Chapter 3: The difference

Joan had to resist laughing at the sight of the massive troll. It was half again the size of a normal troll and, according to the rumors, entirely immune to magic. Now she understood why. The trolls of the Inferno God were immune to flame, but incredibly vulnerable to ice. They were also nearly twice the size of a normal troll, making this one a far smaller, weaker version of its brethren. She knelt down by her bedroll, drawing her sword before dropping the sheath to the ground. She didn’t have time to attach it to her belt at the moment. “It’s not immune to magic, it’s vulnerable to ice!” she yelled.

She dashed past Rab and Lyndis, the former of who looked back at her. “W-what are you doing, child? Don’t run towards it!”

She didn’t listen, though. The troll lifted a massive hand and then tried to bring it down at her, but she easily stepped to the left, narrowly avoiding the strike. She twisted around, stepping up and onto its foot, pushing back against its leg. “Frost slash,” she cast and after a moment her magic made the sword frost over and glow a dim blue.

She cringed at the sensation of magic flowing out through her fingers. It was one of the easiest, lightest draining spells she knew from past lives and yet it still felt as if half of her mana had been used in that single spell. At least it would last for a few swings, which would be long enough. She lifted her sword in both hands and brought it crashing down on the fist embedded in the ground.

Her sword shattered into three pieces from the blow, leaving her only a few inches of blade past the hilt she held tightly in both hands. It rattled in her grip, sending painful vibrations through her hands. Worst of all, however, was the fact that even with her magic and swinging the sword as hard as she could, she’d done little more than cut an inch or so deep into the monster’s arm. After a few moments, even that mark healed.

“How--” She didn’t get a chance to finish the thought before the foot she was on kicked out, launching her through the air. She landed hard, the remnants of her sword flying away and the momentum causing her to roll a few times before stopping on her stomach. Everything hurt. She tried to move, but she was fairly certain her legs, at the very least, were broken. If not more of her. The only reason she didn’t scream is that her mind was such a strange mix of pain, confusion and shock that she couldn’t verbalize anything.

There was a loud, furious roar from the beast. She slowly raised her eyes and, to her horror, it was staring straight at her. She mentally berated herself through the pain. She had wounded it, albeit only for a few moments. How long had it been since something had done that? No wonder it was so angry at her. The troll charged at her, lifting a thick, meaty fist into the air.

She was going to die. She couldn’t believe it. She was going to die to a monster that she had once killed by the dozens. Even then she had only made the slightest scrape on it. Was this truly the difference between who she had been and who she now was?

“Swanfall!” Hardwin’s voice range out. She found her eyes drawn to the man, his sword now encased in glimmering white ice that rose from the blade. He intercepted the troll, removing its leg with a single swipe of his sword and leaving the stump coated in frost. The troll collapsed to the ground with such force the world shook. The chosen didn’t hesitate, instead bringing his freezing sword down again and again on the creature’s body. With every slash of his blade he hacked away another piece of the troll’s body.

Joan was almost offended. He stole her spell, though she supposed she technically stole it from him first. Unfortunately, the clarity of that thought brought a whole lot of other things into focus, including the incredibly pain she was in. She inhaled and began to scream, the pain washing through her body and mind and tearing away every other thought.

Within a few moments, Rab was by her side, kneeling besides her. “Shhhh, shhh, it’s okay,” he whispered, putting a hand on her forehead. “It’s going to be okay. The trolls dead. Just a moment. Just focus on me.” The pain began to fade as her body went tingly and numb, a mercy compared to what she had felt.

“What do you know, prodigy. That spell of yours is pretty useful,” Hardwin said with a chuckle. “I guess maybe there is some--” His words stopped the moment he turned and saw her, the color draining from his face. “Oh. By the gods. Her legs. What happened to her legs? Is she still--”

“She’s not dead,” Rab said, shaking his head and looking into her eyes. “Joan, can you hear me?”

She tried to speak, but couldn’t. All she could do was look at him. She tried to move her arms, but they refused to respond. Instead she blinked a few times.

He gave a sigh. “Lyndis. Try to set what you can do. Joan, if you can hear me blink twice.”

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She blinked twice, though even that felt almost impossible.

“Good. You’re going to be okay. Don’t try to move,” he said gently. “You foolish girl. Why would you run at the troll like that? What did you think you could do? First breaking your arms, now your legs? We never should have let you come.”

