Chapter 9: A detour and the village
As they flew on they noted that the countryside was much more beautiful than the dead side. The sound of life made them feel comfortable and the feel of the soft wind blowing on their face calmed their hearts. Alicia looked around her and felt much more relaxed, although her chest tightened and tears leaked from her eyes at the memory of loosing Flyt. She shook her head and breathed in the air deeply. She sighed as the sweet smell of pure air entered her lungs. She took another deep breath but gagged when she breathed in a small cloud of smoke. Pepper and Wyrvan also smelled it and they turned to avoid the smell, but the black smoke was everywhere. It made Alicia gag and cough like crazy and Wyrvan was sneezing nonstop, but only Pepper was unaffected by the smoke somehow. Since the air was so polluted with smoke the three of them had to land in order to breathe again. Pepper and Wyrvan dived down and tried to find a clearing. They soon found one and landed neatly on it, Alicia got off of Pepper and coughed for all was worth. She then wiped her eyes for they stung and tears were leaking out. Pepper looked up and saw that the smoke was everywhere, but she managed to trace it all the way down to a certain point on the forest area. They decided to rest here for a bit and clear their lungs from the foul smoke. Pepper whipped her tail and accidentally grazed Alicia on the cheek. Pepper then turned to Alicia and saw the cut. Alicia was stemming the flow of blood from her face and looked for something to patch it up with. Wyrvan gave her a salve, in which she smeared it all over the cut. She closed her eyes and grunted in pain as the salve did its work. Pepper moved her head around, scouting the area to look for danger . Then suddenly felt something hop onto the space between her wings and her neck. She whipped her head to the thing that was on her back and saw Alicia there with a clear substance on her deep cut and she was smiling, a spaced out smiling. Pepper was confused at her smile and saw in her mind that she was remembering Flyt and what he would do in this situation. Pepper let out a deep sigh and looked around for Wyrvan. She suddenly noted that he was gone. She whipped her head around and checked for sure that he was missing and not just playing around with her. When she was sure that he was missing Pepper began to worry.
Alicia! Snap out of your daydreaming. Wyrvan's gone. Either the other Ra'zan took him or he went scouting. I need your help.
What can I do?
You have powers, like I do. I think yours was that of a Telepath.
So what can a telepath do?
They reach out their minds to try and find a certain person, well that's what I know of dragon powers, not so sure how it works with humans.
How would you know this? You haven't met any other dragons other that Wyrvan, and even he isn't fully dragon.
Dunno, instincts I guess.
Alicia closed her eyes and reached out to try to find Wyrvan. She managed to catch Wyrvan's mind, but it slipped from her grasp. She tried again and managed to get a hold of his mind. He didn't seem to notice her latch on or he just ignored her. Alicia accessed his mind and saw where he was. He was following the smoke, but he was hiking through the forest with a dagger in hand. Alicia couldn't tell what part of the forest or what direction he had gone. She let go of his mind and went back into her own consciousness. Pepper looked at her.
Well?
He's hiking in the forest looking for the source of the black smoke. I can't tell where he is, but I know that he is closer to the source because of the thickness of the smoke in the air.
How far do you think he is?
Not very, by the looks of the smoke from here.
Alright then. Hold on tight and close your eyes.
Not understanding what she meant, Alicia closed her eyes again and felt a tremor wrack through Pepper and had a tingling feeling coursing through her body. Then finally the tingling stopped and Alicia slowly opened her eyes. What she saw amazed her. In front of her was a blacksmiths shop. She could tell by the sign hanging over the front door. Suddenly she head a grunt and saw the bushes rustle. All of a sudden a blade slashed through the brush and Wyrvan came through. He muttered to himself, looked up and froze. Pepper was grinning and Alicia was looking just as dumbfounded as Wyrvan.
"How the…What the…" sputtered Wyrvan
Alicia was speechless and could feel that Pepper was enjoying this. Pepper then turned her head towards the blacksmiths shop.
That's the source of the black smoke. How convenient, when we need a blacksmith we get one.
"But how did you get here?" questioned Wyrvan.
"Yeah, I would like to know that as well."
Pepper shrugged and replied.
A simple Teleport. Don't ask how I did it, I just did. I think it is the power of a dragon rider.
