When the sled had reached the camp after a tedious journey in the woods, nobody was outside, but at least the hide tents were still there. Yilka wiped sweat off his forehead and looked at the snowy ground.
"Dego! Can you come here?" He then shouted.
"Dego?" Lapis asked and raised an eyebrow, even though he no longer had eyebrows.
From one tent out came the big man himself. He squinted his eyes and kept his mouth open as he tried to understand what he was seeing at first.
"Lapis!" He then exclaimed when he recognised who was the bald man with gills.
He then quickly came over to Lapis, grabbed him with both hands and raised him in the air as the ruler of waters looked more frightened than happy. Then out came Suiv who immediately noticed Venamo and walked over.
She put a hand over her mouth and just looked at the man with great worry.
"He's alive, surprisingly." Yilka commented.
"Yes, I can tell. Barely. So I guess he failed. We have to get him to health!" Suiv demanded.
"I know. Dego, let's carry him inside. Come on." Yilka said and turned to Degolani.
It was only then that the big man even noticed Venamo. He immediately turned from happy to somber as he saw the state of Venamo.
"Yes. We must help." He then said.
Degolani and Yilka took Venamo by the arms and carried him inside the tent that they called home.
"What can we do out here to possibly help him? Lapis, what happened to him?" Yilka asked Lapis now that the whole crew was inside the tent with barely enough room to move.
"When I saw him sinking to the bottom of the sea, he had a hole in his gut that went all the way through. I'm not a medical man. All I could do was take him above the surface and wrap him up. Keeping him in a cave by the shore for half a year can't have sped up his recovery. I've shoved fish eggs and river water down his throat to nourish him too." Lapis explained.
"Why not take him to a medical knower then?" Suiv asked.
"In where? Every settlement big enough to have one is under the rule of the Vastus, and I'm a known man. This is the best I could do without being taken in by them." Lapis explained.
"The feign flesh." Nofa said.
"Hm?" Lapis let out.
"I should still have some of the feign flesh left at home. It patches wounds and fuses into them as flesh. Like this." Nofa said and showed Venamo's palm to everybody so that they could see the feign flesh that had fully fused into the hole in his palm.
Nofa poked the point with her finger to show that it's softer than a palm would normally be, but still fully functional flesh.
"Then that's where we need to get." Suiv said.
"I think it'd be best if you stayed behind. Remember, the scouts said that the village has been taken over. Nofa's home may have a new resident now. Nofa, do you remember where you keep the feign flesh?" Yilka said to Suiv and then asked Nofa.
"Darling, I remember where I keep everything." Nofa said confidently.
"Great. We can go back to Kalekanka, and when we're there, you can tell me where you keep it. If you tell it to me here, I won't remember it by the time I get there." Yilka suggested.
"Works for me. Quick in and out job and we'll be back soon enough." Nofa affirmed.
"I can't heal wounds, not as serious as his at least. I don't think anybody here can. I'm afraid we have no better choice here. But please be careful. Just go get the thing you need and get out. Don't start any fights." Suiv added.
"I'll be quiet and subtle. And Nofa, you can stay far away. If I don't come back from the village, you'll have my back, will you?" Yilka said to Nofa.
"Of course I will. I wouldn't just leave you there. I feel like I should go get the damned feign flesh myself." Nofa replied.
"Are you prepared to defend yourself if somebody sees you?" Yilka asked.
"Well... maybe you should get it then. I'll explain to you well where I left it. We got this." Nofa said and put her hand on Yilka's hand.
"Before you two lovers go anywhere, we should get that sled fixed up. If anyone here has the tools for it, I'll do it quickly." Lapis said.
"Ask Suri. He's our smith and quite the handyman. You'll recognise him by the gray beard." Suiv told Lapis.
"Got it. Thank you, fine lady." Lapis said and left the tent.
"We won't need the dogsled when we can just be carried there by Blueberry. She won't get stuck on holes and rocks and treestumps and doesn't need repairs. Easier to hide too." Nofa suggested and petted the tiny head of Blueberry on her shoulder.
"You're right! Blueberry is faster than I thought, and if she flies low, we can take moments to rest when our arms get tired." Yilka added.
"Well, what are we still doing here then?" Nofa asked.
"Right! Let's get going!" Yilka exclaimed.
