Raezyr took the opportunity to wander around the village a bit, making note of where different buildings were located, storing the information for later use. Not only would he need it for his daily life in the days to come, but also in the event of an emergency, it might come in handy.
Being a small village, it didn't take long to see everything, and he eventually found his way to the blacksmith's shop. Mathias greeted him with a warm smile and hand shake. His grip was firm enough to show his strength, which was belied by his slim stature, by human standards. He was still bigger than most of his race, and Raezyr attributed that to his work: swinging hammers and lifting heavy iron each day.
Mathias paused in his work to show him around the shop and explain the processes to him. In the back, they had a small foundry where two men smelted ore down and poured it out into workable ingots of various metals. For the most part, the big monk explained, they just refined the metals, such as iron, silver, and even gold, which was what he worked with for the most part, but when occasion called for it, they also made steel, which was highly labor intensive, so avoided when possible.
Once the tour was over, Mathias told Raezyr that his job for now, would primarily consist of being his striker, explaining that it meant Raezyr would swing the heavy sledge, while he held the hot metal with the tongs and directed Raezyr's blows with small taps of a hammer, indicating where he wanted Raezyr to strike.
It took Raezyr awhile to get the hang of it, but by the end of the day, Mathias said he was doing really well for someone with so little experience.
Raezyr felt worn out and tired, and his muscles ached as they made their way back home. He could already tell that he was going to be very sore the next day. It was more physical work than he was used to, and he'd been at it for less than a day. Sure, he exercised each day that he could, but those workouts were for an hour or so at the most, while this had been constant.
The two washed the soot, grime and sweat from their bodies before entering the hut. Trychon was outside chopping firewood, and Violet was already busy cooking supper, and it wasn't long before both Gall and Mannix arrived home.
When supper was over, and their nightly ales had been consumed, they crawled into their beds. Trychon tried to make some quiet conversation, but Raezyr was fast asleep the instant his head hit the pillow.
No comments:
Post a Comment