Freed (Magics AU - Part 2)

Chapter 4 - Gabriel

The room echoed with the shrill clang of a hammer striking metal. Though a normal person would have winced from the sharpness of the noise, Gabriel had grown accustomed to piercing sounds. He had worked with metal and loud sounds since he was fifteen, when he started helping his father, who was the previous blacksmith of Ariel. Gabriel's father was the only family he remembered, and unfortunately he had passed away some time ago. The sword Gabriel was repairing was the one his father had crafted for him, even though Gabriel had only been seven when it was given to him. 

Gabriel hadn't picked up the sword in far too long. It had been stored in a back room, with many other weapons, for several years. Though Gabriel had been taught swordsmanship when he was young, he hadn't touched a sword since he started working under his father. 

If his father was still around, Gabriel would have explained that he was repairing the sword from a mishap during a training exercise. His father had been a stern, rough man - still kind and loving, but in his own gruff and sarcastic way. He wouldn't have liked to find out that Gabriel had bent the sword by accidentally dropping tons of other weapons on top of it.

Thankfully, it now looked as good as new. Gabriel leaned back and pushed his safety goggles to the top of his head, placing his gloved hand on his hip. As he laid the hammer on the table to his right, he tilted his head down at his work, smirking at himself. It looked as if nothing had ever happened to it, and Gabriel hoped to keep it that way. 

Nodding in satisfaction at his handiwork, Gabriel stepped back and pulled the thick, protective gloves off his hands. He would have to wait until the metal cooled back down, even though he had no intentions of touching the blade. That had been his first mistake as a young teenager and new blacksmith - he'd picked up a weapon when it wasn't cool enough and somehow managed to burn his palm. His father had tended the raw burn, but all the while he was laughing.

Gabriel couldn't even remember how he did it, but he didn't plan on doing it again. 

Sighing, Gabriel wiped his hands on the pants of his overalls, turning around and glancing around the room. There were still several things to be crafted, including some of the projects he simply wanted to work on. When Gabriel wasn't busy, he usually found something to make out of boredom, and curiosity of what he could do. 

Just as he leaned down to pick up a large slab of metal, there was a sudden knock at the closed door. Startled, Gabriel shot up again, nearly causing his goggles to fly off his head. No one but the king and queen came to his workroom, and that was only because he was their friend. He'd known Ruby since they were both young children, even though he was six years younger than her. When Marcus had married Ruby, he'd immediately become fast friends with Gabriel too. 

"One second," Gabriel called, turning back to the tables and rows of metal and weapons. Although he knew he had grease and soot smudged on his face, he'd stopped caring several years ago how dirty he looked. 

Sliding his gloves back onto his hands, Gabriel spun toward the sword and picked it up carefully. When he hurried toward the back storage room, it hissed through the air with a satisfying swish, a sound that Gabriel had grown used to because of his sword training. 

After he had placed the sword back where it had rested for years, he rushed back into the main room and began picking up tools that were strewn across the tables and floor. While Gabriel was working, he didn't care what he did with the tools that he used. As long as the ones he needed were within reach, it didn't matter where the others were. Sometimes he would knock them to the floor and corners of the room, and then forget that they were there. 

"The door is open," Gabriel said over his shoulder as he threw several tools into a box in the corner of the room. "Just come in." It was clean enough, but whenever the king or queen was around, Gabriel almost felt complied to be busy with something.