by Jamie Davis
“The zone?”
Cari winced. She didn’t have a better word for it.
“It’s a technical term. Just do it and then tell me what you see after a while.”
Heath started honing the edge, expertly grinding away small amounts of metal while shaping the blade. He worked faster than she did, but he was the master smith, after all.
She noted his face the moment it happened. The orange glow started along the edge as she’d seen before, but this time, his eyes widened. He saw it, too.
He started to turn away to look at her.
“No, don’t stop, keep going until it turns the color of light brick orange. When it does, I want you to think about what you’d like the blade to do. There are three options: speed, cutting power, or durability. I chose the speed option on the blade I showed you. Use that as a guide.”
Heath continued to sharpen the edge as the orange glow deepened, just as before.
“Now, think about the type of enhancement and continue working the blade until you’re finished.”
The blade started to glow green, just as it had with her, and Heath wore the smile of a kid on Christmas morning as he moved the sword across the stone. His blade changed even more than hers had, and when he finished, he held up a sword with a slightly different quality than hers.
Skill taught successfully.
Skill level increased to Master Bladesmith.
2,100 experience points awarded.
Level Up!
She held out her hand to try the blade, and he gave the saber to her. She focused on it.
Excellent Saber of Speed — +2 to hit, +3 defense
Damn, he’d done even better than she did and on his first try. Of course, he was the master smith; it made sense he’d be better at this than she was. He probably saw possibilities she couldn’t, even at her newly raised level. She handed the blade back to him after a few practice swings.
He took it and held it up in salute before going through a whole routine with the sword.
“Cari, this is the finest thing I’ve ever crafted. How is it you are able to do this, to teach me this?”
“If I knew for sure, I’d tell you. I can tell you this, though. I think if you experiment, you’ll find you can work enhancements like this into anything you make in the smithy. Now that the door is opened to you, you should be able to do anything you can dream of.”
“Have you tried this new skill on your modified rapier? It’s a fine blade made of an alloy I’ve never seen before, but perhaps you can enhance it as well. While you do that, I’ll fetch Sterling. He can finish the honing. The remainder of the blades are for the Baron’s men-at-arms. They need only normal edges ground into them.”
As Heath left to retrieve his son, Cari considered what he’d suggested. Her sword was as much a part of her as her arm. She didn’t want to do anything to it that might destroy its quality. Still, applying this new technique could make it even better. She fetched the sword from her belongings and drew it from the scabbard.
The long, thin blade only had a cutting edge along the last third of its length. This lent it strength and versatility as both a piercing and slashing blade. She wondered what enhancements she might prefer.
Considering her personal stats, Cari opted to try improving it for speed. She sat at the wheel once again and started honing the rapier, careful to maintain the alloy’s quality and dual-angled edge. The orange glow began again and changed to green when she chose “Enhanced blade — speed” from the menu.
She followed the glowing guides, making subtle adjustments to what was already a very quick sword blade. She could see how her actions removed small amounts of excess weight while maintaining and even enhancing the blade’s strength.
When finished, Cari stood and took a few practice swings. It felt quicker, more nimble in her hand. She checked her inventory. Before, it had been listed as a “fine-quality rapier.”
Rapier of Quickness — +2 to hit, +3 defense
Cari nodded and smiled. This would come in handy in a fight, even more so given her special burst of speed ability. She wasn’t really looking forward to testing it against an actual opponent, yet she knew it might be unavoidable. She was in no hurry to enter combat again, but when she did, Cari and her newly enhanced blade would be ready.
Heath returned and set Sterling to work on the remainder of the blades to fill the order for the Baron. He and Cari gathered the four enhanced blades and carried them into the small office at the back of the smithy.
He opened an ironbound chest there, wrapped each blade in a cloth, and set them one at a time inside the chest, which housed some other fine examples of his smithing skill. Heath closed the chest and locked it before turning to Cari.
“Here, this is for you. You’ve earned it.”
He extended his hand. In it, he held a bulging pouch. When Cari took it from him, she felt and heard the slight jingle of coins inside. After working the drawstring and opening the pouch, Cari caught flashes of both gold and silver.
“That should be enough to purchase you passage to Tandon, and then some.”
Cari tried to hand the pouch back. She knew Heath wasn’t a wealthy man, and she’d come to know his family over the last two weeks. This represented their life’s savings.
“I can’t take all of this, Heath. It’s too much.”
“Given what you just taught me, I’ll make it back and more in a day at the weapons faire this year in the capital. No one will be able to replicate what I can now do with a blade of sufficient quality. When word gets out about the quality of my blades, I’ll be commissioned to make blades for the highest of the nobles.”
“As long as you’re sure. I understand if you want to discuss this with Becca first.”
“I will but she won’t make me take it back. She will see the possibilities even more than I. Becca has always had a better head for business.”
Cari smiled, excited to get back on her quest to find her friends. She also had a moment of melancholy. Her time here in Morton Creek had been peaceful and almost like home in its sense of belonging. She’d miss it.
