Arrow Shafts

I turned toward Ricky and waited for the instructions. The guy was still in daze but after a while snapped out of it and said "I'm Ricky, which you know already by the way. This kid over here is Natan. Follow me, I will show you what you can do". I followed after Ricky while the kid called Natan, said in whisper to his friend "I'm not a kid".

We arrived at a small hut, that was further away from the central plaza and the entrance to the village. Ricky said "This is where we process wood and create various things. We make some tools or we use some wood as heat source and cooking fire. This will be your job. You will go inside and the person working there will explain everything to you". I asked "Is this where I will work all the time?".

Ricky responded "Are you not satisfied?". I shook my head and said "No, it's fine. I know my way around wood a bit. I can also help with smithing, although my experience in that department is much more shallow". The guy seemed surprised and said "First work here. If what you say is true, we can maybe think about the other job". Then both youngsters left.

I purposefully asked about smithing job. I needed to create a few daggers and if I could get some ore to make those daggers, that would be great. I entered the hut and saw a elderly man carving a piece of wood. He seemed busy and didn't turn around to speak to me, so I waited for him to finish.

I stood there looking and after a while, I noticed that the man was carving a wooden handle for some sort of tool. From his carving, I could see that he was very experienced. this meant that he probably did this for many years. Each stroke of the carving knife was precise and decisive. I stood there and admired his skills, I too worked with these type of tools in the past and I knew my way around wood. The elder man finished his carving after a while and was about to reach for the next piece of wood.

I called out to him "Hello. I'm here to work". The man turned around and said "I know. I could hear your conversation with Ricky. You are quite patient, you allowed me to finish my work before you disturbed me. Is it true that you worked with wood in the past?". I nodded my head and said "Yes, I was a craftsman in the past. This was my professions… It probably still is, I didn't change my profession really. Although it's been a while since I did anything properly, I should still be able to help you".

The elder man said "This will save me the trouble of teaching you then. I'm Woody, this name was given to me by my father, who also carved. Come, I will show you what to do". I followed Woody to the workbench not far away and he started explaining my job. "I want you to carve the arrow shafts. It's not really difficult but it requires you to create a balance and specific size. This is the size and balance I would like you to create" he said and shoved me a completed shaft of an arrow.

I took it and examined it in details. The shaft was much more exquisite than those of the Eterian Laly. It had a very good balance and wasn't too thin or thick. It was pretty much perfect. I said "Did you create this? It's very well balanced and would create nice shaft for the arrow head. Your skills are very good". Woody didn't mind the compliment and said "If you can create shafts like those, that would be great. Did you ever do stuff like that?" to which I responded "Not really or at least, I'm not experienced with arrow shafts but I will certainly try my best". Woody smiled for the first time and said "Good, then start your work".

I sat down at the workbench and started creating the shafts. It might've seemed simple in the beginning but I soon found that it was actually quite hard to make a balanced shaft. It took me about an hour to make one, that was of similar quality to the one Woody showed me. The more I did it, the more used I became to it and after a few hours of work, I was able to create arrow shafts of similar quality. They weren't as defined as the one Woody made but the balance was there and the shape was solid.

At the end of the day, I managed to create about 50 of such arrow shafts, the others were discarded. When I stopped my work, I asked Woody who was still working "So where do I stay the night?". Woody still worked on his own carving and replied "You can sleep here. I don't have a second bed but if you are skilled enough, you can make your own. By the way, how many did you manage to create?". I replied "I made 50 of them, they are not as good as yours but the balance is there and they have solid shape. I think they are going to be usable. I left them on the bench, if you want to check, you are free to do so".

Woody replied while still working on his piece "There is no need, I already saw them. They are not bad, that means you weren't lying about your profession. Although they are a bit crude but they are certainly usable. You can rest or work some more, If you want to leave and see the village, you are also free to do so, just don't disturb other people". I said "Sure" and prepared to make my own bed.

The materials were already there, so I simply took some tools and started creating a solid wooden bed. It wasn't hard at all with all those tools available, the wooden planks were in abandon in the workshop as well. Soon my bed was constructed and I placed some animal skins on top of it, for some comfort.

With that done, I decided to go out and have a proper look at this village. 'It's been awhile since I saw a village. I might as well go for a tour' I thought and said to Woody "I will go out for a bit to take a look. I will be back shortly". Woody didn't reply, so I just left.

The village wasn't very big, it had all the necessary things inside but in overall it was as small as the Horeseplain Village, that I burned down in the past. It was constructed in peculiar way as well. All the roads led to the center plaza of the village. When I arrived there, I could see people walking to and from while doing something. In the middle of a plaza was a large stone, it was elongated and quite tall. It looked like a large, long rock, fell from the sky and pierced the ground.

It looked different and I never saw that type of thing in any other village. Sure there would be some sculptures in a large village, for example of an ancestor who founded the village or the current Village Chief but this was neither of them. I came closer to have a look and noticed some carvings on it. They weren't that apparent from far away and I didn't really pay attention before. I looked at the strange carvings and couldn't figure out what they were supposed to represent.

The more I stared at the stone and those carvings, the more I felt that I knew this from somewhere. Suddenly, I got a splitting headache and could barely stand. I could hear voice… voice of my mother. "Son, grow up and stay healthy, ok?". The headache intensified and I screamed "ARGHHH!". The people on the street stopped whatever they were doing and looked at me. I couldn't think straight as I grabbed my head due to the pain. I screamed and screamed but to no avail, the headache didn't stop. I then saw an image of my mother, talking to me when I was a kid. Then the news of my parents dying, flashed before my eyes.

Then, I felt someone grabbing me and dragging me back. The headache eased a bit the further I moved away from the stone. I took in large gulps of air due to the pain. Then I heard "Boy, are you alright?". It was the voice of the Village Chief. I took a few more breaths in and out, then responded "I'm fine. I don't know what happened. My head hurts like hell and then, I saw memories of my mother". The Village Chief asked "Does this happen often?" to which I said "No, it never happened before. What exactly is that stone and those markings?"

He looked at me for a while, then said "This is our ancestry stone. Our founder fought a great battle here and killed a beast by piercing that large stone through it. After the battle, he decided to settle in this place and founded this village. It was very long time ago and none of us know what those runes mean. We call them runes by the way".

I asked "Did this happen to anyone else before?" to which he shook his head and said "No, it's just a stone with some runes. Although it has been here for as long as people can remember, this never happened. At least to my knowledge". I stood up and said "I'm fine now. I should probably go and rest". He said "Yes, go do that". I left and returned back to the hut, where Woody was still carving something.