Medival Au, cause i am nothing if not predictable in what i like to write about. dont expect these updates as quickly as MM. im still working out the plot.
Trees, fields, and more, big surprise, more fields. Sometimes she spotted the occasional wild animal scampering through the grass, though that was the most interesting thing she’d seen so far.
”Are we there yet?” Luz asked for the third time in an hour as she and Eda trudged along the dirt road they had been following for two days as it wound through the fields and forests of the countryside.
“Do you see the city?” Eda asked as she glanced at her apprentice out of the corner of her eye.
“No…”
“Then we’re not there yet!” Eda threw up her arms. “Kid, relax, we’ll get there when we get there, I know you’re tired, I’m tired, hell, King is tired.” She gestured to the demonic dire wolf trotting along beside them, tongue lolling out of his mouth. His black fur shined in the sun but was near blinding against the white fur on the top of his head that created a distinct skull-like pattern across the top of his face.
“Poor baby…,” Luz cooed as she reached out and scratched the space between his horns, making his tail wag.
“He’ll live….” Eda rolled her eyes. “but you might not if you ask me if ‘we’re there yet’ one more time,” she grumbled, adjusting the light plate armor on her shoulders. It was the height of summer and as used to traveling in the stuff as she was, she was still baking under the sweltering midday sun.
Luz just pouted as they walked along. The leather of her boots was rubbing raw spots on the soles of her feet with each mile they walked.
Two days ago Eda had shaken her awake from where she and King had been lying curled up in a pile of hay. The seventeen-year-old had been half asleep and had missed most of what the older woman had been saying to her, just trying to keep her eyes open as Eda rambled on and shoved their meager belongings into an old rucksack.
What she managed to glean from the rapid-paced, one-sided conversation was something about a job, money, and leaving town, which did catch her attention.
They had been to a lot of towns over the years she had been training under Eda, and some were definitely better than others in terms of how the locals treated humans, but the one they had been staying in for the last year was probably the worst of them all. It got to the point that when Eda went to meet potential clients for jobs, Luz had to stay behind because they would take one look at Luz trailing behind her and decide that no matter the older woman’s reputation with a blade, they didn’t want the human girl around.
They’d see her rounded ears and sneer, glaring down their noses at her. Surely any self-respecting witch or sell-sword worth her salt wouldn’t be letting a human follow her around. Eda would say something snarky that almost always resulted in a near brawl and Luz would stick her tongue out at them as Eda stomped away, grumbling colorful words under her breath.
Eda was on her side, but it eventually boiled down to being able to eat and Luz decided it was best to just stay behind, even though it meant she wouldn’t get much in the way of training in swordsmanship or the combat magic that went along with it, not that she could actually do the same kind of combat magic that was natural to Witch’s anyway, being human.
As Eda had once explained it to her, witches had an extra organ, a bile sac, she wasn't entirely sure that's what it was actually called, she learned a long time ago that Eda had a tendency to make things up if she didn't know the answer. Supposedly it was an extra organ that allowed witches to absorb the natural magical energy of their world and use it to add powerful effects to items, especially weapons. Those that did were witch knights, the strongest and some of the most respected members of society, and Luz wanted so badly to be one, to prove that she was worth something, human or not, but without a bile sac, she was lacking the magical aspect, which left her at a distinct disadvantage. Heck, she didn’t even have a real sword, so she couldn’t even do the most basic jobs to help Eda feed the three of them, King alone ate like a horse, with Luz trailing behind him. She was a growing girl after all! Eda always said she’d get one when she thought she was ready, not before.
She’d usually just use the dull-practice blade Eda had given her to work on her stances and strikes, beating the living tar out of whatever trees she happened to come across in the woods while she waited for her to come back with King trailing along behind her.
To say she was glad to be out of that town though was an understatement, even if Eda still hadn’t told her where they were going, and as glad as she was to have left the dreary little town of Beldville, she was so tired of walking!
She pulled at the collar of her violet-colored tunic, sweat was making it stick to her clammy skin, but she knew better than to say anything, they were both hot and tired.
They continued the silent trudge beneath the sun, which thankfully was slowly, but surely sinking closer and closer toward the horizon, though it didn’t lessen the heat any. Eventually, the sun had moved to dip just below the horizon, nearly blinding her with its bright orange rays, as it sank and dark blues were starting to rise up over the horizon line in response to the waning light.
Luz shielded her eyes with a hand and glanced into the distance. The dark smudge in the distance was slowly growing into the silhouettes of buildings and she grinned.
“Is that it?” she pointed excitedly toward the end of the road.
"Nope," Eda said, popping the 'p'.
"Whadda ya mean 'nope'?" Luz whined. "That's a town!"
"It's a town, and we're going to spend the night there, but that's not where we're going," she informed her and Luz groaned, shoulder slumping.
"Where ARE we going?" she huffed.
"Patience, apprentice." Eda wagged a finger and grinned at her, making Luz grumble.
Eda always said that when she didn’t feel like explaining herself, which was often.
It was a small town, and although it was nearly dark there were still a number of people milling about the streets.
A few people glanced at her and Luz frowned, pulling up her hood to cover her distinctly rounded ears from view. There was no need to draw any unneeded trouble when they were only going to stay one night.
Eda noticed the motion but said nothing as she dug through a pouch on her belt.
"Here, Kid." She held her hand out to Luz, who held up her upturned palm as Eda dropped a handful of coins into it. "Go get yourself something to eat and I'll meet you back here at this inn." she hooked the thumb over her shoulder to the worn building behind her.
Luz broke out into a wide smile at the silver coins in her hand.
“Thanks, Eda!” She turned and dashed off down the road with King hot on her heels. Eda just smiled as she watched her disappear around the corner.
Luz trotted down the street, she didn’t know this place, but she knew most towns had pretty similar layouts and the market was always at the center of town, and sure enough, she soon found herself walking through the market with King at her side, most people gave the cloaked girl and the demonic creature a wide breadth, understandably. Usually, creatures like King were wild, bloodthirsty monsters that would just as soon rip off your arm, and she’d seen him do it the last time she’d been attacked by a villager with a human problem.
Luz had never feared him, he’s always just been Eda’s silent companion and her big baby ever since she’d started traveling with the gray-maned sell-sword.
She reached over and scratched that certain spot behind his right ear that made him let out a low growl that almost sounded like a happy hum to her.
“Hungry buddy?” she asked, smiling as they walked and he snorted.
There were days Luz was almost sure he understood every word she said. There was just a certain, almost intelligent look in his rusty, red-colored eyes when he looked at her.
“Let’s get some food then!”
She glanced around at the different shops and a few stalls before her eyes fell on a storefront and lit up.
‘Tomes and manuscripts’
“Book shop!” Luz whispered excitedly to herself and made a beeline for it. “Wait here, King.” She turned to the beast, who snorted and plopped himself onto the ground outside the shop. She pushed the door open and grinned as the smell of ink and old parchment filled her nose.
Luz loved books, though she rarely had access to them. Having to carry everything you owned with you at all times meant that you just couldn’t have some things, and books were heavy and took up space that could be put to better use, for food or supplies, that’s what Eda said anyway. Luz would reluctantly admit she was right, but she didn’t have to like it!
“Welcome!” a voice called from her left. She looked over at the old witch peering at her over his spectacles at her. “Can I help you find anything?”
“Uh, thank you, just looking.” she waved a hand.
He nodded and she walked down the many shelves packed with worn leather-bound tomes, grinning to herself as she ran her fingers over their spines, feeling the smooth, cool bindings beneath her fingertips. So many stories, knowledge, and wild adventures aplenty crammed between two hard leather covers. Luz adored books, a lifelong love affair lit aflame by her mother, who had taught her to read and write at a young age. Something uncommon among the lower classes of witches and unheard of for humans in the Empire of the Boiling Isles, who were the lowest class citizens of them all, but her mother hadn’t been from the Isles. She’d always told Luz about a beautiful place across the sea, with fine grain, white sand beaches, and tall trees very unlike the ones here, that dipped and swayed with the wind, their leaves long and few, but still perfect for blocking out the strong rays of sunlight on a clear day.
Luz sometimes wondered what it might actually be like to see it with her own eyes, she doubted she ever would, her mother had always told her it was far away and she’d left to escape a war, bringing only her native tongue and a sack of food.
Luz hummed to herself as she continued browsing up and down the dimly lit rows of books with rapt interest. She turned a corner and glimpsed a small table covered in old, worn books, and felt drawn to them.
