Two weeks later it is getting colder out and we stay inside for most of the day preparing for the wedding and trying to decide the menu. We went into the kitchen to make lunch when I walked up behind her and gave her a kiss on her neck and wrapped my arms around her tiny waist. She slapped my hand in a playful manner. Then she started to laugh which made me laugh too. After we ate lunch we decided to go on a run around the town and lake. When we got back to the house it was getting dark out. We took a shower and then we decided to turn in early.
When I woke up I went outside to use the outhouse. When I got out of the outhouse I found a letter on my front door. so I went inside to read it because it was thirty-four degrees outside and I was in my undergarments. I sat at the table and opened the letter and it read.
I will be there in a couple days to talk about a sword.
That I want to commission
from you if you are up to the challenge.
4 days
Lily walked into the dining room and asked what does the letter say. I gave it to her to read for herself. Four hours later I went to the forge to make all the tamahagane that I could for the next three days waiting for the mystery person who left the letter on the door.
It is the fourth day and I got up early and was sitting at the dining room table waiting for the knock on the front door. Four hours passed since sunrise and I heard three hard knocks on the door. I got up from the table and opened the door. An old man was standing on my porch.
"Yes, can I help you?" I said.
"That depends. Are you Leo Nova?" He replied.
"Yes and who might be asking?" I said.
" I'm sorry I'm sorry I am Merlin!" He said, With a hard laugh.
"Are you the one from the letter?" I said.
"Yes," He said.
" So do you want to get started on the plans for the project?" I said.
"okay. Can we have a toast over the plans?" he said.
"sure. Lily get the whiskey glass please?" I said.
"I will be there in one second!" Lily yells from the kitchen. We sat down at the dining room table. I had a pencil and a pad of paper taking notes. So we cheered to our health and headed outside to the forge to get started on the sword. I start by throwing a couple pieces of tamahagane into the forge to get hot. I pulled them out one at a time and hit them with the hammer over and over to make them flat. When they got to the thickness that I wanted them to be I stacked them and forged welded them together. I heated it back up and started to fold it one hundred times to dilute the impurities in the steel. It was getting late and I was getting very tired.
"It is getting late out and we have been out here all day. Hows about we call it a day?" I said.
"That is a splendid idea." Merlin said. So we headed into the house for dinner.
We had venison steak with a baked potato and a cob of maize. Then we went to bed. Merlin slept on the couch. When we woke up I went into the kitchen and found merlin cooking breakfast.
"What are you making for breakfast?" I asked sarcastically.
"I am making flapjacks and eggs." He said.
"Nice. after I eat I will go out to the forge to finish the sword." I said. The whole time Merlin was here Luci has been outside too scared to come inside. when I got to the forge. I heated it up with the steel in it so I was able to get started quicker. I forged the bevales in the blade before going to the grinder. When I got done with the grinder I put the blade back into the forge for the quenching cycle before I did the tempering cycle.
For the tempering cycle I turned off the forge and left the sword in the forge so it can temper with the remaining heat. Then I got started on the handle. I decided to make a dark oak handle with a small braided leather strap. The guard was made with a piece of steel from a project a couple years ago. It fits the blade and handle to a tight fit. I began sharpening the blade then it began to make an ear piercing sound like a ringing noise and Merlin grind i grind too.
"Is this what you wanted?" I asked.
"yes. That is exactly what I wanted! Can we test it?" He said.
"Yes." I said. So we went out of the forge and headed to the forest to test the sword out on some small trees. I asked Merlin If he wanted to do the honor of testing it first. He grabbed the sword and smiled even bigger when he felt the balance. With a silent swish of the sword. it cut clean through five trees that happened to be too close together and for a split second it didn't look like he hit them at all.
"shit !!" He yelled. Lily ran out of the house and saw me and Merlin by a group of stumps and fallen trees. When she got to me.
"What is he yelling for?" she asked.
"I just got done with what I would consider my best sword and he cut clean through all of those trees on the ground there." I said.
"May I have a look at the sword that you made?" she asked.
"No problem here you are." Merlin said. She grabbed the handle
"That is amazing, the balance is phenomenal. And the whith of the blade is so thin." She said,
"give it a swing and see the results." I said So she did and heard no sound of the blade through the air.
"That is amazing." She said, As she ran her finger down the side of the blade and heard the ringing of the blade. she gasped and I smiled at her. She handed the sword back to me and I put it into the scaverd and led them into the house.
We sat down at the table.
"May I ask how did you learn of my work?" I asked.
"I was seeking all the blacksmiths that have a skill that I need for a quest I have available right now." Merlin said.
"What skill are you looking for?" I said.
"I was looking for a blacksmith that had an aptitude for magic," he said.
"do you know that magic is very rare?" I asked.
"I know there are only six wizards besides me." He said.
"how do you know if you had found a blacksmith that knew magic?" I asked. He smiled.
" I would look at his work and it would tell me." he said.
"how would it tell you?" I asked.
"Flexible as a feather and silent as a mouse. A choir of songs sung when touched, but no songs are sung when swung. Blood sprays when cut, but no drops stain the blade. When the crystal is placed, magic is erased." he said. It Sounded like he was quoting a book.
"that is a mouth full. since you are talking in past tense i take it you have found him?" I said.
"Yes I have. Have you noticed your sword is quiet and yet it sings like a banshee and did you notice the tree we were cutting down was maple and yet there is not a drop of sap?'' he said.
"So what kind of quest are you offering?" I said.
"We are after werewolves and with your sword they will be no match for you. So what do you say?" He said. I looked at lily.
"What do you think?" I asked.
"How long is it going to take?" she asked.
"I can not give a definite answer. It depends on how long it takes when we get there. But the trip there is two months each way." he said. Lily looked at me and I looked at her.
"it is a quest, it should have a reward, what is it?" She asked.
"Yes, the reward! It is nine hundred fifty thousand gold coins and what you can get from the werewolves." Merlin said. She looked at me and i never turned away from her.
"Can I talk to you in private?" She asked. So we got up from the table and went to our bedroom and sat on the bed looking deep into each other's eyes.
"If you take this quest you will miss our wedding date but we need the money." She said,
"I have an idea if i were going to take the quest we get married when i get back and then we don't leave the house for a week." I said. we came out of the bedroom
"Yes he will take the quest under one condition you make sure he makes it back home safely." she said.
"yes!! I promise." he said.
"Are we leaving in the morning?" I asked.
"Yes." He said.