new story

I'm deciding whether or not to continue writing this story. It just kind of popped into my mind and I had to get it out so I wrote it down. Let me know if you think I should continue it or not.

He crawled out from under a light covering of rocks and dust. Many pebbles and smaller rocks had been dislodged just recently, amidst them the crystals he had used to form his spell of sleep. Gathering up his crystals he saw that they were barely charged at all and wondered how long he had slept. His spell had specified ‘until the dragons flew once more’ and when he had went to sleep he thought that it would be perhaps a decade or two. Twenty years was an eye blink to a dragon but was long enough that those persecuting them should’ve been dead and buried. He knew, from his own research, that the lives of the dragons, their very presence, was what generated the energies of magic. Their flights, their lairs and their mating spread it about the world for those of his ilk to harness and use. From the looks of his crystals they had not been in this area for a very long time.

Slowly, outside noises disrupted his reverie. Looking up and wondering at the sharp, yet muffled, retorts he heard he saw that what was once an entrance to this cavern was now buried. From appearances the rockslide had occurred a long time ago. He laboriously began to remove rocks from the large pile blocking his egress. More than an hour later he could finally see a small sliver of sky. The air in the cavern was quite stale but as he smelled the air pouring in from above he thought it might be better to breathe the stale air. Smells of brimstone and sulfur, blood and human innards bore heavily into him as he breathed the outside air. The noises from earlier had ceased sometime during his digging. Risking a small cantrip he sent his sight out through the opening. Scattered about the landscape he would once have been familiar with were the remains of a slaughter. The lovely glade that had concealed the entrance to his cave was no more. Splintered trees and bushes scattered the landscape. Deep, ragged holes were dug into the ground and amidst them is a human carnage. Pieces of bodies lay scattered about while several individuals seemed to living, their concentration focused out beyond the holes they lay at the edge of.

Once again sharp retorts filled the air. This time, un-muted by a covering of dirt and rock, he found them offensively loud. He also heard a distinct humming nearby and looked about for what flying creature might be causing it. When he saw the spurts of dirt and rock flying into the air he realized that it was no living creature. With a quick incantation he sped himself up and looked once more. Small pieces of metal, in non-natural shapes, were flying through the air. Looking all about he realized that the items held in the hands of the men he had seen earlier were responsible for the retorts and that they were also spitting out pieces of metal. He felt one of his crystals drain and rather than tax another he let the spell lapse. There were a number of cantrips he could use from his own energies rather than draining his crystals and he decided to hoard the crystals until such time as he needed their power.

With a quick gesture he caused light to bend around himself, not true invisibility but as close to it as he could come with his own energies. In a vain attempt to keep himself safe he also bespoke a shield that would hopefully protect him from the small metal objects whistling about. Walking out he gazed over the edge of the large hole he was in. Within several other similar holes out on a plain, which was a forest when he went to sleep, he saw other people. Also holding the items that hurled the small metal pieces. Strange helmets adorned the heads of these new people, on the side of one he caught a glimpse of the sun rune.

A thick and meaty impact, followed by a strangled cry caught his attention. One of the men in this hole had just been struck by a flying piece of metal. As this life expired, he felt a surge in the available magical energies. Although he disliked using death magics, he caught the energies flying from the man and stored them in the crystal he had drained earlier. Although dragons provided the stronger magics needed for great workings, each man himself had a small amount that they could call on and this was what he had appropriated. Walking back to his hole, he slipped inside the cavern once more. Perhaps when this fight was over he might be able to speak to the victors and find some basic information.

Thralen

chapter three, part three

Getting this one up on time at least, if only with a couple hours to spare. I have three more entries after this one already written. If people would like me to continue, drop a comment in and let me know sometime in the next few entries.

Coming back he met Berryl in the hallway. “I’ve got everything she should need, at least everything I think she’ll need. If I missed something, tough, we can get it after we get her out of that slave train. Follow me and be as quiet as you can, there have been several groups moving past the building while we were in here.”

