A Blade in the Fire (Flashback/Training)

[Keishan]

40th of Winter, 500 AV

"Boy! Come down here!"

Keishan's eyes snapped open and he jumped out of bed. Of all the times he had overslept he couldn't believe he had done it that day. It was his birthday. Keishan threw on his clothes and grabbed his hammer and apron, cleaner than usual since he had washed it the day before, and ran down the stairs. His uncle had promised him something special today and he wasn't about to wait another second. He was surprised to find his uncle sitting at the table next to a man he'd never seen before. "Keishan, sit down," his uncle said quietly.

Keishan hesitated a moment before taking his seat. Was he in trouble, had he done something wrong? His uncle never used his name unless the matter was serious. And who was this man he had never seen before? Full of questions Keishan sat in silence as his uncle took his time to speak up, taking a sip from his mug and setting it back down on the table, turning it slightly so that it was facing in just the right direction. Finally the old man met eyes with his nephew and Keishan just knew it was going to be bad.

"Keishan.. when your mother first sent you here I thought you would be nothing of trouble." Koran took another sip from his mug and the man next to him shifted impatiently in his seat. "You have been everything but." The old smith stood and walked over to his nephew, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Boy, you've become like a son to me..."

Keishan was shocked, and the look on his face showed it. His uncle was not the emotional type, but here he was, having an emotional outpouring. Keishan half expected to see tears in the mans eyes, but the old smith was too hardened for anything like that. And he wasn't done talking yet.

"Keishan, you've done me a great service these past few months. I'm getting old and it was a big help having a young helper like yourself around. ...but I'm too old to train an apprentice." Koran stood and motioned to the mysterious man at the table, "This is master weaponsmith Edwin Atora. He's an old friend of mine and he's just set shop here in Zeltiva. You're to be his apprentice, starting immediately."

Keishan was suddenly filled with a boiling pot of emotions: sorrow, joy, excitement, anger, desperation. He didn't know what to think or say, and it showed clearly on his face. "Well don't be so down, boy, I paid a hundred mizas for him to take you on. You're going to be making weapons, Keishan. It's what you've always wanted!" Keishan finally snapped out of his shocked trance, excitement becoming evident on his face. "Uncle... I.. I don't know what to say. I'm really going to be working with a master weaponsmith?"

The man at the table stood up then, "That you are, son. Though I don't like being called a master, there are far better out there than I. We'll move your stuff to my shop and starting tomorrow you'll be learning under me." Keishan looked at the man and shook his head, wondering if it all was a dream. When he didn't wake up he knew it was real, and he turned back to his uncle and threw his arms around him in a big hug, shocking the old man thoroughly. "Thankyou so much, uncle! I won't let you down. I'll be the best smith the world has ever seen, I just know it!"

Koran chuckled and patted the boy on his head. "I'm sure you will, Keishan, I'm sure you will. Wait here, I have something for you." His uncle walked out to the shop and came back carrying something behind his back. "Take my hammer. I've forged a thousand pieces with it, but nothing like the weapon I know you'll make one day. I'd like to see it do something great."

Keishan took the hammer reverently in his hand, tears running down his cheek. "Thankyou Uncle Koran. I'll make you proud, I promise." He held the hammer up above his head, a wide grin on his face. "This hammer will make the greatest weapon the world has ever seen, that I swear!" His uncle and Edwin both laugh at the child's excitement, and after all was said and done, the boy left with the man to his new home. He wouldn't see his uncle's shop again for seven years.

50th of Winter, 500 AV

Things were not as exciting working in a weapon shop as Keishan thought they would be. He had been there ten days and hadn't been allowed to make a weapon thus far. It was, "Give me that steel! Sweep the floor! Bring me more water!" He was tired of doing menial tasks, but Keishan had to admit he was learning a lot. Edwin was truly an expert in his field, and when he wasn't ordering the boy around Keishan was allowed to watch the smith practice his craft. Edwin was a good instructor and always explained everything he did, from the simplest beat of the hammer to the most complex combining of metals. But he still had not let Keishan near the forge, and this day had proved to be no different.

At that moment Edwin was tapping lightly on a sword that hours earlier had been a chunk of metal, putting the finishing touches. The sword was a simple one, nothing fancy, but it was well balanced and made of quality steel. Edwin had not asked for any help on this blade, and told Keishan to sit and watch the entire process.

"Keishan." The smith looked up from his work, the blade complete. "You watched me closely?" Keishan nodded, "Yes sir. All day." The smith turned back to the sword and stuck it into the fire for a few seconds before removing it and cooling it in water. "Good. Tomorrow you will do it."

