Chapter 106 Bahira #2
Made of stone and covered in crawling ivy, the forge looks fairly unassuming from the outside. Smoke already billows out of its short chimney, but it’s the man standing outside the front door, hand resting comfortably on the black hilt of his sword, that slows my steps as Nox and I near.
“Max?”
“Good morning, Bahira. Your Majesty,” he says, lowering into a deep bow.
“Just Nox is fine, thank you, Max. And none of… that.” Nox gestures to Max’s frame.
The guard smiles as he straightens, letting his hand fall away from his weapon.
“Bit conspicuous to have you out here, isn’t it?” I ask, arms folding over my chest as I scan the forest around us. But it’s still early morning, and the forge’s location is away from the main paths in and out of Galdr.
Max chuckles as he steps away from the door.
“I thought the same, but those two insisted I stay out. Said they didn’t trust me enough to talk about the Mirror in their presence, so I was banished to stand in the cold.
” Though his voice is lighthearted, Max’s next words are solemn.
“I am sorry for the loss of your friend. I didn’t know Cass well beyond the occasional passing, but he always seemed happy.
” I watch my brother take in Max’s words with a dip of his chin, pushing waves of hair away from his forehead. They just flop back into place.
“Thank you. Shall we enter?” He reaches for the door and opens it, and I smile at Max as we pass, jerking my head for him to follow.
When he hesitates, I roll my eyes. “Stay out here and freeze to death if you want. But you know enough about both of us to get us locked in the dungeons if not executed on the spot. This,” I say pointing to space just past the door, “is nothing compared to all of that.” His steps are lighter as he follows, his smile as unrestrained as Starla’s is when I let her use the magnifier.
I don’t know whether to snort or roll my eyes.
Warmth immediately embraces us as we enter, the scent of metal and earth mixing and clinging heavily in the air. At the front stand Daje and Elora, the former’s eyes narrowing when he spots Max, but Nox lifts his hand to quell the argument. “He’s one of us.”
“I told you,” Elora teases Daje, her arm cradled in a sling. She looks marginally better than yesterday, her magic healing most of the smaller cuts and scrapes. Though it does nothing to the fatigue evident in her eyes, her lids swollen and the skin beneath them stained the color of bruises.
I half expect Daje to send her a glare or a scoff in return, but to my surprise, he just grins, lifting a single shoulder in a shrug.
Where yesterday his head was wrapped in gauze, only a bandage covers his temple now.
“I won’t apologize for being cautious.” I could smirk at how familiar the response feels, but Elora just smiles, a moment of time suspended between them as they look at each other.
Daje is the first to look away, clearing his throat as he turns to gesture to the three packs on a nearby wooden table. “It’s all in there.”
“Do you think it will be enough?” Nox asks, leaning a hip on the edge of the table. Max meanders to the opposite side of the room, crossing one ankle over the other and folding his arms over his chest, his leather armor creaking with the movement.
“I hope so,” Elora answers, and the lack of surety in her voice makes us all bristle.
She holds a hand out in front of her. “There is no text I’ve found that tells us how to repair the Mirror, how to make it magical again, and I suspect that, even if such a text existed, it would likely be obsolete.
” She tucks a loose strand of her fiery red hair behind her ear.
“As we all know, raw magic can be a fickle, sentient thing. Our intent is what wields it, but that doesn’t always control it. ”
I nod at Elora, grateful that she hadn’t censored the way she spoke about magic around me.
It is a subtle thing, but after so many years of many others acting as if even talking about their magic around me would cause me to fall apart, I appreciate the small gesture by her. Even if it was unintentional.
“What is the plan?” Nox asks, his hand bracing the table. “We melt the glass and then what?”
“We’ll likely need magic to help grow the flame into something hot enough to match dragon fire,” Daje answers, turning to look at the open flame of the forge.
“We will have to move quickly once we melt the glass and can pour it into a frame.” At that, he points to the where the previous frame that held the Mirror is leaning against a wall.
It seems that it wasn’t destroyed by Nox’s outburst. “And then we hope that it can be imbued with magic before it cools completely.” His next words are said tentatively. “Is your magic—”
“No,” Nox answers swiftly, his curtness not going unnoticed.
A deep line forms between Elora’s brows. “Still?” she says, inspecting him like one of her books.
“Still. But we’ll use what I can muster and hope that it is enough.”
“And if it isn’t?” Daje asks.
“Then Cass’s life was forfeit, and I’ll be to blame.”