Chapter 10: One, two, three, CLINK!
Luna arrived back into the village and searched for the blacksmith's shop. She had picked up a pouch of gold coins in hope that it would be enough to pay for a hammer. What Luna did not realize was that she had already been in the blacksmith's shop and had already met the blacksmith until she stopped in front of Roy's shop.
And if my luck couldn't have gotten any better... Luna groaned and it took much effort to open that sturdy entrance door. Luna saw Roy hovering over a bucket and from the splashing sounds it sounded like he was washing his hands.
"We're closed." He grumbled. Luna rolled her eyes and tossed the pouch on the table. Some coins rolled onto the table and spun several times before they fell on the table. Roy barely turned his head, but once he saw who it was, he rotated his whole body to face her.
"What do you want?" He glared.
"I need a hammer." Luna answered with a nod towards the table, "If that is not enough then let me know."
"I don't need your alchemy." Roy saw the coins and refused to help her.
"Who said anything about alchemy?" Luna smiled and picked up one gold coin, "Look, these are coins from my village. I don't know if this village accepts these coins, but I am sure that you can make some use out of them."
Roy blew out a breath through his nostrils and walked towards the table. He picked up a coin a rubbed it in between his thumb and index finger. He questioned, "Why do you need a hammer?"
She placed her hands on the table and replied, "To mine, why else would I need a hammer?"
"For what?" He copied Luna's actions and interrogated her.
"I'm looking for goddess ore," Luna continued, "I need you to make me a sword."
"A sword made out of goddess ore?" Roy stepped back and seemed pleased, "That's a tall order there, witch."
Luna cringed when he called her that, "Look, if you need more money..."
"What would I do with some useless coins?" Roy interrupted her, "I'll give you a hammer, only if you bring me any ore that you find, including your goddess ore."
"I'll supply the fire for your hearth as well if you can make me two swords." Luna bargained.
"Why do you need two swords?" Roy raised his eyebrow.
She shrugged, "Just in case I break one."
Roy laughed heartily, "Ha! That is the dumbest thing I've heard all day!" He smirked, "Look, I'll make you two swords if and only if you can find that much goddess ore. It's rare, you know."
"Deal!" She held out her hand for them to shake on it, but Roy refused and walked around the table. Luna watched him head into a side room. He emerged minutes later with an iron hammer.
"Bring it back when you're done." Roy dropped it into Luna's hands and she nearly collapsed at it's weight.
I forgot how heavy these things were... Luna lifted the hammer using her legs to lift it.
''Too much for you, witchy?" He teased her.
Luna laughed sheepishly, "Heh heh... not all all." She gave a fake smile and waved goodbye to Roy.
One, two, three... Luna counted each smash of the hammer before she heard the now familiar CLINK! Sometimes the rock would take two smashes or four smashes before it broke down to ore, but on average it took three smashes before Luna was able to see the mysterious that was hidden inside the rock.
"Dang it..." Luna grumbled and shuffled through the rock debris. So far, Luna and Uranus had only been able to find plenty of junk ore, multiple copper ores, a few iron ores, and two silver ores.
"Try this one next!" Uranus landed on the next victim.
"You better move Uranus," Luna hulled the heavy hammer over her shoulder and put all of her weight into the first swing. BASH! "You know," Luna huffed, "I am starting to remember why," BASH! "I hate mining..." CLINK! Luna lifted the hammer off of the rubble and shuffled through the broken pieces to find another silver ore. She whined, "This is going to take forever!" She placed the ore in her knapsack.
"Oh just put your back into it, Luna! You can do it!" Uranus cheered her on.
"You're not helping." Luna continued her grumbling and landed the heavy hammer on another rock which broke instantly. "Huh?" Luna tilted her head and lowered herself to the ground to see a small figure mixed within the rubble. "What's this?"
"Watch out!" Luna was shoved against the wall just before several rocks collapsed where she once stood.
"Ungh..." Luna gritted her teeth and shoved the person off of her. As she did so, she received an incredible smell of soaked minerals.
"Geez, is that how you always thank people?" The man voice sounded irritated.
"Only to the creepers, sweetheart." Luna chuckled. Luna knew it was Artemis because of his particular water smell. It was pure, fresh at times, and Sure as hell annoying... Luna thought disgusted.
"What are you doing down here in the mines?" He crossed his arms and relaxed his stance.
"Mining..." Luna answered curtly, "What else would I be doing in a mine?"
"Getting into mischief," Artemis raised his brow, "Why is a witch like you mining, when you can use alchemy?"
"I have other hobbies besides magic," She defended herself.
"Yeah because that makes perfect sense." He rolled his eyes not buying a word of Luna's defense.
"Look," She went straight to the point, "I need goddess ore for reasons of my own. Now, do you have any or no?" She pulled out the few silver ores that she pocketed earlier and said, "I'll trade you my silver ores for them."
"Why would I trade you goddess ore for silver?" He laughed, "That's an under trade in value."
Luna smiled wickedly, "But a little birdie told me that you like to hunt with silver arrows." She saw him tense up uncomfortably and she continued, "Now isn't that right?"
"Who told you?" His eyes narrowed and he tensed.
"My personal source," Luna trapped him, "Now hand over your goddess ores."
Artemis relaxed and laughed, "Uh... No..."
Luna pocketed the ores with a frown and turned her back to him, "Then stop wasting my time."
As Luna walked away from him Artemis yelled, "Here!" He tossed five ores at her heels, "I don't need them anyway."
"Now that," Luna turned and tipped an imaginary hat, "I will thank you for." She knelt down and saw in the corner of her eye Uranus wiggling out of the rubble with the smaller figure. Luna noticed a purple cap with sheer wings. A Harvest Sprite!
