Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [83]
Seeing him noticing her looking at him, she flashes him a quick, slightly embarrassed smile and then resumes her conversation with her brother.
Several hours later, they finally see Delia and her group returning. Trailing along behind are a couple boys carrying armloads of packages.
“Think you got enough?” Jiron asks, a slight smile on his face.
“Hope so,” she says, oblivious to his sarcasm. “Just a few necessities that will be needed.”
Ezra has a new sling for Arkie slung across her chest, his wide, curious eyes peering out from within.
“Just put them in that wagon there,” she tells the porters. When they’ve placed them in the desired location, she gives them each two coppers and they return back to the city.
“Shall we?” Jiron asks James.
“Yeah, lets,” he agrees. So this time, James, Jiron, Tinok and Roland go into town to get the equipment they’ll need tomorrow for their new ‘guards’, as well as some extra clothes for themselves.
Their first stop is a clothier where they each purchase a second set of clothes, as well a set for the guys they’ll be purchasing tomorrow. James arranges to have them delivered back to the caravan.
Outside the clothier’s, Roland asks, “Now where to?”
“Need to get some weapons for them as well,” Jiron says. “If they’re going to be guards, they won’t do much good without them.”
“True,” agrees James. Asking a passerby, Roland learns of a blacksmith across town that usually has a surplus supply of weapons for sale. They proceed over there to see what he has available.
On the way they see a group of Parvatis coming down the street toward them, five of them, their distinctive tattoos giving them a menacing appearance. Unsure as to how they are likely to react over the outcome of the fight earlier, James leads them down a side alley. Hiding in the shadows against one of the walls, they wait until they see the group pass by the mouth of the alley. Then Jiron returns to the end and peers around the corner to see if the coast is clear. When he sees the Parvatis have moved down the street, he gives the others an all-clear signal and they return to the street.
“That was close,” Roland says.
“Don’t know if we could have fought off that many,” James says. “Not and avoid unwanted attention.”
Keeping a lookout for more roving bands of Parvatis, they continue toward the blacksmith’s.
Having to ask for directions two more times, they finally arrive outside of an open courtyard where metal being hammered can be heard coming from within a building off to the side. Entering the courtyard, they see where the side of the building opens up and in the shade given by an overhang, a burly man is busily hammering a piece of metal upon an anvil. To James’ relief, the man appears to have originated from the north.
At their approach, he puts the hot metal into a bucket of water, a steaming hiss and a cloud of steam appears when the hot metal hits the water. He holds it there but a moment before quickly removing it. After a quick inspection, he places the piece of metal upon a nearby table and turns to greet them. “Good day to you sirs,” he says.
“Good day to you as well,” replies James. “We were told that you may have some weapons available for sale?”
“That I do,” the blacksmith tells him. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you what I have.”
“Thank you.”
Following the blacksmith, they enter the building through a side door where they find many racks holding various types of weapons. There are swords, knives, maces and several others that James has never seen before, all looking very deadly.
“What exactly are you interested in?” he asks.
James turns to Jiron and looks at him questioningly.
“Yorn usually used a longsword and shield,” he says.
“Potbelly likes two swords and Scar uses a shortsword and knife,” Tinok adds.
“If you gentlemen would like, feel free to look around and examine the weapons,” the blacksmith suggests.
“Thank you, we will,” replies James.
They inspect the various weapons while the blacksmith looks on. James is totally at a loss as far as telling if a weapon is good