Garrett Ironpeak's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

They reached Garrett's home at dusk. He set his glaive on the table and gripped its haft. No spark answered. The lightning that once ran the blade had gone dark. He drew the bow next and spoke the command word. No ember woke in the wood. Both weapons had spent their charge in the creek fight. Daren watched him try again and knew the truth before Garrett said it. "They're empty," Garrett said. "Two wolves still guard that den. I can't take them with dead steel." "Then how did they ever burn?" Daren asked. He set his spear against the wall. "Someone charged them once." Garrett had bought them long ago, from a trader who spoke of an old man who lived with a tree of crystal. He had thought the story a lie. Now he had no better hope. "There's a man," he said. "He keeps a grove where the branches shine. If anyone can wake these weapons, it's him." They crossed the ice through the night. By morning they found the grove. The trees stood like glass, their branches nearly clear, their flowers cut from gemstone. Light broke off every edge. At the roots sat an old man in a pale robe, barefoot on the snow, his white beard long enough to touch the ground. He did not look up. "You bring me war," he said. "I smell it on the steel." Garrett knelt and laid the glaive and bow before him. "They're dry. I need them full by nightfall." This was Kaelen Crystalborn, the guru the trader had named. He touched the glaive's blade with one finger and frowned. "These drink from the tree," Kaelen said. "The tree gives, but slow. You want a year's charge in a day." He looked at Garrett for the first time. "Why the haste?" "A man commands wolves," Daren said. "He hunts us both. We strike his den or he takes everyone." Kaelen studied the boy, then the scarred man beside him. He rose. "The flowers hold the light. Cut them and the charge comes fast. But the tree will not bloom again for many years." He held out a thin blade of crystal. "Choose. Your weapons, or the grove's beauty." Garrett took the blade. He cut three flowers and pressed them to the glaive's haft. Light poured into the steel. The lightning motif flared blue and held. He did the same to the bow. Ember glow spread through the wood, and heat warmed his palm. Behind him the tree stood barer, its branches stripped where the blooms had been. Kaelen watched the empty limbs without a word. Garrett stood, both weapons alive in his hands. "It's done," he said. "Thank you." "Go," Kaelen said. "But know the tree remembers what you took." Garrett shouldered the bow and turned toward the den. The weapons were charged. Only two wolves stood between him and Fenrir now.