Book 2: Chapter 68 (Patreon)

Orrin filled them both in on the walk to Amir’s shop. Madi had to grab Daniel’s arm and haul him down the street.

“Let me go, Madi,” Daniel said as he struggled. Orrin noted his strength was much higher and he could have gotten away easily if he’d tried for real. “I’m going to ask your dad a few questions. I don’t care who he is, he doesn’t get to threaten us. I warned him last time what would happen.”

“Are you an idiot?” Madi let go abruptly, letting Daniel fall. “I’m stopping you because I’m worried for your safety, not his. Besides, Orrin didn’t say my father was threatening one of you. There is a war going on right now if you haven’t noticed. He could be talking about a deserter or a spy. He could be talking about someone who didn’t want to pay their taxes because they found some information about someone of rank that could create a little chaos. Let me talk to him and I’ll find out.”

Daniel dusted off the imaginary dust on the sleeve Madi had grabbed and shook out his coat. “I want to be there when you do. Orrin can tell him what he heard and—”

“Yep. Tell the guy who pays for our food, housing, and equipment that I was sneaking around at night and overheard plans to murder someone. That’ll be great for me,” Orrin said, smiling. Tony had been right. Sharing the burden with his friends made it seem less scary. Or maybe it was being out in the light of day. The sky was blue. The air was crisp. Orrin was on his way to have coffee. Things were going okay.

“What were you doing walking around the house at night, anyway?” Madi poked him in the side.

Orrin blushed and pointed ahead. “We need to hurry or we’ll have to wait in the line forever.”

He ran.

Daniel and Madi shared a look. “He was raiding the kitchen, right?”

Daniel raised his hands in defense. “Don’t look at me. I was asleep.”

After grabbing a few pastries and coffee, the trio made their way back to the house. Amir wasn’t working but his father had given Orrin an extra bagel. “On the roof.”

Orrin could see the man was beaming in pride. He winked at Orrin so many times that Madi asked if he had something in his eye.

“I guess Amir is out healing,” Madi said as they sat down at the kitchen table. “I’m glad someone got the class they want.”

Orrin groaned. “Daniel, you have to stop teaching her how to be passive aggressive. Madi, I promise you that when all this shit,” Orrin waved a finger around in the air above his head, encompassing everything, “stops, I’ll do whatever you want. I think a war on two fronts, dealing with my own new powers, and trying to disrupt an assassination attempt might take priority.”

Daniel decided to speak up, too. “Don’t forget, you’d be level one. You wouldn’t be able to do much when the Horde gets here.”

“I know, I know. Sorry, Orrin. I’m just impatient. I think calling it an assassination attempt might be a little too much, don’t you?”

“What assassination attempt?”

Orrin jumped at Silas’s voice as he wheeled himself into the kitchen.

“Father!” Madi jumped out of her chair and gave the man a hug. He rested one hand on her back. “I’m glad to see you’re taking care of yourself and leaving that dark office. We brought some food home. Would you like anything?”

Silas moved toward the table and appraised the various pastries. The three of them had been using camp rules and tearing small pieces off of each to share and try. Silas took half a bagel that hadn’t been touched yet.

“Thank you. No one is going to answer my question?”

Orrin wanted to activate [Camouflage] and slink out the door. Madi shuffled and opened her mouth but Daniel used his normal charm and tact to start the conversation.

“We heard you’re planning on killing someone and me and Orrin want to make sure it isn’t one of us,” his friend said, crossing his hands over his chest.

“Orrin and I,” Orrin corrected out of habit.

“What?” Madi asked. “I didn’t hear what you said Orrin.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Who am I killing?” Silas glanced around bemused. “Where is this information coming from?”

Daniel and Madi pointedly looked everywhere but at Orrin.

He closed his eyes in frustration at his stupid friends. “I overheard a conversation about killing someone last night. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but here we are.”

Silas stiffened almost imperceptibly but Madi knew her father too well.

“It’s true then?” she asked, crossing her arms to mirror Daniel.

Silas put the bagel half back down and turned his chair around to leave.

“Where are you going?” Madi moved in front of him.

“Madeleine Catanzano, move out of the way, right now,” Silas demanded, using his lord voice. “I will not discuss secrets of state with my daughter and her friends, even if one of them is the [Hero]. There is nothing here that concerns you.”

“Hey, Silas, if it isn’t me or Orrin that you want to kill… that’s all you have to say,” Daniel called out from his chair. “We understand you’re basically at war right now. It’s just… given our history…”

Silas’s shoulders dropped a bit. “There are no plans to remove you or Orrin, no matter how much easier that might make my life at times.”

Madi uncrossed her arms and put them on her father’s hands. “Thank you. We all appreciate your honesty and all the hard work you are doing for everyone. I love you.”

Orrin couldn’t see Silas, as the man’s chair was turned away from him. Madi’s face flashed through several emotions as she watched her father respond. “Please remember that in the future. If you’ll excuse me.”

He left the way he came, not taking any food with him.

“There we go.” Daniel reached across the table and snagged the bagel Silas had abandoned. “No plans to kill us today. That’s a good day in my book.”

“Someone is going to have a bad day though,” Orrin said as he leaned back and felt the pressure lift. “He didn’t deny there’s going to be a hit on someone, did he?”

