“Then lead the way, I need better company” Xander said as he followed the woman out of the area with Patrick and Samantha close behind.
CHAPTER 18
Xander followed the woman about 1 mile until the forest gave way to a path which led up to a stone building. Xander looked around at his surroundings and wondered how anyone would ever know to look for a home way out here but quickly figured the Duke must know his land. As Xander walked to the house he could see all vegetation had been cleared within a ten foot radius of the house, probably to prevent fire if they were in fact, blacksmiths. The house wasn’t anything spectacular Xander surmised but to be honest he had been living in a palace. There was what Xander could guess was a blacksmith’s forge in a separate building close to the main house and another small building which could only be the shop she talked about. The blacksmith must have been of some renown for him to make any kind of living as Xander guessed his clients would have to seek him out and not the other way around. The woman led him into the forge where Xander could see a giant anvil sat.
The woman grabbed a rag and started wiping the anvil down where Xander saw etchings in olde elvin writing, which could only have been the work of his father. Xander walked towards the anvil as the woman stepped back. Xander placed his hand on the etching and poured his ether into it. Xander could fell the heavy anvil start to vibrate a little and instinctively pushed it. The anvil slid as if it was on ice, revealing a trap door with similar writing carved into it. Xander poured more of his ether into it as he heard a click, then the door popped open.
“I never thought this was real” the woman said before continuing, “My Da had always told me he had a special order made for Erik the Red out of a material that was found deep inside the Shatter Mountains by the lil folk. I have never seen a dwarf and thought them a myth, my father was always known for telling tall tales. He always told me what was under the anvil, and that he couldn’t remove it. This is what my Da and brother died for, a piece of metal.” The woman said as she began to cry.
“I don’t understand why didn’t he just give it to them, no equipment is worth your life” Samantha said.
“They were under the impression it was a very expensive metal, but they did not know what” the woman explained. “The metal has already been worked, anyone found in possession of enchanted items was deemed a traitor to the crown, we would have all been executed.”
Xander dug into the small space under the trap door and could feel some type of cloth, which kind he did not know as it dry rotted as he tried to grab it. Xander moved his hand through until he touched something hard, rough and undoubtedly metal. Xander grabbed hold and pulled out what could only be a breast plate. When Xander finally finished, he had a full set of roughly made armor, complete with the weirdest looking gloves he had ever laid eyes on.
The woman ran her hands across the breastplate, its ebony color not dark enough to hide the fact the metal needed serious polishing.
“My father told me when Erik the Red presented him with a block of what he called midknightium, the metal was so hard to work with it broke most of his tools. Erik was in a hurry to wear this armor before his war with Rangel. The enchanted special tools he made eventually broke during the construction of this. I would hear my father tell me how the metal wouldn’t take a shine and was difficult to heat, but was no doubt the best suit of armor he had ever made. Erik himself spent at least a month here, my mother would go along with my father’s stories but I thought they were just fairy tales. He said it looked like someone’s first attempt at smithing, but he could not do any better. For some reason Erik locked this armor away, instead of taking it with him to war. This is what my family died over, my father’s greatest work. If those so called soldiers knew they were looking for some armor instead of gold, maybe they would have left us alone but my Da would not take that chance. I ask that you let me join you Xander the Red, I Priscilla, daughter of Owen and Oceania vow my service to you in any way possible if you can help me get my revenge.”
Xander looked into Priscilla’s eyes and could see the sadness in them but saw something else underlying, the need for vengeance. Xander could see it in the way her hair seemed to be stuck to her face, the way her hands kept shaking although trouble was not upon them yet. Xander knew no matter his answer this woman would either find her vengeance or die trying.
“You have lost enough Priscilla” Samantha said as she placed her hand inside the other woman’s. “You should leave this place and rebuild your life someplace else away from these memories.”
“This woman does not speak for me, a son of low birth” Xander said letting Samantha know she did not speak for him. “Your family has done mine a great service and have paid because of it, I will help you in any way possible.”
