Draith
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Chapter 76 - Wealth of the Forest
🕑 Added 2025-04-15 14:00:14 +0000 UTCAfter the first couple bounding leaps down into Mistvale in the cold morning air, I adjusted enough that I started to enjoy it. Frost Lily was big enough that she seemed to barely notice our weight on her back. And yet she also seemed aware enough to keep from jostling us around.
While I was partial to proper suspension, Frost Lily was a dream compared to Fang. I felt bad about having to keep my hands woven into the fur on her back, but Vaserra assured me Frost Lily barely felt it.
"So long as you do not pull at her ears. Frost wolves have very sensitive ears," Vaserra said as we stopped just above the forest line, reaching forward to scratch Frost Lily behind the ears.
"Got it," I replied as the other wolves and their riders gathered around us. Despite being the last to start down the into the vale, Frost Lily had quickly outpaced the others. Now we stood outside the tree line, getting our last bearing. I'd told Vaserra that I could always detect the way towards the mountain, though I hadn't told her that was because it's where my beacon was.
She hadn't questioned it, simply leading us to the edge of the vale opposite the mountain, before stopping for a rest.
It didn't take long before we descended into the vale. Nor did it take long for them to spot their first prey. A lizard that reminded me of the mist-rex, though it was at best a quarter of the height.
I didn't have to lift a finger despite having a front row seat to the action. Vaserra and Frost Lily took it down on their own. Vaserra had summoned a spear of ice, then used her bow to propel the oversized projectile at the mist-rex's feet. It exploded in a circle of slippery ice, which, despite the now perpetual clouds overhead, started melting as soon as it'd formed.
Which caused the mist-rex to crash to the ground before it even knew what was happening. While it was trying to recover its balance, Frost Lily had darted forward, ripping at its leg with her mighty jaws. At the same time Vaserra whipped a spear of ice around, slashing at its arm.
Then we were past before the creature could react.
It attempted to struggle to its feet, but between the melting ice and its mangled leg, it tumbled back down immediately.
They repeated the strategy three more times, always focusing on reducing the mist-rex's mobility. Only once it was unable to lift its head did Vaserra leap off Frost Lily, driving her spear through its eye, killing it.
Lily's companion Engrid, the gruff middle-aged red-head called out, "Took your time!"
"You'll just have to do better with the next," Vaserra called back as she pulled her spear free.
"Sure as the Storm," Engrid laughed back, shaking her fist over her head. "Twice the size, half the work."
Vaserra didn't respond. By that point she'd started fashioning the body into a sled, using small chunks of ice to bind it together. While she worked, the rest of the pack moved on, hunting for their own prizes. Only one remained behind.
"Thought wolves fought as a pack," I said, offering her a hand up.
"We do fight as a pack," Vaserra said as she accepted my hand, climbing onto Frost Lily's back. "When it is required. But at the moment, what we need is a champion who can stand up to my father. The others will hunt out more prey, but it will be mine and Frost Lily's duty to fight them. We must do all we can to grow our bond."
As she said this, the other rider who'd remained behind hooked up the mist-rex to their wolf, using the make shift sled to drag the body towards the mountain.
It occurred to me that I probably should've warned Selvi about us bringing in more meat via oversized wolf. Then again, I knew I could count on Calbern to pass along the message.
Needed to develop an enchantment for messages. I knew they had them. Perth's father, Aranor, had sent regular correspondence to Althon. And that was halfway across the continent.
I could've gone with the rider taking the mist-rex back, but I found myself caught up in the thrill. Watching Vaserra and Frost Lily fight was incredible. It helped that it felt natural riding Frost Lily.
So much so that, after Vaserra finished trussing up an aggressive three-horned herbivore, I couldn't help asking, "Would it be possible for me to get my own frost wolf?"
She'd been about to grab my hand, and the question seemed to surprise her so much, she missed, thwapping Frost Lily in the side instead.
Frost Lily let out a surprised yelp, looking back at Vaserra in shock.
I couldn't help but laugh as Vaserra reassured her bonded companion with vigorous head rubs.
"I do not know if you can bond with one, though the dull are often trained as mounts," Vaserra said after she'd mounted up and started moving towards where another of her pack was letting off an occasional howl. "The Frost Riven do not have many pups who are the right age, and those we do are still under my father's control. Nor are there any pregnant wolves among those who ride with me."
"So… not now, but maybe eventually? And what would it take to bond with a frost wolf?"
"Time, care, and an open heart," Vaserra said immediately. "It is both as simple and difficult as melting peak ice by cradling it with your body during a winter storm."
"How much time? Time seems to be at a bit of a premium as a Magus Dominus," I admitted with a grunt. Ever since I'd arrived in Tetherfall, it felt like I was constantly running from one thing to the next.
"Several hours a day," Vaserra said, running her hand through Frost Lily's fur.
