by Sami Dougish
I wanted to try it on, and Owen pointed out the tied knots on the sides of the leather, that allowed slack when undone. I quickly undid all of the knots and found that the piece was easy to slip over my head and pull down my torso. It felt good, well balanced and the leather was hardened and felt very durable. It was a bit tight though, I guessed the man had been slightly shorter than me, still, it was a passible fit.
I then reached over for the arm pieces. They were simple bracers, that had studded wrists. They covered most of my forearms and flared up slightly near my elbows. They left my hands unprotected, but it was a trade-off I would take, as it wouldn’t compromise my hand's range of motion if the leather had covered parts of my hands.
Owen then passed me a belt, that had thick leathers attached that hung down, which were meant to provide my upper legs, and hips some protection. The leather boots, which had reinforced shin guards, were too small for me, and I had to pass on trying them on. I didn’t know how I looked with the gear on, but it felt good.
“You wear it well, it looks good on you, My brother and I spent several weeks working on these four sets, and as I said it was some of our best work, it was a pity that those northmen were taken by the guard. Here, we have a mirror right around here.”
He took me back to the forge area, and propped against the wall was a mirror that had looked to be routinely cleaned, it actually seemed to be the cleanest item in the forge. I had to admit, it did look good on me.
“It is good work.”
Owen smiled widely at that and slapped my back. I had to resist the urge to lash out at him, but I managed.
“Thank you, I am actually quite proud of the work, the other three sets are almost identical, but no harm in trying them on, come on back, we will see if we can pull from all of the sets and see if we can find pieces that fit you.”
The next half hour was spent trying on different combinations of the armor until I had found the pieces that fit me, The final set had been the only one that had boots that fit me properly, and it was a strange sensation to be wearing footwear again. Especially after spending all that time traveling through the forest. I was getting ready to ask him his price, when I saw a piece on the last cart, that none of the others had.
“What is that?” I gestured towards the leather piece, and Owen looked over and chuckled.
“Oh, one of the northmen had some ugly burn scar on his lower face, and he wanted a faceguard that would cover it up, so we made one for him.”
That intrigued me, that could be something I could use to keep my lower face hidden while drawing less attention, it matched my armor, so I could just say it came with the armor set. I reached out and picked it up, intent on trying it, when Owen interrupted me by asking, “Wait you want that? Why?”
I eyed him, and just asked, “Does it matter if I am willing to pay?”
Owen shrugged, and said, “Guess not, I don’t usually pry, but you are a strange one, you have barely said more than a few sentences since you came in and look like you’ve been through hell. You are right though if you are willing to buy it, take it, besides, not much in the way of a market for pieces like it.
Satisfied, I turned back to look at the face gear. It was made to wrap around the neck and flare out at the bottom to fill in the area left open around the neck by the chest piece. It reached up and had an area for a chin to sit, and wrapped around to cover cheeks as well. It extended further to cover the mouth and the wearer's nose. I flexed the leather and was disappointed to see that it was firm and unyielding, that wasn’t good news if it had been formed to another’s face. I slipped it around my face, and reached back around, and fastened to the two-leather clasp that had been sewn into the leather, one at the base of my neck, and the other halfway up my skull. The fit wasn’t perfect and had been formed to another man's face.
I frowned in irritation, this would have been the perfect addition to my armor, but now it seemed that I would have to pass on it, I sighed, and took it off, and handed it back to Owen.
“Doesn’t fit my face,” I said with a disappointed tone.
Owen nodded, and said, “Well not too surprised, I molded that leather to fit that ugly bastards face perfectly,” He cocked his head, and looked over at me, and asked, “You know I can make you another one, and have it ready for you by tomorrow morning.”
I looked back at him, suddenly hopeful again, and asked, “Really? I would have thought it would take longer than that.”
“Well it would if I try to make it fancy, but If you really want a face mask like that, I can get a rough one done for you. I would need to mold some wet leather to face though so I can properly fit it to your face. After that, I would need to dye it before heating it so it hardens. That way it will be able to offer you some sort of protection. I will even give you a generous price on it.”
I thought about it, but not for too long, I nodded, and he clapped his hands together and said, “Excellent, now It will be a bit hard to get the proper mold with that bandage you got on, but I will do what I can, come over here.”
He led me to another area of the forge, where there was a slightly reclined chair, he had me sit back in it, and bustled off, saying he would be back shortly. True to his word, roughly twenty minutes later, he showed back up with a large piece of leather that looked to have been recently soaked.
“Alright, now I'll try to be gentle around that wound, but I will need to press firmly to get the shape we need. I nodded, and he leaned forward and draped the leather over my face, I couldn’t breathe, but I felt him make a quick mark before pulling the leather away. I then saw him make an incision in the leather before he laid it back over my face. I realized it was a hole for me to breathe through while he molded the wet leather to my skin. He began to slowly, but firmly, form the leather to the angles, of my face, and neck. He muttered to himself the whole time, about direction, and angle points, and other such topics. I did my best to ignore my discomfort with allowing someone to be so close to me and just concentrated on remaining calm as he did his work.
