On the first day after, Holgar’s daughter came and brought them food. A big slab of boar’s ribs with some potatoes, onions, salt, and some herbs, to put it all together in a big pot, and hang it on an iron tripod over low fire, a meal that was promising to be so very delicious, even more so since El’s hunger from yesterday got only worse.
The healer came next, put some healing oil over Alice’s foot, said how she was going to be all fine, complemented El for doing a great job taking care of the injuries, and then spoke her mind.
“You know, there are some good people there in the village. It’s just that stupid ass Jack who thinks he is in charge while he does not even have a brain of a chicken. And the Principal does not care, as long as there is peace and taxes are paid. I’m sorry they asked you to leave.”
El nodded his head which gave her a chance to continue, “Hope you can forgive us, our poor peasants, they should have never treated you the way they did.”
“There is nothing to forgive. It’s all right. It’s an interesting system though. Five votes with two belonging to the Principal.”
“Well, actually, they belong to Lord Seich, the Fifth, but Principal speaks in his name.”
“Yeah, but it works pretty well. The village gets 3 votes and if it is united, it can get what it wants. If it’s not, then Principal and Lord Seich win. It’s… an interesting system.”
“Still, it did not work good yesterday. You saved lives and helped us, and that is not how we should repay you.”
”My friend…” El said nodding toward Alice, suddenly surprised at himself for calling her that, “Said we should be glad… it did not get worse.”
After a talk like that, El insisted she stay for a meal as the stew was almost done.
He was even more pleased to see Alice move around, even more so when she started to work on splitting some logs, obviously trying to strengthen her upper body.
“You know my whole body hurts,” she told him later, “But, I love the feeling. It’s a different kind of hurt. It’s muscles growing, not getting weaker. My Maximum Energy is already at 18 now.”
“Maybe now would be a good time to tell you how you can make the most of that axe.”
“How?”
“You have your Energy. Don’t try to hold on to it. Share it. Feel the handle of the axe, feel its iron blade. Let your Energy flow into it. Connect with it, and put at least one unit into it. Just a fraction of a unit if you can. The rest will come then easy later.”
Alice heard his words and tried doing it over and over, and El, just by hearing how the wood was being split knew she was not successful. But on and on, she continued, and when he already drifted in his meditation to somewhere else, he heard a different sound, sharper and crispier, as if the wood could fight against the axe no longer. And he knew she got it.
The rest of the day, El spent relaxing, meditating, and filling himself and his long staff with all the Mana it could take. Eight units turned out to be its maximum, a bit short of what El expected while Alice chopped enough wood to last them through the winter, happy with herself with a new kind of gleam in her eyes and determination in her swing.
On the second day, there was a sharp-looking middle-aged woman who came with two young-teen children, a boy and a girl. Trim’s family. They brought freshly baked bread and some goat cheese, but most importantly, they smiled a lot and talked shily, and El understood it was Trim who sent them there.
“Sorry your window was destroyed,” El said.
“That’s okay. We will stay at Holgar’s until my husband fixes it up boarding it. When he went to the city and got us that glass, I told him that it was bound to be broken, that it was not necessary. But he insisted, paid a good coin for it, said how I deserve to have nice things and live as good as we can with what we have.”
El knew why Trim sent them. He knew what he was doing. Try to make El reconsider about leaving. El did not see harm in it. Trim was just trying to do the best he could to protect his family. And looking at them all innocent and happy, El could not blame him at all.
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On the third day, El was ready to leave. But on that day, the beasts returned.
It was high noon when El touched Alice’s shoulder, saw that her Health was almost at its maximum of 10, and was ready to leave.
“We should leave now. Make it to the next town before the snow starts coming down again. Days are only going to get colder.”
Alice shook her head, not wanting to comment on his decision, but there was sadness in her.
He put a hand in his side pocket, picked two silver coins, and was looking for the place to leave them for Trim, hoping that would help him some, but then the alarm went inside his head,
[Alert:
A High-Frequency Sound has been blocked]
El stopped and looked toward the north. From the cabin, he could not see not even the single rooftop of the village, and trees hid any view of the mountains to the north as well.
“Let me hear it, but tone it to only 50 percent of intensity and play it only for a second,” El instructed the system and braced for an impact.
