Page 33 of Inked in Emeralds (Inkbound #3)
And, sure enough, Smitty was standing over the forge, pulling on a chain that pumped the bellows as he pulled a glowing, orange blade from the heart of the forge. He was sturdy and broad as ever but looked a little older than I remembered him.
On the other side of the room, the older Smithson stood behind the counter, polishing a dagger.
Smitty glanced up as we entered. “Afternoon. What can we do for you?”
I knew that I could have made Duncan his sword, but I didn’t think that was where I needed to be putting my time. Practicing, building my magic, not a weapon for Duncan was what I had to do.
We stepped up and Duncan leaned on the counter. “Looking to have a new sword forged. Preferably as sturdy as you can make it.”
“Size?”
Smithson’s eyes bulged as Duncan pulled the bottom half of the broken weapon from its sheath, setting it on the counter.
“Hellfire…Never seen anything like it. And to see it cut clean through like this…” He sucked in a breath, examining the hilt more closely. “Yeah, we can definitely make you a sturdy blade. Want us to fix it to the same hilt?”
He shrugged. “Whatever works best. As long as it won’t break on me.”
I leaned forward, suddenly inspired. “What is that stone on the Yellow Brick Road made out of? It almost seemed kind of metallic. Wonder if you could incorporate something like that.”
The older blacksmith, Smithson, stepped up behind me.
“You’ve got a good eye, miss. But the stuff is notoriously hard to work with.
The forge doesn’t get quite hot enough to fully melt the bricks, so while it’s easy enough to punch out into blocks, it takes ages to hammer it out and shape it into a blade.
We can try, but it’ll cost you a pretty penny. ”
“Money won’t be an issue,” I said, “but there is a small catch.”
Smitty raised a soot-stained eyebrow.
“We need it by tomorrow night.” I pasted a bright smile on my face, hoping to trick them into feeling good about my declaration.
The two exchanged a look, and the younger was first to speak. “You’re asking us to forge you an unbreakable sword, that size, in one day?”
Duncan shrugged, a slight smile on his lips. “More or less. But we can pay you handsomely for it.”
Smitty cut in, “Ain’t a matter of money. It just can’t be done. Not with our setup here.”
“Because of the forge?”
The blacksmith nodded. “It’d take us a week to get a clean edge on that kind of blade at the heat we can manage here.”
“Okay, so do you have any already made that I could buy that are close to fitting the bill?”
“Citizens don’t really have a need for anything like that, and even the ones the guards at the palace use are half that size.”
Duncan slumped, then looked over at me, clearly ready to call it quits. But the gears in my mind were already turning.
Just like everything else that had gotten me here, this problem was put before me for a reason. I had to put my head down and press on, no matter what obstacles we faced.
Destiny is like a river…
“I—I’ll make the forge work for you, so it will get hot enough,” I said, startling even myself by how confident I sounded. Making a sword, or the tip of my whip was one thing, but a forge?
Smitty folded his arms across his chest, amusement sparking in his eyes. “And what makes you think you can manage that? You don’t think we’ve tried, or is it that you just think you’ll figure out something that we haven’t?”
“I’ve got a knack for finding creative solutions to tricky problems.” I stuffed my hand into my pouch, fishing out my easy lockpick and presenting it for their inspection.
It was a spectacular specimen of precision engineering, and it had saved my skin more times than I cared to count. I turned it slowly to show them the delicate gears and switches on the side.
Smitty took it from my hand, more intrigued with each passing second. “You made this, eh?”
“I did,” I confirmed. “And I’m not just a tinker; my pa was a smith like yourself, so I know my way around a forge. I really think I can come up with a way to do this if you give me a chance.”
Smitty passed the lockpick back, looking me up and down, as if seeing me for the first time.
“Hope you realize that we’ll need it done fast. Even if we can work it as easily as steel, a sword that size will still take a good six hours to make even with both of us working on it, assuming you want it done right. ”
The challenge of the forge was something to focus on outside of the trials ahead of us and it gave me a spur of excitement. “We do. Give me until tomorrow morning, first thing, to bring you a solution. If I can get it done with at least eight hours left to work, do you think you can pull it off?”
A grin spread across his wrinkled face. “You get me a hotter forge, and we’ll make you the greatest sword this city’s ever seen.”
My thoughts drifted to the whip tied to my side. I’d known in my gut when I made the tip at Smithson’s place, it was missing an element. Hopefully I’d have a little extra time to rectify that while we were here with a forge hot enough to…do whatever it was I still needed to do.
The younger smith nodded, already grabbing his parchment and charcoal. “I’ll start sketching out a design for the hilt and grip. We’ll want to make a whole new one for something like this.”
With that settled, Duncan and I took our stuff and left the shop, back out into the bustling streets of the market district. We were halfway back to the palace, each lost in our own thoughts, when he slowed his steps and glanced my way.
“Hook can be an asshole, but I get why you picked him...”
My steps faltered and he slowed to a stop.
A riot of emotions rushed over me all at once.
Embarrassment, relief, sadness. I opened my mouth to deny it, because he’d said out loud what I didn’t even want to admit to myself, never mind to him.
But when I looked into his soft, gray eyes, I couldn’t form the words.
His smile was gentle. “It’s okay. I’m not mad.
We made no promises to each other.” He looked off in the distance and let out a low, bittersweet chuckle.
“That’s not to say I didn’t have high hopes.
But as soon as I saw the two of you together, I knew.
I didn’t want to believe it. Fought it every step of the way, but the way you look at him?
You never looked at me that way. And he… he looks at you like I wish I could.”
I folded my arms around myself, suddenly chilly despite the heat in my cheeks. “It’s not like that. We aren’t together.” Mostly ? “And even if I wanted to be, I don’t see a way that we ever could. Not really.”
Not when I knew the guilt he held to his chest in a death grip made every day on this earth a fair bit of torture and freeing him of it was beyond my power…it was a task only he could tackle, if he even wanted to.
“This isn’t jealousy talking—I’ve come to terms with it now,” Duncan continued, “but I’m glad to hear you say that.”
I winced. “And why is that?”
His face was grim as he considered his answer. “Because he isn’t whole, Harm. Something inside him is broken. And while I do think, despite his outward nature, he’s a good man and cares deeply for you, I don’t think he can give you what you need.”
It was nothing I didn’t already know…So why did it feel like I’d been kicked by a mule right in the chest? He must’ve seen my expression because he cupped my chin and gave me a reassuring smile.
“That doesn’t mean you won’t find it one day. The thing you’re looking for.”
But we both know it won’t be with me. He didn’t say the words, yet they couldn’t have been clearer if he’d shouted it, then spelled it out on a piece of paper.
A piece of me mourned the loss of what we’d had in Alabaster at a time that we’d both needed that connection so much—a gentle affection that had burned slow and careful. But the bigger part of me was proud of him. Duncan deserved more than being some woman’s second choice, and he knew it.
“We should probably get back,” I murmured, managing a smile in return. “It’s getting late, and I want to get a head start on the plans for Smitty and Smithson before the banquet.”
“Shit. I almost forgot about that.”
He broke into long strides, and I lurched into motion after him, jogging to keep pace.
Since we were clearing the air, I might as well go whole hog with it…
“Duncan, there is one little thing I should also probably mention before we get back to the palace.”
He turned, cocking his head at me. “What’s that?”
I scratched my chin and let out a sigh.
“I don’t have the faintest clue how to fix that forge.”