[Beastborne: Voracious] (Book 5) Chapter 36

Chapter 43

Though it had been Hal’s intention to find Athagan and Bardan first thing in the morning, it was actually Ashera who found him.

“Hal,” she said, looking more disheveled than he could ever remember her of late. “I have a favor to ask. A big one.”

Checking the buckle for his sword, Hal motioned her to lead on as they walked out from his cottage and into the burgeoning settlement of Brightsong. Where the grass hadn’t been flattened into a beaten path, there were dirt roads, and where there weren’t dirt roads, the Manatree had provided a gorgeous white avenue of paved interlocking stones all the way from the Manatree Glade to the exit of Brightsong.

“Hello, sir,” Kow said, poking his shaggy head out of Ashera’s coat. He managed to make a little perfunctory bow.

“You remember, Kow, right?”

“Of course,” Hal said, reaching out and waiting for the oppa to sniff his hand before he petted him. “How could I ever forget our resident innkeeper?”

That made the little oppa’s eyes light up like a night full of stars.

“Well, it is about that.”

Hal waved at a passing group of dwarves on their way to the town hall and some breakfast before doing whatever work they were up to today.

The trip to Durvin’s Dungeon would need to wait a few days more until Hal had everything set up. Judging by his other jaunt into a Dungeon, the only thing you could realistically expect to find was a surprise.

From one Dungeon to the next, they all seemed different. One could take a few hours if you were incredibly lucky, and another of the same difficulty could take days or weeks necessitating travel rations and the like.

All of this came from Hal’s Dungeon Lore skill, which allowed him to have a greater insight into Dungeons as a whole.

Like his Monster Core, Dungeons didn’t have the typical Levels. They had Ranks. Perhaps somebody had long ago thought it sounded cooler, or perhaps the world of Aldim was very different long ago.

The Balesian Council certainly painted such a picture. A world where people made great works together hand-in-hand, fending off the dark tide of monsters that spawned from a world rich in mana.

Compared to then, the world seemed a pale shade of its former self if you heard them speak of things.

Hal thought they were like any older person, looking back with rose-tinted glasses. Just like he did when he thought about the 90s, which seemed hardly ten years ago but was (distressingly) much longer ago than that.

“Go ahead,” Hal said, when Ashera didn’t seem to continue.

“Kow has a Quest he would like me to do, or rather the System does. It is to create a mythril cooking implement so that Kow can make the best food for the inn that he possibly can.”

Hal chuckled as they turned off onto a dirt track that lead around to the longhouses. “I’m sorry Ashera, I would love to help, but I’ve got my hands full. Besides, I don’t even know what mythril looks like. There’s been so many variations in my home world that I wouldn’t know where to begin. Besides, I don’t have the slightest inclination to go mining.”

Ashera blushed up to her ears but didn’t say anything for a while.

I wonder if I was a bit too blase about the whole thing? Hal found himself wondering.

Before he could think on it further, Ashera held out a heavy-looking satchel. “I already found the ores,” she said. “And some extra, if you would like to use them for something. It is, unfortunately, not enough to make anything extravagant. I thought I had discovered a much larger vein than I did and paid for my arrogance.”

Hal took the bundle and was surprised at how light it was. He had to peek inside to make sure it was actually full of rocks.

Sure enough, they looked like roughly hewn stone with greenish shimmering veins of metal running throughout.

“We’ll need—”

“I have already procured the services of a Goldsmith who can perform the duty,” she told him, beaming with pride.

Hal shrugged. He was already planning on working with Heat Space today and making iron ingots. What was the harm in doing a little more work for a friend?

Besides, Ashera was his Envoy, a position given more leeway than a Shadow and much more prestigious as well. Lurklox wouldn’t agree with that assessment. The koblin thoroughly enjoyed her duty of sneaking up on Hal at all hours of the night just to let him know she was guarding his back.

He hoped he would never need her to stop an assassin. He hoped he would never need either of them to do anything more than take a sinecure title and a station that conferred prestige without any true danger.

He hoped… and yet he wasn’t convinced.

Things didn’t work like that.

Not on Earth, and not on Aldim.

Doing his best to smile at her, remembering almost painfully how much he missed coffee—and as a 20-something from Seattle, that was saying something!—Hal said, “Then who am I to turn away your request? As it happens, I’m already planning on helping to make some tools and smelt some ingots with my Heat Space Sigil. If you don’t mind, I’d rather do yours last so I can get a feel for it.”

Ashera gasped and hugged his arm tightly. Kow popped out and gave him an affectionate snuggle before sliding back into her coat like a furry cow-spotted cat-snake.

“Thank you, Hal!” Ashera said gleefully. “You have no idea how much this means to the both of us. If you do not mind, I will go put everything in motion.”

She turned to leave, seemed to recall something, and then stopped dead. “Oh. I did forget one little thing.”

Hal couldn’t resist smiling. “Oh yeah?”

