The King Returns

Chapter 17 - Fully Equipped, part two

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Sasha and Eir later came by with lunch, a little surprised by the cheer number of arrows stuck on the practise target outside. As they were eating, Eira and Sylvina was playing on the floor while the others were talking. Apparently, Sasha had been helping Eir the whole afternoon by gathering up herbs for making medicine. 

  "Thanks for bringing lunch," Almar said with a satisfied smile. Now, he was finally done with the bow, arrows and scabbard. 

  "I like your bow, Almar," Eir said and she sat down beside him. 

  "Thanks, now all that's left is my sword," Almar said. 

  "Would you like me to help you, my prince?" Sasha asked and looked at Almar. 

  "I can do this by myself, but thank you for offering," Almar declined with a polite smile.

Hours later, the sword was done. It was a thin, long blade, bent at the lower half with a grip made of silver. On the blade itself was engraved a dragon pattern. The pattern was a nice finishing touch from Gendry himself who felt he wasn't contributing enough. Almar later decided to also make two daggers because, when he thought about it, he was better with them than with swords. Sasha helped Almar out a little with the daggers and the result became very good. The two smaller blades were thin and made of silver. A golden pattern ran from the grip and to the blade. 

  "Let Gendry sharpen the metal, we'll come back tomorrow," Sasha said and stretched his arms. 

  "Yawn! Sure, I'm a little tired," Almar said and sat down in a chair. 

  "I guess we'll continue tomorrow," Lusha said with a smile, hitting Almar's shoulder. 

  "Sure, let's go before I fall asleep in this chair," Almar said and yawned yet another time before he got up.

They walked back when suddenly, Almar felt someone looking at him. Then, it hit him like a slap to the face. It was the same kind of horrible feeling he had felt that one night after drinking at Lusha's place. The feeling he had been too tired to think about at the time. 'So, it wasn't just imagination?' Almar thought to himself as he spotted someone in the corner of his eye. By the trees, someone was standing in the shadows, observing them. Almar turned to look, curious to know who it was but the elf disappeared as soon as Almar turned. It happened so fast that Almar questioned yet again whether that feeling had been real or just plain old paranoia.

Almar finally came to the front door of his house and just as any other normal elf, he walked in. Into the bedroom and under the cosy sheaths. Almar closed his eyes. Eira was jumping up and down on the bed but somehow, Almar found a way to fall asleep. The little dragon later gave up and laid down on his stomach.

The door knocked quietly but not so that Eira's dragon-ears couldn't hear. She gently jumped down to the floor, walked up to the door and sniffed around. 

  "Perhaps he's asleep?" a soft voice spoke from the other side. It belonged to Eir. 

  "Yeah, but I think we could give this to my sister," another voice replied. That one belonged to Sylvina. 

  "Sister?" Eira asked, putting her paw up against the door. 

  "Eira! Is human awake?" Sylvina asked. 

  "No, you can come in," Eira said and she flew up to the door handle with two flaps of her wings. The door opened, and in came Eir and her dragon companion. She heard Almar's steady breaths as she walked to the bed where Almar was asleep. 

  "He must have been working hard today, huh?" Eir said as she laid the palm of her hand on Almar's shoulder. 

  "Yeah, human has been training with that Lusha and they are acting weirder than ever," Eira replied while looking at Eir.