Berryl slipped the door open barely enough to fit through and slid out into the street. Altarn wondered if he was going to spend the rest of his life following strong-willed, impetuous females into danger and promptly slid out himself. He saw a shadow moving along the side of the building and assuming it was Berryl followed. The shadow darted around the corner and he caught glimpse of it again at the back of the building. “This will be the hard part,” she whispered “We need to get across the field quickly and into that stand of trees out there.” Altarn looked and thought that it might well be the longest 250 feet that he had ever had to cross but hissed assent through clenched teeth.

Berryl moved out from the cover of the building and began a quiet sprint across the field. Altarn watched as she made it into cover of the trees and then began to move himself. Midway through the field his foot dropped into a depression in the ground and he fell, letting out a grunt and rolling as he touched down. Gaining his feet again he finished the run towards the trees only to find Berryl with a dagger in hand. “Down!” she called. Altarn dropped to his knees just in time to see the dagger flip lazily through the air and strike with a meaty thunk. He turned and saw an orc collapsing onto its knees, the dagger sunk home in its throat. “He heard you when you fell and came running just in time to see you gain your feet and head for the trees. Good thing it wasn’t 50 feet further or he would’ve had you.”

Berryl quickly stepped out to recover her dagger and rifle the corpse. A pouch, sword and dagger were the only things she kept as she stepped back into the cover of the trees. “Ok now, what I figure we should do is wait until daylight and then see if we can’t follow the tracks to wherever they have camped. Orcs hate daylight so I doubt they will keep traveling after dawn, or for that matter still be around here after first light.” Altarn stared at the girl he thought he was in love with. “She can kill without remorse” was his first thought. “She can keep herself safe” his second. “I thought I was going to protect her”. His third and final thought before nodding and saying, “That sounds as good a plan as I would come up with. We probably ought to follow it.” The next several hours were spent with Berryl up in a tree keeping watch and Altarn jumping at every noise he heard.

Come dawn Altarn and Berryl watched the village for a bit and when they saw no movement started back towards the buildings. Voices carried across the meadow they walked in, laughing and calling out. “Who could that be?” asked Altarn “I don’t know but they sound like humans at least” replied Berryl “Maybe someone survived.” When they reached the road and peered out they knew differently, piles of valuables or even just semi-valuables were stacked in front of the doors of many of the houses. “Looters?” asked Altarn “How did they get here this quickly?” “Easily” a deep voice replied from behind them “When you are feeding information to the orcs, you just follow them when they go out in force. They get some of the better loot but we are far more thorough in our examination and frequently come away with more of value then they do. I do admit though that I miss having the women to take with us so it is fortunate that you have saved us one.” As Altarn and Berryl spun they saw several humans. The speaker was young looking and wearing a chainmail hauberk, three of the others with crossbows behind him looked closer to middle age and wore boiled leather cuirasses, with greaves and gauntlets of the same. The last individual looked much older and sported a long white beard, which was badly in need of combing. Wearing only robes, which were badly in need of cleaning, he looked somewhat out of place amidst the armed and armored men. “This is the one I think.” Claimed the old man, “He seems to have the potential I desire, what you do with the girl is of no concern to me.” He turned to look at Altarn, “Come here boy, I think I dreamed of you, which is the only reason I am with these vermin in this town.” The chainmail clad man shot the old man a venomous look but turned back to Berryl, “Come here fire-kissed one, we’ll have some fun.” Altarn saw a look on Berryl’s face that he would’ve paid anything for were it directed at him. She sidled up to the armored man saying, “I hope you can give me some fun, my more recent companions have been unable to keep me amused.” She shot a pointed look at Altarn, as the armored man followed her look, he began to laugh. The laugh cut off abruptly as a dagger penetrated his underarm on the side away from Altarn. “See, now that’s fun!” cried Berryl, shaking the blood from the dagger at the other three men. Crossbows were beginning to be cocked as the older man declared: “Austerus Crepido Adhaero”, drew an iron nail from a pouch and pointed it at Berryl. As Altarn watched Berryl became utterly immobile, limbs rigid and stretched in a threatening pose towards the crossbowmen. “Tie her up before the spell wears off or I will not be responsible for your lives or the loss of them.”, said the old man. “Now you aren’t going to give me any trouble are you boy? I’d hate to have to waste a spell on you, especially since the rest I have are far less pleasant.” Altarn shook his head “No sir, I’ll do what you say.”

