Chương 28: Giftbearer

Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, for what goes around, comes around. —The Artificer's Guide to Navigating Allegations of Destabilizing Local Flora and Fauna"Welcome back, guys!" Darby held the longhouse doors open for us, and the darkness of the stormy night gave way to the cheerful and bright atmosphere inside.

"You run into any trouble out there? We started to worry when the storms hit…" He trailed off when he noticed my blood-soaked side.

"Oh wow! You guys have been busy today!" I laid the spirit tree branches by the door and marveled at the work that had been done. At the far end of the room, they had created a kitchen and an adjacent dining hall lined with stumps for chairs. Every six to eight feet, there were small stone walls constructed to give at least some amount of privacy for sleeping quarters.

"Never mind all that! What the hell did you run into!?" He grabbed me by the shoulder and led the way across the hall toward a larger enclosed room.

"Nancy's gonna flip when she sees you like this…" Emmie waved goodbye and hop-shuffled over to a stone table and collapsed, massaging under her arm and lifting her head, sniffing at the scents wafting over from the kitchen area.

"It's not as bad as it looks," I said, turning back to Darby.

"It happened hours ago, and the rain made it spread more than it—""Logan!" Nancy was standing in the room with her hands on her hips. Her scowl, however, quickly faded when she saw the extent of the damage to my shirt. Darby bowed out and headed back toward the kitchen, leaving me to my demise.

"Tsk tsk tsk," she clucked as she motioned for me to drop my pack and immediately began to remove my shirt to get a better look.

"At least you managed to bandage it well." She glanced over my shoulder and slightly raised her voice.

"I said, it's a good thing I sent you all with some bandages! I just knew someone was going to get hurt." I followed her gaze and saw Gene duck out of view, turning to Greg and Ernie, pretending he hadn't heard. They continued to talk in low voices while Nancy unwound the bandage from my torso. A soft gasp brought my attention back.

"What did this?" She softly felt at the area around the deep cuts, checking for inflammation.

"This is definitely going to need stitches! I only have sewing thread from Joann, and we can use a bit of the ointment, but only enough to manage infection…" She turned away to pick up the tin from a wooden plank spanning one side of the room that had been set up as a table.

"We're going to need to do this in the main room; there's not enough light in here. I hope you handle the needle as well as you did these cuts, because it ain't gonna feel good at all."

"Wait." I picked up my bag and pulled out the first of the two fruits.

"Eat this first. Trust me," I added, seeing her doubtful frown in the dim candlelit room.

"I can eat a snack afterward. Now get out there so I can get this cleaned out. There's no telling what all got in a cut that deep." She waved her hands, shooing me out the door.

"I'm serious, Nancy. Just eat it, and afterward you can do anything you need to." I held out the fruit, and it glowed faintly, growing in intensity as she neared it.

"I can feel it…" She slowly reached out and hesitated only a moment before plucking it out of my hands.

"It smells so wonderful! Like peaches and plums, and…" She cut off and took a large bite, then devoured the rest of it. She giggled and danced excitedly in place before a look of wonder overcame her as understanding of what was happening clicked into place. She swallowed the last bit, and her eyes snapped back to me.

"Thank you, Logan." She said, realizing the full extent of the treasure and why I wanted to wait for her to eat it first.

"Now let's get you out there so I can see to get your side taken care of."

"I think I can take care of that for you." Greg entered the room and placed his hand on the wall. Where he touched, a white glow began. He moved his hand across the wall, and the light grew steadily brighter, following him across the wall in a small arc.

"There you go. That should last around twenty minutes. You can call me back in if you need more." He turned away to leave the room. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Greg, that's badass!" I admired the ability, already thinking of how else it might be useful rather than just as a light source. I could already see him wielding a blazing battleaxe, blinding enemies while wearing some cool shades. He stopped in the doorway and shrugged.

"Yeah. I know," then left the room.

