Mythica, book 1, Chapters 37+38.

Chapter 37.

As they traveled, their days took on a pattern. They would walk during the night and find somewhere to hole up during most of the day so Orren and Skrix could rest. Before and after the pair slept, Sabine worked with them on their fighting skills. She had noticed before that Orren had basic skills with his crossbow, and it appeared he was equally familiar with the spear. The problem with him was that his prior instructors did things strictly by the book. His moves and strikes were predictable to anyone who had trained before.

She worked on not just giving Orren new skills, but also on getting him to think outside the box and not fall into predictable patterns. That proved a difficult challenge for Orren. His training in becoming a scribe and even the magic he used was structured and followed familiar patterns. It would be some time before he figured out that a battle also followed a pattern, one that you had to often react to with unpredictable violence.

Orren was better with a crossbow than with his spear, and the weapons they had taken from the necromancer’s mercenaries were accurate enough for his use. Sabine could see Orren more as ranged support for their group, using his crossbow and magic to support the main fight where Sabine would be positioned. Given a few more weeks, he would be a competent enough fighter to deal with most of the foes they might encounter.

Skrix was all over the place with his fighting style. At first, he thought himself a god of the battlefield with his new short sword, but a few sparring sessions with Sabine disabused him of that notion. He was fast and accurate with his attacks, but Sabine needed to work on his follow-up after the strike. The little verminkin lingered too long in the weapon’s range of his opponent. Given his skill set, he was better suited to running in for a strike, then fading back and looking for another opportunity.

His agility did surprise Sabine, and after only a few days of training, Skrix had taken to using a dual weapon fighting technique. Verminkin were ambidextrous and after asking Sabine for the use of another dagger, also proved able to use their tails to hold a weapon. Skrix would be a holy terror among unsuspecting opponents, who would be hard-pressed to deal with the short sword and dagger in his hands. Most opponents would be caught completely off guard by the dagger held in Skrix’s tail that was streaking toward their throat.

Sabine had to work on his technique, he had never been properly instructed so he had a long way to go before he was completely competent. He was a fast learner, which gave Sabine hope that Skrix would become a valuable fighter on their little team. The real surprise was after stopping on the third day of their journey when Sabine figured it was time to add Hamish to their training routine.

“It’s time I introduced you to the final member of our party, Hamish,” Sabine said.

“Oh no, you don’t mean that skeleton guy who wanted you to kill me, do you?” Orren groaned.

“We have another skeleton guy to help us fight-stab?” Skrix asked, scampering around and looking for the person that Orren and Sabine were talking about.

“It’s the same one, Skrix. He’s only available for a limited time each day, but if we’re really in trouble, he might be a big help. We need to start bringing him out to train with us so we can work together as a team,” Sabine said, dumping the verminkin bones from her pouch.

“Hamish, you’re needed,” Sabine said. Orren stepped back as the skeleton pulled itself together and stood. Skrix gave a little screech and ran behind Orren, using him as a human shield.

“Oh dear, it appears we have an infestation problem. Don’t tell me that you brought that rat with you on our quest. Our master will not be pleased with your choice of companions,” Hamish whined.

“Hamish, settle down, we have work to do. I need to start your weapons training and these two need to learn what you can do so they’re not taken by surprise in a fight,” Sabine said as she tossed a spear to Hamish. The spear was an easy enough weapon to learn the basics of, but it was a difficult weapon to become a true master at. She didn’t need Hamish to become a master, she just needed him to be able to do more than stand there looking stupid if someone closed in on him.

“Fine, I’ll participate, just tell me where we are first,” Hamish asked.

“Skeleton man sure like to talk-speak. What we do with him?” Skrix asked, poking his head around Orren when it became apparent that Hamish wasn’t about to go on a bloody rampage.

“Silence rat, show some deference to your betters,” Hamish snapped at Skrix.

“Ha, skeleton thinks he’s better-best than Skrix. At least Skrix have verminkin body, you just verminkin skeleton. That means I’m better-best than you,” Skrix taunted.

“Skrix does make a point,” Orren said, siding with the verminkin, which was understandable since Hamish had been pushing for his murder when Orren had discovered Sabine’s true nature.

