by Asher, Yarid
“How many swords, shields, spears and bows do we need?” Virgil asked.
Usere ignored Virgil and moved forward and looked the man in his eyes “What materials do you work with?”
The humble man smiled and told the boy to bring the sample box out and when the boy followed his grandfather’s order and brought out the box, it was covered in dust. They had not used it in months, for no one came to them.
It was a large wooden box with many compartments in it. The man opened the latch and pulled out the samples. They were like small metal chunks. There was gold, iron, steel, silver, bronze and brass and Usere examined all of them carefully and when he was done, he told Urey to examine the black steel.
“These are awfully old,” Urey laughed “Are they as old as you are?” He laughed at the old man but not in a mocking or derogatory way. He was witty, therefore he could not refuse the urge to say that but then he appreciated him as well “Old black steel is fantastic—the older it gets, the stronger it gets. Make our weapons with the oldest black steel you have.”
“Might I suggest adding a smudgen of bronze in it? Adding bronze to black steel makes a strong metal to work with and makes high quality weapons.”
Usere leaned forward and said in his heavy voice “I have never heard of anyone using black steel with bronze, all my life.”
“Yes, I have never heard of it either.” Urey backed his brother.
“That is because the art is lost. No blacksmith is old enough to know that bronze and black steel are better together than they are apart” the old man laughed and looked at his grandson “Will you go bring me your father’s sword?”
The boy nodded and ran to a dirty old room in the back of the shop to get it. He brought out a fine, dark sword. It was in a great shape but its grip suggested it was old. The old man put it on an anvil and looked at Usere “Strike it with your sword and you shall find out.”
Usere backed up a bit and drew his sword out and struck it on his target. It was a strong, straight blow and the strike was so loud that everyone looked at them until Urey told them off “It was just a test—we are not robbing this old lad.”
Usere’s sword broke in half and he was left astounded, for he had not seen a metal stronger than black steel yet.
“My sword is black steel too, why did mine break and that one did not?” Usere asked.
“It is because this one had bronze in it, which increased its strength drastically.”
Usere nodded and told him to make their weapons with bronze and black steel.
“How many do you want?”
This question took some thinking and Urey and Virgil discussed and finally Virgil spoke “We will take 700 swords, 300 spears and 275 bows and about 1000 arrows, all forged with bronze and black steel.”
The man was very surprised, for this was a huge order.
“Look,” Urey said to clear things up “We know it is a lot but we need them by tomorrow at dawn.”
The old man quickly got up “How am I supposed to make all them to their finest quality in such little time?”
“We will give you men that will work with you,” Virgil looked at the man. He knew he was not to pay the man but the man was old and had a family to feed “I will give you 1 silver coin per piece you forge.”
The kid was astonished and left jaw dropped, for this was the first time he was going to see so much money and when the man saw his grandson’s face, he agreed and Virgil sent the men as he promised. They were about 25 in number and all were skilled and worked for the Empirion armory and just as the old man saw the men approach him, he began working, for he knew there was no time to waste.
Now it was getting late, for midnight was upon them, so all decided to go to sleep. It was a dark night and the moon was hidden by the thick clouds and it looked as if a storm was approaching. The old man brought all the materials he had, from his old compound and the work had begun. All the people who tried to sleep could not, for all they heard were hammer blows and clanking sounds and the thunder and dripping of the heavy rain made it even worse.
CHAPTER 13
It was a little after dawn when the clanking and hammering finally stopped. It was still raining but very little and Leosher got up from his bed and put his coat on and buttoned it and put his sheaths and weapons on him too. Then finally, he latched his cloak on and wore his boots and moved out of the hut. He went in the balcony and jumped down.
It took a little bit of looking around but he finally saw his brother, who was coming out of his rest place.
“Brother,” Leosher smiled at him “Did you get the weapons ready?”
“Yes, they must be ready by now. But I have to tell you something,”
“What is it?”
Virgil smiled and tried to explain his doings “Even though you explicitly told me not to pay the man who would make our weapons, I felt pity and promised to pay him.”
Leosher was furious, not because they had to pay but because his brother had not listened to his orders “What? You are paying him even though your king, I, told you not to?”
“Brother, I told you I felt guilty of not paying. The man was old and did not have money to buy food for his grandson. Please try to understand, remember the days when we did not have money.”
Leosher finally calmed down and looked at Virgil in the eyes, “I do not care—you are going to have to pay for the weapons on your own, the kingdom will not pay.”
Virgil nodded and understood and continued to his business of supervising what was going on around them. After the talk, Leosher went to Usere who just came out of his rest place as well, and told him to round up the men, for they were about to leave this market and continue their journey.
Virgil went to the old man and collected and gave the weapons to the men and when he was done, he looked at the man who was expecting his money “Do you have a parchment and ink I could use?”
The man was shocked but he pulled out ink and a piece of parchment from his drawer and gave it to Virgil with his old, wrinkled hands “What do you need this for?”
“I am going to write you a letter that you can take to the castle, but I trust you; please only take the money I owe you and a little extra for your troubles but not a lot.”
