A heavy fog rose over Wading Village early the next morning.
In the blacksmith shop's back courtyard, Old Buck sat before the anvil he had used for most of his life, idly tapping a piece of red-hot wrought iron with a small hammer.
Sparks leaped high into the air before falling onto the muddy ground.
Su Li stood beside him and raised his left hand. Ether ripples flashed from the Space Ring.
Two tightly packed sacks of fine flour, a small rosewood box, and two dull gray iron tags all crashed onto the bluestone slabs beside them.
Su Li pointed at the two iron tags. "Keep these two things on you at all times," he instructed. "They have defensive rune arrays engraved inside. Feed them a little energy and they can deploy a high-level shield. Don't take them out and flaunt them under normal circumstances. Only use them when you run into life-threatening trouble."
Old Buck stopped swinging his hammer, took the still-warm rag and wiped his hands, then came over and tucked the two iron tags into an inner pocket.
At the kitchen door, Saina's eyes were red as she clutched Martha's hand tightly.
"Mom, once the chaos outside settles down, I'll hire a carriage and come back for you," Saina said, sniffling. "Let the fields grow weeds if they want. Don't go tormenting those old bones of yours. Spend the Gold Coins in the box when you need to. Buy bread to eat."
Martha's rough hand kept patting Saina's hand, but after a long while, she still could not squeeze out a complete sentence.
"Enough. Don't make it look like we're parting forever." Su Li swung himself onto his horse and pulled the black horse's reins. "If you run into trouble you really can't handle, spend money to