Into the Dragon's Den (Axe Druid Book 2)

by Christopher Johns

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “What is he doing?”

  “Just has to superheat a couple kinds of metal to make an alloy. Nothing he can’t handle.” I shrugged and continued to play it off. “Just needs specialized tools is all.”

  “I see,” she grunted. “Well, it sounds as though you will need powdered ruby and a lot of it. Follow.”

  She led me to a stall three down from the one we were at. The sign said the name in Dwarven, but the jewels and precious stones on the counter gave me an idea of what was sold here.

  After a respectful exchange with the Dwarf running the stall, I had three medium sized rubies, a large pearl and a frightfully large diamond. The price was two hundred and twenty-five gold pieces for that, and I was loathe to think about how much she was going to gouge my coffers.

  Steeply priced, but the components would last me a while from what Shellica said. “That diamond will last you some time. As you level up and gain a little more experience with them—component quantities used in enchanting lower.”

  “That’s good.” I sighed. “I’d hate to have to spend that much every time I run out.”

  Shellica grinned at me. “That was with my clan’s discount, lad.”

  I groaned loudly, and she cackled at my distress.

  After we had returned to her place and worked on some more of the fundamentals with components and enchanting form, she decided to let me watch her enchant the tools.

  “I will not have a craftsman work on the tools to be used by a legendary smith such as Granda Stone Hammer,” Shellica scolded me when I argued about doing it. “The Dwarf is damned near pushing past grandmaster rank.”

  “Is that possible?” I cocked my head to the side.

  “If anyone can manage to find out, it’s him,” she whispered. “Now, watch me.”

  She began to run her hands over the outside of the bucket, her mana coursing into it and leaving behind complicated trails of thin, scale-like grooves. They made the gray bucket look like a Dragon’s egg. She took the item, laid it on her desk, and pulled out a diamond tool that looked like a kind of mallet, then a small chisel head with a head attached to tap.

  She began to expertly tap in certain places along the first ruby’s surface, and I watched as pieces began to chip and fall off. She took her time and finished that one, then gathered the bits into a solid stone bowl that looked to be made of stone heart. She grabbed a diamond pestle and began grinding the flakes and chips into powder slowly.

  When she was finally satisfied, she shook out her shoulders and began to focus with a single hand on the bucket. Shellica began funneling her mana into the tool before sprinkling a small amount of powdered ruby over it. The item glowed a dull red for a moment—throbbed as if alive—then stopped. The scales all around it had taken on a reddish hue.

  She observed it for a moment, smiled, and set it aside. She did much the same for the other two with the exact same kind of design.

  Once they were properly enchanted, she looked at me and asked, “Can you tell me what enchantments I could have possibly used?”

  I thought for a moment before responding, “The Dragon egg design is something I wouldn’t have expected to use because it seems too cool of an idea for me to get away with. But much like a Dragon egg, I imagine it meant to be protective while allowing heat to transfer and heat whatever is inside the ‘egg’. The gloves and tongs are similar in design only. They are meant only to protect and serve as a barrier against extreme heat.”

  “Very good!” She clapped. “I also gave them a boost in strength—or durability—in cases of long heating.”

  She walked over to her doorway and shouted, “Vilmas!” then left the door standing open to allow a small Dwarven woman in.

  “Yes?” she asked. Her hair was a stark white against her darker skin.

  “You will take these three items directly to Granda at his forge.” Shellica pointed to the items. “Do not say anything other than that you have a delivery for Granda. He will know that you are coming. Go.”

  The Dwarf scurried over and gasped as she took the items.

  “Yes, yes.” Shellica rolled her eyes. “Go.”

  “Yes, m’lady.” Vilmas careened from the room at top speed, and I heard a loud bang and a crash accompanied by an impish, “Sorry!” and Dwarven cursing.

  “She seems like a timid one,” I observed.

  “She is, but she’s a damned good enchanter, almost at grandmaster herself,” Shellica said with a slight smile. “Sending her on these kinds of errands forces her to leave the compound and interact with others. Poor lass doesn’t like leaving her room much.”

