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“Come,” Titus said after breakfast, “It is time to speak of war.”

Okay, better. Now we were making progress. The war council was Titus, Caeso, three clansmen I hadn’t met, two clanswomen, Madonna, Igrun, Kismet, and myself.

Titus cleared his throat. “We do not have the people to fight the Jarl Sigmund Findseth at this time.”

“Well we can’t just sit here.” Kismet said. “He’s coming, and with the number of warriors he still has...”

Caeso raised empty hands helplessly. “What can we do against them, without the support of the town? Three in ten of us are dead. Not our hunters and warriors, who took most of those casualties.”

“About half.” Said a short, lean man. “We no longer exist as a fighting force. At best, we are skirmishers and rabble. As I explained to Titus, we have three or four years before our youths can be trained enough by those of us who remain.”

“And we cannot be seen to shelter you.” One of the women said. “We cannot throw you out of our camp, and we will not ask you to leave. But when the Jarl comes, if only by messenger, and asks for you, we have no choice but to hand you over.”

“I understand.” Sigrun said. “I will not endanger my beloved family.”

.....

“I don’t understand.” Kismet said. “Igrun would make a better leader than Stinky Sigmund any day!”

The elder of the two women laughed. “Women do not often lead warriors. Igrun would need to defeat the jarl in single combat.”

“Which I cannot do.” Igrun said. “I might still be able to defeat Victor, which I would not try, and I could probably defeat Tomas Istre, but it is not certain. With no soldiers to support me, it is better to leave the island until the jarl dies of old age.”

“You will be missed, niece.” Caeso said.

“These emotions,” Titus said, “are not for the war council.”

“Let us conclude the war council, and move to family business.” Said one of the men.

“I concur.” Said the elder woman. “Daughter, come here and give your mother a hug.”

Caeso set a hand on my shoulder. “You should leave now. The rest is family business.”

#

In the end, she got a leather jacket and pants, a bow crafted of bone and horn, a quiver of steel-tipped arrows, and a bamboo spear topped with an iron bodkin point, suitable for the hunting of armored men. Oh, and all the food and water that four people could carry.

“Well, let us be off to the south, then.”

I blinked, “Why south?”

“Because by the time we get there, travelling through the wood, my armor and weapons will be ready.”

So we lifted packs weighted for adults, and set off with Ingrun in the lead.

[You have 20/30 health remaining.]

It was probably for the best. I was in no shape for combat, as multiple one-hit battles can attest.

We did gather the ingredients for a woodsman’s healing potion, which to my surprise infused nicely. It seemed easier with Life mana, a mixture of Animal and Nature, with Sun used as a catalyst.

“Primitive, but functional.” Madonna said. “When are you going to be ready to practice healing spells and rituals?”

“Wait. Don’t drink that.” Igrun said. “We have an empty waterskin.”

“Well, yes, but I am wounded.” I said.

“Stop thinking like a man. We can give that potion to those in the city supplying us to help offset their costs. It gains us more than just a day’s extra healing for you.”

“Diplomacy.” I snorted, but held my hand out for the skin.

“I think he’s finally learning.” Kismet told Madonna.

“Even so, you’d think a simple concept like that would take less than two seasons. I mean, he CALLS himself an ambassador.”

“I think... Igrun, get me the skin now. We need to fill it or use the potion.”

She smiled at me. “Why?”

“We have eight incoming wolf cubs.”

She threw me the skin, and I tried not to spill too much of the potion while filling it.

Puffball sent.

added Bloody-Thoughts.

I said.

White Mask sent.

“Kismet, do you have many fighting skills, yet? Enough to take down a huscarl in single combat?”

“Not yet. I’ll stick by Ingrun, if that’s okay.”

“Okay, we’ll meet you at the city.”

“I haven’t agreed to anything.” Madonna said. “I’m guessing this involves running? Soft pass.”

“I need you to light a man or two on fire, and keep them burning until they’re dead.” I said.

“Oh. Is this something you want?”

“No, this is something that has to happen to get what I want.”

Madonna sniffed. “If you’re going to kill someone, you might as well enjoy it. Wait. Why are you leaving your pack behind?”

“We do need to sprint. That means we also need to travel light.”

“Looks like we’re camping here, then.” Igrun said.

I tied the skin to the rope that served as my belt. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Go where and why?” Madonna asked.

“The kids are here, the mother is not.”

“Oh. She must be seriously hurt.”

“Kismet, get Igrun to the town, get her what equipment she needs. Do NOT wait for us, we may be a while.”

“Gotcha. Hey, where’s the tent? Rhishi, don’t go. Where’s the tent? It might rain tonight.”

We left.

#

I did a lot of translation between Madonna and the cubs, but I’m not going to waste words here on that.

White Mask began.

Bloody-Thoughts smiled.

Mudfoot interrupted.

Puffball sent.

Mudfoot concluded.

White Mask sniffed the air, then resumed running.

Puffball sent.

Bloody-Thoughts sent, scraping his tongue on his teeth.

Puffball sent.

I asked.

[Serious Injury: Liver punctured.] White Mask sent.

“Madonna, it’s going to go septic if we don’t get there. Catch up.”

“What? No. People are HUNTING US! Don’t LEAVE me.”

Ugh. She was right.

I took a knee and bent forward. “Fine, hop on.”

“My noble steed.” She said, crossing her arms across my chest.

“Over-under.” I said.

“Huh?”

“Over one arm, and under the other. I don’t need you choking me as I run.”

“That’s no fun.” She said, but did so.

Even burning all my charges of Sprint, we got there too late. I could smell the septicemia on her, even as I began pouring the healing potion into her mouth.

.....

I sent images and scents of both.

sent Mudfoot.

“Crap.”

“Yes, I smell crap, too.” Madonna said.

“Wait, now?” Madonna asked, “But... I’m not at full mana.”

“Black Madonna, I order you to breathe, slowly and twice.” I waited for her to do so.

“Take out their archer or archers. That’s all that you need to do.”

I had time to ready my shield, and draw my mace. There wasn’t even time to properly mix up mana before they spotted us.

Okay, basic spells only. “Slumber.”

Properly infused, a simple amulet of amber will protect from most basic spells. Theirs were properly infused, even if it hadn’t been far beyond the normal range of the spell.

they sent, shrouding themselves into the foliage.

So now the biggest threat was...

“Flash step.” Victor said, whisking into position to strike at me.

“I’ve nothing against you.” He said, “But you’ve really been more of a hinderance than an asset. Which do you want done with your body, buried or burned?”

I shrugged. “Return my body to the sea. You want to be burned?”

He smirked. “You can’t believe you’ll win this.”

“Igrun says she might be able to take you.”

“I held back when sparring with Igrun. You just need to die.”

He struck again, and the time for words was past.

There are other ways to mix Life (sometimes called Healing) mana, just as there are multiple formulae for Protection. As with most things in life, some formulae are better to specific purposes, and there are seemingly limitless formulae that are just worse all around than the standard ones. Unless it truly matters, I’ll just state that I made or used the mana rather than go into detailed formulae.