If this were not the most miserable of hours I had spend...no, not even close. This was nothing against the disgusting tunnels of the Abyss. If I could climb out of the depths of this world, I could handle the social awkwardness of this situation.
The Wyldling and I did not exactly stare at each other with open hostility, but there were constant side glances and appraising looks. And no one dared to close their eyes again or even turn their back. The silence grew loud enough that I had stray thoughts. Thoughts like: Is it awkward for Zero to hang around a stranger's neck for so long? Do Golems have that kind of social awareness and shame? And is there a way to better communicate with him and gauge the depth of his sentience? I could have sworn to see him sad, that one time in the workshop of his creator. If he had feelings, could he feel shame?
Cogar the Wyldling was another subject of a stray thought or two. A cook - no, a keeper of the fire, sets out with a bunch of younglings and others to hunt down monsters for sport. Who was tending to the fire now, if that is such an important job? Was there a reason or a need for a couple of hundred non-combatants to train themselves and level up while all the warriors were busy slaughtering humans and taking the rest of my people as trophies and slaves? I had been a Margrave of the Empire of the Sun. It had been literally my job to protect the borders of the empire against the Wyld and its warriors. And I knew absolutely fuck all about them. I mean, to be fair, in my lifetime my father had only been forced to ride out two or three times, to handle roaming bands of them, threatening trade and the few farms we had, but he had fought bigger battles before my time. And we used to have no idea why they even came to die on our walls...until our walls broke, that is. We knew nothing. I didn’t even know that they were capable of speaking my language. Which made sense, knowing now that they took slaves as spoils of war. They would have learned the language from the slaves they had taken from smaller towns and villages along the border, which did not have the defensive means of the Divide, the Abyss, or the walls of Ravenrock.
No time like the present. "Talk to me about your fire laws then, if they are so important. I would not want to further sully my reputation by ignoring local customs.“ I broke the silence.
He snorted again. It seemed to be his go-to reaction to anything that came out of my mouth.
"Easy to learn. Children do. Hard to follow.“ He raised his hands over the flames of the fire, not too close to burn, but near enough that he should have felt the pain. But he didn’t even flinch.
"Fire protects. Darkness is dangerous in the Wyld. There are no enemies but darkness around a fire in the night. That is law. A Man attacks a man and is punished. No home no longer. No friends among us. Die in the Wyld as the beast he is.“
He raised his hands, showing two fingers. "Law two. Fire ...feeds. Wrong word. Share food at the fire with all. It is all of us or no one. And last,“ he held up a third finger. "Law three is that no one is more at the fire. There are no...warriors or wheat placers and food searchers, not even Wyldlords or shamans.“
He wiggled all three of his fingers in the air in front of me. "Very important. Fire law only counts in the wilderness of the Wyld. Not in halls, not in camps. Meetings of chance and fate out here.“
Ah, I understood. It only counted when travelers of them met on the road, or whatever they had here. That was not so different from our own customs, sharing food and warmth with strangers at a roadside campfire. But they took it way more seriously here, it seemed. The Wyld was a place not to underestimated.
"Thank you, Cogar.“ I nodded at him. "I learned much.“
"You learn or you die. It is the way of the Wyld. Danger for us. But strength as well. It's the way we walk. No choice.“
"Listen Cogar, I don’t want to have a problem, just because we have trouble communicating.“ I took the chance because we finally had started a conversation. "I don’t take slaves. I saved your life. I am an enemy of the creatures you fought. They hunted me as well. But I am not a friend of the demons that attacked the...“ I made a gesture to the mountains in the distance. "...people of the castle there.“ I finished lamely.
"You have chain. Not stupid. You are too small to take me. Big mistake.“ he growled back. Not quite catching my meaning.
