I took a deep breath, enjoying the morning air. It was at that perfect crispness, just chilly enough to invigorate your lungs but not quite crossing that line into cold. I smiled as I thought about how Isabelle would say this is the perfect weather for an apple tea party. We would simmer a pot of apple juice with a few cinnamon sticks in it for hours, then set out a tea party beneath the oak tree in the apartment complex’s backyard and sip on it while looking at the pretty colors of the leaves. A weight dragged on my heart as I thought about how we would never have that exact moment again, but firmly resolved that we would one day make more memories after I dealt with an annoying snake.

  “Well, isn’t this just great.” I muttered about an hour later, cursing myself for not anticipating this. We had been following grooves cut into the forest floor from repeated wagon wheels, but that cut track had eventually led back to a proper road. One that went both east and west. And there weren’t any handy signs to give us a clue as to which way to go.

  “Any ideas?” Elendria asked.

  “Nope. I feel a tug from both marks I had left on those guys that killed my family, but one is to the east and one is to the west. No difference between them, I can’t even tell how far away they are.”

  “Leave it to chance?”

  “Sure. Feel free to flip a coin. Heads east, tails west.” I answered, watching as Elendria took out a silver coin that she had pilfered from the priests.

  “East it is.” She said, turning and heading towards the sun. I groaned as I dug my heels in and started pushing again, trying to get our makeshift wagons up to speed. Once it got going it wasn’t that hard to keep in motion, it was the initial push that was killing my shoulders. It didn’t help that the best we could do for a harness was a double set of rib bones that intersected just in front of my shoulder, frozen into place and wrapped in strips of skin. It lacked padding. And comfort. And probably ergonomics as well. I also found out that it didn’t corner. At all.

  “Any thoughts as to what elements you are going to practice?” Elendria asked once I finally got a bit of momentum going.

  “Since you won’t let me try out fire first, I think I’ll start with light.”

  “Are you still upset about that?”

  “Not really,” I said with a grin. “But fireball is iconic.”

  “It is. And burning down a forest is also iconic. In a bad way.”

  “Ha!” I let out a short burst of laughter, imagining how that really would set my reputation in this world if they ever found out. There weren’t quite enough dry leaves on the ground yet, but there were enough that it could cause an issue. I was about to tell her about my thoughts when we both heard a repetitive clanging coming from the direction we were traveling. I immediately started dragging my feet to slow down, not wanting to drop the mana sled constructs. That likely would have created an ungodly loud screeching sound from the hardness of the road fighting the bones.

  There was a decent sized hill ahead of us, and the road took a slight detour to avoid it. As we rounded the base of the hill, the source of the noise was revealed. A caravan was stopped, while the second to last one was getting a new wheel hammered in. Staring at us were four lionesses with serious looking spears. And I don’t mean the cute anime style cat girls with only ears and tails dressed in maid outfits. Instead they looked like the cheetah guy from the ant arc in the Hunter x Hunter series. Slight muzzle, covered in tawny fur with golden eyes that tracked our center of mass.

  They all had what looked like leather gambesons on, coupled with oval shields that had stretched leather across the face to keep them light. The spears had a double barb that dropped back several inches, and I wasn’t about to try anything.

  “Let’s just stop here for a second,” I said to Elendria, who was sneaking glances to the sides of the road.

  “We are surrounded. Or at the very least on three sides,” She whispered in return.

  While we were talking, an older male came walking towards us. His mane was almost pure white, and while it looked like it was thinning out it was still fluffed out. His clothing was more robe-like than armor, and he carried a gnarled staff that came up to nearly his shoulder. He took one purposeful step in front of the guards and spread his arms with a toothy smile. “Aapaka svaagat hai dosto!”

  “Sorry man, can’t understand you,” I said with a shrug, pointing to my ears and shaking my head no.

  His smile dropped as his brows furrowed, and he growled to a teenager that had been mostly hiding behind him, “Anuvaadakon ko bula lao.”

  Turning back to us, he returned to smiling. “Krpaya prateeksha karen.”

  We waited in slightly awkward silence for a few minutes, simply watching each other. Before long, the teen came jogging back with a black wooden box with gilded scrolls etched into the sides. He silently handed it over. As the old man opened it, I saw Elendria tense up, which in turn sent all the lionesses tensing as well.