“Enchanter, enough of this” Patrick began. “We are gods knows how many miles away from our host and you are trying to pretend you are some sort of bad ass. As I remember it, Samantha’s quick thinking is the only thing that saved you from those men back there.”
“And my quick thinking saved you both from an ambush, we are even. Feel free to leave and go your own way, your company is not something I require. It wasn’t too long ago you tried to kill me, all to marry Aubrey, or do you think I have forgotten?” Xander said as he began to don his father’s armor.
“What is our next move Enchanter” Patrick said, not wishing to engage Xander in anymore reasoning.
“I am going to arm myself and Priscilla and from there make my appointment with King Janus.”
“We are coming with you Enchanter, Samantha will keep her words to herself and you could use the extra hands, you are not invincible and I am the greatest among Rangel, enchanted items or not.”
Xander thought about what Patrick had said and knew he was right. He hated whenever anyone spoke ill of his mother but Patrick’s skill could not be ignored. His soon to be bride along with the other woman could be deadly if properly outfitted, even when facing a stronger foe.
“Priscilla, you said the Duke’s men took your weapons and armor, did they leave anything?” Xander said as he thought about how to best outfit everyone.
“They only left the junk, my father often accepted trade ins with poor villagers, taking their junk in exchange for so-so pieces of equipment. It was his good deed; the stuff I have is cracked swords and shoddy armor that is missing pieces, nothing anyone would use except in the direst of circumstances. We do have the weapons of the Duke’s men though”
“We are in those circumstances” Patrick said. “Show us what you have, if what you said earlier was true, I don’t think we have much time before we have company.”
Xander examined his armor as the rest went outside the small forge, presumably to look for weapons and armor. Xander could see where his father placed many different enchantments all over this armor, the legs and arms had strength attached to it, giving whoever wore it immense power in those limbs, the breast plate including the back and hardening enchantments placed on it, Xander doubted anything other than siege equipment could puncture it. The thing that peaked Xander’s curiosity were the gauntlets, Xander could read elfish and saw they were inscribed with fire. Xander placed one on his hand and let his power flow through it, Xander could feel his hands get a little warm then a fire ball shot out of it and exploded on the wall, burning even though it landed on solid stone. After a minute or so the fire went out, leaving Xander with a huge smile. Xander had just fished putting on the rest of his father’s armor when Patrick came through the door holding the worst looking equipment Xander had ever seen.
Of the two swords he brought, one was cut in half leaving it with no point and much shorter than a normal sword. The other one was oddly made; it had the length but looked like more of an oversized dagger than an actual sword. Xander wasn’t sure if it would break while he was inscribing it, it was so shoddy. One set of armor was rusted through to the point you could see actual holes throughout it, not huge holes but the fact there were any w
asn’t a good omen. The rest of the stuff looked to be mixed and matched possibly making about three incomplete suits of armor. The only this he saw that he could use definitely was the Morning Star Patrick was carrying.
“Enchanter I know this is not much to work with, but I am familiar with your skill set. The enchantment need not last longer than a couple of days until we can secure better equipment. If that is not possible you can just enchant these again.” Patrick said as he handed Xander a breastplate that was obviously too small for the huge man to wear.
Xander pulled out his old dagger and started with the Morning Star. Patrick could wield the morning star pretty deadly in its present condition, with the weight it had behind it, but then Patrick could wield a tree branch and still be a formidable foe. Xander enchanted the weapon to be lighter, so that anyone of them women could use it with deadly effect. The gauntlets he inscribed with strength, they were too big for both of the women but in a pinch they would help out. After Xander finished enchanting everything he was amazed he did not feel drained, his father must have planned this armor really well, whatever Magics that was sustaining it was something Xander would love to know. After salvaging everything he could, the women were missing big parts of their armor; none of them had protection below the waist. The swords from the earlier attack were put to use, Xander had them imbued with speed, the women were already reasonably strong with their gauntlets, to attack a foe with more skill, strength could be overcome, speed was something that could not. The morning star Xander kept, for no reason other than he had never really seen anyone use one, its short length was more for close quarters. A sword on the other hand had a speed and length advantage making it a safer bet. Patrick was much too big for anything but a custom designed suit, so he received no armor. The only thing Xander could do for him is add weight to his swords, that combined with Patrick’s inherent power would absolutely crush any swordsmen that even attempt a defense. They had finished suiting up when the sun was no longer in the sky. It was decided they would sleep in shifts in the forge, as the house was deemed too dangerous in case they were surrounded.
