Mind Forged: Book One of the Enchanters of Xarparion (20 page)

“
Well, he seems nice.” Maya breathed out with some relief.

“
And you’re not alarmed that he knows all about us and who you are?”

She laughed nervously
. “Well yeah, I am, but I get the feeling that your parents aren’t normal people. Maybe they are very powerful wizards or something. Hey, maybe they’re gods!”

We both
laughed, but I don’t think my father found it to be a joke because the writing on the letter changed to
‘WE ARE NOT GODS! THE GODS ARE COMPLETE IDIOTS!’

“
Sorry!” we replied in unison.

The writing changed again
.
‘I know, just having some fun with you two. The looks on your faces were hilarious. But really, we are not gods. Anyway, you need to read your mother’s letter now. She is getting very impatient with me!’

I opened the other letter and
positioned myself so that Maya could read it, too. She seemed as interested in the letter as I was, but I suppose that’s natural when you are sort of meeting your future mother-in-law for the first time.

‘
Dear Alex. You have no idea how much I love you, and it kills me that you have lived your entire life not knowing it. But please understand that if your life were not in danger, I never would have left you. This was the only way for you to have a life. But one thing that your father and I could do was to see that you had the opportunity for a good life, one filled with glory and adventure. The moment you stepped into Xarparion, your life changed for the better.

We have been shaping the world to be ready for you, even for the people around you
. I’m sorry, Maya, if you ever hate us for shaping your life a bit as well, but you were the only one that my son would give his heart to. I know it’s pitiful of us to try and buy your acceptance and love with gifts, but I don’t care. Gifts were what got me interested in your father before I knew what a wonderful man he is, so I say bring on the bribes! I have delivered to you two of my best creations. I know you will especially love them, Maya. Your best dreams are filled with you riding off into the sunset on one; well maybe not your “best dreams,” there’s that one…’

Maya
’s hand was covering the rest of what mother was writing. I looked at her and she was blushing and plainly about to die of embarrassment.

“
Alex! If you care for me at all…I’m begging you, please don’t read that line!”

“
I won’t. Mother could you please not talk about Maya’s dreams. They are private and she doesn’t want me to know.”

I
carefully removed Maya’s hand to reveal that Mother had removed that line; in fact, she started over at the top of the page.

‘
I’m terribly sorry, Maya, I already feel as if I know you, and affectionate teasing is part of my nature. I just forget that you don’t know me yet, but we will have to fix that soon. Maya, you are our stalwart one, and we owe you far more than mere gifts can convey. As I was saying, they’re in the stables waiting; you need to take them with you. And don’t worry; they are very smart and already trained. Well, we have to say goodbye for now. We will see you soon. Oh, and make sure you hold on to these letters so we can talk more. I love you both!”

“
Ok, your mother is very strange…and does everyone we meet have to be a dream reader?” she muttered under her breath.

“
Yeah, but I think they’re both just new to the parenting thing. But for now, let’s go see what they’re so excited about. I vote we start with my father’s gift.”

“
Ok, it’s your birthday, but I have to admit that your mother’s gift has me the most intrigued.”

I
held her hand and led her across our small farm to the back of the shed. And as my father’s letter had stated, there was a large box. I found it odd that I’ve never seen it before. But sitting on that box was my foster father, just staring at the dirt. He looked over at us and I could see sadness in his eyes.

“
Maya, could you please give me some time alone with Alex?”

She put a comforting hand on my
shoulder. “I’ll be in the stables when you’re done.” And with that she left, although I could tell she really wanted to see what was in there.

He moved over to make room for me to sit with him on the long stone box.

“I take it you read the letters?”

“
Yes, they are interesting people.”

“
From what little I remember, that they are. Look son, I’m not the kind of man to dance around a problem, so I’ll just say it. I’m sorry.”

I looked him in the eyes, what
was he talking about?

“
I’m sorry that we lied to you all these years. I’m sorry you were kept from your real family and your real birthright. I’m sorry that we couldn’t give you the life that you deserved. And I’m most sorry for the way I acted today toward you and your friends.”

“
Dad, you have nothing to be sorry for. You and Mom may not be my birth parents, but you are the ones who raised me and taught me to find meaning in my life. Without you two, I would not be the man I am today, and I rather like the way I turned out.”

He
wrapped an arm around me. “I’m proud of you, son. No matter what I ever say, just know I’m proud.”

We
laughed the tension away between us, and things were back the way they always were. “I do have a few questions for you, though.”

“
And what’s that?”

“
Explain to me the roles of all your friends again.”

“
Well Rosa is my Primus or master and enchanting instructor. Nia is my bodyguard and a student. Rosa is teaching her to control her magic, and Darroth is a dwarf Forge Master, and my bladesmithing teacher. And Maya is my combat instructor, best friend, and well...quite a lot more…we’re courting and someday, if I’m blessed, my wife.”

“
You have done well for yourself with her.”

“
More than well, Dad, she is beyond amazing.”

“
I can see that. It’s hard to find a woman who has some starch, likes to get her hands dirty, and can still act like a lady when the time is needed. Well, enough about that stuff, you need to open this box. I have been guarding it for twenty years and I’m dying to know what’s inside.”

