Arlie stood in front of the mirror, Ria a step behind her. She’d been in town for a few days, while she got her new armor made. It wouldn’t help her in the Red Temple, given she wouldn’t be able to take a single thing with her, not even clothing into the trial. But it would help her reach the temple, and be useful traveling to the next. Overall it was a good investment even if it did end up costing a few gold. The armored robes had been finished earlier this morning, and Ria had picked them up. She already knew they should fit, she’d been there during the fitting sessions, but today she’d actually get to wear them in their finished form. In fact she was wearing them now.

  The new robes came with a sturdy pair of armored boots which she found a little tight around her feet. Honestly she much preferred being barefoot but being barefoot in the hills was foolish. She hoped the boots would break in sooner rather than ter or she’d be dealing with blisters.

  Looking at her reflection she saw more of a dress than the usual robes she’d wear. The hem ended just above her knees and was secured at her waist with a belt. The trim was silver and the sleeves a lovely shade of light grey. A panel of silver ran down the center of the robe and between her breasts all the way to the base of the hem, on either side were panels of light blue. The sides of the dress were grey, while her cn crest was embzoned on her left breast, a pointed shield upon which three concentric circles surrounded a pair of lightning bolts striking at a central point from which a fire bolt shot straight up had been inscribed. Behind that shield a single-winged sword pointed down, the wings wrapping down around the shield almost as if they were hugging it. The whole crest was down in silver and blue upon a bck background. Not all the mage cns had crests but hers had supported the royal family for generations, they were equal to the nobility. Not that they had any nds to govern or armies to command, but they did have a voice on the king’s council. In many respects, their position in the court was most akin to that of the knight orders, hence their crest.

  She’d been told their crest in particur was also representative of their blessing and that the crest was of divine nature. She also knew each element had meaning, the wings honored the Skylords who had blessed their cn, the shield and sword honored their role within the kingdom, while the lightning and fire were representative of their magic. The Contrey cn was blessed mainly with mages of lightning and fire, the other elements were not as common within their cn. Although Arlie wasn’t sure what the circles represented, or why there were three of them. Arlie had asked her aunt many years ago, but she did not know either.

  The whole ensemble had been woven with enchantments and lined with dragon scale. Getting the scales of a dragon was easy enough in Varixyies, given the abundance of them in the region it wasn’t uncommon for them to shed scales where they could be harvested. There wasn’t any need to actually hunt the dragons. The best scales however could be obtained by sneaking into a dragon’s ir, but that was risky. Much easier to collect those the dragons lose naturally after they’ve been fighting a Spineback. Arlie was aware that quite a few adventurers made their living by scouring draconic hunting grounds. It wasn’t easy, since those same areas were home to many predators and even monsters.

  Dragon scale was popur in mage armor, since it had excellent defensive properties and didn’t interfere with mana flow. Although Arlie was aware that anywhere else in the world this dress would have sold for more than three times what they had paid.

  “Well Arlie, you certainly look lovely in that.”

  “Thanks, I’m amazed at how light it feels, hardly feels like I’m wearing anything at all.”

  “Well, Polca knew a good vendor. Lady Ange does business with the local mage order, and supplies armor to most of the adventurer mages in Arcs. I dropped my old armor with her when I picked yours up. Good thing I found her since I needed a new vendor myself.”

  Arlie turned around, “You did?”

  “I have the feeling I might need my armor again, what with hellspawn surfacing, who knows what might be next.”

  “... you might be right about that,” said Arlie as Rika produced a box.

  “Now there is one more thing you should take, Polca wasn’t wrong about the south. I assume you’ve been keeping up with your sword training?”

  Arlie sighed, “I have, but aside from the footwork, I...”

  “Still don’t see the point? Just keep in mind what I told you.”

  “That the bde dance is part of our traditions and that a Contrey should be able to dance with bde and spell with equal measure, but what’s the point when a well-pced spell can level castle walls? No bde could ever do that.”

  Ria opened a box, “No normal bde perhaps,” she said as she drew out a sword, “this one is no normal sword. It's been passed down from mother to daughter within our line for many years. Now that you are going on your pilgrimage, it is your turn to wield Skylord’s Wrath.”

  Arlie’s eyes widened as Ria unsheathed the bde revealing a pristine magebde, “That’s a magebde!”

  “Not just any magebde, it was a gift to our family by the King of the Gods, forged by the god of the forge and enchanted to channel lightning magic.”

  Arlie took the bde gingerly, noting its features, the bde was about fifty-five centimeters long given her size that felt like a good length to her. Longer bdes would have been harder to use. The hilt had an odd little bump at the base of the guard, the pommel was clearly made of orichalcum, but only in part, several prongs of the valuable metal were used to hold a round crystal in pce, one that was clearly unusual given the swirling hues of blue, green and silver within its depths. Ever changing she could imagine being drawn into the depths of that crystal. Thin wires of dark metal and Mythril wrapped around the handle, where she found the family crest embzoned on the bde.

