"Are you sure this will make me stronger"
Kaelen had to talk with a muffled voice since his mouth was half full with moss, scraped from the roots of the Great Tree.
We are sure of it
Consume more
The black feather`s voice kept reassuring him of it.
Since it kept nagging about him being weak, it obviously knew the way to change Kaelen. And well, there were two ways.
The simple one, which is currently employed, is to eat. A lot. And especially eat parts of the biggest and oldest organisms in the world, which along with its limitless supply is also a great religious object. Free to abuse source for the gem to use.
Second way....isn`t so easy.
Since normal people can`t use magic, they use AngelFeathers. Some think they`re just myths, other say they come from the tree, others aren`t sure what they are. One thing is certain - they are feathers and they make stuff go boom. And are incredibly rare.
In the swamps, there were only a handful people that owned one of them, and they only showed up when needed. With one exception, being the Overseer who visited the place quite often, but he didn`t even need magic to be a problem around here.
The feathers were basically a decoration for him.
Give us more of the angels
We will give you more of power
That`s the gist of the second way - steal them.
"You know" Kaelen swallowed the green rust with disgust "This won`t be easy"
.
..
eat
"Sure" And he kept munching. and munching. and munching. Until his stomach was finally full and his tongue green.
By the time he was finished, the sun was almost gone.
And a small problem arrived - he just broke the door to his hut, said goodbye to his parents and had no food, no money and it was really really cold inside. And of course, he just decided to be a free man, a different person
"Fuck" He whispered and shivering, went to look for another place for the night.
------------
"I`m telling you, this is where they live" Tessen hissed from the shadows
"There is literally, nothing here" A man in a thick coat and a half of his mouth covered snapped back at him
"No, this " pointing at the bunch of roots and mud, with bits of bark and wood as doors or windows "This is a slave house"
"Then we walk in and search for slaves" The man crashed into the nearest hut and startled the people inside
"You" He walked and grabbed a guy`s throat "Do you know about a man named Kaelen"
"No....no sir" The poor man wiggled in his grasp but answered quickly.
Coated man turned his eyes to the others - all shook they`re heads in fear.
"I see" quick signal to leave and as he closed the door, he dropped a bronze coin on the ground.
"Fucking slaves" as the 4 people inside rushed to grab the money for themselves
They repeated this with every hut around. Every house had slaves that were so miserable that they couldn`t answer properly nor resist. Just shake their heads or mutter out no.
"This gets us nowhere" Tessen whispered to the man
"I disagree" The man kept walking forward as the night began to cover the swamps
"How? We searched the entire district, THIS is where he lives"
"Yes, that is right" Coat kneeled down under a large root "And he is here"
Tessen rolled his eyes, but looked straight at the man after a second. His fingers were covered in some dark goo.
"As I said - he`s here. And he couldn`t have gotten far. Not without money and not with his condition. Get me anyone with black...liquid on their faces, smudges, stains on their clothes."
His goons nodded and spread out, barging into even more homes and starring down at the people - every face was grabbed and examined, ragged clothes almost ripped out of them and looked for stains. A lot of them had vomit on their faces and dirty clothes, but not black.
The coated man continued to look for the goo and he found some there, found some here, and made his way up to the biggest root in the vicinity.
"Moss....." His fingers were touching a patch of missing green from the tree, with clear finger markings that ripped it off. "He is closer"
The head snapped; eyes were locked onto a window of one of the huts. Now it wouldn`t be a problem normally, but this one was different.
There was light inside.
Light means fire.
Fire means they had a way to make it, and that was rare. Even a flint and steel was uncommon down here.
He whistled and his goons came out of the other huts. Quietly, the signals were made and they surrounded the hut without a single word.
Tessen was watching from the back confused, but he didn`t question it. If the guy says something , he`s doing it regardless of him.
Knock knock
The doors were opened by a slave girl with red hairs
"Hello?" She whimpered at the sight of the man who barged in and looked around the house. 2 kids and another woman in the house were sitting on the ground eating scraps of bread.
"Kaelen. Where is he" There was no introduction, knocking on the doors was already polite, but as he didn`t find the man on sight, more talking was needed.
"Who is .. Kaelen ..sir?" She backed off to a wall and stood still
"Do not play dumb girl" The finger was pointed to a small fire made from the roots and greenery around "Where`s the man who made this?"
"I...I don`t know...we borrowed a torch....someone was walking past us"
"Where?!" His face met her, the cold unwavering mask against the shaking eyes and red hair
There were no words, only a small trembling finger pointed in the direction of the Tree outside. Coat snapped and left in a hurry, without a word, without a thank you.
All of his men rushed behind him as they ran through the paths in the swamp. Now they knew 2 things - Kaelen is vomiting black goo and he has a torch. Both very easy to track, both a big problem for him.
Good thing that he wasn`t an idiot at least. Once all of the goons were gone, he came from under a pack of leaves and mud inside the hut.
"Thank you Mira" He brushed off the dirt and stood up.
The red hair girl smiled and sat next to the fire with her family, as he watched outside as the men looked for him in the dark.
Doors creeked as he very carefully came outside and prepared to head to a different home, one of his "friends" who still had a place hidden away, could hide him for a day or two.
It was not close, but it was the best option for him. Now as the goons were gone, he could.
"Hello Kaelen"