The Coldsmith

Pots and Pans

Mayra opened her eyes. Looking out of her window beyond the sickly light of the sun, she could see yet another furious snowstorm brewing.

It was grey out, as if a sickness had swept over the land. A sickness that would attack everything, leaving nothing unattacked. Every day, this is what would happen. A routine of famine, the cold, and death.

First the sky would turn grey as grey as the stone bricks the city was made out of, casting the whole surrounding area in a veil of darkness and shadow.

After that, snow would begin to fall, which would wet the bricks enough to make them as dark as the sky. The falling snow would start out slow, and over time pick up speed. Eventually the snow would become a massive blizzard, that only ceased brielfy enough for a new one to start. The only day this cycle was broken, was when a storm went on for more than one day.

It often went on for more than one day, making trading as impossible as a dragon flying in to be nice and heat the city back up. So overall, most out of town traders never came into town anymore. The only place that they might come from, was the icy land of Ahskrata. The people that inhabited that land were different, much more resistant to cold than almost anyone else. Mayra had only seen them a number of times, not even a dozen.

But when someone did see a "Frostman" (it was their common name, most didn't know what they called themeselves.) it was a sight to see. They thought, acted and seemed like normal people, only they were much taller. An average person was five or six feet tall, the Frostmen were over eight feet tall, some reaching eleven. What seemed the most noticable besides the height, was that their skin was blue, much like ice.

Mayra didn't know how these men could survive the cold so well, but Mayra really wanted to know how, as she could feel the cold through the walls. Even when inside, you would be cold, it was bonechilling, unlike most other colds. she was even sure she'd seen a Frostman shivering on their last visit.

But it got even worse, as well as making the temperature bloody cold out, the snowstorms made it nearly impossible to grow any kind of crop, whether it was suited to the cold or not. Meaning that, aside from death by hypothermia, people would die of famine. This even happened when someone worked inside, as the cold didn't really seem to care much about the walls that were supposed to protect the citizens.

Mayra was sure that she would freeze to death a number of times, but never did, always managing to find a lucky way out, just in time. This seemed odd to Mayra, as no one else seemed to have the luck.

Both the hypothermia and famine were incredibly prominent with Seguus, the southernmost district of the city. Seguus was a predominantly poor area. Most of the people who lived within the distric were usually homeless, petty thieves or both. This was partially because no one from any of the other seven districts wanted to hire someone from Seguus, thinking they would just steal something at the first possible moment.

Not being able to get any work didn't really help people, they would be kicked out of their house if they could not pay taxes. Many would steal to support themeselves, which didn't really help Seguus' reputation out much.

Mayra was neither a thief or a homeless person. She lived with her father, William, who worked in a small elixer shop a few blocks from their home. Mayra worked at one of the local forges. Most of the time she smithed nails or horseshoes, but that was enough to give her decent muscle, insuring she was never taken advantage of physically. The heat given off by the forge wasn't bad either, fire seemed to be the only thing that stopped the cold.

After lounging in her bed for another few minutes, trying to warm up some more, Mayra decided she'd better get up and head off to the blacksmith shop to earn her wage.

The only thing that gave her the effort enough to get up, was the thought that she would soon be in the heat of the forge.

Mayra sat up in her bed, stretching as she sat up. After the stretching, she slipped out of bed to put her clothes on. Putting on rough and unclean clothes was the best idea for working at a smithy, as there would be soot all over them by the end of the day.

Mayra walked to the window and looked down to the streets. She could see many vendors in heavy coats setting up shop alongside the roads. There was Dannr who sold all sorts of random nick-nacks, Olir who's stand sold cooking tools, and Darvr who sold buckets and other things to hold things. Mayra decided she wouldn't need a coat, as she was working at the forge.

Mayra backed away from the window, giving her enough time to see her reflection staring back at her. She had a dark green eye color, which was reminiscent of pine trees. Her hair was as dark as the trunks of such trees. and her features were sharp, as if someone had brought a knife to her and cut off rounder features.

The sharper featues were common among Reldians. She was among that race of humans. Reldians were the race of humans, who first lived within the borders of what is now the Reldian Empire. Mayra lived within the capital city of the empire, Reldus City. It was a hub of trade and a city of diversity. There were a few other cities too, all of which seemed better than the capital right now.

Mayra popped her neck, and began to put her hair up, not wanting to light her hair on fire. Leaning over a fire for most of the day would certainly not agree with the red hot fire.

Mayra opened her bedroom door, and looked out. The narrow hallway was dark, the only light filtering in through the window in the bedroom. She let out a sigh of relief, and stepped into the dimly lit hallway.

Each step had a different pitch of squeak. Mayra walked to the end of the hallway, at the edge of the stairs. Knowing that if her father were at the house, he would have already greeted her.

She walked down the also creaky steps of the stairs, not bothering to be overly quiet, being as her father was not home. The elixer shop he worked at would often require him to be in early, to mix some potions that would require more constant care than others.

Mayra walked through the den, not hearing a sound, completely insuring she was alone. No light had filtered into the den, since the only window opened out into a very narrow alley by the side of their house, and the other side couldn't have a window, since there was another home on that side. As for the front, there just wasn't a window, Mayra suspected her father didn't want one there since it looked directly out into the streets.

By the time Mayra had made it to the doorway, nothing else had happened. She reached her hand out towards the doorknob, ready to leave.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Mayra heard a loud "KLAAAAAAAANG." She jumped up at the doorway, hitting her head hard. Pain spread quickly on her head, and she yelled "OUCH!"

The weird thing wasn't that a there was a series of klangs, bangs, and bams following her yell in pain. No the weird thing was that someone else said it after the next series.

Mayra froze where she was, with her hand on her head, rubbing the bump. She looked directly at the kitchen, staring it down, almost daring it to let loose whatever had said ouch with her.

Finally, Mayra decided that whoever, or whatever was in the kitchen wasn't going to come out unless she made it. She walked slowly to the kitchen doorway, and looked in.

All she could see, all over the small kitchen, was pots and pans strewn all around the floor, as if a bomb had went off in the room, and the bomb launched pots and pans everywhere. Among the wreckage, was a small hand sticking out of all of them. Mayra narrowed her eyes.

"WHO IS IN THERE?!" She finally managed, after glaring at the hand for a moment.

There was a slight rumble in the pots and pans, and the hand stuck straight up ot of them. Whoever was in the pile, was wearing a set of rough leather armor, and had cuts all over their arm.

Suddenly, without much warning, the pile shook more, and more. A small woman popped out of the pots and pans, with a resounding "MEE!"