AN: Apologies for lateness. That's about all. Oh, and Charsi's OOC-ness
will be dealt with in a later chapter.
Warnings/Disclaimers: See part one.
**********
*Perhaps my grandsire was right*, reflected Indo. *As he said, 'When dealing with paladins, it is infinitely simpler to simply do away with them.'*
On the other hand, his aging mentor was the one who had drilled over and over into Indo's young brain the importance of returning favors (and injuries) wound for wound, eye for eye, life for life. So if Indo was feeling not at all disposed towards blaming himself, he could always rationalize that it was his grandsire's fault he was here in the first place.
This line of thought was inspired courtesy of the flaming arrows currently whizzing past, and occasionally embedding themselves in, the weak cover of the single tree Indo was crouched behind. The paladin (standing, incidentally, entirely too close for the comfort of the small portion of Indo's mind still able to ponder such inconveniences) was keeping a steady rain of shining energy hailing down on the ever-present walking corpses. *Knock one down, five more take their place.*
Indo's bow was at the ready, arrow notched; deciding that it was now in the momentary lull of arrow fire or never, he leapt from behind his shelter.
***********
::Twenty-four hours earlier::
The first thing Indo noticed as he stepped out of the tent was the over whelming stench of blood. He reflexively brought a hand to his face in an attempt to quiet the stinging in his nasal passages and winced. Scowling at his involuntary reaction to such a familiar scent, Indo sought out the source. The smell seemed to emanate from a gathering of people huddled next to a large fire; the knight was among their number. Deciding he definitely did not want to be anywhere near the paladin, Indo set out in the direction of the clanging that had woken him.
He found it in the form of a young woman squinting critically at the edge of a blade that still held a faint red glow of heat. Even as he approached, she replaced the dagger on her anvil and raised her hammer. One short clang, one last check, and with a nod of approval she dropped the dagger into a bucket of water, causing a sharp hiss.
"Hello."
She whirled, short blonde hair whipping around to smack her lightly on the cheek. Indo took an involuntary step back; apparently she appeared much shorter than she was while at range or working over her anvil. Heavily muscled biceps flexed for a long moment- obviously part barbarian, and Indo wondered if she had retained any of the fabled savagery of that race, and if so, was he to be torn apart now with no warning- and suddenly her whole demeanor softened, body relaxing, an embarrassed flush coming to her cheeks.
"I'm awful sorry, sir, you just startled me. I tend to get wrapped up in my work- I didn't scare you too bad, did I? Sometimes they run screaming. Oh, are you that stranger Demor brought in from the Blood Moor?"
Great. Now the damned locale had an appropriately forbidding name. Indo realized the woman was waiting for an answer.
"Er. Yes? I mean, I think so," he offered.
"It's real good to see you up- the whole camp was real worried about you- Akara wasn't sure if you were going to pull through; Demor hardly left your side, I mean, you were out for two days- Hey, by the way, what's your name? Nobody knows."
The mentality of a child of fifteen. Indo blinked as he processed the sudden shift in topic and automatically stammered out, "My- my name is Indo."
"Indo, hm? From where? Oh, never mind, that's none of my business." She ran an appraising eye over his body, then held out her hand. "I'm the blacksmith, Charsi. Pleasure to meet you."
Getting over his confusion, Indo grasped the proffered hand (noting idly that Charsi stood more than a head taller than him) and shook it, reciting the well-remembered words of his grandsire's favorite greeting. "'Equally met, thankfully in friendship and not in battle.'"
She giggled, an odd sound coming from such a large body. "Aren't you the gentleman? I think we're going to get along really good. There's not that many people to talk to here- Warriv's nice, I like hearing his stories- but Akara's always reading some old scroll, Kashya's too busy worrying about her troops, and the rogues are too busy worrying about demons and such." Charsi's mood darkened. "And don't even get me started on Gheed. I'm trying to run my little shop here, and he's always trying to tell me to raise my prices when I sell stuff or lower them to buy- it drives me nuts! I think my prices are just fine, unless the customer wants to be cheated. And then he has the nerve to charge overly inflated prices for magic items that he won't even identify until they've been bought and the money's in his purse!"
Speaking of equipment. Indo was gripped by a sudden dread.
"Tell me, Charsi. You said they found me out in the wilderness." His voice failed for a second before he could continue. "What about my bow? Did they find my bow?"
Charsi bit her lip and picked a leather bag up from next to her forge. Wordlessly, she handed it to Indo, who took a deep breath and held it before exhaling heavily as he saw the contents of the sack.
The bow was twisted and cracked, splinters poking out where the wood had split. The string was frayed; the arrows were in pieces; the decorative paint was smeared. This last remnant of his grandsire's was gone, just as the old man's body was. Indo wrapped the shards back into the leather bag reverently.