Daniel shrugged. “We’ve killed people before. I’m sure he’s got his reasons.”

Madi was staring out the doorway still.

“Daniel, I’m taking the day off from training. I’ll be back later.” She left before either of them could say a word.

“Sweet,” Daniel said, putting his feet up on the table. “What should we do today?”

Orrin rolled his eyes. “I’m going to keep practicing. I might try and [Merge] a few skills together later.”

“No fun,” Daniel insulted him and threw a small piece of bread his way. Orrin dodged and let it fall to the floor. “Let’s go exploring. I want to talk with a few blacksmiths about working some runes into Gertrude’s dragon bone parts.”

“That’s cool. Any specific runes you want?”

“Fireball would be cool.”

Orrin stared at his friend. “You didn’t read the rune book Madi got you, did you?”

“Of course, I read the book. It was very long and had lots of words.”

“Fireball is not a rune.”

“It should be.”

“While I agree it should be, it isn’t. The runes on a weapon have to be something to enhance the weapon or the user. You might be able to find someone who could make you catch on fire… actually maybe I should come with you. That might be something I’d pay for.”

Daniel frowned. “You can be a dick sometimes.”

Three shops and three rejections later, Daniel was angry. “What’s the point of having dragon bone if nobody in town will put runes on it for me?”

Orrin watched around them, keeping vigilant. Although Daniel had become a local celebrity, there was always the chance someone could try to attack him. Odrana wasn’t his only enemy.

“You were rude as fuck to that last guy,” Orrin retorted while keeping his eyes peeled. “He knew a few runes that might be cool to have. You didn’t need to insult him.”

Daniel grabbed Gertrude off his back and held it high in the air. “Why would I want a rune to make this girl invisible? I want my enemies to see her cleaving through the air before she strikes them.”

“You could have used that to sneak your weapon into places without using me as a pack mule,” Orrin muttered.

“I heard that.”

“I meant for you to hear it.”

The fourth runecarver merchant inspected Gertrude closely. “I can do up to three runes on this much surface area. Do you have anything in particular in mind?”

The old woman in front of Daniel was holding Gertrude straight out in one hand while stroking the bone portion of the hilt with the other. It was unnerving to Orrin. He struggled to lift the sword unless he’d boosted his strength. This grandma had to be pushing ninety years old and was handling Daniel’s sword like it was a broom.

“We’ve been to a few other places that said they could do five runes on it,” Daniel complained. “What kind of runes do you know?”

“Excuse my friend,” Orrin jumped in quickly. “My name is Orrin and this is Daniel. Is there a reason you would recommend three runes while the others said five would be alright?”

The old woman didn’t change her expression but when she turned to Orrin, it was as if Daniel ceased to exist. “So polite. You can call me Ziv. If you want five runes, I can do five runes. Only three will work at a time and switching the charge between them will degrade the rune and dragon bone. In perhaps a year or two, either the rune will backfire and cease to work or the bone will shatter.”

“Ziv, I’m sorry for earlier. No one told me that,” Daniel tried to apologize but Ziv continued to speak only with Orrin.

“He can be an idiot but he’s a friend,” Orrin jested.

Ziv smiled. “There is a chart of available runes in the back. Let me fetch it for you.”

Daniel leaned over as she shuffled into the back. “I’m considering going back to each of those other scammers and threatening them a little. Total assholes.”

“Just be nice,” Orrin advised as Ziv came back. She put down a list with marks on the side and pointed out a few.

“The more common weapon runes are invisibility, lightweight, torch, or expand. Lightweight might be good for this weapon, as it is a little on the heavy side.”

Orrin gaped… a little on the heavy side?

“I have the [Light Weapon] skill,” Daniel said. “Would that make a difference, ma’am?”

“Don’t call me ma’am. You may call me Ziv. [Light Weapon] and lightweight serve the same purpose, so you don’t need that rune. Hold the weapon and show me how you swing it.”

She directed Daniel toward a training dummy in the corner.

Daniel moved a few steps back to get enough room and swung Gertrude around. He let the sword clink against the wooden figure.

“Like an enemy is attacking you,” Ziv ordered. “Not like you’re out for a walk in town.”

Orrin chuckled.

Daniel’s fists gripped around the hilt of his sword and he dashed forward. His sword swung over and he cleft the dummy in two.

“Better. Do you move fast like that often?”

“Faster still.”

Ziv pointed to two runes. “I would recommend these two. Crooked will let you redirect the sword to hit at a different angle. With your speed, you can feint better against an enemy. It takes only a little mana, so even a melee fighter like yourself should be able to recharge it daily. This one is Return. It works like the skill. Do you have that as well?”

“No Ziv, I do not.”

“A quick learner,” Ziv nodded at Daniel. “Return is costly as I have to link two different runes and you have to purchase more dragon bone. Enough to make a ring will suffice. The rune on the ring can be triggered and the sword will return to your hand. The two runes are twins that want to reunite when the mana is activated.”

Orrin could see why she recommended the two. With Crooked, Daniel could cover some of his amateur sword fighting skills even with [Sword Proficiency] and fight opponents with more experience. Orrin could see a multitude of ways in which Return could be handy.

“How would I use that in combat?” Daniel asked.

Ziv smiled at him and patted his arm gently. “He did warn me that you were an idiot.”