Nyhm and Thea froze, listening intently to the surrounding woods. Tukes had sent them into the valley to collect ingredients for the fourth time that week, and the weaknesses of having only Tolliver as a scout were becoming apparent.

  For one, he was terrible at spotting anything that was trying to hide. It was nice to be able to easily avoid bears and trolls and the like, but the first time they were ambushed by a leaf lion nearly cost Thea a leg. The three remaining Myth Seekers moved much more cautiously after that.

  Bats are also not particularly efficient gliders, which meant that extended scouting for hours on end was simply not possible with the [Mage]’s endurance. In between bouts of flight, he would rest on Thea’s shoulder in order to save up strength for the next circuit. The entire affair made Nyhm miss Silas, but even more his brother, who had been doing a terrific job of filling the [Ranger]’s boots.

  The elfling had barely slept in over a week. It had taken over half the day for the Abbot to give him the foundation he needed to start helping, but would have taken ten times longer for a lesser teacher. The man had a gift for distilling only the most important parts of the lesson into easily digestible bits.

  Nyhm resented the wasted time at first, trying to convince them to just continue without him. But the Abbot insisted this type of work was not a sprint, and the hours it took to point Nyhm in the right direction would pay off one hundredfold as the days progressed. Once he saw the [Herbalist] would not be deterred, the elfling devoted all of his focus to the task and built up an unstoppable momentum.

  The bugbears had forced him to stitch [Greater Mental Endurance] in order to better tolerate pain. There were [Warrior Skills] that simply lessened the pain, but his owners needed their slaves to feel everything. Crowds want to see the grimace and drink in the scream from a particularly brutal blow.

  He’d never had an opportunity to take advantage of the [Skill] for studying. There hadn’t been anything to study in the pits, and he’d only gone through the bare minimum at the lorehall. His classmates were much younger, and no one was comfortable with the tattooed elfling around all the other children. Least of all Nyhm.

  But now the [Skill] was worth a dragon’s hoard. Every moment he wasn’t gathering herbs for Abbot Tukes he was pouring through the Rootmother’s notes, along with every tome and scroll on [Herbalism] he could find.

  With the Loremaster’s helping from the Great Library in Beckhaven, they had made incredible progress. Working with some of the finest minds on Tela had been an unparalleled crash course on herbal lore. More importantly, Nyhm felt like he was legitimately contributing something to help his brother.

  A cure was close and they could feel it.

  “Are we stopping because you heard something?” Thea whispered.

  Nyhm had the better hearing, but Thea’s sight was more keen. Between the three of them, they almost made one whole scout.

  Almost, but not quite.

  “I thought I did, but maybe not.”

  Without a word, they crept forward. Tukes and the Loremasters were certain that a particular type of mushroom was the key to getting them over the finish line. Unfortunately, this mushroom only grew in grick shit.

  Worm-like predators growing up to twelve feet long, gricks have a sharp beak surrounded by barbed tentacles. They change color to blend in with their surroundings and often ambush prey by dropping out of trees. Worst of all, they usually hunt in packs.

  The monks knew there were gricks in this area, but not exactly where. The [Martial Artists] dealt with the threat the same way they handled most things: leave it alone unless it bothered them.

  Nyhm’s Ring of Surround Sight is the only thing that saved them from getting smothered by the huge grick as it plummeted from above. He shoved Thea to the side and dove in the opposite direction, rolling back to his feet and springing towards the creature while activating the ghostly blue claw tattoos.

  It went after Thea first, tentacle whipping forward in an attempt to grab the satyr and pull her I towards the snapping beak. She got her shield up in time, then delivered a sharp hoof to the body and followed it up with a [Shield Bash].

  Tolliver was thrown from her shoulder, but changed back to human form so he could follow up her bash with a Concussive Blast, sending the worm tumbling backwards.

