Chapter 27

I entered the smithy and looked around at the interior of the entranceway, trying to appear passive as I looked about the environment I just entered. Since this was a blacksmith shop with no living quarters attached, there was a main entrance where people could place and pick up their orders and the work area itself which was kept separate. There were two young men manning the counter at the far side of the room, which looked no bigger than the waiting room at Ilane’s clinic, as well as one standing in front of a door leading into the workshop. The two behind the counter looked to be between the ages of twelve and sixteen, while the one standing guard was harder to discern. All of them had a neutral expression of hidden hostility on their faces and I read the same in their body language. Regardless of their hidden ire, I made my way towards the counter, noticing that one of the two boys had moved his hands from the top of the counter to behind it. Given the neighborhood, not to mention who probably owned this shop, there was a crossbow hidden underneath.

“Welcome to the Fractured Irons,” said the boy with his hands still on the counter. “Are you here to place an order or pick one up?”

“Actually, I want to speak to whomever runs this facility, about a previous business arrangement that this smithy was facilitating for my town.”

The two boys shared a quick glance, though I was unable to ascertain the look that was shared but the guard’s hands clenching after my statement did not go unnoticed.

“What business do you have with him,” the other one asked with an air of arrogance, “that requires you to come in here armed, with a bunch of women playing soldier?”

The two boys laughed at the comment that was made, while the guard continued to stand in front of the door, expressionless.

“First, I do not have to answer the questions of a boy,” I stated, my irritation obvious in my words. “A boy who is standing behind a counter, pretending he is a man of importance, when he is nothing more than a greeter and errand boy. Second, these women have seen more battle then most of the soldiers stationed in Retvan, so mind your tongue and show them the respect that they are due. Third, I am an envoy of the Patron of Cartha and you will show some god’s damned respect, or I will cut out your tongue and feed it to you! Now, either lead me to the person who runs this smithy, as it is clearly not any of you, or I will take my business elsewhere. You can then explain to your boss how you pissed off an envoy of the present Patron of Cartha in a sad attempt to seem macho and lost any chance of restarting our business arrangement. I hope that he beats you within an inch of your lives for your insolence!”

The boy who had hidden his hands underneath the counter, bought them back up onto the table, his face pale and he looked visibly upset at my outburst. The other boy looked no different than his colleague; even the guard had a worried look on his face and his posture relaxed. I reached into my pocket and showed the document from Edgar, with the Patron’s seal confirming its authenticity.

“As for why I brought them, they are elite mercenaries, whom the Patron hired to provide protection during my time in Retvan. The news of a criminal element harassing the town has reached as far as Cartha and my boss did not want me to come unprotected. So, wherever I go, they go, end of story!”

“I am sorry, sir,” the first boy stated, fear evident in his voice. “Because of those same elements we have had to be distrusting of anyone who was not a usual customer.”

While it was a plausible story, it did not match their body language when I entered, nor the current body language of the guard. While the two in front of me were more relaxed, the guard still had a more aggressive posture that was not typical of a guard, despite the relaxed look he gave off. I knew that my companions had read the same signs I had, as their hands were each resting on the pommel of their swords.

“Be that as it may, I do not have all day to waste, prattling on with you two. Is the person who runs this smithy here and may I please speak with him?”

I extended my hand, gesturing for them to return the document, trying hard to look like an impatient aristocrat.

The two boys exchanged another glance before one replied, “I will go back and check to see if the owner is busy, sir. He is currently working in the back, on an order for a favored customer.”

The boy ran off and was let into the back of the shop and I was not at all surprised to hear nothing happening inside, despite what the young man had said. While there were times spent grinding and sharpening finished works, there would still be noises made that were not present. I stood impatiently, glancing at the door every few minutes, looking as if I had better things to do. I was assessing the biggest threat in the room and formulating the best way to incapacitate him without having to use my abilities in a public setting. He stood three inches taller than me, at six foot four inches, and looked to be at least two hundred and fifty pounds, most of it muscle. I was best equipped to get rid of him quickly if the situation called for it, while one of the others would be able to take care of the boy. I noticed that, as time passed, the guard became more agitated, causing me a flash of memory and a small bit of panic. The masked man who had participated in the last two dreams that involved Brenson, was the guard that was standing before me. I turned in mock anger and annoyance, gesturing for Janet to lean in, so that I could speak with her.