"Blueberry, dear. We'll go outside and then you'll grab Yilka's fingers like you did earlier and carry us south of here. And fly low." Nofa told Blueberry and got up from her knees.
"Wait wait wait. The butterfly can carry you?" Suiv asked in wonder.
"I guess you were never introduced to Blueberry. But yes, she's quite the strong girl." Nofa said proudly.
"If you don't believe her, come watch." Yilka said and left the tent.
Outside the tent Nofa joined Yilka and once again held on to him as he gave his hand to Blueberry who obediently wrapped her talons around his fingers. Blueberry began flapping her wings and soon enough the pair had their feet off the ground and heading south as Suiv, Lapis and Degolani only watched in wonder.
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Blueberry was indeed a fast and skilled flier who stayed above the trees and not much higher than that, and listened when anybody needed a break to rest their arms. Along the way they caught the attention of everyone who they flew over. When Blueberry had carried her friends to a land of hills that were now covered in snow, Yilka and Nofa noticed that it didn't look like what it used to look like. Many of the hills had holes dug into them and abandoned worksites by them.
"Did they make our folk dig these hills for all they're worth and then quit for the winter?" Yilka wondered out loud.
"What would they even think they'd find?" Nofa asked.
"No clue. Cavemoss only grows in rocky caves. This doesn't make sense." Yilka added and could only wonder and theorise.
After some more flying, they had reached a familiar forest. They both knew that home wouldn't be too far now, but they had to stop because Yilka spotted a grim sight by the edge of it.
"Can you tell Blueberry to get us down? I need to look at this closer." Yilka said to Nofa.
Nofa then told Blueberry to lower them to the ground, and Yilka quickly marched over to the thing that caught his eye. Blood was mixed with the snow, and under the snow he could see the shapes of human bodies. He noticed woodcutter's axes on the ground, and marks on the nearest trees, as if they had been struck a few times.
"Why would anyone try to chop these trees? These are the homes of the branch hoppers and hitting them with axes is the surest way to get jumped. Everybody knows that." Yilka wondered, and then noticed a dropped spear on the ground.
He picked up the spear and saw the royal crest in the pole of the spear.
"But of course. Somebody told them to. They were ordered to chop these trees and got jumped by hoppers, just like they knew they would, but the alternative would have been worse." Yilka bitterly talked to himself.
He then walked over to one snow covered body and wiped the snow off its face and chest area. He saw that the body belonged to man who seemed to be about Yilka's own age, and had four punctures through the left cheek and four punctures on the right side of his skull.
"You had a life ahead of you and it was thrown away because the kingdom needed lumber. I'll fight for you too. Enjoy eternity, and cheer us on as we free the tribe and claim the lordship of our land." Yilka said and stood up.
He returned to Nofa who was intentionally looking the other way from the carnage and standing quietly where she was. Yilka noticed that Blueberry was missing.
"Where's Blueberry?" He asked in a monotone manner.
"She's here where it's warmer." Nofa said and turned around to show that Blueberry was inside the hood of Nofa's fur coat resting on her ear.
"Good. I think I got a good enough look here. We can go on now if you're ready." Yilka said.
"I'm ready to go again. How are you feeling?" Nofa asked.
Yilka came to Nofa and once again wrapped his arm around her tightly.
"Angry." Yilka said calmly.
Nofa looked at him with concern and she could tell that under Yilka's tired face, he had anger inside. Anger that needed to be unleashed sooner or later. But she still trusted him, and took Blueberry out of her hood and put her on Yilka's fingers.
Once Blueberry had flown further south, Nofa told her to land at the top of a hill, because Nofa saw ahead the frozen surface of a familiar pond. But not only that, she also saw the village by the familiar pond. The beginnings of a railway had been built to go through the village, though the work seemed to be on a break for the winter. Some houses had been torn apart and burned to get them out of the way, and the trees that Venamo had grown in the village were now mere stumps.
"You see this?" Nofa asked Yilka next to her.
"I wish I didn't." Yilka replied.
"They spared my humble hut. Lucky me. Yours wasn't so lucky." Nofa commented as she was looking down.
"We'll rebuild. We always do. But after how Vena had given the enchantment for the trees and the soil, why would they spoil it all like this? The trees that he made taller are now chopped down and that damned iron road is built on the soil. Are they fools or is that how little they care about this place?" Yilka wondered with the hatred in his voice growing.