“I see the foolish scribe is still among the living, hopefully that will change by my next visit,” Hamish taunted.

“Hold on everyone, we’re on the same team, so stop with the insults and we’ll get to work,” Sabine ordered.

“Very well, I live to serve,” Hamish said with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

“Here’s what we’re going to do. Hamish is going to summon a pair of undead creatures for you to fight, one for each of you. Use what you’ve learned to take them down. Take your time, unlike living opponents, these don’t have weak points. Just follow what I’ve shown you and you’ll do fine,” Sabine said.

“One undead for the scribe,” Hamish said, summoning his minion right in front of Orren, “and one for the rat,” as another started to form behind Skrix.

Orren reacted quickly, stepping away from the skeleton in front of him. The spear is a poor weapon against a creature made entirely of bone, but that didn’t stop Orren from attacking immediately. The point of the spear thrust into the sternum of the skeleton, shattering it, but at the same time tangling the spear shaft inside the ribs of the undead.

Hamish was taking this seriously as well, ordering his minion to attack Orren. One claw raked across Orren’s scalp cutting deeply and causing blood to flow. The attack seemed to have angered Orren, who shouted in pain and pushed all his weight behind the spear shaft. With a loud crack, the spear levered apart the skeleton ribs and cracked the spine. That was apparently enough to end the summoned undead which then slumped to the ground and disappeared in a cloud of dust.

“Ease up a bit, Hamish, we don’t want any permanent injuries,” Sabine ordered.

“Sorry about that, but your command might have been a bit late,” Hamish said without feeling as he pointed to Skrix who looked like he was in trouble.

Facing the verminkin was a tattered zombie. Sabine had been fixed on Orren’s fight and hadn’t looked over at Skrix’s battle yet. The verminkin was trying to flee the slowly approaching zombie by scuttling on the ground. Skrix’s lower left leg was bent at a sickening angle, and he was whimpering in his squeaky voice.

Sabine was about to jump in and help when Orren came to the rescue. The zombie never knew what hit him as Orren’s spear thrust through its temple, causing the second and final undead to collapse into a pile of dust. With a murderous look, Orren stalked toward Hamish, and Sabine let him go. Hamish had brought this upon himself.

Orren began to strike at Hamish, using the reach of his spear to keep the undead advisor at bay. Hamish was rather pathetic at fighting and stood there swiping at the spear as it chipped away at his body. Sabine could see Hamish’s mana being depleted with each strike, he was already low from summoning two undead, and under Orren’s relentless attack, he wasn’t going to last much longer.

“Hamish, next time I summon you, be more careful about harming our people and I’ll see that you stick around for a bit longer,” Sabine said as Hamish lost the last of his mana and collapsed into a pile of broken bones.

“What was that Sabine? I didn’t expect a real attack from a supposed ally,” Orren said, transferring his anger at Hamish to Sabine.

“Woah, all in all, it was good training, but I agree, Hamish was a bit out of hand,” Sabine replied.

“Look at Skrix, he can’t even walk now. What are we going to do about him?” Orren asked.

“I might be able to help, give me a minute or two. Skrix, lay still, I’m going to try and fix your leg,” Sabine said.

“Stinky dead man stomp on poor Skrix, hurts-pains bad,” Skrix cried.

“Orren, help me hold him still,” Sabine said as she tried to gently hold Skrix’s injured leg. She was supposed to be able to use Rapid Healing to boost the healing rate of an ally, but it was something she hadn’t tried before. Normally, the healing of her own body happened automatically, but now she was going to have to take a more active role.

Sabine coaxed mana from her hands into Skrix’s leg. At first, he whimpered as the dark mana began to burn, but then some of the golden flecks began to arrive and seemed to soothe his injury a bit. She could feel the mana go to work, but the process was a bit different than when it worked on her. This needed to be gently guided by her will, coaxing the mana into the injured area where it interacted with Skrix’s body.

The mana began to push Skrix’s natural healing into overdrive, and she could see the flesh and bone start to mend. There was a problem though, it was fixing the leg into the position it was already in, bent at an angle. Sabine needed to rebreak and set the leg now.

