The Ghost from the dust

Ardin looked around, turning down each ruin like he knew the place "For some strange reason I feel like I've been here before, I cant say why. I dont know what brought me here or why. but I feel I must stay" he breathed in and looked at a building, and entered the opening. "When the spirit called me she called me by name,"

She looked up at him, feeling a shiver run down her spine at his words. "She called you by name? How did she know?" she asked, her voice little more than a whisper. The spirits here were less than before, but she could still feeling them brushing past, going about their ghostly buisness as though they still lived. She let out a yelp as she felt something cold pass directly through her.

would simply move aside to let the ghosts by, "I dont know how she knew me, but she called me by name, so I can't leave this place, and I have this feeling that makes me feel that I must protect it" as he entered the door way a bat flew by him, and he moved out of its way. moving into the room, with old furniture, covered in dust and would collapse when touched.

She followed him into the building, nodding. "She must have something she wants you to do, a request she wants to be fulfilled. Maybe you should find her, talk to her again." she told him, looking around the room. her eyes filled with sadness as she beheld a small cradle against one wall, her fingers gliding over the top, the wood crumbling beneath her fingers, dust filling the air causing her to sneeze.

He covers his mouth until the dust settled, "If she wants me she will contact me again, which I why I'm staying, so that I will be here when she asks of me, Who knows maybe those orcs were called here as a test, to see if I was the right one" he looks along the floor "They died in here"

She nodded, looking up at the ceiling through which she had fallen. "I know. But while we are here, why don't we collect the bow I dropped, if you insist upon us staying here, we will need it to hunt for food." she quickly moved out the door, into the fresh air outside, walking quickly towards the house she had first been on. She spotted the bow half on, half off the roof where she had dropped it, and stood up a stone fence nearby to try to grab it. Her fingers just managed to graze the curve of the bow, and she stood up on her tiptoes, grasping it in her hand just before she lost her balance, falling lightly to the ground. "Got it!" she called happily, then frowned, looking for the quiver.

Ardin laughed coming up to her seeing her fall "First your going to have to learn how to shoot a bow, that one seemed a bit to strong for you" he chuckled and looked at the quiver. seeing why she was frowning.

She chuckled, thrusting the bow at him. "Yes, this one is defiantly too strong for me," she chuckled. "Besides, I've never hunted before in my life. I wouldn't know the first thing about it." she smiled, ducking back into the buidling they had been in, collecting the fallen arrows. Several had broken in the fall, but most were still usable. And she found the quiver underneath the table she had fallen on.

Ardin smiled and bowed "I could always teach you, and I could make you a bow that you may actually be able to fire" he took the bow and placed it on his back and took the arrows, taking the broken ones as well ' we can recycle these, I dont feel like making more arrow heads if I dont have to" he smiles pulling the heads off and taking the feathers, "Come lets make you a bow"

She smiled slightly. "I wouldn't mind learning how to shoot." she admitted, leaving the building. "If you are willing to teach me, I will at least be able to take away some of the burden of hunting from your shoulders." She looked up at him, smiling still. "Whats the first step in making a bow?"

Ardin grinned and walked out of the building "First step is to get wood," he smiled with a chuckle "But is has to be strong and flexible. he moves to the forest and looks for a certain tree "We must find a good type of wood."

She followed him into the forest, looking at the various types of trees around them. Oak, she knew right away, was too stiff to make for a good bow, and pine was too soft. She glided around the woods, touching a tree here and there, until she came to a great yew tree. "Will this work?" she asked, running her hands over the tree, her elvish features alight.

Ardin smiled "Very good", he grips the tree and begins to climb, then starts cutting at one of the large branches "We can carve it down into a fine bow, nice and strong" he hacked at the branch for a good time until it crashed to the ground, he jumped down and picked it up "And your going to do it"

She looked from the branch to him uncertainly. "Are you sure that's wise?" she asked, lifting a brow. "I'll probably make a mess of it," she chuckled, taking the branch from him. "But I am willing to try. Do you have the proper tools?"

smiles and hands her his sword "Se-aker blades never dull" he grins and sits against the tree, "If you mess it up you will start again, but if you want a bow, you should make it youself, that is the sign of a true warrior and hunter."

She took the sword clumsily from him, not expecting the weight of it. She stood there for a long moment, looking from the sword, to the branch, then back to him. "Er, how do I get started?" she asked, unsure of how to go about using the long blade to shape the bow, and not wanting to cut herself.

Ardin smiled and slide over to her, put the branch between her leg, then took her hand and positioned the blade on the wood. "First you need to remove all this bark, you want to push the blade at an angle to take away small strip," he put her other hand on the back od the blade, it was only sharp in the front. "push with both hands, and slowly, down the wood" he holds onto her hands and pushes the blade along the wood, wood and bark seperates and curls away. "Just keep doing this, then I will help you with the harder parts". he let her be and went to sit down again.

She copied the movement he had shown her, weary of the sharp blade in her hands. Still, within a few minutes time she had shaved off most of the bark, and she became more relaxed with the sword in her hands. "Whats next?" she asked, looking up for the first time from the branch to look at him.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. he walked away from her to the fireplace in the camp site grabbed a stick and came back. taking it and drawing a shape of a bow with the charred stick "Carve around this".

She bit her lip, looking from the drawing to the branch, and began to shave away pieces of the wood. Her hand slipped on the blade, and the branch snapped in two as she accidentally applied too much pressure as she attempted to keep her hold on the sword. She stared at the two pieces for a moment and sighed, tossing them into the fire. "I guess I need to start over," she sighed, getting up and moving to the tree, finding a suitable branch and cutting it free. She once again began to remove the bark, and this time she moved slower and with more care as she began to carve the shape of the bow.

Ardin smiled and laughed "No worries practice makes perfect, take your time there isnt a rush" Ardin picked some berries from a bush next to him, and popped them in his mouth "The secret is to make long smooth strokes, nice and even and light, this isnt about strenght".

She sighed and nodded, unused to handling sharp blades, much less a sword. But she set to the work, taking her time, and over the next hour or so the bow started to take shape. She grinned, looking up at Ardin. "I think I am getting the hang of it," she laughed happily, getting back to work until the shaping was done.

Ardin looked over and chuckled "Really lets have a look" he took the wood and, looked it over, smiling and started to bend it. almost like it was about to break. "Very good, now we just need to steam it abit to take its form and then it should be ready to go" He stood up and went back to the camp motioning her to follow. entering the camp he started another fire and got a pot of water above it, putting the wood over the pot. to let the steam soften it.

She watched as the steam began to soften the wood, moving the branch back and forth so that its entire length got the same treatment. "Do you have an extra bowstring?" she asked, not sure how she'd go about making one from scratch. She gently massaged her hands, which were sore and cramped from the working with the wood and sword. She rummaged around in her bag, taking out a small can of salve which she rubbed into her hands.

Ardin Chuckled and held the wood in a shade taking it out of the steam and waited for it to harden "Seven, you really think an assassin with my experience would travel with only one bow string" Once the wood hardened he took his sword and made a few adjustments on it, cutting bits and pieces away, and made a nick for the arrow to rest on, then took went into his bag and took out a long length of string, there was silver string and more that looked like black hair, he looked at both "Which would you fancy, my Equally rare, silver lined crystal string, or Hair, both are very usable".