Chapter 49 - No More Secrets

“What are you doing?” Celaine asked, sheathing her dagger. She’d removed the heartstone of both trolls and temporarily stored them in a second cloth pouch. Until they were cleaned off, none of them wanted them anywhere near the rest of their gear.

“What does it look like?” Hump snapped.

“It looks like you’re fondling the dead body of a troll,” Celaine said. “I was just hoping I’m wrong.”

Bud laughed.

Hump glared at him. “Don’t laugh, you rusty fool! You should be on my side. I’m obviously not doing this for fun.” He was on his knees, bent over the belly of the first troll—it was slightly more intact than the burnt remains of the other, despite the missing arm.

“Is this one of the secrets to being a hedge wizard?” Celaine asked. “Poking around in corpses.”

“Kind of,” Hump said. He cut into the troll’s heart with his dagger, right where the heartstone would have nestled. Blood spluttered from the wound and onto his hand. “Gods!” he shouted, jumping back and shaking his hand violently. “Why are you distracting me?” he said, grimacing at his hand. It smelt like rotten fish.

“Just curious,” Celaine said.

“I’m trying to harvest its heartblood,” Hump growled. “And it would be a lot easier if you weren’t bloody hassling me.”

Celaine smirked and Hump glared at her furiously before going to a small patch of grass and wiping off his hand as best as he could. It didn’t help.

“What do you need it for?” Bud asked.

“Evidently, troll blood has an extremely strong smell,” Hump said, wiping his hand again on the grass, more vigorously than before. “It makes for both an excellent lure and repellent.”

“How can it be both?” Bud said.

“A lot of things are drawn by the scent of blood,” Hump said. “Even more things will bolt the other way the moment the get a whiff of troll.”

“So, it’ll draw the mosquitos but keep the wolves away,” Bud said.

“Pretty much.”

“So, either we use it and are eaten alive by insects, or don’t and we’re eaten by wolves.” Celaine scrunched her nose. “Great.”

Hump stood and walked back over to the troll’s body. “Trust me, you’ll be happy for it once the wolves start howling and we’re day’s away from another human.”

He picked up the vial he’d placed on the ground beside it and took a deep breath of fresh air then held it.

“Wait,” Celaine said, stepping closer and holding out her hand. “Give it here. You’re like a child with that knife. I don’t want you getting covered in troll blood and stinking the whole trip back to Kelwoth.”

Hump frowned at her, but he had to admit, he didn’t much fancy that either. He handed her the vial, and she drew her belt knife. He caught a glimpse of Kassius’ dagger beneath her cloak. She’d not used it yet, they couldn’t risk it coming into contact with blood, not until they’d found an artificer to identify it at least.

A few precise cuts and a minute later, Celaine had an unstoppered vial of heartblood in hand and not a speck on her. The smell was… nauseating. Hump took a cork stopper from his pouch and inserted it into the vial, wiping off the outside with a scrap cloth, and then wrapping it with a second.

“There,” Celaine said. “Now can we go?”

Hump nodded, adding the vial to his pouch. “Thank you.”

The weather didn’t hold up long, but despite the rain, Hump was feeling good. One night in the woods and they’d earned six silvers, two troll heartstones, and a vial of heartblood. Hardly a bad result, even if they had ended up fighting two trolls.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. He’d been working on his shaping exercises at every spare moment he had, yet he could still barely control an Essence Blast. Infusing the spell with fire essence just emphasised the problem. He needed practice, and lots of it if he were to master his new power. Control was as much an artform as it was a simple skill. It couldn’t be forced, and if the slightest thing was out of balance, the spell could fall apart… explosively.

It was the difference between an average wizard and a great one. Power could only get one so far, it was one’s finesse and control that was key to using higher tier spells, not their strength.

There was no denying that Hump’s essence pool had increased. That much had been clear the moment he had started practicing his shaping exercises again. It was a common problem for wizards, any sudden gains in one’s essence pool or power were instantly met with a complete lack of control. It hadn’t mattered back in the dungeon. He’d had the dragon to draw essence from, making up for his poor efficiency. Now, he only had his own power.

