Ahava addressed Namzu excitedly, “That type of creature is perfect for the materials that we need. Do think we could find any more in the forest?”
Namzu said, looking around, “Vine Rock Tolls of different types are all about in this forest. Istar and I will scout them out for you and then we can deal with them as a group.”
For the rest of the day as they were traveling, when Istar or Namzu found a troll, they would bring up the rest of the team. When they all were in position, the fight normally started with Etel-Pisha hitting it with a fireball or Istar using an arrow. The creature would attack, and the rest of the team would cut the vines into pieces while dodging the flying rock arms and legs. It would fall apart eventually, and Ahava would collect the material into his bag.
The tactic worked well until Namzu came running back to the group shouting, “Incoming! Incoming!” at the top of his lungs.
Immediately behind him was a large, rocky troll. It was about twice the size of Nasha. Before the team could position themselves, the rock troll steamrolled into Nasha, knocking him to the floor. The large rock troll was on top of Nasha, pounding him with his arm and head. The rest of the team started to hack at the vines with their weapons, trying to break the troll apart. Suddenly Etum jumped on the back of the monster, using his dagger to cut at the vines while riding the bucking monster. This sight reminded Ahava of a cowboy on a mad bull. Finally, with Etum cutting from on top, the rock troll fell apart. Quickly the adventurers moved the rocks that were on Nasha, while Namzu shouted at Etum that he was an idiot.
This exposed Nasha’s badly beaten up body. From a quick examination, he had broken ribs and a broken nose that was flattened to the side. He was also unconscious, with numerous lacerations all over his body.
Etel-Pisha looked over the broken body of Nasha, saying ,“This is beyond the ability of the healing spell that I know. “
Ahava moved up and said, “I have some healing ability; let me try!”
Etel-Pisha moved away from Nasha body, allowing Ahava to gain access. Ahava knelt down, looking over his body. Using his elemental power, he scanned the internal organs. Not finding any specific damage, he went to work on the outside. Thinking it was best to try hide his ability of elemental manipulation from the others, he made a series of hand gestures and chanted a bit while healing Nasha. As the rest of the team watched, Nasha’s nose straightened from its bent angle and the rib chest straightened out, while all the lacerations disappeared. In Ahava’s mind, he was using the elemental power by imagining in detail different parts of Nasha’s body restructuring themselves. He realized that he would have to learn more about anatomy and the workings of the body so he could heal more complex issues.
When he had, finished Nasha was lying there asleep, with only some torn clothes to show he had been healed. Namzu said, “We might as well make camp here for tonight and wait until this big man wakes up.”
The others started to move away except Etel-Pisha, who looked at Ahava in astonishment and said in a reverent voice that was trembling, “I’ve never seen that kind of spell before. The hand gestures and the chanting are nothing I've had ever seen or heard.”
Ahava just shrugged his shoulders and walked away from the bemused Etel-Pisha.
Quickly the group set up a campsite and soon there was a stew cooking on an open fire. Nasha woke up after an hour and thanked Ahava for the healing. He went straight for the food, eating a large portion, while talking to Istar. With a watch system set up by Namzu, people settled in for the night.
Suddenly, Ahava was woken up by Namzu shaking his shoulder. Namzu said, “It's your turn for the watch for a couple of hours until dawn. I’m off to get some more sleep. Oh! Watch out for small Faeries, as they have been whispering to the people on the watch all night. Just remember to not pay any attention to them.”
Ahava stood up while Namzu found his bedding and went to sleep. Ahava walked back and forward slightly away from the campsite, so as not to disturb the others. Using the ether and air power, he scanned the surrounding forest. He estimated that he had about a range of eighty meters for the scan. Depending on what he concentrated on he could have a general sense of what was within his range. With the scan, he could visualize the members in his camp sleeping. It was like moving a three-dimensional image in a drawing package around from all angles but all happening in an instant, so he understood all aspect of the dimension of the object he was scanning. If he thought about something in the scan a more detailed image would appear in his mind. This map showed the structural detail of the item. By adding some earth elemental power, he also was able to find the composition of the item.
