Chapter 37

Cody and Inferno were flying fast over the town in search of Isaac the blacksmith’s shop, passing numerous buildings along the way. They sped through the city at a high speed considering the enclosed space, but it didn’t stop hundreds of people from gazing up at them as they passed. They must have appeared for only a short time for each person, but the admiration emanating from them was great in those seconds.

It wasn’t long before the two of them found and recognized the fields that they had first landed in the day before. After about five minutes the tall hill that was home to the psychic came into view.

            “Land here,” Cody said to Inferno. It would probably be a lot easier to find Isaac on foot, considering a bird’s-eye view wouldn’t be helpful in figuring out which building was which.

            Inferno obediently shifted positions until he was gently gliding downward, and a few feet from the ground he flapped his wings a few times to straighten himself out before landing on his powerful hind legs. He folded his wings firmly against the sides of his body as he lowered his forelegs onto the ground and began to walk forward.

            As they walked, a crowd of people formed around them, all gaping in astonishment as the magnificent dragon and his rider strode through the streets. There were a few children that would run up to Inferno, but were quickly pulled back by their worried mothers and continued to watch from a distance. The attention felt strange to Cody, and he squirmed uncomfortably in the saddle before he remembered that he should keep a calm, powerful air. He sat up straight and looked down at the people as if he was enjoying the attention, though he would have much preferred to be alone in the forest.

            “Could that be it?” Inferno asked, gesturing towards a tall building with a toss of his head and a low growl of curiosity.

            The building was only one level, which you would expect of a forge or blacksmith’s, but it was very wide and long. It also had a large chimney with thick, dark smoke pouring out of it, making Cody surer that it had to be Isaac’s forge and shop. But it was so massive, he couldn’t believe it.

            “It can’t be.”

            But, sure enough, it was. Isaac himself came out the front door and began walking towards them with his lips twitched up ever-so-slightly to show that he was at least moderately happy to see them there.

            “I wasn’t expecting you so soon. I had only just talked to you last night and I had assumed you would spend more time in the city before you came to me,” the blacksmith said.

            “As it turns out, we’re going to have to leave as early as possible so I would really love to hear that you have something for me,” Cody said.

            “Follow me,” Isaac said as he turned to go inside.

            Cody reluctantly left Inferno, but thought to him reassuringly, “I will be back as fast as I can.”

            Inferno nodded, and his rider followed the blacksmith into the shop. Isaac opened the door and held it open for Cody, who stepped inside eagerly. As soon as he made it inside, his vision was overwhelmed with weapons, armor, tools, and all sorts of parts that would go to tools he hadn’t even heard of.

            “Over here,” Isaac said as he walked over to the far wall. All along the wall were various types of armor that Cody couldn’t even begin to name, and next to the wall was a somewhat small table.

            Isaac took two dark grey gloves, seemingly made out of leather, from the table and held them out to Cody, saying, “This is what I managed to create for you.”

            Cody looked the gloves over before reaching forward and grabbing them. He soon realized that they were gauntlet gloves, with sleeves reaching about two-thirds of the way to his elbows. He slid them on carefully over his fingers, pulling the sleeves up his arms until they were as far up as they would go. He felt a slight pressure on his knuckles and looked down. On each glove there was one tiny dragon scale placed on the middle of the glove, with their sharp points aiming out toward the fingers and ending in between the middle and ring finger knuckles.

            “For some reason, I just had the perfect gloves lying around here gathering dust, just your size by the looks of ‘em. About an hour ago I put the scales in,” Isaac stated plainly.

            “Perfect,” Cody said breathlessly.

            The gloves were extremely comfortable and lightweight so his hands and arms would be able to move freely, but they were also tough and durable so that they wouldn’t wear whether he was using his axe, sword, bow, or if he was flying, or any other activity he could think of. Inside they also felt very warm and comfortable; perfect for the upcoming winter.

            Isaac held up his finger and said, almost excitedly, “And, if you will look at the table, I’ve gathered several other pieces of armor that might fit you well.”

