CHAPTER 7

“These are all the courses available to us?” I asked as Winfred nodded for the third time and I sighed forlornly as none of it sounded particularly interesting.

We sat in the lush and extravagant-looking shared lounge between my room and Xanile’s as Winfred boiled water for tea. The scent of the herbs that she used meshed well with the dried fruit she offered us as well while the two of us stared at the slip she put between us on the table.

On the slip of parchment were several classes, Botanical Application, Magic Theory, Weapons Training (Advanced), Medical Aid, Anatomical Analyses.

I was already more familiar with botany than most children my age and older because of my parent’s work and all the books we kept at home.

I didn’t have any idea how to work magic, so I knew I would need to take Magic Theory. “What is the advanced weapons training like?”

“Hard.” Winfred grunted and frowned. “The instructor is a bit of a wild card and if he doesn’t like you, he just pushes you off onto his student instructors. But the class is a must if you’ll be challenging other students to duels without a thought to his own abilities or that of his opponents.”

“The Marki children are both adept with the bow and have been classically trained with the estoc.” Xanile turned to me and waved her hands dismissively. “It’s a sword with dulled edges but a highly sharpened point for slashing with the tip and stabbing. They think it a noble’s weapon.”

“Is it not?”

“Political maneuvering is the true weapon of nobles, Saemus.” Xanile corrected me and turned to Winfred. “I will be signing up for Magic Theory, I would like to know as well if there is a class concerning magical beasts?”

“Yes, but they typically reserve that for the second and third year students.” Winfred advised, but a knowing nod from her allayed the girl enough to stop from speaking again as the older elven woman said, “I’ll speak to the instructor and see if she is willing to work you into her class.”

“Thank you.” Xanile nodded once and turned to me. “I recommend you join me in the Magic Theory class. Talent like yours would be wasted without proper training.”

“Then it looks like I’ll be taking the weapons, theory and botany classes.” Winfred frowned at me and I shrugged, “Botany would remind me of home. If this place is to be my prison, I at least want to excel at something.”

“You know about plants?” Xanile’s tone was curious but surprised as well. I nodded and she tilted her head. “I see. Interesting to know.”

I just nodded, not willing to go into more detail.

A knock on the door drew everyone’s attention and Winfred went to the door to speak quietly before she motioned that the person join us. “Lady Xanile, Saemus, this is a runner for the administration, he comes bearing news for you, Saemus.”

The look on her face was odd, as if she were trying to retain her bearing.

The runner, a boy likely no older than I was with a gray cast to his skin and simple clothes bowed his head and spoke clearly, “Forgive my intrusion, ladies, sir, but we have something that we need you to come and collect something for the school. If you would follow me?”

I blinked at both of them and Winfred shrugging as I stood from the soft sofa and moved into the hallway behind the runner who didn’t speak the entire time I followed him through the labyrinthine passageways and halls to a large room that looked to be an indoor dock.

And standing huddled against the cool breeze of the rushing waters behind her stood my mother, “Mother?”

She tensed at my name and as soon as she turned my way and saw me, she rushed forward to embrace me in a way I thought I might never experience again after I was taken away.

“Are you well?” she asked through the tears as she pulled back and looked me over at arms length. She saw the scar on my left arm and frowned, “What is that from?”

“A cut I got from traveling here, I’m okay.” Surprisingly the quest giver was quiet when she asked this time. “I have news.”

She blinked at me and I lowered my voice to the barest whisper as I hugged her again, “I found the catalyst for the voice. I don’t know everything, but I can become stronger if I fulfill the quests as I always have.”

She sniffed, relief taking over her features as she almost collapsed. “While it is so nice to see you, this is not all that I am here for.” She pointed back to a large barge that I had never seen before. On it rested twenty full Cindry trees from our grove.

The shock and horror at them being here must have been enough to restart her tears, “Your father sent me here with them while he replenishes the grove.” She paused and turned to the man standing near the barge. “This is all to be given to the school save for one tree that will be gifted to my son, and another that will be gifted to the people who took him in. See that it is done.”

