The Strange Coin

Feeling the pain go through his body, numbness started to spread. There was a clear rip in his cloths where blood slowly started to drip out of. Feeling annoyed, Otto looked at the location where he tripped. To his surprise, there was a small signing round object lying there. Crawling to it, he picked up the object. The round shaped resembled a coin. The yellow color was covered by thin layer brown corrosion.

"Are you alright child?" a worried woman asked Otto. After he fell, a group of people surrounded him, with worried faced. They were scared that something might have happened to Otto. All the eyes were fixed on him. The busy street halted that moment.

This time Jordan spoke out as he arrived through the group that surrounded him. "Otto! Are you alright? Does it hurt?" Quickly making his way to Otto, he noticed a small trail of red making its way through the knee of Otto. Taking out a small fabric, he whipped out the blood and bandaged the wound.

Seeing that there was nothing major, the surrounding continued with their activity. "You sure that it is alright?" the woman asked. After Otto nodded quickly to indicate that he was fine, the woman patted his head and left with a relieved smile.

Slowly standing up, Otto felt a sting on his knee. It was clear that the wound would hurt a bit. However, he was relieved to see the face of his father in front of him. Quickly he took out the object that he had found to show his father.

"Where did you find it?" he asked with a shocked voice. It clearly looked important, for him to make such a face to it.

Otto pointed towards the ground as he said, "When I was running towards our voice, I tripped on it and fell. After I looked back, I saw this object shining."

He had now finally a bit more time to look at the coin with more attention. The coin, which was perfectly round, had the carving of a feminine face on it. It seemed as if the face had a wicked smile. Its eyes were like four pointed star. For some reason, Otto felt that the he was drawn to the coin. But at the same time, he felt as if there was a dangerous ambiance emitting from it.

"To have found a gold coin. You sure are a lucky child." Jordan said as he was inspecting the coin. There was a weird look on his as he was inspecting the coin. "Weird. This is not a coin or symbol that I have seen before. I am sure that is not from our kingdom." he said. After wondering for a moment, he continued, "Maybe Gralmiir will know more about it, given that he is active in the city for some time." With that he gave the coin back to Otto before ordering him to take good care of it and not to lose it.

They started to make their way towards the shop of Gralmiir. For this they continued on the main road of the city. As they finished the business district where all the stores were located, they slowly entered the industrial district.

The industrial district had a unique look to it. All the buildings were made of stone and heavy black smoke was filling the air. This all was accompanied by the clinging of metal against metal, as the various blacksmith were working. Even the road started to heat up from all the furnaces that were burning in the stores.

The majority of the people that were present in these streets and stores were knights and mercenaries. There were even some adventures that were looking for new swords to go out and hunt new monsters. Everyone had a weapon that accompanied them. Because of this, the guards in these streets also became a lot denser.

Entering a small alley in the side, they finally arrived at their destination. It was a small blacksmiths shop various tools hung on the walls and a blazing furnace was in the middle. Behind the furnace, a short, yet sturdy looking person was working hard on something. His size was around the same as himself. Looking at his father, Otto understood that this was a dwarf. 'So this is another race. I hope that uncle will be kind and tell me about his people.' Otto thought to himself.

From behind, the dwarf had long brown-red braided hair that made its way to his lower back. His hair was filled with small runic beads. He clearly did not notice that the two had arrived as he was busy with what he was doing. Occasionally clinging echoed in the small space, as the hammer hit the metallic object.

"Good day my old friend Gralmiir. How are you doing? How are the kids?" Jordan called out to the working dwarf with a cheerful voice.

Hearing the voice call out, the hammer stopped midair as the dwarf stopped with what he was doing. Slowly turning around, the dwarf noticed who called out to him. A small formed up on his face, as he placed the hammer on the anvil next to him. Slowly making his way towards the two he spoke out in a rough voice, "Oh fuck me Brokir¹! Is that really you Jordan? How many fucking years has it been?"

