Benvari Mountains (Emerilia Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Well, either you have some kind of magical testing apparatus—the Dwarves would probably know—or you have someone who is highly skilled with identification magic or skill.”

  “Magic or skill? I thought you could only have one or the other?”

  “Well, in most cases that is true. With identification, there are several factors that come into play. With the skill, it connects to how much knowledge you have of various items. Someone who has studied different items from all over the world or a singular realm of items has a large information base to draw from. When they see items and they have enough knowledge on the item or the subjects around it, they can guess or tell you what its properties might be.”

  “Kind of like how a merchant with more knowledge will be able to give you a better estimate of a good’s value. If they don’t know what the item is, they can use other things as reference to come up with a decent idea,” Dave clarified.

  “Right, and the Identification spell, although it might be complex and take a lot of Mana depending on what kind of spell you use, can tell you what you’re looking at to a high degree of certainty. The stronger the spell, the more items you can identify and the more certain you can be of something’s properties.”

  “Hmm, well, that is interesting.” Dave tapped his chin in thought. “Not going to deny that I’m interested in checking out these ores and materials in Ashal. We’ve got some good stuff here but higher-level areas mean better stuff.”

  “I only request that we get to Per’ush and have a look at any mages colleges we might pass,” Malsour requested.

  “Well, we passed the one in Nadorf.”

  “Yes, but I have already looked over their books. Although there were a few interesting tomes, they were not high enough that I see them as a great loss.”

  “Book snob.” Dave smiled.

  “An educated mind is a man’s greatest weapon.” Malsour laughed.

  “Or Dragon’s.”

  Malsour’s smile only grew.

  “So, what are you two up to?” Induca asked, from behind.

  “Nothing much.” Dave’s eyes went to Deia. She wore her Abscondita armor and her brown hair was tinted red and pulled back in a braid to keep it out of her face when fighting.

  She was breathing a bit heavily, her face open in a large smile as she walked toward Dave.

  His own smile widened and his heart beat faster as his hand snuck into his pocket.

  Anna and Suzy, noticing that the others had finished their training and that Dave was there, made their way over to the group.

  Dave took a knee in front of Deia.

  “What are you doing?” she asked the man on one knee.

  “Well, where I’m from, we’ve got this kind of tradition. I know that for the last couple of months we’ve been engaged, as weird as your Elven ways are.” Dave grinned at Deia’s “Oh, really now?” body language as she crossed her arms and leaned back. “So, on Earth, we make a show of telling the world that two people are connected and looking to come together to face the rest of the world.” Dave pulled out a ring from his pocket.

  Deia wasn’t one for expensive gifts or jewelry but Dave had spent two weeks learning the ways of gold to make this one item. A red diamond, said to be pure fire dragons’ blood hardened by the Earth, rested in the center, glittering with light. On either side, rubies and yellow topaz formed flames that seemed to lick at the red diamond.

  Suzy let out a squeal at seeing it all and rushed over.

  Anna picked up her pace, interested in what was going on.

  “So, Oson’Deia, think you can take this Dave Grahslagg and evaluate him to the best of your abilities to see if he’s the man you want to marry?” Dave’s face was split in a massive grin. The world faded away as Deia’s look of shock turned into realization as she looked to him and then the ring.

  Her face and posture melted as her eyes watered. “I’ll think about it,” she said with a teary laugh.

  Dave’s heart jumped for joy as he held out his hand; she gave hers as he placed the ring on her finger. The engravings on the inside of the ring glowed as Deia’s red eyes seemed to flash with power.

  Engagement Ring

  Formed by David Grahslagg for Oson’Deia the woman he loves and wishes to stay with for the rest of his days.

  Quality: AA

  Abilities:

  Increase user’s intelligence by 8%

  Ability to resize

  Soul Bound (not currently bound)

  Charge: 70,810/70,810 (15 weeks)

  Durability: 20/20

  She laughed as Dave stood up, finding his face firmly planted into her breastplate.