“She managed to cut it,” Lyndis said. “That’s better than most.”

“For all the good it did her,” Rab said, shaking his head and making his beard tickle her chin.

Hardwin walked to them slowly before kneeling down by her side. “Is she going to be okay? Her legs, can you--”

“No. She needs a healer. A far, far better one than I. Even then I’m not sure if they’ll be able to fix that. Not to mention her arm. We just healed the child, she’s lucky she survived at all.” Rab’s eyes looked away from her and towards her right arm.

Joan felt panic swelling inside her. She blinked furiously in an attempt to try and get his attention, though he didn’t seem to notice. Or care.

“I’ll take her with me,” Hardwin said firmly. “Back to the queen, there are none better than her.”

Those words, however, sent more fear through her than the thought of what parts of her were broken. Joan tried to blink even faster, struggling to get them to consider some alternative. The queen, Emeline. There was no worse person for her to be brought to. They might as well poison her now or drop her in a lake.

“Are you sure? She’s our responsibility. We have a healer back at our camp who--”

“Could they fix this?” Hardwin asked. “How many days would it take you to get her there?”

Rab looked back down at her body. “He may be able to help, perhaps. A few days. She may be lame after, but--”

“We ride to my queen. The prod-- Joan may have been foolish, but her aid was unquestionable. Besides, I still mean to take custody of her. As a human she certainly falls under our domain, even if she is a member of the Crystal Phoenixes now.”

Rab’s cheeks turned red and he turned up to face the man. “My lord, are you certain? She’s just a child. Foolish, yes, but I don’t think she has done anything deserving of--” Hardwin turned on the dwarf with a face of barely controlled anger, fire all but blazing in his eyes. The dwarf quickly averted his gaze. “As you wish. We will ready her to move.”

“Thank you,” he said harshly, before walking away from them. “I will ready the horses. Try and do what you can for her.”

Rab shook his head and looked down at Joan. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I wish there was more we could do for you, lass. I don’t know what you said to get him in such a mood but there’s nothing I can do. He’s one of the chosen. If he desires to take you there is nothing we can do. I’ll talk with the commander, perhaps she can help. For now just sleep. Conserve your energy, you’ll need it.”

She tried blinking at him furiously, struggling to get his attention. She didn’t care if she went with Hardwin. But they could NOT take her to Queen Emeline. That was a death sentence, especially if she couldn’t move. She struggled to move her tongue, but it refused every attempt.

“Is she really going to be okay?” Lyndis asked. “Lord Hardwin looked ready to kill her himself.”

“I don’t know. Perhaps,” Sab sad, giving the elf a small shake of his head. “Joan, just do whatever his lordship says. If you’re lucky, hopefully he’ll believe you meant no harm by your actions.”

“She’s just a child,” Lyndis said gently before glancing back towards Hardwin. “We can’t just give her up like this. She’s one of ours, isn’t she?”

“You saw what he did to that monster. Do you really think you can oppose him? None can go against the chosen. Even if not for that, she’s also a human. We have no ground on which to refuse his orders.”

The elf didn’t respond to that, though she gave her a small, pitying look.

Sab gave one more sigh before glancing back to Joan. “I’ll be right back,” he whispered before getting to his feet and walking away. She could hear him walking away and she desperately tried to move in some way to get Lyndis’ attention, but the elf worked without glancing to her face.

They were dooming her. Why couldn’t they see that? If only she could speak, she could get Hardwin to understand.

She once more heard the crunch of leaves and grass when the dwarf returned. He knelt down besides her and looked into her eyes, before shaking his head. “Please Joan. Don’t cry. This will take away the pain.” A thick, short finger was raised to wipe near her eyes. Was she crying? She didn’t feel it. Slowly a bottle was raised to her lips and a thin drip of something entered her mouth. It was cold and slightly sweet, sliding down her throat with ease. After a few drips her vision began to get cloudy.

“Don’t worry. When you wake up, you’ll be fine,” he said gently.

No no no no no. She tried desperately to scream to them. To tell them no. To plead for them to not do this. Didn’t they understand? The queen hated her. But she couldn’t do anything to stop them, try as she might. Her body refused to obey her even as she succumbed to the darkness.