As expected, I was summoned to the Elders' hut. It looked like a larger version of the other huts within the village, but the atmosphere inside was solemn. As soon as I entered, I was met with gazes that carried accusations, hostility and even outright anger. Pop put his hand on my shoulder to ground me. It was unnecessary as these gazes were nothing compared to my older siblings' gazes.
"The totem has been weakened," stated the Elder Martha, who was the same woman who had greeted me when I first entered Bramblehold. Her eyes were the most forgiving of the Elders. "We have measured the remaining power, and we'll need the ritual performed with months instead of years."
Another elder stepped forward. "We can't afford it. We don't have time to harvest enough crops to pay," said Elder Thomas. He was the person who asked who my father was. His finger pointed towards me. "I said we shouldn't have accepted him into the village. We do not need some half-breed."
Pop's hand tightened on my shoulder. The pressure was bearable, but I knew he was trying to make sure I didn't act out of anger, though I didn't know if it was to steady me or hold me back.
"The boy didn't do it intentionally," Pop said, but his voice lacked confidence. That was more hurtful than Elder Thomas's comment. I couldn't believe Pop was unsure of my motives. I had wanted to speak, to apologise, to explain what happened. But the words wouldn't come out. The truth was, I didn't really know what had happened.
"His intention is irrelevant," Martha replied, "The totem is weaker, Bramblehold is in danger, and we don't have the resources to fix it."
They continued debating methods for paying for the ritual. Elder Thomas soon dismissed me from the hut.
"If you're not going to add anything, you can go," he said as he pointed towards the doorway. I quickly made my way out and walked home alone. The rest of the village cast accusatory looks my way. In a way, they were worse than the looks I received from my half-siblings. I had started to believe that I could find a real home here. That illusion had been shattered today. There was no place for me here.
That night I couldn't sleep. Pop and Nan were asleep in their bed. Their breathing was steady and peaceful. Around midnight, I had made my decision. This place wasn't home, and I didn't belong here, and I wasn't going to stay. But I wasn't going to leave them without a means to defend themselves.
If the elders needed payment for the ritual, I could help with that. I had heard that monster parts could be used as payment and that even some of them had magic-infused organs that mages could use as a focus.
I grabbed my pack and my walking spear and slipped out into the night, planning to make it outside of the range of the totem by the morning. I would start my monster hunt at dawn. I spent hours in the forest moving quietly as Pop had taught me. I kept an eye on my surroundings, looking for any signs of monster activity. I didn't know the full range of the totem.
I felt myself cross some invisible barrier, and the energy in the air shifted. It felt heavier, wilder and stronger but also laced with malice. I knew instinctively that I had exited the protection of the totem.
My plan was simple. I would take my time and set some traps in what I hoped would be a perfect location for monsters. Once trapped, I would poke them with my spear until they died. My monster knowledge was limited, so it was more wishful thinking than an actual plan.
The sky was still dark, and the moon hung high overhead. Which meant I had some time until dawn. It would take time for the traps to catch their prey, so I had to pass the time somehow. I found a secluded location inside a hollow stump. The smell of decay and staleness, along with the moisture in the air, was unpleasant, but it offered some protection while I focused on my next task.
There was something I had been wanting to try for a while, but couldn't be done in Bramblehold. That was testing my magic; no halfling could teach me what I needed to learn.
It was clear that the energy I felt was magic, and magic was power. The old Sentinel had called me a weaver. That was my only hint at my magical ability. I had never heard of a weaver, but there are literally hundreds of magical specialisations between the races.
I closed my eyes and focused on the energy around my body, trying to recall the memories of using magic on the knife. I caressed the walking spear. I could feel the energy flow around it, flowing like water, avoiding the wood altogether.
I started to control my breathing and focus on just a single current of energy. The small thread became clearer in my mind. It glowed like a piece of sewing thread. I drew the thread into my hand, caressing the walking stick. The thread wrapped around the stick, and I heard a distinctive crack. The stick had split under the strain of the magic. That single thread had been too much for the stick to bear. I picked up one of the pieces of the walking spear, and I could feel the difference. The wood had become stronger, heavier. If only it had been strong enough to withstand the power.
It might not have resulted in a new weapon. But it was still a success. I had taken wild energy and woven it into an object. I had a starting point. I focused on the energy again. This time, I would only observe. There was a collection of energy flowing around the forest, but one caught my attention, a purple thread seemed to move wrong.
"Grrrr," a growl came from the direction of the purple thread. I went very still. This time, the growl came louder. It was unnatural. My instincts screamed at me to run and not look back.
I couldn't do that. Not now.
This was a monster. The very reason I was out here. I tucked the end of the spear inside my belt and scaled the hollow until I was at the top of the stump. The sun's orange light had just started to rise above the horizon, and the forest was full of strips of shadow and light.
I saw it, one leg caught in a trap. A dire wolf. A shadow given shape. Four legs, muscular and lean. Teeth too long to close its mouth. I sensed the energy surrounding its body. Its yellow eyes focused on tracking me down rather than trying to break free of its containment. My rope snare groaned under the pressure. It wouldn't hold for long.
I unsheathed my knife in my right hand and gripped the spearhead in my left.
"Easy now," I whispered, not sure if I was talking to myself or the wolf. The wolf's ear twitched, and its head swivelled and pinned me with a glare.
I met it stare with one of my own. This wasn't the way a halfling fought. We didn't attack head-on. We used stealth, intelligence and wit. Luckily, I wasn't only a halfling.
I leapt. The dire wolf snapped, trying to end it quickly. I used my offhand to place the spearhead in its jaw's path. Its teeth slammed into the spearhead. The wood didn't splinter or crack. It was no longer an ordinary stick.
The dire wolf's eyes widened in a flash of genuine shock. I didn't waste the opening it presented. I plunged the knife into the soft hollow behind its ear. The blade pierced the skin as if it wasn't there. Warm blood sprayed across my hand. The monster screamed, and with a final violent convulsion, the dire wolf's head whipped around in a final death-throes. Its snout connected like a swing mace. I rolled with the impact, but my shoulder slammed into the ground with a thud.
I sat in dirt, covered in wolf's blood, laughing. I had done it. I had killed a monster, and this time it was planned. I wiped the blade on the ground to clean off the blood. I slowly got up and approached the corpse, making sure it was dead, ignoring the throb in my shoulder from when I landed.
I prepared the monster as if it were a normal beast. I didn't know which parts were valuable to mages or how to dress the monster, so I went with what I knew. It was then that I came across an organ I had never seen. My senses were drawn to it as it was filled with the purple energy I had seen earlier. The organ was infused with magic. This should help to pay for the ritual.
While holding the organ in my hand, the seed reacted instantly. Energy radiated out of it, flowing towards the organ, and just like the totem, it devoured the purple energy. I watched as the purple energy was stripped away piece by piece. The organ was now just a piece of meat. All that effort.