Axel followed after Wulf with Drago in tow as they left the Barfing Minotaur, following the two of them while Pear finished with cleaning the breakfast dishes as Willow had told them to. Wulf had enlisted Axel's help in carrying his various ore samples and Axel's own Ore Eater loot to the blacksmith that Wulf knew.

"Barry's an old drinking buddy," Wulf told him as they walked. "His cousin Barny's fair enough of a blacksmith himself and Barry'll point you to him if you need anything other than arrows. That aside, Barry's the one that I trust most to give me my ore samples back without trying to cheat me; not that Barny would do that of course, Barry's just been spending the last decade trying to make the best arrows and he's single-minded with that pursuit."

"Sounds like Jim should meet Barry," Axel said to the Dwarf. "He's using a bow and I'm sure he's going through arrows like there's no tomorrow."

"I'll introduce your Half-Elf friend to him at some point then," Wulf said with a 'hmm' noise. "Barry'll probably be happy to have a direct customer. Most likely. Maybe. He'll at least meet your friend."

"Sounds like Barry doesn't like interruptions," Axel said as he tried to keep up with the oddly fast Dwarf and keep his Rockwolf from stopping and terrorizing anyone whose scent his nose caught.

"Not at all," Wulf chortled. "Once Will brought him a plate of supper from the tavern and the slag-brained fool took it from her and threw the whole thing into his forge! She was so upset at him that she held him down and shaved half of his beard off! Barry wasn't sure why she did it until I explained it to him and then he spent the next five years making plates and such that wouldn't burn in fire for her to bring him food on."

"That sounds like something to see," Axel laughed. "Willow holding a Dwarf down and forcibly shaving him."

"Oh, it was something," Wulf said, dodging around a draft horse pulling a cart. "Barny and I were there to see that, and let me tell you, that curled my beard from fear all while I was laughing at the poor bastard. We called him Half-beard until he shaved the rest of it off and started growing a new one."

"Course, he only made those plates for her so she wouldn't bug him again," Wulf continued thoughtfully. "Willow still hasn't forgiven him, but she still makes sure he gets food at least once a week."

"At least she tries to take care of him even after all that," Axel said. "If she was really angry at him about it, she wouldn't even do that."

"Very true," the older Dwarf nodded sagely. "Doesn't stop her from giving him day-old leftovers everytime, but it is true she does care for him in her own way. Just like she cares for me in her way, why else would she send you to come get me from that mine?"

"We're here," Wulf said, stopping in front of a building that had clearly seen better days. The front windows were coated in grime, the front side of the building was equally filthy, and if it weren't for the steady banging of metal on metal coupled with the chimney belching smoke into the sky, Axel might have thought the building uninhabited. A sign, missing several letters, proclaimed the building as 'Arth'ome' 'Hop.'

"How long did you say your friend was working on making those arrows?" Axel asked as Wulf approached the door with its peeling paint and dirty front window.

"Too long if you ask me," Wulf said, grabbing the dirty brass doorknob and twisting, opening the door on oddly well-oiled hinges. "Unfortunately, Barry's a damned genius when it comes to smithing. The kind that can spend more time on a project than most people think is healthy and still make a masterpiece."

"Great," Axel said, leading Drago into the empty shop that had opened crates of arrows scattered haphazardly across the shop's floor and shelves.

"Barry! Barry, it's Stouthammer!" Wulf yelled as he approached the ajar door that spilled light into the darker room as well as sound. "You told me you'd help me with something! Barry, dammit! Put down the bloody hammer!"

Finally, the sounds stopped and faded in the empty shop before thumping steps made themselves known. Eventually, the source of the steps stopped outside the door that lead deeper into the building and a hand, calloused and scarred pushed the door further ajar to reveal a thin, haggard-looking Dwarf with red-rimmed eyes and fly-away hair that stuck out in a massive mane that left his proud nose and eyes the only thing visible through his dirty beard and hair.

"Wulf?" the Dwarf spoke in a rasping voice before breaking into a fit of coughing. "What- cough-hack-ptoo! What are you doing here? Weren't you going to your new mine for a few weeks?"

"Been there and back," Wulf told the other Dwarf. "How long do you think it's been?"

"Not more than two days," the thinner Dwarf said, stepping fully into the room. "Who's the beast?"

"Hi," Axel said with a wave. "I'm Axel and this is Drago, he's tamed."

"No such thing," the Dwarf said, stepping firmly toward the Rockwolf and kneeling down to inspect his claws. "Just peaceful, harmless, or hungry."

"Well, I guess right now he's peaceful," Axel said awkwardly.

"Good thing too," the Dwarf said as Wulf and Axel stood there awkwardly. "Ironclawed Rockwolves are damned dangerous. Keep him close and don't let others talk you into giving him up. They're rare as can be and more than one Wizard, thinking himself above the rest of us, has tried to take those rare beasties for their personal zoos."

"That's terrible," Axel said. "Capturing and stealing animals just to shove them in cages and lock them away from everything. Alone and confined to a slow death like that."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"It's the way of things," the black-haired Dwarf said matter-of-factly. "Why'd Wulf bring you with him?"

"Axel here, with Drago's help of course, killed an Ironbacked Ore Eater," Wulf explained. "I remembered you said that you were looking for metals from Ore Eaters on account of something about the mana that's infused in them."

The other Dwarf's eyes lit up at the mention of the Wolf-man's feat and inspected him critically.

"Excellent, here," he said, holding his fist out to Axel. "This should cover the whole thing."

"Uh, thanks," Axel said, accepting the coin the Dwarf dropped into his hand. "Where do you want it?"

Looking up, Axel watched as the strange Dwarf pushed past Wulf and entered the back area of the shop, carrying one of the bags with him.

