Chapter Vii The City Blacksmith

This is a rewrite of a previously published work. There is a lot of new content in it, but it is not wholly new content. There will be new chapters coming.

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In my sleep, I stretched out and my hand brushed across something warm and smooth.

I slid my hand up and heard a soft catch of breath. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times. Meryl was sitting cross-legged in front of me, as bare as the day she was born. Her black hair was drawn behind her back. She was somewhere in between thin and voluptuous, with nice hips and a taut, but undefined stomach, and breasts that were more than a handful but not by much.

My eyes trailed down below her stomach to a small, thin patch of carefully manicured hair froze, not daring to go any further. Or register that I could see more. She was leaning back, not hiding anything. I lifted my head a bit and saw that my hand was between her legs and had brushed across her gender. I blinked and jerked my hand away. She pouted down at me, breathing deeply, sending her breasts up and down, which only caught my eye because of the angle. Honestly. She edged closer to me and murmured "You're a little more aggressive in the morning."

"I uh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I didn't know you were there!" I sputtered, backing up. She giggled at me before putting a finger to my lips. She leaned in, moved it away slowly, and kissed me. I whimpered but leaned into the kiss. It was only for a moment and I wanted it to be longer. Which surprised me. But she broke it off and started crawling out of the bed. "W-what are you doing here? I locked the door."

"Oh, Johann, you sure do know how to make a girl feel wanted." The queen said as she was pulling on her dress. "Also, darling, locking the door didn't work at your home, why would it work in my castle?"

"I didn't mean... I mean..." I tried to gather my thoughts. It was pretty difficult, since all of my blood was concentrated elsewhere. She was taking her time getting dressed and the view was glorious. It didn't occur to me for a full moment that she was flaunting herself. "I... Why were you naked?"

"It's how I sleep." I thought about that for a moment. I also slept naked. I also slept naked. I looked down and wrapped up tightly in the blanket and looked away. She laughed musically. "It's not the first time I've seen you like that, husband. And it won't be the last. Not if I have anything to say about it." She did nothing to conceal the hunger in those words.

"We... W-we're not married." I had to swallow before I could get the sentence out.

"Details." She said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Are you going to join me for court today again?" After a moment, she added, "Emilia won't be there this time." I didn't know why that mattered, but it was a shame.

"Oh. No, I have some things I want to do in town today." I said, absently. I started to get out of bed and hunt for clothes as well, finding my normal tunic that the maid must've cleaned and sewn back together. I didn't exactly understand how the Head Maid fit into this arrangement that I had been volunteered for, but I was a little curious. "Where's Emilia?"

"Also running errands in town. Said she had a couple of things to pick up. What are you going to do in town?" Her voice was a little strained on the question.

"Well, I can't just follow you around all day." I tried to sound nonchalant. "I-if I'm going to be here, I need to find work. I need something to do."

"You have something to do!" She all but shouted, a little redness invading her cheeks. "You are to be around here and help me with things! And Carmella. And Emilia."

"You're a queen." I couldn't keep the puzzlement off of my face. Or out of my tone. "She's a knight. And Emilia's... a maid. Still not really sure how she fits into this. Or how I do! I'm a blacksmith. What help could I be?"

"You helped me yesterday with that other blacksmith." She mumbled, a little defensively.

"You already knew what to do. I just told you a little about ores." Worry played on her face and she looked away. I took a step closer. "Besides, it's not like I'm going far. I'll be back tonight for dinner. What's this about? Do you expect me to be by your side constantly?"

She frowned at me and her face screwed up as she tried to sort her thoughts. Yesterday she was never speechless. She knew how to navigate every situation in an instant. The perfect picture of a ruler from a story. Eloquent and kind, even handed and graceful, beautiful and intelligent. And yet, at this moment, she was pouting like a child being told no for the first time. She's the queen. She very well may have never been denied before, I thought. And it is awfully adorable.

"I... You've been so resistant to the idea of being around me. I guess I'm just afraid tha-" I laughed. I could not help it. Her pale face flushed red as she glared at me, balling her fists. "What!? What's funny about this? I'm serious. You ran away! And you want to go work as a blacksmith instead of being an adviser! Many men would beg me for an opportunity like this! Especially with everything I-I'm offering!" Despite the anger in her tone, her face was screwed up in a pout.

