Anabelle and Ezra walked behind Granius, He carried them from down into the village. Numerous villagers stopped to get a word in with the chief. He kept the conversations between them brief. He had brought the two along to speak while taking care of his daily activities, or more so the village's necessities.

“So what do you know about this Zarcah?” Ezra asked breaking through the wall cast over the topic between them. Granius stopped them at a blacksmithing stable. A smaller man than Granius, yet one who had more weight than him hammered away on some sort of tool, or weapon. His stable had metal tools littered all over the walls.Only one anvil stood, and it was the one he was working on.

“He used to live in this village. Apparently he was on the run from somewhere. We welcomed him with open arms. That was around a year ago.” The sound of the hammer clanged through Granius’ words. Ezra was still able to make it out. The golden chief grabbed a single axe from the wall and began to examine it. The weapon was miniscule in his large hands. “For some time he helped tell us about fresh fruits outside of the village. He had some sort of foresight for things that were in good shape.”

Granius tossed a few coins down onto the counter, next to where the obese blacksmith continued his work. He left the stable and proceeded down another road. The axe he was able to hold with just two of his fingers. Ezra couldn’t stop comparing it to the one already on his back. It was like night and day with the two. They began to approach another stable, This had a large whetstone on display to be used by anyone. Granius sat before it and got to work on sharpening the axe. Sparks began flying everywhere, as the weapon itself began to change color, going from its dark silver into a bright red.

“Zarcah never allowed anyone within his home. I knew he was a necromancer. If only i knew he had something to hide.”

“Something to hide.” Ezra responded confused. The axe itself began to resemble a ruby. Granius held it up to the sky, getting a red light shining down towards him.

“There was a young orphan boy who used to live here. His parents died fighting monsters. Zarcah had taken…..an interest in this kid. At first you’d assume he was just teaching the boy magic. Giving him the father he never had.” With the weapon to it’s proper shine and sharpness. Granius continued bringing Ezra through the village. Their next destination was a witches shop. An old witch sat in the center of numerous plants. Granius armor made much audible footsteps on the wooden floor. ALerting their presence to the witch. He handed over the axe to the senior. She took it into her chiseled hands and walked over to the only table not occupied by floral. “That’s when we made a horrifying discovery. Zarcah himself was on the run from the Hulion Empire. He was a known criminal who kidnapped children and sell them off to some unknown buyer. I had to keep things rather friendly, so I went to have a talk with him. That’s when i found his little pupil being experimented on.”

Ezra became fearful.

“I had no idea what he was doing. Yet after what I had heard, I took my axe and attempted to strike him down. FOr a simple necromancer, he never struck me as the physical fighter type. And he wasn’t.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“So how did he get away?” Ezra asked, still fearful of the possible answer.

“He brought the boy back, unbeknowst to us all. That kid has some serious power. It seemed as if Zarcah was attempting to get the power for himself. Yet failed. So he used the boy's magic to fight his way out of the village. My wife Aden managed to put a rest to the kid. I’m sure you have already seen her.”

“The woman storming out of the village.” Ezra answered all while watching the old witch and what she was doing with the axe. She was putting some enchantment over it, while writing out a name on the axe’s hilt. Ashley.

“Yeah. Today’s our anniversary. She didn’t like what I got her. She’ll be back later on. So I don’t need to worry. What about you though? You still plan on fighting him?” Granius asked. The witch finished her enchantment. The axe was returned to Granius. He gave the old woman a kiss on the temple, and left the shop.

“I don’t intend to. I’m sure Nicholi can handle it. The monster however. That’s something I can take.” Ezra stated his words with confidence as Granius continued to the exit of the village. He mounted one of the steads,it was incredibly larger than the average mare, and started to ride towards the woods. Ezra followed behind, now mounted to Anabelle.

“You got some guts, I'll give you that.” Granius yelled as the wind nearly drowned out his voice. The trotted allowed through the woods, passing some trees which had been cut, and others that began to only resemble the marks of being struck with some kind of weapon. That’s when they approached a woman sitting at the base of one such tree. She had long beautiful red hair that was flowing all around her body. She was garbed in white red overalls with a black undershirt. She sat with her knees to her face, and she held a broken axe handle in one hand. The blade lodged into the tree she sat on.

Granius started to approach her. He took the scarlet axe and placed it to her feet. The woman noticed and revealed her head. She appeared identical to the woman from before, who was angrily leaving the village.

“I had this made for you. I knew you would need it soon.” Granius softly spoke to her. Ezra knew this wasn’t the same woman as before. They looked the same but she had to be someone else.

The woman dropped the old axe handle, and reached out to the newer one. As her hands gripped it, she smiled and stood onto her feet. Granius took her in and the two kissed.

“Umm….I thought you had a wife?” Ezra questioned the entire situation.

“Oh. Sorry about that. I have two wives.” Straight from Granius’ words, Anabelle sense immediately that Ezra was feeling shocked, though his body didn’t communicate it. She chuckled along with Granius. “Come on. Let’s go back to the village. Aden will be back soon.”

“So this one must be Ashley?” Ezra asked.

“Yes she is. She’s not very talkative but she loves to mine and do blacksmith work.” Granius spoke of his wife in high regard. Ashley herself perched onto Granius’ shoulder, and held onto the axe tightly. “So, you got all the info you need?”

“Is that all you can give me?”

“Pretty much.” Granius said back.

“Well then. All I have to do is wait for Nicholai to return with the potion and we can use it on those two bodies.” Ezra’s words rang in Ashleys ears. She put her mouth to Granius’ ear and spoke into it. He nodded along as she spoke.

“Your right. It must have been them?”

“Who?” Ezra asked.

“The two bodies. Was it a man and a woman, about the same height, bright colored hair?” Granius questioned.

“Yeah. Most of their bodies were toast due to the lightning.”

“Well.” Granius looked off to the side slightly. “Let’s head back to the village. If you intend on fighting, you’ll need to tune up that blade of yours. It’ll get you nowhere if you don’t keep it fined.” Granius mounted his horse. Ashley sat before him and held on to the mare’s head. The 4 rode back towards the village. Ezra made a mental note of the info he recieve. All he needed was Nicholai to do his part.