Charsi was talking again. "I'm so sorry! They wanted me to fix it, but I don't know how to fix bows, but I tried anyway and I just ended up splitting it farther, and I'm so sooo-rrrrry-eeeeeee." She trailed off in tears, hiccupping.
Indo had been staring at the ruined weapon, face impassive. Now he looked up, confused, and tried to adopt a comforting manner. "No, no, it's- it's not your fault. I'm sure you tried your hardest. I'll just have to get a new bow."
"But it was *your* bow!" Charsi flung herself at Indo and wrapped her arms around his waist. Indo awkwardly patted her on the back while she sobbed. "I'm so sorry, I'll do anything to make it up to you, *anything*-"
"No, it's *fine*-"
"No, it *isn't*, you have to let me do something! At least let me give you a new bow!"
Indo caved. "Oh, all right."
Charsi brightened and turned to the wall of her wooden shelter, where a selection of bows that Indo hadn't noticed was hanging. "I know these aren't anywhere near as good as the one you had, but a couple of these are magical. Here, this one." She pulled a bow off the wall and handed it to Indo.
He stared at the weapon perplexedly. "What do you mean, it's magic?"
"It'll add to your attributes, like strength or stamina. Magic weapons might also add something to the power of your attacks. This one, for example, is a Short Bow of Flame. It'll, um, add fire energy to your arrows as you pull the string back, so when the arrow hits, it'll burn the enemy as well. See these markings?" Charsi ran her finger along the center of the bow. "These runes'll tell you what kind of magic the item has, if you can read them. I have a translation sheet somewhere, you can use it until you learn the runes, they're pretty easy to read once you know what you're looking for." She was rummaging through a sheaf of papers when a large meaty hand clamped onto Indo's shoulder.
He whirled, gripping the wrist and twisting it around so that the owner of the arm found it pinned uncomfortably behind his back in less than a second. Indo made a mental note to thank Akara for her miraculous healing powers before he left.
Indo was mildly shocked to find a short, squashy bundle of faded finery instead of the warrior he was expecting. He muttered a quiet curse and released the man's arm with a slight shove. The man sputtered briefly and regained his composure.
"Good day to you partner! Gheed, master merchant and proprietor extraordinaire at your service. I see you are a warrior, and a damn strong one too, if my wrist is any indication. Let me give you some advice, friend, I-"
The fat merchant had been reciting his spiel with his eyes closed, but at this point they flashed open for a second and settled onto Indo's face. Gheed faltered, his previously well-oiled words stumbling over themselves as he lapsed into silence, a venomous look of pure hatred flashing across his features; Indo tensed, anticipating an attack-
A harsh shove sent Gheed sprawling. Charsi stood above him with all the terrible glory of an avenging angel, her face livid and flushed.
"You!" she spat, and there was no trace of the childish naïveté that had marked her interrupted conversation with Indo. "I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, none of YOUR sales will be conducted or propositioned in any way, shape, form or fashion in MY section of this camp!" Spittle sprayed from her lips and spattered across the fallen merchant.
Gheed made a show of wiping his face and clambered to his feet, making a show of wiping the mud from his robes. Adopting a smile nearly as greasy as his hair, he began wheedling in an even oilier tone than before.
"My dear girl, I see you've met our nameless traveling warrior, and as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted-" here he shot a glare at Charsi- "what a warrior he is! I see you two have formed a friendship of sorts. Charsi, Charsi, Charsi, I know you're the sort of girl who doesn't accept anything but the best for her friends. Now, I'm not trying to insult or demean you, but the sad truth is that the magical equipment you sell is not all it could be." A sneering grin betrayed the true feelings behind the words as Gheed fixed his oily gaze on Indo.
"My friend, wouldn't you rather have an Amber Skull Cap than an Ocher one? Quilted Armor of the Mammoth rather than the same of the Fox? Or even-" Gheed's eyes flicked to the bow still held in Indo's hand- "or even a rare bow rather than just a plain magical one? For a purely nominal fee all this can be yours! What do you say?"
A strong voice cut off Indo's response. "He says that his presence is requested in Akara's tent and that you should take your lies elsewhere." Demor moved out from behind one of the tents, glaring at Gheed, who squeaked and scuttled away. Indo turned on the knight.
"You! Don't profess to put words in my mouth, paladin!"
"I merely stated the truth, stranger." The paladin stressed the last word. "Hello, Charsi." He nodded to the blacksmith, then turned to Indo. "This way." He strode off.
Indo followed reluctantly.
************* AN: I know I didn't get this out sooner, and I probably should have, and all I can say is, I'm sorry. I don't know when this will be updated next, because I haven't even started writing the next chapter yet, but it isn't forgotten or abandoned. Please review, because reviews always inspire me to work faster!
