The Song of Hammers

Draig awoke early the next morning and noticed an odd warmth wrapped around his hand, attempting to move it he found Ari wrapped around the limb like a cicada. His hand however is what he was looking for and as he trailed his eyes downward he found that it was buried in heavens gate.

Sighing to himself he pried the goblin from his arm causing her to begin to stir as well, setting the pot Ari had used the night before over the fire he began to reheat the food from the previous night. Being sure to stir carefully less it become burned the smell of food began to fill the air.

Taking the pot from the fire he pulled back the curtain allowing the sun to shine inside with all it's glory.

"What are you gonna do today" asked Ari sleepily rubbing her eyes, her dress being crinkled exposed her nether to the world as she went and sat beside Draig and leaned against him while he ate.

It was at this time that he heard the sounds of feet stamping against the ground along with a startled yelp.

"W-What were you two doing." came Eliza's voice causing Draig to look at her blankly.

"We just woke up. Have some breakfast." motioned Draig however the sound of Eliza's voice seemed to be the alarm clock Ari needed as she clung to Draig once again like a koala.

"O-Oh, thank you." stated Eliza as she tried not to look at the exposed goblin clinging to the killer while watching her carefully.

"So I take al that stamping was you?" asked Draig as if asking.

"Yeah, I got the stuff you asked for and I brought some clothes for you as well though I don't know how well they will fit considering there really aren't any dwarves as thin as you. However at the very least you can get out of that stinky armor you're always wearing." nodded Eliza as she ate.

---------Immortal Tomb-------

Suri stared off towards Draig's cave again, she truly at a loss of how to handle the situation. The almost hair trigger he displayed had made her cautious and then the last encounter she was certain didn't help. Speaking of, she hadn't heard from Ari in awhile. The poor girl was quite shaken from the events that night, it would do well to go check on her.

"Frankie, could you call for Flare. Tell her we are going to check on Ari, also ask her how she's feeling too. I know that she was the closest to being killed that night so I am concerned for her." ordered Suri unaware of the events occurring at Draig's cave.

----------- Draig's Enclave--------

Draig and Eliza chatted for only a bit before stepping outside.

"Ari fix your dress." ordered Draig causing the girl to notice her exposed bottom half.

Stepping outside he was pleased to find that Eliza had brought more than what he had asked for, multiple sets of hammers, different sized anvils and she had even brought a fully constructed forge on a cart somehow. He hated to admit but he was honestly surprised by her sincerity on the matter.

"Here change into this and I'll wash your armor for you." offered Eliza tossing Draig some shorts, well pants but his taller stature turned them to shorts.

"Looking spiffy young buck." came the call followed by many other fatherly words causing Draig to raise his hand in acknowledgement while Eliza walked off to a stream to wash his armor.

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Draig picked up a few Hammers and let them clink off the anvil as if inspecting the bounce, however to the surprise of the Dwarves he went on to pick up a rather large hammer even some of them would be hard pressed to lift, however he did so with no trouble and let it clink off the largest anvil but looked at the hammer oddly.

Grabbing a file much to the shock of the Dwarves watching he began to file at the Hammer's face before clinking it again and nodding.

"Good show." cheered one dwarf in a pleased manner.

"You weren't kidding, he knows his stuff it seems." came another.

"Tell you what, Eliza better get ahold of this one."

-------------- Nearby stream------

Eliza had a bar of soap that her people made just for these types of things and dunked the armor into the river, however her eyes became horrified as the water quickly started to bleed red, not just like a light red but a heavy dark red that began to color everything down stream.

'W-What kind of monster.' thought Eliza letting the Armor sit for awhile with no end to the red coloring in sight.

The minutes began to tick by slowly, however it didn't seem the Armor would stop polluting the stream anytime soon..

"H-How many people does someone need to kill to get this type of effect." muttered Eliza as she remembered Draig was in fact a cold killer.

Shaking her head she just began scrubbing despite the blood still not having faded from the armor, at the very least she would make it smell better if anything else.

----some time later----

Eliza was at her wits end, well over thirty minutes had passed and no matter how she scrubbed the armor kept bleeding into the stream.

"What is wrong with you!!!" growled Eliza as she pulled the armor from the stream, wrung it out to the best of her ability.

"This is gonna have to be good enough." sighed the Dwarf as she made her way back to Draig.

--------Draig's enclave-------

Draig was pleased with the set up Eliza had brought and his critical inspection of everything had done wonders to impress the Dwarves watching him.

This was the scene Eliza had returned to, it was almost as if the previous Vendetta had never existed however it wasn't something she could so easily forget. After all it was her father that had been slain, while she was capable of forming an Alliance she didn't know about anything beyond that.

"Here, I couldn't get all of the Blood out." started Eliza before one of the male Dwarves behind her spoke out.

"Couldn't get all the blood out? You were gone for so long and didn't even clean it thoroughly? Ahh gonna have to send you with your aunty so she can teach you properly." admonished an Older dwarf.

"She's still young and her royal upbringing ain't done nothing to help her learn some womanly duty, she makes up for it in spirit though." stated another as if apologizing to Draig.

"You don't get it, the Blood wouldn't stop coming. I scrubbed and scrubbed and It turned the whole stream a thick dark red but it just wouldn't stop." complained Eliza forgetting her earlier thoughts as she explained her ire.

"Ha, these youngsters sure like to exaggerate. Don't worry lad, we'll get her aunties after her, next time she'll have it so clean you'll be lucky if the die don't come out." laughed a rotund Dwarf as he pat Eliza on the back causing her to topple over.

"Well I appreciate the effort, that's the first time anyone has offered let alone try." answered Draig causing the Dwarves to nod.

"I hear that, the first one that offered me I married" laughed a middle aged Dwarf before the group once again broke into fatherly chatter amongst themselves.

----------

"Anyways, with this I can consider our Alliance pact sealed?" asked Eliza.

"An Alliance we have." nodded Draig.

"Then I suppose I'll get these guys back to the Fortress, I still have a lot to take care of as far as solidifying my reign." started Eliza.

"Well, if you have any competitors just ask and they will disappear." whispered Draig causing Eliza to look at him horrified.

"You realize those would be my siblings!" asked the girl looking at him in disbelief.

"Wouldn't be the first time I was hired to kill a sibling, anyways the offer stands." commented Draig as Eliza continued to stare in disbelief.

"Uh thanks, anyways. I suppose we should be heading back." stated Eliza dismissing herself and her people.

"Very well, goodbye." called Draig.

--------

It wasn't long after the Dwarves left that Draig pulled out his sword before disassembling it, he then proceeded to grab some ingots. Thus began the long arduous process of folding and drawing the metal.

------------

While Draig was doing this Ari was at the stream that Eliza had been washing armor and was horrified by the aftermath, it looked like a slaughter had occurred. The poor gob girl proceeded to turn and walked upstream away from the crime scene.

--------

The Duo spent the rest of the day doing this until it was time to turn in, at least Ari went to bed. Draig stayed hammering intent on having himself rearmed. After his sword he would proceed to creating his accessories, such as Shuriken and Kunai. However he would also be recreating his nasty little surprise just in case.