His Rockshot had been satisfactory. He still had decent control over earth, and with such small stones it was difficult to go wrong. All he had to do was give the spell direction and let it do its thing. Essence Blast, however, didn’t have the same finesse. It was a force spell, converting essence into pure energy. In the past, Hump had needed time to build up the energy he needed if he wanted a spell that could cause significant damage, now it was the opposite. His essence came out gushing. And while on paper more power sounded good, in practice the wider the spread of the blast, the weaker it got, and the higher the chance that one of his party members got caught up in it.

It wasn’t far to Kelwoth. They’d left the horses with a farmer that had a plot of land he didn’t mind them using, so long as he got to keep the horses in the case where they didn’t come back. Good people…

There was nothing special about the village. It was small; no more than a hundred people in the small cluster of buildings at its centre, maybe twice that including the nearby farms. They grew crops, raised cattle, and paid the taxman whenever they passed through. It was an unassuming life where folk might die without ever setting foot outside its borders.

They headed straight for the tavern. It was early evening, and the place was just about full.

A short man with a bushy beard turned to them as they stepped inside. He barked a laugh, sipped his ale, then laughed some more. “Back already? Oi! Beslin, the kids are back.” He turned back to them, beard wet with spilt ale, teeth stained yellow. “The rain get yer scared?”

Around them, a few of the other tenants laughed. From a glance, Hump counted half a dozen men and a handful of women. They’d have finished early on the farms once the rain started pouring and taken shelter in here. The perfect excuse to spend an few extra coppers on drink.

“There had to be a drunk idiot, didn’t there,” Celaine whispered.

Hump snorted.

“What yer laughin’ at?” the man snapped, face going red.

“You,” Hump said. “Is this how you treat everyone that does you a favour?”

He slammed his mug onto the bar with a thunk, spilling the liquid inside over his hand. “Don’t go giving me lip, boy. Else I’ll make you look real stupid in front of that girl o’ yours.”

Hump frowned. It didn’t matter where one went, there were always arseholes to be found, and somehow they were always louder than everyone else.

“Oh, shut it, Russ,” a woman said. “Gods, they were just trying to help and you’re giving them a hard time.” She scurried back behind the counter with a tray full of empty mugs. “Come inside and dry off, I’ll see about getting you some soup.”

“What were three kids goin’ do anyways?” he said. “They ain’t dead. Should count ‘emselves lucky it were just the rains that caught ‘em. Else we’d be lookin’ for bones in a week or two.”

The tavern keeper stepped out from the cellar and smiled at them. He was a tall, lean man with pale grey hair. It was Beslin that had offered them the quest in the first place. The moment he saw them, his eyes went to the sack over Bud’s shoulder. “What are you looking at, you twit?” he said to Russ. “You not see the great big sack on his back?”

Bud stepped forward, heaving the sack from his shoulders, and dropping it on an empty table with a thud. “There were two trolls,” Bud said. “Not one. But we handled them.”

“What the bloody ‘ell you talkin’ about?” Russ spluttered.

The sack was crusted with ice; Bud had used his frostfire aura to keep it frozen along the way back, and that had kept the worst of the smell away. Still, frozen or not, there was nothing that could cover up the stench of a troll.

Bud pulled open the bag and revealed the two troll heads inside.

“Merciful gods,” the woman said, putting a hand to her mouth.

Around them, Hump saw a similar face on the other villagers.

“You still want to pick a fight?” Hump growled at Russ.

“There ain’t no way three kids killed two trolls,” Russ said.

There was a tense moment of silence when a woman slapped him on the arm. “Don’t be such an idiot. How the bloody hell do you explain the two heads then?”

Russ’ face went red, and he looked at her furiously, but her glare was enough to shut him down. He scowled and turned back to his drink.

Someone laughed, and the tension in the room seemed to fade after that. The crowd gathered round for a better look at the heads, and the woman brought a bucket to put them in and save the table from the ice. Hump felt himself jostled around from the pats on the back and did his best to keep a wall at his side, so he wasn’t completely surrounded.

