Chapter 67: A Fine Art

The beer the tavern had wasn’t much better than what Wiperna and Raulf had managed to brew up back home, but it was beer and it was rare to have that on a daily basis after all. Prices were also distinctly rural at only two copper per mug. It also helped that the first one was on Udanti.

The tavern was cramped yet warm and that would do for Sapphire as they sat and exchanged stories with the locals. Some of them remembered Sapphire and they all knew Dakota. Since this was the closest town if you could call it that. Hashaw and her crew had not joined them, much to Sapphire's annoyance, she would have liked a few good war stories.

The locals mostly had some funny or odd occurrences since well not much happened around these parts normally. The most interesting thing they had to report was spotting a single large flyer escorted by a rather large formation of small flyers who had come past two days after the trio of dragons had left. Dakota had decided to call that one in using her fancy new earpiece. If that was bad news they needed to know back home. Nunuk had replied that they had not seen anything out of the ordinary even if Jackalope had persuaded Jarix to fry a small herd of deer.

Sapphire guessed it was likely a joint effort, but still, she would have liked to see that.

“If we were the target wouldn’t they have attacked though? At least after we all left?” Balaton questioned, as he gulped down more of the passable ale.

“Unless those bastards are waiting for more, like last time” Dakota replied, clearly not optimistic on the subject.

“If they saw Jarix go out today that would have been the perfect time though” Balethon retorted. "And if they have a dragon or whatever that was. It would have been a more than tough fight.”

“But could they win fast enough?” Dakota replied, clearly not convinced.

“You keep folk are always so self-centered” Udanti spoke up.

“Is that so, miss pretty good archer?” Sapphire replied with a smirk. Udanti seemed more than capable of handling a little teasing so might as well.

“What if you aren’t the target, huh?”

“There is not much except frontier keeps this far out,” Dakota replied.

“But there are more than yours. What about Hylsdal or Deriva?”

“Sure it could be but from this direction, you get to us first.”

“And you've proven a hard nut to crack.” Udanti replied dismissively “And that is a mighty big forest you are all bordering”

“You think they are probing us?” Dakota replied, she sounded like she was considering the fact.

“Sounds like a very expensive way to gain access to the forest. We can’t cover all of it. Hell, we rarely even see someone from another keep.” Sapphire added in. “Could just be looking for fresh recruits” she continued in a dark tone.

“Don't say things like that” Canabrera objected. “That’s horrible”

“Well, they weren’t trying to corrupt anyone when we fought them, or if they were they sucked at it” Balethon added in.

“Could just have been another trader going for another keep” Sapphire interjected. It wasn’t like they could do anything about it anyway. Unless they turned back tomorrow maybe and that was a very big maybe.

“No we always land here, there is no good resting place for a day's flight in any direction” Vulzan joined in.

“So bad guys heading that way doesn't have to be darklings though” Udanti added “Could be brigands or something”

“Is that better?” Sapphire had to ask, genuinely curious. They all just looked at each other, no one having an answer for that one. Darklings were usually predictable especially if they didn't have someone to order them about with them. Brigands though or maybe even hostile mercenaries was a very different thing though.

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“So what you are telling me is you basically just spit in a bucket and hope it doesn’t blow up?” Tom couldn’t believe they hadn’t figured out a better solution to that problem.

“It’s very rare for that to happen. I've only had it happen twice.”

“Why were you selling it anyway? You make a good salary.”

“It’s free money duh” Tom had to give him that stepping back nodding.

“Okay then, let’s see it” Tom was very glad they were not in the keep for this experiment. Even if his plan of having Jarix do whatever he had to do to make the stuff wherever they went had taken a bit of a hit, considering the danger involved.

Tom put on his goggles just in case and made sure Kiran was hanging onto him like a backpack, just like they had practiced for other dangerous experiments.

“Should I also spit on bucket?” Kiran questioned.

“I’m sure Esmeralda would love it if you don’t spit on the floor that is for sure but don’t worry, yours doesn't blow up. Now put the earmuffs on” Tom swiveled his head to check Kiran had done as instructed, not at all to see him with those goddamn adorable little earmuffs on. “Okay Jarix, take it away”

With that Jarxi gathered up a good size amount in his mouth and spat at the wooden bucket they had ‘borrowed without asking’. He pulled off the maneuver with the grace of an experienced bar goer hitting the bucket cleanly. Tom had closed his eyes expecting the whole thing to detonate but nothing happened.

The result was about half a jars worth of the precious stuff, even if this looked a lot thinner than what he had bought. So he guessed it needed to be concentrated, it wasn’t that far off though.

