Bare chested, the jagged wound he received from the Night Terror breathing fresh air, Kaden worked the new tubing made for him into its required contours. The anvil that had been delivered to his private quarters was now serving its purpose. He didn't need his ever-growing muscles to wield the light cross pein hammer for the fine work he was engaged in. In fact, he found himself significantly holding back. So as not to damage the fine pipework he now crafted.

Every time Kaden's hammer struck the metal tubing, molding it slowly and neatly into the shape demanded of it to fit snuggly inside of his warrior's breastplate, Sahl cringed. The ringing pitch of each strike was sharp.

"If you keep hitting that so hard," he said. "You're going to break the tubing. Then none of the essences will reach your heart."

"Definitely not something I want," Kaden replied, continuing to work. "Can't afford for there to be any leaks or kinks."

The new tubes were finer that than the last he'd used. And they were fairly easy to mold without heating. Kaden found that using the hammer and fine strokes gave him the precise curves he needed. Bending by hand had resulted in several imperfections that needed worked out to allow flow to travel freely through them once more. Some, however, had to be scrapped entirely after attempts to repair the sections failed.

His metal working skills were questionable. He had only taken it up recently, after all. And only so that he could work on his contraption while picking up whatever he could from watching more seasoned smiths in the prince's armory. When he wasn't training, that was. Or reading the detailed sex manual the princess had politely ordered him to.

There were now three tubes that would run down from his left shoulder. All were soldered together and met at a single feeder pipe that would target them towards his heart once he finished his latest iteration and donned the armor. He figured that it would be good to have access to the three most common emotional distillates for war: Rage, Courage, and, once the battles ended, Sorrow as well. The later to mitigate the effects of the Rage once it was no longer needed. Kaden did not like the feeling that lingered inside him from that volatile emotion that spurned hatred within him.

After one final bang, he lifted the tubing and browsed his work with a thoughtful eye. He placed it against his chest to make sure the nozzle that would lead the essences into himself was where it should be.

"That looks good," the Karo Shar said. "Let's see how it fits in the armor." He walked over to a workbench where the breastplate sat chest side up and placed the pipes where they belonged. And they fit almost perfectly. There were only the slightest of imperfections. "All right, you're better at soldering than I am. See how firmly you can get this thing attached."

"Well, I don't know about that," Sahl pulled up a stool and assumed a position in front of that which he had been asked to prepare.

"It's true! Your fingers are dainty, like a woman's."

"Ha ha. Wasn't that long ago you had woman fingers too." Sahl cracked his knuckles.

"Quit your bellyaching. You seriously going to try and tell me this isn't better than being down in those catacombs? Slaving away, day after day, after day doing nothing except brewing emotions? Now get to work."

"Yes, sir, Karo Shar, sir."

Sahl took a handful of low-melting-point alloy chips and lined the metal up alongside of the tubes while tucking them ever so gently into place. Then took some oil and poured a light drizzle slowly overtop so as not to disturb his previous work. Once that was done, he used a nearby candle to light the flammable liquid on fire.

It ignited, and the burning popped and crackled. And it fumed in a sustained and putrid belch of smoke that hinted of lead.

Both Kaden and Sahl observed as the solder gleamed, then softened, and finally melted to form a singular mass between the metals. Sahl blew out the flames the moment the liquified metal filled the cracks. He then dumped a small bucket of water in to cool the work and dilute the residue remaining from the unburned oil.

Sahl tested the strength by tugging on the tubbing. It stood firm and pat in its place. "There you go!" he said. "Best I can do. Should be good enough. Don't know if it'll take a hit though in battle."

Picking up the breastplate, Kaden dumped the water and oily mix out of it and into a nearby vessel meant for the waste. "We'll we're going to find out," he said, easing the feeder tube into his chest and strapping it on. "Go get my weapon."

Sahl hurried over and fetched the Rohs Fang from where it was leaning upright against the wall. He came back and tried to hand it to Kaden.

"No," Kaden said. "You've got to hit me with it."

"Excuse me?"

"Were the instructions of the Karo Shar unclear?" Kaden's voice bit with annoyance.

"No. Just odd."

"Well, I can't hit myself," Kaden observed, softening his tone. He slapped the breastplate with his recently more manly, open palm. "Come on. Hard as you can. Like you're a Koronai ready to taste my blood."

"Yeah, well, I'm not a demon. And I'm not particularly fond of blood." Sahl put down the weapon. He replaced it in his hand with a four-pound forging hammer. One Kaden had quickly realized was too big and about four times the size of the one he had settled upon previously using. "I'll use this. That way, if I miss, I won't cut your head off."

Kaden slapped at his armor again, reiterating where he wanted his friend to strike. "Enough of this. Hit me!"

"You sound less like Kaden every day. I think the little bit of Rage you've had is going to your brain." Sahl didn't wait for a reply. He hefted the hammer in his lesser muscled arms, took a running start at Kaden, and swung. Despite his concerns, Sahl actually struck the breastplate exactly where Kaden had wanted him to. Right overtop of where the tubes that would feed the distilled emotions into him were mounted.

And it hurt as the vibration ran into Kaden's body through the tube sticking into him.

"Ah," Kaden complained and waved off an eager second swing Sahl was in the process of conducting.

