by Logan Jacobs
“Nawwwww,” the burly man said in an even gruffer tone than usual, and then he cleared his throat and looked down to his anvil. “You know… You’ve just helped our little settlement out a bunch. We all appreciate it. Business is gonna pick up now that the mine is working. People will be able to feed their families. Figured you could use a good short blade or two. That’s all.”
“Well, I appreciate it,” I said as I gave the burly smith a smile.
“I bet you’ll be wantin’ to learn more about your armor, too, then?” he chuckled.
“You read my mind,” I laughed as I put the daggers on the table for the time being.
I made a new save point and got to learning about the finishing touches for armor. The whole process was very similar to getting a sword looking its best except that there were more parts to quench and temper and polish. There was also the tedious process of attaching all of the different straps and hinges that kept the armor from falling off when it was put on.
Since the armor that I had been working on didn’t have all of the different pieces and was still in need of a long polishing process, I helped Jax put together the armor I would be wearing in the battle to come. It was much thicker and a little heavier than the armor I had worn in the mine, but that meant it would serve me better against the well-trained soldiers waiting to run me through with their swords.
Most of the hard work was already done, so there was no need for me to Chime because I didn’t fail at the task. The whole thing still took us most of the afternoon to complete, and when we were finished, Jax helped me put the ensemble on to make sure it fit me okay.
I had just put the helmet over my head when someone cleared their throat behind me. I spun around to see Mahini standing in the doorway with an indulgent sort of smile on her face. She was wearing the same outfit from the first time we had met up at the forge with the metal corset and the tight leather pants that hugged her every curve.
“I missed you,” I said. “Did you already get your gear? Jax said you went to look over the defenses?”
“I did,” she said with a nod. “I don’t wear as much as you, so I thought I would watch the army for a while and report back.”
“And?” I urged.
“I’ve learned so little,” she said with a shake of her head. “The men are all very skilled, and I know there are fifty-four of them, not including the duke’s son.”
Holy shit. That was more than twice the number of the kobold horde.
I would have to come up with some kind of plan, but for now, I wanted to focus on something a little more in the moment. I shook my head and wiggled my hips a little as I grinned at Mahini.
“What do you think?” I asked her as the armor clinked with my movements.
“I thought you were supposed to be my dress up doll?” she shot back with a melodic laugh as she entered the shop. She circled me and occasionally adjusted part of the armor. “It is finely made, and it should protect you from the worst of the soldiers’ attacks.”
“That’s what armor does best,” I joked.
“Do you have a shield?” she asked as she looked around the forge.
“Yeah, right here,” I said as I picked up the kite shield.
The one I was working on wouldn’t be ready for another day or so of working on it, so Jax loaned me one of his. I tapped the shield to bring up the stats again, even though the warrior woman couldn’t see the floating text box. It was still so strange that I could interact with the world in ways nobody else could.
Durability – 100%
Weight – 9lbs
Quality – High
Magical Aspect – None
Magical Ability – None
“Elissa asked me to fetch you for supper,” the desert goddess said as she helped Jax start removing the armor.
“Oh, wow, I didn’t realize it was so late already,” I remarked as I ducked to peek outside. The sky was already a splash of pinkish red and orange. “Feels like forever ago that I told Lucian where he could shove it…”
Neither Jax nor Mahini responded, and after a few minutes of their administrations, I was unencumbered by the armor.
“I’ll hang onto it here until the battle,” Jax said as Mahini and I headed for the doorway of the forge. “I wanna make some minor adjustments, but it’ll be ready for ya when the time comes.”
“Thanks again, Jax,” I said, and then I waved as Mahini and I left the blacksmith’s shop.
A silence hung over the desert goddess and me as we walked down the quiet streets. I could see where the people had been busy at work getting the town ready to withstand a potential siege. Even if they had the utmost confidence in my abilities, it was nice to see that they were at least taking the threat seriously. I couldn’t fail, of course, but I didn’t want the people around me to grow complacent and just rely on me to always come out on top.
That was just poor planning.
A group of men and women were practicing archery in the town center, and I paused to watch them loose a few arrows.
“Were you training them, Mahini?” I asked the beautiful warrior woman.
“I was studying the army all day.” She shook her head, and since her hair was loose today, her dark locks swished back and forth with the movement.
“Tell me about it,” I said.
She quickly gave me the details on what to expect. Fifty-five men including Lucian, thirteen of which were crossbowmen, twenty-three were swordsmen, and the last eighteen were spearmen. They all had fine-looking armor, and after watching them practice, Mahini was certain that their skill was far beyond anything the men in town were capable of.
“You and I will have no problem taking them on one on one, but I fear that they may overcome us in the end,” she concluded with a worried look.
“I could challenge him to a duel,” I suggested. “Single combat, him versus me, to the death. If I win, his army leaves, and if he wins, I’ll be dead.”
“Don’t speak like that!” Mahini snapped at me, and her blue eyes burned with the cold fire I found super sexy. “You vowed yourself to me forever, and you would break that vow so soon?”
