Outside Influences

“Well, do you two think you’re ready for some excitement today?”

Bel swallowed the fruit that she’d been eating, nearly choking herself in the process. “Yes uncle,” she gasped out, “I’m so desperate to get out of here.”

Bel paused. “Ah, not that the shrine isn’t great.”

Ventas laughed at her apology.

James, still subdued from his operation, just nodded. He had shown his wounds to her, and the artificial core was an enormous lump sticking out from under his ribs. It was shrinking rapidly, apparently moving from the physical world into the weird fourth dimension where cores liked to exist, in a process that Ventas called “core fusion”. Whatever was happening, James had recovered well over a couple of days and was even feeding himself without any assistance.

Ventas held up a hand to stop Bel from cramming more of breakfast into her face. “There is no rush.”

He took a sip of his favorite tea as he examined the two of them. Bel had a sip of the same tea, modelling her behavior on Ventas’ calm demeanor. Unlike the sharp and astringent flavors that Beth preferred, the priest served an earthy brew with a clear, refreshing aftertaste.

“Who did you have to meet with this morning?” James asked.

Ventas frowned. “A fighter from the local group of delvers. His superiors sent him to deliver a request.”

Bel twisted her fingers with worry. “Are they asking you to join the fighting?”

Ventas smiled kindly. “They know that my place is in the village, ensuring that the harvest is safe. No, he came with some complaints about disappearances west of here, near the Spine mountains, and asked if I had any knowledge of them.”

“Sounds mysterious – probably a side quest,” James joked.

Bel thought about elbowing him, but he was still recovering from his operation so she held back. Several of her snakes flicked their tongues disdainfully in his direction though.

Ventas rubbed his chin in thought. “They assume that it is some subterranean beast that emerged from the Labyrinthos. Normally, the delvers would hunt it down, but they are currently occupied.”

“So are you going to chase after it? Should we help?”

“No, I will not be chasing after this mystery. The Spine is vast, and the messenger had no information to give. What if I left my village and some other creature emerged near here?”

Ventas shook his head and took another sip of his tea.

“Perhaps, when you are more independent, but not now. In any case, we have plenty to keep ourselves occupied with right here. Today, we will be harvesting the first one of the abilities that will transform your brother into a competent healer,” he explained.

James looked up, his interest clear from the way he leaned over the table in anticipation. “Which ability? And how will this work? I’ve seen Bel try to absorb an ability and she failed a lot.”

Ventas chuckled. “This ability will speed up blood coagulation. A hunter has captured several of the serpents who carry it.”

James nodded and then stiffly settled back into into his cushion. “And what am I going to do with this ability? Prevent a wounded person from bleeding out?”

Ventas nodded. “Exactly. You already understand blood coagulation?”

James nodded. “Yeah. It makes your blood thicken and form scabs. I guess that this snake has a venom that coagulates the blood where it bites you, which would be pretty bad.”

“That is correct,” Ventas agreed. “The serpent’s venom already has this quality even without an essence-enhanced ability, but the ability enhances it. Their cores are small, so any ability they have must be highly specialized.”

Ventas gestured to the rolled up documents that described all of the abilities that James would need to become a master healer. “Another serpent has an ability to strengthen the material formed from coagulated blood. Either one of them is sufficient to kill the serpent’s prey or deter predators, so each serpent has only one. Nature abhors inefficiency, unlike we humans who love to over-prepare.”

“So when I have both of them, how effective are they? I assume that you use them to seal wounds. How quickly could I stop someone from bleeding?”

Ventas pointed to James’ chest. “I used these abilities when I opened your chest, and you lost hardly more than a cup full of blood. The two abilities are very powerful, and if you have enough energy to overuse them they can have instantaneous effect.”

“Overuse?” Bel asked.

Ventas nodded. “Yes. Each ability is inscribed upon strokes that fill the segments of your core. When you direct more energy from your unused strokes you can temporarily increase the potency of any ability. With practice you can make a seemingly weak ability more versatile than it first appears.”

“Why bother getting abilities that require more strokes at all then?” James asked.