"Your part's done here," Wulf told him as he prepared to follow after the other Dwarf. "That was Barry, Barthalomew to his mother. Best get on your way and if you go by to see Willow later tell her I'm here for me."

"Uh, sure," Axel said, examining the golden coin in his hand. "Is this enough for what we gave him?"

"A Gold coin?" Wulf said inspecting the other Dwarf's payment. "Yeah, that's too much actually, but Barry's got enough coin to spend the rest of his life spending Golds like water and still not run out. Best accept it and ask Will to help you with your shopping. You need bags."

"Yessir, Wulf, sir," Axel said with a joking salute. "I won't let you down, sir."

"Get out of here," the red-headed Dwarf told him with an exaggerated roll of his eyes.

"Barny!" Willow called out to the Dwarf with the same black hair as Barry as he hammered at his anvil and made some sort of knife blade. "Can you help me?"

"What do you want, Little Hammer?" the Dwarf asked as he stopped swinging his hammer and grabbed the knife blade with a pair of tongs.

"I need some help with Axel here," she told him, indicating the Beastkin beside her. "He needs a weapon."

"Give me a minute," the Dwarf called as exchanged the knife blade for another in his forge's heated area, avoiding the white hot coals.

Sharing a look with the Wood Elf beside him, Axel shrugged and reached down to scratch Drago behind his ears while they waited for the Dwarf to stop pounding on the second knife blade with his hammer. Finally, the smith returned the much-cooled and better-shaped knife blade to the forge's heat. Rather than grab another knife blade and continue, he moved away from the forge, hammer in hand and approached the three of them.

"What kind of weapon are you looking for?" he asked Axel bluntly.

"I'm not sure," Axel told him. "I've never learned to use one and I didn't choose one when I started, so I've been going without anything."

"Then until you figure something out, I recommend that you don't bother wasting anyone's time with making you a weapon," the Dwarf told him, eyeing him critically. "Mine or anyone else's."

"Well if it helps, I know that I don't want to Party with people and be some sort of tank or damage dealer," Axel told him. "I'd rather that I leave all that stuff to my tamed creatures. Like Drago."

"A tamer, eh?" the Dwarf said quietly as he studied Axel carefully. "What kind of tamer do you want to be?"

"What kinds are there?" Axel asked curiously.

"There's ones that use whips and chains to beat their beasts and train them to do whatever they tell them to," Barny said "Those poor beasts always die too fast, but if you ask me, it's a blessing in disguise for them. No one should have to suffer as a slave like that."

"I definitely won't be that kind of tamer," Axel said firmly, not noticing how Willow studied him carefully as he spoke. "I love animals and I don't want to treat any of the ones I tame as tools. They're my partners and they deserve my care and respect."

"Good," Barny said as watched Axel's face darken and his fingers resume their scratching of the Rockwolf's head. "Another kind of tamer is more hunter than tamer. They only tame a few beasts and they hunt with them as equals."

"That's better than the other kind you mentioned," Axel said. "But that's not the kind of tamer I want to be. I don't like the idea of slinking around in bushes and picking beasts and monsters off with arrows and poisoned daggers or whatever."

"Then you're looking at the third kind of tamer," the Dwarf told him. "They tame as many beasts as the first kind but they use a mutual respect between the beast and themself when they fight. They trust the beasts they've tamed to listen to them and the beasts trust them to direct them and the fight without forcing them to be injured so the tamer won't be. Like you said, the animal and the master are partners and they both know that about each other."

"That's the kind of tamer I want to be," Axel said with a firm nod as he felt Drago lean his weight onto him. "What sort of weapons do they use?"

"It's hard to say," the Dwarf answered. "Some of them use what comes natural to them. Claws, if they have them, fists, feet, even magic. Others use swords, spears, or even whips and bows like the other kinds. It's all about how they feel about what works for them."

"Well, I've got sharp nails," Axel said, showing his clawed hand to the smith. "I don't like the sound of using a whip and I don't like bows too much. They're both difficult to use right, I know that. I don't want a sword or a spear either."

"I've got some studded gloves you can have then," Barny nodded before leading them over to a table with various items piled onto it. "Here they are, just need me to remove the fingers so you can still use your claws."

"Thanks," Axel said as he watched the Dwarf work carefully and remove the fingers from the gloves. "How much?"

"For these old things that no one wants?" Barny asked. "Five Irons. They're good quality. If someone had bought them when I made them, then they'd have gone for a few Bronzes easily."

"Cool," Axel said, accepting first one and then the other glove as the Dwarf finished with them. "Next question. Can you break a Gold?"

"Nope," the smith said. "You'd be better off going to the bank for that."

"Where is it?" Axel asked as Willow offered the Dwarf the Iron coins.

Accepting the coins, the Dwarf gave them directions and the trio left him to return to his forging.

"I still don't get how you don't know where the bank is," Axel told Willow as they moved through the city.

"Just because I've lived here almost all my life, doesn't mean that I know every part of the city," Willow said. "Especially the upper parts of the city that the nobles and wealthy frequent. Dad's always told me to be careful and stick to what I know to avoid trouble. I listened because it was easier to do that than it was to try and find my way through everything; I was important to keeping the Minotaur running from the start and I wasn't about to screw that up."

"You never wanted to explore the city?" he asked her.

"Not really," Willow answered him. "I was happy with what I had and all the money that Dad and I make running the tavern goes back into it for what we need to run it. More food, better beers, new tables and chairs, payment for our workers. The tavern does great, and we don't want for anything so we put what we can spare back into it. It's more than our home. It's our pride."

"I guess I can get that," Axel nodded as they moved through the city.