Chapter 29, Something For A Prince
(Reskeme)
Micheal turned to Reskeme and brought his hand up side Reskeme head. Reskeme yelped in surprise. Michael cursed, shaking his hand, grimacing.
" What in the nine hells! No wonder you are such a hard head. Your head feels like I'm hitting a damned tree! Why would you go and provoke one of the guild master's guards?" asked Michael, aghast.
" He took our spear. I couldn't just let him get away with it. And my head is hard because I need the protection from people hitting me." replied Reskeme defensively.
Reskeme reached his hand up, running it through his disguised hair. His hand immediately came into contact with something round and hard protruding from the side of his head. For some reason the bone on the sides of his head had gotten a lot bigger? Reskeme smiled at Michael and rocked on his feet, trying to hide his shock. Reskeme needed to find a hat. He wasn't sure exactly how much his illusion amulet covered, but he was sure Kellar only meant the illusion for his hair.
" Damned Laurentian's and there hard heads. Does all of your country have such hard heads?" asked Micheal.
" No! But you actually may be on to something. I'm probably the most sane person from Laurentia." replied Reskeme.
" Thats a wonder your country is being torn apart by the Darvan scum." said Michael. Reskeme blanched in remembrance. Blood, shimmering claws and a stomach turning howl that still made him shiver.
"I never asked, but where in Laurentia are you from?" asked Michael softly.
" I am from Drent." replied Reskeme, sadness welling up in his chest.
" Oh, I am sorry for you loss. That must have been terrible to hear of the city's fall." replied Micheal placing a hand consolingly on Reskemes shoulder.
" I saw it happen. I was there the night they attacked the city." replied Reskeme quietly.
" I did not mean it, I was only joking. What about the two children, where are there parents?" asked Michael, tears welling in the young mans eyes.
" I found the children outside of the city on my hike to your kingdom. We fled the city during the attack. I did not expect the Darva to follow. They caught completely us off guard when those damned monsters attacked us." said Reskeme, his thoughts going back to when David, the father of Rory and Alex died. He still could remember the faint pull as Rory pushed him out of the way of shimmering Darvan claws and teeth.
" Thats terrible, I did not know. They have been both acting so normally. They must be devastated after loosing their father." said Micheal wide eyed.
" I dont know. I am terrible at consoling people, all I have been doing is giving them stuff to do." replied Reskeme, feeling useless.
" I can talk to my parents. I am sure they will take them in until their mother reaches the city." said Micheal.
" I don't even know if she is still alive. She was in the city and the last they saw she was fighting the Darva." said Reskeme.
" I will convince my parents to help them for now. Maybe we could find a nice orphanage for them?" asked Micheal.
Anger welled in Reskeme's chest as he clenched his fists. Micheal took a step back holding up his hands.
" It was just a suggestion. Anyway, enough of that depressing topic. Wallace is waiting for us." said Micheal gesturing towards the straight-backed Wallace who somehow blended in with the wall.
How had Reskeme overlooked the man yet again?
" Very good, sirs. Follow me, I want to show you to one of the guild blacksmithing workshops." said Wallace stone faced. Walking down the hall besides Wallace and Micheal, Reskeme wondered how much a workshop would cost them?
" Wallace, how much will it cost us a week for the workshop?" asked Reskeme. In no time at all, they enter an open courtyard inside the guild. Along the stone walls of the courtyard were doors spaced every twenty steps. They labeled each of the doors with a different number.
" All the shops in the guild sell at a discounted price to members. The workshop will be free for your first two weeks. After the first two weeks, we will charge you twenty silver crowns every two weeks.
" Thats too much!" replied Reskeme, clenching his fists.
" Young man. Do you know how much that spear you made would sell for?" asked the official.
" Maybe fifty silver at most." said Reskeme, practically drooling at the thought of so much coins. They stopped in front of a wooden door marked with a 20. The official gestured Reskeme and Micheal towards the odd door knob.
" You will need your medallions to enter the workshop." Said the official.
" What about someone taking our stuff?" asked Reskeme.
" If you must know, the only amulets that can open that door besides yours are mine and the guild masters. Trust me, if the guild master wants something, he will buy it from you, not steal it." replied Wallace.
