Chapter 60: Snow

“Farewell, Jamus,” Tallheart said, as his friend turned to return to the city. He and Carten had been kind enough to bring him some basic supplies, but were impatient to return, Tallheart knew. Carten had already started back, and Jamus had been forced to follow or be left behind.

“See you later, Tallheart,” Jamus said over his shoulder. “I’ll come visit you in a few days.”

Tallheart watched as the orange of Jamus’s clothes slowly disappeared into the softly falling snow. He is a good man.

He stood silently, watching as the snow continued to fall. The cold didn’t bother him anyway. It looked like this storm was going to leave them with more than just a dusting. Lilly would have been happy. She loved the snow. I always thought it was fitting that she lived up to her name.

It was quiet in the clearing. The sky was overcast and the falling snow muted all sound. Tallheart’s breath fogged the air slightly as he stood, staring into the distance. I miss you.

Ameliah watched as Stint jerked his arm back. The obstinate horse had tried to nip him again. He glared at it, then went back to adjusting the blanket on its back. “Stand still, that’s a good horse. Shhh. Good horse.” He kept his tone light and pleasant but the horse didn’t seem to be buying it. It eyed him skeptically.

He sighed and turned to Ameliah. “You’re sure it’s okay for me to take this guy?” he said, gesturing to the horse.

“I’m sure,” Ameliah said. “You know where you’re going?”

Stint shrugged. “Away from here. I think I’ll head east. Get away from the DKE. The Vekuavaks won’t chase me for breaking my contract. Probably. Still, Lady Velika might do something…unpleasant if she finds me. I’d like to get as far away from her as I can.”

“Can you tell me anything else about her before you go?” Ameliah asked. “Anything that would help us?”

Stint shrugged. “I’ve already told you pretty much everything. I’d only been working for her for a few weeks. Other than the fact that her mother was a Citizen, her family isn’t that well known. Now that she’s in command, Lady Velika seems to have something to prove. I’d tell you to be careful around her, but I hardly need to tell you that. You’ve met her.”

Ameliah nodded. “We’ll be careful. If you’re going, you should go. The storm looks like it is going to get worse. If you push, you should be able to make it to Essed before nightfall. It’s just a small village, but you can’t miss it. Just head down the Eastroad.”

“Thanks,” Stint said, clambering up on the horse. “Do me a favor and say goodbye to the others?”

Ameliah nodded. Stint looked like he was ready to leave but Ameliah stopped him, raising a hand. I should say something.

“Yeah?” Stint asked.

“Don’t waste it,” she said. Stint looked confused, so she continued. “Your awakening. Don’t let your gift go to waste. Use it to help people. Don’t let yourself become like your old master.”

Stint nodded. “I will.” He pulled the horse’s head around and snapped the reins. The horse pulled back. It looked over its shoulder at him but didn’t otherwise move. He sighed. “So much for a dramatic exit. What’s the deal with this horse?”

Ameliah laughed. She walked up and laid her hand on the horse’s neck, running her fingers through its mane. She looked into its eyes and smiled. “Be nice to him. He’s new.”

The horse snorted but grudgingly started walking at Stint’s urging. Ameliah stepped back to avoid getting stepped on. She smiled as the pair moved off into the snow. The start of a new adventure.

Rain trudged toward Tallheart’s clearing. The storm was getting worse and he was cold, tired, and hungry. He was kicking himself for not stopping to get a cloak before he left the city, but he wanted to get to the clearing before nightfall. He used Detection and sighed in relief as he got a signal. He was close. He’d been worried that he’d gotten turned around in the storm, but Tallheart’s presence on his radar confirmed that he was still headed in the right direction. He doubted there was another cervidian anywhere in the vicinity of Fel Sadanis.

He made out Tallheart’s tall form through the snow as he broke through the trees into the clearing. Ameliah was standing beside him, her hand on his elbow. Did I miss something?

There was no sign of Stint. He waved. “Hey. It’s me. What are you two doing out here in the snow? Why didn’t you start a fire or something?”

“Hello, Rain,” Tallheart rumbled. Ameliah took her hand away from Tallheart’s arm and moved toward him.

“Rain,” she said. “Are you okay? You’re limping.”

“My legs are dead. Too much running. Also, I got in a fight with a giant slime and kinda cooked myself a bit.”