They were all hefty tomes and she flipped through the first few on the stack, nothing of any real interest, some play scripts, and something about treaties on the great war. She set them aside and picked up the last one in the stack. It had a dark brown cover with gold inlay around the corners and spine. It’s worn leather bindings were pockmarked with scratches and divots, some worse than others. She flipped it open and found some of the pages were yellowed and crinkled in places as though they had gotten wet and been left out in the sun to dry at some point.
The pages were full of runic writing that she couldn’t even begin to guess at, but as she flipped through the pages she stopped on one with a drawing, a perfect circle with several lines that made up some kind of symbol.
There was very little text in the book that she understood but one set of runes did stand out, the symbols meaning ‘light’. She’d learned them years ago when her mother had told her that her name meant light.
She ran a finger over the crisp, inked lines of the glyph.
They glowed.
“Augh!” she nearly tossed the book across the room, it clattered across the floor with a heavy thump and she grimaced as it landed on the wooden floor. She held her arms up in defense, but the book only continued to lie there.
After a moment quickly scooped it up and gazed at its gold bindings before she flipped it back open to the page with the illustration. She hesitated a moment, hand hovering over the illustration before pressing her fingers over it, skin running across the rough parchment beneath.
The lines began to give off a pale light as she traced them, till eventually, the entire thing was awash in soft glimmering light.
Luz stared at the glowing drawing with open awe and wonder.
“Magic…,” she breathed.
She’d done magic, she wasn’t sure what kind or even what it was supposed to do, but for the first time in her life, magic!"
She needed to look through this, all of it.
"I'll be closing shop in a few minutes!" The shop keeps voice carried out through the store making Luz jerk.
A few minutes wasn't nearly enough time!
Her mind raced with thoughts before finally deciding as she slapped the book closed and hurried to the front counter where the shopkeep was still standing.
“How many snails for this book?” she set it on the counter and he eyed it for a moment.
"This? Bah, ten snails, it has little value to any witch, merely theories on old magic.
"I'll take it!" She slapped half the money Eda had given her on the counter.
Only King would be eating tonight it seemed, but the chance at magic? Worth a hungry night.
He nodded and accepted the coins as he pushed the book back toward her, but as he did, got a glimpse under her hood and spotted her rounded ears.
Luz knew what happened the second it happened. His brows crinkled between his eyes and his once, disarming smile, curled into a sneer.
"A human, in my shop!?"
Luz snatched the book off the counter and bolted for the door.
"No take backs!" she squealed as she burst out the door, making King jump up as she did.
She dashed back the way they had come, the black beast loping along behind her with an excited, rumbling bark.
It didn't take long for them to get out of sight, turning the corner and ducking into an alley.
She pressed her back to the wall, clutching the book to her chest, and waited until it finally seemed like she wasn't being chased; she peeked her head out and found the street clear.
She turned back to look at the worn leather-bound book in her hands and grinned.
She couldn't wait to look at it better later.
King whined at her side, scratching at her with his paw.
"Ah, right, right. Let's get you some food, buddy." She smiled at him and snuck toward the other end of the market, spending the rest of the money Eda had given her to buy meat for the beast, who wolfed it down in record time, practically swallowing it whole before they made their way back to the Inn.
"Get some grub?" Eda asked from her place sitting in one of the beds when they walked into their rented room. King immediately trotting over to the empty bed and jumping up on it and curling up into a massive black ball of fur.
"Fed King, yea." She nodded, pulling off her cloak and kicking off her boots before she climbed into bed, shoving King over.
He growled at her but she just shoved harder till there was space for her to lay. He snorted in response but never lifted his head as she laid next to him, book in hand.
“What about you?” Eda narrowed her amber eyes at her, noticing how she only mentioned king. “And where’d you get the book?”
“Uh…” Luz stalled and Eda sighed.
You bought the book instead of eating, didn’t you?” It wasn’t really a question.
“Yeah…,” Luz mumbled and Eda sighed.
"Well, what was so much more important than eating? If it's another flowery love story, kid, I swear…," she trailed off, rolling her eyes.
"It's not!" she insisted. "It's a book about magic!" She flipped it open and opened to the diagram and ran her hands over it, creating the same glow as it had in the bookshop, which made Eda sit up.
"Well, look at that…" she tilted her head. "What's it do?" She looked back up at Luz.
"I'm… not sure yet…" She shrugged. “I need more time to read it." Eda hummed, looking at the glowing glyph on the paper before shrugging and plopping back down on her bed.
“Whatever kid, just don’t stay up all night looking at it,” she grumbled, rolling over and pulling the blanket up over her head.
“You go it, teach!” Luz promised as she snuggled back against King and flipped through the pages.
She really wished she could read any of the writing around it other than the runes for light. She flipped some more pages and found another diagram, a sketch of a sconce, or something similar with a circle drawn above it and little lines indicating rays of light. She hummed to herself.
She had only the basic knowledge of how Eda did magic. She could just kind of think about what kind of effect she wanted to apply to an object and would press her hand to the blade of her sword and it would glow for a second before taking effect, she’d made her show her enough times to know.
Luz pursed her lips and leaned over to her satchel sitting on the floor by her bed and dug out a piece of charcoal she liked to use to draw when they were on the road or she was waiting around on Eda, ignoring the angry rumbling of her empty stomach. She pulled her training sword out of its sheath and looked at the blunt, reflective weapon for a long minute before carefully drawing out the glyph across the flat of the blade.
she glanced back and forth between the book and her blade, humming to herself when the last line was completed. She hesitated a second before pressing a fingertip to it and the glyph glowed before the bright light spread across the entire length of the blade, lighting the room up.
Luz stared at it in awe, before a bright grin stretched across her face, empty stomach forgotten.
Horribly, terribly, wanted to die, bored. She had resorted to playing with the strands of the black tunic she’s been given to wear that bears the Blight family insignia on its shoulder and watching the occasional person walk by on the dirt road heading into the walls of the city proper. Sometimes she played a little game with herself, trying to spot a certain number of the same bird before someone walked by again. It’s all horribly dull, really.
She has to keep reminding herself, thirty silver a day, plus meals and a place to live.
Though, that last part was more of a negative in some ways.
The guard barracks are full of other witches, including those who have worked for the Blight’s for years, if not generations, and it didn’t take Luz more than two hours that first night to figure out she wasn’t wanted here, King either, by the new guards for hire just like her, or the old guards. They all give her less than friendly looks, and honestly, she’s afraid to go to sleep with all the dirty looks she got. Instead, she grabbed her sack of belongings and the two wandered around the manor grounds a while before she found herself in the stables. There are a few horses and even a couple of griffins and a hippogriff inside. She found an empty stall and plopped herself down into a clean pile of hay, with King curled up at her side, luckily, it’s summer, so she won’t get cold, and there's even a slight breeze she wouldn’t get inside the barracks. Despite that though, and how used to it she is, it still stings a bit; to be so wholly rejected. They don’t know her, but they don’t want to either; knowing she’s human is all they need to know.
After five years of only having King and Eda, as much as she loved them both, she ached for companionship. Friends and maybe something more than that someday, but more than anything she wished to have friends to talk to, who unlike King, could at least talk back, though she’s sure he does his best. They sleep in a scratchy, prickly, but clean, pile of hay in the empty stable stall, curled up together.
It’s two days into her career as a guard for hire for the Blight family, and she’s starting to wonder if maybe it wouldn’t have been better to run deliveries around town or find that lost rooster even.
She rarely sees anyone all day, and she’s yet to see even a hair of Lord or Lady Blight, though from what her fellow front gate guard, Jerbo, tells her, it's better off that way. The Blight’s are apparently quite prominent and wealthy, as well as cold and distant from what they say.
Probably better to avoid the entire Blight family for the duration of her stay if it’s possible.
Which may not be very long if she continued to be bored to death for much longer.
She sighed to herself, leaning heavily on the pike she’d been given for when she attended gate duty and looked around the manor grounds for anything that might catch her interest, and surprisingly, she found something.
“Hey,” She nudged Jerbo in the ribs, waking him from his standing nap.
“Huh, wha-?” He blinked, wiping the drool off his chin as he looked around, half expecting Sir Bump or for them to be under attack.
“Who's that?” she nodded and he looked across the manor grounds toward the pond, surrounded by trees that peeked around from the back of the house. It’s manicured to be quite picturesque with a carved stone bench sitting waterside.