“Alright folk,” Beslin said over the crowd. “Give the three of them some space, now. Plenty o’ time for stories later.”

As the crowd cleared, Hump was grateful for it.

Beslin walked out from behind the bar. “I’m sorry about Russ. It was his brother that died the other day. The wound’s still fresh.”

“They’re nasty creatures,” Hump said. “Celaine landed an arrow through an eye and not even that took it down.”

“Just made it angrier if anything,” Celaine said.

“So how did you kill it?” Hump searched for the voice to find a young boy peeking out from behind the wall.

“Leave off, Berty,” Beslin said, sending the child running. He counted six silvers from his purse, paused, then handed them a seventh. “This is all we can afford. I know we said it was just the one…”

Bud took the coin and handed one back. “Six silvers. That was the quest, you keep the rest.”

Bert seemed hesitant for a moment, then took it. He extended his hand to each of them, and they shook. “Thank you. I’ll have food made for you. We’ll put a pig on the spit, and Old Jaclin just got some fresh strawberries in. There’ll be a feast for you, free of charge. Rooms too of course.”

“That would be wonderful,” Bud said, smiling.

As Beslin left them, Hump and Celaine stared daggers at their Chosen knight.

Bud startled when he caught them staring. “What?”

“You gave away our money!” Hump snapped.

“An extra silver isn’t a lot to ask for an extra troll,” Celaine hissed.

“Oh relax,” Bud said. “Here,” he held out five coins. “Have one of mine. These people don’t have much already. I don’t want to push them beyond what they can afford.”

Hump snatched the coins from Bud’s hand and shoved them into his own purse. “You and your noble dignity. This is what happens when you’re brought up with too much money.”

Bud grinned. “And here I thought nobles are the biggest hoarders out there.”

Hump glowered at him. “Only the smart ones.”

It was a feast indeed. For a small tavern in a small village, Beslin didn’t disappoint. Roasted pork and potatoes, buttered corn, fresh bread—it was the best meal Hump had had since before his master had died. They told the tale of how they’d killed the trolls, leaving out Bud’s frostfire and chalking it up to wizardry. The last thing they needed was to get held up while Bud handed out his blessings. The villagers were awed by it anyway, and by the time the night was over, the rain had stopped, and the moon was high overhead.

They were heading to their rooms, when Celaine followed Hump and Bud to theirs.

“Where are you going?” Hump said nervously. “You’ve got your own room.”

“I want to talk to you both,” Celaine said.

“Can’t this wait—” Hump started.

“No. Now get inside.” She shooed them in with her hands.

It was a small room with two beds inside and a table against the back wall with a candle on top.

“Spark,” Hump whispered. And the candle flickered into life. He smiled—no explosions, no jets of flame, just a simple spark, just as he had intended.

Bud took a seat on one of the beds, while Hump sat on the other, setting his leather pouch onto a small table and opening it up so that his dragon egg could get some air.

“So what is it?” Hump asked.

When he looked at Celaine, her eyes were glowing with green essence. The skin under her eyes had a slight red tint to it, and almost looked like scales.

“What are you doing?” Hump asked. He glanced at Bud, who was staring at her with wide eyes.

“We’re going to be a party,” Celaine said. “That means we need to trust each other fully, and that starts by getting everything out into the open. Bud, my people use dragon blood to mutate and strengthen our bodies. I’m not as advanced as Vamir.” She gestured at her face. “But this is why I have the strength I have.”

Bud stared at her, mouth open. “That’s… How is that even possible?”

“Goddess Owalyn makes it so,” Celaine said. “With her blessing, our bodies are able to cope with the pressure of the blood and change with it.”

“Do our gods do anything that useful?” Hump asked.

Bud glared at him. “Not a good time.”

“Right,” Hump said, trying not to laugh at his friend’s crisis of faith. “Sorry.”

“We’re a team,” Celaine said. “We need to know what each can do, and what they can’t. It seemed important I tell you.”