Warnings/Disclaimers: See part one.
**********
*Perhaps my grandsire was right*, reflected Indo. *As he said, 'When dealing with paladins, it is infinitely simpler to simply do away with them.'*
On the other hand, his aging mentor was the one who had drilled over and over into Indo's young brain the importance of returning favors (and injuries) wound for wound, eye for eye, life for life. So if Indo was feeling not at all disposed towards blaming himself, he could always rationalize that it was his grandsire's fault he was here in the first place.
This line of thought was inspired courtesy of the flaming arrows currently whizzing past, and occasionally embedding themselves in, the weak cover of the single tree Indo was crouched behind. The paladin (standing, incidentally, entirely too close for the comfort of the small portion of Indo's mind still able to ponder such inconveniences) was keeping a steady rain of shining energy hailing down on the ever-present walking corpses. *Knock one down, five more take their place.*
Indo's bow was at the ready, arrow notched; deciding that it was now in the momentary lull of arrow fire or never, he leapt from behind his shelter.
***********
::Twenty-four hours earlier::
The first thing Indo noticed as he stepped out of the tent was the over whelming stench of blood. He reflexively brought a hand to his face in an attempt to quiet the stinging in his nasal passages and winced. Scowling at his involuntary reaction to such a familiar scent, Indo sought out the source. The smell seemed to emanate from a gathering of people huddled next to a large fire; the knight was among their number. Deciding he definitely did not want to be anywhere near the paladin, Indo set out in the direction of the clanging that had woken him.
He found it in the form of a young woman squinting critically at the edge of a blade that still held a faint red glow of heat. Even as he approached, she replaced the dagger on her anvil and raised her hammer. One short clang, one last check, and with a nod of approval she dropped the dagger into a bucket of water, causing a sharp hiss.
"Hello."
She whirled, short blonde hair whipping around to smack her lightly on the cheek. Indo took an involuntary step back; apparently she appeared much shorter than she was while at range or working over her anvil. Heavily muscled biceps flexed for a long moment- obviously part barbarian, and Indo wondered if she had retained any of the fabled savagery of that race, and if so, was he to be torn apart now with no warning- and suddenly her whole demeanor softened, body relaxing, an embarrassed flush coming to her cheeks.
"I'm awful sorry, sir, you just startled me. I tend to get wrapped up in my work- I didn't scare you too bad, did I? Sometimes they run screaming. Oh, are you that stranger Demor brought in from the Blood Moor?"
Great. Now the damned locale had an appropriately forbidding name. Indo realized the woman was waiting for an answer.
"Er. Yes? I mean, I think so," he offered.
"It's real good to see you up- the whole camp was real worried about you- Akara wasn't sure if you were going to pull through; Demor hardly left your side, I mean, you were out for two days- Hey, by the way, what's your name? Nobody knows."
The mentality of a child of fifteen. Indo blinked as he processed the sudden shift in topic and automatically stammered out, "My- my name is Indo."
"Indo, hm? From where? Oh, never mind, that's none of my business." She ran an appraising eye over his body, then held out her hand. "I'm the blacksmith, Charsi. Pleasure to meet you."
Getting over his confusion, Indo grasped the proffered hand (noting idly that Charsi stood more than a head taller than him) and shook it, reciting the well-remembered words of his grandsire's favorite greeting. "'Equally met, thankfully in friendship and not in battle.'"
She giggled, an odd sound coming from such a large body. "Aren't you the gentleman? I think we're going to get along really good. There's not that many people to talk to here- Warriv's nice, I like hearing his stories- but Akara's always reading some old scroll, Kashya's too busy worrying about her troops, and the rogues are too busy worrying about demons and such." Charsi's mood darkened. "And don't even get me started on Gheed. I'm trying to run my little shop here, and he's always trying to tell me to raise my prices when I sell stuff or lower them to buy- it drives me nuts! I think my prices are just fine, unless the customer wants to be cheated. And then he has the nerve to charge overly inflated prices for magic items that he won't even identify until they've been bought and the money's in his purse!"
Speaking of equipment. Indo was gripped by a sudden dread.
"Tell me, Charsi. You said they found me out in the wilderness." His voice failed for a second before he could continue. "What about my bow? Did they find my bow?"
Charsi bit her lip and picked a leather bag up from next to her forge. Wordlessly, she handed it to Indo, who took a deep breath and held it before exhaling heavily as he saw the contents of the sack.
The bow was twisted and cracked, splinters poking out where the wood had split. The string was frayed; the arrows were in pieces; the decorative paint was smeared. This last remnant of his grandsire's was gone, just as the old man's body was. Indo wrapped the shards back into the leather bag reverently.
