Rime within the Embers

1. The Young Blacksmith

    A continuous clanging reverberated throughout the room as metal slammed down harshly, yet precisely upon metal.

    I stood off to the side as I watched my father hard at work at his anvil, pounding out the last impurities of his latest project. He shot me a glance, queuing me to move the large container of water closer to him. I watched in awe as always, as he inserted the red hot blade into the clear liquid. Upon contact it sizzled profusely as it disappeared behind a cloud of steam.

    My father turned his partially scaly head towards me. "Did you catch all of that Rime?"

    I nodded quickly. "Yes father! Thank you for the lesson!"

    He let out a bellowing laugh. "You are more than welcome, my boy! But you know you are already doing quite the fine job with your training. You did not really need this lesson, as we have covered it on numerous occasions."

    "I- I know, I just...I wanted to make sure I had all of the techniques right...", I awkwardly smiled, fidgeting with my little tail

    This time my father let out a smirk, before patting me on the shoulder. "Of course my boy. Say, could you do me a favour while I finish up here?"

   "Of course I can!...Wait, what is it?" I asked as I raised my eyebrows in anticipation

    He gave me a toothy grin before speaking. "I need you to go and map out some ore outcrops that look to have some promise for me."

    My eyes widened in excitement. "Really?!"

    My father nodded. "Yes, I think you are ready. It should be a little bit north of our usual spot. Got that?"

    I nodded hastily, quickly packing a few writing utensils and some parchment. I bounded up and down as the tip of my scaly tail swooshed back and forth in excitement and anticipation, my father slipped my pack over my little wings as I did so.

    "Now, Rime. You are still a child, so you need to be careful."

    "Yes father, I know..."

    "And what do you do if  you are approached by someone you do not know?" He asked expectantly.

    I sighed loudly. "Avoid them or run away, but be polite about it..."

    "Yes, good good." My father said as he smiled. "Now get going, before the sun starts to set. I believe in you and I will see you when you get back. Who knows, maybe I will even have something waiting for you here when you do."

    My unimpressed look from his previous safety lecturing quickly morphed into an excited and determined smile.

    "I promise I won't let you down!" I announced excitedly as I sped out the door with a spring in my step.

    I dashed through the village, quickly waving to those I knew passing by. I started to make a list in my head, to make sure I didn't forget anything before I got too far from my father's forge.

    In and amongst my thoughts I suddenly felt a wall of pain, followed by being forced backwards by some unforeseen force. My thoughts of confusion and pain were quickly interrupted by a familiar burst of laughter. Only then did I realize that I was sitting in the dirt and said 'unforeseen force' that knocked me onto my behind, was no unforeseen force at all. It was in fact a very visible pillar that made up the archway of the village gate, that I totally just tried to walk through while lost in thought.

    More annoying, yet all too familiar laughter cut through my train of thought once again. I sighed loudly and begrudgingly looked to my right. Zaarkos Summerscale, my beyondly irritating next door neighbour. He always seemed to make it a point to bother me whenever he visited my father's forge with or without his parents. It unfortunately seemed like he was on guard duty today as he stood in between the archway in his usual guard attire.