Chapter 31

Incoming

The next day, Jake and Amber made their way back to Loki's forge to see if he was done with Jake's new weapon. They had tried the day before, but it was not ready at that time, and Loki refused to show them anything until it was done.

Now, with the sun nearing its zenith, the couple knocked on the door to the blacksmith.

"Just a minute!" they heard Loki call from within, and a little while later, the door opened and Loki came out, holding something wrapped in a piece of cloth in his hands.

"Is that it?" Amber asked. "Is it done?"

"Sure is, Aunty." Loki said proudly. Unwrapping the weapon in question, he presented it to Jake. It was a sword, roughly two feet long and three inches broad with a slight curve at the end, a simple hilt guard and leather wrapped handle.

"A scimitar? No, a cutlass." Jake said as he picked up the sword, weighing it in his hand. "Not what I was expecting, but it does feel good in my hand."

Walking a few steps to the side, Jake swung the blade a few times.

"It feels really good actually. Almost like if it was made specifically for my hands. It's perfect."

"Not quite." Loki said with a hint of embarrassment.

"What do you mean, Loki?" Amber asked.

"Honestly, I was trying to make a katana, but it didn't turn out right."

"Maybe not as a katana, but it does feel great to me as it is." said Jake. "How did you even figure out what kind of weapon would fit me?"

"Well, remember how I had you try the weapons of everyone? I studied how well you handled them all, and it looked to me like you were more comfortable with Jack's scimitar and Sonia's sword, so I figured that a katana would suit you. Or something like it, at least."

"You got a gift, kid." Jake praised. "I can't wait to start training with it."

"I'm so proud of you, nephew!" Amber said, hugging Loki and kissing him on his forehead.

"Geez, Aunty! Stop it! You're making me blush!"

Later that day, far above the surface, Vincent the Owl was soaring on the high winds, scanning the surroundings with a pair of binoculars. He had already finished the maps of the land surrounding their new home, so now he was just enjoying some time off on his own.

Back on Earth, he rarely went to the surface, and thus did not fly very often, but now the sky was the limit, and he loved spending time high up in the air from time to time, just stretching his wings and taking in the views.

And what views there were. To the west and south, great fields and even greater forests spread out almost as far as his eyes could see, to the north, the mountain range that separated Torgalia from the States of the Great Khan, and to the east, the massive sea across which another continent was supposed to lay.

Looking across the waters, Vincent's eyes came to a rest on the several islands that lay off of the coast of Mutopia, and even more beyond them. He couldn't help but feel curious about the islands, who knew what resources and secrets they might hold that could benefit the village.

Flapping his wings, he steered towards the islands to investigate just that. However, unlike some other Mutopians, Vincent was one of the more cautious ones, so he wouldn't land on the islands, only scout them from a distance with his binoculars, see if he spot anything interesting.

On one of the islands closer to the mainland, the remains of an old ship could be seen, half buried in the sands of the beach. Probably one of the ships that fought the kraken nearly three hundred years earlier.

As he soared high above the islands, he noticed something beyond the furthest most islands. Retaining his altitude, he flew closer and focused his binoculars on whatever it was, and what he saw chilled his blood.

Vincent wasted no time turning around and hurrying back to the village as quickly as he could.

Meanwhile, Freya had just picked up Loki from his blacksmith and the geckolings walked into their home together.

"Daddy? Hello?" Freya asked out.

"Are you here?" Loki chimed in.

A sudden flash of strong light erupted from the study.

"Okay, that was not right…" they heard Tyroth complain from the study.

As the twins entered the room, they saw their father sitting by the desk, rubbing his eyes.

"You okay, dad?" Loki asked.

"What happened?" Freya followed.

"I'm fine, kids, just seeing a lot of spots right now." Tyroth said, blinking a few times. "I was trying to get this light enchantment working, but I think I got something wrong, again. It unleashed all light at once, rather than over time."

"We noticed." said Freya. "It was like a flashbang grenade, minus the bang."

"That's very accurate, Freya." said Tyroth. He then looked back at the stone with frustration in his eyes. "I've asked everyone that might know anything about enchanting, but I'm still missing some pieces of the puzzle. I think I've gotten the effect down, but I just can't make it stable enough to last. If I could only figure out what's wrong."

The twins understood their father's frustration and wished that they could help, but as they thought about it, their eyes widened and the two looked at each other.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" they both asked each other in unison. "If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then I'm thinking what you're thinking." they continued, still in unison.

"You know I get nervous when you two get like that." Tyroth said, eyeing his teenage children with a hint of discomfort. On rare occasions, Freya and Loki would become almost perfectly synchronised with each other, almost as if they were two halves of the same individual.

"Dad, when you taught us about the language of the dragons, you've told us that it has been the same in all the worlds you've been too, right? Both on Earth and Skyrim. And now here as well." Freya started, and Tyroth nodded. "Well, didn't you also say that in Skyrim, the words themselves held power?"

