Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 53 Oh To Be Young Again.

Isaac stopped and looked up at a wooden sign. “The Silverstrand Seamstress.” He read aloud. “Well, this is the place.”

The shop was unlike most of the other stores and shops around in that it actually had display windows. The entire front of the building was full of windows showing expensive dresses and suits. Most of them in varying shades of gray.

Lenna walked up and pulled the glass door open. A little bell chimed. She held the door and looked at Isaac. “After you, my Lord.”

Isaac broke out of his inspection of the clothes in the window and looked at her. “Oh, uh, thanks.” He stammered out and walked inside.

A short woman with wide shoulders, gray eyes, khaki skin, and ginger hair, that was halfway through its transition to gray, walked out of a back room. “What can I help…” Her voice trailed off. “The Lord and his Lady I presume?” She asked.

The inside of the shop was full of manikins that each wore some expensive set of attire or another. “Yes.” Isaac replied and met her gaze with an easy smile. “Sera said that you would be able to help us, miss…”

She smiled in return. “Jessica, Jessica Silverstrand.” She answered. “Please, come to the back and I can get your measurements. While I do that we can talk about what would look best on you and what kind of attire you are looking for.”

“Straight to business. I like it.” Isaac replied and let Jessica lead them into a back room.

As Jessica led them into the back she continued talking. “Sera told me to expect the unexpected with you.” She told them.

“Oh? And what were you expecting?” Isaac asked with a grin on his face and amusement in his voice.

“Nothing.” She replied.

Isaac laughed and Lenna grinned under her helmet. “Fair enough.” He said. “So… I had some ideas for Lenna’s dress.”

Lenna froze mid step and then continued into the side room. “Should I be worried?” She asked Isaac.

The room that the two of them were led into was mostly empty with a bench that had a variety of measuring equipment and a notepad on it. There were two wooden chairs against the wall and another door against the opposing wall. Isaac smiled to himself from Lenna’s question as he took a seat. “I don’t think so.”

Jessica laughed. “Don’t worry my Lady, I’m sure we can find something you both will like.”

Lenna closed the door behind her as she was the last one in. She took off her helmet and tucked it under her arm. “Him first.” She told the shorter woman.

“Black, form fitting but breathable and unrestrictive.” Isaac said as he stood back up from his chair.

Jessica eyed them both. “Sera also told me that you both would clean up nicely.” She smiled and grabbed a measuring tape. “I think she is right.”

—

Two hours after entering, Isaac and a now rearmored Lenna exited the Silverstrand Seamstress. “I am really liking not having to hide you.” Isaac told Lenna as they headed to a nearby smithy.

“Agreed.” Lenna replied. “A one piece dress?” She asked after a moment of silence.

“Yes. You will look stunning.” Isaac assured her.

“But…” Lenna tried to argue but was having trouble finding an excuse that hadn’t already been shut down by Isaac and then Jessica who had taken his side. “It’s scandalous.”

“It is not. There is still going to be that wire and padding on the inside.” He assured her while rolling his eyes. “Now let’s go get those throwing spikes so you can put your hair up.”

“I…” She tried again to argue but fell silent and followed him to the smithy a street over that specialized in the more ‘unique’ weapons. Lenna had finally stopped mentioning her lack of weapon concealment options with Isaac’s dress choice when Jessica had mentioned putting her hair up with throwing spikes. Shining steel ones would do for now but Jessica was adamant that Lenna would need to get enchanted silver ones for the future.

They had passed a handful of guards on their trip through town and only one had even given them a look of curiosity. The rest either pretended not to notice them, didn’t notice them, or simply gave a polite nod and then ignored them. As they passed another guard Isaac smiled to himself. ‘Good. Izen got the word out.’

Lenna was very easy to spot. She was in her burnt, singed, scraped, and weathered full-plate with only a little of the purple paint still on, mostly on her back, and the guardsman vest. She was glad that it seemed to have some kind of enchantment on it otherwise it would have been shredded from her fireball earlier.

The two of them both came to the same conclusion. If no guards stopped them to ask about the vest then that meant that the duke had made sure the word got out to avoid them. They stopped at the entrance to the smithy.

The wooden sign that hung in front of the solid wood door was dusty but otherwise mostly unweathered, due to the lack of actual weather underground. The two of them entered and were met by a boy no older than Gregory and even thinner. The blonde, green eyed boy that worked the counter in this smithy smiled at them. “How do ya do?” He asked.

Isaac nodded at him. “Fine. Can you help us get a pair of throwing spikes?” He asked.

The boy nodded and walked out from behind the counter. He walked over to a display cabinet. “Like these?” He asked while gesturing at a pair of shining steel rods that gradually thinned into a point. They were each seven inches long and a quarter of an inch at their thickest. In the cabinet there were eight more of them.

“Exactly like those.” Isaac replied and walked over to the cabinet. “How much?” He asked.

“A silver each or eight silvers for the whole set.” The boy told him.

Isaac thought for a moment. His mind went back to all those times he had left a weapon inside one of his opponents and how sharp the spikes looked. “We’ll take the set.”

The boy nodded and retrieved them from the display case. “Anything else you need? Maybe a bandolier for these?” The boy asked.

“No need. I do need a new sword though while we’re here.” Isaac replied. He looked around before finding one almost exactly like the one he had used in his spar with Lenna. “That one.”

The boy retrieved the sword and a scabbard, that it fit perfectly in, and set them on the counter with the darts. “That’s thirty one gold sir.”

Isaac thought for a moment. “We need to take a job.” He told Lenna and placed three platinum coins and one gold on one the counter. “That’s my last platinum piece.”

Isaac thanked the boy and the two of them headed back to the Celestial Dawn.

When they entered the Celestial Dawn most of the tables were full of patrons. A waitress who looked to be in her late teens wove through the maze of half drunk people, tables, and chairs with arms full of bowls and mugs. Celeste was working the bar and was somehow managing to keep up with all of her customers while carrying on a conversation with one of them.

Isaac walked in and found a table against the wall. He sat down and Lenna hesitated. “My Lord?” She asked.

“We aren’t staying. I just want to get our food without getting in the way.” He told her. “Don’t worry.”

Lenna breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall instead of sitting down. She was worried that the recent not unpleasant welcomes were going to his head. There was a reason she needed the duke’s permission to even walk the streets with her face covered. She was afraid of the chaos that would ensue from her casually sitting down in an inn for dinner in the middle of the day.

Isaac ordered the daily special, which was a beef stew this time, for the both of them and the same sweet mead they had had the day before. It had cost him another five silvers. As the two of them were about to ascend the stairs in order to get to their suite Celeste called out to them. “How’d it go?!”

Isaac smiled at her. “We get our badges tomorrow.”

She smiled back at them and said something almost too quiet for Isaac to hear over the rest of the patrons: “Oh to be young again.”