that aloud. Maude laughed lightly in his mind, and Casey got the distinct image of the raven-haired woman in leather smiling at him.

I am gratified that you are so eager, Casey. It would be good to walk beside you so we can talk properly. And you wouldn’t have to look like a madman talking to himself.

“And you could then enjoy a bath or a steam I’m sure. I bet you miss food as well?”

It is impossible to truly miss what I have never experienced. I ‘miss’ bathing because it is something that others enjoy and will talk about. Same with food and drink. I’ve never had the energy reserves to do more than test them out. I know that I like strawberries and the taste of honey from one time when I shifted to snatch a taste. I look forward to experiencing these first hand. While my blade form can feel some sensations, it does not have the same sense of touch as a body of flesh.

“That is… kind of sad, actually.” Casey unconsciously rubbed his thumb over the polished iron of Maude’s pommel. She hummed appreciatively at the attention but did not speak. “I know I started on this whole journey from a desire to get even with the asshole who tormented me for his sick amusement—no, sorry. I mean his ‘grand plan,’ ” Casey growled the last part to himself. “But I’m actually rather enjoying this entire process. It all feels so new, different, and interesting.”

Even the bloody and gross parts? Maude teased gently.

“‘Nothing worth doing is easy,’” Casey quoted back to her. “That’s something I’ve had to keep reminding myself of in life. So far, between fighting the hill-varg and the Fomori, I can’t say this has been easy. Interesting and challenging, sure. But it's not easy.”

Then we just need to ensure that what you are doing is worth it, Maude said kindly, and Casey agreed.

<><><>

They made good time for the rest of the day, covering many miles along the road that headed north.

Casey found the fork in the road that Einar had mentioned late in the day. A permanent campsite sat between the two branches of the road, but he continued past it, since a merchant caravan had already claimed it with a number of guards. The caravan guards watched Casey warily as he proceeded down the western fork towards the Bronze Fist territory.

From his long discussion with Einar previously, he knew that it would still be several days of travel before he dipped into the other clan’s territory. For now, Casey was still well within the borders of the Silver Hammer clan.

The rolling hills started sprouting a thin forest just after noon. By the time he had found the fork, there were a good number of trees around to provide shelter for a camp.

After he’d continued along the fork for several miles as the trees thickened, Casey finally stepped off the road on Maude’s recommendation. He made his way along a valley between two hills for several hundred yards from the road until he found a suitably secluded nook that was out of sight of the road and sheltered in a grove of young pine trees.

Several fallen trees nearby provided plenty of firewood. Casey was happy to set his pack down for a rest while he collected wood and set about building a fire. Erecting his tent was a struggle, as the soil beneath the trees was hard, but he was able to get it set up with only a bit of cursing, using a large rock to drive in the stakes.

The tent that Casey had purchased wasn’t like a regular tent, at least as he was used to them. Rather than being a triangular tube of fabric that sealed entirely or a dome-shaped structure, it was a long bit of waterproof canvas that Maude had to guide him in setting up.

Casey pegged down one long side of the tent and set up a trio of poles to support the other, while a pole on each end supported a central ‘roof’ pole to hold up the middle.

Maude explained that he could also shift the tent setup so that both of the long sides were down and tack them to the ground for more shelter, or tuck one of the longer sides underneath him to prevent water from soaking through his bedding. The entire thing felt like a smaller version of the bazaar tents he saw in the market, with the open ‘wares side’ of the tent towards the firepit. Per what Maude told him, this was so the fire would warm him better and he wouldn’t have to rely on just his body heat. Looking at it after he had set it up, the tent reminded him somewhat of a clamshell sitting partially open.

His bedroll included a fur-on sheep pelt, which he draped over the pile of pine branches to give himself something soft to lay on, and a heavy wool blanket to pull over himself. It bothered Casey that the tent wasn’t sealed to bugs or other small creatures, but Maude was adamant that such creatures would find a way in anyway, so he might as well get used to it.

With the tent and the fire pit ready, Casey set to getting the fire going while the sun still lingered over the horizon. It took him far longer than Maude had to get a spark to catch with his flint and steel, but he kept at it.

Following Maude’s gentle advice, he managed to get a flame going in one of his bits of tinder after a few minutes of work, and he quickly thrust that into the heart of his carefully laid kindling. Blowing into it produced a small flame, which quickly set to the dry wood.

The surge of pride from succeeding at starting the fire himself surprised Casey. It was such a simple thing, but from what he’d seen of the more primitive lifestyle of the people in this world, this was a key survival skill.

Malda, the bartender and owner of White-Gold Rain, had ensured that Casey wouldn’t have to deal with ‘camp food’ for at least his first day back on the road before he departed the inn. She’d had a farewell package of cold, salted ham, cheese, and bread studded with fruit. He had plenty of other food in his pack as well: smoked meat, oats, dried fruit, and hard trail bread, but Casey was looking forward to the last of the tavern food.

Before he was allowed to eat, though, Maude insisted that he go through his weapon forms and begin to draw out the qi in one of the remaining Fomori cores.

We didn’t do it this morning because I wanted to ensure we made good time getting out of town, Maude reminded him. But you should spend the beginning and ending of every day with meditation and these forms, even when you do not have a core to cultivate from. The forms will passively increase the qi you draw from the environment, especially in these places away from other cultivators. Maude advised him once the fire was quietly crackling away. Do you still have the empty cores?

“Yeah. Are you going to tell me what you wanted me to save them for?” Casey asked, fishing the three empty cores out of his hip pouch.

When he had finished drawing the last of the qi out of them, the lumpy, crystalline constructs were entirely clear. Even the cloudy look of sea-glass was gone. Instead, they simply resembled irregular blobs of clear glass.

I want you to find a flat stone, out of sight of the campsite. Set them on the stone along with a small amount of the dried apples you brought. Then leave them there and do not check on them until the morning, Maude ordered.

“Why?” Casey couldn’t help the question, even as he dug through his pack to find the small sack of dried apple slices.

They are a gift to the spirits. Now that the qi has been drawn out of them and they are purified, the spirits can use them. Offering them along with a gift will buy you goodwill with the elementals and any natural spirits in the area. Fae are fickle creatures. But if you bring gifts, they tend to view you as a guest rather than an intruder.

Casey’s instinct was to argue the existence of fae and elementals, but he reminded  himself of where he was and what he had seen in the last few days.

Maude is my guide, after all. She wouldn’t steer me wrong, he thought silently while he searched amongst the young trees in the fading light.

Finding a flat bit of slate in a thicket of low juniper bushes, Casey set the three blobs of crystal and a small handful of the dried apples there.

“A gift,” he murmured quietly, feeling awkward for doing it but determined to listen to his teacher and companion.

That done, he returned to the campsite to get his practice out of the way. He could already taste the salted ham that waited in his bag.

Focusing, Casey began going through the motions of the weapon forms Maude had taught him. They were very simple stances and slow-motion strikes. The only real challenges were his protesting feet and having to maintain the strange grip balancing the core between his fingertip and the spine of Maude’s blade. The grip was slowly becoming more natural, but he wasn’t completely at ease with it.

It only took a handful of seconds before Casey felt the pressure on his hand and wrist as the qi flowed out of the core, through Maude’s weapon form, and then into his channels. Turning his attention inwards, he saw the violet fog of the qi, cleaner after Maude had purified it, swirling into the slowly growing whirlwind of his core.

By the time Maude called for him to stop, the color had mostly drained from the core and the sun had disappeared from the sky. Only the low, dancing light of the fire cast any illumination in the small grove of pine.

Tucking the core away, Casey was happy to finally flop down onto the rock he’d commandeered for a seat and fall on his dinner. The food from the inn was barely enough to satisfy his hunger, so he gnawed on a large strip of smoked meat while watching the fire dance.

“How far is it to the next town? Are we going to be able to afford supplies?” Casey asked Maude, who had been silent ever since he finished his practice.

That depends on how quickly we travel. I intend for you to hunt and practice along the way, so you will have supplies enough from that. When you buy food again, focus on grains and dairy more. We will be gathering fruits and hunting meat in the wild. The Gods ensure that there are plentiful spirit beasts, both for the valiant to test themselves against and to ensure they are fed, Maude answered quickly. I didn’t say anything before because I expect it to take some time before you get used to hunting. As for funds, that is the other reason we are going to be hunting. You will need coin for other supplies and tools. So, while a lot of what we collect will be for your use or consumption, some supplies we collect will be for trade.

“What’re the goals then? Short and long term.” Now that he had eaten and was resting, Casey was once more in planning mode.

Short term is to grow in strength and learn the lay of the land. Einar had a fair amount of information about the neighboring clans and this one, but it is important to get more information from other sources to verify what he told us. Also, you will need to learn more about the culture, and the best way is to experience it. Long term, we need to find a clan you will be comfortable joining, if only for the resources and to have a base of operations. You should stay out of their gaze for now. But, as you grow stronger, you will need their backing.

“Got it. So for now, we train and observe. I’m honestly curious about that group that Einar mentioned, the Roaring Mountain?”

They are one of the largest clans in this area of the Nation. While others focus on warring with each other or neighboring countries, the Roaring Mountain fight Fomori. I only know what I have observed while traveling with my family before I joined you. If anything, Einar undersold the size of their territory. Even aboard my aunt’s chariot, it took some time to cross from one end of their lands to the other. It will be a rich hunting ground for sure, not even counting the bounty of tainted cores we could claim. Maude’s voice sounded excited at the idea, and Casey could just imagine the grin on her strong features.

The fact that he had only seen Maude’s human form once, for only a few seconds, did nothing to lessen the impact of that meeting in his mind. Her features, her poise, the way her raven-black hair reflected the light, and the gentle curve of her athletic form were burned into his memories. Casey did his best to not focus on it, not wanting to get caught daydreaming of Maude’s figure when she could simply look into his mind and see it. The intelligent weapon had told him she would not intrude, but that was a reassurance and not a guarantee.

Focusing on the here and now, Casey tossed another broken stick into the fire and watched as the orange-red flames folded happily over the dry wood.

“Long term goal, observe the Roaring Mountain. If they are as good as Einar said they are, then we can give them a shot. If not, then we will find another way,” Casey said firmly as he turned his gaze to the sky.

Far above him, it was like the sky itself caught and reflected the dancing of his fire. Millions of sparks danced in the sky, shrouding a swirling scarf of color that reminded him of the Milky Way, the one time he’d seen it while camping far enough away from light pollution. That river of light and stars flowed over the sky like a distant, twinkling tapestry. Each star winked in promise, and Casey felt as if they were calling to him, offering him a place amongst them if he could just reach high enough.

Chapter 21

Waking the next morning, Casey had to rebuild the fire, as he’d fallen too deeply asleep towards the end of the night and the smoldering fire had died entirely. Spending another bundle of his moss-wrapped resin as tinder, he got it to take a spark much quicker this time.

Once the fire was crackling to life and warming a pot of water, Casey got to work on his exercises and forms. He chose the partially drained core for that session and set to work without more than a quiet ‘good morning’ to Maude.

Moving through the steady flow of the basic weapons forms, Casey used the exercise to stretch his muscles out and warm up for the day. He spared a moment to wish he had coffee, missing it as part of his morning rituals. However, he hadn’t found anything that would fill the same role as coffee at the market. The closest he could find was a type of herbal tea that Maude had told him not to bother with, as they’d be gathering supplies to make their own while they traveled.

One kind of drink that she had mentioned was a type of pine-needle tea, which he had set to steeping in the little pot before beginning his exercise. Casey wasn’t sure how he felt about the idea of drinking a tea made of pine needles, but he’d trusted the intelligent weapon thus far, so he might as well continue to do the same now.

Casey, Maude spoke for the first time that morning as he was finishing the last of the forms.

He’d stopped feeling the pressure from the core or sensing the colored mist entering his system a few minutes before, but had continued to be sure it was empty.

“Yes, Maude?” Casey asked, using the sleeve of his shirt to wipe her blade before sliding the seax back into its sheath. The core was as clear as fresh glass now, and he tucked it away into his belt pouch.

You did well with that core. I barely had to help guide you. Maude’s compliment caught him by surprise. The meditation had not felt any different from what he had done the past few days.

“Thanks. I was just following what you told me to do,” he breathed.

Well, you are clearly intent on succeeding at your goal. It bodes well that you are determined from the beginning. We just need to ensure that you do not lose that focus, Maude encouraged him in an amused tone. The Drengr’s Road is a long one.

“I know,” Casey replied with a sigh. “The more I repeat the forms, the better I get at it. Is there a more efficient way of cultivating the cores, though? Doing them one at a time feels so slow.”

In the future, yes. As I grow stronger, I can filter more cores for you at once, as well as larger cores, too. As a Fomori lives, the core grows larger and more qi can be salvaged from it.

Casey considered her words, and a thought welled up that he hesitated to voice, but decided it would be best to just lay it out.

“So, we can draw qi from the cores of spirit beasts normally, and Fomori because of your abilities. Just out of curiosity, if one were to extract a core from another cultivator, would that be something someone could use to draw in qi with too?” Casey could feel indignation welling from Maude and continued quickly to explain the reason for his question. “Not saying that I want to do that. I was just thinking about what you said the other day, about being challenged to duels for the loose qi not yet devoted to a Step.”

The rising ire that he could feel from Maude cooled abruptly, and Casey let out a relieved sigh.

To answer your questions, yes you could, Maude said in a clipped tone. But only if I filtered it for you. Which I refuse to do. What you ask about is akin to what the Fomori do when they kill someone. No true drengr would do such as it flies in the face of the teachings of the Gods. If another were to do it, the act would corrupt them as surely as attempting to pull qi from the tainted core of a Fomori. So you have no need to worry about someone hunting you down to take yours. The only purpose in claiming a core is when it has solidified and forms a Legacy. While a Legacy can be forcibly taken if one completes the Immortal Journey but does not depart this world, it is rare.

“Thanks, I was just thinking about it and got worried,” Casey said with a sigh, scrubbing the sweat from his face with his sleeve now.

Hearing a sizzling noise, he hurried over to the fire where the water was boiling, though he hadn’t set it directly on the fire. The pine-needle tea he’d set to steep and keep warm by the fire was a little too close to the heat.

Pour it out and make a new batch. Maude ordered, and Casey sighed. You are making tea, not soup. You want to steep the needles, not boil them. Too much heat destroys what is beneficial in the needles, Maude reminded him. Casey did as she told him, getting another small pot of water heating while collecting fresh green needles from one of the nearby pine trees.

While you are waiting for the water to heat up again, go check on the stone where you left those purified cores. Let us see if the little folk liked the gift, Maude suggested. Casey blinked in surprise for a moment before he responded.

“Already?”

They likely took them within seconds of when you left them, Maude explained, amused. But it was good manners to wait until morning. You do not want to surprise one of the little folk. And you definitely do not want to give them the impression you are trying to trap them.

“Fair point,” Casey grunted.

He took a moment to confirm which direction the little section of bushes he’d hidden the stones in was before walking that way. Taking Maude’s reminder to heart, he made sure to step heavily on the bed of old pine needles, making them crackle and crunch, so that there was ample warning of his approach.

It proved to be unnecessary. When Casey finally came around the wide trunk that sheltered the small patch of juniper bushes, he saw that the clear cores were gone, as were his dried apples. In their place rested three items: a delicate square of what appeared to be amber-colored stone the size of a sugar cube, a whole walnut in its shell, and a sprig of fresh herb maybe the size of his hand.

“Thank you,” Casey said automatically as he squatted down next to the stone.

He wasn’t sure what prompted him to voice the thanks, but he felt an approving sensation from Maude as he collected the items off the flat stone. The amber square was actually soft to the touch, reminding him of taffy or caramel.

It’s a honey candy, made by the spirit bees that the little folk care for. That will be a boon for you this morning, Maude said, happiness bright in her tone. Add it to your tea. It will not only sweeten it, but enhance the effects of the tea. The herb you should keep. Hang it from your pack to let it dry while we walk. It will make for a good infusion for tonight.

“What about the walnut?” Casey asked as he carefully walked back to the campfire. The item in question rattled quietly in his hand.

That will depend on what is inside it. Look closer at the shell.

Casey did as he was told. He was surprised to discover delicate silver hinges that were worked into one edge of the shell. Using his fingernail, he pried at the other side and it popped open with a small click.

The interior of the shell was smooth, without the normal rough ridges of an ordinary walnut. Three small balls of dried herbs sat inside the shell, and Maude laughed happily when she saw them.

Oh, that will help a great deal! Those are herbal pills that will help push you through the first Stage entirely. They will smooth the transition between Steps. Make sure you keep that case, too. I’m sure it will work well to store more pills in the future if you need them.

“I don’t know if I am comfortable taking random medicine I find in the forest,” Casey muttered, thumbing the walnut-turned-pill-case shut. He heard the catch inside it close with a quiet click.

But they are not random pills, at least it’s not as if you just found them lying on the ground. Well, you did. But that is beside the point. Maude hurried to cut him off as Casey opened his mouth to point out the fact that he did, in fact, find them on the ground. They are a gift from the little folk. If they wanted to harm you, they would be far more direct than giving you bad pills. Also, trust that I recognize them. They will help expand your qi reservoir and stabilize it.

“I thought using techniques would do that?”

It will, but you haven’t developed a technique yet. That will be something we work on while we travel today, Maude explained as they got back to the side of the fire pit. Now, add that honey candy to your tea and enjoy. They are rare treats and should be savored.

Casey did as she directed, fishing out the now-soaked pine needles and tossing them aside before dropping the small square into the steaming, faintly green water.

The small pot, barely large enough to hold three or four cups of tea, immediately began to froth. A sweet scent rose up to tickle Casey’s nostrils, and he couldn’t help the smile. It reminded him of candied oranges that he’d bought once as a gift for himself one winter.

It took a minute for the frothing to subside. The drink was now a golden yellow in color. Casey poured some of it off into a squat, tin mug that he dug out of his bag and settled by the small fire to enjoy the smell.

The first sip was sweet, with a hint of citrus riding on its heels. While he had slept well the night before, it was still on hard ground with only piled pine needles as a mattress. After that first sip, though, Casey felt energy begin to wind through his entire body, softening tense muscles and easing minor aches in his joints. The second sip woke him as well as a full mug of coffee, banishing any remaining tiredness from him.

On a hunch, he turned his attention inwards to the nascent core and the small pool of qi that circled it like a cyclone. Casey could sense faint threads of golden qi pouring through his body and mixing with that whirling cloud of silver energy. Already, the faint purple tinge was gone from his core and he could see the threads of gold merge with the gray-silver colored qi in his pool and fade until it was the same dull silver color once more.

Enjoy it, Casey. The little folk rarely gift that to mortals. We were lucky they were feeling generous when they found the offering. Maude had an amused tone to her voice now.

Around him, Casey could hear the distant sounds of bird calls. Already, the sun was above the edge of the horizon, painting the small glade of pine trees in the early morning light. The morning was on its way, and he knew there were tasks to be completed. But for the moment, he could simply enjoy the sweet flavor of the infusion in his cup. Casey’s one regret was that Maude couldn’t have a taste as well.

Soon, he thought silently. I want to see her again soon. She deserves to enjoy these things, too, for the help she is giving me.

<><><>

Packing the tent away was far easier than it had been setting the thing up the previous night.

With Maude’s coaching, Casey worked to restore the site to an untouched state, kicking dirt over the embers of the fire after ensuring it was out and scattering the stones that he had used as a fire ring. It wasn’t perfect, but it returned the small grove to a more natural look. All that remained to tell of his stay when he was done was a few faint boot-prints and the small pile of unused firewood. He even made sure to bury his waste well away from the campsite.

Returning to the road, Casey set out at a rapid march. The energy from the fae-honey-infused tea urged him to move, to run, and to jump. He held that in and instead focused on a steady and ground-devouring pace as he followed the road.

While they walked, Maude coached him through what useful resources he should look for along the way. Casey added several other herbs in small bundles to hang off his pack, most of them just normal herbs for cooking. He did luck across a small stand of qi-infused pearl onions along the bank of a stream that he followed off the road to fill his water skins. Casey also found several stands of fruit trees that were blooming, but not yet producing fruit. He was fairly certain they would be apple or pear trees.

“You said that we would be gathering food between towns more?” Casey asked after they had returned to the road from checking another stand of short trees that he was fairly sure were plum trees. Birds had already picked these clean, leaving the pits scattered around the tree as evidence of their passage.

We will. If I remember what Einar said correctly, it’s a four-day walk between towns along this road, depending on how fast you move. If you had a horse, it would be half that. We will hunt and gather more tonight, depending on where we camp. The further we are from towns, the more likely we will be to find useful herbs and the like. Don’t worry about it too much, Casey. The best hunting is never close to towns. Maude was confident as she explained it to him. We are checking the trees as we go on the off chance we find something. I doubt anything close to the road will have much in the way of fruit, since passing travelers will pick them clean as they go. It’s probably why they are growing there, to be honest. Likely trees that grew up over time when travelers left their seeds there.

Something about what Maude said got Casey thinking, and he voiced the question a moment later.

“You mentioned travelers, Maude. But I haven’t seen anyone else on the road since we departed this morning. Yesterday, we passed a few different groups, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone since we turned off at the fork.”

His question caught Maude by surprise, and his guide was silent for several moments before she answered him.

You are right, Casey. I’m surprised I didn’t notice. It is possible that we missed them during the early morning, or that no one is traveling this road, but I would be wary.

“It’s only paranoia if someone isn’t out to get you,” Casey quipped, getting an amused snort from Maude.

Slowing his pace slightly, Casey kept watch as the forested hills began to give way to deeper woods. Over time, the pine trees turned to oak and ash, while the land flattened out.

The road curved more towards the north and west, winding as it cut around larger copses of thick trees. The air grew a bit damper and cooler, and the trees shaded the road more, too.

Casey stopped to eat in the shade of one ancient, twisted oak tree that grew directly beside the road. The massive roots of the forest giant rose up in a gnarled mess underneath an ancient trunk. Piles of empty acorn shells sat amongst the roots of the tree, and he could see green acorns beginning to grow on the massive boughs.

Maude let him eat in silence, having spent most of the day describing various herbs, plants, animals, and stones that they might encounter and which would be worth collecting. The hush surrounding the ancient forest giant was peaceful, and Casey just let it soak into his body and mind. It was hard to tear himself away from his spot amongst the roots of the tree. He felt as if he had started to put down his own roots there, but he managed to finally shake off the torpor and get moving again.

He had made it several hundred yards down the road from the ancient tree before Maude spoke again.

That would have been an interesting area to camp in. I’m fairly certain that the tree had a spirit living inside of it.

“A spirit in the tree?”

Some of the most ancient trees develop them naturally. Other trees that are imbued with qi will also attract spirits. Whether they are good or ill-natured you can only learn by interacting with them. I have a feeling that the spirit of that tree would have been amicable, but I could not be sure. The fact that it dwells so close to the road is a positive sign, though.

“Better to be safe than sorry, right?”

Exactly. It is also good that you did not try to take one of the acorns. I saw you looking at them.

“It just didn’t feel right. Plus, the only ones on the ground were shells. Maybe if we come back this way again.” Casey shrugged slightly while picking up his pace. He didn’t feel unwelcome, but he could feel something tugging at him that was drawing him forward—calling out to him.

Maude went on to describe to him a few different tree spirits she was familiar with, including the ancient, languid consciousness that inhabited Yggdrasil, the World Tree.

Apparently, the last time the spirit of the World Tree had woken was well before her time, and it had led to the change of Fate that rewrote the tapestry woven by the Nornir. It had also led to the discovery of the Drengr’s Road and predated the war that the gods were currently fighting.

The full story will take most of a day to tell, but the warning came from Yggdrasil itself. The World Tree’s branches shifted and connected to this new world that we are in now. Maude was telling Casey when the idle, driving force that had urged him on shifted. It turned into a sharp hook and tug in his guts when he turned a corner in the road, still shaded by the trees, and spotted something blocking the road ahead of him.

“Maude!” Casey hissed, and his companion cut off her story. He could feel her attention focusing on the wreckage just like he did, though she did not have eyes to see.

That looks bad, Casey. Someone or something attacked a wagon train. Maude’s words gave clarity to what Casey was seeing.

A wagon lay on its side, shattered boards protruding like broken ribs from a corpse told a tale of battle. Just behind it sat a second one, two of its wheels were completely shattered, leaving it listing to one side. A trio of dead horses lay on the ground between the wagons, still tied into the traces that allowed them to pull the wagons.

The signs of struggle were all around the wagons. Scratches in the earth showed that a fight had gone down, and blood stained the ground. Several twisted forms lay in the brush on the side of the road, and he knew exactly what it was that had attacked the wagons.

“Fomori,” Casey growled, his hand tightening on Maude’s hilt.

Chapter 22

We need to gather information. Maude’s statement was blunt, to the point, and it surprised Casey.

“You don’t think we should just avoid the area?” Casey asked. He continued to scan the surrounding trees of the forest.

No, Fomori are a blight upon the land. We should eradicate them whenever and wherever we find them. The fact we can benefit from cultivating their cores is only a bonus. If I have our rough location correct, we are far enough away from an established town that their cultivators will take time even finding out about this infestation. The longer that takes, the stronger the nest will become, and the more chance they will have to prey on others and corrupt the forest.

“Okay, give me a minute.” Casey stepped off the road and stalked closer to the wagons through the underbrush. Keeping his head down, Casey watched the brush for any signs of an ambush waiting to be sprung.

It took a minute or two to get close enough to confirm, but Casey wasn’t able to spot anything suspicious in the underbrush around the wagons. There were drag marks and obvious damage in the greenery that showed where the Fomori had dragged their prizes from the site of the attack.

Squatting next to one of the dead horses, Casey tested the blood and found it sticky and cool, but not stone cold yet. Flies were only now beginning to collect around the bodies. A light touch of the animal found it to still be slightly warm.

“Okay, it’s been an hour, maybe two, since they died. Maybe as much as four hours, but the fact the bodies are still even slightly warm tells me it’s towards the lower end. The blood hasn’t fully congealed, either,” Casey said quietly while wiping his hand off, glad for the training he’d had in basic crime scene analysis. “Odds that they took captives?”

Strong. Fomori delight in abusing and torturing anything they can get their hands on. Maude’s reply was straightforward, but Casey could hear the rage behind her words.

“Well, the obvious trail is obvious.” Sighing, Casey glanced over the ruined wagons once to check for anything else or a survivor.

Whoever the merchants had been, they hadn’t been wealthy. The wagons were ancient, with rusted fittings and splintery wood. Scattered both in the road and around the ruined wagons lay barrels and crates of basic farm goods, alongside a bale of sheepskins with the wool still on them.

Maybe I’ll grab another one to sleep on when I come back.

Pushing the thought away, Casey tucked his cloak back to keep it out of his way like Einar had taught him and drew Maude from her sheath before he started into the brush.

Keeping to one side of the wide, trampled trail in the undergrowth, Casey followed it further into the trees as the ground grew rocky. Moving at a steady clip, he paralleled the trail for nearly an hour. The obvious drag-marks and broken undergrowth gave way to stony ground marked with large rocks. The occasional smear of blood or broken branch told Casey that he was still on the right track—that and the trees, which had taken on a sickly pallor, just like when he’d gone out with Einar’s band.

You are getting close, Casey. You want to be the one to surprise them, Maude cautioned as the gigantic oaks started to thin and give way to saplings clinging to the rocky earth.

His companion had been quiet while he tracked and Casey was unsure of what might have been on her mind or distracting her. There had to be something, because Maude was normally far more talkative. All he knew was that she was looking forward to killing more of the Fomori.

I should ask her about it later, he thought to himself while he walked.

You can ask, but I make no guarantee I will tell you. A woman must keep some secrets.

Casey had forgotten the fact that his thoughts would transmit to the weapon while he held it, so he winced at her rebuke.

It is fine, Casey. Your concern is legitimate. Let us just say that I have more reason than most to hate Fomori. Maude’s voice was gentler now, and he nodded silently.

A distant scream of pain tore through the forest, and Casey picked up his speed, ducking between the thin, diseased trees rapidly. He came upon the Fomori camp suddenly and had to slide to a stop to prevent running out into the clearing. Casey was just thankful that either the Fomori hadn’t had time to lay traps yet, or he’d missed them by pure luck.

Calling the festering hole that the Fomori were living in a ‘camp’ was being overly generous. It looked more like a cross between a sewage dump and a charnel pit.

The clearing was maybe a hundred feet across and half again that long. Multiple smoking fires dotted the open expanse of torn earth. No grasses or bushes grew in the diseased black mud and gray soil. A half dozen cages, made of a mixture of branches and bones tied together with strips of rawhide or knotted grass, sat in the middle of the open space. Each cage had at least one person in it. There were no buildings or homes in the clearing, only hollows in the earth to lie down in that were filled with dead grass. The entire place stank of rotting meat and old blood.

Scattered around at random were a handful of totems—abomination of flesh and bone—arranged into a gross approximation of a body and draped on a twisted wooden frame. Besides the cages, the totems were the only other constructed items in the clearing.

Just to the left of the cages and their prisoners was a large, flattish boulder that held the source of the screams.

A man was face-down on the boulder. His arms and legs were held splayed out by giggling creatures that looked like someone had crossed a wolf with a preschooler, but hadn’t bothered to ensure either one got the proper number of arms or legs.

Casey counted eight of them, two each holding a limb, while a larger beast with the same canine features, but an extra arm sprouting from its abdomen, crouched over the man’s head.

The man’s back was a mass of flayed cuts that the larger creature was adding too with the claws on its disgusting third limb, while the other two ground the man’s head into the impromptu stone table.