Bit by bit the leather began to take on the appearance of my face. While I couldn’t see it, I felt as more and more of the leather was pressed smoothly up against my facial features. I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but eventually, he leaned back and stretched. He then removed the leather from my face and smiled at it.
“All done, I’m surprised, but it actually formed well, despite the bandage, I’ll get right to finishing this piece, today, and you can come pick it up tomorrow, any time in particular?”
I thought about that for a moment, I was meeting the dwarf early tomorrow, and I would have to see if I could get this picked up even earlier, so I wasn’t late to the job I had taken from him.
“I leave very early tomorrow, probably before you are actually open, is there a way you could leave it somewhere here that I can pick up myself in the morning?”
Owen waved my words aside, and said, “No its fine, my brother and I always show up before dawn, as it gives us some time to work without our apprentices, needing direction, I assure you, we will be here early enough for you to come pick it up.”
“Now how much do you know about maintain leather armor?”
“Not much,” It was true, though I had worn many an armor sets, I had never been able to keep any as I was a slave. They were always cared for by the house armorer and his assistants. Because of this, I had never had to care for my own armor and weapons. The house smith had given me a quick rundown on how to sharpen, and oil my bladed weapons though, in case I needed to do so between matches. Not so with armor though.
“No problem I can give you a quick lesson.”
The “Quick” lesson turned out to be closer to an hour-long as he gave me pointers on how to care for my armor. He talked about how to avoid cracks and too much battle damage to the armor. He showed me how to oil the armor, and constantly stressed the need to not let water soak the leather for too long, as it could begin to rot. He showed me the oils I could use
to clean and treat the armor, and he said he would include a pack of supplies with the final price of the armor.
Eventually, he stopped his lesson, and we decided to discuss the price.
“So how much will the armor cost me altogether then?”
Owen grinned knowingly, and said, “Ah yes, now on to the best part of getting new armor, trying to come to terms with a price, Well as I said, this is some of my finest work,” I grimaced internally at that, it would probably be pricey, I had told him my budget though, so hopefully he had taken that into account, “But at the same time, these are just collecting dust, and I probably won’t be able to sell them too easily in the future, especially with them requiring such a large person to wear them. So how does nine gold work for you?”
Well, I definitely had that money, I sighed in relief, and was about to accept when Raskorian interrupted my thoughts.
“Haggle fool, I may not have much experience when it comes to lesser beings’ commercial habits, but even I was able to pick up some basics just listening to all the customers I heard arguing in the market! Never accept the original price, haggle for a lower price!”
I mentally kicked myself, as much as the dragon irritated me, he did have a point, “Well what should I ask for?!”
“Offer him six gold pieces, see what he says, we could always just kill him, and take what we want, I am honestly surprised you haven’t done that, with all the malice I feel from you whenever you look at humans.”
I did my best to copy the mental eye roll the dragon seemed to have mastered, and said, “While I wouldn’t mind overly much, it will draw too much attention to me, no matter how strong I am, I can in no way defeat an army single handily!”
Raskorian’s only response was, “Yet.”
I felt a tingle run down my spine at that word, was he implying I could someday have the power to face armies alone? The thought of it was hard to believe, but I had heard stories of the dragons of the past being able to shatter entire armies, still, as I was now, that was impossible, so for now I put it out of my mind.
That was when I realized I had forgotten about the blacksmith in front of me, who was looking at me expectantly, and slightly annoyed, that I seemed to have drifted off. I didn’t acknowledge my lack of focus, and instead said, “Six gold.”
Owen raised an eyebrow, and said, “No, no way I can do that, I am already giving you a great price on the armor, I guarantee that you won’t find any armor of this quality at the price I am offering!”
I didn’t blink when I repeated, “Six.”
Owen rolled his eyes, and said, “Fine eight gold, I can do eight, but not a copper less.”
I didn’t have much experience, but I didn’t want to press my luck, I actually wanted the armor, and it was good quality to be sure. I may not have had experience buying armor, but I had seen and worn many sets of armor in the arena, and from what I had learned, I knew this was very high-quality leather armor.
I nodded, and Owen seemed to relax, and his irritated demeanor disappeared, and he said, “Ah yes the art of haggling for prices, I am actually glad you weren’t such a hard ass, most customers would have pushed for at least several minutes before settling. I was being honest when I said I was giving you a deal though, the original cost of the armor when it was commissioned was twenty gold per set, unfortunately, the savages were in no position to pay after getting scooped up by the guards!”
I didn’t tell him the reason I had settled at eight, was because I didn’t know much better. I figured it was best to leave well enough alone in this case. He was right though, I didn’t have twenty gold, and he had taken over half the original price off for me, so I couldn’t really complain, still it was a hefty amount of the gold I had.
