Lorik (The Lorik Trilogy) by Toby Neighbors

over.
    The handle was oak and wrapped in pig skin. It had heft, but it wasn’t as heavy as Lorik had imagined it would be. The length and weight of the handle counter balanced the axe head and Lorik could wield it with both hands.
    “I cored the handle,” Hugo said, “and there is a beam of steel that runs from the axe head down the handle. You could block a sword stroke with the handle and not have to worry about it snapping.”
    “It’s perfect,” Lorik said. “Do you have javelins too?”
    “Sure, sure,” he said, stepping back into the small room.
    Lorik had used a javelin his whole life. He carried a longbow when he traveled, but he’d learned to use a javelin as a boy before he could draw a stout bowstring. In the Marshlands, javelins were used for hunting and even fishing for some of the larger fish, but they were essential in fending off the mud dragons if the need arose. Hugo came out with half a dozen javelins.
    “They’re all honed and balanced.”
    “Good. I’ll take them all. How much do I owe you?”
    He paid Hugo and then went to the market where he bought bread and smoked eel for the trip. He was just tying his provisions in a sack to the end of one of the javelins when Stone called to him from the street.
    “I’m glad I ran into you,” he told Stone. “I need you to do something for me. Vera is moving into my house. Can you hitch the farm wagon up and help her move her things?”
    “Sure,” Stone said, but he looked as if he wanted to say more.
    “Don’t worry,” he said. “She’s been talking about leaving town for a long time. She’ll just be staying with me for a while before she goes. We’re just friends...” he paused for emphasis and then continued with a smile, “Liam.”
    Stone’s face turned red.
    “She told you my name,” he said, a little sheepishly.
    “We’ve been friends a long time,” Lorik explained. “I told her you would be coming.”
    “I might need a little help hitching the horse to the wagon,” Stone admitted.
    “Well, then, come back with me now. You’ll still have time to get provisions before you leave town. I’m going out to pick up our load now. You can catch up to me on your horse later this evening.”
    “All right, that sounds good,” said Stone.
    They walked together, Stone leading his horse and neither man talking. Lorik knew that Stone was trying to work out what to say, but Lorik felt it was best if he let Stone say what was on his mind in his own way and in his own time. They were almost back to the barn before Stone spoke up.
    “So, I need to say something,” he said. “I have feelings for Vera. Is that going to be a problem?”
    “Not with me,” Lorik said, even though he wasn’t sure if that was completely true.
    “Can you tell me if she has been seeing someone else?”
    “She doesn’t have any suitors if that’s what you’re asking. I’ve seen her turn down good matches in the past. I’ve even offered to marry her, but that isn’t what she wanted. I did promise to take her north soon. She was planning on starting a new life.”
    “Oh,” was all Stone managed to say.
    “Let me show you how to hitch up that old wagon.”
    It wasn’t long before Stone drove the wagon away from the barn and Lorik once again watched him go. Normally the path to town from his property had to be carefully navigated to keep the wagon wheels from veering into the mud where it could get stuck, but the farm wagon wasn’t as wide as the others, and Lorik figured Stone could keep the wagon on the path.
    He was relieved to get busy, since his emotions seemed so troubling. He didn’t love Vera, he knew that was certain. What he couldn’t figure out was why her feelings for Stone bothered him so much. She seemed happy, although Lorik knew that romance could evaporate as quickly as it sprang up. Vera and Stone hardly knew each other, but he had heard that sometimes love struck as quick and powerful as lightning. It wasn’t his place to doubt