“It’s the perfect blade,” the swordsmith says.
I hold out my arm, leveling the dagger slowly. My arm starts to tremble after a moment. The wooden guard is dull, and the blade is straight. It’s a bit heavier than I’m used to, but it’ll make do.
It’s the third one this man has shown me. It’s the third one he’s claimed to be ‘the perfect blade.’ I gave up on my expectations when I saw the building.
The shop is small and missing a wall. The entire front of the place is just open to the street. A lot of the shops are that way in this town for some reason.
Weapons are scattered about on shelves, racks, and stabbed into dummies. Rakel and Lloyd are gathered around a collection of spears in the corner of my eye.
“I said,” the swordsmith says. “It’s the perfect blade.” He’s tall, old, and shirtless. His tanned skin is unreasonably hairy, but he only has a patch of hair on his wrinkly head.
“I don’t like the guard,” I say, awkwardly turning the blade in my hand to show him. I run my finger along the wood. It’s rough and feels light. I feel like I could press just enough and snap it. “I’ll take it, but can you change the guard out?”
“I don’t care what you like, damn demon,” the man snaps.
“You can’t change the guard out?” I ask, swallowing my aggravation. I probably should have put my hood up. I’d already walked around town with my horns on display, too late to hide them now.
“No. You take it as is, or leave it.”
I produce the coin pouch Suella gave me and dump all five gold coins onto my hand.
“How much?” I ask, showing him the coins. I realize my mistake a moment later.
The man eyes my hand.
“Five gold,” he says with a smile.
I consider him for a moment. I know the blade likely isn’t worth five gold. But I don’t know exactly ‘how much’ it isn’t worth five gold. Just how wholly and I being swindled, right now?
I could ask Rakel and Lloyd. But I don’t want to. I should be able to handle this on my own.
It doesn’t matter. I don’t plan on buying anything else, anyway. I dump the coins into his hand, and he hands me the sheath.
“Thank you,” I say, sheathing the blade.
He just grunts.
I realize the sheath doesn’t have a strap as I walk over to Rakel and Lloyd. I guess I’ll just carry it.
“Spears?” I ask when I reach them.
“Lloyd thinks he can handle one,” Rakel says.
“If Smetch can handle that staff,” Lloyd says. “A spear should be no problem for me. Because Smetch is weak, you know?”
Rakel and I share a look. Her eyes land on the sheath.
“How much is he trying to charge you?” Rakel asks. “Old man Harmell owes me. I should be able to get that for free.”
“I already paid,” I say. “Wasn’t that expensive. Let’s go.”
Rakel’s brows knit slightly.
“How much was it?”
“Only a gold,” I lie without a thought. Then, I have a lot of thoughts. Why did I lie? Embarrassment? To prevent her from causing a scene? Ego?
She frowns at the sheath, clearly questioning my spending choices. I can’t imagine what she’d say if I told her the truth.
“You getting a spear or not?” She snaps, turning to Lloyd.
“I can’t decide!”
Lloyd eventually does pick out a halberd. But he changes his mind when Harmell tries to charge twenty gold for it.
“That’s solid gold on the end of that thing!” Harmell insists.
“I don’t care how solid it is!” Lloyd shouts, spearing the halberd into a dummy. “Spears not worth a few coppers!”
“It’s a halberd!”
We leave the shop. Two of us are pissed off, but only one of us is openly kicking the ground.
“Would you calm down,” Rakel says, taking Lloyd by the ear.
The sun is high in the sky. The day is burning. We’re losing time.
“Where’s this tailor?” I ask.
“Come on,” Rakel says. “Maybe Pepper and Smetch are already there.” We split so Pepper and Smetchen could shop for materials. For what, I don’t know.
I’m faintly aware of them. Almost like an invisible thread binding us. They’re pretty far away. Either in the woods or on the other side of down, depending on how big this town is.
We follow the busy street deeper into town.
Wagons roll by. Groups of knights in silver armor are gathered all over the place.
I notice people watching them with worried faces.
“The war is over,” I hear a man mumbling. “Why are there so many of them here?”
“Mind your business!” Another man snaps, less subtly. “Best to leave them be.”
I eye the nearest cluster of knights. They’re gathered together near a wagon, looking through sheets of parchment.
Shouldn’t the people be happy that the knights are here? They’re supposed to protect them. What are they fussing about?
