Feral: Chapter 12

After the earlier debacle, I had to come up with a way to cut the cloth I’d made. Hasha finally brought over a scapel and used that cut it to shape. The scapel, designed with runes Hasha hadn’t taught me yet to slice through anything, still managed to dull, and it took up a bit of time to slice through the carbon sheet. Still, it was worth it.

With the carbon sheet as support, I could make the armor even faster , and make it lighter without sacrificing the strength of it. Katya preferred a style using her natural grace and speed to fight after all. And while chromoly steel was lighter than normal steel, it still had a certain amount of weight. Using carbon sheets, I could supplement the already strong chromoly steel, and allow her to move as fast as she wished.

We got unexpected help from Jennifer in the tailoring of the carbon sheets, and changed the design to fit some of her suggestions. The carbon sheet, which was a black colored material, was recolored with some yellow to evoke the look of a fist, making the ‘skirt’ of Katya’s armor evoke the symbol of her order.

With that recut, I focused once more on the more articulated pieces. I messed up a few times, needing to remake various joints I'd designed after they began to warp under the heat of the forge. No magic-user is perfect. But my mistakes only helped me learn.

Later, Katya was wearing the completed gauntlet. I buckled it to her wrist as she watched in excitement. We both sat in my workshop alone, the others doing something else. Katya watched patiently as I finished the attachments.

“How’s it feel?” I asked her.

She looked at it carefully. Polished to a bright silver sheen, it had an engraving of a line from the Chapel’s holy book etched onto the surface. ‘Doubt not that the Light shall crush evil with its radiance.’ A very ominous line, and fitting for a gauntlet in my opinion. Her fingers were covered in interlocking plates that went back into the wrist section, up to her arms. The glove of carbon sheets I’d managed to make her rested under the steel plates. I’d hidden the runes of the gauntlet under the plates of course. While runes did make impressive decorations, only a fool showed them off. A rune you could see, was a rune you could analyze, and potentially counter.

She twisted her wrist, going through the range of motion I’d taught her, and I could see that she had some trouble with the fingers. I wordlessly gestured, and she passed me her hand. I looked over the rivets on the fingers, loosening them slightly. Once I was done, I gestured for her to try again. This time she could move much more easily.

“So, you want to know what this can do?” I said with a smile.

“Yes,” Katya said eagerly.

I clenched my fist. “Like this. Push the Light into the gauntlet, and the runes will do the rest,” she raised her fist, getting it close to her fist. I panicked, grabbing her hand and pulling it away. “Wait! Point away from anything important, please.”

Now looking spooked, she did as I asked. For a moment nothing happened. Then, slowly, a bright white glow came from the top of her hand, resolving into a symbol. The kenaz symbol, representing fire, beacons, light, and life.

ᚲ- Kenaz

Slowly, the glow extended outward into a blade of Light attached to the top of her wrist. The blade was about six inches long, and buzzed as it glowed.

“Wow,” Katya’s eyes glowed in the Light. “That’s amazing.”

“You feel tired? I know you said manifesting the Light as a physical object can be exhausting.”

“No, I can’t even feel it.”

“Good. I put in a rune of mana regeneration, but that’s always a toss-up,” I sighed sadly. “Energy cannot be created or destroyed, so runes of mana regeneration generally don’t work as you expect. The best I could do was make your use of it more efficient.”

“What else can it do?” She carefully swung the blade, watching silently slice through the air.

“Well, the default is the blade. But as you learn, it should be able to manifest anything you want, as long as you have the energy. Within reason of course.”

She nodded eagerly. “It’s so amazing that you can do all these things.”

“Blame Hasha and Arthur,” I watched her slash outwards with her the blade, moving into a pattern of attack. “And all the books of course. I’m smart, but I wouldn’t be able to do these things without the research of older and wiser men and women all over the world. I’m still learning, but having the resources Hasha gave me have helped.”

“Hmm,” Katya seemed to think for a moment. “Char? Where are your parents?”

I froze. It took me a moment to decide how to answer. “They, uh, they’re dead. Killed by a mob when I was young.”

