Post by Milo Brightmane on Apr 12, 2019 16:21:36 GMT
[Written in collaboration with Darius (retired) . For the build up to this, see the original commission here.]
A few days after dropping off his shield at Hammerfall Smithy, Darius returns. Walking into the main forge room, he nods at Milo.
“Still alive then after the tourney?”
Milo is sitting at a table on one side of the room, arms crossed, frowning at a piece of paper on the table. The paper has a few scribble marks at the top, and a lot of crossing out.
"Hmm? Oh, it's you Darius. Yes, yes, all good. Not really sure I'd call it a tourney though, but interesting nonetheless."
"Well, out with it then. What did I miss, lad?" Darius says, not unkindly, with a snort of laughter.
"Lad? I'm probably old enough to be your great-grandfather, haha! Well, I don't know how you feel about being underwater, but we were down there all day, courtesy of some fancy magic cloaks loaned to us by Miss Aurelia, and I didn't care for it at all. Dwarves aren't natural swimmers my friend, and me least of all. Essentially there were three parts to the tournament - a feast, a fight, and a race. Which one do you want to hear about first?"
"I'm partial to a flutter now and again. What was the race? Horses?"
A twinkle in Milo's eye. "More or less. Seahorses. Massive ones. All underwater, remember. That was the grand finale of the tournament, a race between four champions of Zeyshel, with the prize being a promotion to Captain of the Hunt, a great honour there, or so I'm told. Second only to their High Priest.
It was quite an upset in the end, the current Captain was racing, and their lieutenant, but they both lost! The winner was an old retired Captain, I don't think anyone saw it coming. Certainly not me, I bet on the lieutenant. Turns out things were a bit different this year too, the winner also gets to go off and train with the Storm Giants on their island. I talked to their representative at the feast, Eknas he was called, and a beautiful warhammer he had, absolutely stunning. It was about as big as you though, so no chance of me ever wielding anything like it."
At the mention of Giants, the lines around Darius' eyes harden for a moment; the set of his jaw becoming even squarer and the huge muscles bunching under his shirt. But only for a moment.
"Ha never bet against the old guy. We know some tricks. Sounds like that warhammer would have been useful for that fight you mentioned. Were you involved in that?"
Milo doesn't seem to notice the momentary tension in Darius, as he is now caught up in the tale.
"Indeed, though I wasn't sure we would be at first. At the start of all this I'd heard 'tournament' and expected some kind of one-on-one face off, knock-out, winner stays on kind of deal. Turns out it was more of a pit fight, gladiator style. A sahuagin had been terrorising Zeyshel and the nearby merfolk town, and this fight was his chance to fight for his freedom. We were offered the fight as honoured guests, but we thought it only fair that the merfolk and tritons got to fight first, it being their people this thing had killed."
Milo rubs at the back of his neck.
"Plus I didn't feel right about killing a creature who'd never done anything to me or mine. They'd already caught it, surely it was their problem to deal with. But the first group to fight it didn't stand a chance - twice their height it was, four arms, huge trident, big sharp teeth. It tore them apart... And then the rest of them from Daring were raring to go, even little Pieni, and I couldn't let them face it by themselves. I did what I could, like putting magical shielding on that young chap from Amn, Heret. Tried to heat up its trident to make it let go but it held on, no matter how much it's fingers blistered and burned. Anyway, it went down eventually, between magic from Zig and Mystigon, and a physical beating from Ginead, Heret and some huge aquatic monster Pieni summoned. Still not sure how I feel about it, but I suppose what's done is done, and there's one less dangerous killer in the world."
"Aye, I'd question the wisdom of getting in there with it in the first place," Darius replied, "but once you're there: you see a threat; you put it down. Especially if your friends are there. It had a chance to win its freedom and that's more than the creatures it killed got. Look at it like melting down a badly forged sword; not what you trained to do, but a job that needs doing regardless. Anyway, sounds like you earned that feast?"
"The feast actually came first! Aah, I'm telling this all backwards, sorry. It was all pretty ceremonial - everyone had the same meal, cuts of giant octopus, and the tables all branched out from a central dais where the High Priest and some other tritons were doing some special dance. Then he came round with little bubbles of smokey water we all had to, what, drink? Inhale? It was more or less the same thing down there. Then for a few moments it was like I was somewhere else, on the sea instead of under it, in the middle of a huge storm, waves a mile high, lightning crashing all around. Just about my worst nightmare! But when I was back in the room everyone was just chatting away and asking if I was alright, so it must have just been a bad reaction."
Milo doesn't mention quite how helpless he felt during the vision, or the sense of fear that had followed him back for a short while.
Shaking himself Milo continued, "And after the feast there was a little fair. We went to a couple of stalls before the fight, where it turns out I need to practise my axe throwing, which is embarassing, and that all those games of Hops against my parents must have sunk in, because I won myself a nice little marble Hops1 set."
Darius grunts "Aye, we could all do with more practice. Odd-sounding place, Zeyshel. I've no problem with the sea, but I prefer solid ground where I can plant my feet and swing my sword. Anyway, thanks for the story; and talking of practice, is my shield ready? I'm due down at Varis' training ground for some sparring."
"We're of a kind then. All that weight of water above you, its unsettling, like if you were in a cave but could see though all the tons of rock over head. I was the first one back I think, didn't fancy sticking around.
Ah yes, the shield. All done." Milo brings the shield out from a small store room to the side. The eye in the centre shimmers in the low light of the smithy, bright and new.
"I've also done what I can with some old dings and scratches. But I can tell this is a shield to be used, so we'll see how long that lasts, eh. Oh, and your lances are propped on the wall over there," pointing towards two long shafts of metal that swoop down from a vicious point into a flare just above a comfortable-looking leather grip.
“Obliged, Master Smith.” Darius picks up the shield and examines it. “Fine work this.” Darius takes out a small leather bag and leaves it on the table Milo was sitting at. “30 gold, wasn’t it? Here’s 40. Fine work.” He spins the shield a couple of times, settling the weight on his left arm, before walking over to the two lances and picking them up easily in his right arm. “I’m sure I’ll see you around, either out there or with more work.”
"Any time friend, and many thanks for the business." Milo follows with a sigh, "I suppose I'd better get back to this report I'm supposed to be writing for Miss Aurelia. Have a good day."
1. Hops is basically draughts/checkers.