I took her in; her red face, her shouting, her trembling lip. She had crawled into my bed naked without a hint of embarrassment but this was too much for her. That thought gave me pause. She was offering herself... and so much more. And I did run away. I sat down on the bed and gestured to the spot next to me. "Come here. I... I want to talk about this for a moment. If you have the time."

She continued to try and roast me alive with her eyes until I moved a little bit and patted the bed next to me. She stiffened her back and raised her nose into the air. When she spoke, her tone was that of the haughty ruler she was in the court. "I am a queen. I have the time for everything that is necessary. If other people wait on me all the better."

I waited until she sat next to me. I took her hands in mine and looked at her. "My reticence has nothing to do with you." My eyes fell down to her hands, which looked small in mine. But I'd seen them do the impossible; I knew she was more dangerous than I could ever be. So much more impressive. "You're amazing; beautiful, smart, and capable of things I can scarcely imagine. All of you are. It's more that I just feel I don't belong here. You brought me here into this world. One I know nothing about; a world of politics that I don't understand. Your world is bigger than I am. And so are you."

"Are you calling me fat?" She looked at me accusingly, but I think I saw her mouth twitch as she tried not to smile.

"What? No!" I said quickly, shaking my head, choosing to play into her prodding. "You're more important than I am. You're a queen. Lady Carmella is the First Knight. Even Emilia is this amazing cleric. And a maid, I guess. A maid who answers directly to the queen. And I'm just..."

I gestured to myself dismissively. She grabbed my hand and got closer to my face until it encapsulated my entire vision. "You are my future husband. Carmella's future husband, if she'll have you. Emilia's... Uh, well, that's a little more... Emilia's charge. Her lord. Yeah. That's what you are."

"I'm never going to understand what you're talking about, am I?" I asked more to myself than actually to her. She responded with a shrug and a small smile. And that small gesture was almost enough to make my lack of understanding okay. Almost. "There are two things about this that I don't think you really understand."

"Oh?" She raised a haughty eyebrow. How she can switch like that boggles the mind. I found myself smiling at her, knowing that at least part of it was an act. "Please, explain."

"I- uh," I stopped at her look and started to organize my words more clearly. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just that I uh... I was never really consulted about this. You decided that I'm your husband-to-be and Carmella's, which I don't think she even likes me, much less..." I let my voice trail off. Meryl's eyes twinkled brightly with a smugness that only comes from knowing something that other people don't. I pressed on, "And Emilia's... Whatever. And I'm sitting here wondering why."

"Because I'm your queen. And because you're mine." Her words tried to affect her courtly authority, but she said them a little too quickly. "That's all there is to it."

"But why me?" I asked, watching her face, for any weakness,

"Because I chose you. There might have been others that could have done it, but I saw you and I thought to myself, 'He's the one'." There was no doubt in that statement. She seemed perfectly sure that this was a fact of the universe. And some of my doubts crumbled under that certainty. She continued, "I brought in Carmella and she liked you better than anyone else we had looked at."

"What if I'm not comfortable with that?" I asked, not moving away. My fingers unconsciously gripped her hands a little more tightly. Nothing that would hurt her, but it did seem to make honest the lie I was trying to pass off. "What if I don't want to be your husband?"

She leaned in and kissed me again. I returned it. We stayed like that for a moment. After the kiss broke, she muttered against my lips, "You do, though."

"I d-do" I muttered before I realized what I had said, then I cleared my throat and continued, "I... I'm not opposed to the idea, but it's certainly not something I expected."

She reached under the blanket and grabbed my length which had hardened during the kiss and grinned. She gripped it a little more roughly than I think she intended. Or maybe it was the fact that I jumped and tried to get out of her grip. She laughed and got up, adjusting her dress. "I had to get even. You touched me. Now I've touched you."

I got dressed and she asked that I accompany her to the courtroom. While walking, we passed Lady Carmella. She was out of her armor and in a dress. Not just any dress, but a rather fancy one, as nice as her lover's beside me. It wrapped tightly around her and opened on the midriff, revealing her strong stomach. She towered over me in heels which accentuated her strong legs, which I could see because the dress was cut halfway up her thigh. On a shorter woman, it would have been above her waist. I shifted a little bit. I was struck.

