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Chapter 7: Shinning Hill

    Aside from an encounter with a few angry Flaim guards who had no business in Valis, the trip to Shinning Hill had been quite uneventful, to the disappointment of some party members. Bella simply enjoyed the chance to see more of Lodoss and get to know her new friend Midau. Except when he was annoyed by Jereidon. If Niklas found his sword, then she and Midau could go onto the Forest of No Return!

    Before they could find the blacksmith however, they first needed to find a place to stay. They chose to stay at an inn called The Good Artisan, which was quite affordable, and not offended by the presence of a dark elf. With their rooms paid for, the group gathered around a table for a rest before their search.

    “So, how do we go about finding this blacksmith?” Bella asked.

    Lianora sat beside Niklas and leaned close to the young man. She had been becoming quite physical with him over the last few days, always touching him when she spoke to him. However, he didn’t seem to get the hint. She had acted the same way around Jereidon, but she was able to get what she wanted from him quite by accident. Now the poor sorcerer was almost completely ignored by her. “Shinning Hill has many smithies, but most of them are in the north part of town,” she offered. “This city is quite well known for its blacksmiths and steel mines.”

    “Well smiths tend to be ranked,” Midau stated. “See, A good smith sets up in an area where few can bother him while he works. Lesser smiths, hoping to leach business from the greater smith, make their shops more and more accessible until you get a blacksmith trying to sell you a sword shaped like a horseshoe.”

    Jereidon had been silent since the encounter with Lianora. While he wondered what had changed, he never asked about it. Neria sat in her cage under his chair, obviously less than happy about having to reside in the small cage again. “So a good smith prides his space like a good wizard does. I should start looking for any information on my sister while we’re here. Perhaps somebody knows something about her, I would appreciate any help you can offer.” Jereidon hoped that Niklas found his sword, then perhaps the young swordsman could aid him in his quest. He had enjoyed this trip so far, he felt less disconnected from society traveling with a group over traveling alone.

    Midau’s eyes narrowed at Jereidon’s stupid response. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” he growled. Ignorant little shit, isn’t he? The more he opens his mouth the more it seems his foot navigates towards it. He was glad that traveling with Jereidon was almost at its end. Any further traveling with the bumbling knave would provoke Midau to retract his philosophy of ‘life is sacred’ and snuff out the idiot before he could say another idiotic rhetoric. “Smiths don’t pride their space, idiot mage. They prefer a more or less isolated locale so they don’t keep the citizens up when they are hammering throughout the night,” Midau scoffed. “Were you born stupid, or was it the years that dulled your mind and made your foot magnetically attracted to your mouth?”

    Jereidon did not let Midau’s words bother him, in fact he got what Midau meant after he spoke. Instead, he replied to acknowledge his error. Midau was obviously too hotheaded right now to be rational. “I am not stupid nor am I truly ignorant. When it comes to smiths, I do not know much about them. I spent most of my eduction behind books and doing chores. As I travel I learn more about the world outside of what I know. If you would understand that, perhaps you would understand my position more.” He was not going to encourage a conflict, in fact he was trying his hardest to

    avoid one so they could all work together in peace. Nothing bothered him more than discord amongst the group, and Midau was one who seemed to enjoy trying to cause it at his expense.

    Bella groaned and slumped down in her chair as Midau and Jereidon picked up their argument again. Of course, slumping for her left her so low that people could see only the top of her head from over the table. I can’t wait until Midau and I can go our own way alone! she thought.

    Midau growled at the sheer insolence of the boy not even a twentieth of his age. “Perhaps you should have learned proper respect from your teachers, instead of bold faced insolence and ignorant arrogance.” Were he worth the effort he’d be dead already. Midau glared down the smaller man. Any of his companions would be hard pressed to stop Midau if it came down to him reaching out and snapping the neck of the idiot mage, and there was no way that Jereidon could cast a spell if his throat was crushed. Instead, the fleet dark elf struck Jereidon with enough force to shatter his jaw with his armored and nerve damaged hand, sending the mage to the ground. “I dare you to talk back to me again. The next time I will not be so lenient.”

    Jereidon was knocked down as the blow took him by surprise. He felt light headed and dared not even touch or move his jaw. The pain was enough that he kept his eyes closed and tried to breathe as best he could to keep from passing out.

“Hey!” a middle-aged barmaid shouted after Jereidon was hit. “If you’re going to fight, take it outside! We don’t tolerate that kind of behavior in here!”

    “Oh Falis!” Bella cursed, then hopped up to stand on her chair so she could look down at Jereidon from over the table. She grabbed a hold of Midau’s sleeve and tugged it to get his attention. “Midau...perhaps we should just go our separate ways now. Niklas probably won’t need us now,” she suggested, hoping that she and Midau could find somewhere else to stay and just leave this conflict behind for good.

    Midau nodded. Perhaps the young one was right. He lifted Bella onto his shoulder and started off without saying his goodbyes to the rest of the group. “So, how does Moss sound?” Midau asked his small companion. “I bet the Kingdom of Moss is rather pretty this time of year. My daughter lives in Moss, and just north of there is the Glassy Woods and the Mirror Forest.” He smiled at Bella. “We’ll make it more of a journey then to head right to the Forest of No Return. Besides, if I’m going to go to the Forest of No Return...just in case it lives up to its name, I should see my daughter first. Let her know my intentions.”

    Lianora was shocked by the sudden violence, but after the way Midau argued with Jereidon, she knew it was inevitable. Pulling herself away from Niklas, she went to the mage. She swore she heard a snap, and Midau didn’t seem to break anything on his own person. Kneeling beside Jereidon, she reached down to examine his face, gently touching his cheek. His jaw was broken. “Oh my,” she gasped at the damage the dark elf had done. “Hold still Jer,” she said, then took his jaw in her hands.

    “Holy Myrii, lend me your power to heal this unfortunate battle wound,” she prayed. The soothing warmth of holy healing flooded Jereidon’s jaw, blocking the pain as the wound healed. Her healing was successful this time, but his jaw would probably still smart for awhile. “There,” she said, pleased with her work. “It would be a shame to damage such a handsome face, but I hope you have learned not to push your luck with dark elves,” the priestess added with a wink.

    It was healed, but it still hurt. Now that Midau was gone, Jereidon did not seem so tense. That was one dark elf he would not even deal with now, the damage had been done. “Yeah, I realize that now. It’s not wise to cross paths with anybody stronger than you, I should have realized that. Thank you, I should be fine now,” he replied as briefly as possible. He would have to let the bruise heal before he really did much more. Now was the time for moving on, maybe finding some new traveling companions who might aid him in his search.

—-END—-

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