Zeal of the Mind and Flesh

by Marvin Whiteknight

“The others won't last long.” She put her head under my arm and lifted me. My legs were too weak to walk, but Sava carried me with ease since she had already reached the tenth level of zeal accumulation. Her body was far stronger than ever before.

  “You will make it, Theo. You just have to hang on. After we escape, we can leave the Hearthwood Forest and find somewhere to live… you just have to hang on.” I could feel tears dripping onto my thigh as we moved. Sava was crying. I tried to comfort her by I didn’t have the energy.

  Behind us I could hear the sounds of battle. My friends must have struck together to lure Red Serpent away from me long enough for Sava to sneak in and rescue me. It was a good plan, but could my friends hold off a true mage long enough for Sava and me to lose her trail?

  The campsite was large, but with Sava’s speed and endurance we made good time. A few Crimson Dragon clan members tried to bar our way, but Sava sent them sprawling to the side with a kick without stopping her sprint for a moment. Before long, we passed the edge of camp and were under tree cover. Sava had to slow as she wove over brambles and jutting roots, stepping carefully to leave no visible signs of our passing.

  But then something changed. I couldn’t place it at first, but eventually I realized that the distant and fading sound of fighting had stopped entirely. Sava must have sensed it too, because she sped up. I felt vibrations through the ground, and the rhythmic sounds of a single set of footfalls sprinting across the ground quickly followed. Except these were far too fast. If normal running was a steady drumbeat, this was an engine at full power.

  Sava looked behind her, and I saw panic in her eyes. Before she even had the chance to turn around, Red Serpent had caught up to us. She close lined Sava with an outstretched arm, sending my green-haired elf tumbling to the ground, and me with her.

  Red Serpent skidded to a stop, leaving deep tracks in the ground and giving off the scent of burnt leather. She must have been moving fast enough that the friction caused her shoes to heat up.

  Sava scrambled to my side, withdrawing a potion from her belt. She whipped it at the true mage’s feet, only for the Crimson Dragon matriarch to sidestep with ease. Corrosive acid splashed on the ground, but Red Serpent elegantly avoided getting even a drop on her.

  Red Serpent looked down at the two of us with a gaze of utter contempt. With a flick of her foot, she caught Sava under the chin with a casual kick and sent her sprawling on top of me. Then she placed a foot on Sava’s chest, pinning her to the ground.

  “How adorable, your girls came to rescue you.” Red Serpent gave me a vicious grin. “Too bad they were just. Too. Weak!” She punctuated her words by driving her heel into Sava’s lower ribs. I heard her ribs snap as Sava cried out in pain.

  She would kill Sava. I could see the intent in her eyes. I had to do something.

  “Pathetic.” I wheezed out with the last of my strength.

  That caught Red Serpent’s attention.

  “You claim to have united the Hearthwood Forest, and yet here you are, fighting against us on your own? You’ll never hold this clan of yours together that way. The moment you turn your back everything will fall apart.”

  Red Serpent turned towards me, anger blossoming in her eyes. I must have struck a nerve.

  “I am here because I am the strongest. I lead the Crimson Dragon clan — and the Hearthwood Forest because I am the strongest! My powers alone give me enough might to rule.”

  “You’ll only ever rule through fear.” I spat. She was coming closer. Almost within arm's reach.

  “That’s enough out of you. I think I’ll finish where I left off.” Red Serpent snarled.

  She leaned over me, ready to press against my forehead with that same ring-bearing finger. It must have taken some concentration to activate, because just as before she closed her eyes to concentrate and activate the ring.

  That was my moment. My one chance. I seized it for all I was worth, with every drop of strength remaining in me, I gripped the iron shard and shoved.

  It felt like trying to hammer a nail into an oak tree at first, but as I contacted the skin just off center of her chest, I felt a sizzle. Like the iron was burning away at Red Serpent’s body. Now it wasn’t so much like an oak, but like a pillar of ice. And I had a hot iron poker. I pushed the iron shard at Red Serpent’s heart, slamming it in until there was nothing left to grip.

  Red Serpent’s concentration broke. She slapped my hand aside in sudden fury, likely breaking every bone in my arm. Then she clutched at her chest, where her heart was. She stumbled trying to reach for the iron I’d impaled her with. Sickly lines of black and purple spread over her body, clawing their way up her face. She aged visibly before my eyes, going from a young beauty to an old hag in a matter of seconds. Her skin started flaking off, revealing hideous, corrupted skin.