  “My head isn’t that hard!” he yelled to the others’ laughter.

  Deia tilted her head down; Dave kissed her. They pulled apart, their eyes dancing as they looked at each other. It felt as if Dave’s body burst with heat, the nerves of earlier turning into relief and happiness.

  “Well, here’s to many more adventures to come,” Dave said.

  Deia beamed as they kissed each other.

  Suzy was making odd noises, jumping and clapping for joy. The others seemed to understand that something big had happened. Yet, on Emerilia, it was the woman’s choice as to who she would check to see whether they were worthy to be the father of her children. It was only nobles and people of standing where marriages were made to increase strength when a woman didn’t really get a say.

  Dave was acknowledging that she was testing him to see whether he was a good mate. Then, the betrothal would come and finally marriage in order to support the children. In Emerilia, where the future was unknown, marriage was a sacred contract and vow to look after each other and their family.

  “Woo-hoo! Let’s go to the tavern, you two love birds! This needs to be celebrated,” Suzy said, still excited.

  The other three smiled. They hadn’t been around when Deia had told Dave that she wanted them to be betrothed. Now they got to enjoy it.

  “I’m buying,” Malsour announced to the grins of the others.

  Chapter 26: Practical Training

  “Lady Deia! What can I help you with this morning?” Lovan, the warclan leader of all Dwarven shield bearers along the western entrance to Benvari, said.

  “I’m as much a lady as you are a lord.” Deia grinned and took a seat in front of the man’s desk.

  Lovan chuckled. “Be that as it may, your father did us a great service helping us with our troubles in the past. A Dwarf always remembers their debts and there is no debt greater than one where our family was defended.” His voice turned serious.

  Deia tilted her head in thanks on her father’s behalf. “I am sure that my father would only tell you that he was doing what he felt to be right.”

  “Pah! You damned Elves!” Lovan waved with a smile.

  Deia returned it.

  “So, what reason do you have to meet with this old man?”

  “I was wondering if you might know of any good areas nearby to train?”

  “What kind of training?”

  “Combat.”

  “Looking to move outside of the training square?”

  “We both know that the training square is no substitute for a real fight,” Deia said.

  “A good place to develop techniques but lack of practical training. So, what are you looking for from me?”

  “Are there any dungeons, caves, or areas where mobs or particularly nasty races might be holed up?”

  “Hmm. What level creatures are you looking for?” Lovan moved a few objects around to get out a map that had different markings across it.

  “One or two places with level 10 to get Suzy some confidence and then some higher level 50 to 90 areas to try out different techniques.”

  “This is a map that my scouts have made while looking over the nearby hiding areas for potential troublemakers.” Lovan passed it to Deia.

  She saw a number of caves and valleys, as well as a few dungeons listed. The map was highly detailed, showing a go
od few miles on either side of the western entrance.

  “May I keep this?” Deia asked.

  “Sure. Let me know which places you are going to and I’ll let other patrols know about your whereabouts to check in. We’ll be happy to give you supplies to help clearing out the nearby rabble.”

  “Thank you. I’ll go talk with the rest of my party and we’ll let you know which ones we’ll be visiting.”

  “I should be the one thanking you. With you taking care of those ones, I can pool my warbands together and send them into some really nasty caves and dungeons.” Lovan rubbed his hands together.

  ***

  The classroom was empty; only Dave sat at a workbench as Jesal walked in with a sturdy steel box.

  Before he’d given the ring to Deia Jesal had looked over it, but kept her judgement to herself.

  “The gold ring was interesting, it looked pretty and it had hidden attributes, getting more than a five percent increase to ones attributes is hard. The way that you integrated, the gems and the coding was beautifully done. That said I think if you devoted your talents to making just a functional ring over one with form you could easily increase the power of your magical coding.”

  She shut the door before she tossed Dave a gold ring for his necklace.

