RavensDagger

  Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Nine - Armour Up?“Yoing to fall off if you keep hanging over the edge,” Amaryllis cautioned.

  I looked at the rail I was leaning on, and how rickety it seemed, and decided that maybe Amaryllis was right. I’d been enjoying looking down, my head poking over the edge so that I could take in as much of Wallwatch as I could.

  The ground was so far below!

  We’d been higher aboard the Beaver, of course, but that was different somehow. The Beaver was flying. Right then, we were just at the top of a very rge building. It was a whole lot more intimidating.

  “The view’s nice,” I said.

  “I’m sure,” Amaryllis said. “I’m all done. We should be fine as long as we leave before su.”

  We were waitio a small tower at the end of the docks. It was a stratle building, made of tin and desigo look a bit like a lighthouse. A really mispced lighthouse.

  I cpped my hands. “Alright! Where do we adveo ?” I asked.

  “Ah, I think we should get fuel,” Awen said. “It’s the most important thing right now. And after that, if we have time, I would like to visit an armourer.”

  “An armourer?” I asked.

  Awen looked down a little, fiwinning together. “Yes? I think I could use some armour, maybe?”

  “Armour would be a good iment,” Amaryllis said. “We don’t need you getting hurt, and with your skills as a meic, I’m certain you’d be able to maintain it well enough. You could afford to get something more plex than unmoving pte.”

  “Let’s go shopping!” I decred.

  “After we get fuel,” Amaryllis said.

  I rolled my eyes, and then grinned as her feathers started to poof in indignation. “I’m not dumb,” I said. “I know we need fuel first.”

  “I question that every moment I spend with you,” she said. “And don’t roll your eyes at me! It’s ill-mannered.”

  Laughing, I bounced ahead of my friends, half-turning once I was a few paces ahead. “e on, I don’t know where to buy fuel from!”

  There wasly a fuel store, as station for that matter. Amaryllis asked around, and we were directed to a building one level down. That meant taking a circur staircase down from the docks and to a level of the city filled with lots of workshops and more industrial busihere weren’t any shops like I was familiar with here. Just local crafters selling things from their workpces.

  The fuel depot wasn’t too far off, a little offiext to a hole where big tanks were suspended. Hoses stuck out of them, one leading into a cart with a much smaller tank on the back.

  I followed Amaryllis in, and found it to be a cramped little pce, just a front desk with a mana-powered fan squeaking away on it. It smelled like peppers and oil, and the man behind the ter wore a stained jerkin.

  Amaryllis led the iations, because she could be mean in a way that I just couldn’t manage. I’d probably just accept the first offer made and be happy with that.

  It took a few minutes, but in the end Amaryllis and the man shook, albeit relutly, and we were told that as soon as the st delivery of fuel was done, we’d be .

  “So,” I said as we stepped back out. It was strao be outside during midday, a not be out in the sun. The yer above wasn’t fully covered, so it left big spots of sunlight along the walkways and streets, but even bigger shadow-y spots lioo. “We have a couple of hours, then?”

  “We do,” Amaryllis said.

  Bastion shifted his shoulders, obviously waiting for us to pick out something to do, since he didn’t seem to mind any. “In that case, we should find Awen some armour! And you too, Amaryllis.”

  “Me?” the harpy asked.

  “Yup. You got hurt st time too.”

  “That was a slight miscalcution.”

  “The slight miscalcution could end up with you hurt again,” I said. “I don’t want to see my friends hurt at all.”

  She squirmed a bit. “Armour is heavy.”

  “You’re a big, strong birdgirl,” I said. “And with armour, you’ll be a big, strong, tough birdgirl.”

  “Idiot.”

  We had to ask for dires to an armourer. As it turned out, there was only one in all of Wallwatch. The city wasn’t all that big, more of a multi-story town than anything. It had all sorts of people from all sorts of species, but only a modest popution.

  It made sense. Wallwatch was about as out-of-the-way as a pce could be. I imagihat it was a cool pce for people that wao be left alone.

  The armourer’s shop was on the lowest level, where instead of roads there were bridges all over, eg homes and little pzas together. It was a detly rge shop, with a big long ey stig out at an ao spew smoke from the side of Wallwatch.

  “Hello!” I said as I opehe front door.

  I was greeted by the ringing gs and bangs of metal oal. My bun ears flipped back, proteg them from the noise a little.

  Awen stepped up and started to give the pce a tour. There was armour on racks, and more piled up on shelves along the walls. Not that many though, the eorefront was small and fined, and with all four of us it was even tighter. We couldn’t even keep each other at more than arm’s length without bumping into the walls.

  The hammering paused, and someone poked their head in. A grenoil! I hadn’t seen any grenoil in a long while. “Ah! I ‘ave ts!” he cheered. He had that distinct Deepmarsh at, though it wasn’t as strong as some of the renoil I’d met. Probably he spent a lot of time away from home. “Wele to Wilbur’s, ze best pce for armour and tris in Wallwatch!”