Coming from the north, he felt several points of high emotion. The emotion that was emanating from the points was best described as mischievous. As the points of emotion got closer. Ahava saw a small cloud of mist with a little light in the center, bobbing around.
The clouds sped closer and whispered to Ahava, “Come with us. Come with us. We know where there is silver, gold, wealth and beauty.”
The whispering kept going on constantly, like a stuck record that was getting to be monotonous to Ahava. Telling the Faeries to go away only made the whispering more intense. Getting slightly angry, Ahava imagined that he projected his anger at the Faeries. This had the immediate effect of a high-pitched squeal and the clouds rushing off into the distance. The rest of his watch was more peaceful, as slowly dawn came to the forest.
The group of adventurers moved off early, slowly moving westward. They repeated the tactic of finding, attacking and gathering up the materials from the Vine Stone Trolls all day. Ahava was pleased with all the ore and semi-precious stones he was collecting. Later in the afternoon, they found a lake with a waterfall. This, Namzu told them, was the entrance to the cave system the guild had told him about.
Namzu scouted out a route to the waterfall. The group had to ease themselves along a small ledge behind the waterfall. The noise was deafening as they passed the water smashing into the lake behind them. They entered a large cave entrance behind the waterfall. The rocks were wet and slippery for the first twenty meters, until they got to the sandy ground. Etel-Pisha chanted a spell which produced an orb of light above their heads. Not knowing what was ahead, Istar suggested, in a strong manner, that they all arm themselves and be ready for anything. This got a nod from the large man Nasha, who pulled the shield off his back and readied his spear. All the others pulled out their weapons in readiness. Both Etum and Shulgi had shields and spears like Nasha; Namzu had a long dagger with a wicked-looking blade; Istar had her bow and arrows with a dagger at her side; Ahava had the ax he had made and Etel-Pisha had magic as his weapon.
The group formed a wedge, with Nasha in the front position, with Etum and Shulgi on either side. Following were Ahava and Namze. Istar and Etel-Pisha were at the back for rear attacks. As they slowly moved forward in this formation Ahava started seeing, with his elemental scan, something large moving toward the group. He shouted out a warning, and the group readied themselves and stopped. Into sight came a large humanoid-shape giant with multiple eyes on all sides of its head. It had gray skin that was dry like limestone powdered on a wall. It was as high as two normal people and in its hand, it had a rock club. The giant roared like a lion, with the sound reverberating around the cave.
Etel-Pisha cast a spell and a shield of translucent force stopped the giant from running forward. The giant thrashed against the magical shield. Arrows from Istar flew into its head, hitting the eyes at regular intervals. This made the monster move its head in agony. Etel-Pisha started to cast fireballs, hitting the head as well, and shouted, “Get ready; the magic shield will fall any second.”
Nasha shouted, “Form a shield wall!”
Both Etum and Shulgi moved to his side, planting their large shields into the ground beside Nasha. The magic shield dropped and the monster lunged forward, hitting the shields. The shield wall held with the men pushing. Quickly Ahava and Namze moved around the side of the giant. Ah
ava was hacking with all his might using the ax, hitting the giant’s exposed body, while Namze ran up the monster’s back with the agility and skill of a trained acrobat and stabbed eyes in quick succession. Suddenly the shield wall parted and the giant hit the ground with his forward momentum. With the giant on the ground, everybody moved in and hacked and stabbed the giant with as much force they could muster. Finally, the giant stopped thrashing around and was still.
Nasha shouted in a roar, “What a fight” and walked over and hugged Istar, who blushed.
Namze quickly checked out the rest of the caves and reported there were no creatures in the cave, just a lot of bones. He commented that there was some kind of doorway at the back of the cave, closed by a stone slab, that had some facsimile on it, at the back of the cave, that would need to be investigated later.
Ahava asked, “Well, what do we do with the body?”
