Dallin, scout
I finally retired to my tent after what had been an unusual day. The haul through the woods had been tiring and finding the girl had come as a shock. Which reminded me that I still had those ropes and the stake. I got them out of my quiver and examined them in hopes of learning more about the mysterious girl I'd rescued. The ropes were thin and lightweight, yet durable and strong. The stake was thicker and heavier, it was made of Quito one of the hardest metals known. The stake was of a curious design that I had not encountered before. Instead of the metal being solid it had curved segments on the ends that folded back from the core into a shallow bowl. Puzzled I grabbed it and the ropes and hurried over to Martin's (the regiment magician) tent.
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"Well? What's so special about these things?" I demanded Martin. When I'd shown him the stake his eyes had widened and he'd grabbed it from me.
"I've never seen one of these before but I've heard about them. They're standard issue for most soldiers in Cyan's armies.
"You see these curved segments? What they do is once you push the ends of the stake into the ground you pull it up and the sections unfold. They catch the dirt and make it practically impossible to remove the stake unless you know the proper way."
"Well what is the proper way to remove the stake then? I nearly broke my fingers trying to get it out of the ground."
"Hmmm. From the looks of this, the catch is engaged from the side of the stake. So I would assume that you push it back down slightly and then give it a good jerk to the side." Martin looked at the stake a moment longer and the put it aside saying, "Anything else you want to know while I'm at it?"
"Yes, I was hoping that you could tell me about these ropes as well. You heard about the girl we found I assume. Anyways, these are the ropes she'd been tied with. When I was freeing her I tried to sever the bonds with my knife but I couldn't. Do you have any idea as to why?"
"Let me see those," he said reaching his hand out for the ropes in my hand. I handed them to him and watched him draw his dagger and try to slice off a piece of rope. Failing that he began to carefully slice bits off along the length of the rope, revealing thin strands of metal woven through the rope.
"See those wires," Martin asked me, pointing at them, "They're made of darksteel. Darksteel is made by burning Elfsteel in a fire of rowan wood."
"How can you tell Darksteel apart from Elfsteel?" I asked him, curious.
"They differ in color which makes it quite easy to tell them apart. Elfsteel has a sliver glow, and Darksteel has a black sheen. Another important thing to know is that Darksteel has anti-magical properties. Any magic that it comes in contact with winks out of existence." Suddenly Martin looked very thoughtful.
"All right Martin, what is it now?" I asked him, not wanting to be left out.
"It's odd that they used Darksteel. In my experience they only use Darksteel to restrain magicians or others with magical capabilities. Which means...?"
"We might have a magician on our hands," I finished, catching on to what he meant. We stared at each other in shock and as one, turned and rushed from the tent.
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"A magician you say?" the captain mused. We'd immediately come and told him what we had found out about the girl I had rescued.
"Yes Captain."
"That might pose a problem later on. Could she be a spy?"
"I doubt it Sir. If she was they would not have used Darksteel. They would have wanted her to be able to escape if needed."
"Hmm," he looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Martin, what do you think of this? Will you be able to handle her if she opposes us?" he asked.
"Yes sir, I believe so. Although I would suggest leaving the guard posted outside her tent."
"Good idea, I will do so. For now, tell the men to be on their guard around her. We'll have to watch this one."