"I get you good?" his friend asked as he froze in mid-strike.

"Yep." Kaden straightened after the sensation partially doubled him over. "I think I need to find a way to pad that damn tube though. Hurts like the Abyss when I get hit."

"Well, pieces of metal sticking in you will tend to probably do that. I suppose."

"Help me fix this." Kaden stripped his breastplate off. The blood on the tip of the tube that had been sticking into him was not unnoticed. "I also think it's just a tad too long."

Sahl picked a fine-toothed saw from the table, took the armor from the Karo Shar, and began hacking the smallest amount he felt was needed off the end.

Kaden rotated his shoulder and tried to will down the painful sensation that lingered inside of him. While his friend worked and began deburring and smoothing the now trimmed off tubing, Kaden fetched his camel skin pouch. It was empty and the Karo Shar started pulling the stitching out until it was in two pieces. After cutting that into a smaller piece, he gave it to Sahl who wrapped it around the problematic end before handing the modified rig back.

The Karo Shar needed Sahl's help. Especially with getting the now padded end inside him. The fit was snug and the leather scratched at his insides, but it made the uncomfortable feeling of the tube ease. Strapping it back on one more time, Kaden prepared for another test. "Okay, let's do this again."

Sahl retrieved the hammer. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"I kind of like getting to hit the Karo Shar." The words confirmed the obvious expression on the slave's face.

"I bet you do. So do it."

And Sahl did. Just as hard as before. If not harder.

Kaden felt the blow, but he immediately noticed there was no pain from a pointy stick of metal jabbing into him. He still winced, however, as the bare ends of his nerves fired. "Perfect." He smiled. "Now, do you have those metal vials I had made filled?"

"Yes." Sahl reached into his pocket and recovered the three. Each of the shiny metal tubed was rounded off on one end and coated on the other in one of three colors of colored wax: red for Rage, brown for Courage, and blue for Sorrow. "Stick them on, but not all the way. Then when you need them, just press." Sahl made a clicking motion with his thumb on the top of one.

"Excellent." Kaden seated the vials on the sharped points that would pierce the wax. He positioned them just prior to breaking the seal all the way. Picking up his Rohs Fang, he rested it forked end skyward on his shoulder. "I think it's time for a test."

***

"Kaden? Is that you?" Loku ran to see for himself as the warrior vaguely resembling a boy he once knew and warned against crossing the Gap approached him.

"Hello, Loku." Kaden stood in his modified warrior's breastplate and purple urk while the elderly attendant gawked at him.

"By luck it is you! What happened? You're so big!"

"Too much to talk about right now."

Sahl came along behind him, carrying the Rohs Fang while Loku blundered into more ranting. "Foran said he'd seen you drag the head of a Lesser Koronai out of the Abyss after the prince hauled you down there. Didn't believe it. Then the rumors started circulating that he'd made you Karo Shar?"

Kaden stepped back and displayed the uniquely color garment hanging from his waste. One that only someone with the title of Karo Shar would wear. "As you can see, the rumors are true."

"By luck!" Loku exclaimed again. "From slave and son of a traitor to the prince's right hand. Just shows that anything's possible, I suppose. Confirming such news gives all of us a bit of hope that us slaves can better our lives."

"Sorry I couldn't pull you out of here with me. Or any of the others."

"Ah, you got Sahl out. Don't worry about it. You know none of us would have done the same for you if the roles had been reversed."

"None? Not even you?"

"Nope. Nothing personal. I'd have taken my freedom and ran."

"Well, I only had the title of slave lifted from me after helping the prince fight the Night Terror. I'm still technically, I suppose, the son of a traitor. Which is how I wound up in the Royal Guard."

Loku nodded. "Looks like they made a man out of you in quite a short time."

"Well, I don't want to say there's been a bit of help with that, but there has been." Holding out his hand, Sahl planted the Rohs Fang in it.

"That is a strange weapon," Loku gawked at the blade on one end and the fork on the other.

Kaden slung it into the holder on his back. "Anyone currently down in the Abyss?"

Loku shook his head in a negative. "Nope. Last patrol came out, hmm, I'd say about an hour ago. Only about a third of them returned. There's been a lot of activity down there lately. I hear the Royal Guards cursing how the Greater Koronai are encroaching more and more into the upper levels. Especially with the prince away."

"Well, I'm here."

"You? Well, uh, you know, no offense meant to the Karo Shar, but you're going alone?"

"I'm actually pretty good in a fight. And I don't plan on going too deep. Just kind of planning on hanging around near the entrance. I need to test something."

"Well, I can't stop you." Loku shrugged. "And the area around the Gap here should be fairly clear of Koronai."

"Good. I don't plan on being down there too long." Kaden approached the ladder. The lower end would have been pulled up with no one down in the Abyss so as to prevent Koronai from having any chance of climbing up. Even if anything bigger than a Lesser Koronai would have struggled to fit through the opening. "Lower the ropes."

Loku tended to the rope tied to the other end far below. "Whatever the Karo Shar requests of me." He unwounded it from the stone where it was anchored and began allowing it to slowly slide through his aged fingers, sending the bottom downward.

"Pull it up once I'm down. I'll signal when I need it put back down."

"As you wish."