“If you want me to, sure!” Maiya said, flexing her bicep. “I was just gonna watch you two work.”
“Ha! I make you work ’n Aliscia’ll have my head!” Rudvik replied. “By the way… Did you, uh… Did ya, y’know?”
Vir’s expression told him everything he needed to know about the results of his magic test.
“Ah. I see. Still time, Vir. Still time yet,” Rudvik replied.
“It’s okay, Father. It’s fine. Really,” Vir said, setting his pack down. He got straight to work, setting Weaken Object utility orbs all around the tree trunk that Rudvik was working on, positioning and repositioning them in accordance with the others. While the orbs weren’t nearly as valuable as a combat orb, they’d cost Rudvik most of what he had, purchased back when Vir was born. They lacked the strength to fell a Godhollow, but there were plenty of smaller trees that grew in the space between the great giants.
Here again, the voices spoke something to him about Weak Object. Once again different from the other voices. Vir felt like he was piecing together a puzzle. A puzzle that, once finished, might give him the answer to his path to magic. It was a fool’s hope, of course. But hope was a tough flame to quench.
“Do you really have to be that fussy about their placement?” Maiya asked with curiosity.
Vir nodded. “You gotta get the orbs just right to get the tree to fall in just the right way.”
“But as ya can see, we need a whole bucket full of ’em, bein’ as weak as they are,” Rudvik said.
The lumberjack had spent a small fortune on the orbs, but they were necessary in his line of work. He’d never be able to make a living if he took the time to chop each tree by hand.
“Figures, I suppose,” Maiya said, tapping her index finger against her chin. “D Grade utility orbs can only do so much. But can you imagine how powerful they’d be if you could weaken a tree like that with a single orb!”
“Then they’d be combat orbs, wouldn’t they?” Vir said with a smirk. He could always count on magic talk to fix Maiya’s mood or get her to forget her fears.
When the task was finally done, Maiya and Vir stepped away to allow Rudvik room to power the orbs. He swung his ax into the trunk a few times to score it, then touched each orb in turn, powering them.
Once finished, he walked over to Vir and Maiya, who stood near a spot with the fewest orbs; the tree would fall away from that spot… if all went well.
Neel ran around excitedly, occupying everyone’s attention as they waited.
Vir took the opportunity to inform Rudvik about his encounter with the Child of Ash. The lumberjack was so infuriated that his face turned red.
“Unacceptable! I’m gonna hunt down this mongrel with Apramor. Can’t have their ilk in our village,” he shouted, startling the teens.
“Uh, thanks, Father, but I think the guardsmen are handling it,” he said, but he was secretly happy at Rudvik’s words. His father was one of the few people who ever got angry for Vir’s sake.
Crack!
The tree trunk protested as the orbs drained away its load bearing capacity. The tree paused for a breath, then began to fall. Slowly at first, then faster as it leaned more and more, finally impacting the earth with a great crash.
Rudvik clapped his gloved hands. “Welp, that be one. Let’s get these chopped and loaded. Then ye can head back home with yer friend,” he said with a wink.
“Understood, Father… and thanks!”
“Well o’course! Can’t keep you on yer big day now, can I? Also, I, er… well, consider it my gift. Not much o’ a gift, I know…” the big man said, looking away as he scratched the back of his head.
Vir shook his head. “Oh no, this is plenty. Thanks, Father!”
Rudvik was visibly relieved, and Vir echoed his father’s relief. Money was always tight. He’d been worried sick that Rudvik might do something reckless, like buying him an expensive present.
Vir placed the Weaken Object orbs on the felled tree, allowing Rudvik to saw through it with ease. Once done, it was just a matter of setting Lighten Load orbs onto the chopped logs to load them onto the wagon Rudvik had nearby.
“That oughta be everythin’,” he said once they were done. “Have fun on yer day off! And be safe!”
“We will, Father!”
“See ya later, Uncle!”
The two friends jumped onto the wagon and Vir grabbed the reins, giving Bela and Garga the signal to start. Their muscular, four-legged Ash’va beasts of burden had been a part of the household for as long as Vir could remember. With smooth and shiny gray fur, pointy ears, and large pink snouts, they were docile—but powerful—creatures. And, Vir thought, kinda cute as well.
The two Ash’va plodded along the forest path back to Brij. It wasn’t all that far, but with the load they pulled, they weren’t exactly fast, either.
Vir retrieved a sack of pebbles and began throwing them at random objects beside the road. Rocks, plants, tree trunks. Every subsequent throw was faster than the last, striking smaller and farther targets, until Vir was hitting rocks as small as eyeballs.
He only missed a handful.
“Is that fun?” Maiya asked with an abundance of skepticism.
Neel, on the other hand, eyed each pebble with rapt enthusiasm.
“More fun than being kicked around or mugged.”
“That was inconsiderate. I’m sorry—”
“It’s fine. The bullies know how far they can go. They don’t like prey that has teeth. Not one bit. These days, they just sic their bandies on me, but it turns out bandies don’t like rocks in their eyes, either. And y’know? If you get good at it, you can even make a song, of sorts. It’s kinda nice.”
He threw pebble after pebble with precision, creating a percussive melody as they went. The beasts of burden neighed once he really started getting into it.
“See? Even the Ash’va like it!”
“Mmm, lemme try!” Maiya said, grabbing a pebble and throwing it.
Her pebble missed its intended tree by several paces, prompting a smirk from Vir. Maiya grumbled and picked up another one, but that also went wide. “This is so hard! How the heck are you so good at this?”
Vir laughed. “Practice. Hours upon hours of practice…”
They arrived at Brij a half hour later. Vir groaned when he spied a bunch of village kids loitering on the road. Akros’ son, Camas, and his goons.
His home was on the edge of the village, which could mean only one thing—they were here for him. Vir flipped up his robe’s hood, but it was too late.
“Oi, look! It’s Red Eyes! Fancy seein’ you around here!” Camas shouted.
“I live here,” Vir said with a sigh, preparing his pebbles. The bullies shirked back instinctively.
“R-Really? I don’t see no home for an Ashborn. Do you?” The hooligan looked at his lackeys, who pretended to search their surroundings. “Don’t see nuthin’ here!”
Before Vir could react, Maiya had already taken the reins, urging the Ash’va to continue.
Camas stepped up to the wagon and tried to grab Maiya’s arm, but she kicked him off, sending the boy tumbling onto the dirt. Then she yanked the reins, pulling the Ash’va hard to the right—directly on an intercept course with Camas.
The bully blanched. “W-What are you trying to pull? You gonna run us over or what?”
“Huh? Oh! My bad! ‘Don’t see nuthin’ here’. Must’ve mistaken you for Ash’va dung,” she deadpanned as the Ash’va barreled toward Camas’ lackeys. “Do try to dress yourselves up a bit more next time. You’ll be more visible. Then again… Maybe not.”
The boys dove out of the way to avoid being run over by the massive beasts. Some actually landed in piles of dung.