Diamantine (Weapons and Wielders Book 2)

by Andrew Rowe

  ***

  We still got a bit of side-eye when we showed up at another fancy steak house, but thankfully, at least this time we were clean. Upon seeing the clothing of the more typical clientele, I made a mental note that we probably should have looked into more appropriate garb first, but at the moment, we had higher priorities.

  “Foooooood.” Reika looked at the menu, focusing intently. “So. Much. Food.”

  I couldn’t read the menu, so I was sitting next to her, rather than across from her. She pointed out various items to me. Her reading comprehension for Edrian was actually better than her spoken comprehension, since she could take as much time as she needed to process it, and she had plenty of experience reading Edrian books.

  Reika ordered a forty-six ounce family steak meal for herself, which left the waiters mildly confused.

  I ordered a more modest twelve-ounce filet cooked in a garlic sauce. Reika seemed suspicious that I would want to eat my steak with anything “green” on it, and I assured her that the garlic would only accentuate the flavor.

  While we were eating, a couple more groups of people dressed for combat came in and sat at nearby tables. I overheard a few bits from people who were speaking Valian. Most of it was usual dinner banter, but I did pick up a few tidbits of interest.

  “...some kind of break-in at the palace armory...”

  “...wonder if it’s the same guy who hit the one in Dalenos a few months back...”

  Reika nudged me. “You’re staring at people.”

  I winced and turned to her. “Sorry.”

 

  Reika and I are not married, Dawn.

 

  I ignored Dawn.

  “It’s fine, I’m curious about people, too. Maybe we can hit up a tavern later and see some other adventurers.”

  I nodded. “Might be a good plan. I’d like to size up the competition. Maybe tomorrow, though. I’m exhausted.”

  Our food arrived promptly. After that, there was eating. So much eating.

  Reika finished her entire plate. The servers really didn’t know what to do about that.

  “Ahh. Think we can get seconds?”

  I shook my head at her.

  “Desert?”

  I pondered, then nodded. “As long as it’s reasonable.”

  Reika ordered her idea of a “reasonable” desert.

  One entire cake later, we headed back to the hotel, both holding our bellies.

  “So...full...”

  We quickly (and fortunately) discovered that our hotel had bathrooms on the bottom floor. I don’t know if I would have made it all the way up to the one in our bedroom.

  Finally, we made it back to the room, and I got ready to settle in for the night.

  “I’m still hungry,” Reika reported.

  I groaned. “Can you wait until tomorrow?”

  “...I mean, I could...but I don’t want to.”

  I chuckled. “I’m done for the night. If you go out, be careful, and don’t get into any trouble.”

  “I’m a dragon. How much trouble could I possibly get into?”

  I narrowed my eyes at Reika. “Reika.”

  She waved her hands defensively. “Fine, fine. But, uh, if you hear any stories about masked heroes of justice solving crimes across the city—”

  I folded my arms. “Only food. No hero of justice tonight. We still need to get the lay of the land.”

  “...but we are going to be doing the hero thing, right?”

  “No promises.”

  “Aww.”

  “But I’ll think about it,” I conceded.

  Reika grinned. “This is going to be so much fun.”

  ***

  With Reika out searching for more food, I sat down on the bed and set Dawn across my lap. I wasn’t ready to sleep yet, and there was something I’d been wanting to discuss for a while. “Hey. Can we talk?”

 

  “Right.” I could have just communicated with her mentally as well, but I felt like I could word things more easily aloud. “There’s something important I’ve been meaning to discuss.”

 

  “Hm?”

 

  I snorted. “Dawn. You know that’s not—”

 

  I sighed, patting her on the hilt. “You’re right, of course. Let’s elope right now.”

  <…Wait, really?>

  “No. Obviously. I just wanted to ask you about your other powers. I know you like trying to get me to earn them one at a time, but Reika and I almost died in that fight with Zenkichi. If we’re going to be fighting more dangerous opponents like that, I need to know what you’re capable of.”

  There was a pause.

  I blinked. “Love triangle?”

 

  I laughed. “Good for her if she does. Not that I’d advise any one-night stands — they can get messy — but if she finds someone worth seeing, that’d be great.”