Ameliah shook her head and laid her hand on his breastplate. Rain sighed in relief as the healing energy rushed through him. His skin immediately felt soothed, and his lungs stopped burning quite so badly. A wave of stamina followed the health. His legs immediately started feeling better, but there was a nagging sensation at the back of his mind. The fatigue wasn’t quite gone, despite the magical restoration. I guess that’s stamina soulstrain. She’s been boosting me like this for days. This is probably the limit. I should take it easy for a while. No more running.

“Thanks,” he said. “I need to get a healing skill. It’s a shame you can’t use Healing Word on yourself. All the good ones seem to be tier 1 or higher.” He looked at Tallheart. “So, what have you two been up to while I was in the city? Where’s Stint?”

“Tallheart was brooding,” Ameliah said. “I was helping him brood. Stint’s gone. He took the horse and headed off to the east. He said to say goodbye.”

“Oh,” Rain said, shifting from foot to foot. Tallheart looks…distant? It’s hard to tell with him. He shivered. “I’m going to get a fire going.”

“Do not bother,” Tallheart said. “It is almost nightfall.”

Rain rolled his eyes. “You two are insane. It’s freezing out here.”

“You have a skill, do you not?” Tallheart said.

“Yeah, and I’ve been using it on and off since I left the city. Only a few times though. I didn’t want to melt a huge path leading straight to your camp. It helps quite a bit, but leaving it on all night seems like asking for trouble. I don’t want your house to burn down again, so a fire is a better idea.”

Ameliah laughed. “A fair point. I’ll get some wood together. I’d be fine without a fire, but we are in a forest after all. Wood is easy to come by.”

Rain shook his head. Everyone and their cold resistance. “No, don’t worry about it. I can do it. I feel bad for taking so long. I had to talk to Halgrave, and then I decided to go on a little adventure. It took longer than I was expecting. I should have come out here right away.”

“Sit,” Ameliah said, pointing at a snowy log. “You were worse off than you’re trying to make me think. You need the rest. Stop trying to do everything all at once.”

“Fine, fine,” Rain said with a sigh. He looked at the snowy log. “I’m going to use Immolate to melt the snow at any rate. I can do that much.”

He quickly double-checked the settings on IFF, then activated the skill. He only used around 5% power, but even at such a low setting, the snow melted quickly. He was using Extend Aura to get the whole camp at once. Soon, the entire area felt like a warm swamp, steam rising from the soggy grass in a huge radius around the cabin.

“Hmm,” Tallheart rumbled. “That has gotten much stronger.”

Rain smiled. “I know, right? It’s actually a bit of a problem. I’m boosting the range right now, but even if I don’t, it is still pretty huge. I can’t use it at a high enough level for combat if there’s anything nearby. Plus, even if I don’t care about what I’m setting on fire, the air gets too hot for me to breathe. That’s how I hurt myself today.”

“You just need to boost your Strength or Endurance a bit,” Ameliah said from where she was arranging firewood. “As I said before, imbalance is dangerous.”

“Yeah, I agree with you. My stat allocation isn’t exactly safe, but it has its advantages,” Rain said. She started off as a Jack, so she’s probably as balanced as it gets. She’s ridiculously strong, but… Whatever her class turned into must have something that provides some massive synergy. I can’t see it being as strong as a focused build otherwise, even if it is much safer.

He turned to Tallheart. “While we’re on the subject, didn’t you say you could make something to boost stats if you had some gold?”

“Yes,” Tallheart said.

Rain smiled. He set down his pack on the rapidly drying grass and fished around in it, removing the crown. “Can you do anything with this? It’s got some gold in it, but I’m not sure how much. It is mostly lead, actually. Is there enough here to make a ring?” He offered the crown to Tallheart.

Tallheart took it and examined it. “A slime crown? I have not seen one of these for years. Yes, I should be able to use it.” He handed it back. “Keep it for now. I must construct a new crucible.”

Rain took the crown and tucked it back into his pack. “Where did you see one before? Oh, and where does the metal come from? Does it just spawn with the monster?”

Tallheart shrugged. “I do not know where the metal comes from. The last time I saw a slime crown was before Lilly and I left Bellost.”

“Bellost? That’s the continent to the east of here, right? The big one?” I need a damn map.

Tallheart nodded.

“Were you born there?” Ameliah asked. Tallheart looked at her but didn’t respond immediately. She casually lit the now dry logs with a flame that she conjured on her finger, then sat cross-legged near the growing fire. “That’s enough, Rain. You can drop the skill.”

