“Huh? Wow, thanks." Gregory took the offering and peeled away the Linen wrapping to reveal the gift.

He found himself holding a large kite shield that initially seemed to be made out of a wicker-like structure of interwoven vine threads. He flipped over the curved surface and saw the back had been braced with a seemingly far more sturdy criss-cross of blackened orc-metal bracers The result was very light to hold, and Gregory couldn't resist the urge to try and bend the curve a little more.

"Wow, it doesn't budge an inch," he observed.

“Of course not, master. It's a shield." Torren Looked at him as if he may have missed the point completely.

“No, I know. I just meant that I've seen this sort of structure before used on furniture. It's firm but usually bendy. This feels more like it's been made from iron."

“Ah! I see. No, the outer work is something Valise taught me. She weaves these containers out of certain plant roots and vines. I didn't really think much of them until someone stumbled into her stall one day and she used one to contain what I guess would have been quite an explosion when her potions mixed together."

"Shit," Gregory spun the shield over again and looked at the tightly-packed Lattice structure.

“It's that strong?"

“Stronger. I asked her how she made them. It's treated with one of her potions, but it's also something to do with using the right materials from the right plants and trees. Quite complicated, but it'll stop a charging bull in its tracks if it's braced properly. Valise helped me work on that one. I added some mountain metal to give it a bit of extra strength too. I thought from the way you fight you wouldn‘t want to get too weighed down."

"Torren, thanks man. This is fantastic." Gregory slipped the shield onto his forearm and tested the weight. It was damn near perfect.

“Is there anything I can give you in return?"

The bulky smith's mouth fell open in shock at that question. Talina smoothly stepped up beside him and used her index finger to playfully push his jaw back up into place before turning to Gregory.

“Perhaps you might try not getting yourself too badly beaten in the next proving match?" she suggested.

Greg smiled and held up his new shield. "It's a deal."

“Then Torren will be pleased.” She patted the big guy on the shoulder and lifted herself to her tiptoes to give his cheek a kiss.

This made Torren turn immediately, and Talina quickly pressed her advantage by taking his lips against hers and wrapping her arms across his shoulders.

Gregory watched with amusement the two lovers descend into a healthy tongue duel in front of him.

"So, I'll just be going then." He stepped back to the tent opening.

“Mrylp!"* Talina waved goodbye over Torren's shoulder.

Gregory left them to their morning business and stepped out into the camp.

KOR OK OK

His new shield immediately proved its worth later that morning. After spending an hour in the eager company of Fiona and Lydia, he presented himself at the provings. The orcs openly laughed at his new shield, thinking the concept of hiding behind something to be a sign of cowardice. There was seemingly no time to waste upon defensive thinking when glory and honour awaited. Thankfully, Ulag deemed it acceptable for him to fight with the shield. He didn't seem to mind the pups bringing their own made weapons so long as there were no sharp edges or any armour that would give a ridiculously unfair advantage. It was fine to have their armour refitted, but they couldn't show up in a full suit of heavy plate mail.

The shield wasn't deemed overly protective, though it was certainly something that he had to adjust to since his own fighting training didn't exactly include an effective use of medieval weaponry. Even so, the assurance that he could block incoming blows made him less fearful and able to stand his ground with most of the other pups.

Unfortunately, his own martial techniques were his biggest problem in successfully coming out of the proving grounds without a sound beating. The Runts were shockingly bad at playing the brutal war games. Ulla was utterly uncontrollable. Even though she often put at least one member of the opposition down in the dirt, she was easily cornered and outnumbered by her insistence of fighting on her own. Both Nullik and Frelki both tried their damnedest to make an impact, but they often sacrificed their innate agility for orc-favoured brute force charges that usually ended with a much larger orc stomping them into the dirt. Wrut could have been a very dangerous opponent but his insistence on using one of the Large unbalanced clubs as opposed to the smaller ones often left him open to flanking attacks from his armless side. Most of the matches ended with the stout and sturdy Frun fighting alongside ULf and Gregory. They also usually ended up badly outnumbered by that point, leading to quite a few painful thrashings.

It went on and on like that for three weeks before Gregory stormed back into the camp one night and flung his shield away in a fit of frustrated rage. It cut through the air powered by brute force to embed itself in a large empty crate set on the outskirts of the encampment. A few human slaves were the only ones out that night due to the Light haze of rain pouring down from the cloudy skies. They Looked at Gregory and tactfully slipped away into their own tents leaving him alone standing in the mud with only the embers of the campfire for company.