Hey, another chapter! Who'd've thunk?
Elphie Muse: Speak English, not whatever they speak in your state.
Whatever. Things are starting to pick up now. As I like to say, the pudding is thickening...hmm...now I need some whipped cream...
Not mine...plotting to take the rights though, but that might take some time...
Sam looked at the large mountain town. "Your brother lives here?" Sam asked.
Dion nodded. "I haven't seen Rhom in nearly a year," she replied.
"What does he do?" Sam inquired.
"He's a blacksmith," Dion answered. "One of the best in this county."
"I had an uncle who was a blacksmith. I'd visit him every summer and he'd teach me how to work the smithy," Sam said.
"Were you any good at it?" Dion asked.
Sam shrugged. "Nothing I made ever broke. Blacksmithing is what got me interested in science in the first place. I wanted to know what kinds of bonds kept metal together and how to make the metal stronger."
"You're a scientist?" Dion asked.
Sam gave a half smile. "Yeah."
The pair led their dnu into the village. Sam glanced to the wolfwalker's side and was surprised to see Hishn staying with Dion. "Hishn doesn't mind coming into this town. I grew up here and bonded with Hishn here," Dion said, as if sensing Sam's unasked questioned.
Sam nodded. "I guess that makes sense."
Several people called out greetings to Dion and she waved in return. After several minutes of walking they halted in front of a blacksmith. A man with black hair and violet eyes looked up as the three entered the shop. Sam immediately knew that this man was Dion's twin; they both were practically identical despite being of different genders. Sam hung back as the siblings embraced.
"I was beginning to wonder when I'd see you again," Rhom said.
Dion smiled. "I would have been here sooner, but I ran into someone who needed my help," Dion replied.
"I take it this is her," Rhom said, noticing Sam.
Dion nodded. "This is Sam. Sam, this is my brother Rhom."
"Nice to meet you," Sam said.
"Likewise. Where are you from?" he asked.
"Oh…very far away," Sam replied.
"You need any weapons?" he asked. "I've got plenty."
"What makes you think I need weapons?" Sam asked.
Rhom grinned, as did Dion. "Because those are weapons our father made for me," Dion replied.
Sam smiled as well. "I guess I could use some weapons, but would you mind if I made them?" she asked.
"It'll take a while to make weapons," he said.
"I know. But I've got nowhere else to go. If you don't mind that is."
Rhom shook his head. "You've worked in a smithy before then?"
Sam nodded. "My uncle was a blacksmith."
"Well, you'll be staying with me and my wife then while you make your weapons," he told her.
Sam nodded. "Though…I don't have any money to pay for the metal I use," she informed him.
He waved his hand in front of his face. "Don't worry about it. As a friend of my sister's, it'll be free." He motioned for her to follow her. She did so and he opened a cabinet full of various types and lengths of metal.
"Holy Hannah…" Sam breathed, looking at the metals. "This is one hell of a collection," she commented.
Rhom smiled proudly. "I'm the best blacksmith in Randonnen," he said.
Dion snorted. "And the most modest," she muttered.
Sam grinned. The smile faded slightly when she saw something gleaming behind the other metals. "Rhom, what's that?" she asked.
Rhom cleared the other metals to the side and pulled out the large, thick bar of silver metal. "A metal no one has ever been able to work," he replied. "Extremely rare too," he added.
Sam ran her hands over the metal, a new smile forming on her face. "I know this metal…" she said. "It's called trinium. Next to impossible to break with other metals."
"You've worked this metal before?" Dion asked.
Sam shook her head. "Not personally. But my people and I have seen it used in various things though," she said.
"Well, if you can work it, I'll definitely let you keep it," Rhom said.
Sam grinned. "Is that a challenge?"
"If it is?" he returned.
Sam rolled out her shoulders. "Let's go."
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"How's it coming?" Dion asked Sam a few weeks later.
Sam wiped the sweat from her brow and lowered her sun-goggles. The goggles had been in her vest pocket. It was one of the few things she had left from Earth. "Slow," Sam admitted. "But the metal's finally malleable to work. Shouldn't take too much longer."
"I just came to let you know that Hishn and I will be in the forest for a few days," Dion told her friend.
Sam nodded. "Hopefully when you get back I'll have this done," she said.
Dion grinned. "I just can't wait to see the look of disbelief on my brother's face when you show him what you made." Sam chuckled and Dion left. The blonde pulled her goggles back on and started to hammer the trinium.
Wolfwalker Wolfwalker Wolfwalker Wolfwalker Wolfwalker Wolfwalker Wolfwalker Wolfwalker Wolfwalker Wolfwalker Wolfwalker Wolfwalker
A week and a half later Rhom walked into his smithy and saw Sam wrapping something with a black leather band. He made his way over to her and peeked over her shoulder. He watched as she finished the hilt of the katana she had made. The blade was close to three feet in length, the hilt about a foot. The blade gleamed in the light of the forge and Rhom noticed an outline of a wolf and a moon had been etched into the silver.
"Nice sword," he commented.
Sam grinned smugly and handed him the weapon. Rhom took it and was surprised by it's lightness. He ran his thumb gently along the edge of the blade and pulled back, surprised by the sharpness.
Sam took the sword back and placed it in the sheath Dion had gotten specifically for Sam's sword. "Not bad, isn't it?" she asked, quirking a brow at him.
He shook his head, wiping the blood off from the small cut the sword had given him. "I've never seen a sword like that before."
Sam shrugged. "I'm use to fighting with swords like this," she said. "Something my dad and mom had me do."
She rose to her feet and clipped the sword onto the belt. During her month of making the sword, Dion and Rhom had gone out and gotten Sam clothes. She wore a pair of black baggy pants, soft black leather boots, and a black baggy shirt under a dark, forest green leather tunic.
Sam then clipped a long dagger to the right side of her belt and slid two smaller knives into each boot. "So, how do I look?" she asked.
"Like someone I wouldn't want to meet on a bad day," Rhom replied.
Sam chuckled. "Thanks so much for giving me a place to stay and the metal."
Rhom shrugged. "No problem. And thank you for working that trinium into climbing gear and farm tools. Though I might lose some customers because of that."
Sam laughed. "Not my problem," she retorted.
He rolled his eyes. "Here," he said, placing something in her hand. She looked down and her eyes widened.
"Rhom, I can't take this gold from you," she said.
He shook his head, unwilling to take it back. "Consider it payment for the tools you made from the metal."
"Thank you," Sam said, depositing the gold into a pouch on her belt.
"You're family now," he said.
"Ready to go Sam?" Dion asked, pulling two dnu behind her.
Sam nodded. "I think I've shown your brother up enough," she teased.
Rhom rolled his eyes and the two women left the blacksmith and his smithy. They made their way out of town and did not swing up into the saddles until they had reach the trees of the forest.
"Be careful. Raiders roam this woods as do worlags," Dion said.
"Worlags?" Sam repeated.
Dion nodded. "Insect like creatures that are meaner than anything you've probably encountered."
Sam arched a brow. That, I doubt, she thought, thinking of the Goa'uld. Still, she kept one hand near her new katana. The pair traveled down the path, unaware that they were being watched by a pair of cold brown eyes.
Well? What'd'ya'll think of it?
Elphie Muse: I told you to speak English.
:rolls eyes: In any case, please review. Reviews make me happy...and shut up Elphie Muse.