Stowaway (A Pirate Novel) (Completed)

Chapter 23 Sweat and Blood

She missed both breakfast and lunch. Her stomach growled with its displeasure.

Intent on her task she ignore it. She was sorry she hadn't gotten something at one of the the stalls in the square.

She heard the ring of the blacksmith hammer and quickened her pace.

Heat rolled out of the double doors, as she drew near. She could see the Smith as he stood at the anvil.

Her eyes caught on the hammer as he swung it down. It hit a length of glowing metal with a resounding clang shooting sparks into the air around the smith.

Her eyes moved from the hammer to the bare arm. Muscles bunched under the heat darkened flesh. His sweat glistened in the fires dim glow. His shoulder rippled as he lifted the hammer again. His chest was covered by a thick black apron that barely reviled a brown shirt beneath.

For a few moments she stood in the threshold watching him work. His arms were almost the width of her waist.

It wasn't until he put the hammer down and picked up the length of metal with tongs that she took a step forward.

He placed the metal in the coals and pulled a cord suspended from the ceiling.

Air hissed and the coals brightened. They glowed bright red that seemed to merge into orange.

Only two steps passed the doors she froze. She bit worriedly at her lip.

"You can come in, boy." The blacksmith said as he pulled the cord. Another hiss sizzled, coals glowed, and the scent of metal, coal and heat permeated the space. "I don't bite."

Elle quickly shuffled forward.

"Sorry, sir. I didn't mean to disturb your work." She apologised.

"Call me Gordon or Smithy, not sir." He glanced back at the coals then back at her. "What can I do for you?"

Strangely until he had asked she had forgotten her purpose here.

"Oh." She said her eyes widening. She quickly told him what she wanted. When she started to tell him her fabricated reason he held up a hand to forestall her.

"I don't need your reason, kid. Do you have coin?"

She nodded.

He gave her a clipped nodd and told her to wait there. He turned and walked the length of the room, pushed his way through a thick brown hanging hide.

She heard the sound of metal objects being moved around as the clinked against each other.

When he pushed his way back in the room he held two treble grappling hooks.

"Either of these should hold your weight plus some." he held them out for her to inspect. She took them each in a separate hand.

Both look to be made of the same metal but she chose the smaller of the two. It weighed at least 2 pounds lighter and was an inch smaller all around.

When he told her it would be a pound and six shillings she handed the coins over without a word of protest.

She exited the building on quick feet and took a few lung fulls of the cooler air.

She spotted a wooden barrel and placed her bundle on top of it. As she was adding the hook to the bundle her stomach growled.

She quickly made her way back to the square. She purchased a wedge of cheese, a shriveled apple, and a meat pie at separate vendors.

She ate as she made her way back to the tavern. Back in her room she dumped her purchases on the bed. And then she quickly locked the door.

She cut the strips from the cloth, cut a large square of the remaining length from the end. Cutting another, wider strip she fashioned a mask.

She tied the rope to the hook and coiled it around it.

She made a large bag from the big square added loops that she could secure to her arms and added a string to draw the opening closed.

She sat on the bed, legs crisscrossed, as she sewed the bag.

Her tongue darted in and out of her mouth, she bit her lip, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

A loud knock startled her and the needle plunged into the flesh causing her to gasp loudly.

"Elle?" Zara asked from the other side of the door.

"What?"

"I brought tea, I thought it would help your stomach."