Chapter 5

  Blessing

  Light and shadow intermingled beneath the thick forest canopy as Eldric raced ahead of both Harlan and Vestara. He could hear the dark elf calling to him, telling him to wait, but with each thundering step flashes of Cinderholt bolted through his mind. Cursed eyes, dying gasps, Tolsten’s final moments…

  A loud thud filled the air just as Eldric tore through a bush. Harlan and Vestara joined him, slowing as they drew up beside him. There was Nia, vaulting clear over a massive club and completely unharmed, her long white hair flashing like a bolt of lightning in the forest gloom.

  She landed lightly on her feet and sidestepped another wild swing with ease. A bolt of fire launched past her, scorching the air.

  A low wail leapt out of the ogre's chest, its thick hand grabbing at the wound as Vestara stepped forward. Her eyes narrowed as she prepared another firebolt, flames flowing between her fingers once again.

  Harlan rushed past her as the ogre took a stumbling step back. The ugly thing took a disoriented swing at the old man, but the large club was easily outpaced as Harlan stepped inside its guard and slashed deeply at its knee. It groaned, and Nia used that moment to leap into the air. She spun, her twin short swords gleaming as they flipped in her hands.

  A sickening squelch filled the air as the foxkin's blades sank deep into the ogre, piercing into each side of its swollen neck. The ogre made a muted sound and fell back like a tree, prompting Nia to jump off mid-tumble and land beside Eldric. "That's one down," she breathed with a big grin.

  "Focus, Nia," Vestara’s reminder lacked the usual sharpness Eldric had become accustomed to as she approached Nia. "Are you alright?"

  Nia turned her grin on the elf. "Yeah, that smelly thing ran up on us really fast." She shrugged and pulled a leaf from her hair. "Had to dodge mostly, you guys got here just in time."

  "Where are the others?" Eldric intoned as he took several practice swings of his broken sword. He noted Nia's gaze following the wide arc of the blade, and she frowned a bit as she looked over at Harlan.

  "You gave him a broken sword to fight ogres?" She questioned as her brow rose. Harlan immediately pointed at Vestara, who only rolled her eyes as the others turned to her. "Ves?"

  "It's not like we have an abundance of weapons lying around to give out," she responded, her arms crossing beneath her chest.

  "This is enough," Eldric said. The last thing he wanted was to cause a problem for the group. "We don't have time to sit around here. More could come tumbling through any moment."

  Nia sniffed and made an odd expression like she was about to sneeze before flipping her left sword around in her hand and handing it to Eldric. "Use it to watch my back, okay?" Eldric was about to thank her, but she then turned to Harlan. “I’m not sure if they are all out of the cave… want me to scout the rest of the way and look or do we go in together?”

  "We go together," Vestara said before Harlan could say anything. She glanced up as Imonek continued to circle overhead.

  Harlan hummed and scratched at his scraggly beard. He and Vestara shared a long stare, then the elf shifted just a bit before looking away. "You're probably right, Ves. We will go together until the cave is in sight and then reevaluate."

  Nia led the way while Harlan and Eldric fanned out wide. Vestara made up the rear of the perimeter as they all cautiously moved ahead. Several minutes passed when Nia dropped to one knee and held up a fist, prompting the others to stop.

  The forest opened into a field with what appeared to be some sort of split in the ground, and a sharp rock jutted up into the air. The cave could be mistaken at first glance for just an odd hill with grass and moss growing atop it. But from their angle, they could clearly see the large, dark opening in the ground.

  Eldric frowned a bit as an ogre stepped out into the light, looked up at the sky, and scratched at its swollen and dirty stomach before walking back inside.

  "Well, we know at least one is in there," Harlan said. "Let's all go down together." He focused on Vestara. "Get us a nice big fireball right into the entrance to drive them out." He then gestured to Nia and Eldric. "The three of us will handle the runners after we kick the hornet's nest."

  "I'll head atop the hill and drop down on the first one that runs out. Watch for my signal when I'm in place," Nia said as she stood up and ran to the right.

  Once she disappeared beyond the trees, Harlan turned to Eldric. "Looking forward to seeing a paladin in action. Say a prayer for us before we run out there?"

  Eldric opened his mouth to respond, hesitated, cocked his head, and finally said, "If you would welcome my prayers, I would happily pray over us." He looked over at Vestara, ready for the elf to speak her suspicions. Instead, she looked at Harlan and only sighed.

  "Speak your prayers," she assented.