“Go to the harbor, Cari, and ask about a ship to Tandon. There’ll be time to come back and say goodbye to Granny, Becca, and the kids.”
After tying the pouch to her belt, Cari grabbed her sword and coat and headed down the street towards the harbor. She was on her way.
Quest completed: Earn passage to Tandon.
2,500 experience points awarded.
Quest accepted: Travel to Tandon.
The notification reminded her to check her level status, and she reviewed her stats once again before adding two more points to her brawn attribute in an effort to balance things a bit. She also spent her skill point to acquire a new ability, prescience, which would allow her to detect sneak attacks from people who were behind her or out of sight. She figured it would come in handy if she ever faced multiple opponents in combat as had happened at the dueling grounds back in the capital.
She scanned her stats as she finished her adjustments and thought about future upgrades and possibilities as she trekked into the center of town to book her passage to Tandon.
Name: Cari Dix
Class: Duelist
Level: 7
Attributes:
Brawn: 12 — +2 to hit/damage
Wisdom: 8
Luck: 10 — +1 to all saving throws
Speed: 18 — +5 defense
Charm: 14 — +3 personal reaction
Health: 70/70
Skills: Two-weapon combat, Acrobatic dodge — 2, Multi-foe tactics — 2, Feint — 2, Bladesmith — Master, Prescience.
Experience: 12,100/19,200
Chapter 22
Cari hugged Becca and then Granny Gerald. They’d accompanied her down to the docks to see her off despite the early-morning hour. The eastern horizon showed the promising glow of the coming dawn, but stars still filled most of the sky.
“I expect you to send word when you reach your friend
s in Tandon safely, young lady,” Grandma Gerald said. “I’ll be worried sick about you in the meantime. Raiders have been active in these waters of late. Have the captain send word to Becca when he returns here to Morton Creek on his return journey. She’ll pass it along to me.”
“I will, Granny. Thank you both again for letting me stay with you over the last two weeks. I can never repay you for the kindness you’ve shown me.”
Becca smiled. “Think nothing of it, Cari. It was nice having another girl in the house for a change. Having all boys can be more than a little taxing for a mom.”
Captain McShea called out to her from the ship, the Bonnie Beth. “Miss Dix, we’re ready to cast off. It’s time and we must catch the morning tide.”
Grandma Gerald handed Cari a bundle of cloth. “Just a few odds and ends every girl should have on a long trip. You’ve been traveling light, I know, but you can make room for them.”
“Thank you,” Cari said, accepting the gift. “Well, I’d better get aboard or they’ll leave without me. Goodbye.”
“Safe journey, child,” Grandma Gerald said. “I hope we can see you again, but if not, I hope you find everything you’re searching for.”
Cari smiled and walked up the narrow gangplank to the ship’s rail. She jumped down to the deck and turned to wave one last time.
The captain shouted orders and the crew began rushing about, climbing up into the rigging and spreading up and down the three masts to unfurl the sails and get the ship underway.
“Miss Dix, ma’am. If you’ll come with me?”
A boy who couldn’t be older than ten years of age stood next to her.
“And what’s your name?”
“I’m Percy McShea, miss. I’m the ship’s boy. The cap’n asked me to show you to your room. If you’ll come this way, please?”
Cari followed the boy down the stairs beneath the quarterdeck and along a narrow corridor, until he stopped at one of the doors.
“This’ll be your cabin, miss. You’re right next door to the cap'n. I expect he’ll want you to take your dinner with him. The other meals are served in the galley with the rest of the crew one deck down from here.”
“Thank you, Percy. Did I hear your last name was McShea, just like the captain?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m his nephew. My ma wanted me to learn a useful trade. He took me in and plans to teach me to be a captain, just like him.”
“That sounds like an exciting life, being the captain of a ship at sea.”
“Oh, yes, it is. I’m very lucky. Um, if you don’t mind, I should get back on deck. I have duties to attend to.”
Cari smiled at the young boy’s serious expression. “Of course. I hope I’ll see you later. You can show me the rest of the ship if your duties will allow it.”
Percy’s face split into a huge grin. “I can do that, miss. I’ll ask the cap’n if he can spare me later once we’re into open water.”
Percy left, and Cari opened the door to her cabin. It was a tiny room with a built-in bunk along the outer hull and cabinets installed below and above the bunk. A small table and chair were the only furnishings, not that there’d be room for anything else. Cari could stretch out her arms and touch the cabin’s walls on either side of her.
She unpacked her few belongings, placing the only personal items of clothing she wasn’t wearing into the cabinets below the bunk. Once she’d finished that, Cari opened the cloth bundle given her by Grandma Gerald.
The contents brought an instant smile to her lips. A matching bone-handled comb and hair brush with bristles stiff enough to work through her thick, strawberry-blonde hair lay inside. A rectangular bar of homemade soap and lavender sachet rounded out the gifts from her elderly friend.
Cari carefully stowed the new items in her cabinets and decided to head back up on deck to see the sights and get her bearings on the ship.