“Skrix, I’ve got to move your leg into position so I can fix it correctly, try to stay still,” she told the squirming verminkin. Orren was doing his best to hold down Skrix, but he was a slippery devil. Using her mana as a guide, Sabine grasped Skrix’s leg and applied pressure to the slowly healing bone.

With a sickening crunch, the leg snapped again, causing Skrix to give a short shriek. The numbing effect of her golden mana must have dulled the pain, and Skrix’s struggles lessened as she pushed the bones in place. Her mana made seeing inside his body easy, and it took only a few tries to get everything lined up correctly.

Now, as the mana went to work, the bones healed in the position they were supposed to be in. Torn muscles and cut tissue from the sharp ends of the bone stopped bleeding and began to repair themselves. The few shards of bone floating around near the break were reabsorbed by Skrix’s body, which would eliminate a source of future pain for the little guy.

All too soon, the mana stopped responding and no longer flowed into Skrix. The leg was far from healed, but her ability had run its course. His body would still continue to heal at an accelerated rate for the next few minutes, but it wouldn’t be back to normal for a while. Healing another was much more mana intensive than healing herself, and Sabine was down to 48% just from that one session.

“I need to rest before I can do anything more. Skrix, you take it easy on that leg for now, don’t try to walk, I’ll bring your blankets and some dinner in a bit,” Sabine said. Skrix was still in a bit of pain and didn’t look like he was going anywhere for the time being.

“That was impressive, Sabine, I didn’t know you could do that,” Orren said.

“It’s something new I learned after our jaunt into the Darkrealm. I’ll heal your scalp when I get my mana back and give Skrix another session,”

“I’m not happy about Hamish, but I know it wasn’t your fault. Maybe next time, make sure he knows what we’re planning on before you let him throw monsters at us,” Orren said.

“I’m sorry that happened. Hamish is a menace, but we do need him. The undead that he summons could make a big difference in battle, and I just wanted to give you two an idea of what it was like to fight undead. We’ll take things down a notch or two the next time I summon him. Speaking of that, I need to go find him a replacement body, you did a number on the verminkin skeleton he was wearing.”

“Go, do what you need to, I’ll get Skrix squared away and get a fire going for dinner, or breakfast, or whatever meal this is. Your odd travel schedule is messing with me a bit.”

Surprisingly, Sabine had to wander for quite a while before Call of the Grave located some remains. She found two partial bodies of wolves or foxes that had been torn apart by scavengers and had to walk almost two miles before she found something viable for Hamish. It was a human skeleton, and the large chunk taken out of its skull told the story of how he had died. She’d give the body a try in a few hours once the time to summon Hamish had counted down.

If he couldn’t manifest in the skeleton she had found, he was just going to have to wait for a bit. It would only be three or four more days before she reached her sister’s home. Once there, she would undoubtedly find something more appropriate for Hamish to wear. Thinking about her sister made Sabine worry a bit. A long time had passed, and she had no idea what had befallen her family during that time.

Chapter 38.

Sabine treated Skrix again in the early afternoon. His leg was healing quickly with the mana infusion, and she felt by the time they started that evening, he should be well enough to walk, albeit at a reduced pace. A quick check of Orren’s injury showed it wasn’t serious, but there were some signs of infection from the cuts on his scalp. Even though the undead they had fought were summoned beings, they had been summoned directly from the realm of the dead and that place anathema to life. Any blow from those summoned creatures meant a higher chance of infection.

The accelerated healing from her mana was enough to allow Orren’s body to fight off the infection and seal the scratches. Her control over corruption and decay helped a bit, she could feel the infection growing and stopped it with her touch. Orren’s scalp had fresh tissue covering the wounds and would be tender for a few days, but it wasn’t bad enough to warrant wasting more mana.

After healing the pair, Sabine was down to 22% mana. She had been willing to allow her reserves to deplete that far since there was little chance of serious threats nearby. Her mana also was regenerating at a brisk pace. It seemed her constant work at mastering the mana not only improved her efficiency but also allowed her to gather the precious energy more quickly.

When they started back on their journey, Sabine pulled the group from the road every four hours to let Hamish rejoin them and continue training until his mana ran out. She had to force an apology out of her advisor, and it didn’t seem to go over too well with either Orren or Skrix. They avoided any additional direct combat with Hamish’s summons, instead using them to practice what types of combat formations would work best for their party composition.