"I can show you where you can find more if you want." He offered.
"Ah, no," Luna refused and walked towards the rubble where Uranus and the other Harvest Sprite crawled out of, "That's just creepy."
"I'm not going to jump you!" He shook his head angered.
Luna waited for the sprites to crawl onto her shoe and cling to her sock before she moved backwards towards the exit, "I wasn't thinking that!" Luna came up with an excuse for leaving, "I have to plant some seeds that I found!"
"You farm too?" Artemis sounded like he had heard enough nonsense for the day.
"Duh." Luna snorted, "Of course I farm! Like I said, I do have other hobbies!" Luna reached the exit and ran out of the mine.
Artemis smirked and ran his head through his hair, "Yeah, because that makes perfect sense."
Luna ran outside of the mine and panted, "You okay Uranus?"
"Yeah." He held a tiny baby sprite in his arms, "We found Pluto."
Luna looked down at the sprite dressed purple and question, "The sprite of the underworld is this tiny thing?"
"He maybe be in a form of a child, but he is far much older and wiser than me." Uranus carefully placed Pluto in a clean section of Luna's knapsack, "He's the brother of Jupiter and Neptune."
"I bet they will be happy to see him back." Luna walked slowly towards the village.
"I'm sure of it." Uranus floated up to Luna's shoulder, "Heading back to Roy's, I presume."
"Of course." Luna nodded and thought about the comforting sounds of the mines. One, two, three... Clink!
"Look who's back." Roy smirked and crossed his arms as soon as Luna entered the blacksmith's shop. He stood next to Heath with his back against a table. Heath sat in a chair at the table and his head was rested on the table when Luna entered, but when Roy spoke he sat straight up.
"Is this a bad time?" Luna asked unsure of the situation.
"It's fine." Heath sighed, "I was just about to leave anyway."
"You sure, man?" Roy frowned at his guest, "You can stay. The witch won't mind, right?"
Luna scrunched up at the word "witch" again, "Right."
Heath sighed again and sat back down. He rested his head back on the table. Roy walked over to Luna, "Got the goods?"
"Of course." Luna lifted her knapsack onto the blacksmithing table and poured out her various finds.
There were a total of twenty ores including the five goddess ores that Artemis gave her earlier. Luna watched Roy nitpick through the junk ores and tossed them over his shoulder. Luna could not see where he was tossing them too, but she assumed that it was a junk can. Roy then categorized the ores by their strength and quality; iron, copper, silver, gold, and goddess. Luna could see that she did not have any gold ore, but three extra silver ores (which she did not know she had), two iron ores, five copper ores, and five goddess ores.
"Nicely done, witch." Roy approved of her work, "I will get your order started right away."
"Hey," Luna asked, "Can you make some silver arrows for me?"
"What for?" Roy asked curiously this time and not in suspicion.
"For..." Luna did not want to say his name, but she was unsure of what to call him. He was not a friend of hers nor did she particularly like him, but he did help her, twice, and she knew that she should thank him somehow. She spoke once she thought of a name to call him, "A benefactor."
Roy laughed, "In debt already?" He nodded towards the pit, "Get this fire started, witch. I'm going to grab my tools from the back."
"How long will it take?" Luna asked and pointed to the pit which ignited instantly.
"Can't say." Roy shrugged, "It's been a while since I crafted anything. I'm going to practice on the junk ore first to see if I still have my touch. Then, I will start your sword."
"Alright," Luna smiled at his response, "It's no rush." She added, "Do you need more ore?"
"Whenever you go back to the mine, sure, grab some. Otherwise, this should be plenty." Roy walked through a door in the back of the shop where he kept his tools.
"You okay?" Luna turned her attention towards Heath.
"What?" Heath startled.
"Are you okay?" Luna leaned against the blacksmith's table and looked at him. Luna noticed that Heath and Dakota were the only two villagers that still seemed lifeless, even after a few good meals and plenty of drink, supplied by Luna.
"Yeah..." He sighed a lie.
"How's Dakota?" Luna asked a bit concern. I should go visit her tomorrow.
"She's... okay..." Heath gave a weak smile and Luna could see distress and sorrow written in his expression.
"Have you two been eating properly?" Luna saw him nod a yes, "Is she sick?"
"No," He shook his head, "It's nothing like that."
"You're nervous?"
Heath sighed, "Yeah..." He leaned back in his chair and placed his hands in his lap, "I guess, I just don't want to see my child, or any child, grow up in a world like this."
Luna felt the sadness in his words, "I'm sorry, Heath." Luna was at a lost for words. I want to tell him something positive, but I don't want to make a promise that I can't keep.
"It's alright," Heath sighed again, "You're doing your best."
Luna thought silently for a moment about what she can do to make him smile, "Do you like to farm?"
He shrugged.
"Well, I was planning to farm tomorrow, and I am going to need some help." Luna saw that he was now looking at her, "Will you help me?"
Heath was able to produce a genuine smile as he said, "Yeah, I'll help, and maybe I can see if Dakota would like to sit out and enjoy the sun."
"Good idea." Luna smiled because she could see the happiness radiating off of his smile, "I am going to find some more seeds tonight. Can you meet me tomorrow at sunrise?"
"Of course." Heath agreed.
Luna knew that it was her time to leave, so she waved goodbye to Heath and walked out the door of the blacksmith's shop.
This chapter was written to "Chandelier" by Sia and "Vuelie (feat. Cantus)" composed by Christophe Beck and Frode Fjellheim (from the Frozen soundtrack). Also, my schedule has been getting very hectic! I have not forgotten about you all, but the updates will be coming in at a slower rate. Please continue to read and thank you to all that do read and review this fanfic!