The bustle of the crew setting sail had calmed some by the time she climbed the ladder to the quarterdeck. Captain McShea stood by the ship’s wheel, pointing to something mounted on a post in front of the spoked wheel. The helmsman nodded and made an adjustment with the wheel.
“Ah, Miss Dix. It’s going to be a fine day at sea. Once we round the headland and are free of the harbor, the wind will be at our backs and we can set a direct course to Tandon. I just directed the helmsman with the proper compass setting. The Bonnie Beth is a solid ship. She’ll make good time on this journey.”
“That is wonderful news, Captain. I hope that’s true. I have friends waiting for me in Tandon, and I don’t want to have them worry about my delayed arrival any longer than necessary.”
“Unless we run into trouble of some sort, I think we’ll have you there in a fortnight.”
Cari turned and leaned on the rail at the edge of the quarterdeck, overlooking the main deck below. It was her first time at sea, and she wanted to absorb it all and learn as much as she could about how the ship operated. It seemed like a glamorous life to live like this, traveling from place to place, wherever the winds took you.
“Excuse me, Captain. Are those cannons down there on deck?”
“Uh, yes, they are. We just had them fitted in Morton Creek on the visit before this one. Not many merchantmen have them. We only have the four, two on each side, and they’re relatively small when compared to the Empire’s warships, but they should be enough to scare off most of the raiders plying these waters.”
“Don’t the raiders have cannons, too?”
“A few do, but most do not. Having cannons on a ship, especially a privately-owned merchant ship, is a relatively new innovation. Don’t worry about raiders, miss. Most of them run to the south and east where the spice traders and large merchant ships run between the larger cities of the Empire.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Captain.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I have other duties to attend to. Would you be so kind as to join me at eighteen hundred hours for dinner?”
“I would be happy to.”
“Excellent. If you have any other questions, I’m sure my first mate, Mr. Bowcott, can answer them, or my nephew Percy, for that matter. Mr. Bowcott, the deck is yours.”
The captain executed a slight bow in her direction and turned to head down from the quarterdeck to his cabin below. The man indicated by the captain stood on the opposite side of the quarterdeck. Mr. Bowcott called out more orders, and sailors in the rigging above unfurled more sails as the ship rounded the point at the end of the harbor.
The first mate was a big man, easily a few inches over six feet tall. Tattoos covered both arms, most with a nautical theme from what she could see.
The vast expanse of the open sea stretched before them as the ship picked up speed, racing through the ocean swells. As the up-and-down motion of the ship increased, a queasiness welled up inside her, along with the small amount of breakfast she’d eaten at the Fletchers’ home before leaving this morning.
Cari rushed to the side rail and, leaning out over the passing water below, vomited her breakfast into the sea. Soon, the food within her was all gone, but the nausea was not, and she collapsed beside the rail, sitting upright but afraid to move lest she’d have to throw up again.
A booted foot shoved a bucket with a rope handle next to her.
“Here you go, miss,” Mr. Bowcott said. “I’d rather you throw up in here than lean over the rail like that. It wouldn’t do to lose our only passenger on our first day at sea.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“No need to call me sir, miss. I’m no officer. Mr. Bowcott or First Mate will do.”
She sat there for a long while, at least four hours, leaning over the bucket on occasion to deal with her protesting but now empty stomach. She felt embarrassed by what she considered a display of weakness on her part.
It was sometime after noon when Percy showed up with a small ceramic cup.
“Miss Dix, drink this.”
“I don’t want anything to eat or drink right now, Percy.”
/> “It will help you feel better, Miss Dix. I promise.”
“What is it?”
“Ginger tea. It is something the cook made for me when I first came aboard. I was seasick something awful in my first days on the ship. This helped a lot, though. Don’t worry, with the help of the tea, it will pass as you get used to life on board.”
Cari doubted she’d ever get used to this, but she took the warm cup of tea and sipped at it, trying not to upset her delicate stomach once more. Surprisingly, her nausea lessened almost right away, and soon she was standing at the quarterdeck’s front rail again.
She wasn’t a hundred percent by any means, but she certainly felt better than she had. She’d have to remember to thank Percy when she saw him again, and the cook, too.
Cari sipped at the remainder of the tea, determined to finish all of it and get the maximum benefit of the herbal remedy. By mid-afternoon, she decided to see if she could get some more so she’d be able to eat dinner with the captain in a few hours. After heading below, she searched until she found the galley. A short, squat goblin, with a big, round belly pushing out from under his shirt, stood before a stove. He stirred something in an enormous pot while he added a pinch of some spice from a bowl on the counter.
“Um, are you the cook? I’m looking for some more of your ginger tea.”
The cook answered her without turning around. “You must be our passenger. Percy’s been talking my ear off about you. He’s excited to have someone new on board aside from his usual crewmates.”
“He seems like a nice boy. Do you have any more tea?”
“Yes, yes,” the cook said, still intent on his stewpot. "There’s a kettle warming over there. Help yourself. I’ll keep some brewing all the time in here as long as you need it. You can help yourself as much as you want.”
“Thank you for brewing it.”
“Can’t have you throwing up my food. It’s wasteful and I can’t stand waste.”