Despite his initial fear, the mysterious potion showed no sign of failing, and after a few weeks, Kraghtol stopped checking his new body for any changes in the morning. While the effects of the potion were mostly a blessing, sometimes he almost missed his real body: his human self felt sore and weak after lifting crates in the warehouse that would have hardly been a challenge as a half-orc. He didn’t need as much food as before, but when he walked through the icy windsof Winterstone, which were getting colder every day, he shivered like never before. Nevertheless, the most significant change was still in how his mind worked. It felt like the chaos in his thoughts was gone, and he could properly focus whenever he wanted and not when his brain dictated him to. All the rage and unwanted impulses had disappeared and, for once, he felt like he was in control of his emotions, not the other way around.
It was still him, but the alien feeling he had felt on his first few days didn’t subside over the weeks, instead growing stronger every day. It was as if he was missing a part of himself he had thought he hated his whole life.
As the first snow covered Winterstone with a silent icy blanket and the winter solstice was getting closer, Kraghtol slowly got nervous about the tuition fee. So far, he had been unable to come up with a plan to pay his fees, and when finally the last day of the year dawned, he found himself at the small desk in his bedchamber, with all of his money laid out in front of him.
It wasn’t enough. He had counted the coins three times now, but the amount remained stubbornly the same: 17 copper coins and 4 silver ones, far less than the ten silver coins he needed to give Mrs. Urdson today if he wanted to continue his education. He had already passed all the exams needed to advance in the courses, but that wouldn’t help him if he couldn’t pay for them.
There was one more coin, of course. Kraghtol retrieved the golden disk from his purse and rolled it between his fingers. It was his mother’s coin, the blood money she had paid Merrick to get rid of him. The one coin he didn’t want to spend. But if he had to choose nowbetween continuing to pursue his dream and a diffuse sense of revenge for a woman he didn’t even know the name of…
He sighed. This bothered him more than he was comfortable admitting, but it was the rational decision. Collecting the rest of his money, he set out to pay his fees.
Even on the last day of the 13th month, it wasn’t all dark. Kraghtol had been surprised to learn that here in Winterstone, there was no long night, but only a period of short twilight days. In a way, the muddy light from the low-hanging sun filtering through the clouds was even gloomier than the pristine long night of Mistpine. Even the aurora, or ‘breath of the stars’ as the elves called it, was rarer here, and less vibrant than in Mistpine, too. Kraghtol hurried along, trying to ignore the creeping shadows in the alleyways. He had just passed the marketplace and turned towards the road leading up to the Park District when he paused in his tracks, a smile creeping onto his cold face. There in front of him, illuminated by the flickering light of a lamp, stood the solution to his problem. A pawnshop.
Kraghtol had never been in a pawnshop before, but he knew the concept. You borrowed money and gave the shop owner a valuable item as collateral. And as half-shadows luck would have it, he owned an item worth exactly one gold coin.
“Good morning. I would like to get a loan, please.”
The shop owner was a rather voluminous man in his forties and looked mildly annoyed, as if he was just dozing off.
“What do you have?”
Kraghtol produced the small golden coin from the leather bag and placed it on the table.
“It’s a gold coin.”
The pawnshop owner looked at the coin for a long moment.
“I can see that. What about it?”
“It’s my item. The collateral. That’s how it works, right?”
The fat man narrowed his eyes and scrutinized the coin, even biting it to check if it was real.
“I don’t get you, lad. Why would you pawn a perfectly fine gold coin? Why don’t you just spend it?”
Kraghtol hesitated but went with the truth. Well, mostly the truth.
“I can’t. It’s from my mother, and it means a lot to me. But I need money now.”
“Hm.”
The shop owner didn’t seem entirely convinced, but apparently, he didn’t really care.
“Whatever you say. I can give you 3 silver coins, and you will have to pay me back within a month, with 3 silver and 3 copper coins.”
That was less than expected, and Kraghtol shook his head.
“No, I need more. At least 5 silver coins. And I also need more time.”
“Hm. You’re thick as troll-hide. Alright. Five silver coins. And three months. But you will pay me back six silver coins or I’ll keep the coin. Got it?”
Kraghtol hesitated. It was barely enough to cover the tuition fee, and he did not know yet how he was supposed to earn back the money within just three months, but this was the best offer he would get.
“Deal. But wait a moment.”
He took out his knife and marked the soft metal with a cross.
“Here, that way I know it’s the same coin when I get it back.”
