Harnio wiped the sweat from his brow and took a step back smiling.
"This is going to work… Hopefully…"
"What do you mean hopefully?"
He looked at the blacksmith and smiled. "Written down it works. But the winds can always change direction and strength."
He heard the blacksmith curse. "Since it's your work, I'm confident we'll be okay up there. Let's eat and then go up. The sooner the better."
Harnio nodded and put the hammer in his hand down and wiped his face with a piece of cloth. He took a deep breath and smiled as he could smell food wafting in the breeze."Before I eat I want to test it… Stand back a bit."
Harnio flicked a switch and watched as large wings unfolded.
"It works! Now let's hope it can hold the wind."
He flicked the switch and watched as the winds retracted. "It looks good so far. Pity we can't go up there to test it."
"Hurry up the food is getting cold. She won't heat it up again for you."
Harnio looked in the direction of the smith and sighed. "This must be what being a part of a family must feel like." He mused to himself and walked into the smith.
He sat at the table and started shoveling food in his mouth. He stopped and looked at the food in thought.
"What is it? Don't you like the food?"
Harnio shook his head. "No, the food is delicious as always, I was thinking about weight. How much weight are we able to carry?"
"How about we just focus on getting to the top first, and on the way back, if we see anything that we want we can take it then?"
Harnio nodded. "That's probably the best, can keep the weight on the wings low so we have a chance to get to the top. From looking out the tower, the evening and night winds seem to be the strongest."
"That settles it. We go this evening. Hurry up and eat so we can pack and go."
Harnio nodded and ate his food in silence with his eyes closed.
"What are you doing now?"
"The wings are going to be on our back. I'm picturing how to fly up there, without losing control."
"Hahahaha… Always work and something you need to do while resting… You need to rest sometimes too you know."
"No time to rest. I've got lots to do, not enough time…"
He stood up. "There is a problem with the wings. It needs another piece."
"What do you mean? You turned them on, and they opened and closed. You saw it with your own eyes. What else do they need?"
"If we go in a straight line they'll work, but if we change direction slightly then we'll fall and possibly die… I can't die yet… I'm sure you can't either."
"You're right about that. You still haven't answered the question yet. What do they need?"
"Just like a bird that flies in the sky. They need a tail of some sort which will direct us."
He heard the blacksmith sigh as he looked at the design table. "You eat. I'll design the tails. It shouldn't be too hard to add to the wings, since they are already done."
Harnio sat at the design table and started drawing mumbling to himself. "Retractable just like the wings. Need to be able to control direction. Hmm"
Harnio put the pen down and leaned back with a smile. "Finished… Also, not too long in designing it this time, and it should be easy to add to the wings already…"
He looked around and saw that the smith was empty. He sighed and stood up looking at the forge and the metal on the ground. "I can do it… I've been here long enough. I know what to do." He heated up the forge and started to select the metal for the tails.
"Bang! Bang! "Bang! Ting! Ting!"
He wiped the sweat from his forehead as he took off his shirt looking at the metal in the forge. "I can do it…"
He stared at the flames in the forge and watched as the metal heated up again before pulling it out and started hammering it again.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
He focused on the tails as they started to take shape and smiled as he kept hammering and cutting. He stood up and wiped his face away and saw the blacksmith sitting watching him. He looked around the smith and scratched his arm. "Sorry for using the forge without you here. I'm almost done with the tails. When I finish, I can attach them to the wings, and we can go."
"Just so you know brother… You've been working on the tails for the past week. You look like a mess. Go bathe, you stink as well as there is food over there… After you do all that we'll talk about attaching the tails."
Harnio nodded and walked out of the smith towards his room in the back and undressed sinking himself in the bath. He cleaned himself and dressed himself in fresh robes before leaving with a smile on his face. He walked back into the forge and smelling the food and sat at the design table eating. He turned and watched the hammer in the blacksmith's hands as it hit the tails.
"How was my technique?"
"Not bad… You're no master blacksmith, but you're better than any apprentice I have met. You should be eating by the way…"
Harnio heard the menacing tone in the blacksmith's voice and turned eating the food on the plate. When he finished he patted his stomach and smiled."I've finished… Now can we talk about the tails?"
"Fine… The tails are ready… They look really good. Also, simple to attach and use. Let's get them on the wings and then go up."
Harnio smiled at his words and stood up heading to the back of the smith pulling out the wings
"Now to connect them to the wing controls… Shouldn't take long."
Harnio pulled out tools and started connecting the tails to the wings. He smiled as he worked humming a tune to himself.
