Chapter 509: Oginum

  Poppy led Freya through the rain at a brisk pace. Dozens of stretchers carrying wounded soldiers passed by them and entered the white tents all around, whether they ever come out alive was beginning to seem more and more certain. There were plenty of doctors in Hollow Shade, but there were far fewer white mage healers. A mage could only push themselves so far before their mana reserves ran empty or their bodies collapsed due to overexertion.

  Freya wondered to herself how far mundane medicine could save these people, her people. These were the soldiers who had just fought by her side. Who had died protecting this place.

  “We’re here,” said Poppy.

  Freya turned to her voice and saw the orc girl standing in front of a lone tent. A sigil of a golden hammer striking an anvil was etched above the tent’s opening. The heraldic symbol of House Goldelm. Oginum.

  She glanced at Oginum hanging loosely in her grip. The hammer was no longer glowing with a dazzling light. It had returned to its ordinary golden sheen, save for the mud covering the bottom half. Freya realized she had been dragging the legendary hammer in the mud.

  Shit, she sighed tiredly.

  Poppy pulled the tent flap open and gestured her inside, “This way.”

  Freya wiped Oginum off with the hem of her shirt the best she could, and hid the hammer behind her back before she walked into the tent. A pair of dwarf guards, clad in golden armor, stood at her brother’s bedside. Aric was sitting up in bed while his personal healer was casting a White healing spell over his back.

  “Brother!” Freya gasped. Her voice choked up at the sight of him. “You’re alright!”

  “Somehow,” Aric replied. His skin was pallid and his golden beard was frayed, its usual grooming nowhere to be seen.

  “If you need anything just let me know,” Poppy bowed and left.

  Freya stepped forward hesitantly, scared that she somehow might hinder her brother’s healer with the faintest movement. “Can you move? Our scouts told us your back was injured badly.”

  “It was,” Aric admitted. “I didn’t see the boulder until it was too late. It crashed into one of the tents and a shard of rocks splintered and hit me from behind. Lady Celica Skeller said I was lucky, a centimeter deeper and I’d be dead.” He clenched his fists, “I can’t feel my legs, so I don’t know if I’d consider myself lucky…”

  Her face paled at the implication. “B-But you’re alive! We’ll find a way to heal your legs. We’ll hire the best healer gold can buy. You’ll be alright, I promise!”

  “Freya…” Aric stared at her with a tired gaze. “We’re both white mages, so you know as well as I how difficult it can be to heal spinal nerve damage. I appreciate the sentiment, but there is no need to comfort me.”

  “But—!”

  “If there is a way to heal my injuries I’ll find it, but if there isn’t… Well, I’m prepared for that outcome.”

  “Aric…”

  He sniffed and tried his best to smile bright. “I’m alive, that’s what matters, and it’s thanks to all of you. My guard was just briefing me on the battle outside. Father led our warriors to victory and crushed those damn savages. They say there was a bright golden light on the battlefield. It had to have been Oginum, right!? I wish I could have been there with you and seen Father fight.” His smile broke, “I’m sorry I couldn’t have been there for you and Cedric.”

  “No, it’s…” Freya bit her bottom lip. “It’s alright. Aric, dad, he— Our father, he… he’s gone…”

  “W-What?” Aric laughed a small crack in his voice. “What are you talking about?”

  Freya looked away, her golden eyes filled with shame.

  Aric frowned and turned to his servants. “Leave us,” he said in a tone that bade no questioning. The guards and the healer bowed deeply and left without a word.

  “Now, what is this about? We won the battle outside. The corpses of those filthy barbarians cover the street. There’s no way one of those savages could have cut down Zorn Goldelm, especially with the power of Oginum at his side.”

  “They didn’t… It was a boulder… at the wall. It crushed him before anyone could react,” Freya mumbled and revealed Oginum from behind her back. “I’m sorry.”

  “No,” he shook his head from side to side slowly. “No. It cannot be.”

  The tent flap flung open and Cedric strode inside, “Aric! Freya? You’re here. Thank the gods, you’re both alright.”

  “Cedric, is it true? Is Father… Is Father gone?”

  Cedric bowed his head, “I’m sorry, Aric. I couldn’t save him.”

  “So it’s true…” Aric mumbled. He closed his eyes. Tears flowed down his cheeks and he took a shaky breath. “Did he have any final words?”

  Cedric glanced at Freya questioningly as if waiting for her to speak first. Freya cleared her throat and raised the golden war hammer, “Father wanted you to have Oginum.”

  “I see…” Aric nodded bitterly. “I will carry it with the pride of our House, until the day I die, I shall protect our family.”

  Freya stepped forward.

