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Chapter 65: Conversation

Lillia walked beside Arwin as he waded through the soot, trying to see if he could find anything salvageable in the ruins. The Iron Hounds had taken care to make sure nothing within the smithy would survive.

Several melted chunks of metal marked the sets of armor that he’d forged to sell at the market. They’d bent in on themselves and had been buried under a layer of brick that had collapsed on top of the hot metal.

Arwin still collected them, handing the dirtied chunks to Lillia who set them on the street, safely out of the wreckage. Unfortunately, his hearth had been completely destroyed. The bellows had gone with it, though the anvil had survived.

It was too heavy to lift easily with his normal strength, so Arwin used [Scourge] to pry the huge chunk of metal out of the wreckage and lug it over to the street himself. He set it down with a clang, then straightened with a grimace. His hands and legs had been stained pitch black by all the soot.

“There should be more pieces of metal somewhere here,” Arwin said as he waded back into the smithy’s remains. “Let me know if you see anything.”

Lillia nodded, and the two of them got back to searching. Nearly an hour passed before they’d gone through everything about as well as they were going to be able to without literally diving through the soot.

They managed to rescue several sheets of the ivory metal and Brightsteel as well as a warped ingot of Brightsteel that Arwin had bought to make the suits of armor he’d planned to sell on the market. Everything else had been lost to the flames.

“What do we do with this?” Lillia asked. “Get rid of the soot and try to rebuild the smithy here?”

“No. Not yet,” Arwin said. “If the Iron Hounds send anyone to check on the smithy, they’ll obviously think something is up if the smithy is rebuilt. We leave it as is. I’ll move the anvil to another building. We can rebuild after the Iron Hounds have been dealt with.”

Lillia nodded. “What building, then?”

“Something far from the tavern,” Arwin said. “I don’t want anyone getting caught up in another attack if the Iron Hounds do end up coming back and figuring out I survived.”

They looked over the surrounding buildings. They all looked like pretty basic shopfronts or plain houses, with nothing particularly distinctive about any of them.

“The one at the side over there should work,” Arwin said, nodding to a dilapidated building with a caved in window and rickety door. “As long as the inside isn’t completely ruined, that is.”

He headed across the street and pulled the door open carefully to avoid accidentally ripping the rotting piece of wood off its weakened and rusted hinges. It only had a single room, and whatever furniture may have been within it at one point had all been broken, stolen, or rotted away.

Piles of mush and rot were strewn across the ground, but the walls looked mostly steady. There were only a few cracks that let light filter through, and it didn’t look like the building was going to cave in any time too soon.

An image of the repaired smithy flitted through Arwin’s mind. Compared to it, this new building was a complete dump – but that would change soon enough. For now, this one would suit his purposes.

“Yeah. This one,” Arwin said. “I doubt it’s going to muffle what I’m doing much, but there’s not really a way to work quietly unless I somehow got deep underground, and I don’t think that’s possible with our current resources.”

“Probably not,” Lillia agreed. “Where are you going to put the fire, though? The whole building is wood.”

“I’ll take the stones that aren’t completely ruined and try to build an area for it. It isn’t going to be perfect, but I don’t need a chimney because I’m working with [Soul Flame] rather than normal flame, and it doesn’t send up smoke since there’s nothing to burn.”

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Lillia nodded, and the two of them headed back outside to start bringing in the pieces that they’d rescued from the ruined smithy into Arwin’s new workshop. That took considerably less time than finding them, and they soon had a pile of what amounted to garbage surrounding an anvil transferred into Arwin’s new workshop.

He and Lillia stood in silence at the entryway, staring at all that remained of everything he’d built over the recent days. Drawing in a deep breath, Arwin closed his eyes and steadied himself as he exhaled.

“Right. Let’s get to work. We have a lot to do,” Arwin said. “Starting with making a spot for the hearth. I’m going to need some grout for the stones.”

“Do you have any gold?” Lillia asked. “Or was it… you know.”

“In the fire? No. I kept it on me,” Arwin said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out several pouches. “I was going to the market so often that I figured it was easier than taking it on and off constantly. I’ve got ninety. Enough to get some grout. We can use brick from the smithy to save costs there. I think I’ll need all the coin I can get for materials in the coming days.”

“I’d accompany you to the market, but…” Lillia trailed off and glanced at her tail. “I don’t think that would go well.”