Otto was now able to see the face of Gralmiir. There was a small red face shown. His beard, which made its way to his chest, was braided with the same runic beads as in his hair. There was a parting between his mustache and beard where his mouth was. However this was so small that it almost seemed as if there was no mouth at all.

"Ughm..." Jordan coughed, and hinted towards Otto who was next to him.

Noticing the child, his eyes opened up in surprise. "Pardon my language small one." he said with a cheerful face. Getting closer to Otto he continued, "You must be Otto? You look even stronger than your father." With those words, Gralmiir patted Otto on his head. Turning back to Jordan he continued, "So what brings you all the way to the city? I am sure that you are not here just to catch up with me?"

At that, Jordan mentioned their reason for coming. "As you have noticed, Otto is not getting older. So it is time for him to help out with the family. Because of this, we were looking for an axe appropriate for his size."

Gralmiir nodded while Jordan was explaining. There were thoughts passing by in his eyes. He slowly started to mutter some words. "Maybe a dwarf axe…? No that is too heavy. Maybe I can make a small axe…? But that will take too long and cost a lot…" he was pondering to himself. After a moment, he found a good solution, "Yes, yes! That will work!" With that he quickly ran back to the storage. After a moment he rushed back with a small axe in his hand.

Gralmiir gave the axe to Otto to see if the properties would work. In the mean time he started to explain, "This is originally used as a throwing axe. However with some modifications I am certain that it could be transforming it into an axe able to cut wood." Looking over at Otto, who was now holding the axe, he spoke up, "Well kid, and give it a swing! Let's see how good you are with an axe!"

As Otto received the axe, he could feel that it was lighter compared to the axes that his father had. Looking over at his father, it was as he was waiting for an approval. After Jordan nodded tried he swings the axe. Trying the mimic the way his father chopped wood. The moment he swung the axe, he knew that he was about to lose control of it. He did not expect that using an axe would be this challenging. His father normally could swing an axe with ease. However, he lost the control of the axe with only one swing. As he lost his grip on the axe, the axe flew down to the ground and impaled itself there.

At that moment, he could hear laughter coming from his father and Gralmiir. Gralmiir came over and picked up the axe on the ground and said, "Don't worry child. You are still young, in time you will get used to it. I think that I need to tweak some things in the axe, before you will be able to use it properly." Before he left, he looked at Otto and said, "How did it feel? Exciting right?"

Hearing that, Otto nodded his head in excitement. It was indeed another experience. The words that Gralmiir said to him filled him with eager to use the axe as soon as possible.

"If you wait here for a bit, I might be able to modify quickly." Gralmiir said as he was walking back to his station with the axe.

"In that case, maybe we can catch up a bit." Jordan said with a smile. With that, the two of them started to talk about various subject. How the families were doing, and about the past.

Not being that interested in the conversation, Otto decided to focus on the coin he found instead. He still had a feeling that the coin was calling to him, so he wanted to take a closer look. Taking a look at the strange coin, Otto was drawn by the strange look of the famine face. There was a weird intriguing feeling that it possessed. However for some reason, this feeling was also reassuring. Even though the face and its smile looked rather creepy, there was a certain appeal to it.

"Otto! Where you not listening?" Jordan said with a raised voice.

At that moment, Otto came back from his senses. He was so drawn into the coin that he did not notice that his father called to him.

"Can you give me that coin? Let's see of your uncle Gralmiir know about it." Jordan said as he opened up his hand, expecting the coin.

With that, Otto stretched his hand to give the coin to his father. However, just before the coin was handed over, Otto saw one of the eyes move. It looked as if the coin gave him a wink. The moment he noticed this, a chilly feeling that traveled through his spine. Shocked by this, he froze up, not being able to move a muscle.

He heard his father ask Gralmiir about the coin, "Have you ever seen this print before? Even though I do not know where it is from, it has a familiar feeling to it."

