Chapter 14

With Dirhaël exhausted and his wounds treated, Rita and Dalos were left alone. For Rita, the confusion of the whole situation was visible on her face, with the last thing she remembers is seeing an arrow lodged in her stomach. Only to wake up days later in a cave with her grandson badly wounded and with barely a scar where the arrow was.

"Now Dalos, why don't you explain what happened while I was away?" Rita said as she stroked Alaia who seeing her favorite person awake had decided to return to her side.

"Of course ma'am, it's a pleasure to see you recovered again."

"Start with where we are and where our remaining group is."

"They left us behind ma'am, I believe they are still moving towards the general direction we were going and tried to steal our supplies and map, there was little I could do to stop them, my lady"

"Easy Dalos, I don't blame you for the ignorance and stupidity of the others."

"How did we end up in this cave" Rita asked as she motioned for Dalos to come towards her.

"Lord Dirhaël returned after confronting the goblins to buy time in our escape, though I don't know what happened due to losing consciousness thanks to a few blows, I only remember waking up in the afternoon with the task of finding shelter for that night. right now we are in a cave under the mountain range, Lord Dirhaël was able to find it that night hopefully" replied Dalos struggling to keep her balance as he helped Rita to her feet, worried if it was the right thing to do but too afraid to contradict her requests.

Rita only smiled at Dalos' last words "Yes, I'm afraid luck is in short supply in term of an opinion of fate my dear Dalos."

"Madam?..." said Dalos with a confused look.

"Don't worry about the words of an old woman, now why don't we prepare a proper dinner for our dear hero" Said Rita, as she relied on her strength to stand and with the support of a branch as a cane and Alaia hung from her shoulder as usual.

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The weight of the dead suffocated over me, their bloody hands and the sound of their continuous wailing, along with the guilt and hatred they felt towards me, I could see faces from the past, as well as some from the present. A bloody mist that seemed to infect my entire body slowly dissipated and I let out a moan.

"Easy, Chico" It was Grandma's voice always with her comforting tone that calmed my nerves.

"How are you feeling, try not to move so much, I was barely able to treat your wounds in time, I don't want to have to do it all over again."

"While your wounds were extensive, thanks to whatever you do it looks like you barely lost any blood but you still have open wounds. a simple needle and thread did the job, although it will be a few more days before they close completely."

"So what's the plan then?" I asked as I finished eating the last of what was left between a mixture of rabbit meat and mushrooms.

"We have no other options even if we wanted to climb the mountains we don't have the necessary equipment, nor the ability to do so, besides, there is talk of great dangers roaming the mountains."

I took a moment to process what Grandmother said and added what I had learned during my days of reading that talked about the region of Mordor. Something that was strangely scarce, This was no longer a movie fantasy world with a dead author and its history incomplete, it would make no sense for the leaders of a nation to leave the remnants of their ancient enemy unexplored, they seemed happy knowing they were on their side of the world and as long as they didn't cross over it would be fine.

If anything went wrong it could be the end of this world and I had little information about what would happen or how the power dynamics worked in this world. I had almost lost my life to simple goblins and in the movies, they were just the riffraff that died like pests only to show up again in a matter of days.

After my moment of introspection, I shifted my attention back to the current topic of conversation while calming the nerves in my hands.

"Then we'll continue after a few days" Dalos said as he finished smoking what little meat and food we had left.

"You think you can keep doing that to get better" Grandma said towards me, with a normal tone.

Although I was surprised, I didn't let it show on my face and let out my breath in a long sigh, knowing what was coming next. "Without forcing myself I can do it in a few days."

Grandma, seemingly not having taken it to heart turned her attention back to Dalos. "Do you have any problems or opinions young Dalos?"

"No my lady, I will follow to the letter whatever decision you make, it is obvious you are more prepared than a simple peasant like me" Dalos said in a decisive voice.

"Alright, let's get ready to move on after a few days, we'll get food and hopefully some furs to cover us from the blizzards in the mountains."

"Now Dalos why don't you go get a few wild berries for today's food, try to find more, if you can for the journey."

"Right away."

"It's been like this since I woke up, did something happen?" asked Grandmother as she sewed some garment replacements.

"I'm not too sure, he seems to want to be useful" I answered her, with the same doubt in my eyes, since that night I didn't know very well what was going through Dalos' mind.

"...He's a good boy."

Now I wondered what Dalos had done to make Grandma speak well of him. Hopefully, he spoke well of the animals.

"Speak boy, what's this about" Grandma asked the moment Dalos came out of the cave, as she pointed to the scar on her abdomen.

My body braced itself and I channeled the mana into my body, letting the energy of the cave flood me with little by little a weak aura emanating from my body, barely being somewhat visible thanks to the darkness of the cave. "It's a kind of energy, it came since I was little, before I could retain it and recently I discovered that it not only served to recover my stamina but to increase my strength and be able to heal."

"Before? Something happened"

"I'm not sure but it seems I didn't just have physical injuries to my body, I feel like something else was damaged inside me."

"Do you think that risks your health at all?" her oice was firm, but not as strict as it always was. There was a gentle tinge of reassurance and patience.

"Other than not being able to retain mana, I haven't had any other problems" I replied with a reassuring smile, although I was also concerned that it might otherwise affect that event, I couldn't lose my trump card.

"Mana?"

"That's what I decided to call the energy, it seemed like an appropriate name."

"We'll solve the problem once we can settle down, for now, focus on getting your physique back" Although she spoke calmly, there was a slight hint of fear and I saw the area around her eyes tighten.

Grandmother looked at Alaia in her lap and after a slight nod of her head, she turned her attention back to me. "and Dirhaël, you can trust me more, I will never judge you or accuse you no matter what you do, I would die for you boy."

"...I know Grandma" As always, Grandma always seemed to know just the right thing to say at the right time.