Something sudden hit my chest jolting me awake. It wasn't painful or meant to harm simply meant to disturb. I open my eyes and note Marcus standing at the foot of my bed looking down at me."Wake up boy. Today you will work with me. Go put those clothes on and meet me outside." Marcus promptly left the room.
I look down at my chest where a pair of leather overalls, boots, and gloves are all messy strewn about. Not wanting to make Marcus wait on me I hastily pull on all my clothing and walk towards the door half asleep. This is the first time I will have ever been outside I realize. The excitement of seeing the village for the first is enough to shake of the haze of first waking up.
I limp out the front door as quickly as my damaged legs will take me. I am hit by a blinding flash of light as my eyes fail to adjust to the sudden sunshine. It is a beautiful sight before me. The sun just barely peaking over the far away sea to my south. A barely waking village lay before the ocean about a dozen houses a lazily circling a central well. Large plots of empty already harvested fields further circle the houses. To my north as far away as the distant see rests an indomitable wall of snow capped mountains piercing into the clouds as if they were assailing the heavens. In between all three of the sights lay our house. Situated on a hill our small dwelling overlooked it all. Slightly out of the way from the village one could mistake us for hermits if not for the neighboring house only slightly to our east.
Too caught up in magnificent view before me I fail to notice Marcus leaning against a fence post arms crossed with a judgmental look on his face. "Are you done?" Marcus finally grabs my attention. My excitement is too much to contain "Are you going to teach me how to smith?" I speak fast ready to be of some help to the head of the household. Marcus pushed off his place on the fence post and beckoned me to follow as he rounded the left corner of the house. I turned the corner after him and get to see the infamous forge Marcus seems to be married to. It is a humble and modest thing built with cost efficiency in mind. That much is obvious at a first glance. Two walls and a roof all made of a thick and sturdy amount of stones. On the right wall lay the furnace with a large hand cranked bellow attached to it for fanning the flames. On the back wall lay a large impossibly heavy anvil with racks of tools hanging above.
Marcus was already getting to work fanning flames so I quickly ran up to him ready to start. Once he judged the fire as hot enough he turned to me with a serious expression on his face. "Boy. You are now a member of this family with means you have a duty towards both Lydia and the house. You are strong enough now to start learning my trade. You will earn your keep and work hard every single day because that is what us mean must do. It will not be easy and it will certainly be taxing on your body like it is on mine. But it is a Necessity of life." Marcus took a second to let his speech sink in. "This week you will observe me, take notes, and ask questions. then I will teach you hands on. Understood?" I simply nod my head. My body is still weak but I will suffer through it if it means I can be of some use to Lydia and Marcus
"First things first. The shed along the side of the house is where I store all of my materials and tools. Here is a ledger of what my stock should be take the paper and confirm everything is still there and take note of anything missing." Marcus handed my the ledger and went back to work. I follow his order and walk to the shed.
It takes a couple of hours but eventually I manage to sort and count every crate and item in the shed. Nothing was missing but it was hard to find everything with the poor organization of everything so I resorted the shed to make finding things easier. After my first job I return to Marcus eager to continue.
After turning the corner I see a man I have never seen before intently talking and working the anvil along side Marcus. They are both laughing at each other and seem to be having a good time. The man was as large as Marcus and just as muscle he however was a much more better looking man with angular facial features and a good smile. Unlike Marcus he had a headful of healthy but aging black hair it was a little longer than as buzz cut with a streak of grey across the right side of it. A large scar was visible on his left check forming a L. I limp a little faster to the pair itching to meet someone new.
The man sees me and bears a smile. "Ah! so this is the boy. You weren't lying about his eyes and hair huh. Very unique." He was speaking to Marcus but staring at me. It seemed rather rude. I walk closer and offer my hand to the man as a greeting. "I am Alexander." He shakes my hand. "I know who you are my boy! Believe it or not but Marcus actually talks quite a lot about you." Marcus made a mumble about that. "My name is Edwin I am a good friend to Marcus here.l Feel free to just call me Ed."
"Stop standing there and get to work Ed. I don't pay you for nothing." Marcus was ready to put Edwin back to work it seemed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah I moving." Edwin laughed and moved back to the anvil. He stared hammering what looked like a horse shoe. Marcus called me over to him.
"You took a long time Alex. Did you get lost or something." I could feel a little bit of venom in the words. "I had to reorganize the shed. Everything was just thrown in there I thought it would save you some time if it was in some form of order." I didn't mean to waste anytime it just seemed like it would help in the future. "Sorry if I wasn't supposed to" I lowered my head. "Nah. You are fine I had been meaning to do that for a while anyway. Was everything in accounted for." I was taken aback by his response I expected some malice not understanding. "Yes. nothing is missing" Marcus nodded "Good. Today we are making arrow heads for the king. You won't usually be making these but it is still good to know nonetheless so pay close attention." He gets to work without waiting for a response.
We worked until the sun went down completely. I didn't have to much to do besides watch and learn but I can tell it is going to be a very labor intensive job. Not that I mind too much. Marcus sent Edwin home and we went to the house to eat dinner. This time Marcus stayed and ate with me and Lydia instead of taking his food and leaving. It was silent but not in a bad way. It was just peaceful. After finishing his food Marcus stared right at me.
"In a month's time the Ascension day Festival will be happening in every major city across the land. We depart to the city of Callien in three weeks time until that week you will work twice as hard and I will give you a small allowance. You can spend the money as you like when you get to the city." Finishing his sudden statement Marcus stood up and went to his room. I turn to Lydia who has a huge bubbly smile plastered on her face. "Thats so exciting. I assumed we weren't going this year. Make sure you work hard there will be a lot of traveling merchants with cool trinkets you can buy." If Lydia was this excited it must be very fun
"Hey Lydia. What is Ascension day?"