Etel-Pisha answered in a lecturing tone while looking at the body with a smile, “Oh, the bones are very useful, as they are very strong. The rest I don’t know what use it is.”
Ahava said, “Do any of you want parts of the body? If not, I will put it in my bag for now.”
They all indicated they did not. It took a lot of help moving the giant’s body into the bag. At one point, Istar got annoyed at Nasha, which ended in a shouting match. Finally, Namze had to break them apart, saying while pushing them, “If you two have finished waking the dead, could you stop it?”
Both of them stormed off in different directions, while the rest finished putting the giant in the bag. They set up a camp at the back of the cave, close to the doorway.
Ahava and Etel-Pisha were looking at the facsimile on the door. It had seven ox-like pictures on the door.
Etel-Pisha said, “Those symbols do not bode well for whatever is behind the door. The symbols represent the seven evil deities who are known as shedu, storm-demons, known for inflicting diseases and ailments.”
Namze came up to them and said, scratching his head, “If that is correct then it’s best to leave it alone for now and inform the Guild when we get back to the city. Ahava, I guess it’s time to do some ore collection, as this is why we are here.”
The next few days were spent spending collecting ore for Ahava’s projects and weapons-making. As his earth elemental power had increased to about two thousand points, he could affect earth from a distance of two meters. He also had an effective area of manipulation of the elements of earth of about two meters. With his increased power it was easy for him to mine for ore. Whenever he found a vein of any ore, he would move along the vein line extracting all the metals. Most of the metal he extracted was iron, but there were also copper, tin and small amounts of other metals.
When he had finished extracting enough metals, the group started back to the city in a good mood. Even Istar was smiling and laughing with Nasha. On the way back to the city, the adventurers gave Ahava the descriptions of the weapons they wanted. Ahava even insisted that Etum and Shulgi have a weapon made for them as well. Shulgi said that slaves were not allowed to own weapons, but he might be able to sell it to help him buy his freedom. Ahava considered his weapons list for the team: Nasha, Etum, and Shulgi wanted a spear and armor; Istar wanted Ahava to try and make a bow or if that failed a dagger; and finally, Namzu wanted a set of throwing knives and a dagger.
Etel-Pisha was adamant that he did not want a weapon but to see how the weapons were made. In addition, he wanted to talk to Ahava about magic and how he cast his spells. Ahava agreed to this, as it would be good to have somebody’s help and to bounce ideas off.
Chapter Ten: Weapons making and other discoveries
Ahava was sitting in the inn. He had been back from the trip for about two weeks, and during this time he had been training at the weapons college constantly during the day. In the meantime, the agent had found a suitable house for him to work and live in. It was a large house with grounds surrounding the building and a wall surrounding them. It had two floors, the first floor with enough space for different workshops and living areas; the second floor with room for bedrooms; the roof for people to sleep and cook; like most large houses in the city it had a large open center area; and it was fully fitted out with furnishings for each room.
Ahava was now sitting in his living room and trying to decide how best to ask Shulgi to come work for him when he moved into his house. He had come to rely on him with full trust and confidence during the last few months. He did not know all the laws to do with the slave and he was hoping to be able to buy Shulgi’s freedom. Nervously he rang the bell to call Shulgi. He arrived, and Ahava asked him to sit.
Ahava said while looking down on to the floor, “I’m interested in you working for me when I move to the new house. Would you be interested in that?”
Shulgi answered in a flat voice, “Would that be as a slave or a free person?”
Ahava answered as he looked him in the face, “Free, of course! I have no interest in owning a slave.”
Shulgi smiled as he answered back, “Well, that is good, as I would not give you loyalty if I were a slave to you. There is a problem; not only do you have to buy me out of slavery but I have some enemies that might be displeased with you for doing this. They could cause you trouble in the future. Also, I have a wife and three children that were put into slavery. I want them to be free as well. If you can arrange all this, I will be loyal to you!”