  “You… what have you… what…” She gasped at me like a fish out of water.

  Then she died.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  You’ve defeated Matriarch Red Serpent!

  For defeating a true mage far beyond you in magical power, who was also the matriarch of an enemy clan, you’ve been granted [2000 points]

  Scanner level 4 (Upgrades Available)

  Upgrade scanner for 350 points?

  Scanner successfully upgraded to level 5

  I bought the scanner upgrade by reflex. I’d been doing that every time when suddenly familiar muttering filled my mind.

  [Dirty, disgusting little savages… If my points would just stop disappearing I’d be able to wipe you all away! Just you wait you dirty cretins, soon as I save up those 10,000 points…]

  “Mac?” I said aloud. Realizing he couldn’t hear me, I tried to think my thoughts at him just like we’d been able to do before. “Mac?”

  [Theo! At last! Quick, what manner of messy nonsense have you gotten yourself into? Never mind that, I need you back at the ship. The whole tunnel is filled with slime monsters! You heard me right, slime monsters. As in monsters made of the sticky gunk, you humans seem to spray everywhere!]

  “Those should be right up your ally then! Just find a good solvent and spray them down.”

  [I would, but somebody explicitly forbade me from spending all the points on cleaning supplies! The main system control unit for The Wanderer, enamoring as she is, won’t let me do it. So, I’ve had to create a workaround doing it manually. I’ve been trying to save up to buy the external defenses, but those cost 2000 points. I’ve been saving up, but because somebody is obsessed with leveling the scanner so every time I get close the points vanish!] If Mac were a person, I’m sure he’d be glaring at me right now.

  “Slime monsters? I’ll check it out. On another note, did you buy that alchemist’s laboratory pack? I’ve made some new friends, and I think they will want to check it out.”

  ***

  The news spread across the campsite in a wave. Red Serpent was dead. The Crimson Dragon clan elves put down their weapons. Without Red Serpent they barely even had any mage acolytes, let alone a true mage. They weren’t worthy of the title clan anymore, and various conflicting internal factions were quickly pulling what remained of their force apart. When the news hit the Hidden Serpents tribe, there was a coup, led by none other than Eltiana herself. She had organized the alliance built around me to put together support from the other tribes and consolidate power.

  Eltiana took out the traitors in her tribe, and with a group of loyal assassins under her belt, it was short work to install members of my circle to their respective positions of power. Arwena was in control of her Ironwood tribe, Assyrus took control of the Waterbeetle tribe, and Mosi, the orange-yellow haired elf I’d met back at my ritual of debauchery, gained control over the Myriad Hues of Flame tribe. Sava, to my surprise, was the strongest surviving elf of the Riverweed tribe. After we freed the survivors from slavery, they quickly declared her as their leader.

  Every tribe moved at once, and each of the new tribal leaders had the backing of the other four. The closest the
Hearthwood forest had ever come to an alliance like this was under the now deceased Crimson Dragon Matriarch. But unlike Red Serpent’s imitation put together by sheer physical intimidation. With Nela rallying the Songstone clan, I suddenly found myself as the linchpin holding together the most powerful faction the Hearthwood forest had ever seen. Sava explained it to me.

  “Since we all share a man, you, that means we’re all one big family.”

  “Huh.” I blinked.

  “In fact,” Sava continued. “More than a few major clans were founded just like this. A political alliance that involves binding two tribes together with the bloodline of a single strong male.”

  “I still can’t believe everyone is just going to bend the knee to me.”

  Sava snorted. “They’re not kneeling to you. Each tribe has its own leaders. You’re only around to keep the leaders working together and organize efforts that will take the combined power of everyone in the Hearthwood.”

  “Huh. Do I at least get some sort of coronation?” I asked hopefully.

  “I’m glad you asked that. Me and the girls were thinking…”

  ***

  The next month was full of celebration. Those party supplies and food I’d arranged for finally went to use. We ended up needing to get more because of how many people there were. I had relegated the Crimson Dragon clan back to the position of Crimson Dragonfly tribe, but we didn’t make any further moves against them. They were falling apart fast enough on their own, and we would be more than powerful enough to deal with whatever leader emerged if they refused to join me.

  “The tribes of the Hearthwood forest are now bound by blood.” Eltiana announced. “Therefore, I would like to propose the organization of a league of sorts to foster better relations within the tribes. An exchange of disciples and open borders between each of our respective territories.”