  “H-hello,” Awen said with a quick courtesy that used her jacket’s hem in pce of a skirt. “We’re looking for, ah, a few things.”

  “Oh of course, of course,” he said as he moved to be behind his ter. It retty low, likely on at of grenoils not being all that tall to begin with. “I see some iing work here. The sylph has some nice equipment there. Is that a Lukas piece?”

  Bastion looked down at his armour, then back up. “You’re familiar with the royal armourer?”

  “Just his work, and just wiz my eyes. The bun miss here has... zat’s from Deepmarsh?” he asked, standing a bit taller.

  “It is!” I said. “Port Royal, a pce called, uh.” I turo Amaryllis and she answered with a shrug.

  “I know where the shop is, not what it’s called,” she said.

  “It’s good quality,” Wilbur said. “Does it need any adjusting?”

  I shook my head, theured to Awen and Amaryllis. “My friends keep getting stabbed, so we need armour.”

  Amaryllis gred. “I’m not even going to waste energy on being indignant. You’re too stupid to be worth the effort.”

  Wilbur nodded while wisely pretending he didn’t hear that. “Who do we start wiz? I make somezing if you give me a day or two.”

  “Ah, we don’t have that much time,” Awen said. “I... I’m the ohat wants something, mostly.”

  Wilbur stepped around and started to walk around Awen. “I have a few things that’ll fit with just some quick ges. Not zat big are you? Is zat what you usually wear when out getting stabbed?” He gestured to hoas dressed.

  She had a nice blouse on, with pants tucked into her boots, and of course her big blue coat over it all. “This is what I usually wear, yes.”

  “Hmm. Not much. I don’t know if stuffing you in full pte would be a good idea. A... meic? Well, at least you’ll be able to maintain it. How about scale?”

  “Scale?” Awen asked.

  “Over a zin gambeson to prevent chafing,” Wilbur said. He moved bad pulled something from a shelf and held it up. It iece of armour, like a long shift, but made entirely of loal scales.

  “That looks a bit... much?” Awen tried.

  Wilbur tossed it back. “Course! In zat case, maybe somezing zat fits a little more snug? I’ve got mail zat ought to fit you. Long sleeved too, with a prambeson u so you should be covered fairly well.”

  The armourer moved to the other side of the room and pulled out a suit of mail with a whole lot of king. Awen moved over and poked at it, then nodded. “I think that would be nice.”

  “Wonderful! I’ll need your measurements to fit zis properly.” He tossed the mail onto his ter, theo the bad shuffled through a rack with what looked like thickly padded clothes. “Here! Zis is new, it should adjust to you,” he said as he returned with what looked like a long-sleeved shirt that added here and there. Nothing as poofy as my first gambeson, but I imagihat the would make up for it.

  “Ah, thank you,” Awen said.

  “Well, put it on.”

  Awen’s face ged colours a few times. “Do you have a washroom?” she asked.

  Wilbur hen directed her to somewhere where she could ge. While she was gone, he turned his attention to Amaryllis. “You needed armour too?”

  “My friends are insisting,” she said.

  Wilbur tapped his while looking her up and down. “The coat’s leather?”

  “It is.”

  “Any room i?”

  She pihe front of her jacket. “Some? I’m hardly ht.”

  “Well zen, I have some steel is sitting around. Made zem for somezing else, but I’m sure I could fit zem into zat coat of yours. It would armour you up a little. Not too heavy eizer. I’d still suggest a hauberk. Maybe a zio wear under ze coat as well?

  It didn’t take much work at all to find some armour for Amaryllis. She didn’t want her arms covered at all, because that would limit the use of her wings, so Wilbur found a mail shirt simir to the one he’d found for Awen that had a decorative edge to it. By the time Amaryllis surrendered her jacket for the grenoil to modify, Aweurned with her coat folded over an arm and her new gamberson on.

  It was a deep blue, not too far from her coat, with a tall ned just a bit of embroidery on it to pretty it up.

  “Nice!” I said.

  “It fits well,” Awens said.

  “Good,” Amaryllis replied. “Speaking of... do you do entments?”

  “Afraid not,” Wilbur said. “I prepare zings for it, but you’ll o find someone who knows zat sort of magic better zan I do.”

  Wilbur told us that the modifications would take a couple of hours, so that left us standing around with nothing much to do. “Should we get lunch?” I asked.

  That got everyone moving agaiold Wilbur we’d be back soon enough, and as a group, we left and started making our a floor, eyes peeled for somewhere to eat at.

  I was expeg an inn, or a tavern, but instead we found a sort of mom-and-pop restaurant run by a couple of harpies. They specialized in breakfast food, though without any eggs on their menu.

  But they did have fresh amon buns!

  We ate, drank (mostly fruit juice, Awen took one look at the alcohol stuff a pale) and had a good time. It wasn’t some grand adventure, but it was fun with the people I loved the most, and sometimes that was more than enough.

  ***

  RavensDagger

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