Thralen(Tom)

chapter three, part two

Once again late on my post, matter of fact I missed the wed one entirely. Sorry, but here is the next part:

As they came in sight of the end of the village, a scene of horror greeted them. Militiamen were down all over the place, some with quarrels jutting from their bodies, others with torn and slashed torsos from swords and spears. Orcs were leading away troops of captives, collared at the neck and manacled at the ankles. Lines of ten per coffle were being led away into the darkness. Only women and children between six and fourteen were being taken, everyone else was being slain where they stood.

Luciana sped down the road, heading for a coffle of slaves, sword out and screaming at the top of her lungs. Altarn winced and dropped back into the shadows to see if there was something he could do that wouldn’t be suicide. As Luciana neared the coffle of slaves she swung furiously and parted the rope that held them together. Women and children ran in all directions as Luciana charged an orc and buried her sword in it. As she pulled her sword out, many more orcs swarmed towards here but one called out in guttural tones and the rest fell back. An imposing specimen of orchood stepped out from the massed orcs, standing near seven feet tall and clad in a suit of chainmail. He hefted a large mace and stepped towards Luciana, she seemed more than happy to fight him and stepped in swinging. As her sword struck the metal armor there was a brief spark and she was left holding the hilt and about eight inches of jagged metal where the blade had snapped. Luciana looked dumbfoundedly down at her sword, or what was left of it and began to look back up just in time to see the mace come down at her head. She collapsed like a steer in a slaughterhouse, bones going entirely limp and forming a pile in the road. Altarn watched with dismay as they fastened a collar and manacles to her. They dragged her over to an unfilled coffle and attached her between a pair of larger than average sized boys.

As Altarn continued to watch, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and turned while swallowing a yell in his throat. Berryl was looking at him and motioning for silence, she had on a suit of boiled leather armor and several weapons visible to hand. A pack on her back was bulging with its contents. She motioned him further away from the orc’s activities and when far enough back whispered “I saw what happened to her, lets go get her stuff, yours as well. We can follow and try to free her whenever they camp.” Berryl merged into the shadows heading back for Luciana’s house and Altarn entirely lost track of her. Although trying to follow her example, he was sure he was seen every time an orc went by. As they slowly moved through town the sounds of fighting eventually ceased and all that was heard were the moans of the wounded drifting along the nighttime breeze.

Berryl was waiting inside the door when he arrived. While Altarn was practically panting and had to force himself to a regular breathing interval, Berryl seemed perfectly calm and not out of breath in the slightest. “Where, in the name of the Gods, did you learn to move like that. I lost sight of you immediately and was sure you had been grabbed by one of those creatures.” “Lets just say that my father had trained me for a few other things as well as grooming me for a harem. May Loki take his soul and torment it for eternity.” “You mean your father is dead?” “I would assume so as when I left the shack it was burning quite merrily and he was still dead drunk. Now lets get what we came here for and get the hell out of the village before we are caught.”

Altarn rushed into his room and swept his belongings into his backpack and satchel, when he came out into the hall he saw that Berryl was packing a bag for Luciana in her room and he went to the kitchen to grab what food he could fit in his packs.

Altarn: Chapter 3, part 1

Sorry for the day late update here, I've had some serious allergy problems recently which I think I've fixed. On with the adventure now.

Luciana went straight back to work in an attempt to finish off her remaining tasks as quickly as possible. Altarn laid back on his bed and wondered what types of problems they were going to run into with Berryl along. Having not only the potential for adventure ahead but the potential for trouble behind as well disturbed him somewhat. He drifted off to sleep and woke up to the crashing sound of metal on metal. Glancing out the window he wondered just how long Luciana was going to be working. From the position of the moon and stars it was an hour or two past midnight. His sleep groggy brain slowly focused on an orange light filtering into the window as well. There must be a fire in town. Quickly throwing on his clothes he headed for the door, upon opening it he finally realized the metallic sound he had awoken to was not blacksmithing but fighting going on someplace within the town. Rushing back into the house he pounded on Luciana’s door and not waiting for answer rushed in. “Luciana, Wake up! Someone is attacking the village!” Luciana slowly rubbed her eyes, “What are you talking about? No-one has ever bothered with the village before.” “Listen” as Altarn paused in silence, Luciana’s eyes opened wide and all thoughts of sleep deserted her. She leapt from bed, no thought of modesty in her mind and grabbed her clothes as Altarn blushed and turned his back to her. “What are you doing in here still? We’ve got to go help the guards, they are only militia with barely any combat training at all.” Luciana pulled on a leather jerkin and grabbed her weapon belt as she headed for the door. Altarn followed, “I don’t know what kind of help we’ll be, we’ve not had any combat training either.” “We’ll be two more bodies to help defend and with my strength and your brains we just might be valuable to them.” Altarn blushed at the off-handed compliment and followed Luciana into the night.

