Chapter 448: The Warrior Elect
The wolf riders and pen keepers slowly returned as Blueberry left. Stryg couldn’t help but smile to himself as he watched the black frost wolf stomp away. Sigte had allowed him to play with the pup he had found, but he had been forced to let him go that very night. He had worried that the pup would struggle in Vulture Woods, but he was glad to see Blueberry was doing well after all these years.
“War Master?”
The title still set his stomach into uncomfortable twists. Stryg suppressed his anxious grimace and turned to Lykos with a calm expression. “Yes, War Elect?”
“Please, Lykos will do fine,” the older goblin said politely.
“In that case, please call me Stryg.” He felt uncomfortable calling the Warrior Elect by his name, but he felt worse being called War Master, the leader of the Sylvan armies, and the one responsible for their victory… or defeat.
“As you wish,” Lykos nodded.
“So, if it wasn't for Blueberry, why did you call me to the wolf pens?”
“Ah, I would have rathered a more enclosed setting, but I have to oversee and prepare the riders for the upcoming battles.”
“You’re busy? Should I come back later?”
“No, I promise I won’t take much of your time. Gods only know we are both short on time.”
“Then…?” Stryg asked expectantly.
“Yes, I, hm… I wanted to talk to you about my daughter, Elayne.”
“Right…” Stryg guessed this probably had something to do with her. “She is a skilled fighter, one of the best hand-to-hand combatants I’ve seen. I can only imagine you trained her yourself?”
“Since she was old enough to walk. My advisor tells me you two sparred and that you did not just beat her, but you injured her severely even after she was defeated.” Lykos narrowed his eyes. “Is that true?”
“It is,” Stryg admitted shamelessly. “Though I also sent Elayne to a healer right afterwards.”
“And which healer might that be?”
“My tribe’s First Mother, Aurelia.”
“You requested Aurelia the Blooded to serve as a healer?!” Lykos asked, flabbergasted. “There are plenty of mageborn acolytes and shamans who could have done such a job. There was no need to have the Favored of the Moon do it.”
“I wanted your daughter to have the best healer we had.”
“And now I’ll owe Aurelia for saving my daughter,” he muttered and shook his head. “Sabina was right about you.”
“The Mother Elect?”
“She warned me not to underestimate you. It has only been a day since you’ve been appointed War Master and not only have you already quelled the upstart shaman circle, and placed me in the debt of your tribe’s leadership, you’ve even won the Shaman Elect’s backing. No one has ever had Lumi’s backing before. You truly are dangerous,” Lykos said with begrudging admiration.
“T-That wasn’t my intent,” Stryg stammered.
“Is that right?” he asked skeptically. “Then tell me, why did you injure my daughter in the first place?”
Stryg took a deep breath and then answered. “To set an example.”
“...I’m listening.”
“Your daughter is a skilled warrior and mage, she’d be a valuable addition to whichever division she joined.”
“But…?”
“But she is reckless, she lets her emotions get the better of her.”
“The folly of youth, surely you have done the same.”
“Yes,” Stryg admitted. “But we are at war, Lykos. I need to know I can count on all my subordinates. How can I trust Elayne to follow commands in the heat of battle when she couldn't even follow the simple instructions in a training exercise?”
“I see your point, but that doesn’t mean you can just—”
“She didn’t just disobey my commands. She disobeyed and disrespected the Shaman Elect. If I had allowed her to continue to flaunt her position as the daughter of the Warrior Elect then the shaman circle might have begun to follow her example. It seemed prudent to end the ‘rebellion’ there and then.”
“You don’t know my daughter,” Lykos said wryly. “Beating her to a pulp will not make her listen to you. She is stubborn, once she has set her heart on something she will not change, even if it kills her.”
“Which is why I am going to give her a choice. If she wishes to leave the mage division and join the vanguard I will let her.”
Lykos frowned. “I was the one who placed her with the mages, for a very good reason. The vanguard will be in the most dangerous position in the battles ahead.”
“I’m well aware, but as you said, Elayne is stubborn. If she wishes to fight at the forefront there is nothing you nor I can do to stop it. She will find a way. And I’d rather she leave now than stay and cause more problems in the shaman circle.”
Lykos scoffed to himself with a smile. “You really thought this through, huh? I look forward to witnessing your path ahead, as does the rest of the war council, War Master.”
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Stryg hesitated but forced himself to speak, “I have never led an army. You are more apt to be the War Master, not me.”
Lykos laughed, a deep bellow. “On that, we disagree.”
Stryg furrowed his brow. “You’ve had decades worth of battle experience. I’m barely two decades old.”
“To be War Master is not to be the most experienced warrior on the battlefield. It is to make the difficult choices that are best for the Sylvan people.” He patted Stryg’s shoulder. “Rest assured, you may draw on my wisdom and experiences whenever you wish, you need only ask.”
“I’m not even sure I truly know what’s best for our people…” Stryg muttered.
“Oh?”
He shrugged uncomfortably, “Here I am sending our warriors to a battle across the realm that could get them all killed. All for people they don’t even know.”
Lykos stroked his beard and nodded. “Yes, yes you did. You saw the peril the Lunisians residing in Hollow Shade were facing and instead of turning a blind eye you chose to stand and fight for them.” He beat his chest with his fist, “The Sylvan are warriors. We fight and risk everything for our people, that is what it means to be Sylvan. Sabina and the others may only see the goblins in Hollow Shade as ‘people we do not know,’ but they are our people. And I for one am glad to fight for them.”
