Wielder of the Flame (49 page)

Lilis knocked to make sure it was not occupied, then peeked
in.

“All set,” she said, “Marad has made special metal pipes to
allow for heated water to pour into the bath, that is this valve here, or for
cold, use this valve here.”

“Thank you,” Marc nodded politely. It was already a concept
he was very familiar with, but he remembered Eleanor, always having to fix a
fire to heat the water, and realized that of course it was obviously not such a
common thing to have such sophisticated plumbing to allow for heated water,
since Lilis was explaining it to him.

He found it interesting that Marad had used his magic in
such a creative way. It also reminded him of where he came from and he felt a
sort of pang of missing there. But it faded quickly and soon subsided until it
had disappeared entirely.

“You can set your dirty gear here,” She motioned to a chair
near the door. “And there is soap and brushes there.”

He nodded.

“What’s that sound, if I may ask?” Marc looked at Puck’s mother.

“My husband said that he was inspired greatly by the vision
and has decided to do something special for each of you with his magic.”

“What do you mean?”

“Right now I think he is working on improving the armor of
one of your friends, Zildjin, I believe? It is his desire to enchant all your
metal gear and weapons so that you will be equipped with the best of the best
as you go forth and seek out the crystal shards.”

“Wow,” Marc said, “That is very generous.

Lilis nodded, “You can go and see for yourself, after you
bathe.” She ducked back into the hall and shut the door.

There was a toilet near the bath, also connected to pipes. A
similar toilet had been in Eleanor’s house, but waste had to be flushed by
pouring buckets of water down, unlike the toilet Marad had constructed.

After relieving himself, Marc flushed and proceeded to strip
down for a bath.

After he had stripped down, he placed his things on the
chair Lilis had indicated. He realized just how badly he stank after smelling
his traveling uniform and was glad to have the clothes off. He arranged both
valves until water of just the right temperature was running out. The tub began
to slowly fill. He felt cold standing naked, leaning over the tub, waiting for
it to fill.

Suddenly the door opened behind him.

“Hey! I—”

It was Puck’s sister, Aliyana, and behind her, Laura.

Thinking quickly, he practically vaulted over the lip of the
tub and slipped down into it, the water almost too hot against so much exposed
skin.

“Sorry,” Aliyana said, trying to hold back a snicker, “My
Mother told me to get your things for washing.”

“You could’ve knocked! Ugggggh,” Marc said, slapping a hand
over his face in humiliation.

 Aliyana quickly swiped his things from the chair, replacing
them with a set of simple but clean clothes, and shut the door.

He could hear the two girls giggling until they reached the
end of the hall.

“uhhhhhhhhhg,” He groaned quietly, rolling his eyes, and
letting his body slip down into the tub until his face was underneath the
water.

He came up for air and went back down a number of times, as
if to drown his embarrassment. Coming from a place saturated with nudity
depicted in many forms, even in something as simple as a shampoo advertisement,
Marc knew the female figure, but he had never actually seen a real woman fully
naked, nor been seen naked by a member of the opposite sex, until that moment,
not counting when he was an infant.

He decided not to think about it too much and pushed it out
of his mind. He was curios to find out what Marad was doing in the smithery and
decided to finish his bath quickly. He soaped up, cleaned off, then let the
soapy water drain slowly from the tub while he dried off and dressed.

He peeked out into the hallway. Sesuadra was sitting quietly
on the other side of the hall, a large tome in his lap, reading.

“Morning,” Marc said.

Sesuadra nodded in reply, his eyes still on the page.

“Oh, are you waiting to bathe?”

Sesuadra nodded again.

“Sorry, have you been waiting long?”

Sesuadra shook his head.

“Well, I’m done now.”

Sesuadra let a tiny grin creep upon his face.

“What?”

“I overheard Aliyana and Laura talking about your lithe and
stunning figure.”

“Oh great!” Marc rolled his eyes and stomped away.