As the front door of the house opened it was like walking into dusk, enough buildings were burning that the light from the fires illuminated everything. Even so Altarn thought the shadows were playing tricks with his eyes as he caught sight of some of the attackers. “Orcs?” he thought, “There aren’t any orc lairs within days of here.” Luciana drew her newly made sword and jumped in to assist the man the orc was attacking. As Altarn pulled his dagger out and tried to get into position to attack the orc Luciana dropped it with a solid thrust to the stomach. “Come on” she said, “Most of the fighting sounds like it is in that direction.” She headed off down the street, Altarn trotting along behind. “Wait a moment” he said, grabbing her arm “We need to make some sort of plan as opposed to jumping into the thick of things.” Luciana turned to face him, fury evident on her face. The fury dissipated quickly as she looked at Altarn’s hand. “Where did you get that dagger?” she queried. “This is the dagger I’ve had all along, the one that has passed down through my family for generations” “Uhh-uh, that is one fine piece of craftsmanship you are holding there, I’ve seen your family’s heirloom, it is just a normal well used dagger. That dagger is something special.” “No, this is the one I’ve wanted all this time, the one my father finally gave me when I was leaving.” Altarn dropped his hand from her shoulder in confusion. “Wait a second, when you let go of me all I see now is a plain old dagger again.” Reaching out to touch Altarn her jaw dropped “Now I can see why you thought so highly of it if this is what you’ve been seeing all along, when I am in contact with you I see the same as you, when not I see just a plain old leather wrap hilted dagger. Anyhow, we’ve got to get to the fight before its over we’ll look into this more later.” Luciana spun and headed off down the street again, Altarn once more following along.

Hope you are enjoying the story...
Tom(Thralen)

chapter two, part two

Sorry for the late post, the 21st is my wife's and my 10th wedding anniversary so we've been doing lots of celebratory type things today.

When Altarn arrived at the tavern it was mostly empty, early afternoon being too soon for the crowds to arrive. Berryl was not yet awake so Altarn sat down at the bar and ordered himself a beer. The bartender responded with a beer, “Aye, you hit your coming of age now haven’t you. You get that fool notion of wandering about the world out of your head yet?” Altarn shook his head and thought that if he had to explain his reasons one more time he might well snap, “Well, you know the farm just isn’t for me. It is well enough and good if you like that sort of thing but I’ve had enough of it just growing up on the farm. I don’t want to do that for my whole life.”

Altarn nursed his beer for a while. In an hour or so Berryl would be out and he needed to decide how to ask her to join Luciana and himself in their travels. The time slipped by all too quickly and Berryl wandered in before he had decided how to approach her. Berryl walked over to Altarn and sat down beside him, “I see you are taking advantage of our refreshments. To what do we owe the pleasure of seeing you here in the middle of the day?” Altarn nearly choked on the sip of beer he had been taking, “Well I kind of came here to see you when it wasn’t busy. I have something to ask you but don’t know how to do so.” With a chuckle Berryl turned to him, “I don’t do that sort of thing, at least not when my dad is around.” Altarn blushed furiously, “I didn’t mean that, not that I wouldn’t like to… but… ummm…errr…” Berryl laughed gaily, “Good to see that you are still the same old shy Altarn even if you are legally adult now. Now, what did you really want?” With a heavy sigh Altarn decided bluntness was the only possible way to take care of this, “Well, Luciana and I are going to leave the village and go traveling. See the world a bit and maybe find some adventure. I would like, I mean we would like you to come along with us.” This time it was Berryl’s turn to blush, “You know I’m not of age yet Altarn. I would have to get my father’s permission and he very much likes the extra cash I bring in as tips when helping out in the bar. I can ask him but I am pretty sure he is going to say no. I don’t suppose you want to wait until fall when I am old enough to not need his permission? Not to say that I would go with you but then it would be my choice and mine alone as to whether or not I went.”

