Chapter 23: Strain

  “It’s clear, ma'am," said the soldier as he stepped out from the portal ring.

  "Thank you, Mallal," replied Gij. Turning to Vina, she added, "The portal rings are becoming progressively less safe every day. You need to stop traveling to ones you don't know are definitely secure. If Haco were here..." Her voice trailed off, and Vina nodded, acknowledging the warning.

  "I get it," Vina replied. "But I really need to travel right now. Hopefully, I'll be able to stay put soon."

  "After what I saw you do last night, you should be here with us," Gij insisted. "Carda, Zera, and I are working on Haco. We need to get that bounty off your head, then we can start collaborating peacefully. In the meantime, Carda's arranged some transportation for you." She gestured toward an animal being led to the portal ring.

  Vina saw a furry creature with a sleek body and a single ten-inch horn on its forehead. Its tail was short and bushy, and its fur was mostly brown, with a gray patch on its side. It had large, expressive eyes and seemed to be grinning. Vina used Examine, muttering under her breath, “If this says unicorn, I'm done."

  Vina gawked at the text. She'd never had such a detailed description for an animal before.

  "That's a Smarmel. They're easygoing and shouldn't give you any trouble," Gij explained. "With higher riding skills, they can be quite fast. Once you pass through the portal, head south. The journey to the Singing Stones is a few days away. Norfany is rumored to be in that area."

  “What are the Singing Stones exactly?” Vina asked.

  "They're rocks that hum during the day. But at night, Kaliters come out and attack anyone within hearing range. The Watch's reports say they're hostile because we started harvesting their scales." She pointed at Vina's armor. "And you're wearing them. Don't expect a warm welcome."

  Vina touched her armor. "Yeah, that doesn't sound good." The soldier leading the Smarmel handed her the reins, and she took them, hesitant. "What's its name?"

  The soldier leading the smarmel up to her handed her the reins and Vina took it apprehensively at first. “What's its name?” she asked.

  “Uhm, Asharaina? The Smarmel’s an animal. He doesn’t have a name. His tag number is sixty-two though,” she responded awkwardly.

  “Oh? Okay. No problem”, Vina said awkwardly. “I guess that’s not a thing we do here…”

  “It's not," Gij confirmed. "Listen, Norfany might just be a rumor. If you can't find them, return to us in Randar, regardless of what you've accomplished. We need your help."

  "I would, but I can't travel to Randar through portal rings," Vina said.

  Gij gave her a puzzled look. "Travel restricted? But only Trina can restrict someone’s travel."

  "I have an overprotective sister. At least, I hope I do. She’s missing." Vina started to explain, but then she stopped after realizing an explanation would likely cause her more trouble. “It’s complicated. Anyway, there was a refuge just about a half day walk south from Randar. If you’re falling back, you’ll pass it right on the way to the city. I don’t know how they work, but if you rebuild the building, there’s a chance I can just arrive there immediately.”

  Gij gave her a strange look. “I’m aware of it and planned to rebuild it anyway. How exactly are you able to travel to it?”

