Chapter 20

            Blackscales almost fell onto the cold, wet ground in exhaustion as he hauled Autumn behind him. His eyes were half-closed as he dragged both of their bodies through the seemingly endless forest. It was the middle of the night after he began his journey. Needless to say, he hadn’t intended on travelling for an entire day. He was absolutely clueless about how far he’d gone, but to him it felt like he had gone a thousand leagues. To make matters worse, his exhaustion prevented him from being able to talk to Inferno.

            He could feel the dragon pushing against his mind, but his weariness made him unable to respond in any way. It was reassuring knowing that the dragon knew that he was at least still alive and making his way to the town, but the worry and concern was there, nevertheless. Even worse, Inferno couldn’t go on a search for his rider and Autumn, because their general position was unknown thanks to their inability communicate. Blackscales never forgot to check in on Autumn though.

            Thanks to their close proximity, the rider could at least make an appearance on the outside of the imaginary building that trapped his friend. Over time, however, that too began to disintegrate until he was unsure whether or not Autumn knew he was even there anymore. She must have been worse off than him though, and that urged him on even when he felt like his legs and arms were going to fall off.

            Blackscales felt his head swimming, and nothing seemed to make sense to him anymore. Numerous times he felt his legs give out and both he and Autumn collapsed onto the ground, but he just stood up and continued walking. He almost couldn’t see at all; his vision almost completely blurred until he couldn’t even tell if he was sleeping or awake. All he knew anymore was the constant beating of his heart, and the continuous beat of his feet dragging across the hard ground. Even the cold didn’t bother him anymore; he was far to exhausted to care.

            That was when he thought he saw a flag poking above the trees. No, it was definitely there; a piece of red cloth that whipped around with the wind. At last! He had reached the town, Autumn still held firmly in his arms. And to the right of the trail, well-hidden by trees and brush but not completely out of sight, was the magnificent dragon. Blackscales never thought he’d be so glad to see Inferno.

            “I was wondering what had happened to you,” the dragon said.

            Still feeling exhausted beyond measure, all Blackscales could do was nod. He half dropped, half set Autumn on the ground as he forced himself to stay upright and did what he could to disguise his fatigue, but Inferno could sense it easily, though he seemed awfully tired himself after his long flight.

            “Come,” Inferno said as he picked Autumn up with his front paws and rested all of his weight on his hind legs. “We are both very exhausted. There is a clearing not far from here where we can rest.”

            Once again, all Blackscales could do was nod. With the dragon’s permission, he climbed into the saddle on his back and just waited for the dragon to bring them to the clearing he spoke of. He had flown most of the way, since dragons weren’t really accustomed to walking on two legs, not to mention how tired he was and the fact that he was carrying two people. But, soon enough, they made it to the clearing.

            Without any thought or conscious decision, Blackscales literally slid out of the saddle and crashed against the ground. He ignored the pain that lanced throughout his body as he watched Inferno place Autumn next to him, and spread one of his wings to cover him again. Blackscales hardly even felt the temperature change drastically, as he felt his body just immediately fall into a deep slumber.

~

            Blackscales awoke sometime later, truly feeling the result of his long walk on foot. It had been a dreamless sleep, for which he was thankful, but his throat felt like it was on fire. No doubt he had snored most, if not all, the time that he was asleep. He sat up and stretched, hearing numerous cracking noises and feeling his arms burn from the extensive use. He jumped in surprise when he heard something.

            Inferno was asleep.

            The dragon had very unusually heavy breathing, at least compared to a human’s. His head was inside the fort that he made with his wings, and Blackscales saw grey smoke billow from his nostrils before disappearing into the air. He tried not to think anything prominently, because he didn’t wasn’t to wake the dragon from his slumber.

            He checked in on Autumn briefly, only to feel worse than he already did about her. The barrier felt thicker than before, and he could barely feel Autumn shackled up inside. What he could feel, though, was something that he had felt before, but now it was much stronger and more prominent than before. He recognized it instantly; something buried deep within the walls of the barriers.

            Dongoithu.

            He could feel the dwarf’s presence in Autumn’s conscience; caging and holding her inside while her body and soul was slowly being destroyed. It was almost as if Blackscales heard malicious and malevolent laughter that resounded through the walls. The spiteful desires of the traitor were very evident in the poor woman’s mind.

            Before he allowed himself to be too thoroughly creeped out, Blackscales pulled himself from Autumn’s mind and found himself back in the outside world. In that brief encounter, he had felt the poisonous magic at work. A small part of him hadn’t believed in it until that moment, but he suddenly knew the full extent of the problem. He was still unsure of exactly how long she had, but he knew that it couldn’t be more than a week or two, maybe shorter if there was some trick up Dongoithu’s sleeve.