Altarn felt foolish, he never remembered that Berryl was younger than himself. Her poise and grace in any social situation always had him feeling the younger by several years. He knew that Luciana would not want to wait several months, nor would he himself. Although he had a fair bit of cash in the pouch his mother had given him he knew there was not enough to last several months and he certainly wasn’t going back to the farm for that long. His father would only wheedle at him to stay and take over the farm. “Well ask your father and we’ll see what he says. I don’t think Luciana and I can wait that long. I am sorry to ask but you know I never think of you as younger than I.” Altarn blushed again once more and finished off his beer. “We’ll not be leaving town for a few days more at least, perhaps you will be able to get away.” Altarn called out as he left the tavern.

When Berryl broached the subject with her father, the resulting uproar was heard throughout the village. Shouts echoed among the buildings “I’ve got plans for you girl, you’ll not be leaving even when you are of an age. Be glad I am waiting that long on my plans.”

Altarn could hear the screaming over the hammering of the blacksmith’s forge. When he went to the tavern that night Berryl’s eyes were both blackened and bruises showed on her arms, jutting out from under the long sleeves she wore. She looked as though she had been crying on top of everything else. When she took Altarn’s order she slipped him a note: “I have been forbidden to even talk to you unless it is related to serving in the tavern. My father raged when I asked, as best as I can tell he intends to whore me out when I reach my coming of age. Let me know somehow when you are leaving and I will sneak away to join you.” Altarn’s joy at knowing Berryl would accompany them was tempered by thought of her father. If he chose to follow them and caught them Altarn was sure that the result would be bad for Luciana and himself and worse for Berryl. He would have to think of something to obscure their trail or something to keep Berryl’s father busy for a few days. He drank his beer quickly and left to return to Luciana’s spare bedroom.

Altarn showed the note to Luciana when she returned. Luciana blushed and said “I cannot read, would you read it to me?” As Altarn read the note to her, Luciana began to grow red faced, by the time he was done her face was purple and he was certain she was going to explode. “What is it?” he asked. “”I am just thinking about blooding my sword before we leave town is all. Who does he think he is, she is not his property and once she comes of age what is he planning on doing? Chaining her to a bedpost so she cannot leave? Give me a few minutes to calm down, you can be sure we will be bringing her with us.” Luciana recovered her composure and started to plan “We need to get her out of there as soon as possible, I was going to need another three to four days but I think if I work some extra hours I can get it all done in two days. I dislike leaving while exhausted from work but I can recover in a couple of days on the road.” “I had been thinking” said Altarn “we’ll need to be able to cover our trail or find something to delay her father for a day or two else he may catch us and I think he might be a fair bit of a problem if he did so.” “Not to worry, I have ways of obscuring our backtrail that he’ll never be able to track us through.” said Luciana “All those years of tracking game have shown me how to obscure a track as well as find it. It may slow us down a bit but not enough to make a huge difference. We wouldn’t be traveling really fast with me all tired anyhow.”

chapter 2, part 1

Luciana and Altarn stayed up well into the night talking and making plans. Just before they finally went to bed Luciana turned to Altarn and said “I realize that it isn’t going to live up to the presents that you got from your parents but this is for you.” She pressed a small leather wrapped parcel into his hand and disappeared into the sitting room where she would be spending the night. Altarn retired to his bedroom and unwrapped the leather from the gift. It was a small wooden carving of Berryl’s face, it was certainly Luciana’s style but Altarn had had no idea she could carve so well. He went to sleep clutching the small carving, thinking about how he could ask Berryl to leave with him as he went to see the world.

