Chapter 18: Cards Close to The Chest

 

Today marked two weeks after the incident, the first four days of this I had spent unconscious. I still hadn’t left the house or my room during this time. Emotions of guilt, regret and sadness swirled around in my head, preventing me from being able to think straight, let alone go out. For the most part, I stayed, curled up in a ball, on my bed wallowing in self-pity. 

Marc wasn’t in a great way, I had been told he was still asleep at his house, bedridden, being treated by one of the best elven healers in the city. His recovery was progressing slowly, but no one knew what kind of state he would be in, or if he would ever awake as the person he was. He was undoubtedly at fault for his condition, had he simply not decided to get involved and suppressed his stupid urge to be a hero, we would likely both have been absolutely fine, going about our daily lives as normal.

I normally prided myself on my logical thinking and clear head that made concise decisions however at the moment, I couldn’t control my thoughts. I felt equally, if not more responsible for his awful condition. No matter how illogical it was to think that this is how I felt. In my head, scenarios of different realities flew back and forth. Had I done a better job in convincing Marc not to step out in front of the horses and not so willingly followed him, maybe they would have ridden past and ignored us. If I had been faster at taking out the two bandits I could have helped Lottie defeat the lead swordsman. Even if we had decided to stay in the glade a little longer, none of what happened would have come into fruition.

 

A soft knock at the door sounded, taking me away from my negative spiralling.,“Olive? Can I come in? I’d like to talk…” After a bit of hesitation, the door creaked on its damaged hinges as the woman, Lottie, entered my room. I didn’t look up to meet her eyes which I could feel staring at me. “I’m truly sorry about what happened.” She sat on the bed at my feet, “I never expected you and your friend Marc to help me, but I am truly grateful, from the bottom of my heart.”

-

A blank silence echoed after these words. I was upset, not directly at her, but I couldn’t help but feel some resentment for the woman who had indirectly caused me so much anguish. She seemed like a nice enough person, over the last few days, she had knocked on my door much like today, and without reply, left me to my own devices. It was clear she felt bad about what had happened and she cared, even if it was just a little, otherwise, she wouldn’t be here trying to console me.

-

Raising my head, I looked at her. Her slim face reflected my look of sadness, I couldn’t help but croak a reply at her sorry expression. My voice was parched, due to having not spoken since the day I had woken up, making it difficult to form words at first. 

“Be—Being s-sorry doesn’t ch–change what happened, but that’s in the past now. Marc will recover eventually.” 

-

Another long silence ensued as Lottie dwelled on the heavy words I had uttered. Her expression showed how undoubtedly guilty she felt. The way the battle unfolded, Marcs injuries, and the fact that we, two ten year olds, were dragged into combat must have been weighing on her conscience over the last few weeks. As she continued to  think, I studied her features. Around her neck, a small necklace with a brown bead swayed slightly as she readjusted her sitting position. Her hazel eyes looked into the far distance, glazing over as she pondered on a reply. 

Eventually, shifting her position again, she looked at me. This time more directly. Her hair moved and fell in front of her ears as she spoke.

-

“That was well put. You are truly very mature for your age.” she lifted her expression. “Would you like me to explain what happened after you passed out? Your parents said you might want to know the details.”

-

Sitting upright and clearing my throat, I replied. “If you would, please.”

-

I was still curious about how the aftermath of the battle unfolded. I vaguely remembered hearing horses approaching, but no one had yet told me about how Marc had survived such a severe wound, or how any of us managed to get back to the city safely. 

-

“Here goes…” She exhaled deeply. “ I woke to the sight of you releasing the spell that was used to end the fight. The wave that you released knocked me out again for a brief moment, sending me flying a few meters from of the stump I was leaning on. Seeing that you had collapsed, I rushed over to the road, only to see your friend Marc covered in blood. Fortunately, I had a high level healing elixir in my horse's saddle bag. This managed to help him recover the worst of his internal injuries. I then began to work on treating him further. I kept him stable with a regeneration spell, before help arriv—-”

“Wait wait…. You used a regeneration spell?” I cut in, “I read about them. It said that those spell types were only taught to elven blood.” 

-

“That is indeed the case Olive... In truth, I haven’t been completely honest with you, or your parents for that matter.”

Confused, I let her continue without interrupting. I sat and watched as she reached her hands around the back of her neck, fingers working on unclasping her necklace. As it dropped forwards into her lap, her appearance changed slightly. The long brown hair that fell around her shoulders lengthened slightly, lightening a little towards its tips. Her jawline also became slightly more pronounced. 

-

My jaw dropped…. She was an elf.

-

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Her ears were now long, pointed and much thinner, turning to look at me again, Lottie smiled. Before I could utter any words out of my gaping mouth, she began to explain. 

