Lex of Rhule

chapter 1: Matter of Time

Lex~

     The rain lashed at the windows of Lex's small bedroom. It had been storming for three days and he still had not made it in town to see the traders. He was in dire need of more medicine for Zander. His father had fallen ill and he feared that if he didn't get help soon he would be left to run the forge by himself.
   With all the traders and travelers that had been coming to Mirthwood due to the crime and sudden darkness that seemed to spread through the kingdom. There was more work to be done around the forge with the demand for fine weapons.
      Normally there wouldn't be a need for such. But more and more people were leaving the kingdom after being forced away by the impending war. That meant more travelers that needed blades or armor to protect themselves or join the so called merciful king Sarim .
     Lex was  only an apprentice. If he couldn't shape the steel then they would have no coin for the traders or food for winter when the traders left. Most importantly ,he wouldn't have the medicine to save his father and if he didn't finish his training he wouldn't be able to carry on his wishes.
  He would have to give up the smithy and he couldn't let that happen.
Zander was a notorious blacksmith across all of Agramond and people came from miles around to this little village in the forest to buy his blades. He spent most days mucking stalls and making sure the horses were shoed and the mules were fat.    
 
His father began teaching him how to shape the steel  telling him he would need to do more than smell like dung to earn his place in this world. That he was meant for more in this world and only with a steady hand would he achieve greatness.
     He began to laugh as he splashed cool water on his face to get rid of the sleep and grogginess from the restlessness that had plagued him the night before. There was no telling how long it would take to make their small cabin smell normal again. As much as his father complained about horse dung there was coal and soot to match it. Rather it be coal or dung, as this wretched storm lashed its fury from the heavens, he didn't know where he belonged.

    As he walked into his fathers room he noticed the fever from the night before had made a re-appearance, so he set to work making him a glass of water. He went back into the kitchen and filled a basin and fetched a new  cloth. Lex knew he would have to leave his father today if there was any chance left to save him from the maladies that plagued him. Hoping to find Kairi as he dug through the diminishing bag of supplies she had sent with him the last time they spoke.

He pulled the last vial of herbs and oil from the bag and went through the arduous task of coaxing his father into accepting the concoction.

"That stuff can't be any better than this wretched sickness!" He  rasped in a tired yet irritated voice.

" I know" he replied."but it has to be done. You need to recover we have many orders to fill and I am not as good as you are with steel."

"Taste of piss and bile." Zander mumbled as he finished the greyish vial with a pained exspession on his face.

" I will be going to seek out the traders today." He continued cautiously.

" I know you want to help son, but you can't hike five miles through this hailstorm without being struck down by lightening or getting this wretched sickness yourself.
What good is it if we're both ill? I have enough  for a week or so can't this wait?"

Lex didn't know how to tell his father that that he was drinking the last of it.

"Well what is it son? You look as tho you've swallowed your tongue." His father rasped reaching for the water to sooth his burning throat.

"I won't be long, I have Shadowmere." he stated reasuringly.

Lex stood and began to pace the room.

"There is nothing left!" he cried as he let his head fall. With a look of pure defeat he whispered

the two words he had been dreading to say for the past two nights.

"It's gone."

"What do you mea-it couldn't possibly be gone."His father sputtered .

"A week ago you woke in the middle of the night burning with fever and the only way I've been able to keep it down and to keep you from being delirious was to double up and I've been doing it ever since. I have got to find a healer and bring them here to help you . I'm afraid that whatever this is, it's more than me or any herb can fix."

Zander's mouth fell open and he stared at Lex with a touch of fear in his eyes.

Lex looked back at those blue eyes, so different from his own and tried to find his father somewhere in the man that was now so sick and so weak you wouldn't believe he was the great blacksmith of Mirthwood.

   Where there once was a man that had long black hair with sky blue eyes and taller than most men in the valley. With big thick hands and a strong jaw. Now lay a man that was frail and weak. His face hung with fatigue looking as if he had fought a thousand wars and was fighting what could very well be his last one. Not behind an axe but behind a hazy fog that refused to dissapate.

    Lex looked his father in the eye and without words his father understood that no storm could keep him from doing everything in his power to make sure he got what he needed.
He was so like his mother the sight of his determination sat like a Stone upon his heart.

    He had  always told him that he had his mothers green eyes he only wished that she could see him now.
    Looking in the mirror he saw ebony hair and evergreen eyes he had his fathers strong jaw at seventeen. He was tall and lean . But his features were more elegant than his fathers if not for his hair he could hardly believe that Zander was his father at all. He yearned to meet his mother talk to her just one time.

He spared his father one last glance and ran out of the cabin and into the pouring rain.
Stomping through the mud and leaning against the wind Lex slowly made his way to the stables down the mud strewn path.
As soon as he was safe from the rain lightening popped and thunder shook the very ground he stood on.

   He put his hand up to sooth Shadowmere.
The grey mare huffed in frustration as the thunder rumbled out of existence. Now that the beast was calmed ,he began to saddle her for their journey.

At the top is what I would like Lex to look like :) Don't forget to vote.