This was only the second time I'd seen her in a dress, but I couldn't get over it. Her chest was smaller than her queen's, but still pleasant to look at. When she caught me looking she gave me a cool, appraising look and raised her chin some. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I saw a slight blush and a lip twitch that might've been a smirk. She entwined her fingers with Meryl's and started talking too quietly for me to hear. Meryl giggled and pointedly did not look my way.

After we arrived at the court hall, I said my goodbyes and made my way out, trying to ignore Lady Carmella's appraising stare. I made my way into town and found a blacksmith. Which actually took me a long time. How anyone can navigate a place this large is beyond me? I thought bitterly. My village was just ten houses, two smithies, a tavern and a general shop. In this maze of people and buildings, I felt overwhelmed. Any major road would lead me out of town, but it didn't give me any hint as to where anything actually was. I had to stop and ask for directions. Twice. But the people were kind enough to give me them, just like anyone back in Sofen.

But when I finally did locate a smithy, I went through the door and a bell rang above my head. This forge was split into two parts. There was a shop up front with rows of swords, axes, spears, pikes, shields and some armor. Memories of Daniel crept up. Though, he'd barely fit in this one. It wasn't a large sharp and every inch was being used, apparently. I could see the actual forge in the back, where a dwarf was pounding away at his latest piece. The blacksmith looked up from his work and nodded. "Oi, how can I help ye?"

He was about two heads and a hand shorter than I was, bald but with a thick red beard. He was working on a kind of blade that I had never seen before. I hesitated for a moment as he continued his pounding. I had never had to ask to use another man's forge before. Not even Daniel. "I-uh, I was wondering..."

"Spit it out, ye damned fool. Or get out of me shop," He barked. Apparently courtesy isn't universal among blacksmiths. I would never treat a potential customer like that. Nor would Daniel, I thought. I am sure of it.

"I would like to rent your forge for a few days," I said in a voice that I forced to be more stable than I felt. The dwarf stopped what he was doing and looked at me. He stomped around me, considering.

"Aye, an' what does a lordling know about bein' a smith?" He said after he came to stand in front of me.

"I'm not a lordling! I'm a blacksmith!" I clenched my fists at my side. The blacksmith raised a bushy brow.

"Aye, and I'm a jester for the queen herself," The dwarf replied dryly, mimed a tossing motion. "Just blacksmithing while I recover from jugglin'."

I reached behind me and grabbed the dagger I was wearing at my back and spun it around in my hand and caught it by the blade. It was a trick I'd practiced almost every night on the way to Bayfield City after sparring. The dwarf jumped back, his hand on a large hammer that I had not noticed before. "What d'ya think you're doin'?"

"I am a blacksmith." I raised a hand and offered him the dagger by the blade. "I made this. I want to rent your forge to make a sword for a... For a friend. And to repair another sword as an ornament for her."

The dwarf hesitantly put his hammer down, eyeing me, the dagger and the sword I had on my waist. After a moment, he took the dagger and examined it. "Myrnil... Ye said that ye made this?"

"That I did." He continued to consider the dagger for a while, turning it over and fingering the etching I had laid into it. He didn't seem to disapprove of it as much as Daniel had.

"Black Mithral's a difficult metal to work with. How long have ye been a blacksmith, boy?" He asked as he examined it with what I could already tell was a master's appraisal. He reminded me of James in that moment. And pretty much only that moment. This dwarf was loud, brash, and direct. James was soft-spoken and deliberate in a much softer way.

I bristled at being called a boy. I'm not that much younger than he was, I thought, gritting my teeth. But I remembered reading somewhere that dwarves age differently than men do. "Uh. More than ten years, now. Almost fifteen."

He nodded absently, still considering the dagger in his hand. "And how much did ye expect to pay me for renting me forge and using me hammer and me materials?"

"I'm not sure," I muttered, looking above his head, frowning. I had not really thought about the cost. "How much do you think would be fair, considering I'd be putting you out for a couple of days."

"Fer a sword and a repair?" He considered me for a moment, before looking back to his workspace. "Me forge isn't so small. We won't be trippin' over each other too much. Ten gold should do it, I think."