“The strokes are like instructions written in a primordial tongue,” Ventas replied. “Some concepts are more difficult to describe than others and require more strokes to express. I should also mention that the strength gains from overuse will taper off at some point.”

“So I won’t be stopping anyone’s hearts with these abilities, right?” James glanced down at his scroll. “They’re what, both a single stroke?”

“That is correct – although even a single stroke ability can kill. Most people will naturally resist any assault upon their person with the number of free strokes they have in their core though, so you will find them to be ineffective weapons on all but the infirm and the exhausted. It is not, I think, very impressive to kill someone who is already suffering a heart attack.”

Ventas tapped the table a couple of times as he thought about the topic. “That is actually another reason why people avoid simply grabbing random abilities. The energy in your free strokes resists the abilities of others, and the number of free strokes in your core also speeds up your rate of recovery.”

Ventas drained the rest of his tea. “Depending upon the density of energy, and a person’s abilities, most cores will recover enough energy to refill their free strokes in an hour. Should a person with 60 free strokes happen to drain them all, then they will recover one a minute and it will take an hour to recover all of them. Of course you should avoid that, except in the direst of circumstances.”

Bel nodded along with the explanation. It was certainly more than Beth had bothered telling her. “That’s good to know. Thanks, uncle.”

“Any time, child.” Ventas smiled. “Are you two ready to go then?”

Bel shot to her feet, but James grabbed the sleeve of her shirt. “Right after we brush our teeth.”

She groaned, but Bel didn’t want to look like someone who would bully her convalescing brother in front of Ventas. She brushed her teeth with only a small amount of foot dragging. A few minutes later Ventas led them out into the village of Clearbrook.

She’d been waiting in the shrine, so this was only her second trip through the village. She peered about eagerly from within her snake-covering cowl. Ventas had provided them with clean, untorn clothing, as well as socks and boots, and had also procured a thick bolt of a heavy, silken material for Bel to cover her snakes. Not that there were many people around, but she was wary of Technis’ spies.

Now that she looked for it, Clearbrook had a sad, empty feeling to it. Many houses showed signs of being abandoned – overgrown yards and gardens and boarded windows and doors. Small hunting lizards stalked the roads, ready to pick off the tests that had made their homes in the abandoned houses. They scurried out of their way as Bel and the others passed, but quickly moved back to their positions, unwilling to give up their new hunting grounds.

Ventas had explained that most of the fit, adult men, and some of the women as well, had left to join to fight against Technis. The population of the village was further dwindling as the frozen winter passages through the mountains thawed, making it easier for more people to leave the village for more densely populated areas. Ventas had sadly explained that the only ones left were the very old and the very young.

The person waiting for them at the edge of a forest field was one of the latter; a young boy who had yet to hit his growth spurt. He was sitting on a large log, and next to him was a wriggling bag, weighted down by a large stone.

“Hail Bert, a happy day to you,” Ventas called out to a boy.

The boy looked like he’d been napping, but he quickly popped to his feet and bowed to the priest. “G’morning Priest Ventas.” Bert’s eyes drifted over James and Bel curiously, but his focus soon returned to the Ventas.

Ventas pointed to the bag with his staff. “Is that the essence corrupted beast?”

Bert nodded. “Yup. Found it tryin’ ta eat our livestock. Granma said you’d want ta see it.”

Ventas nodded. “Indeed. I’ll have to track where it came from and seal up whatever rift it used to escape from the Labyrinthos.”

He prodded the bag with his staff and Bel flinched back when it thrashed and an angry hiss spoiled the calm morning. Ventas ignored the theatrics and turned back to the boy.

“How is your grandmother doing, Bert? Is she still refusing to leave?”

Bert nervously shuffled his feet. “Yeah, she says she’s been here since gramps first built our house so she ain’t gonna go anywhere, ’specially not for them priests of Technis.”

Ventas knelt down so that his eyes were level with the boy’s. “Have you asked her about leaving? It must be pretty lonely in the village with all of your friends heading out.”

“Naw. I gotta look out for the field anyway, and keep away the essence beasts,” he said, gesturing at the still writhing bag.