Three more of the creatures worked to turn a spit over one of the greasy fires. On it was the body of something Casey did not want to identify. He knew, deep down, that it was another human, probably the last one they had tortured, but he did not want to acknowledge it at the moment.

The sound of sobbing and pleading reached his ears over the man’s screams. Casey followed the sound with his eyes to the cages and their contents. Half of the people trapped in the cages were simply sobbing, while some were pleading with their captors. Three of them only sat and stared blankly into the sky, resigned to their fate.

Do you think I should free the captives first? Casey thought towards Maude as he observed. The tortured screams of the man on the boulder tore at his soul, but Casey knew that charging in would just get him added to the cages if not killed.

No. They are not fit to fight. I doubt any of them are even on the Drengr’s Road. A Legacy is the only way to protect from the Fomori taint. Any of them that the Fomori do not choose to torture will grow twisted and become more of their fell kind in a matter of days. Maude’s voice was a low growl in his mind.

Eliminate the largest threat?

The cooks first, Maude countered. If you skirt the clearing, you can get to and kill them quickly. If you are lucky, all of them will remain distracted by their prey for now. After the cooks, try to take down the big one. That will probably enrage the others, and you won’t have to worry about them fleeing until you are no longer outnumbered.

Surprised these few could capture and destroy that caravan, Casey thought as he skirted through the trees.

While Casey got into position, he found a mostly straight branch that was half as thick as his wrist and ended in a heavy knot. He settled it into his left hand and kept low and out of sight.

There were at least four bodies of Fomori by the wagons that I counted, Maude replied. So it was not as if they did not take losses. An untrained person will struggle to fight Fomori one-on-one. Your fight with the hill-varg was roughly akin to what a normal mortal might have to face if they fought a Fomori.

Not encouraging, Maude. I’m also still surprised that you are not calling me an idiot for getting into this fight right now.

Casey was nearly around the edge of the camp. The sickly sweet smell of cooking pork was now overwhelming the charnel rot scent of the camp, and he focused on the cooks rather than their work now.

Why should I chastise you for it? You are on the Drengr’s Road. The meek do not survive upon this path. You can handle this, Casey. You may not come out of it unscathed, but you can handle it. The only thing I would have chastised you for would have been fleeing—or just charging in without thought.

Really comforting that you think I’ll get hurt but won’t die, Casey thought grimly.

You are close enough. Shed your pack and cloak here so they do not get in your way. Maude’s warning brought Casey to a stop behind the squat form of a dead tree, and he was quick to shuck off his cloak and pack.

The man’s screams were stronger now. The sound rose in volume and pitch until it was nothing more than a wordless squeal of pain that surged into a bellow of rage and fear.

Now, while the Fomori are distracted. Maude urged.

Casey poked his head around to see that all the Fomori had their attention fixed on the bloody body of their victim, while those still waiting in cages sobbed in fear.

Casey took a deep breath in through his mouth and let it out slowly.

Unconsciously, he connected to his core and the whirling pool of qi that sat in his gut, just like he was meditating. The spinning disc of silver made him think of a small metallic shield. Casey smiled slightly, remembering that Maude had told him qi would protect him from the taint of the Fomori.

Now it’s your job to protect these people, Casey reminded himself.

His introspection took less than a second before he lunged out from behind the tree and stormed the dozen steps to where the three squat, furred monsters were turning the corpse on the spit.

Casey struck before they knew he was there. Maude’s blade hacked into the side of one’s throat, nearly taking the creature’s head off in a single blow. Yanking the weapon back to him with a twist of his hips, Casey lashed out with his impromptu club and shattered the jaw of the next one as it turned to look. The third managed a yelp of surprise before Maude’s blade caught him in the belly, biting deep. Casey kicked out and caught the creature in the spine with his leg, which drove it further onto the blade of his weapon with a shower of gore.

The three Fomori dropped to the ground in twitching heaps. Not wanting to take a chance, Casey stomped hard on the head of the one with the broken jaw. The blow broke something in the creature, and it went limp under him with a crunching noise. Casey felt the familiar pulse of qi entering his body from the kill, but he did not let it distract him, shunting the surge of qi into his pool with barely a thought.

Unfortunately, the squeal of surprise and pain from the one he’d kicked had alerted the others.

The big one whirled towards Casey with a bloody snarl, bits of flesh hanging from its mouth. He realized in horror that the creature had been carving chunks off its toy and eating them while he was still alive.

“Fetch, asshole!” Casey shouted back at the creature and threw his branch-club overhand as hard as he could at the creature.

The larger Fomori reacted quickly, sidestepping the spinning hunk of heavy wood while its gross gut-arm flexed low to the ground in a threatening gesture.

The dodge was perfect, for the larger Fomori, at least.

Casey’s spinning branch still caught one of the others in the head with a crack, sending it tumbling to the ground in a yelping heap.

Four down, eight to go. You can do this, Casey. Do not let them take the initiative! encouraged Maude.

A quick glance around showed Casey that the cooks, when not turning the spit, had been preparing more ‘spits’ for their meals by gnawing splintery points onto several sticks. They now sat in a stack next to him.

Snatching one of the skewers up, Casey lunged at the group of lesser Fomori between him and the larger one. Using the spit as an impromptu spear, Casey jabbed at the first Fomori’s face while slashing the other’s back open in a long line.

Both creatures squealed in pain and surprise before dropping the arms of the man they held against the boulder and whirling to defend themselves.

“No! Hold the meat!” growled a voice that Casey would have expected to come from a sentient sewer pipe.

The larger Fomori pointed towards the weakly struggling man on the stone, but Casey did not let the disturbing voice distract him.

Instead, he lunged into another forward kick, sending one of the Fomori sprawling when it tried and failed to dodge the strike. Another hack to the wounded Fomori’s front this time sent entrails spilling across the ground. The one he had kicked landed against the stone with a solid thump and did not move, which allowed Casey to put his weight behind the thrust and drive the sharp point of the branch into its chest.

The impaled Fomori let out a wet scream like an injured pig while it struggled weakly to remove the branch.

“Three of you keep the meat down. You others, get him!” snarled the larger Fomori, batting at one of the smaller Fomori with its stomach-arm.

The cuffing blow sent the Fomori in question to the ground in a heap, but the others scrambled to obey. Three remained to restrain the weakly struggling man who seemed to be more blood and torn meat than anything human. The other three, including the one who had been cuffed, tried to encircle Casey.

At Maude’s urging, Casey rushed one of them and bowled the smaller monster over to escape the encirclement. He laid its arm open to the bone in passing, leaving the monster yelping in pain.

Casey did not escape the circle without injury, though. A lashing claw caught him in the thigh, and he felt skin and clothing tear before the wet heat of blood welled up once more.

Shit! Now you are on a timer, Casey, he chastised himself.

Focus on your body, on being stronger than them. Envision yourself protected from the attacks of your foes, Maude urged him.

Acting on instinct, Casey followed her direction as he spun in a circle to meet the two leaping monsters. His mind surged backwards to the amused thought he’d had of his silver-gray pool of qi looking like a shield even as he struck out at the enemy.

One Fomori he caught on the broken tip of Maude’s blade. He noticed the chip had repaired itself somewhat, but the sharp point was still missing. Still, the leaping Fomori’s weight was enough to split its chest open on the blunted tip, and the sharp edge did the rest. The second avoided his kick, and Casey had to throw his arm into the beast’s face to distract it while he fought to yank his weapon out of the dying Fomori.

Casey felt more than saw the surge of qi in his pool spinning like a top. Threads of energy surged outwards like a thousand striking snakes as the spinning stopped and then reversed. Qi flowed out of his center and into his body just when the canine maw of the leaping Fomori closed on his left forearm.

Teeth crunched and bit, claws slashed and flayed, blood flowed and spittle flew.

Casey finished extracting his blade from the dying monster and slashed it over the exposed throat of the beast that was chewing on his arm.

It died with a gurgle and a spray of black blood, sliding off of Casey’s arm, leaving behind…

An uninjured limb.

“The fuck?” Casey gasped in surprise.

There were slight dents in his skin, and he brushed a broken piece of tooth away. Other than saliva and the small indentations, there was nothing marking his forearm.

Congratulations, Casey. You’ve developed your first technique. Skin of the Iron Bear. Now finish the fight! Maude shouted in his mind, and Casey broke free of his distraction in time to see the large Fomori lunging at him. As it leaped forward, it crushed the Fomori he had injured in his escape with one massive, padded foot.

While the other Fomori had looked like a toddler crossed with a wolf with a varying amount of limbs sprinkled on top, this one looked more like someone had played mix-and-match with a bear, a wolf, and Andre the Giant.

Three heavily muscled arms spread wide to slash at Casey from different directions, while legs as thick as young tree trunks powered a lunge that felt more like the charge of a rhino. A mouth easily large enough to engulf his torso waited behind the claws, still dripping blood and gobbets of flesh from its interrupted feast.

It was the blood on its lips and dripping from its claws that drew the world into a sharp focus for Casey—blood that came from torturing and devouring an innocent man while he was still alive. An innocent man that was, even now, groaning and struggling with his captors.

Rather than dodge, Casey met the Fomori’s charge. He leaped forward and stomped down on the disgusting and twisted stomach-arm of the creature as it tried to slash upwards to cut him from thigh to crown, but the heavy leather of Casey’s boots blunted the strike.

Combined with his bodyweight, Casey’s blow nailed the limb to the ground while he threw a punch to the side of the creature’s head with his left hand. The blow diverted the snapping maw enough that it missed him entirely and threw its head sideways. A slash with Maude severed the limb pinned under his foot at the elbow, sending a spray of blood and abruptly unbalancing the monster so that it tumbled to one side with a howl of pain and confusion.

“Not so much fun to get chunks carved off of you, is it?” Casey roared at the creature. He whirled on his heel and snatched the severed limb up off the ground. He threw it as hard as he could at the Fomori as it tried to rise from the ground, blood still pouring from its injury.

To his surprise, the Fomori caught the limb midair with a grin.

“Thank you for returning that, foolish human,” the Fomori gritted in its speaking-sewer tone. In front of Casey’s eyes, the creature jammed the severed elbow into its left arm at the biceps. A sickening shifting of flesh later and the limb merged with that arm before the fingers slowly flexed while the creature rolled its shoulder like it was stiff.

Now! Attack while the beast is distracted! Maude urged him, and Casey threw himself forward.

With the threat of the gut-arm gone now, leaving just the bleeding stump behind, Casey dove between the creature’s legs. He narrowly avoided a snap of its canine jaws while he slashed Maude’s blade against the back of its foot. The tendons there separated with a snap, and the creature tumbled to the ground with a howl of pain.

Scrambling as quickly as he could, Casey rolled to his feet and threw himself onto the beast’s back. His left arm, uninjured from the earlier attack but still aching dully, wrapped around its thick neck, and Casey hauled back to expose the monster’s throat. The double left arm of the monster flailed at him, and Casey felt its claws catch in his already injured thigh, but he gritted through the pain. Bringing his right hand around, he opened the beast’s throat with Maude in a shower of gore that painted the clearing.

A trio of screams came at that moment, and Casey released the creature, kicking his way free of its death throes and ignoring the further damage it did to his already injured leg. The sight that greeted him was surprising.

The man who had been being held down to the stone had gotten hold of the skewer that Casey had left buried in one of the Fomori’s chests.

Despite his injuries, the man was laying about him with the sharpened stick. Froth and blood flew from the flailing man in equal measure as he got hold of one of the Fomori that had been pinning him down earlier and jammed the sharpened stick into the creature’s mouth, driving it out the back of the monsters throat even as the other two fell upon the wounded man in a fury.

“ODIN!” came the wounded man’s muffled scream as he forsook his weapon where it was stuck and instead laid about him with his bare hands, even while the Fomori tore into him with fresh fury and vengeance.

Casey didn’t need Maude to urge him into a sprint.

Right as one of the Fomori ripped the man’s throat out with its teeth, Casey tackled the other off him and drove Maude into the creature’s chest before dragging the blade downwards to open up its stomach.

Leaving the dying beast to its death-throes, Casey turned to find the last Fomori flailing wildly. The throatless guard had not yet succumbed to his wounds in his rage, instead he gurgled furiously while digging his thumbs into the beast’s eyes. Rage glowed in the dying man’s gaze as he fought to take his killer with him, and Casey was too happy to aid him.

A blow to the back of the neck halted the beast’s struggles, and the dying man stilled only a moment later, still locked in a death-grip with the Fomori that had taken his throat out.

Silence fell on the clearing, only broken by the drip of blood and the faint gurgling of one of the Fomori that wasn’t quite dead yet, but didn’t have enough life to be a threat.

Rest well, Drengr. May the All-Father have heard your prayer in your glorious passing, Maude murmured quietly in Casey’s mind, and unconsciously he repeated her words aloud.

A quiet chime of metal-on-metal echoed faintly. The soft touch of feathers against his cheek. And then the world grew silent once more.

Casey tried to digest what had just happened. He felt that there had to have been something important in what had just occurred, but he wasn’t sure.

Maude remained silent as well. So, after a moment of consideration, Casey bent and wiped the sticky, black blood of the Fomori off on a clean portion of his pants. The clothing he was wearing was now covered in blood again, both his and that of the Fomori. Casey expected he would be burning this set of clothing shortly, so he didn’t care about getting it dirtier.

With his weapon tended to, he turned towards the cages that held the captives—captives who had been despairing only moments before, but now held hope in their eyes as they watched him. Hope to escape torture, and the inevitable corruption that would have waited for them in mere days.

“Let's get you folks out of there,” Casey said quietly and set to work cutting the bindings that held the ramshackle cages together.

Chapter 23

The captives remained in the clearing only long enough to thank Casey for saving them before fleeing the site of the battle towards the road. The first captives didn’t even wait for the following cages to be opened before making their escape.

“Surprised they are just taking off like that,” Casey muttered after those in the third cage, a young man and an older woman, thanked him quickly before rabbiting for the treeline.

Remember, mortals without the protection granted by a Legacy will rapidly fall to corruption just being around Fomori, or in areas they have corrupted like this location, Maude reminded him as he sawed through the rawhide binding the next cage closed.

That makes sense, Casey thought towards her, nodding to the old man in the cage, who bowed to him before racing away with a fearful look around.

The second to last cage held a man wearing tattered leather armor, and he was the only one who hesitated in leaving the clearing.

“What are you going to do with the fallen?” the young man asked, his voice raw with pain.

Burning. This way, we lay the dead to rest properly. Considering they died on corrupted ground, Maude told him before Casey could speak.

“I will put them to rest with a pyre. A separate one from the beasts, of course. They deserve to be carried by purifying flame to the gods,” Casey answered the man, drawing on some of the formal language he’d heard from Einar.

The young warrior nodded once before gesturing to the dead man still gripping his killer.

“May I take his oath ring? I want to remember my father for the glory of his death,” the man asked dully, and Casey nodded.

The youth bent and carefully removed a flat, metallic band from the man’s left arm before jogging away from the ruined camp turned into battleground.

Sighing, Casey did his best to not dwell on the grief the young man must be feeling. He’d never known the love of a parent, but he could easily imagine the pain of losing one. Stuffing it down deep in his heart, he turned towards the last cage that had sat in the center of the group.

Startled, Casey stared into the final cage, at a loss for words initially, as it held a different sort of folk than the others had. He’d missed it originally, being more focused on the fight and then getting people out of their cages, but now he couldn’t help but notice the obvious differences.

For one, all three were far more slender than any of the other captives had been. And it wasn’t the thinness of starvation, but an ethereal slenderness that made their bodies look both oddly proportioned and not at the same time. The texture and color of their tanned skin was also somewhat strange. It appeared to have faint ripples, not unlike stretch marks, but they closely matched the underlying skin tone.

The three bore manes of dark-brown hair tangled with twigs and leaves and wore nothing more than simple buckskin clothes. Their clothes were the major indicator of their gender, though, beyond the general impression of their slightly curving chests.

The trio of young women wore simple waist-wraps of tanned hide and a binding not unlike a breast-band that appeared to be more to support their curves than conceal them. Three sets of bright-yellow eyes watched Casey warily as he set to sawing at the rough hide bindings holding one wall of the cage together.

Casey. Maude’s voice broke the silence, and to his surprise, the three women twitched. Interesting, Maude muttered before continuing. These are not humans, Casey. Do not startle them and do not act aggressively.

He had cut through two of the six ties needed to open the cage when one woman spoke. But she used a language that Casey could not understand. It sounded like the rushing of wind through tree branches and the slow grinding of stones together.

You can hear me, daughters of the forest? Maude asked.

Casey had the distinct feeling that she was not directing the question at him. It was a feeling akin to her facing away and speaking, besides the way she phrased it. He could hear her, but knew it wasn’t him to whom she spoke.

The woman responded again, this time her voice added in a noise not unlike a babbling stream over rocks.

One of them is wounded. A Fomori bit her while the three of them ran. It was what led to the three sisters being captured, Maude directed the words at Casey this time, and he nodded without speaking.

Instead, Casey worked more quickly, chopping more vigorously at the ties until one half of the cage wall collapsed away in a shower of dried sticks and gnawed bones.

All three of the women jumped and tried to scramble away at the sudden noise and motion, but one yelped in pain and clutched at her leg.

Without the other two crowding protectively over her, Casey could see the ragged bite mark on the back of her thigh that was bleeding sluggishly. The blood coming out was a lighter red than he expected, and it made him worry.

“What can I do to help?” Casey asked quietly, directing the question towards both the women and Maude, not caring who answered first.

Clean and bandage the wound, then these three need to get out of the corrupted area. It will take time to cleanse the taint from the land, but they cannot remain here, Maude advised.

Casey nodded and sheathed Maude once more. His own injury was still bleeding, but he limped to the edge of the clearing where he’d concealed his pack. Grabbing the leather bag, he hurried back to where the two uninjured women were trying to help the third rise to her feet.

“Easy,” Casey murmured when one of the three whirled and held up her hand like she was warding him away, shifting to put herself between him and her wounded friend. “I just want to help. I have bandages and water. Let me at least wash out her wound and ensure it’s clean.”

The woman spoke in tones of rocks grinding and earth shifting, not moving from her place between her friends and Casey. He could see her raised hand trembling slightly. It reminded him of the trio of young girls that he had saved before he died the first time.

These girls are almost their size, though the proportions are all wrong. They are both more developed, yet skinnier than those girls were.

It was the look of fear mixed with determination that really reminded him of those young ladies. Casey came to a stop and squatted down so he wasn’t looming over the smaller female.

“I mean no harm. I just want to make sure she can travel. You do not want her to bleed out, do you?”

The woman looked like she was about to protest when Maude spoke up again.

My wielder will not harm you or your sisters, forest daughter. He worries more about her injury than his own. He has clean water he will share with you.

The woman’s yellow eyes widened. She spoke again, this time with the sound of rushing wind over grass. Between the tone of hope and the clearly eager expression on her face, Casey was relieved she understood his intentions now.

Don’t feel bad, Casey. They do not speak the tongue of man, and that is the only language that was gifted to you when you came here. When your Legacy grows, you will learn to communicate with people like these three here. I will explain more later. Just wash out her sister’s wound and bind it well. They have medicines of their own to better treat it later. As long as they can get away safely, they will be fine. Maude’s explanation got a nod of agreement from the spirit blocking his way. Casey had begun to think of them as spirits from how Maude kept referring to them as ‘forest daughters.’ Apparently satisfied, she moved aside.

The injured one still lay on the ground, whimpering and clinging to her sister for comfort.

Moving slowly, Casey opened his pack and shifted the contents around. He still had both of his water skins, one full and the other mostly so. He offered the full one to the member of the trio that had stood between them. When she moved aside and let Casey approach, she’d not moved far and instead crowded close to him.

The wild-haired woman inspected the offered water skin for a moment before taking it, working the wooden plug free, and sniffing at the contents. She gave a joyous cry like a circling hawk and began guzzling from the mouth of the skin. The other two stiffened, and both held their hands out to their companion.

They passed the waterskin around, and all three drank greedily of the fresh water while Casey finally found the bandages. Using his eating knife, as he didn’t want to draw Maude while looming over the injured woman, he cut a section of bandage and wet it with his other water skin.

Hold your sister steady. He will clean out her wound and then bandage it. This will be painful, but please do not strike out at my wielder, Maude said as the three watched him warily. The two uninjured women gathered around the injured one as she turned to expose the slashing bite on her thigh. Casey winced when he saw the wound better.

Maude, is she going to survive this? Even back home, this would disfigure her forever, he sent with a thought, letting his hand rest lightly on the weapon. He couldn’t sheath her yet, so he’d leaned her against his leg.

There are many ways of healing. Their people are some of the best at that art. We are just ensuring she can get back to her people. Your concern for her well-being is admirable, though, Maude answered him, and the trio all blinked in unison.

A bit of tension faded out of the injured woman, and Casey nodded, trying to give her a reassuring smile before he set to work washing out the wound and wiping away the clotted dirt from it.

The process was painful. In the past, Casey had needed to tend to his own injuries, so he knew well what she was likely going through. The injured woman bore it stoically, hissing in pain and grunting only occasionally. Thankfully, the bite looked worse than it actually was because of the crusted blood. Fangs had pierced her skin and slashed it open, but thankfully, there was no chunk missing.

In only a matter of minutes, Casey had washed out the injury and was winding the bandage around her thigh. The bleeding had picked up again, but it was slowing as he put more pressure on it.

“There. Make sure to wash that out well again later. The last thing you need is to escape these monsters and still die from an infection,” Casey said at last.

Grimacing, he looked down at his bloody hands and then over at his nearly empty waterskin.

Maude relayed his instructions and got him a tearful smile from the injured one, while the other two nodded solemnly. The wounded one said something, her voice weaker from the pain and the injury, so it only sounded like a brief rustle of leaves. Then she rose to her feet, assisted by the other two.

Together, supporting their injured friend in the middle, the three limped out of the clearing. As they reached the treeline, Casey noticed something that had slipped past him during his time treating the injured one. The tangled leaves in the hair of all three had been brown and crunchy before, but now they were healthy and green. The moment the trio stepped into the treeline, they vanished as if they had never been.

“What was that?” Casey murmured, still staring after the trio as he tried to encompass the entire encounter with them in the question.

Elementals. They have many names depending on what gave birth to them, but they are spirits of raw natural power given form. The fact that the Fomori captured them was a tragedy. They are fortunate that we arrived to free them. Fomori may enjoy torturing mortal creatures, but they only ever twist elementals to their own kind. And fallen elementals are the most dangerous of the Fomori’s victims, Maude spoke into his mind in a reserved tone, and Casey nodded slowly before sighing.

“I wish I could have talked to them. I can only imagine what sort of interesting things I could have learned.”

Amusement colored Maude’s voice as she responded. It bodes well that you wish to learn, rather than dominate them. Too many cultivators see them only as a source of natural qi. An elemental is rich in their specific flavor of qi. For those with elemental Legacies, their cores as well as their physical forms are quite tempting.

A growl rippled out of Casey’s chest, and he was about to protest against that as barbarism when Maude spoke again.

It is not something many do, and those who abuse these children of the wild do so in secret or only when attacked. Not all elementals are gentle or kind. They can be just as warlike as any human. Now, though, you need to tend to your own injury.

As if prompted by her words, the slash in his thigh gave another heavy throb, and Casey grunted at the pain.

Looking the wound over, he found several large slashes parting the flesh of his thigh. One cut had been torn wider, where the bigger Fomori had gotten him with his claws after he had reinforced his skin.

“That’s going to need stitches,” Casey sighed as he looked down at the sluggishly bleeding slash. Now that he was aware of it, he was feeling lightheaded from the blood loss.

Not likely. You heal far faster than normal, my wielder, Maude reminded him. Clean and bandage your wound for now. We will seek a stream to wash you in once you have laid the dead to rest.

“I don’t know if I have the energy for dealing with the bodies.”

You must find it, Casey. You promised, and we both know that leaving the Fomori lying around will taint the land further. Maude’s voice was gentle but firm.

Casey took a long, slow breath. Then he let it out. The adrenaline from the earlier fight was well and truly faded now. Even the thought of setting up his tent to have a place to sleep felt like far too much work at that moment.

Right, then. I was going to wait to teach you how to do this until later. But, now that you are developing a technique already, you should be able to do this. I will show you how to use qi to fuel your body. In the future, this will allow you to forgo food, water, and rest if needed. It will also allow you to burn qi to enhance yourself in a fight. I don’t recommend using it much until you are at least past your next threshold, as it will consume the qi quickly. However, at the moment, needs must.

Casey blinked several times while he stared down at his injured leg.

You need to bandage yourself up first, Casey. Once that is done, I will show you how to flood your body with qi to nourish and fuel it, Maude teased him lightly and he nodded once, then set to work.

Cleaning and bandaging his own leg was much quicker, especially since Casey knew he would be able to properly wash it in a river shortly. The injury was painful, but his leg at least would support his weight.

Maude then walked him through the process of focusing on the whirling qi at his center. His pool was now diminished by nearly a third after using the technique to reinforce his skin. The strengthening technique would repeat the first steps of the armoring one.

Without the pressure of the fight to encourage him, it took Casey a minute to figure out how to repeat it. After a handful of seconds, he again managed to reverse the spin of the whirling pool of energy in his core and spread it out into his body.

At Maude’s direction, Casey focused on using it to sheathe his channels by keeping it close to his bones. He had to focus to keep it from flaring out and hardening his skin, but Casey slowly felt the exhaustion wash away from his muscles.

Opening his eyes, he took another slow breath before setting to work.

The first thing that Casey did was move the two dead humans to one side of the clearing and onto another mostly flat rock. Following Maude’s instruction, he used the wood of the cages and anything that was lying around to build large stacks around the two bodies. He then stuffed the cracks of the pyre with dried grass from the edges of the clearing, where it hadn’t fallen apart and turned to cursed earth.

A pyre here to send these two off will help heal the cursed ground. Just like burning the Fomori will, Maude reminded him as Casey did his absolute best to not look closely at the partially cooked body. But he still gently set the fallen on the pyre with respect, followed by the body of the drengr beside it.

The pyre was a good ten or fifteen feet from the edge of the forest, but he wanted to make sure the fire didn’t spread, so Casey got it burning carefully and ensured there wasn’t anything to carry an ember into the trees.

While that wood crackled and flames rose, Casey drew out his skinning knife and set to the grisly work of extracting the Fomori’s tainted cores.

After the first six he’d done days before, Casey had grown inured to the bloody work. Even now, he set about it with grim determination, knowing that finishing this would bring him one step closer to that bath. He didn’t care about the blood splashed on his clothing; he was already planning to burn this set as well.

“Going to need to buy a lot more clothes if this is going to be the norm,” Casey muttered as he used his wood-splitting hatchet to crack a rib cage open and remove the fourth core. Since all the lesser Fomori were based on the same body type, Maude had suggested that might save him time and effort. It was messy, but he wasn’t trying to save any meat.

That or get enchanted clothing. Something to consider when you have more coins. Such equipment is not cheap. Its cost is measured in horns rather than claws, Maude commented.

“Would be worth it,” Casey grunted as he pried the core loose and tossed it onto the torn piece of cloth that had been his pant leg. He’d had to cut the cloth open to treat the wound anyway, so he figured it would serve one last purpose. “I appreciate being able to harden my skin into armor, though.”

It will save a small cost. But at a certain point, it might make more sense to drop the coin on actual armor, as the qi would prove more valuable. Until then, work on focusing it in specific places. No reason to armor an arm if you are carrying a shield on it. Same with your chest if you have chainmail. Practicing now will save wasted qi in the future. Not ‘now’ now, though. You don’t want to burn up all your spare qi. The cores you are collecting will help replace what you spent today, but you’ll likely be down a fair bit.

Casey paused from knocking a tooth loose of the creature’s head. He’d begun collecting eyeteeth as his trophies when Maude reminded him of the importance of his hunt-necklace.

Then he turned his attention inwards. Since this morning’s practice, his pool of qi was now half what it had been. The drain of the strengthening technique was much slower, but it was still taking an appreciable amount.

“Point taken. What can you tell me about those women? Something useful to discuss could distract me while I’m elbow deep in guts,” Casey grunted, yanking the yellowed tooth out of the creature’s mouth and tossing it next to the cores.

He then hefted the body up, the boosted strength making it feel like he was just heaving an awkwardly shaped bag of concrete rather than a nearly two-hundred-pound monster, and tossed it onto the pile with the others.

As I said earlier, they are elementals. Likely tied to the forest or the land. Freeing them will have earned us a bit of goodwill with the land and the spirits. The little folk will still want their bribes, but even they would forgive a bit of rudeness right now. Based on their skin and the plants in their hair, those three might even be related to that ancient oak tree we passed earlier.

“Interesting,” Casey grunted as he chopped through the ribs of another of the Fomori, then fished out the core. The five he had extracted so far were a muddy brown in color, with the occasional hint of swampy green swirling over the irregular surface of the cores.

Maude filled him in on the different types of elementals they might encounter while he worked. Everything from fire and water, to wind and earth elementals. Apparently, whatever focus the environment had was what gave rise to that type of elementals. On mountaintops, he might find ice, wind, or storm elementals. Deep inside caves, he might run into earth, metal, or lava elementals as well.

Casey had finished the smaller Fomori and was working on finding the core inside the largest Fomori, which he had left till last, when he asked a question finally. He had been just listening to Maude as she described them, letting her words distract him from the squelchy, disturbing feeling of the bodies and the foul scent of the human corpses burning on their pyre across the clearing.

