The Knightly Elven… Spider?

Despite overcoming the false accusations and the attack, and being happy to see that danger over with, I remained quiet for the rest of the day. I was happy to see my family doing well, and had Elira play with the spiderlings, but it was more than obvious to see on my parents’ faces that they knew something was off. It wasn’t until after dinner, when Cellestra started her training session with Elira that they asked.

“We ran into trouble today,” I explained. “One of Hograd’s followers, I warned you about. I fear it won’t be the last, and I’m just concerned about your safety.”

“Did everything go well?” My mother immediately asked with a hasty voice.

“Yes,” I nodded. “We dealt with him, but as I said, he’s probably the first of many. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” My father asked. I was about to answer the question when he raised a finger. “Yes, I know what you want to say, but do you think for a second that we mind?”

“Well, I…”

“Kealyna, there’s no need to worry about us. We’ll hire bodyguards if need be.”

“I…” I tried again before nodding in agreement, accepting there was no changing his mind. “Ok,” I said softly. “But in that case, I insist on helping out with that financially. We made a good amount of money today, like, really good.”

“I wish we had the luxury of declining that,” He said with a small chuckle. “Nor do I think you would even accept it in the first place.”

“I won’t,” I stated clearly, shaking my head.

“In that case,” My mother interrupted. “Thank you.”

“By the way, for tonight, we weren’t planning on it, but I think we’d like to stay one more night. Cellestra and I would like some time alone, though, so do you think you could help convince Elira?”

“Of course,” She said softly. “I’ll tell her later, but first, let’s have something to eat, shall we?”

I couldn’t help but nod with a smile. It was still hard for me to grasp just how happy I was to have my mother there for me, her voice as soothing as always.

I explained a bit more about what happened but didn’t go into too much detail, not that there was much detail to go into, but still. I did tell them that whoever this was, he’d wanted to capture me alive. It had sparked my curiosity as well as Cellestra’s as to why.

Then, finally, we had dinner, after which Cellestra and I retreated into the shed while my mom held back Elira, preventing her from following us. She was explaining to her what was going on as I opened the doors. I smiled and waved at her from a distance and waited until she waved back before we entered. I was left feeling slightly guilty, but I’d longed for this little bit of freedom.

It was still early, but that didn’t prevent Cellestra from snuggling up to me in the hay, on the soft wolf pelts that had been there for the past several days. We hadn’t turned on the oil lamp and only had the spell orb to illuminate the surroundings, but that was enough.

“I missed this,” She whispered.

“As did I.”

“Today was rough, wasn’t it?”

“I’ve had worse. I didn’t feel like my life was in any danger today.”

“I suppose that’s true,” She said, still whispering. “And I for one am glad that you weren’t.” She paused for a few seconds and sighed as a small smile formed on her lips. “So, is it time to reveal what the possible weapon enchants are?”

I grinned.

“You know me too well,” I replied. “But as much as I’d like to have a look, I’m far too comfortable to move, and honestly, after today, I just kind of want this day to end. I think I’ll have a look in the morning before we decide what to do.”

“You don’t have any plans yet for tomorrow?”

“Gee, Cel, you make it sound like I’m the one making all the decisions without considering you at all.”

She let out a cute giggle and ran a hand through my hair afterward.

“I don’t mind even if you do. I’ll follow you anywhere, and honestly, I wouldn’t know what to do.”

Our eyes locked and a kiss followed quickly afterward. After a few seconds, we broke apart and embraced each other even closer than before. We remained there in silence as the spiderlings around us seemed to be calling it a day as well. I was confident that Faerith had already passed onto the world of dreams, and even Elle had curled up without demanding any more hugs.

“Seems you’re not alone in your thoughts,” Cellestra commented.

“Seems not. You want to go to sleep?”

“Yeah. That’s probably for the best. Also means I get to see your reaction sooner.”

“Great. Now I won’t get any sleep.”

She giggled again before wishing me good night, leaving me to do the same before burying the spell orb in the hay, causing darkness to fall over us, which eventually carried both of us away.

When my arachnid half woke up first, as usual, I felt and saw Elle hugging my torso from behind. I was left feeling amused at the sight and almost instantly forgot about the trouble we went through yesterday, starting the day off feeling refreshed both in body and spirit.

I quickly woke the rest of me up and did the same for Cellestra. After giving her a brief moment to get her wits about her, I couldn’t help but contain my curiosity any longer and asked her about the enchants.

“Now that’s the Kealyna I know. Good morning, by the way, and I’m glad to see you doing well.”

“I’m sorry. Good morning, Cel. Hope you’re doing well.”

“I am. Now, are you ready?”

I nodded eagerly, prompting her to smile as she pulled out the scroll from her backpack.

“There aren’t that many enchantments on here, and I have the feeling that these are not all that Emeris has. I’m going to assume that Zearis merely gave us the ones that he thought would be most interesting… or these are the ones that are the most expensive she has. I will admit that the prices are there, but then again, you know how we are disproportionally advantaged.”

I didn’t say a word and merely nodded in agreement as her eyes crossed the paper.

“The first one is called Gravity Control. It states that the enchant allows you to control the weight of your weapon more freely. With it, you can make it lighter or heavier, depending on what the situation needs.”

She looked at me, and I nodded in return which had her read aloud the next part.

“The second enchant is called Mana Bane. According to this flyer, it makes your weapon more effective against magical barriers and allows it to absorb some power of spells that strike it.” She went on to the next without waiting this time. “The third is called Spell Storage. It allows you to store a spell inside the enchanted weapon, with a higher upfront mana cost, which can then be released at any time at no cost. The fourth is called Channel. It’s quite simple in that you can imbue the weapon with the element of a specific spell you possess. Lastly, there’s an enchant called Illusionary Strike which will change the visuals of your weapon to enemies in such a way that it appears as if two attacks are coming, but in actuality, only one of them is real.”

I took in all the information and felt both my minds going into overdrive almost immediately, calculating, hypothesizing, about which of these effects sounded the most useful to me.

Cellestra took another look but didn’t ask anything quite yet. I felt like she had an idea of just how much I was thinking this through and didn’t want to disturb me.

“Mana Bane,” I finally said. “I feel like that one is most appropriate as the others, I kind of already possess, in a way. The gravity one would be an exception, but I can already control my weapon without any effort. The damage it inflicts when I charge is beyond significant. I don’t need anything else to acquire those results.”

I shook my head.

“I feel like dealing extra damage to barriers would be a great boon, especially after yesterday. Besides people like that, I imagine it could also be great against dungeon monsters such as those trees. What does that last part mean, though, about absorbing power?”

“I’m not sure. I think we’ll have to ask Zearis about that.”

“What about the price?” I asked.

“Twenty gold coins.”

“Oof,” I let out. “That’s significant. I suppose it is as Zearis said. These are quality enchants that you wouldn’t just put on any weapon. I’m glad I have this starmetal halberd.”

I petted Elle as I gave all this a second thought. There would probably be a third and fourth later on, but for now, I felt confident that this was the best option.