  “Ah, and here I thought it was just you being abusive.” I laughed at her flat stare.

  “Message Granda, lad,” she ordered.

  I obeyed with a huge grin, “Granda, it’s Zeke. Vilmas from the Light Hand Clan will be bringing you the tools you need. I hope they are what you need. She’s been ordered to give them only to you.”

  After a slight pause, “Thank ye lad. This will add a few days to yer time here, I’m afraid. My apologies.”

  I sent him another Mental Message, “That’s fine. You take your time, and I’m sure the wait will be worth it.” I thought about the time we would already be spending here and gulped, swiftly adding, “Just, uh, don’t take too long?”

  “Aye, I be hopin’, lad,” he responded, and we left it at that. “Fret no’.”

  “Now, you will begin enchanting more items today,” Shellica informed me. “Begin with these.”

  I turned and saw that there were more than forty-five rings on the workbench that hadn’t been there before. I groaned, and Shellica cackled wildly.

  “Think of this as payment for my services just now.” She then cackled even more. “Those ones you used before? Shite. These? These ones we keep.”

  “Gods, I hate you,” I snarled.

  “I love you too, lad,” she informed me sweetly, “but you’re not my type. Now, get to work!”

  I took a few deep breaths to assist my resistance to the strangle Shellica effect and then got to work. Her snappy orders on which enchantments to use and which components to add came before each new item was even touched. Her remarks and corrections saw me through the morning, but she didn’t toss one ring into the furnace, so there was that.

  Odd as it was, I would think she wouldn’t throw them away because she wanted to be paid for her services. That, or she didn’t mind me slaving away for her. The evil witch.

  I felt her hand cross the back of my head and focused on my work.

  That much enchanting of a high level did increase my level in enchanting by another two though, putting my enchanting to level 33.

  “Why did I just level up with all of that?” I asked Shellica during a break. “Normally, it takes longer.”

  “The more complicated the enchantment along with the addition of components allows for more experience to be earned,” Shellica explained, then took a bite of a sandwich someone had brought her. She passed one to me as well, and I tucked in before she went on. “You’ve also been increasing the range of your enchantments. The more you do of one specific kind, the more powerful it may become—certainly—but the less experience you earn, the less you grow as an enchanter. That’s why you had such a leap in levels after adding the component to your enchantment.”

  That made sense. “So, the broader my spectrum of enchantments and component use—the more potential growth I could experience?”

  “Put lamely like that?” She shot me a sly grin. “Aye.”

  “You can be a real pain in the ass, you know that?” I shot her the finger.

  “I can be?” she replied, feigning being hurt. “Well, I suppose I can spare a few more hours to heal your wounded ass. There are another twenty items for you to enchant, and these will be far more complicated. Let’s have some fun.”

  I groaned again. “This is also payback and punishment for not bringing me the list of item enchantments your friends want
ed like you were told to!”

  “Fuck!” I facepalmed and then remembered—I know, how often does that actually happen? “We will need to replicate the telepathy earring for Muu. I know that one for certain. I also know that most of the enchantments he’s going to want are going to be for jumping high and far. He may also want his weapons enchanted. I’ll ask them all tonight.”

  “Good lad.” She grabbed a quill, ink bottle, and some sand and began to write what I had said. “Anything else off the top of your head?”

  “Yeah, do you know how to make an astral adaptor?”

  She shook her head. “That’s an art for the High Elves. It takes a highly condensed, specially treated crystal with grandmaster-level enchanting techniques that I cannot even hope to know as they are so heavily guarded. I’m sorry, lad.”

  The look on her face was resigned, but she also looked ashamed.

  “Hey, don’t worry about it,” I said. “Yohsuke will be alright, and I’m sure there are things you can do that those asshats could never even dream of.”

  “You’re a sweet lad, Zekiel,” she walked over closer to put a hand on my furred cheek, “but you won’t get out of this. Enchant—now.” She patted my face and pointed to a pair of gloves.

