Consistent rumors keep popping up about a town in the Duchy of Denarla. This town repelled an entire rift attack. This town gave up eighty percent of its food and is still managing to feed its neighbors. This town’s lakefront has more fish, this town, blah blah…
What is the name of the town?
Polmendo’s Hill? Something like that.
Should we be worried? Is Denarla raising an army there?
I think not. We’ve assumed the rumors are just the local mayor attempting to amass new villagers to make up for the toll the draft took on the population.
Then why are you wasting my time? Next topic.
Minutes from the Royal Council Tacuria City Record 1849, Section 4: Notable Rumors 7th of Frost, Year 693.
***
You participated in the death of a dragon!
Level up!
For leveling up, you have gained 3 free points!
Your Strength has improved!
Your Dexterity has improved!
Your Vitality has improved!
Your Intelligence has improved!
You developed the new skill, Mana Regeneration!
You developed the new skill, Stealth!
You developed the new skill, Horsemanship!
Your Combat skill has improved by thirteen points!
Your Endurance skill has improved!
Your Footwork skill has improved by four points!
Your Improvised Weapons skill has improved!
Your Mana Pool skill has improved!
Your Running skill has improved!
My improvements during the battle had been significant, but I hadn’t been able to find the enthusiasm to enjoy them.
I was crippled. At least, for the foreseeable future, I wouldn’t be running anywhere, no matter how much the skill improved. Doctors from April’s world would have put my leg in a cast, and then friends and family would’ve doodled all over it.
That wasn’t so easy in Enora.
My leg was wrapped in an itchy wool bandage, lined with a bunch of little straight planks, and tied into a surprisingly tidy ankle warmer that kept my foot facing mostly the right direction while Normuran came to heal it every day.
There was no smooth surface like April’s modern plaster casts, but I wanted someone to draw on it anyway.
“You’re quite the artist, Eysee,” Mom said as she watched the girl doodle a fat, cartoonish bee and some flowers across the wood planks that made up my cast. Shifting too much would dislodge the wood and ruin the image, but as long as I stayed still, it would be a recognizable bumblebee.
“Thanks, Mrs. Farmer!” Eysee said brightly. She seemed to have recovered from her concussion with no lasting damage, and now she got to visit me instead of the other way around. Her visits were among the few bright spots for me, being stuck at home.
Mom disagreed.
Eysee had discovered my return on the first day back and had been sworn to secrecy. There was no easy way to explain my sudden return to Pemolar when the whole town had watched me leave with the army, and Mom wanted to keep her teleportation magic a secret. Personally, I thought she was being unreasonably paranoid, but perhaps she knew something I didn’t.
Of course, Eysee took the opportunity to be over here every day, and I was glad. I’d be losing my mind with worry and restless energy without her.
“It does look really good, Eye. Thanks,” I said, trying to muster up my usual happy smile.
Eysee saw through it immediately, but she didn’t seem to know what to say. “You’re gonna be okay, Mera.”
I nodded. “I know. It’s just… frustrating.”
“I felt the same way, and it took me weeks to feel better,” she said softly, before turning to Mom. “It’s been a few days, though. Are you planning to bring Mera to the bar tonight?”
Mom brightened at the question, and I did too. It had been nearly three days since the battle and our explosive escape, and for all that time, I’d been cooped up inside the house, stewing in my failures.
“I think we can tell everyone I went to get Mera from Mitoras now,” Mom said hesitantly. “And thank the heavens for that. She’s driving me crazy.”
Mom gave a half-hearted smile at me, but I wasn’t in the mood for jokes. There was a time not so long ago when I might’ve playfully stuck my tongue out at her.
‘What if he’s lying in some recovery tent, dying, and I’m just sitting here doing nothing?’ I thought. ‘What if… what if he’s already dead?’
“I hope to hear a story from you tonight,” Eysee tried again.
I mustered up another smile, feeling like an absolute heel. Eysee was sympathetic. I’d been injured in an ambush after all, and separated from Reid and my Dad. Neither of us wanted to tell the girl more than that. We’d had to lie about how I came back after all.
Perhaps telling a story would improve my mood a bit.
Yeah.
Maybe a nice, cheerful story like that undercover cop movie where everyone dies in the end.
I shook myself. This wasn’t like me. I had no way to confirm if Reid or Dad were alive, except to wait for them to write a letter. If they were alright, I was sure there would be one.
Freyna, the Wind Witch, had been heavily injured when we’d teleported away. After escaping, she probably would’ve been angry, but she’d also lost her dragon, had an arrow sticking out of her leg, courtesy of my boyfriend, and was surrounded.
She might’ve tried to take out her frustrations on Reid, or possibly Mandek, as his sling had pierced her wind barrier, too. Or she might’ve just fled. I could hope for that.
I’d have flown away the moment an arrow hit me. Still, the entire attack felt less like an ambush and more just a test of her abilities. A test that might’ve destroyed the entire brigade if not for Reid.
I hadn’t seen any other weapons hurt her, but she’d spent most of her time away from the front line after the initial dragon attack. I couldn’t believe that my weapons were the only ones strong enough to break through her wind barrier.
If the queen fled, that would only leave the ambush of trolls and goblins for them to deal with. Fortunately, Reid and I had been a long way away from the front lines. He would be able to see if he needed to run.
My uncle had been awake and aware, so at least one person higher in the chain of command was taking charge near the front. Healer Ake must’ve managed to find him. That wsa promising, but I’d also seen him batted away from Freyna like an unruly fly. He might’ve been hurt in the fall.
Might have been. Would be able. If the queen fled. So many unknowns.
Mom and I had discussed the battle until we were both sick of it, each of us desperately trying to put icing on a rotten pie. Mom was even more anxious than I was. Not knowing whether Dad was okay probably hurt her far more deeply than my fledgling relationship with Reid hurt me.