He came upon Lilis and the girls in the kitchen as he came
to the front of the house.

“Morning,” he tried.

The two girls giggled.

“Aliyana,” Lilis said in a strict tone, “Do you have
something to say to Marcus?”

Aliyana cleared her throat and faced Marc.

She bowed and said, “Forgive me, I should have knocked.”

Marc brought up his hands trying to gesture that it was not
necessary.

In that moment he was going to say
Don’t worry about it
but instead it came out, “All is well.”

He caught Laura’s gaze and she glanced down and then to the
side and then back at him and mouthed
Sorry
.

“Well,” Lilis said in the pause, “Would you like something
to eat?”

There was an array of sliced fruit, and some sort of bread
with topping on it on the kitchen counter.

“Yes,” Marc replied hungrily, “Could I take it with me to
see what Marad is doing?”

“Of course,” Lilis smiled.

Marc came around and picked up some of the bread and some
fruit slices.

Then, Marc decided that he was going to nip the whole bath
incident in the bud and he leaned over and kissed Laura on the cheek.

“See you later,” He smiled.

She was blushing.

He left without another word.

Marc shut the front door behind him with his foot. He
followed the small path in the front yard to the adjacent smithing shop next
door, at the same time he began to eat the fruit and bread, both were
delicious, especially the bread. He thought he would see Marad, and the others
not in the house, inside the shop, but he had forgotten that the aldoms and
balkar had been stabled there.

Marc stepped inside, he went down the line to Redmor.

“Hey there buddy,” He fed the aldom a slice of blue fruit,
“We have been on the road for a while now, haven’t we?”

The aldom nudged Marc playfully.

“You are such a kind and noble creature,” He cooed, “You
know, I haven’t heard you complain once so far.”

He fed it another slice and put one in his own mouth.

He patted Redmor a few more times.

He could still hear the pounding of metal upon metal. It
came from an open door near the back of the shop. Marc walked the rest of the
way to the back of the smithery and peered in past the open door. The metal
pounding became more distinct. He saw a number of magical white glowing rocks
lighting the way down a large spiral staircase. He quickly descended the stairs
and stopped at the bottom, arriving at a stone hallway with doors leading to
other rooms. One of the doors was open and the metal pounding was coming from
there. Marc went down the hall and turned at the doorway.

Zildjin, Cydas, Puck and Drake stood near the edges of the
room, watching Marad in the center of the room. Marad was using a large hammer
to strike Zildjin’s sword upon an anvil. It was the same room that Marc had
seen in a vision with Puck using his magic to work metal.

“Marcus!” Zildjin was the first to see him enter.

The others looked over, Marad stopped hammering.

“Marcus! It is good to see you,” Marad spoke, “Come to see
me work, eh?”

Marc nodded.

“Come inside then.”

“So, is this like your secret workspace?”

Marad smiled and gave a small shrug, “What can I say, I have
some special things that I would prefer to be kept less out in the open.”

“What special things?”

“Rocks, Minerals, and Metals.”

Marad motioned to a large nearby table. The top was filled
with several of the objects he described, rocks and minerals of all kind in
their raw form.

“Some of these have been in my family for generations, some
I have found over the cycles and some I have traded for or bought.”

Marc nodded.

“The other rooms you passed are filled with them, as well as
other projects I have been working on.”

Marad turned back to his work and Marc and the others
watched.

The blacksmith walked over to the table and began to browse.
He lifted up one rock, and, holding it in his palm he closed his eyes for a
brief moment. Shaking his head he returned the rock to its place, picking up
another and repeating the process until he had selected one to his liking. He
nodded his head and returned to the anvil. With the selected rock in one hand
he brought his other hand over to it and pulled it away. Magically the metal
within the rock was extracted, moving visually like liquid but being held by
the magic. With the floating liquid form of the metal Marad placed it upon
Zildjin’s sword and fused the metal with the weapon. A number of visual
deformities appeared upon the blade as a consequence of the transfer and Marad
raised his hammer to strike them out.