He nodded and she turned back to me, “These were to be yours when you were old enough to care for them, when you were strong enough with the song to make them grow on your own.” She sniffed and offered me a small smile as she pressed a small wooden box of normal oak dyed red into my hands. “This is a gift from your father and I, and there is something precious in this box for you to find. Saemus, find it for us. Alright?”

I nodded, the quest giver piping up now, Quest received, your mother has informed you of something hidden inside the box she gifted you. Find what it is that she has given you. Reward, 50 EXP and an unknown gift.

“I accept.” I whispered to her as she leaned down and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be alright mother. You and father stay safe until I can come home. I promise to learn everything that I can here so that I will be safe.”

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak until the man was a little further from the two of us, then she muttered, “If anyone is a threat to you, you put them down as brutally as you can without killing them so that everyone else remembers what waits for them.”

I blinked up at her, surprised at the absolute flip in her personality, but she went on, “We aren’t here to protect you, my love. We need you to protect yourself and this is as much a way to do it as any other we could do. I wish that we would have had time to help you learn more, but this was unexpected.”

I nodded and whispered, “I love you. Be well.”

“I love you. We will be.” She lifted my chin and stared me in the eyes as she forcefully added, “We will all be.”

She turned and walked away, sniffling and holding herself upright with a regality I wasn’t used to seeing in her, but I doubted she could allow anyone to think the wrong things.

The man who carried a board and parchment on it joined me, “We will hold onto the tree that your mother gave you and your patron, and when you would like access to it, we can arrange for that. Can I trust that you will pass the word on to them, along with this receipt?” I nodded and he smiled. “Good. The runner will take you back to your rooms.”

I turned to find the runner waiting by the door where the man had motioned to after he was done and followed the boy back to my room and smiled at him, “Thank you.”

He returned my smile stoically and nodded once before taking off. Rather than rejoining the ladies in the lounge, I sat on my bed and let the tears that had been threatening to fall the entire way back from seeing my mother. I missed her already.

This was my life now, and there was so much yet to figure it with myself, but was this really all that was meant to be? What would my parents do? How would I earn my way back to them?

I could figure that out at some point within the next three years, hopefully. Maybe by then I could master combat and magic and make a way for myself.

Or maybe you could become strong enough to kill anyone who tries to pull you into their courtly wars. The voice was mine, but it was so much more cynical and bloodthirsty than me that I was surprised by it.

Better to just learn as much as I can and put it all into practice so I can be the best me I can and stay alive.

With that out of the way for now, I opened the red wooden box and marveled at the deep blue felt cushion inside, soft to the touch until I got to the actual gift. Sunken into the pillow was a deep brown wooden blade, about the same size as my forearm. Along the length of the blade there were five holes roughly as big as my fathers thumb around, the last of them an inch before the leather hand wrap began, the tan of the material complementary to the wood it protected.

I lifted it carefully from the pillow, the warmth of the wood the familiar touch of Cindry that I had grown to love so much over the years.

Beneath it, I found a note.

Saemus,

My only regret in this life before all of this had been that I was unable to teach you the song of our people, and now I must add being unable to teach you how to protect yourself with the weapons our family would have made for you.

This blade is called a shuna, and while it might look like a wooden practice weapon, it is so much more. It will not cut now, but in your hands, it will never break. When the time comes and you find the right kind of core for it, fill the holes in its heart, and let the blade’s song guide you; it is all I can give you for now.

While I know that your mother worries for your safety and well being, I know that you are resourceful enough to keep your head clear of the nonsense they’ll all try to shove into your head and stay your own course. Just remember who you are, and what we’ve taught you. Remember: Speed is all well and good. So is strength. But it’s strength of character and quickness of wit that will see you through it all. We love you son.

Keep to the old way.

Father.

I frowned at that last part, that reminded me of something. As I stared at the note, something caught my attention, shimmering along the top of the box. Sylvan runes carved into the wood and filled with a special dust that mother ground from plants for some of her craftier creations that looked like gold in the right kind of light.