Charsi was talking again. "I'm so sorry! They wanted me to fix it, but I don't know how to fix bows, but I tried anyway and I just ended up splitting it farther, and I'm so sooo-rrrrry-eeeeeee." She trailed off in tears, hiccupping.
Indo had been staring at the ruined weapon, face impassive. Now he looked up, confused, and tried to adopt a comforting manner. "No, no, it's- it's not your fault. I'm sure you tried your hardest. I'll just have to get a new bow."
"But it was *your* bow!" Charsi flung herself at Indo and wrapped her arms around his waist. Indo awkwardly patted her on the back while she sobbed. "I'm so sorry, I'll do anything to make it up to you, *anything*-"
"No, it's *fine*-"
"No, it *isn't*, you have to let me do something! At least let me give you a new bow!"
Indo caved. "Oh, all right."
Charsi brightened and turned to the wall of her wooden shelter, where a selection of bows that Indo hadn't noticed was hanging. "I know these aren't anywhere near as good as the one you had, but a couple of these are magical. Here, this one." She pulled a bow off the wall and handed it to Indo.
He stared at the weapon perplexedly. "What do you mean, it's magic?"
"It'll add to your attributes, like strength or stamina. Magic weapons might also add something to the power of your attacks. This one, for example, is a Short Bow of Flame. It'll, um, add fire energy to your arrows as you pull the string back, so when the arrow hits, it'll burn the enemy as well. See these markings?" Charsi ran her finger along the center of the bow. "These runes'll tell you what kind of magic the item has, if you can read them. I have a translation sheet somewhere, you can use it until you learn the runes, they're pretty easy to read once you know what you're looking for." She was rummaging through a sheaf of papers when a large meaty hand clamped onto Indo's shoulder.
He whirled, gripping the wrist and twisting it around so that the owner of the arm found it pinned uncomfortably behind his back in less than a second. Indo made a mental note to thank Akara for her miraculous healing powers before he left.
Indo was mildly shocked to find a short, squashy bundle of faded finery instead of the warrior he was expecting. He muttered a quiet curse and released the man's arm with a slight shove. The man sputtered briefly and regained his composure.
"Good day to you partner! Gheed, master merchant and proprietor extraordinaire at your service. I see you are a warrior, and a damn strong one too, if my wrist is any indication. Let me give you some advice, friend, I-"
The fat merchant had been reciting his spiel with his eyes closed, but at this point they flashed open for a second and settled onto Indo's face. Gheed faltered, his previously well-oiled words stumbling over themselves as he lapsed into silence, a venomous look of pure hatred flashing across his features; Indo tensed, anticipating an attack-
A harsh shove sent Gheed sprawling. Charsi stood above him with all the terrible glory of an avenging angel, her face livid and flushed.
"You!" she spat, and there was no trace of the childish naïveté that had marked her interrupted conversation with Indo. "I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, none of YOUR sales will be conducted or propositioned in any way, shape, form or fashion in MY section of this camp!" Spittle sprayed from her lips and spattered across the fallen merchant.
Gheed made a show of wiping his face and clambered to his feet, making a show of wiping the mud from his robes. Adopting a smile nearly as greasy as his hair, he began wheedling in an even oilier tone than before.
"My dear girl, I see you've met our nameless traveling warrior, and as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted-" here he shot a glare at Charsi- "what a warrior he is! I see you two have formed a friendship of sorts. Charsi, Charsi, Charsi, I know you're the sort of girl who doesn't accept anything but the best for her friends. Now, I'm not trying to insult or demean you, but the sad truth is that the magical equipment you sell is not all it could be." A sneering grin betrayed the true feelings behind the words as Gheed fixed his oily gaze on Indo.
"My friend, wouldn't you rather have an Amber Skull Cap than an Ocher one? Quilted Armor of the Mammoth rather than the same of the Fox? Or even-" Gheed's eyes flicked to the bow still held in Indo's hand- "or even a rare bow rather than just a plain magical one? For a purely nominal fee all this can be yours! What do you say?"
A strong voice cut off Indo's response. "He says that his presence is requested in Akara's tent and that you should take your lies elsewhere." Demor moved out from behind one of the tents, glaring at Gheed, who squeaked and scuttled away. Indo turned on the knight.
"You! Don't profess to put words in my mouth, paladin!"
"I merely stated the truth, stranger." The paladin stressed the last word. "Hello, Charsi." He nodded to the blacksmith, then turned to Indo. "This way." He strode off.
Indo followed reluctantly.
************* AN: I know I didn't get this out sooner, and I probably should have, and all I can say is, I'm sorry. I don't know when this will be updated next, because I haven't even started writing the next chapter yet, but it isn't forgotten or abandoned. Please review, because reviews always inspire me to work faster!