"Well, if you think that was neat, you just wait." Nancy softly laughed, placing a cool hand on my side that made me suck in air. In the bright light, she probed, checking for any debris.

"This is way cleaner than I expected. I'm not seeing anything in there. Did you have it cleaned already?" I shook my head.

"The creature that did it had… pretty clean claws, I guess."

"Well, you're fortunate there. Ready?" She didn't wait around for a response, and true to her word, a much fainter light emanated from between her hand and the wound. I felt my skin protest at first, pulling, stretching, knitting itself back together. The entire wound site was healing together, then it slowed, then stopped, just shy of completely healing. Nancy swayed, the only warning of her collapse, and I nearly missed catching her as she fell.

"Ah, shit. I'm sorry, you bottomed out your mana. You're going to have a killer headache."

"Dear God, that smarts!" She clenched her eyes shut, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I didn't quite use all of it. I heard some of the others say it hurt too much if you did, but I didn't think it would be this bad. I really wanted to finish healing you. I'm sorry."

"Are you kidding? This is amazing! Also, speaking of which, I need to find Tim." I peeked out the door, scanning the room for the man, when I caught sight of Benjie, one of the older kids. He was your average stereotypical gangly teen, right down to the voice cracks.

"Psst! Benjie!" I caught his attention and motioned him over.

"Go get Tim, please. Have him come over here quick as you can!"

"Uhh. Tim? Which one is that?" He looked confused and very uncomfortable.

"He's your dad, Benjie. Your dad, Tim." I matched his blank stare.

"OH! Right, hah. Yeah, one sec…" He stumbled as he turned, then ran off to find his dad.

"In his defense, I don't think he's ever heard his mother call him anything but Timothy." Nancy groaned from behind me.

"Oh man. I'd kill for an aspirin."

"You're gonna have to be careful with that. Maybe you can do a mix of stuff to help, like stitch something, and then heal it? It might use less mana."

"I don't even want to think about that right now." She leaned against the stone wall and rested her head back.

"Y'all needed me?" Tim walked into the room and froze, taken aback by the light arching across the wall.

"Yeah, I got a couple things for you." I dug around in my pack and produced the spirit tree seed.

"Think you can plant this and take care of it?" He frowned, taking the seed from my palm.

"Maybe… But unless you know what it is, it might not turn out so well if I don't know what it—EPIC!?" His eyes went wide with the notification, and his mouth dropped open as he read.

"Yep. A spirit tree of our very own. It even has protective powers. I don't think I need to tell you how important this is."

"No, you don't. I mean, I don't know what a spirit tree is, but I can't begin to imagine how much this must be worth." He turned it over in his hand, admiring the small seed.

"And we really can talk to it?"

"Yep. I talked to the one that left that." His eyes narrowed, and his voice took on a dangerous edge.

"That wouldn't happen to be the same tree that those branches by the front door came from, would they?" I put my hands up, placating the man.

"Now hold on, I didn't kill it. Not on purpose."

"YOU KILLED IT!?" He looked at me, incredulous.

"Why!?"

"I unintentionally woke it from some sort of magical slumber. It cracked and made some fruit. That's pretty much it." I lowered my hands slowly.

"Now, if you're not going to start swinging at me…" I stopped and waited for him to nod his agreement.

"I do have one other thing." I reached into my bag and pulled out the last, verdant green fruit of Growth, and held it up. His eyes latched onto the fruit, and I saw a hint of greed in his stare.

"This is special. It's going to be the best thing you've ever had, or probably will have, in your life. So take this as an apology for killing the tree, an act over which I had no control." I handed it over to him, and he snatched it, taking a huge bite. I nearly shit myself when he tried to spit it out.

"NO!" I slapped a hand over his mouth, keeping him from desecrating the treasure.

"You have to eat all of it, or you won't get the ability!" Angry eyes flared at me, and he mumbled as he choked on the mass of green fruit.

"Thith tathed like grath, you ath-hole!"