“The guard standing in front of the door over there was present in my dreams,” I whispered, hoping he would not overhear. “He has not acted like he recognizes me, so I think it was just Brenson’s subconscious using someone intimidating to elicit fear from the dream me, not knowing that I had been present in his dream. If that is him, that means that the guard knows him and where he could be, if Brenson was able to place him into the dream as he did.”

Janet gave a slight nod and replied, “Simply say the word, and we will do whatever is necessary, Davik, we are all behind you! Rest assured, if I am ever rendered incapacitated, they will follow any order you give them, without hesitation or reservation.”

I turned to Celka and whispered the warning of who he might be and what ties he might have to her brother. She responded in her own quirky way, trying to walk to the counter and tripping, causing an item in her hand to be dropped near the guard’s feet. As she began to pick herself up, the guard bent down and picked up the item she had dropped, handing it back to her. She thanked him and returned to the counter, pretending to be interested in some of the goods that were in cases and on shelves behind the remaining young man. After a few moments, she returned and gave me a slight shake of the head, with a forlorn look on her face. To the two men in the room, it would seem like she did not find anything she liked, to me it confirmed that he was not Voguel.

“Very well, it seems that I have wasted my time coming here,” I said, making sure I sounded severely agitated. “I will tell my Patron that you do not wish to regain our business and we will look elsewhere to have our needs met. I should have more than enough time to visit a few different smith shops, before they close for the evening, I am sure that one of them would be more than happy to help me.”

The remaining youth got a panicked look on his face as I said that and began to visibly sweat in fear. As I turned to leave, the young man rushed out from behind the counter and tried desperately to get me not to leave, telling me that it should only be a few minutes more.

In a minute or two, the door behind the guard opened and the other young man came out, followed by another man. This man looked to be mid-aged, a little bit shorter than me, with brown and grey hair. He was wearing clothes typical of a smith, much as I remembered my father wearing when I was small. He did not have any damage to his throat, so I was confident that this was not Brenson, but it did not mean he did not have some ties to him.

“Hello there, my name is Vincent. I was told by young David, here, that you were from Cartha and looking for me. I can also see that Curtis was doing his best to try and stop you from leaving before David and I returned. We had not heard from anyone there in about a year, so we wondered what had happened. I told them both that, should someone arrive from Cartha, to let me know so I can deal with the matter personally.”

He extended his hand and I grasped it, giving him a friendly shake. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the document I had given young David, returning it to me. I placed it back into my pouch, acting as if his arrival was of no concern to me.

“Yes, my Patron apologizes for the issues that arose. However, there has been an issue that had come up that demanded our attention. Unfortunately the issue cost us the life of our Patron and it took a year to find someone to take Brant’s place. Given the issues that had to be dealt with, the acting Patron was unable to facilitate the required discussions for renewal of the deal. Once my Patron had spent enough time accustoming himself to his new position, he began to work to familiarize himself with various deals that the Patronage had set up prior to his posting. It took a few months to go over everything, and I was sent here after he realized that the deal that had been struck had not been renewed. He sent me to find out the details of the original deal, as Brant was not a studious record keeper. I am to see if that would work again, or if we could discuss a more mutually beneficial arrangement.”

He nodded a few times and then became slightly lost in thought for a few moments, before realizing something important.

“I believe I have a copy of the original contract in the back,” Vincent said with a friendly smile, “if you would like to follow me, please? We will be able to sit down and go over everything there.”

“Of course, but I have explicit instructions from my Patron that I am to go nowhere without my protective detail, and of course my aide would have to come with me. She will be the one to confirm the contents of the contract and apply our new seal once the deal has been completed, to make everything official.”

His smile faltered for a moment, “I am afraid that the facilities are not large enough for all of us to be comfortable, given the various equipment we have. How about one of them comes in with you, while the other six stand guard out here? That way, we can have more room and you do not break your Patron’s trust by going somewhere unguarded. Before I forget, what was your name, sir?”

“Of course. My name is Revar. It is a pleasure to meet you, Vincent. Janet, Celka, follow me please, the rest of you please keep watch out here.”

All eight of them replied with a ‘Yes, Sir!’ that seemed suspiciously timed to ensure all eight said it at the same time.