 

  I snorted. “You’re missing my point. I’m not saying I’m not attracted to Reika. She’s fun, she’s smart, and she’s good in a fight. The part I’m denying is the implication that there has to be drama if she’s interested in someone else. That’s her business, not mine.”

 

  “Nothing about that worries me. If things work out with whomever else, I’ll be happy for her.”

 

  “I think you’re more invested in this idea than I am. Reika is probably going to see some people in her life. So am I, and I’ve already had some relationships. I’m not some blushing virgin who has never kissed a girl before, you know.”

 

  “Not even close.”

  She started glowing brighter.

  “You’re wasting mana.”

 

  I shrugged. “I’ll consider it when I get to know her better. At the moment, any kind of romantic relationship with her would be unfair. She hasn’t had enough contact with other people to know whether or not I’d be a good match. She needs a reasonable number of experiences to form a basis for comparison.”

 

  “There’s a big difference between having a romantic relationship with someone else she meets and starting one with me right now. Reika and I are already committed to a different form of relationship, in that we’re traveling together to look for the other sacred swords. If I get into a romance with her and make a mess out of it, that could strain our ability to function as a team. That could make the kind of drama your romance novels talk about. Righ
t now, I need her more as an adventuring companion than a romantic partner.”

 

  “Look, I might have some of my own issues to sort through—”

 

  “—but what I said was true. I’ll consider a romantic relationship when she’s had some time to get acclimated to human society and we’ve both had more of a chance to figure out if it would work between us.”

 

  I boggled at her for a moment. “Dawn.”

  She cackled.
  I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Conversation has devolved into sex jokes, and therefore is over.”

 

  I sighed. “Fine, fine. You win whatever contest this was. Back to sword powers?”

 

  “What have you got?”

 

  I blinked. That hadn’t been the answer I was expecting. “What?”

 

  “Huh.” I pondered that. “I guess I could just try a bunch of likely words? Most of your abilities seem to be pretty clearly light or dawn themed, so maybe there’s a pattern to be found.”

 

  “Fair.” I pondered for a moment. “Or I could just take you to a Diviner or an Enchanter and see if they could figure it out?”

 

  “I’m not sure that last one is relevant.”

 

  I shook my head. “Doubt it would work.”

 

  “Hypothetically, yes, but everyone has leanings toward one thing or another. I’ve never shown any propensity toward knowledge sorcery. Once Lydia gets here, though, maybe she could help.”

 

  “Why does that— oh, come on. It’s not like that.”

 

  “You literally don’t eat. And you know we’re just talking about getting your runes identified and not marrying you off to some kind of wealthy suitor, right?”

 

  ***

  Reika didn’t make it back to the hotel room until the middle of the night. I’d been a bit worried, but in retrospect, Reika wasn’t exactly in much danger. Maybe if there were god beasts running around rampant or something, but that seemed like the sort of occurrence we’d have noticed.

  “So much food…” She rubbed her belly, then flopped down on the bed. After a moment, she rolled back and forth, gathering up the blankets. “Mmmm…”

  “Enjoyed your night out?”

  She nodded wearily, continuing to roll back and forth, before finally settling down, tangled in blankets and with on leg atop the pile of pillows. “Eating is love. Eating is life.”

  I grinned and rubbed Reika on the top of the head. She curled up a little closer to me.

 

  I snorted. We’ve been over this, Dawn. You need to slow down on this whole thing with trying to get me and Reika together.

 

  That’s…kind of tragic, actually. But points for the heart of gold pun.

 
  One point four.

 

  I appreciate precision.

  “What are you two talking about?” Reika asked.

  “Nothing important. She’s just joking around as usual.”

  She gave a weary nod. “Okay. Going to sleep now.”

  “Like that? You’re lying diagonally across the bed and your head is on the wrong side.”

  Reika groaned. “I’m comfortable.”

  “You’re comfortable in a position that seems designed to make it impossible for me to find room for myself.”

  She nodded. “Yep. Comfortable. Good ni—hey!”

  I picked her up, blanket pile and all, and rotated her into a more reasonable position.

