“Kon have no magic,” I explained to Erirag, though I was not sure she would believe me. “Tomb have magic, old magic put on it by very powerful shamans.” Star priests, but the idea was the same. “Kon know the words to make the magic work, but it is not part of Kon.”
Then again, how would I know? Out of fear and bitterness, I had never made an effort.
More important in the moment, I had been accepted as an orc by an orc. There was no higher praise Erirag could have offered me, especially since I'd just been another lulgijak such a brief time before. “Erirag give Kon much honor. Kon would gladly fight with Erirag again.” I thumped my chest, a staccato beat of sincerity.
I looked to the south-west, deeper into the heart of the Lindequalme. Pode lay within, as did her minions. If I turned around, I would likely survive. I'd be reamed out by the sergeant for not completing the task assigned to me, and then if my brother made it back to camp he'd tear into me as well, for going to fight when that wasn't his intent for me. Even though he'd summoned me to Raiaera for the Day of Burning. (Brothers don't make any sense.)
I wiped a stray lock of hair and about a gallon of sweat from my brow. “Kon can't go back with Erirag. Kon have questions, Kon have... Kon not know word. Kon not know what. But Kon need go in forest. Maybe to death.” Probably to death.
I looked to my companion, who nodded in silent understanding. Sometimes alliances ended abruptly, and that was all right. It didn't make the fire we'd faced worthless. “Kon have home in Radasanth now. Have tribe all across Corone. Not born into tribe, tribe formed by blood. If Erirag go to big city in Corone, go to bad part of town. Ask around for Mongrel. Kon's tribe will find Erirag. If Kon live, we will eat much meat and drink much mead.”
“If Kon die in forest,” the green giantess mused around her tusks, “Erirag sing to tribe of victory here.” The orc turned to go, making her way to the trail that had led us two urukhai to the crypt in the first place. Within a few steps I could no longer see her, a few seconds after that her footsteps faded into the eerie rustling of the forest.
Utter stillness fell upon the clearing. A cool wind blew, lifting the Lindequalme's oppressive heat and sending the blood-read leaves skittering over the cracked marble tiles. It bent back the branches overhead, letting sunlight flood the little clearing for the first time in gods only knew how long. The life-giving light kissed my face and hair, then concentrated into one bright spot on the edge of the clearing. A path unfolded before my eyes, and I knew that I would follow it to whatever end it led. My mouth went dry and suddenly my light leather armor seemed oppressively heavy; I had no death wish. I just couldn't see another way forward.
My eyes drifted from the path to the crypt, to the figures carved around its broken doors, to the inscriptions that warded off evil and the silver light that still sparkled across its glass. Then I drew my sword and began my journey anew, this time asking the gods' protection.
What could it hurt?
“Though shadow wraps around me,
I stand in wondrous light.
The Stars shine bright above me;
I do not fear the night.
Though I walk into peril,
Though waves roil from the deep,
The Stars shine bright above me;
I do not fear to sleep.
Though death stalks with his sickle,
His minions I defy.
The Stars shine bright above me;
I do not fear to die.”
Out of Character:
Finito. Spoils Requests:
Erirag: An ornate mythril helm, set with seven carats of garnet.
Illara: Star-kissed sword: Illara's mythril sword is imbued with starlight. It will glow when drawn against undead, evil, or cursed creatures, and does twice its normal damage when it strikes them.
Star-lit sight: Illara is able to see the safest route through wilderness.
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