“What about things like darkness and light? Do those have elementals?”

The question was innocent enough. He’d been thinking about games that he had played or read about when he asked, but Maude went silent for a long moment before responding.

Elementals of darkness and light exist, though they do not like to be called such things. Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar: darkness and light. In the past, their kind were known just as álfar, or ‘elves,’ as your people remember the legends. There’s also the Svartlálfar, but they diverged from both of their kin a long time ago and no longer have a tie to a specific element. Svartlálfar are known to you as ‘dwarves,’ and the two in your vision when you claimed the Legacy of Steel were Svartlálfar.

“Interesting,” Casey grunted, finally prying free the core from the largest of the Fomori.

The core was easily twice the size of the others and a swirling mixture of green and gray-brown, like someone had poured paint together and stirred it only lightly, leaving threads of the individual colors distinct. A practiced thump of the back of his axe broke a fang free, and he dragged the corpse onto the collection with a grunt.

“Well, that is done,” he huffed, dumping the dead Fomori onto the stack. “Now just to pile a whole mess of wood onto the stack and then light the bastards up.”

And then you can find a stream and bathe. I’m sure that you are tired of the sensation of blood on your skin, Maude added in.

“You know it, girl. Just hope there isn’t a nixie or something in the stream,” Casey said with a grimace, wiping his knife off as best he could before sheathing it. At this point, he was so covered in blood that it was impossible to get the tool properly clean. He was going to have to wash all of his gear when he got the chance.

Thankfully, getting wood should be easy. The dead trees you can likely just push over and drag whole to the pile. Once the burn is going well, you can leave it.

“Too bad I don’t have any oil. That’d make this even easier,” Casey grumbled as he bundled up the rag full of cores and trophy fangs.

Something to consider. I expect we are going to be hunting quite a few Fomori, so get used to it.

Chapter 24

It turned out that Maude had understated the ease with which he could uproot the dead trees. Casey found that he could just snap branches off the lower trunks with his bare hands easily enough and then push the tree over.

Collecting the wood took less than half an hour, and soon Casey had the messy pile of Fomori properly prepared. Maude had walked him through how to lay the bodies out in a more organized pile to allow airflow, then instructed him to use a coal from the pyre of the dead humans to start this one up.

It’s symbolic. Their passing caused the deaths of these monsters, and their pyre will kindle the fire that will cleanse this land, Maude explained while Casey blew into the bundled grass he had laid as the tinder for the second pyre.

Casey had to fight the urge to snort at what he would have considered ‘woo-woo’ practices before. Maude caught the thought, though, and, rather than ignoring it, addressed it to ensure he understood.

Back home, such rituals might not have had an effect. That is not the same here. You live and breathe qi, and are in a whole new body forged for you by a god. Symbolic actions such as this will actually have an effect, even more so when you travel further along the Drengr’s Road.

Chastised, Casey sighed before nodding once. He blew into the tinder once more to ensure it was going well. When the flames leaped up into the wood, he rose and backed away from the pyre as the stench of scorched fur rose alongside the black smoke of the burning Fomori.

“I’ll try to keep it in mind, Maude. It’s just taking a bit of adjusting is all.” He sighed again before brushing his filthy hands on the ground in a vain attempt to clean them off some more. All it did was add fresh mud to the dried and smeared stains on his hands and arms. “I need to bathe.”

Agreed. Collect your pack and let’s get you washed up. You can relax the strengthening technique now. Just do it slowly, so you do not pass out. You will feel tired. But, once your hands are clean, you can eat something, and that will help bolster you.

Casey silently hoped that Maude was right, as his exhaustion returned with reinforcements when he released the general, nameless strengthening technique.

A peek internally showed him that the pool of qi that remained in his core was now barely a fourth of what he had started the morning with. It swirled sluggishly as he watched, as if to mirror his exhaustion. Tiny threads of qi were being drawn into the pool, like tendrils of morning fog, but the level did not rise as far as he could see.

Come on, Casey. Grab your pack and let’s get going, Maude reminded him with a mental prod. Twitching, he pulled himself out of the trance from watching the loose, spinning qi in his center.

“Right. I need to wash,” Casey grunted, looking down at his stained and filthy hands. The dirt had, at least, stuck to and crusted over the blood that covered him from his fingertips nearly to his shoulders from having to dig out the corrupted cores. Blood speckled his clothes from the fight, as well as the stains on his pants from his injury as well.

Working carefully so he would not spread the mud on his things, Casey bundled up the pack and his cloak. He didn’t put the latter on yet but stuffed it into the straps and picked a direction out of the clearing.

You should go check the site of the attack more thoroughly. There might be something valuable there that you can take with you. Even supplies or food would be good.

“What about those who escaped?”

They will have already headed to the wagons to salvage what they could if they are wise. Even so, you still might find something useful there they have left behind, or even someone who can point you towards a stream to wash in.

“Fair point.”

Casey took his time as he wound back through the trees, following the trampled path that the Fomori had made while dragging their captives.

During the walk in, the forest had felt dark and dangerous. Shadows had lurked around every corner, and an evil feeling had hung in the air that kept the local wildlife silent. Now, though, that feeling was gone.

Moss in a dozen different shades of green hung from the trees or grew on the boulders that popped up occasionally. Distantly, he could hear the chatter of fighting squirrels and several bird calls. Even the light seemed to pierce more deeply into the shadows between the trees to make the dew-covered grass and leaves glitter like emeralds.

Thanks to his exhaustion, Casey had no idea how long it took to get back to the road. He just focused on putting one foot in front of the other and ignoring the pain of his injury.

Maude remained silent, letting him focus while she did whatever it was she did when they weren’t talking.

Suddenly, Casey broke out of the trees and saw the road ahead of him, as well as the two damaged wagons.

There were signs that the people he’d rescued from the Fomori camp had already been here, as most of the contents of the wagons were missing now, at least the goods that were easily transported. The barrels and crates remained behind still. It was obvious that the others had come and gone, but which direction along the road he wasn’t sure.

After looking over what the survivors had left, Casey decided he didn’t feel like lugging any of it with him, though he did grab another of the tanned sheepskins from the damaged bale, rolling up with his first and tying them to his pack.

Why just that? You could sell it for a small amount, but I don’t think the weight makes it worthwhile, Maude asked when Casey turned to continue along the road, heading back in the direction they had been going before.

“Softer bedding,” Casey mumbled, fighting the urge to rub at his eyes given how filthy his hands were.

That does make sense. It’s not something I would recommend dragging with you all the time. But as you have access to some without cost? It cannot hurt to enjoy a bit more luxury for now. Maude was silent for several more minutes before she spoke again, and this time because they finally came across a narrow stream that curved along the eastern side of the road for some distance before turning away once.

Wash your hands, Casey. You should eat something to give you strength before following that stream off the road. It should eventually feed into a lake or a proper river, and that will give you somewhere to wash more thoroughly.

Without a word, Casey did as directed, having to squat down carefully to wash so he didn’t just tip right over. His exhaustion was mounting, and he didn’t know how long he was going to be able to keep going.

The cool water on his hands felt good, though it stung in a few spots where he had cut himself while working. The water actually darkened for a moment in the fast-moving stream while he washed the ash, blood, and mud away.

Using his hands as a cup, he also splashed and scrubbed at his face to wash it, too, before refilling his water skins from further upstream.

That done, Casey glanced up and then downstream, wondering which way he should go. Downstream would take him back the way he had come while upstream the rivulet curved vaguely in the direction he was going.

You should head downstream, Casey. More likely to find a larger river or lake that way, Maude suggested.

Casey was about to agree when his eyes were drawn back upstream. He paused when he saw motion in the trees on the far side of the creek in that direction.

The unexpected movement sent a surge of adrenaline into Casey’s tired system, and his brain fog cleared abruptly. He had Maude half-drawn from her sheath before his mind caught up with what he was seeing and he paused.

From the figure alone, it had to be a woman. She was dressed in the same mixture of a hide skirt and chest wrap that the elementals he’d met earlier had worn, but she was definitely not one of those girls.

The woman looked far older than the first three, and her skin was the color of dark, weathered wood. She repeated the motion that caught Casey’s attention and beckoned him to follow her before vanishing into the trees.

“Maude?” Casey asked warily. “Is she dangerous?”

I do not know, Casey. If she didn’t want you to see her, she wouldn’t have been seen. I didn’t even sense her until after you did. I am sorry about that, Maude replied, self-recrimination thick in her voice.

“Should I follow her?” Casey could feel Maude weighing the choice silently for several seconds before coming to a decision that he could feel in his chest. Before she could voice it, he had already stepped forward and over the stream to that far bank.

The rocks surrounding the fast-moving stream were slick with moisture and springy moss, so Casey had to step carefully until he was up higher on the far bank.

On this side of the creek, the trees were younger. This allowed him to wind his way through them with far greater ease, though he had to duck under more of the hanging moss every so often.

All around Casey, the scent of moist greenery and damp earth intruded to fill his lungs. It invigorated Casey as the adrenaline from his scare faded, leaving him only a little tired rather than as exhausted as he had been while he washed.

Ahead, the elemental woman appeared again, this time from around a large stone studded with pale-green lichen.

She was too far away for him to make out her features very well, but she had a mass of brown hair that hung behind her, intertwined with leaves and twigs that still bore green leaves on them. She gestured for him to follow her again before bounding between trees and disappearing behind another rock.

This continued for nearly an hour, with the elemental appearing only if Casey deviated from whatever direction she was leading him in. Their path of travel roughly paralleled the stream, which reassured him since it would be easy to follow it back to the road if he changed his mind.

They crossed two rocky areas where there were no trees, and that was when he got the best look at his guide.

Despite her nimble movement, she had an air of age and wisdom about her. Faint, delicate wrinkles marked her face but did not detract from a sort of ageless beauty that made Casey wonder just how old the creature in front of him was.

Maude watched silently as well. Casey could feel her attention tracking on the elemental every time she stepped into view. He was glad that his partner was keeping watch, as she usually spotted the elemental before he did now.

Casey didn’t question how he could tell when Maude’s attention focused in a specific direction, but the sudden shift from scanning to focused drew his eyes to the elemental immediately as well.

The direction that the elemental woman led him took Casey further and further from the road and up into the hills. It wound a bit, but kept along the stone-studded riverbank, and he was thankful he didn’t have to fight the thick undergrowth.

Casey was just beginning to wonder how much longer the elemental was going to keep leading him when she appeared from behind a tree less than five feet away and stepped into his path.

Closer now, he could see an intense look of apparent irritation on her lined face. The eyes that he had wondered about before were a stony gray in color, and they almost glared at him as the older female set her hands on her hips. Now that he was closer, Casey could see that the wrinkles on her face were not actually wrinkles; instead they were whorls and texture like the bark of a tree.

Speaking in a voice that sounded like a massive tree creaking in a windstorm, the woman said something, but Casey could not understand.

You should trust the words of your elder, forest-daughter, Maude responded sharply.

The elemental woman flinched, and the anger in her eyes shifted to surprise. She spoke again a moment later. This time, the creaking was quieter, but it still sounded like stirring branches.

Yes, we did rescue three of your kin from Fomori.

The elemental’s expression turned contrite, and she bowed her head to them once before examining Casey again, more intently this time. He had to fight the urge to shuffle back and forth as she studied him carefully before speaking once more in a far softer tone.

I will convey your apology to my wielder. Casey, she was demanding to know if it was true that we had fought off a pack of Fomori to save three of her kind. Her elder sent her to guide us to a safe place for you to rest and recover in thanks for you saving them. She did not believe it had actually happened, or their stories that you had a bound spirit serving you.

“You aren’t bound to me,” Casey protested immediately.

I am, but not in slavery. We are partners, are we not? It is far more fair to say we are bound to each other. Maude’s voice was amused for a moment before returning to seriousness. She was asking if you needed further assistance with your injury or with washing yourself. Apparently, there is a concealed lake just over the rise that has some fruit trees around it.

The elemental woman nodded slowly, her eyes scanning over Casey’s body again with an oddly hungry look now. He quickly shook his head to decline her offer.

“No, I don’t need assistance. I will accept your apology, but I would like to wash in privacy.”

As much privacy as one can have while washing in nature, Maude said teasingly. Casey sighed, but couldn’t disagree while the elemental chuckled slightly, the sound like water over rocks.

When her amusement had subsided, the elemental sighed and frowned but nodded in understanding. She vanished into the side of another tree a moment later. It wasn’t that she ducked behind it, or jumped into its branches. She walked into the tree trunk and vanished like a car driving into a bank of fog.

Hussy, Maude grumbled in his mind, and Casey made a curious noise while he started forward again. Her offer to wash you implied a more ‘carnal’ apology. I could tell from her tone and her eyes. I’m glad you turned her down. Guiding you to a safe camp was already enough to satisfy her task, and the insult did not require her to do that. Accepting it would have put you in her debt for the service.

“And that is bad?” Casey asked, pushing through a stand of birch trees and around several large boulders.

They aren’t as bad as the little folk, but the elementals can be just as insistent about debts. I didn’t trust how she was looking at you.

“Neither did I, to be honest.” Casey pushed one last branch out of his face and sighted the lake ahead of him.

The body of water was maybe a bit larger than a football field in size. A thick stream rushed down the mountain to fill it while the lake emptied out via a half-dozen smaller streams on his side.

The banks of the lake were grassy and studded with a dozen different colors of wildflower. Stands of trees wrapped around each side of the lake except for the northern edge, which met a wide cliff. In the distance, Casey could see the rolling hills disappearing away in that direction, covered in a mat of trees and bushes, until they began to transition into stony mesas.

Oh, this will do nicely, Casey. There are fish in the lake. Maude drew his attention back down from the view, and he looked.

Silver shapes darted in the deep water nearby, and a trout jumped on the far side of the lake. He briefly wished he had a fishing pole with him before remembering that he had a line and hooks which he’d bought with other general supplies in town.

A breeze caressed the lake’s surface, sending hundreds of small ripples to disturb the calm surface before crossing to him. He could smell something sweet on the breeze, and he squinted to see that there were trees studded with small red fruit on the far side of the lake.

“Okay, I agree. This is a suitable spot to camp. Can I wash first, then set camp up?” The water looked far too inviting, and Casey was fighting the urge to just dive in while fully dressed.

You should at least pick a campsite first. Somewhere nearby, but not right on the edge of the lake. I’d recommend a bit uphill to the east. You don’t want to be right on the water, as animals will come to drink. Also, if it rains, the water won’t just run right into your tent. You can wait to set up till you are clean, though. I can appreciate the need to be washed.

Taking Maude’s recommendation to heart, Casey followed the shore of the lake around and slightly uphill before selecting a spot to camp. The site was partially under cover of a pair of large ash trees whose spreading branches would shade the campsite and shelter him from rain.

Casey set his pack and supplies down and carefully fished out the cake of soap and a cloth to wash himself with.

Leaving his boots behind at the campsite, Casey strode back around to a spot near where one stream exited the lake. When Maude asked him why he was going so far, he just said it was to make sure the lake stayed as clean as possible, since the stream would quickly carry away the water he washed in.

The soil and stones underfoot were pleasantly warm on his feet, and Casey enjoyed another deep breath of the clean mountain air.

Being away from the scene of the battle and somewhere so full of life actually made him feel much better after the gruesome work of the morning. The distance and time made the macabre necessity of removing the Fomori’s cores easier to accept.

Not bothering to undress, Casey just left his clean clothes on the bank and waded into the water.

The first thing he did was give Maude a good scrub, using some sand from the bank to ensure that her blade was clean and no signs of the fight with the Fomori remained. She was silent while he worked, but he could feel his partner’s sense of surprise and appreciation that he tended to her first.

When Maude was done, Casey quickly repeated the process with his skinning knife, noting that the more mundane blade was going to need sharpening later from the hard work he’d put it through while extracting the Fomori cores. Lastly, Casey washed off his hatchet. Finished with his tools, he set them in the sun to dry and ducked under the cool water to wash.

Bathing in a mountain lake was chilly, but pleasant. The cold water pushed back his fatigue and helped soothe his sore muscles.

Unwrapping the bandages from his slashed thigh, Casey inspected the wound and scrubbed it carefully. The cuts were already looking better, but the one torn open by the largest of the Fomori was still raw and leaking blood. He made sure to wash it out several times with the soap.

Dunking his head under water, Casey scrubbed at his face and hair, repeating the process several times until he finally felt clean once more.

While he was underwater, he opened his eyes to look around the lake. His splashing and movement had driven the fish away from this end, but he could still see their darting forms in the clear water further out. The bottom of the lake was made up of a mixture of rounded stones, loose gravel, and fine sand. The lake was oval in shape, and the bed sloped deeper rather quickly.

A curious formation of stones sat roughly in the middle of the lake, as if someone had piled several large rocks together to make a rounded mound. Casey made a mental note to ask Maude about it.

He used the opportunity to wash his clothes as clean as possible in the lake, too. The accumulated filth from the fight stained the water for only a minute or two before the current carried it out and away down the stream, leaving the lake clean and pure. His tunic and pants were still heavily stained, but Casey was reconsidering his desire to just burn them.

Might have a use for them, at least. No reason to just toss them in a fire right away. I’ll let them dry and figure it out from there, Casey thought before stripping off the soaked clothes and finishing scrubbing himself clean.

You about done in there? Maude’s question interrupted Casey as he inspected the injury on his leg one last time while knee deep in the water of the lake.

“Just about. It just feels good to be clean once more,” Casey called back to where he’d set Maude to dry in the sun.

Don’t make me more jealous. Gods know that I look forward to the day when I can actually take a bath myself.

“We will get you there, Maude. I promise.”

You had better, Casey. I took a chance on you and I had better see it pay off. Maude’s tone was serious, but he could almost see her smile in his mind, so he knew she was teasing him.

“Come on. Let’s go get the camp set up before I run out of energy and completely collapse,” Casey sighed, stretching his hands over his head before sloshing through the lake to the shore and up onto the bank.

You gonna get dressed, or just wave that about in the air? Maude’s question was pointed, and Casey glanced down at his naked form before shrugging.

“Might as well air dry. If someone was going to spy on me, like the elemental who led me up here, it’s too late now. Does it bother you?”

No. I just didn’t expect it. I thought you would be shyer around me, knowing I am a woman, though my current form is different.

“Got nothing to hide from you, Maude. And I’m proud of my body. I worked hard for it the first time around. Another thing I owe Loptr,” Casey said while studying his skin. Even the scars he had carried previously had returned, those knotted across his knuckles from the fistfights, and the thin knife scars on his forearms.

Don’t let him hear that. He’ll want more out of you. This time, Maude’s voice was teasing, and Casey laughed while he gathered up his things.

They’d made it back to where he left his pack before Casey realized he’d forgotten to bring the cores and trophies he’d taken earlier and that he’d need to go back to the lake again to wash them. Sighing, he scooped the bundle up and turned back around to head to the water.

Chapter 25

Sleeping on the two sheepskins rather than one was a treat for Casey. Though, considering how tired he was after the fight and hike to get to the lake, he could have just passed out on the dirt and slept just fine.

Instead, Casey woke up rested and ready to start his day as soon as the sun colored the horizon enough for him to see.

He hadn’t bothered to set the tent up the previous night, instead opting to get firewood and a fire pit set up with the limited light and energy he had left at that point. A dinner of trail bread and cheese had been enough to quiet his stomach until he could get to sleep.

Fair morning to you. Maude was quick to greet him when he stirred and sat up.

“Morning, Maude. Thank you again for keeping watch while I slept.” Casey yawned hard enough to make his jaw crack before rolling out of his impromptu bed.

He’d collected another heap of springy pine branches the night before and draped the sheepskins over top of it. The combination led to a surprisingly comfortable, if a bit lumpy, bed. With the wool blanket and the small fire he’d had going for most of the night, it had been remarkably cozy.

Might as well. It isn’t as if I can take a turn sleeping, Maude teased him. You should tend to the fire and build it back up. I think it would be good to stay here for a few days. Also, check your leg injury.

Casey had already been on his way to the still-smoking firepit when she reminded him of the wound. Pausing, Casey unwrapped the bandages from his leg and smiled to see that the smallest of slashes were totally gone and the largest slash was just pink skin with faint scarring showing around it.

“Wow. I know I shouldn’t be surprised after what happened with my arm, but that is ridiculous,” Casey muttered, poking at the injury for a moment before tossing the bandages by his pack and pulling his pants back up.

Honestly, I should be more shy about showing my ass around, but whatever. The only people up here are Maude and whatever perverted forest spirits might be watching.

You will heal far faster now than ever before. Provided you have food and rest, that is. Steel is resilient to the abuses of the world.

“You talk about it like I’m actually becoming steel,” Casey said over his shoulder while he bent to inspect the fire.

A bit of stirring with a stick revealed glowing embers under the ash, so he piled some thinner wood on top and blew into the embers. After a moment, fresh flames rose up.

In a way, you are. When you took the Legacy fragment into you, it gave the qi you collect a pattern to follow to develop a core and empower you. Who knows how your Legacy will grow and change as time goes by? All we know for sure is that it will be based in the nature of steel and grow from there.

“So what is on the list for today? I’m not opposed to staying here for a few days, as long as we can continue to collect enough food.”

At the mention of food, his stomach began to rumble, so Casey got his weapon belt on to bring Maude with him and collected his cooking pot to go to the lake for water.

Get your campsite in order. You need to erect your tent and ensure you have adequate wood for a day or two. But only after you go through your forms. It needs to be a daily exercise, even if you do not have cores to draw from. Morning and night.

“Fair enough. Let me just get water heating for tea. I can make do with a bit of bread for breakfast. When I’m done practicing, I want to go check those trees out on the other side of the lake, too.”

Make sure you do not eat all the prepared bread since it would be a suitable offering to the little folk. They did not harass you last night because you came with the guidance of one of the elementals, but it is better to remain on their good side.

Casey just nodded silently while dipping his pot full of water.

The rising sun was painting the surface of the lake, and he could see dozens of silvery forms darting back and forth under the water while ripples popped and formed where the fish snatched bugs from the surface of the water. The fresh breeze brought a crisp scent of dewed grass and green leaves to his lungs, and he let out a long sigh.

“I think I am growing to appreciate being out in the world more than in town,” Casey sighed while walking back to his camp with the water. Maude did not respond, but he could feel a sense of contentment from the intelligent weapon on his hip.

<><><>

Casey went through his forms quickly while the water simmered, only pausing to pull the pot off the fire and add the fresh pine needles to make the tea as Maude guided him. He also added the dried sprig of herb the little folk had left him the other day. Maude had wanted him to make a tea with it the night before, but his exhaustion had been too great to bother.

The sprig of herbs added a faint flavor that reminded him of rosemary to the citrusy taste of the pine-needle tea. Casey took his time drinking the fragrant beverage while he ate some oat flatbread and dried apples.

As soon as he was done eating, Casey finished setting his tent up so he had more shelter if the weather turned.

By this time, the sun had risen almost a handspan above the horizon, and the day was bright with color while the birds sang nearby.

With Maude’s guidance, Casey found a flat stone by the lake and set it out of sight of his campsite along with half of a round piece of flatbread.

Gathering wood took another hour, but he soon had a solid pile that would last him a day or so. Casey also took the time to build a short wall of larger logs held up with sticks he drove into the ground behind the fire to serve as a reflector to direct warmth into his tent. It wouldn’t fully enclose the fire, but it would help and, as Maude reminded him, would also serve to keep a casual observer from finding his campsite out here. Not that it was likely, but she said, and he agreed, that it was always better to be prepared.

“I really need to buy a bow or something,” Casey muttered when he scared off a third rabbit while walking around the lake.

He’d wanted to fish for something to eat for lunch. But, with the morning already nearly gone, it wasn’t the best time to fish. Instead, he’d proceeded around the lake to have a look at what he was betting were fruit trees based on the shapes he saw clinging to the distant branches.

Are you skilled with the weapon? Maude’s question was a legitimate one, but Casey couldn’t help but feel a little judged by it.

“I’ve shot a bow a few times, but never hunted with one. I was a pretty good marksman with my gun, though.”

Hunting is a skill you will need to develop. For now, though, snares will probably be your best option for small game rather than wasting your time with a weapon you are only passingly familiar with. We will set up a few loop snares with some of the twine you have in your pack. You will just have to be careful in placing them and hope your quarry doesn’t chew through the twine.

Casey did his best not to grumble and instead focused on enjoying his quiet walk around the lake. He was hoping that the trees would have ripe fruit on them, because it would be a rather nice change of pace to have something fresh to eat.

Need to remember to sharpen my skinning knife, as well as oil it and Maude, too. I know she doesn’t need it, but she likes it, Casey reminded himself silently.

Rounding one end of the lake, he passed by the wide cliff that overlooked the forest below and paused to take in the view.

Ahead of him, the trees rolled off into the distance in a series of low hills, like a great, green sea.

Casey could pick out a small handful of the forest ancients from how they protruded above and shadowed all the smaller trees near them. Each one reminded him vaguely of the giant oak that he’d passed on the road the previous day as well.

In the distance, he thought he could make out the winding ribbon of the road as it exited the forest and curled around one of the large mesas, far enough out to be just barely visible.

“How far do you think it is to the next town?” Casey asked idly, tracing the horizon with his eyes while searching for any sign of civilization.

Probably another day or two at least. All depends on how fast you move on the road. Look off to the left, coming around the far side of that mesa away from the others.

Following Maude’s directions, Casey squinted and shaded his eyes from the sun for a moment before he spotted what she was directing him towards. A shadow the size of a grain of rice floated away from the stone structure and drifted slowly to the west.

It looks slow at this distance at least, Casey thought while he tried to make out more of the object.

“What is that?”

That, my dear partner, is a flying ship. Many of the more powerful clans use them for travel between settlements, and individuals of great power can use them for personal transport. A treasure to look forward to.

“A flying ship? Seriously?” Casey had the brief mental image of a canoe with a rocket engine strapped to it and snorted.

Yes, seriously. They are extremely useful for areas such as this, where the river network is not as extensive. Many clans still sail the rivers to travel or raid, but that is not always an option. It is a good reason to always watch the sky. There are good odds that the next village is actually built on top of one of those mesas in order to keep watch for incoming raids.

With Maude talking about raiding, Casey’s mental image shifted from a single man in a canoe to something similar to a Viking longship mixed with something from the old movie Treasure Planet, and he considered the idea for a moment.

“That sounds pretty awesome. Hope I can ride one someday soon.”

If things work out how I hope? You will own one, Casey. We walk down the Drengr’s Road and seek to rise to the heavens themselves. Something like an airship is just a step along that path. The pleasure and pride in Maude’s tone made Casey smile as well, and he nodded.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

Casey watched until that distant shape drifted out of sight around the curve of the horizon before resuming his trek around the lake to the grove on the far side.

It turned out that the grove he’d seen was actually a small stand of cherry trees. None of them were very tall, but all of them were heavy with the small, red fruit.

Casey’s approach scared off a small flock of birds that had already landed to feast on the tasty bits. Since the birds had been eating the higher-up fruits, Casey didn’t mind sharing.

“How many of these should I collect?” Casey asked while standing between three of the trees.

As many as you want to, Casey. You have flour in your bag; you can bake any extra into trail bread as well. Just make sure to extract the pits from them all.

“Yeah, the last thing I need is to break a tooth out here,” Casey mumbled while looking up at the tree above him. Many of the fruits hung within easy reach, and he shrugged after a moment before he began to pull them down.

While he worked, Casey munched on the fresh cherries. The tart flavor and firm flesh of the fruit were a treat after the last day of eating only preserved food. He didn’t want to think about how desperate he’d be for fresh fruit after a week or even a month of dealing with dried stuff like the travel bread he’d had for breakfast.

It didn’t take long for Casey to fill both his stomach and pouch with cherries. There were still many, many more fruits on the tree, so he headed back to his camp.

Checking on the fire, Casey dropped off his first batch of cherries in his pack before digging out the damaged pair of pants from the day before.

“Hadn’t expected to use them like this, but it’ll work,” Casey mumbled while studying the pants. He’d had to cut the left leg when he’d had to treat his wound, and the pants were heavily stained despite the previous day’s washing. But the garment had dried by the fire all night and smelled fine to him after its bath in the lake.

Knotting the ankle of the remaining leg tight, Casey headed back to the cherry grove with his impromptu bag while fiddling with the ties to find a way to secure it to himself.

Creative. I wouldn’t have thought to do that, Maude commented while he walked back.

Casey used his eating knife to cut up and open the damaged leg enough that he could slide his arm through the waist of the pants so that the long ‘sack’ hung under his arm and he could easily deposit cherries into it.

“Not the first time I’ve had to repurpose clothes,” Casey said distractedly while he walked.

I’m curious what other things you have done like this. It is good not to waste things, but it is also better that you take the time to wash and purify your garment before using it to collect food like this. Hanging by the fire would have finished removing any taint left by the Fomori blood that the water missed.

“Taint? Wait, you mean that it might still be dangerous?” Casey froze with a handful of cherries about to drop into the open mouth of his pants-turned-sack.

If there was still fresh or wet Fomori blood, yes. But given the time and treatment, you are fine, Casey. Do not worry, I would have warned you if I was not confident you had taken care of it.

Casey let out a hard breath and shook his head, glaring at his left hand. A bit of cherry juice stained the tips of his fingers, as he’d been snacking again while picking and had taken to biting the cherries in half to extract the pits and spit them off to the side.

The dark juice of the fruit stained his fingers with just the correct shade of red to remind him of the blood that had covered his hands the previous day.

