Jacob realized why his father had picked up this piece at the blacksmith, now.
'He thinks I can finally enchant it as his grandfather envisoned. Now that someone in the family has had a magic awakening.'
Arthur moved back to the door with his son as he kept talking.
"We'd better get to the house for dinner, though. Mom will strangle me if I keep you from her food any longer."
The food was just as amazing as Jacob had remembered it always being. Roasted potatoes, crisp cabbage with butter and herbs, with carrots and other vegetables in the stew that worked to accentuate the beef.
After the plates were cleared and May ushered them out of the kitchen, Arthur clapped a hand on Jacob's back.
"You up for trying something tonight?"
Jacob already knew what he meant.
"The hitch piece?"
Arthur chuckled a bit as they walked out to the barn once again, Caleb in tow.
"Its too soon for that, but how about a new enchantment?"
That caused Jacobs' eyes to light up.
"Of course! I was hoping we had more inscription runes to test out!"
The stars were out when they stepped into the barn, the only light coming from a single oil lamp hung over the workbench that Arthur had to light. He sorted through a few of the items he got from the blacksmith and arranged a few things for all of them to work on.
Caleb had a small trowel like the one Jacob had enchanted earlier that day. Arthur and Jacob both had a weighty sledgehammer in front of them.
Caleb already knew what to do and began his project without needing any further guidance, pulling out his own silver inscription tool. Jacob, though, waited on his father to finish with his preparations.
"Now, the main thing we have figured out over the years with these runes is that they don't all work together. That being said, we have found the strengthening rune seems to be some sort of base rune that can pair with every rune that we know."
Arthur tapped the flat head of the sledgehammer in front of him.
"So tonight, we'll keep it simple. Try etching a pattern of strengthening runes at the base of the head on the faces, not on the bottom."
Jacob nodded, already reaching for his tool.
"Should I use the same style as before?"
"You can start there," Arthur said. "But you might need to shift the shape a little. Each tool has a different feel, a different composition. Go by instinct if the lines don't sit right."
Caleb was already hunched over his work, tongue poking slightly out the side of his mouth in concentration, a bit of sweat dripping down his brow as the process was clearly taxing for him.
"This one's going to be better than my last," he mumbled.
Arthur smiled. "That's the spirit, Caleb. Just don't enchant the trowel to dig its own holes. We don't want it wandering off in the night."
Jacob laughed a bit at the joke that was aimed at himself. Even Caleb had a bit of a smile, even with his concentration trained on the trowel. It was nice for the boys to be doing something fun with their father.
Jacob positioned the hammer in a better position to see it in the dim light. He pictured the rune in his head, then slowly, with a steady magical pressure, started the etching. He envisioned a bulwark of steel, thick enough to weather a hail of gunfire.
The last line clicked into place with a soft shimmer of warmth that only he seemed to notice. It was without fanfare, seeming to just give a bit of feedback. Like it had some sort of resonance with the hammer and the process.
The runes shone, as if calling out for completion. That's when Arthur leaned over.
Jacob looked up. "I think it worked."
Arthur gave the hammer a once-over, brushing the runes with his fingers, then nodded. "Feels right."
"It's strange," Jacob said, knocking some dust off the hammer. "It's like I already know what some of these runes want to look like. I don't know how, but they come to me clearly when I focus. Almost like they were there to begin with, just calling out to be formed."
Arthur gave him a thoughtful look. "Might be that blessing of magical wisdom you got. Or, perhaps, you were just born for this."
Arthur took another look at the hammer.
"Great job, son. Give me a moment to finish this, and I will show you how we do the next part."
Arthur was just about to finish, taking a moment to make the shapes of the runes perfect. When the last base rune was in place, it also seemed to give off a feeling of needing completion.
"Alright, here is how the feather-weight enchantment looks."
Seeing that Jacob was watching him, he started the process of making the next inscription.
Jacob thought to himself as he watched the runes get formed, on after the other.
'These shapes, they seem to have some sort of pattern to them that just makes sense. Its almost like I can nearly predict what comes next as each part is formed. This one, It should be some sort of 3-D triangle within a cube . . .'
And, sure enough, the inscription was finished with the shape Jacob had predicted.
"This," Arthur began, "is how each rune should look. Give it a try and place them between every second strengthening pattern at the top; you can see how they slot within the pattern."
Jacob went back to his hammer, quickly pulling the inscription together as it should be, with the picture of a feather softly drifting to the earth. As he felt it should be done. With the last rune placed, the hammer hummed a bit, the runes glowing brightly.
Arthur looked over.
"Great job, son. It looks like that sledge is going to be lighter than a framing hammer."
Arthur turned back to his hammer to finish up his inscriptions. Jacob just left the hammer on the bench, letting the dimming runes finish soaking into the hammer.
'Not sure if this is necessary, but it does seem to actually be getting absorbed into the hammer.'
After a while, Arthur's hammer was done and shone for a split second before the runes disappeared. Looking at Jacobs' hammer, the runes were still fading.
"Well, Jacob, let's see how well this turned out."