"Or is it punishment for the rebellion of you and Venamo and Varma?" Nofa wondered.
Yilka only exhaled through his teeth and began walking down the snowy hill.
"I'm only guessing." Nofa said in her defense.
"It's not you who I'm mad at. I'm angry at how right you probably are. And angry at myself for being duped by that bastard Vakevata. But seething about it solves nothing. Stay up here while I go get the feign flesh." Yilka spoke as we was walking down the hill.
"Didn't you want to hear where in the hut I keep it?" Nofa asked.
Yilka stopped walking, exhaled and closed his eyes in embarrassment.
"Right. Where do you keep it?" Yilka asked after he turned around to look up at Nofa who was still at the top of the hill.
"As you enter through the door, look at the left corner of the hut. If you remember the little doors on the wall of my hut, pick the fourth door you see as you go right. Got it?" Nofa explained.
"Got it. Thank you." Yilka said and went down the hill again.
After going down the hill, he began his way towards another hill where Nofa's hut stood. He climbed the steps all the way up, and as he was climbing them, he saw that some of the houses down below had lights shining through the door cracks, and that a tent had been erected where there previously was a turnip field. At the top of the hill, he then noticed that on Nofa's little front yard was a row of barrels. One of them had a pipe coming from it and going all the way down the hill to a barrel at the bottom of the hill. Out of curiosity, Yilka opened the top lid of the barrel and smelled inside.
"Whew. Strong stuff." He said to himself quietly.
Just then he saw someone at the bottom stumbling over to the barrel and then pulling a rope connected to the faucet on the barrel at the top. The faucet opened and the strong drink began running down the hill from barrel to barrel through the pipe. The man below filled a bottle and stumbled away and began singing a jolly song in the Vastusarian language.
"So that's how they keep spirits high here." Yilka commented and spat into the barrel.
He then walked over to the front door of Nofa's hut, but before opening the door, he thought better of it and put his ear on the door. He heard snoring inside.
"Somebody's there. But they're sleeping. Got to be quiet then." He thought and pulled on the door.
But the door wouldn't budge. Yilka only heard the clanging of the chain as he pulled on the door some more. He knew that he shouldn't pull too hard, or it'd get too loud.
"I guess all I can do is this now." He stated to himself and hit the door with his cudgel repeatedly.
The door was shattered piece by piece, and Yilka stepped inside. A man with a white shirt and an enchanted breastplate on top of a fur coat was ready and waiting with an enchanted sword by the bed to point at Yilka.
The man said threatening words to Yilka who couldn't understand them. Yilka didn't want to show his nervousness. It had been a while since he last had an armed opponent. He couldn't get a moment to think of a strategy in his head. The resident of the hub began thrusting his sword towars Yilka who kept retreating. He tried to swing his cudgel towards his opponent's head, but couldn't reach all the way there without getting the tip of a sword dangerously close to his own gut. The resident of the hut kept forcing Yilka retreat until he was outside of the hut entirely. Yilka kept getting forced to retreat further and further, until he was threateningly close to the edge of the hill. The adversary went for a thrust, and Yilka ducked to the side just enough to avoid it. Yilka then used his free left hand to grab the wrist of his opponent's sword wielding hand. The two struggled for control and almost looked like they were dancing. Yilka swung his cudgel at the back of his opponent's skull, but missed because the man crouched down just enough. The adversary used the momentum of Yilka's missed swing to break free, and then rushed forward with his blade pointed out, trying to plunge it through Yilka. However, Yilka ducked again, and the adversary's momentum sent him close the edge of the hill. He managed to stop himself, but before he could turn around and continue the fight, Yilka kicked him in the back and sent him flying down the steep hill.
Yilka didin't stay to witness the fate of his opponent, but instead went straight back into the hut and found the little door that Nofa told him to find. And there it was. The disgusting looking slab of feign flesh. For some reason it had a bite mark on it. Yilka didn't think about it too much, but just took the slab and put it inside his pouch. He also checked the other little doors in the hut to find anything that could be of help back home. He found some dried leaves, berries and roots. He filled the pouch of his coat with whatever seemed helpful. As he was about to head out the front door, he remembered something else that Nofa had.
"The fine salts. Awful stuff, but effective." He said to himself and began going through more of the little doors on the hut's wall.
Inside one of them, he found three little bags. He looked inside, and saw the fine salts inside.