  “Wait, Freya, don’t do it!” Cedric shouted and stepped in her way.

  “Huh?” She halted, mid-stride, confused.

  Aric furrowed his brow, “Brother, what are you doing?”

  Cedric turned to him, “With Father’s last breath he entrusted me to bring Oginum to you. And I was going to. You are Father’s chosen heir. You were raised to lead our House. But then we received a scout’s report that a large force of valley warriors, twice the size of our own, were moving on the medical encampment. The report also said that you had been injured and couldn’t be moved.”

  “Twice the size…? That isn’t what my guards witnessed—”

  “Forget what your guards said. Tell me, brother. In my situation, what would you have done? Our forces were small, scattered, and wounded. And the enemy was almost upon the encampment. There was no time to evacuate. What would you have done in my situation?”

  Aric narrowed his eyes in thought. “If it was really like you say, hypothetically, then there’d be little to no chance to save me. Worse, Oginum could be lost to the enemy. I’d have taken what forces I had and gone to our manor to strengthen our position. Gather more soldiers and launch a retaliation, but by then it’d most likely be too late.”

  Cedric sighed in relief, “As I thought. We are both in agreement.”

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  “Father taught us well. But I don’t see how any of this has to do with the current situation,” said Aric.

  “Because that’s exactly what happened. Our forces were too few, we couldn’t stand up against 500 barbarians. I was prepared to leave you behind,” Cedric admitted in a quiet voice. “But our younger sister isn’t like us. She refused to abandon you. She decided to fight, even if it meant fighting alone.”

  “I don’t understand,” Aric frowned. “Freya?”

  Freya glanced at her brothers, uncertain of what to say. “I… I couldn't abandon you.”

  Cedric gestured at his sister, “She isn’t like us, brother. She is a fool, who’d rather face off an entire army alone than abandon her family. That’s why Oginum’s light ignited for her.”

  “What?” Aric turned to Freya, his eyes filled with disbelief and confusion.

  “Freya led the battle, she was the one who gathered our soldiers when they were lost in the darkness.”

  “Is this true?” Aric asked Freya.

  She shrugged uncomfortably.

  “She’s different from us, brother, a fool perhaps,” Cedric said wryly. “But she’s more selfless and brave than you or I. Maybe that’s why Oginum chose her. To me, it makes no difference why she was chosen. Tonight I saw the Light of the North.” Cedric knelt down in front of Freya and bowed his head, “And I will follow that light until the day I die, Lady Goldelm.”

  Freya’s eyes widened and she stepped back. “W-What…?”

  “Cedric, I don’t know what game you’re trying to get at, but this is ludicrous!” snapped Aric.

  “This is no game,” said Cedric solemnly, still kneeling, head bowed. “Lady Freya Goldelm, I pledge my loyalty to you and your House, until the day I die.”

  “Cedric… I…” Freya licked her lips, “I don’t know what to say…”

  “I accept your loyalty, is the usual response,” said Cedric.

  “That’s enough!” Aric yelled. “I am Father’s heir. Not Freya. Not you. Not any of our siblings! I am the one who was groomed and trained to lead and protect our House!”

  “Our father chose you, but Oginum chose her,” answered Cedric.

  “I said enough! Freya, hand me Oginum!” demanded Aric.

  “Don’t. Oginum chose you,” said Cedric.

  “Oginum is my birthright,” said Aric. “I am your brother, for Stjerne’s sake! Freya, Cedric, I have always had your back. So why now must you stab me in mine? Is this what you want, sister? Was this your plan? To wait until I could not even stand and then steal my birthright from under me?”

  Freya shook her head, “No, I’d never—!”

  “Stop with the nonsense, Aric! She protected you. She is the only one who stood for you! There is no secret plan to backstab you. By Lady Goldelm II’s decree, the chosen of her war hammer shall lead our House.”

  “That’s why Father entrusted the hammer to me,” Aric snarled.

  “Oginum chose Freya, that supersedes our father’s wishes.”

  Aric glared at him, “You can’t do this. I won’t let you.”

  “We’ll see what our brothers and sisters have to say,” said Cedric.

  “We shall,” said Aric.

  A servant rushed into the tent, breathless and soaked from the rain. “Miss Goldelm!”

  “Yes, what is it?” Freya asked, eager for any respite from this conversation.

  “A noblewoman has just arrived and the encampment is asking for you.”

  “Noblewoman?”

  “Yes, Nora of the Minor House of Azol. She claims to know you personally.”

  Freya grabbed the servant’s shoulders tightly, “Is she alright!? Is she injured!?”

  “Her wounds don’t seem severe—”

  “Oh, thank the gods—”

  “But her companion is barely holding on.”

