Chapter 13
Eadwolf had watched the duel from the manor’s rooftop. A rare treat, to witness someone as accomplished and formidable as Brianna Hammerfell swing her blade. Though the Dragonslayer Knight hadn’t exerted herself. Hadn’t needed to.
Still.
She was breathtaking. For a moment, he imagined what it might have been like to go raiding with such a woman.
Then he smirked at his own foolishness and let the dream fade.
But as wondrous as Brianna’s brief manifestation of her powers had been, what truly interested him was Harald.
Even from afar, Eadwolf’s Wolf Sight revealed much of the boy’s powers. And what Eadwolf had seen had chilled him.
Did the youth even know what he was becoming?
No. Impossible. He’d slit his own wrists if he did.
He was Level 9, sure, but in many ways, he was only now growing into his Class.
Only now was he beginning to manifest the first true signs of his sovereignty.
What would he be like at Level 12? The angels forbid, at Level 16?
Eadwolf resisted the old urge to touch his fingers to his brow to summon the aegis of the wolf spirits from the north.
Still. The boy was a mess. Practically tripping over his own feet, metaphorically, when it came to using his new powers. He’d consolidated. That much was obvious. But he was wielding them clumsily, not even understanding what he was, what he’d become.
Like a toddler trying to walk in his father’s slippers.
Brianna quit the lawn.
Harald remained behind, gazing up at the moon. He cut a tragic figure in the silvery light. Lonely and melancholic.
Eadwolf placed a hand on the retaining wall, then hesitated. He could show him. Teach him. Use Wolf Sight to guide him. But given what the lad was to become, would that be doing Harald himself a disservice?
Eadwolf removed his hand, considered. Watched. Harald. A good man. Or so he’d deemed during their brief encounter back when Anna had first hired him. But good men could turn their hands to fell deeds. Intentions were insufficient.
Perhaps Eadwolf should cut Harald down. He still could. Not for much longer, perhaps, but tonight, being two levels higher, and with his set of powers? He could creep up behind the young man and slit his throat.
It would be doing Harald a favor.
Eadwolf scowled. He’d assassinated men before. It wasn’t that he was squeamish. But Harald was…
Eadwolf trailed off, unable to put the sentiment into words. Harald stood on the edge of a knife. But he was trying. He was trying to do what was right. And he had Kársek and Sam.
Would that be enough?
Did Eadwolf have the right to pronounce judgment?
Out on the lawn, Harald lowered his head.
Damn it.
Hand on the retaining wall, he vaulted into the night, to drop silently onto the lawn and approach, quiet as a ghost’s exhalation.
Harald marked his approach when he was but a handful of paces away, and spun about, startled. “Oh! Eadwolf. Didn’t… didn’t see you there.”
Eadwolf smiled. “It’s dangerous to get too caught up in your thoughts. You never know who might come up behind you and cut your throat.”
Harald grinned. “With you on watch? What do I have to fear?”
“What indeed?” murmured Eadwolf. “I watched your duel with Lady Hammerfell.”
Harald’s smile dropped. “Some duel.”
“I don’t think you appreciate what you did.”
“What, dance around her and exhaust her patience?”
“She agreed to duel. That, in and of itself, is an honor. And your powers were of sufficient note that you registered them. Harald. She’s Brianna Hammerfell. A Dragonslayer Knight and Level 14. That you were even able to make her react to you is an incredible accomplishment.”
Harald looked like he wanted to protest further, but instead grimaced. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks.”
“But it’s a wonder that you did, given how clumsy and inept you are with your own Abilities.”
There, the shock and surprise. “What? I hit her with everything I had—”
“Who taught you how to consolidate?”
“An angel. Brauxis. He kind of told me what to do, then let me figure it out.”
“An angel?” Eadwolf raised a brow in surprise. “I’d have thought he’d know more about what he was doing, then. Perhaps the wisdom of the angels is overstated.”
Harald peered at him curiously. “How so?”
“Then again,” continued Eadwolf, “perhaps not. Angels and demons and monsters of the dungeon are different than us mortals. They manifest their powers naturally. A goblin on the 12th Level doesn’t need to be taught how to use his knife.
A demon on the 50th doesn’t learn how to make his enemies afraid.
This Brauxis probably understood his own powers intuitively in just the same manner.
Which is why he was such a terrible teacher. ”
Harald took a step closer. There was a new fluidity to the way he moved, something verging on the unnatural, that hadn’t been there before. “What did he not tell me?”