"No no! I do not want slaves! I am just cautious. I want you to disappear back to your people and forget me. But I fear that you will hunt me down.“
"Will hunt you. With all the beasts of the Wyld we can call. Run you down until you cannot run anymore. Kill you for trying to take fire keeper as slave.“
"See! That is why I can’t let you go! Because it is not safe for me. I cannot trust you do let me go in peace. And you don’t understand. I. Do not. Intend. To. Ever. Hold. Slaves.“ I pointed my finger at him with every word. " I will free everyone I find.“
It was his turn to search my face for traces of truth and lies. Then he just shrugged. "Maybe. Fighting will continue. Not Here. But somewhere. You can go. I will return to fight.“
"How can I trust you? You see? Nothing is stopping you from telling your people to hunt me down.“
"Don’t let them find you. I will not hunt. I fight and I heal.“ he shrugged again as if he hadn't just threatened my life somewhat and motioned to his missing arm, as if that was an explanation for anything.
I gave up for the moment. "We can’t go anywhere anyway.“ I looked sighing over the sea of fog around us. "I had to run through this fog once. It is like acid. It burns your skin and festers in your wounds.
"Is it like blood of them? I can endure the burning.“ He said matter of factly. "Fog will sink when the sun goes up. Leave then.“
"Your people will not be occupied with the fighting then. They have all the time they need to organize hunting parties. I don’t think you have understood yet. Your people have taken the castle I live in and thrown every last one of them to their deaths. Every. Single. One. I cannot trust you.“ I had raised my voice in the end there. Raw emotion welled up in me and messed with my attempt to reach some kind of solution with this guy.
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"You can save my life but not trust?“ he snorted with a good amount of skepticism. "Then one of us or both will die here. Stupid hill. The creatures come. Or the fog. Or I will forget my laws and tear you and your stupid chain apart. Or we starve. Stupid human.“
I could not let it go. "And what of the crime I spoke of? The dead? Do you have anything to say to that?“
He gave me the courtesy to stop shrugging and turned to me fully, earnest intensity in his eyes. "You are young. War is fresh? War is war. My people. Your people. Other people. I am not a warrior. And my people are not on the other side of the mountains. You fought my people. But not my people. I am of Bear Clan. And no warrior. But they did not take slaves? They killed?“
I nodded. "Every last one of them.“ Did that mean something? Was there a reason to this madness?
He chewed on his words as if to find the right way to say them. "Sarhain the Grim, Wyldlord. Snake Clan, Eagle Clan, Wyvern Clan... even warriors and younglings from Bear Clan and others. Strongest Wyldlord. Warriors come to him. Wyldlings often take slaves. Sarhain only makes sacrifice.“ He looked up at me and for the first time there was something vulnerable there. "He is why we hunt and fight and kill to level up. He only values strength. He kills the rest. To grow. His warriors are strong. But he kills with...something not of the Wyld. We fear. We prepare. Join him or die. Fighting or under his knife as a sacrifice. Better to fight here. To be stronger for later. He is gone now. We have time. Time to fight, time to level, time to move away. But moving away ist dangerous. Only few warriors left to protect the rest. We need to level first.“
There was the silence again, as we both stared into the flames, following our own train of thoughts. It was this silence Lily used to contact me with a subtle blue text, which hovered in the corner of my vision.
[Hannibal, I dont want to disrupt you, but I may have a solution. Gods take verbal agreements quite serious and often litterally. You can use the same kind of power. Just make up a vow, usually its called a vow, or an agreement or whatever and will your essence into it. I don’t know what that might cost, but you have enough saved up. The system will make sure that both of you are aware of the binding and of the consequences, should you break it. Kind of depends on the kind of vow and the circumstances. And the more important and grave the vow is, the more greater gods will take notice and make sure it is honored. Maybe that would ease your trust issues a bit. - Lily]
Yeah, I could see it, making a vow and parting ways. But he was the enemy. Or was he? For all I knew, he could be a liar and a murderer. But then again....why had they attacked the creatures of the deep? My heart screamed at me that he was a murderer and an enemy. I felt the [Flock of Souls] arise in the back of my mind. Anger. Our emotions were connected, and so I felt what they felt. But that was the thing. The crows only ever knew anger. They wanted revenge. But there was no revenge to be had on this hill with this cook of all people.
"I see.“ And I did. It was plausible. The Wyld I had known and fought was a faceless mass of enemies. But they had a leader. They had an agenda. There were clans and factions and worst of all: Politics. All tested and formed by the life under the chaotic influences of the Wyld itself. The Wyld was not a term for people for them like it was for us. It was some form of influence or aura. Something that changed things to be more dangerous. The people included. The "demons“ we had called the warriors were neither demons nor the Wyld. They were of the Wyld but not the Wyld. They were Wyldlings, and they were as diverse as any group of people. Perhaps even more so, considering the changes they went through sometimes.