  “Companion…?”

  “An orc, I didn’t catch his name, but— Agh!”

  Freya shoved the servant away and ran outside. She looked around desperately, searching for Kegrog and Nora. Oginum glowed softly in her hand. Golden motes of light fluttered out from the hammer and formed a trail leading towards a tent in the distance.

  Freya stared at the hammer in surprise, “Oginum…?” Making up her mind, she sprinted down the trail.

  Bursting into the tent she spotted Kegrog lying in a cot too small for the orc. A white mage was channeling a healing spell over the two holes on his neck while her assistant was trying to stop the bleeding from the various scrapes and cuts riddled over his scarlet flesh.

  There was so much blood. He wasn’t moving, save for the faint rise of his chest. Nora was sitting by his side. She was covered in bruises and her left eye was swollen shut. Her bottom lip was busted with a bloody split down the middle.

  She looked up at Freya’s entrance and stood up shakily. “Freya…?”

  The rain had washed off most of the blood in the dwarf’s blonde hair, but her armor was still drenched in the blood of her enemies and her fellow soldiers. Such things would usually bother her, but right now she couldn’t care less about her appearance.

  Freya knelt next to Kegrog and held his hand. It was cold. “Nora… What happened?”

~~~

  “I didn’t know what to do…” Nora’s voice trailed off.

  “So you carried Kegrog halfway across the city by yourself?” Freya surmised grimly.

  “Kegrog, he— He saved me. I had to do the same,” Nora whispered. “Freya, I’m sorry. I should never have let him come with me.”

  Freya shook her head and sighed, “No. You shouldn’t have, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. Kegrog knew what you were up to. He would have followed you no matter what. He’s stupid like that.” She held his hand between her own. She had never noticed how much larger his fingers were than hers. But there was no warmth in his fingers and his wrist was stiff.

  The healers said his wounds were great. They weren’t sure he would make it. But he was strong. He had to make it. He had to…

  “Did you make Nokti pay?” Freya asked quietly.

  “Yes,” Nora nodded with an intense gaze.

  “Then you and Kegrog did what I dreamed about for the last 2 years.”

  “Yeah,” she said bittersweetly.

  “You should have asked for help. I’d have helped you.”

  “I know. I didn’t want to put you in danger.”

  “Put me in danger? That wasn’t your choice to make. Or have you forgotten what it felt like when Stryg and Clypeus made that choice for you?”

  Nora bowed her head in shame. “No. You’re right, I’m sorry.”

  “...Where are you going now?”

  “Huh?”

  “You keep glancing outside. I know you’re worried about Kegrog, so whatever is making you want to go back out there must be even more important. What is it?”

  Nora smiled wryly, “You’re more perceptive than I thought.”

  “Never underestimate a Goldelm, we’re a different breed than the rest of you,” she grinned. “So, what is it?”

  “...My son. Kamilo is with my mom at our manor in the Villa District. I thought they would be safe there, but valley armies have broken into the city. I need to make sure my family is okay.”

  Freya nodded to herself and got up. “Okay, I’m coming with you.”

  “What? Why?”

  “You’re in no condition to fight.”

  “And you are?”

  “At least I don’t look like someone beat me to a pulp.”

  “No, you just look exhausted, like you’re running on the last traces of your mana.”

  “Look, I already lost someone I love tonight, and now Kegrog—” Freya gripped Oginum. “I’m not about to just stand by and lose someone else I care about.”

  “But shouldn’t one of us stay with him?” Nora whispered.

  “There’s nothing we can do for him that the healers here haven’t already done. …All I can do now is fight, it’s what I’m good at. So that’s what I’m going to do. Besides, if we’re going to the Villa District I can go check on my family too.”

  “Why don’t you just send some of your soldiers to do that?”

  “I told you, my father is gone. The leadership of my House is in question right now. I don’t know if I can rely on any of my family’s soldiers right now.”

  “Freya…”

  “My presence in this camp is a threat to its peace. I can’t stay here. I can’t risk Kegrog falling into the midst of my family’s problems.”

  “I get that, I do, but you’re family. Surely it can’t be that bad.”

  “You’re not a part of a Great House, so you don’t know how bad things can really get when it comes to inheriting a family throne, especially when it’s a Ruling House like mine.”

  “...I see,” Nora mumbled.

  Freya leaned over Kegrog and kissed him softly on the lips, “I’ll be back,” she whispered, then strode out of the tent.

  Nora followed after her. “If we really are going, then maybe we can check on one more person.”

  “Whom?”

  “Feli told me she was staying at Mora Manor.”

  “Stryg’s wife? Mm. We owe it to Stryg, at least that much. Fine.”