Irregular - Chapter 26

Three watched as the girl talked animatedly to Harold, she was dragging the old man around and proudly showing him her experiments. The elderly man seemed to take it all in stride and smiled a grand-fatherly smile and complimented her about all the right things. The girl was positively beaming, she was so excited to show her experiments to people who actually meant her no harm that there was no stopping her. Reg and Tillian watched the two work, they walked over towards Three.

“Well this day did not go as I expected.” Reg said, scratching his thick beard.

Tillian nodded. “I think she reminds Harold of his granddaughter, she was killed a few years ago, she had the same kind of energy. I think it would be good for the both of them if we gave them some time. This is gonna be a hell of a thing to explain back home.”

“That it will be, who woulda thought that the attacks were on accident.” Reg glanced at Three. “We heard your conversation and I don’t mean to pry into your business, but the way she spoke of experiments done on her, you seemed to know what she was talking about.”

Three glanced at the large woodcutter. “If i’m correct, a group of magicians forced a core into her, these cores change who we are, they make us… different. No longer the race we once belonged to, her changes are minor, I see no physical changes. I think that her mind was affected, it might have been damaged.”

Reg huffed running his hand over his axe. “Do you know who these mages were and why they did what they did?” Three shook his head in answer.

“We know nothing about them, not their reason, their backing, or anything else. The only thing I do know is that one of them is my mother.” Three told him, brows furrowed.

Tillian blinked, “Your mother was the one who did that to you?”

“If what we heard is true, then yes.”

“That’s rough, I have to admit I am surprised that you are able to tell this story to us so easily,” Reg said, putting a hand on Three’s shoulder.

Three cocked his head, looking over his shoulder at the woodcutter. “What do you mean?”

Reg blinked, then moved to scratch his beard. “Well most people don’t like sharing things this personal, especially to people they don’t know that well, you can’t even be sure that we are not allied with these hags.”

Three froze, mind racing as he thought of past events, now that he gave it some thought he felt that it was unnatural to share the story as easily as he had. They had trusted people without hesitation, something that should be difficult for people who had been through a situation similar to theirs. He thought about what happened to them and felt a strange lack of secrecy over what should be one of his largest secrets. He frowned, tried to think of it as a secret, but for some reason it was difficult for him to do, even trying to do it made him light-headed.

Reg saw him acting strange and shook him gently, “You doing alright friend?”

“It is… odd.” Three said rolling his shoulders, “I cannot think of what happened to me as a secret.”

“That’s not that strange, perhaps you are a person who shares easily,” Reg reassured him.

“You misunderstand, I CAN’T think of it as a secret, I want to, but when I try, I get light headed and feel like it’s perfectly natural to share.” Three grunted, brows furrowed.

Reg frowned, “I have heard of mind magic, but I’ve never seen it used on anyone before, nor do I know anyone capable of using it. Vyria might actually be able to detect if you have magic inside your head, despite her focus on monster studies her magical knowledge is top notch.”

Three nodded, “I will ask her to check, perhaps she knows something, worrying about it now will do me no good. I would ask you to keep what I told you to yourselves, however.” He looked from Reg to Tillian, both of whom nodded their agreement.

“Harold!” Three shouted, the elderly man turned around, raising an eyebrow.

“Perhaps we should take the lady back to the village, so she can see where it is, we could take things from there as we decide what to do.”

Harold nodded, scratching his beard as he thought. The girl looked between the two of them bouncing on her toes. “What about my undead and research?” She asked.

“They should be safe here, there are plenty of undead left in the caves that will discourage anyone from entering, You could always come back to your research after you’ve met the village, it is better to be on good terms with your neighbors after all.” Three told her.

The girl nodded, she scrambled to pack some more things before they headed back to the village as a group. The girl happily bounced around the groups members, getting excited when she noticed shuffles and his rare mutation. She also took a liking to Crimson, running her hand through the Jurgors fur and sighing happily. She threw a barrage of questions at them during the trip, Tillian was tripping over his words as he tried to answer the girl. He shuffled his feet and blushed everytime she walked up close to him, nearly hanging on his arm as she asked her questions.