            Cody did as he said and turned to the table, causing his eyes to widen in incredulity. Before him was a wide array of armor, much like that on the wall. They seemed to be made out of the same material as the gloves, though some pieces seemed a little different in texture.

“What are these made of?” Cody asked as he slid a helmet over his scruffy black hair.

Isaac thought for a minute before answering, “I don’t know the exact name, but some people call it wolf’s iron. It is incredibly rare, but I had this armor in my family for generations; so long that it must have been made when the material was bountiful. You won’t find armor like it anywhere for hundreds of leagues around.”

            “This armor has lasted that long?” Cody asked in shock.

            “That’s another reason why it’s so valuable. It can last countless decades of abuse without wearing a bit,” Isaac said, trying to see Cody’s eyes under the slightly larger helmet. “Although, I think you should take care in finding the right size.”

            Cody nodded and took the helmet off. Next to where he had found it was another, slightly smaller helmet. He picked it up, slipped it onto his head, and actually enjoyed how comfortably it fit onto his head. It went almost all the way to his shoulders, but still allowed for some room to move his head around. It covered his cheeks perfectly, and had just enough room for his eyes to peer out.

            “How much for the helmet?” Cody asked, suddenly feeling as though he had to have it.

            Isaac looked at it thoughtfully before responding, “I can’t imagine anyone in Morgran would have a better use for it than you, but it is expensive material….Maybe three gold? The other armor should be around the same price.”

            Cody grinned from ear to ear as he put the helmet down for the time being. Then he moved on to look at what else there was. He looked at a breastplate that went all the way from the bottom of the stomach to the collarbone with thick shoulders and arms that would extend down his arm until it almost reached his elbow. Beside it were two thigh and shin and calf guards that could be strapped over his pants with ease. The thigh guards would envelope all of his upper leg, including the knee, while the calf and shin armor would be wrapped around his leg from the end of the knee down to about two inches from the ankle.

            Next to that there were two large boots that were exceptionally tough at the bottom that reached up two or three inches longer than they had to. With Isaac’s permission and help, he put everything on. The breastplate substituted a jacket, which would be very useful in his upcoming winter exploration and also made it unnecessary to have a shirt underneath. The rider tied the leg armor to his legs, not exactly surprisingly, and then replaced his old, worn boots with the armored ones. Lastly he fit the helmet onto his head.

            Isaac held up one finger before vanishing into another room. Before long he returned, wheeling a six foot-tall mirror into the room. Cody gasped in shock as he saw himself. Now he seemed to be a full-on warrior, ready for battle. Not only that, but he seemed a little different from the man he was at his family farm weeks before. He looked a little stronger, and he seemed to have grown a few inches despite the fact that he was supposedly a fully-grown man. He felt Inferno trying to dig into his thoughts, and welcomed him cheerily.

            “You look very battle-ready. And I agree, you have definitely grown, though I didn’t think it unusual or I would have told you,” Inferno said.

            Cody shrugged, “I guess it’s possible, but I had thought that I had stopped growing two years ago. Now, back to the armor.”

            “It’s fantastic,” Inferno assured him excitedly.

            “I guess I’ll take it all, all that fits me anyway,” Cody told Isaac allowed.

            Isaac’s eyes widened in surprise, but he waved his hand and said, “I’m honored to have been able to help. I’d say it totals to about…11 gold and 75 silver…can you afford that?”

            “I do believe I can,” Cody said happily. “Come with me; the money is in my dragon’s saddlebags.”

            Isaac studied him for a minute but reluctantly agreed, following him outside. Inferno lay down and allowed Cody to reach into his saddlebags, withdrawing the necessary money. Cody looked at the handfuls of coins, hungrily staring at them. Then his eyes shifted to the amazing dark grey gloves and he immediately made up his mind, handing every coin to Isaac.

            “Thank you, and please come back soon,” Isaac said.

