The Warded Man and Rojer set out to get the horse and their gear back. Finding the men and the gear, they both take back the horse, most of the gear and the portable warding circle. The men are left to the mercy of the wild now. The Warded Man did kill the majority of corelings in the area, but you never know what might be stalking about. The bandits are knocked out anyways. They don't know what's going on until they wake up.
The two return to camp and Leesha wakes up with hot air blowing in her face. The horse is back. She questions Rojer as to how the horse is now here. They set out and eventually ride by the bandit camp, one of them missing, body parts strewn about everywhere and blood painting the ground. It's here that Leesha turns a little bit hissy and begins her speech about how killing people is wrong. She is countered with 'sometimes it is necessary'. She either makes a baseless accusation against the Warded Man and chooses to feel 'offended' or there is not enough context for me to understand what she meant by 'you mock what I am'.
You know what... she just freaks out and chomps left and right. Upon ranting about the corelings, the Warded Man is hit in the feels and begins to back up toward the entrance to the cave. He roars at a coreling bashing into the wards, a sound described as 'inhuman'. He does the 'stupid thing' and exits the wards to start combat against the corelings, in the rain- probably expecting to die. Rojer goes out to bring him back. The Warded Man then realizes it's no longer just his life on the line. They both make their exit.
Leesha is out in the dawn collecting herbs when the Warded Man stumbles upon her. There is a makeup process in their conversation as both of them take fancy to each other. She falls back with a plump into the mud, and then...
*beeta cah beeeeeh. watta chicka wakka beeta cah beeh beh behhhhh!* that happens. You know precisely what I am talking about.
And then the wood demon skulking in the forest wants to become a willing participant to a free two course meal. The Warded Man is going to have none of it, entering combat with a rather large 8 footer. They fight and that point of dawn where the sun approaches and the corelings de-materialize is now upon them. The coreling begins to return to the core and burn at the sun's light.
But there is a problem. It's pulling the Warded Man down with it. Down to the core. The Warded Man experiences the worst fear of his life as he makes a grab for the surface, the Core calling to him. Somehow he manages to grab hold of the demon and shove it back towards the surface. He makes it above the plane with the coreling- right as the coreling shrieks in terror and begins to light on fire and steam into a corpse pile.
He doesn't know what is going on; terror gripping at him. He nudges Leesha away and starts to tend to his wounds, which will heal fast. And of course- she begins to mouth off again. I don't know anymore... Leesha's character is kind of annoying, but authentic in a way that a person could behave like this in reality. My reply to her comments of 'corespawn it!' would be:
'Sorry honey, but the world isn't going to care what your ideal vision of it is'.
On the way to Cutter's Hollow, both the Warded Man and Leesha trade barbs. Rojer inquires about traveling further with the Warded Man, but if his music can not kill the corelings, it is of little use to him. Amid the conversation, they all notice fire and smoke coming from the hamlet.
As noted before, the bad news from the Hamlet is that a disease is spreading throughout the area. The symptoms sound an awful lot like bubonic plague, but let your imagination run wild I suppose. Leesha begins preparations to treat the people of the Hamlet when again she lashes out at the Warded Man for still being here and wanting to help. He vows not to break his oath again- to give nothing to the corelings.
He pulls part of the carcass of a demon out of his travel bag on his horse and throws it to the ground where it steams some more. It stops everyone in their tracks. The Warded Man announces that these demons of the core can be killed, and he can ward weapons to make it so. One by one people begin to volunteer... to finally fight back.
I love the Warded Man's reply to Leesha. "What good is a mad obsession without helping people?" OW. Got the nail. Straight. On. The head. I laughed. They make way to Bruna's Hut where Leesha extracts stores of demonfire. The Warded Man shows intense interest in the substance and wants to learn how to make it.
"NOPE" says Leesha. Previously, Bruna warned against giving 'such power' to men again. We get a brief reunion between father and daughter, Erny continuing to show that he has a pair into older age and is no longer a cuckold. Daughter does what she can for her father, and then has to leave. He understands and WANTS her to go. He won't be the same after the illness if he survives, but he will carry on.
Rojer performs his duties as Jongleur in the hospit, telling tales of awe of the Deliverer (or Warded Man?) ripping giant demons in half. He didn't hear it this time, but this kind of talk, and religious talk of God or the deliverer makes the Warded Man scowl. The tales, the performances and the fiddle playing are doing a world of good for the patients of the town, even if Rojer doesn't believe them or feel that they will make it out alive. There are four more "ripping" books in the series, so you take a guess as to the outcome about to play out.
No comments:
Post a Comment