CHAPTER 19
The night passed without incident as they all were well rested. After talking to Priscilla, it was decided that they should head north walking along the road. They would most likely run into a patrol but at least they could have the time to turn and run. Xander and his group went walking along the road and before long they heard the unmistakable sound of hoof beats. It was decided that Priscilla should do the talking for the group as her way of speak was less likely to cause suspicion.
“You there where are you headed” said one of the three horsemen.
“We are heading to the duke, I am Priscilla, I came home to find my family slaughtered and need his guidance.”
“The Duke cannot be bothered with one such as you. Besides if your family is dead, then who are your companions?”
“They are my body guards, they cost be a lot of money for their service so the same calamity that happened to my family doesn’t happen to me” Priscilla said as she walked along.
“You are the blacksmith’s daughter are you not? I am missing some men who went to pay your father a visit; you wouldn’t happen to know what happened to them now would you?” The horsemen said as Xander noticed he sent his men a signal.
“I know what happened to them, they were killed in a most gruesome fashion by a superior opponent who has sworn vengeance on all of their kind.” Xander said as he stopped walking and let his hands go loose.
“And who killed them” the horse man said as he visibly put his hand on his hilt preparing to draw it.
“It was me, I killed them, one of them might still live, behind the blacksmith’s house, although he is missing his arms and legs and it is unknown if a wild animal has found him yet.” Xander said smiling at who he thought was the leader.
“I should run you through right now” said the lead rider.
“I will take that as a threat” said Xander as he pointed his gauntlet at the man before letting loose a fireball.
The fireball struck the man in the chest, burning the clothes he had on and spooking his horse until it threw him. Patrick closed the distance and grabbed another off his horse as Priscilla took a shot with her crossbow and caught the final rider as he turned to escape in the shoulder, enough to hurt the man but definitely not kill as he abandoned his comrades. The lead rider was still burning as Xander pulled out the extra-long dagger and stabbed him through with it. The remaining horseman got to his feet after the initial shock of being yanked off his horse and could see he was surrounded. Judging his opponents he went after Samantha in some type of effort to escape, but due to her increased speed and power, in one strike she disarmed the man, taking his hand along with his sword. Priscilla made sure he did not rise again with a sword to the back.
“They will be back soon,” Xander said as he grabbed the reins of a horse. “That rider that was wounded will no doubt alert the Duke to our presence, I think we should head up more by the border where the Duke will no doubt have other problems.”
“Enchanter, I see your skills have grown somewhat” said Patrick as he placed Samantha on the horse.
Xander said nothing as they made their way south to the Frahsch border. Xander thought Priscilla was holding up well with the pace they were setting when he heard the sound of hoof beats behind him. Xander turned to see no less than twenty riders behind him, all galloping at a break neck pace.
“We have company, I am not sure how many they have behind them but I count at least twenty riders” Xander said as he slowed his pace.
“There are troops stationed all in front of us on the border, not to mention the Frahsch” Priscilla said.
“Enchanter, you and I together should be able to hold them off or at least slow them down, the troops on the border have no idea about our earlier attack” Patrick said as he pulled out both his blades.
“You all go; I’ll meet you in Frahse. I am sure they have need of an enchanter after you all get captured. The enemy of my enemy is hopefully my friend. Patrick, I will hold them off as long as I can, now go.” Xander said as he ran towards the incoming riders.