  Eldric's eyes widened just a bit, and he felt something, but the emotion was too vague to really understand. "Then let us pray." He lowered his head and clutched the two swords he had in his hands tighter. "Lord of Ash and Rebirth, hear the prayer of your faithful—" An uncomfortable heat began to swell in his chest as his eyes breathed light, like living flame within his irises. "We who seek to destroy the evil of this world seek your blessing…" His voice dropped an octave. "Ashen Heart."

  A subtle wave passed from him and dispersed into a ten-foot circle around his person. Vestara gasped, and Harlan shuddered as the wave passed over them before vanishing.

  The subtle smell of ashes lingered on each of them as Vestara stood up shakily. Her eyes narrowed a moment before she looked at her hands and clenched them into fists.

  "Nia is in place," Harlan's voice broke through the weight of the blessing for a moment. All three turned to look toward the cave as Nia appeared above the entrance, giving them a wave.

  Eldric immediately heard the crackle of flame as Vestara's spell came to life in her hands. "Go," she growled, and Eldric looked at Harlan, who didn't hesitate to take off running toward the cave entrance.

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  Harlan brandished his two-handed sword and charged in with a battle cry. His roar was met with answering voices from within the cave, and after several beats, a group of ogres could be seen scrambling inside.

  Vestara’s fireball split the air over Eldric's head.

  The resulting explosion boomed like thunder. A wave of heat passed Eldric and Harlan as the ogres cried out in pain, causing three of them to scramble out of the cave covered in fire and bellowing in agony. The first was barely two steps out before Nia was atop it, her sword sinking into its neck.

  Harlan engaged the closest of the remaining three, cutting at its knee. Eldric hesitated only a moment to see if Harlan would need help before running full tilt to help Nia, who had jumped from her first kill to engage another.

  Imonek suddenly flew in and flapped its wings in the face of the one Nia was engaging, menacing the ogre with obscured vision. Nia's short sword was like a blur as she made fast cuts across the ogre's stomach and legs. It took a stumbling step back just as Eldric moved into striking range. He growled and collided with the ogre, the beast had him in size, but it was staggering and off balance. It tumbled to the ground with a weak groan.

  He was about to strike it while it was down, but he had barely straightened before Nia was already on the ogre, her sword slashing once before flipping and sinking deep into its chest.

  Eldric turned as Harlan finished his own fight. The last ogre was being peppered by small bolts of fire, the little arrows of flame riddling its body with bloody welts. It staggered under Vestara’s relentless attacks.

  Eldric rushed it, and the barrage ceased as he thrust the short sword Nia had given him into the ogre’s knee. It dropped immediately and Eldric grabbed Tolsten’s broken sword in two hands, the ogre’s face now even with his own, then swung and removed its head in a single clean motion.

  Silence followed as Eldric huffed, his lungs burning. He noticed one of the especially bad burns under his right arm was bleeding, but it wasn't bad enough to mention to the others.

  "I haven't felt like that in a decade," Harlan exhaled, rolling his shoulders and smirking as he came to stand near Eldric. He was breathing quickly and had blood spattered across his face and chest, but otherwise seemed completely fine. "Never gonna say prayers don't work. I feel like I could fight all day…"

  Vestara was approaching as well, but she was still too far away and would need to yell to be heard.

  "Good job, E~." Nia said as she came up next to him. He pulled her sword from the dead ogre's knee and wiped the blade on the monster's dirty loincloth before handing it to her.

  "Thanks for the sword, I can tell you take really good care of it." He replied, finally able to thank her for the weapon.

  "Anytime," she said, taking the sword and sheathing it. "What's this about a prayer?"

  "He said a little prayer over Ves and me after you left to get in place," Harlan said. "It makes me feel twenty again, to be honest. How long does this last?"

  "Until I thank the Lord of Ash…" He hesitated, noting how the heat in his chest remained. "The more people that are blessed, the more of a toll it takes on me."

  "So is E keeping the blessing going?" Nia asked, looking between him and Harlan.

  "Yes, we paladins act as conduits for the Lord of Ashes' power," Eldric answered with a nod, noting the contradiction that was Nia. The small foxkin woman was tiny, but out of each of them, she was covered in the most blood and had struck down the most ogres.

  Quietly, he ended the blessing with whispered words. The effect was immediate. The heat disappeared, and Harlan's shoulders sagged a bit.

  The older man let out a deep breath. "Let's head into the cave, make sure we got all of them, and see what they have. Eldric, you and I lead in. Ves and Little Fox follow close."

  Eldric matched pace with Harlan as Vestara caught up and fell back with Nia several steps.