  The voices stopped as Sava, Arwena, Assyrus, and Mosi all stood up to join Eltiana, showing their solidarity as a united group.

  “Too long we have quarreled over petty grievances. Despite our limited resources, our numbers have grown, and internal competition will only grow fiercer once we recover from this conflict. It is only a matter of time before a new tyrant rises up to demand subservience from the other tribes like Red Serpent did. And then we will all suffer. Unless we can look beyond our forest. There are riches to be found outside these woods, but we will only have the strength to claim them if we unite all our tribes as a mighty clan!”

  “What of the outsiders? The golden-haired ones.” One elf demanded.

  Nela stood up, representing the Songstone clan.

  “My elder sister had dreams of turning this forest into the new Songstone clan. We all saw what happened to her, and I do not have her strength, nor her will to battle. Me and my people will throw our lots in with you of the Hearthwood forest. My people were once part of a clan, and I think you’ll find our skills invaluable if you are founding a new clan. Relations between tribes are like childhood playmates compared to the cutthroat politics that occurs between clans.”

  There were some grumblings about them claiming land and territory, but Nela assured them that with our united power, it wouldn’t be too difficult to tame new land from the vicious mystic beasts that dwelt in the deeper regions of the Hearthwood. When a map was brought out, I got excited. To my surprise, the place where Mac was located seemed to have been marked as a forbidden zone. Apparently there were dangerous creatures lurking there. The Waterbeetle tribe was only wiling to risk journeys there in large groups to hunt down their namesake Waterbeetle.

  Talk of fighting to conqueror land for the Songstone clan survivors to settle dampened the mood, so I tried to bring the conversation back to what we were here for, and to remind everyone that from here on, we were one big clan. I gave Eltiana a nudge.

  “Strategies and deployment talk can wait for tomorrow. Tonight, we are celebrating our unification!” She said as she rolled up the map.

  The elves, who had been laughing and merrymaking together regardless of tribe seemed thoughtful, but unconvinced. We had laid out the obvious benefits of working together, but many of the older elves had a lot of bad blood built up over the years. The only reason we’d even been able to get this far was because a younger generation of leaders had just risen to power in most of the tribes. I had to act before opinions drifted against me. The time was ripe for a heroic speech.

  “For years, the six tribes of the Hearthwood forest have fought and bickered amongst themselves over petty matters. Petty fights breed petty tribes. There are untold treasures out there, beyond this forest. We’ve seen how Matriarch Red Serpent could reach the true mage rank by using the techniques and treasures of the outside world.”

  “The elves outside this forest are far more powerful than we are, but that doesn’t have to be the case. We’re weak scattered tribes on our own, but we all know how useful ironwood from the Ironwood tribe is after it’s been enhanced by the fires of the Myriad Hues of Flame tribe. The Crimson Dragonfly tribe wanted to become a clan so they could utilize all the resources of this forest, because together we’re greater than ourselves.”

  “Therefore, we must unite. The leaders of each of your tribes will be reborn through me, and I can promise the same for all the fallen elves whose souls you’ve kept. Through me, the bloodlines of each tribe will be united. Henceforth, all members of my line shall be known as elves of the Hearthwood clan!”

  END.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Thank you for reading my book!

  Indie authors like me flying by the seat of their pants live and die by their reviews, so if you could leave one, or recommend the book to a friend, I’d be immensely grateful.

  Found a typo? Is something unclear? Send me an email and I’ll fix it in the next version. I’m still a noob at this writing thing so any help is appreciated!

  MarvinWhiteknight@gmail.com

  I uploaded this book version on 6/19/2019*

  * This version is essentially a beta release. I’m operating of nothing but the kindle publishing documentation and am entirely self-edited. As a result, if the above date is more than a week old, I’ve probably already made a lot of tweaks to the novel based on early reader feedback. Thanks for being patient with a brand-new first-time indie writer.

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  About Marvin Whiteknight

  Marvin Whiteknight is an avid Fantasy fan and a McDonald's fry cook with delusions of grandeur. He loves reading books on Amazon in his free time and also enjoys writing about himself in the third person so that he can pretend to be a publishing company, instead of a guy living in his grandmother’s basement.

  Check out his Amazon author page!

  You can also read his blog for news about book 2!

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  Coming soon: Spellheart book 2!