It was a cold brisk morning and a gentle breeze had just passed by Medoner Ironheart’s tent. His eyes cracked the light crust that had formed over the night as he slept. It was about 5:30am in the morning as the Isurian rolled out of his cot and onto the tarp floor of the tent. He then rolled up the cot and blanket and tide them together and stepped outside the tent. The cold, wet spring air got rid of Medoner’s grogginess almost immediately. He then walked over to his gallant steed Goliath, who was a Mountain Pony. He laid his muscular hand upon the pony then spoke to him, but not as an animal, as a friend. “Hello Goliath, It’s a beautiful day is it not?” Goliath neighed in agreement. “I’m going to go cook us breakfast you stay here.” Goliath scraped the ground with one of his mighty hooves as the Isurian turned and walked to the fire pit, picking up an arm full of fire wood on the way. Putting each piece of wood in order into the fire pit Medoner created a small home that encompassed dried weeds, which he lit with his flint and steel. After about twenty minutes the fire was just right to start cooking, he cooked two eggs he purchased from the market the other day and toasted some bread. He then put them on two pewter plates, and walked over to Goliath and set the plate in front of him and began eating in silence. After breakfast, Medoner Packed up his camp and hid it under the ground, where he had dug a hole under a tree and put a bush over ever since he first arrived in Syliras. It was now about 6:10am and the Isurian had to get to work. He turned toward Goliath and said “Come on ill race you!” Then Ironheart took off sprinting toward the town but seconds later Goliath was galloping next to him at about half of his speed. It was a good two and a half miles to town but it didn’t bother him much, because Medoner liked to run in the mornings. It gave him a chance to warm up his whole body before going to work and running gave him a chance to clear his mind and focus on the day at hand and not the past. When the town of Sylira was about fifty yards away Goliath took off at full speed and beat Medoner by a land slide. As the young man got into City the sights smells and sounds still came as a shock to him, he thought that he’s going to wake up one day and still be living in the slums of Sultros. Following after Goliath, the Isurian headed straight for Ironworks. It was the name of the store he worked at and trained as an apprentice under the watchful eye of the Isurian master blacksmith Ros Vizerian. The second Medoner walked into the shop the Ros came out from around the corner and spoke, “Medoner! I need three long sword, three small round shields, and one female breastplate! I need them all by 6:00pm so get to work!” without another word the master blacksmith turned and walked back to the store front to attend the awaiting customers. Turning his attention to his work station, the Isurian Opened the forge and dumped coal into it, so that the flames would get hot enough to heat the steel to the right tempter to bend it as he wished. After the apprentice blacksmith got the forge to the right tempter, he turned and walked over to the scraps of metal. They were all waiting to be molded into what is need of them by the heat of a flame and the strikes of a hammer, and with his father’s Isurian steel forging hammer in his hand, he picked up a piece began his work. The three long swords where first on Medoner’s list of things to do. He grabbed three pieces of steel and put them on his work bench next to the forge. If he timed it right he could finish all three, about 20 minutes apart from each other at half the total, rather than work on each one separately. He threw the first piece in, then waited about 20 seconds to though the next one, and another 20 seconds for the one after that. After the first was heated to the point where it could start to take its form, Medoner Reached his reddish, stone like arm into the flame and pulled it out with his hand. Holding the steel in one hand and hid fathers hammer in the other, he swung down at the red hot piece of steel and it made a loud bang, a sound that was familiar to his ears. After about the tenth swing, everything became repetition and before Medoner knew it he was finished with the long swords in a total of four and a half hours. It was just about 11:00 and the blacksmith still had a lot to do, so he decided to skip lunch and continue working. Sweet was pouring from every pore in his face as he continued to work on the shields. The pounding sound of metal being molded into the shape needed of it, rung though Ironheart’s ears, but was soon tuned out, a useful skill that the Isurian’s father taught him when he was young. Medoner finished with shields drained of energy after three hours, but his work was not yet completed. This was the largest order his mentor had given the young blacksmith in a long time. He still had the female breastplate to construct which is probably the hardest item in the list to make including the longest time required to make it. It would take him four hours just to craft it in steel, and another hour to put the fitting straps on. There was no time for error, he gabbed the steel required to make it and began hammering. The bells in town rung six times, it was 6:00 pm. Medoner just put the last touches on the beast plate when his Ros came into the room. “Are you finished?” the master blacksmith asked. “Yes sure I just finished my last touches.” The Isurian replied. The Medoner's mentor strolled across the items laid out on the work bench so that he could inspect them. He picked up each and every item up and inspected them. "They are all of good quality, not great, but good." The old blacksmith said, as he picked up all the items and strolled off, throwing words back over his shoulder like "day is over" and "lock up when you leave". Complying with Ros's orders, Medoner locked up the workshop and headed back to his camp site. Completely drained of energy, the Isurian decided it best to ride Goliath home instead of racing him back. On the way back Medoner, thought of what he could have done to produce the items in better quality in the same amount of time, or how he could have made it quicker but the same quality. Finally when the apprentice got home he made the tent and his bed, but was too tired to cook any thing so he split a loaf of bread with Goliath and drank a glass of goat milk. After dinner Medoner tied Goliath to a tree and crawled in bed and fell right to sleep. [OOC: Hey everyone reading this I'm new here and would love some constructive criticism I really need it. just send me a letter please ] |