“I wonder if those elemental girls made it home safe?” The words fell from Casey’s mouth while he stared at his fingers. “I hope the injured one is okay.”

A rustling sound of wind stirring the branches above him broke Casey out of his introspection and he glanced upwards instinctively.

About four feet above him, sitting in the fork of a branch and leaning against the trunk, was a slender woman dressed in rough hides. Leaves and small, pink flowers were woven in her hair. Her skin was the color of brass aged in the sun and shot through with small gray lines, allowing her to blend in well with the bark of the trees.

The mysterious woman watched him with a curious tilt to her head, her eyes a bright yellow-orange, while her tiny feet kicked back and forth.

Your kind seems to like sneaking up on my wielder, forest-daughter, Maude said, her voice terse.

The woman blinked three times in rapid succession before speaking. The sound of branches rushing in the wind filled the clearing once more.

She apologizes for startling you, Casey. You are welcome to collect as many of the fruits here as you want as an apology. She was just curious if you had meant the children of the oak. To confirm that as well, Casey, yes. All three made it safely to their people. You remember the elemental last night said that she’d been sent to guide you to safety because of them?

“That doesn’t mean the injured one is recovering, though,” Casey protested, letting the handful of cherries he’d been holding drop into the pouch. “Also, I agree that the way these elementals keep sneaking up on us is concerning.”

Part of their nature is to pass through the woods unnoticed. The fact this is her grove means that our odds of spotting her before she spotted us were next to none.

Maude’s words didn’t really reassure him, but since the elemental didn’t seem to want to hurt him, he let it go.

The elemental in question spoke again, and Casey had no further luck understanding the words this time than he had any time before.

She advises us that the trio we saved will send their thanks personally within the next day or so. She will warn them to not sneak up on us, Maude explained to him before directing her mental ‘voice’ towards the elemental once more.

We appreciate that. I would hate for one of us to harm them because we were surprised. Do you know if there will be a problem if we trap a few of the rabbits or other small animals to eat in this area, or fish from the lake?

The woman looked thoughtful before shaking her head in a negative and speaking again, rustling branches sounding once more.

Thank you, forest-daughter. We will be sure to not pollute the lake, and properly bury anything we cannot use.

Casey, we are allowed to hunt in this area, but not to excess or be wasteful. The cherries are a gift to all who live in this area, so we will not incur a debt taking them either. She did warn us to not swim too deep in the lake. The stone mound in the center is sacred to the water spirits up the mountain. As long as we do not disturb it, they will not care if we use the lake.

“Good to know. I was wondering about that,” Casey mumbled, biting another cherry in half and savoring the tart fruit. He noticed the elemental woman was watching him with a look of anticipation on her face, and he smiled a closed-mouth smile at her before speaking. “Delicious.”

The elemental, which Casey was beginning to think might actually be a cherry-tree dryad, clapped happily, her bright smile showing perfect teeth the same color as the flower petals in her hair. Clearly, she was happy that he enjoyed the fruits of her tree. She spoke again. This time her words sounded like the chuckling of a stream over rocks, and Maude burst into laughter in his mind.

“What did she say?” Casey asked when Maude finished laughing.

She was saying that if you enjoyed her fruits so much, you should spread their seeds in your travels. So you will always find something of her to enjoy, Maude said, smothering another snicker in his mind.

Glancing upwards, Casey saw the petite forest spirit smiling. She gave him a slow wink as the smile turned into a lascivious smirk.

Chapter 26

Casey spent the afternoon pitting the cherries he’d collected. Some of them he laid out by the fire on the flattest rocks he could find to dry in the combined heat of the sun and the fire.

The other cherries, he sliced into chunks and kneaded into flat loaves of bread that he cooked over the fire on the simple pan he’d brought with him.

Baking the fruit into bread would help it keep for longer, but he hoped that he wouldn’t get bored with the taste of cherries before he finished it all. He snacked on the cherries the whole time, too, really enjoying the tart flavor and the burst of sugars the fruit provided.

He kept all the pits, putting them aside to wash and take with him without comment, though Maude teased him about it.

It was late afternoon when the fish began to stir. Casey fashioned himself a fishing pole, baiting the hook with a shimmering beetle he found trying to steal some of his drying cherries.

A few minutes later, he had a plump fish with silver scales that he didn’t recognize to add to his dinner.

Maude walked him through the process of cleaning the fish and cooking it over the fire. She bemoaned the fact that he didn’t have any sugar to make a proper glaze for the fish, but he made do by collecting another small handful of cherries and mashing them up to smear on the fish as a sort of glaze. The combination added a tart and sweet tang to the smoky flavor of the fish cooked over the fire, and he enjoyed it.

The elemental woman was up in her tree when he came by to collect more of the cherries, and she smiled and waved at him again, but did not speak.

Casey greeted her politely but did not linger. On his way back, he paused and glanced back at her. But the woman was gone from her spot in the branches of the tree, leaving him to wonder if he’d really seen her. If it wasn’t for Maude’s running commentary, Casey was sure he would have questioned his sanity.

After dinner, Maude talked him through how to fashion a half-dozen snares, and Casey set them up while the sun dipped towards the horizon.

He finished the day at the lakeside camp with another run through his practice drills, with Maude advising him that they would be working harder the following day to help him recover from the qi that he spent.

As he was laying his head down to sleep, Casey looked within himself for the first time since the fight the previous day.

Between his morning and evening forms, he’d already purified and drained two of the tainted cores from the Fomori, having left the larger one alone for now on Maude’s recommendation. His pool of qi was recovering nicely, having nearly filled to its previous state.

Case watched in awe as large threads of green, blue, and yellow qi drained into the swirling silver pool. This left a faint mist of the colors behind as they blended together. Occasionally, a dark red spark would appear between the colors, but the silver pool would quickly swallow it.

Resolving to ask Maude the next day, Casey snuggled into his branch and hide bed, contentedly tired from a busy day.

<><><>

It was early when the faint sound of an animal squealing woke Casey from a dead sleep.

He tried to roll out of the bough-bed that he had made and get to his feet, but one branch he had been laying on had dug in just right to leave a crick in his back and he fell flat on his face in the dust.

Good morn, my wielder, Maude greeted him dryly.

“What is making that noise? Is there some kind of monster around?” Casey demanded, fighting his way to his feet and tugging his shirt on. He’d taken to sleeping in just his pants in case something happened in the night.

That is entirely possible. But, far more likely, it is your breakfast. Something got caught in one of your snares. From the sound of it, rabbit is on the menu. Which is good. You should be eating more meat.

Casey had been in the middle of drawing Maude when she finally explained the noise, and he sighed in exasperation.

“A rabbit? Really? Wow, they are loud. You’d think if you were caught in a trap, you’d be quiet to avoid attracting attention.”

Rabbits are not the wisest of animals. They have other virtues, but not wisdom, Maude teased lightly. But you should go and deal with it. No need to let it wake the rest of the mountain from its sleep.

“Fine.” Casey yanked on the loose-knit wool socks that people wore in this area and stepped into his boots. When his footwear was secured, Casey hurried into the brush to check his traps.

It turned out that he had caught three rabbits. The snare had caught one about the middle, and that was the one that screamed. As that snare had been chewed through on the second, he guessed it had only gotten the animal around the paw or leg. The third had the misfortune of being caught around the neck, and it had strangled itself in the night.

“Gruesome,” Casey muttered while looking at the strangled rabbit.

It is the way of life. Predators are not clean in their kills, either, so do not feel bad about this, Maude reminded him, and he nodded.

Casey removed the damaged snare and reset the two that had animals in them after killing the lone live rabbit with his skinning knife. It took him only a minute to shift the snare locations, as the two caught rabbits had disturbed the trails heavily with their struggles. He then cleaned and brought the two rabbits back to his camp.

After having to go digging in the bodies of the Fomori for the cores, the blood or the more disturbing aspects of skinning and preparing the animals to cook did not bother him at all.

He set up one rabbit to roast whole, while the other he deboned, then cut the meat thinly before he laid it out to dry over the fire, using green branches to ensure they did not burn while the meat smoked. The jerky wouldn’t be perfect, but it was the best he could with his limited equipment.

It’s fine. You are doing well for what you have, Maude reminded him, and Casey nodded.

He could hold onto the dried meat for later, if he was lucky, but fresh roasted meat he was eager to enjoy. However, Maude wasn’t about to let him ignore his daily routine to just watch the rabbit cook.

Time to start on meditation and your forms, Casey. Also, you should check your offerings to the little folk. You did put out the cleansed cores for them last night.

Nodding, Casey got up and ducked into the bushes to check the rock altar.

Sitting in the middle of the stone, on top of a single maple leaf, was one of the small, honey-colored squares that he recognized.

“Score,” Casey muttered to himself before glancing around.

In this small grove of trees away from his camp, he felt like he was entirely alone on the mountain and could feel the forest watching him. So he bowed to the trees once and murmured his appreciation, before collecting the square of honey candy.

Are you going to consume that now? Maude asked him, having waited until he returned to the camp before she spoke.

“No, I want to save this for an emergency. If I’d saved the one from the other day, I might have had more energy to deal with the Fomori corpses and not feel so dead.” Casey carefully wrapped the fresh leaf around the treat and tied it closed with a sprig of springy grass before he put it in his pack.

Wise to save it. Speaking of, you should use one of those pills you got from the little folk before. We have been remiss in making use of them, but you needed to recover from your exertions, Maude reminded him, and Casey nodded in agreement.

Despite his hesitation at eating pills he found on the ground in the forest, he trusted Maude and she had yet to steer him wrong.

On her advice, he went through his forms and drained another tainted core first. When he finished, Casey was gratified to see that the tip of Maude’s blade was fully recovered at last, and the weapon gleamed in the morning light.

He set about polishing Maude next to cool off before he took the pill. He’d taken care of cleaning and sharpening both her and his skinning knife the day before, as he had promised himself, so this was just something to do with his hands now.

The attention he was paying her weapon form pleased Maude, though she reminded him several times that she did not need a whetstone, as nothing had yet to really challenge her durability. His excuse of ‘good habits to have’ mollified her, and she settled to enjoy the attention.

Is it weird to think that I am oiling the body of a woman right now? Casey thought to himself, again forgetting that Maude could hear his surface thoughts while he held her.

For most women it would be, yes. The response made him jump, and he grumbled internally at his slip. Don’t feel bad, Casey. There are many idle thoughts that wander the minds of young men which are prone to embarrassing those who might overhear, as well as the man in question.

She was obviously teasing him now, and Casey bit back the grumbles, instead focusing on working his polishing cloth over the spine of the blade. Maude hummed happily, and he again wondered what the sensation felt like, though he squashed that thought quickly.

Not answering him, Maude just luxuriated in the polishing and let Casey work until he was done. He focused on her in silence, letting the sounds of nature fill the world around him instead of his own voice while he lost himself in the simple act of caring for his equipment.

Without being aware of it, Casey slipped into the same type of meditation he used when checking on his qi levels.

Casey’s awareness dove down into the weapon in front of him, rather than his own core. He saw a swirling pool around a small sphere of bright gold.

The sphere was tiny, not more than a pea in size, but it shone brilliantly against the swirling silver mist. The sphere did not shift or move at all, it simply sat suspended at the heart of the swirling pool while the silver fog polished it gently.

“Hello, Casey. I’m surprised you’ve learned how to do this so soon,” a throaty voice behind him drew his gaze away from the qi pool and the sphere.

Casey turned to see Maude, in her human form, standing behind him with a smile.

Maude’s familiar iron hairpiece gathered her long, lustrous, black hair at the back of her head, keeping the obsidian fall back and organized. Maude wore the same wrapped top and shorts made of soft leather, with her slender hips and broader shoulders accenting either side, while the material clung to her full chest and wrapped her limbs tightly, leaving her smooth stomach with the hints of her abs showing. The garment covered everything necessary, but made no concessions towards modesty that might impede movement.

“What is this?” The question came before Casey could stop it.

Honestly, he wanted to know even more. Casey was fascinated by what he was seeing.

Inside himself, he could just see the pool swirling with sharp stone walls.

Here, though, the pool of qi sat inset in the floor of a stone house with simple furniture. The walls were made of a polished black stone, rather than the rough one of his, while the furniture was made of a gnarled wood stained a dark, earthy brown.

“This is the realm within my form. You will build your own in time. But, because of my nature, I got a jump-start on it.” Maude was smiling, her sky-blue eyes dancing in amusement.

She pushed off the wall she had been leaning against on a hip, and strode forward with a liquid grace that made Casey’s skin itch with attraction while she studied him.

“How did I get here?” Casey managed to squeeze the question out when he realized he was staring.

“I welcomed you in. Only someone an entire Journey ahead of you can peer into your core, and normally that is only to glimpse your reserves. A trusted companion or skilled healer can enter another’s core to check for injuries and analyze their condition,” Maude explained, stopping less than a foot in front of him and tilting her head to one side, a small smile on her full lips. “Do you like it? This is the closest thing I have to a home, beyond my sheath.”

Casey followed her gesturing hand as she indicated the room and nodded slowly. The raven-haired beauty in front of him drew his eyes back to her once more, though.

“It is a nice place, but you deserve better.” The statement fell from his lips without thought, but Maude was, thankfully, amused by it.

She laughed lightly, a sound that rang like a singing bird in flight. When she finished, she was smiling and nodding.

“Well then, the only way to improve my condition is to grow. Walking the Drengr’s Road will give me more strength to expand,” she said at last.

“Then I will focus as much as needed to ensure it is successful,” Casey said with conviction.

The statement surprised Maude, her eyes widening slightly and her lips falling into a surprised ‘o’ before returning to a broad smile.

“I look forward to it. You should leave, though, Casey. Visitors have stopped by near our camp. They did not approach close enough to speak, but they left you something.”

Maude’s words were almost enough to shake Casey out of his focused state. But a gentle, mental push from Maude forced him out of his vision as the strange room around him faded. It was replaced with the view of the campfire in front of him and Maude’s blade gleaming with a coating of oil.

Go and check your altar stone, Casey.

Maude’s voice in his mind was more distant than it had been inside his vision. He hadn’t noticed it before, having only heard a handful of words from her outside his mind until now, but it felt slightly flat. Just a bit muffled. Like he was hearing her through a thin wall.

Turning over the revelations he’d just been given, Casey got to his feet and strode into the forest. He still held Maude in his right hand and the polishing cloth in his left, continuing to rub the oiled cloth over the blade slowly in thought. Maude remained silent while Casey stepped into the secluded grove and glanced down at the flat stone.

He hadn’t left anything there after collecting the piece of fae-honey candy earlier, but there was something there now.

At first glance, they appeared to be four large acorns. But, when Casey squatted down to look closer, he could tell they were something far more than simple tree seeds. A dim, green glow emanated from the pale brown shapes.

Cores, but elemental cores. These are pure and ready for any to use to grow their power, Maude explained slowly, the surprise obvious in her voice. These are one of the things a cultivator might kill an elemental to acquire. I’m surprised they gifted these to you.

“Why is that, Maude?”

Because these could grow into more elementals if given time.

The statement from Maude made revulsion grow in Casey, and he shook his head, standing upright in a rush.

“No.”

Casey— Maude began, but Casey cut her off.

“No! I’m not going to drain these and steal another’s opportunity at life. I saved those three to preserve lives, not rob life from those who have yet to embrace it.” A deep-throated growl accompanied the words, and Casey stomped back through the trees to his campsite.

Leaving them behind might be considered an insult to their gratitude, Maude tried to explain to him, but Casey would have none of it.

“I would rather spend longer working through the corrupted cores of the Fomori with your help than ever steal from an elemental like that. They deserve the same opportunity at life as we all do,” Casey snapped. “I trained most of my life to learn how to protect myself. I died the first time protecting those who could not do so for themselves. I didn’t do it before, and I’m not going to turn into a monster that devours children in this life.”

His words echoed across the mountain lake as Casey asserted himself, before dying away into silence. Casey continued to polish Maude’s surface for several minutes more, scowling into the fire the entire time. After a handful of minutes passed, he finished and began putting away his cleaning supplies.

Digging in his pack, Casey found the walnut container that held the herbal pills and popped it open with his thumbnail. Tapping carefully, he extracted one and popped it into his mouth.

Chew and swallow, Maude spoke up finally after his rebuke, and Casey did as instructed.

The second his teeth crushed the herbal pill, Casey felt his qi surge in his core. Directing his view inward, he could see the pool spinning far faster. The threads of colored mist that he had gotten used to seeing when he looked inwards in this place were even thicker now. His qi had fully recovered to the point it had been before, and there was even a bit more.

You should do your forms. Hold the larger core in your left hand while you pin another smaller one to my blade on the right. I will filter both. Just focus on the forms like you usually do.

Without speaking, Casey did as Maude instructed. He palmed the larger core from the biggest of the Fomori he had killed previously, while he held another to her blade with his index finger.

The first few stages of his forms felt normal, but the feeling of pressure welled up from both his hands now.

What filtered into his body from his right hand was pure and clean, while the stream of energy from his left felt slimy and tainted. It crossed up through his arm before rolling over his chest and then finally up and through Maude’s blade. It felt like he had a snake or some kind of eel pressing into his flesh. The sensation was disturbing, to say the least, but Casey trusted in his partner.

When the sickly feeling reached his left hand and spread over the blade of Maude’s weapon form, it pulsed for a moment before a blast of energy entered his channels and raced to his core.

The tendril of green that had come from the first core thickened into a river of energy that poured into the swirling pool of qi at his center. The impact tinted the silver-colored qi a light green at first and slowed its rotation.

Step by step, Casey continued through his forms and focused on his breathing while the qi streamed into his body from the two cores in his hands.

Focused as he was on the forms, Casey did not see the pair of bright-yellow eyes watching him from the bushes. Or the curious expression on the lined face of the oak-skinned elemental woman who cradled what was to be his gift to her chest, the four acorns glowing and pulsing against her skin with their faint life.

Chapter 27

Casey spent the better part of a week on the mountain.

True to Maude’s word, he was more than able to feed himself with the fruits of the wilderness. The cherries from the grove provided a tart treat whenever he wanted, and he learned better how to set his snares to catch rabbits. He was lucky enough that one of them was a spirit beast, a rabbit that was learning to utilize qi to enhance itself with wind magic. From that beast, he took a paw as a trophy, and Maude showed him how to preserve it using items he found on the mountain. He also kept its hide and the thumbnail-sized core, which he packed carefully away in his bag.

Maude had advised him that he could draw from that core without hesitation, but Casey had countered that he needed money, and selling it would gain him more for now. If he had spares in the future, he could draw from them, but he was already well ahead from the Fomori cores.

When he returned to his little wilderness altar the next morning, the cores that had been offered to him by the elementals were gone. More in control of himself, Casey had murmured an apology and thanks to the trees, hoping his choice would not offend the elementals.

He then redoubled his training, determined to ensure that Maude would not find him lacking in his dedication, though he chose not to use all the opportunities presented.

After catching the spirit beast rabbit on the fifth day, Casey had decided he would need to get moving soon. He’d burned through all the Fomori cores at this point already, and his center was surging full of qi. Maude was sure that he would advance any day now, taking the second step and consolidating his qi pool into his foundation.

The swirling puddle of qi in his center felt immense to him, but Maude had warned that it would contract when he solidified it and made his next step. She described his current actions as ‘polishing the bowl’ in which his power would rest.

The morning dawned brightly as Casey began to disassemble his camp while his breakfast warmed by the fire.

On Maude’s advice, he’d smoked the spirit beast meat to preserve it for while he was traveling. He’d also pan-fried the fruit bread he’d made before until it was as dry as possible before packing it away.

It amused Casey to no end that he actually had more food now than when he’d set out, though his seasonings and raw ingredients had taken a beating.

Casey carefully rolled the two sheepskins together after brushing them clean of the dirt and stray pine needles from his bough bed. Tying them on to his pack tightly, Casey made sure to scatter the boughs and any extra firewood he’d collected back under the trees. Maude hadn’t told him to, but he felt obliged to return the clearing to as close to a natural state as possible. It had been a pleasant home for him over the last week. Now that he was getting ready to head out, he didn’t want to leave any sign behind.

When all that he had left of his presence to do was smother the fire and cover up the fire pit, Casey sat down to discuss with Maude what to do next and eat.

“Heading into town to sell the spirit beast bits would be good. It’ll let me get more oats and salt. Kind of want a larger pan, too. Would make preparing all this a lot easier.”

Casey took another sip of the pine-needle tea and sighed. He’d been hesitant about the concoction initially, but the light citrus and woodsy flavor of the drink had grown on him—even more since the day he’d found some wild mint that he’d mixed in.

Probably a good idea. You are so close to your next Step, though; I think it would be best to focus on that first. You are close enough that I think we can push you over the line with a bit of work, which is why I didn’t protest breaking down camp. If we don’t rush it today, you should progress by tomorrow evening. I doubt you’ll reach town that quickly.

Over the week that Casey had stayed at the edge of the mountain lake, he had started having slight visions of Maude while they talked.

It wasn’t that he saw her standing nearby. But, after seeing her center, he was getting distinct images of her moving about that pool in the little room she said was her home when they’d talked. He’d done his best to not think about it too much, knowing she would see anything he dwelt on for too long, but he still appreciated the glimpses he got of his companion.

Right now, she was kneeling by her qi pool, looking thoughtful. The short leather wrap outfit she wore clung to her muscled thighs and the curves of her butt and thighs like shorts, something that Casey pointedly did not focus on. Instead, he was watching as the reflected light of the pool twinkled in her hair with his mind's-eye.

“How do you suggest we push the development?” Casey asked when Maude did not continue for several minutes.

You have learned how to draw from a core. You also have learned to draw on the ambient qi while doing your forms. This is a slightly more active way than used by most who walk the Drengr’s Road. You can also do this via seated meditation, but adding your weapon forms allows you to practice using me. It’s not necessarily more efficient in drawing qi, but it does let you save time.

“Makes sense. Might as well multi-task, right?” Finishing the last of his tea, Casey packed the mug away after he’d eaten his breakfast of rabbit meat and trail bread. He soaked the campfire with water from the kettle before attaching that to his pack as well and then kicking dirt over the soggy coals and rolling the stones from the fire pit apart once more.

There are a number of other ways to draw in qi from the environment. The knowledgeable consider meditation the most effective way, especially in remote areas where the natural qi is strong.

“That’s the thicker threads I’ve been seeing when I look, right?”

Casey was thinking of the lines of colored fog he saw being drawn to him while he did his weapon forms. He had figured it was something like that, but had never remembered to ask Maude.

Exactly. Besides meditation, drawing from condensed cores, and fighting, there is one other way to grow your qi. And that is the work of a craftsman.

“Like a blacksmith forging a sword?”

Or a carpenter crafting a shield, roofing a house, or building a table. A shipwright crafting a new longship. And even a baker making bread. As long as you devote yourself to the act of creation, you can draw qi from the environment into you. Normally, someone who is not on the Drengr’s Road will imbue these small amounts of qi into their work. This allows the object to be more than it might be alone. However, only masters in their craft can draw appreciable amounts.

“So, how could that help me?”

Casey lifted the strap of his smaller hip-pack over his shoulder and got it settled on his right hip, opposite where Maude rode. He’d taken to only carrying his limited remaining medical supplies and food in there, with his belt pouch holding just his fire-starting supplies. He’d also stashed the pile of cherry pits in the larger hip pouch, having washed and dried them so they did not make a mess.

One does not have to have a specific craft to benefit from this sort of qi. Even small acts to venerate the world around you can draw in qi, as the world responds to such acts. You could craft a totem, carve a rune-stone, or even just build a cairn. As long as you focus while you do it, the act will benefit you.

“And doing this will be more effective than meditation?” Casey asked as he hefted his larger pack up onto his back.

The weight of his pack settled into place without a problem. While he’d been meditating and doing any number of ‘survival tasks’—as he had come to think of hunting and gathering—he had focused on body-weight exercises every day to further build up his strength.

As the qi in his center accumulated, Casey did note that it took more and more to wear him out each day. Which meant that his workouts ended up being longer and longer, too.

Yes, it has easily double or triple the effectiveness. The trick is being able to do it while practicing mindful meditation so your center can draw in the qi that the act of creating attracts. As you lack tools, I recommend trying to use loose stones to build a cairn somewhere that has a good view, or some kind of meaning for you. If you want, hike up the mountain to find a cliff overlooking the valley or build one on the ridge nearby. It is customary to build such things at a place where earth meets sky.

Casey considered for a moment before nodding to himself and heading into the trees. He’d already checked the tiny altar he’d built that morning and collected the third piece of fae-honey candy, which he bundled up in a leaf like the other two and tucked away for emergencies.

The little folk of this mountain were not as generous as the ones he’d run into before, having only left him a few herbs and the three candies, though they always took the empty cores he left behind.

After collecting the flat stone from his makeshift altar, Casey followed the edge of the lake around until he found the cherry grove. He hadn’t seen the elemental of the cherry trees in several days, but the tiny grove still felt welcoming to him.

On his trip around the lake, Casey collected any flat rocks that he found on the edge of the pool of water until he had an armload. Balancing these was only a little bit of work for him, as he made sure not to overload himself.

Crossing through the grove of dark-leafed trees, Casey came to another small cliff. This one only had about a twenty-foot drop until it met the trees below, but it looked out over the rolling forest to the west rather than the mesas to the northwest.

Setting down his burden, Casey also dropped his pack off and hurried back to the lake. He made three more trips to bring rocks with him until he had a rather large pile there on the cliff.

“How do I start this, Maude?” Casey asked after he returned with his last armload of stones and brushed off his hands.

Building a cairn is meant to guide, honor, or note a place of importance. Clearly, this location spoke to you. What is it asking for? Maude replied after a moment of thoughtful silence.

He had a brief image of her leaning against a wall with one leg crossed over the other and one hand on her chin in thought. The glow of her qi pool glimmered on the taut muscles of her abs and highlighted her obsidian hair.

Thinking back over the last week, Casey remembered the elemental woman of the cherry trees and how kind she’d been to him. Her simple request to spread the seeds of her fruit around was easily something he planned to do while traveling.

To honor, then. In thanks for a gift from someone who would be a friend, and a promise made to spread her blessings, Casey thought with a smile and set to work.

The act of building the cairn and stacking the stones quickly became thoughtful as he surveyed each of the rocks he’d brought with him. Some were flat on only one side, others were plates of shale, while still others were rounded on all sides. It took careful thought and deliberation to incorporate each stone into a stable structure that he felt would mark this location.

While Casey worked, he would occasionally peek into his center and watch as the pool of his qi swirled a bit faster in pulses. Rather than ribbons or tendrils of mist, sparks danced through the air to add a glittering texture to the wake of spinning silver energy.

Casey could feel the pressure in his center as the attracted qi joined with his pool, and he rushed to complete the cairn. He knew that stopping partway would have a negative effect, and he had no desire to find out just how bad it might be. Maude remained silent, not interrupting his work to answer the question that haunted the back of his mind.

After he’d set the last stone in the rounded structure, Casey observed it for a moment while considering what he should do next.

It stood around three feet in height and was around a foot across. He’d built a vaguely circular tower with an open center, but he’d capped it with the large, flat piece of slate that had been the top of his makeshift altar for the little folk. The entire construction was on a pier of stone that stood out from the cliff so it would be visible from below if one looked.

A thought struck him, and he heard Maude chuckle inside his head, but he could feel her approval. Returning to the grove, Casey cast about for a moment until he found a fresh, ripe cherry that hung from a low branch that spoke to him. He took the cherry and carried it back to the cairn.

Drawing Maude from her sheath, he carefully split the cherry open and exposed the pit. That done, he set the cut fruit in the middle of the cairn. Pricking his thumb with the razor-sharp tip of his partner in her weapon form, Casey let a drop of blood fall on the exposed cherry pit.

There was no flash of light, crash of thunder, or any other dramatic sign when he finished. The world didn’t stop, and the birds continued to twitter and sing. But Casey felt something shift inside of him.

His qi, which had been happily swirling around his core, thickened abruptly and began to slow. Maude was watching, and, at her urging, he kneeled next to the cairn and laid her weapon body across his knees while he focused inwards.

It’s just about time. Focus on keeping the qi moving. It’s going to soak into the basin and expand it for now. You are building the foundation.

Maude’s coaching helped keep Casey focused as the qi tried to set up like concrete in the sun.

Focusing, he urged the flow to continue as the silver liquid sparked and flashed like it was slowly, but surely, turning to ice. Rather than a solid block, though, it rapidly crystallized into individual grains like a slushy.

The qi continued to shift as he urged it, but now it felt like he was physically stirring sand with a paddle shaped of his mind—sand that grew heavier and heavier as the moments ticked by and each grain grew more dense.

After what felt like an hour, but realistically could have only been a minute or two, Maude told him to stop. The fine-grained sand that had been liquid qi in his core settled down in a delicate coating over the surface of the basin in his core.

The hollow hadn’t widened any more, but now that Casey was looking at it, the basin felt much deeper. Like the weight of the dense sand was pressing the bottom deeper.

While he watched, Casey could see a faint tendril of green mist begin to wind around the interior of the bowl. The sandy bottom was still the silver of newly polished steel, though, and the tendrils of green slowly began to shift to silver as well.

You’ve done it. Welcome to the Ember Step. We will work to replenish your store of qi, but for now you have secured this Step. It’s safe to visit town, as anyone who challenges you cannot take the fruits of the last week of training.

Casey took a moment to savor the feeling. He was making progress!

He knew that it wasn’t obvious on the outside, but Casey could feel it inside his body. This might be only the second Step along the long road, but he was finally improving.