  Before Nyhm could finish off the beast, three more dropped from above, and he quickly found himself becoming overwhelmed by lashing tentacles and nipping beaks. Thea threw down a vinewall just in time to block a lunging head, giving Nyhm enough room to start tearing in to another.

  Their skin was thick and rubbery, which meant he had to tear deep to cause any real damage. Thea and Tolliver were having even more trouble since the beasts seemed especially resistant to bludgeoning attacks. She had tried to tangle the one they fought with grasping vines, but it just slithered up a tree and dropped back down towards her. It looked like she took a wicked barb to the arm, but he had to turn his attention back to his own gricks.

  They were going to be overwhelmed if the team didn’t find some advantage here. Using [Find Weakness] on the closest monster, he saw a faint glow at the back of its head.

  The grick dove towards him, and he fired off [Imperceptible Evade], another crowd pleaser that made it look as though a blow was inevitable before barely getting out of the way.

  The head passed by so close he felt the breeze, and he used the proximity to leap onto its back. The thing thrashed to try to get him off, but he was too close to the head for the tentacles to reach. With a powerful slash, he ripped brutally into the base of its skull.

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  It dropped like a rock. Nyhm smiled.

  “Keep their attention while I take them out from behind.”

  His teammates nodded grimly and fired off a barrage of attacks at the remaining gricks. A shield throw bounced from one to the next before returning neatly to the satyr’s hand, while Tolliver sent Sonic Missiles streaming into their faces. All the beasts turned towards the new onslaught and charged.

  Thea sent down another vinewall to slow them up and danced backwards while Nyhm went to work. The grisly business didn’t take long after finally putting a good plan into action, and for a second Nyhm almost felt proud of himself. He looked at the greenish blood dripping off of his hands, and thought of how close his teammates had been to getting badly hurt.

  Raith would have done a better job.

  “Good job,” Thea said, walking over to clap him on the shoulder. “Those things were not going down to my shield so easy.”

  Tolliver gave him a Sonic Cleanse without needing to be asked, and Nyhm offered a nod of thanks.

  Thea secured her shield on her back and looked up.

  “Well, if they were waiting around up there.” She gestured to the forest floor around them. “Then we’ll find all the poop down here.”

  Tolliver’s face scrunched up with disgust.

  “You don’t actually expect me to dig through shit, right?”

  ***

  Raith didn’t know how long he laid there on the floor of his library before realizing he was no longer in pain. The agony had been endless and all-encompassing. The entirety of his existence and now it was just…gone.

  He didn’t have the slightest idea how long had passed. Hours? Months? Years?

  It seemed unlikely he would have survived for years. Certainly not with his sanity intact. And he was pretty sure he was still sane. Probably.

  Somehow, the agony had become ever so slightly more tolerable over time. Like a hot bath that first scalds your skin before it acclimates. He had survived.

  Yay me.

  He almost laughed, but was too scared that any movement would set off the pain again.

  A soft touch on his face made him open his eyes in alarm, wincing at the strain of simply turning his head. A small humanoid shadow stood beside him, shaking and clutching its hands to its chest.

  “Veil, is that you?”

  It nodded and reached its hands out. Raith picked them up and set the daemon on his knee to pet.

  “Hey there, buddy. Did you stay with me this whole time?”

  The little daemon nodded again. Raith wondered what it meant about him that Veil had taken this form.

  “Thank you. Do you know how long it’s been?”

  Veil held up ten fingers, then five more.

  “Weeks?”

  The daemon shook its head and Raith felt his stomach drop.

  “Months?”

  Again with the head shake, and he allowed himself to feel a little hopeful.

  “Days?”

  Relief accompanied the affirmative nod.

  Oh, thank the Weavers.

  He collapsed backwards to lie flat on the floor again. Everyone was almost certainly waiting for him to wake up and reassure them he was alright. Raith knew he needed to leave the library, but it was going to have to wait just a little longer while he collected himself.

  A pressure on his upper arm brought his eyes open again. Veil lay curled up on his chest, and he knew the sensation must be coming from something happening to his body.

