“Whaaahh!” Tokki cried out, as he charged towards his master. The goblin made a lunge on his last step, putting all of his weight behind the thrust of the spear.

Arnith was ready to receive the hit. He held the shield close to his shoulder; his body was angled to the side, with his shield arm to the front, his left foot towards his attacker, and the other more stretched out to the back, to support against the oncoming thrust.

The spear hit the center of the shield with a thud, sliding off the central ridge to the right. Arnith could not count the times he went through drills in the use of shields, holding one was second nature to him and it took some effort for him not to angle the shield too much, so it would take the brunt of the force.

Tokki was overextended as he followed the spear and Arnith gave him a small nudge with the shield, so the goblin fell on his side.

“Very good Tokki, but always remember not to lose your balance,” Arnith said in a merry tone.

Tokki grunted in reply as he picked himself up from the ground.

Arnith took his hand out from the straps behind the shield and turned it around to look at it. “I guess it’s enough now for testing the shield.” He said to his servant, waving him off.

There were several small gouges in the top layer of the shield, but none of them went through to the hide-covered side in the back and Arnith was very pleased with the results.

The area around the fire where the experimentation had taken place was littered with the remains of it. The shield that the elf held was the fourth iteration.

Arnith had been inspired by what he knew from making horn bows and the spears of the goblins to try and find a use for the bones as a material. He ground a bunch of bones down to powder and then he had boiled all of the leftover strips of leather to make hide glue. He was hoping that by combining the bone meal and the glue he could make any shape he wanted with the durability of bone.

The first design had been weak, just a rectangular slab of bone meal mixed with hiding glue, it had cracked fairly easily and he had almost given up on the direction he had begun to explore. The availability of bones for use as material and the lack of almost anything else motivated him to keep exploring its uses. After making a series of sticks with different mixtures and breaking them he had found on with enough elasticity that he would try again.

The second shield still could not endure too much punishment and after bashing it around, he found that the spots he had attached the straps to had eroded enough that he knew it would not be too long until they would come off.

The third Shield had been closer to the final product; he had gone from a rectangular shape to an oval one, the structure becoming much stronger without corners. He had re-thought his approach, bringing lizard hide in to cover the inner side, of the shield and using a couple of thigh bones to reinforce the center of the shield from top to bottom.

Still not satisfied with the third one, he had taken a pause and thought about the steps he had taken in making it and what was lacking in the results. He had used the bone mixture to glue the thigh bone into the structure, but the hide layer would move away from it if hit too hard, so he would need to bind the bone and hide together with straps before covering the structure with the bone mixture. The shape of the shield being flat was also an issue, having it curve would make the force of an attack disperse and give better coverage for the defender. He also wanted to add additional bone structure, adding four more vertical supports, two on each side of the center one.

The Process of making the final shield was much more refined than the previous attempts, he began by making a mound of dirt in the curved shape that he wanted to have. Before laying the hide down, he prepared it with all the straps that he would use to attach it to the bones and for the handhold. After the hide he added the bones, he had to cut them into segments that he glued together in angles so they would curve with the shield. Finally, he heated the glue and mixed it with the bone meal, making a warm paste which he molded onto to the structure; he made sure to make the surface of the shield as smooth as he could, before leaving it to harden.

The final product was an oval-shaped curved shield, which had three vertical ridges. The bonemold front was colored a pastel yellow and the lizard hide a dark grey.

Arnith put the shield down and admired his handiwork, the damage that Tokki had managed to do to it was nothing substantial and the gouges would be simple to repair with adding more of the bone mixture to it. The shield would probably not fare so well against metal weapons but considering the development level of the region, it would not be an issue.

Having succeeded in the task was a victory to the elf which he had sorely needed, there had not been a lot of accomplishments for him since entering the underground and he counted this one to be on par with finding the waterfall.

After indulging in the glow of his accomplishment, Arnith began to clear the area from the remains of his work, he was surprised by the amount of trash he had made and made a note to dedicate a different area of the cave for future endeavors in crafting, already making plans to experiment with armor.

Though he decided to hold off any more projects in that direction, for now, developing the shield had taken more than a couple of sleep cycles and there were other things to dedicate his time to.

***

After cleaning up Arnith went to find Hopper. He had many questions for the shaman and now that he was not engaged he wanted to find answers.

During the time that Hopper had been with them the creature had sparsely been seen, he would appear to the smell of food and retreat to the deeper areas of the cave after gaining a parcel of food, so that was where Arnith went to look for him.

In their initial survey of the cave, they had been to its end and Arnith knew that it was not far off, but as it narrowed it did turn a couple of times so the farther reaches were not directly seen from the main area.

