Chapter 75 – Fear recognition

A/N: I'd like to think this is the first chapter back to true form and proper length. It won't even be a long wait for the next, it's already in progress and I'll be finishing it tomorrow for your enjoyment!

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With the camp as secure as it was going to get and everyone still reeling from the previous day’s events, the mood remained listless and subdued. Which the less-than-ideal portions of their evening meal did nothing to alleviate.

Kori spent much of her time avoiding even looking in Aef’s direction. She felt guilty for her apprehension, but after the fifth time he thanked her for saving his life, she really couldn’t take it anymore. She kept telling him that she was just doing what she could, that she hadn’t done anything special, or that if her concoctions had been better than he wouldn’t have come so close to death. Unfortunately for Kori, the fact that what he said was objectively true did not help matters and she didn’t know how to handle the trader’s overt gratitude.

Instead, she spent her time scribbling away, trying to figure out any means of improving her suspensions and ointment so that if there ever was a next time, they’d do better. She believed that with a bit of work and fresher ingredients, she could improve the suspension of mending to the uncommon quality, the same as her other suspensions, and the prospect of it bothered her greatly. If the rate of health recovery increased then it could actually be better than her ointment.

In all of her attempts, at least as far as she knew, she’d never managed to produce a single ointment at the uncommon tier. She didn’t expect that such a qualitive jump forward would be so easy as getting better ingredients, she’d always had fresh moss and the dried she had used for the tincture had been prepared by herself, some member of the Circle, or even Ortik himself, so there really wasn’t anything better to be had.

With the easy avenue unavailable, she instead lost herself in thoughts of process, equipment, and the newest method she had learned with Imelda’s help, additives. Her first idea came from her work with the human herbalist, to use a more controllable heat source in the drying process. The woman’s oven had left an impression on the young kobold and she dearly wanted one. The next came from her time with Aldr, but she wasn’t sure how well it would work. His grinding mill made for a uniform consistency when he was preparing his dry ingredients, she didn’t think it would work well for the fresh moss, but it might make a difference in preparing the dried for the tincture.

And finally, there was what she believed was her most promising idea. This didn’t come from any of her teachers or even a kobold, simply from chatting with Maribel about a sauce from one of the meals that she had prepared. It was smooth with a strange viscosity and had a mellow flavour, the gnome called it ‘mayonnaise’ and she’d learned a new word that she still couldn’t quite figure out an equivalent to in Creation, emulsion.

The sauce was apparently made from ingredients that usually didn’t mix properly and it was through use of a binding agent, egg in that particular case, that brought the two together. It wasn’t a perfect comparison for what she was doing, the oils in the moss mixed well enough with the water and her mana seemed to bridge the gap with the suspensions, but perhaps if the mana had less work to do then it would heal more instead.

She also focused on Skills she’d learned about, like measurement, that could help her with her process; she went so far as to ask Har if she could dig out the scale that he’d procured for her so she could begin working on the Skill in the way Imelda had taught her. Unfortunately, he was unwilling to rearrange half the wagon to access the crate, one that was presently being used to prop up Aef’s enclosure, and she’d have to wait.

By the time it was dark, not that it really hindered her writing since it was still brighter than the caves she called home frequently were, she’d written, scratched out, and rewritten her list and had at least a semblance of a plan for when she was able to begin her work in truth.

She’d enjoyed her time in Whatzakt and would miss many things, mostly the food but some of the people as well, but she was finally starting to look forward to arriving home to Emberscale Caverns and beginning her work in truth.

The night was once again one full of vigilance and little sleep, her dreams making it clear she wouldn’t be getting a good night’s rest until there was some good solid stone above her head, and maybe not for a while after that. Thankfully the night was otherwise undisturbed aside from a bestial howl in the distance behind them that had made the warriors share a nervous glance and elicited a comment about it somehow being responsible for their poor showing hunting over the course of the trip.