Sitting on the bench beside the water is a familiar-looking woman with almost shoulder-length, bright, mint-colored hair.
“Ooh, that’s Amity Blight,” Jerbo whispered quietly to her. “The youngest of the three Blight children.”
Luz grimaced at that. The noble she had barreled into the other day is her superior… perfect.
“You okay?” Jerbo asked, seeing her dark skin suddenly go pale.
“Yeah, fine!” she yelped, voice pitching with a slight crack. She cleared her throat. “I’m fine, totally fine,” she assured.
“If you say so…” Jerbo nodded but is still giving her a strange look before he turned back to face the road, and started to nod off again soon after.
Luz watched the youngest Blight sibling sit by the pond for at least an hour, hardly moving, she just seemed to be staring forlornly into the water. Luz tilted her head curiously, she looked rather sad, sitting there by herself staring into the pond. Does she not have anything else to do or anywhere to be?
Before she can think about it further Amity happens to look up and they lock eyes. The other woman looks confused, puzzled really, as though trying to remember where she’s seen Luz before and Luz swallowed, hard, as sudden realization sparked across Amity’s face and she scowled as she shot up from the bench, dress swishing angrily as she made her way over.
“Uh-oh…,” Luz mumbled to herself as the noble quickly crossed the manor grounds on a direct collision course with her.
“You!” she all but shouted, pointing a finger at Luz when she’s within arm's reach. Jerbo jerked back awake and is looking between the two of them, unsure what is going on or what to do.
“Uh… Good afternoon to you, Lady Blight…?” Luz tried to be polite and diplomatic in the face of the angry noble.
“What are you doing here!?” she demanded, sneering up at Luz, who stands a good, four or five inches taller than the noble. She’s not exactly sure what she should say, maybe she could just play dumb and pretend she hadn’t knocked her down and torn her dress the other day.
“Guarding the gate…?”
Too dumb, she decided when Amity’s frown only deepened.
It’s Jerbo that comes to her aid.
“Beg your pardon, Lady Blight, but this is the newest guard recruit,” he introduced her.
Luz decides to just swallow the bite she’s taken in this situation.
“Um, right, I’m sorry about the other day, I wasn’t looking where I was going, I’m Luz.” she held out a hand, which Amity looked at disdainfully before turning up her nose and crossing her arms.
“Put that away,” she scoffed. “You got me in trouble with Sir Bump,” she accused, scowling. “And I never get in trouble.
“How did I get you in trouble with Sir Bump?” She blinked at that, she hadn’t even met Bump till after she’d bumped into Amity. Amity scowled at that, that she doesn’t have a clue what she did.
“If you hadn’t run into me Bump wouldn’t have…!” she started, sneering, but stopped short, mouth snapping shut with a click. “I don’t need to explain myself to you, you’re a servant,” she huffed, turning her head away.
Luz bristled at the comment, her grip on the pike tightening. She had to bite her lip to keep from spitting out something that is sure to get her thrown off the manor grounds, and settled for scowling down at her. Amity can tell if the little smirk that pulled at her lips is anything to go by.
Before she can say anything more Bump appeared in the manor doorway and spotted her before he began to make his way over.
“Good afternoon, Lady Blight.” The older witch nodded, arms clasped behind his back as he stopped in front of them.
“Sir Bump,” Amity nodded to the man. “I’m glad you’re here, I was hoping I could go to the archives, to study," she asked, completely ignoring Luz's presence now that the steward is here.
“You may go...,” he started, and Amity broke into a smile, until, “...so long as a guard accompanies you,” he finished and her smile fell.
“Sir, I’m more than capable of…,” she started but Bump held up a hand to stop her.
“Lord Blight’s orders were clear, perhaps I was willing to turn a blind eye for you before, being the more responsible of your siblings, but after the other day, I can not take the risk of you being hurt,” he said with finality and Amity’s shoulders slump.
Bump looked over to Luz, still standing there looking at them.
“Luz, accompany young Lady Blight to the archives in town,”
Luz is still stewing in her anger, but an order is an order and she gives a jerk of a nod, trying not to glare at anyone in particular.
“Ugh, anyone but her…,” Amity grumbled and Bump frowned.
“If this guard does not suffice then perhaps you simply do not need to visit the archives that badly?” he cocked a brow at her, the tone is clear. Luz or nothing.
“She’ll suffice,” Amity nearly grits out, and Bump nodded before turning back toward the manor.
“Very good, be back before supper, Amity,” he said as he walked away.
“Let’s go,” Amity bit out as she stalked past Luz and Jerbo, out of the gates.
Luz scowled at her turned back as Jerbo took her pike.
“Good luck,” he mumbled to her as she followed, grumbling under her breath.
She stayed a few feet behind the noble as they made their way through the city toward the archives, one hand swinging at her side and the other resting on the pommel of her sword as she walked, fingering the intricate details of the wolf head pommel, calming herself. When she got the chance she’d need to talk to Viney about it, maybe pay her some more.
She’d been hoping for a change of scenery, but escorting a spoiled noble through town wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind.
She was still fuming about being called a servant. This was a job she had agreed to take for compensation, not because she had to because she was bound to Blight manner like a serf. She was a knight damnit!
Well, she was working on becoming a knight!
She's still steaming when they arrive at the archives but it quickly evaporates the moment they step inside and the smell of parchment, ink, and leather fills her senses.
Books upon books fill the place, nearly stacked up to the ceiling. Sure, she knew what an archive was, but she’d been so busy frothing over what Amity had said she hadn't really thought about it until this moment.
She wants to read all of them.
She's broken out of her daydreaming as Amity spins on her heel to look at her.
"I don't need an escort, especially not you, so just stay here until I'm done." She didn't even wait for a response before she turned and walked off into the archives. Luz stuck her tongue out at her treating back and once the noblewomen was gone she grinned to herself and darted off into the stacks.
Sure, she's supposed to be working, but Bump said she took her orders from him or a member of the Blight family, and Amity was very clear when she said not to bother her. She’s only doing as she was told, never mind the fact that Bump was above Amity in actuality it seemed.
How quickly books could turn her mood around. She picked through the shelves for a good half hour, some of them are quite interesting, few are fanciful, romantic, adventures, like the tale of ‘Azura, the Good Knight’, which she grabbed, despite the fact she has read it many times, but most are manuscripts, intricate recipes for elixirs or how to enchant certain objects for wards and barriers.
True, a lot of the books are written in runic but a number of them aren't, they're the ones she's really interested in, naturally, and she collects a small stack she plans to borrow from the archives.
She wonders if she can find a book that could teach her to read runes.
She turned a corner and ran straight into someone.
Books clattered against the wooden floor and she squeezed her eyes shut, hoping against all hope that she hasn’t run into Amity, again.
“Ow…”
That isn’t Amity’s voice. Luz opened her eyes and came face to face with a boy, a bit younger than her and he’s darker than her, with closely cropped black hair and wearing a pale blue tunic and black pants.
“I’m sorry!” two voices rang out at the same time and they sat there, looking at each other for a second before both broke into chuckles.
“No, it was my fault,” he said, quickly scrambling to his feet and scooping up her books as he did.
"No, I wasn't paying attention, I seem to be doing that a lot lately…” she scratched the back of her head sheepishly as she accepted the books back from him.
“We’ll just call it an accident.” He grinned, looking up at her, but the moment his gaze landed on her ears, they grew to the size of dinner plates and his mouth hung open in a little ‘O’. “Are you a human?” he asked after a few long, awkward seconds of staring up at Luz with silent amazement.
“Uh… yeah?” Luz isn’t sure how to respond, she’s been asked that question, she doesn’t know how many times, but usually with disdain or disgust, not the open wonder that seems to drip from the boy’s words and especially not the drawn-out gasp that he lets out at her answer.
“Amazing, I've never seen a real, live human before!” He grinned, reaching up and running his hands over his own pointed ears if for no other reason than something to do with his hands to expel all the sudden energy Luz can see pulsing behind his eyes.
“Uh…” She’s not sure what to say, especially if he keeps looking at her like that, which he luckily, seemed to notice.
“Oh, sorry, I’m Augustus Porter.” He stuck out his hand
“Luz Noceda,” She nodded, taking it. “I knew an Augustus once, I just called him Gus.” she shrugged and Augustus gasped before breaking into a grin.
“Human nickname? Yes, call me Gus!” He practically bounced with excitement.