Wyrvan look confused, but the meaning dawned Alicia and she nodded.
"Dragon riders have special powers between them, but only if they have bonded. I have the power of a Telepath and Pepper can Teleport."
"Oh."
Alicia looked curiously at him, but then shifted her attention to the blacksmiths shop, which stopped spewing huge clouds of smoke. Alicia looked at the door and saw that the light dimmed. She went towards it and knocked three times. She heard the scraping of furniture moving across the floor and heard a man grumbling.
"Good lord, who would come here at this hour. I hope it isn't another one of those stupid soldiers, using my house like a bar."
He opened the door and saw Alicia standing there. He frowned and said in a gruff tone.
"What do you want girl. I don't have time to make a skinny bracelet. Unless you have come here to help me with the forge then I will have to say good night to you.'
"No I don't need a skinny bracelet, nor am I here to help you. Actually we stumbled here by mistake, with the smoke in the sky it was difficult to fly."
The man narrowed his eyes.
"You were flying? How? And who is this 'we'?"
"Oh I'm sorry, I forget to introduce you to my dragon and my friend"
The man's eyes lit up in surprise when she said the word 'dragon'.
"Dragon? Are you a dragon rider?!"
Yes she is.
The man jumped and looked behind Alicia to see Pepper and her gleaming eyes. He gulped and when he saw the crystals on her face. He looked even more nervous.
"Um…(gulp)… What is it that you need? I could always spare some time from my tea. Do you need a new sword? Or a shield crafted for you? Oh I know how's about a hunting star?"
"No actually I need-
-she needs or rather I need a dragon helmet for my disfigured face.
The man nodded and let Alicia in the door. Alicia thanked him and entered with Wyrvan following behind. The house itself was net very big. In the kitchen was a small stove, a table with three chairs around it and a small basin for washing dishes. The man let them to a door and stopped.
"Here is the forge. Now the stuff there, are either hot, sharp or dangerous. I don't want you to hurt yourself so it would be best if you didn't touch anything. If I need help then you can help me, but otherwise don't touch anything. Alright?"
They all nodded and the man took out a key. He then inserted it into the lock and twisted the key. The door opened and the man pushed it open.
"You didn't tell us your name Mr. Blacksmith."
"Oh right I'm sorry. The names Mathew."
They followed Mathew into the room and Alicia and Wyrvan's eyes went wide in amazement. The room was huge compared to the house. In the center of the room was a large anvil with a hammer laid across it. Across the room was the forge about two times the size of Alicia herself and a large assortment of items were hung on the wall beside it. Shelves lined the other two walls and they were stacked with all sorts of things, from tongs to whet stones to unfinished swords and broken handles. Off to one corner was a large desk with lots of equipment scattered all over the place and a beautiful sword in the middle. Alicia went to look at it and reached for the blade when a huge hand grabbed her wrist and she wheeled around to see Mathew giving her a cold stare.
"I told you not to touch anything. That blade is dangerous and it hasn't cooled yet."
"Sorry" she mumbled "but why would it be dangerous? It's just a sword."
"No it isn't. It is a special blade which I crafted and repaired many times, but only I can forge it. It is completely created from metal and magic. If you or anyone else touches it will cut you deeply and you will loose a lot of blood. It is meant to kill. I have used against the foul undead and the idiot ogres who come storming in, but I don't want you to die."
"Magic? How can you do magic?"
"I'm part wizard. I'm a half-breed. My father was a wizard and my mother was…is a mortal. I inherited my mother's skill of a blacksmith. She was very handy, with things."
"If you are half wizard then you have knowledge of integrating."
"Limited knowledge yes."
"Well then I was wondering if you could make face armor instead and integrate an illusion spell to make it look like Pepper, my dragon, had a normal dragon face instead of the crystals crusted on her face."
Mathew scratched his head and shrugged.
"I think I can. I'm used to making cloaked items instead of illusions. Though the problem is I'm going to have to see…Pepper is it? ... Yeah? Pepper's face in order to accurately slip it over the crystals. Thank god that it is simple pattern so I don't have to dent a hole for every crystal that was growing on her face."
"I think we are going to have to go outside."
