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out into the garden, following the path of flagstones wending through the woods, a the dappled shadows I could see en continued to craft sculptures and weapons in his own forge He'd been given the skills to do so by Cooper, just like Fletcher had instilled his love of cooking and the Pork Pit in me More i with raw ore and shaping it into so smooth, supple, and wondrous

Footsteps slapped on the flagstones behindsmile onfar too quickly for this to be a friendly encounter Instinct took over, and I ducked to the right

Good thing, since a red-hot poker hit the sculpture of a bear I'd been ad just a second before

Sparks hissed through the air, a few landing onholes in the fabric I ignored the sparks, whipped out a knife, and turned to er

A dwarf stood behindout at just over five feet, and incredibly muscled His chest, biceps, and forearh he'd been made from the same metal he could shape so well His hair was a soft silver, with a few black patches sprinkled here and there, and was spiked to a high, wavy point above his forehead, like he'd run his fingers through the thick locks les covered his face, hter in his tan, speckled face He wore a blue work shirt and a pair ofwith brown boots

Instead of being concerned about the knife in my hand, the dwarf i at my head

"So you're the one who's been sneaking around stealing et! That knife won't save you,will!"

He swung the poker again I ducked behind the statue, and the clang of

"Cooper!" I said, yelling louder than I should have, since I couldn't quite hear myself think at that moment "Put down the weapon! I'm not here to hurt you!"

The dwarf snorted "Right And pretty girls carrying knives just show up on my doorstep and creep around my woods every day of the week, and twice on Sunday "

He stepped around the statue and took another swing atme to back up Normally I would have rushed forward, knocked his weapon away, and put ainst his throat But Oouldn't have liked s So I slid my knife back uphim I was unarmed

"See there? Noto calm him "Nohy don't you put that down so we can talk like reasonable people?"

The dwarf studied ht," he muttered "After I've bashed your head in "

Despite the situation, I couldn't help but grin I was starting to like the dwarf Maybe because he seemed to have the same violent streak Finn always claimed I did

Cooper caain, but once more, I ducked out of the way This tile, this one perched on a tree stuainst the dwarf's assault and he knocked the beak right off the bird