  “I have no idea how anything works here, Gij,” Vina gestured at the portal ring. “You want to activate it or shall I?”

  ~~~

  Despite the agonizing pain in her shoulder, Vina rode her Smarmel southward across an open field dotted with rocks. None of them sang, so she kept moving. She glanced over her shoulder at the portal ring she'd just deactivated with blood runes. "No risk of anyone following us," she murmured to her mount.

  Her meeting with Gij and Carda had gone better than expected, though the ending was tense. The news that Carda was leaving with Zera had fueled her decision to depart early. Haco's presence loomed like a shadow, and she needed to be far away from the portal before she could use it.

  With the disabled portal ring behind her, Vina focused on the quest ahead. She checked on Langternem, nestled in a leather pouch attached to her saddle. The crystal swished gently with the Smarmel's gait, almost as if it was enjoying the ride. Vina took a moment to check her mount skill—slowly but steadily increasing. "Time to catch up with these notifications," she thought, wishing she could close her eyes as the list of those she killed scrolled by.

  Vina wasn't surprised by the advancements. She'd felt her strength and vitality soar during the battle.

  Her hand twitched at the sight of nineteen attribute points, but she knew better than to assign them carelessly. She tightened her grip on the reins and adjusted the sling supporting her injured arm to prevent it from painfully bouncing so much. The field hospital had done its best, but her collarbone and eye were still far from healed. She wrapped a cloth around her head to protect her damaged eye.

  Her arm and shoulder seemed to be making the most progress, but it wasn’t without consequence. She desperately wanted to scratch at the bone that felt like ants had somehow climbed inside. It was futile however, no matter how she tried she couldn’t escape the itching sensation. An anxious gaze to the sky revealed she had another hour before she could take another medica mixture. “Soon.” she muttered. In an attempt to feel like she was doing something to address her discomfort, she reached into one of the satchels at her side and chewed another Sildown Leaf even though her affliction timer wasn’t yet up.

  The Smarmel continued southward at a leisurely pace, but it was clear he wanted to move faster. Vina had to rein him in; her injuries were not able to handle much bouncing. She could tell from his vibrance that he was not happy about it. Slowly though, she began to notice she was getting jostled around less without an understanding why. She actively was trying to avoid thinking about Stine when she realized it was probably a benefit of her new riding skill. With a sigh, she opened the skill notifications screen.

  "Alright, let's see here," Vina muttered. "Three skill points to allocate, and I'm so close to pushing Blood Infusionist up another level. Just 90 more experience points needed. We'll probably get that just from honing our riding skills tonight." She affectionately patted the Smarmel beneath her. "Let's start with the riding skill."

  She glanced at the options. "Trick riding? Not my style. War Rider? That could be useful." After selecting War Rider, she noticed a slight increase in the Smarmel's energy. "I bet that helps with all this gear," she said, patting its flank.

  Vina then turned her attention to the Ambidexterity skill, muttering to herself, "Alright, let's see what you've got for me."

  She blinked in surprise at the solitary option. "Stupid system!” Vina said loudly. “My hand works fine!” She flexed her left hand to prove it, but was disappointed at just how weak her grip felt. With a defeated sigh, she selected the only option offered. A window popped up showing her attributes, from which she chose Dexterity. The immediate improvement in her right hand was noticeable. It was more responsive, more in tune with her intentions. "I mean… I guess I wanted that. It should help with buttoning and latching stuff."

  With hope for better options, she opened the list for her Kicking skill. "Alright, no surprises this time.”

  “Defensive kick…” Vina muttered. “That sounds similar to what that other swordmaster used on me. Except she hit me with the pommel of her weapon before jumping back. Do I need an escape ability? Probably…” she mentally hovered over the ability, when another thought entered her mind along with a painful memory of overpowering strength from two different perspectives. “With infusions, I can be strong now,” she whispered.

  “Stop,” she said to herself, recognizing where the thought and memory came from. She hesitated as she read the second and third options again. “Knocking someone down could be an instant victory or an immediate escape…” her voice faded. “Okay. Yeah. That’ll work.” She selected Balance Breaking Kick. “Well that was fun,” she said, patting the mount once more. Looking ahead, however, took the wind out of her sails. A rock filled field stretched out as far as she could see, promising a painful journey.

  As the day dragged on, Vina's thoughts started to wander. The sun was a third of the way up when she downed a mendica mixture, hoping for relief from her injuries. The bone-deep itching continued to drive her crazy, but her eye hurt less. Unfortunately, the blurred vision led to headaches and nauseating double vision, which made her wonder about Stine's intentions. "Why would Stine injure me so badly if it wants me to learn? It can't want to kill me and teach me, can it?" she asked herself. Her mount seemed hesitant, sniffing the air and veering off to the right.

  "What's wrong?" Vina loosened the reins, letting the Smarmel lead the way. The animal quickened its pace toward a small pool of water bubbling from the ground and eagerly plunged its head in to drink. "Oh, thirsty, are you?" she said, sliding off the saddle to investigate a nearby bush. She examined the berries and began foraging with her one good hand. Just as she was finishing, she received a notification.

  Vina blinked at the notifications. "Picking berries increases ambidexterity?" she questioned, but paused as she recalled Norimor's advice.

  “...you level the Ambidexterity skill not just by using your offhand, but by using your offhand as if it is your dominant hand.”

  “This can’t be Stine’s intention,” Vina said, trying to dismiss the coincidence, but her mind raced. Stine’s words bubbled up as if in response.

  "Is there no deeper meaning to the things that happen to you?"

  “Stine disabled my left hand to force me to use my right. Then it had me fight the sword master using only my right hand.” Vina whispered, her disbelief growing. “Was it training me?” She considered what she said for so long that her mount soon joined her at the bush. It sniffed at her hands and she gave it a berry.

  "Well, it's not just me learning," Vina said with a growing smile as she watched the Smarmel enjoy its snack. "Okay, you can have some more." She laid the rest of the berries on a flat stone, noticing how her mount seemed more at ease. It soon returned to her side, and she struggled back on, urging it southward.

  By midday, she had concluded that it was logical that Stine had intended to disable her left hand. What she couldn’t understand was why it would then fire a second ball of ice at her unless the intent was to kill her. She remembered how badly the first ball hurt, but then the second did nothing at all. The damage notification had shown her armor absorbed all of the damage. She looked down and tried to examine it once again, expecting only to receive an error message.

  "Eee!" Vina shrieked, almost falling off her mount. "Oh my god, it's alive!" She felt a prick in her side as the armor drew a bit of blood. "Is that supposed to reassure me?" she whined, feeling a creeping sense of dread as she angled her torso away from the pain. The withdrawal stopped, and Vina took a deep breath trying to calm herself.

  After a moment, she stroked the armor gently. "I'm sorry if I'm freaking out. I knew you were kind of alive, but I thought it was more symbolic, like a collection of pictures on a cell phone. I didn't know you were literally alive." She took another deep breath, trying to calm down. "If you want to stay, I'll keep you. But if you change your mind, I promise I'll leave you with The Kaliters at Norfany. We're headed there now. Maybe they be able to communicate with you? How does that sound?"

  Vina took a sharp breath. "Okay. You do understand me." Her voice softened as she spoke to the armor. "I'm sorry if I've been ignoring you. I hope you know, I didn't mean to. But, Stine... Stine is trying to tell me something. What is it?" She wondered aloud, her thoughts swirling. What else was Stine trying to convey? And why did it seem so contradictory? If it wanted to kill her, why leave clues? If it wanted to teach her, why do it so brutally? As the Smarmel trudged southward, Vina knew she'd need answers soon. Stine's lessons were only growing darker, and she couldn't afford to ignore them any longer.