Hunter Or Huntress

Chapter 33: Get Up

Sapphire had gone to try and lure Nunuk out of bed for dinner only to find the door ajar, she politely knocked and waited outside without answer, she peeked inside and was met with an empty room.

“Huh?”

She hobbled back down the corridor knocking on all the doors.

“Come in” was the answer from Dakota's room. Of course, why hadn’t she thought of that? She was greeted by Nunuk sitting on the bedside with her sword in her hands. Dakota laying on the bed staring up into the ceiling.

“Is this a bad time?”

“No, don’t worry, it's as good a time as any,” Nunuk answered, getting up turning to face Sapphire, the old lady sounded somber, Sapphire thought.

“Dinner's almost ready, will you be joining us?”

"Sapphire, if you wouldn’t mind I think she needs somebody other than me for a while” Nunuk walked past Sapphire giving her a pat on the shoulder, leaving her with Dakota. Sapphire hobbled over to sit on the bedside.

“Not feeling so well, I take it?”

“Saph, why was I so scared?” She sounded almost depressed, Sapphire thought

“You were drowning in an ice-cold lake in the middle of a storm? That sounds scary to me”

“He wasn't, he was so calm. How could he be so calm?”

“I don’t know, maybe he loves the water? Didn’t you hear him scream most of the way down? You weren't scared then”

“Well I had a job to do, I had to catch him, he wasn’t making it otherwise, now was he?” Dakota sounded a bit irritated now.

“I think you just managed to answer your own question there old girl. You were scared in the water because you couldn’t do anything, Tom was scared in the air because he couldn’t do anything.”

“You don’t understand, I heard him laughing while he swam, he was laughing Sapphire and when we got out Nunuk said it damn near killed him too, he was so exhausted he couldn’t crawl let alone stand. And you heard him afterward, he was scared too, incredibly scared. Maybe even more scared than me. He laughed in the face of death. I couldn’t even keep calm? I damn near drowned us both.”

“Well first off, Tom was the one who got you both into that mess. And secondly, you heard him, he wasn’t scared of the water, he was scared of having lied to you, he made that very clear. Thirdly, did you see how he broke down afterward? He might have been laughing, But he sure as hell wasn't happy if that is what you think.”

“And now he is back on his feet and I’m just lying here, unable to sleep or even relax. All the while my mother tried to sell our ancestral blade for some metal bars. And who comes along to save the day again? He hasn’t even been here a month, Sapphire, yet he is outdoing us all!” She sounded angry by now, Sapphire knew Dakota could have a temper but this wasn’t directed at anyone else.

“So that's what this is about then?” Sapphire went in a stern voice. “You have found a new person to compare yourself to, so you can justify feeling bad about yourself” Sapphire had seen this before in Dakota and she would be damned if she let her get away with feeling pity for herself.

“Wah? No!”

“Oh no, I got you now, we've been through this all before. You are seriously suggesting that a buffoon who managed to crash twice in a month, despite not being able to fly. Who got defeated by a bunch of children also twice. And made a complete fool of himself standing staring at an old Dragon like a kid seeing the outside for the first time. Is seriously putting you in such a bad mood you won’t even get out of bed!” Sapphire knew she was laying it on thick, but this just wouldn’t do.

“But he...”

“He would most likely be ashamed if he knew why you are lying here, but I doubt he has figured it out, yesterday he asked if we are all afraid of water or if we could swim! He even offered to try and teach you how to swim when I said no. So now you better get up before I go tell him you have accepted that offer.” Dakota looked somewhere between stunned and defeated as she lowered her head.

“Then why was my mother trying to sell that blade? You know what it means and who was supposed to inherit that responsibility.”

“I… I don’t know. What did she tell you?” Sapphire had been stumped by that decision. Dakota had a point there she admitted to herself. There must be an explanation though. “She had a debt to pay and she was hoping he might, in turn, reward us with weapons far beyond a blade” Sapphire didn’t even believe that herself really.

“But why didn't she ask me first! Or even Tom for that matter. She pinned our family's heritage on him, and you tell me I shouldn’t compare myself to him? She clearly did!”

“I thought you didn’t want that responsibility? Maybe she is looking for a way to avoid forcing it on you?”

“I said I didn’t know if I would be ready for it! But it will be years before I had to be, but if she sold it I would never even get the chance.”

“Nobody is ever ready. At least, anyone who claims so isn’t. You told me that yourself. But did she at least tell you why?”

“She said it was just a sword, that another would be made long before it was time, or found and bought it’s not like it’s a one-off. She was sorry she didn’t ask me first though. I mean, sure she is right, but that doesn't make it right what she did.”

“Well people make mistakes you might hold your mother in high regard but nobody is perfect. And hey, Tom certainly isn’t He tried making a gun while drunk last night. So maybe the next weapon of the keep won’t even be a blade.” Sapphire tried to sound happy, she needed to get her friend back on her feet after all.