"It's ok I can go outside and look carefully. That's all I need. I have a very good photographic memory."
So they left the room and headed outside to see Pepper, who was resting on the floor. Alicia called to Pepper in her mind and her eyes flared open. All three if them flinched as Pepper gave them a cold stare. Then she began to laugh at the expression of their face.
What can I do for you?
"Well I was wondering if I could see the crystals so that I could craft you a face armor to hide the disfiguration."
Be my guest, but you are forbidden to touch them. It burns when it breaks, like cutting off a part of your own flesh with a dark crystal blade, slowly and painfully.
Pepper bent her neck lower so that Mathew could see the evil growth and click it onto shape. Then he thanked Pepper and headed back inside. Alicia patted Pepper on the right side of her face and followed Mathew and Wyrvan inside. When they got into the room Mathew told them to wait outside until the armor was completed. They complied and waited in the kitchen. Alicia and Wyrvan waited listening to the clanging of metal and sound of the forge. When they looked outside they saw that the sky was black with more smoke. Alicia sat down onto a chair and sighed. Wyrvan looked in drawers to find something of amusement. Wyrvan found multiple decks of cards and took them all out. He then put took two cards and made a triangle out of them. Alicia raised an eyebrow and Wyrvan shrugged.
"I'm so bored I'm making a pyramid of cards. Wanna help me?"
"Sure."
So they spent the next couple hours building, repairing and redoing the pyramid. All of a sudden when they were about to put the last few cards onto the pyramid they heard a loud clang and Mathew cursing loudly. They slipped and the whole pyramid fell into a heap, but they were more concerned with what happened in the forge room. They went to the door and saw that it was slightly opened. They went opened the door and entered to find Mathew clutching his hand. They wondered what was wrong, until they saw the terribly scorched and bruised hand.
"What happened?"
"I was hammering the dents into the armor when my hammer slipped and hit my hand then I dropped the armor and fell backwards, putting my hand into the forge. Shit"
"Ouch. Do you think you can finish the armor today?"
"Not with my hand in this state."
"Is there anything we can do?"
"Well I was almost finished, just needed to make 3 more dents then coat it over with the illusion magic to re–enforce the spell and deflect any projectiles that hits that area. That I can do"
"Alright, but where do we make the dents and how deep?"
"Bring it here and I'll mark it. The hammer hits exactly how deep I want it to go, but since I'm not using it. I'll write the depth there as well."
He wrote the depth and marked the spot with a pen. Then he gave Wyrvan the hammer and Alicia a nail with a blunt end. Wyrvan lifted the hammer as Alicia line the nail up to the mark. Wyrvan saw the depth and hammered the nail once getting the exact depth he wanted. Then he repeated the same thing with the second and third mark, then handed the armor back to Mathew and put the tool back onto the table. Mathew then put his bad hand over the armor and muttered a few words, but Alicia could see the pain in his face and words as his hand began to glow and a streak of light coated the armor. Then he stopped and Alicia saw that the armor was really tough, but yet very flexible. Tapped it here and there, while being careful not to hit her hand onto the sharp spikes.
"Thank you Mathew, but won't everyone see the armor?"
Mathew shook his head and said "No. it will look like normal armor when not worn, but once worn it will make it look as if nothing happened to Pepper. The difference from any other illusion armor it that it will feel like the scales of Pepper's instead of the sharp crystals covering Pepper's face, also it will make Pepper feel comfortable."
"Oh excellent. Now we can continue off to the village."
Mathew sighed "Well thank you for helping me. I really thank you. If only you could have healed my hand as well. Oh well. I could use some extra hands like you boy. You really have a nak for this."
Alicia turned to Wyrvan and saw that he had an uneasy look on his face.
"You know I really want to stay here. I like it here and Mathew seems like a nice guy. That's ok right?"
"That's up to Mathew."
"Absolutely…But first I would need your name… er… what should I call you?"
"Wyrvan"
"Wyrvan, strange name for a boy."
Wyrvan smiled and Alicia said goodbye and went to find Pepper with the armor in hand. Alicia helped Pepper put on the armor and mounted Pepper. Alicia explained what happened and Pepper nodded understandingly. Then they headed to the village with the newly added armor and her two other companions left behind.