“I never really had the opportunity to mention this” came the sheepish justification for the hidden identity. “I don’t really like people knowing I’m an elf. Especially around mountains and more dwarven parts. Elves and dwarves have never gotten on too well, meaning we can be discriminated against. On top of that, this artefact also proves to be a pretty good disguise.”

-

I was stunned. I had read about artefacts that could change one’s appearance, apparently they were really rare and expensive. I subconsciously started to reach out and grab the necklace but caught myself before Lottie noticed. I couldn’t let my curiosity get the better of me, so decided to keep my mouth shut for the moment. Asking questions after her story was finished was a more logical way to do things.

Composing myself and nodding, I let her continue from where she left off. 

“Keeping Marc in a stable condition was quite strenuous, I kept it up for about twenty minuites into dusk before the royal guard arrived. They came to investigate the large mana disturbance you created, thinking there may have been a dragon or wyvern close to the city. I figured that you wouldn’t want them knowing about that power of yours, so I blamed It on the bandit's explosion. Thankfully they took my word for it, if had they delved any further, they would have realised that pretty much all of the wind mana in the area was gone.”

I thought back to when I used the spell. Blinded by my emotions, rage and despair, I had killed a man, and smiled whilst doing so. This scared me. The power, the anger and the fact I committed the deed without hesitation, were all bad signs. Losing control like that was more of a weakness than strength. Had I had any less an amount of mana in my core, I would have likely died from depletion. Going overboard like that was a massive risk, I was lucky to be alive.

“What kind of spell was that?” Lotties calm expression was now gone, replaced with one of seriousness. “I kept it a secret for you, the least you can do is explain it to me.”

“It was an alteration of the spell ‘Area of silence’.” I said in elvish. “Are you familiar with it? It is an elven spell afterall.” 

At my fluency in her language, Lottie looked surprised. “Yes I am. I understand the basic principles of it, however have never learned it myself.” 

As she spoke, I couldn’t help but notice the way the words of her mother tongue flowed from her mouth. The sounds seemed to fit her new face much more comfortably than the human language’s did. 

“I’m impressed with your elvish, not many people in these parts know how to speak it. You are fluent I’m guessing?”

“Yeah, pretty much, I have been for a couple of years. I have a very good teacher.

“Anyway!” I went on, “By altering the spell slightly, I was able to forcefully move all of the air from the area the magic effected. This caused the bandits lungs to collapse in on themselves. The only drawback to this, was that it used a ridiculous amount of mana to perform, even for a short amount of time.”

“Not to mention the shockwave that happened on release” Lottie added, now thinking deeply about my explanation.

“If I were to slowly add the air back to where it was beforehand, I would in theory be able to negate that. Mana is the main issue there too.”

Scratching the end of her nose, “I see…” the elf trailed off. “That is quite the remarkable skill you have. Altering complicated and powerful spells with such ease is normally only capable by highly knowledgeable mages… You may lack the mana core level, but what you have stored in that little head of yours is an understanding and intelligence I have never come across before in the short thirty years I’ve been an adventurer. Keep your cards close to your chest, and make sure not to tell anyone; If you care for the safety of your family and friends that is. There are many people who seek the power you have, searching for hundreds of years and still never finding it. If word gets out about these abilities you have, it could spell disaster and bring ruin to everthing you love.” 

-

What Lottie had said didn’t exactly come as a shock. I had realised myself that it would probably be best to keep these things a secret. My reading and time spent researching different aspects of the world had lead me to this conclusion not too long ago. It was nice to hear it coming from someone else though. My natural talent for magic and my intelligence would be highly sought after in combination, even the magic itself would be enough to cause a stir throughout the continent. 

The way I looked at it was very similar to how I treated business.

A lot of people at Black Heart had been asking if there was a reason I hadn’t tried competing on the same level as the larger business in town. I never explained any further than ‘Everthing works more efficiently at this level’, hoping they would stop questioning me. The real reason behind this facade of a reply, was quite simple. The rich would crush us as competition. I’m sure paying out hits to get rid of opposition was well within their capabilities, or even just forcing their way into our affairs with money. At the size we are, they leave us alone. 

Lottie was suggesting the same thing, but in a more personal sense. ‘Keeping my cards close to my chest’. A very accurate analogy. I would have to be more careful in future. 

“Thank you for your concern Lottie.” My words casued her to smile warmly in return, “I’d like to get out of the house, would you accompany me? I’m feeling a lot better after our chat.” I said in human tongue again, sensing a presence behind the bedroom door. 

“That would be lovely Olive” Lottie replied, also noticing. 

“If you’d let me wash and get ready, I’ll come and get you when I’m done” 

“Sounds good!”

The door to the room closed as she entered to corridor, enhancing my hearing with a little mana, I could hear the exited muffled chatter of my parents, who were evidently exited I had decided to leave the house. I hoped I hadn’t been two much of a burden on them over the last few weeks. I was also glad that we had spoken in elvish, I didn’t want them knowing about the situation I was in. It would only cause them to worry further.

 

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