“The Houses have perfected methods for guiding their raiders through consolidation. It’s one of their primary virtues.
Without it, raiders will manifest their new powers and fumble at them, unsure what they’re doing.
No two raiders grow alike, but the method of teaching them, helping them understand their own powers, is the same.
You need an instructor whose own powers grant them insight and enough experience to illuminate the path. ”
“Which you have?” Harald sounded skeptical. “I thought you were primarily a sword master.”
Eadwolf chuckled. “I am, at that. The Houses would not look on kindly if I began freelancing in an area they guard so generously. But the very powers that once made me a decent hunter now allow me to understand my students better than they understand themselves. When I saw you fighting Brianna, I saw that you still don’t understand what you’ve become.
You’re trying to use your powers as they were pre-consolidation.
You understood them enough to merge them but have yet to grasp what they’ve become. ”
Harald’s eyes lit up. “And you can teach me?”
“You think I came over here for the sake of an evening chat?”
“Great! All right. I’m ready. Where do we begin?”
“First tell me your powers. What they were, what they’ve become.”
Harald did so. Clearly and concisely.
“Hmm.” Eadwolf tried to keep his tone even, to hide his sudden bout of nerves. How many years had it been since last he’d undertaken to train a raider with such terrifying potential. “Let’s begin with the simplest and most obvious. Your Form of the Black Throne.”
“Right,” said Harald.
Eadwolf reached out with Hunter’s Mark and evaluated the young man before him.
“You’re holding yourself back. You’re still thinking of Form as something you will into being.
You said Dark Vigor was akin to fuel, Shadow Fortitude adapted you, Umbral Aegis protected when summoned, and Veil of Shadows was a form of communion you could establish with the dark.
But only Shadow Fortitude operated passively all the time. ”
Harald nodded, listening intently.
Eadwolf grinned. “Your body has its own memory. Your mind can be a prison. You’re actively repressing your new power in a bid to match what the old four once did.
You said Dark Vigor once sheathed you in flames.
I saw none such during the fight. That’s because those flames were once foreign—a coating of the abyss over human flesh.
Your new Form no longer produces flames because there’s nothing foreign to see. ”
“I… see?”
“What I’m sensing, what I’m seeing, is that you’re no longer entirely human, Harald.
You’re now part shadow, part flesh, part abyssal will, woven together below your conscious awareness.
You look human. You move in a mostly human way.
But you’re now operating on rules that flesh alone doesn’t obey.
And that will only become truer as you level. ”
Harald stared wide-eyed down at his hands. “But…?”
“But you’re repressing it. Without realizing it. Close your eyes. Dive deep. Revisit the epiphany you had when you discovered Form. Internalize it.”
Harald did as he was bid. Settled his shoulders and exhaled. Then frowned.
One blow. One cross-cut across the throat. He trusts me completely. But… even now it might be too late.
Eadwolf grimaced and stayed still.
“I… yeah. I think…” Harald stilled. Nothing happened for a long time. Minutes crawled by. Eadwolf watched him patiently, and then a single vertical line appeared between Harald’s brows. “I see what you mean. If I…”
Something subtle about the young man changed. His outline softened, as if his edges had grown slightly blurred, and he seemed to shift minutely from side to side while standing still, as if Eadwolf himself were having trouble tracking him.
And Harald sighed, as if something had eased.
“That’s…” He opened his eyes again to study his hands. “Huh.” Amusement and delight in that one exhalation. “My stats… I’ve unlocked the +4s to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. They’re… I’d not even thought of them during the fight against Brianna. Now…”
“Now they’re just part of who you are,” agreed Eadwolf. “And?”
“And you’re right. I can feel the darkness inside of me. Dark Vigor and Shadow Fortitude are now just… part of me. Because I’m part shadow. Not mostly shadow. Just part. But it’s…” He frowned and looked up. “And my shadow armor? You’re saying I don’t need to summon it?”
“Let’s see.” On a hunch, Eadwolf drew his sword and whipped it across to thwap its flat-side against Harald’s arm.
“Hey!” Harald stepped away in annoyance, but Eadwolf noted that his own speed was still sufficient to catch the young man flat-footed. “Oh.” Harald paused and touched his arm. “That didn’t hurt.”
“Roll up your sleeve.”
Harald did so. His forearm was unmarked by bruises in the silvery light. “Now, let’s try that again.”