  The bde itself was pristine, double-edged and perfectly straight, the metal gleamed in the light and had an unusually silvery-blue hue to it. The metal swirled between lighter and darker tones of that hue in an eborate pattern. Flicking the little bump, Arlie was amazed when four prongs sprung up from the bde in a strange fashion that didn’t seem practical for a bde, yet now lightning arced between the bde and its prongs. Mana flowing from her palm and into the sword. “How strange.”

  “Spreading the prongs, and using your mana will let you swing a bde of lightning to smite your foes. Recall our bde dance? That fighting style was trained for this sword and those like her.”

  “Those like her?”

  “This isn’t the only such bde we have, the cn has forged a few others over the years. I’ll introduce you to the family smith one day.”

  “Um, thanks,” she replied as she sheathed the bde then hooked it to her belt. It felt comfortable there on her hip and she looked back at the mirror. It looked right hanging from her waist, almost as if it completed the look. She was starting to look like a proper sword mage.

  Ria picked up the other set of armor, “In the meantime, you’d better get ready to go.”

  Arlie nodded and moved away from the mirror. She looked good in her new armor, but she was burning daylight now. They pnned to leave today, the armor had arrived on schedule and nothing was wrong with it, so they were going to follow pn and get going. “I’ll inform the twins, can you collect the potions I left in the workshop?”

  “Sure thing sweetie,” said Ria as she stepped out of the room. Arlie followed her out a moment ter to wake the twins. Having had a few days to chat, her friends had chosen to assist her on the quest. The twins naturally were coming, Horon having finished his new hammer could have gone home, but he too volunteered to help her on this little quest. Arlie was happy to have his help. Naturally, Thron didn’t want to be left out so he was tagging along as well, Arlie just hoped he’d be useful. Well, at the very least he was a decent set of muscles. She fingered the sword on her hip, or maybe even a sparring partner?

  She didn’t usually walk around with a sword though, hell she’d spent most of her time practicing in the basement. Ria had started training her in the sword when she was five, it was the same day she’d started her lessons on magic. She’d always enjoyed the ones covering magic, but the sword lessons she could have done without.

  It wasn’t long before the group was gathered around the cart waiting to leave town via the northern gate. Horon drew closer, his eye on her bde, “Can’t say I’ve ever seen you with a sword.”

  Arlie sighed, “Aunt Ria gave me it, something of a heirloom apparently. I can use it, if that is what you are asking.”

  “Oh? Something you aren’t happy about?”

  “I’m a mage, not a sword dancer! A well-pced spell can bring down castles, what good is a sword!?”

  “Dancer? That’s a strange turn of phrase and in regard to the sword. I’m sure your aunt has her reasons.”

  Arlie looked away her face flushed a little, “It would make sense if you ever saw the style Aunt Ria taught me. It’s more like dancing than the swordsmanship the guards use.”

  Rose pressed against her, “Well isn’t that cute, you’re embarrassed!”

  Lily giggled, but said nothing.

  Horon pointed up, “Looks like it’s our turn to leave.”

  Arlie thankful for the subject change, broke from Rose and took a step towards the gate. Dusk followed along pulling their cart, just as a guard moved over to greet them. Nothing more than the usual sort of deal, and before she knew it they were on their way out of town. Idly she went over the mental list of things they had packed for the trip, they had plenty of arrows, potions, first aid supplies, spare clothing, tents and bedding, fire starters, utensils and other camping goods. They’d packed enough food and water for several weeks of travel, and there were some vilges along the path towards the Red Temple that they could stop at to purchase more supplies, and game normally wasn’t too hard to find. They could supplement their food with fresh hunting and foraging. All of them knew what to look for when it came to edible pnts, they practically grew up in the forest afterall. They all knew the forest around Voros really well but that didn’t extend up here however. Knowing the dangers of getting lost, she’d purchased a map at the guild along with a number of navigational aids, including a compass and a magic tool that would reveal where one is located on a map.

  Everyone also had their personal gear, Arlie had her new mage armor and a sword at her hip. Horon had his knew smithing hammer and had brought along some supplies so he could maintain their weapons. He still had the shield and axe he’d brought along from st time as well, but at some point he’d fitted himself with some nice armor. It was leather reinforced with steel ptes to protect his vitals and chainmail under that. Pretty nice stuff, he’d figured it was a good idea to acquire some decent armor if they were going to be traveling up north. The monsters that way were more dangerous.

  Thron had picked up simir armor as well while in town and a new shield to go along with the sword he had brought from home. He almost looked like a dashing knight in the new garb, almost Thron managed to ruin the impression with his first words.

  The twins were still using their hunting leathers. It wasn’t really armor, but they were archers. Light armor was best for them, the heavier metal armor the boys had invested in wouldn’t make sense for them. Rose had said they had looked around but hadn’t found any designs that interested them. Arlie just hoped they’d find some armor sooner rather than ter. She never even noticed the eye watching them as they left.