Phoenix: Light

Part One

Jinn Varen was hammering the blade he was working on for one of the locals in Aynor, his mind reeling from his recent encounter with the old brewer, Olsen. He had made him new wheels for his wagon, but the mead-maker was angry about his making one wheel a quarter-inch too-large, so he had to remake the wheel which cost him an extra 20 crowns; a good fortnight's pay, for which he was furious. As his master came through the door of his forge, he asked why Jinn looked so upset, and Jinn replied, "I won't have enough money to pay for food this winter. Olsen lost me 20 crowns for a wrong sized wheel; so now I am going to have to go hunting and hope that the deer are active..."  "Oh that yellow-bellied worm. I never did like him. Next time he comes here asking for mine or your service I will give him my hammer's service! Humph, I guess once you have killed the deer we will have to take up as many jobs as we can to be able to afford some vegetables and fruit for the Winter."

*

As Jinn followed some deer tracks he found, he heard a branch snap. He turned his head as quick as a rabbit, searching for the source. After searching for near-on 10 minutes for what made the sound he heard it again, so he crept around a corner to see a giant herd of deer! He quickly drew a few arrows from his quiver and took aim at three plump deer lying in a tight triangle. Just as his arrows left the bowstring, however, the whole herd of deer suddenly jumped up and started running towards him! Jinn was startled as the huge herd of deer sprinted directly at him, his mind screaming at his legs to run. He wasn't able to move and he was stuck in the direct path of the stampeding deer! Just before the leading animal—a large buck—was about to run him down, he willed his legs to move and at the last second he dived into a nearby group of bushes just as the herd thundered by, leaving his bow in the middle of the game path. When the last deer had run by he pushed himself up, brushing the leaves and twigs from his pack and walking towards the place where only moments before he nearly got trampled to death by stampeding deer, and beheld his ruined bow. It had been a present from Berg—his master—after completing his first job: creating a hammer for Hanel. As a carpenter, Hanel spent many days repairing the other Aynorians' houses; and whilst building a new roof for the tavern he had broken his hammer. Jinn had been assigned to building him a new one—a challenge that he took to eagerly—and had given him the best hammer Hanel had ever swung. His bow being broken felt like a part of himself being broken, like his first great achievement at the forge had been taken from him. Brimming with anger and sadness he started to walk back home before he had a thought: what could have made the deer bolt in the way they did? His first answer was simple, that it had been him. But then he realised two things, 1) he didn't make a sound and, 2) they had run towards him. They would not have run at him if he was the cause of their distress, they would have run away from him; which made him think: what was it that had scared the deer? That thought made him go back to where he had first found the deer, and in their place was a large crater! He tentatively slid down the side of the large bowl-shaped indention and found a large golden egg-shaped rock. As Jinn beheld the rock, he noticed carvings on its sides, of some type of person with a large bird that appeared to be on fire fighting an army of one-eyed giants—the bird spewing forth a torrent of flames and the man stabbing with a flaming spear. The whole design was expertly carved, and Jinn wondered what it was depicting. He decided that once he left the forrest and made it back to Aynor he would ask the visiting jewellery merchant Vern about the intricate carvings, and perhaps Grene—a story teller that knew the illegal (and true) history, and someone who has seen anything and everything in this part of the forrest—about the egg-shaped rock itself. He knew everything about history, but for now he figured that the crater would be a good place to camp, so he set up a fire and laid out his blankets; eating a cold dinner before going to sleep.

*

"Hmm, yes; it does appear to be quite exquisite." Vern said in his I-am-better-than-you voice, "I shall take it off your hands for, perhaps, 20 crowns." "20 crowns? Why, that is barely enough to buy a weeks-worth of the lowest meat, let alone a whole winter!" Jinn replied, angry that the rich jewellery-seller couldn't see that common folk weren't as well done by as the richer population. "Well, I wager that that is the best price you will find around these parts my young friend. So, unless you feel like walking to Kame, you might as well hand it over and take the price I'm given' you." Vern said, but Jinn wasn't even tempted. There was something in his eyes that told him that he shouldn't give it to him for the price he was offering. "No. Not for that price." Jinn said flatly, not letting the old jeweller take advantage of him. Vern just let out long, dissatisfied sigh. "Why do you youth always have to make this so hard?" Vern asked sternly, and suddenly he whipped up a dagger, poking its tip into his chin, saying "If you won't buy it off me, then I guess that I will just TAKE it from you- huh?" Vern said as the butt of a sword came rushing at his face, striking him on the nose. He slumped to the ground, out cold. "Are you ok?" Berg asked, dropping the sword that's hilt had recently been intimately introduced to the old jeweller's nose. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright." Jinn replied; shaken by Vern's reaction to his rock, "Lets see what he has to say about himself, shall we?"