51st of Winter, 500AV

"Alright, now, this isn't like making a horseshoe. The composition has to be just right. Everything has to be perfect, or the weapon will be useless." Edwin held up a bar of iron in front of him. "We're going to work with iron today. I don't want you ruining good steel." Edwin sat the bar down on the anvil and continued his lecture, "As you know, to forge something it has to be hot. If you heat it to much though you might ruin the metal. You'll learn how to tell how hot something is by the color. Once it gets to the right color, that's when you start pounding. Now, obviously this block is no where near to being a sword. It needs to be drawn out first, made longer and flatter. You've got some experience in this, and the basic shape of a sword isn't very complex, so go ahead and get started.

Keishan did start, and every few minutes he was stopped by Edwin so the man could examine his work. Constant criticism, both good and bad, came after every strike of the hammer, every tilt of the blade, every time he took it out of the fire. Keishan knew this was to be a long and tedious process, but he was determined. He worked in sections, hammering a few inches out at a time, making each section perfect before moving to the next, then backtracking to even out the previous sections, then moving forward again. His master was picky, and did not allow any mistakes. But finally, after what seemed like hours, the blade was formed. It was still rough, and dull, but you could tell it was a sword.

Edwin picked up the blade and examined it, turning it in his hands and sighting down its length. After a while he grunted and set it back down on the anvil. "Not bad. But we're not done yet. The next step is annealing." Keishan stared at his teacher, "What in the world is that?" The smith laughed and pointed at the sword. "Put that back in the fire. Annealing is the technical term for making the sword soft. It needs to be soft so we can sharpen it, then we'll harden it. Annealing takes a while. Once its good an hot we'll take it out and let it cool down slowly overnight. We'll start the next step in the morning."

52nd of Winter, 500AV

Keishan awoke early that morning and headed down stairs, only to find the master already at work on an axehead. When Keishan entered the room Edwin put down the hammer and motioned the boy over, setting aside the axe and grabbing the blade, now cool from being left out overnight. "Sleep well? Good. Now time to get to work. Today we'll be working on the edge, and smoothing out the sword. We'll use files, whetstone, and a grinder." The smith pointed to a nearby machine. "To use that you step on the pedal there. It will spin the wheel and you can grind out the edge and point of the sword. Not every shop has one of these, so take advantage of it while you can. Once you're done there you'll finish up by hand. Now get to it, you've seen me do it plenty."

Keishan nodded to his teacher and picked up the unfinished blade and set it against the grinding surface, stepping down on the pedal and turning the wheel. As it got faster he pressed the edge of the blade into it and sparks flew as he started to shape the edge and tip of the blade. The process took him about an hour before Edwin finally stopped him and took a look at the blade. "Not bad, not bad at all. If you did that by hand it would have taken you all day. Doing it by hand produces a finer blade though, so if you're trying to make a masterpiece that's how you'll do it. But the grinder will do for this sword. Now, take this and finish it up." Edwin handed his apprentice a sharpening stone then went back to work on his own project, leaving Keishan to work on his blade alone. As Keishan ran the stone down the edge of the blade he couldn't help feel a sense of pride in his work. This was the first weapon he ever made, a beginning of a long line of weapons that would be forged under his hammer.

When Keishan felt the blade was ready he held it out to his master for further inspection and was met with quick approval. "Your uncle was right, you do have a talent for this stuff. This sword is good enough to be sold on the market, granted at a low price." Edwin handed the blade back to Keishan then told him to put it back in the fire. "Now we harden it. This part isn't too difficult. Heat it up until its really hot, then dunk it in some water. It's called quenching." Keishan did as he was told and heated the sword, then quickly quenched it in the cool water next to the forge. "Now, do that again, four or five times, but don't heat it as hot. This is called tempering the blade. It makes it flexible, but still strong. I'll let you know when it's hot enough." Not much time passes and the blade is finished. Forged, hardened, tempered and ready to go... almost.

"Alright, that's it for us. Now we sent it off to the hilt smith and let him finish up." Keishan's jaw dropped and he held the sword close to him. "That's it? I don't get to finish it myself?" The smith stared at him incredulously, "What? We don't do all that. It would take forever. Much easier to let another.. oh well, I guess it doesn't matter. It's you're first blade. Special to you, eh? You'll have to carve it yourself, I'm no woodworker, unless you want to forge a metal hilt as well?" Keishan shook his head. "No, I'll carve it."

Keishan spent the rest of the day in his room with a carving knife, fashioning the hilt for his sword. There was still a bit more for him to do down in the forge, but he wanted to make the hilt first. After that he would need to make the guard and pommel, and the sword would have to be polished also, but those were projects for another day. Eventually he fell asleep, cradling the blade in his arms, and his dreams were filled with the sound of the hammer.