"I did."

"Then, why not try and do the same with enchantments? Carving a word into the stones, like old Viking runes. Video games, comics and the like have often showed enchantments via runes."

"It's been practically the same in Japanese history and media, with either runes or kanji, like on exorcism slips." Loki followed up. "I bet that if you were to use dragon runes, the enchantment would work a lot better."

Tyroth stared wide-eyed at the geckolings for a moment.

Had they solved it?

Thinking about it, it seemed like a simple solution, one that he had clearly overlooked.

Picking up the stone again, he channelled his mana into the tip of his claw as he gently carved the runes for the word for shine, 'viin', into the stone. The mana was used not only to easily carve in the stone, but at the same time, help Tyroth place the enchantment into the rune itself, repeating the magical procedure he had had the most success with before.

Once done, the rune still glowed red for a few more seconds.

"Hold you thumbs, kids." Tyroth said as he held out the stone in front of himself. "And maybe close your eyes as well."

The kids did as asked, and Tyroth took a deep breath, hoping for the best.

"Viin." he said clearly, and the runes on the stone started to glow, followed shortly by the rest of the stone, all of which shone like a stronger lightbulb, much like previous attempts.

But unlike previous attempts, which all only lasted a few seconds, this time it lasted past any that came before. Minutes passed, and the light showed no signs of fading yet, but it eventually did.

"That seemed like progress to me." Freya said with a wide smile.

"It's a great improvement compared to earlier." Tyroth said, not even trying to hide his own smile. Standing up from the desk, he walked over to the teens and embraced them both in one, big hug. "You two are a blessing to me without its like."

"Just happy to help, Dad." said Loki.

"You've done a great deal more than that." Tyroth said. "There is still a lot more to do, but I think that now I'm finally on the right track. I'll fiddle around a bit with the actual inscribing of the magic into the runes, but I got a good feeling about this."

"We know you can do it, Daddy!" Freya cheered. "Oh, and before we forget, we came here to ask you something."

"Oh? And what might that be?"

"We were thinking that we teens, that'd be me, sis, Pandora and Kemeko, could go on a small adventure of sorts in the forest." Loki continued.

"Like when we went camping near uncle Casey's farmhouse." Freya filled in.

"But not really camping this time, more like exploration." said Loki. "You know, see what we can find out there."

Tyroth considered their words for a moment.

"I don't know, there is a lot we still need to do before winter, but what you're suggesting could help us." he mused. "Still, this isn't the forest around the farmhouse, there could be plenty of dangers that we don't know of yet."

"We know, Daddy, but we're not little kids any longer. We want to spread our wings, so to speak." said Freya.

"Hmm… very well, I will allow it." he said, and the twins both punched the air in celebration. "However, there are a few conditions to that. Firstly, Sonia will accompany you."

"Sonia? Why?" Loki asked.

"The two of you are still just squires, and for this I want another Knight at your side, just in case. I know that Sonia is rather new as a Knight, but she has proven herself. And the five of you have always gotten along."

"I guess that's fair enough. Are there any other conditions?"

"Yes. Secondly, this will need to be discussed with not only Sonia, but also Leo, Raph, Mona and your mother. If every agrees to this, then you may go. But if even one of them say no, then you are all staying put."

"We understand, Daddy, and we will accept whatever you decide." Freya said, though with a hint of potential disappointment in her voice.

Suddenly, Vincent burst through the doors, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath, sweat rolling down his feathers.

"We… we got… a problem…" he panted between breaths.

"Calm down, Vincent. Take a few breaths, then you can tell me what's going on."

"No time…" the owl said, but he still couldn't help but taking some time to breath a little. "The islands… near the horizon… I saw… I saw ships beyond the islands. Viking ships!"

"Vikings?!" Loki exclaimed.

"Cool!" Freya squealed.

"Are you sure?" the dragon asked. "Describe these ships, what did they look like?"

"There were three of them. Long and narrow. Single sail. Shields on the sides. Head and tail of snakes or dragons on the stern and aft of the ships."

"That sure sounds like Viking longships, alright." Tyroth said. "I guess your little adventure will have to be put on hold for a while, kids."

Took quite some time to make this chapter, for a number of reasons. Among which is the fact that both I and my wife now have gotten our first shots of the vaccine again covid 19. Feels good knowing that we'll be safer now. If you haven't vaccinated yet, make sure to do so as soon as possible, if not for your own sake, the for others'.

Either way, as we've noticed, the kids want to have an adventure of their own, but the arrival of actual Vikings have complicated things.
This was foreshadowed in a previous chapter, number 21 to be precise, same with Karai actually. Go back and read it again if you don't believe me

Well, I'll be seeing you all next time, where we might just have a Viking raid on our hands.