In the morning Altarn was awoken by Luciana pounding on his door. Looking up he realized it was only shortly after dawn. “Just a minute” he called. Getting out of bed he pulled on clothes and went to the door. “Ok Luciana what is it?” “I just thought it was time you should be getting up, you did tell your mother you would take care of chores. I thought I’d give you a hand and we could go back to the village together. What’s wrong having second thoughts about leaving now?” Altarn bristled slightly at the implied insult, “No, that is just fine. Let me go tend the cows and gather the eggs and we’ll find my mother and tell her that I’m off.”

A short while and hearty breakfast later they finished tending to the chickens and cows. Both parents, alerted at breakfast, were waiting to see them off. As Altarn made his good byes to his parents a small sack was handed to him by his mother. “That should be several days worth of food that will not spoil quickly.” She said “and I know you have the resources to get more if needed. Be careful and remember you are always welcome to come back here if you want.” Amanda turned away quickly, a glint of light catching the tears on her cheeks. “Son, you know that I don’t approve of this choice, but whatever you end up doing do it well and be a credit to our family. If you do become an adventurer, remember the stock you came from and treat others as they deserve according to their actions and not their station.” Henry gave Altarn a quick hug and returned to the house to comfort Amanda.

Altarn turned for a final look at the house just before the road took him behind a stand of trees. His mother and father were visible waving from the kitchen window, he waved back and turned to Luciana “You know, I never really thought about how it would feel like to be leaving. I’m not sure I am making the right decision but I cannot stay here and commit myself to life as a farmer. It isn’t my style and isn’t anything I could possibly be comfortable with. So why do I feel so rotten leaving my father to work the farm himself?” Luciana pondered for a moment and replied “Well, I think the key there is that you feel responsible for your father’s farm. You’ve lived on it your entire life and you’ve helped him work it since you were old enough to stand. You may feel rotten because you think you are letting your father down. You may also feel rotten because for the first time you are putting your own desires in front of those of your parents. Either way lighten up, you are out on your own and free, we’ll go to the village and stay at my father’s place for a few days while we provision properly then we’ll be off to explore the world.” Altarn’s doubts were visible on his face as Luciana spoke. “If you say so, I still feel guilty but maybe I’ll get over it. Let’s be off to the village and I can talk to Berryl while we are there.”

The trip to the village only took a couple of hours and Altarn quickly found himself ensconced into the spare bedroom in the blacksmith’s home. Luciana went off to speak with her father and Altarn was left alone with his thoughts. After some time thinking he decided that his parent’s would be fine. They had a prosperous farm even before he was born and with him not there they needed the farm to produce less than they had while he was there. They should be just fine. His conscience still nagged him over his decision but less so than before.

Somewhat more relieved than when he had arrived, Altarn got up and left the house. He headed towards the small tavern that the village supported to find Berryl. Normally she was there as she and her father lived in a small shack off the back of the tavern. They spent most of their time in the tavern, Berryl’s father running a gambling game that many of the paid field hands liked to participate in. Berryl herself frequently doubled as a barmaid when the tavern got busier than the barkeep could handle by himself. Evenings were the worse, even though the village itself only numbered about one hundred and fifty folk, a good number of these people were in every night after dusk. Only the outlying farms like Henry’s contributed nothing to the nightly totals and even these folks were normally in at least once a week.

Chapter 1, part 2

Swords and Sorcery, silver and gold, gems and jewelry. The life of an adventurer (as perceived by a young boy at least). I know the dialogue is a little stilted here but bear with me. It's a work in progress:

