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Path of Dragons-Chapter 14Book 9: : The Right Direction
Book 9: Chapter 14: The Right Direction
“Sorry. We don’t have any leads on anything like that,” said, Garret, the acting leader of the Hunter’s Guild. He was a human – which surprised Elijah – but he clearly had a few levels under his belt. More importantly, he didn’t look at Elijah like he was some sort of dangerous animal. He was wary, to be certain, but that was just good practice when dealing with an unknown entity. He knew Elijah was powerful, but he wasn’t terrified. That was enough. “We have a few expeditions down south that might bear some fruit, but for now, we’re pretty limited. I’d tell you to check back in a couple of weeks, but…”
“But what?”
“I doubt we’d ever have close to enough. You’re talking about a huge animal for that much fat. If I were you, I’d go talk to the whalers. They’re a lot more likely to be able to accommodate a request like that,” Garret explained.
Elijah let out a breath, then leaned back. He definitely didn’t want to start slaughtering whales. Sure, it really wasn’t that different from killing any other animal – which he’d done often enough that he didn’t balk at the idea – but hunting whales came with an unavoidable stigma. Perhaps it was no longer valid – the city’s whalers didn’t seem to have an issue – but he’d grown up hearing about how terrible whale hunting was. And that perception was difficult to discard.
“I see,” he said, rubbing his hands on his pants. Then, he stood. “Well, thanks for meeting with me. If you find anything interesting, let me know. I’m always looking for hides.”
“Will do,” Garret said, extending his hand. Elijah shook it, but when Garret loosened his grip, the man asked, “Those scales – some kind of magic tattoo?”
At first, Elijah didn’t know what Garret meant. But then, he realized that he’d let his scales show. In truth, it wasn’t difficult to understand why the hunter thought they were body art. Sure, they shimmered with ethera, and they definitely didn’t feel like skin, but that was easily explicable by the old mainstay – magic.
“Something like that,” Elijah said, resisting the urge to hide them. At some point during his experiences in the Chimeric Forge, he’d ceased to even think about them. And in the back of his mind, he’d begun to accept them. Certainly, he was a long way from embracing a fully draconic form as his default, but a few scales weren’t a big deal. In fact, they felt natural. “Thanks again.”
After that, he left the Hunter’s Lodge and wandered through Ironshore, lost in thought. At one point, he bought some street food – meat on a stick – that he munched on during his stroll. The city had continued to grow – mostly up instead of out – and he expected that it wouldn’t be that long before it was just as densely developed as a modern city like New York. Hopefully it wouldn’t lose its charm along the way.
Eventually, he found his way to Druid’s Park, which played host to a half-dozen families lounging around and having a good time. As usual, there were a few children who’d taken it upon themselves to guard the place. They were armed with wooden practice weapons and armored in mismatched items like pots and pans and padding meant to aid in sparring.
And of course, Rosabella seemed to be the ringleader.
The little gnome girl wore a frilly dress, but she’d modified a pot by attaching a leather strap to hold in place so she could use it as a helmet. Her torso was covered by padded leather that looked like a chest protector for a baseball catcher. Her weapon was real, though.
“That spear is a bit big for you, isn’t it?” Elijah asked, sitting next to where she stood guard. Her little face was scrunched in stoic dedication. The spear itself was at least twice as tall as she was.
“I’m better with it than anybody else in my group,” she said proudly. “I can even beat some of the older cadets who have just gotten their archetypes.”
“Impressive,” was Elijah’s honest reply. With her size, beating anyone her own age would have been quite an accomplishment. She was barely as big as a human toddler.
“When is Miggy coming back?” she demanded.
“I don’t know,” Elijah admitted. His nephew was still in the Hollow Depths, apparently training with one of the dark elves. When he’d learned the reason Miguel had stayed, Elijah had just shaken his head. If the young man had one consistent trait, it was that he valued training. Staying to learn from some dark elf warlord certainly fit his obsessive personality. “I plan to go down there soon to check things out. I’ll know more once I talk to him.”
“Good. We need to talk about training the others.”
“Others?” Elijah asked.
