Neil

“No look, how old do you think she is?”

“I’m not sure, mid-thirties I guess? Maybe early forties? What’s it matter?” I said still unsure of what she was talking about.

“I’m just worried that they’re getting ready to screw us over.”

“Because she’s in her thirties?” I asked still not understanding.

Exasperated she continued, “These people see a blessing from a human as something incredibly important, his line is Chieftan because he is descended from someone who received a blessing hundreds of years ago.”

“Right.” I said slowly still not following.

“So, his wife has had three children and Talass will be marrying the eldest, so why bless his wife and not his future daughter in law?”

“Because I’ll be doing that later?”

“Will you be?”

“Yes, I said I would and I will.”

At this Yallia actually put her hand on my shoulder and looked at me with pity in her eyes. “I keep forgetting how naive you are Neil. Would you bless Talass if they don’t help us? Or would Talass willingly stay if they did betray us?”

Face flushing I realized the problem. “If he has no intention of letting us use the key then Talass wouldn’t exactly stick around to be his daughter in law, he may be able to force her but then again he may not be able to. Better to ensure the blessing goes to someone he knows will be loyal.”

“There you go, of course I might just be too paranoid right now, but then again you might just be the most trusting person I’ve ever met. If he was so inclined the Chieftan could keep the regents, the key, the blessing, Talass, and maybe even you.” She punctuated the last sentence with a poke to my chest.

I thought about what we should do, then I looked at my companions. Yallia barely spoke any of their language, and Talass was swaying drunkenly back and forth. The young woman barely even looked cognizant let alone capable of helping us.

Feeling like an idiot for simply following along with her, and not even insisting she explain her plan to me, I was just following along like a damned child. Hell if they attacked us now how much of a chance did, we really have to get away?

“God damn it.” I quietly muttered, I looked at Yallia who was looking back at me expectantly. “You could have said something before I banged his wife you know.” I said accusingly.

“I don’t speak the language and have less of an idea of what's going on than you do. You can’t have me do all your thinking for you Neil.”

Grimacing at her words I considered the situation and found myself completely out of my depth. “We should have split up before we got here, you could have hidden in the forest invisible and acted as our backup.”

“Maybe, maybe not, these are trained hunters, it’s possible they would have found and killed me, then where would you be?”

“Have you ever been in a situation like this before? Stuck in a tense negotiation with nothing really left to offer people?”

“A few times, negotiations with locals can sometimes go very well, or very wrong, it can depend a lot on the people themselves. One thing is always the same though, never show weakness and never give them everything they want until you get what you want.”

Mulling her words over my head I tried to ot think about how I hadn’t done that. “Alright, I’m going to talk to the Chief, see if I can get the key. If he wants me to bless Talass now, I’ll just say that I can’t bless two different women in the same night.”

“Just one woman twice in one night?” She asked a grin on her face.

Blushing despite myself I ignored her. “A full blessing can only be done once a day, but you can bless one person twice in order to make it doubly effective.” I explained trying to keep a straight face.

“That actually doesn’t sound entirely like bullshit, alright then what?”

“Then tomorrow morning after I bless her, we get the hell out of here as quickly as we can.”

“Well it’s a pretty rough plan, but then this entire plan was pretty damn rough. One more thing, I think you need a show of force. Something to show them that we aren’t helpless, if anything we should have done that sooner, but circumstances didn’t allow it. Also, what did your ability say about the leaders of the tribe?”

“My ability?”

“Yeah you know, the thing humans can do that makes Gaia tell you about things or people.”

As my stomach sunk I felt my cheeks flush. “I didn’t use it on them.”

“Seriously? You have something that can tell you all about a person and you didn’t use it on the strangers we’re negotiating with? From now on you use it on everyone you see no matter what.”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry. I haven’t always had magical powers you know, they’re not exactly second nature yet. Now what did you mean by a show of force?” I asked. “The most impressive thing I can do is water magic and I’m not sure how intimidating that is.”

Yallia gave me a level glare for a moment obviously still annoyed by my forgetting my most useful ability but then gave a snort of amusement. “Your water magic is strong, especially for how recently you came by it, but don’t tell them that. I haven't seen one, but there should be a river around here somewhere, invite them to a demonstration and show them what you can do. Make it big and flashy, you can tell them it’s a human custom, entertainment or something. It should cause them to think twice before starting trouble, also if you can imply that you will be willing to help them in the future it should make them more agreeable to you. If they think they will be done with you after this then they have less reason to keep you alive now.”

“Right, let them think I’ll still be useful in the future. Okay, this all makes sense, I wish I had asked you some of this before I banged the chiefs wife.” I said breathing out trying to stop my heart from pounding in my chest. Looking at Talass I saw that she was a little steadier on her tail, but still not paying much attention to us, if they were smart about it, they wouldn’t even fight us, just feed us booze until we passed out. “Let's get back to the campfire before people notice we’re missing.” I said as the noises in the tent beside us reached their crescendo. “And also, let's get the fuck out of here.”

Yallia and I ended up having to put our arms under Talass and half drag her back to the bonfire. By now the sun had long since set and red moon was high in the sky with the blue moon still just beginning its trek upwards. We made it back to the fire and saw that the party had slowed, with people standing around idly and most of the staring at us as we came into view. I wasn’t sure when or why, but the mood had turned sour sometime after we left. Maybe they were worried about treachery from us? Or perhaps they were simply angry that Talass had gotten sloppy drunk on her wedding night.

