Wielder's Awakening by T.B. Christensen Page A

can be, but other than that she’s a rather pleasant person.  She’s pretty too!  You’ll see her tonight dancing around the floor.  I’ll point her out to you.  I don’t know if she’ll let you go along with her.  She’s really strict about sticking to her schedules and not traveling with others.  She won’t listen to reason and wait for the large caravan to leave.  I have an idea, though.  Do you have a sword?”
    “Not right now, but I found one today that I want to get,” Traven said eagerly.
    “Then listen closely.”
    The old man laid out his plan while Traven grinned.  As soon as the old man had mentioned a sword, he knew he’d like the plan.  It sounded like it would work.  It also gave Traven an excuse for buying the sword he had found.  He thanked the old man for all of his help and even offered to buy him an extra drink.  The old man started laughing.
    “I have enough money that you don’t want to waste yours on me.  It’s been nice talking with you.  I almost feel young again!”
    He started laughing again and waved as Traven headed up the stairs to his room.  Now all Traven had to do was buy the sword.  He should be able to get back before the celebrating began.  He turned off the stairs and trotted down the hall to his room to retrieve his money.  Everything looked the same in his room except now there was fresh water in the basin and clean sheets on the bed.  He took the key to the wardrobe from his pocket and opened it.  He transferred ten gold tallies from the bag his grandparents had given him to the pouch on his belt.  He realized that he had taken about half of the gold already, but the sword really was important.  It would be useful.  He locked the wardrobe back up and left his room.  He couldn’t believe that he was finally going to be able to have a sword just like a hero in the stories!  He was zooming down the hall lost in his thoughts when he suddenly ran into something.
    Looking around, he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life!  She had fiery red hair that flared from her head half way down her back.  Her eyes were a rich chestnut and she had big, red pouty lips.  She had on a baggy coat that reached to her knees.  However, the coat didn’t hide her shapely figure that was emphasized by a tight red sash cinched around her waist.  She was staring at him with a startled look on her face and was surrounded by papers at her feet.  Traven realized he must have knocked them out of her hands.  He dropped to the ground and quickly began to gather them up.
    “You don’t need to pick those up.  It was my fault.  I should pay more attention to where I’m going instead of staring at my reports.”
    Traven tried to tell her that it was his fault, that he had not been paying attention, that nothing could ever be the fault of a goddess such as herself.  Instead, all that came out were a few squeaks.
    “What was that?” she asked quizzically.
    “Um, I be sorry, I mean, I am sorry.  It was my fault.”
    Traven didn’t mind that he had just stumbled all over his words.  At least he had been able to get the words out this time.  He got back to his feet with the papers in his hand and gave them to her with another muttered sorry.  She took them and flashed a smile at him.  That was almost more than he could handle, but he stiffened his legs to keep them from shaking and put a hand on the wall to keep steady.
    “Well, I guess it was both of our faults,” she said with her mesmerizing voice.  “Maybe I’ll accidently bump into you again sometime.”
    With that, she winked at him along with another beautiful smile and disappeared into a room two doors down.  Traven could not take any more and slid down to the floor against the wall breathing hard.  Had she actually winked at him?  He thought she had but couldn’t believe it.  She had to be at least ten years older than him!  Maybe she just got a kick out of giving men