A/N: Okiedokes, here's an update!
"What was that?" Ella asked, pale-faced. Suddenly, we heard Kiara yelling again.
"COWARD!" she screamed. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD STOOP SO LOW AS TO ATTACK WHEN MY BACK WAS TURNED! ACTUALLY, I DO BELIEVE THAT YOU'D DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT! YOU NO-GOOD, FILTHY COWARD!"
I cringed. Kiara was screaming at the top of her lungs- and let me tell you, that girl has lungs. I grabbed my sword and ran towards the sounds of my cousin's voice. I heard Ella and Tessa right behind me and the three of us turned into a clearing.
Kiara and Victoria had their swords at each other's throats. Victoria growled and Kiara was sneering at her. They hadn't noticed us yet. "You want a fight? I'll give you a fight," snarled Kiara. With that, she back flipped away, kicking Victoria's sword out of her hands as she did so. Normally, Kiara would've had her sword at Victoria's throat, but something about Victoria had changed. With a feral hiss, she seized her sword and went on the offensive, slashing and stabbing. Kiara repelled the attack and was about to launch one of her own when Victoria changed tactics. She charged towards me, and when Kiara saw us, a look of surprise crossed her face. The surprise changed to outrage when Victoria tried to grab Ella, who hadn't grabbed her sword on the way out of our camp, and put her own sword to Ella's neck. With an angry yell, Tessa charged Victoria, her bronze sword raised. Shadows seemed to be clinging to the blade, and with a start, I realized that Tessa's Exarae- the special power unique to everyone on the face of Sirotren- had come to life, and apparently, it was control over darkness. I was shell-shocked for a split second- nobody in our year had activated their Exarae yet!- but then I followed Tessa's lead and dashed towards Victoria.
Turns out, there was no need to. Ella had headbutted Victoria and slid out from her grip, then ran to Victoria's campfire to find the pickaxe I'd given her earlier in the evening. Victoria spun towards Tessa and I and started dueling us at once. She changed plans again and when I struck at her, she simply slid out from under my arm and ran towards Kiara, who was helping Ella find the pickaxe. She slashed Kiara's arm and all four of us spun towards her, filled with rage. I'd never seen Victoria like this. Normally, Kiara would have taken her down in the first few seconds of the duel. Then I noticed her eyes. They had a silvery tint. I slowed down- we needed a plan. I dashed back into the woods, my dormmates still intent on Victoria. I pulled out my screenpage and unrolled it, turning it on. Its face recognition software scanned my visage and let me in. I tapped the Messaging icon and sent a group message saying "Meet me in the woods."
I charged back into the clearing and took a deep breath, then I opened my mouth and started throwing insults at Victoria. My friends looked at me strangely, and when I gestured frantically towards the woods, they nodded and sprinted away. Victoria didn't notice. She stormed towards me, intent on slashing me to pieces, and stabbed at me. I parried the strike, knocked the sword out of her hands, and ran into the woods. "KEEP HER ANGRY! IT'LL MAKE HER OFF-BALANCE!" I yelled at my friends as loud as I could without alerting Victoria to the plan. We headed back into the clearing and, with numerous insults and a well-placed grappling hook from Ella (who had run back to our camp and grabbed her sword), subdued Victoria. I bonked her on the head with the pommel of my sword, untied her, and told my friends, "There's something wrong with her. Her eyes have become silver."
Tessa went green. "You're sure?"
I nodded. "Tess, are you okay?"
"It's nothing," she responded. It obviously was something, but I didn't want to press her.
"Then let's head back to camp. Tomorrow, we'll hopefully be finding the Mountain Forge," Kiara said. I nodded. We went back to the camp and settled in for the night.
The next morning, we successfully mined enough titanium and adamant to make our shields- plus some precious stones to decorate them- but there was still the question of finding the Mountain Forge. We broke camp, and with our large backpacks- now also holding pickaxes, gems, adamant and titanium ore, and the woven net of vines- we headed into the woods.
"We don't even know where we're going!" Ella exclaimed, three hours after we left the clearing. "Are we just going to walk in circles until we find the Mountain Forge?"
"Patience, Ella. Coach said we would find it," Tessa said calmly.
"I for one agree with Ella. It's not just gonna pop out of no-" The words stuck in my throat as we turned a corner (not that you can really turn corners in forests) and saw a large mountain with chiseled stone steps leading to double oak doors in the mountain's face.
"Undoubtedly the Mountain Forge," Kiara said. Hesitantly, we climbed the steps and pushed through the doors. My ears were assaulted by a thousand loud noises at once. I clapped my hands over my ears and looked around. I couldn't believe my eyes. At one end of the large rectangular room was a- well, not exactly a furnace. It was about as long as three average living rooms. The flames filled the room with light. I felt a slight tugging around my wrists, and I shot over to an empty spot by the furnace. My friends joined me. On the walls were all the tools we'd need to make our shields. I unpacked my materials and got to work.
It wasn't easy. Each layer of the shield had to cool, and it took a day for each layer to harden. We slept in front of the furnace while our shields cooled, and to eat, we took turns leaving the forge and gathering food. As we were reaching the end of the two-and-a-half week deadline, the body of my shield was finally finished. I crafted an armband for the shield to attach to, which was cushioned with leather the forge provided, and once the armband had been finished, I embedded a circle of rubies near the rim of the shield and one in the center. I had some extra time, so I lightly engraved the shield and armband with swirly patterns and created another knife.
"Do you guys want to try Power Embedding?" Ella asked quietly. I turned to look at her. Power Embedding, the embedding of certain attributes in weapons, was highly dangerous and advanced. I was about to say no, but I looked down the line of students at the forges and saw Victoria Bakeridge.
"Sure."
I felt foolish, whispering the "ancient incantations" over my sword, knives, and shield, but when they started to glow red and respond to my voice, the sense of foolishness immediately disappeared. I made my weapons Unbreakable, Unbendable, and Eternally Useful, as well as adding a little feature that would enable them to come to me when I needed them. I almost messed up multiple times, but Ella guided me through the process and I didn't kill myself. When I finally finished, I was exhausted, but it was worth it to see the look on Victoria's face when she saw our weapons, which were glowing, and to have the satisfaction knowing that I had just done something that many grown Hunters had not.
On the last day, we headed back to the spot where the hovercars had dropped us off and waited. Eventually, they came for us and took us back to Viventi.
A/N: I know it's a bad chapter, but I am extremely tired and functioning on only sugar right now. :)
-Deepio the Slytherclaw