"That tune… Where did you hear it?"
Harnio stopped working and looked at the wings shrugging his shoulders. "No idea. I usually remember everything, but that I don't… Maybe when I was an infant…"
"That is the tune calling for the seekers… That's something you should not hum or sing out loud… People will get the wrong idea about you."
Harnio nodded and stopped humming. He stood up. "I've finished connecting the wings. They should be ready for us to head up now."
"Good. Now let's go to your room. I'm sure you remember that's where the access is that I told you about?"
Harnio nodded and picked up one of the wind catchers, checking it over before putting it on his back. "Good not too heavy. This should work."
"Hahaha… You really need to stop scaring me… Are you trying to kill me?"
Harnio opened the door to his room and looked at the metal hatchway in the ground. "Not at all. Just being honest…"
He stood to the side and watched as the blacksmith opened the hatchway. "Down the ladder, and we'll be in the access tunnel. They are empty and not used. Most people have forgotten all about them."
Harnio nodded and followed the blacksmith down the metal ladder and looked around in the access tunnel before sneezing.
"Aaaachoooo!" He wiped his nose. "A lot of dust down here… No signs of people at all. This place is perfect for testing my battery work."
"Don't get distracted… Focus on our goal. The top of the tower."
Harnio sighed and nodded following the blacksmith along the tunnel in silence. He stopped when the blacksmith's footsteps stopped. "Here we're… This ladder will take us to the surface. Are you ready?"
Harnio nodded. "I'm ready. I stand by my design." He started climbing up the ladder until he touched the hatch. He pushed against it to open it up. A large blast of wind pushed down against him.
"Hold on and keep going!"
He grabbed onto the ladder rails and clenched his jaw taking one rung at a time until he was standing on the ground. He looked around while panting heavily. "We're inside some sort of ruin. The wind is strong but not too dangerous.
"That's why I chose to build here. The old maps show the least amount of damage. I was hoping that it was because the winds are not as strong here… Seems I was right. Hahahaha."
Harnio looked around at the ruins and sat against a wall panting heavily. "Climbing was hard…"
"You're not wrong about that. Glad we're only doing this once."
Harnio nodded and stood up and activated the switch on his wings. He watched as they extended with the tail and smiled. "Time to fly… Something I thought I would never say."
He took a step away from the wall and jumped into the wind. He held onto the controls of the wings and let the wind lift him off the ground. He tried a few turns in the wind and smiled. "It works… Good, the tower shouldn't be too hard."
He flew over the ruins and looked down as the blacksmith jumped into the air and climbed into the air behind him. "I knew they would work… Now let's try for the tower."
Harnio looked at the tower in the night sky and watched as it moved in the wind. "Inside it doesn't feel like it moves at all. I wonder how they keep the inside stable? It must be a lot of batterys or the essence…" He flew in silent thought.
"Hey, wake up… Stop staring at the tower before you crash into it!"
Harnio blinked as he approached the wall of the tower.
"Ahhh…"
He pulled back and felt the wall brushing against his legs as he shot up the wall. He cursed and shook his head. "That was close. I need to pay attention on what I'm doing."
He looked around as he flew up the wall and found himself starting to slow down. "We can't go straight up or we'll fall down… How about if we flew around the tower, that way the wind should be able to push us up?"
He changed his direction slightly as he moved away from the wall and started to fly rings around the tower letting the winds push him up. He looked behind him as the blacksmith followed his path.
He flew around the tower climbing slowly until he could see the top as it moved in the wind. "Almost there. I wonder what we'll see up there."
He shook his head. "Not good, I didn't think about landing… This might hurt."
"Hey, how do we land these things?"
"I guess we push against the wind when we're close and retract the wings. Hopefully that will work…"
He heard the blacksmith curse. "Did you think about landing when you were designing these? I don't want to fall to my death here."
Harnio kept silent as he was close to the top and looked at the walls around the top. He took a deep breath and moved out of the way as the tower bent in his direction. "Better late then never." He got as close as he could to the top before retracting the wings, and fell onto the top of the tower, and held onto the stone wall as it bent further.
"Bang!"
He turned in the direction of the sound and saw the blacksmith rolling along the stones before grabbing onto the wall. Harnio let out a deep breath.
"Now we're on the top… So now what?"
Harnio pointed to a small stone spire in the middle of the tower. "We need to go there… Wait for the tower to straighten and we should be able to get there."
He felt the tower start to straighten and stood up he looked out towards the horizon and stared at the stars and moons in the sky. "It's beautiful…" He rose his hand and pointed. "What's that?"