030 – A Chance to Learn – Part 4 –

Chieftess Briaga gave Uriel an intent look after a while and asked once more about his leg.

Uriel simply thanked her once more as he told them of his encounter with the snake and spoke of the lack of pain.

"You should have told Urlo about it sooner, you're very fortunate to have a strong constitution but even the trace amounts of venom in your body would have proved harmful had it remained in your blood," the Chieftess gave him an earful, but hearing her anger made him think of his mom who would do the exact same every time he got hurt because of something stupid he had done.

It eased his mind and allowed him to temporarily forget about his fear of her.

The conversation quickly changed onto more serious topics.

"My son has mention that your village has been destroyed by soldiers," stated Briaga after some time and her kind features became firm.

Uriel nodded, "The soldiers flying the banners of the Golden Swan," he informed the Chieftess, and a trace of anger crept into his eyes at the mention of their name.

"I know this must be hard for you but what can you tell us about the attack, what caused it?"

Uriel slowly nodded his head, he didn't much want to think about it, but the Chieftess seemed oddly concerned regarding the affair, after all the help they had given him, he felt that it would be poor repayment if he couldn't tell them what they wanted to know.

He started slowly and went back to the beginning, it was in the early days of the season of the flame when the patrols from the king of Usrid stopped coming, and with it came the bandits.

Then two months later when the season of the storm began the Rothwart soldiers appeared carrying the banner with Golden Swan and restored order to the land.

They established deals with the villagers to pay their original tributes that would go to Usrid to them instead and everything was fine for two months.

But then they started to drive up the requirements of produce and became increasingly unreasonable in their demands.

Uriel explained how it enraged many of the people and villagers, and how it all resulted in the outrageous demands on Cair-Andriel.

He struggled to keep his breathing steady once he reached that point and skipped over some of the details like Alec's death, but he managed to get out one last thing he mentioned the note that Mayor Jonah had written to the neighboring villages about standing against the soldiers.

The Chieftess listened intently nodding every time he mentioned a new detail and urged him to continue giving him a lot of encouragement.

When he stopped she pulled back and started asking pointed questions about the soldiers, like their names and any appearances that he recalled.

His mention of Lambert and Harald got the Chieftess's eyes to widen, she was evidently familiar with their names, and her reaction gave Uriel the impression that she knew a lot more about the situation outside than he imagined.

"Those two... did either of them detect your connection to Eldrin?" the Chieftess asked in seriousness.

Uriel nodded in honesty, "Yes, the knight he even offered me to join him," uttered Uriel and recalled another thing he said, "He said that my power would be helpful in the unification," he said thinking that it sounded like something important.

At once the faces of the Chieftess and Urlo lit up with anger and the Chieftess bared her fangs, the line between her human and prowler form seemed almost non-existent.

"Curses, that damned queen does not heed any warning that we send her," the Chieftess half shouted and half-snarled in anger.

"What's the unification?" Uriel asked curiously when the two seemed to calm.

The priestess shook her head, "Nothing that you need to worry about young one," she said with all traces of her anger having left her body.

"Though I am curious, since he made you the offer why did he let you go?" she asked, the power inside him was powerful but also highly unstable, it seemed strange that Lambert would let him go free if he couldn't take advantage of his power.

Uriel shook his head as he remembered the last moments of the night, "They didn't let me go," he muttered and reached down to his stomach.

"I should be dead," he muttered telling them about the wound and the blood that came pouring out of him, "But then I woke up the next morning," he said with a look of sorrow on his face.

Briaga narrowed her eyes with suspicion as she thought of something, "Did you use your power that night?" she asked although she was certain of the answer.

Uriel nodded.

"Did it do anything to the earth or plants or water?" she asked.

Uriel's eyes widened in surprise, "Uh, yes I don't remember how I did it, but I know that the earth was…" he struggled to come up with an accurate word to describe what happened.

The Chieftess nodded, "Yes, I smelt it on you when you arrived, it seems that your eldrin has a powerful affinity with nature and life, it is only my guess here, but it is possible that your eldrin healed you," she explained.

Uriel looked down at his stomach and thought of this power inside of him, if that was true then it was the reason he was alive but at the same time he couldn't help but feel resentful.

It never helped him in past, he would have much rather died there on that day, yet that was when it decided to help him.

It felt like a cruel twist of fate.

Briaga could see the tumultuous emotions making their way through his face and placed a hand on his head, "You shouldn't feel guilty for your survival, it was part of your fate, nothing will come of letting it weigh you down,"

"You are still young with your whole life ahead of you, and you can choose your own path and I'm sure that your family would have wanted that for you," she said giving him a reassuring shake.

Urlo yawned as he looked at the crybaby with tears creeping out the corners of his eyes for what was already the third time since he met him, and it hadn't even been a day.

"What will you do from now?" he asked, "And your answer had best not be to cry," he said crossing his arms.

Uriel reached up and wiped the tears away before they could pass the lids of his eyes, he was tired of crying.

"When I got up there were bandits who tried to capture me, they mentioned that the soldiers were paying for us and that they would sell the villagers as slaves," he said in a low tone.

"I intend to find my people and free them, but also I want revenge on those soldiers who killed my family and destroyed by village," Uriel put his intentions straight and honest, he wasn't one to lie or withhold things unnecessarily.

"The path of revenge is not a good one, and one that I would sincerely advise you give up child, as for freeing your people it will be a difficult challenge but one of honor," said Briaga solemnly.

Uriel clenched his fists tight as this was something he could not let go of, he had already given his word to his fallen family, and he would not break it, he had to get justice for them.

"Urlo said that you can teach me how to control my eldrin," said Uriel softly, "I… I know that I failed your test before, but please give me another chance," he pleaded.

Uriel wasn't foolish enough to believe that he could take on all the soldiers and the knight and the archer all by himself, he knew that as he was he would be lucky to be able to fight even one properly trained soldier let alone people like them.

He was strong but he was no swordsman or soldier, the only thing that he had to balance the scales was his connection with eldrin, but he had no idea how to control it.

If he met the soldiers now he wouldn't be able to stop himself from attacking them, and he would most likely die a meaningless death.

But if he could use eldrin then things would be different, then he'd have a chance even if only a little one it was still better than his current chances.

He had to take this chance and do whatever it took to learn the power, it was the only way to protect everyone.

"If I agree to teach you young one, will you relinquish your desire for revenge?" she asked with a serious face, "It is not a road of goodness," she said firmly.

"I…" Uriel paused he considered lying for a second, but he couldn't, it wasn't right to lie especially to those who were helping him.

"I can't do that," he answered with clenched fists.

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