Zildjin’s blade slowly began to change from a dull metal
gray to a sharp and sleek bright silver. A sort of bluish tint also began to
come out until it dominated the silver hue.

After what felt like a good hour, Marc had finished his
breakfast and Marad had finished his work on Zildjin’s weapon.

“It is done,” Mara said. He took the improved sword and
brought it back to its owner.

Zildjin inspected it carefully, admiring the work.

“It is lighter, stronger, and more durable,” Marad noted,
“You will never have to sharpen this blade again.”

“Incredible,” Zildjin oohed, “And the inscription. It looks
stunning!”

Marc noticed that the same symbols and figure found on
Zildjin’s medallion which he had received from Lanvar was now the blade and
parts of the armor.

Marad handed Zildjin his medallion back, having used it as a
guide for the smithing work.

“I thought you sold it,” Marc noted, pointing to the
medallion.

“I traced it down and got it back while we were
resupplying.”

“Oh, good.”

Why didn’t you mention that sooner?
Marc thought, but
forgot about it when Marad spoke.

“Well,” Marad looked at them, “What next?”

They spent almost a full fortnight
in Essoril, with Puck’s family, mostly because of Marad’s insistence to work
his magic on their equipment.

Every time someone, usually Cydas, would suggest they
quicken their pace onward, Marad would tell them it would not be much longer.

It was a wonderful time, though, especially since Marc had
practically publicly announced his feelings for Laura when he had kissed her in
front of Puck’s sister and Mother. He wasn’t afraid to express more of his
feelings for her, like holding her hand and giving her other kisses on the
cheek. They still did not share stronger kisses in front of others like the one
they had shared privately in Terga after the dance, but they were more open
with their affections in front of the others.

Puck’s family was more than kind, especially to Marc. Marc
continued to insist they stop using all the formalities of his title around him
and though they tried to accommodate his wishes he could tell that he was still
being treated special.

Marad continued to work on improving the gear and weapons of
Marc and his friends. Puck spent almost all his time working with his father,
learning techniques and improving his magical ability. Some things, however,
Marad found he could not do anything with, such as the Sword of the Phoenix.

“It is already at a level beyond even the enhanced
understanding my magic gives me,” Marad stated.

As well as Drake’s two katanas.

“There is a strangeness to them, something I have never
before seen nor that I can amplify or improve. They are already quite superb in
quality. But I would be wary of these,” he told Drake, “I fear that the
strangeness I sense in them is not of goodness.”

He also began to work on armor for each of them. Marc was
worried that they would remain in Essoril for months while Marad finished a
single set of armor but Marad proved that his magic made him a much better and
faster blacksmith than any other. Marad sat down with each of them individually
to talk with them about the armor. He told them it was part of the creation
process. He wanted to know about them personally, to get to know them better,
to get to know their magical abilities. He wanted to know what they were
looking for more in armor, flexibility, lightness, durability, quickness of
suiting up and dressing down of the armor, everything.

“I knew it was in my blood,” Marad said one day as he
worked.

Marc stood in the center of the smithery while Puck and
Marad fitted a number of light but hardened metal plates over his shoulders.

“I still cannot believe it,” Puck agreed, “Rynar, one of my
great ancestors. And the magic that forged the Sword of the Phoenix runs within
me.”

Marc was impressed with Marad’s work. He took the simple
shoulder plate and gauntlet/glove combination that Eleanor had made for him and
worked out a full suit of armor that was still light and flexible but extremely
durable based on the same design, even incorporating the symbol of the Defiant
Dragoons crest. He and Puck spent an entire afternoon sketching and recreating
the Phoenix that was carved into Marc’s sword. After they were acquainted
enough with the image they worked together to forge the symbol on the chest
plate, the checkered kite shield in the background. Little carved flames and
other details adorned the armor as well. The overall effect was amazing. The
main color of the armor was gold with black streaks almost like fire here and
there.