  Bracing himself to engage with the outside world, he ended the [Skill].

  His brother stood next to his bed, firmly grasping his arm and wearing a look of profound concern. Raith met his eyes and tears began to fall from the elfling’s eyes.

  “I’m so sorry,” Nyhm said and embraced him.

  His brother’s hug made it real that the pain was finally over. Raith began to cry. It started with a trickle of tears that squeezed out of his closed eyes and dripped down the sides of his face. But the torrent grew until he found himself heaving with great sobs.

  Sobs of relief. Of fear that the pain would return. Of shame that he had wished so hard to die so it would all be over.

  They let each other go and Raith saw that Thea, Tolliver and his grandfather were also in the room. Thea ran up and gave him a big hug. His grandfather, never one for big displays, placed a gentle hand on his forehead and brushed the hair away before giving it a dry kiss.

  “I am glad to see you are well, young man. You had us all very frightened.”

  Tolliver stood stiffly away from the bed and gave Raith an uncertain smile. Thea noticed the awkward exchange and spoke up.

  “We would not have reached the monastery in time if not for Tolliver. It was his quick flight to fetch their help that saved you.”

  “Thank you, Tolliver. I owe you.”

  The noble blushed fiercely and looked at the ground.

  “It is simply what a team does for each other. Surely one day it will be my life that is saved. No sense in keeping score with such things.”

  Grandfather clapped the [Mage] on the shoulder and turned back to Raith.

  “I am glad to see you have found such good friends. I will leave you all to catch up. We’ll have plenty of time to speak when you can get out of that bed.”

  “I can get up.”

  The old man raised his eyebrows at this, and Raith tried to sit up to prove it. He winced to find that his stomach felt like he’d done a million sit-ups. After two weeks of cramping in agony, all of his muscles felt the same.

  “Ok, maybe not.”

  He let his head fall back onto the pillow and his grandfather smiled and left. Thea grabbed his hand.

  “We’ve got time. There’s no hurry to leave. Janek’s tower will still be there when you’re ready to leave.” She gave him a sly smile. “Besides, we’ve all got some weaving to do. Have you checked your pattern?”

  Raith furrowed his eyes in confusion and pulled up his pattern.

  The first thing he noticed was that [Lesser Mental Endurance] had upgraded to [Enhanced] then again to [Greater]. Upgrading [Skills] through training even once is an arduous process and exceedingly rare. Somehow, he’d done it twice.

  All it took was a couple weeks of relentless agony.

  He laughed, but his throat was so dry it came out as a hack and started him coughing. The coughing brought tears to his eyes, and he shut them and got his breathing back under control.

  There was something else he had noticed with his pattern, but thought it must be a mistake.

  “How did I level enough for the second braid?”

  The others joined Thea in her smile at the question.

  “We all did. Curing the Grins was an open [Quest] with a huge reward. Even split between everyone who helped it was a lot.”

  “But I didn’t help with anything.”

  “We’re a team, silly. All the rewards are split evenly among us. You may have been just lying around like a lump for the last two weeks, but the rest of us have been running our butts off.”

  He opened his mouth to protest again, but Thea raised a hand and interrupted.

  “If the Weaver’s didn’t think you’d played your part, they’d have invoked the Weaver’s Whim.” She made sure he was meeting her eyes before continuing. “None of this would have happened without you.”

  Nyhm stepped forward with a mug full of water.

  “Look.”

  The elfling’s face scrunched with concentration, and in an instant the water came to a boil. He held it out triumphantly.

  “[Boil Tea]. It’s my first non combat [Skill].” Nyhm presented the most unguarded smile Raith had ever seen his brother wear. “I’m an [Herbalist].”

  Raith smiled warmly.

  “I’m very proud of you.”

  He closed his eyes to look at his pattern again and rest for a moment. Without realizing it, he drifted off to sleep. Not in [Staccato] and not in his [Library]. Simply a deep, peaceful, ordinary sleep.

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