I COULDN'T help but feel anxious about going to Prince Zakariah's coronation. The idea didn't sit well with me.
Maybe it was the adrenaline from the new information we received about who kidnapped King Kole. Or maybe it's because Ecrin was the last place the King was before he disappeared. Whatever it was, I trusted my gut and stayed on high alert.
Everything was still so fresh. Like an open wound.
Before it was time to leave, The Queen asked Leland and I to go into town and retrieve new equipment that she had made while we were gone. As we walked, Leland led the halter of one of the largest horses I had ever seen, which was pulling a cart behind it.
I looked at the sign above the door. It read Dayholt Blacksmith and Leather Shop. It was owned by the best blacksmith in the country and her husband presided over the leather-working section of the store. Black smoke rose from the forge behind the building.
Leland tied the horse's lead to the hitching post and pressed his hand against the door, pushing it open for me. I ducked under his arm and walked into the blacksmith's shop, Leland walking in behind me. The door hit the bell above the door, announcing our presence as it swung closed behind us.
A man with short dark hair and a short dark beard sat at a workbench on the other side of the room. Presumably this was Mr. Dayholt. He looked up and put his tools down as we entered the establishment. He made his way toward us and leaned forward on the counter displaying various leather ornaments and customization options.
"What can I do for you lovely folks today?" he asked, smiling.
"Queen Aria sent us. I've been told there is an order of weaponry for the palace we are supposed to pick up." Leland explained, moving farther away from me as he moved toward the counter.
"I see. I do believe I heard about that order. That would be my wife's area of expertise. I do however have a commission from Her Majesty that I believe is for this young lady here." he responded, looking at me. "There are some people from the palace here for you, love!" he called out as he made his way to the shelves that lined the back wall.
He selected a satchel from one of the shelves and came back to the counter. He started unpacking the contents of the sack and laying them out on the counter in front of us.
"Now, they may need some alterations. I was provided with your measurements, but leather leaves less leeway than most fabrics so if there's any part that isn't comfortable, just let me know and I'd be happy to fix it for you." The craftsman was grinning from ear to ear as he explained. He was obviously very proud of his work.
"I'm afraid I don't understand. What is this?" I asked.
"The Queen requested that a set of body armor be made for you. You were unavailable for fitting, but she was able to provide me with measurements. I left a bit of breathing room for clothing and mobility." He explained as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world.
I looked at the pieces in front of me. They were more like artwork than protective equipment. There were six pieces total, all made of a black polished leather. The largest piece was the bodice. It was made from strips of leather, about an inch and a half wide, laced so tightly together with light grey leather cord that it looked like one piece. It laced together up the back to close and was completely strapless, but there were holes for the hooks that were on the next piece of equipment.
The second piece hooked on to the chest-piece with small hooks through tiny leather slits under the arms. It looped under the arms and covered the collar bones with wide criss-crossing pieces and followed the line of the shoulder up and over the shoulder blades, closing snug around the bottom half of the neck with a line of buttons up the back.
The third piece was made of overlapping, nesting loops of leather that fell over the curve of the shoulder and came about halfway down the upper arm on the left side, designed to fold in on itself and release as the arm rose and fell. The shoulder piece was attached to a leather loop around the left shoulder and secured with a leather strap crossing over the right shoulder and across the chest under the right arm. The straps were secured to the piece with silver clasps that hooked in a single hole punched on the front and back of the shoulder piece. It could be reversed to wear on the other shoulder.
The fourth piece was a simple belt, about three inches wide, and reinforced with an extra layer of leather in the front and secured with a pair of buckles.
The fifth piece was a combined supply pouch and sheath. A simple leather belt hung around the hips, buckling over the hip. On the opposite side, a leather pouch hung halfway down the thigh with a buckling strap hanging from the bottom to fasten around the leg. Sewn on to the outside of the pouch was a thin piece of leather, forming an open sheath to accomodate any length of blade. This piece could also be worn on either side, the dominant side to leave room for a sword sheath opposite, or on the non-dominant side to provide access for a quick-draw.
The sixth piece was by far the most interesting. It was a cuff that looped around the middle of the middle finger and covered almost the entirety of the forearm. It was buckled with three buckles on the inside of the forearm and reinforced with steel rods. The back side of the piece had a metal track sewn straight along its length with a spring loaded peg and release in the elbow end. I picked it up to examine it further and Leland turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow. I turned my gaze to the shopkeeper for further explanation.