The trip back to the village was lively, all of them had taken a liking to the energetic girl, Three was surprised she had all this energy, she certainly didn’t look like she had eaten properly over the last few days. Then again she could have the mana sustanence perk like him, although that would probably slow down her research, now that he looked at her she did seem like the type of person who would completely forget to eat to favor her research. He sighed, he felt protective of the girl, he wondered if there were others like her out there. The more he thought of it the more he thought that the experiment on her had most likely failed. If there was one there were bound to be others.

He threw the negative thoughts out of his head and walked over to Harold, the girl was enthusiastically talking with Reg and Tillian. He adjusted his pace to the elderly man’s he walked next to him in silence for a few moments before asking, “What are we going to do with her?”

Harold scratched his chin as he watched the girl bounce up and down, “I feel for the girl, she is… odd, she reminds me of mah daughter, we are lucky that the attacks have done no harm, nor damaged anything. The only effect it had was strengthening the village defences, which is actually a positive so we have nothing to condemn her for, nor do we care that she is a necromancer, we are not men and women of faith, any power that lets an individual survive the wilderness that does not harm the living is a skill set that is accepted by us.”

“So the village does not plan to do her harm? I was expecting some people to ask for penance at least.” Three added.

“The village doesn’t have much in the way of rules, we moved away from kingdoms and their religions for a reason.” Harold said. “As long as they have done no harm, nor taken any property, they have committed no crime in the eyes of the village, it was good training after all.” He said with a smile.

Three nodded, relieved that he did not have to worry about her getting in a trial and being mistreated.

“How about you, were will you go now that the issue has been handled.” Harold asked.

“I think I will head back, there are some things Vyria and I have to discuss, my party will also need me, they have probably not been into dungeons during my absence.” Three told him.

The girl had heard him and joined the two of them, she looked up at him pouting, “You’re leaving?”

Three nodded, “I am.”

Her lip trembled, “I can’t come with you?”

He shook his head, “The villagers will settle things, they will treat you well you do not need to worry.”

She looked at the other men looking at her and huddled a little closer in on herself. “They are nice, but they don’t know.” She said softly, stressing the word know.

“Me and mine will be fighting and searching for the hags, we will be actively chased by them and we will have little to no time for research, then you have the issue of some religions that will target you for being a necromancer. It is safer for you here, trust in me. Trust in these men, Harold will take care of you.” The last part he said as a statement as he locked eyes with Harold. The elderly man nodded reassuringly.

“Doncha be worrying dear.” He said, “I will make you hot soup and you can tell me all about your experiments, I bet me old lady will have some advice for ya, she been a monster tamer herself for a good long time.”

The necromancer looked back and forth between Three and Harold, before grudgingly accepting their point. Three nodded, “Well now that we have that settled I guess I might as well leave, it is just as far from here as it is from the village.”

Harold blinked in surprise, “You should at least let us pay you for yer trouble, stay for dinner, we will probly be havin a feast.”

Three shook his head, “I cannot afford to waste time, there are questions that I desperately need answers to. Say hi to Vila and the chieftain for me.”

He moved to Crimson, the rest walking up to him. “Ya sure you know the way back?” Harold ask scratching his chin. “Ya won’t have the crystal to guide ya this time, it won’t be a trouble for one of us to guide ya.”

Three scratched his chin, “Crimson, you know the way back?”

The Jurgor snorted, he could tell she almost felt insulted by the question.

He smiled, “I think we will be fine, I have to hurry back. Me and Crimson will run.” He looked back at the rest of his bondlings and conscripts. “You guys travel in a group, you will catch up perhaps a day after us, you guys might be undead but you will still be slightly slower Shuffles may be able to keep up but I need you to get them there alive. Travel safe!” The ghoul nodded and the rest of the undead circled him.

He took off waving his goodbyes to the party, The necromancer stood there clutching the hand Harold held out to her, put off by his sudden goodbye, she watched him go, doubt apparent in her stance. He rolled his shoulders, he would have faith in the villagers, the way they had shown their faith in him. It was time for him to go back, There were many things he needed to discuss with the others and questions that needed answers.