Of course… my Dad was missing, too. I felt helpless, and I hated it. It was making me irritable, and I knew I was being an insufferable bitch. Eysee had no idea what was going on. When she tried to ask, Mom and I just… clammed up.
A knock came at the door. I was in my bedroom, but through the hingeless doorway I could see our front door, while Eysee sat on a stool.
Mom peeked out the window before she opened the door, a frown on her face.
“Nemmikel? What are you doing here?”
“Heard a rumor! Your daughter in there? Got somethin’ for her!”
Mom stiffened and slowly turned a sharp glare towards Eysee. The panicked girl held up her hands to protest, genuine horror written on her features. If Nemmikel knew I was back, I didn’t think he’d found out from Eysee.
Mom twitched. She could send him away, but it sounded like he already knew for certain. I could see the conflict in her features before she eventually sighed and opened the door.
Nemmikel stood there, smiling with his missing teeth. He was a kind-hearted man, but children meeting him for the first time might shy away from him.
“Well, if it isn’t the little shit who took the trophy and tried to run off with it. Couldn’t wait to get back and challenge old Nemmikel, could you?” the old man said.
I snickered, but immediately felt guilty for it — what right did I have to laugh when Dad was out there, maybe hurt? — but the man had always been able to get a smile out of me.
“Only pompous old has-beens talk in third person about themselves,” I said softly.
He frowned. “Well, that had no bite in it at all. Damn. Are you alright, girl?”
“Do I look alright?” I asked bitterly.
“Nemmikel, this is a pleasant surprise,” Mom interjected. “What exactly brought you here this evening?”
“Mera, of course,” he said, amused, before turning back to me. “One little injury and you’ve lost all your spirit.”
“By my count, I’ve been injured… three times now in the past month?” I asked Mom.
“Four, Onion,” Mom said.
“This is the first time grumpy old Norman hasn’t managed to get you up and running by the next day. They don’t count if they don’t last,” Nemmikel said. “This will be good for you! Builds character!”
“They certainly do count. Mera has given me more heart attacks this month than in the last eighteen years of her life combined,” Mom said.
“Not that I’m not happy to see you, Michael, but why are you here?” I asked, cutting off his retort.
“Well, if you’d invite an old man in out of the cold, I might tell you!” he snapped.
Mom snickered. “Come on in, Nemmikel. Do you want some bread? Fresh baked.”
He shook his head. “You’re generous as always, Atrinaska.”
He stepped inside, and Mom sliced a small loaf from the bread she’d pulled off the stove this morning. The portion she cut was smaller than she normally would have, but if Nemmikel noticed, he didn’t comment.
“Oh! I didn’t see you there. Hello, Eysee,” he said, noticing the girl on the stool in my room as he entered.
“Hello, Sir!” she said brightly. She was one of those kids who’d once been afraid of him, but she’d long since warmed up to him after listening to his stories at the bar.
“Well, I’d best get to it,” he said after he’d been comfortably seated at the other stool, talking to Eysee and me through the doorway. He took another bite of the bread before reaching around to his back. “I want to loan the staff to you.”
I blinked.
“The staff?”
He nodded and leaned the walking stick against the doorframe.
My eyes widened. In all of the excitement over the past few days, with the draft and the attack, I’d forgotten exactly what the staff I’d made him could do.
Poplar Walking Staff
Effect 1: When wielding this weapon, gain nine strength.
Effect 2: When wielding this weapon, gain nine dexterity.
Effect 3: When wielding this weapon, physical impediments are negated.
The strength and dexterity would certainly be nice, but the physical impediment was the effect he was truly offering.
“Nemmikel! You… you don’t have to do that. I know you’ve loved being able to walk without the limp and–!”
“Naakkkt!” He said. There was no word in there. Just irritated negation. “Girl, you were barely three when I got my limp and had to retire early. I lived with that limp for almost as long as you’ve been alive. Besides, you’re the one who made it. You can use it while you recover.”
My eyes welled with sudden tears. “Th-Thank You, Nemmikel.”
My immobility had been why I’d felt so helpless these past few days. I couldn’t do anything! If I could walk, then I could go to my lab and start making something to help! Better yet, I could start working on my free points and boost my crafting so high that I could build a damn car and drive to the battlefront to make sure Reid and my Dad were okay.
“Oh, stop your blubberin'. It’s not charity. I heard from Norman that you were back in town and injured. He was the one who suggested it. If it were up to me, I’d say you should heal in bed the old-fashioned way, but what does Old Nemmikel know, eh?” He said, shifting uncomfortably on the stool.
“Right! Wh-what would you know?” I blubbered.
“Norman was supposed to keep quiet about that,” Mom said irritably.
“Why the secrecy?”
“None of your business,” Mom snapped.
Nemmikel held up his hands in an amusing mirror of Eysee just a few minutes ago.
“Sorry, sorry. I won’t pry. Besides, with Eysee here, it’s only a matter of time before the whole town knows Mera’s back.”
“Hey!” Eysee squawked. “I’ve known she was back for three days and haven’t told a soul!”
Nemmikel blinked and turned to look at Atrinaska. “Three days?”
“Thank you for that, Eysee,” Mom said with a glare.
“Oh!” Eysee covered her hands with her mouth.
Mom glared sharply at Nemmikel, who took the hint and dropped the subject.
“Well, it's good to have you back, Mera. The staff is only a loan, you hear!” He said, completely ignoring the oddity. “I want it back the day you can walk on your own two feet!”
I wiped at my eyes. I really wanted to hug him. “I… darn it, I can’t do it yet. Eysee, could you hug that old bastard for me?”
Eysee beamed and leaped off the stool, wrapping arms around the uncomfortable man.
Mom laughed.