  She made some grumbling noises, then quickly conceded, curled up in the blankets, and fell asleep.

  I blew out the lantern.

  Good night, Dawn.

  <…Can I stay in the bed with you and Rei?>

  Of course.

  We fell asleep together not long after that.

  Chapter III – Arena

  It was finally time to go to the tournament. I made an important decision — I wasn’t going to wear my mask when I entered. This was mostly for the practical reasons Reika and I had already discussed, but also just because I didn’t want to wear it. It ruined a part of the fun of fighting in front of an audience if I couldn’t feel like me in front of them. And, even more importantly, the mask had an irritating tendency to slide down my nose and block my vision. I’d eventually have to get it adjusted, if I could figure out a way to modify the ancient mask of a long-dead god without accidentally blowing up a continent or something.

  We left early in the morning to head to the arena grounds. They weren’t what I expected.

 

  Dawnbringer was about as articulate as usual, but I had to agree with her.

  On the way toward the coliseum, I’d heard that it was located on an island called (appropriately enough) “Arena Island”. That didn’t sound too unusual — I just assumed there was a small lake or something in the middle of the city.

  But as we’d gotten closer, we’d seen no signs of water.

  What we did see, however, was a colossal structure looming in the sky.

  At first, I’d assumed we’d walked near one of the outstretched necks of the Hydra Spire — those did stretch out over some of the streets in the city. But as we got closer, we quickly realized that this was not a section jutting off from a structure on the ground.

  It wasn’t connected to anything at all — Arena Island hovered a hundred feet over the city of Kassel, suspended by magic alone.

  I couldn’t even believe it at first. Flight spells and such were possible, but keeping something perpetually aloft required tremendous energy. I would have been impressed by a perpetually floating pebble.

  Arena Island was the size of a small city by itself.

  And, as I drew closer, I began to realize that it was just as populated as a small city as well. The Imperial Coliseum wasn’t even visible from below, but I could see numerous buildings atop it. I couldn’t make out any details from the ground level, but from the size of some of them, I assumed many were hotels.

  Perhaps more interestingly, I could also see a series of gigantic glowing crystals visible on the underside of it. A maze of maintenance tunnels and precarious paths could be seen connecting
to those crystals. Presumably, those were the power sources that kept it aloft. My mind swam at the cost it had to take to create (or obtain) those crystals and keep them in good repair. Security had to be difficult and expensive, too.

  As I watched (and shared my vision with Dawn), hundreds of people moved through lines to access one of several teleportation pads below the island. Those seemed to be the primary method of reaching the place, but I saw a handful of people flying through the air in order to skip the line.

  I hoped they weren’t competitors. Flying opponents were awful to deal with. I had ways of handling them, but most of them required using more force than I liked to use in tournament matches.

  “C’mon, let’s go get in line!” Reika tugged on my hand, grinning fiercely.

  I followed her, finding her enthusiasm infectious. Even waiting in the line, which typically would have been a boring affair, was punctuated with bursts of excitement as fireworks exploded in the nearby skies and performers put on shows nearby. I briefly held Reika’s place in line (ignoring glowers from the people behind us) while she insisted on tossing a few coins in donations to a group of nearby musicians who didn’t seem to be getting anywhere near the amount of support they deserved for their performance.

  There was chatter all around us, but most of it (and most of the lyrics to songs people were singing nearby) was in Edrian, so I couldn’t pick up a lot of it. I did see a number of other foreigners, mostly with the dark skin indicative of descent from Caelford, but I wasn’t close enough to hear any of their discussions.

  Eventually, we reached the teleportation platform. It was a circular pedestal with a ring of glowing runes around the sides, attended by two workers. One was wearing an Edrian military uniform, the other appeared to be a hired Enchanter.

  “Stand near the middle of the platform, please.” The Enchanter directed us, speaking in Valian. After a total of twelve people were on the platform, the guard stopped directing more people from the line to join us.

  “Stay still. There will be a hint of disorientation when you reach the top. Have an excellent day.”

  There was a brief flash, then we were somewhere else.

  Some of the people around us stumbled a bit, but Reika and I were acclimated enough to teleportation by that point that we handled it just fine.