Triple Strength

265. Freedom’s Beginning: Wiremu.

Once Umreti had settled, Nelson checked the runes under the watchful eyes of Mayakku and myself. Then he started the ritual.

He started by rotating his spiritual energy in the direction of the spiral runes he had drawn. If this is required, it will be difficult to replicate with enchanting. He started with a hand, filling the rune with energy and then pricking the centre of the rune with a needle, which mixed Umreti’s blood with the rune. He did each hand and then each foot. From what I read, the order didn’t matter as long as you first did the four external ones. Then it is the head and then the heart.

As Nelson worked around each limb, he kept the energy flowing to each of the previous runes. I trust Mayakku to understand better the intensity and flavour required, as she has the Spiritual Sensitivity Skill. I focused on the Bond to see if any changes were happening. I could sense changes to the bond already as it seemed to be in flux. The changes seemed to be only on the physical at the moment. The Class hasn’t made any changes yet.

Once Nelson had completed the four external runes, he stopped. I got the impression he was checking things. He probably has not done this for several decades. He called Ruku over as the Slave Master and had him add a drop of his blood to each of the four Runes he had empowered. I guess this is why it is easier for the Stave Taskmaster to take over as the Slave Master. Ruku’s blood definitely increased the fluctuation in the bond.

Nelson went for the head rune next. This rune was more complicated, and he didn’t rotate his energy here. He empowered it the same way, and once the rune was full, he pricked the centre and had Ruku add a drop of his blood. This caused more fluctuations in the bond, which was Mental and Physical. There was still no effect on the class.

He moved onto the Heart rune while keeping the energy flowing to the other five runes. This is where I need to concentrate. Once he had filled that rune, he pricked the centre, and Ruku did his thing. All six runes being empowered was causing massive fluctuation in the bond, but I had a sense that Nelson was not pumping energy into all six bonds at an increased rate. The Class felt funny and different in a way I had no experience with. My Interogate Status Skill was only Apprentice Level. Maybe I am missing something. Maybe it was like he was flooding the class with his energy. Rituals direct Spiritual Energy. That is their whole purpose.

I had to trust Mayakku to sense what was going on outside because I did not want to miss anything with the bond or Class. I was scared the bond would break with the amount of disturbance to it, but maybe it is supposed to. The Class was filling up like a lung filled with air or a bladder filled with water and expanded until I was scared it would break as well. I don’t think it is supposed to. Nothing I have read indicates that is what happens.

Then Nelson changed what he was doing. Instead of pushing energy in, he was drawing it out. I don’t know how he could sense when to make the change, but as he sucked out the Spiritual Energy, the Slave Class and the Bond both started reducing in size. I don’t know which disappeared first. Maybe that both happened together, all of a sudden, they were both gone, sucked out as it were.

Umreti collapsed in a heap, but he maintained consciousness and was soon picking himself up. Modrica was there giving him a hand. Ruku did not seem affected. Nelson seemed worn out, but I felt he appeared more tired than he was.

“There you go,” Nelson said as he stepped forward and picked up the coin Tabitha had left there. “I need to rest now.”

“How much rest do you need before you can do another one?” Tabitha asked.

“His Slave Class was only Novice Level. If we negotiate to do another one, I will need a day’s rest for Novice, two days for Apprentice and three for Journeyman Level or higher,” he replied.

She looked at Ruku, “One is a Novice. The other two are Journeyman.” he said regarding the other three slaves.

“We will discuss it in the morning,” Tabitha said, and the two groups moved away to their camps.

Mayakku collected her enchanted items. We left Umreti in Modrica’s care, grabbed Ruku and went into Mayakku’s wagon.

“Mayakku?” I asked.

“The flavour was strong. The energy flow was simple enough.”

“Didn’t he spiral the energy?” I asked,

“Yes, but it is not required. He is very experienced in Spiritual Energy, I think he was trying to make it look more difficult than it is. The only tricky part was keeping the flow consistent over all six positions.”

“How much energy?”

“Very little to fill the runes. Once the runes were filled, he then pumped in a lot. It sounds like the higher the Class Level, the more energy is required.”

“The Class filled with the energy until I thought it might explode.”

“Being able to judge that point is going to be key,” Mayakku said. “It is going to change per Class level. If it explodes, their classes are crippled for life.”

“Or they die,” I said. “What happened to the energy when he drew the energy out? Did he collect it, as that could be difficult?”

“The energy was just disbursed. I think anyone with reasonable skill could do that.”

“What happened at your end, Ruku?” I asked.

“It felt very weird. The bond almost broke. I am not sure how serious it would be if it broke. It would be harder on Umreti and me, but would it still have worked?”

“Hard to say,” I replied, “It would probably be OK. I hope we don’t have to test it.” I turned to Mayakku, “What about the flavours?”

“They were crystal clear, and I had ideas to try for all of them. We were on the right track with the first one.”

“OK, we will give you some space to work on that while it is fresh.” Ruku and I left the wagon. I checked the bond with Tāoke, and he was still out by the slaves. We approached Tabitha, Modrica and Umreti. “What did you think?” I asked Tabitha.

“He is definitely stalling for time. I am pretty sure he could have done both novices, one straight after the other.”

“I thought he was overplaying it.” I looked at Umreti. “How are you?”

He nodded, “Good.”

I noticed his hands were shaking a bit, so he wasn’t that good. It appears to have been successful.

Tabitha said, “He will need time to recover. And get used to life again.” Modrica grunted her agreement.

“Take your time,” I said, “Has Astrid looked you over?”

“Briefly,” Tabitha replied for him.

“Rest first and then a full health check. If you need anything, just ask.”

Umreti just nodded his thanks. Not all orcs are this terse. Some are actually verbose. Does Modrica affect their speech or something? Does she have an aura that turns grunts into a language?

Tāoke was moving as he followed the slaves back to their camp. I started to ask Tabitha something, then shut my mouth and concentrated. “The bird is still here. Has it left and come back?”

“No, it has been watching us the whole time,” Tabitha replied.

“The Slaves are moving back to their camp. If the bird didn't take the message, who did? Have you seen the fox?”

Tabitha shook her head. “No fox yet.”

“They didn’t make a judgement call. That is not what slaves do. How did they know?”

“Are you sure that is the right bird?”

“Absolutely.”

“Could he have a second bird rather than a fox?”

“Possible. Unlikely, but possible.”

“Do you think the bird can hear us?”

“Possible, which means he knows that we know about the bonds and the slaves.”

“Tomorrow’s meeting could be interesting then.”

I nodded, “I will pop back and help Mayakku. Let me know if there are any issues.”

Tabitha nodded at me as I left. It will be a long night.