"Ah! That would be my wife's handiwork." he explained. "If you'll notice the sleeve on the left side of the track you will find a bow. The bow snaps onto the front of the track. The sleeve on the right side of the track contains a set of short arrows that load in to the bow and pull back and hook on that peg. You just point your arm where you want your arrow to go and then when you make a fist, it pulls the peg down releasing the string and arrow. There are extra arrows and bowstring in your hip pouch." he concluded proudly.
Just as he was finishing, a slim woman with soot on her face and dark hair pulled into a plain braid at the nape of her neck came through the back door, wiping her hands on a cloth as she made her way toward us. Mrs. Dayholt.
"I see you've been shown some of your specialty pieces. If you go try those on so we can see if anything needs altering, your husband and I can load the standard pieces into your cart so that's out of the way before I go over the rest of the specialty pieces with you." She said as she reached the counter; straight to business.
I saw Leland's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates at the word "husband".
"I... Um... I'm not... huh... We... Uh... She's not... I mean, we're not..." Leland stammered as I nodded and headed for the curtained off booth with my satchel of equipment.
I heard the pair of craftsmen chuckle behind me as I closed the curtain behind me. I heard Leland go back out the door we came in, no doubt to move the horse and cart around to the back of the shop. The Dayholts continued to laugh among themselves for a moment then Mrs. Dayholt's footsteps retreated the way they came in.
I removed my heavy overshirt and put the armor over Leland's stolen shirt from the night of the pirate battle which I was wearing underneath. I had taken to wearing it fairly often. It's a downright shame how much more comfortable men's clothes are compared to women's. That's no doubt the biggest reason I don't wear dresses very often.
The whole process of putting the armor on took about 5 minutes, which is not very long. It can take upwards of 20 minutes to put on a full suit of armor. I never wore the full suit, I needed the mobility, but even the top half of the suit could seemingly take forever to get into place. The pieces fit perfectly. Queen Aria had managed to acquire very accurate measurements.
I pulled the curtain aside and stepped back into the main room, flexing my hand, practicing the mechanism in the crossbow. Just then the door swung open, ringing the bell, and Leland stepped back in to the room. He stopped in his tracks momentarily, but shook himself to his senses when the door swung back and hit him in the shoulder.
"Why is she wearing my shirt? Why does it look so much better on her than it ever did on me?" I made out Leland muttering under his breath. What was up with him? I shook my head and walked toward the workbench where Mr. Dayholt had resumed work on his current project.
He set his tools down once more and stood to examine his handiwork.
"It seems to fit quite well. If you'll excuse me, I'll just check the seams to make sure they stayed where they were supposed to." He looked down at me, asking permission.
"By all means." I replied, raising my arms so he could access my torso. He bent over and began examining the leather seams on the chest piece and the sewn seams on the other pieces, running his fingers over the stitches. I could feel heat radiating our direction from Leland, who had come to lean on the counter.
"Mrs. Dayholt said she'd be right in with the rest of the specialty pieces." Leland announced loudly, emphasizing the "Mrs."
"Well everything seems to be in order here. You can keep that on if you like. Feel free to test out that sheath too. I can adjust it for you if you'd like." Mr Dayhold said, standing up and completely ignoring Leland's remark. He made his way over to the shelves on the back wall where he had retrieved my armor and began pulling pieces off and setting them on the counter in front of Leland.
Just as he was setting the final pieces down, his wife came back carrying an armful of weapons. She laid them on the display carefully and began separating all the pieces into separate piles.
×××××××××××××
Author Note!
Hi everyone, DOUBLE UPDATE!!!
Your welcome 🙏
Thoughts >
Feelings >
Random >
How is your day today? Was it bad? Good? In between?
QOTD: Do you like Bubble tea/Boba?
I LOVE BOBA!!
They just opened a Boda shop in the town next to me and my and my mom get one often.
Like it's kinda scary..
Speaking of scary...WHAT IS THIS!?!
If AISLIN was completed, i could enter it into the wattys..... OMG WHAT
i'm so entering it next year..
Love you all thank you for reading! Xoxox 💋💋
- Mickey ✨