The man smiled and Virgil began writing:
Mother,
This man is a friend. He forged special weapons for the Emprion army and I owe him money. Give him the amount he asks for, out of my own coin pile. Be careful; do not take it from the Kingdoms pile but from mine. And give my regards to Neiham, Barian and Meagon.
Your son,
Virgil.
He put the feather nib back in the ink and rolled up the parchment and tied a string to it and gave it to the old man “Do not read it, just go and give it to the mother of the king, Adne. She will take care of your needs.”
Virgil patted his young grandson, who had stayed awake all night with his old grandfather, and left to leave with the men who were standing ready, waiting for him and when he joined them, they all finally began moving forward.
“I hope you listened to me this time” Leosher said in a sarcastic way “I am disappointed in you.”
“Brother, trust me, you do not have to worry about a single matter. I have paid him from my own coin pile.”
Leosher nodded and appreciated and then continued his journey towards the middle mountains of The Empire…
It had only been half a day when they reached the middle mountains. It was very cold and everything was frozen. Even the drool of the animals froze, the moment it came out of their mouth. The cold was too much for Azar too, because his pipe died down because of the cold. Leosher did not even feel the cold, for he was covered with clothes from his neck down but the soldiers were cold, for their metal armor was engulfed in frost.
It was even colder than the last time Leosher and the warriors had passed through here, for the weather balance was now returning to normal. Geluna controlled the weather of the middle mountains and made it easi
er for her soldiers to travel to regions beyond middle mountains and take the food and tributes and make the citizens suffer.
The Empirion army made their way through the slopes of the mountains and finally reached the top where they did not expect what they saw. It was the ice giants that stood in their way and blocked their paths. They were no longer controlled by Geluna but were still mindless giant boulders of ice and snow with four limbs and a head. They did not, and could not distinguish between who was a friend and who was a foe. The same happened with the Empirion army, the giants saw the giant band of men and did not how to respond. Luckily, Leosher had already killed the Yeti and they did not have to deal with him but they had to deal with them now. The giants wreaked havoc but Leosher stayed calm. They roared in his face but he ignored and looked at Virgil
“I do not wish to hurt them, but what should I do?”
Virgil did not know how to respond therefore he sought guidance from Azar “What should I do master?” He asked his mentor.
Azar got off his horse and tried to confront the giants “We do not mean you any harm but we need to pass through these mountains.”
All he heard back was a loud roar and growl with a scowl on the giant’s face. It spit on Azar’s face and did not listen to a word he said. Again, Azar, being wise and not wanting to kill in vain tried to convince the giants to back down “I again ask you to get out of the way, for we do not wish to battle.”
Just as the matters were heating up, Leosher said from behind “I think we should go the other way around, for I do not wish to fight in this cold.”
They all turned around and the group started moving but the most arrogant of the giants came forward and said in a roar which roughly translated to “Get out you mewling quims.”
Not many could understand what the giant had understood but the warriors heard just fine and understood quite clearly and everyone who heard it now knew it was trouble. Leosher moved his hand from over his shoulder and grabbed onto the grip of his scythe that was hanging from his back in a sheath and swung it. He cut the giants head off and a battle started. Hundreds and hundreds of the giants ran up the hill when they saw the battle had started and soon, all the giants of the middle mountains were there to fight the Empirion army. Leosher, who was already off his horse charged into battle with a loud roar and his men, followed him.
His brother was right behind him and Azar was third in line and just as they reached the horde of the giants, Azar shouted to Virgil “The fire spell is, ‘Exsilio Ignis’. Use this and think of an animal in your head and try to bring the fire out in that shape.”
Virgil nodded and did exactly what his teacher told him but Virgil needed some time therefore Azar bought him some by creating the shield with the “Auxilius Armus” spell. The shield appeared around both of them and Virgil created the fire. He flicked his wand briskly and recited “Exsilio Ignis” and a huge bull made of fire rammed out of the tip of the wand and ran towards the ice giants with its fiery horns ready to melt them.
It ran through many and even ran over Leosher but he did not seem to care for he was harmless even though the elephant was made of blazing red fire.
Leosher was fighting with his full might and slain everyone in his way and cut their heads off. The elf brothers were not being able to fight well, until they came up with the brilliant idea of lighting their swords and arrows on fire. The entire army followed them and soon, the entire mountain was filled with blazing fire and was hot like summer, which brought the giants’ demise and it was not long until every single one of them had melted on the ground.
The ice giants had melted and turned to water but of course after the fire of the swords and Virgil’s bull died down and the water turned to ice back again.
After the battle was over, Leosher looked around at his men. He saw casualities, there were men who died and lay on the ground because of the giants but now, the Empirion army had led them into extinction.
The morale of the men seemed to be down, for they had only been out of the castle of about a day and a half and they were already being attacked and to raise it, Leosher got in front of his men and began talking to them “Although we have lost some of our men, we have won the battle and that is the only thing that matters.” He slowly moved in the incredible amount of snow and ice and said to them “This should be a proof to all of you that the Emprion army is not naïve and weak, but instead is very clever and strong. We have won every battle we have been into and have not lost any one of them. And tonight we have accomplished one more thing, we have driven the ice giants’ race to extinction and none lives anymore.”