Their morning however was not quite as easy going, as they were packing up figures were spotted in the distance coming towards them on the road causing many to fear a reprisal of the goblin attack. It didn’t take long for them to figure out that it was very much the opposite.

As the tension rose in the camp with the traders retreating towards the wagons and everyone warily eying the outskirts of the campsite for another sneak attack, Ceq bellowed out. Instead of the expected orders to form lines or direct the defense of the camp, instead he relaxed. “Settle down you lot, they’re kobolds!” He shouted, “Musta sent a search party since we’re late…”

True to his word, as the group closed in Kori saw that it was a well armed bunch of kobolds on the march. A full dozen combatants, two teams of what would be sent with a typical caravan were making haste down the road; the pair of mages lagging a bit behind and looking hard pressed.

Most of the expressions on both sides made the same transition from worry to relief, one side that they were friend not foe and the other to see the caravan in one piece. It wasn’t until the new arrivals got into camp that their relief turned back to worry as they spotted the makeshift repairs, bandaged ox, and weary faces of the traders.

Kori tried to stick close to Har as he and Ceq moved forward to greet their reinforcements, but the hard stare she got from the Battlemaster made it clear he believed she was overstepping and forced her back. It wasn’t like the rest of the camp was giving them much room for privacy anyway, so the entire conversation was easily overheard.

The presumptive leader of the search team stepped forward and gave a friendly nod towards Ceq, “You lot look like something the anglers would throw back, what the scale happened?”

With an exhausted sigh, Ceq laid bare the heart of the situation in so few words that he sounded like Zln had in the town. “Twenty-six goblins…”

Hearing the foul ‘G’ word changed things instantly. Worry changed to wary, relaxed stances stiffened, and several of the newcomers swore as they began spreading out and watching the tall grass like it hid another ambush.

The casual tone of his greeting gone, the leader of the search asked the single most important question, “Casualties?”

Ceq responded with a simple, “None.”  Before elaborating, “Two serious injuries, one treated with a potion and recovered, one treated by the youngling and stable.”

Clearly impressed, four to one odds weren’t something you walked away from unscathed generally speaking, Ceq received an appraising look from his counterpart as he spoke. His final statement did cause a look of confusion however, both as to why a youngling would be treating anyone and what their shaman was doing that they were still simply ‘stable’. The answer to the latter was easy to come by as he noted Zln’s presence, going by the arched brow the former obviously still puzzled him.

“What do you mean by ‘treated by the youngling?” He asked, his gaze easily finding the only possible candidate; Kori’s stature making her stand out at a glance. He didn’t seem to recognize her.

At the same time he asked for details, the pair of shamans that had arrived with him moved towards Zln and quickly followed the Animist towards where Aef rested. They’d clearly parsed the detail important to them, that someone needed their ministrations, and waited for neither direction nor permission to get to their work.

Har was the one to answer rather than Ceq, “It’s been nearly two days since the attack, lets sit and we’ll tell you the story.” He paused for a moment to consider before adding, a little abashedly, “Any chance you packed extra food?”

It turned out they had indeed packed extra food, they’d expected two days travel at worst if they had to go all the way to town; they could move at a brisker pace and for longer than the typically overburdened oxen would pull the carts. They were each carrying five days worth of rations, the barest of dried fish and moss, in case they found the caravan the second day closer to the town and had to escort them the rest of the journey rather than turn back, and were entirely willing to lighten their packs by sharing.

The kobold in charge, apparently named Spear Master Jnka, signaled the warriors following him to spread out and for the other team to hand out their rations, mentioning that he wanted to take his own team and continue on to the site of battle.

While nominally in charge of his team’s actions, his desire was quickly countermanded by Har, throwing around his authority as an Elder in a way he seldom had cause to. “Not a chance. If over two dozen went raiding than there’s a lot more of them somewhere out there…” His logic was sound, and Kori didn’t think anyone was supposed to hear what he said next, but there was little privacy with how close they were all sticking together. “And Blonc’d have my tail if I let someone else get there first…”

The fact that his statement only produced a few knowing nods and a chuckle showed not only was he probably right, but just about everyone knew it and agreed. Blonc’s reputation was both well known and well earned.