Rain canceled Immolate and switched back to Winter, moving to sit near the fire. Tallheart joined them, sitting on the now-dry log. “Yes, I was born there,” he said after a long pause. Flakes of snow were once more reaching the ground, no longer held at bay by Rain’s aura.

“Then why did you leave?” Ameliah asked. “I haven’t heard of any cervidian cities on Bellost, but it has to be better for you there than it is here.”

Tallheart sighed. “It was better, but…it did not last. Lilly and I grew up in a small village with the others. We were the only ones to escape the hunters that came in the night. We lived in the wilds until Lilly decided she was strong enough to fight back. She wanted to find more of our kind, so we came here. It has been almost ten years since we came through the teleportation array.”

“Wow,” Rain said. “That’s…Tallheart, that’s awful. Your whole family was…?”

“Yes,” Tallheart said.

“I’m sorry,” Ameliah said, laying her hand on Tallheart’s back. “It must have been horrible.”

“It was. Lilly and I swore vengeance upon the Empire. It was all that kept us going at first. We were young and naive. We traveled all across the continent, working in secret. I am not a fighter, but Lilly…she was strong. She would fight and I would make us the equipment we needed to survive. Now that she is gone, I…” Tallheart shook his head. “I apologize. Lilly always told me not to brood. She preferred action.”

The group sat in silence as the snow fell. Wow. I knew something like that must have happened, but... Just hearing him tell it like that hurts. I can’t imagine everything that he’s been through. What can I even say? I need to say something…

Ameliah beat him to it. “What was she like?” she asked.

That could work. If we can get him to talk about her, it might help him feel better. Or it could go horribly, horribly wrong. I’m bad at this stuff…

Tallheart shook his head, the snow swirling around his antlers. “I will tell you a story. Hopefully, this will help you to understand what it was like for her. For us.”

“It’s okay, Tallheart, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Rain said.

“It is fine. I only ask that you do not interrupt. I will tell it my way. You may ask your questions when I have finished.”

He paused, staring into the flames. When he spoke, his voice was low and his tone somber. “This story is from around eight years ago. Lilly and I had been traveling around the DKE for a few years. We were near the border with the Empire when we heard a rumor…”

“So this is it, huh? The Empire? It doesn’t look like much.”

“It is just a farming village, Lilly,” I said. Villages were the same everywhere. The people here probably didn’t even care that they were a part of the Empire of Adamant. At least, that was how it had been on Bellost and in the parts of the DKE that we had seen. I was wrong, of course, but neither Snowlilly nor I had ever set foot inside the Empire before.

Lilly looked down at me from where she was perched in the treetops. She swore as her antlers got tangled in the branches. “Damn it, I’m still not used to these things.” She jumped down, landing lightly beside me.

“I think they are beautiful,” I said, reaching out to run my hand through her tawny hair. Her antlers had grown even larger since we’d come through the portal, proof of her increasing power. My own were still fairly small. Though we had worked together to defeat the essence monster that had made our journey possible, my own skills were slow to level. It was difficult to practice when we were always on the move.

Lilly laughed and poked me in the forehead. “Stop it, you flatterer. We’re here for a purpose. You can compliment me all you want later.”

“I only speak the truth,” I said, smiling. “So, what did you see? Is he there?”

Lilly shrugged. “I didn’t see him. We’ll have to go in. Come on.”

“You cannot be serious, Lilly. Forget what I just said. This is the Empire. We cannot just walk in and ask where he is, even if it is just a farming village.”

“Sure we can. Who’s going to stop us?”

“Lilly, this is reckless. Even if there are no soldiers here, things could get…messy.”

“It will be fine,” Lilly said. She grabbed my hand and pulled. She made a face when I refused to budge. “Come on. Trust me a little. Besides, I want to be seen. If they come after us, it will make them easier to find. And to kill.”

I sighed. I could never win an argument with her when she had made up her mind, so I knew better than to try. I let her lead me to the edge of the trees. She stopped to string her new bow before walking out into the open. She bent the adamant staff easily, stringing it with the metal cable that I’d painstakingly woven from individually enchanted strands of wire.

When she was ready, we walked together toward the village, making for the nearest house. There was no wall around the perimeter, and there didn’t appear to be any obvious guards. “You’re sure this will last?” she asked, eying the thin cable skeptically. She gave the bow an experimental pull, watching as the metal flexed.

“Yes. Trust me a little,” I said, echoing her earlier words back at her. The cable would hold. I had made it properly.