            Blackscales ignored his worry, and instead just slid out of the dragon-wing fort and into the evening air. He laughed to himself when he looked back at his two remaining friends, though he was still pretty worried about the one tat was hidden in the shelter of Inferno’s wings. Perhaps I should go into town to find weapon? I will b going alone anyway, and Inferno will want to leave as soon as he wakes up, Blackscales thought to himself.

            Since every part of him agreed with the plan and his reasoning, he cautiously took about 20 gold from Inferno’s saddlebags, and set off towards the town. It was easy enough to find it, as he simply had to follow the red flag he had seen the night before. He was confused, however, about how he managed to see it in the dead of night just the night before. Like everything else lately, he ignored his concerns and pressed on towards the town until he found it at last.

            It was a lot like the town of Starling, with a simple wooden wall guarded by no one important. In fact, the town he was at had no one guarding it at all. It was apparent to him that they didn’t get any visitors and at least no one bad, so he assumed they were a friendly village. He pushed the small wooden door open, and the town was fully open to his eyes.

            There wasn’t much activity, probably due to the late hour, and the town was at least twice the size of Blackscales’s home town. Then again, that wasn’t saying much. There were probably 50 homes, if that, and about two dozen shops and stores scattered around the area. His superior eyes soon locked onto something promising; smoke. While it normally wasn’t something someone hoped to see, he thought that it would lead to some sort of forge, and hopefully one where he could get a weapon.

            Blackscales walked towards the smoke, using his eyes and nose to follow the substance. He did his best to avoid unwanted attention by walking along the edge of the town mostly out of sight, and he was relieved when no one seemed to be around. Before long, the building that had smoke pouring from a sort of chimney came into sight, and it was indeed a forge.

            The rider walked towards it casually, and as he drew nearer he felt more unhappy, remembering the blacksmith that was kidnapped mere days ago. He also began to feel full-out depressed about his choice to abandon Omen (and Aval) in order to save Autumn, even though it wasn’t a guarantee that he could save anybody, no matter what choice he made.

            Taking a deep breath, Blackscales braced himself for what he would see as he went around to the other side of the forge to where the door was. Feeling perfectly at home, Blackscales allowed himself inside, but he quickly regretted it.

            “Ah, John, glad you finally made it!” Exclaimed a man who was standing at the opposite side of the room with his back towards the rider.

            Feeling awkward, Blackscales remained silent for several long and uncomfortable moments, until the man turned around and a startled look flashed through his eyes. He put a hand over his chest, showing Blackscales how truly startled he was. As he took his time recovering from surprise, even though it was unknown at the time how he had been so shocked, the rider got a good look at the man and his forge.

            The man seemed very obviously muscular and clean-shaven. He had thick, chocolate-brown hair covering his scalp and Blackscales found himself thinking even more about Omen, since they looked very much alike. In fact, the similarity between the two was extremely weird to the rider, but he ignored it. He didn’t get too see too much of the shop except the forge and a small workbench though.

            “Sorry,” the man said when he had calmed down a bit. “We don’t get too many visitors.”

            Blackscales nodded and his eyes continued exploring the shop for a time.

            “Name’s Bobby. I thought you were my apprentice; people usually don’t let themselves in like that.”

            “My apologies, sir; I come from a village pretty far away, and the blacksmith there just openly welcomes anyone and everyone,” Blackscales said.

            The blacksmith, Bobby, looked him over skeptically before saying, “So you’re a traveler?”

            “Of sorts.”

            “Well what can I do for you?” Bobby asked, resting one of his powerful arms on an anvil.

            Blackscales thought for a convincing half-truth that wouldn’t give away that he was a dragon rider, and gave a good response, “As you probably know; the road is dangerous. I was wondering if you could get me a weapon to defend myself.”

            Bobby let out a strong laugh before turning slightly more serious and explaining, “I have more than enough weapons worthy of the greatest warriors in history, but they don’t come cheap, I assure you.”

            “I’ll bet I have enough,” Blackscales said convincingly.

            Bobby scratched at his chin for a bit before saying, “Well, normally John would handle the prices, but I haven’t seen him for a few days.”

            “Just give me your best guess, I’m afraid I don’t have the time to wait for an apprentice,” Blackscales said irritably.

            Bobby let out a deep breath before saying, “I guess you can take a look at what I’ve got. But obviously you got here somehow without a weapon, maybe you could carry on to the next town.”

            “I was travelling with some friends that had weapons, but we were ambushed in our sleep and they were kidnapped,” Blackscales said all too casually, and he suddenly realized that he revealed quite a bit.

            “Looks like you have quite a problem on your hands,” was all the blacksmith said, though he said it sympathetically, and he didn’t press.

            Blackscales quickly said, “But do you mind if I try them out? I haven’t had much practice with a weapon lately, and I don’t want to spend most of my money on something that I can barely use.”

