Curselock

Chapter 111: Friends

With a good night’s rest for everyone except Leland, and with their bellies full, the boys bid the shepherds farewell. They stood at the edge of the farm, waving goodbye as Jude gave each and every sheep one final head pat and chin scratch.

Honestly, Leland had multiple thoughts on the bizarre sheep, but for the life of him, he couldn’t bring himself to say a snarky comment. He was just too tired. But he guessed that was what a restless night in a barn would do. The nightmares didn’t help either.

When he closed his eyes, he saw the poacher that attacked them in the mushroom cave just days ago. It wasn’t so much the hideous look the poacher gave him, but the eternal damnation of the man’s soul. It was gone, forever, and Leland was the cause.

And he just didn’t know how to feel about that.

Yes, a destroyed soul had problematic consequences, let alone a whole mess of ethical connotations. In the end, he was trying to rationalize his actions any way he could. When he explained his curse in full to Glenny and Jude, both boys gave Leland a “meh” shrug.

“We’ve killed people before,” Glenny had said. “What’s different now?”

Jude, occupied by a young sheep that kept headbutting him, only nodded in agreement.

“The difference is that destroying a soul is only something we hear about in epic stories or tales,” Leland said with a grimace. “And it's always by the bad guy. The horrible necromancer or the ancient king using souls to elongate his life.”

“But you’re not evil.”

“Then don’t use the curse,” Jude suggested.

“Then that means I remain at rank one.”

“Then use the curse…?”

Leland gave him an incredulous look. “If people found out that my curse did such a thing, I would be hunted like a dog. You two as well, probably, just for knowing me. My parents for sure, maybe even yours.”

That stumped the others. Glenny was the one with a response, “I trust you not to be evil. And you’ve done a pretty good job hiding your Legacy so far. The Huntress is literally following us because you didn’t falter to her rank or status. Whatever you choose, I will support you.”

“As will I,” Jude quickly added.

“Even if that means I destroy souls to stay in rank with the two of you?”

Glenny nodded right away but Jude asked, “What does that really mean? Like I understand the soul will not reincarnate, but like… is that a bad thing?”

Leland let out a pent up sigh. “I don’t know, truthfully. Those stories are always about bad guys destroying souls en masse. The Lord of Souls usually has to get involved, something about the ‘flow being clogged,’ or something.”

“So one or two every now and then is okay?”

Leland held up his arms. He just didn’t know. “I guess I could ask the Lord of Souls… I have been meaning to contact all of the Lords that are related to my curses. And the Berserker and Chameleon Lord for that matter.”

Glenny gave a serious nod. “That’s a good idea.”

“I do want to talk with my parents first, however. I’m still waiting for their reply to my last letter, however…”

Jude’s posture went still. “Uh,” he mumbled, shuffling through the horde of sheep to his pack. “I, uh, may have forgotten…”

“Jude…” Glenny said in a disappointed way.

“What?” Leland asked.

Jude pulled out a folded thick-form piece of paper. “I found this in the inn before we left Frostford. We were leaving, and well, I forgot to give it to you…”

The others rolled their eyes and Leland quickly read over the note from his parents.

The letter started with surprise about, well, pretty much all of what Leland had written about their adventures at the time of sending the initial letter. Especially about William Icewillow and how Glenny’s dad was particularly interested in the details. Most of the letter, however, was about the Huntress and that they should stay away from her while also asking plenty of details about their encounter.

Leland smiled at that.

“I need to respond to this, but I don’t want to do it here. What do you say we get an inn somewhere quickly and take a day or two off travel,” Leland said. “Glenny, that will give you a chance to write your letter as well.”

Glenny nodded mutely to that.

“Sounds good,” Jude said.

With that, Leland rolled over onto a mound of hay, posturing to go to bed. A thought occurred to him, however.

“Have either of you seen my flail?”

“Ah…” Glenny whispered. “You dropped it in the nest, and well, we couldn’t stop to pick it up.”

“A shame,” Leland said. “I was just starting to get good with it.”

Jude snorted at that.

So with a plan in mind, they boys moved up and through the mountains toward the next town on their adventure. With the general idea of moving toward the city they were meeting their parents in a few months, they walked.

All the while, they were being followed by a hunter and a killer.

