Travelling with a cat and making food for it first, you must be an Ejyptian, arent you? tatro asked Amon over dinner. tatro had short, curly hair that shone golden-brown, pale skin, white and neat teeth and a prominent nose. He would be widely considered a handso man.
Why is a man who makes food for a cat first an Ejyptian? Amon asked him back.
The Ejyptians adore cats. They regard them as the incarnation of the gods. So they worship them like they worship the gods. You are not one of them? tatro was astonished when he found out that his saviour was so young. But Amon did not introduce himself to tatro.
Amon smiled, This cat is a friend of one of my senior friends. He told to look after it. But I am from Ejypt. My na is Amon. Ive been learning magic since I was young, but Im just a second-level mage. You said that youre from Bablon City. What brings you to the most remote mountains of Hittite? Amon had shown him his mastery of magic since it was an ergency, so he just pretended to be a mage from Ejypt. Anyway, tatro could not verify his identity.
Hittite? We are in Bablon! Or maybe Im wrong. There are no signs in these mountains. To tell you the truth, my great-grandfather was a mage too. But he lost his life long ago in the war. I ca here to look for his remains. Esteed mage, why would you co to this remote place?
His words triggered sothing in Amons mory. His thoughts tripped for a second but he then answered, I ca here for a similar purpose. A high priest lost an object here and he ordered to find it, saying that it was a test.
tatro blurted out, Sending a b a young mage here, did you offend him? Oh, I do not an to offend you I am just curious.
Amon waved his hand to tell him that he did not mind. Im being chastened. I have done sothing wrong so I have to make up for it.
Usually, a high priest wouldnt hike through the mountains and forests to get here. He must have lost sothing when he was flying. If youre sure that this is the place, I can ask so people to help you.
Ask so people to help ? What people? Arent you looking for your ancestors remains yourself as well?
Ive been searching here and there several tis now. In the process, I happened to befriend the largest caven tribe here. They are the ones who know this place best. I can ask them to help you find the thing you are looking for.
The caven? You contacted them? Then, what happened to you today? Why were you teasing the Ironbacks in that pool? Ive never seen Ironbacks that big.
tatro answered embarrassedly, Though I failed to find my great-grandfathers remains, I beca familiar with the dwarfs here and started trading with them since I needed money to support my explorations. They have so of the best-refined iron ingots Ive ever seen! Oh, Ive always considered here as a part of Bablon, so technically I wasnt smuggling, or was I?
Refined iron was under strict control in every country on this continent. Personal trading of iron was more or less illegal. But that was not Amons business. He asked, So you are here to find the ore-sand? You want to refine iron yourself?
tatro startled, Arent you here for the first ti? How do you know that theres good ore sand here?
Amon shrugged his shoulders and said, Its the first ti Ive co here. But I knew that the best ore-sand can be found in the Ironbacks excrent!
Amons words sent tatro into a daze, his expression turning weird in the face of the campfire. After a while, he swore in a small voice and said, So the best iron ore for Damasc iron cos from the Ironbacks excrent! That damn old wretch conveniently left out that detail!
Oh, so you dont know that! What did he tell you?
tatro answered bitterly, The tribes here have the best iron ingots, much better than the iron in Bablon. We call it Damasc iron. Even a small piece of it costs a decent fortune. But they dont have much of it. I asked the headman if he could get more but he said that the ore-sand was too hard to get. He told about a pool in the mountains with the best Damasc ore sand in the mud, but it was occupied by a King Ironback so it would be very dangerous to get the mud there. His fellows did not want to do it.
I thought that as an advanced warrior, it should be fine for to tackle a King Ironback. So I ca here without telling them. I wanted to kill that beast to show my power to those dwarfs, but that old wretch didnt tell that there were four of them! Nor did he tell that the ore-sand was actually their excrent. I would have lost my life here if you hadnt saved .
Amon laughed. He laughed so badly that tatro laughed too. The loud laughter echoed in the mountains. Even Schrodinger opened its sleeping eyes and looked at them querulously as if it was saying, What are you laughing at? What a sha!
The next morning, Amon resud his journey to higher places again, stick in hand and Schrodinger in his bag, led by tatro. Though he was not planning to ask the caven to help him find Bair, it was always useful to know more about the unusual things in the mountains.
The clouds surrounding the mountains looked like seas from afar, but they were evidently thick fog when they got closer. Amon was about to cross the third layer of clouds when he suddenly heard sothing ahead. He paused and said, There seems to be sothing in front of us, tatro. Did you hear the sounds? Its not an animal, but footsteps.
tatro jumped over a big rock and gazed ahead. After a while, he shouted, Lynk! You old wretch! Co here! You almost killed ! Im going to beat the daylight out of you!