“Not bad, I gotta say being a dragon is looking very easy from my standpoint right now. That stuff was quite expensive."

“It is?” Jarix questioned, clearly surprised. “I used to get a silver for that at most”

“I guess prices are different out here then?” Had Vulzan ripped him off?

“It’s dangerous to transport so traders demand a high price for it. Come by the training fields in the capitol and we will sell you a jar for a tenth of what a trader will.” Zarko clarified for him. That did make sense Tom guessed. “What do you need that much for anyway?”

“It’s good for many things. The” Tom held up his fingers to do some quotation marks in the air. “'Magic boxes'. I used to show you the movies. They run on electricity.”

“They're powered by lighting and show illusions… and you still claim it isn’t magic?”

“He hasn’t lied yet, so I just go with it” Fengi added, she and Jackalope caught wind of what they were doing and had come down to watch. Tom had a feeling Jackalope was hoping for another boom, and Fengi had just tagged along hoping not to do any work for a bit.

“No magic involved I swear. That thing I’m making for building the guns, the lathe. That thing will run on electricity too. That’s what I need this for.”

“So the more I spit in the bucket the faster I get my machine gun?” Jarix went excitedly.

“I guess. I mean as long as I don’t run out I…”

There was an ear-shattering explosion as the bucket turned to splinters in a ball of light following Jarix’s second try which had apparently arrived with a bit too much enthusiasm. Jackalope, utterly surprised and of course closest to the bucket, was knocked on her arse with a yelp, clutching her ears. Tom did stumble for a bit and cursed himself for taking his ear protection off already, turning back relieved to see Kiran still had his on.

“Three times” Jarix admitted in a slightly shameful tone. “Whoops”

Two arms were extended into the air from the now prone Jackalope giving a double thumbs up “I’m okay. I think you might have burned my snout though”

Tom just shook his head as she made it to her feet revealing a blackened spot on the front of her snout. She just looked at it cross-eyed touching it a bit which clearly hurt. “Careful might mistake you for a darkling with a black spot like that,” Tom said, expecting laughter but got some distinctly judgmental looks instead. No darkling jokes then, okay.

“What?” Jackalope answered entirely too loud. “My ears are ringing, what did you say?”

“Goddammit, Jackalope” Fengi went in a defeated tone. Tom made a mental note that the next one to receive ear protection would be Jackalope.

Her hearing had mostly returned by dinner that day, and her snout was now bandaged up looking truly ridiculous. As they ate they were going over the progress made. It had been three days since the others had departed. They had gotten a warning from them that there was apparently supposed to be some bad guy in the area and they had something big with them. Jarix and crew had spent most of yesterday flying reconnaissance to no avail.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

With Zarko onboard as navigator, there had been no problems with figuring out where they were despite the unfamiliar terrain. The whole what is your magic shtick was apparently quite personal information so Tom hadn’t asked her. He was guessing it had something to do with knowing where she was going though. He had seen her stuff on Jarix’s harness and there was nothing except maps. No instruments of any kind unlike what Vulzan had.

Following the little mishap, the plan of returning the bucket had proven difficult, Nunuk had just shaken her head at the whole situation without further comment so there was that. Tom guessed he wasn’t the only one with a lot on his plate right now and it had been for a good cause.

The motor was also coming along great. All the wire had been drawn and Tom was already spending his evenings winding the thing. Often telling good night stories at the same time, it wasn’t a bad way to spend an evening. Distinctly not stressful. the linseed oil grout mixture he used for insulating was a sticky bitch until it dried though.

As they sat eating he was pondering what his next lesson for Jarix should be, the working part so far mostly came down to help hunting and fly patrol. They were running out of spring though so if they wanted some quick-growing plants in the ground they needed to hurry.

Kullinger and Wiperna had been put to work making a working harness for Jarix out of whatever they had lying around, Shiva getting the buckles done in-between the things for the motor and lathe. Following Archeon's last visit they had secured a large amount of metal to work with and with the promise of more on the way it was looking like work hours were going to be the limiting factor.

They really needed more hands around here, but it didn't sound like that was likely to change anytime soon. With possible hostiles around, Rachuck definitely wasn’t handing over any of his guards aside from their normal extra duties either. Speaking of which, tonight was Tom's turn for guard duty. He sighed a bit, at least he could work on the motor up there.

As he sat up in the tower winding away, periodically peering out into the darkness he wondered just what the fuck he had gotten himself into here. He was sitting in an by all accounts alien keep in a fantasy world wiring an electric motor and his biggest worries were making a decent man out of a teenager, manhours, and how fast crops grew. This was fucking weird, so alien yet so normal.

Then the hatch opened revealing Unkai who was joint on watch tonight.