            Bobby seemed skeptical at first, but simply said, “I don’t see why not; you don’t seem to be a murderer or thief without due cause.”

            Without further ado, the man led the way to a corner of the shop where there was a large black tarp successfully concealing what must have been weapons. Blackscales felt his jaw drop when Bobby pulled the tarp off, and dozens of weapons came into view. He saw the three main weapons that Heyrick had mentioned; axes (battleaxes, pickaxes, and ones for chopping wood) swords, and bows and arrows galore, as well as dozens of other things like daggers, spears, and shields.

            “How do you have so many!?” Blackscales exclaimed, his mouth still wide open in awe.

            Bobby just put his hands on his hips and put a huge grin on his face as he replied, “Many of them are passed down through generations in the hopes that they will be bought one day, but I did make quite a few myself. Feel free to take one and try to use it in the forest, but there is a sort of training ground at the other end of the town, if you want me to accompany you there.”

            The dragon rider looked from the weapons to the blacksmith and back again before asking, “Could I maybe take three things over there and try them one at a time?”

            “If that’s what you prefer, but you have to pay for any dents and scratches. Although, they are made out of a pretty good metal, all of them. Just, let me hang onto one of the weapons you choose…you know; just to be cautious.”

            “Of course!” Blackscales yelped as he raced over to the wall with glee. “Can we bring a battle axe, a sword, and a bow with some arrows?”

            “Pretty wide variety, but if you want to you can; just pick out what you want,” Bobby said, gesturing towards the wall.

            Blackscales strangely like a kid in a candy store as he raced along the broad wall and picked out one of each weapon. At the end of his browsing, he had picked a battle axe, sword, bow, and a dozen arrows, all made from black steel. He suddenly realized that his love for the dark and mysterious color had increased a copious amount since he got his dragon.

            “Are you fond of black?” Bobby asked jokingly.

            Blackscales chuckled a bit, “I guess.”

            Without another word, they left the forge. Blackscales was clueless about where they were going, but he just ran along behind the blacksmith. He had the sturdy black bow slung around his shoulders, as well as the 12 arrows in a sheath in the same position, while he held the black sword firmly in his right hand. Bobby held on to shadowy axe; just a precaution in case Blackscales decided to bolt with the weapons, or even fight, though the rider didn’t intend to do anything like that.

            After a pretty brief walk, at least compared to Blackscales’s previous journey, they arrived at a small area pretty much completely out of sight of the rest of the town. There were probably 30 practice dummies in the general shapes of humans made from wood and straw and wearing flimsy sackcloth tunics with small red targets painted on them. All, or at least most of them, had numerous scratches and tears that gave Blackscales the impression that they were used frequently.

            “Are these used often?” he asked, guessing the answer.

            “I don’t know about life outside this town,” Bobby began as he stepped slightly closer to one of the dummies, “but I do know that we are a town that is frequently attacked. Every five to ten years, some other, larger town attacks and tries to take valuable resources from us, so we need to be prepared. Half the time we are successful, but not always.”

            Blackscales felt a stab of sympathy, but he didn’t really have the time to waste on worrying about the town. He looked at Bobby briefly; partially waiting for him to explain what to do.

            “Well, try shooting some arrows at the target or something. Maybe try to attack it with the sword,” Bobby explained rather impatiently.

            Without a word, the rider put the sword on the ground carefully and took the bow off his shoulders. He reached his right hand backwards until he felt it close around the fletching of a single, coal-black arrow. He knocked it, and aimed at the center of the target in one of the many dummies for only about six seconds before letting it fly. The arrow sliced through the air, almost too quickly for the average human eye to see, until it struck the target in the exact spot that he was aiming for. But what was best about it was the feeling of exhilaration he got from using the bow. He shot several more arrows, all hitting their target and giving him the same sense of amazement and wonder.

            Maybe this is my destined weapon, like Argos’s rider said! He thought to himself, gazing all along the length of the bow and feeling a sense of energy emanating from it almost. Then he thought, Perhaps I should at least try the others. Besides, it would be nice to have a long-range and a short-range weapon.

            A whistling sound pulled him out of his thoughts just before Bobby said, “You’re quite a shot. Will you be taking that then?”

            Blackscales debated it before asking, “How much would this cost me? Like I said before, just give me your best guess.”

            “That’s probably the cheapest, since it takes the least-expensive materials to make,” Bobby said as he scratched at his chin again. “Seven gold. I know it’s a little expensive, but that’s an amazing bow and-”

            “Are you kidding? I thought it’d be far more expensive!” Blackscales said, delighting the blacksmith to no end. “I think I will buy it, but I want to try the others first, just in case.”

