Six Will Stand (First Draft)

Chapter 28

It was late in the day when Josh finally pushed his way through the door of Silvia and Dalgon's house. He had finished the piece of bread (can't argue with the king's order, you know) even though he wasn't all that hungry. It was dark outside, only the tall torches lit the path, and there was no moon in the sky.

Josh snapped back to the present when he heard his name called. "Joshua, son of Ilya! You are home late, dear. And you're filthy. Get upstairs and get cleaned up immediately." Silvia's orders were not carried out immediately, as she noticed many scrapes and the cut on his cheek and began to fuss over them. "What did his majesty have you doing anyway?"

"Mining wiftor. The blacksmiths need quite a bit for a project they're working on right now. Cerin doesn't want many people knowing where the cave is, so I was the only one mining." Josh sat down in a kitchen chair slowly, his joints starting to ache. He knew they'd be aching more tomorrow, but working on the king's secret project was more important than his sore muscles, so he ignored them.

Silvia nodded, having grabbed a cloth to clean the reopened wound on his cheek. "King Cerin is a wise man. He knows how few people he can truly trust."

"Yeah, no kidding." He glanced around, surprised to not see Fai, Cade, and Marion around. "Where are Elizabeth, Arthur, and Matt? I know they got back early from Yrin's..." He stopped, dwelling on that fact for a moment. "On second thought, how on earth did they manage to do that?"

Silvia shot a sharp glare to the doorway behind Josh. "You can ask your brother that one. He refuses to tell us."

Josh grinned, "Way to go, Rin! I think that's your best one yet!"

Silvia promptly smacked Josh on the back of the head. "Stop encouraging him!"

But the damage was done, and Rin came into Josh's view, green eyes swelling with pride. He gave Josh a short nod of acknowledgement before sitting down in the chair next to him.

Smirking, Josh went back to his first question. "Anyway, where are those three now?"

Silvia had stopped cleaning the wound and put a bandage on it before speaking. "They're in the garden with Nerik, trying to collect their energy."

Josh winced in sympathy. "Well, everyone has to start somewhere."

"Indeed, and you know that's the place most start." Silvia walked and sat down at her usual spot, across the table from Rin. "Dalgon went out to help them a little over an hour ago. It's a good thing too, because Nerik is not always a patient man. He's already given Matt about ten mind shocks as punishments for giving up."

"Yikes." Josh leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "Has any of them done it yet?"

"Elizabeth did once, but she hasn't gotten it again since," said Silvia

Josh nodded. "It's easier when you've previously used magic." Silvia and Rin nodded. "Oh, by the way, Erin and Myst are coming any minute to drop something off for me--" He was interrupted by a knock at the door. Opening his eyes, Josh grinned, "Those two have amazing timing, I must say."

Nodding in agreement, Rin got up to get the door and returned with both girls trailing behind him. Each held a cloth covered object. Rin's eyes shown. "Have you seen them yet? They're definitely top craftsmanship!"

Josh smiled, getting up and removing a portion of the cloth from around the one Rin was holding. "Wow. This is amazing."

Silvia came over as well. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wiftor?! These must cost a fortune! I sure hope you're paying these girls appropriately, Joshua."