Bud rubbed his face with his hand then nodded. “I’m glad you did, and I agree, it’s important that we have a proper understanding of each other’s abilities. Thank you for trusting me.”

“Why bring this up now though?” Hump asked her. “It’s come on very suddenly.”

“Because you.” She jabbed a finger at him. “Almost blew me up. And I want to know why. Vamir’s not here anymore. It’s time to be honest. I’ve spilled mine, now let’s get all of our secrets on the table and be a proper party.”

Hump glanced at Bud.

He shrugged. “Sounds good to me. Though there’s not much you don’t know about me already. This is your choice.”

Hump sighed. He went through his options, but none of them sounded good. Celaine was right, if they were going to be a party, they needed to know each other’s weaknesses and liabilities. And he had a great big one carved right into his soul.

“When I took on the power of the wolf dragon, our souls merged. She imprinted some part of herself on me, and I have no way of knowing if she took some part away from me too. It’s made me stronger and given me a powerful fire affinity.”

“He also wants to jump of cliffs,” Bud said.

Hump rolled his eyes. “No. If I did, I’d be worried.”

“I mean he wants to fly,” Bud said quickly.

Celaine frowned, leaning back against the door and crossing her arms. “Bud already knew?”

Hump nodded. “I didn’t want to say anything that might jeopardise yours and Vamir’s decision.”

“So you lied.”

Hump winced, tilting his head from side to side. “I didn’t lie. I just didn’t tell you everything.”

“Uhuh,” she said, clearly unamused. “So your soul is damaged, and you don’t know how badly. Didn’t the healers know?”

Hump shook his head. “It was beyond their abilities. I was told that they might be able to help me in Elenvine, but I think it’s more likely that they would kill me.”

She nodded. “This makes you a warlock, doesn’t it?”

“Technically speaking, yes,” Hump said. “I am no longer fully human.”

“And you’re okay with this?” Celaine asked Bud.

“He’s a good person,” Bud said. “As I said to him, he won’t turn into someone like Kassius. Especially not with us here for him.”

“From what I can tell, there’s no negative effects,” Hump said. “Warlocks typically come into being through slow decline. One day they give into their emotions and let their magic control them, the next they are relying on them for power. Soul damage amplifies that, it makes them unstable to their very core. I’ve not experienced any of that.”

“And if you do?” Celaine asked.

“I’ll tell you. And I guess it will be for you two to decide what to do after that.”

She hesitated for a long moment, then nodded. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Will this be a problem with this Wizard Vivienne?”

Hump grinned and scratched the back of his head. “I don’t plan on telling her.”

Celaine sighed. “I suppose that’s for the best. If this backfires though…”

“She might not train me,” Hump finished. “I know. But I don’t think it will come to that.”

“Worse than that,” Celaine said. “She might spread the word and not even the guild invitations we received will stand. At that point you might as well come back to my home with me and face the trials.”

“Another reason to keep it hidden,” Hump said. He unbuckled his spellbook from his belt and rested it on his lap. “And then there’s my spellbook. Celaine already knows this Bud, but I inherited this from my master. It’s a soulbound artefact containing all the knowledge of my predecessors. It’s how I’ve been learning new spells and is capable of recording how essence moves through a formation.”

“That’s how you controlled Kassius’ formation?” Bud asked.

Hump nodded. “It also recorded the God Glyphs of Kelisia when she blessed you.” He opened the book and showed Bud the page, lines of essence swirling into ink and taking on the shape of the formation. “Unfortunately, deciphering her power is completely beyond me, even with its help.”

“If it were that easy to harness the power of a god, more would do it,” Bud said. He frowned. “But if your master had an artefact so powerful, how was he killed by goblins?”

Hump closed the book. “Nobody can be on guard all the time. The gods have it out for us wizards. Bad luck strikes whenever it can.”

They didn’t talk long after that. They planned out the next stretch of their trip to Fishers Lake, and then Celaine left to her own room. The ebbing summer left little room for late starts, they’d need all the light they could get.