“Sure,” Luz chuckled at the boy, but then had a thought. “You’ve never seen another human?” she cocked her head as he shook his head.
“No, I know there used to be a lot, but it’s been decades since they’ve been around, none of my friends have ever seen one either…,” he explained. Luz frowned at that. What did that mean?
But then Gus tapped a finger to his chin. “I thought you’d have gills,” he admits.
“No… but that would cool!” She grinned and he laughed.
“I noticed your books seem to be from the Magiaology section of the archives, brushing up on your magical theory?” he asked.
“Trying to learn magic actually. Humans don’t have bile sacs, so I can’t absorb the natural magic of the world like you can, but if I wanna be any good as a knight, I need to be able to perform enchantments.”
“Humans don’t have bile sacs? Fascinating,” he mumbled when Luz shook her head. “You want to be a knight? That’s really cool.” Gus grinned.
“Yeah! I’ve been training with Eda Clawthorne for the last five years.” Luz puffed up proudly.
“Eda? Like, the rogue Owl Knight Edalyn Clawthorne?” Gus blinked up at her in amazement.
“Yup!”
“Whoa… does she eat people like they say?” he whispered, leaning in close.
“Uh, no…” She frowned, shaking her head.
“That’s kind of disappointing... but probably for the best… well, if you need help finding any materials let me know, I’m an apprentice archivist, I know this place like the back of my hand!”
“Are there any books for learning to read runes?” she asked and Gus’s face erupted in a grin.
“Of course, this way!” He quickly led her down another aisle of books.
~ ~ ~
Amity is, in a word, annoyed, and has been for two solid days now.
Her parents had been gone for the last four days on business and normally, when they're away the three blight siblings are confined to the manor grounds unless escorted, to keep them ‘safe’ in their parents' words, though mostly to ensure that they do nothing to embarrass them while they’re gone.
As the most responsible and level-headed of her siblings she had managed to get Sir Bump to turn a willfully blind eye to her leaving the manner to go to the market unattended… until some bumbling commoner had barreled straight into her, ripping her dress and scraping her knee.
She tried to sneak by him, but he'd been waiting for her when she returned to Blight Manor, and upon seeing the state she was in, revoked her privilege of leaving the grounds by herself.
Then her siblings have been a pain in her hindquarters the rest of the time, they were bored, and pulling pranks on her was their form of entertainment. That and constantly interrupting her studying, even though there wasn't much left she could study.
She was well-practiced in the art of enchanting and most other fields of magical academics, but what Amity wanted to learn more than anything, was sword play.
Something that couldn't really be learned from a book, and what little could, she already had, which was to say, the names of different maneuvers and footwork patterns, nothing tangible or truly useful.
Then when she couldn't stand the twins for another minute she'd escaped to the pond that was behind the manor, just below her bedroom window.
It was a quiet place, where she could just go and think, be by herself, unbothered.
She wasn't sure how long she had sat there for but then she happened to look up and lock eyes with one of the gate guards.
A familiar-looking young woman with a tell-tale scar, stretching across her left cheek beneath her eye.
The commoner that had run into her and gotten her confined to the manor until her parents returned.
She was standing and moving across the grounds in a beeline for her before she even realized it, taking great pleasure in the nervous look that flickered across the other woman's face. The dressing down she gave her Amity feels is well deserved, and she can see the nerve she's struck after she calls her a commoner in the way the sharp cut of her jaw tightens and she bites her lip to keep herself from saying something they both know she’d regret.
She’s certain she’s gotten her point across to the new guard and decides nothing more needs to be said to her, and when Bump appears she puts her out of her mind.
Until Bump tells her that the only way she's leaving the manor grounds is if she's accompanied but this 'Luz'.
He's not budging and she knows she's not going to win, so she swallows her pride and agrees, but she's not happy about it.
She stewed about having her tag along as they made their way to the archives and tried to forget that the guard was following a few feet behind her.
She doesn't need to have anyone watching over her shoulder. If her parents had just allowed her to take training lessons with Lady Lilith before she left to fight in the war, she wouldn't need anyone following her around like a guard dog.
Her jaw clenched. She’s not helpless and could be even more prepared if they would allow it.
She ditched the guard at the doors before heading for the section of the archives that housed a few volumes about swordplay. She's read most of them, but it never hurts to review.
She's annoyed even more now because she can't find the damn woman, she wasn't at the front of the building where she told me to wait, so now she was wandering around the archives because she can't show back up to Blight Manor without her escort, Bump would have a fit.
"Where is that…," she grumbled to herself but stops as she spots the familiar head of short, dark hair she's looking for, standing in one of the aisles, several books under one arm and another open in her hands that holds all of her attention hostage, brows furrowed between her eyes in intense concentration as she flipped the pages.
That surprised Amity.
Most of the guardsmen that have worked at her family's estate over the years have never been the most scholarly types. More the kind whose every off day is spent near-drowning themselves at Hexside in cheap ale.
Most of them couldn't read anyway, so surprised is definitely the mild way of putting it.
She wasn't aware she'd made any noise, but suddenly she realized Luz was looking up at her. The guards' faces turned sour as they locked eyes.
"What?" Luz didn't mean to ask the question with as much attitude as it came out, technically Amity is her superior and the last thing she wants to do is be dismissed from her position.
Amity is, again, surprised and answers more out of shock than any real desire to answer the snappy question.
"I didn't realize you could read…," it still came out with a haughty air to it though that made Luz's frown deepen.
"I realize I'm a human and a commoner…," she bit out. "but yes, I can read, and write," she grumbled.
"You're human…," Amity mumbled to herself, finally seeing the other woman's ears, lacking a distinct point.
Amity prided herself on her observation skills, among other things, but she'd been so aggravated by the woman in front of her that she had never even noticed her ears until this moment.
"I didn't realize you were human till just now…," she hummed thoughtfully. She'd heard about humans, all witches have, and how they used to be quite prolific on the Isles, but most people can't remember the last time they saw one, till now it seemed.
"You didn't realize…!?" Luz started, looking startled. "Then why have you been such a bitch to me?"
She hadn't meant to say that out loud, honestly, she'd just been so surprised. Usually, her ears are the first thing people notice about her. She had assumed that was why Amity had been so cold and hostile to her, it wasn't like it would be the first time it had happened.
Amity blinked at her in surprise, but that surprise doesn't last long and quickly morphs into a sneer, sharp, gold eyes narrowed and cheeks turning red.
"You… filthy, cretin!" she snapped angrily. "My behavior is because you are a graceless moron who doesn’t watch where she’s going!" she snarled and Luz scowled back, taking a step forward to lean over Amity, who didn't move, just defiantly looked up at her, face set in a sneer.
“I told you I was sorry, it was an accident!” She snapped back.
“Sorry doesn’t get my privileges back from Bump!” she barked.
“All you have is privileges!” Luz growled.
“You don’t know me!” Amity snarled, gritting her teeth and face turning hot with anger.
“I know you’re probably like every other noble I’ve ever known, looking down your nose at me. I’m sorry the world can’t revolve around a spoiled brat like you all the time, so get over it!”
The slapping sound echoed through the aisle along with the clattering of books hitting the floor.
Luz blinked in bewilderment, head now turned to the side and cheek stinging from where Amity’s hand had made contact with her face. It takes her a handful of seconds to realize what had happened.
She scowled as her head whipped back to face Amity, face contorted with anger, and bowed up to full height over the noblewomen.
Amity's scowl vanished in the face of the furious, dark look that had settled on Luz's face as she loomed over her. Fear, cold and hard settled in the pit of her stomach that Luz is about to strike her back as she tensed up, hands balled into fists, but she doesn't.
Luz wanted so badly to strike back, but there were two voices in the back of her head that stilled her hand.
One, is the main character of her favorite novel, Azura, the good knight, whose crux of her character is to never use force against an opponent who can't defend themselves, and who had been Luz's first inspiration to becoming a knight as a child.
The second is Eda's, repeating her dire warning about striking out in anger. A lesson she had learned hard once already and has no interest in repeating.
She took a deep shaky breath, ignoring the stinging pain in her right cheek, and reached down to pick up her books.
Amity can only blink in confusion as Luz said and did nothing in retaliation. It would be easy to do so. As much as she wished she was, Amity is no fighter, and she can tell just by the litany of small scars on Luz's hands, chin, and cheeks that she is, but she doesn't lift a finger against her.
She only collected her books and then turned and walked toward the archives entrance.