Sabine would lead the way in an attack, striking first with the newly enhanced reach of Reckoning. The two summons, if needed, would keep pace with Sabine and Skrix would lurk around behind them. Skrix was quick and could jump into the fray, land blows with his blades and then fall back in only a couple of seconds, often using the blade held in his tail to cover his retreat.

Her two living companions were coming along nicely with their training, but Hamish might be a lost cause. He was highly intelligent but didn’t seem to grasp the basic concepts of fighting in melee. Hamish would flail about like a madman and Sabine doubted he would do more than distract an opponent. As long as he got his summons off before falling to enemy blades, Sabine was happy.

Orren’s accuracy with his crossbow was improving with each session. He had a good hand for the weapon, and they worked out a tactic where he would loose his first bolt, then see what he could do with his compendium. Now that Orren wasn’t stuck in a trance while using mana, he could drop the book and defend himself with his spear if things got up close and personal. Sabine was pleased with their progress for the most part, and she felt they were ready for battle.

Sabine began to get nervous as they approached the village where her sister lived. She remembered Gnessos’ warning that she wouldn’t be able to see her sister directly, or it might cause problems for her family. After dealing with Zalzaran’s champion, she had created a horde of angry followers that would seek vengeance for their champion’s defeat. To make matters worse, her mask wouldn’t hide her from the wrath of those followers.

All it would take was for one of Zalzaran’s followers to be living in or passing through the village. While they would have no idea that her sister, Adrienne, was related to her given Sabine’s new body, they would easily guess that she was someone important in Sabine’s life. She couldn’t risk the lives of Adrienne, or her two children, Isabel, and Charles. She needed someone who could go in there without suspicion and who didn’t have to worry about followers of an angry god.

“Orren, I have a favor to ask,” Sabine said as they camped for the day. Tomorrow would take them to Adrienne’s village, and Sabine had to decide how she wanted to approach this.

“Sure, If I can help, I will,” Orren replied.

“I don’t think I can risk going in person to check on my sister, can you enter the village tomorrow and see that she get’s this?” Sabine asked as she pulled a good chunk of her treasure out to give to her sister. Life on a farm was difficult and having cash on hand for a rainy day would make their lives much easier. It was mostly copper and silver coins, which were the typical denominations used in places like the village. A big handful of gold coins might catch the eye of any local thieves.

“I can do that, but what do you want me to say to her?” Orren asked. Sabine had already thought about it. She couldn’t let her sister know that she was still around. It was better to let her believe that Sabine had passed and allow her closure.

“Give her the money and tell her it’s something I had set up in case of my death. I was a mercenary officer, so it’s not unheard of that someone in my position would arrange something like this,” Sabine said.

“It shouldn’t be a problem; I can take on the role of a solicitor with little trouble. Who else would walk around with a bag full of books,” Orren joked. It was true, he did fit the spitting image of a scribe or solicitor of some sort.

“Is there anything you’d like me to ask of your sister?” Orren inquired.

“I just want to know they’re safe and that my donation will help take care of them.”

“Don’t worry Sabine, I’ll see that it’s done,” Orren assured her.

They had stopped just before morning, continuing their plan of traveling by night, and training by day. This gave Orren a chance to enter the village and finish Sabine’s business there during the day while Sabine continued to train with Skrix. It was unlikely they would be spotted in the little copse of trees they had set camp in.

Hamish wouldn’t be summoned until they were back on the road and far from any settlement. It would be just Sabine’s luck that someone would spot Hamish from a distance and run back to the village yelling about an undead monster. Her advisor would likely complain, he was getting rather used to returning to the land of the living every four hours.

While she continued to work with Skrix, Sabine’s heart wasn’t in her training today. She kept watching the trail to see if Orren was returning. Hours passed and she let Skrix take a break and rest. The verminkin didn’t need to be told twice and was quickly snoring away, wrapped tightly in his blankets.

The surface world winter was new to Skrix. He was used to the cold in the Darkrealm, but this was more than he had experienced down there. Skrix had initially reacted to snow like a child and went a bit crazy throwing snowballs once Orren had shown him how. After having his hands go numb from playing in the snow, Skrix decided he didn’t care for the surface world winter all that much.

