I recounted the situation to Baen and he nodded, accepting the situation. “I’ll take over, only a few more slime cases left to deal with right?” He said and I confirmed it with a nod. “I can do that, it isn’t the first time I’ve done it, though your method makes it a lot easier.” He said with a grin. “You should get your rest, I think I can smell the blood from your shoulder.”

He was right, some blood was definitely wafting in the air. I’d rest for a day or so, enough for the skin to heal over, then get started looking into the lights that Hrothan had spoken of. Even if my collarbone was broken, it didn’t mean I couldn’t do anything else. Besides, it wasn’t actually particularly debilitating.

[You should still rest even so.] Page insisted. [It won’t take another hit.]

And it shouldn’t have to. I thought back. Need to redesign the torso section of the armour, maybe take a little inspiration from chain or plate. It shouldn’t have been this easy to break it even with plate. I grimaced, rolling my right shoulder in a circle. I winced as pain shot up it, though that was less the bone and more the haphazard wound I’d made to get to it. I need to learn better methods.

The next day I helped out on the farm, tending to the crops and the like as Baen set out to deal with the slimes. Midday I finally gave up and cauterized my wound, it just didn’t do to leave such a huge wound open to the elements. Most people seemed relieved not to have the cloying smell of blood and flesh hanging in the air.

I washed myself soon after, feeling somewhat feverish. Must have been the open wound, it’s kind of stupid that I’d have left the injury open for so long. I thought to myself, sighing. Lapi splashed into the water alongside me. I eyed her with an arched eyebrow. What are you doing here? I thought, a little too dizzy to give voice to my thoughts.

She made her intentions clear soon enough, circling me and giving me a look that seemed to imply she didn’t trust me to be on my own. I rolled my eyes, but conceded the point, I think I was running a fever. It would pass I an hour or so, but right now, it left my mind unfocused, perhaps a little drowsy. I shook my head, dragging myself from the river. The others tried to make me rest, but I ignored them, the headache would pass, there was no reason to stop.

Baen returned that night, passing me two copper siqs, adamant about sharing the profits. It’s like everyone wants to force me to receive kindness or something. I smiled faintly, accepting the coins. On the bright side, now that my wound was closed, I could head out onto the field a little earlier, despite Page’s protests. “I’ll join you tomorrow.” I said. “Hrothan asked for an investigation into the lights that sometimes appear in the forests.”

Baen provided less of a fight than Page, though maybe that was because he was less acquainted with how long normal people took to heal from these sorts of injuries. I went to sleep early that night, since there wasn’t much I’d need to prepare.

The next day I practiced a little with my offhand, which wasn’t really all that proficient. Alida had recommended it, but honestly at the time I was hardly going to split my focus that way more than I needed. I had hardly had the time to perfect fighting with my primary hand. As it stood I would probably pass for an amateur, but no more. Good enough. I swapped my sword’s position on my hip.

Baen watched for a while, intrigued. “Why did you learn to fight with your offhand?” He asked, curious. He joined me for a sparring session, and in between, I explained.

“It’s something of a last resort for me, but the person I learned it from said that it helped to keep people off balance, few people are likely to have trained to fight a left-handed opponent.” I said. “It’s also a good backup for if your primary arm is wounded somehow, which is something that’s likely to occur on a battlefield.”

“Not something I was ever taught in the military, what kind of branch were you in?” He asked, curious.

“I don’t really want to talk about that.” I replied, he nodded, deciding not to press the issue.

We set out close to midday, Hrothan had said that the lights tended to appear at night, illuminating the trees and darting about. It reminded me of the wisps and fairies written in the book. Baen evidently agreed. “They don’t normally venture so close to cities, but then recently things have been anything but normal.” He noted with a wry smile. I shrugged, eyes focused on the path before us. It was evening when we reached, and we ate outside the city limits, waiting for nightfall.

I tapped Baen on the shoulder, pointing out the lights that had begun to flash in the forest. When I entered the forest, glass chimes sounded as they circled me, and I spun, somewhat alarmed, they shied away from Baen at first. I nearly drew my sword, but they didn’t seem hostile, at least, not at the moment. They flew off into the forest, the melody panicked yet measured. “What was that?”

“They’re… asking us to follow.” Baen said. “This feels strange.” He hesitated. “When they sing I get flashes of meaning or images in my head. Do you get the same?” I shook my head. “That’s weird” He said worriedly. The music changed, discordant and longing.

“Two demons… crashed… no, entered, their grove.” He interpreted. “They’ve been chased out, and the demons are destroying it, and their young. I don’t know about this, the fairies normally attack us on sight. Why are they asking for our help? A trap? They’ve never talked to us before.” He said, unsure, but didn’t slow his footsteps.