Gralmiir took the coin and started to examine it. There was a glimmer in his eye, as he understood the value of the coin. After a moment of inspecting the coin, he let out a disappointed sigh. "No, I have never seen a coin like this before. However, the materials and the gold sure look pure. So it certainly is valuable." Walking over to Otto, he gave the coin back and spoke up, "You certainly are a lucky kid. To be able to find such a nice looking coin. If I were you, I would treasure it." Pondering for a moment, Gralmiir added, "If you want, I can make it into a quick necklace, that will make it easier for you to keep it save."

Receiving the coin back, Otto's muscles started to ease up again. As he heard Gralmiir's proposition, he nodded in excitement. With that Gralmiir gave out a laugh and patted the head of Otto.

Taking the coin back, Gralmiir looked for an easy necklace, to imbed the coin in it. After finding a proper necklace, he worked for a small moment before returning to Otto. As he returned the coin to Otto, he decided to put it around the neck of Otto. The necklace was rather simple, as it only had a few grips supporting the coin. However there was a simplistic appeal to it, which Otto liked.

A time was passing by, Jordan and Gralmiir continued their conversation. In the mean time, Otto was fixated on the new necklace he received. He was still not certain if he imagined this, or if the coin really moved.

However, he had no time left to wonder, as Gralmiir walked over with the axe to him.

Giving the axe to him, Gralmiir said, with a chuckle, "Well kid. Give it a swing now! Make uncle Gralmiir proud!"

Swinging the axe this time, Otto felt that it was easier on the hand. He had full control over it this time.

"That's more like it." Gralmiir said.

Even Jordan patted him on the back with a proud feeling. With that he spoke up, "Well, thank you for everything. We still have some things to do in the city before we leave. So if you will excuse us." With that, Jordan paid the bill for everything. Before they left he turned around and said, "You have to come by one day. Also bring over the kids, I am sure that Otto will like to play with them." With that, they left the store and made their way back towards the shopping district.

Walking back the way they came, Jordan went to one of the merchants, who were selling food. Apparently, the village had an overproduction of grain, and they wanted to sell these. However not having the proper methods of transportation, they required a merchant to come over. They also required some tools to work on the field. For this, Jordan was negotiating with one of the merchants.

Not being able to roam on his own, Otto had to keep close to his father, as he was talking with the merchant. Being bored, Otto started to look around. At one of the stalls on the other side of the road, an object caught his eye. It was a wooden comb that was beautifully painted. However what drew his attention was actually the image on the comb. It looked similar to the face that was on the coin. Looking over to his father, he saw that he was till busy. Not wanting to butt in, he decided to wait patiently. However, his eyes were locked on the comb.

Before the conversation of his father was finished, he saw that someone picked up the comb. Sadden by this, he felt a pain in his heart. He wanted to buy a present to his mother. And that comb would have done a perfect job. However, now that opportunity was gone.

Looking back at his father with the sad feeling still lingering, he heard a voice calling out, "Young man. I saw that you were looking at this comb. I assumed that you were interested in it. Given that your father is still busy talking, I wanted to bring it to you myself."

"What do you mean?" Hearing the conversation, Jordan looked over and asked.

"Your son kept on staring at this comb. However, I noticed that he was not able to get a closer look to it, because he did not want to bother you. Therefore, I brought the comb to him."

Otto quickly explained his intention, and that he decided to wait for his father to finish. Understanding the situation, Jordan was surprised about the intention that his son had. After hearing the story, even the merchant that brought over the comb was willing to reduce the price significantly. With that, they decided to buy the comb as a present.

Curious about the face on the comb, Otto asked the merchant if he knew more about it. However, even the merchant was lost about the meaning of it. It was something that was shipped over from another country and was not common here. Unfortunate with this, Otto still caressed the comb, as he wanted to gift it to his mother.

A moment later, also Jordan also concluded the business he was doing with the merchant. They had agreed that he would come to the village in a few days. With everything done, they decided to head back to the village. If there were no setbacks, they would reach it before he sun would set.

…