From the Ruins

Chapter 6

Garin ran the numbers through his head and nodded. "She's got a point, Luc."

The archer chewed his lip, looking between them and the bow. He knew Garin cold simply fix this with a new handle, it wasn't as if the arms of the bow were damaged. A new bow meant relearning. Each bow had its tendencies and he had had this one for years. And Glacier wood was hard to come by, none of the smiths he had visited over the years had any.

Not to mention that changing the curve, changed the draw length. All of the custom arrows Garin had made for him would be useless.

But that inventor with the small dragon had a point. His job was going to be taking down guards so Vaal could break in.

"Guess you're going to have to redesign these too, bud." He pulled out an arrow and extended it to its full length. He saw Gidget's eyes light up with excitement.

"So that's how those work," she whispered. She held out her hand to see it. Luc handed it over to her.

Garin rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. "That's an easy fix, just add another segment."

"Do you still have Glacier wood here, Garin? Or should I go make a trip to the Warps?" Luc crossed his arms and leaned back onto another workbench.

"Only have enough for a short bow, but I know a guy in Droskyn who might have enough. Name's Rov."

"I'll keep an eye out for him then." Luc's eyes flashed with recognition but didn't elaborate.

Gidget tuned them out as they continued to talk about who would have what. From what she knew, Droskyn had a black market for everything if you were looking hard enough. A trip out there had cost her and Kierce a month's worth of work just for a part that barely yielded any results. The ends didn't justify the means, so Gidget never went back.

The arrow she held in her hands was interesting. It had a twisting and locking mechanism built into it, so when Luc pulled it quickly out of his pouch it would automatically extend to its true length. But what really held her interest was the threading at the head. Carefully she unscrewed the arrowhead, avoiding the sharp edges. Currently, the arrow was equipped with a broadhead, meant for doing as much damage as possible.

"Luc, do all of your arrows have different tips?" She pushed up her glasses as she interrupted the men's conversation.

"Uh, yeah. I have some target heads and silent ones. Garin thought they were a good idea."

Gidget laughed, and both Luc and Garin took a step back.

"I have so many ideas for this."

Kierce rolled her eyes. You just have a thing for explosives.

The inventor didn't say anything to that but screwed the broadhead back onto the arrow shaft before handing it back to Luc. "It will be interesting to see what we can do with these."

Luc took back the arrow, collapsing it back down. "Why do I get the feeling she's going to design a bomb..."

Garin laughed lightly. "At this point, I wouldn't put it past her."

Gidget smiled up at them. "Great! Because I already have ideas."

"Well, we better get started then, shall we?" Garin smiled back. "Fayne, light the forge."

The great hulking pale gold mass spat a glob of combustible spit at the forge, lighting it in seconds. The smithy started to warm up and the three of them set to work. Garin managed to find the plans for Luc's bow all the way back from when they first designed it along with the plans for the different arrowheads. Gidget started to scrawl all over them, making finer adjustments, as well as drawing out plans for the new arrowheads. The two of them bouncing ideas and designs as lightning quick speed, leaving Luc to sit and watch them, a fond smile on his face.