The harumph that followed from Jnka as he took a seat on the log across from Har communicated more than it was probably supposed to, it seemed Blonc wasn’t the only one itching for a good brawl.

The retelling that followed would later see much embellishment, but even without left the newcomers agape. It seemed that as a merchant, Har had picked up a thing or two about spinning a tale and took great pleasure in describing the apparent agony that Kori’s flask, something to which he attributed a great deal of their success towards much to her much to her surprise and embarrassment, had caused in disabling the third prong of their ambush.

When all was said and done, and emphasized by a pale Aef joining the group, up and walking again after the magical aid provided by the pair of shamans. Once he shared the details of his newest Title, there were a dozen new pairs of eyes staring at Kori. Some skeptical, some appraisingly, and a few greedily, clearly thinking what they could accomplish with her products in their hands. It was the last group that concerned Kori the most as visions of flung flasks and choking goblins flashed through her mind briefly.

Jnka clearly fell into the latter group, his first question after Har was finished asking if she had any more of the flasks and how long it would take for her to make them. Har just gave her a look and a slight shake of the head that clearly communicated to keep her mouth shut and let him do the talking. “The Elders will be discussing that very thing as soon as we return, the ingredients may take some effort to procure.” He conveniently avoided whether there were any remaining, especially not mentioning that she had the one he’d allowed her to keep in her satchel right there with them.  

Kori barely kept herself from blurting out to the contrary, that the majority of the ingredients were abundant and only the fraxinella extract was in anyway difficult to obtain. And even that was something that Bolst stocked regularly.

Jnka was skeptical, but clearly unwilling to contradict the Elder, at least to his face, and left it at that. He was certain that he’d get his hands on them, he knew Blonc would make enough of a nuisance of himself if they tried to deny him that they’d cave eventually.

It wasn’t long after that they began the final day of their return to the caverns, Jnka choosing to take his group and return ahead of the caravan to report, and probably get the Martial riled up, ahead of them since the group on foot could travel faster, even though they’d already been on the move since late the prior night. Both the mage and Shaman that accompanied his team were not particularly pleased with the decision, even going so far as to suggest they remain behind so that he ‘could move more quickly’.

Surprisingly the warrior acquiesced, much to the pair’s relief, and he was gone before the first cart wheeled its way back onto the dirt road.

The entirety of the final day felt off to Kori, with all the extra protectors escorting them back it almost felt like rather than being protected they were being guarded like prisoners; a ring of warriors, around them to every side. This was of course far from the truth, but the newcomers felt distanced and the warriors that had been with them for the previous days seemed to be acting more reserved with their colleagues present.

Given that the search team had swept through the area overnight and Jnka’s four ranged ahead of them that morning, the remaining journey was expectedly quiet. If there had been any threat, it would have been dealt with before they got there. Plus, much of that last day’s travel was often ranged by the groups anyway, hunting anything threatening to gain levels between their journeys.

They’d been able to see the Lone Peak in the distance even from the town, the towering summit was not exactly inconspicuous and was the second tallest mountain on the entire continent, but shortly before noon they were finally able to spot the mouth of the cave that would take them home. Even with all of the extra protection, many members of the caravan visibly relaxed at the sight.

When they finally rumbled into the cavern of the waystation, Kori expected to have to stand around for several hours as the carts were unloaded, inventory taken, and goods retrieved. She was mistaken. They’d barely come to a stop when Har ordered a recognizable crate stowed into one of the dimensional storage bags and called for her to come along.

With the small crate, the one containing all of her concoctions aside from the single flask and few suspensions he’d let her keep within her satchel, packed away, Har hurried off down the winding tunnel leading back to the clan’s home. He received a few surprised glances as they sped off, Har was not one to leave before the job was done. No matter how much he wanted to rush back to see Tuli.

It seemed that when he’d said the Elders would be discussing things as soon as they returned, he was being very literal.