"Any time, yer Ladyship," he said with a wave of his hand. "I should be thanking ye to trust me to handle such a job."
"I needed the best, goodman. Skill knows no political boundaries."
"All in all, I still thank ye. When word got around that the Tower had consigned me for a job, the customers that left because I'm Dal came back. Ye saved me business, yer Ladyship. I can't thank ye enough for that."
"Then I'm happy I could help out," she said with a smile. "Good day to you."
"If ye need me hammer, it's yers, yer Ladyship. Half price."
"I'll remember that," she said with a light laugh.
Tarrin was a little disoriented when they left the shop and got back into the carriage, where the two Knights were still waiting. What did the two metal bracers do? Why did he feel that strange tingle when he put them on? They were magical, he knew that, but what kind of magic did they possess, and why did the smith have to work on them?
"I know, you're full of questions," Jenna smiled as they climbed back in and sat down. Tarrin had his new sword on his lap, and that too was a little strange. Jenna knew that he didn't like swords very much. Why had she had one made for him? His staff was stored safely in the elsewhere, and even though he wasn't entirely sure how he was supposed to get it out, he was sure he could do it if he really needed to do it. After all, Dolanna taught him how put things in there, he was sure that it worked more or less the same for getting things out. "Did you feel something when you put on the bracers?"
"Yes, it was like a cold tingle," he answered.
"Then it worked," she sighed. "I was afraid that they might not."
"What are they? What was that tingle?"
"They're magical devices, brother. As you are now, you're rather vulnerable when compared to the kinds of people or things that may try to attack you for what you're carrying. Mother showed me how to make those bracers. They're going to help protect you."
"But what do they do?"
"They do two things, Tarrin. The first is a defensive magic that surrounds you, like a phantom suit of armor. That's what that tingle was you felt. Your skin is as strong as steel, and if someone hit you in the head with a rock, you'd barely feel it. Given who you are and the fact that I doubt we could get you into a suit of armor, we figured that giving you the same protection without making it apparent would be a good idea."
Tarrin was intrigued and amazed by that statement. The bracers were like a suit of magic armor? He didn't feel any different, and didn't feel heavy or anything. Curious, he unsheathed his sword enough to expose the edge, and was about to see if it could cut him, but Jenna laid a hand over his to stay him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she cautioned. "The sword will make you think that the bracers are phony."
"What do you mean?"
"The sword was enchanted as well. It can cut through virtually anything, and the blade is made of Adamantite, which means that I don't think there's anything you could do to it to break it. That sword will go right through the magical defense of the bracers, so testing the bracers with it is not a good idea," she winked.
Tarrin looked at the sword in awe. It could cut through anything? Well, she said almost anything. It didn't seem that sharp, and it didn't really feel magical, not like the bracers did.
Or did it?
Tarrin held the hilt firmly in his hand and tried to feel the sword. He closed his eyes and tried to really feel it, to feel past what his fingers sensed, to reach beyond to where those ghostly images of strings were, always just on the edge of his vision but never intruding to the point where they interfered. He ignored that most of the time, but now he wanted to look into it, he wanted to feel what was on that other side.
It was there. He could feel it now. It was an exceptionally powerful enchantment, but it had been actively concealed so as not to give away the true nature of the weapon. It was almost like an army hiding in the fog, a tremendous force hiding behind a veil of ambiguity. The weaving was crisp, exacting, detailed, and it was absolutely flawless. It had Jenna's hands all over it. He recognized the style of that weaving almost immediately. It was the same style of concealing weave that been in the amulets back on Sha'Kari, but had been modified to conceal the active weave hidden within the sword.
For the briefest fleeting of moments, close to the Weave, Tarrin almost felt like another person. He could feel something close to him, and he could feel the power of the Weave all around him, very strong, almost alluring in its enticing closeness. An entire lifetime of forgotten memories seemed tantalizingly close to him in that fleeting sensation, but they were like a cloud. Sharp and detailed from a distance, but hazy and indistinct the closer one got to them.
Tarrin nearly felt like his eyes were going to pop as a shockwave of pain roared through his mind. He had remembered! It was just a flash, but it was the most detailed flash of memory he had yet to experience! He absolutely knew that Jenna had made the magic in the sword and the bracers, and for that one fleeting moment, he could feel the closeness of the Weave, could sense its power, almost beckoning to him. Tarrin flopped back in his seat and put a hand to his forehead, but he had a big smile. "Jenna, I remembered!" he said excitedly. "I wanted to see if there really was a magic spell in the sword, and for a short moment, remembered something!"
"What did you remember?" she asked quickly.
"I recognized the style of weaving used on the sword, and I remembered that the concealing weave in the sword was based on the ones in the amulets back in Sha'Kari. I have no idea what half of that means, but I remembered it!"
"You did? That's wonderful!" Jenna said happily, clapping her hands and then hugging him. "Kimmie said that you'd possibly have more detailed flashes of insight over time. I see she wasn't wrong!"
"I hope it happens again, but next time without the headache," he said, rubbing his temple delicately.
Jenna laughed. "She said the headaches would be part of the remembering," she warned him. "But it's good to see that you are getting back some of it, even if it is in bits and pieces. I hope that means that Phandebrass' potion is going to work perfectly."
"Well, I hope so," he said. "You said that the bracers do two things. What's the other?"
She grinned. "You're like a child with a new toy," she teased.
"I just don't want to sneeze and blow something up by accident," he warned.
Jenna laughed richly. "Well, I guess I can see that," she winked. "I wouldn't want you going around knocking down walls. The repair bills would be ghastly." She chuckled with him, then put her hand on the bracer. "They don't blow things up, but their second function is a weapon," she told him seriously. "I made them so you'll never be unarmed. Mother told me to name them the Cat's Claws, and I think that tells you what they do."
Tarrin looked down at the two black metal bracers. "Claws come out of them?" he asked. "From where?"
"It's a bit more involved than that," she said. "Let me show you." Jenna reached down and put her hand over one of the bracers, and he felt something strange happen. She had done something to them, and he realized that she had triggered them with her magic.
Tarrin had had his hand out to look at the bracer, and he was amazed at what he saw. The metal of the bracer seemed to turn liquid, and it flowed over the back of his hand. It felt strangely warm as it did so, very quickly, like a black shadow racing down his hand, over his knuckles, and over his fingers. The metal encased the back of his hand and fingers and when it reached his fingertips, it kept going out, extending over his fingertips and forming very long, slightly curved and hooked metal claws. But where a cat's claw was thick, these metal claws were as thin as dagger blades, sharp only on the inside curve, and ending in a very wicked looking point. They were extending a good span over his fingertips, and they had almost no apparent weight.