Pushing himself to his feet and bouncing on his heels, Casey was astonished at how light his body felt and how easily it responded to him now.

Your body refines itself slowly but surely. Remember, this is the entire purpose of the first Journey: to refine the body and prepare it as a weapon. While the second Journey is to refine the soul and learn to wield that weapon. The amusement in Maude’s tone was obvious, and he could see her smiling proudly in his mind. Get your pack. It’s time to get moving. We can cover a good amount of ground and make it to the town tomorrow if you don’t dawdle.

Not bothering to protest her comment about dawdling, Casey quickly cleaned Maude’s blade off to remove the stains of cherry juice and his blood before tucking her into the sheath. With the seax secured, he bent to get his pack on while he asked her a question.

“Is this considered fast? I feel like more people would succeed if it only takes a week of dedicated work to advance?”

It is fast. Normally, it would take several weeks to months in a clan to advance from the first to the second Step. We had the advantage of being able to draw and purify the qi from the cores over the last week, and you stayed in an area rich in natural qi as well. You will not always advance this rapidly, but enjoy it while you do.

Despite her warning, Maude’s amusement remained obvious as she reminded him to check their campsite one last time on their way out for anything else that would give away their presence.

All that was left were scorch marks on some of the stones and prints on the earth—nothing that would not wash away in a few days or a good rainstorm.

Nodding, content that he had done what he could to eliminate signs of his presence, Casey started down the mountain towards the road. He did not look back as Maude began to talk him through a new set of combat forms she was going to have him start.

Behind him, the stone cairn that he had erected shimmered faintly.

The cherry, with its exposed pit on the very top of the stone cairn, glowed lightly where the blood had contacted it.

Slowly, so slowly that it took the entire day for it to happen, the blood-stained cherry and its pit changed colors. First, it lightened from a deep red to a delicate pink, then it took on a metallic sheen.

By the time Casey made his camp that night, far enough down the road that he could not see the cliff and the lake that lay concealed beyond it, the cherry on the altar had turned the gray of steel.

A pair of yellow eyes watched the entire process with fascination from within the grove of cherry trees.

Chapter 28

Casey made good time following the road once he got back to it. The additional energy and responsiveness of his body made the march along the forest road that much easier. He didn’t rest until he reached the edge of the trees where they transitioned into a few miles of rocky grasslands before the soaring mesas took over.

Every quarter of a mile, Casey would find an open space along the road to quickly poke a hole into the earth and tuck several of the cherry pits into it  to fulfill his promise to the elemental.

Camping on the edge of the forest at Maude’s recommendation, Casey warily watched the gray clouds that had taken over the sky during the course of the day. The air felt moist in his throat, and he bet that rain was coming. The clouds had rolled in slowly, though, so he was hoping that he could make it to the village before they burst. He still made sure to close up his tent for shelter in the night.

Maude woke him up early the next day to a thick mist lying over top of the land. The sun struggled to pierce the cloud cover, let alone the fog below it, leaving Casey in what felt like a milky, perpetual twilight.

We can either camp in the trees to wait out the rain, or race for the village. I saw an airship pass overhead last night headed toward the town. They don’t normally sail in storms unless there is a great need, so either they were hurrying to the town, or their weather augurs said this wasn’t a bad storm for them to be flying into.

After a moment to consider Maude’s words, Casey nodded and began packing his things up as the tendrils of mist swirled around them.

“Surprised you could see the airship in this fog.”

The fog only came about an hour ago. Last night was clear, but cloudy. To be honest? Without the background of the clouds, I might have missed the ship passing overhead.

“Huh, fair enough. I would have honestly thought less of them if they were sailing into those hills blind from the fog. Common sense and all that.”

Casey didn’t even bother building up his fire to make a warm breakfast, instead just eating some of his preserved fruit bread and three small strips of the spirit beast jerky he’d made. The bread was hard to chew, but the cherries still had a bit of their tart tang.

Wish I had the means to properly dry them. The ones I left by the fire ended up more smoked than dried. I bet if I get a flat pan like a griddle, I can do that in the future, he thought, gnawing on the fruit bread in one hand while securing his pack with the other. I’d get one, but carrying an extra pan just to dry fruit in doesn’t feel efficient.

After burying the ashes of his fire once more, Casey went through his morning routine of weapon drills with Maude to stretch. Then he buckled on his pack and jogged back to the road and continued along to the northwest.

The fog continued to cling to the land, limiting his visibility to less than thirty feet in front of him. In hopes of getting clear of it sooner, Casey picked up to a steady trot along the rough road. While they had spoken regularly during the previous day’s travel, Maude remained silent. This let Casey focus on where he was going and placing his steps.

When the road began to curve to his left and slope upwards, Casey knew that they were reaching the rocky mesas finally and slowed down just as the sheer cliff that bordered one soared up in front of him.

Falling back into a rapid walk rather than a jog, Casey worked on avoiding any rocks in the road. More than once, he stopped to roll a hunk of stone out of the way that had fallen from either the cliff above or piles of scree to either side.

The winding road continued to climb steadily upwards, and it emerged from the low mist halfway through the morning. The sky was still full of thick, dark clouds, but the rising cliffs on either side of him prevented Casey from seeing too far in any one direction.

“Not really liking this. I think I got too used to being able to see my surroundings up on the mountain.”

You couldn’t see well while traveling through the woods, though.

“Yeah. But I could always have just struck out through the trees if I needed to. Not really able to cut through these cliffs right now. Starting to think I might have been better off waiting out the storm in the forest. At least I’d have had firewood.”

Too late to worry about it now. Just keep moving. At least you are out of the fog now and can see the road ahead. I would expect we are already in the lands of the Bronze Fist. Signs of the border village should be showing soon.

“Makes me wonder why Einar’s clan doesn’t have a village closer to the border,” Casey mumbled thoughtfully as the road curved back to his right again.

No reason to. Normally, a village pops up where there is a resource to exploit. There might be a few forester huts or trapper cabins in the woods. But leaving that area untouched acts as both a border and a defense against incursions. He mentioned that the Bronze Fist and the Silver Hammer were not on good terms, so it is better to give your neighbor space.

Maude’s answer had him thinking as he continued around the curve and the cliffs on either side began to open up, drawing Casey out of his thoughts to see what lay ahead of him.

The large mesa that he had been following curved back to reveal an open space that was shaped vaguely like a half-moon, full of dancing green grass and studded with small farms.

The sudden appearance of greenery when everything had been a mixture of the red-brown stone of the mesa or the yellow and green of lichen startled Casey. Distantly, he could see the wind-tossed surface of a large lake in the middle of the open field. He could also see the twining length of a river flowing from between two other mesas to the west, into the lake, and then back east once more. Tendrils of mist twisted on the surface of the lake, but hadn’t spread from its shores, along which lights twinkled from what he guessed were tiny farmhouses near the patches of grain or fenced-in spaces that held herds of sheep.

On the far side of the half-moon valley, a lit road wound up to a circular stone wall that was butted up against the side of the mesa. On the far side of the half-circle wall, Casey could see the steady glow of baldrsteinn and the flickering twinkle of torches. A trio of large buildings, their roofs rounded like boat hulls, stood even higher than the surrounding wall towards the back of the village, and Casey couldn’t help the smile at the sight of what had to be the village they were looking for.

Look higher up on the cliff.

At Maude’s urging, Casey let his gaze trace upwards to the top of the mesa that the village was butted up to. He spotted several low, rounded buildings built of stone silhouetted against the cloudy sky.

As he watched, a rounded shape that looked like someone had taken a wooden ship and given it stubby wings before teaching it to fly scooted out of one of the stone buildings and turned to bank to the east while floating in midair. While he stared, the stubby wings extended further, and a sail unfurled. The heavy cloth was white with a blob of dark red or bronze in the center, and it immediately tightened when the wind hit it.

The ship had been drifting forward like a bird moving lazily on a breeze, but as soon as the wind hit the sail, it took off like a diving hawk and arced over the valley before vanishing behind another mesa.

Risky to sail out before a storm, but the winds up there are likely strong. I bet they keep the airship docks up there for that reason. I think I can see a road that curves up the side of the mesa.

With Maude directing him, Casey could pick out the winding shape of a road that ran up through a series of switchbacks from outside the wall of the village to the top of the mesa.

“If they can keep ahead of the storm, then I guess it makes sense.” Hitching his pack higher, Casey picked up his pace again and headed into the valley.

The road sloped downward at a gentle rate, so Casey was able to build up momentum while he trotted along. With shelter in sight, he didn’t want to wait and take the chance of being caught in the rain at the last moment.

His cloak billowed and cracked behind him in the breeze he left behind, and he got a few odd looks from the farmers tending their herds and urging them into sod-roofed barns to shelter from the oncoming storm.

It wasn’t until Casey was two-thirds of the way across the valley and following the edge of the lake when the first distant crack of lightning split the air, followed by a grumble of thunder shortly after.

Not needing to be encouraged, Casey picked up his speed. He was thankful that the roads were better maintained here than they had been in the forest; the passage of hooves and crossing wagons had packed the road tight, which made it easier to travel over.

Another crackle of lightning and a much shorter wait for the thunder urged him on. The wind, a steady force between the monoliths of the stone mesas, had begun to pick up. The first drops of rain were falling to sting his skin when Casey finally arrived at the curtain wall around the town.

Ahead of him, the wall lay as a stern monument of the same red-brown stone as the nearby cliffs. If Casey had to guess, he would have assumed they quarried the stone for the wall right there when they cut the area flat to build the town on.

After spending the last week in the forest surrounded by the scent of nature, the smell of a city felt oppressive to him now. It didn’t stink exactly, but he could smell people and animals held in close confines, as well as a myriad of other smells, from cooking food to the stink of a tannery on the wind. Underneath all of that, he could smell the oncoming rain as well.

“Halt. State your business, stranger!” a voice called out to Casey as he got within forty feet of the wall.

He’d been following the road closely as it wound to a wood-and-iron gate that was set into the curtain wall. Four guards stood in front of the heavy door, which sat half-open at the moment.

All four guards were men and dressed in matching outfits of chainmail armor that hung to their thighs, with rounded metal and leather helmets on their heads. Red sashes were knotted at their waists, just above thick leather sword belt. All four had long spears that had to be at least nine feet in length.

The guards stood two to a side of the entrance, leaning on their spears. The speaker held out a hand as Casey approached, stern blue eyes watching him from over a neatly trimmed brown beard.

“I am Casey, a traveler who is passing through. I’m hoping to restock my supplies in town and stay to wait out this storm.” Casey gestured to the cloudy sky above him and slowed his approach from a jog to a walk, though he stopped well outside of the spear range of the men.

The speaker gave him a once-over with a quirked eyebrow. Behind him, one of the guards spoke in low tones to his companion, and the two laughed.

“Traveling alone is dangerous in these times. What brings you out this way?” the guard asked after studying him for a moment.

Tell him you are a hunter and traveling looking for trophies, then show him your hunt-necklace, make sure he sees the hill-varg fang, Maude suggested. Without a better idea, Casey did just that.

“I’m a traveling hunter. Decided it was time to change up my range, and west seemed as good a direction as any to go.”

Casey fished out his hunt-necklace from his hip pouch. The trophies rattled against each other, mostly teeth from the Fomori, but the large fang from the hill-varg was prominent amongst them.

The guard blinked in surprise and gave him another look over before nodding.

“Fair enough. Do you have any goods to trade?” the man asked.

“Just a pelt and a core I lucked into while crossing through the forest.”

Casey intentionally did not mention the gifts he’d gotten from the little folk, as he didn’t plan on selling any of them.

At the mention of a core, the man’s eyes widened slightly, and he bowed his head respectfully.

“Ah. If you have harvested goods from a spirit beast, I recommend taking them to the Spiral Road. It’s a merchant house that trades directly with the clan. They should give you a fair price for the goods, since they are experienced in handling such things. Safer to go through an intermediary rather than dealing with the clan. Unless you have an existing relationship with them,” the man suggested before beckoning Casey forward. “Come on, let’s get you behind the wall before the rain really picks up. The storm isn’t to last more than a day, but it’s supposed to be pouring like Njord pissing into a bucket until it breaks.”

The stifled snigger from Maude almost made Casey trip as the guard led him through the gate once he had tucked the necklace of trophies away once more.

That thing is going to get unwieldy if I keep taking one from every single opponent I kill, Casey thought to himself. I’ll have to ask Maude what to do.

“Know of a place that won’t charge me too much to stay the night?” Casey asked once the guard had guided him past the gate.

The bearded man thought for a moment before he spoke.

“The Blue Mallard will do you well if you are looking for a nicer place to stay. Otherwise the Rooster’s Ring is on the rougher side, but the best of the cheapest places,” the guard said at last.

“Appreciate it.”

“Welcome to Cliff Song. Say, one last question for you.” The guard waited until Casey nodded to him to continue. “You came through the forest. Did you see signs of a caravan that was attacked? We had a couple of survivors come back this way, but it was less than a quarter of the people that had gone out with that group, and none of the guards.”

Casey hesitated for a moment to think before he figured a simple answer wouldn’t hurt. A flash of memory from Maude, about keeping his head down, resolved the decision of whether he’d claim credit for freeing the captives. He just had to hope none of them would spot him while he was in town.

“I saw two wagons in the forest and the bodies of the horses. It looked like Fomori had waylaid them about two days’ walk into the forest.” The guard grimaced at that statement and nodded.

“Unfortunate. The clan is sending a group out to ensure the monsters are eliminated. I’d heard wild rumors going around that a lone man had saved the survivors.”

“Interesting,” was Casey’s only reply. The guard gave him a restrained nod before ducking back through the gate to stand with his fellows.

Sighing, Casey turned to look into the town. He tried not to wrinkle his nose as he got another whiff of the tannery on the breeze, already wishing he was back in the forest.

<><><>

Finding the Spiral Road was easy enough. Casey didn’t haggle when the woman there studied the rabbit fur and core for a moment before quoting him a price of seventeen silver fangs for the pair. Maude’s confirmation that it was a fair price helped, and he asked for the woman’s recommendation of where to stay for the night. She also recommended the Blue Mallard, so he set off for there as soon as he’d concluded his business.

The short visit to the Spiral Road had been an interesting experience. Casey hadn’t been inside of a trading house like it previously.

The entire building was decorated in fine hardwoods, and there even had been a sweet-scented incense burning somewhere in the building. He’d seen various hides, herbs, crystals, and metal objects on display around the room, but the rain he heard picking up on the roof overhead kept him from lingering.

Thankfully, the shop assistant that had dealt with him gave Casey directions to find the inn as he left. It was one street off of the primary thoroughfare that ran through the city.

The rain was coming in heavily as he pushed through the heavy door and into the smoky interior of the inn. The falling rain had cut down the smell of the city some, but the scents of sweat, roasting meat, beer, hot bread, and all the other smells of humanity billowed out of the inn when he entered.

Pushing through the crowd, he headed to the bar at the back where an older man with a paunch and a face full of laugh-lines was pouring drinks for a half-dozen men that looked to be off-duty guards.

“Evening! Need a room for the night?” The barman took in Casey’s road-stained clothes and dripping cloak with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

“Yes, and bathing facilities, if you have them. Been better than a week since I’ve had a hot bath, and I can’t decide if that or a warm bed sounds more appealing.” Casey’s response got a deep laugh from the man, and he fished about under the bar before producing a thick brass key with a wooden tag on the back.

“Six claws for the night, includes dinner, a drink, and the bath. You want more than an ale, then it’ll cost extra. Fair?”

“I’ll give you seven if you can send the meal up to my room with something hot to drink,” Casey countered, and the man’s lined grin grew wider.

“Deal! Do you want tea or mulled cider?”

“Cider. I’ve had enough tea for a bit.”

Casey exchanged the coins for the room key, nodded to the off-duty guards who had been watching the entire encounter over their mugs, and headed upstairs.

While he was walking away, he heard the group of them asking each other if any of the six recognized him, or if he was new in town. Since their tone of voice was just curious, he didn’t worry too much about it.

Chapter 29

The room at the Blue Mallard was simple and unassuming, but comfortable in its own right. Like his room before in the White-Gold Rain, it had a small table and chair set and a narrow bed against one wall. A single baldrsteinn, this one the size of a lemon, sat in a metal cage on the table, and Casey had to flick the shield back to light the room up enough to see.

I’m surprised you didn’t mingle with the people downstairs.

“I want to inventory my supplies first. Besides, I’m not sure I’m comfortable in town right now.”

Not surprising. You advanced while out in nature, and you are still getting used to stronger senses. Just do not lose touch with other humans. It will be necessary to interact with people on this long road.

“No need to worry about that, Maude. I’ve got you after all. I don’t need to interact with anyone else,” Casey teased lightly. Maude snorted derisively, though he could see the image of her blushing in his mind’s eye.

Deciding to try something, Casey dropped his pack on the bed and drew Maude from her sheath. He held the black iron blade in his hands and stared into it, willing himself to fall into his meditation like he had only days before when he advanced.

First, Casey felt himself drift into his own core, before slipping sideways and entering the inner space that held Maude’s core. The woman in question looked up from her spot by the pool of qi at her center and smirked at him.

“Can’t be away from me for long, can you?” Her voice was rich with emotion and amusement now that he was here within her center once more. Casey couldn’t help the smile that crossed his lips.

“Never, partner. Wanted to check on you, see if there was anything I can do to make all this more comfortable.”

Casey gestured to her surroundings, and she shrugged, looking away for a moment. The motion sent her long, black hair sliding over her shoulder to fall into her lap before she glanced back at him with a small smirk.

“It gets rather boring here with nothing to do. Watching you has been distracting and amusing all at once, you know? So your choice to hide in your room is rather disappointing.”

“Would you prefer if I went back down to the tavern and flirted with some of the girls there? Or I could pick a fight with some folks?” Maude rolled her eyes at his suggestions and stood, her long legs lifting her until they could look eye-to-eye.

“Go and flirt if you feel a need to chase after some entertainment, Casey. Not going to judge you for that, though I might spy on you, so I’m not bored. Having you here is also somewhat… distracting.” Maude’s tone slipped down into a huskier register, and Casey blinked in surprise.

In the space of time that he was blinking, Maude covered the distance between him and her. She came to a stop only inches away and staring intensely into his eyes with her sky-blue ones. Her midnight hair swirled in the air with the rapid movement, while the scent of her—a mixture of leather, oil, and a primal scent he couldn’t quite place—surrounded him.

The words slipped out before he could stop them.

“Why would I flirt with other women? You are far more interesting.”

Maude’s breath caught. Her eyes widened for a moment before she cleared her throat and stepped back, giving him a once-over with a curious look in her eyes.

“Be careful what you say, Casey. Words like that can be taken the wrong way,” Maude cautioned him. She lifted one long-fingered hand up to tap him lightly on the nose. “Go bathe. You smell like the road. If you want to talk more, I can tell you a few stories when you get back. I’ll watch our things.”

Casey had to fight the urge to nip at the finger that had poked him in the nose, but he nodded, a faint blush pinking his cheeks.

Where the heck did that comment come from? I mean, Maude is beautiful, but she’s… Casey let the thought trail away as he considered his situation.

Maude watched him with a curious look before clapping her hands together. The sharp sound forced Casey out of both his introspection and his trance. He found himself standing in his room once more, Maude in her weapon form clutched in front of him. He stared dumbly down at the blade.

Wash.

Maude’s one-word order jarred him, and he nodded dumbly, sheathing the weapon and setting her on the table beside his pack.

<><><>

Sadly, the Blue Mallard did not have a sauna. The bathing room was simple but serviceable, with a half-dozen wooden tubs and several stoves to heat water on. Casey was able to wash quickly and return to his room just as his food was delivered.

He’d spent most of his time in the bath turning over his thoughts about earlier. The feelings he’d had while in the internal space with Maude had him thinking hard now, considering where to go and how he wanted to handle his shifting emotions.

He was undeniably attracted to Maude. Her athletic form and lithe movements always caught his eye whenever he saw her. That she was always with him, always by his side, and supporting him did a great deal to build his trust as well. Having someone on his side, irrevocably so, was a heady thing for Casey.

It wasn’t as if Casey hadn’t been lonely and alone before. He’d had women he was close to; they just never stuck around long—another problem in his life he was chalking up to the nameless entity in that ridiculous orange suit and his interference.

But Casey was sure that the creature wasn’t meddling anymore. Hell, it was most likely the orange-suited monster that had tried to mold him into a weapon believed he was dead or destroyed after he’d thrown him out the window into the Empyrean, or whatever it was that Loptr had called it.

The question remains, do I pursue Maude? We are partners. I don’t want to ruin the dynamic that we have with relationship drama. She’s so attractive, though. She deserves to be treated like a lady, even though she looks like a wild warrior-woman. Casey kept returning to that thought, and the only counter his heart could find was the memory of Maude’s smoky look, and the scent of her hair tickling his nostrils.

He met the serving girl—a young blonde woman he assumed was the bartender’s daughter or maybe niece from the similar features—at his door. She had a tray with a deep bowl of stew, a loaf of dark bread, honey, and a clay mug full of something that steamed.

The serving girl started in surprise when Casey approached her, wide blue eyes staring at him in awe. A quiet rattling sound drew his gaze down to the tray in her hands, and he realized she was trembling slightly. Looking back up, he met her gaze again, and she remained frozen.

It took Casey a minute to remember that his eyes had changed when he’d started down the Drengr’s Road. It’d been startling whenever he caught his reflection in the pool up on the mountain, but it took longer than a week or two to overcome a lifetime of memories of his old eyes.

“Assuming that’s my dinner?” Casey’s question jarred the younger woman out of her surprise, and she nodded quickly, a slightly fearful expression on her face. “Here, let me get the door. Just leave it on the table.”

Casey shifted his dirty clothes to his other arm and fished his room key out of his sleeve. Since he hadn’t brought his pouch with him, he’d just tucked it there to not lose it.

The serving girl waited until he unlocked the door and stepped into the room to deposit his things on the bed before she darted inside and set the tray down. Her movements were furtive, even fearful, and it tore at Casey’s heart to see her do that. It reminded him of the mannerisms of abuse victims, never able to trust others again.

Thinking quickly, he spoke as the girl began to retreat, hoping to both reassure her and get something done that he needed.

“Miss?”

The girl froze halfway out the door. Her back was turned towards him while her thin hands clung to the skirt of her simple gray dress, balling the fabric up in her fists.

“Do you know if there is a washing service? I forgot to ask the barman about it. I’m planning to head out tomorrow, and I need a few things washed after spending nearly ten days in the wild.” The girl nodded once, still not turning back to him. “I’ll give you two claws if you can get it taken care of and have them dry and returned before I leave in the morning?”

The mention of money thawed the girl. She turned to shoot a nervous smile over her shoulder at him. Casey tried to reassure her with a kind look but did not hesitate to dig out his clothing from before.

He was down to only one spare pair of pants after the fight, but the shirts were still good enough. Making a mental note to buy another pair of pants to replace the damaged ones, he turned over all of his clothing but what he was wearing and fished out the requisite copper coins.

Though she had been nervous while he produced the clothing, the girl calmed again when he offered the money. She delicately took the coins from him before dropping a quick curtsy and scurrying out the door with his clothes bundled under her arm.

Ah. So you like them younger? Maude finally piped up from her spot, hanging from his weapons-belt over the back of the chair.

“Not even close, Maude,” Casey grunted back. He made sure the door was closed and locked before shifting the tray of food so it was beside the chair that faced the door before he settled in. “I can’t help but wonder what problems she might be having to act so skittish, while the barman looks so jovial.”

Probably had a rough encounter recently.

“She was staring at my eyes...”

Casey looked down into the contents of his mug. The rising steam obscured his vision slightly, but he could still see how they had changed. He’d seen it before, but it still startled him at times. Before, his eyes had been a dark navy blue. Now they were the same color as Maude’s blade: blackened iron with a ring of bright silver around his iris.

They are quite striking eyes and add to your handsome face, Maude continued teasing. But I think it is more that they mark you as a cultivator on the Drengr’s Road. Some of those who walk the Road are not kind to people they view as ‘beneath’ them. It is up to those of us who have standards to discipline them if and when we see them. If we see any evidence of what may be causing her actions, we fix it.

“Agreed.”

The single-word statement came out more as a growl than speech, and Casey could feel the silent acknowledgment from Maude. He set his drink down, his taste for it gone. Instead, he lifted his weapons-belt from where it hung, quickly slung it around his hips and buckled it into place.

The only time he’d been without the belt and Maude in the last week was when he bathed, and he’d always been quick to put it back on. The reassuring weight of Maude on his hip helped him to focus and tamp down his anger.

Rather like my duty belt used to get me in the right mental space for work, Casey thought with a somber smile.

The memory of his past death played over in his mind, and again he sent a wish and a prayer to any kind deities listening that the girls had happy lives afterwards, and that they wouldn’t come to regret pursuing the careers that Loptr told him they did. Pushing away his maudlin feelings, he got to eating.

The stew was mutton, savory with a thick gravy, but a bit salty for his preference. The properly baked bread of the dark, rye grain so common here was a nice change from his pan-fried flatbread. The cider was bland; the spices used in the mulling were barely present. Casey briefly wished that he had a bottle of Einar’s mead again, even if the drink was far stronger than cider.

Remembering his big friend made Casey grin and dig into his food with more gusto, the memory of the jovial giant dismissing the last of his melancholy. He was smearing the honey on the last of his bread to go with the weak cider when Maude spoke up again.

Casey, we need to talk about something a bit sensitive. When you finish eating, please make yourself comfortable and join me within my center?

The carefully neutral tone that Maude spoke in immediately worried Casey, so he stuffed the honey-infused bread into his mouth and washed it down with the cider quickly, nearly choking on the large mouthful. An amused giggle from his partner reassured him slightly, but he was still quick to push the platter away and survey the room to decide where to sit for this.

The chair he was in already was hard, but would do well enough. Casey carefully drew Maude from her sheath and laid her across his thighs with the blade towards him. He held her hilt in his right hand and cupped her restored tip in his left, by the back of the blade where it was safe. The light of the baldrsteinn that lit the room glimmered on the metal and the faint forging lines of the blade, and he let that glimmer draw him inwards.

Again, Casey first descended into his own core. The pool of qi that spun in its new, glimmering bed was much smaller than it had been, but he could already tell the well was deeper now. A gentle tug at his consciousness pulled him sideways until he was within the dark room that was Maude’s core instead.

His beautiful, raven-haired partner was actually lounging inside the pool of qi. Her hair drifted along in the slowly spinning current of silver energy, with only the upper curve of her breasts showing above the glowing ‘water.’

“Come and join me, Casey. This is the closest I can get to actually bathing for now, and it is a technique you will need to learn as well to help refresh yourself.” Maude beckoned him with one hand, and Casey just stared in surprise.

When Maude had asked him to join her inside this space to converse, this was not what he had expected. He’d thought they might have an awkward conversation about his earlier words. Or maybe she’d have something else to teach him about his training. Perhaps a secret she didn’t want to risk talking about where they could be overheard.

Bathing in her qi was not anywhere on the list of possibilities, though.

“Are you going to keep staring?” Maude’s question snapped him out of his thoughts, and Casey shook his head sharply before sighing.

“I just got out of the bath, and you want me to take another? Are you telling me that I smell?” The attempt at humorous teasing fell flat when Maude just smiled mysteriously at him from the other side of the slowly turning pool of silver energy.

“No matter how nice the baths here are, I doubt they are strong enough to cleanse the spirit. This will also help pull out impurities that have managed to stick despite my best work, but there is more to it than that. Come and join me here.” She gestured towards the side of the pool closest to him again.

The pool was easily almost ten feet across, but given how the fluid moved without a sound, Casey knew that they could talk over the distance without a problem. He hesitated for just a moment longer before shrugging.

Whatever. It’s not like she doesn’t know what you look like naked. Not after having to wash in the mountain lake. Casey found it mildly amusing when he realized that he’d had a similar thought before in that same situation up on the mountain.

He’d been brought into this vision in the same clothes he was wearing on the outside, including his weapons-belt and an empty scabbard. So it only took him a moment to unbuckle the belt, tug the shirt over his head, and then drop his pants so he stood naked in front of his companion. While he wasn’t shy about his body anymore, Casey didn’t stand about with himself on display longer than he had to.

Not looking at Maude, Casey stepped into the pool to find the bottom sloped rather sharply downwards. While the rippling silver qi in the pool did not make his body wet, it felt like stepping into a warm, dry breeze that scoured over his body as if it was seeking out anything that did not belong to carry it away.

Taking a moment to steady himself on the sharp slope, Casey slid down until he could sit on the smooth rock that made up the bowl of the pool and brace himself with his feet. The pool got deep enough that he was sure he could submerge if he went to the middle, but he didn’t want to take a chance until he better understood what was going on. The tiny core that sat at the center of Maude’s slowly turning pool of qi continued to spin lazily, only supported by the shimmering energy.

A quiet moan drew his attention to Maude, who was blushing slightly and biting her bottom lip while staring at him with one eyebrow raised.

“What?”

“I didn’t say that you needed to strip down, Casey.” Maude’s words dripped with wry amusement, and Casey couldn’t help the pink tinge that colored his own cheeks now.

“You made it sound like this was a bath, and it’s rude to wear your clothes into the bath.” Casey tried to defend his actions, but Maude wasn’t willing to give up the teasing just yet.

“Ah yes, but the rules are different when you bathe within another person’s soul.” Maude smirked at him, and Casey felt his stomach drop. Before he could fret over it, Maude explained. “It is a measure of how comfortable you are, and how much you trust me. If you were to do this with someone who was unscrupulous, they could drain healthy qi from you while depositing their tainted qi within your center. Entering my core puts you at my mercy. Thankfully, I am merciful.”