A Lamia I recognized as Talass’s fiancé slithered up to us and he took Yallias spot underneath Talass’s arm the two of us managed guide her towards the fire and get her laid down in a small pile near the blaze. Looking down at her twisted in a small knot I had to wonder what Lamia spines were made of as this did not look comfortable at all.

I looked at the man to thank him for his help and saw that he was already staring at me with an expression I found hard to place. It was equal parts admiration, curiosity and trepidation. Looking away from the man's facial expression I focused more on him physically and was surprised by what I saw.

He was shorter than Talass, both in torso and in tail, at the moment he barely reached up to my chin, and even that was because he seemed to be straining to stand high on his tail. He was also downright skinny and scrawny. So far every Lamia I had seen, even the smaller ones had a good amount of muscle definition, this guy however was not only the smallest Lamia I had ever seen, but also the least muscled.

His arms were small, and his face slightly sunken. Looking at him I wondered if he was sick or had been sick for a long time. Maybe some kind of condition he had since he was young? Treatable by potions, but not possible to be cured?

If that was the case then that spoke well of the Chellack, how people treated their sick spoke a lot of who they were.

“Hello I’m Neil, I’m sorry but I haven’t had the chance to meet everyone yet.” Then under my breath I whispered. “Who?”

DING

Zaron

The eldest son of Gralnith and Alezaria. He has a congenital heart condition that would have killed him if not for healing potions. Although the potions help keep him alive they cannot cure a congenital condition. He is being trained by his mother as the tribes next historian.

Well that was something, hopefully whatever he had wasn’t hereditary.

“My name is Zaron Honored Ancient.” He said with a small bow.

“Just Neil is fine thank you Zaron.” I was spared trying to come up with conversation with Zaron when the Chief and Alezaria came out of their tent together. The two of them looked pleased with themselves although Alezaria looked exhausted. Not wasting any more time I looked at the two of them and quietly asked “Who?”

DING

DING

Gralnith

Current Chieftan of the Chellack tribe. He became Chieftan after he caused a hunting accident that killed his elder brother.

Alezaria

The Historian of the Chellack tribe. She has a strong water affinity and is extremely intelligent. She is aware that her husband was responsible for his brother's murder. She has great ambition for herself and her family.

As soon as I read their descriptions my heart started pounding in my chest and I couldn’t believe how stupid I had been to not do this earlier. I tried to keep my expression calm, but I was certain that something was showing on my face because Yallia beside me tensed and Alezaria just looked at me with a smug expression on her face. Looking at her and her husband I already knew that we were in trouble and could guess that we weren’t getting out of here without a fight.

The two approached me arm in arm and it took all of my willpower to not back up.

“Thank you, Neil, for blessing my wife so quickly. Tell me when will you be able to bless my daughter in law?” The Chief asked looking at Talass with an expression of disdain.

“Unfortunately, I can only bless one person a day. A half blessing would be useless to you.” I made up hoping that it sounded plausible. “There is something I wish to show you though, a human custom.” I said trying to direct the conversation to a show of force like Yallia had suggested.

The two approached me at a calm and measured pace that I found even more alarming than if they had just rushed me. It was quick and inexorable, like they weren’t going to stop until they were on top of me, but not so fast that it was a direct threat.

Backing up despite myself I bumped into someone behind me and was immediately grabbed by several pairs of arms while another pair began rubbing their hands onto my face. Their hands were rough, and something small and powdery was on their palms being forced into my mouth and nose. Trying not to breath in the powder I struggled and I began channeling my Mana. The Chieftan surged forwards and punched me in the stomach causing me to breath in whatever was in the hands on my face.

Coughing as I channeled a water affinity I created a water whip in front of me and sent it towards the Chieftan hitting him in the torso as hard as I could. With a crack he flew backwards landing on his wife and knocking them both to the ground.

From somewhere behind me there were screams and then a flash of light that lit up the camp as if it were daytime. Even turned away from it my night vision was ruined and spots were dancing in my eyes. A few screams from that direction told me that whatever was happening Yallia wasn’t finished yet. Of course, neither was I.

Changing the mass of water in front of me into a half a dozen smaller, thinner spears I pulled them backwards towards the people behind me. The spears landed all around me and from behind I heard screams, and curses. Feeling something wet land on my back I tried to take control of it with my magic but found it unresponsive. Glancing down I saw that the liquid was blood. Turning I saw the two hunters who had been standing behind me holding me in place each had three water spears sticking out of their chests and were slumping over.

Now that I was free, I knew I should be running but I found myself staring at them as the life slowly drained out of them. I had never fought people, and I had certainly never impaled them before. The screams of the village roused me from my stupor, and I started running away from the fire towards the forest. I had made it a hand full of steps before I stumbled on my own feet barely managing to stay upright, a feeling of lethargy beginning to wash over me and the world began swaying. Wiping at my face I felt something smear onto my fingers, I looked at my hand trying to see what it was by the light of the moon.

“What?”

DING

Sleeping Powder

Made from the bark of the Nilath Tree, stems from the Purple Cup Flower, and infused with Gem Beetle extract this powder will cause whoever breaths it in to fall into a dreamless sleep. Can be habit forming and taking too much can be fatal.

I had enough time to curse before I tripped over something else and landed face first on the ground, not even able to bring my hands in front of my face to break my fall.

I tried to stand but the village started to spin around me collapsing on the ground I tried to crawl forwards, not even sure where I was going. Hearing and feeling movement around me I looked back just in time to see a figure loom over me and bring the end of a spear down onto my head.