Over two weeks had passed, the new army camp had slowly drifted into its natural state, smelling terrible and with the most terribly loud people around, sadly Leif didnt manage to find Madehlia again, he missed the chicken strips she gave to him every night, resigning himself to pass one or two days without eating before buying anything, and even when he would buy something he made sure it wasnt more then two copper pieces worth, once or twice he had the pleasure to meet Hilt who would buy him some food.
He continued his training with Laymen every night, sitting by the same campfire on the same place deep in the woods, the bald man eould make him repeat words thousands of times along with their meanings, every two nights or so Leif would be introduced to couple of new runes, despite nothing ever really happening Laymen would always make demonstrations of the effects of speaking those runes, along with this he would always assign tasks to Leif, usually the man ordered him to repeat the words in his mind again and again.
???: [Oh! Leif boy! The usual?]
Leif: [Yes please, mister Marque.]
Marque smile and turned to take one of the lamb skewers from the campfire.
Marque: [No need for the mister, Leif boy!]
He sat the skewer on the counter, Leif took it and bit off one of the lamb bits.
Marque: [So, Leif boy, what do you think of the coming invasion on the enemy fortress south of here? Youre gonna participate?]
Leif: [I didnt hear anything about it.]
Marque: [You keep on missing the announcements of Commander Persworth huh?]
The man laughed.
Leif: [I have more important things to take care of, can you tell me about the invasion?]
Marque: [Apparently the enemy has taken over the fortress of a Pallaccian lord of sorts, theyve been there for a week launching small assaults to annoy us.]
Leif: [So what are our troops gonna do?]
Marque: [They said the fort is a two day travel from here, they didnt say much more then that were gonna launch a full out attack and take the fortress as an outpost.]
Leif thought about it for a second, he had used 10 or so copper pieces the past weeks and the more time he spent without chopping some ears the closer hed get to not being able to eat, the boy left a copper piece as payment for the lamb skewers, and left, still chewing the last piece of meat he walked throught the muddy, beat up ground of the camp, there was a loud animosity around, the talking a bit louder and more excited, some warriors used the grinders to sharpen their weapons, other traded horses that neighed loudly everywhere, it was similar to the last time the tropps went into battle, altought last time things didnt go too well for their side, almost a third of the warriors were killed and they were forced to retreat back into their own territory, this time it was a surprise attack, probably during the nights veil, sadly the enemy had a fortress, wich basically leved the stakes.
Hilt: [Afternoon, Leif.]
Leif turned around to see the blond teens cocky smile once more.
Leif: [Hilt.]
Hilt smiled.
Hilt: [You could start being a bit less cold to me, Leif, youre gonna hurt my feelings!]
Leif: [What is it?]
Hilt look deep into Leifs eyes.
Hilt: [Tell me, would you like to accompany me into the coming attack?]
Leif: [The one on the fortress? Why?]
Hilt shrugged.
Hilt: [I know you want to participate, of course, why not go together?]
Leif: [Fine, see you then.]
They both parted ways and Leif made his way out of the camp and into the forest, he made his way through the trunks and the roots calmly, enjoying the loneliness, he arrived at the clearing he always came to, unsheathed his sword and left it on the ground, ever since he started to train with Laymen he came here to try and activate the runes carved on his sword, he sat on a rock and out the sword over his leg, running his fingers over the carvings, wondering why where they there, could there really have been a Warlock in his family to pass down such a sword? Could his father have known?
The boy stood up, held the hilt of the sword tightly with both of his hands and closed his eyes, doing just like Laymen taught him, controlling his breath, feeling the warmth of the sun, the wind blowing against his skin, letting the beating of his heart unite with the melody of nature, to make the runes work Laymen had said you had tu feel them in your core, sharp words sharp swords.
Leif: [Ílg, Hy....]
The boy pronounced, imagining his hamds being as sharp as the swords of myth, being able to cut throught anyone and anything.
Leif: [[ÍlHy]]
He opened the his eyes, the runes on the base of the blade glowed soflty and the blade itself emited a soft warmth, he could see a faint distortion on the air as if the sword was a burning fire, he pointed the tip of the sword down to the ground, slowly inserting it the ground, the sword dived into the earth without the slightest bit of resistance, almost as if the earth itself parted way to allow it in, but quickly before he reached the middle of the sword, the runes stopped glowing and the sword no longer emitted the faint distortion or the warmth, he tried to pull it out of the earth but it got stuck and he had to pull a few times before yanking it out forcefully.
Leif: [Dammit..]
Leif seemed to never be able to maintain the effect for longer then 2 or 3 seconds, no matter how much Laymen hammered into his head about "tunning in with the magic" and "feeling the runes in your core" he just couldn't seem to grasp it, he tried it again and again, sometimes the runes wouldnt work, sometimes it would work for just a second, he would do this every day until night came, when it was already dark he walk around in the forest to find Laymen's campfire once more.
Laymen: [You seem to be frustrated, young man.]
Leif sat down on the same spot he sat on every night, by the fire across from the bald man.
Laymen: [There is no use being angered at your failures, simply use them as fuel to be better.]
Leif: [How many poetic quips are you gonna tell me before you tell me something useful?]
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Laymen chuckled and closed his eyes.