It was hard to find gloves that would fit him, but they were able to fashion a pair of hand wraps from some cloth scraps Sabine had in her storage. They helped keep the frostbite away and didn’t interfere too much with gripping a weapon. At least his tail didn’t seem that susceptible to the cold, Sabine didn’t think that Skrix could hold a weapon with his tail if was all bundled up.

Around the early afternoon, Orren returned. His face held a somber expression that Sabine didn’t care for. “Orren, what did you find out? Is something wrong?” Sabine asked anxiously.

“Yes and no, Sabine. From what you said, twenty years have passed since your death. I’m afraid to tell you that your sister has passed on. It was about five years ago, a sickness swept through the village, and she caught a bad case of it. Her husband died at her side, the sickness tearing at him even as he tried to care for Adrienne,” Orren said.

“What about the children?” Sabine whispered, fearing the worst.

“They’re fine, and that’s the good news. Both are married and have families of their own. Isabel and her husband run the family farm, and Charles runs a produce market in the village. Both are doing well, but your contribution should make sure that they can deal with any hard times that may come,” Orren said.

“I’m glad those two are doing well. It’s strange, I didn’t even think about the fact that Isabel and Charles would both be grown up. I’ll still always see them as the small children that liked to play with Aunt Sabine,”

“I know you mourn for your sister, but I should say that both Charles and Isabel remembered you. Your sister would tell them stories about you every night and they thought very highly of their adventurous Aunt Sabine, who traveled the world protecting people. You should be proud of your sister for raising two wonderful children who grew into fine adults. You should also be happy that those children will always remember you fondly,” Orren said.

“Thank you, Orren. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out with such a personal request. I think I need some time alone, we’re taking a day off from training, so feel free to relax until we leave this evening,” Sabine said.

Sabine sat apart from her two companions, her back resting against an old oak tree. Sorrow and remorse gripped her. Maybe if she had been there, she could have helped. No, Sabine had to be honest with herself and realized that her staying home and working on the family farm had never been an option. She had followed the life of a mercenary. It was a life that had called to her, and she wouldn’t have been happy living in the village and working on a farm or running a shop.

Her sister had been a good woman, and Sabine prayed that she found peace in the afterlife. If anyone deserved a good place in the afterlife, it was Adrienne. A wave of sadness overwhelmed Sabine as she thought of all the good times she had with her sister. She felt as if she would cry, but her undead body held no tears.

A small stream of golden mana flowed from where it protected her body from the amulet and moved to her eyes. Sabine felt a slight burning feeling as the mana did something to her with its healing power. It was over in a moment and then Sabine felt moisture dripping from her eyes. Worried that she was dripping the healing goop her mana created, she caught the next drop. It wasn’t dark mana dripping from the wound it was a tear. She had tears again and began to shed them in earnest for her lost sister.

Sabine sat there during the afternoon, mourning Adrienne, and her devoted husband. Her big sister had given her one more gift, she had helped Sabine recover a small bit of her humanity. Sabine was glad to have, in some small way, returned the favor by giving money to help Isabel and Charles. Her gift to them would make the financial burden much lighter on her niece and nephew. If she survived this whole ordeal, she would like to return someday and get to know Isabel and Charles again.

Evening came, and Sabine dried the tears with her sleeve. It was time to continue their journey. Gnessos had granted her the chance to find closure for her previous life, and it was time to fulfill her side of the bargain. The temple, then Golgotia awaited, and there was still a long journey in front of them before their destination was reached.

“Everyone ready?” Sabine asked as they took a last look around the camp to make sure nothing had been left behind.

“I think we’re good. Oh, Sabine, I’m sorry, there was one thing I forgot to mention to you about your family. Your niece, Isabel, has a young daughter of about two years old. Her daughter was named Sabine, after her aunt,” Orren said, giving Sabine a comforting pat on the shoulder.

“Thank you Orren, for everything,” Sabine said. Neither of her two companions noticed a final tear drop from Sabine’s eye as she thought about her namesake and took comfort in the fact she had never been forgotten by her family.