Privately Kellen thought that was too bad, as the shanfron had looked very dashing.
'We will finish these pieces and have them ready for you by tomorrow, Shalkan,' Tandarion said.
Shalkan bowed his head. 'Green for the lacings and ornaments, I think,' he said gravely. 'To match my eyes, of course.'
Kellen wasn't sure whether the unicorn was serious or making a joke, but the Elves seemed to think it was a perfectly reasonable request.
Once they'd removed the armor, he wandered over to Kellen.
'Nice sword.'
'Not that I know the first thing about using one,' Kellen said under his breath.
'Just think of it as a large, pointy, sharp-edged club,' Shalkan said helpfully. 'You're good with a club. If you can't actually cut at an enemy properly, at least you can bash him with the flat of the blade. And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a few more arrangements to make before tomorrow, and your work here has just begun.' He pointed with his horn, and Kellen saw the Master Armorer and several apprentices coming out of the forge area with several pieces of what could only be Kellen's new armor.
THERE was a helmet, a sort of collar, pieces to cover his chest and back, and long metal sleeves with segmented elbows, held in place by gauntlets so meticulously jointed that Kellen could touch each finger with his thumb, just as if the gauntlets were leather instead of metal. The closer he looked at the armor, the more small interlocking pieces he could see: it was as unyielding as any of the hard metals (quite harder than bronze, though it didn't seem to be steel), but nearly as flexible as his own skin. The armorers swore a man could dance wearing this armor, but Kellen wasn't looking forward to trying. It might be much, much lighter than anything he'd ever seen of the sort before, but that didn't make it light.
The entire surface of the armor was ornamented, or would be when it was complete, with subtle patterns that were almost like the pattern of wood grain.
'It adds strength, you see,' one of the armorers told him, seeing his confusion, holding up a finished piece of another suit of armor for Kellen's inspection. That one didn't have a wood-swirl pattern, though; its surface pattern looked more like clouds, or billows of smoke.
'A good beginning, though of course much more work will be needed. You may remove the armor if you wish.'
Kellen pulled off the helmet (there would be feathers, he'd discovered to his dismay, in a green to match Shalkan's ornaments) and slipped off the belly-and-back pieces, which were all he'd had on at the moment, the others having already been returned to the forge for more work. It looked like it was a good thing he was going to have an actual Elven Knight with him, because otherwise he wasn't sure how he'd get in and out of all this stuff every morning, even if most of the parts did stay permanently connected to each other once the armor was finished.
But at last, late in the afternoon, the Master Armorer told him he was no longer needed for the work to continue. The armor would be ready for him by the time he was ready to depart.
Rolling up the quilted undertunic and leggings to take with him, Kellen left the armory.
HE went directly back to the house, hoping Idalia would be there. To his great relief he found her lying on one of the long benches in the living room, reading her copy of The Book of Sun and eating an apple, the grey cat under her arm.
'Are you all right?' he asked.
'Better than I will be later tonight,' Idalia said matter-of-factly, sitting up. 'Don't look so worried—with all the Elves of Sentarshadeen providing the energy to create the counterspell and the keystone, all I'll really have to do is provide energy to channel their power, the skill to craft the spell, and the ability to put it in place. The cost to us all will be no worse than if we'd all worked nonstop for a few sennights, but compressed into an hour or so. We'll all be exhausted once the spell is cast, but it will be worth it. That's why you are not going to be participating in what we're going to do tonight. You'll need all your resources for what comes after.'
Kellen sat down beside her. The grey cat, dislodged from her previous comfortable position, climbed into his lap, settled down again, and started purring. He stroked her fur absently.
'What does come after?' Kellen asked. 'Tomorrow, I mean.'
'Go where I send you and release the spell there. I'll know more exactly what you're looking for and how you'll find it—and what to do when you get there—once I've done my part tonight.'
'That doesn't seem, well, very exact,' Kellen said dubiously.
Idalia reached out and ruffled his hair comfortingly. 'If you wanted exact answers and detailed instructions,
