Chapter 3: Blessed Steel

[Pants are not a skill. I looked]

"What’s on the list?" Kai whispered.

[You may learn Minor Blessing or Minor Light with 1 divinity point. Minor Light produces a sphere of light that will last 10 minutes. Minor Blessing will bless something or someone. The Holy Champion would have used it to aid the ill]

"To aid the ill," Kai murmured. "That’s nice. What does it do?"

[I am not certain. No one has ever used it before. You are my first host. Everything you do will be a first]

It was not the most confidence-inspiring thing she could have said, so Kai decided to hold on to his point for the time being.

As they traveled further into the lower district, the streets got worse. The stone turned to dirt, and the houses turned into huts held together with rope and hope. An old man sitting on a bucket looked at Kai’s bare legs and then at Mira’s shackles before going back to whatever he was eating, which Kai prayed was chicken.

No one paid them any attention, and Kai figured a half-naked man and a shackled noblewoman weren’t too unusual down here.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Kai asked.

"You just did," Mira said.

"Why did everyone freak out when I told them I was a god?" Kai asked. "People say that all the time back home. Most of the time it’s on the internet."

Mira stopped walking and gave him a confused look.

"Because there are seven gods in Veyrath," Mira explained. "Each one has its own church and its own army. Saying that you are a god is blasphemy. They won’t hang you for it. They will burn you at the stake and charge admission."

"Charge admission?" Kai asked.

"Yes," Mira said.

"Syraphim, you could have told me that," Kai whispered.

[You did not ask. Also, I did not know. I only know what is known to the Holy Champion. No one would need to tell him not to say he was a god. He is very humble]

"I already don’t like him," Kai whispered.

Mira gave him a dirty look, because as far as she could tell he was talking to nothing, and then she kept walking.

She brought him down a narrow street to a small stone building. Smoke poured from the chimney, and a loud clang rang out every few seconds. There was a sign above the door with a cracked anvil painted on it.

"This is Garrick Holt’s shop," Mira said. "He shoed my father’s horses for twenty years. When my father was taken, he was the only one in this city who stood up for him. They broke three of his fingers for it."

"Do you think he’ll help us?" Kai asked.

"I think he’ll help me," Mira answered. "I’m not sure about you."

She pushed the door open, and the heat that rolled out nearly knocked Kai over. At the far end of the shop stood a huge bald man with a beard almost as thick as his arms, and his scarred arms were bigger than Kai’s entire body. His left hand was bandaged, with three fingers bent in odd directions. He held a hammer in his right hand and was pounding on a horseshoe, but the moment he saw Mira, he froze mid-swing.

"Lady Mira," Garrick grunted. He put his hammer down and dropped to his knees. "I was told you were being taken to the Drossmoor mines."

"They tried," Mira said. "Stand up. I’m not your lady."

"You will always be a lady to me," Garrick said. He stood up and finally noticed Kai. He looked at Kai’s face, then at his robe, and finally at his bare legs. "Who is this?"

"He bought me," Mira said.

Garrick picked his hammer back up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Kai said, throwing his hands up. "There’s context."

"He bought me with rocks," Mira added.

"That’s not what I meant!" Kai said.

"When the guards came, he chose to carry me out of the square instead of leaving me like any sane person would," Mira said. "He’s an idiot and a liar, but he’s not a slaver."

Garrick stared at Kai for a long time. Then he lowered his hammer slightly.

"The man in the robe," Garrick said. "The town crier came by about an hour ago and said a man dressed like a prostitute was proclaiming himself a god and robbed an auction. There is a reward on his head of twenty silver."

"Only twenty?" Kai asked.

"You’re not worth much," Garrick said.

[Your heart rate is steady. Your ego is bruised]

Mira held out her wrists to Garrick.

"Can you remove these?" Mira asked.

Garrick looked down at his bandaged hand and frowned.

"I’ll try," Garrick said. "But those are Draven shackles. Very good steel. You need to hold a chisel in one hand and strike it with the other. I only have one good hand. If I miss, I’ll take your wrist off."

Mira stayed silent, and Kai realized he had never seen her unsure of anything before.