“McDervish, the Goldsmith? He asked for you to use your… dragonfire for him, if that would be okay,” she added hastily.

If she had been expecting Hal to be angry or upset, she was in for a shock. Hal burst out laughing.

He had, in fact, been looking forward to using his dragonfire on something other than himself or the other dragons. It was a powerful substance, and using it more would only help his Monster Core and his twin fires advance.

And after everything he’d been through lately, he intended to take full use of his newfound abilities. He might even be able to find a way to combine Heat Space and Dragonfire to do something entirely different.

When he finally had control of himself, he smiled at Ashera and said, “I’m sorry, but the look on your face. As if I’d ever say no to you? Priceless.” Hal shook his head. “Of course I’ll help you Ashera and I’ll make sure you honor your agreement with McDervish, too.”

Palms pressed flat to her thighs, she gave a deep bow and then sprinted off down the dirt road toward wherever McDervish was, by Hal’s guess.

He shrugged and continued on his way, looking for Bardan or Athagan.

It only took him a few minutes to find the pair bickering about something or other. You could hear their voices halfway across the settlement. Not that Brightsong was massive by any stretch of the imagination, but it was still an impressive shouting match all the same.

Hal arrived to see the two in their typical stance.

Athagan, with his little glasses perched on his large nose, his black beard bristling. His father, Bardan, with his plaited beard and wide gem-encrusted girdle that he was fond of tucking his thumbs in when he was content (or proud).

Now though, he was cinching it up and lifting it into place as if he was afraid it was going to fall off. A sure sign he was frustrated.

“Ho there!” Hal called to them with a smile and a wave. “What’s going on?”

The two turned, took a few steps toward him and then saw the other doing the same and grumbled while managing to look at both Hal and keep the other in their periphery.

Oh boy.

Dwarves were great, but they knew how to have a great big bloody row like a pair of teenagers away for a weekend without parental supervision.

Hal loved them fiercely, but sometimes they were so frustrating to deal with and this pair was one of the worst. Not because they were cruel to each other, but because they both often had the same idea in such a slightly different way that Hal could hardly tell one from the other.

And that only made them more prone to grumbling and grousing about every little thing. Apparently, if the ideas were far apart, they were happy as can be.

Hal hadn’t seen much of that, but he took people’s word for it.

It was when the ideas were nearly identical that they took umbrage with one another. Perhaps it was the sensation of being mocked, who knew.

“Just havin’ a little disagreement,” Bardan said. “Nothin’ ta worry yerself with, laddie.”

“Oh good,” Hal said in mock relief. “Just a little disagreement then?”

“A small one,” Bardan said, seething.

“A wee dram,” Athagan echoed scornfully.

Hal took a deep breath and told himself that he was here for a reason. “I trust that you both will sort it out to the satisfaction of all parties involved.”

They both looked at him oddly. Hal kept his expression carefully neutral.

That had sounded suitably leader-y, right?

A small shimmer of Shardscript showing that his Leadership skill went up a level confirmed that, at least in the eyes of the Shard and the two dwarves in front of him, he had acted accordingly.

Good enough for me.

“So,” Hal said, steering them away from the last remnants of the longhouses they were working on, “I have something of a favor and an offer.”

“We’re listenin’.”

“The smithy can’t go up until we get more iron. Isn’t that what you told me?”

“Aye,” Bardan said. “We ain’t got nearly enough o’ the stuff and the mobile furnaces don’t put out much. Even if we doubled our capacity, it’d take us a week or so non-stop mannin’ them to get any good ingots out. They’re right finnicky things.”

“If you can supply the ore,” Hal said, looking up at a glittering golden figure swooping high in the sky, “then I can smelt it for you.”

“What, just like that?” Athagan asked, snapping his thick callused fingers. It sounded like a firecracker going off.

“Just like that.”

“And how will ye be doin’ this?”

Hal rolled back his sleeve to show the Copper Kol’thil. “This. And maybe a little Dragonfire. I’d like to get a better handle on it. Do you think you could make up some molds for the ingots?”

“Aye, casting ‘em in sand is easy enough, especially if ye got the means o’ heating them up. Shouldn’t be too hard to get a few rows put together at a time. When were ye thinkin’ about doing this all, then?” Bardan asked on the heels of Athagan.

The two had completely forgotten about whatever disagreement they had. Hal would have smiled if it wasn’t for the fact that he was sure they’d go back to it immediately after his back was turned.

Family drama, at least it’s better than the Williams’ way.

“That’s the thing,” Hal said with an innocent look. “I was thinking of doing it today. In fact, the sooner the better. Think you could pull some people who aren’t busy to work on it with me?”

“Now?” Bardan and Athagan asked together.

“As soon as possible,” Hal said, but he had only gotten two words out before the pair scrambled away, shouting over their shoulders at him.

“Meet us at the eastern slope, ye ken!”

“Ten minutes!”

Just enough time to grab a bite, Hal thought to himself.