“Here we are,” Rakel says, gesturing to another building that’s missing a wall.
Inside are shelves stocked with fabrics and dummies covered with clothes varying from leather armor to multicolored dresses.
“Lociege!” She calls, leading us inside. “You here?”
Lloyd immediately splits off from us, wandering to a collection of heavy armor sets.
“Is Lociege a metal worker as well?” I ask under my breath.
“No,” Rakel admits. “Those are special.”
A woman emerges from a door behind a counter. She has dull green hair streaked with gray that sits on her neck and a scrunched face. She wears a long blue and orange robe.
“Rakel,” she says, her voice coming out hoarse. “Where’s Drya? And Pepper?”
“Pepper should be here soon,” Rakel says. “We need to be put up, you know. Armor and such.”
“You’ve always had such a way with words,” Lociege says, rounding the counter. “I’ll have to measure the boy and…” she eyes me for a moment.
“Hello,” I say uncertainly.
“And this one,” Lociege adds.
“How much is the armor?” Lloyd asks, eyeing a set of steel plate armor. The plates are lined with black cloth.
“Those aren’t for sale, they’re my guards,” Lociege says. “Now get over here so I can measure you.”
“Guards?” Lloyd looks over at us, brows raised. As he does, the helmet tilts downward at him. A faint light gleams through the visor.
“I’m coming,” Lloyd grumbles, walking over.
“You’ve still got five gold, right?” Rakel asks as Lociege produces a roll of tape and starts measuring Lloyd.
“Four,” Lloyd says. “I traded with that knight for some silvers and coppers, remember?”
“Right. And I have five. So that’s my five, Aerida’s four and—”
“I don’t have four,” I blurt before she can get any further. “I spent all five on…” I raise the dagger.
Rakel stares at the sheath in my hands.
“You spent five gold on that?” Lloyd sputters.
Rakel raises a hand to her temple and sighs.
“That’s eight gold, then. Alright.”
Something eats at my insides. It’s difficult for me to pin exactly what it is.
It’s not quite embarrassment, but it isn’t quite anger either. I can’t meet Rakel’s eyes for some reason.
She doesn’t seem mad. She just looks sullen.
“Five gold?” She mumbles. “I should’ve went up there with you.”
“I’m not a child.”
“Do you know how much five gold is?” She snaps.
I purse my lips.
“What’s that on your back?” Lociege asks, plucking at Lloyd’s tunic.
“Uh.” Lloyd looks over to us, leaning away from the woman.
“It’s fine,” Rakel calls, looking past me. “Just show her.”
Lloyd nods.
“It’s my wings,” he says, lifting his tunic to display the bound masses of feathers.
“Oh,” Lociege grumbles. “That’ll be a pain to work around.”
“I could buy a wagon with five gold,” Rakel says. “Or a decent horse.”
I turn the sheath in my hands, feeling heat gather in my cheeks.
“You had no way of knowing that,” Rakel goes on. “You should’ve come to me.”
I say nothing. What should I say? Admit that I was too proud to admit that didn’t know? Admit that I prefer stabbing myself in the back to being seen as someone foolish? I suppose I ended with the worst of both options, this time.
“I’m sorry,” it comes out like a mumble.
Rakel blinks, her head snapping up.
“What?”
“I didn’t realize it was that much,” I say. “I’m sorry.”
She just stares at me with wide eyes. There it is. That softness in her eyes and the quiver in her jaw.
I’d better pivot before this gets messy.
“I’m sure I can get the gold back,” I say, lowering the sheath.
“You’d probably have to kill him to get that gold back,” Rakel shoots back.
She meets my eyes. I offer a flat smile.
“I’m not letting you kill him,” she adds.
I huff.
“I’ll take my apology back, then,” I say with a shrug.
Rakel chuckles.
“Alright,” Luciege says, walking over. “You’re next.”
Behind her, Lloyd is holding a collection of colorful cloth strips.
I just sort of stand there while she feels me up and slaps me with her tape.
“A bit of a runt, aren’t you,” she mumbles.
“You’re very kind,” I reply flatly.
“This is it, isn’t it?” She says, holding the tape along my shoulder.
I blink, uncertain of her meaning. But she isn’t looking at me. She’s looking at Rakel.
“What do you mean?”
“They’re doing something. The Royal Knights. They’re all over town. I have to assume they’re preparing.”