Kai looked at Garrick’s crooked fingers and then at Mira’s shackles, and he thought about his one divinity point and aiding the ill, and about how nice it would be to have a blacksmith who believed in him.

"Syraphim, learn Minor Blessing," Kai whispered.

[Skill learned: Minor Blessing. Divinity points remaining: 0.]

[What will you do?] Syraphim asked.

"Work a miracle," Kai whispered.

[You do not know what it does]

"Neither does he," Kai whispered.

Kai stepped in front of Garrick and lifted his hands up, trying to look as godly as he could. His robe slid off his shoulder again, but he didn’t care.

"Garrick Holt!" Kai announced in his best god voice. "You helped those who couldn’t help themselves, and you were punished for your loyalty. Tonight, I will heal your hand!"

Garrick just stared at him, and Mira buried her face in her shackled hands.

"Minor Blessing," Kai said, pointing at Garrick’s hand.

He felt warmth leave his body and travel out through his finger. A small orb of golden light flew across the room. It went right past Garrick’s hand and hit his hammer instead, and the hammer began to glow as the light spread through the iron until the whole thing was shining gold.

"That’s not my hand," Garrick said.

"I know," Kai said.

"You missed," Mira said.

"I know," Kai said.

[Maybe you should practice aiming]

"I KNOW!" Kai yelled.

Garrick and Mira both stared at him, because no one had said anything.

Garrick picked up his hammer and raised his eyebrows. He spun it in his good hand to feel its weight.

"It’s lighter," Garrick said. "No. It’s not lighter. It just feels like it wants to go where I want it to."

He looked at Mira’s shackles, then at the hammer. He placed the chisel on the first link and swung one-handed.

The hammer hit the chisel perfectly, and the chain snapped. He moved to the next link and it broke too, and then he did the chains on her ankles, and every single swing landed exactly where it needed to until the chains fell to the ground.

Mira rubbed her wrists and looked at the red marks the shackles had left behind.

Garrick spun the hammer a few more times. When he looked back up at Kai, the rage was gone from his eyes. He was looking at Kai with something that no one had ever looked at him with before.

"I’ve been working with steel for twenty-six years," Garrick said quietly. "I have never felt it like that. It’s blessed."

"Yeah," Kai said. "I totally meant to do that."

A ding rang in Kai’s head, and golden letters appeared that only he could see.

[Faith gained. Garrick Holt: 11%. Status: Curious.]

"Eleven percent?" Kai said out loud. He pointed at Mira. "That’s more than you!"

"He’s a simple man," Mira said.

"I heard that," Garrick said.

[You did not heal his hand. You missed. But he has more faith in you than Mira does. I am starting to see a trend. Every time you try to do something, you fail, and something good happens. I do not know why yet]

"So my power is me failing at things," Kai mumbled.

[I will research that]

Mira picked up her broken chains and tossed them onto the scrap heap.

"You’re free," Kai said, and when Mira just looked at him, he kept going. "I’m being serious. I don’t have any papers or anything, but you’re free. Go wherever you want. I won’t follow you."

"Where would I go?" Mira asked. "My house was burned down. My father is dead. Castor Draven wants me in his mines. You’re the only one in this city who wouldn’t benefit from selling me."

"So what do you want?" Kai asked.

Mira thought about it for a long moment, and her face slowly turned serious.

"I want Castor Draven to lose everything he took from my family," Mira said. "And I think a lying miracle worker could help me with that."

"That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," Kai said.

[That is sad]

Mira nodded, as if she agreed with what she couldn’t hear.

Garrick coughed and tossed a pair of pants and a blacksmith’s apron at Kai’s chest.

"Put those on," Garrick said. "If you’re going to be a god, you’re not going to do it in a hooker’s robe in my shop."

Kai turned around and pulled on the pants, which were so big he had to roll the waistband over three times, then tied the apron over his bare chest and turned back with his arms spread wide.

"How do I look?" Kai asked.

Mira looked him over, and her eyes traveled to his arms and his bare sides, and they stayed there a second too long.

"Better," Mira said.

[Your heart rate is increasing. Wait. No. That is hers. I can feel it now that she has faith in you. Is she scared or horny?]

Kai couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face.

"She’s not scared, Syraphim," Kai whispered.