  “Thanks Jesal, thought you might not like it because I went overboard with its appearance,” Dave said, adding the ring to his necklace.

  “You’re a brilliant magical coder, but the form of a piece the way it works with different metals creating something beautiful in abilities and form is a hard balance to find. Not everyone can make magical circuits, or your more advanced Magical Coding. I was afraid that you would be all function with no form. Making a sword that can break armor is great, but if it doesn’t have a proper blade on it, then you’re just going to have to beat them to death,” Jesal grunted and dropped the steel box onto the workbench.

  “Now its time for your last lesson,” Jesal said.

  Quest: Of Anvil and Fire

  After meeting with Jesal, she has decided to accept you as a candidate to be a Dwarven Master Smith.

  You will need to:

  Master the material Stone

  Master the material Malachite

  Master the material Gold

  Master the material Mithril

  Find your Smithing Art

  Reward: Title of Dwarven Master Smith

  Do you accept?

  Y/N

  It took a lot of power but Dave was able to see through the box and the runes that lay on the inside protecting the contents.

  Jesal took a stone and pressed it to the steel box. It clicked before she opened the top to show the inside. Jesal pulled out an arm bracer. It was intricately designed, with runes glowing across it. It was in the realm of Legendary from its quality and the material it was made from.

  “Mithril,” Dave whispered, holding the metal. It was the first time that he had been able to touch it. The other times he had seen Mithril, they had been used as parts of different Player’s gear.

  This—well, it was made from a single sheet of Mithril. It seemed to glow and almost be blinding. It was silver but it gave off an almost white aura. Dave could see the work that had gone in to craft such an object. It truly was a piece made by someone of a master’s reputation.

  Dave sent his Touch into the Mithril. It was hard to get a deeper image and understanding of the metal and its contents. Before he had even gotten through the surface, Jesal pulled it away.

  “Now before we get into you messing with Mithril, which I am very interested in seeing, we need to talk about your smithing art,” Jesal said seriously.

  Dave leaned forward. They had been talking about smithing art for nearly two months now.

  “I see I have your attention.” She chuckled and took a seat.

  “Well, you and Gorrund have been talking about it for a while now. Can’t say that I’m not curious.” Dave smiled.

  “Well, smithing art refers to a smith’s personal skills and way of smithing. It is when you have evolved beyond the forge by looking back at your most basic instincts. Personally, I have the smithing art of Nature’s Guide. When I am making pieces, it is easier for me if they are formed into pieces of nature. It probably comes from me being a child and spending my days in the greenhouses with my father and then the smithy with my mother. I would always try to make metal flowers and carve out nature reliefs onto metal.

  “I moved past that and went on to work with all kinds of smithing. Then, when it came time for me to learn my smithing art, I was stumped. It took me five months and came to me when I hadn’t slept for a week.

  “I was working on a blade when my mind wandered to the gardens that I still visit. They bring me a sort of calm. I thought that I was already messing up trying to find my smithing art, so it was worth just messing around and carving out something that reminded me of nature, something to calm me.

  “I worked for three days and nights until I created a blade that looked like a blade of grass with scenes of gardens across its polished blade. My smithing art made the blade and the enchantments much more powerful. Now, this is one kind of smithing art, but there are as many smithing arts as there are people in the world. Another Master Smith called Endur uses his fists to form the metal.”

  “His fists?” Dave asked in alarm.

  “Yeah. He was a soldier for a long time before an injury made him turn toward smithing. When he makes his blades, he punches the hot metal into form, imbuing it with different Affinities. His weapons and armor might be large, but they have passive bonuses to Affinities that would take an enchanter months to create runes for, leaving no room for any other bonuses,” Jesal said.

  Dave whistled at that news.

  “So now, we need to discuss why you got into smithing and your different techniques when working with the metal.”

  “Okay,” Dave said. How the hell am I going to avoid telling her about shadow conjuring?

  “So why did you get into smithing?” Jesal started.

