Chapter 13: The Blue Lump

It was hard solemn work, and with shirt sleeves rolled up they all had blood up to their elbows. They did salvage all the parts of the animal Hima identified for them, including its talons, the bronze feathers from the back of its head, the gizzard, and somewhere from deep within the creature’s innards, a firm shapeless lump that irradiated its own faint blue glow.

“What is that?” Miro asked, as Hima ran it between her thumb and fingers to get the blood and other bodily detritus off it.

“This,” Hima held up the cleaned lump against the early sunlight streaking through the canopy, “Is the main reason the great oxhawk is endangered. Anyone who consumes it automatically gets the ability to add two skill points to their stats, something that is rare to come by outside of levelling up. Unscrupulous mages would seek out the birds not only to bolster their own skills, but because the effect can only be used once, to then sell these to other mages who couldn’t even be bothered to put in the work of hunting down and killing an oxhawk themselves. I’ve never used it, but we have it now, and like you said, it seems you need it more than I do.”

“I have to eat it?” he asked, as she placed the lump, which was much warmer than he had expected, into his palm.

“I know of another way to get it inside you but I don’t think you’ll like that one any better.”

He wasn’t sure if eating it on an empty stomach was better or worse, but the oxhawk meat that Peteri was preparing on the fire was not yet cooked and Hima didn’t look like someone that had anything more than no patience at all. So down it went, firm and fleshy and smooth. It left a tingling sensation once it hit his stomach that grew into a full-body shiver, yet somehow, he kept it down.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” she said when he was finally still again.

“It was like swallowing an exploding porcupine.”

“I doubt very much you’ve reach that point already. The important thing is, did it work?”

“Wait, what?”

“I said ‘did it work?’”

“Yes.” The message hovered somewhere in his vision, not quite in his head, not quite in the real world:

Two Skill Points Available

“So what do you have to work with right now?”

“One Dexterity. One Vitality. One Intellect. Three Charisma and three Strength.”

She stared at Miro in silence for a few moments. It was somehow the same face Bondook would make when he’d see one of the sheep pass by the window when Miro had told him they were all safely locked up for the night, and now Miro wasn’t fully convinced that the two had never met. “I don’t even know what to say,” Hima said finally. “Charisma and Strength? It’s like your entire existence is based around trying to impress the village girls.”

“To be fair, the Strength –”

“You know what? The less I know, the better it is for everyone.”

“So what do I do?” Miro asked, eyes jumping between the options that shimmered in his vision.

“Good question. Where does one start undoing this disaster? You’ll need at least one point into Vitality. And …” Hima was looking at him not in the way one might expect to be looking at a person but rather an oxcart with a busted wheel, “Let’s throw the other one into Intellect. More for my sake than anything else.”

Miro did as he was told, watching his Intellect and Vitality counters go up to 2, followed shortly by the following messages:

Maximum mana increased to 12.

Mana regeneration increased to 1.5 per hour.

“Should be able to toss more than three fireballs now before you run dry,” Hima said, getting up and building a crust of ice over each arm and shattering them to leave herself clean of all oxhawk blood.

Miro got up to follow suit, only to find that the feeling in his stomach now gave full life to his metaphor, as a ball of prickling swelled up within him and caused him to wince and suck air in through his teeth.

“Ah, forgot to mention,” Hima said casually, throwing on her cloak, “Your stomach will be in knots for hours.”

“That’s great,” Miro grumbled, cringing through the pain in his belly.

“You’re doing better than the oxhawk, so quit your complaining.”

“As for the oxhawk,” Peteri said, swinging a roped hunk of cooked meat over his shoulder, “The meat’s done.”

“Good,” Nydra said as she finished fastening her armor, the black lacquered plates looking even more impressive when they were on her, “We’ll eat on the go. We lost enough time as it is.”

Hima ignored the comment and after freezing what was left of their fire, stepped over a log and walked into the direction of the thicket.

“So where are we headed exactly?” Miro asked.

“North,” came Nydra’s reply, and despite his insides being coiled into a tight knot, it was refreshing to receive an actual answer to his question, bare as it was.

“And you don’t have … horses or anything? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan exactly but I think it’s better than roughing it on foot.”

“Nydra doesn’t believe in horses,” Hima said.

“Okay then. Well, I didn’t get the best look at it last night,” Miro said, “But I think the lake up ahead stretches in a mostly northerly direction. I bet we can get a ride from the fisherfolk, maybe even pawn off some of this oxhawk meat.”

Nydra turned around and looked at Miro dubiously.

“I hear they don’t pay you much mind unless you’re a fish, so if you want a quick and discreet way to gain some distance, that’s probably your best bet.”

The others considered this for a moment, Nydra looking up as if drawing invisible maps for her own consideration before letting out a short laugh. “Looks like that extra Intellect point is already paying off, huh, Hima?”

“We can celebrate not being saddled with a complete idiot later,” Hima answered, then looked up at the sky before putting her hood over her head, “Let’s go find us some fisherfolk.”

Peteri shrugged and followed Hima while Nydra hung back with Miro.

“Ah don’t worry, lad, she’ll warm up to you.”

“Will she?”

“Not likely, but a little hope never hurt anyone.” And with a friendly pat on the shoulder, she encouraged him to come along.