“The other wardens of the grove,” she said. “We’re all ready to make our pledges as soon as we get level ten. Most of us don’t have archetypes yet, but that’s coming soon. We want to be ready.”
“Wait – what’s going on here?”
Then, Rosabella explained that she and about ten other children had latched onto the idea of joining the grove and becoming its protectors, with Miguel as their leader. To him, it sounded a little ridiculous – right up until he realized that the children would likely be that much safer in the grove than anywhere else. If nothing else, Nerthus would protect them.
Plus, he needed help.
Elijah had no intentions of sticking to the grove like a normal Druid, and he would be much more at peace if he knew there were others guarding his home. It seemed like a win-win if ever there was one.
“Well, if you’re going to do that, then you need to familiarize yourself with the grove,” he said. “I’ll have Nerthus set up somewhere for you to stay. In the meantime, you should talk to Hope – she’s working with Mari, the Tailor – about a schedule.” Ꞧá𝐍оʙĘᶊ
“Are you certain?” she asked, her expression adorably serious.
“I am. This is a great responsibility, but I trust you and the others to do what needs to be done,” he said. “That means you need to continue your training. Work hard, and you and the others will be the first members of this grove’s legion.”
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That statement had the little gnome practically vibrating with excitement. She also thanked him for the opportunity, and she promised that none of them would make him regret it. Then, she rushed off to let the others know the good news.
“You heard that, right?” Elijah asked, seemingly of no one.
Nerthus flowed out of a nearby root. “I did. It is good. People are at their most impressionable as children. I have been watching this group, and some of them have nascent nature attunements.”
“Are they strong?”
“Not in terms of attunement, but some show promise in other areas. They will make fine additions to the grove.”
After a little more conversation with Nerthus, Elijah wandered away from Druid’s Park, eventually arriving at the Forge of Creation. There, he discovered that Carmen had finally embarked on her journey of cultivation. Specifically, she was working on her body – a predictable turn of events that didn’t surprise Elijah in the least bit.
What did surprise him was that she had to do so naked. And that her method of body cultivation required quite a lot of violence.
Three other smiths surrounded her, each one wielding hammers. She hung from the ceiling, her wrists encased by a pair of shackles that pulsed with ethera. Those shackles, in turn, were attached to the ceiling of one of the Forge of Creation’s cultivation chambers. The room itself was small, but the ethera inside was extremely dense. Not on par with the island’s atmosphere, but it was still quite energetic.
It was also swelteringly hot.
The second Elijah stepped inside – past another smith who’d been acting as a guard – he broke into a sweat. Not for the first time, he missed his Cloak of the Iron Bear. That regret didn’t last long before he had other concerns – like averting his eyes.
“What the hell?” he muttered, already preparing to rescue her.
“Don’t,” she grunted as one of the smiths swung the hammer – two-handed, and with an audible grunt. It connected with a slap and a sharp intake of breath. “It’s fine, Elijah. Just wait outside.”
“But –”
“Wait. Outside,” she grunted through gritted teeth.
Elijah recognized that tone, so he didn’t hesitate to follow the order. When he was outside the chamber and enjoying the building’s climate control, the smith-turned-guard said, “I tried to stop you.”
“I know,” he groaned. The last thing he’d wanted was to see his sister-in-law in that position. “What is going on in there?”
“Cultivation,” she said.
“I know cultivation. That’s not –”
“I’ll let her explain,” the guard stated.
Elijah knew a losing battle when he saw one, so he resolved to simply wait until Carmen told him what was going on. As it turned out, she didn’t emerge from the cultivation chamber until thirty minutes later. She was covered in sweat and blessedly clothed. What he saw of her skin was black and blue with dense bruising.
Before Elijah could ask what was going on, she cut him off, “Come on. I’ll explain in my office. I need a shower and some rest.”
He followed her through the Forge of Creation and to the office attached to the smithy. As he did so, Elijah was extremely impressed by everything he saw. The artistry of the building was obvious – from the delicate designs to the engravings on each dragonstone brick – and what’s more, it seemed to accentuate the ethera within the building. It felt a bit like he’d stepped into someone else’s domain. Not quite as oppressive, but still noticeable.