“So finished your round?” Tom asked as the younger dragonette clambered up.

“Yup everyone is sleeping and Jarix is snoring like you wouldn’t believe” Tom gave a chuckle, yup the dragon was snoring. Alien yet normal par for the course these days. “How’s that thing coming along?”

“Oh it’s gonna take a while longer, not too bad though, Shiva is gonna cast the housing tomorrow then it’s time for the magnets.”

“I remember those things that magically attract each other? Like the ones in the compass.”

“Not magic but yeah that’s magnets.” Unkai sat down on the bench next to Tom scratching his neck, something clearly on his mind. Tom just waited for him to get to the point. Up here there was plenty of time after all.

“Uhhm Tom I have a question.”

“Is it about how this thing works?” Tom went holding up the rotor.

“No, it’s Fengi.” Tom turned to look at Unkai with a worried look. Unkai was a healer, after all, this could be bad.

“Something wrong with her?”

“No no, the opposite. It’s just she does seem to like you.” Oh, Tom could see where this was going. “And I was wondering if you could maybe give me some tips on getting her to like me a bit more”

Of all the questions Tom could answer, how to woo girls was not one of them… was it? He had always been shit at that back home. Did Fengi like him like… like really like him? No that was not right she was over 15 years younger than him that would fly… well she could, no, they were good friends.

“I gotta be honest, I have no clue there guardsman”

“But they all like you, is it just because you are weird? Come on dude don’t tell me you got every girl here liking you by accident!” Unkai sounded quite distraught by the notion that Tom had succeeded without even trying. Great now Tom needed to cheer him up too. Could blame the guard though, Tom had seen them try their hardest quite a few times often with very little success.

“Uhhh, I don’t know, just be friendly and helpful I guess. Oh and don’t pretend you are better than them or that there is something they can't do, that is very bad I think.”

“Is that all? I spent hours trying to come up with new compliments for her, I even got her flowers.” Tom thought for a bit. Well, he certainly hadn’t given them flowers. come to think of it, what had he given them?

“I don’t think I have given them a compliment yet… Well I told Sapphire she was a bloody good shot… and Jackalope she was strong as all hell… Esmeralda was the best singer I had ever met in person and Dakota was the bravest person I have ever met.”

“And Fengi?” Unkai tried expectantly.

“That she was the sweetest little girl I have ever met, despite everything that has happened to her.”

“But I told her that yesterday and she just sighed, well that she was the sweetest girl in the world”

“How many times have you told her?” there was an awkward silence as Unkai clearly tried to remember. “There is your answer. I told her once, keep going and you seem like atry hard.

“Tryhard?” Fari enough that one was new to Unkai.

“Like when a child is pestering a parent for something.”Unkai visibly deflated at that comparison.

“But I can’t come up with new ones, not really at least” really bro, you just keep trying the same ones again and again? Even Tom could figure out that likely wasn’t a great plan.

“You don’t have to, she’s not stupid she knows what you think of her. Sound like you have made it very clear”

“Then what?”

“Perhaps don’t treat her like she can’t figure out you like her?”

“You couldn’t it seems.” Now hold on, that was different. “Kokashi told us you had her wrapped around your lap down by the lake and the other girls were jealous. And now you claim you didn’t know she liked you...”

“That’s because I’m warm and they were cold, same with Jackalope in the smithy I swear.” Unkai didn’t seem convinced by that answer. “How do you people even do that, you all seem to be running around trying your best to get them to like you. Do they just pick?” Tom honestly had no clue, he only knew some of them apparently got married somehow at some point.

“What no, I mean if Fengi asked I wouldn't say no obviously” Unkai replied with a coy smile.

“What about Sapphire then?”

“Okay that would be fine by me too, but come on. Have you seen a more perfect woman? She's so hot” Tom did admit she looked damn good. It really wasn’t fair the huntresses spent almost every day walking around with a bare midriff. It was damn distracting.

“What about Jackalope then.”

“Nope, too crazy” fair enough. She definitely had upsides too though.

“She’s strong as all hell, though, and she ain’t scared of anything, funny too in her own slightly unhinged way”

“Oh yeah, she can be great fun until she does something incredibly stupid and hurts herself or others.”

“I think you are scared of her because she could rip you in half.” Tom punched Unkai playfully on the shoulder. Unkai didn’t strike Tom as particularly brave, he was dependable though.

“Who wouldn’t be, she is fucking scary.”

“Fengi isn't” Checkmate. As predicted Unkai didn’t have a comeback for that one. Tom just put on an evil grin.

“Well why don’t you ask her then If you are so brave.” Unkai finally replied

“Only if you ask Fengi”

“No way I tried last Summer celebration, she slapped me” Unkai sounded properly hurt at that.

