By the end of the day, Mika and Nora confirmed the runes inscribed onto the bones and written on Ellen’s bandages were taking something from the material and transferring it over to our wounds. Neither were sure how but both of them were over the moon at seeing a new technique, and together they sent hours with their heads together speculating on how to use it in their own crafts.

  When the day finally ran its course and the four of us retired, I had to deal with the stone bed frame uncomfortably pressing against my no longer numb shoulder. I almost drifted off, never mind the pain, but before I did, I prayed to Ylena.

  Sacred Mother, may my words be heard and received with warmth. I pray to confirm my survival and while it was not a victory for my employer; I believe I succeeded in building the prestige for my party and I. We held that position for hours and I slew dozens in the fighting.

  Yet I was not perfect. Because of my weakness, I had to sacrifice my shoulder to kill an opponent who would have otherwise slain me. It has been tended and I am lucky the only consequence for my weakness will be a new scar.

  I want to apologize for my lapse in discipline since leaving the forest. I have been lax in my training and it showed today. Without the other Black Hands and my trainers to keep the same schedule, I have found it hard to maintain what is required of me. I will be better moving forward and hope you grant me the will to succeed.

  I ended the prayer without saying the ritualistic words that would have allowed Ylena to flood our connection with her presence and appear in the room with me to not wake the others. I could still feel her attention on me, however.

  When I began, I only felt a warm acceptance and forgiveness flowing through the bond. As the prayer continued, the sensation I felt from our bond shifted from emotion to that of a motherly hand running through my hair, trying to lull me to sleep.

  It worked, and within minutes I was asleep

  Without the sun, it was hard to tell how long I’d been out, but it felt like far too little when the door slammed against the wall and someone burst into the room. Half awake and acting on instinct, I dove for my belt knife and before a conscious thought reached me; I was half standing with the blade drawn and pointed towards the intruder.

  It wasn’t a goblin or an aranae in the doorway, but Maggie. She stood there with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face, her eyes consciously never looking at the knife. With a sigh, I laid back down and moved my uninjured hand to cover my eyes from the blue-green light in the hall.

  Maggie summoned two items from her storage ring and strode into the cramped room. The four of groaned in time with the pommel of Maggie’s own belt knife as she pounded it into the bottom of the party’s cook pot. Chanting some nursery rhyme about waking up as she did so.

  Pillows impacted Maggie’s face one after another as Nora and Ellen both launched theirs at her.

  “Get up! C’mon guys! The spiress is giving out gifts to everyone involved with yesterday’s battle!”

  That was the exact right thing to say and all of us got up faster than otherwise possible, dressing and making ourselves as presentable as possible. We followed Maggie out into the courtyard where the spiress was standing upon a newly made stage with all of her advisors.

  We milled about idly in the courtyard as we waited for the aranae to finish trickling in from the spires that made up this fort. Some joined us in front of the stage while other congregated at the edges of the courtyard. After people stopped exiting the spires, I saw how bad the causalities were.

  It looked like fifteen of the twenty laborers who built the walls survived, while only half the combatants survived or were healthy enough to attend. Amongst the seventy or so aranae I vaguely recognized from yesterday, four of them were so badly maimed I doubted they’d ever lead normal lives again.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Each of the four either had multiple amputations or were missing large parts of their carapace, the raw pink flesh underneath exposed. I prayed they found good enough [Healers] to be restored but doubted it would be before their souls adapted to the new form and lost the ability to be restored.

  The spiress, content with the amount of people present, began her speech. It was the same talk of eternal glory Helle spouted back in the field, and part of me expected her promises to be empty. She surprised me, however, when she directed two laborers up on stage.

  At her command, the laborers unraveled what they held to reveal a large tapestry. Depicted in the background was a horde of goblins, the dyed black and gold of their armor distinct against the off-white webbing. In the foreground was a cluster of a hundred and fifty aranae. Each figure was big enough to be distinct and looking closely at the piece I thought I saw the four of us portrayed in the crowd too. Our body plans different enough from the aranae’s that it made us stand out.

  Nora, Ellen, and I were all in the middle of the foreground, while Mika was off to the side and surrounded by laborers distinguishable because of their lack of tails. Splitting the goblin horde and the aranae was the wall, which practically shown with runes dyed a brilliant blue.

  At the sight of the tapestry, the crowd erupted in shrieks and roars. The noise didn’t die down until minutes later when the spiress held up a hand for silence. Her monochrome eyes somehow conveying impatience.