And yet my heart was a cesspit of distrust and hate.
My heart was an Idiot and could obviously not be trusted.
"Let's make a vow, Cogar of the Bear Clan. I still need some safety measures. I am alone while you will return to your clan. You have lost an arm and are hurt, but I need you to come with me. We will walk away, seven days and seven nights, and then, and only then, I can let you go. I don’t want any strife between us. We seem to have a common enemy. But I just cannot risk my life on that.“
There was the promise of violence in the air again. But the facts were the facts. I did not know what Skills these Wydlings possessed, and truth be told, I wouldn't count out that he somehow could grow back his arm, but at the moment he was in dire straits. Maybe he could win. I would bet on him with his full strength, but he was not there. In the end, it would be a gambit for him, a gambit he was ill-prepared for. He grit his teeth, I could actually hear the grinding sound, as he begrudgingly nodded.
"I accept.“
I willed the door to my Demesne open in my mind and let the essence flow. It tickled. Immediately I received a notification from Lily.
[It worked! Nothing too expensive. Good touch with the seven days and seven nights thing. Gods love that kind of stuff. I have a couple of interested gods of the law, peace, and mercy departments investing in the vow. It's kind of a gamble system for them as well. Low risk - low reward in this case. Mostly bottom of the barrel. Here is the text:
[A vow has been made! Hannibal Raven and Cogar, [Fire Keeper] of the Bear Clan, agree to rest their weapons and ill will for seven days and seven nights on a journey through the wilderness of the Wyld.
Consequences for breaking the peace or refusing to uphold the promise of freedom: Moderate.
Do not go back on your words, for the wraths of the gods will fall upon you!]
Don’t take it too seriously. The gods don’t actually know what you are doing in detail. Only the greatest of them can split their conscience that much. They kind of automate their acceptance and the consequences for low level vows. It’s the only way to make a decent profit with such low stakes. They buy in bulk. It’s a strategy and a whole thing. - L.]
I was distracted for a second, but when I looked over to Cogar, he was once more looking at me with an odd look on his face.
"You talk to great spirits?“ he was not quite whispering, but there was unbelieving and surprise in his words. He had not expected to be greeted with a message from the system after his acceptance.
"It is a long story. But no. I have never talked to a great spirit in my life.“ I chuckled. "Maybe they deem my quest important enough for you to hold up on your word?“
He snorted. Of course he did. And yet he still did not stop looking at me with a question in his eyes and a frown of deep thought on his face.
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The sun came and battled the fog around us to a standstill in the early morning hours. But the fog was petering out, getting fuzzy and flimsy at the edges. It was only a matter of time until it would lose the battle and retreat to the mountains.
We made ready. I climbed atop the tree to unfasten all the ropes and tarps, and while I was sitting there fiddling with a stubborn knot, I saw Cogar settling down in front of the almost burnt down fire. He took a position I associated with meditation and raised his palm over the last embers of the fire. They lost their heat and light in an instant, snuffing out, and for a second it looked as if the light had shot up into his palm. That was strange, but the next part was downright weird. He put his hand on the stump of his lost arm, breathing deeply, and I thought to hear a faint sizzling noise, maybe even smoke rising from the open wound. Then he lost weight.
No, really. I could see his enormous belly shrinking in front of my very eyes. And while he morphed into a leaner form, still a respectable belly but much smaller, the burn wound on his arm, where I had cauterized it, scarred over. No, even more. The red, inflamed flesh disappeared under a layer of pristine and new flesh and skin. And in under a minute he had lost much of his belly fat but gained a finger width of new, untainted length of his arm back. And the wound was nowhere to be seen. That was the power of a [Fire Keeper] of the Wyldings? I quickly scrambled through the branches. I did not know if he meant it to be secret, but I did not want to be seen spying. That was a powerful combination of Skills. And he had used his body mass as what...Mana?
Freaking Wyldlings.