He gestured for us to go through the door and we entered, cautiously. As soon as we crossed the threshold, my eyes scanned the room for possible dangers. I did my best to make it look like I was looking to see what their facilities looked like. David did not come in, nor did Curtis, but the guard did, and was now standing in front of the door on this side. I knew that the six that remained would be able to deal with any issue that arose, should the situation call for it.

We made our way towards a table near the back and I noticed a unique arch on the wall, that looked out of place with the rest of the building. The arch was three layers of stones, going along the wall in an exaggerated ‘U’ shape. It was three layers of stone deep, sitting out from the back wall by at least half a foot, but I had remembered that other sections of the wall had the same style on them. Janet and I took a seat while Celka walked about the room, looking at the various workspaces. This was designed as a proper smithy and did show signs of use, but it still felt off to me. Vincent puttered around his shelves until he found the document he was looking for and brought it back to the table.

“As you can see, we were tasked with providing fabricated items of various uses and quantities to Cartha. We have even grown to provide some of our services to Trontar, though in limited quantities.

Given the death of Cartha’s only smith, the Patron at the time believed that it would be the best option until he found a new smith to work in the town. Bureaucracy prevented him from being able to, so each year he renewed the contract, until a year ago. We sent correspondence to Cartha to see if the reason was that a new smith had been found, but there was no reply. As you can see at the bottom, the contract stated we would continue deliveries for a year, to allow for negotiations to be made, if necessary. That ended a month ago, so I am surprised you came, but glad that you wish to renew our partnership. We would be perfectly happy with the previous arrangement if your Patron is willing.”

He handed me the document to look over and, if it were not for our new smith, as well as who was pulling the strings behind this facility, it would have been a decent arrangement.

I sat back, studying Vincent. “Now would you be content for this arrangement to be renewed as is or would you prefer to change some of the terms of the arrangement?”

“That depends on you,” he said with a warm smile. “Would your Patron be happy with the terms of this arrangement?”

“Of course he would, this looks to be fine and seems like it would benefit both parties. Celka, please come over to check this, then we can finalize this deal and place the new Patron’s seal on it.”

Celka nodded, a slightly bored expression on her face, and came over to the table to look over the documents. She spent about five minutes going over the document herself, before she nodded, signifying that it was acceptable. She then pulled out a seal stamp and a piece of red wax, to maintain the illusion we were conveying. She knew that I meant for her to use the seal stamp that she tested us with, though this time she had dipped the entire stamp in a solution of Wolf’s Bane, that would either cause a reaction or slight skin irritation. She began to heat the wax using a candle, placing the stamp next to her.

“Well, if that is everything,” I said with a smile. “Would you like to do the honors of placing my Patron’s seal on the documents and finishing this deal?”

He smiled and nodded towards both of us, holding his hand open to receive the stamp. Celka tossed it and I felt my breath catch as I waited for him to catch it. When it landed in his hand, he instinctively closed his fist and a second later cried out in pain. We pretended that it was nothing, as he grasped his wrist, the pain visible on his face.

“Sorry about that,” he muttered, his voice catching for a moment. “It is just an old injury that acts up from time to time, when I extend it the wrong way. I just need my assistant to help me deal with the cause of the pain and I should feel better in a moment or two.”

In a flash, a knife appeared and tore through Celka’s throat before any of us had time to react. I was surprised that I had not heard the person come in, let alone get up behind us, until I looked up and was shocked at who it was, I saw.

As Celka’s neck poured out blood, Violet used the old woman’s cloak to clean the blood from the blade before letting the lifeless body fall on the table. She locked a cold stare on me, and I saw red, letting all the rage of her betrayal loose to fuel what would come next. I could not let my confusion distract me and wasted no time grasping Vincent by the neck, using all my strength to crush his neck. I felt the bones in his spine crack and break under the stress, his body going limp almost instantly in my hand. I tossed his body to the side and turned back to see Janet fighting with Violet and the big hulk of the guard coming up behind her. In a dash of speed, I closed the distance and threw a punch at the lumbering man’s head. He saw me coming out of the corner of his eye and moved his head slightly, causing the blow to glance instead of impact fully. Had I hit him full on, I would have probably broken his neck, but instead, he was sent flying back, slamming into large anvil. I moved to try and help Janet but was forced to jump out of the way of a flying anvil, the one that the guard had just impacted with.