The loudest bong echoed suddenly in his head and almost sent him to the ground.
Alice knew right away that something was wrong as well.
“What is it?”
“I think the beasts are getting rounded up, and will attack soon,” El said, feeling certain it was the same noise that almost made him mad the night of the attack.
“So, what do we do?”
“I need to go and warn them. I owe Trim at least that.”
“It’s a broad daylight. You think the creatures would dare to attack right now?”
“Maybe they are just gathering their numbers. Maybe they will not attack before the night. But, then, maybe they want to surprise everyone and have enough numbers not to care if it’s light or not. ”
“Maybe we need to hurry.”
“You…” El stopped himself from speaking, suddenly not sure what to say.
“I'm coming with you. You know there is no safe place. Leaving me alone here might be just the worst thing to do. At least for me.”
“Take one of my staff, the smaller one. Carry it to support you. Just be careful,” El said, but it was too late.
She touched it and a sensation like pure electricity zipped the palm of her hand and she twitched back, surprised.
“What the hell is that??” she asked. “How can you have electricity in there?”
“I do not know what electricity is, but that inside is my Mana. You just can’t grab my staff.”
“So, how do I carry it?”
“Come close to it, put your hand next to it, see if it wants to take you, don’t force yourself on it.”
Alice did as he said, put the palm of her hand slowly to the staff, reaching to grab it but holding it a few inches away, and then slowly moved it toward it.
“And if that doesn’t work, wrap your hand in a cloth and then grab it,” El said, seeing it was taking her a long time to dare and grab it, obviously fearing the shock.
But then, to his surprise, she held the staff in her hand and looked at him with a smile and pride in her eyes, “No, need, I think I got it! That is so cool!!! I can actually feel… something so different, so light, so empowering! It’s awesome!”
“Yes. Good. Did not think you could master that so fast. Great. Now, let’s bring those axes as well. They may come in handy as well.”
But a sudden message popped into his vision.
[Alert:
A High Frequency Sound has been blocked]
“Is it the same one as before?” El asked his system
[Negative.
It is not one long sound, but it is a pattern of three short bursts]
“Damn, something is going on, definitely,” El said and hurried down the goat path, using his staff to support himself.
They arrived at the village in a few minutes and found it quite different.
At first glance, it was clear why they did not see Trim during the last two days. He was busy building defensive walls.
There was a line of chopped tree trunks that had been impaled in the ground around the main street. Trim and a few other folks were still knocking them into the ground at a 45-degree angle, trying to build a protective fence around Holgar’s place and the town’s square.
It was probably the best they could have done in the shortest amount of time. El looked toward the north, his eyesight zeroing on the path high in the mountain where the black river started to flow down one of its snowy trails.
“They are coming!” El screamed at them, now without a doubt that the attack was imminent, and Trim stopped his work to look at him, and ask, “Now??”
“Yes. Now! They’ll be here in less than a quarter of an hour.”
Trim jumped up and said to sound the alarm as he ran to Holgar’s front door, picking up his sword that was laid there. Then he turned to El and actually surprised him as he smiled at him, nodding his head.
“Yeah, I stayed, but… they are coming. In numbers.”
There was no trace of Principal or his two soldiers. But, the hunting men came back, and it seemed the two of them did not come alone.
“What is he still doing here?” El asked seeing the short salesman running inside Trader Jack’s place.
“Trader Jack promised to take him to a village to the West of us tomorrow. I guess they must be in business together,” Holgar said as he came out of the nearby house with a long spear in his hand. “And you will fight them only with the wooden sticks?”
“Don’t you worry about my sticks, Holgar. Do your part and we’ll be all right.”
Trim’s wife came out with a bow and a bunch of arrows, put them
“Better to the window above,” El said. “Those beasts can jump. And an arrow might not stop them. Be smart. Move up. That is the best play.”
Trim’s wife, nodded her head and disappeared inside his house, and El did not need to look again to know she was going to get in one of the top-floor windows. Not that it would matter. The second river ran down the far hill, and by looking at it, El could tell there were hundreds of the beasts coming their way, if not more.
The horn sounded and people from all houses started to run toward Holgar’s place, children and those too old to handle a weapon ran inside while everyone else picked some kind of weapon they found useful, mostly spears and pitchforks with very few swords among them.