Eritance - Chapter 30

“AhthatI don’t really know myself” I lied. “The orc chieftain must have thought the mansion had what he was looking for”.

“There’s no way. I may have never seen one before, but I know the power of the relics. My father never had anything like that on him. The orc chieftain didn’t just attack the mansion though, he attacked our caravan”.

“What can I say?” I said with a shrug. “The orc chieftain must have been wrong, he saw a rich girl and a caravan and assumed it would have a big treasure”.

Ciara looked at me with a strange look. “That’s what I thought at first too but. Why did he say it to you? When he first attacked, I thought it was me he was after, but during the whole fight, he focused on you. On the other hand, you’re so strong now, my father surely would have noticed a field worker that could kill orcs and goblins with such ease” she said.

“Shoot!” I thought to myself. Ciara was on to me. Of course, there was no choice but to use my strength in front of her, if I hadn’t used all my strength I would be dead right now. I had a dilemma to consider now. I either told her, and risked my secret spreading, or continue lying and suffer any consequences if I get found out later.

Neither option seemed that appealing to me. I didn’t want her to know, but I also didn’t want her to think I was lying to her either. I cursed at the circumstances that had put me in between a rock and a hard place. I decided that honesty would be the best policy, besides, she wasn’t necessarily unreliable anyways.

“Ciara I. You’re right. The orc chieftain was after me”. Once I had said that her eyes widened in shock. It seems that she had been thinking I was related somehow but hadn’t fully believed it either. After all, I was just an orphan field worker. “One day I was out in the woods, while I was hunting, I found a strange box. I brought the box back and thought to sell it, but before I could the spine bear attacked”. I continued to explain everything that had happened to me until this point.

Ciara stood there quietly for several minutes. Finally, she asked, ” did you know?”. “What?” I asked. “Did you know? Did you know that the orc chieftain would attack?” she asked in a shrill tone. This wasn’t good, it seemed that she was about to explode again.

“No! I swear I didn’t know. Like I said, I found a box in the forest. I didn’t even know it had given me powers until the dire wolves attacked us. That was well after the orc chieftain attacked the first time. I also had no idea that he would go back and attack the village” I said quickly.

She gave me a strange look and walked away. I tried going after her, but she just held up her hand and walked away again. I guess she just needed some more time to get over things. I didn’t feel guilty that I got this power though. I felt bad for all the people who died, but it was nothing I could control. I would honor their memories somehow in the future.

After thinking for some time, I went back to the inn. I was feeling somewhat tired and decided that I had better rest well before my new life started. I went to bed after having a modest meal of bread and cheese.

I woke early the next day. Hans gave me a list of plants that he needed me to find in the forest. As I couldn’t read, he had to list out what kinds of plants he needed and in what quantities. Apparently, these plants I was looking for made excellent seasonings for meats and other dishes that the inn would be making soon.

Finding the plants in the forest definitely took some effort. It wasn’t that they were all that hard to collect, but that they were all deep into the forest. If not for my enhanced speed and stamina it would take me all day to make the journey back and forth. However, I could finish all my tasks within half a day, leaving a lot of downtime.

It wasn’t safe for me to transfer my power into my jerkin out in the open. Imbuing power into things took concentration and it would be disastrous if I were interrupted while doing it. I decided that from now on, I would use this time to train my body. I still hadn’t found a trainer, but I noticed Simon doing strange exercises the night before. I figured, he would be able to help me with training.

After going home for the day, I asked Simon if he could teach me how to exercise properly. He agreed and over the next few nights showed me different exercises that were good for training my muscles, endurance, and keep me flexible. He also gave me pointers on what to do to keep a healthy body. Simon really was quite knowledgeable. I found out too that he wasn’t that much older than I was. He was only 22.

Once I had learned all the exercises Simon knew I went at it with a lot of vigor each day after finishing collecting the materials in the forest. A cycle began over the next few weeks. I could feel my body slowly getting stronger. I wasn’t sure if it was strong enough to hold more energy yet, but it was slowly being turned into a well sculpted body that was fit for fighting.

Things continued on well in this regard, but on the other hand, Ciara barely spoke to me. I wasn’t sure when it would go back to the way things were before, but I thought I had to do something. One day, I left a note under her door and asked her to meet me near behind the inn at night.

I waited for her and thought she wasn’t going to show up, but just as I was going to leave, she came out. “Well?” she asked. “Listen, Ciara I- “I started to say. However, before I could continue, I heard a strange noise from nearby. I grabbed Ciara and pulled her towards me. “Shh” I said.

A hooded figure slowly crept out of the inn through a secret exit, and silently went to the forest. We decided to check it out and followed the mysterious figure.