Before the very end of the cave, there was a diagonal slab of stone which ran through it and left only a small opening under it, behind it Arnith knew there was a chamber but he had dismissed using it himself as he would have to go on all fours reach it every time.

As Arnith crawled through the entry he saw that the shaman had truly settled into the place. Hopper had gathered a few of the smaller glowing crystals and placed them around the room, there was a comfy sleeping pile and the shape of the chamber offered the shaman ledges which he used to store several objects, there were several animal skulls and the eerie-looking dolls, a couple of which seemed to be a work in progress. There was an area where there were fragments of the glowing chrystals about, it seemed he had ground some of them down. Arnith felt the smell of hide-glue in the air and he suspected that the goblin had pilfered some of it while he had slept for himself, but he had no interest in accusing the mad goblin of the small theft, instead, his attention was on the back wall and he was taken aback by what he saw there.

Hopper stood in front of the wall, the surface was a single piece of almost smooth stone. The shaman whispered a continuous chant and ignored the entrance of his visitor. Hopper held a small brush in one hand and dipped it into a leather holder in the other, before resuming painting on the wall. The image was captivating enough that after his initial reaction, Arnith just went to stand behind Hopper and observed his work for a while without interrupting him.

The painting had a life of its own; it glowed in different shades of blue. It dawned on Arnith that the reason why the shaman had ground down the crystal and stolen some of the glue he had made, was to make a glowing paint out of it. As awesome as the paint was, the image Hopper had created was even more so. Through talent or mystical guidance, the shaman had painted a spectral image of an elf with glowing eyes, wisps of power surrounded the figure and he stood in a dominating pose. He was looking to the sky, with his arms out, his hands were open upwards and a blue mist rose from his palms, falling through his fingers.

For a moment Arnith thought that the image would come to life, so vivid was the creation, but then he knew it was but paint on a wall, nothing more.

The elf suspected the origin of the image, but he had to ask. “Who is it?” He whispered.

Hopper did not stop, but answered in between his chant, “It is the Great One.” confirming Arnith’s conjecture. The elf on the wall was similar to his grandfather, but in the way all elves were, it was difficult to compare the ghostly image to his memories of Aethir the loremaster.

Dismissing the strangeness of the situation Arnith tried to remember why he had come here. He had wanted to ask the goblin of a number of things, but namely about the geography of the region. Hopper might be relatively insane Arnith knew, but the goblin was also very intelligent and could potentially prove to be a well of information if dealt with carefully.

The painting gave Arnith an idea, one which could prove exceedingly useful.

“There is a task I have for you.” Arnith drew his attention.

Hopper stopped his chant and turned to look at the elf, the dark holes of his mask directed to him in an alien manner, and then he cocked his head in an all too familiar manner.

“Bring your paints and meet me at the fire,” Arnith commanded and lowered himself down to crawl back out of the chamber.

“Yes.” The shaman replied and after a small pause, added “Master.”

***

Arnith returned to the front area of the cave and observed that Tokki was missing. Probably went out to check on the traps, Arnith thought. The goblin had fallen into a routine of going out regularly and it pleased the elf that he did not have to command him every time.

To implement his plan Arnith went around the sides of the cave near the entrance, to choose a wall that would best suit his needs. It did not take long for him to find the spot, a space of the wall which was fairly flat, somewhere around three meters long and two meters tall was just a little further in from the entrance.

Arnith turned to return to the fireplace, but he could see it from where he was at and that the shaman was at it, adding more fuel to the fire, so he called out to Hopper to join him.

“Yes, master?” Hopper asked as he arrived at the wall.

“Do you know what a map is? Arnith asked.

“Mmmmm.” The goblin looked up as if searching for something “MMMM, no.” he finally answered.

Arnith thought for a moment on where to begin.

“A map is AAAA, well depiction of an area, put into painting or carving, a picture.” Arnith tried to explain.

The goblin cocked his head in a query.

“Maybe it is better if I show you, give me the brush and the paint.” The elf said.

Hopper relinquished his brush and a glowing leather pouch from his belt.

Arnith opened the pouch, careful not to spill its contents he dipped the brush into the glowing paint.

Arnith moved to the left side of the area which he wanted to use for the map, leaving a little space from the edge.

“Imagine this is where we are at...” He said as he tried his best to make a small image of a waterfall, the middle height of the space “and this is where you originally come from.” He added a square a little higher to the right of Brightwater. “And this is the gorge with the river.” He drew a small line out from the waterfall.

He turned around to see if Hopper got the idea, but he was brushed aside as the goblin took the brush from him and began to add things to the wall.