Altarn woke with a start, his dreams had led him on an adventure where he had single-handedly saved the town of Turrin from an invasion of goblins. All the inhabitants had been most grateful and he had been reaping the rewards of his efforts when he woke up. He heard his name called from the house and looking out of his “tent” he noticed it was well into late afternoon. Getting up, he brushed himself off and headed back for the house. Entering the house he saw his mother, father, and Luciana. His father must have come back from the fields early, normally he would not have returned until dusk or later. Luciana was a friend of his, his parents had tried to urge him to speak of betrothal with her. Altarn thought of her as only a friend, no more, and she shared those feelings with him. His parents never would try to understand this, they thought that because she was of sturdy build, had many out of door related skills and not ugly that she would make a perfect wife for him as a farm owner. Altarn had different thoughts on the matter, Luciana was much stronger than he ever would be, Luciana also had a desire to see the world before settling down and finally Altarn was in love with a different girl from the village. A red-headed spitfire, quick on the uptake with the body of an acrobat. Her name was Berryl and Altarn had trouble even talking to her, never mind telling her his feelings. His parents, of course, thought little of Berryl. Berryl’s father was a “no good, shifty, no account layabout with nary an honest days work to his credit” in the words of Henry. Amanda was a little more soft spoken on the idea, saying that Berryl had never learned any useful trade or skill and wouldn’t make a very good wife. In Altarn’s mind Berryl’s quick wit and beauty were enough to qualify her as betrothal material, aside from that she was slightly weaker than Altarn and Altarn could never handle a woman for his wife that could pick him up and toss him about.

Luciana had come by to celebrate his coming of age day. Altarn’s parents, knowing that at the very least they were good friends, had invited her. His mother had cooked his favorite meal, ham steaks in a honey sauce with all the trimmings and then had spent the last several hours baking pastries for desert. After dinner Luciana pulled Altarn aside “Are you still planning on leaving this place?” “Yes, sometime in the next few days.” “Good, I’m going with you.” “You’re certainly welcome to join me” Altarn replied, the question evident in his voice. Luciana chuckled and said “I’ve used my father’s forge and the skills he has insisted I learn over the years and have made myself a sword and dagger. I’ve also traded a few pieces of ironwork for a small bow and some arrows. The only thing I still need to get is a suit of armor, I’m thinking of boiled leather to leave myself freedom of movement. Unfortunately, there is no armorer here to make that for me so I need to go to Turrin, is that still your first destination?” “It is, and I’m impressed with your preparations, I thought you wanted nothing to do with your father’s forge.” “Well, since I told him I had no intent to become a blacksmith before I came of age he has been much nicer and allowed me to work on some items for him in exchange for the use of his forge for my own items. If I ever make another nail it will be too soon, I made several thousand for him so I could make my sword and dagger. Then had to do some other stock work for him so I could make the items I traded for my bow and arrows. I certainly hope they were worth the effort.”.

Altarn and Luciana returned to the kitchen where Henry was devouring one last piece of pie with great effort. “If I ate like this all the time, I’d never be able to plow the fields.” He said, “Now boy, one last chance. Are you sure you don’t want to inherit this farm or do you insist on running off and getting yourself killed? I tried to beat some sense into you while you were still not a man, but you’ve reached an age to make your own decisions.” “I want to keep on good terms with you father, but not at a cost of being tied to this farm my entire life.” “Then you’ve decided and I shall respect your decision.” Henry rose and walked into the sitting room. Amanda said “Here is the surprise I was talking about son.” Henry walked back in with a brand new hand tooled leather scabbard, the old dagger from over the fireplace protruding from the neck. Handing it to Altarn he said “Here you are boy, your request is fulfilled, I also have a few other items for you if you insist on wandering off.” Henry pulled an oiled leather backpack from behind hid back and handed it to Altarn. “Inside you’ll find a bedroll, sheet of canvas to use for a tent, some flint and steel, a couple of waterskins and a few other miscellaneous items that no one should be on the road without. I’ll be going to bed now.” Amanda looked at Altarn , commenting “He really did think he could talk you out of it, but I know you better than he. For the last year I’ve been scrimping a bit on supplies when I go into town and as a result I have something else for you that no-one should be on the road without.” Amanda handed Altarn a small purse which jingled as he shook it. Looking inside he saw many coins, mostly copper with a few silver scattered about inside. “Thank you mother, this will come in just as handy as anything else I’ve been given.” Altarn hugged his mother and noticed a few tears coming from her eyes. “I love you mother and always will. Do not worry, I will return for visits from time to time.” Amanda stood and replied “Well off to bed for myself as well, we’ll have an early morning tomorrow. Remember you are always welcome here and can stay for while longer now if you like, although if you do we’ll expect you to help with the chores.” “Good night mother, I won’t be leaving before morning at least so I’ll take care of the cows and chickens then.”