The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) Jonathan Brooks (books that read to you txt) 📖

I couldn’t ever really get the hang of more than extremely simple, basic enchantments – and even those were poorly made.”

“Yes, but what about the materials you used?”

Echo was perplexed.  “Well, I practiced using some steel and wood, but some of them were only good for—oh.  I see now; you’d have to have a compatible material for your staff.”

“Exactly; I can’t very well hold a staff of water, after all, and something made from dirt, stone, or metal would be a bit heavy to lug around.  I’m sure there are some other options for them, but I haven’t had time to experiment.”

Echo thought about her own elements, Air and Holy, and couldn’t imagine what could be used as a material with those, so she could understand the Elder’s point.

“Gotcha.  Now, when do we leave?”

Churven showed up just then, with a grave expression on his face.  “We’re ready.  We leave now.”

Finally.  Hopefully, this is finished quickly, so I can get back and let Sandra know what is going on.  With that thought, she followed the others out of the hidden location, ready for whatever came next.

Chapter 18

Waiting for a specific event to happen was a whole lot more stressful than just being held in the stone cell with no particular knowledge of being released.  Every waking minute, Gerold was expecting to hear the Drums that indicated that an attack was underway, which would – if Master Blacksmith Jespin was telling the truth – result in his expeditious release from captivity and subsequent escape.  He was looking forward to fulfilling at least one of his promises to Sandra, and bringing Jespin with him would certainly accomplish that; a difficult problem with a relatively simple solution.

It was the waiting that was the hardest part.

From what he could tell, over a week had passed since the last time that Jespin had visited him, and although he had been told it was to dissuade anyone from looking too closely at what the Blacksmith was doing, that didn’t make the loneliness any better.  In fact, as much as he hated to admit it, he missed Sandra’s voice in his head; just knowing that she was there when he was near her dungeon was something he’d never thought about before.  Especially since it had seemed like such a violation of his personal space before.  What I wouldn’t give to be able to speak to someone—anyone.  I’d even take Second-shield Bregan yelling at me constantly; at least it would be better than this silence.

That silence was finally broken in the middle of what he was considering night (which was when he was used to sleeping over the last nearly 2 weeks), as the room started to shake under him.  The reverberating Drums of War pounded through the entire cell system, startling him out of a deep sleep from which it took him a few moments to wake.  At first he thought it was an extension of a dream he was having, but after the drumming didn’t stop right away, he knew it was real.

Getting to his feet, Gerold stood at the door to his cell, looking through the large cut-out piece with iron bars blocking his way, expecting the Master Blacksmith to show up at any time to set him free.  Now that it was time for his escape, time seemed to slow down as anticipation and excitement flowed through his veins, and the former Shieldman practically bobbed up and down on the balls of his feet.

“C’mon, Jespin.  Where are you?” he whispered, though with the sounds of the drums pounding through the entire mountain, he doubted anyone could hear him.  He waited and waited, the fire running through his blood fading a bit as no one appeared.  An hour or so passed, and then another; through it all, the drums didn’t stop.

Something’s wrong.  He should be here by now…or he was lying to me all along.  For some reason, he doubted that was the problem, because Jespin had seemed sincere in his need to break Gerold out so that he could use Sandra’s help obtaining mithril.  That, and the fact that the Drums hadn’t stopped reverberating through his bones even after a few hours was alarming.

“I’m not waiting anymore; I’ve got to get out of here to see what’s going on.”  Lately, he had been talking to himself to pass the time; he was aware that it wasn’t normal and likely meant that his mental state was slipping from the forced isolation, but he didn’t care.

Gathering up his Water energy, he attempted to manipulate it like he had seen Echo and Sandra’s Shapeshifters do, but it wasn’t as easy as they made it look.  He was used to applying his energy through his armor, not bending it to his will to affect the world around him.  Gerold could bring it out, even gather it between his hands, but getting it to actually do something was nearly impossible.

“Focus, Gerold.  Focus.”

The pounding of the Drums didn’t help with his focus, of course, though after a while he was able to block them out as he concentrated on what he was doing.  Eventually, Gerold was able to walk forward with the Water energy between his hands, before thrusting the roiling energy towards the lock.  With a superior force of will, he convinced the energy to create water—and then he urged it to quickly freeze, filling the entire lock with ice that expanded as it froze.  There was a loud *crack* that could be heard even over the Drums, and Gerold sagged in relief.

Letting the energy go, he nearly fell on his face as he reached to try his cell door.  “Whoa…that was intense.”  Gerold had used up almost all of his Water elemental energy in doing just that one single effect, though he could feel it slowly regenerating from the Energy Orb in his palm.  “This is definitely a lot