“Woah, hey, easy!” I put my hands on the desert warrior’s shoulders and smiled at her. “I was just keeping it simple. You know I’m not going to lose.”
Her eyes searched mine for something, but I couldn’t tell if she found what she was looking for or not because she broke the contact with a deep sigh.
When she turned and started to walk away from me, I spotted the bow on her back.
“Hey, Mahini?” I called, and she turned her head back. “Could you teach me how to make and use a bow?”
She looked surprised by my request and looked up at the sky. “It is late, so perhaps tomorrow, Great One.”
“Sweet,” I muttered to myself. “Hot date tomorrow with the sexiest warrior I’ve ever met.”
“You… always say the strangest things, Great One,” she whispered. “It’s so bold. As if you don’t care what anyone thinks about you.”
“I really only care what you and Elissa think about me,” I chuckled. “You are my women. No one else’s opinions matter to me.”
“That seems wise,” she chuckled. “Women have a way of making sure they are the only thing that matters to a man. You have initiative over our wiles.”
“Why, Mahini,” I gasped as I put my hand to my chest. “Did you just make a joke?”
“Perhaps,” she said as a slight smile broke out across her full lips.
The night seemed to pass slowly as the anticipation of learning archery hung over me. The only time I stopped thinking about it was when Elissa dragged me to the bedroom for another long round of love-making. It was easy to get lost in the floral scent of her tanned skin, and every sound she made as I lavished her with attention was more intoxicating than the last.
But not even the allure of Elissa’s naked body could have kept me in bed when dawn finally broke. The crossbows had saved me a great deal in the fight with
the kobolds, and although most of these soldiers were heavily armored, I could probably shoot them in the eye if I got as deadly accurate as my mentor was.
“Good morning, Great One,” Mahini greeted me in the kitchen with a bow.
“I have prepared you breakfast, and then we will train.” The blue-eyed warrior had made a simple meal of lightly toasted bread and a few fried eggs with some fresh berries on the side.
“Thanks, Mahini.” I ate as quickly as I could and washed it all down with a few gulps of water. “Are you going to share the bed with Elissa and I tonight? I don’t want to pressure you, since I know you asked for some time, but there is plenty of room for you, and I desire to make love to you.”
“I am unsure, Great One,” she whispered as she bowed her head to me, “But I am grateful for your patience with me.”
“All good,” I said as I chewed. I grinned at my warrior woman. “Take your time, but right now, I’m really eager to learn from you. Let’s get some bow-shooting done.”
“Then let us begin.” The dark-haired beauty led the way out of the house, and I followed behind and greeted the townspeople we passed now and again. We didn’t stop until we reached the woods at the eastern side of town, a few hundred yards from the town.
I made a new save point so that I could try this as many times as I needed to.
“I would like to teach you how to make a proper bow, but we will save that for a time when we are not in danger,” Mahini said. “For now, you will use my bow. This is ironwood, and it is a very hard wood native to the Kotar desert.”
The wood had a distinct orange tint to it, and it shone with a glossy finish. The string was not attached to the ends, but when I handed the bow back, Mahini quickly remedied that. She tested the draw of the bow a few times before she handed it back.
“This is suited to my preferences,” she stated. “Tell me if it is too much or too little for you.”
I wasn’t quite sure what she meant, so I just pulled back on the string. It wasn’t very yielding, and I could feel the power as I put a little more weight into the draw.
“Holy shit, Mahini,” I breathed. “This is tough. You are super strong.”
“I have been training since I was a child. I would not expect you to be accustomed to it quite yet.” Her blue eyes sparkled with the veiled compliment.
She came up behind me, and when her body pressed against mine I took a sharp breath. She was wearing her metal corset as she had the day before, but since it was shaped to her perfect body, and I knew that the cold mounds pressing into my back were actually her breasts. Her palm was leathery as she gripped my wrist, and when she spoke, I felt a sense of pity that she wasn’t tall enough to breathe into my ear.
“Hold the bow out straight in front of you, like this,” she murmured as she lifted the hand holding the bow up. “Bend the arm very slightly at the elbow while keeping it perpendicular to your body.”
Her nearness was making my male brain spiral into all kinds of dirty fantasizes, and it took every ounce of my willpower not to throw down the bow and just pounce on her. I knew that I had begun breaking down her walls, but forcing her before she was ready was not the way I wanted to take our relationship to the next level.
No matter what the tent in my pants was saying otherwise.
“Next, you draw the string back until you are touching the corner of your mouth,” she instructed, and I swear her voice took on a sultry tone. “You want your elbow to bend upward more than outward.”
The desert goddess slipped from behind me and stood at my side to look at my stance. She touched my bent right arm and sent an electric current down to my fingers. The bowstring vibrated violently as I let go of it by accident.
“Are you okay, Great One?” she asked in an innocent tone.
There was no way this woman didn’t know what she was doing to me.
“Yep, totally fine,” I replied, and I was pleased when my voice didn’t crack like a pubescent boy. “Just lost my grip.”
She got me back into my position, and when she was satisfied, Mahini handed me an arrow.