“Were you drunk at the time?”

“Maybe”

“Was she drunk?” There was a bit of an awkward pause.

“Don’t really know.” He finally admitted. Okay, so he had likely been very drunk then.

“Tell you what friend, I’ll try and put in a good word, and in return, you just try to talk to her like a normal person. Not just praising her or trying to do her work for her. Just be kind and helpful then let’s see what happens.”

“You would do that?” Tom guessed they were used to some competition, but sure why not.

“Sure I’m kind to you” Tom replied in the most inappropriate voice he could manage, stroking the guard’s thigh. Unkai looked a little strange, almost going stiff trying to process that. Before Tom broke out laughing at the poor guy, who reciprocated with a punch to Tom’s shoulder.

“Damn you, you had me worried there arsehole.” Tom just continued laughing at how well that had worked. “You’ll do it though right?”

“Sure, can’t hurt.”

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It was official, Sapphire was getting really bored. They had run out of ground to play eye spy over an hour ago, and they had gone through every game they had onboard. She had taken to the wing just to do something, flying around, stretching her wings for a bit. They had been at this four days now and they wouldn’t be reaching the capital today either because of that stupid storm they had to go around. Sapphire was damn glad she hadn't signed up as an escort back in the day, this sucked.

The other escorts didn’t seem to mind though. She guessed they were used to it. A few of them were always on watch, the others were playing games or just sleeping the day away. Sapphire though was bored out of her mind, she was even considering trying to go through some of Tom’s classes in her head. Her chances of her remembering something she had barely understood at the time were next to zero though. Maybe she should try to buy a book in the capital, just to have something to read on the way back. If only Apuma had let them take one from the library like she had asked.

Sapphire had no clue if she could even afford a book, she had never bought one in her life. She guessed they were expensive though and she only had 8 gold and a few scraps with her. She set down on Archons back waking over to where Dakota was sitting talking with Canabrera.

“Dakota, why didn’t we bring some of Tom's stuff to sell in the capital?”

“We did. Also following our little agreement with Hashaw I don’t think we are looking too bad this year. We hired Archeon to go right back to the keep, after all, that isn’t cheap”

“You know I’m almost jealous up here” Vulzan added in, apparently listening.

“Oh shush, you got paid handsomely”

“Of course, do you know how much stuff were you planning on having us carry back?”

“Don’t know, that is up to Hashaw I think, she’s the one signing for it,” Dakota shouted back.

“What do you need all that stuff for anyway?” Canabrera questioned. “I heard it was mostly metal and alchemical stuff”

“Well more of those for starters” Dakota went pointing to Sapphire's bow, “and I think he has more surprises in store for us.”

“Then what did we bring to sell?” Sapphire asked, she hadn’t seen them loading anything of note before departure? Dakota just smirked opening the pouch she had under her arm. Sapphire noted that thing hadn’t left her side yet. Inside were sheets of paper”

“Ideas for the guilds, sold under royalty of course.”

“Sold with the authority of the king?” Sapphire questioned, that didn’t make sense, there was no way they had that.

“No Saph, it means for everyone they make we get a small amount of money” Sapphire had to admit that was a very good idea.

“Didn’t he say no weapons though”

“There are no weapons in here, all simple everyday stuff. They aren't even that hard to make either, there's a lighter for starting fires, those pencil things he uses for writing, the earmuffs he made for Kiran in big size, the compass is my favorite. Hashaw has the plans for the bow which is to be given to the royal guard as payment for all those supplies we are getting and a token of thanks for Jarix deployment.

“And Tom guy just gave you all that to sell?” Canabrera asked “Just like that”

“Well most of the supplies are for him, but otherwise yeah” Dakota admitted.

“What does a girl have to do to get on his good side”

“Breathe, don’t try to kill him or his friends, and not being an arsehole helps” Sapphire joked, it was true though. She had yet to see him be truly mean to anyone short of Dashu and the bitch. He even still treated Kullinger with respect following some of his unkind remarks.

“Whatever you do just don’t get on his bad side, that is even worse. If you do you can ask Dashu when you get there why” Dakota added in a grim tone.

“Point taken” Canabrera went in a wistful tone. “He might look strange but damn if I wouldn't mind not having to work another day in my life”

Dakota and Sapphire just looked at each other before bursting out laughing “Oh you can keep dreaming on that front”

“What, not good looking enough?” She didn't even seem offended to Sapphire's surprise.

“No, it’s not that, he works harder than anyone I have ever met” Dakota replied.

“Huh? What an idiot” Well, in a way she was sorta right.