            Cody nodded and placed his old boots and shirt into the saddlebags, taking up the room the money had left. He didn’t really need to wear the armor, but it felt just as comfortable as normal clothing, only it gave more protection. So, he climbed Inferno’s leg up to his shoulders and settled into the saddle. He was amazed with how comfortable it was, even though he hadn’t even flown in the armor yet.

            As he was strapping in his legs, Cody noticed a massive crowd gathering. It had been large before, but now it had nearly doubled. “We will be leaving them, and we probably won’t be back for a while. Shall we give them something to remember us by?”

            “Indeed.”

            “Good-bye Morgran! I will return at my earliest convenience!” Cody shouted as loudly as possible so more people could hear him.

            Before Inferno took flight, he reared up on his hind legs while Cody drew his sword and held it in the air. Inferno took a deep breath, and let out a roar so loud and fearsome, that it was probably scaring away birds at the far side of the city and making children shake with fear or gasp in awe. With a mighty leap and three monstrous flaps of his wings, Inferno tore through the sky, leaving the crowd behind.

~

“What now?” Inferno asked after a few minutes of flying in silence over the city.

            “What do you mean?”

            Inferno snorted, “What do we do now? I mean, yes we are going to meet up with the others, but what then?”

            Cody thought for a minute before answering, “The guards said that Dongoithu was headed towards a dwarf town: Torik, I believe it was. Mora should be able to point it out to us, or at least give us directions to get there.”

            Inferno nodded in agreement just as they flew over the city walls and entered the wilderness. Within minutes they passed over the place where they had agreed to meet yesterday. As Inferno lowered himself into the forest, Cody became aware of their companions completely prepared for more travelling, though they didn’t seem happy about it.

            “What is this about!? I awoke in the middle of the night with an armed woman leaning over me, telling me that ‘the rider’ said we have to leave by noon today. I’m glad you came at least!” Larson yelled at Cody angrily.

            Cody was disappointed that no one had noticed his new armor yet, but he answered calmly, “There have been skeletars roaming about recently, and I wasn’t willing to get in a fight with one. Besides, we already know where we’re supposed to be headed.”

            Pippi smiled at him and said, “Well I’m glad you were conscious of the danger; Mora and I found out the same thing. We also discovered that Dongoithu is supposedly headed to a northern dwarf town by the name of Torik.”

            The elf pulled a map out of a small backpack beside her and handed it to Cody. “I figured a map would help, and I circled the general location of the town. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more specific, but typically dwarves aren’t forthcoming with their locations apparently, and Torik is seemingly abnormally small.”

            Cody grabbed the map from her and unrolled it. His eyes grew wide when he located the small circle Pippi had put, at the edge of a prairie-like territory. Not only that, but it was more than twice as far north as his hometown. On dragonback it would probably be a week to ten days to reach the town. It had taken much longer than that to reach Morgran, but it had been on horseback and Cody hadn’t known the way, not to mention all the detours he and his friends had taken along the way.

            “Don’t worry; if our friends have lasted this long wherever they are, I’m sure another week won’t be too bad,” Inferno reassured him.

            “If they’ve lasted this long,” Cody repeated dryly. “We don’t even know if Dongoithu will be there, and I have no clue how to get him to tell us where they’re hidden if we do find him.”

            “Don’t be so negative; we’ll find them,” Inferno growled.

            Cody sighed before telling the others aloud, “We had better get going quickly. The more ground we can cover, the better.”

            “Will we be stopping at night?” Mora asked as she clawed her way onto Inferno’s back behind Cody. “Nice armor by the way.”

            Cody smiled, “Thank you. To answer your question, I think we will stop just before it gets dark, since every moment counts. There actually is more deer meat that can be eaten cold if it has to be, and Inferno can provide us with more warmth than a fire ever could.”

            Inferno nodded in agreement, making Lars calm down slightly as he too climbed onto the dragon’s back. Cody looked around to make sure everything was set as Pippi climbed on last, and while everything seemed fine, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed at leaving Morgran. It was hardly a home to him, but he felt like it was the closest he had. Hopefully I can return to my real hometown soon, Cody thought to himself.