We both stood up and
I started looking for a way to open the thing. After finding no form of keyhole, I started looking for other ways to open it. On the lid was an outline of a hand. Having seen some similar items in the lab work by touching them, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. Placing my hand on the outline, we heard a loud click, followed by the box lifting itself two feet off the ground. It just hovered there. Having also seen this type of enchantment before, I knew that it was to lift heavy objects and allow you to move them around with ease. I tried to open the lid again, and it moved. Shoving the heavy stone lid to the side revealed the contents; rows of bricks made of a pure white metal and many bolts of fine silver chainmail.

“
Wow, he wasn’t kidding when he said there was enough for two. I could make a set of weapons and a shield and two sets of armor and still have some left.”

“
What is all this?”

“
It was in the letter. It’s a gift from my birth father. I’m guessing that he somehow made this for me to enchant with. I can feel the magic flowing off it from here.”

“
But what is it?”

“
I truly don’t know. But it will be fun to see what I can do with it.”

“
So you really are a master smith now?”

“
Dad, I would never claim to have the years of experience at the forge that you or Master Darroth has, so the title “Master” wouldn’t be right. It’s more like I have a natural affinity for the metal. I know it sounds crazy, but it talks to me and me to it when I’m smithing.” I eyed him. “I really did make Winya, you know.”

“
Yes, I know. Winya is amazing.  Master smith or no, I’ve never seen such work, and it’s a perfect courting gift, too.  I really hope her dark elf father will be impressed enough to not try and kill you on sight.” He grinned and punched me in the shoulder. “And speaking of your girl and her fancy sword, how long are you going to keep her sitting alone in an empty stable?”

I smiled
. “Oh, it’s not empty anymore, and somehow, I have a feeling that I’ll never get her away from them again.”

He was confused, and that didn
’t happen often. “Why...you know what, never mind. You go get your girl, and I’ll go check on your mother. You all are planning to stay for dinner, correct?”

“
That was the plan, but be aware that all of us eat a lot, and I mean a lot.”

“
Not to worry, your mother even knows some dark elf dishes she can make. You know, bringing Maya here brought back many good memories of our old home.”

“
That would be perfect. I don’t think she has had anything from her homeland in a long time. Thanks, Dad, for everything.”

With that he
went into the house, and I made my way to the stables. Out of curiosity, I put my ear to the door to see if I could tell what she was doing in there. I heard what sounded like a dog and Maya giggling. I opened the door and was surprised by what I saw. Inside was Maya playing with two enormous wolves. The odd thing was, they were having fun, none of the normal trying-to-eat you stuff. But as soon as they all saw me, they froze.

“
Alex! Look what your mother brought us! She gave us our own hunting wolves, isn’t that incredible?

The wol
ves, on the other hand, did something odd. They sat on their haunches next to each other and stared at me, wagging. It was as if they were waiting for me to say something. I had a feeling that these were by no means normal animals. In fact, looking at their magic, I knew they weren’t wolves at all.

I gently
grabbed Maya by the arm and pulled her a few feet away from the wolves, and they made no move to stop me.

“
Alex, what’s wrong?”

“
These really aren’t wolves, Maya.”

She looked as though she was going to question me
, but the look on my face must have been a serious one. She, too, started to look concerned.

“
Ok, please change to your true forms.”

The two wolves exchanged looks and then
nodded to themselves. After taking a few steps backwards to space themselves from us, they transformed. Fur turned to scale, jaws elongated, tails lengthened a lot, claws bristled, body weight quadrupled, and eyes became saurian. They were young dragons! They were about thirty feet long and about fifteen feet tall. They had to lower their heads to our level in order to stay below the stable rafters, and their tails had to wrap most of the way around their bodies. Both had dull silver scales and long, very slender bodies. Large skin-covered wings folded on their backs. They were very beautiful, majestic creatures. But I could still see plenty of dagger-like teeth and very sharp claws.

Maya must have just been looking at the
teeth and claws because she instantly had Winya at the ready.

“
Maya, Winya, please calm down. They aren’t going to hurt you.”

“
But they’re dragons, Alex!”

“
Maya, listen to me! They are silver dragons, silver. Not red or green or black, but silver. Trust me; I know a lot about magic creatures now, thanks to Rosa, and I’m pretty sure my birth mother wouldn’t send us anything that wasn’t wonderful.”

She lowered her sword
slowly and turned her glare away from the two young dragons and put it fully on me. I love to watch her when she’s like this, primal beauty at its finest. It can make your blood run cold as well.

“
You know full well what dragons did to my kind!”

“
Yes, I do. But at any time in your history, did a dragon named after a metal attack you?”

She thought for a moment
. “No, I’ve never heard of a metal-colored dragon.”

“
That’s because metal dragons are good dragons.”

“
Then why have I never heard of them if they are so ‘good’?”

I
knelt down in front of one of the young dragons and stroked the smooth scales of its head. It purred in satisfaction; they really were gorgeous creatures.

“
You haven’t head of them because they’re nearly extinct. Aside from these two, I only know of one other, and she’s a golden dragon that lives in the Elcanse capital.”

“
A dragon in the capital? You’re joking; you can’t hide something as big as a dragon!”

“
Metal dragons aren’t like the colored ones. They are talkative, honorable, and spend most of their time helping right the wrongs of this world. They can change form just like these two did to become wolves.