  “This tapestry! A reminder of the stalwart hearts of clan Virtanen! Shall always adorn the face of my spire for as long as I shall live!” She bellowed, unabashedly breaking the decorum she’d always strove for in our presence.

  Her announcement brought another round of wild cheers that the spiress let linger for far longer. Once the crowd calmed on its own, she called the fifteen surviving laborers up to the stage where they formed an orderly line behind her, without command. Which made me think that this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment celebration the spiress threw together but a tradition.

  Turning so she spoke to the people on the edge of the ceremony, the spiress extolled the virtues of the women on stage before she announced their prize. Each laborer received two males of their choosing from the spire stables once they returned to the city. The prize didn’t elicit excitement from anyone but the women up on the stage who chattered amongst one another as they filled off the platform.

  The next person called was Survivor Helle, who vibrated with excitement even before she found out her prize. After another speech on her virtues, the spiress presented Helle with a bronze gauntlet. It wasn’t until Helle slipped the piece on and lifted it high with a roar that I could make out the details.

  Starting from the wrist, five veins of ruby snaked their way up the back of the gauntlet to the tip of each finger. Small emeralds dotted the rest of the gauntlet in a pattern that spiraled out from the center. It was a beautiful display piece and would probably sell for enough to buy several large houses and maybe some acres of land from the church back home.

  The next group to be called were ‘those who stood where all else would have fallen’. I had no idea who she referred to specifically because everyone who fought there should have fallen. Maggie clearly knew because she pushed Nora, Ellen, and I up alongside the surviving [Brood Guard] and the scholars who cast alongside Nora.

  The spiress spoke little of our virtues, a simple statement that all had already seen our bravery, our only praise. That was enough for the crowd to cheer again and the women beside me puffed with pride more than the laborers or Helle had. With a glance to the side, the same laborers who’d brought up the tapestry brought up two bundles of spears. The spiress went down the line, presenting each person with a spear.

  I was the first in the party to receive their spear. It was long, around eight feet in length, and tipped with a barbed point expertly cast from bronze. At the base of the spearhead were dozens of golden threads capped with beaded gemstones; which softly rattled as I twirled the spear to inspect it.

  “You were a spire out there, well done.” The spiress said quietly as she handed the weapon over to me, gently patting my hand as she did so.

  “My thanks.” I said seriously.

  Maggie had told us proper etiquette for receiving honors like this with the aranae, and manners dictated I should have looked at the spiress in her bottom set of eyes. The higher ranking you were, the higher the set you could look into. And I tried, I really did, but even without pupils I just couldn’t force myself to look any higher than her mouth, which thinned briefly before she moved on to Nora.

  She continued down the line and although I couldn’t hear what she whispered to Nora and Ellen, I saw their chest swell with pride, something my own probably did as well.

  Mika was called up with the next group, though the spiress bestowed upon him his first nickname, calling him to the stage with the name ‘The Rune Child’ instead. To him, she presented two more runes from her personal collection. This time with unfettered access over what to do with. Allowing him to freely teach or sell the runes if he chose to.

  The next group took far longer as she called up the remained warriors and scholars based on their merits in battle. She presented each person with different gem beads, the amount and kind representing their feats in battle. The fact they were lesser prizes than the groups before them didn’t seem to matter to the remaining women.

  By the end of the ceremony, the morale not only in the courtyard proper, but with everyone felt buoyed. Before she dismissed us after everyone received their rewards, Saga granted us one more boon and gave everyone who took part in the battle the day off.

  With nothing to do, the five of us retreated to our room. We spent most of the day playing card games with a set Maggie had in her ring. I taught them how to play Jackal, which became the day’s game of choice. Halfway through the day, while Maggie was in the middle of chewing off a bad hand, the bones on my shoulder flashed a brilliant bronze that blinded everyone facing me and turned to dust.

  At first, the relief of having my full range of motion back took my attention, the three bones having constricted how I could move my arm. But when I stood to test further, three pounds of bone dust drifted onto my nice silk sheets.

  The rest of them found it immensely amusing, watching me further test my range of motion as I beat the dust out of my sheets in the hallway. Once I finished and moved to put my mostly dust free sheets back onto the bed, Ellen made a deliberate show of lowering herself onto the floor.

  Later that night, as I laid down to sleep, having just finished with sessions in Focus and Basic Stone Carving, I idly noted to myself how nice it would be if the rest of the contract could play out this peacefully.