Amity doesn't know what else to do but follow, much as she doesn't want to.
They say nothing to each other, don't even so much as look at each other as they walk back through the city toward Blight Manor.
Luz is still seething inside, clutching her books tightly as they walk and trying to calm the uncharacteristic rage churning in her stomach.
She's definitely out of a job after this, but if this is how it was going to be, then that was probably for the best.
Bump is standing out front of the gates talking to Jerbo when they arrive and Luz sighed heavily and silently through her nose.
"Ah, you're back," he greeted Amity who nodded silently. "How were the archives?"
Luz swallowed, waiting for Amity to give Bump a summary of her incompetence and attitude.
But she doesn't
"It was fine," Is all she says. Bump nodded and Amity quickly hurried inside, leaving Luz standing there; confused.
Why didn't she tell Bump about what had happened at the archives?
She has no discernible answer.
"Excellent work, Luz." Bump nodded to her before he turned and followed the youngest member of the family into the manor.
Luz just continued to stare at the closed door in bewilderment.
"You okay?" Jerbo asked, cocking his head at the flabbergasted look on her face as well as the pale red spot on her cheek.
Early the next morning Luz quickly made her way from the inn to the town square with King trotting along at her side, allowing her to make her way through the crowds easily as people moved to get away from the furry, black beast. Luz rolled her eyes at the occasional witch who would practically dive out of the way at the sight of him, she was sure he seemed amused by it though. Her demonic companion just had a way of conveying himself that was easily translatable for Luz and Eda. She finished stuffing the last of her breakfast of bread and cheese into her mouth and tossed King the last scrap of the dried meat as they walked, he caught it, teeth making a loud snapping noise as his jaws closed around it, making a couple of passerby's jump. Without ever actually talking about it, ownership of King had just sort of shifted to Luz, though Eda claimed she’d never owned him, to begin with, he’d just started following her one day. He'd appeared one night, injured and one of his horns freshly snapped off and fell down at her fireside. Eda had tended to him and he’d just never gone away, just like Luz herself. The older knight seemed to have a way of collecting the hurt and hungry.
The sun had only just risen over the city walls, but already the streets were alive with noise and movement. People hocking things on every street corner, yelling to be heard over the crowds, and the other vendors all trying to shout over each other. It was invigorating actually, the liveliness of it all, especially after the dreary little town of Beldville. That and the fact that she didn’t need to walk around with the hood of her cloak pulled up to cover her ears. No one seemed to even look at her twice as she walked around, they had places to be and stuff to do, no time to be needlessly condescending to her it seemed.
She watched the people as they passed, the market was the obvious melting pot of the city, there were beggars lined along the streets, as there were in every city, but there was also common folk, dressed much like her and nobles, easily identifiable by their manner of dress, not fit to work in, and the way they walked around with their noses stuck up in the air.
What Luz didn't see, no matter where she looked, were humans, not that it was very odd. Luz couldn't remember the last time she'd run into a fellow human, maybe not since her mother had died seven years ago. They had lived away from everyone, human and witch, in a little shack on the edge of the woods, in bothered until…
Luz shook her head, casting away the thought, today was the start of a brand new chapter of her life, she wasn't going to dwell on painful memories today.
She straightened and forcefully shoved those memories to the farthest recesses of her mind and with renewed focus made her way to the center of the market, the jovial sounds of the people around her now sound distant and muffled.
The job boards are easy enough to find, three tall, large wooden plaques on stands in the middle of the town square, sitting in front of a large fountain, with various pieces of parchment tacked to them, advertising people's need for labor.
Luz pursed her lips as she looked at all the different jobs, hope falling quickly as she scanned the papers
The job boards are filled with all kinds of tasks, deliveries, or pickups mostly, but a few odds and ends, such as finding someone's lost rooster or foraging for herbs in the woods, none of which interest Luz in the slightest. She was hoping for something a little more exciting, like fighting the cockatrice the other night had been, but the city seems to be rather lacking in beasts running amok at the moment.
She reached up and scratched her new scar with a blunt nail as she thought about that wild adventure. She would be ready next time. She still needed to study her book when she had the time, but later. She focused on the boards.
It’s mostly a lot of the same grunt work or manual labor. She frowned to herself as she looked over the many papers and even a few wanted posters with silver or even gold rewards, but that’s probably a little beyond her experience, wise at this point, that’s going to be a plan 'Z' right now.
She sighed to herself and pulled the slip of parchment out of her pocket, it had a guy's name and the name of a pub Eda had told her was down by the docks. He was supposedly the go-between for the noble families looking to hire and people looking for work.
She really hadn’t wanted to do that, but Eda gave her and King her last meal this morning, from this point on she had to make her own way or go hungry.
She sighed again and squared her shoulders as she turned to make her way down to the docks, it wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but she needed to eat and maybe if she did enough boring grunt work for some nobles she could save up to give herself a cushion so she wouldn’t need to worry about going hungry while looking for other work that was a little more like what she wanted.
‘Hexside’ is already full of patrons drinking the day away when she arrives.
It doesn’t take her long to find the pub in question, it’s sitting right on the water and it looks like every other pub Luz had ever seen in her seventeen years. A large, building with worn, sun-dried wood and drunkards hanging around out front, looking for money to buy more of their liquid diet. She wrinkled her nose at the briny fish smell that filled the air of the docks as they walked up to the doors.
“Wait here, Bud.” She scratched King’s head, leaving him sitting outside as she wedged her way into the dim watering hole and made a beeline for the bar. For being just after sunup the place is already half full and reeks of alcohol and body odor. She would prefer the fishy smell of the docks.
The barkeep gave her a sideways look as she sidled up to the bar, no doubt looking at her ears, she barely resisted rolling her eyes.
“I’m looking for Morton?” she asked him uncertainly and he nodded toward the back, where a skinny guy in dark brown monk robes and a strange conical hat was sitting at a table, a pile of papers in front of him and a mug of mead in one hand.
She pushed her way through the bar toward the little table in the back.
“Morton?” she called and he looked up, tensing, eyes darting around.
“Who wants to know?” He was looking at her cautiously.
“I’m Luz Noceda, I’m looking for work,” she explained.
“Oh, yeah, yeah, you’re Eda’s apprentice, right?” he asked and she nodded. “Yeah, she said you’d be by, I saved a job for ya.” He flipped through the papers and picked one up. “Guard duty for a noble family.”
“Guard duty?” Luz slumped, disappointed as Morton looked back up at her.
“Look, Kid, this is a well paying and relatively easy job, anyone I’ve seen today would kill for this, but I held it back for you as a favor to E, it’s also the only work I have left for the next couple days, so take it or leave it.”
Luz knows that she needs to work, even if it isn’t exactly what she had in mind, it is work and thus, food in her mouth; that motivates her more than anything.
“I’ll take it.” she took the paper being held out to her.
“Good, the noble family are the Blights'. A lot of their usual guards have been sent across the sea to fight in the war, they need to replace the ones that guard their manor, head over there now, that paper will get you in.”
“Thanks,” Luz nodded and turned to go, paper in hand. King jumped up and followed after her as she walked out the door.
“I guess a job is a job if we want to eat, right, Bud?” she looked down at the furry beast that stood as tall as her waist and patted his head.
She had to stop and ask for directions a few times but finally found the large manor on the eastern side of the city, just outside the main walls on a large plot of land and surrounded by a tall, black, wrought iron fence. It was at least three stories and made of smooth almost white stone.
"I guess this is it…," Luz spoke aloud, mostly to herself, but also to King.
A single guard, not much older than her stood outside the gate, looking bored, but he seemed to perk up as Luz approached.
“State your business.”
“I’m here to see… Hieronymus Bump?” Luz glanced at the paper in hand. Was she saying that name right?
The guard took the paper and looked it over before nodding and handing it back.
“Right, follow me.” He jerked his head and led them inside the gate to the manor doors.
“Stay here, King.” She held up a hand and the beast stayed where he was, sitting just outside the gate as she disappeared inside the manor.
“Whoa…,” Luz mumbled to herself as they stepped inside. The reception area is large with smooth polished stone floors and a large staircase that leads up to the second floor before it splits off to the left and right while the sconces that lined the walls glow with fire that she can tell immediately isn't natural, magic of some kind.
The house seemed to be decorated in a dark green and burgundy color scheme. The banners that line the walls feature both colors, with a serpentine creature that could be a dragon or maybe a malformed snake, twisted across the two fields of color and thorny vines wrapped around it.