            Bobby nodded with a broad grin on his face as Blackscales picked up the sword and set the bow down. The rider stepped closer to the dummy until he was only about two feet away and took the arrows out of it so they wouldn’t get damaged. Then, with as much skill as he could master, he attacked the dummy with the sword. He swung the sharp chunk of metal around without much difficulty at all and ripped at the dummy, shredding pieces of it. While it was hard to tell how well he did with the test, he sensed the exact same feeling with the sword as he did with the bow.

            “How much for this?” Blackscales asked as he inhaled deeply, feeling slightly out of breath.

            “I think that would be the most expensive. Maybe…15 gold?”

            “Perhaps I’ll buy that too, how much for the axe?” Blackscales asked as he handed the sword to Bobby and took the axe, which felt at least twice as heavy, was a two-handed weapon.

            “13 gold.”

            Blackscales approached the target and started attacking it like he was using a sword, but he quickly realized that it wasn’t going to work that way. Instead, he took time to slowly build up power; which would probably make him more vulnerable if he were in an actual fight, but he could easily just decapitate his enemy in one shot. Once again, he felt the exact same sensation of power and might as he did from the other weapons. Plus, all of the weapons would serve him equally well in battle, depending on the job. He reluctantly made up his mind.

            “I’ll take them all.”

            Bobby’s jaw dropped in amazement as he said, “Are you sure? You do realize that the cost of them all put together is 35 gold, don’t you?”

            While the price was staggering, Blackscales saw that all of the weapons were very useful. For instance, with the bow and arrows, he could fight people on the ground while he was flying with Inferno. The sword would be great against nimble and agile foes at a short distance, and the axe would be good for slow enemies nearby. He nodded.

            “Just one question,” Blackscales said as he handed over every coin Bobby asked for, “is there any way you can get me something so I can hang on to the sword and Axe? I might be able to pay a tiny bit extra. Just in case I have to…ride a horse, and can’t hold them or put them down.”

            “Follow me back to the forge,” Bobby said with a monstrous grin on his face. “Since you don’t seem to have a belt, I can give you some rope to tie around your waist which is where you might be able to keep the sword, if you buy a sheath for 30 silver. The axe is a tricky business, since I’ve only ever heard of carrying it on your shoulder. I doubt you can carry everything, so I’ll think of something.”

            “Trust me; I can carry it all,” Blackscales said.

            Bobby looked him over before laughing and shaking his head and saying, “I guess you can try.”

            As soon as he said that, they entered the forge and Blackscales looked around, trying to pinpoint the location of leather or rope, but found none. Bobby just walked over to his work bench, and pulled out a large wooden crate that was at least ten feet long and three feet high. Its immense size probably made the rider miss it, since it looked more like a table. But, sure enough, Bobby opened it up and there were quite a few things made from leather, as well as some rope.

            The blacksmith took out a black sheath, obviously meant for the sword, a brown strip of leather, probably for the axe, and a small length of rope. He handed the objects to Blackscales, who put the sword in the sheath and tied the sheath to his waist with the rope. After that, he was clueless.

            “Here,” Bobby said, noticing his struggling.

            He showed Blackscales how to sort of tie the axe to the small strip of brown leather. Then they took of the bow and sheath of arrows so they could fasten the axe to his back. Bobby briefly took the time to explain how he could take the axe out of its hold quickly, and then put it back in again. Last but not least, they put the archery items back on his back.

            Blackscales’s mind was spinning from all of the information, but he could feel that he was beginning to get a pretty good grasp on the information. Besides, if he was having trouble getting one thing out, he could always use another, like the sword, which he felt he couldn’t forget how to remove even if he tried.

            He took one last look at the box of leather, when he got an idea. For the first time since he came into town, he began thinking about Autumn, Inferno, and himself at the same time. How were they supposed to move? He certainly couldn’t ride on Inferno with an unconscious woman, and they didn’t have any horses for him to ride while Autumn was on inferno. He certainly couldn’t walk with how much time and energy that would take, nor could he make another saddle with what little time they had to spare. I could tie her onto myself with some rope!  He thought.

            Sure it’d be a little weird, but they were practically all alone and it was pretty much the only option. It would also be uncomfortable and a pretty cheap way that might not work for very long, but it was something.

            “Can I have some more rope?” Blackscales asked.

            Bobby nodded and pulled a coil of rope from the box and handed it over before replying, “Yeah, take it for free, and thank you for giving me such good business!”

            Blackscales dipped his head respectfully and said, “I guess I should be heading off now. Maybe we’ll see each other again soon.”

            The blacksmith agreed, “By then, the whole town will be welcoming you with open arms. So long sir!”

            Blackscales smiled at being called ‘sir’. But without any hesitation, he left the forge and the town, and headed back towards his dragon and friend with the near 17 gold he had left in his pocket.