I left any talk of rewards for “saving” the brother to the others and focused on finding a spot to sleep instead. As luck would have it, one of the houses was recently empty. By recently empty I mean the lumberjack’s brother lived alone and we were going to sleep in the house of a dead man. It wasn’t ideal, but I didn’t exactly have the silver to go elsewhere.
I opened the small house, inside was only a table, chair, bed, and some tools for harvesting fruit from trees. I laid out the pelt across the floor. Given that the bed only fit a single person, four of us would need to rest on the floor. I began to take off my armor to wipe down when the others came into the house. We didn’t say anything. Exhaustion was clear on everyone’s faces. We all spent a couple of minutes doing things in silence before passing out. The prince fell asleep first, taking the bed for himself naturally. The rest of us fell asleep together feeling a little safer than the previous night in the woods. The table was propped to block the window the best we could and the chair wedged to block the door. I fell asleep next to the monk and the thief, with the saintess on the end next to the monk.
I woke up feeling very refreshed, also confused about the dream I had. I lost my hand and fought with a blade attached to my stump. I threw stone daggers at criminals and made manacles out of clay to bind them with. For some reason, I was dressed like a bandit who wore a bunch of different armor types from those he killed. I also had a really nice beard and had an eyepatch. It was a weird dream.
I did once hear that in many small ways, you are helped along the path you choose, but I cannot imagine the idea of swinging a sword attached to my wrist would be very effective.
As we all woke up, we began preparing for the task ahead. Basic upkeep on our gear. Preparing a basic meal with plants from the garden, which was surprisingly not terrible. Getting extra gear for holding our things, though I drew the line at the thief trying to pocket pieces of silver from the house. I imagine he will simply take them while I am not looking, but it’s not worth the argument and I do not want to potentially see any reason in whatever argument he gives for taking it.
We pack up and head out bright and early. An old rope helped me fasten the pelt to my back. We practically ran out of the town once we had everything prepared to leave. The monk helped the saintess run away with us as she had absolutely no stamina. Oddly enough her running form was amazing, despite her body having no muscle to speak of.
We spent the next 5 minutes, 5 at a brisk jog, and then the monk carried the saintess. The rest of us 5 were doing good, even the prince looked like he would stop having a hard time breathing after a few minutes at a walking pace.
After she caught her breath enough to speak, she asked a question. “So what did I miss?”
I wasn’t very winded, so I started speaking first. I regaled her with the specifics of the fight with the bear she missed when going off to heal the monk. I explained what I saw the others doing, the attack that finally killed it, and the fact that we didn’t do a post fight whatever-the-word-was for the discussion.
The thief cut me off and started talking about the things we did after the fight. Keeping watch, harvesting the bear, keeping me from opening the stomach of the bear, and a lot of detail about cooking the bear steaks. He specifically mentioned getting 5 prepared in case she woke up, but that I ate hers without asking. He further mentions our effort to pack up and head back white carrying her. He was very thorough in giving key details, such as when each of us spoke or how long certain things took.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Neither the prince nor the monk spoke up afterwards as everything that needed to be said was spoken. We walked through an open field for a few minutes in silence, not bothering with trying to move at a fast pace. Granted, we still had to pace ourselves as we should aim to defeat The Great Evil within the next month or two, but exhausting ourselves helps nobody.
Eventually, the monk turned to the saintess. “You should also know that Louis has been repeatedly using both of his arms despite their terrible conditions. We have already told him repeatedly that he will not heal if he continues using them. We also told him you can’t heal them for a while. We even told him that he might need to amputate part of an arm if they get worse. I have told him everything except for how stupid I feel he is being.”
The monk’s frustration slipped into her words the more she spoke about me. When I glanced over to her at the end, I was receiving a glare from her and the saintess. I could liken the monk to an angry cat, sleek but having the glint of a predator in her eyes. I didn’t doubt for a second that she spoke up now to punch me and force a decision onto me with another’s approval. The saintess that sided with her reminded me more of an angry kitten. Her anger was more cute than intimidating since she couldn’t hurt me.
“You are going to make a cast right now! I had to see the aftermath of a splintered bone due to the church’s teaching methods, I do not want to see one ever again!” She pointed a finger at my face while trying her best to be intimidating. It didn’t work. “ Make a stone cast today.”
I gave her a fake smile and put as much false positivity as I could into my retort. “Of course I will. I might be able to finish one today provided I force it to happen and get in as bad a shape as you.”
“Use clay.”
I turned to my other side where I heard someone talk. I found the thief walking beside me silently. I didn’t even realize he was next to me.
“Clay is far easier to shape than stones and can be dried into pottery or bricks. YOu wouldn’t exhaust yourself using that, right?”
I looked over at the thief, confused.
“Don’t you need to throw them into a furnace to harden?”
“Sun dried bricks are a thing too, plus your magic should be able to help.”
I looked at the thief, annoyed that he made a perfectly good point for a cure that would involve me preventing myself from using the sword. He came up with a clever solution to my problem, something I honestly should have considered before he did. I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
I slumped my shoulders and sighed. “I’m sorry, I’ve acted unbecoming of a knight, and for that I humbly apologize.”
The thief stopped walking temporarily, “what’s with the formal apology?” The monk and saintess seemed slightly taken aback too.
“I should have been trying to help my group to the best of my abilities, even if it meant temporarily putting aside my pride. I didn’t do so. Other people needed to make up for my inadequacies. I will try to do better. I cannot promise to immediately be better, but I hope to correct mistakes like that in the future and better myself. I hope to act like a proper knight by the time we need to be ready to fight in 6 months.”
The prince glanced at us, “The royal family thinks that timetable needs to be moved up, by about half.”
At this, everyone instantly stopped walking.