“You're kidding, right? he actually did that, did it work?”

“He didn’t succeed no, but he did try I swear”

“Did he just forget he swore not to do that or did change his mind?”

“Don’t know, both by the sound of it. He was not happy with himself this morning but Shiva said she just needed to tell him some scary stories to get him to keep at it. apparently, you can scare him like you would a little kid”

“Not Kiran you won’t.”Dakota let a smirk creep onto her face, progress Sapphire thought. “Okay, I’ll grant you he isn’t the smartest then.” Dakota continued

“He apparently went beyond even what he had brought too. He talked with Shiva about a weapon capable of killing a dragon in a single shot. Come now that is something I want to see, even if my ears probably won’t thank me.”

“What could do something like that?” Dakota questioned

“He called it a cannon. I have no clue what that is though.”

“As long as he does not start blowing traders out of the sky.”

“Yeah, that would be bad. Speaking of which he apparently hit it off quite well with Archeon the two had a chat for a while. He even let Tom measure him up and answered questions on how to kill a dragon so that was quite something to watch.

And hey last night he tried to dance with Fengi. That was truly hilarious. He Didn’t have the faintest clue how to do anything. After that, though he did manage to beat most of us in a game of deception while so drunk he could hardly speak.”

“Wait, you think he is actually smart or an idiot?”

“I honestly have no clue, he seems so contradictory. He is kind though but we knew that. As long as he doesn’t figure out Nunuks little scheme. Actually coming to think of it he might not even mind that much.”

“Yeah let’s hope so. If he can kill dragons there isn’t much that could stop him.” Dakota agreed

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Tom was back to watching the kids while the others prepped dinner. He had gotten quite used to this by now the little buggers would run around play games ask stupid questions. He would do his level best to keep them entertained and out of trouble. Right now his translation abilities were being put to the test as he tried to tell a children’s story to his miniature audience.

As story time concluded with a lot of bewildered kids trying to figure out what a spider was, some arguing it sounded like a hamir but much smaller. Others if rain could really wash you away? Kokashi had entered asking Tom to come out and talk for a little while.

“I heard you liked playing with fire?” the guard went sounding enthusiastic. once the door had been closed.

“Uhm yes…” Tom wasn’t quite sure where this was going.

“I think you are gonna like this then” Kokashi produced a small metal tube with a cork in it “Flash powder”

Okay, now the guard had Tom's attention, did they already have explosive powders?

“What is it?”

“A small spark and poof… you get a fireball that grills everything. Even a little of it makes a good distraction. Mix it with oil and you get a sticky substance that burns great. We use it for firebombs”

Okay then, magic napalm powder. That would be useful, Tom thought. Also, they had firebombs, why hadn’t he been shown that? I wonder what else might be locked away, he thought to himself.

“Incredible! How is made?”

“Its dried fire dragon spit,” Kokashi replied seeming quite proud of himself

“Sounds expensive?”

“Yeah sort of, not too bad though, many dragons make the stuff as a side profit.”

“You said fire dragon, what about other dragons”

“Well, storm dragons make blitz powder, that stuff is dangerous as hell. Usually, we store it wet so as to not risk it going off. Acid dragons can make a dry powder that is safe to handle, add water then it can eat steel! Poison is well... just a very nasty poison. Frost dragons make blizzard powder, it’s also known as powdered winter, it freezes anything it touches once you add water.” Kokashi was clearly enthusiastic on the subject.

Tom just stood there for a moment pondering that, here he was trying to make black powder and they had what sounded like lightning in powder form. Why hadn’t he thought of that, there was magic here after all. That meant magic materials of course. “Does Vulzan have?”

“Blitz sure, otherwise there is sort of a ready supply on hand. I checked our stores, we had a few tubes of flash powder. Apuma said he had a bit of the acid, not much though. I don’t know if he has anything else on hand.”

“Okay, then I want blitz powder, sounds fun, how expensive?”Tom thought Kokashy had a rather smug face at the moment, he apparently enjoyed being the one holding the cards for once.

“A small flask of the thick syrupy stuff should run you about five silver, maybe a little less if you are handy”

“Can be done. How much for a really big boom!” Tom gestured to the tubes of flash powder Kokashi was holding.

“Uhm… well, a full tube would kill us both instantly, I think?” Kokashi suddenly looked a bit more apprehensive of what he was holding, Seemingly having gotten caught up in the moment. “Just ask Nunuk or Rachuck before you start using it, okay? It's not exactly cheap.” The guard handed them over very carefully. There were maybe between 50 and 100 grams in each by Tom’s estimate. It sounded like it was potent stuff though.

“Okay I do that”

This opened up so many new possibilities, he would need samples. It sounded like he might already have access to three out of the five which would be amazing. And if this blitz stuff was essentially magic lighting and apparently unstable, that would be very useful. Perhaps he should have a crack at magical alchemy before deciding on what to do next.