Ventas gave him a wide smile. “Well, you’re certainly a tough young lad, but you know, planting and guarding your dad’s entire field is going to be tough. We probably haven’t seen the worst of the essence beasts yet either – the Delvers just stopped their regular work a week or so ago and look what we are seeing already. You don’t think you could convince your grandmother to leave the field fallow for a year and go stay with your mom’s relatives?”

The boy shook his head. “Granma don’t like them much.”

Ventas chuckled. “Your mom had such a large family though – are you sure there aren’t a couple of nice ones? If you never go and meet them, then you’ll never know.”

Ventas stood up slowly and gave the boy a few pats on the back before handing him a small coin. “Here’s for the snake, Bert. Why don’t you try asking your grandma if she’d consider visiting your mother’s family one more time? There are plenty a families who’ve put off leaving until after the spring thaw, so you could even go with a big group.”

Bert shoved the coin into his pocket. “I can ask, but you know how stubborn granma gets. She doesn’t want to let the house fall apart while dad’s gone.”

Ventas smiled. “It won’t fall apart in a season. Tell her that I’ll come by later for a talk, alright?”

“Sure thing,” Bert replied. He bowed to Ventas, and then flustered Bel by bowing to her and James as well before sprinting off down the worn dirt path.

Bel watched him go, wondering why his grandmother didn’t like the boy’s mother’s relatives. Families seemed so complicated. She only had two or three real relatives and a couple of adopted ones, and things were already too much for her to handle.

“Do you really think the war will be over in a season?” James asked.

“Not a chance,” Ventas replied grimly. “This winter will be tough. Many fields will miss their planting this year, and if the war goes through the winter everyone will be low on food and wild game will be depleted.”

Ventas gestured at the thick forest covering the nearby mountain. “There is plenty of game to be had, at least for now, but also a growing risk of essence beasts now that the delvers aren’t delving. Satrap hasn’t witnessed a prolonged conflict for more than two hundred years – I am afraid that no one is truly prepared.”

James nodded like he understood perfectly, but Bel didn’t understand the first thing about farming. When they needed food they just foraged, and if Beth wanted something more she would just kill it.

“Hey,” she asked, “can food, like, run out?”

“Sure,” James replied, “an army could trap everything edible, clear cut a forest for resources, and burn the rest to the ground. I hope that the war doesn’t come here.”

Ventas’s eyebrows went up. “Clear cut the entire forest? That seems extreme…” He rubbed his chin. “Well, I certainly hope this doesn’t go so far, but I suppose that I’m no general. The best we can do is prepare to the best of our abilities. Speaking of which…”

Ventas prodded the bag again, eliciting another angry hiss.

“James, with the artificial core I’ve given you, you won’t be able to absorb essence from beasts’ cores. Gathering their abilities will be easy enough, as long as they’re similar enough to the ones on your list. It’s not as good as a core crafted by the Divine Treaty, but it is the best we can do.”

Ventas offered James a small, sad smile. “Should you find yourself on your own, the descriptions that I gave you will help to find promising creatures. Lean closer, I will assist with this one.”

Ventas deftly maneuvered the bag so that its opening was pointed away from them before he dislodged the rock that was holding it closed. A serpent’s head shot out like a stabbing knife, but Ventas deftly pinned its head beneath his staff. The serpent had two eyes that practically burned with malice and unnaturally long fangs that dripped with venom, a clear sign that its body had been altered by an infusion of essence. Ventas pulled a short dagger from under his robes and quickly stabbed it through the head, putting an end to its threatening behavior.

“Quickly, James. Place your hand here and I will guide you through the process.”

Bel watched with interest as James absorbed his first ability. She’d done the same herself recently, so she was interested to see how the process looked from the outside.

James’ face was twisted in concentration. Or, as he would have said, it looked like he was constipated. Bel wondered with embarrassment if she’d been making the same expression.

Next time I do this, I think I’ll try to do it in private, she promised herself.

Unlike when she’d done it, James wasn’t being expected to manage on his own. Ventas placed his hand on top of her brother’s and somehow guided him through the inscriptions in the serpent’s core. Half a minute later, James whooped with joy.

“I got it!” he exclaimed.