  “Well forgive the hell out of me for trying to be kind. Old biddy.”

  We worked until I finished these items. I didn’t screw any of them up “too terribly” as my disgruntled taskmaster had put it. No levels gained from it, but I couldn’t be too greedy, could I? But I felt I should be closer to it. Unfortunately, there was no way to really know until it happened.

  I went to each of my friends and asked them what they would like as an enchanted item. I started with Yohsuke, who was up to his elbows in pork, pulling the tender rump apart for dinner later.

  “Well, since she can’t make me a weapon—how about a bracelet with a shield?” He shrugged. “I’m not strong enough to make a physical one worthwhile, but if she can make me one that will just activate in a certain direction for a small amount of time or until I drop it, that would be cool. And thank her for me, for at least letting me know where I have to go for a new adaptor.”

  “Yeah, brother. No problem,” I said as I wrote the item description down. “With my added weapon, Granda is gonna be a few more days, but it should be worth it.”

  “Right on, shitty, but I guess it would be better to be prepared.” He smiled and added some spices to a bowl over the fire in the hearth. “Hey, sorry for bailing so fast on you the other night after your sparring match with James. I had to get back to the kitchens to work on dinner.”

  “I understand, man.” I patted his shoulder. “No worries. How you holding up?”

  “Great, man.” He grinned as he clapped his hands and began to knead a loaf of bread. “Leveled up my cooking a bit before you came in. Level 35.”

  “Nice! What can you do now?” I wondered. The scent coming from the food around me set my stomach to growling.

  “Well, food cooks slightly faster, and I get prompts telling me if food is bad or ripe.” He picked up a vegetable. “See this? This shit is bad, but I can cut the bad part out and use the rest. Makes it a little more economical to actually make food. Also, I’m a lot better with spices. The umami of this stew is gonna be out of control, man.”

  “Yoh, what?” I couldn’t hide the confusion. “Umami? You for real?”

  “Hell yeah.” He tossed his head at me and acted like he was going to lunge at me with a smile. “We gettin’ technical up in this bitch. Bitch! By the way, that’s the savory or meaty taste sensation produced by amino acids and shit. Not real shit, though. I don’t cook with that.”

  “That’s wild, man. I had no idea.”

  “Shut up, puto. I know it.” He grinned at me and picked up a large knife. “Now get out and let me focus before I cut you.”

  I laughed as I fled the room and let him do his thing. He seemed to be more serious about cooking than I had ever seen, though there was that one time he made some breakfast burritos that time I went to visit him a few states away. That shit had put us both into a food coma. So good.

  Then again, he was a sibling. How many times had I made my little sister food, and she had enjoyed it. Never. Haha, she was a picky eater at times, but he had siblings of all ranges and liked to cook, so I took it that he had grown his love of cooking when he was younger.

  As I was walking outside, I saw James in the training grounds with Jaken. The two of them were discussing something as I walked over to them.

  “Hey guys, what up?” I asked.

  “We were just talking about the enchantments we want.” Jaken held his fist out for me to bump as a greeting. “James was also filling me in on some of the stuff he’s been trying to learn.”

  “So, I’ve been trying to do some research–” James began, but I stopped him.

  “You?” I asked incredulously. “Stop the fucking presses! Holy shit! You?”

  “You want me to beat your ass again?” James raised his eyebrows.

  I closed my mouth. “Nope. Continue.”

  “Researching legends on Dragons,” James continued as he shot me a glare. I made a fake whistling gesture with my lips and looked around. “Now, unsurprisingly, books aren’t all that popular here, but I found a couple on smithing with Dragon scales and Dragon parts. It also gave locations where we might find different kinds of Dragons too. If we’re going to the south, into the jungles, that’s where we are most likely going to find some green Dragons. The black Dragons are a little harder to nail down. There hasn’t been a recorded sighting of one for more than three centuries according to the Dwarves’ historian. And she said that it was last seen in the east somewhere by the dead lands.”