Soon enough, they reached their destination, and Carmen flopped onto her old couch. Elijah remained standing, inspecting the chalkboard where he saw what appeared to be a spearhead design. A couple dozen strings of glyphs were also scrawled across the top of the board, none of which Elijah recognized.
“New project?” he asked.
“Yeah. Still working out the enchantments,” she answered. “I think it’s going to revolutionize Ironshore’s defense force. If I get it right, that is.”
“In what way?”
“Well, after we completed this building, I started to wonder what I should focus on next. I could make stuff using the best materials possible, and I’d probably eventually make something better than my best,” she said.
“Makes sense.”
“Or I could take a step back and focus on the fundamentals as I tried to get the most out of lower-grade materials. You know, maximizing potential. I’m pretty sure I haven’t even come close to that,” she said. “So, that’s what I’m doing. If I succeed with this project, I’ll take a step forward in my techniques while helping to equip the city’s defenders in the most economical way possible.”
Elijah nodded along as she explained the rest of the plan, and when she was done, he said, “That’s a big project.” He looked around at his surroundings. “That seems like your thing, though. I’m sure you’ll get it done.” Finally, he broached a much more important subject, asking, “So, do you want to explain to me why you were naked and hanging from the ceiling while your assistants beat the hell out of you?” He shook his head at the memory. “Never going to get that image out of my mind, though.”
“That’s what you get for barging in.”
“Fair enough.”
She sighed, saying, “It’s a body cultivation method. It’s meant to symbolize the forging of metal. I’m slowly working up. Impact, heat, and pressure. I’m getting closer, though. Maybe a couple of months, and I’ll get there.”
“Seems dangerous and inefficient.”
“We don’t all have a ready-made environment and a spryggent willing to sacrifice his own power to ease your transition into the first tier,” she said. “Body cultivation is always harder for non-combat classes.”
“Is it?”
“Of course.”
Elijah hadn’t read that, but admittedly, he hadn’t really done that much research into the subject. He had a couple of guides to help him get over a few speed bumps, but for the most part, his cultivation had been instinctive. He suspected that would be the case with his next step as well, though it had yet to completely unveil itself.
“Why’d you come by?”
“Oh. Mostly just to check in. We don’t see each other as much anymore. But also, did you know that your son has followers?” he asked. Then, he explained what he’d encountered with Rosabella and the others.
She shrugged. “I’d heard something about that. I thought they’d have lost interest by now,” she admitted. “You’re really going to take them into the grove?”
“I don’t see why I wouldn’t. They seem like good, dedicated kids, and the grove is probably the safest place they could be.”
Carmen agreed with that, though she did say that supporting children’s development came with a degree of responsibility. “I’ve figured that out with my assistants,” she said. “If I’d have known building this place would come with so much herding of freshly-classed kids, I would have…well, I still would have built it, but I might have put some conditions in there about me-time.”
They shared a laugh, but it was clear that Carmen was fading fast. The cultivation session had obviously taken a lot out of her, and Elijah didn’t want to keep her from her rest. So, he soon excused himself.
The next stop wasn’t planned. Indeed, he’d followed his nose to a restaurant – they seemed to specialize in meat pies – where he found Ramik enjoying a late lunch. When the mayor saw Elijah, he beckoned him to join.
Soon enough, Elijah was sharing a meal with the goblin as Ramik explained the goings-on of the city. Most of it went in one ear and out the other – so long as the city was prospering, Elijah was happy – but one tidbit stuck out to Elijah.
“Missing ships?” he asked. Ramik had mentioned it before, but at the time, Elijah had considered it a small problem.
“Indeed,” Ramik answered. “We know the culprit, too. There’s a leviathan that preys on the local whales. An enormous and vicious beast. Only one of our ships managed to escape its wrath. The whalers are cooperating with the Hunter’s Guild to mount an expedition to kill it.”
“Hmm. How big is this thing?” Elijah asked.
“Larger than a whale,” Ramik stated. “Maybe a hundred feet long. Perhaps a little more. They did not get a good look.”
“I think I’ll check it out,” Elijah offered. “Maybe I can solve two problems at once.”