Fragments of your Soul (The Mirror Worlds Book 1) by E. S. Erbsland Read Free Book Online Page B

covered place where a bearded man struck a hammer against a mighty anvil. It was the source of the droning noise they had heard from afar.
    “A blacksmith?” said Arvid. “Weren’t we just at…”
    “He’s a black mage,” Thoke interrupted her, grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him through a group of people, who had stopped in the already narrow alley between the stalls, talking and laughing.
    Arvid could not avoid a certain nervousness when Thoke approached the blacksmith and greeted him. The burly man seemed to be happy about Thoke’s unexpected visit and lowered his hammer. Arvid noticed with some amazement that she was able to understand parts of their conversation, although she only had come into contact with the Jördish language recently. The blacksmith repeatedly gave her attentive glances, while Thoke obviously explained to him who Arvid was and that he was going to show her everything.
    Eventually the blacksmith put his hammer aside and began to rummage in a pool filled with small metal parts.
    “His name is Alf,” Thoke said to Arvid. “He was born and raised here in Black Castle. He is a very talented mage. I asked him to show you a few things.”
    Arvid watched as Alf placed a couple of long, narrow pieces of metal on the anvil.
    “I don’t understand,” she said. “He’s a blacksmith, why…?”
    “You’ll see in a moment,” he said with a fleeting smile.
    Alf waved Arvid closer. “Come and watch,” he said in Jördish.
    Arvid hesitantly stepped closer and looked at the small metal tube he pointed at. Arvid couldn’t understand the next thing he said, but Thoke translated it for her. “To heat larger pieces, he uses a forge, but smaller parts can easily be heated and formed with black magic.”
    With a large pliers Alf held the tube. He simply looked at it, and slowly the dark metal began to glow. First it was just a dark red glow, but then it became orange and finally bright yellow. Arvid couldn’t believe her own eyes and instinctively took a step back when she felt the burning heat on her skin. Alf laughed loudly. He said something that Arvid did not understand, but Thoke started grinning, too.
    “He says you look like a little kid that’s watching a blacksmith for the first time,” he explained.
    Although such a remark would usually annoy Arvid, she was still so stunned that she could not speak, but just continued staring at the glowing metal.
    Using the forceps, Alf turned the tube into a kind of spiral. The in-turned stump stretched on its own and became a perfect, pointy tip. Finally he dipped the hot metal in a pool of water next to him. Arvid was allowed to keep the cooled spiral and did, in fact, feel a bit like a little child who just had been handed some candy.
    While Thoke continued talking to Alf, Arvid stared spellbound at the perfectly shaped metal structure in her hands. She had firmly resolved not to let anything she heard or saw throw her off track but after what she just had witnessed, it became harder and harder. She could think about it all she wanted, but she found no logical, physical explanation for what Alf had done with the metal tube. How could you heat something so fast and high without exposing it to a strong fire, without even touching it at all? How could he form the tip without working the metal with a tool?
    After Thoke finally had said goodbye to Alf and they slowly moved away from the market, Arvid was silent and thoughtful. She was still turning the small metal spiral in her hand pondering. Was it really possible that there was such a thing as magic? Was that what she had just witnessed?
    “Are you very cold?” asked Thoke, pulling Arvid from her musings.
    “Just a little,” Arvid said. Her feet were cold, but the blanket was thick and warm, and between the fires of the forge it had not been as cold.
    “Then I have two more things I want to show you,” Thoke said.
    He led her along a slightly sloping road, where the noise of the market