The faux-haughty tone that Maude used let Casey release the worst of his anxiety and he laughed instead.

“Of course I trust you, Maude. I’ve been listening to your guidance and direction this entire time. How would I have survived if I didn’t trust you?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think you’d have found a way to make do. Though you might have limited your growth.”

“Pretty sure I’d still be wandering the forest, lost as all hell. If I hadn’t eaten something poisonous and died that way.”

“Regardless, you are better than you think you are. The actions you took earlier today were proof enough of that.” Maude shifted and rose slightly in the twirling pool of power.

While the energy did not wet her skin, it did act a bit like water as it dripped tantalizingly off her curves. The shifting movement revealed that Maude was not wearing her leather outfit, as the upper edge of one nipple peeked through the misty covering before she settled down once more.

“What? Paying the girl to wash my clothes?” Casey asked. Maude nodded in agreement at his question. “Paying someone for the work is only fair.”

“Laundering your clothes would be considered part of the service with the room. It would have been up to her to negotiate if she wanted payment for it, since the bartender didn’t say it would be extra. You offered her more than it was worth to wash a couple of items of clothing, Casey. You were generous to reassure her.”

Not having anything to say to that, Casey just shrugged and shifted his arms to hook them on the edge of the pool of light so he could let his legs drape down the sloped stone surface. He’d been worried that having his bare butt pressed to the stone would be uncomfortable, but the bowl of stone wasn’t rough and felt warm from the power flowing over it.

Seeing that he was uncomfortable, Maude pressed the conversation onto other topics.

“I’m betting that you are wondering more on why I asked you to join me here?” Maude waited until Casey nodded before she continued. “At the moment, it is not something we should worry about, but in this space, we can actively share our qi. It isn’t a quick process, but it can be used to normalize our pools so that we share the same amount and proceed along the Road at the same pace. There will be some things you can do that will gain you qi that will not benefit me, and the same is true for me in return.”

“Like what?”

Casey was slowly growing used to the idea of ‘bathing’ with the beautiful woman across from him. But he had to work hard to keep his eyes on her face rather than the toned expanse of her neck and shoulders, or the curves of her breasts as they occasionally bobbed higher in the current of light.

“You can gain qi from eating, while I cannot. It costs more energy to manifest a body than I would ever gain from eating while I was in it. In return, I can draw qi by absorbing inorganic materials that have traces of qi in or on them. The weapons of your enemies, for example.”

“So you eat other people’s weapons?” Casey chuckled at the mental image of the wild woman in front of him delicately biting the tip off of a sword like it was a pastry.

“Exactly.” Maude’s response sent his mental image crashing to the ground, and Casey stared at her in shock. “It is how I will grow myself. Just as I can filter the impurities out of the cores of the Fomori and put them to use, I can use the qi-enhanced iron, bronze, or steel of an enemy’s weapon to alloy with those contaminants to forge myself stronger with each repetition. Folded steel is some of the strongest, after all.” The smirk on Maude’s face was both playful and intense.

“Interesting. So if… no, it’s more of a ‘when,’ isn’t it?” Maude nodded, seeming to understand where he was going with this statement, but let him speak. “When I clash with others who don’t mean me well, you want their weapons? It sounds a bit odd, almost cannibalistic, to have my weapon eating other weapons.”

“I’m unique, Casey,” Maude said to reassure him, a gentle smile replacing her smirk now. “You don’t need to worry about destroying another sentient weapon. On the infinitesimal chance we run into such a thing, I will know and can tell you. I’m just letting you know, so you don’t wonder why any of your trophies go missing.” She winked at him, and Casey couldn’t help the wry laugh that came next.

“Fair enough. Was that all that you wanted to talk about, though?” Casey wasn’t upset if it was. This sensation, being caressed by the raw qi of his companion and the light, unburdened feeling he was enjoying now as it was only washing over him and not tugging at anything within him, was easily worth the time to experience.

I wonder if I can invite Maude into my center, too? I wonder if this feels different for her than it does for me? Casey thought to himself, forgetting he was in direct contact with Maude’s weapon body and he would transmit his thoughts like speech.

“I would happily visit, Casey. Especially as you develop your center and begin to carve out the palace of your soul.”

Maude’s words drew him back to the moment. He looked up from where he’d been watching the tiny core bobbing in the flowing power. Maude was leaning forward now, her long hair draping her shoulders like a cloak, as she watched him with her bright, sky-blue eyes.

“Palace of my soul?” Casey asked curiously, keeping his eyes locked with hers. Maude smirked and gestured to the carved-out room around them.

“Yes. As you grow and improve along the Drengr’s Road, you will be able to further shape your center into a safe harbor. It will remain crude until you ascend to the Immortal Journey. But, during that time, you will be shaping this into the home you will inhabit if you ascend to the Divine Journey. Every person who walks the Drengr’s Road presents their palace differently. Your center looks similar to mine because you began your Road with the Legacy of Steel. My legacy.”

Maude waited and let that sink in for a moment before she leaned back and stretched her arms over her head with a long sigh.

The motion drew her breasts up above the current of silver light. Casey couldn’t help the quick glance down at the firm handfuls that sat proudly on her chest. Like everything else about Maude, her form was unblemished and perfect.

Before she caught him staring, and before his body stirred in response to the sight, Casey yanked his gaze away from Maude’s body and back to the bobbing core at the center of the pool. A light laugh from his partner told him that he was unsuccessful in avoiding being caught.

“Casey, I have never once told you not to look at me. I hope I have never given the impression that I am not happy with your attention.” Maude’s gentle words drew his attention back to the lithe woman.

She had shifted so she was mirroring his pose with her arms on the side of the pool of silver light. This left her full breasts unashamedly on display, and he couldn’t help but note the hardened nipples that capped the rounded peaks.

“No, you have not. I’m just struggling a bit,” Casey explained after a moment where he could drag his eyes back to hers.

“I’m patient, Casey. I find you appealing, and hopefully we will be partners for a long time. While it may not be as fulfilling, I do enjoy your touch when you clean and polish my weapon form.”

The teasing tone was back, and Casey rolled his eyes with a snort of amusement as well. He had forgotten that she had told him that his tending to her blade felt good.

“Fine. I’ll happily caress, clean, polish, and sharpen you whenever you want. Even in here, if that is your desire. Gotta look after my partner,” Casey teased back. His attempts backfired, as Maude bit her bottom lip and gave him a sultry look through hooded eyes.

“I think I will take you up on that, Casey.” Her voice was husky with desire, and they stared at each other for a long moment before she continued. “But not now. You need to rest and enjoy a night in your bed if you are intent on getting back on the road. It will take a full day of travel to get clear of the foothills and back into the forest. Foraging for supplies is far easier in the forest than amongst the rocks.”

Sighing, Casey couldn’t really argue. He wanted to continue this spiritual footsie that he was playing with the attractive woman that had become his teacher, friend, and confidant. But he couldn’t really refute her statement, either.

Maybe a lover? The thought raced through his mind before he could stop it. Closing his eyes, Casey firmly tugged his emotions back under control and pushed them aside with the ease of long practice.

Shifting, Casey began to pull himself up and out of the glowing pool of light to retrieve his clothes with his eyes still closed. That was until he felt something soft pressing against his chest.

Eyes flying open, Casey was greeted by the intense sight of Maude’s sky-blue eyes from immediately in front of him. And then her lips landed on his.

The kiss was simple and tender as the lithe warrior-woman pressed herself against him. There was affection in it, that much he could easily tell from how she pressed herself into him, but the hunger for physical contact, a desire for closeness and the sensation of touch, was even more obvious.

On autopilot, Casey wrapped his arms around Maude and squeezed her tightly to his chest. She let out a quiet moan into the soft kiss, her mouth opening just slightly but not deepening it as she pressed to him. Without his arms on the sides to support him, the two of them slid deeper into the spiritual pool.

The kiss ended a few seconds later, and Maude rubbed her cheek against his affectionately, not unlike an enormous cat.

“Mmm, that felt nice. Gods, I miss physical touch,” Maude mumbled quietly into his ear.

“Well then. Next time, don’t hesitate. I can’t complain about cuddling with a beautiful woman,” Casey chastised gently, stroking the silk-soft expanse of black hair that flowed down her back. That one kiss had firmly cemented his desires now, and he knew that she was aware of them.

No reason to hesitate now, I guess? Maude’s smirk told him she had heard that thought, too.

“I’m going to hold you to that, Casey. Now, shove off and get some sleep. If you are a good boy, I’ll reward you another time.”

Mischief was back in full force as Maude bit his earlobe before pushing herself away from him. The push caused her to drift backwards on the current of silver energy, but also pushed Casey out of his meditation as well.

He blinked, and his vision was briefly doubled. He saw his hand holding the blade of the seax in his lap and then a moment later the image of Maude drifting backwards in a flickering billow of silver light before it returned to the seax once more. A brief laugh tickled his ears, and he sighed through his nose, though the smile did not leave his lips.

“Flirt. You better not keep me waiting too long,” Casey mumbled before standing to sheathe Maude and get ready to sleep.

Chapter 30

They were not able to get out of town as fast as Casey had wanted the next day. Unfortunately for him, the citizens of Cliff Song were not as quick to get about their day as he was in the wake of the storm.

The crackle of lightning and boom of thunder had only lasted for part of the night, but the steady patter of rain continued into the morning. Apparently, this was enough of a storm that the market didn’t open until well after the sun was up and the town began to dry out.

Breakfast was a quick affair of oatmeal studded with minced apples. The bartender, an older woman this time, had offered him some ale with his breakfast, but Casey had declined.

You know that their breakfast ale is so weak it won’t actually get you drunk, right? Maude told him while he bolted his food down. Letting his left hand fall to the hilt of the seax so he could respond without speaking, Casey replied:

I know that now, but I was so unimpressed with the cider last night that I’d rather pass. Einar’s mead spoiled me on that front. An amused laugh was the only response he got from Maude.

After getting what he needed from the market, Casey headed out of town and along the road. The clouds still hung in the sky above, but they were thinner now and more sunlight was leaking through in patches. The rain had drowned many of the smells that had bothered him the previous day, making it almost pleasant to run his errands and spend most of the silver that he had earned on small things to make travel and camping easier.

He did sell the spare sheepskin. While it had been comfortable to use, he agreed with Maude that it wasn’t quite worth the extra weight.

As he was heading out of the front gate, Casey spotted an airship making good speed towards the port high above the town on the cliff-side. The broad, white sail bore the mark of a faint outline of a clenched fist in an orange-brown color as the winged wooden object cruised in from the southeast.

“Ah, good to see the clan drengr returning from their Fomori hunt,” muttered one of the gate guards who stood to one side.

Huh, maybe it is good we are moving on so quickly.

Why is that? Casey asked, hooking his left hand around the pommel of Maude’s seax form to steady it while he waited his turn as the guards inspected a wagon ahead of him.

It is just a guess, but I feel like they are coming back from checking that nest we eradicated. Surprised it took them a week to go out, and that they took an airship for something so close. It’s just a feeling, though.

And that would be bad, why?

Because they would ask questions and no doubt try to recruit you if they knew it was your doing. I told you that it is preferable to travel more and grow before joining a clan, and it is better to stay out of the sight of larger clans. Not all will be as polite as the Silver Hammer was and just let you wander through their territory. Some are possessive of the growth opportunities that exist in the wilds they control, even if they are not currently using them.

Fair point, Casey conceded in thought as the guards waved the set of wagons through before turning to him.

“Destination?” The guards interrogating him were again dressed in chainmail with the same rounded helms as before. The day shift apparently cared more about their looks, as the one who addressed him had an ornate silver necklace holding up a pendant with the same clenched-fist symbol as Casey had seen on the sails of the airship. The others were better groomed, too, with other pieces of jewelry on display.

“To be honest, I'm not sure. I’m a hunter who is traveling looking for a new place to ply my trade. Was following the road northwest at the moment. Can you tell me what lays out that way?”

The guard sneered at Casey for a moment before waving him through, pointedly failing to answer his question.

“You may pass, hunter.”

The derision in the man’s voice was thick, and Casey rolled his eyes when the man looked away. The other three guards nodded, while one made a note in a ledger. As he was walking past the group, one of them leaned over and murmured to him.

“The road that direction leads to a three-way fork once you are out of the hills. West takes you deeper into local clan lands towards the capital, but first to a town by the name of Cliff Watch. East follows the foothills along a river towards another town that sits at the juncture of several rivers called Watermoot. North curves back towards the border and crosses into a large forest. It curves again and runs along the border between the Bronze Fist and the Oak Horde clans after several days of travel. There are branches along the way to other towns, too. They all have stones to mark the way, but if you are a hunter, I’d go north.” The whole thing was spoken in a whisper as the leader of the guards interrogated a small group of travelers who had been standing behind Casey.

“My thanks, guardsman,” Casey replied with a smile and got a nod from the man.

“You should look into getting a bow if you want more people to believe in the hunter line. It might ease your passage in the future if you look the part more,” the guard replied with a calm smile.

Casey debated producing the varg tooth again for a moment to prove his claims, but decided not to. These guards looked more alert, and he didn’t want to risk them recognizing the fangs he’d taken from the Fomori on the necklace as well.

“Appreciate the tip. I just haven’t found one that I like yet which I can afford.” The guard nodded, accepting the excuse before urging him onto the road to make room for the next group.

The road was still muddy from the rain. Last night’s storm had been a steady drizzle through the night and hadn’t really done more than wash away the soft layer of dust on top of the hardpack, thankfully.

Following the curved road back down, Casey breathed a sigh of relief as he turned off to continue following the roadway to the north.

Another glance over his shoulder told him that the clan airship had docked at the port on the cliff above the city, and Casey could see forms milling all over and around the flying ship as they folded the wings and got it tucked away.

“Look forward to when I can fly in one of those.”

As I said before, I look forward to the time when you will own one of those. Would make traveling so much easier, and the beds on board will be much softer. But that will be many years in the future.

Maude’s reply made him laugh, and Casey shook his head, turning away from the city and the sight of the high port before he continued along the road north at a steady pace.

Overhead, the clouds continued to shift, rolling back towards the north whence they had come and exposing fragments of blue sky.

<><><>

Once he was out of sight of the city, Casey broke into a steady trot. After progressing to the second Step—Ember as Maude had called it—he’d just had more energy in general and didn’t see a reason to restrain it.

While the soaring cliffs and looming mesas had their own stark beauty to them, Casey was ready to see more green again. The idea of the forest and the northern road appealed to him. Casey felt like the cool, woody depths of the forest were calling out to him now and he needed to make all speed in that direction.

Maude did not bring up their conversation from the previous night while he traveled. Instead, she coached Casey through a breathing exercise that would allow him to pull in faint bits of qi from his surroundings while he walked.

They are but drops added to the barrel, but every bit helps right now, Maude had explained to him. In the future, you will be able to use this technique to hone your growth and defray the cost of enhancements for traveling. No, do not flood your body with qi right now. It isn’t ready for sustained use of that technique and will cost you more than you can draw in.

So Casey continued on, alternating jogging and walking when the slope of the road got to be too much to easily maintain the trot. Overhead, the clouds continued to roll and drift, the steady wind at his back pushing them ahead of him and allowing the sun to bake the earth. The scent of warm stones soon replaced the memory of the unpleasant town-scents.

Lunch was fresh bread and a slab of yellow cheese that Casey ate while walking. Maude chastised him for not stopping to eat properly, but he countered with the argument that he would rather be out of the confines of the hills sooner than later.

When Casey spotted the first smudge of green between the rising walls of the rocky mesa to either side, he broke into a run with a smile on his face.

Maude mumbled something in the back of his mind, but he didn’t care. The prospect of trees and greenery again was bolstering his heart. After living his entire life inside a city, the week he’d spent on the mountain by the lake had been some of the most peaceful and fulfilling days of his life.

Wherever I end up, I hope that the clan I choose keeps the land close to their hearts, was the only thought on Casey’s mind as he surged up the rising road before emerging from between two cliffs to see the land rolling away from him into the distance.

A great forest spread out with the near side cupped by the wide, curving bank of a river. The forest shone a rich and verdant green that promised cool shade and welcome shelter. Far in the distance, Casey thought he could make out the tips of several mountains in the distance above the forest.

Standing where he was, higher up in the foothills, Casey could see the road as it curled down and crossed over a wide river on an arched bridge of wood and stone.

On the far side of the bridge, the road divided into a Y-shape. The tail of the Y led west along the river and into the hills as it skirted around the edge of the massive forest that sat in front of him. One side of the split of the Y followed the river east as the waterway continued to divide a rolling plain from the line of foothills and mesas. The other side of the split followed the edge of the forest to the north for a distance before the trees began to overtake the road and encroach onto the plains.

“Beautiful,” he breathed the one word with such reverence that Maude ceased her grumbling and chuckled quietly.

If you think this is a beautiful view, then I look forward to showing you more of this world. The Yngling Peaks. The waterfall that is known as Njord’s Tears. The fury of Aegir’s Comb, a reef that claims any ship that tries to sail through it. This world has many more wonders, Casey. And most of those are reserved for those who walk the Drengr’s Road, as you need great resilience to lay eyes upon them.

Maude’s words conjured images of soaring mountains decorated in sparkling ice in chill blues and greens, a twin waterfall pouring into a great gorge, and a sea-tossed shore studded with the wreckage of ancient ships to tempt others into its grasp with promises of plunder and ancient treasure.

“Then we had better make our way along this road. I’ve stepped upon it, and I can feel it sweeping me away already.”

Casey’s eager statement made Maude laugh, a happy and encouraging note, before she urged him to hurry along. With eager steps, Casey started down the slope towards the river.

Overhead, the clouds continued to swirl as the southern wind pushed them north, whipping into a towering mass above the rolling forest.

<><><>

Casey made it to the road and took the fork that would have taken him north and into the forest. Set at the crossroads was a large stone with carvings on it that explained to travelers which way they could go and what lay in each direction.

Crossing the bridge had been easy enough. The bridge was wide enough to allow two carts to pass over its weathered timbers and arched high enough that a ship could sail beneath it. Maude explained to him that those who could not afford an airship or did not need the urgent speed of the flying ships often used the river to transport cargo.

The closer he got to the trees, the more content Casey became. He only stopped in his headlong charge to bury a handful of the cherry seeds he had remaining at the fork in the road, something that amused Maude to no end.

Only once the road itself took him into the shelter of the forest, and the oaks, elms, and ash trees surrounded him again, did Casey relax and return to a steady walk rather than a jog. He continued to plant the last of the cherry seeds as he went, making good on his promise to the elemental.

I’m a little surprised, Casey, Maude said as he finished dusting the soil from his hands, after stopping once to set several of the seeds into an open spot on the side of the road. I would have figured you would simply scatter the seeds as you walked and call that good. You are doing far more than even that elemental could have expected in exchange for the fruit.

“It’s not just altruistic or because I feel like I owe her,” Casey answered while he walked. “I enjoyed those fruits. If spreading the seeds like this leads to having access to them when I pass this way in the future, then it is worth it.”

That is something I had not considered. You would line the road with a fruit orchard if you could, wouldn’t you?

“That and more. Wouldn’t it make travel that much more pleasant if food was easier to come by on the road?” Maude did not respond to that statement, but Casey could feel her silent agreement.

The ever-present cloud cover that continued to loom overhead marred the pleasant afternoon. It had been easy enough to ignore while they traveled through the hills and the clouds raced ahead of them, but he had apparently caught up with the storm now. The clouds overhead continued to darken, and a chilly breeze was kicking up as the sun sank lower.

It was the flash of lightning in the clouds above them that finally drove Casey off the road to seek shelter. They’d been following the road long enough that the forest had jumped it and engulfed them entirely in a patchy green canopy, so Casey sought shelter west of the road where the trees were thicker.

While Casey wasn’t much of an outdoorsman, he did know that standing under a tall tree in a lightning storm was dangerous. So he searched about for low masses of trees that would provide proper shelter, but not end up washed out by the rain.

The patter of rain on leaves told Casey that his time was quickly running out just when he threaded around a low hillock and found a cave entrance open between two large granite stones. One stone leaned against the other to create a hollow that led to a small cave beneath them.

Ducking down, Casey peered into the darkness and sniffed. He did not smell the musky scent of an animal coming from the cave.

Caves are rarely unoccupied in the wild, he reminded himself.

Casey dug a few rocks out of the turf nearby. Throwing them into the cave produced a rattling of stone on stone, but he heard no growls, hisses, or sounds of movement.

“What do you think, Maude?” Casey asked after giving it several moments. The rain began to fall a bit harder, and a distant grumble of lightning came again.

I think it is better than nothing. You are far enough from the road that I doubt this is a regular campsite, either. Gather firewood. You might be trapped in here for a while. Just do it quickly. Also, did you forget you bought a baldrsteinn in town?

Casey had, in fact, forgotten that he had bought one of the smaller kinds of the glowing stones when he’d found a basket of thumb-sized ones in the shop where he’d bought several of his new items to make his life easier.

A bit of digging in his pack—he’d not thought to put it in his hip pouch—and he found the buckskin-wrapped stone and undid the ties. The stone was a buttery yellow with orange striations that ran through it, giving the light a flame-like appearance, though it did not flicker like one would.

The glow of the stone revealed a shallow cave that opened up a little once it dove under the rocks that sheltered the entrance. Its floor was another slab of granite, and the ceiling looked solid as well.

There was no sign of animals having denned here any time recently, either, so Casey quickly unslung his pack and stuffed it inside. The opening into the cave was narrow, but he could crawl through it without a problem once he had what he needed.

Working as quickly as he could, Casey hurried back into the forest and began collecting firewood. He didn’t worry about the larger pieces at the moment, as he had learned that caves were quite well insulated.

He’d made three trips with armloads of wood when the sprinkling of rain began to intensify. A sharp crack of lightning that was almost immediately followed by a boom of thunder made him snatch up the last of what he could easily find and race back to the cave.

Before Casey could make it back, though, the rain cranked up to a ‘water hose on a tin roof’ level of downpour. He dove into the shelter of the cave, shoving his firewood ahead of himself.

A small hole in the ceiling, small enough that in the cloud-darkened afternoon it hadn’t really shed any light, let in a slow drip of water from the downpour. Thankfully, it was off center to one side in the cave. So after Casey crawled through into the larger space, which was around eight feet by thirteen feet in a rough oval of packed earth and stone, he set about building a small fire near that hole to let the smoke out. He had to shift his firewood stacks, since the trickle of water dripped and ran out the mouth of the cave right where he had first piled it.

“Gotta keep this thing small,” Casey muttered while preparing the mossy tinder for the spark. “Don’t want to smoke myself out or crack the rocks.”

I’m proud of you for remembering. Maude’s voice was filled with amusement as he readied his flint and steel the way she had taught him.

Sparks leaped up but missed the tinder, so he repeated the motion. This time, the sparks landed in the dried moss, and with a bit of blowing, the moss caught and began to burn. After tucking that into the small stack of sticks he’d set up on a flat piece of rock just off center of the cave, Casey tended it carefully, not wanting to feed the fire too much too quickly until he learned how bad the smoke would be.

Thankfully, there is no need to build a large fire here. This is more to keep you warm and dry out properly than cook on.

Lightning flashed outside, and thunder boomed nearly directly overhead. Casey had to fight the urge to flinch. The stone of the cave did not shift at all, only a slight increase in water dripping down the smoke hole, which did a good job of preventing the smoke from accumulating in the cave.

Might as well get comfortable, Casey. A sigh accompanied Maude’s words. I’m rather glad you found a cave to shelter in, rather than having to make do with your tent. I have a feeling that yesterday’s storm was just a tease. This one might take a while to spend its fury.

Chapter 31 <3

The storm raged outside the shelter that Casey had claimed. The clouds darkened the sky enough that the only sources of light Casey had were the flames of his tiny fire, the steady glow of the baldrsteinn, and the occasional flash of lightning from outside.

With nothing else to do but wait the storm out, Casey made himself as comfortable as he could on the granite slab floor of the cave and inventoried what he had to keep himself busy.

He had already laid out his soaked clothes on the stone by the fire to dry, and he sat there in his sole spare pair of pants. Despite the chill rain outside, the small fire did wonders to warm the little cave, so he hadn’t bothered to put on a new shirt yet.

Just left that village. Did all my maintenance at the inn. Pack is full of ingredients, but I don’t really have the wood to prepare any trail food, or even a need for it. I could carve with my eating knife, but the same issue as before with the wood.

A crack of thunder and the flash of lightning made him jump in surprise, as it was close enough to be nearly simultaneous. Casey grimaced and shook his head.

“No, carving is definitely out. The last thing I need is to jump and end up stabbing myself right now,” he muttered into the shadowed confines of the small cave.

Meditation? Maude offered in his mind, having been listening to him talk.

“Meditation,” he sighed in agreement.

Shifting to sit with his back to the wall, Casey checked his fire to make sure it would stay burning and that no sparks would threaten his clothes. That done, he drew Maude and laid her weapon form across his lap as was becoming his habit.

It took only a moment of thought to fall into his meditative state now, given how often he’d done it in the past week. Casey emerged inside his center, the dark stone cave lit only by the swirling pool of light that sat at its center.

Unlike Maude’s pool of qi, the basin wasn’t as steeply sloped, and the swirling silver liquid only covered about ten to twenty percent of the bowl. The room had a bare bit of floor, only a foot or two across, on each side of the low depression of his center.

As Casey watched, crackling streams of yellow, white, and blue qi trickled from the walls to pour into the swirling basin. They mixed with the silver whirlpool like thin strands of paint being poured into a puddle of spinning mercury before rapidly shifting colors to blend with the silver flow entirely.

The external qi strands grew thicker as time went by, and Casey could distantly hear the storm getting stronger outside the cave when he turned his attention back to his body. The sensation of the hard stone under his butt reminded him of the soft sensation of cuddling with Maude previously when he’d joined her inside her center only a day before.

That thought was apparently enough to get Maude’s attention. He felt a slight pressure against both his mind, as well as on the walls of his center. It didn’t worry Casey, though; he recognized the presence mere seconds after feeling it press into him.

Reaching out to it, Casey gave the presence a tug mentally. A moment later, Maude slid into existence like someone had twisted a dimmer switch on her physical form.

The raven-haired beauty wore her familiar leather wrap, the single wide strip of leather winding around her chest and shoulders to form the leather top before dropping down her waist to form into a pair of shorts that clung tightly to her body, extending down only one leg while leaving the other almost entirely bare.

“I heard you thinking about me, Casey, and remembered your previous invitation to come and visit?”

Maude’s normally confident voice held just a bit of hesitation in it as she spoke, her arms crossing behind her back while she tilted her head to one side. If it wasn’t for the typically neutral tone her words took on when she spoke into his mind, he might have missed the hint of concern in her words.

“Of course. You are always welcome to join me here, Maude.” Casey was quick to reassure her, opening his arms to the muscular spirit woman.

Maude’s lips widened into a broad grin. She lunged across the short distance to Casey, diving into his arms and wrapping hers around him in return. The happy sigh she made got an amused laugh out of Casey as he squeezed her to him.

“Mm, I should be mad because you are laughing at me.” Her position with her face in his chest made her words muffled, but still understandable. “But I’m not. By all the spirits and gods, I forgot how much I missed touch…”

“Get your fill, then, Maude. I’m not going anywhere, and I’m definitely enjoying this, too,” Casey replied with a laugh, enjoying a deep breath of her scent from the mane of black hair in front of him. Oil, leather, and an undercurrent of something even more primal surrounded the beautiful woman in his arms, and Casey could feel his body responding to it.

The laughter died abruptly when Maude shifted her arms down and grabbed his butt playfully. She pulled back just enough to shoot him a challenging smirk, desire flaring in her sky-blue eyes.

“I warned you about saying things that I could misinterpret,” Maude drawled, her voice growing husky as she pressed herself against him. And just like that, he felt like he was back in her center, laying naked in her qi pool as he had last night, having just kissed the beautiful woman in his arms.

Casey gulped. He could feel the soft curve of her breasts through the leather of her outfit. He’d not had time to study it, but while the material was supple, it didn’t feel thick to him. In fact, he swore he could feel two hard points pressing into his bare chest through that soft leather. That sensation only stoked his desire higher, and it fought against his self-control.

“Why would I flirt around when I have you here?” The words slipped out before he considered them, repeating his statement from the night before. But from the way Maude’s eyes dilated suddenly, Casey knew they had struck home.

“Casey,” Maude breathed, her voice raspy now with desire as she pushed him forward to pin him against the stone wall of his center. “Are you sure about this? I am only going to ask you once.” The emotion held in that question rumbled like the thunder of the storm, but Casey didn’t hesitate.

He shifted his arms from around Maude’s shoulders, and let them settle on the curve of her muscled hips. She moaned as she felt his hands rest there before sliding down to cup her firm butt. That moan was muffled suddenly when his lips met hers, and Maude trembled, pressing longingly into his touch.

From how her body tensed and the bucking of her hips, Casey would have sworn that the lithe woman in his arms had just climaxed from a kiss.

Curious if he could confirm that she had, or even trigger a second, Casey deepened the kiss. Maude clung to him, her whole body shaking as he carefully worked his fingers under the soft leather of her outfit to stroke over bare skin. Casey traced the lines of her muscled bottom, hips, and back while their tongues entwined with each other.