"No memory about what each one is, but that doesn't matter for what I'm going to do." He said to himself and grinned.
He took the bags and walked outside. He went over to the barrel of beverage that was now empty since the tap had been opened. He removed the barrel from the pipe, and went over to another one. He poured all of the fine salts into that barrel, and then dragged it to where the pipe was, connected the barrel to the pipe and opened the tap to let it flow down to the drinking barrel at the bottom.
Then he waited. One after another, men with fur coats, white shirts and enchanted breastplates came out of the houses to fill bottles from their communal barrel. The waiting took a little too long, so Yilka went inside to protect himself from the winter's wind. Soon enough, his attention was caught by noises he heard. He left the hut again and looked down at the remains of the village. Screaming, moaning and shrieking was coming from all the wooden houses. Yilka knew that his plan worked. He then carefully walked down the steps and waltzed on over to the village where he calmly went inside one of the houses where the noises were coming from. Inside, Vastusarian soldiers were bashing their heads against the walls and each other's heads while making sounds of terror. It was a wild scene, with knocked over tankards all over the tables and stains of stinky liquid on the floor. But more importantly, all the weapons were unattended. Yilka avoided the screaming men and only picked up all the swords, spears, hammers and crossbows from the house and then dropped them outside. There were also enchanted helmets inside the house, so Yilka went to snatch them away too. He then went over to the next house where he saw the same thing, and did the same thing, and that was the case in all the other houses that remained in the village. Soon enough, he had gathered together an impressive pile of weapons and helmets outside. He then checked inside the tent in the middle of the village, and saw that everyone was sleeping inside sleeping bags made of animal hides. At first he wasn't sure if these were his enemies too, but as he looked closer, he noticed that their necks had been tied to heavy rocks with chains to make absolutely sure that they don't try anything at nights. Yilka walked over to the nearest sleeping person he could find, and used one of the enchanted weapons to break the chain.
"There's a pile of weapons and helmets outside. The guards are unarmed and currently busy killing themselves. Use this weapon to break the chains of the rest, give them the weapons and the helmets and do what you wish." Yilka said to the slowly awakening person and left the tent without giving any further instructions.
He then retrieved a war hammer from the weapon pile and walked over to the rails that had already been built on the ground, and began breaking them with the enchanted hammer. The symbol of Vastusar's authority had stained the place that he calls home. He unleashed his anger on the pieces of iron on the ground and smashed them into ruin, not caring who hears. Not like anybody would stop him anyway. He only stopped when he heard quick steps coming his way and his name being called. He turned to see Nofa coming towards him.
"What are you doing now? Did you get it?" Nofa asked.
"Here." Yilka said and took the slab of feign flesh from his pouch.
"And what are you doing now? Weren't you meant to be quiet?" Nofa asked worriedly.
"Nobody will come for me now. I made sure of that." Yilka said.
Just then, a guard rushed out of one of the houses screaming and dove head first into a pile of snow.
"Those fine salts are expensive, you know?" Nofa said.
"The freedom of these folk means more to me." Yilka replied without any regret as he watched the person he freed carrying weapons into the tent.
"I see. So it wasn't just a prank. I think they'll know what to do. Are we done here?" Nofa asked and felt impressed.
"We are. Let's go home and help that piece of filth Venamo." Yilka said.
"Yes. Let's put this disgusting slab inside the gut of that stinky toe fungus of a man." Nofa said.
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And so once again they flew over the hilly lands all through the night. Once the morning started rising and the mountain eagles were screeching above, the forests by the mountains were within reach. After flying above the forests for some time, smoke rose from ahead, and that was a good sign that the home camp was within reach too. Blueberry landed in the middle of the camp of tents. At this time the residents of the little camp were beginning to awaken and a few of them were outside stretching their backs and carrying snow inside with buckets. When they saw Nofa touch the ground, they all came over since they hadn't seen her the last time she was in the camp.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkpohgmsoe
"Wicked lady of the hill! We desperately need your help. Our son has been sick ever since we came here and he's not getting any better." One lady begged.
"My mother has also been sick for a while now. Nothing that I've tried has worked." A young man begged too.
"Well, nothing that grows here can really help with any sickness. I know how to help with most sicknesses but I'd have to go far away to get the right stuff. And travelling traders don't come here either. I'm really sorry." Nofa regretfully informed everyone who surrounded her.
