Chapter 17: Combining
Irwin took a deep breath as he gazed at the back of his hand. He was in the room beside the one they had been given, which had conveniently been empty. At first, he'd wondered about that, but after some more looking around, he'd found theirs was the only occupied room in their hallway and decided it was probably just Jonathan again. After telling Greldo where he was, he'd locked the door from the inside by shoving a bed in front and was now sitting at the opposite wall, at the fireplace.
The fire was crackling softly, the heat slowly warming the stone-cold room.
Ambraz was flying around him, the tiny metal wings a softly whining blur moving so fast he couldn't make out any details.
"I can't believe you got this and have no idea what it does," the Anvil muttered.
"Keep your voice down," Irwin whispered, glancing at the door. "I don't want someone to listen in and ask who I was talking with."
"I can detect any low-ranked being within a few dozen feet around us," Ambraz whispered. "There's nothing besides your sleeping friends."
"Low?" Irwin muttered, confused for a moment.
"Low. Common and uncommon is what you backwater plebs call it."
Plebs? Irwin wondered what that was. Then he took a deep breath. "No, I don't know exactly what my card does. Can you tell me?"
"Ugh, you will have to take it out for a moment," Ambraz said as he hovered lower, the airflow from his wings cooling Irwin's hand.
Irwin stared at Ambraz stupidly, not believing what he just heard. Since when could you remove cards? Worse, what if someone stole it when he had it out?
He looked around, suddenly worried the closed door wasn't good enough.