“Probably not. It’s fine. Just keep an eye on the street and make sure we don’t have anyone rooting around where they shouldn’t be. I won’t wear my mask for now – I don’t think anyone from the Iron Hounds should recognize me without it other than Tix, and she doesn’t think I’m the smith. At least, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t.”

Lillia pursed her lips. “I’m not sure if that’s a good risk to take. It might be better to send someone else.”

“Like who?” Arwin asked. “Everyone is–”

“Right here,” Reya finished.

Arwin spun toward the door. He’d been so distracted with his work that he hadn’t noticed not just Reya, but also Anna and Rodrick walking up on the street behind them.

Damn it. I can’t afford to be this damn distracted. I’m going to get us killed at this rate.

“Ah,” Arwin said intelligently. He glanced over his shoulder at the soot-smeared metal behind him, then back over to the rest of his guild. “How long were you there?”

“I’ll get the grout,” Rodrick volunteered. “Anna can come with me.”

“Then I’ll make something for everyone to eat,” Lillia said, looking from Reya to Arwin. “Let me know when I can help again.”

Arwin nodded absently and tossed a bag of gold to Rodrick. “There.”

“I’ll bring back the change,” Rodrick said, tucking the bag into his waistband and heading off with Anna at his side. Lillia slipped past Arwin and out of the building, leaving him alone within it.

Reya stood on the street across from him. For several seconds, neither of them spoke. Then Arwin sighed and stepped back, gesturing for her to follow him. “Come on. Let’s talk.”

After a moment of hesitation, Reya walked inside. Arwin sat down on the anvil, leaning forward and bracing his arms against his knees.

“Go on, then,” Arwin said wearily. “Ask.”

“Ask what?”

“You wanted to know my secrets,” Arwin said, rocking back to catch Reya’s gaze. “I’ll tell them to you, if you want me to. I’ve just been trying to protect you, but that didn’t work out so well for Zeke.”

“I’m sorry.” Reya’s hands tightened at her sides and her eyes dropped to the floor. “It was wrong of me to say you got him killed. It wasn’t your fault. I – I’m just so mad. Why did he have to die?”

“It’s okay, Reya. You weren’t entirely wrong. Zeke died because I was arrogant.” Arwin gritted his teeth. “I didn’t think that the Iron Hounds would try to kill me. I kept thinking that there was no way humans would do that to themselves, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. If I’d treated them the way I treat monsters, then I never would have dismissed the threat.”

“Nobody would assume that they’re going to get killed just because they didn’t join a guild,” Reya said, looking back up at Arwin. “You can’t blame yourself.”

“I don’t blame myself, but he did die because of me,” Arwin said. “That was an attack meant to kill me, not him. My secrets have nothing to do with why we were attacked, but you’ve been with me longer than any of the others. If you want to know who I really am, then I’ll tell you.”

Reya shook her head, her eyes watering. “I’m sorry, Arwin. I really am. I was speaking without thinking earlier. I don’t care about the secrets. I–”

“I’m not angry at you,” Arwin said, raising a hand to cut Reya off before she could continue. “You’re right, Reya. Even though my secrets aren’t the reason he died, I’ve been treating you like a child, and I apologize for it. I thought I could protect everyone.”

Reya wiped her face with the back of a sleeve, but Arwin continued speaking before she could say anything else.

“I was strong enough – at one point. And, at one point, I will be again. But, right now, I’m not,” Arwin said. “I can’t protect you like I could. So, right now, all I can offer is knowledge. I’m not giving this to you because you hurt my feelings, Reya. I’m offering it because knowledge is all I can offer. Well, that and armor.”

“How could knowledge protect me?” Reya asked with a sniffle.

“Knowledge is a tool, just like everything else. Now think, Reya – and tell me if you really want to know. You can’t unlearn anything. But, if you want to know who I really am, I’ll tell you.”

Reya didn’t respond immediately, which Arwin was thankful for. He wasn’t sure what answer he was hoping she’d give him. Part of him wanted to bury his past and never think about it again, but another part desperately wanted to share it. Either way, Reya was actually debating her answer rather than just choosing impulsively.

“I want to know,” Reya finally said.

Arwin let out a slow sigh and inclined his head. “I figured you would. I’m sure this comes as absolutely no surprise to you, but I wasn’t always a smith.”

Reya nodded, a flicker of a smile passing over her lips. “Yeah. I kind of guessed. What were you? A high-ranking warrior in a guild or something?”

“No,” Arwin said quietly. “I was the Hero of Lian.”