The men chanted but the original warriors were not proud of what they had done. They had killed innocents and imbeciles who did not know any better and now they were extinct for no solid reason.
Leosher looked at his brother, who was a little disappointed because he had killed innocent creatures, and smiled “What is wrong brother?”
“It just does not feel right,” Virgil objected “They were only trying to be protective of their mountain. We killed them for no reason.”
“No reason?” Leosher exclaimed “They called us mewling quims, how is that not a reason. They disrespected their king and received the perfect penalty—their extinction.”
Virgil had nothing to say therefore he stayed quiet as well as Azar, Usere and Urey. They did not say a word until everyone was back where they belonged and were ready to move. Virgil finally broke his silence and brought a forced smile on his face, even though his heart ached “Let us go brother.” And the journey started.
As they were walking, Virgil began talking to Azar “You told me to use the fire spell. Why did not you use it yourself?”
“It is because I want you to learn. I have plenty of practice, but you do not.”
“Well, you tell me all the spells I have to use, why cannot you simply give me the Enchants and Spells book.”
Azar thought for a second and rekindled the fire in his pipe, for they were getting off the mountain and the cold was finally receding “I might as well.”
He took a large book out of his satchel and held it in his hands. It was a tarnish brown, leather bound book with black thread sewn around it that held it together. Its pages were ancient and yellow. There were golden inscriptions on the book that read “The book of spells and enchants” and above it were a golden diamond inscribed in it. The book was illuminated and even thought it was in a shabby condition, it was beautiful and was sturdy enough to hold up in battles.
Virgil was happy when Azar gave it him,for now he had his own wand and the spells and enchants book that he could use, but this book was a fully refined version. Most of the spells were left in “The Enchanted Book of Secrets” which was lost somewhere in Ratarus because of Shamaun.
It took some time but they finally came down the mountain and continued their journey without resting. They followed the central stream that flowed from the outskirts all the way to the mountains but instead of going back to the outskirts, they went to the right, just after they got off the mountain. The cavalry and infantry proceeded and soon, they arrived at the entrance of the town of the Nephilims of the west.
It was a dark night with very minimal stars showing and the moon was engulfed in a thick sheet of clouds. There was fog and it was a grim atmosphere, for the Nephilims were the most persecuted out of all of the kingdoms and only a limited number of them existed now on Thraenus. They were a mighty race and were one of the first races put on Thraenus and were one of the favorites of the gods. One of the other reasons of their persecution was that they were strong and could be used as slaves and could do the work of 32 humans or 7 trolls or 3 vampire or 2 werewolves or 27 goblins or 70 fairies.
On average, they were huge, about 19 feet in height and had scaly and pale skin. Their skin was like of a snake and their teeth were like of a troll, dirty and yellow and they only wore loincloths and nothing else. They had thick, shapeless swords but most of them carried clubs. Their hairs w
ere long and scarce and were ugly like goblins and trolls. They were basically a bigger version of trolls but a lot stronger, leaner and intelligent. They thought like humans but because they had been enslaved all of their lives, they had not developed as much as other breeds. They did not pledge their allegiance to any king or queen and therefore were treated badly. They had escaped to the borders of Gelus and Strinthius and did not have any contact with any other being, for they were too “dirty” for humans to talk to. They were so cut off from the rest of the world that they did not even know Geluna had been defeated and did not know Leosher was the new king and neither did they know that Gelus did not exist anymore.
Leosher, Urey and Usere slept on their horses while Virgil and Azar guided the men towards the town. They held lanterns in their hands and continued through the misty night and when they finally went through the fields and started entering the town, Leosher and the elf brothers woke up from their slumber. Now, they all stood in the abandoned area of the town where no Nephilim lived.
“We should hurry up” Urey quickly looked at Leosher and looked around and soon, Usere gained his consciousness too “We should just sneak around.”
Leosher was a little shocked and surprised, for the elf brothers were one of the bravest he knew.
“What is the matter?” he asked.
Urey smiled and scratched the back of his head “We got in a conflict with the Nephilims once and we are never to go back in there or they will kill us both.”
Leosher laughed arrogantly and said “You have me as your king, what shall you fear?” But his arrogance faded away when he looked at them and noticed that their worries were legitimate “Tell me what did you do?”
Usere drew his sword out of his sheath and looked around and put his guard up and began explaining “As you know we are bounty hunters, we had a bounty on a Nephilim who had run away from its master in Agnithius. It was a military general who set the bounty for 500 hundred gold coins. We came here to the Nephilims of the west to kill it and take its head back to Agnithius to collect our money but little did we know we attacked the wrong giant. It was the leader of the clan, the head of the group, and we had tried to kill it. Nephilims are usually very calm until they feel threatened and Urey made a cut on the giant’s face while trying to kill it which aggravated all. We were to be killed that instant but we ran away because we were highly outnumbered and overpowered—that is the whole story.”