  The cave entrance was, to put it mildly, disgusting, and Eldric blanched at the heavy scent of burning rot wafting out. Behind him, Nia made a disgusted sound, but the older two had a tight focus on the entrance. Neither relaxed until the shadowed entrance gave way to the dimly lit interior. Random objects lay scattered around, some obviously displaced by Vestara's fireball, and others having just been tossed aside by the messy ogres.

  Eldric stepped around a smoldering deer carcass and lowered his broken sword. The cave wasn't deep, the back of it was only about fifteen yards from the entrance. The large remains of a cooking pit sat in the middle of the area, the spit having been thrown aside by the blast.

  "Over there," Vestara said, pointing to a pile of…something in the back left corner of the cave.

  Nia rushed forward with a gleeful grin as she nearly pounced on the pile, doing a little hop to bring her right in front of the ogres' ill-gotten loot. She began to rummage right away as Eldric and the other two came to a stop just behind the foxkin. Both Harlan and Vestara seemed content to let her rummage, unbothered as they looked around the cave.

  Nia stood, making a humming sound as she lifted her arms high and held a chainmail shirt up. "Way too big for me…" she spun on her heel and walked over to Harlan, pushing the chainmail against his chest, sizing it against him.

  "You should give it to Eldric," Harlan offered as she hummed again. "Out of all of us, he needs new gear the most."

  Nia cocked her head a bit, and her tail flicked as she pulled away and walked over to Eldric. Without a word, she pushed the chainmail shirt against his chest. Eldric's head went back just a bit as the chainmail pushed against his neck. Nia looked up at his eyes for a moment, then back to his chest, and nodded. "Congrats, E—new loot for you. Here, take it." She stepped back and held the shirt out for him. "If it's got any breaks in the chains, we can get it fixed in Oberton, they should have a blacksmith."

  Eldric held up the chainmail. It was by no means extraordinary, but it was in good condition. "Thanks. This will help a lot." He said with the ghost of a smile.

  Nia smiled at him and nodded before going back to the pile. "Oh, it's a book. Definitely for Ves…" She set the thick tome aside.

  "We all know how to read. Why am I getting the book right away?" Vestara frowned at Nia.

  Nia shrugged, her tail swaying hypnotically as she rummaged some more. "Well, yeah, I can read, but you're the only one I know who likes to read."

  The warlock rolled her eyes but didn't bother to deny the claim.

  Several more moments passed. Nia had made four small piles when she finally stood up and gestured toward the loot. "How's this? Any concerns?"

  Vestara and Harlan stepped forward, seemingly understanding which pile was theirs just by experience. Eldric's brows rose in surprise at the lack of negotiation. "Do you always mediate loot, Nia?" he asked, walking toward his own pile.

  "She's the youngest here," Harlan responded instead. "I assigned her the role because it gives her a measure of control over Vestara and me, who are much older…"

  "It's about respecting the group," Vestara said quietly as she laid her cloak on the ground and put her items atop it, using the clothing as a makeshift bag. “Age breeds expectations, Nia keeps us grounded.”

  Nia quietly listened to the other two, gathering up her own things with a small smile.

  Once everyone gathered their things, they left the cave and returned to the wagon unimpeded.

  Eldric climbed into the back of the wagon and inhaled a deep breath, thankful to be away from the rancid cave.

  "With the ogres gone, the road is a little safer," Harlan said, sitting on the wagon's bench with a sigh and taking the reins. "We aren't far now—less than an hour at this point—so we will be there before dark."

  Eldric nodded and settled in.

  Nia was cleaning her face and clothes of blood while Vestara cracked open the new book she had gotten. The elf had a small, muted smile on her face as her red eyes raked over the opening lines of the book.

  Eldric cocked his head a bit as a minty-sweet smell drifted on the breeze. It was foreign, yet familiar.

  Nia seemed to notice it as well. Her ears twitched first, then her tail stilled as she sniffed and made an odd sound. "Smells like home…"

  All eyes turned to Nia as the first raindrops pattered on the leaves above, just as she had predicted that morning.

  Chapter 5 End

  ---

  **Extra Part:**

  **Excerpt From the Ashen Testament-**

  **Ember Page 0 – The First Seeker’s Cry**

  **(The Proem of the Ashen Testament, inscribed in the Founder’s hand before the Cycle was named)**

  Oh great Lord, you who call yourself Ash and Rebirth.

  I have sought you many moons, I have called to the new dawn looking for your outward signs.

  Yet oh lord, why does your voice only speak to me? Why have others not heard your call?

  I write your words, I write your truth, you who would shape the world in your image, Ashen Lord.

  Aminta