Even the short moment it had taken me to blurt out my plea for help had set the struggle within the chieftains mind back and it took a lot of focus and struggle to get back into an equilibrium. Time lost all meaning as I wrestled with his mind, trying to prevent it from regaining control of his body. Right now, it was almost as if I was a nightmare and he tried to wake up. If he managed to do so, I would most likely lose.

Suddenly, the impulses from his body grew more frantic and strange. There was a draining, something was happening that made both his body and mind fight so much harder but it took a lot of strength out of him and me as well. It was as if I was dragged down into a muddy bog with his mind as his mind fought like an enraged bear to free itself. Before, there was a sense of self-preservation to his mind, it was more interested in defending and surviving, now it was just interested in crushing me, no matter the cost.

When I felt my own mind grow dim, I forcibly broke the connection, feeling the tendrils that connected us snap and whip back into my mind, causing fiery lashes of pain to carve in my mind. I managed to suppress a pained scream, keeping it down to a moan as I almost keeled over. Whatever had happened, it had been bad and something I seriously did not want to repeat.

When the tears faded from my eyes, I surveyed the scene in front of me. Adra had stabbed her spear into the chieftain’s brain, by setting it into the hollow of his jaw-bone and pushing, so there was no way for it to slide off, no matter how strong his hide. I was still connected to his dying mind and the struggle had been what had wounded me. On the plus side, he was dead and we were not. On the negative side, I felt as if someone had taken a whip to my brain. But hey, if I was ever curious what it felt like to have a hot poker stabbed into one's skull, there was no need to ask. I had a good approximation now. Using more magic was not an attractive proposition that moment, but I would have to grit my teeth and hope that I was not making some mental wound worse.

In addition, there were a few interesting messages on my interface.

Jonari Hunter died You gain 1500 EXP. For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP Jonari Hunter died You gain 1500 EXP. For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP

Jonari Great-Hunter died You gain 7300 EXP. For killing an opponent 61 levels above you you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP

Skill increased You increased your skill: Darkness Magic [32/100]

Skill increased You increased your skill: Stealth [24/100]

Composite Skill gained You gained the skill: Mind Magic [1/50] Skills aggregated under the Mind Magic-Skill: [Darkness Magic] There are almost unlimited ways to influence the mind of others, using magic. You learned to do so using the element of Darkness as a base.

Skill increased You increased your skill: Mind Magic [3/50]

While I was trying to get my breath under control, I read the messages and was intrigued. A ‘composite skill’... To me, that sounded like a skill based on multiple different skills, with multiple ways the skill worked and probably different, but similar, end-results. So, similar to programming with different programming languages, each slightly different in the approach to problems, the scope of problems solvable with them and the effort involved. The limit on maximum-skill level could either mean that Mind Magic was so simple that there was no need to grade on a scale of one-hundred or that the current incorporated skills only allowed a limited scope of application. Somehow, the first idea was just a tad suspect, considering that the description literally said that there were almost unlimited ways.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

So, incorporating more skills into mind magic? Sounded interesting. At this point, the only thing I was able to do was crush enemies with brute, overwhelming force. Sure, a sledgehammer could be useful but it was a limited tool and every new tool in my toolbox was something good. Even if the combination of Blood Magic and mental manipulation using Darkness slightly screamed ‘evil overlord’. I was already dressing the part, black furred cloak and armour and everything, but still, there was no need to overdo the chliché, was there? Oh, who was I kidding, there was totally a need and it was definitely worth it.

My breathing back under control, I nodded to Adra who had pulled her spear back out and used straw from the mattress to plug the hole to some extent. It would slow down the smell but only so much. I listened closely if there was any extra noise in the house, indicating that we were busted, but nothing. I had to suppress a giggle, when a small part of me remembered a phrase from my language-classes at school. ‘Die Ohren spitzen’, the german colloquial phrase to ‘listen closely’ and here I was, doing just that with pointy, elf-ears. The backlash must have hit my mind harder than I thought, I had to focus on the situation around us, not let my mind wander away from the pain.

After shaking my head to clear my mind, at least a little, I was moving off the bed and joining Sigmir and Adra closer to the door.

Through gritted teeth, I told Sigmir to move on and thanked Adra for the assist. Both nodded and, despite looking slightly worried at me, continued their way.

Again, Sigmir took the lead and Adra covered our back. Back in the hallway, we carefully closed the door and Sigmir led us to another door, close-by.

“This is Jongarn’s chamber. Finally, the bastard gets what is coming to him.” Sigmir growled out, between clenched teeth. Her voice was dripping with hate and the desire to do violence, I almost expected it to condense into a physical substance, it was that intense. But nothing happened, no small crystals of hate and malice formed.

After a nod from both Adra and me, Sigmir carefully opened the door with a look of fierce glee and determination on her face and peered inside, just for her face to fall, as if someone had just kicked her favorite puppy.

“He’s not here.” she said, her voice still hateful, but also defeated. To her, she had looked forward to kill Jongarn, maybe more so than she had ever looked forward to anything in her life. In her eyes, he was largely responsible for her father’s death and her banishment. Of course, without that banishment, we would never have met, but it was ‘human’ nature to overlook the good things that could come from something bad.

“Enter, look for something of him.” I was told by Lenore, in my mind. She had apparently recovered from the events in the chieftain’s mind and had some sort of idea. Frowning a little, I entered the chamber and looked for ‘something of him’, just for Lenore to feel my confusion and clarify that she meant a hair or something similar, something that had once been part of him, or something with a strong, emotional connection. The underlying thoughts that were sent in addition, made her idea obvious. There was a connection between objects and their owner, the Grandmother and Kallista had told us about that. Beloved, important objects - for example the favorite toy of a child or a weapon that a fighter kept by his side and used for years - could be used to trace the owner. But a stronger connection could be made with body-parts, like blood or hair. With an experienced user, even the remains of a relative could be used, something the local shaman had done to attack Sigmir, a long time ago, shortly after we met.

Thinking back, I had done something similar, just a few days ago, I had used blood to strengthen the connection between my magic and the dryad we had attacked. I had used her blood to bypass a large part of her magic resistance. So, Lenore believed we could do something similar here, either find Jongarn or attack him via magic from a distance.