He knew that it wasn’t love he was feeling for Maude, not yet at least. There was a desire, a deep attraction to her, and the roots of an unshakeable loyalty, though. Something that he knew would grow into love, given time. Whether she would return it was something else entirely. He was not sure she would, but Casey could tell that Maude craved his touch and was clearly enjoying his affection. That was enough for now.

Give her what she wants. If she says to stop, then we stop, he thought as their lips parted with a quiet pop.

“Never,” gasped Maude, letting her head fall onto his shoulder and nuzzling her face into his neck. “I don’t want to ever stop. I told you before, Casey. You are stuck with me. Doing this? I’m going to make sure that binding lasts even longer.”

“Longer than forever?” Casey teased with a small laugh, kneading her butt with both hands now. He’d forgotten that, despite the softness under his hands at the moment, Maude’s physical body sat in his hands outside the meditative trance. And thus she could read his surface thoughts.

“If I have my way, then yes,” Maude growled lustily, the hands that she had been pressing to his back slipping around and beginning to work at his pants. “Get these off. I’ve had decades to hear about the joys to be found in a lover’s touch. Now that you’ve made the mistake of waking my libido up, you are going to have the task of calming it down.”

“Can’t say I view it as a mistake, Maude.” Casey’s words made her hands slow. She glanced up at him slightly, not moving her head from his shoulder.

Their eyes met in a sidelong glance, communicating desire and affection silently. Casey felt a slight tremor in his heart, another crack forming in the shell he’d thought he had safely grown around it long ago—a shell that he knew would break for the right person, like it was breaking now. The first tendril of what he guessed was love extended out to connect the two of them, and Maude shook his arms again.

“Get this off me, Casey.”

“Happily,” was his reply, Casey’s voice just as husky now.

It took him a moment to find the tucked-in end of the leather wrap. As soon as he did, it began to unwind rapidly from Maude’s body.

The tight coils of leather fell down around her feet, leaving first her bottom half bare until they separated enough for Maude to finish undoing his belt and yank his pants down. The last of her chest wrap loosened with the motion, and he helped it along with a few strategic tugs. Then, suddenly, her full breasts tumbled out to block both their views, just as her strong hand wrapped around his hard cock, when they finally escaped their tight confines.

Both of them groaned in desire at the intimate connection. Casey could confirm now that those two hard points he’d felt in the leather earlier had been the firm peaks of her soft mountains.

“Hmm, just as large as I had thought from the little glimpses I caught while you washed,” Maude purred lustily, squeezing his shaft with both hands while smiling up at him.

The outfit that Maude had worn worked to both support and conceal just how generous her bust was. When combined with her trim waist and full hips, Casey thought that Maude looked like the embodiment of desire and female perfection.

The only thing Maude wore now was the lusty smile on her lips and the simple iron hairpiece that held her black locks back into a waterfall at her back. Casey knew that this image of her beautiful body would stay with him until his dying day. Well, his next one at least.

Thinking of waterfalls and pools, Casey’s attention immediately went back to his qi pool that lay before them. The room that they were in didn’t exactly have a lot of space, not being as developed as Maude’s center was. The only actual space was in the qi pool, which had a slight slope to it.

Admittedly, it was difficult to think as Maude slowly squeezed his hard shaft with one hand, while the other stroked up and down his length before dropping down to cup his balls gently.

“Happy with your toy?” Casey grunted, glancing down at Maude again.

She smirked up at him, giving his member a tug from base to tip with one hand.

“I’ll be happier once I get to put it through its paces, but no issues so far,” she replied.

“Good, let's get you comfortable then.”

Casey suited words to action and scooped Maude up in his arms. She lifted from the ground with a squeal of surprise, her arms going around his back while her legs immediately wrapped around his waist. A searing, wet heat settled against his abdomen as she clung to him in surprise, and Casey could feel her arousal dripping down his shaft even now.

“Casey, what are you doing?” Maude demanded, glaring down at him from her now-higher position in his arms, clearly upset that he’d made her give up her grip on his cock.

“Finding us a place to sit down. Our first time shouldn’t be against a wall. I wish I could create a bed or something like you deserve.”

Casey’s reply got a blush from Maude, and she bit her lip slightly before her hips began to grind at the thought. A moan escaped her kiss-swollen lips while she rubbed herself against him, and his shaft pressed up between her buttocks as she went back and forth.

“I don’t know. I think it would be fun for both of us to take turns standing while the other kneels,” Maude teased, rolling her hips to keep coating his shaft with her juices while her breasts pressed into Casey’s throat.

“Definitely something to experiment with in the future. Going to have to be careful though, or else I’m going to drag you in here to have a taste whenever I meditate,” Casey warned.

The fog of lust clouding Maude’s eyes cleared for a moment, and she shook her head firmly.

“No. Do not stunt your cultivation just to spend time with me like this. The faster we grow, the sooner we can do this in the outside world. I bet that it would feel even better to touch in our physical forms.”

“As you wish,” Casey replied cheekily.

He stepped forward and down into the basin of his qi pool. The motion jarred Maude in his lap, and she let out another long moan, clinging to him as her body tensed and shook.

Reaching the center of the pool where the puddle of qi swirled lazily, Casey found that it was barely knee deep at the deepest part. As he stepped into the qi, he felt it wrap happily around him, recognizing him as its master. The sensation was strange— as though it was both liquid and gaseous at the same time.

Shifting his grip on Maude to steady her, he began to squat down to settle onto his butt in the warm, misty fluid that was his qi. It felt comforting to be touching the energy, like a reassuring blanket or a comforting, warm breeze in his soul.

But Casey had forgotten Maude’s reaction when he had touched the qi in her center.

No sooner had Maude’s legs met the surface of the qi than a ripple of desire and absolute love raced through his body, shattering any hesitation or reservations that still shadowed his heart. It was so unexpected that Casey lost his balance and fell backwards to land on his ass.

Maude yelped in surprise as he toppled and tried to try to catch herself while clinging to him. In the flailing of limbs, she ended up landing on top of him in just the right position as to pierce her soaked pussy in one stroke with his shaft.

The rush of sensation from her touching his qi had been immense, but the surge of emotion caused by penetrating her body while immersed in the rippling pool of qi dwarfed it.

Casey felt as if a portion of himself was detaching and flowing through their connection to add itself to Maude, even as a piece of her flowed back into him to replace it.

Maude’s entire body locked up, and a loud moan ripped through the air as their bodies landed on top of each other. Casey acted as a cushion for his raven-haired lover, but the sensations racing through her body were enough that she couldn’t stop herself. A total loss of muscular control resulted in Maude slowly sinking down on his shaft until he sat rooted as deeply within her as possible, even as her tensing pussy clamped down hard on him to ensure Casey never pulled out.

Casey stared upwards at the panting goddess sitting astride him, her breasts heaving as she shook in sudden climax. The tensing, sucking feeling of her pussy milking at his shaft sent a fountain of sparks through his body, and Casey had to bite his tongue to not cum immediately.

They had landed on the edge of the swirling pool of not-water. Deep enough that the silvery qi covered Casey’s waist and most of his chest, and it covered the tops of Maude’s thighs as it whirled past them. The sensation continued like a warm breeze, with the pearls of qi clinging and running over their bodies but not leaving a sheen behind like water would.

Glancing down between them, Casey could see a thin patch of black curls between Maude’s legs, trimmed neatly to accent her beautiful body without looking wild. He couldn’t see where their bodies met because of the pool of qi in which they lay, but he could definitely feel her sex pulling at him while her body tensed and bucked in his lap as she rode out another orgasm. Casey felt another bit of himself race between them, and the warmth of another piece of Maude merged with his soul.

The sensation was bizarre, but also familiar. It felt vaguely like when they cultivated the Fomori cores together and the energy passed between them, filtered by Maude before coming back to make its home with him.

“More,” Maude gasped, shifting herself to rest on her forearms, letting her soft breasts pillow on his chest while she dove in for a kiss. “Give me more, Casey. All these feelings… You are definitely stuck with me now.”

“Not going anywhere, Maude. Take your time,” Casey said between kisses while his arms wrapped around her back, stroking his hands through her hair gently as it fell in a dark curtain around them.

Pinned as he was, Casey couldn’t get the leverage to thrust up into Maude right now. So he did the next best thing.

As the raven-haired goddess began to slow in her orgasmic trembling, he shifted his large hands to cup her firm bottom again and used the grip there to roll her forward. Her sex immediately tightened, seizing hold of him in an effort to prevent his escape. She gasped into the kiss. Casey stopped the motion after only a few inches and then pressed down on her hips to settle Maude once more into his lap with a quiet plap of flesh on flesh.

Wordlessly, Maude repeated the motion with only a bit of urging. Each cycle came quicker and quicker as she found the right pace and angle to ride him like this. Casey watched her with a smile as bliss surged through her body and twisted her regal features into a carnal mask of delight.

“No wonder I have so many brothers and sisters,” Maude gasped, slamming herself down onto him, grinding back and forth for a moment.

The motion made her glorious breasts jiggle and sway enticingly in front of Casey’s face, and he couldn’t resist the invitation.

Maude yelped in surprised delight when his lips closed over her right nipple. Her entire body clenched down on him when he nibbled on it lightly, sending her over the edge into another climax. Casey could feel the splash of her orgasmic fluids against his balls and couldn’t help the idiotic grin that grew around his mouthful of her breast. The hands on her bottom kneaded her buttocks gently, urging her to continue to bounce slightly and prolong her pleasure.

“Casey,” Maude whined as he kept her at the peak of her orgasm for many long seconds, her whole body trembling. The mixture of his hands and mouth on her, combined with his cock and qi within her, seemed to be driving the spirit woman crazy.

The qi surging in the pool was flowing faster and faster, and it brought with it a whole extra layer of sensation. Casey could swear he felt his and Maude’s souls melding together as they became one physically.

“Casey!” Maude growled in a louder and firmer tone this time. Releasing his oral grip on her nipple, he looked up to meet her lust-filled gaze. “You can torture me with pleasure later. I want to feel you climax inside me,” she demanded imperiously.

The command in Maude’s tone, coupled with the open desire in her eyes, made Casey tense involuntarily under her. This had the effect of making his member bounce where it lay buried deep inside the woman. The movement cracked her stern facade with a low moan. But Maude refused to be distracted for long.

Leaning back, she balanced on just her legs and began to bounce on his member again. The motion sent delicious ripples through her supple chest as it jiggled and shook just out of reach. The rushing heat as she stroked his cock with her spasming pussy was driving Casey ever closer to the edge of his own climax now.

Since he couldn’t get his lips on her bust again, Casey settled for running his hands over her toned abdomen and up to cup those glorious peaks.

The extra support of his hands muffled the seismic reactions on that soft flesh, but Maude’s deep groans and cries of pleasure were more than enough to continue to add fuel to the fire in his abdomen.

A trickle of yellow energy twined past Casey, swirling around Maude’s torso before diving into the pool of qi where their hips met. That sight reminded him of where they were. Glancing around, he could see the thick streamers of qi still flowing into his center as ribbons of light that bolstered both of them. Following that line of logic, remembering that it was qi he was bathing in, he worked through it step by step.

They were inside his center, bathing in the pool of his qi while they had sex.

His center, as Maude had described it, was a place within his soul and his body.

Maude was a spiritual creature bound within an object. Until recently, she hadn’t been able to touch anyone with any actual sensation for long. She was basically just a soul, really.

A soul born of a pair of gods. Though she currently had only the physical body of a weapon, Maude was a child of gods, and thus a goddess herself.

At this exact moment, he was fucking a literal goddess inside his soul.

And she was loving every second of it.

The implications, combined with the sensations of her hot sex riding him and her literally begging him to cum inside her, set Casey off immediately.

His hands gave her breasts one last squeeze before dropping down to her hips. The ball of tension that had been growing slowly in his abdomen finally released as Casey rode over the cliff of his climax.

Maude squeaked in surprise, then moaned deeply when he took control of their pace and began slamming her down on him as firmly as he could while thrusting up to meet her. Four strokes later, he yanked her down on him and came so hard a kaleidoscope of colors flashed through his vision.

A flood of milky seed raced from him and into her, charged with the energy of the qi of the pool around him that was his center.

Maude threw her head back and screamed in release as Casey’s white-hot seed painted the deepest parts of her secret place.

The pool of qi around them surged even higher, flaring brightly in response to the pure emotions running between the two lovers.

After a moment of eternity, the feeling began to fade.

Thunderous pleasure receded, to be replaced with far safer and tamer happiness.

Casey remained rooted within Maude as she slowly collapsed on top of him, his member twitching and pulsing occasionally. Each movement seemed to send another spark of pleasure through Maude, and her whole body shook in response to them.

Casey shifted so that his arms wrapped around Maude’s strong shoulders, and he just held her there, savoring the afterglow of their intercourse.

Like they were wont to do, doubts began to creep into his mind as the pleasure finally receded and they saw the opportunity.

Was this the right choice?

Would this fuck up their friendship and partnership?

Should he have resisted the urge more?

Did he just take advantage of Maude?

“Stuck with me,” Maude mumbled, and he felt a light kiss on his neck, just below his ear. “Not letting you go, not even if the other gods demand it. That reminded me of the forge again, as you shaped my body to your desires.”

And just like that, his concerns faded away once more to be replaced with gentle feelings of love and affection.

Casey wiggled slightly to wrap his arms around Maude better, and she stretched out some. The motions made both of them moan quietly in pleasure, as Casey’s cock was still refusing to soften within the embrace of Maude’s tender pussy, but neither wanted to separate right now. They were both too focused on savoring the heat of the other.

“Any time you want that again, just say the word,” Casey said after a few minutes of silently enjoying the soft touch of his lover against his body.

“Oh, you’ll have to tell me what that word is, then. You’ve got about five more minutes before I want it again,” Maude teased with a husky laugh, nipping at his ear again.

Outside the trance, Casey sat in the dark cave as the storm raged outside. Though she did not wear a human form, he held his lover delicately in his lap the entire time as their souls made love to each other throughout the night.

Chapter 32

Three days.

It took three days for the storm to finally abate. Casey ran out of firewood after the first day, and Maude yelled at him when he suggested getting more. He collected water to drink by setting his pot out into the rain and made do with the dried meat and supplies he’d bought in town for now.

On the second day, the storm actually got worse, with crashing thunder and flashing lightning coming every few seconds. He spent most of the time in meditation, sitting inside his center either by himself or with Maude beside him. After their passionate interlude the first night, the two of them were content to just sit together and focus for now.

Casey swore that he heard trees being uprooted and the distant roars of furious animals as they fought. When Casey asked Maude about that, she told him it was likely spirit beasts that were either competing for shelter or, if they were very unlucky, had actually caused the storm during a dispute over territory.

During this time, Maude worked with Casey on his meditation and stretches to keep his body limber despite the close confines of the cave. The focus of the meditation was in directing his qi into individual portions of his body to enhance them rather than flooding his entire body like he had before. Maude explained that it would both temper his channels slowly to handle larger amounts of energy, and to build the mental equivalent of muscle memory which would allow him to do it instinctively.

On the third day, the storm slowed and began to abate. The lightning came more and more infrequently, and the rain slowed down from the torrential downpour into a steady beat that finally petered out in the early afternoon.

Poking his head out of the cave, Casey could see shreds of blue sky through the dissipating clouds overhead finally, and he breathed a sigh of relief. While he still had supplies, being trapped in the cave was driving him a bit mad. When he wasn’t stretching or meditating, he spent time with Maude inside his center.

Emerging into the rain-washed landscape, Casey surveyed the forest around him.

Trees were missing branches the driving rain and wind had knocked down, and several nearby were lightning-burned and scarred. One tree actually had greenery growing in its lightning-scar already, the charred mark only coloring a portion of the trunk as the tree had weathered the blow without a problem.

At Maude’s suggestion, Casey clambered up the lightning-marked elm tree to inspect the greenery. He was astonished to find that the moss which had clung to the tree was rapidly invading the charred wood, and it had a tingling electrical charge to it when he touched it.

Collect that. Spark moss is valuable. Just make sure to wrap it well with cloth, and do not store it in a metallic container. It’ll remain viable for several weeks. The moss retains lightning qi and is valuable to alchemists, Maude advised him.

Casey did as suggested, carefully pulling most of the moss free of the tree and balling it up to tuck in his hip pouch for now until he got back to the ground. He ended up with a dense sphere of the moss half the size of his head, since it continued to grow back even as he harvested it. Only when the growth slowed did Casey stop collecting it. Bundling the ball up, he stuffed it into the improvised carrying pouch he’d made of his shredded pants.

Glad I didn’t toss these. Figured there’d be some use for them later, he thought with a smirk.

Clinging to the trunk, Casey took a moment to survey the forest and was astonished to see a swath of utter devastation only a mile away.

Trees had been uprooted and thrown about. The soil itself was blackened in several spots from lightning burns, and great furrows lay torn in the ground where something large had fought.

“What the hell happened there?” Casey breathed in wonder.

As I thought, battling spirit beasts, Maude replied. The excitement in her tone rather than fear confused Casey, but she continued before he could ask her about it. Head over in that direction, but go slowly and quietly. It’s been long enough that whatever did that has most likely moved on, but any remains we can find could be valuable. Creatures powerful enough to do that much damage must be on the Immortal Journey at this point. Even something as simple as a handful of fur or a claw will be valuable.

“Seriously? You want me to go into a battlefield like that when you aren’t one-hundred percent sure it’s safe?”

Nothing is safe in this world, Casey. The one thing we can be sure of at least is that there are no Fomori nearby. If there were, they’d be dead already, as the spirit beasts would have destroyed them. Better to get in there now before something else comes along.

He couldn’t really argue with that. Casey descended the tree with a sigh and a quiet grumble about pushy women. Maude just laughed at him.

<><><>

Threading through the trees, Casey found signs of the fight that had taken place well before he got to the main site of the battle.

Because he would need to move quickly if there was anything dangerous left behind, Casey left his larger pack by the cave, taking only his shoulder bag with him. The pants-turned-pack he decided to dedicate to the spark moss, as he found several smaller patches on other trees while he wound through the woods. Those he bundled up and tucked into the hip pouch for now.

Casey managed to shock himself once when he made the mistake of letting his hand rest on Maude’s hilt while he was arranging the pouch. The shock that traveled through his body made him lock up for several seconds, and that handful of moss crumbled into dust after its charge was expended.

I warned you, Casey. Maude’s chastisement was gentle, but amused, as she waited for him to regain the ability to move.

“Yeah. Well, thanks for that,” Casey grumbled, rubbing the scorched tips of his fingers on his shirt to scrub the ashes off before shaking the rest of the ashes out of his pouch.

As they got closer, Casey stopped to study the clearing and ensure there were no predators hanging about. The devastation of the battle was more and more obvious, as the trees were either cracked, splintered, or torn up outright. Large hunks of earth had been scattered around, clearly having thrown back and forth, digging furrows in the soil and sending more of the forest giants sprawling. The first blackened crater left by the lightning strikes was where Casey found a lump of glowing, blue-white glass.

Following Maude’s directions carefully, Casey first tested the glass to make sure it was cool before prying it loose from the soil. It was roughly the size of his palm and had flickering threads coursing through it that flashed and shifted like trapped lightning. The glass itself was a dull gray, like a piece of ensnared cloud.

That crystal is quite literally trapped lightning qi. It’s very dangerous for normal people, but you can draw from it like a core if you are careful.

“It’s not going to shock the shit out of me like the spark moss did if I touch you?” Casey warily examined the lump of dirty glass, holding it up to the sky to peer through it. The bits of flashing lightning seemed to follow strands winding through the cloudy glass, just bounding from thread to thread and back again.

Provided you don’t smash it open with my blade, then you should be fine.

“Noted,” Casey mumbled before tucking the bit of glittering and flashing stone away. “Still, cool stuff. Glass made by lightning. I’m surprised there isn’t more of it here.”

There likely was, but the strike annihilated most of it. This piece survived because it struck the perfect balance between absorbing and conducting the lightning into the earth. Keep going. If the spark moss and the empowered fulgurite were any evidence, there is plenty here to find.

“Fulgurite?” Casey asked while working his way amongst the tumbled tree trunks. He had to walk carefully, as the fallen masses of wood were unstable in spots and he did not need to slip and hurt himself.

That is the specific name for lightning-glass. Usually you only see it in deserts or on shores—A lowing sound of an animal in pain cut Maude’s explanation off.

Casey froze in place and ducked low, using the canopy of one of the fallen trees to hide himself. His right hand darted over to settle onto Maude’s hilt, ready to draw his weapon at a moment’s notice.

The two of them remained silent, listening for any other sounds or clues as to what might be going on. A minute passed without any other noises, and Casey leaned forward. Carefully, he used his left hand to part the foliage in front of him and survey the battlefield while he tried to figure out where the noise had come from.

While he had walked over a mile to get to the devastation from his cave, the battlefield itself was several miles across. The fight hadn’t knocked down all the trees in the area, just a large percentage of them. Lightning-blackened patches marred every few feet of the fallen trees, and there was an entire grove that appeared to have caught fire and burned black despite the storm, though no smoke rose from the charcoal that remained where the trees had stood.

Damaged greenery was the primary scent on the air, with the faint tang of ozone being second. Casey could also detect the faint hint of blood and searched the clearing from his hiding spot.

It wasn’t the sound that caught his attention this time, though; it was a movement from near the burned grove of trees.

As he watched, a four-legged animal with a spreading rack of dense antlers limped out of the trees. Blood ran from a wound in its shoulder, mixing with the ashes of the burned trees to leave a ghastly red-gray mix caked to its side. The ashes clung to its hide, turning it a muddy gray-brown in color. The animal appeared to favor its front left leg as it walked. It let out another huff of pain and stumbled slightly.

“Good lord…” Casey breathed in awe as he took it in.

The beast was huge, easily upwards of four to five hundred pounds, and its branching antlers had five points that he could count. It had a gangly look to its long limbs that made him think it wasn’t even fully grown yet, but he guessed it would stand over five feet at the shoulders. If it was still growing, then it would be massive when it finally reached its full size.

Watching the creature stumble, Casey’s heart went out to the injured beast. It would have looked majestic if not for the ashes and the blood caking it while the creature carefully navigated between the fallen trees towards the far woods.

Ullr be praised, that is a gladewalker elk. Maude’s voice held just as much awe as Casey’s did. Thankfully, he did not have to ask her for more information. She continued without prompting, excitement leaking through the neutral mental tone he had gotten used to when she spoke into his mind.

Gladewalker elk are some of the most elusive prey in the forests. They are born so naturally nimble that one could run full-tilt through a crowded forest and never snag its antlers or trip. The elders of their kind can actually slip through trees and tall grasses with speed like a bolt of lightning. Cousin Ullr told me about them once. He was very proud of their creation. Just seeing one is a gift of fortune. If a hunter can take one as a trophy, though? That is true skill. You can tell that it is a gladewalker from the roots you see hanging from its mane. That one is young enough that they look more like tangled twigs, but they will grow, given time.

Casey watched as the animal limped around another fallen tree and shook his head sadly. The injury was leaking blood, and it looked like there was something jammed into its shoulder still, protruding from the wound and slowing the noble creature.

“What happened to it?”

Likely it was running and broke from the trees and into this open area. It probably has a branch from the burned copse of trees lodged in its shoulder. Their magic only functions with earth-aligned growth. The lingering lightning qi and the fire damage to those trees made them into a trap for the young animal. Maude’s voice grew sad now. He could tell she was as upset as he was to see the noble creature injured.

It only took a minute of consideration of his options before Casey made his choice. Maude read it from his thoughts at the same time, since his hand remained on her hilt.

Casey, that idea is foolish. Gladewalker elk are spirit beasts, one and all. You may be on the second Step of the Drengr’s Road, but this creature will kill you if it turns on you, Maude cautioned as Casey began to move from his hiding spot. If you want to do something for it, put it out of its misery and claim the trophy of the kill. That animal will feed you for weeks. The hide and horns will buy you all the gear you could need for some time to come.

Despite her protests, Casey could tell that Maude didn’t really want him to do that. It was a second sense that he had developed with the spirit that inhabited his weapon. He tried not to think about how he was rapidly falling for what most would describe as an imaginary woman. He didn’t want to disappoint her, especially in the wake of their earlier interlude.

“That wouldn’t be fair to it. There’s no challenge taking it while it’s injured and can barely run,” Casey replied coolly. “It would disappoint your cousin if I were to claim a trophy from an injured animal like this. I’m going to see if I can help it. At the very least, I might be able to get the stick out. That’ll give it a chance.”

Maude was silent for several long seconds before Casey heard, as well as felt, a gusty sigh ruffle through his mind.

Fine. I see you are not going to listen to reason. I’ll try to help. If it turns on you, I demand you defend yourself. Wanting to help a spirit beast is noble, but foolish. Injured as it is, I doubt it will trust us.

There was a pause of several seconds while Casey crept around the tree and approached the creature from the side. He had a good hundred yards to go before he could reach it, and the animal had paused to brush at its side with its horns, as if trying to pry the stick from its injury. He could sense Maude’s irritation at him turn thoughtful before she spoke again.

Your choice might have an unexpected benefit. If you can impress on it that you are a friend, it might bond with you. Young spirit beasts can do that, and having a gladewalker as a companion would be just as impressive as having slain one, if not more so. Maude paused again, sighed once more, then continued. Approach with your hands empty and held out to the sides. You want to be as non-threatening as possible.

The young gladewalker elk spotted Casey a moment later. It froze, head twisted to one side to gaze at him.

The animal’s antlers glinted in the light, and Casey had to fight back a gulp of concern. Each point of the creature’s modest antlers was honed sharp and glinted in the watery light of the early afternoon. Blood from its injury was smeared on several of the prongs on the left side, and it gave the creature a macabre and threatening air.

“Easy, boy. Easy,” Casey murmured, trying to keep his tone friendly and open. The elk snorted and backed away from him slightly, limping on its injured leg. “Don’t do that. You are just hurting yourself. I just want to help.” Casey continued to call to the animal, moving slowly but steadily towards it as he tried to keep the tone of his voice as peaceful as possible. Unintentionally, he fell into his meditation and moved with the same grace as he would during his daily training.

The spirit beast stopped suddenly and tilted its head again to look at him from one enormous eye the color of a shelled chestnut.

“Easy. I just want to help. You got hurt. I’ll take care of it for you,” Casey crooned gently. The creature stamped with its good foreleg once, lowering its head to present its antlers like it was about to charge, and Casey stopped.

Hold, Maude ordered, though he was already holding. Casey had to fight the urge to draw her, but he waited while the elk continued to paw at the ground. Give him time. Just wait.

The majestic creature slowly brought its head up and shifted to stare at him again with that same dark eye. Casey met the gaze for a long moment before glancing towards the injury that still leaked blood from the animal’s shoulder and then back to its gaze.

“Maude, can he hear you?” Casey murmured the question aloud, since he wasn’t currently touching Maude and didn’t want to spook the spirit beast as it appeared to be calming down.

No, there’s no way it—Maude cut off abruptly when the animal shook its head slowly up and down, then huffed once more through its nose. You can hear me? The elk blinked slowly and nodded, to both of their amazement. Will you let my wielder help you, noble one? Another long pause before a single, slow nod came again, and the elk shifted so that its injury was towards them.

“How?” Casey asked as he approached slowly, still keeping his hands out to the sides.

I don’t know, Casey. I can communicate with elder spirit beasts just as I can with the elementals, but I didn’t expect this fellow to hear me. I don’t think he really understands what I’m saying. He is getting the general feeling. Like ‘help’ and ‘trust,’ rather than the actual words.

The elk shook itself once as Casey got within arm’s reach and then held still, watching him carefully out of one enormous eye while Casey studied the wound.

His initial observation was correct: a shattered piece of blackened wood stuck several inches out of the creature’s shoulder and blood still leaked from the wound. Casey wasn’t sure how deep it went, but it was a good sign that the animal could move about and hadn’t gone into shock.

“Okay, I need to remove that and check the injury. It’s going to hurt at first, but please don’t gore me?” Casey wasn’t sure if the young spirit beast was able to understand him, but it didn’t shy away at his words and continued to stare at him placidly.

Before removing the broken branch, Casey dug his medical supplies out of his shoulder bag. When he’d refreshed his supplies in Cliff Song, he’d purchased a small jar of anti-infection ointment that smelled sharply of garlic and herbs. Unslinging his waterskin as well, Casey set to work.

It took only a bit of urging to get the spirit beast to lay down on the grass to make it easier for him, though the creature did not stop watching him warily. Though it was covered in ashes and had a bleeding wound, the scent of warm greenery and clean air clung to the creature. That scent helped Casey focus, and he let himself dip into his meditation state once more without sinking into his center.

Good luck, Casey. Just be careful and as gentle as you can be, Maude cautioned before going silent.

He could feel the supportive weight of the spiritual woman at the back of his mind, though her body still rested in her sheath. Taking a deep breath, he nodded once and turned to look the spirit beast in the eye. The animal had been intelligent enough so far that it could communicate, at least in basic matters.

Am I going to be able to hunt other spirit beasts from now on? Casey thought wryly for a moment before shaking the notion off. They could deal with that question when the time came.

“All right, buddy. I’m going to get to work. Again, try not to stab me with that headpiece you have on, okay?” Casey asked one last time and got a slow blink from the elk.

Even laying down, the creature was easily two to three times larger than he was in mass alone. Sparing a thought for what one of the ‘elders’ of its species would look like from what Maude had described, Casey took hold of his hesitation and pushed it aside.

Extracting the branch was surprisingly easy. It pulled free like a sliver, though the spirit beast let out a pained bugle that was deafening at such a close range. Casey was ready to dive backwards if it whipped one of those bloodied antlers at him, but the creature’s scream of pain tapered off into a huffing groan, and blood ran more freely from the wound.