  “Well, uhh…” THINK OF SOMETHING, DAMMIT! “I guess it would be to gain a better understanding of materials and different objects’ makeup.”

  “Why?”

  With that, there was a rush of air as the room seemed to cool a bit.

  “Bob, what the fuck are you doing here?” Dave looked at the gnome who appeared. He wore a floral shirt and shorts, and had what looked like a damn coconut with a straw.

  “What! I thought that it would be better if I was here—you know, so you could tell her the actual reason.” Bob took a loud slurp from his coconut.

  Jesal looked at the gnome in shock, quickly recovering. “Who are you?” She put the Mithril armor back in the box and sealed it.

  “Wow, what a greeting. Should just go back to Markolm,” Bob muttered. “Don’t even get a hi, how are you doing? Sorry, I’ve been in a mountain this entire time so we couldn’t hang out!”

  “Bob,” Dave said as Jesal looked as though she were going to do something any minute.

  “Hiya. Jesal, right?” Bob must’ve seen something as he grinned. “Good! My name is Bob the Gnome. Great, huh? Though, you Dwarves might know me as Lo’kal. How are those vaults doing?” Bob took a seat as Jesal’s eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of her skull.

  Dave promptly facepalmed.

  “So, how are things?” Bob asked, like a long-lost friend catching up on the latest gossip.

  Dave sighed but he couldn’t resist a smile. “Not bad. Hitting metal and stuff.”

  “Heard you made some ripples with that glass stuff,” Bob said proudly.

  “Y-you’re Lo’kal?” Jesal stuttered, getting over her shock.

  “Yep, though I’m rather liking this body. Pretty fun being Bob the Gnome. Felt like it was a good change from being a walking, talking furry frog.” Bob took another noisy drink from his coconut. “So, what’s Anna been up to?”

  “You haven’t been watching?”

  “Jukal are
being a bunch of a-holes. Cut my damned TVO-Emerilia—dicks.”

  “Can you prove it?” Jesal interrupted.

  “Hmm.” Lo’kal tapped his chin. “A Dwarven Master Smith does not forge weapons and armor, but forges a path for their entire race. By their creations, Emerilia itself may change. They are the protectors, the unknown crucible that refines and assists the Dwarven lords in their actions.” Bob looked straight at Jesal, who looked pale, her mouth slightly open. “As long as you keep your faith in one another, I will keep my faith in you. With your words, you bind yourself to the Dwarven laws and the laws of the Master Smiths; protect, teach, and push your race forward. Use your actions to change the world, not your weapons. For my name is Lo’kal, and I entrust you with the protection of these vaults. Keep them secured and safe for a time when these weapons might be needed to protect this land.”

  Dave didn’t say anything as he looked between Jesal and Bob.

  Jesal looked as if she were still in shock but recovering quickly. “I never thought that I would meet the great balancer.” She started to bow, a sign of great and true respect.

  “Stop that, lass. I’m in a damned floral shirt—you know how ridiculous that would look! Oh, and next time you’re in Markolm, you’ve got to taste out these pena-dri, so tasty!” Bob took another drink from his coconut thing, grinning as Jesal stopped her bow.

  “Master Lo’kal, are the vaults to be opened?” Jesal asked.

  “Master—that does have a nice ring to it. You should try it out, Dave.”

  “In your dreams.” Dave sat back in his seat.

  Bob chuckled. “Jesal, I gave the protection of those vaults to the Dwarven Master Smiths. This is your home and your planet. I may have made it but you have long since come to turn it into your home. I would not give you commands in your own home. Do what you feel is right. That said” —Bob’s face turned serious— “there are things coming that will make the stories of the dark ages look like fairy tales. Creatures of Power and paladins of all Affinities will walk Emerilia once again. Skill should not be replaced by the Weapons of Power and nor should only the Dwarves have all of them. It would make others jealous and for more power, many races are willing to go to extremes. It might be an idea to call a seasonal tournament hosted by the Dwarves for all races.”