Patrick picked up Priscilla and took off with Samantha following close behind on horseback. Xander hoped they would be alright as he drew the morning star and started drawing a sigil on the road. As the riders drew near, he activated it, and fire came forth in a column, shooting straight into the sky, blocking the road and spooking the horses. Xander took that time and used his morning star to deadly effect, taking three riders before they knew what happened. The horsemen quickly realized there was an enemy in their mists and formed up around a figure in shining armor. The men pulled out crossbows which left Xander a little weary, since he had no protection for his head. Xander put out his hand and aimed fire straight for the cluster of horse causing them to rear up, throwing some of the riders. Xander took that moment to turn and flee when one of the riders called out to him.
“Stop friend” Xander heard a voice say. “We are not your enemy, I only want to talk.”
Xander stopped in his tracks and began tracing a light sigil in the dirt on the road, if the riders tried anything he would activate it and use that time to flee.
“You are obviously a great warrior, born of Thornian birth. We could use your skill in closing off the Thornian border” the rider began before finishing. “The Frahsch are allied with elves and have started winning this battle. We need all the help we can get, as we are shorthanded as is.”
“I am not of Thornian birth, you speak to Xander the Red of Rangel, son of Erik.” Xander began as he made his voice grow louder. “I would never fight for any of you, your Duke is preying on weak simple folk, already I have had to kill his men for slaughtering a family.”
“I will make this simple then for you fool,” said the man in shining armor. “I am the Duke of this land, already I have 50 men on their way to this area. You can join me and fight the Frahsch or die her
e.”
“I’ll see you again Thornian” Xander said as he set off his light bomb. When the Duke’s vision finally returned, Xander was gone.
CHAPTER 20
Xander
Xander neared what he thought was the border judging from the harsh sounds of fighting. As Xander drew near he saw the Thornians locked in battle with what appeared to be elves, but this race was far lighter than the elves he had known in Norraya. Xander was amazed at the fluidity the elves contained with their swordplay, the men of Thorn were better than all he had encountered but the elves made them seem like they were moving in pond water. The men of Thorn were lucky these light elves were built like their darker cousins, very slight of frame and slightly shorter than a normal human. Behind the elves Xander could see what he thought were Frahchmen, since they did not have red hair and were on the wrong side of the fighting. Xander ran straight pass the fighting and was amazed he didn’t get even a single arrow tossed his way. Xander was unsure of where Patrick and the others were but figured he would find them sooner or later as he was sure a man of Patrick’s size was hard to miss. As Xander ran deeper into Thorn he heard a woman’s scream, a scream that sounded an awfully lot like Samantha when she scared the Thornians.
Xander ran towards the scream and could see Priscilla on the ground holding her leg with an arrow sticking out of it, with men surrounding her. Xander could not locate the other two of his party but could see the men meant to do her harm. As one of the men raised his sword, Xander barreled into him dropping him instantly from the speed he was going. Priscilla took that time to right herself, still favoring the leg with the arrow as Xander kicked the man he barreled into with all his might, his magically enhanced armor sending him 10 yards before he landed against a tree with a resounding crack, never to rise again. The men from Frahse started to back up to focus on Xander when Priscilla saw they had stopped paying attention to her and caught a man in the stomach with her crossbow. Two men remained as Xander could hear fighting somewhere close and noticed he did not see the archer who had put an arrow in Priscilla. The two men circled Xander and Priscilla intent for a standoff as Priscilla started loading her crossbow again. Xander pointed his gauntleted hand at one and seconds later he was engulfed in flames. The remaining foe attempted to make a run for it as Priscilla caught him between the shoulder blades with a bolt. Xander looked around to find the other fight when Patrick came barreling out of the forest holding Samantha in one hand seemingly running for his life. Patrick barely glanced at Xander as he ran by and scooped up Priscilla with his free hand without breaking stride and continued on his run. Behind him Xander saw huge trees shudder as whatever caused Patrick to run was about to make itself known.
The Terror of Thorn: Child of War: Book 2 Page 8