The rest of the house is just as lavishly decorated as the entryway and she looked around owlishly at everything as the guard led her down the halls before they finally stopped at a door and he knocked.
“Yes?” a deep voice drifted through the door.
“A new recruit, sir.”
“Send them in.”
The guard gestured to the door before walking away as Luz stepped inside, looking around.
It’s a study, the walls are lined with bookshelves, fit too near bursting, and a desk on the other side of the room, from which a man is sitting behind, looking at her with serious, teal eyes.
“We don’t have all day, come in.” He motioned with a hand and she quickly scurried inside, closing the door behind her and moved to stand in front of the desk. The man was elderly and wearing some kind of creature over his head. Luz had to admit, for all the strange things she had seen over the years, that was a new one.
“Your papers?” he held out a wrinkled hand with long pointed nails. Luz handed over the parchment and he scanned it quickly. “You came for one of the guard positions?”
“I did... um, sir.” she nodded and he finally looked at her, really looked at her, and Luz swallowed thickly as his gaze lingered on her ears. Stupid, rounded ears!
“You are?” he questioned.
“Oh, Luz Noceda… sir!”
“I don’t suppose you have any qualifications?” He drummed his fingers impatiently across the polished wood of his desk.
“I’ve spent the last five years training under Eda, the Owl Knight…,” she trailed off. Eda’s name usually garnered one of two reactions, contempt or reluctantly impressed. She was just that kind of person.
The man’s face turned thoughtful for a long moment, stroking his chin with a hand.
“You’re Edalyn’s student, hmm?” His eyes narrowed. “I take that to mean she’s back in town…, just what we need,” he grumbled tiredly. “Very well, hopefully, you won’t cause half as much mayhem as Edalyn,” he grunted, standing and walking around the desk, hands folded behind his back. “I am Sir Hieronymus Bump, the steward of Blight Manor, I see to most affairs in Lord and Lady Blight’s stead as well as serve as a tutor to their children.” He introduced himself as he came to stand in front of Luz. “You will take your orders from me, or a member of the Blight family, and no one else, understood?”
“Uh, yes sir!” Luz saluted, back going ramrod straight and Bump nodded, pleased.
“Let me outline your duties then, you will stay here, in the guard barracks six days of the week, night and day, to perform guard duty for the manor and family as needed…”
Luz mentally deflated at that, she would need to live here until this job was finished. Maybe this wasn’t the job for her. She was just about to voice as much when Bump continued on.
“Meals will be provided to you and every fortnight you will collect your payment of thirty silver a day from me.”
Luz almost choked on her spit at that. Thirty silver a day? That was… a lot of money, She could put a lot of money away for future adventures and she wouldn’t need to spend any of it on food..
“Understood?” Bump is looking at her with a considering gaze and Luz nodded.
“I understand, sir.”
“Very well, go, collect your things and be back before sundown, I will give you your duties to commence first thing in the morning.” He turned and walked back to his desk at the dismissal.
Luz wasted no time disappearing out the door and back to the front door. King’s ears perked up when she approached, trotting across the yard and through the gate.
“Let’s go, Bud, we gotta tell Eda!” She grinned as they raced back through the city toward the Redstone inn.
She couldn’t believe her luck, sure, it was a far cry from the exciting adventures of slaying monsters or hunting down bandits that she had envisioned, but it was a good place to start, for sure.
Eda isn’t there when they get to the Inn, which she should have expected, she was still out on a job no doubt, but Luz had time, she could wait for her mentor to return before she left.
She gathered up her meager possessions in a sack. Some spare clothes, her new magic book, and a small, wooden box that carried her most cherished possession. She ran her fingers over the smooth wood and smiled sadly to herself before she set it carefully in the bag.
It doesn’t take long before Eda returned, looking haggard from her day doing who even knew what.
Luz immediately launched into her story about the job, sparing no detail. Eda whistled.
“Thirty silver a day? That’s a lot of money to stand around looking like you’re busy. This must be one rich family.” Eda hummed, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
“I’m not going to help you rob them…” Luz frowned, already knowing by the look on Eda’s face what she was thinking.
“You’re no fun,” Eda grumbled, leaning back on the bed, and crossing her arms. “Good job, Kid. You’ll be great.” She grinned.
“Thanks…” she smiled but Eda could see the unsure look on her face and her voice lacked its usual amount of pep.
“What’s the matter?” she cocked her head. Luz shrugged, making a face.
“I guess it just feels real now, we’re not gonna be traveling or staying together anymore, I’m going off on my own… I’m not your apprentice anymore… I’m going to miss you,” she admitted, looking at Eda, eyes glazing over.
“You’re such a sap,” Eda huffed but smiled as she stood from the bed to stand in front of Luz. “No, we won’t. You’re as ready as you’re ever going to be, you just need experience, and you’re not going to get it following me around, but hey, I think I’m gonna stay in town for some time, so as I said, I’ll be around if you need any advice or just miss this lovely face.” She batted her eyes, making Luz snort. Eda slapped a hand atop Luz’s head, even though she was just as tall as her now, a far cry from when they first met five years ago and ruffled her hair. Luz grinned as she did. “But yeah, I’ll miss seeing you every day too, Luz.”
Without warning, Luz threw her arms around the older witch and squeezed, and for once, Eda didn’t complain about the hug, just squeezed her back for a moment before pushing her back to arm's length.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough affection, you got places to be and it isn’t here being emotional all over me,” Eda smirked, planting a hand on her hip.
“Right!” Luz picked her sack up off the bed and tossed it over her shoulder.
“Don’t forget that one.” Eda jerked her thumb at King, laying sprawled out on her bed without a care in the world. Luz nodded and stuck two fingers in her mouth, giving off a high pitched whistle that made King shoot up off the bed and hop to her side. Eda reached out and scratched the spot between his horns.
“You take care of her, furball,” Eda smirked at him.
King seemed to huff in response, but his eyes narrowed pleasurably as she scratched his head.
“Now get outta here, we’ll see each other again before you know it.” She smiled and Luz nodded, smiling back before she turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. She sighed and straightened up as she turned to King.
"Okay Bud, it's you and me against the world, a woman and her demon wolf!"
King let out a deafening bark in response.
"Get out of here already!" Eda's voice called through the door.
Luz laughed to herself as they trotted down the hall and out of the inn.
They decide not to stick around the dark, beast filled, woods after the cockatrice attack and quickly packed up and headed back out on the path toward their destination, it's still pitch black other than the faint light coming from the moon, but Luz's light enchantment lasts the rest of the night until the first rays of dawn begin to streak across the sky, lighting up the seemingly endless stretches of wheat fields. Something Eda silently finds odd. When I spell is cast, how long are powerful it is depended on how much magic the user put into it, but before this moment, Luz had never been able to do any magic no matter how much she tried, so Eda isn't sure how Luz controls it, if at all, and it's just random. She doesn't know what to expect from her apprentice anymore.
Luz was tired, very tired, but she was still riding the remaining high of her very first monster-slaying, retaining just enough energy to keep her eyes open and her feet moving, but only just. It was an effort, but she somehow managed.
She can see the shadows of the city long before they reach it, the sun rising behind it cast long dark shadows across the fields and woods that surround its tall, stone walls.
The closer they get the wider Luz's eyes grow, along with Eda's smirk, as she watched her apprentice out of the corner of her eye.
It was much bigger than any of the other towns they had been to over the years. Its streets’ are paved with cobblestone and packed with people and vendors of all shapes and sizes, selling every kind of good Luz could imagine, and some she couldn't.
She stared in awe at the towering stone buildings all around her as they stopped in the center of the busy market.
“Welcome to the putrid, capital city of The Boiling Isles; Bonesburrough!” Eda held out a hand at everything.
"This is amazing!" Luz bounced excitedly on her toes and she looked around at all the hustle and bustle of the city's inhabitants. Very few people were even giving her, distinctly rounded ears, a second look as they made their way through the crowds, most people moving out of their way as King walked along beside them, looking almost bored at all the people that were quick to jump out of his path. "Are you finally going to tell me why we're here?" Luz looked up her mentor, eyes full of questions.
"Oh, right, I got word that a bunch of prominent and rich noble families need more hands guarding their shipments and things lately since the war seems to be ramping up. It's boring grunt work, but I was told that it pays exceptionally well," Eda explained as they moved through the market.
"Is that where we're going now?" Luz tilted her head questioningly.