It read: Seekers of the truth need only feed the question. The answer almost always lay within the mud.

I blinked at the saying, repeating it over and over in my head. That wasn’t right. When there was talk of the old way, everything was almost always point back to blood.

Blood! I looked around the room for something to cut myself on and found a letter opener in the drawer of my desk. I pricked my thumb with a hiss and pressed the wound to the last rune for blood and not mud.

As soon as the blood touched it, I felt a little nauseous and watched as the writing filled with my blood and revealed a necklace in a small compartment hidden in the top of the box with another note!

Saemus,

This is something that my father gave me when I was a girl, and it while it was little more than a trinket, I always felt like it was lucky. Now more than ever, I think you could use this luck more than I ever could; if for no other reason than that my luck peaked the day that I first saw you into this world and became the proudest mother I had ever thought to walk this planet.

With all the love in my heart,

Mother.

As I watched the small object in my hand shimmer with light from the lit candles in my room, I was reminded that I had been given a task to complete and it was now so. Quest complete, found what it was that your mother wanted to give you. Reward, 50 EXP and a new necklace.

The chain for the necklace was plain, a soft silver that looked worn, but in serviceable condition but it was the gemstone in the accessory that was of interest. It looked to be an eye of sorts, but made completely of stone and no matter how I looked at it the dark slit in the golden glow of it seemed to follow me everywhere.

Well, she wanted me to have it, so I’ll put it on and see how it feels. I lifted it and found that if I were to put it on, it would hang almost to my navel, and that wouldn’t do. So I undid the clasp and wrapped it around my neck twice so that the chain doubled up on me and the necklace sat a little higher up. Seemed I would need to get a new chain for it so that it wasn’t quite so long.

As soon as the necklace came to rest on my chest, I became acutely aware of my heartbeat. The throbbing of missing home replaced by an awareness that something else was going on too.

You have been gifted a Luck Stone, and with it have unlocked the luck statistic. Would you like to siphon the luck of the stone to add to your personal statistics?

My mouth should have been sore with how far my jaw dropped at that. So this thing had more than just sentimental value? Mulling it over, I had no reason not to take it, other than what if siphoning the luck away broke the necklace?

Then again, wouldn’t mother want me to have the luck? That was the whole purpose behind the gift in the first place. Finally, I sighed and closed my eyes, muttering, “Yes.”

There was an uncomfortable emptiness within the hollow of my stomach for a moment that caused me to open my eyes and look down at myself. Though I saw nothing, there was a brief ebbing flow from the center of the eye into the pit of my stomach and after a couple heartbeats, the flow stopped and the eye returned to normal.

“Status?” It was hard to keep the questioning tone from my voice as I waited to realize this was all an elaborate imaginative dream and I was crazy or something.

Instead, I was rewarded with the same opaque thing cluttering my vision as before, but this time it had a new addition.

Name: Saemus

Race: Elven

Level: 7*

Statistics: Measurement

Might: 1

Dexterity: 4

Constitution: 1

Mind: 3

Magic: 7

Charm: 2

Luck: 12*

Oh that’s so much! Focusing on it, I learned more as well.

Luck was the culmination of what was likely, unlikely, needed and wanted by the person who had it versus what the universe had in mind for them. But the more I focused the more interesting information I found.

As I looked at the star located behind the measurement for luck, it expanded and the voice stated, Remaining luck siphoned from the Luck Stone.

That meant that there had to have been even more available when it was first found or made and the more people who wore it, the more luck that was used. I wonder if there are other stones out there like this. It would be interesting to try and find something for all of my stats.

I turned my attention back to the box and lifted the pillow, finding a well-made leather belt and a sheath for the weapon that it fit into perfectly.

I put nots back into the box, then put that onto my desk. Part of me thought I should belt the weapon onto myself for safe keeping, another wondering if that was just childish wishful thinking to keep part of my parents and heritage close to me. Indecisive, I opted that it might be better to ask Winfred whether it was okay or not and with that, I gathered the items and headed into the lounge to meet with both waiting women.