Her reply was cut off as a shout went up from the village. We’d been spotted. I stood up tall, trying to look intimidating. The villagers would not know that I could barely move without damaging myself. Until I finished adding the enchantments to the armor lying back in our camp, I would need to leave the fighting to her. Once more I cursed my decision to invest so heavily in strength. The power that it lent to my metalworking was undeniable, but it had left me…brittle. The Endurance and Recovery enchantments on the rings that I had made were barely enough anymore.

“Shit, Jay, look at that! She makes the other one look like a joke!” said a leather-clad man, stepping out from behind one of the houses. He had a sword strapped to his belt, but he hadn’t drawn it. He was on the older side, but still athletic. Perhaps a retired adventurer or soldier.

Another man followed him, younger, but with a noticeable limp. He was also armed. “Emperor’s beard, I didn’t know their antlers could get that big,” the second man said. “They’re probably worth a fortune. Wait, ain’t she...a she? The females have antlers too?” I grit my teeth in anger, then forced myself to relax. I would let Lilly handle it.

“Watch what you say, human,” Lilly said coldly, gripping her bow casually. “Where is he?”

“Where is who?” said the second man, Jay. “Bru, you got any idea what she’s talking about?”

“Not the foggiest,” said Bru. “And you should talk to us with respect, deer.” I narrowed my eyes. Almost quicker than I could follow, Lilly drew a metal arrow and nocked it. To the humans, it must have looked like she had summoned it from thin air.

“It is you who should watch what you say, ape,” Lilly said. I winced. This would not end well. “Now, where is he? You know who I’m talking about. The cervidian.”

“Enemies of the Empire will get no answers from—hey, where’d that arrow come from?” said Bru, jumping as Lilly started drawing back on the bow.

“Bru, that bow don’t look normal,” said Jay, taking a cautious step backward.

“You have two seconds,” Lilly said. “Where is he?”

“Wait, wait!” Jay cursed as he stumbled back. “He’s down by the mill. Ambrose’s got him for the day.”

“Thank you,” Lilly said, easing back on the cable. “Come on. Let’s go,” she said to me, pushing past the humans, still holding the arrow at the ready.

I relaxed slightly. Lilly would not have actually shot the man for the insult. At least, I believed she would not have. She had come a long way since the day when she had sworn to kill every last human in the Empire, but her prejudice ran deep. I think it was only out of respect for me that she’d finally been willing to acknowledge them as people at all.

I ask you not to judge us too harshly. She was young, as was I. We would both learn in time that not all humans were evil, and that some…were. Thus, I was not prepared for the sword that swung for my neck as I turned my back on the two men. It slammed into my exposed skin with a thud of impact, though I barely felt it. If not for my Strength, the blow would have killed me. As it was, I was in no danger.

For Lilly, though, that detail did not matter. The two men were dead before I had even realized that I had been attacked. She hadn’t even bothered to use her bow, simply slitting their throats with the tip of the arrow that she had been holding, faster than they could react. Their bodies fell to the ground as I raised a hand to touch my neck. The fingers came away red, though the blood was not my own.

“Was that necessary?” I asked. Lilly shook her head and strode deeper into the town. As I followed her, I began to notice that there was something odd about the place. Each house had a sense of sameness with the others, a sense of conformity. The details of the construction varied slightly, but one thing was always the same. Every single building had a flag or a banner displaying the symbol of the Empire: two vertical black lines on gray, like the stylized fangs of a serpent. The symbol of the Empire was simple, but menacing, especially here, surrounded by it on all sides. The faces of the townsfolk staring at us from within the buildings did not look afraid. They looked alarmed, yes, but not fearful.

“Strange,” I said. “Something is odd about these people. They saw what you did to those two, but they are not reacting. It looks like they are waiting for something.”

“There must be a garrison here,” Lilly said, but before she could continue, a voice spoke.

“There is. You will die, enemy of the Empire! Just wait.” The voice was high-pitched and filled with anger. I searched for its origin. It was a child, hanging out of a window and staring at us as we passed.

I stared back. The fanaticism in the girl’s eyes was disturbing. One so young should not be capable of such hate. “Not likely,” I said, sadly. “We are very strong. We mean you no harm and they attacked us first. We will go once we have what we came for.”

“They won’t let you! Adamant Unbending!” the child screamed back. Her mother pulled her back through the window but didn’t scold her. She was staring at us with the same hate-filled eyes as her daughter. I scanned the other windows, looking at the faces watching us. Most of the stares were not as intense, but in all of them, there was no fear. As strong as Lilly was, I found their confidence unnerving.