"Nope, we're heading for the blacksmiths' first," Eda said, grinning down at her. “It’s time.”
"Time for what?" Luz's eyes narrowed in confusion, making Eda chuckle as she looked down at Luz’s thoughtful expression.
"After what happened last night, I think you're finally ready for your own sword; a real sword." Eda can barely finish the sentence before Luz is making an excited, high-pitched, squealing noise that makes King’s ear pin back flat against his head and Eda wince.
“I finally get my own sword!?” She was practically vibrating with giddy excitement. Eda slapped her hands on her shoulders to still her, the kid was making her tired with all her bouncing. All her exhaustion from last night has vanished in a puff of smoke.
“Yes, Luz. You’re getting your own sword, but you gotta understand that means from this point on you’re gonna have to pull your own weight from here on out, make money and feed yourself, it’s time for you to start the next part of your training; experience. You're going to start taking and completing jobs, you can't buy your own food, you don't eat.” She explained seriously, but still, Luz is beaming from ear to ear at the news and Eda rolled her eyes. They would need to revisit this discussion after Luz had calmed and was actually listening to her. "Come on, Kid." Eda waved a hand, beckoning her apprentice to follow.
They can smell the smithy long before they can see it, though they can see the smoke that billows from the open building even before that. King’s nose wrinkles at the odor.
The forge is billowing red hot flames when they approach and a lone figure in a leather apron, gloves, and plate metal mask is standing over it, running a pole through the fire inside, turning over the blistering hot coals and causing a fresh wave of heat to blast into the air.
"As if it wasn't hot enough around here…," Eda grumbled and wiped at the sweat that had broken out across her brow.
The figure looked up from the flames and shut the heavy metal door on the furnace, sucking some of the heat out of the air. They stepped back and lifted up the metal mask.
A young woman, maybe just a few years older than Luz at the most, is grinning at them, with soot smudged cheeks and dark brown hair tied up in a bun. What immediately catches Luz’s attention is the metal hook pierced through her right earlobe.
“Welcome to Griffin Smithy, what can I do for ya?” she asked, looking between the two of them, her eyes lingered on Luz’s ears for a half a second longer before meeting her eyes,
“Need a sword for the kid,” Eda said, hooking a thumb at Luz who is again, grinning madly with excitement.
‘Well, you came to the right place, come on back and I’ll show ya what we got.” The young woman nodded as she walked into the shop. Luz turned to Eda just in time to catch the bag of jingling silver coins Eda had thrown at her.
“Go on, Luz.” Eda crossed her arms and jerked her head toward the shop. “His majesty and I are going to go get our stay at the Redstone inn figured out, meet us there when you're finished,” she grunted and Luz smiled, nodding as she followed the blacksmith into the shop, tying the bag to her belt.
“Oooh!” Luz’s eyes lit up.
The walls were covered in all manner of weapons, many Luz was familiar with. Swords, maces, pikes and daggers, and some she couldn’t even guess at, like the long wooden shaft with a large circle of metal at the end filled with spikes.
“Neat…,” she hummed to herself as she moved around the room. “Oh!” She spotted something interesting from across the room and trotted over to the wall covered in hanging swords. In front of her was a sword longer than she was tall with a flamberge blade. Her face reflected back at her in the shiny polished metal. She grinned to herself as she wrapped her hands around the hilt and lifted it from its hangers. She grunted, muscles straining at the sudden weight.
She did not expect it to be as heavy as it was and stumbled backward a few steps as the blade tipped back toward her dangerously.
“Shit, shit, shit!” she wobbled precariously, nearly about to drop the blade back on herself, probably cleaving herself in two, before a leather-gloved hand snatched up the blade and gently took it from her hands and hung it back on the wall.
“Maybe something a little smaller?” the young smith chuckled at her and Luz’s face flushed crimson but nodded. “Can I see what you got?” she held out her hands and Luz blinked before realizing she meant her training sword. She pulled it from its sheath and held it out to the other young woman, who hummed as she examined it.
“Training blade, huh?” she handed it back and nodded to herself. “Well if you want something similar, but with more bite, of course, one of these long swords would be good.” she gestured to a few weapons hanging on the wall, the sunlight coming through the shop windows bounced off their polished surfaces in a blinding glare.
Luz hummed, tapping a finger to her chin as she examined the blades before finally pulling one off the wall. Its weight was solid but comfortable in her hands as she gripped the smooth, ebony-colored leather wrapped around the grip. The pommel was a distinctly shaped animal head. A wolf if she’d ever seen one. The silver guard flared out away from the grip in two straight bars, tripped with carefully rounded, curved points; fangs.
She hefted the blade into starting position, elbows raised and blade perpendicular to her face before giving it a few swings and twists, jabbing an imaginary opponent as Eda had taught her. It felt good in her hands, and she tried to remain serious even as excitement was threatening to spill over, but she couldn't keep the grin off her face as she swung it around experimentally before finally lowering back to her waist and running her fingers over the fuller of the blade.
“You know, don’t get many humans around here, even less buying weapons,” the smith finally spoke up after watching Luz’s masterful, and graceful demonstration, a far cry from when she’d nearly dropped the zweihander on herself a few minutes ago.
Luz’s shoulders seemed to hug her neck, as though willing her ears to become invisible. The young blacksmith was quick to notice.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it, just doesn’t happen much… or ever, really. I’m Viney, by the way.” The blacksmith introduced herself with a grin and Luz felt herself relax at the easy smile.
“Luz Noceda,” Luz returned the introduction.
“New in town? I feel like I would have seen you around before,” she asked. Luz knew what she really meant. If they didn’t get many humans around here, she would be a sure standout in town, not something she was looking forward to.
“Yeah, just got in this morning, we’re looking for work,” Luz explained.
“Well, you came to the right place, Bonesburough is the largest port city in the Boiling Isles and as the farthest south, ever since the war started raging just across the sea, there's never a shortage of need for help carrying or protecting cargo around here with the Emperor’s men constantly coming and going, restocking and all that.” Viney crossed her arms and shrugged.
That sounded like good news for her and Eda. Where there's fighting, there's money. Those were her mentor’s words anyway, it sounded boring though.
“Well I was hoping for something along the lines of monster-slaying,” she admitted.
“Monster slaying? No offense, but you don’t exactly fit the description of most monster hunters I’ve known.”
“Because I’m human?” Luz frowned.
“You’re tiny,” Viney said instead and Luz yelped. She was fairly tall, but she was quite lean and lanky, at least it appeared so when she wore her cloak, but after five years of traveling and training with Eda, she was actually all lean and toned muscle, thank you very much.
“I'm just lean!” she shrugged her cloak off her shoulders, letting it hang from her neck, and flexed both arms, making the much bulkier blacksmith laugh, but she was right, the human wasn’t nearly as stick-like as the cloak and baggy tunic had led her to believe.
“I stand corrected, you gotta admit, when you almost dropped that zweihander on yourself it left room for doubt,” she chuckled.
“I just didn’t expect it to be that top-heavy…,” Luz grumbled as Viney grinned. “I got this fighting a cockatrice!” she proudly pointed to the still very new and raw skin that is definitely going to scar when it heals.
“No kiddin’?” Viney gazed at the painful-looking wound. “Well, if you’re looking for jobs slaying malicious creatures, the locals often hire and the job board in the town square usually has some stuff,” Viney informed her and Luz nodded.
“Thanks very much.”
“So, what do you think about the sword?” Viney tilted her head and motioned to the longsword still gripped in one of Luz’s hands.
“It’s perfectly balanced. How much?” Luz tried not to let how eager she was show, she’d learned the hard way how that often led to merchant’s jacking up the price on her; that and just because she was human.
“Normally, with the extra detailing, I’d ask a little more for that one, but I’ll let it go for a hundred-fifty, a welcome to town discount.” The smith grinned at her and Luz perked.
“Deal” she nodded and they made the exchange before Luz made her way out of the door, waving as Viney called at her back.
“Don’t be a stranger!”
Luz walked proudly through the streets of Bonesburough, with her new blade fit snugly in its black and silver sheath, tied at her hip next to her old training blade. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with that yet, but she finally felt like she was making progress. She had finally learned some form of magic and Eda had finally deemed her ready for a real sword.
Now she just needed to meet back up with her mentor.
She glanced around curiously. She had no idea where the inn was.
She sighed to herself, leave it to Eda to leave her alone in a strange new city with no instructions or even a general idea of what direction she should even be going. She really. Needed to learn to ask follow-up questions.