Ahava wondered about Shulgi’s past but would let Shulgi talk about it when he wanted and not force the issue. Nodding his head in acceptance of the conditions, Ahava asked, “How much silver do you need to buy your wife and children’s freedom?”
Shulgi replied with a look of pure happiness, “It is a small fortune of five hundred grams of silver!”
Ahava pulled out what he estimated was five hundred grams of silver and gave it to Shulgi. With a happy expression and now in tears he thanked Ahava. Shulgi said with the money he could have everything arranged by tomorrow as they moved into the new house, and quickly left.
The next day Ahava and Shulgi set out from the inn for the house Ahava had just purchased. Bad-tibir meant "Wall of the Copper Workers” or "Fortress of the Smiths." It had a large and significant population of smiths. The house was in an area full of artisans working mostly in metal work, but others worked in wood and pottery. It was an area full of workshops selling their goods and a local market that also sold the products from the area. Shulgi’s wife Lilith and three children, Adda-Kalla, Sin-Idinnam, and Manatum his daughter, were already at the house waiting for them. As Lilith opened the door to the property she rushed out and hugged Ahava, crying and thanking him for helping her family find their freedom. It was a touching moment for Ahava to see Shulgi’s family happy and together. It reminded him of his lost family.
Etel-Pisha was also waiting eagerly for Ahava to get started. Both of them went into one of the large workshops with some solid heavy wooden tables and chairs. Ahava had a planned to not only to make weapons with his elemental power but also to also put some of the power inside the weapons to give them magical effects. He asked Etel-Pisha if he knew of any weapons with magical effects, and he indicated that he had not heard or seen of any existing. He knew of spells that could affect a person’s speed, strength and other aspects of a person's activity.
Ahava first got Etel-Pisha to show him a range of those types of spells. The first one was a spell of speed for running. He cast this on Ahava. For Ahava it felt like the elemental power of the air being infused into his leg muscles. He felt like he had the speed of the wind in its mobility. Going outside he found that he could run faster as he sped around the ground. The spell quickly faded and he went back to normal. Thinking about how to use his power on his leg he infused some of the flux into his leg muscles. This dropped the air elemental flux he had available in his stats. But he found a similar effect to the speed spell but this effect was permanent. Excited by this, he thought to increase his body’s power over time, he would need to infused different comb
inations of elemental powers into different parts of his body. He started to infuse the power into different parts of his body during any spare time he had.
For the rest of the day Etel-Pisha and Ahava experimented with different spells and their effects. Both of them agreed to the following conclusions: air made you both fast and increased dexterity when infused into different muscles; earth infused in bones made them stronger and increased the body’s constitution; earth, fire, and water could create a force field effect on objects like his skin or any object, and ether and fire could be used for teleportation.
After all this work, they went back to the workshop. Ahava said to Etel-Pisha, “I have some information from a ziggurat in the lower plains that I want you to go through. Would that be OK for you to do?”
With an excited look on his face, Etel-Pisha said, “Of course, that would be great!”
Ahava unloaded all the clay tablets into one of the workshops and left Etel-Pisha to start reading. Etel-Pisha’s face was like a child in a candy store, not knowing what to eat first.
Ahava went up to his bedroom. It had a large bed with a closet and a table to write on. All in all, it was very comfortable. The next morning all the household had breakfast together except for Etel-Pisha. Shulgi’s children were shy to start with but got more comfortable after a while. Their ages ranged from ten to five years old. Ahava asked Shulgi if he could find some skilled artisans to help him out with the weapons making and employ them. Also, if he needed to employ people to work around the house just to hire whatever he thought. They also had a discussion about finances. Ahava just gave over some silver, which seemed to amaze Shulgi, who said that would be enough for a long time.
Ahava walked in the workshop Etel-Pisha was reading the clay tablets in. When he saw Ahava, he put the tablet down and jumped up and shouted in an excited voice, “Ahava, do you know what is in these records...It’s amazing; it’s all here...everything...everything...all. I am the luckiest person in the world.” He finally stopped when he ran out of breath.
The First Era Page 9