Tales of Fire and Ruin

Trouble in the Mountains

"Eat."

Oleander all but dropped a piece of rye bread and a slice of cheese in my lap while I was still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

I covered up a yawn with one hand and grabbed the piece of bread with the other. "Thank you and good morning to you too?"

Oleander ignored my lighthearted comment and sat opposite me on the bed. "There is one more thing I need to tell you before we leave this inn room and head into the mountains."

"You need to tell me something," I repeated. "Do you really have to? The last few times you 'told me something' it was about your deception and an evil artefact made with the blood of children. Terrible things."

"It's about the Changeling," Oleander continued, again, ignoring my lighthearted albeit half-serious comment. "A confession I have to make."

I cleared my throat and dropped my smile because Oleander looked dead serious. "Let's hear it then."

Oleander crouched and grabbed the staff from below the bed. He unwrapped the cloth hiding the gem. Its blood red shine looked all the more menacing to me, knowing how close I was to having to wield it.

"To state it bluntly," Oleander said, "I don't know exactly what happens if you touch the Changeling. I only know it's not deadly to the god-touched, since it was never the intention of its creators to kill its wielders. And, as far as I know, everyone who used it survived."

I smiled wryly. "Good to hear I won't die when I touch it. Probably."

"The Changeling may test you, however," Oleander said. "Thankfully, you've been training with your storm-touched gifts ever since you were a child. You received it at a young age if I recall correctly."

"Yes, I was five," I confirmed. "And my parents started preparing me to head into the mountains and slay a dragon ever since. I needed to be well-trained with my gifts for that."

Oleander snorted. "I never thought I would say this, but bless them for that. I can't imagine what would happen if I tried to take one of those weak Wildewall god-touched to the mountains."

"What do you mean?"

"You saw those god-touched at the temple, pretending to be guards at my execution." Oleander wrinkled his nose in obvious distaste."They went down like they had never even used the might their god granted them in their life."

"I saw you kill them with one slam of your tail, yes," I said. "They never even had the chance to use their god-touched power on you."

"You would have been able to summon your thunder before I could reach you," Oleander shot back. "They couldn't conjure their magic fast enough, and that is a clear sign of improper training and completely their own fault. They spent all their time living in a temple, getting fed grapes and living off of their status as a god-touched. Worse: people let them and believed stationing them as guards at my execution, which was nothing but empty posturing, would be enough. They allowed themselves to get comfortable and weak and it's a disgrace to their gods. Despite being disgraced and exiled from the court, you followed a far more noble path."

"I don't know, Oleander." I grinned. "If I had known what waited for me in Wildewall and I could've been sitting on my ass getting worshipped by everyone around me, I might've taken that life instead. It beats being smacked around by Gisela for missing a target. Not that I would've wanted to end up slammed against the wall by a dragon's tail like them."

Oleander raised a suggestive brow. "It's unfortunate to hear you're not happy being slammed into the wall."

Heat rose to my cheeks. "Don't change the subject," I protested. "The Changeling. It's going to... test me?"