" But the guild master stole the spear!" said Reskeme, still upset at loosing it after all of their work.
" That was the price of a month in the workshop with a steep discount on all the products the guild can offer." Said the official calmly.
" Wait, how much of a discount?" asked Reskeme, excitement welling in his chest.
" For all rare metals you will be allowed up to five gold of credit. As for the monster hearts we will give you fifty percent of one and only one." said the official.
" Wait five gold? and what in Laurentia is a monster's heart?" asked Reskeme.
" I will get us the metals we need. And a Monster's heart is from a monster that has learned to use mana. They condense their power and eventually form a heart that solidifies in their center. Unlike humans monsters are much more efficient and seem to be much more suited to mana then we are. Wait, I thought you were a mage? How don't you know about this? Were you raised in a gutter?" asked the official, cocking his head curiously.
" Yes, he was raised in a gutter!" replied Micheal poking Reskeme's side playfully.
" Hey, that hurt. I know quit a bit about mages." replied Reskeme, crossing his arms.
" How many runes do you know?" asked Micheal grinning.
" Well, I can channel life runes. and i can channel four layers of illusion mana." said Reskeme sighing in defeat.
" So you know only two runes?" asked Micheal.
" Well, I think I can recreate that purple rune you did for the spear." replied Reskeme, remembering the upside-down triangle.
" Anyway, you both know where the shops are. If you go to any restricted areas, the guards will turn you back. I have high hopes for you Micheal, don't waste this chance. The mess hall caters to all members at discounted prices." Said The official. Micheal rushed forwards and embraced the straight-backed Wallace. Wallace smiled and patted Micheal's muscular back affectionately.
" Lets go look at this workshop." said Reskeme, excitement welling in his chest.
Reaching down, Reskeme placed his amulet on the handle of the door marked 20. His veins tingled as the medallion glimmered for a moment, and then the door swung inwards. Micheal pushed past Reskeme into the spacious room. To Reskeme's surprise, just like the other forge, there was a fireplace with a bellows and even barrels lining the far wall. They lined the cobblestone floor with tools, an anvil, and several of those grinding stones. In one corner farthest from the forge was a table with a wooden chair and a single leather book placed on top.
Reskeme excitedly strode to the back, wanting to know what sort of things they hid in the storage room. He peeked inside, looking for some silver bars, maybe some gold. Reskeme sighed in disappointment, as all he could see was a neat pile of steel bars stamped with an eagle in the middle. There were several buckets of sand for putting out the forge and some other equally boring things.
" Its just steel bars." said Reskeme frowning. Michael strode over excitedly, pushing past Reskeme and gasping in at the mostly empty storage closet.
" Outstanding, this will save us a lot of time." said Micheal.
" Why are you so exited?" asked Reskeme.
" Because that is high-quality steel. Thats the stamp of the eagles planes refinery. They make some of the purest steel in the city, perfect for swords and armour." replied Micheal hefting one of the long thick bars of steel.
" I guess now comes the real question: what are we going to make?" asked Reskeme.
" We could make armour or a weapon. We are still at the problem where we need to decide what we can complete in two weeks." said Micheal.
" Could we create an item that makes a dome of mana around someone?" asked Reskeme, the idea coming to his mind.
" Hmm, not that I'm aware of. I have never even heard of something like that." said Micheal.
" My teacher could create a dome of four runes around himself in moments that could block Darvan spears. Could we somehow attach that to some metal?" asked Reskeme.
" Lets find out!" exclaimed Micheal rushing back into the main room and over to a small table with a book placed in the center. Reskeme had paid no attention before, in the excitement of rare metal, but now he was interested. He strode over and peeked around Micheal shoulder, eyeing the book as Micheal flipped through the pages.
" How do you know where to look in that book?" asked Reskeme.
" Its simular to the one I have. They all have an index in the front that tells you the basic information and a page number." replied Micheal stopping at a page. They had filled the page with the complex drawings of a gauntlet that had runes on each of the knuckles, and even some on the wrist plate. Under the drawing stated requirement for one monster's heart at the initial stage and a combination of 4 amplification runes, five nullification runes and four resonating runes.