  “It’s ok,” I reassured her, hoping that it really would be. The old man had instantly frozen with the lid halfway open, and didn’t move again until everyone relaxed for a few seconds. This time he turned the box towards us, and slowly opened the lid. Inside were several compartments, each containing an intricately carved wooden symbol. He took the first one out, put it to his head and spoke what sounded like a completely different language.

  “Most mar megertheted?”

  I shook my head, and he methodically went through each charm in the box. Each one was a new language, each translation a new failure. We had gone through the entire box of 15 with nothing working. He showed amazing restraint, but it was obvious with each new failure that both his patience was waning and the threat that the lionesses were feeling from us was growing. The kid slightly behind him was nervously dancing side to side, eyes glancing in our direction before quickly lowering back to the box. As he slowly put the last charm back in the box, he closed it and his eyes for several increasingly awkward moments. Several hands readjusted grips on weapons, though nothing else betrayed what they were about to do.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Suddently the old man’s head shot up with wide eyes, he obviously had a eureka moment. Of course that caused all the warrior women to drop into ready positions, spears braced horizontally, ready to stab at a word. My hand immediately shot out and caught Elendria’s wrist, as I felt her prepping a spell. That didn’t mean I wasn’t prepping my own barriers, but I had a feeling that hers was a bit more lethal than mine was.

  “Are, chinta mat karo, mere paas abhee ek aur koshish karane ko hai.” He said, putting his hand on one of the spear heads and slowly lowering it. He unceremoniously thrust the box into the kid’s hands, then took off towards the caravan. Everyone in the caravan except the people working on the wheel froze in shock to see the old man hobbling at a fairly rapid clip. While he was gone, several of the warriors relaxed, but a few kept their spears leveled.

  “Maaf keejie. Maaf keejie. Main isake baare mein lagabhag bhool hee gaya tha,” The old man panted as he returned. In his hand was more like a tiara instead of the charms that he had tried in the past. It was probably silver at some point, but was well and truly tarnished. The central icon looked like two small circles that were connected by lines that twisted around each other between and connected the two. Without waiting any longer, he put it on and closed his eyes. I assumed it started glowing because he was channeling a bit of mana into it.

  “Can you understand me now?” He asked.

  “We can.” I said with a smile.

  “Excellent! Put this on and say ‘Shabdakosh’. There will be pain.” He took extra care to emphasize the proper pronunciation of the trigger word.

  He gently took it off his brow and handed it to me, but Elendria intercepted it. “I’ll be taking the risk with strange magical objects, thank you very much,” she said. She had to adjust her hair a bit, but quickly had it centered. “Shabdakosh.” The glow started, and Elendria immediately clamped onto my wrist. Her eyes were scrunched shut, and I could see the muscles in her jaw and neck clenching in agony. But the entire time, she never made a single sound. Eventually she relaxed, though she was definitely breathing a lot harder than when things started.

  “Ki chot lagee.” She groaned.

  “What?” I asked, concerned.

  She turned her head to look at me and repeated, “Ki chot lagee. Nahin, ki chot lagee. Kya chal raha hai?” The last bit was a demanding question, directed at the old man.

  “Aap kuchh samay tak naee bhaasha bolenge.” He said to her, then turned to me. “Aapakee baaree.”

  I looked at Elendria, getting a nod of agreement from her. I took the tiara from her and put it on, bracing myself for the pain I knew was coming. “Shabkadosh.” I said, clenching my eyes, then opening them slowly as nothing happened. “Shabkadosh?”

  “Nahin. Shab-da-kosh.” The old man said, breaking the word up into syllables. “Shab-da-kosh.”

  “Shabdakosh.” I repeated, and my world went white. My memory blanked, but I finally managed to open my eyes to find myself on my knees and panting, a bit of drool hanging from my lips.

  “Sean, are you ok?” I heard Elendria ask, but it was weird hearing it twice. I heard her ask in that new language, but my mind immediately heard it in Common.

  “This is weird.” I replied. And though I said it in my mind in Common, I felt my mouth twisting around as it said it in this new language.