  “Yo, dead lands?” Jaken whispered to me excitedly. “You know what that means, bro? Undead. My time to truly shine.”

  “Good man.” I patted James affectionately despite the near-dirty look he threw my way. “Good shit. What were you guys thinking enchantment wise for your shit?” I scratched my chin. “Also, hasn’t it been a little weird that we’ve been everywhere lately and haven’t run into so much as a minion of War?”

  “I would like my new sword to have an enchantment that will make it weigh less, be sharper, and more durable,” Jaken said. “It doesn’t have to move on its own like my other one. This one is for when I let that one play on its own. And yeah, it has been, but you can’t expect them to be too close together, right?”

  I looked over to James, and he shrugged. “I don’t know what I’m going to get yet. It’ll be a few more days, like Granda told you for your weapon. Jaken told me. So, when I know, I’ll let you know.” He thumped his book. “I can also check and see if there’s any kind of rumors here among the tunnel patrols that might suggest there being minions underground. See if they found anything strange.”

  “Okay, so to be decided.” I wrote that down. “Y’all know where Bokaj or Muu are?”

  “Muu went to go do his crafting training,” James informed me.

  “And Bokaj went to go buy some better tools, as well as light metal strings for his instrument,” Jaken said. “He said he would be back soon.”

  “Who said they would be back soon?” Bokaj said from behind me, making me damned near shit myself.

  Tmont purred loudly at the sight of me and butted her head against my knuckles. “Hey, T. Why didn’t you warn me he was there?”

  She just looked at me steadily and walked away.

  “What’s up?” Bokaj asked his visage grim.

  “Well, my weapon is going to set us back a few more days, and I was going to see what you wanted to have enchanted while we wait.” I took out my quill and got ready.

  “I mean, there’s really nothing I need that can be done here.” He half shrugged. “They can’t make me a bow, and I’m almost done with my guitar. Maybe some rings or something? A helm. I don’t fucking know. I’m almost done with my instrument.”

  “What if that gets enchanted?” James put fo
rth.

  “What?” Bokaj looked confused.

  “Yeah, what she said,” I looked at the Dragon Elf, and he just grinned and motioned to all around us.

  “This is a fucking fantasy-type world, man.” He threw his hands up. “Why the fuck not have an enchanted guitar?”

  I looked over in time to see Bokaj smile. “Yeah, okay. We can do that. I’ll finish it tonight and leave it in my room for you to get enchanted.”

  “Okay then.” I wrote down enchanted guitar. “Where the fuck are you going?”

  “I’m going out with a patrol to do something, man.” Bokaj shook his head. “I can’t sit here and just fucking train and do nothing—Balmur is still in the Hells. I’ll be back. The patrols don’t last more than a day or two.” He looked at the others. “I know you guys care. I know that you worry, but I’m losing my fucking mind here, man. I’ll be back, and if I’m close, I’ll let you know via earring. Later.”

  He stalked off into the compound and left us there in silence for a moment before I sighed. He was right to be upset, and he was allowed to do what he wanted. But fuck, man.

  “Off to find Muu, then.” I nodded to the others. “Be back in a bit.”

  “Later!” Jaken waved. James just nodded toward me back and walked off as well.

  I made my way down the now-familiar route to the traders’ alley in the city and walked until I found the stall I was looking for. The same little Dwarf was outside minding the stall, putting things up for the day as I walked over. He froze when he saw me.

  “Do you remember me?” I asked softly. He nodded. “I’m here to see my friend, Muu. Can I come in?”

  He looked around to make sure no one was watching, then spoke to me as he walked over. “Are ye a real fox, mister?”

  “I am.” I knelt down beside him. He seemed like a good kid.

  “Yer tails be real?” he asked in wonder, to which I nodded. “Could I see ‘em?”

  I shifted slightly where I knelt and showed him my three tails as they wagged back and forth slowly. He watched, fascinated.