I balked, but then considered his proposal. It is the capital. Everything's more expensive here. I cannot expect prices to be the same as my village. Who knows how much work he was losing by letting me do that. I nodded, digging out my purse. "Alright. Ten gold."

"Tha's just for the rental," He added, turning his back to me. "Materials will be separate."

"That's... That's fine." I went into my pouch and counted out fifteen of the thirty coins that I had and put them on the table, trying not to pay too much attention to what I now recognized as Meryl's face smiling up at me. He nodded his approval.

"What's yer name, boy?" He asked without heat. I grit my teeth but tried to let it go.

"I'm Johann. What's yours, dwarf?" Not quite keeping the annoyance out of my tone.

"Don't be callin' me no dwarf! It's rude." His glare up at me contorted his face, but his features softened a little bit. "I'm Barmion."

"I'm sorry, Master Barmion." I said, bowing slightly. I wasn't exactly sure of any of the cultural practices of... well, the entire city, really, I have to get to learning these things if I'm going to stay here. I suppressed a shiver. It was the first time I admitted to myself that that was a real possibility. That I wanted to see where this went. "I've never met a dwarf before."

"Aye. We typically don't come this far out," he replied contemplatively as he led me back into his workshop proper. "Tend to stay to ourselves. It's better that way, for the most part."

"Oh? That makes sense I guess." I did not really think so, but I did not want to push it. The irony of me wanting to stay in my little village was lost on me, at least for the moment. I stepped behind the counter, looking through what he had available. "Why'd you come out here, then?"

"I wanted to see the world. See what was out there. So, I did some adventuring in my day." A smile spread across his craggy face. "I traveled for a few decades. I arrived here and found that they had some food I never had before. Twas delicious. Tried living in the mountains again, but I wanted more of that food, ye see." He shrugged his bulky shoulders. "Decided I couldn't live without it."

I nodded, picking out some ores. I found some Myrnil and grabbed that and a little bit of gold. "I've only been in town for a few days, but even that short time has made me reconsider ever going back home."

"Once yer're out, ye start ta see things a bit differently." The dwarf nodded with a small smile on his face. "Little things build up and before ye know it, nothing's the same. I know tha' better than most."

"Was it just the food?" I asked absentmindedly, loading up the metal into the crucible and looked at his billow. It was different from anything I'd ever seen before. Mine was a pump with a handle that one would just push down and pull back up. His was directly on the floor and had no handles. I hesitated for a moment, before reticently stepping on it. Surely enough, it compressed and a rush of air went through carefully crafted pipes into his more enclosed furnace. That's an elegant design. Probably holds heat twice as well as James'. I frowned. Might be a little hard to build, though. Out there, at least. He started pounding away at the strange blade again before answering. After a while he shook his head.

"The food helped." He paused for a moment, holding his hammer aloft, staring into the flames. "But it was the person making the food that really changed me."

"Oh? How's that?" I asked, continuing to pump, trying to find the rhythm.

"I met a gnome. I'd never met a gnome before." The dwarf looked at me for a moment. "Dwarves and gnomes don't get on too well. Competing for materials and territory in the mountains. An' different philosophies. Gnomes tend ta like gems more than metals and tend to waste metal making small machines." He lifted his relatively huge fist with the hammer in his hand. "Do things ya can do with yer hands."

I shrugged. I knew less about gnomes than I did about dwarves. And I knew next to nothing about dwarves. When I didn't say anything, he mirrored my shrug and continued on, "Anyway, I met a gnome. We were both out exploring and he made me a meal. Twas the best thing I ever had. And I liked him. Never met anyone like him. We traveled together for a few months." He paused for a moment, neither speaking nor hammering. "And when I tried to live in the mines again, I missed him. Took me a while to track him down, but when I did, I asked him to marry me." He stopped talking for a moment, spending a moment or two slamming the hammer down onto his project. Then he met my eye, trying to gauge my reaction. "That's not a problem with ye, is it?"

"Nah." I continued to pump the billows to build up heat in the forge. His face softened a little. I gave him a brief smile. "There was a couple like that back home. Didn't really understand it at first. Had them over for dinner. They're good men. Gave me a cheese basket afterwards."