  “Ah, so glad that worked!” The old man said, smiling. I looked up to notice that the rest of the warriors had relaxed a bit.

  “What exactly did you do? I’ve done language spells before and none hurt like that.”

  “Sorry for the pain, this was a bit more intrusive than the little charms.” He apologized while helping me to my feet. How he did that while leaning on a staff is still confusing. “Anyway, that is an elder artifact of my people. Each charge takes a year to refill, and it has 5 total charges. But it works a lot better than the charms. It doesn’t just transfer the language, but it constantly helps you learn it in the background. By the time the spell wears off in a few months, you won’t need it.”

  “So it didn’t just transfer a full language into my head?”

  “No, it did that. But the transfer is temporary. No lingering magic to dispel.”

  “And why would you waste such a precious resource on us?” Elendria asked, eyes narrowing in distrust.

  “Ah, apologies! Let us start over. Greetings friends! I am Ras, elder shaman of our tribe.”

  “Hi Ras, I’m Sean and this is Elendria. Wandering adventurers looking to sell our latest haul.”

  “And a fine haul it is!” He said with a grin. “Part of why I used the language artifact was for your haul. The bones look sturdy, but I’m far more interested in the skin. What do you think Nala?” He asked as a warrior walked up beside him. Her spear shaft was intricately decorated with hunting scenes, but not deep enough to weaken the structure. She also had several small gold studs pierced through her ears. Her coat, from what I could see, was also a deeper golden color than most of the other warriors.

  “May I examine it?” She asked respectfully, though her eyes kept roaming over me and Elendria, assessing our threat level.

  “That’s fine.” I said, stepping sideways and giving her a path. “If we can unload some of this, it’ll be a lot easier on my back.”

  “Can I ask what type of beast it was and its rank?” Nala asked.

  “And why you are hauling it like this?” Ras added.

  “Well, our storage bags were quite inadequate.” I said, patting my side. “We were hoping to find some rare herbs but came across a rather large snake. Not sure of the exact rank, but from his attacks and size I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an A rank.”

  Ras looked shocked, while Nala whistled as she gently lifted part of the skin to inspect it, rubbing a small claw on it. Claw? I looked closer, and sure enough she had small claws instead of fingernails. They barely went beyond her fingertips, but seemed razor sharp as they skittered across the scales. “You took down an A rank beast with just the two of you? And no injuries?”

  “Ah, I heal faster than it looks.” I said, embarrassed for some reason.

  “Ras!” One of the workers on the wagon called out. “Got it all fixed and ready to go!”

  Ras turned and nodded. “Go ahead and load everyone up.” He turned back to us. “Well friends, as you have probably figured out, it can be dangerous in these parts. Care to journey with us? We can work out a trade tonight if you are interested.”

  “Up to you.” Elendria said as I looked at her.

  “Sure.” I said, settling into position to haul the cart again. “How long are we going?”

  “A few hours should find us at a way station.” Nala said, stepping away from the cart. “And we would be very interested in acquiring that snake skin. We will have a few of ours follow on each side of this for protection. Please, refrain from interfering in fights that arise. We don’t want to ask about your skills, but also don’t want you to accidentally disrupt us. So we will do attack and defense. Should anything get past our guard, then and only then will you participate.”

  “That’s fine with us.” Elendria said immediately before I could reply, giving me a side eye. “Trust me.” Elendria hissed out the side of her mouth in the Common tongue, ensuring I was the only one who understood.

  “Fine with me. Let’s get going.” I agreed, prepping my spells. It still took a few more minutes for the caravan to finally get going, but eventually we were on the road again. It gave me time to figure out how to prevent the translation spell from automatically translating my words, but it wasn’t too difficult. Just took a good bit of concentration.

  “Why can’t we help them out? I’m sure we are stronger than most of them.”

  “We are.” Elendria nodded. “But you are falling back into that trust too easily mind set. And while these people don’t look like they will attack us for no reason, we are carrying a fairly valuable goods. So you will struggle with hauling this, and make it look like you can’t do much with your magic. I will wander about and learn what I can.” With that, I finally got moving and Elendria jogged ahead to eavesdrop. It was going to be a long few hours.