I pulled my coin pouch off my belt, and pulled two gold coins out, and pocketed them, the rest I left in the pouch which I tossed to Owen. Owen deftly caught the bag and quickly counted the coins out. He smiled, and placed the coins back into the pouch, and tied it to his own belt.
“Thank you for your purchase, you won’t regret this I swear, may the armor serve you well. Now is there anything else I can help you with?”
I still had some gold on me, and I was eager to get a spear or polearms in my hands again.
“You have any polearms?”
Owen clapped his hands and said, “Of course, of course, those would be back in the main shop though, let's go back in there.”
He made his way back to the first door we had used to get out here originally and pulled it open. I followed him in, and the sounds of ringing hammers and crackling flames were muffled as we went back inside. The building felt oddly quiet in comparison.
“This way,” Owen said as be beckoned for me to follow him to the opposite end of the store.
When we reached our destination, I was greeted with the sight of an assortment of nearly fifteen oiled and polished polearms. They looked to be meticulously crafted, with signs of constant attention, if I had to guess, the two smiths had their apprentices cleaning all the weapons on display constantly.
“We have a smaller stock of polearms than most other weapons, as usually, the guard commissions us to make their spears. Still, these are all fine quality, and I am sure you can find one to your liking. ”
I didn’t doubt that I would, I would honestly have just settled on a cheap spear, but even the few spears on the wall looked to be well made. The one that caught my attention though was the tallest of the lot. I reach out and pulled the polearm down. It was a Naginata. The weapon was easily a foot taller then me, and was topped with a curved blade that was two feet long, with a two-inch width. The shaft of the weapon was a thick black wood that was heavier than I would have thought. I flipped the weapon testing its balance. It turned out that despite its weight, the weapon felt perfectly balanced.
I hadn’t expected to find a weapon of this quality and I already knew I wanted it. I didn’t see any other polearm that was on the wall that came close to the quality of this naginata.
Owen walked up behind me and said, “Ah yes, the naginata, I made that one personally. It isn’t something I usually make, but we had an Easterling come through who used one of them. I was fascinated by the design, and decided to make my own. I made several, but this was the heaviest, as I fitted a metal bar through the wooden haft. It made it heavier, but it is far more durable now. Unfortunately, it made it a less desirable weapon, as most people cannot wield the weapon efficiently with the weight.”
I wasn’t listening too closely to him, and instead did my best to take a few swings, but the confines of the store wouldn’t allow me too Owen must have noticed as he said, “Well you seem to have taken an interest in it, and we actually have a space out in the forge area specifically for testing weapons. If you want, I can take you back there so you can try it out.”
Liking the sound of that I said, “Lead the way.”
Owen clapped his hand together and gestured for me to follow him. He led me back outside into the forge area, and past all of the apprentices hard at work. He led me to the far corner of the forge, where as he had said there was a wide-open area that would be perfect for some quick training. The small crowd that had been watching the smithy, seemed to have noticed me, and were moving over to our end curiously. I ignored the, and focused on the weapon.
I took my stance and started off with several light jabs with the glaive. It was well balanced, and I was able to dart the weapon in and out easily and efficiently. I followed up with a few short slashes in several directions. The blade at the end of the naginata whistled through the air as it moved.
I was done warming up, I flexed my arms, and legs quickly rolled my shoulders, and began to move. I closed my eyes, as I imagined the area around me, like an arena, with eager humans ready to come and try and take my head. I laughed and let my weapon flow through them. I spun, bringing my weapon in brutal yet elegant strokes around, and across my body, I darted forward extended the blade out, and stabbed an imaginary opponent. I ya
nked the weapon back, and widened my grip, as I parried, and blocked incoming blows. I never stopped moving though, and each block was followed by a blinding counter-attack, that was easily turned into a parry once again. It was one of the advantages I loved about using polearms. You could block, and strike at the same time, and could fight effectively at a distance, while remaining effective enough in close quarters.
The dance continued, as I ducked, slashed, and whirled the weapon overhead, and brought it screaming down to split open the head of another attacker. I followed this up, by bunching my legs, and leaping straight up into the air, nearly six feet off the ground. I angled my spear in front of me as I fell forward, striking like an eagle would as it swooped in on its prey. I stabbed, as I let my momentum carry my forward into a handspring. I pushed off the ground and righted myself as I made ready to meet my next opponent.
While the increase in my overall speed had been very noticeable when I had fought hand to hand, or with my blunt weapons, it was a totally different experience with the polearm. I was able to whip the weapon around in a blur, and I knew it would be extremely hard for someone to track the movement of the weapon. I pulled the naginata down, cutting through an opponent, which I followed through with an upwards diagonal slash, and then pulled the weapon across my torso, letting the blade arc out in a horizontal cut. I spun around, and pumped out six quick strikes, with the naginata twisting back and forth as I let both the blunt end and the curved blade punch forward.