Laymen: [So tell me, can you remember now, the rune you spoke while fighting those men?]
Leif: [I think it was sonrthing like... Heart? Hart?]
Laymen rubbed his chin thoughtfully and mumbled somethings.
Laymen: [Hart... Maybe its a conbination of Fár with some forgotten rune...]
The man shrugged and looked at the boys.
Laymen: [Well, little does it matter, how has your sword training been advancing?]
Leif: [Slowly... to say the least...]
Laymen: [I wouldnt say slowly, its been a bit more then two weeks since youve learned of the existence of runes... The majority of trainees cant make an engraved rune work before the fourth week.]
Leif: [Youre saying im gifted? I sure dont feel that way at all.]
Laymen: [Dont demand much of yourself boy, youre barely 12 years old, while the majority of Pallaccian children begin to learn aboit runes at 10 or so, its normal for then not to be able to speak runic until the age of 13 or 14.]
Leif: [Why do Pallaccians learn how to speak runic so early?]
Laymen: [Runic is a important part of Pallaccian culture boy, the grand majority of Warlocks come from New Pallac and even before its exhistence the Warlock culture was great in the Old Pallaccia.]
Leif: [I see... My father told me that our family came from the beginnings of Pallaccian occupation in Cithroam, maybe this sword came from a Pallaccian Warlock from a long time ago?]
Laymen: [Its probable, engraving is a form of art exposed to commoners, even most Warlocks dont know how to properly engrave anything other then simple runes.]
Leif ran his fingers over the leather sheath thoughtfully, the idea that someone in his family was also a Warlock made him a bit happy, the overall idea that others were going through roughly the same things comforted him a bit.
Laymen: [So, boy, ready for todays lesson?]
Leif: [Ah, yes!]
Laymen smiled.
Laymen: [Then, today you will be memorizing the basic runes of fire, do you remember the rune of fire?]
Leif: [Fár!]
Laymen: [Indeed, Fár, the rune you spoke during your fight with those men was probably related to it in some way.]
Leif closed his eyes, practicing the word on his mind, he felt the hot fire just before him, controlling his breathing as much as he could, letting the warmth seep into hi score and aligning it with his heart.
Leif: [[Fár]]
As he opened his eyes the fire before him seemed to grow stronger, its warmth aeemed more like the gentle caress of the sun the blistering sensation he felt before, when he moved his arm to the right the flames seemed to accompany him, he smiled, closing his eyes and imagining the same thing Laymen did when they met for the first time, imagining the fire grow taller and taller, stretching up until it almost touched the branches of the trees above.
Laymen: [Astounding...]
When Leif opened his eyes the fire went down once more, leaving small burning blazes over charred pieces of wood.
Laymen: [You evolve in great speed boy, in no time youll be just like!]
He said, exaggerating but truthfully excited at the boys progress, once more Laymen made the boy repeat rune after rune, again and again, along with citing their meaning, when it was over Leif made his way back to the same little hole he aways slept in, he crawled in there, under the roots of the tree where he was protected and hidden, the soil of the hole was already soft and almost cushioned from the many nights the boy spent in there, he hugged the sword once more, pushing it tightly against his chest, the sword moved away any bad toughts and anxiety from his mind, he leaned his head against the dirt and roots, slowly drifting off to sleep.
The price for a horse is 5 to 10 copper pieces depending on its quality, no way hed waste money in that, even if he had to walk for two days and follow the caravan towards the fortress, the boy walked throught the camp as almost half of the camp prepared to leave, the sounds of horse and men all around, thankfully Commander Persworth only allowed them to take two carriages and only as a way to transport food and eventually the wounded back to the camp, as Leif walked towards the caravan of men and carriages leaving the camp someone stopped just before him, a man in chestplate, helmet, shoulderplate and up on a strong brown stallion, Leif looke up at the shining helmet with distrust, but then the man lifted his visor up.
Hilt: [Dont look at me like that Leif! So scary!]
The blondes voice sounded in a whiny tone.
Leif: [Ah, sorry Hilt.]
Hilt laughed.
Hilt: [I brought you a little present.]
He said as he pulled a leash with his left hand, making a shorter silver and black maned mare forward, Hilts own stallion seemed somewhat bothered by her presence.
Leif: [Youre giving me a horse?]
Hilt: [Of course, i cant let a friend walk for two days, can i? Besides this mare used to be mine before i was gifted this stallion, so its no problem.]
Leif felt a bit displaced.
Leif: [Thank you.]
Hilt: [No need buddy.]
He jumped up into the saddled mare Hilt had prepared and the both of them strided along the line of soldiers, for half a day the caravan slowly made its way through the forest, then the planes, the muddy lands, eventually after about half the day they stopped, a small stop that wouldnt last more then an hour, but more then enough to feed and give water to the horses.
Hilt: [Hows this?]
Said Hilt as he sat by Leifs side on a boulder, holding out a apple.
Leif: [Thats a fruit?]
Hilt: [Youve never seen a apple?]
Leif took the apple.
Leif: [Apple.... i havent left my village until... a month or so ago.]
Hilt bit into his apple.
Hilt: [I see... Well its sweet, you should try it.]
Leif bit the apple, the skin getting between his teeth and the juice wetting his lips as he enjoyed the sweet taste.
Leif: [Its very sweet..]