Ventas clapped him on the back. “Excellent! Now, while it’s still fresh, I’ll use some of this beast’s blood to track the way back to the rift where it emerged. If we’re lucky, we’ll find some more of the beasts from your list on the way.”

“You track them through their blood?” Bel asked, curious. “Is that another ability?”

Ventas waved his hand in the air. “Not truly their blood, no, I am actually using the lingering impression of the creature’s essence.”

He smiled at her. “It is how I could tell you were Lempo’s daughter when I first sensed you at the edge of our fields. I could never mistake her divine touch.”

Ventas cleaned and put away his knife and then pulled out a forked stick, which he jammed straight into the skull of the serpent. Bel grimaced, suddenly reminded that she had snakes of her own. One of them had even sneaked out of her cowl, and was looking her in the face. She wondered if it was upset that they had killed another snake. Or maybe not – she couldn’t read much emotion from their reptilian faces and unblinking eyes. Maybe this one was just bored.

Ventas stood, lifting his bloody stick with one hand and the bag with the dead serpent with the other. “We’ll dump this outside of town,” he explained. He slowly spun around. The stick must have told him something, because soon Bel and James were following him as he strode confidently into the woods.

The stick may have been guiding Ventas to something, but it wasn’t guiding him around obstacles. Bel put her new boots to the test by tromping through several muddy streams and scurrying up a rocky escarpment. They did eventually come to their destination, marked by an ornery spine-backed lizard who launched a bundle of sharp, flaming spines in their direction. Bel and James quickly dove behind a rock for cover. James grunted in discomfort as the movement jostled his healing wound.

Bel glanced back to see that Ventas had stood his ground and done something else – probably used some ability – and the spines that had been aimed at him simply withered away and fluttered to the ground.

I don’t want to be the kind of person who hides behind rocks, she thought.

Bel grit her teeth and jumped out from behind her hiding place. The lizard immediately looked at her and tensed its quills, so she glared at it.

The lizard froze, its jaw hanging open in a dumb expression. Bel didn’t hesitate to charge, brandishing her short sword as she closed the distance. The lizard jerked back to life just as she reached it, but it didn’t have enough time to dodge her blade as she rammed it in between the creature’s eyes.

It appeared smaller once it was dead, some of its presence dissipating with stillness and the lack of fire along its spines.

She turned back and gave a cocky thumbs up to James and Ventas.

The priest’s eyes went up marginally. “Nicely done, Bel. I certainly can’t fault your enthusiasm, but usually it is wise to check for other threats before rushing into combat.”

Bel looked around, suddenly worried that she was surrounded by a swarm of something.

Ventas chuckled. “Not to worry, I don’t see anything else. This lizard was probably eating anything small as it emerged from the rift. The snake must have slipped past it.”

Ventas gestured to a jagged crack in the stone behind Bel, just wide enough for the lizard to squeeze through.

“Damn campers.” James clicked his tongue in remonstration as he approached the calf-high, two-stride long lizard. “This doesn’t have any abilities that I need, does it? Could I pick up that flaming quill thing?”

Ventas waved his hand in a so-so gesture. “I would advise against it. You first need an ability to make yourself flame proof before getting the ability to set yourself on fire. And then what?” The priest gestured at the dead lizard. “Flames look impressive, but require a large expenditure of energy to be truly dangerous. The flaming quills likely served this lizard as a method of intimidation, or perhaps it blinded its prey in dark tunnels, but, as you just saw, they weren’t useful in a fight.”

Bel looked at them. “So does that mean that I can take its essence?”

Ventas nodded. “Go ahead.”

Bel pumped her fist.

What does James say?

“I’ll loot the corpse!”

“That is macabre,” Ventas scolded her.

“Sorry,” she apologized. Bel touched the lizard and felt around for its core. As usual, she felt a ball of essence come free, but only a small amount of it actually made it to her own core. It was still enough to grow her core and unfurl another petal though, putting her up to 21 in total with space for 11 inscriptions. Nearly time to choose another ability, unless she wanted to do the responsible, boring thing and wait to see what else was available when she had a larger number of inscriptions available.