Chapter 15- smithing

???-‘’’’ speaking aloud

‘’- inner thoughts

Sykora’s pov

This is vexing the young man I found doesn’t know who he is and seems to be scared of everything around him I don’t blame him though I would probably be like that too if I were in his position. For now I suppose we should give him a temporary name until he regains his memories and also give him something to do around the village.

Sykora-‘’ you there from now on your name is Davian and you will begin working under my father as a apprentice blacksmith in this village, after all not a single person can skip out on work here considering the fact we are a rather isolated village’’ I said to him while trying to appear like I was in charge around here.

Davian-‘’ok what do I have to do then?’’ he asked me at once

‘seems like he adapts rather quickly that or he is just supressing his fear of his situation’

Sykora-‘’ first off I’ll will bring you over to the forge so you can meet my father now come’’ I said as I turned and began to lead him towards the smithy.

It didn’t take too long to reach the forge and when we got there I called for my father.

Father-‘’ yes daughter?’’

Sykora-‘’ this is the young man who was found in the forest , he doesn’t have any memory of who he is so I named him

Davian and asked him to become a apprentice blacksmith to you so that he can help around the village’’

Father-‘’ I see well then boy put on that leather apron and begin to feed the furnace some more fuel is needed for this day’s work’’

Davain’s pov

I moved forward and picked up the shovel that was sitting a fair bit away from the forge and began to shovel some coal into the forge taking care to spread it evenly so that every area in the forge was kept at a constant heat, this process took a good few hours to make sure the forge would be able to keep its heat and also be fuel efficient.

Blacksmith-‘’ hmm well done boy you seem to have a natural instinct to this craft, well now that that is done I want you to begin carting the damaged and broken tools over here tome so I can begin repairing them’’

For three weeks this was the norm, due to the rocky nature of the mountain tools broke and got damaged rather quickly, but there was never a lack of food as every week Sykora would go hunting for food and that would be made into jerky so that it could last for a longer amount of time. During this time I was taught how to craft simple tools such as a knife or a hoe, my works were usually of a standard quality.

Soon thronin who was the blacksmith was going to travel to the capital so that he could restock of the essential metals and such the journey would take around 6 weeks and he wanted me to come with him as he believe his good friend would be able to teach me more about the art of smithing.

In the morning we were getting ready to begin our journey when Sykora came out and jumped on the wagon we were putting our supplies for the journey on.

Davian-‘’why are you coming?’’ I asked her.

Sykora-‘’ its very simple, every year a tourney is held so find the best warriors in the land and some of them are given positions in the army and a very lucrative amount of funds to do what they wish with personally I want to use the funds to buy a large supplies of item needed for the village in bulk and send them here so that we can make the village grow into a nice area that other people may move to and settle down in’’ she answered me as she hit the back of my head like she normally would to when I asked a ’’stupid question’’.

Rubbing the back of my head I climbed on the wagon and pulled out a simple sword I made for protection.

The journey toward the nearest village was rather boring as there was none on the roads and not even wild animals attacked us all I really did was get a crash course on how to make simple leather clothing from the hides of animals that Sykora would kill for food.

The next few weeks we spent to get towards the capital were a little more interesting as everyone in a while groups of four or five bandits would attack but they were dealt with rather quickly by the arrows that Sykora would fired at them killing at least 75% of them while I killed the ones that had gotten closer with a quick slash or thrust at the vitals, scoring a killing blow wasn’t too hard on them as it seemed my body knew how to fight and kill and also the fact they weren’t really using good gear the best they had was maybe a rusty axe.

Very soon we arrived at the capital city of the country a large city with white walls surrounding it reaching a good 30 ft into the air this was most likely so that large armies or creatures couldn’t enter without having a hard time at it.

Thronin-‘’ now young Davian come with me my friend will take you In so that you can learn how to make proper weapons unlike the crude blade strapped to your waist’’ he said to me as he motioned to follow while Sykora said she was going to check when the tourney was set to begin..

He lead me to a rather large forge that was run by a dwarfen smith named Tholac Arastath Anvilborn he was apparently the best smith that was in the kingdom and had a rather good relationship with Thronin.

We entered the shop to see a young man wearing noble clothing being tossed out of the shop by said dwarf.

Tholac-‘’ get yer ass outta here you cheating little bastard’’ he roared after him as he dusted off his hands. He noticed us standing there looking at him’’ hello there old friend good to see you again’’ he said as he put out his hand.

Thronin grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously.

Thornin-‘’same here brother now I have someone to introduce you to this young man beside me is called Davian, we found him in the forest near the village near death and nursed him back to health unfortunately he doesn’t remember who he is, but what he does have is a innate talent for smithing and I was wondering if you would teach him what you know of the art’’ he said tot eh dwarf as we were lead into the back of the shop.

Tholac-‘’ hmm I suppose I could but first id need to see how he performs as if he does have an innate talent for smithing we will see quickly wont we boy’’ as he said the last few words he turned to look at me.

Davain-‘’yes sir’’ I replied without thinking.

He let out a throaty laugh as he grabbed an apron of the wall and threw that to me.

Tholac-‘’ now make me a short sword for a simple infantry man’’

I grabbed the closest ingot and looked at it to see if the purity was any good and luckily this one was. I then went over to check the heat of the forge to see if it was a good heat to make the metal malleable unfortunately it wasn’t so I began to add some fuel to it to increase the temperature needed this process took a while but soon was at the right heat. I used the tongs to place the ingot into the fire and after that I began to make a brief outline of the blade on some paper so I had an idea of the shape of the blade. I went to check the ingot and I noticed it was at the point at it would begin to lose shape so I left it in there for a few minutes longer after it was at the proper temperature I used the tongs to grab it out of the forge and proceeded to forge the tang of the weapon first to that I had an idea of how long to make the blade after the tang was about a hand long I then began to work on the blade, I first made the blade twice the length I wanted it to be and then fold the metal to give it more strength I repeated the process ten times giving the blade 1024 layers of metal. I then made the blood grove down the middle of the weapon so that when it was stuck in an enemy it could be withdrawn easier. After that I began so sand down the rough edges of the blade and make sure the blade was straight and even balance witch it was luckily. After this came the grip of the blade witch I carve a simple circular handle out of rose woods that it had a reddish tint to the wood. I also made a quick bronze pommel and handguard to protect the user when I had finished the blade had a similar profile to a greek sword as in the end of the blade was wider than the rest in order to give it more weight at the top so the cutting power was increased. Personally I was rather proud of the blade as I felt I was the best blade I had made yet.

Tholac-‘’ well il be that is a nice blade, that settles it il take you under my wing’’ he said as he put his arms around my should considering I was sitting on the ground resting this could look rather comical form a certain point of view.

Author’s note

Sorry for the short chapter want to write for longer but couldn’t really get into it today but I treid my best also a reader made character has appeared in the story although some things may have changed but the original concept is there. on another note I have posted the first chapter of my other story I will link it below as always comments are helpful on either one thanks for reading

http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=9368 my other story