I marked the path as I continued, becoming lost would be very bad. The sound of crackling and burning plants reached my ears first, then came the smell of burnt vegetation. A few other fairies were present at the edge, and a cacophony of chimes drowned out much of everything else. It felt hostile, and the two of us shifted closer to one another, while the fairies that brought us seemed to grow alarmed and distressed.

“I can barely make it out, they’re afraid of us, something about stories, bad stories.” Baen whispered. “The others say that you aren’t the… protector? What’s that?” Golems perhaps. I thought to myself. Same mistake Lanth made. Do they really exist though, if I am so easily mistaken for one? “The other two are saying something else, that we might be able to help… regardless?” He shook his head. “This keeps getting stranger.”

I shrug, marching forward to peer down at the grove. The demons are there, fighting, Delving showed magic, forced forward by the demons sliding off bubbles surrounding each fairy. Something about it was fuzzy, as though I’d tuned in just a bit away from the proper station. If they really have been at this for days, then do the demons not tire? I draw my sword, preparing. “Baen, ask if they will help us. I can’t understand them, so you’re the best candidate.” I didn’t wait to see the results, observing the demons instead. They were serious about cleansing the grove, that much was clear, magic was liberally conjured into existence, battering the fluid formation of fairies.

They were being pushed back. The ground they held giving inch by inch. Several fairies exchanged places with one another in the wall. I wonder how I was going to approach. Baen came up behind me. “They’re onboard. They’ll tell the fairies while we hit them from the side or the back.” I nodded, bringing the sword up.

They noticed us too early for my tastes, carrying themselves with far more discipline than the one that had exterminated Lapi’s family. They flicked a wrist, and something shot at me. My teeth chattered a bit. You see, you learn that electricity passes down the route of least resistance, that’s not strictly true, it takes all paths, but more of it passes along the paths of lower resistance. I could smell the ozone in the air, but ploughed forward regardless, this was why I’d chosen to lead.

An arrow lodged itself into one the demons, who looked up and made a cutting gesture. I felt the wind rush past, and resisted the urge to look back, slashing with the blade instead. It ducked beneath my swing, attempting to punch me in the ribs. I twisted aside, its claws sliding off the armour instead. I kneed it in its side, pushing it away. Ducking and stabbing the blade into the other demon.

It snarled, and I jerked the blade free as it twisted its body away. I blinked, Delving, magic swirled downward, earthen magic. I hopped aside as the earth where I stood turning to mire, putting the first demon between me and the second. Another arrow came, this time it was intercepted, wind pushing it off course. The fairies pulled in closer, surrounding us and containing the magic.

So I fought in a sphere of fairies, absorbing flames and lightning while I dodged the jets of water trying to find their way into my armour. Baen announced himself by skewering the second demon. It grunted, dislodging the blade and spinning to strike at him. I slammed my shoulder into the first demon, driving both of them off balance. Baen managed another strike, while I finally managed to gain the upper hand on the other. The deciding moment, like many others, ended quickly.

I knelt on the ground, slowly lowering the specific heat of my armour, allowing the excess heat I’d collected to dissipate. Considering the sheer quantity of heat it had absorbed, that would take quite some time. I examined the demons in the meantime, noting their physical characteristics. Their armour was tattered, plates missing or chipped, which made them easier to kill. I looked to the fairies, tapping the armour. Some chimes sounded. “It was mostly like that when they came.” Baen said.

Their grasp of magic had been formidable. The fairies had been disrupting their magic as they cast them, and still I’d been struck several times with magic that seemed to exceed the fairy’s ability to counter. Baen watched me as I knelt there and poked at their wounds and armour, looking slightly in awe. The armour is really useful. I thought yet again as I finished up my examination. I had a feeling dissecting them right here and now would not endear me to the fairies.

A low discussion was held by the fairies, they sounded like wind chimes, reminiscent of the one I’d had at home, though that one had been too heavy to move but in the stronger winds. I smiled a little at the memory. “I can’t really hear them, but I think we made a good impression, fighting them right now wouldn’t end well for us, so that would be… nice?” Baen said, his voice uncertain.

I shrugged, still unsure. If they had harboured bad blood towards us, they should have attacked us on sight, that they didn’t says something, but what of the other fairies and wisps that we’d seen? Surely they weren’t just another splinter group, or we’d have heard from these fairies as well?

I took the liberty to observe them more closely. All I could make out were two wings beneath the glare, beyond that, all I could say was that they weren’t humanoid in shape. A silence passed for a short moment, then they broke out into a chorus.