“Easy boy, easy,” Casey repeated, but the elk ignored him.

Instead, the beast stretched its neck out onto the ground in front of it and huffed in pain again. But it didn’t try to stand or lash out at him, so Casey continued to work.

Rinsing the wound with water, Casey inspected it quickly to see if any fragments of wood remained behind. The spirit beast elk grunted and let out a low bellow of pain when he poked at the wound, but it did not fight him.

A moment of work and Casey fished out two more fragments of charred wood. He checked it one last time before nodding.

Casey snatched up the flat pad of clean cloth he’d prepared and pressed it into the wound. The prone spirit beast grunted in pain again and twitched once, like it was about to whip around and gore Casey with its horns, but went no further than an inch.

Keeping pressure on the wound in an effort to stop the bleeding, Casey held the gauze pad in place while he got the jar of ointment open. The thick smell of herbs and garlic rapidly spread around them, and the elk sneezed, shifting to glare up at him for a moment.

“Look, I know it smells, but this will keep the wound from going foul. Let me apply this and then I can bandage you up.” Casey refuted the glare with one of his own and the gladewalker elk snorted once.

Casey would have sworn that the animal actually rolled its eyes at him, but it didn’t protest more, and that was what mattered.

The water and his work on the wound had removed much of the ash from the site of the injury and revealed a coat underneath that was a mixture of tan and a shade of green, similar to pine needles. The colors were a mottled swirl that Casey was sure would have given the animal great camouflage amongst trees or in tall grass. He also spotted the hanging rootlets in the darker ruff of the animal’s mane that Maude had mentioned. Casey swore that he saw some of them shift and move about, but that might have been from the animal’s labored breathing.

With the unguent applied, Casey swapped out the bandage for a fresh one, then used what remained of the bandage cloth as a wrap to hold the pad firmly in place. It wasn’t perfect, but it would at least hopefully help the animal recover.

If he can avoid predators while smelling of blood at least, Casey thought with a sigh.

Using the last of his water to rinse the blood from his hands, Casey glanced up to find the elk eyeing him speculatively. So he returned the stare in equal force.

“What?” Casey asked. The elk grunted once in return and made to stand. “Oh, no you don’t. Stay right there and rest for a bit. If you start tromping around already, you are just going to open the wound up again. I’d have stitched it up, but I want to make sure it can drain if I missed anything.”

The elk just grunted at him, and this time he was sure the animal rolled its eyes at him.

“Don’t give me that sass. The least you can do is listen to me so you don’t hurt yourself worse. I’m not asking for the world here. Just lay still and rest for a bit,” Casey countered, and he heard Maude laughing in his mind now. Before he could demand an explanation from her, she answered him already.

I’m just amused at how much you seem alike. I know I’ve used a similar line on you in the past. Admittedly, you bounce back a lot faster than a normal human, Maude explained between giggles. Casey rolled his eyes and snickered when he realized he was mirroring the spirit beast already.

He was opening his mouth to respond to Maude’s statement when the spirit beast in front of him stiffened suddenly and forced itself upright on shaky legs. About to chastise the animal, Casey was stopped again by Maude’s hiss of warning, which came just before a human voice called out to him.

“Ho there! I see you found our prey for us. I’ll ask you nicely to piss off!”

Chapter 33

Turning away from the spirit beast as it struggled to get upright, Casey’s hand fell immediately to Maude’s hilt when he saw the trio of people heading his way.

They had called out to him from some distance away, but the three men were approaching at a steady pace. The one in the lead—a redheaded man with an evil smirk, who was dressed in fine clothes with a dagger and a sword on his hip—made a waving gesture with one hand. The two on either side of him sniggered at each other as they watched their companion.

It was obvious that the two followers were brothers from their similar features. They both had their brown hair tied back behind their heads, carried a sword each on their hips and shields on a strap across their backs. The two brothers wore chainmail tunics as armor with no helmets, though the redheaded leader wore only a tunic and pants.

Other than their weapons and gear, none of the men were carrying any supplies or camping equipment.

Casey took all of this in quickly and squared his shoulders, keeping his hand on Maude and staring down the leader.

“Didn’t you hear me? Piss off, wanderer. This beast is ours,” the redheaded man snarled with a batting gesture of his hand.

The motion sent the heavily embroidered hem of his russet-colored tunic swaying, and Casey studied the man for a moment.

The clothes he wore were of high quality for someone out in the woods, excessively so. His boots were pristine and clothing immaculate, clearly of a far higher quality than his guards. Despite the finer clothing, his hair and beard were disheveled, as if he’d just rolled out of bed and hadn’t bothered to tend to either of them. A fat pouch sat on his hip as well, just behind his eating knife.

“What claim do you have on this creature? I found it and have treated it, so I see no claim of yours,” Casey countered, hand tightening on Maude’s hilt as the men continued to approach. The trio closed to around twenty feet before coming to a stop. The two brothers spread out, one to either side a few feet while the redhead glared at him.

“It’s mine because I say it is, wanderer. We’ve been tracking the animal to capture and sell it at the market.”

Horseshit, Maude’s comment helped Casey keep his temper under control, but he had to fight a smile now. They have no equipment for capture or transport. Not even lead ropes on their belts. These are scavengers. They likely came here for the same reason you did: to pick through the remnants of the battle and find something worthwhile.

That’s what I figured, Casey shot back to Maude before he spoke aloud.

“I don’t believe you. I was here first. The animal is under my protection.”

“Protection, he says,” snorted the brown-haired man on Casey’s right. The man crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Casey. “Do you realize who you are speaking to?”

“A prick in a fancy tunic? None of you have bothered to introduce yourselves. You just came stomping over to demand things from me,” Casey shot back with equal venom.

The chuckling of the guards abruptly cut off as the red-headed man’s glare intensified.

“I don’t care who you are, wanderer. You’ve insulted a scion of the Bronze Fist on our clan’s lands. For that, I will have blood to satisfy my honor,” the man growled and glanced to the guard on his left. “Yance. Beat him within an inch of his life. If he fights back, bleed him.”

“Yes sir, Lord Mikhail,” grunted the guard who hadn’t spoken yet. Not drawing his weapon yet, the man stomped forward, intent on Casey.

Casey, Maude’s voice was concerned now. Do what you have to. I don’t like the look of these three.

Grunting in agreement, Casey braced with his hand on Maude’s hilt still as the man approached. He did not draw his weapon yet, but held himself ready.

“Don’t fight back, just make it easy on yourself,” the chainmail clad guard growled before lunging at Casey with his arms spread wide to grapple him.

Casey sidestepped and kicked the man in the side of the knee on his planted leg, a maneuver he had learned from his training to join the police.

The joint gave a splintery crunch, and the man collapsed with a scream of pain right onto his face. Casey didn’t give the man a chance to get up. He kicked the side of his head sharply like he was punting a football, and the man went silent abruptly, falling limp.

“Brother!” shouted the other guard. There was a ringing of steel being drawn as the man yanked his sword from his hip.

Casey didn’t hesitate. He yanked Maude from her sheath in one smooth motion and reached inside himself to the small pool of his qi.

With a mental hand, he gripped that slowly swirling pool and wrenched it to spin in reverse. Threads of misty silver qi spread outwards and surged into his channels, racing into Casey’s body until they reached the surface and coated his skin. All of this happened in the matter of a heartbeat as the second guard charged Casey with his sword held high.

Bringing Maude around, Casey turned so that he had his empty left arm extended towards his charging opponent.

Maude was held blade down and tight to his side, with his right arm cocked and ready. The charging guard shifted and swung his hands to bring his sword around in a low chop towards Casey’s leading leg, but the moment Casey had been waiting for arrived.

Pushing off with his back leg, Casey lunged forward. He swung his left arm down to parry, his forearm impacted with the swinging sword with a ringing clang of metal on metal. Casey felt his skin part, but only a thin cut opened up as the sword was deflected away, his first technique absorbing the damage and changing the momentum of the man’s attack.

Skin of the Iron Bear was a simple technique that reinforced his skin and armored it. Casey hadn’t used it since his first step. While it didn’t literally turn his skin to iron, it was enough to deflect a glancing blow with only a minor cut to show for it.

The guard’s look of astonishment when his blade was redirected was replaced by a moment of fear as Casey turned into the lunge, bringing Maude up and around from the right. He drove the restored tip of her blade directly into the man’s neck from the side.

The shimmering metal parted skin without any resistance, gliding over the glittering links of chainmail that armored the man’s shoulder and sinking to the hilt in his neck.

Still propelled by his forward momentum, Casey pushed with his shoulder and sawed in with Maude’s length. The forward motion met and sunk between the bones of the guard’s spine. With a pop and another shower of gore, the blade of the seax tore free of the astonished guard’s neck, leaving his head attached by only the front of his throat.

Shoulder-checking the guard’s corpse aside, Casey turned to glare at the well-dressed fop as his guard’s body collapsed to the ground in front of the man.

Casey expected the man to back away, to turn coward and now that his bruisers were dealt with. But the redheaded man just snorted and drew his own weapons.

“Trash. I should have replaced them sooner, but what can you expect in a backwoods settlement? Waste of a Legacy to bring them up with how useless they were. You won’t find me easy prey, though, wanderer. You face the son of a Jarl! I am Mikhail of the Bronze Fist, and I will take your head!”

Surprising that the first two were so easy if they were also on the Drengr’s Road. Good job by the way, Casey. Surprised you killed them.

They attacked me. I refuse to let them beat on me to salve an idiot’s pride. I had enough of being walked on in my past life. If someone wants to fuck with me, they can deal with the consequences. Casey half expected further chastisement from Maude for his angry mental statement, but all he felt was pride from his partner.

Good. If this was an honor duel, holmgang, or sparring, then it would depend on terms. None of those apply here. Three strangers accosted you in the wild, and you have the right to defend yourself.

Maude’s mental voice was hard as Casey stepped towards Mikhail. The man brandished his sword with a flourish while keeping his dagger out to one side.

Mikhail handled his weapons with the ease of practice. Casey doubted he’d get a chance at an easy kill like he had with the guard. He needed to make sure he got the fight away from the injured spirit beast as well. The last thing he needed right now was Mikhail taking the opportunity to injure the animal to piss him off. Given the man’s temperament and how dismissive he was of the deaths of his guards, anything could happen.

Mikhail started the fight off with a flick of his sword towards Casey’s face. A step back to let the weapon whip past him, and Casey lunged into the opening presented, driving Maude forward to thrust the seax into the man’s unarmored stomach. Mikhail’s dagger intercepted the blow and pushed Casey off to one side as the sword in the man’s offhand came back around in a chop at Casey’s shoulder.

Throwing himself into a roll, Casey slashed at Mikhail’s calf. The redheaded man yanked his leg out of the way and snapped a quick kick at Casey to drive him back.

“Fool. You should have just let us have the beast,” Mikhail hissed as he reset, which gave Casey the time to get to his feet. “I was willing to let you walk away, but no, you had to be noble. Worms that wriggle on the earth should know better than to challenge those who walk the Drengr’s Road.”

Casey did not take his bait. Instead, he settled himself and waited for Mikhail to engage this time. Three times Mikhail came at him, but Casey dodged or deflected the blows with each pass. After every defense, Mikhail’s face grew redder with anger until it began to match his beard in shade.

“Why?” Casey asked after they separated from the last engagement.

He’d barely missed cutting open Mikhail’s dagger arm and had a second cut on his left forearm from deflecting the sword with his technique-enhanced skin. Maude reminded him again that the technique was not foolproof, and he could still lose his hand if the blow landed squarely.

“Why what, worm?” snarled the other man, feinting a lunge with his dagger that Casey didn’t buy.

While Mikhail was skilled with using both hands, he was wielding the dagger like it was a small shield, mostly. He rarely used it to strike like he should and instead reserved it to parry with. Casey knew knife fighting, both from his life before and his training from Maude. He knew that for the short, double-bladed dagger to be effective, Mikhail would have to come far closer than the man seemed to want to.

“Why did you attack me? It can’t just be greed.” Casey circled Mikhail, making a feint of his own to drive the man backwards.

“I want the beast, and I get what I want. You stand in my way, so I will crush you. You have annoyed me, so I will toy with you a bit before I kill you,” Mikhail hissed through clenched teeth and made another attack, leading with his dagger this time. Casey ducked under the blow and warded off the sword with Maude, taking the opportunity to punch the man in the chest with his left fist.

The blow drove Mikhail backwards, and the man gasped in pain.

Casey knew this was an opportunity to taunt the man or to try to deescalate the situation if he wanted to. But he did not want to calm Mikhail down. What he’d told Maude earlier was true. He was tired of people stepping on him. Mikhail had the air about him of someone who enjoyed doing that, too. Even abusing and denigrating those he should care about, like his guards.

Weeks ago, Loptr had sent Casey here with the freedom to shape himself into whatever kind of person he wanted to be, and to forge himself into something that could strike back against the creature that played with his past life.

And Mikhail had just threatened to toy with him as well before killing him.

“No more.”

The words thundered from Casey’s lips in a bellow, and he lunged for the other man. Mikhail was not ready for the flurry of blows from Casey and only managed to block two of the three strikes with his blades. The third ripped open his shirt and laid his chest bare. Casey expected to see blood and hear a scream of pain from the man. He had expected this to be the beginning of the end of the fight.

Mikhail’s chest was unblemished other than a thin scratch that welled with just a hint of blood in the wake of the blow. The sight was surprising enough that Mikhail was able to get the distance he needed to reset himself and grin at Casey wickedly.

“What? Didn’t expect your opponent to have an armoring technique?” the other man laughed, spinning his sword in a flourishing circle before feinting a lunge that made Casey skip backwards. “I’m not an idiot, you know. I’m sure you thought that when you saw that my guards wore chain, but I did not bother. You’d be surprised how many people make that mistake. I am Mikhail! The Bronze Dragon Coat is an heirloom technique of my family, and I need no more armor than my skin!”

That’s not good. Maude’s words were a drastic understatement, and Casey knew it. This will become a battle of attrition, Casey. Your own technique only consumes qi to blunt blows, and I’m sure his is the same. It will come to who runs out of qi first unless you can find some way to turn it on him.

Casey blew out a breath of irritation through his nose and shifted back to his previous stance again with his left arm forward and Maude held cocked against his side.

“You should just bow down now. I promise I will only torture you a bit. If you make me waste more qi in this fight, I will make your punishment last longer. Did you know that if I heat the blade before making cuts, it cauterizes wounds before my toy can bleed out?” Mikhail’s voice had taken on a manic edge. A bit of frothy spit showed at the edge of his lips.

They clashed three more times, and Casey only took one hit, while Mikhail took two more blows to his chest. Long cuts that bled thinly but barely pierced his skin.

Now that his technique was engaged, the other man was acting more reckless and relying on the ability to protect himself in hopes of getting a decisive blow. Taking wounds he could have dodged or blocked, all in an effort to get an opening.

Casey continued to fight defensively to conserve his smaller pool of qi. He wasn’t sure how far along the Drengr’s Road Mikhail was, but the man hit just as hard as he did, so he was at least a second Step.

The next turning point came when Mikhail got the hilt of his parrying dagger caught in his tunic and ripped the cuts wider. Growling in annoyance, the other man ripped his tunic off to expose a muscled chest that was streaked with a trio of thin cuts and a dark-red bruise high on his right side.

Casey didn’t need Maude’s excited hiss to make the mental connection. He now had to test it.

The bruise damaged him more than the cut. Is he only resistant to slashing? How deep does it go?

They clashed again. Casey intentionally took a slash on his right hip, this time to drive his fist into the wound in Mikhail’s gut. The punch tore a scream of pain from the man’s lips, and a spurt of blood as the cut opened wider. Seizing the opportunity, Casey lunged forward to drive Maude’s tip into the gut wound.

The angular tip of the seax hit and fought to penetrate at first, before the technique failed once it made it past the layers of Mikhail’s skin. The weight of Casey’s thrust then drove Maude’s blade home to the hilt in the other man’s stomach.

Mikhail gasped in pain, and his weapons tumbled free of his hands to land on the ground.

Shifting, Casey yanked the blade out of the wound and kicked Mikhail to put the other man on his back as far from his weapons as possible.

Mikhail landed with a grunt of pain, feebly clutching at the stomach wound to try to stop the foul-smelling blood that was already leaking from the injury.

“You are dying,” Casey said tonelessly as he loomed over Mikhail. The formerly confident man gasped and turned to look up at Casey in fear now.

“Wait…” Mikhail began to beg for mercy, holding one bloody hand out while he scrabbled for his pouch, no doubt reaching for money to try and buy his life. “Mercy, drengr! My clan will pay you a ransom for me,” the other man begged.

Despite his hardened heart and earlier decision that he would give the man no quarter, Casey hesitated. It was only the barest moment, not even a full second, but it happened.

This was the opening that Mikhail was waiting for. The prone man yanked his eating knife from his belt and lunged upwards with a scream of fury, intent on driving the short blade into the inside of Casey’s thigh. If the blade pierced there, Casey was guaranteed to bleed out regardless of how short the eating knife was.

The bloody blade in Casey’s hand vanished and Maude appeared in her human form on Casey’s right in between heartbeats.

Kicking out with one delicate foot, the raven-haired woman in her leather wrap outfit caught Mikhail’s wrist with her heel in a blow that sent the eating knife spiraling away. The redheaded man had a moment to gape in surprise before Maude vanished again to appear as a seax in Casey’s fist once more.

No hesitation remained in Casey now. He snatched the other man by the hair and yanked his head back before slashing Maude across his exposed throat.

A fountain of gore later, and Mikhail collapsed to the ground to breathe his last breath as a red, foamy gurgle from an exposed throat. Apparently, he hadn’t even tried to restart the technique. There was no resistance to the blow that ended the idiot’s life.

Chapter 34

Heart still thundering from the fight, Casey heaved for breath as he tried to center himself after killing people.

A shuffle of noise from behind him told him that the gladewalker elk was still there. He turned to check on the animal when he was met with the sight of the first guard, the one he had kicked in the head, rising from the ground with murder in his eyes.

Casey heard Maude say something, though his stressed mind could not interpret what her words were. His body screamed at him to prepare to fight the other man, but the exhaustion of the exertion was already leaking in.

“I will aven—” the guard started to say, raising his sword over his head before he stiffened suddenly and his whole body went slack for a moment, then was tossed to one side as if he was made of cloth.

Grunting in irritation, the gladewalker elk shook its head from side to side, which sent droplets of fresh blood flying from its antlers. The elk gave a hooting bellow of challenge towards the fallen man, who was struggling weakly on the ground. Casey could see now that there were several ragged holes in the man’s back, punching right through his chainmail armor, which matched the tines on the elk’s antlers.

The elk grunted again and turned his head to look towards Casey. There was a question in the animal’s stance, as if it was asking if it should spare the gored guard. Casey shook his head but waved the elk back when it tried to limp towards the fallen man.

“No, friend. I’ll finish him. I appreciate your help, but I’d rather you not chance opening your wound,” Casey urged the elk to back up. It did as he requested, snorting in irritation at the downed man.

When Casey bent to finish the fallen guard, he found that the man was already dead. On a closer inspection, he found one tine had torn out the side of the guard’s neck. He’d bled out before Casey even made it to him.

Sighing, Casey glanced at the three corpses lying around him and their blood mixing with the soil.

We can’t stay here.

“I know, Maude.”

No, seriously. We cannot stay here. You heard what Mikhail was saying. He’s the scion of one of the local clan leaders. If his father really is a Jarl, then there will be others looking for him shortly. While you were within your rights to kill to defend yourself, there are no witnesses to vouch for you. If the Jarl wants to cause problems, he easily can.

“What should we do, then?” Casey’s voice lifeless as he stared down at the second guard, whose head he’d nearly removed what both felt like seconds and hours ago.

The killing hadn’t bothered him before, and it didn’t now. This was a harsh world, and he’d grown up harsh, too. Any regrets over the act of killing had faded at the end of his previous life when he’d had to stab his partner for shooting him. He was just dealing with the adrenaline drop after the fight and the pain in his many cuts.

Search the bodies for anything of value. You won fair and square in the fight. The spoils go to you.

“Little ghoulish, isn’t that?”

No more than cutting the cores out of the Fomori. You aren’t harvesting their cores, by the way.

“Wasn’t even going to suggest it. You mentioned before that was a no-no.” Casey blinked several times and shook his head once to clear it before nodding to himself.

Good. I just wanted to remind you. Seriously, though, take their pouches at the very least. It’ll help pay to replace medical supplies. And you are going to need another set of new clothes. We need to look into some armor for you, or some enchanted clothes that will mend themselves. Did you get that sewing kit in Cliff Song like I told you?

“Yeah, I did.”

Okay, take what you can use from the bodies, but make sure to separate their weapons to one side. I want them.

Casey was about to protest when he remembered what Maude had said about ‘consuming’ the weapons of his enemies to reinforce herself. So he made a pile of the swords of all three and Mikhail’s dagger, before removing the pouches from the group’s belts. He patted their pants to check for pockets, but found none.

The two guards had a handful each of silver fangs in their pouches, and one man had a leather roll of pipe-tobacco and a clay pipe in his pouch. Casey took the coins and tucked the tobacco and pipe into the dead guard’s shirt. He wasn’t sure which one it was at this point and couldn’t remember their names, or if he’d heard them, anyway.

Mikhail’s pouch contained far more in the way of coins, with over thirty gold horns in it and a smattering of silver fangs or copper claws. Tucked in amongst the coins was a glass phial with a pair of midnight-blue pills inside of it.

Huh, that’s good to see. If only he’d gone for those rather than his knife, he might have survived this. Maude’s voice was amused as Casey regarded the glass phial. Before you ask, those are wound-closing pills. They could have sealed up his gut wound and given him a chance to get back to town to get treated for infection without bleeding out.

Casey thought that over for a moment before glancing at the gladewalker elk where it still stood nearby, watching him with its large brown eyes. Red blood had already begun to stain its way through the crude bandage on its shoulder wound.

They’d work on him. Maude answered his question without waiting for Casey to verbalize it. It’d seal the wound in a matter of minutes rather than days. It runs the risk of sealing the infection in, but with a wound like his? I doubt there was anything in it based on what you saw earlier. Mikhail would have been in trouble because of the nicked bowels you could smell from his wound.

“Come here, boy,” Casey called as he made his decision.

After he’d wiggled the cork free of the bottle, he dumped the two pills out onto his palm and held one out to the elk, letting it sit in the middle of his palm.

The elk limped over, and snuffled at his hand curiously before looking up at Casey, though he didn’t take the pill.

“That will help you heal up. I’m taking the other one for my cuts,” Casey said in response to the question that he swore he could see in the animal’s gaze.

The elk continued to stare at him for a long moment, and Casey stared right back. The spirit beasts liquid brown eyes seemed to grow larger and draw him in as they stared at each other before the beast snorted and picked the pill up from his palm with delicate lips. A quiet crunch later and the elk tossed its head, nostrils flaring in disgust.

Well, of course it tastes bad, you silly beast, Maude laughed, and Casey got a dirty look from the elk. It’s medicine. It never tastes good. That way you don’t want to have to take it. Use yours, Casey. Then make sure you have what you want. Drag the bodies into one of the lightning-scorched spots and pile wood there. They may have been cruel and tried to kill you, but they at least deserve a pyre rather than being left to rot in the woods. Also, make sure to strip off their eating knives and set them aside.

Casey did as he was told and mirrored the gladewalker elk’s maneuver of chewing up the blueberry-sized pill. It tasted like a mixture of old socks and musty hay, and Casey gagged as well.

The elk huffed deep in its throat, and Casey got the sense it was laughing at him. Casey felt his skin prickle as the pill went to work immediately and the cuts began to seal up.

Ignoring the amused ungulate, Casey finished his task. Other than the three pouches, weapons, and eating-knives, the men had nothing else on them.

He used one shield as a dish and piled the weapons on it, then set Maude in her seax form on top of the pile of weapons at her direction. Adding to it, Casey loaded the three eating knives to the pile as well, not sure why Maude had told him to keep them, but guessing she could consume them as well.

He wanted to watch, but Casey knew that the sooner he got the fire going, the sooner he could be on his way. There would be no more gathering from this battle site, and he still needed to double back to get his pack.

After having to build the pyre to both dispose of the Fomori and the fallen guards from the caravan, dealing with these three was far easier. He dragged them over to the nearest burned patch of earth and used the shattered fragments of the nearby trees to build the pyre.

Knowing that the green wood would not burn well, Casey also dragged over several of the smaller deadwood trees and broke off the scorched and burned branches of several trees from the burned grove. Piling all that together, he used Mikhail’s tunic to help get the fire going with a bundle of his tinder moss and the other shield to hold it up off the wet ground.

Once the fire was going and he knew it wouldn’t spread beyond the burned-out spot, Casey headed back to where he’d left Maude on the shield. The entire time, the spirit beast watched him curiously but did not stray away, though he could see it was tenderly putting weight on its bad leg from time to time.

Maude sat in her seax form on bare ground when he got back. The weapons and shield were gone, but the three eating knives lay on the grass beside her blade.

“What happened to the swords?”

I absorbed them. Their steel was inferior to mine, but I can use it. Same with the shield and Mikhail’s fighting dagger.

“Why did you leave the knives?”

Those are your trophies, Casey.

Maude’s words struck Casey as odd, and he stared down at the seax sitting innocently on the grass. Crossing his arms over his chest, Casey waited for Maude to explain, which she did after a few moments.

You have defeated three other drengr who walk the Road. Just as with the hunt-necklace, you have earned trophies. Some, who are more uncultured or gruesome, would claim teeth or ears. Their eating knives are just as good. They had no jewelry, which you could also have claimed as trophies. Which was surprising for Mikhail. If he was truly the scion, then one would think he’d have a signet or an arm-ring. Maybe he was a younger son or was just trying to use it to throw you.

“Fair. But why do I need to take trophies from them, anyway? Wouldn’t it be better to dispose of all the evidence if his father might cause trouble?” Casey worked to keep his tone even as he asked the pointed question.

You don’t need to display them openly, and I would not put them on your hunt-necklace. But if you are confronted again like this, having trophies of duels won might prevent the conflict.

That made sense to Casey, and he sighed again before nodding and picking up the short eating knives to inspect them.

All three were just over six inches long, including the hilt, and had the image of a clenched fist pressed into the bronze of their handle, which he assumed was a mark of the Bronze Fist clan. Wrapping them in a bit of spare bandage, Casey tucked them into his shoulder bag and resolved to hide them in the bottom of his pack. While Maude had a point, he wasn’t going to risk trouble by having them easily spotted.

The pyre was throwing enormous clouds of smoke into the air now, and Casey knew he needed to get moving. While he wasn’t sure which direction the trio had come from on the road, he needed to get away from this area and get cleaned up.

The forest still felt welcoming to him, but this battlefield had taken on a more worrying tone. Also, with the lack of supplies the trio had with them, Casey didn’t want to risk the idea that they were part of a larger group that was camped nearby.

Shouldering his bag, he turned towards the spirit beast, which had watched the entire conversation in silence.

“You should get going, boy. That cloud of smoke is going to attract others, and I don’t want you to get caught. Here, let me check your bandage.”

Casey approached after sheathing Maude, and the spirit beast stood still and waited while he untied and unwrapped the bandage. The clotted blood made it stick to the elk’s mane, but when Casey peeled it back, the wound had fully sealed up. “Looks like you are as good as new, buddy.”

The elk huffed once and shifted to rub its enormous head against his shoulder in thanks. It turned to glance around warily once before looking back at Casey expectantly.

“What?”

The elk continued to stare at him with those liquid brown eyes.

“Go on, you are all healed up and free.”

The elk didn’t move.

Casey, I think he’s planning on coming with you. Maude’s suggestion was greeted with a toss of the big animal’s head and a huff of air that sounded like a laugh.

Staring up at the enormous animal, Casey just shook his head in resignation. He was definitely going to have to get moving, then. There was no way the elk would fit into the cave he’d sheltered in the last few days.

“Okay, fine. Let’s get going. I guess I need to come up with a name for you then, big guy?”

The elk let out a happy bugle and trotted after him as Casey gestured for it to follow. Its steps made not a single sound or left a print in the mud when it followed Casey into the trees.

Author's Note

Well, that wraps up Desmond and the girls’ time aboard the Valor’s Bid. Now the greater galaxy is going to have to deal with the sort of mischief he might get up to. What sort of challenges might occur, between earning the respect of their fellow adepts and dealing with the inevitable challenges that the formation of Clan McLaughlin will draw in.

Hope you all are looking forward to reading about it as much as I am looking forward to writing it!

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I want to thank all of you for taking the time to dive into this world and explore it alongside Desmond and the girls. The fact that others enjoy delving into this world continues to encourage me to build it out further and further.

At this point though, I doubt Desmond’s girls would let me stop even if I wanted to!

About The Author

M. Tress

About the Author

I've been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember. According to my parents, that started really young. Apparently, my mother found me in the living room teaching myself to read with the book she'd been reading to me only an hour previous at around the age of four. Apparently, I wasn't done at the same time she was.

Since then, I've been fascinated with the written word. Everything from lore heavy games to literature to tabletop gaming as well. I wrote for the enjoyment of it and spent a fair amount of time in various pen names writing fan fiction, since those stories ended before I was done with them as well.

Now though, I can appreciate a good ending when the time comes. Especially since, as the author, I'm the one who gets to choose when the story wraps and the curtains close.

It is a good feeling!