The King Returns

Chapter 17 - Fully Equipped, part one

Almar was woken up by Eira who was flying around in the bedroom. When he finally sat up, the door knocked and Almar, thinking it was Lusha, got out of bed for his daily training. 

  "Give me five minutes to get ready," Almar said with a yawn as he opened the door. 

To his surprise it wasn't Lusha, but Mary. The short elf-girl stood there with her hands on her waist making a frowning face. 

  "Lusha sent me to get you, my hopeless prince," Mary said, turned around and just started walking. 

  "D-did she just call you hopeless? I'm going to clip her wings!" Eira yelled in anger as she stood beside Almar's leg. 

  "Haha! Silly, she doesn't have wings," Almar said with a laugh but then quickly remembered Mary had already gone ahead. So he hurriedly ran after her. 

  "Um, no offense but, I think I know they way myself by now. So you don't really need to walk me," Almar said to the grumpy-looking girl. 

  "Well duh! You're not going to the same place this time, that's why I'm here, smartass," Mary responded. After that, Almar kept quiet the rest of the walk.

***

Almar and Mary walked towards the forest as usual but this time, they walked past the training grounds and further into the forest where Lusha probably waited for them. Almar was wondering what they were going to train this time. They came to a place where the grass laid flat and a calm river split the land in two. Almar spotted Lusha, who sat on a big rock by the river with her sword in her hand, staring at the glittering water. She turned her head towards them when she heard their footsteps approaching. 

  "The commander asked me to get a sword and a bow ready for you. So I thought, why not make one for yourself?" Lusha explained as she effortlessly jumped down from the big rock. 

  "Alright, I have made bows and arrows before but a sword... I don't know," Almar said and looked at her. 

  "Perhaps you've made them but you have to make them sturdy, almost unbreakable. Now I ask you, have you made something like that before, hmm?" Lusha questioned him with a curious look on her face, leaning in closer. 

  "U-um... sigh, no, not exactly," Almar confessed. 

  "I'll show you! Both how to make bows and how to make a fine sword," Lusha said as a big confident smile grew on her face. 

  "Urgh, this is where I take my leave. I can't handle seeing all this happy cheerfulness," Mary rolled her eyes before quickly turning to walk away.

  "Alright. So, where are we going to make all these things exactly?" Almar wondered. 

  "There's an armourer living nearby that possess great skill. He makes most of the weapons we in the rebellion use to fight with," Lusha replied and started walking with quick steps, "Let's go!" she said in a happy, enthusiastic sort of voice, waving towards Almar to come along. He smiled, never had he met a girl so interested in weapons before.

As they walked towards the armourer, Almar was reading a book on the different kinds of bows that exist and how to build them. Lusha threw something at Almar and he reflexively caught it with his hand. It was a plain piece of bread. 

Finally, they arrived at the armourer's house. It was a cute little cottage, located by the water further down the riverbend. Outside laid many kinds of weapons in stacks. Swords, bows, arrows, knives and many more. Smoke arose from a chimney on the hay roof. Someone was working hard in there. When they went inside, the two were met with surprise. Sasha, Eir and Sylvina were already there. Sasha, sharpening his blade while Eir was sitting beside him, talking cheerfully, Sylvina in lap.