Chapter ? - untitled

Starlight Vixen · Subject: Chapter ? - untitled Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:54 am

This is part of a chapter in Windsong... yeah. It's the sequel to Ashen Moonlight (strange. I've done more on the sequel than the first book.) and I'm kinda proud of it. Anywho, enjoy!

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Kiera peered into the forge. The blacksmith hadn’t noticed her arrival; he was still hammering a red-orange bar of steel, humming to the beat of his hammer-strokes. The notes struck Kiera like wind on a glass chime. There was magic in his voice—not enough to give any ill affect to visitors, but the echoes themselves seemed to caress Kiera, then gently withdrew as they felt the brand on her forearm. Accepting her as part of them, it seemed.

For a moment, Kiera stood in mild awe at the strength the blacksmith held in his voice. She hated to imagine what it would feel like to be in the steel’s place, hammer and fire excluded, if the magic just in the echoes was that powerful. Then again, most metal-magic was about strength and command.

A sudden breeze caught Kiera’s skirt, and the forge-fire dimmed as the ashes scattered. The blacksmith didn’t seem to have noticed, so with a whistle and three sharp claps, the fire instantly roared back to life. The sudden light and heat lit up the forge, and the blacksmith jumped up from his stool, melody breaking in surprise. There was a loud crash from behind him as one of his hammers fell from the wall, upending a bin of nails.

“Sorry,” muttered Kiera sheepishly.

“Common sense, child!” he roared. “Would you jump out at a Spellcaster as he made Ever-Oil? You’re lucky you weren’t hit!”

“I was just trying to help,” she replied. “Besides, I was behind you.”

The blacksmith tossed a few nails back into the bin. “A fragmented spell shatters like ice. The shards can go anywhere. That was powerful magic, milady!”

“I said I was sorry!” said Kiera shortly. “Look, I need a favor.”

He groaned as he dropped several more nails into the bin. “Did I commit a crime in a previous life?” he wondered aloud.

“Funny,” huffed Kiera, sitting gracefully on a nearby stump. “Listen, this is easy. The easiest thing I will ever ask of you, Tahmores.”

He snorted in disbelief. “Out with it already, milady. I have work to do.”

“Make me a sword.”

Tahmores stared at her with a mixed look of suspicion and disbelief. “Why?” he asked cautiously.

“Because I want one,” she said pointedly. “Regulation-length, but light enough for me to use.”

Tossing the last of the nails into the bin, Tahmores sat back down. “Why should I? I doubt Alpha Jay would approve—”

“Okay, here’s the deal,” she interrupted, leaning forward intently. “You make this sword for me—to my exact specifications—and
I’ll give you a block of starstone to work with. Deal?”

Tahmores’ eyes widened. “Starstone?” he asked in a hushed voice. “No lie?”

“I swear on Fiaheti’s blade,” she said, resting the edge of her first finger across her brand. “I bought it off the merchants last year.”

“But how did you get the gold…?”

Kiera smirked. “Didn’t need it. Apparently starstone is worthless to the Wanderers, so I offered to show them one of our traditional dances.”

Tahmores hung his head. “You weren’t wearing traditional garb, were you?”

Kiera just smiled. “Let’s never mention this to my brother.”

“Fine,” he agreed after a moment’s thought. “This had better be some damn good starstone, milady.”