Dear mom and dad,

I got your letter, after some delay thanks to Jude, and want to respond to all of your questions. But I can’t. Something happened and I’m feeling lost. I just don’t know how to progress and I don’t want Jude and Glenny to suffer because of me. They say they trust me and everything, but I am not sure I trust myself.

I guess there’s no way to sugar coat this, but I didn’t accept the Lord of Magic as my Legacy. I’d rather not write it down physically, as the Huntress and others have pushed me for the information before, but suffice to say, I don’t know if I made a mistake or not.

I’ve had contact with my Lord a few times at this point, and every time I feel like she’s lying to me. Actually, she even confirmed as much. But that’s not the real issue.

I have a sixth primary spell. And it’s not the savory kind. In fact it’s completely the opposite. And well, I’m not sure if I can ever cast it again.

Recently I, and the others, fought against a Harbinger’s construct. The battle wasn’t much, the spell took care of the fight rather promptly. But during this, we learned of the vile Lords and their Harbingers.

And well, I’m having doubts about my Lord and the powers she has imparted to me.

I’m just scared that if I make a wrong move, others will suffer for it.

Any advice?

Love,

Leland.

Leland gave the letter a once-over before activating the magical aspect of the paper. It folded up, hovered in midair, then fluttered out the nearest window where it soon disappeared with a blue haze. He leaned back, his shoulders finally relaxing from all the pent up anxiety.

It had been four days since they left the sheep village-farm and the boys had only just arrived in a small town. Along the way, Leland’s mind had solely been on his problem and the countless ways his parents could be disappointed. He honestly had been dreading writing the letter, but with it done and sent, a weight had left his bones.

Why was he worrying? His parents were more loyal than Jude or Glenny. They wouldn’t abandon or disown him. Maybe a stern lecture, but that was a hard maybe. His parents were never ones for yelling, even if the lesson was important enough to yell.

He remembered one time, back when he was young and still learning the basics of the many, many types of magic, his parents were showing him transmutation. Real transmutation was ungodly expensive, mostly illegal, and frankly not with the effort. But the lesson of equivalent exchange was one best taught with practical examples.

They were supposed to be mixing one part lilyleaf with two parts water and half-part Loom Ash. Where this differed from alchemy, was the addition of pure mana during the mixing phase. Not that it mattered much, Leland, at the time, had no mana. His parents had to do the real work for the experiment. The outcome was a red sand called Fireash.

The uses were rather limited, and was mainly used to keep fire pits or home furnaces hot without the use of timber or kindling. Fireash was, however, incredibly similar to a substance called Firecrumble – an illegal, and deadly, explosive.

So once Leland’s parents found out he tried to make Firecrumble unsupervised, they came in more disappointed than angry. Sure, he had used up expensive ingredients, but they were more focused on his failure to grasp the concept of transmutation. He needed mana, something he didn’t have at the time. The mixture simply caught fire, resulting in a harsh burn along the palms of his hands.

Leland remembered the walk of shame to his parent’s healer friend’s house.

“Done,” Glenny suddenly said from the side, shuffling a piece of paper.

He handed it to Leland, who then imbued it with pure mana. The letter folded itself, hovered for a moment, then launched out the window in a blue blaze toward Glenny’s dad. Glenny then sat back, his shoulders going slack.

“Sending letters feels oddly satisfying,” Leland said.

“Yeah… it’s kind of weird, actually.”

Leland went to respond, but a fidgeting Jude pulled his attention. “Hungry, are you?”

“When am I not?” the berserker Legacy asked. “But yes, let’s go?”

The other stood, following their friend out the door. At least, they did, until a small blue circle appeared beside Leland’s bed.

“Uh,” he said, his eyes locked on the elegant magic.

The circle faded somewhat, revealing a different location in the center. Leland recognized it for what it was, one of his dad’s portals. Slowly he inched closer, dread setting in. His dad using an extensive amount of mana was not a good sign in his eyes.

“Uh, hello?” Leland asked the portal, finding a window into a fancily lit and decorated room.

Outside the inn, an old man crumbled to his knees in the shadow of the moonlight. After a brief incantation from his killer, the old man returned to his feet with the stamina and strength of a young man.

The killer smiled. Tonight was the night.