A group of people showed up at a turning point ahead of Amon; the man in front was the old wretch. He looked like he was in his thirties. His skin was dark, but compared to the others, he was pale. He wore clothes made of animal hide and his feet were housed in straw sandals while the others were barefoot. He was the headman of his tribe.
Lynk ca forward and said, You misunderstand, my dear friend! I heard that you went to the King Ironbacks pool last night, but it was too dark! I ca to rescue you with my braven once the sun rose!
There were about thirty braven behind Lynk, so of them with crude bows and arrows, and others with wooden rods tipped with iron spearheads. Several n had a thin iron rod each with one side sharpened like a blade. They were all dium-sized, but Lynk said that they were the strongest braven in his tribe. So the tallest caven were about the average size of a grown Ducian. There was a reason that they were called the dwarfs.
tatro jumped off the rock and pretended to take a swing at Lynk with the sheath. You wanted to find in the Ironbacks stomach? You said there was only one, and I t four!
Ah? Lynks mouth opened wide, fending with his stick. The stick was made with so kind of bone with a parangon in it, like a mages staff.
He looked at tatro from head to foot and exclaid, And you ca back alive? You left too soon yesterday. I hadnt finished talking! And I already told you many tis not to go! You didnt et the King Ironback, you t the big ones. The king only erges late at night But four big ones! Are you alright?
tatro took out a five-inch yellow sharp hook from his pocket. That was his trophy, the claw he sliced off the Ironbacks yesterday. He ostentatiously shook it in front of the caven, Look at this! With the help of a noble mage, I cut this from that beast!
The caven sighed in admiration. Lynk looked at the claw and asked, Mage? What is a mage? Is he your friend?
tatro answered complacently, Hes not just a friend. He saved my life. You, ignorant old wretch, havent heard of mages, have you? He is much more powerful than you with your little tricks!
Amon ca out from behind the rock. These caven had not heard of mages, so he need not lie again. The caven knew him as tatros friend and invited him to their tribe.
The caven lived on a gentle slope under a small cliff. There were many natural caves along the walls which were carved into living rooms. A bonfire was set in the largest cave and people gathered wood every day to keep it burning. It was the common fire source for the whole tribe.
Although the dwarfs knew how to use the firestone, the fire was a symbol of the tribe. The large cave with fire was like the shrines of the cities. The open field in front of the cave was a square to gather the tribe. On a slope not far away were houses built with wood and hay, dried mud coated on the walls. Simple yet solid.
The ones living in the houses were the seniors. tatro seed to be quite respected because they had a house for him. As his friend, Amon lived in this house too.
At sunset, the tribe gathered. A group of them danced around a woodpile in the open field, passing tatros trophy around and imitating all kinds of chopping and cutting movents as if they had cut it down by themselves. Everyone seed to be enjoying the ceremony.
Amon and tatro, the braven who fought with the big ones, sat in the middle with Lynk as honoured guests. tatro whispered to Amon, This is their happiest hour in the day. Theyll ignite the woodpile then dance till the fire dies.
Amon whispered, What are they doing with that claw? They seem to be drunk.
Its a ceremony, answered tatro. They imagine that they have the strength to kill the beast, which gives them faith and courage so they wont be afraid in future hunts. Its a kind of sorcery.
The sky went dark as they spoke. A dwarf took a branch to get the fire from the big cave so as to ignite the woodpile. Amon suddenly recalled one thing from the CrazyOles last ssage. He stood up with his staff and pointed at the woodpile.
A wind whirled around the centre of the woodpile, breeding a spark. The spark spun into a thread of fire in the wind, then a jumping tongue of flas licked the lumbers and burst them into flas, starting a bonfire. The simplest fire summoning magic with the help of air magic created a wonderful effect.
The dancing caven stopped and the ones sitting around the woodpile stood up, then Amon saw all of them prostrated towards him on the ground. He could see the reverence and fear in their faces. Lynk prostrated too. Amon could hear him mumbling, Gods emissary, thank you for bringing us warmth and light!
Seeing all the people prostrating, tatro stood up and bowed to Amon, winked his eyes and whispered, Nice trick! Too bad Im not a mage, otherwise I would have done this long ago.
[List of characters]
Lynk: The headman of a caven tribe. Being the equivalent of a priest in the tribe, he knew a bit of rudintary magic.
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