“Preparing?” I echo.
“Hush,” Luciege barks.
I straighten, fighting annoyance.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Rakel says. “I don’t know what the Queen is planning.”
Luciege nods.
“We live in the stomping grounds of giants,” she mumbles. “I remember Remrey’s coronation. She’d been touted as the greatest mage in the land for years before. ‘The Silver Princess’. Destined to inherit Grumelle and carry us into the future.”
I stare forward as she measures my chest.
“Do you either of you know how many years this war has been going? This dance between Remrey and The Demon Lord?”
I don’t.
“Twenty years,” Rakel says. “Give or take.”
The tape tightens around my chest. I inhale, slouching slightly.
“Be still,” Luciege snaps, flicking my horn.
I scowl at her. She scowls back, letting the tape loosen. She moves to my waist.
“My brother and his son both served as knights,” Luciege says. “Two generations snuffed out.
“The Demon Lord’s army was endless hordes of undead.” She tugs the tape tight, nearly pulling me off my feet. “And that was before those Tikinoughts.”
The tape loosens again and Luciege drops at my side, moving to my hips.
I tilt my head at Rakel, annoyed with how handsy this woman is. Do the measurements really need to be this exact?
“Fifteen years of armies marching into each other.” Luciege takes one of my legs. “But our armies aren’t undead. They die and the Demon Lord’s armies just grow.”
“Arms,” Luciege says, standing.
I glance at her, unsure what she wants.
She grabs my wrist and pulls my arm up.
“Remrey would never have stopped until the Demon Lord was killed,” Rakel says. “That’s why the coalition was so important. We wanted to bring it all to an end.”
A few knights pass by outside, armor clanking as they do. I track them with my eyes. One of them raises a hand in what I think is a friendly wave.
I just stare as Luciege measures my arm.
“I have to make sure I finish it,” Rakel says after a long silence.
“Here.” Luciege stands produces a handful of colorful fabric strips from nowhere. “Pick some colors.”
I take the strips. They’re at least a foot long each.
“Huh?”
“For the armor,” Rakel says.
I look at the strips, dangling them in front of my face.
“She’s always had the power to finish it,” Luciege says. “Aren’t you listening?”
Rakel bristles.
Luciege walks away, returning to Lloyd.
“Blue and black,” he says, holding up two strips.
Luciege nods, taking the strips back. They disappear into her sleeve.
“She’s saying Remrey is just as bad,” I say, leaning towards Rakel.
“I got that.”
“Just making sure.”
I search her face for a moment. I’d been about to remind her that I’d effectively said the same thing a few days ago, but I decide not to harp on it.
“What colors should I pick?” I ask instead.
“Why not pink?” Rakel says. “Match your hair.”
“How come she didn’t measure you?” I ask, swatting her with the strips.
“She knows me,” Rakel says. “Pepper and Drya, too. She’s probably got our fits memorized.”
I end up settling on green and brown.
After that, we’re effectively kicked out.
“Give me a few hours.” Luciege says as she follows us to the front.
“Pepper and a kid should be coming around soon,” Rakel says.
Luciege just nods and goes back inside.
“What do we do now?” Lloyd asks, crossing his arms.
Rakel watches Luciege go for a moment.
“There’s a tavern in town,” she says.
“You want to get drunk right before the competition?”
“I was thinking food.”
I watch the sky. The sun is starting to go down. How long will Luciege take? I’d rather spend this time with Olexandrya. Why didn’t she come with us? She’s hardly been out of that room in the last few days.
“What do you think, Aerida?” Rakel asks.
“Sure,” I say without thinking.
Both of them stare at me.
Then, the ground is gone. I step across open air, my entire body whipping forward. Dark falls in around me. Rakel and Lloyd are nowhere to be seen. The street is nowhere to be seen. Wind whips in my ears.
“Rakel!” I tuck my legs in and curl around the sheath, letting myself spin.
Is this it? Now? The day hasn’t even ended.
I twist, gathering mana beneath me.
The world spills out around me. A blue sky bleeding into a fading orange and black. Thick green far below.
A woman is falling nearby. Her blonde hair whips around her head. She’s spinning, her limbs flailing.
Beyond her is a skeleton falling headfirst, its body held straight.
“Welcome.” Remrey’s voice rumbles in my head. “Consider this an introductory test. Your only task is to find your team before morning. Good luck.”