Stryg stared at the broad-shouldered goblin in stunned silence. He had thought every goblin in the city was against this war, especially the Elects. And yet here Lykos stood, proud to fight for those who had never known him.
“Thank you…” Stryg bowed his head.
Lykos bowed in turn. “Thank you for taking the time to talk. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Chosen, there are matters with the wolf riders that need my attention.”
~~~
The Eye of the Moon was the peak of Mt. Moon Fang. The jagged black rock was covered in patches of snow and ice all year long and there was scarcely any spot that a Hollow Shader would ever call ‘comfortable.’ Yet it was here, in this cold, frigid mountain peak that the greatest of Sylvan and Lunisian leaders of the past came to meditate and find clarity. Stryg hoped he could have a glimpse of such enlightenment.
He sat cross-legged at the edge of the peak, overlooking the city of Evenfall below and the scarlet forest of Vulture Woods that stretched beyond the mountain range.
It had been over an hour since he climbed up here and he felt none the wiser for it. He sighed pensively to himself and tried his best to remember Professor Ismene’s teachings, though he was never particularly good at meditation.
The steel trapdoor buried at the center of the peak opened up with a loud screech of the hinges. Stryg heard the footsteps crunching the snow behind him, but he didn’t turn around. He recognized the familiar faint scent of birch and pine.
The footsteps stopped about ten paces away.
“Hello… Stryg…” said Aurelia quietly.
“...Hello, mother.” Stryg looked up at the waning moon and exhaled slowly, “Thank you for healing Elayne.”
Taking his words as a willingness to speak, Aurelia took a step forward. “It was nothing, but I hope you don’t make it a habit to beat up Elects’ children and send them to me.”
His lips slightly curled. “I’ll try not to.”
Aurelia took another step closer. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“What for…?”
“I was hoping we could talk.”
He sighed. “About what?”
“Your questions. I know I owe you answers. Ask me what you want, I won’t evade them.”
Stryg turned around and looked at her. His eyes widened in surprise and his chest clenched in pain. She looked tired, older, as if she had been emaciated over the last two nights.
“When was the last time you ate?” he asked worriedly.
She smiled dryly, “When was the last time you drank blood? You look pale.”
“You said you wouldn’t evade my questions.”
“Right, right…” she raised her hands in surrender. “May I?’
Stryg inclined his head and she walked over and sat down next to him, her legs dangling off the edge.
“Two days ago,” Aurelia started. “Before our— ‘dispute.’ I haven’t had much of an appetite since.”
“You need to eat,” he tried to sound calm, though it sounded more like a plea.
Aurelia looked at him and saw the worry in his lilac eyes. “...I will,” she said softly. She cleared her throat and looked ahead at the landscape, “Next question.”
“...How does a Yellow mage fly?”
“What?”
“I mean, I get the basic concept. The mage casts a wind sphere around himself and uses its force to lift himself into the air, simulating flight. It’s not as elegant as a bird, but at least this way the mage has accurate control over which direction he goes. I understand how the spell works and the weaves it takes to create, the problem is I’m too heavy. I always sink after a few seconds. Is there a way I can stop myself from falling?”
“Is this… Is this really what you want to ask me?”
“I could try to launch myself into the air with a blast of wind and then repeat the process over and over while airborne, but it would be incredibly messy and I’d probably end up launching myself straight into the ground.”
Aurelia bit her lip and smiled, “If the problem is weight, have you thought of using an agility spell to lessen your overall weight?”
“I’ve tried, but I can’t seem to lessen it sufficiently. I’m still too heavy.”
She wrinkled her brow, “How much do you weigh?”
“The last time I checked I was a little over 500 pounds.”
Surprise crossed her eyes for a moment, but she quickly buried it.
“That was a few months back. I haven’t grown much taller since, but still…” Stryg’s voice trailed off.
“You’re probably heavier?”
He shrugged stiffly.
“I see, if that's the case, then I doubt you’d be able to lessen your weight enough until you’ve mastered arch-level spells.”
“So you’re saying I have to become an arch-mage?”
“No. That’s just one way.” She tapped her lap in thought, “Hm. Perhaps if you used a potion.”
“There are potions that can help me fly?”
“Not exactly. Some potions simulate aspects of agility magic. If you combined your own agility spell with a potion that lessens your overall weight, you could probably achieve flight.”
“That sounds great, except— I don’t know how to make potions…” he admitted awkwardly.
Aurelia chuckled, “You? You don’t know how to brew a potion?’
“Why is that so funny?”
“Oh, nothing, it’s just, well, potion brewing was one of the first forms of magic I had to learn at the temple. The Celestial Shrine favors and prioritizes certain fields of magic among their acolytes; healing, potion brewing, and enchantments are among the top. I never expected an Ebon Aspirant to be lacking in spell brewing.”
“I don’t know much about enchantments either…”
Aurelia blinked. “That’s… Hm. Well, fortunately for you, you have me. I’ll have Virella gather the ingredients and I can brew up a potion tonight. We can try it out in the morning.”
Stryg smiled, “I’d like that.”
“You don’t need a potion to fly,” a familiar voice echoed behind them. It was soft yet it rang clear in their ears.
Stryg turned around in surprise. “Lunae…?!”
The silver-skinned goddess stood in front of them in her adolescent form, a young girl as tall as any goblin. Her long white hair trailed in the snow behind her as she walked towards them. “You wish to learn how to fly?”
“Uh, yes?” Stryg said uncertainly.
Lunae smirked. “If you two wanted to learn magic you should have come to me.”