"For how long?"
"For the rest of your lives," Vaserra replied, and I could hear the smile in her voice.
"That's…"
It was beautiful, in a way. Yet it sounded like something I couldn't afford. Not if I wanted to keep advancing as a mage. I barely had enough time to work on my astral soul. And I wouldn't have any, if I wasn't able to do that while doing other things. Such as riding around with Vaserra as she hunted.
"It is not for everyone," Vaserra said softly as Frost Lily slowed. "Some break like summer ice before they can form the bond. They are… lesser for it. They become weak as a sheep."
"Rough," I said, looking around. "Is that why you call them that? Because they aren't bound to Frost Wolves?"
"I… what do you mean? The sheep are sheep. What else would I call them?"
"I don't know. People? Villagers. Citizens of whatever city or vale they're from?"
"But that is what sheep means. People of the vales," Vaserra said, turning to look back at me.
"Uh. Maybe to the Frost Riven. But if anyone from Terra Vista or around the City of Water says it, they're talking about what was it… the fluffy white herd animals."
"The nibblers. Yes, I remember your confusion," Vaserra said, turning her attention forward once more. "I'd assumed your people had a strange naming sense. But you say it is more than that? I will admit, I do not know a great deal about the distant land of Terra Vista."
It took me a second to process the idea that she considered Terra Vista a distant land. Then again, I'd come from the other side of the continent. "Have you traveled much outside of your clan's lands?"
"I have traveled to the clansmeet twice. It is a journey of many days," Vaserra replied, before prompting Frost Lily forward, which put a bit of a hold on our conversation.
We slowed again as got close to the broken stretch of the forest near the Waygate. Shaper Kallum, the elf with the ram-like horns, was there, talking with a pair of Tethered hanging from a nearby rope.
"You might be getting a crash course," I warned Vaserra as her pack gathered around us, each of them with an ice-crafted meat-sled trailing behind them. "Terra Vista's having their own internal dispute. We've got a bunch of people who've been looking for refuge."
Vaserra nodded. "Such is the duty of the strong, to watch over the weak. Despite what my father may think."
"I… yeah." I wasn't sure how to explain that not everyone who'd come was weak. That some people just didn't want to fight. Especially since we were approaching the camp, and the Tethered looked about ready to bolt.
I called out to them, though it took a few seconds for them to recognize me. Usually I went around in my robes, not my cold weather gear.
It was the staff that did it.
The Tethered were very familiar with Balthum's old staff.
"Magus Dominus," Kallum said, the elf leaning on a staff of his own. One of a dark purple material I didn't recognize. It had a powerful affinity, though I didn't recognize it either. "It seems you are the man I need to speak to."
"Shaper Kallum," I replied as I dismounted. I'd thought he'd decided not to stay. After his first visit ashore, he'd returned to his ship and from what I'd heard, hadn't come aground again. "How can I help you?"
"I would like to purchase heartwood for my residence," Kallum replied, waving a hand at the man and woman hanging behind him. "Your… people, have refused to consider my offer."
"He was trying to pay us in waves," the woman spoke up. "Kept going on about 'em. Told him we don't need to trade waves for the wealth of the forest. Too wet."
I kept the grin off my face, but it was a near thing. Having another Shaper take up residence would be great.
"How much heartwood are you looking for?" I asked, glad the first steps had been taken for setting up a school. Once the Tethered had just a couple months of lessons, misunderstandings like this would drop drastically.
I hoped.
"I need three hundred lengths, each at least twelve feet long and one foot across in each direction," Kallum replied, his hands folded neatly over his staff.
Those were some really big pieces of wood. And he wanted the good stuff. I doubted we had much more than that much heartwood. And most of it was set aside for greenhouses. The Heartwood of the massive trees was roughly equivalent to a tier two material, though it was much harder to process properly considering our lack of proper tools. Wasn't like I could hall logs into the workshop to work on them. Back on the Aranor family lands they'd had entire villages whose sole purpose was to log and refine trees similar to the ones here.
Still, I'd been planning to build the tools to process the logs. It'd just been bumped down the list. Repeatedly.
"And what were you offering for so much wood?" I asked.
"Three thousand waves," Kallum replied immediately.
"Was up to five thousand before he saw you coming," the woman spoke up again.
I nodded to her even as I fought not to snort. "Five thousand waves? For three hundred lengths of tier two materials? Missing a few zeroes there, aren't you?"
A shallow smile crept onto his face at that, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Ah, you have some understanding of its value."
"Little bit," I said, shaking my head.
"Then perhaps I can offer you something of equal worth," he said, shifting slightly before a book popped into his hands.
Not just any book though. It was a grimoire.
"Tell me, Magus Dominus. How many spells do you think three hundred lengths would be worth?"
Comments
Josh Smith
Thanks for the chapter! It's a good job he has someone who can find the value of knowledge ;)