“Come on,” Lilly said, leading the way further into the village. We reached the mill unchallenged. There was a large stone wheel on an axle in an open-sided building. The stone was being pushed along its circular track by a man yoked to the axle. He did not stop as we approached, continuing in his slow plodding circle. The two tiny nubs on his forehead marked him as one of our kind, though unawakened.

“Stop,” Lilly said. “It is time to go.” The man didn’t seem to hear her. He kept walking, pushing the millstone as it ground against the stone base. He didn’t even look up at her voice. “Hey,” she said, moving to stand in his path. Finally, he raised his head. His eyes widened as he saw her antlers.

“You’re…” he gasped, staring at her.

“Tallheart, he’s chained. Break him free,” Lilly said, looking at me. I hurried forward, reaching for the manacles binding the man. I peeled the weak metal away slowly with my fingers, being careful not to damage the man’s wrists. He looked at me with amazement.

“How?”

“Later,” I said. I looked around at the faces of the townsfolk staring at us. Some of them had come out of their houses and were watching us coldly. “Let’s go.” I started ushering the man before me. The sooner we were away from this village the better.

“No,” Lilly said. “I won’t stand for this.” She looked at the man that they had freed. “Who chained you up like that?”

The man rubbed at his wrists. “The miller. His name is Ambrose.”

“Why?” I asked. This made no sense. I had been expecting to find the man dead after I heard that he had disappeared from his home in the wilds. Only the rumor of a cervidian spotted in the empire had brought us here. The Adamants weren’t in the business of enslaving us. There was only the bounty. There was no reason for them to have done this.

The man shook his head. “They have been trading me from person to person for weeks now. They said they were going to let me be useful while they waited for my antlers to grow in. I told them that it does not work like that, but they would not listen. They started chaining me up after the second time that I tried to escape.”

I stared at the man. I was used to being hunted. My family had been killed and I had lived in hiding for years. But this… This man was being treated like an animal. He was being farmed. The ones who had done this were ignorant; his antlers would never grow unless he were to become awakened. It hardly mattered. Their ignorance was no excuse for what they had done.

Whether the whole town was complicit, or just a select few, I never found out. If Lilly had decided to execute them all, I do not think I would have stopped her. Fortunately for them, she did not get the chance. The garrison arrived not long after we had freed the man, alerted by the disturbance.

I will not go into details of the battle. It is not important to this story. It is enough to say that we survived and that the army of the Empire was much stronger than we had thought. We were forced to flee, taking Proudrock with us. We made it across the border and returned him to his family. Then, Lilly and I left. There were always more that needed our help.

Rain sat in silence as Tallheart finished his story. The fire crackled as the antlered man stared into the flames.

“What happened to her?” Ameliah asked, softly.

Tallheart closed his eyes.

“Over the following years, we would clash with the Empire many more times. Lilly grew…bitter. She was not strong enough. She would never be strong enough. She tried not to let me see. Tried not to focus on the things that she could not change. We traveled all across Ekrustia, searching for others of our kind, searching for a place to call home. We never found one.”

He shook his head. “After a long while, we decided to make one instead. We found a safe place. A secret place. We brought many of our kind there over the years. No, I will not tell you where it is. I do not even know if any of us are still there. I have not dared to go back.”

“Lilly and I lived there for several years while I perfected my armor. Those were the best years of my life, but nothing is forever. I wanted to stay and protect the community that we had built, but she wanted to continue the fight. She would never be happy living in peace while others of our kind were being hunted.

“So one day, we left. Her drive was why I loved her. I could no more have made her stay than I could teach a horse to fly. Nor would I want to. That drive defined who she was. And it was what got her killed.

“We found a lair. A powerful one, deep below the ground. Too powerful, but she would not back down. She could not. We made it more than halfway through before the dragon…She forced me to flee. To leave her behind. That is the only reason I am alive today. She died to save me.”

Rain was staring at his feet. His eyes felt hot, the pain in the man’s voice hitting him in the chest. He looked up at Tallheart as he finished speaking. “Tallheart, I’m sorry.”

Tallheart slowly got to his feet and looked off into the falling snow. “Please, do not follow me. I wish to be alone tonight. I will see you in the morning.”

Ameliah and Rain watched as the antlered man walked away into the snow until he faded from sight.