“He has to have a stash of weapons around here somewhere. Where are they?”
“Uh, Harper,” Elowen starts. “What are you doing?”
“Yeah.” Auri’s eyes are narrowed on me. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not going to do anything. You are.” I meet Auri’s eyes. “We’re going to burn through that frustration and bad attitude.” I walk over to the kitchen door.
“I don’t have a bad attitude,” she calls out behind me.
“Sure you don’t.” I push through the door and make my way over to the hallway that will lead to Rauk’s room, as well as the other rooms. When I get to the door and find it’s locked, I let my frustration be known. “Seriously?”
“You just have to push the button,” Elowen says from behind me. She walks to where I’m standing. “Right here.” I follow her gaze and see the small black button, just like the one that unlocks the front door.
“Well, that would have been good to know,” I mutter.
“How have you been getting in?” she asks in confusion.
“With my knives,” I tell her with a wide grin as I open the door.
“Oh. Where are you going?”
I start down the hallway. “Looking for weapons.” When I open the door to Rauk’s room, I hear Elowen’s soft gasp.
“Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” I argue. I walk over to his wardrobe and open it and frown when I don’t find any weapons. Next, I check the small table next to his bed.Nothing.I check under his bed and then climb onto his massive bed and check under his pillows. When I still don’t see anything, I frown. Rauk is not thekind of guy to not have access to weapons at the drop of a hat; I know that for sure. I scan the room again. When my eyes light on a small part of the wall that seems to stick out more than the rest of the wall, I jump off the bed. I feel the wall. There’s definitely something amiss with this wall. I look for a knob, a handle...anything; but I find nothing. And then I push on the one side of the wall.Nothing.But when I push the other side, it pops open. “Found it,” I call out with a grin.
“Harper, I don’t think you should be in there,” she calls from the hallway. Then I think I hear a whispered, urgent,Harper.But I ignore it.
“Oh...” That’s all I can say as I walk into his weapons room that’s as large as a bedroom and boasts of every kind of weapon known to man. “I think I’m in love,” I whisper as I run my hands over the weapons. There are weapons I’ve never even seen before, and that’s saying a lot because I’ve seen Rysden’s armory. I slowly walk along the wall, taking it all in. There’s such a wide assortment of daggers, swords, and knives...standard stuff. But there are many more brutish weapons—axes, maces, clubs, spears, and more that I don’t have a clue as to their names or uses. One such weapon sits in the corner. I pick it up and stagger under its weight for a moment. It’s huge and heavy, but fascinating. It’s long with a spear tip on the end. On one side is an axe head, and on the other is a hook that kind of worries me about what it’s intended use is. I try to lift it like I would to wield it, but I can’t. It’s way too heavy for me.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
The raspy, angry words come from behind me, and I whirlaround to see Rauk standing in the doorway. He doesnotlook happy. I panic for a moment and wonder if he saw Auri or found out what we’re doing. I force my voice to be steady. “Looking for a weapon.”
“This ismyweapons stash.”
“Yes, I can clearly see that.” The weight in my hand tugs me down, and I look down at it. “Oh. What is this?”
“Can you not impale me or yourself, please? Either give it to me or put it down.” His voice is full of barely-restrained anger.
“Sure.” He reaches for it, but I pull it away from his outstretched hand. “Right after you tell me what it is.” He eyes the weapon and then me, and I think he’s nervous. That kind of cracks me up. “I think it’s funny that you think I could hurt you with this thing. I can’t even lift it. Now, what is it?” I take a step towards him, and he watches me with narrowed eyes.
“If I tell you what it is, will you get out of my weapons room?” His words are low.
“Tell me what it is, and I’ll consider it.” I really don’t want to be in here any longer than necessary, but I’m hoping Elowen is using this opportunity to get Auri back to her room.
“It’s a Halberd.”
“What’s the hook for?”
He gives me a dark look. “Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“It hooks inside a person’s body and—”
I put a hand up, cutting off his words. “You know what? I changed my mind.” I really don’t want to have to live with the image of whatever he was going to say in my mind tonight whenI’m trying to sleep.