“Oh,” Katya gave me a sad look. “I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “It’s a common story. A lot of the children around here are being raised by uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters… anyone who was old enough. After the plague, a lot of older people died.”

“…My parents died in the plague too,” Katya bit her lip. I didn’t reply, waiting for her to continue. “I was found in the house by the Arch-Bishop. He saw me in a vision, and knew I was the Prophesied Child. He took me in. And Richard raised me.”

“Arthur raised me,” I gave her a smile. “I guess we both had parents after all.”

“Heh,” she giggled. “Yes, I suppose we did… Char?”

“Yes?”

“What happened?” When I gave her a confused look, she clarified. “On the day that Jennifer came. You were sad. You just seem… like something very bad happened.”

My breath left me entirely. She’d noticed. Somehow, despite trying to hide it, she’d noticed.

I stared at her, wide-eyed. She stepped forward to place a hand on my shoulder. “Char… You don’t have to tell me. But I’m here if you need to talk about it.”

I looked over at that spot on my floor. Where Andrea had died. After trying to kill me. The hand on my shoulder tightened.

“I…” there was something in my throat. I swallowed it down. “I killed someone that day.”

She didn’t look away from me. She simply listened.

The story of that night came out. I left out Jennifer and the demon. I simply spoke of the assassin trying to kill me, and of my attempt to defend myself.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Katya took my cheek in hand looked into my eyes, friendly smile in place. “She tried to kill you Char. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I know, but—”

“But?”

“I still feel wrong.”

She nodded. “Good. Killing someone should never feel good.”

“…Have you killed someone before?”

“Yes,” the answer surprised me, as did the sad smile on her face. “I told you. Assassins have tried to kill me before. And Richard was late once. I had to save myself, like you did.”

“I… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Katya patted my cheek. “You just have to talk about it. Tell people. And remember that you were just defending yourself. Doing bad things for the right reasons, as long as it really is for the right reason, is okay. The Light demands its followers find balance between what is right, and what is lying justification,” she looked deeper into my eyes. “Did you want to kill her?”

“No,” the word came out so easily. And yet, I felt relief at the sound of it. “I didn’t want to. I just wanted to stop her, and I reached for the first thing I thought would…”

She wrapped me in a hug. Feeling her against me, so small but trying comfort me, made me feel like a child. “It’s okay Char.”

Calming down, I nodded. We stayed like that. After a moment, she stepped back and gave me a bright smile. “Sometimes, all you need is a friend to talk to about this stuff.”

“Haven’t had too many of those,” I admitted softly.

“Well you have me,” she giggled. “And Mountain. And Richard!”

I groaned at the last.  After a moment, I asked a question that had been on my mind. “Uh, Katya? Why did you decide to trust me? I mean, you knew me for a day before you decided I was the one to make you armor. What made you so sure I was the one you wanted?”

She didn’t hesitate. “Because I saw how much you loved it,” when I frowned in confusion she continued. “Blacksmithing. You probably don’t know, but even though you don’t smile a lot, you always smile when you work.”

“I smile,” I protested.

“You smile now,” she said mischievously. “Around us. But you never smile at the Chapel, or when we go out into the city. Just here, and when you work.”

“Why would I smile when I’m not happy?”

An awkward silence followed. Katya finally nodded.

“There are a lot of reason why I chose you Char. You love making armor, which means I knew you’d do your best. You’re smart, so I knew your armor would be good,” she blushed. “But I also thought maybe you were a nice person who needed a friend. And I needed one too.”

That made me smile once again. She really was naïve. Choosing a person to make her armor because she wanted a friend of all things. But then, I’d learned I liked that about her.

I coughed, turning around so she wouldn’t see me smiling, and picked up the other piece of armor from the table.

“Well, I suppose it’s time for work again.” I gruffly raised the other gauntlet. “Now. While the gauntlets will help you with your magic, and also have runes to aid your strength and increase durability, I want you to understand everything about them. If you ever have a problem in the field, then you need to know what it is so you can fix it. So look.”

Raising the other gauntlet for her to see the runes within, I tried to regain my stoicism.

Still. It was nice to have a friend.