"Please lady, we'll give you anything you want in return if you can make something." The desperate young man begged more.
"The truth is that I can't really help. It's winter in the old homewoods too so none of the right leaves and herbs and berries and mosses thrive there right now. I think I should still have some left back in my hut, unless it's been looted." Nofa replied.
"Is it stuff like this you want?" Yilka said and held his pouch open to show everything that he brought home.
"Yilka! You dug through my things without permission again! But this time I'm glad you did because some of this stuff is precisely what I could use for common remedies. Ummm let's see. If you crush this root and this leaf and put them in hot water, that usually helps with cold sickness. Try it. No need to pay me back." Nofa said and took said items from Yilka's pouch and handed them to whoever wanted them.
Yilka and Nofa then went to the tent that Yilka calls home and saw it rather crammed now that Lapis and Venamo also had to squeeze themselves there, along with Lapis' dogs as well.
"We're back and we have what we need. Is everyone here good? Nobody needs to see what I'm about to do. This may be nasty to look at." Yilka said to the others in the tent.
"I guess you're right. But I know how to apply it. I could do it." Nofa said.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt9Cuuaaijw
"I think it should be me who does it." Yilka said.
"If you want to. It's not really hard to do but if something is unclear, just come tell me to take care of it." Nofa said and left the tent.
"He is counting on you." Lapis said to Yilka and then left with his dogs.
"I won't be here to disturb you." Suiv said and left, as did Degolani following her.
Yilka turned to look at Venamo who looked pathetic where he laid unconscious and frail.
"Look at you now. Always the one telling others what to do and thinking you do everything best. Because of you Suiv is left without her own daughter, and you tried to get between me and Nofa... but you also trained me to fight, and it's saved my skin more than once. And you have the power to make everyone's life better at the village and beyond it. Letting you die, you piece of shit, would be wrong of me." Yilka thought as he took the feign flesh from his pouch.
He unwrapped the coat that Lapis had put on Venamo at some point and exposed his torso and saw the bandages around his gut. The dried red stain on the bandage didn't shake him one bit. Being in a family of hunters had made him numb to blood. He opened the wraps and saw the disgusting hole in the man's gut. That was enough to make him wince, but now was not the time to quit. He tore a bit from the slab of feign flesh and dropped it in the hole in the gut. It fit perfectly once Yilka pushed it in a bit.
"I guess that's all it takes. Seems to fit there just fine. And now all we can do is wait until it fuses into him." Yilka said and applied the wraps back and rolled Venamo's coat back on him properly.
He left the tent and met with Nofa outside where she was feeding tree sap to Blueberry from her finger.
"Did you do it right?" Nofa asked Yilka when she noticed him next to her.
"I think so. Didn't leave any open space in there." Yilka replied.
"Good. That should work."
"So how long does it take to heal him?"
"Depends. If there are any damaged innards, it may take a bit before the feign flesh detects what those innards are and fuses with them accordingly."
"Then I'll have to do what I said to him before I came over here at the summer. That I'd do it without him." Yilka said.
"Just as we discussed." Nofa added.
"And I'd like to join too." The voice of Lapis said as he came out of the woods.
"Why?" Yilka asked.
"Why? Well, if you mean what I think you mean, which is to take down King Pushkrilleri, then I'd like to help with that. At this point it's the only thing I can do for my homeland, and I believe that if they hear the news that their hero has slayed the king that rules them, well that might just inspire something in them. I've thought about what you said to me back at the academy, and you were right. Cowering and hiding gets nothing done. But I must warn you, even if you do reach the Royal Palace, it'll be dangerous inside. Something inside the palace tossed Venamo out of its window all the way to sea and left that hole in his gut." Lapis explained.
"Better have the numbers on our side then." Nofa commented.
"And even better to have the ruler of waters by your side as well." Lapis said and made snow fall from the sky.
"But if you die by someone's hand along the way, your powers would be theirs." Yilka reminded.
"I will not let that happen." Degolani said as he joined the others.
"Now we're talking!" Yilka said, knowing full well the strength of Degolani.
"So do we have a band together here then?" Nofa asked.
"I don't mind fighting by this band." Yilka commented.
"I am with you!" Degolani shouted into the sky.
"Because the freedom of Haimana and Uhmakas are worth fighting for." Lapis said.
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