So much of the city looked the same, the general infrastructure anyway. Plain, gray stone walls, and people moving in every direction around her in a symphony of noise; it was disorienting.
She was so busy looking around at everything that she isn’t paying attention when she turns a corner and runs headlong into someone coming out of a shop and sending them both tumbling to the ground.
“Sorry, I’m sorry!” Luz was already apologizing as she scrambled to her feet, she turned to look at whoever she had just bowled over while not paying attention.
A young woman, her pointed ears giving her away as a witch, in a fancy magenta and gold-trimmed dress. She looked to be about her own age, with mint colored hair that hung just above her shoulders in a straight cut, longer sides pulled back in a short tail at the back of her head. Luz blinked, noticing the roots showing at the peak of her forehead, a bright bronzey auburn color. Her face was lean, with the sharp jaw and pointed chin that seem to come standard on most aristocrats.
Everything about her screamed ‘noble’, including the bright gold eyes currently glaring daggers at her from the ground and Luz, blinked at her, wide-eyed, finally realizing she was standing there, staring, like an idiot at a pretty noblewoman she had just barreled into.
"Let me help you." She held her hand out.
“Watch where you’re going, you half-wit!” she snarled, slapping Luz’s extended hand away and hauling herself to her feet.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Luz grimaced as the other woman scowled at her.
“Obviously,” she bit out, dusting herself off and noticing the long rip in the skirt and to Luz, it looked like someone had just told her something terrible by the way her face shifted to dread before quickly switching back to anger. “Look what you did!” she snapped, making Luz flinch back.
“I…” Luz isn’t sure what to say or how she can make this better. If anything her hesitation only seems to make the woman in front of her angrier.
“Just get out of my way…” she shouldered past Luz without a second glance and disappeared into the crowd within a few seconds. Luz frowned as she disappeared.
She was off to a great start today it seems.
She glanced up at the shop the other woman had just come out of and it met with an old painted sign.
‘Park’s Herbs & Tonics’
An apothecary? As good a place as any to get directions she supposed.
She pushed open the door and stepped inside and was immediately hit by a strong medicinal smell that quickly made her stomach churn.
“Ugh…,” she groaned to herself. She knows these smells. She’d been injured enough over the years that they immediately conjure a reaction in her.
“Welcome!” a cheery high-pitched voice greets her and her eyes zero in on a woman about her age, shorter, and a little rounder with short dark hair and dark green eyes behind a large pair of spectacles. “Can I help you with something?” she asked.
“Oh, uh, yeah…” Luz walked closer and the other girl’s eyes widened a fraction, but Luz noticed.
“You’re a human…,” she said with a quiet fascination and Luz tensed. “We never get humans in here…,” she stops and Luz expects something else but she says nothing else about it. ‘What can I help you with?” She smiled and Luz relaxed some.
“Oh, I…,” she starts but is cut off.
“Your cheek right?” the bespectacled girl asked, pointing to her left cheek and Luz blinked.
“My cheek?” Luz reached up and winced as her fingers brushed over the raw acid burn from last night. “I guess I could use something for that, yeah.”
“What happened.” The young apothecary asked, walking forward to better look at Luz’s face, adjusting her glasses.
“Cockatrice acid.” she shrugged and the girl’s eyes widened before she cupped her chin in hand, looking thoughtful.
“I have an elixir I’ve been working on, it should scar that right up, but it’s untested… it could have a negative effect. If you want to volunteer, I’ll give it to you for free,” she offered.
“Hmm… free, but could melt my face off…” Luz hummed thoughtfully.
“Nothing quite so drastic… probably,” The other teen laughed.
“Let’s do it.” Luz nodded and the girl brightened.
“I’ll be right back!” she called as she turned and disappeared into the back. While she was gone Luz wanded around the shop looking at the many glass jars and bottles filled with liquids, dried plants, and fermented things of all kinds, some brightly colored and some like mud or swamp water.
She stared into a jar of murky clear liquid and an eyeball stared back at her from the brine. She leaned down to better look at it and blinked. It blinked back, making her jump and stumble backward, nearly knocking over a shelf full of glassware. She grabbed it before anything could go careening to the floor and sighed in relief.
“Here we are!” The girl returned and walked straight up to her, a jar of bright yellow liquid in one hand and a rag in the other.
“Are you ready… Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t even get your name!”
“Luz, Luz Noceda.” she gave a little bow, arm at her waist, and grinning.
“Willow Park,” she returned the greeting. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” Luz shrugged and Willow popped the cork on the bottle and Luz wanted to gag at the smell but she held fast as Willow poured some of the elixir on the rag before she gently pressed it to Luz’s cheek, who hissed painfully as it burned her skin, but only for a moment and then the pain faded into a weird tingling in her skin.
The rag was pulled away and Willow looked at it before a smile broke out across her face.
“Did it work?” Luz questioned.
“Have a look!” Willow smiled and started to gesture to the small mirror she had sitting on the counter but Luz pulled her sword from its sheath, making her jump as she angled it to see herself in the polished blade.
“Hey!” Luz grinned. Her raw, painful wound had scarred over near instantly creating a jagged scar that stretched from just left of her nose and across her cheek beneath her left eye nearly all the way back to her ear.
“Does it make me look dangerous?” She turned to Willow, brows raised in question. The apothecary laughed.
“That’s one word for it.” she nodded.
“Thanks, Willow!” Luz beamed and the shorter girl grinned.
“It’s what we do and why you came.”
“Actually… I was hoping to get directions to the RedStone inn,” Luz chuckled sheepishly. “But this is great too,” she assured.
“Oh! Why didn’t you say so?”
Luz leaves the shop with a healed face and directions for the city’s most popular inn.
It doesn’t take her long to find the inn, nor the room Eda had rented for the three of them. King sat up as soon as she walked into the room, tail thumping loudly on the bed.
“Hey, you’re back, so, what’d you get?” Eda craned her neck around from the bed to try and spy the new sidearm tied to Luz’s waist, which she presented to her mentor with a grin and flourish.
Eda whistled as she inspected the brightly polished blade and expertly molded guard and pommel.
“I take it there's no money left…” Eda frowned, looking up at Luz from her place sitting on the bed.
Luz blinked, confused by that, and pulled the leather sack of coins from her waist.
“There's plenty of money left.” She tossed the bag to Eda who eyed its contents and frowned further.
“Did you steal this?”
“What?!” Luz guffawed, making King’s ear’s perk up and swivel in her direction.
“Look, Kid, I know a good blade when I see one, and this is a four-hundred silver sword, easy, what did you pay for this?”
“One-fifty… Viney said she was giving me a ‘newcomer’ discount…,” she trailed off.
“Who?” Eda blinked.
“The Blacksmith!”
“Oh, the girl…” Eda smirked and Luz frowned at it. “Sounds like you got the ‘blacksmith thought you were good-looking’ discount.” Eda cackled.
“No, she was just nice!” Luz flushed.
“Sure, Kid, I’d never be nice enough to take that much money off a sword…I’m just sayin…” Eda shrugged, laying back on the bed, arms folded behind her head and smirking to herself, eyes closed.
“You’re not nice to most people…,” Luz reminded.
“Ha, got me there!” She peeled one eye open to look at Luz. “Either way, hope you're ready to use it. First thing tomorrow you're gonna head out there and start working if you wanna eat and pay your share of this room that is.”
“Ah, right, I got a tip on some jobs… So… are you done training me… am I on my own?” Luz looked at her frowning as she sat on her bed beside King.
“Essentially…” Eda sat up, face turning serious. “I’ve taught you everything I can technique-wise, outside of magic. You’re going to have to figure that out on your own, but you got that book to help you with that.”
“That’s true.” Luz nodded, fingering the hilt of her sword.
“If this is what you want to do Luz, you need to learn how to work independently, it can be lonely out there at times, so I’m not going anywhere just yet, we just got here and there’s money to be made! When I’m not out working I’ll be around to offer sagely advice, as always.” She grinned and Luz snorted.
Eda gave advice alright, but Luz wasn’t sure she would categorize it as even remotely ‘sagely’.
“So, rest up, Kid. The rest of your life starts tomorrow!” Eda grinned, slapping her back.
“Right!” she flopped back on the bed, with King at her side and her fatigue from that morning came rushing back and before she knew it, she’s out, curled up into a ball with King to keep her warm. Eda rolls her eyes at the two of them but grins all the same.