“Nock the end of the arrow onto the string,” she instructed, and she pointed at the little groove in the butt of the arrow. “These have been carved to rest perfectly in the string, and they shouldn’t fall out when you draw it back unless you’re doing something wrong.”
The warrior woman stepped back while I fitted the arrow to the string. She gave me a nod so I pulled back and just let the thing loose. The arrow shot a little to the left, but at least it went forward.
“Okay, let’s go over what you did wrong,” she said as she came forward.
Mahini was a strict but patient instructor. Each time I drew the string back my arrow went a little bit further than the time before, and it only took about fifteen minutes for me to get the stance correct every time thereafter.
“I’m going to set up a target for you,” she said as she ducked into the woods for something.
Mahini returned after a few minutes carrying a log on one shoulder and a branch in the other hand. She ignored the puzzled look I gave her and made her way to a large boulder sitting a few yards away. She put the log down so that the inner rings were facing me, and she used the branch to keep the log from rolling off of the boulder. Then she trotted back to my side and gestured at the target.
My first attempt was terrible. I may have gotten the form down pat, and I was able to get the arrow to fly sort of straight, but it was clear that my aim was in need of some serious work. My beautiful teacher even burst out laughing when my first arrow slid across the ground several feet short of the target.
Chime.
“This is suited to my preferences,” Mahini said as she handed me her bow again. “Tell me if it is too much or too little for you.”
I had drawn the bow enough by that point that I was no longer surprised by the weight behind it.
“You’re pretty strong to be able to pull this,” I complimented the warrior woman.
Mahini smiled at me, and her cheeks darkened as she checked my stance. She had no complaints and disappeared to recreate the target.
I could have easily spent the entire day on that one attempt and eventually hit the target, but I wanted to impress Mahini with my skills on the first go around. I enjoyed hearing her laugh, but my cheeks still burned whenever it rang out beside me as my arrows fell short of the target. She would never openly mock me for my attempts, but I felt like such a child as I tried to hit the target and failed miserably.
Chime.
I had already lost count of how many attempts I made before I finally hit the damn target. It wasn’t a solid hit, and it didn’t even sink into the wood, but the hollow sound told me I was getting closer to the mark. Another dozen attempts after that, and I managed to get the arrow stuck for the first time.
Chime.
Chime.
Chime.
The bell rang in my head as I tried over and over. I got a bit better each time, and Mahini moved the target after I hit the target ten times in a row. I probably should have made a new save point, but I wanted to really surprise her with how awesome I was. Each new attempt I had to encourage her to move it, and she always gave me a skeptical look that vanished when I hit my target.
By the time the log was sitting fifty yards away, I probably had at least two hundred attempts under my belt, but when my arrow sunk on the first try, Mahini’s awed face was enough to make the effort worth it.
“I thought you had never fired a bow before, Great One?” she inquired with a dazed look in her eyes.
“First time, really,” I said, and then I winked at her. “Must be because I have an amazing instructor.”
Before she could come up with any kind of response, someone started shouting from the plains behind us. I instantly nocked another arrow and spun around. The kid coming toward us let out a strangled cry as I whirled on him, and he fell to the ground as he tried to come to a graceful stop.
“Oh, geez, sorry,
Dalwin.” I handed the bow to Mahini and rushed toward the boy to help him to his feet. “I thought you might have been one of Lucian’s men.”
“N-No, sir!” the boy said in a squeaky voice. I really must have scared the crap out of him. “E-Elrin would like to speak with you. Both of you.”
I turned to Mahini, and she gave me a nod as she put the nocked arrow back into her quiver. I then grinned at Dalwin. “Lead on, kid.”
Elrin was waiting for us at the eastern gate with a group of fifteen men all armed with swords and shields. The town leader held his hands out at the collection and grinned at me.
“These men have volunteered to fight at your side tomorrow, Sebastian,” he announced.
The men definitely looked like they had fire in their eyes, but only three or four of them looked like they knew which end of the sword to shove into the other guy.
I shared a look with Mahini and could tell she was thinking exactly what I was.
I made a new save point, approached the men, and drew my sword. “I want each of you to come at me like I am an enemy soldier. I promise not to hurt you. I just want to test your skills.”
A murmur spread among the men, and it was a long moment before one of the younger men stepped forward and swung his blade at me.
I still wouldn’t call myself a master, but by now, I had been in enough battles that I knew what I was doing, so I easily disarmed the young man with a flick of my wrist.
“Next!” I called.
Nearly all of the men dropped their weapons within the first few heartbeats of their attack with only four of them managing a decent parry and counterattack.
Yeah. This wasn’t going to work, but I wanted to get a second opinion.
“Mahini, will you test them?” I asked my desert goddess.
She stepped forward with a nod and at first, it seemed like the men were too afraid of hurting her to really put any effort into their attacks. Once they saw how good she actually was, they actually tried to take her on. The results were the same in the end, and I would have taken only the four who had any skill.
“Men, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can risk putting you into the field,” I said to them after Mahini had beaten them all. “Every single one of those warriors is on our level, and I would be sending you to get slaughtered if I let you fight at my side.”