His brother nodded and
paced the floor. Finally, he pulled up a piece of metal from a pile of wood on
one side.
He said: this is the
blade I am forging for you. Look at the shape and brightness of the metal. Look
at the straightness of the edge. See the pattern on the spine. This blade is
forged from seric iron brought from India’s far shore. In Damascus, they have
only been using this metal for a century. Your blade was produced locally and
it is weak and flat. Notice how this metal is strong but still flexible.
He bent the metal with
his mighty arms, making a huge effort. The metal sprang back to its original
shape.
2639 said: please let
me sharpen and finish this blade for you. You need all the help you can get if
you are going to attack a Masked One. Please do not let Ahriman take my
brother.
2711 clasped his
brother on the forearm, and his eyes glistened. He said: it would be an honour,
brother. Make me a blade to make our father proud.
Chapter Six
9001 woke up from a
deep sleep with a sensation of hot breath on her face and a hand climbing up
her thigh. She opened her eyes and felt, rather than saw, her uncle’s huge
weight nearly on top of her. She opened her mouth to scream, but he covered her
mouth and nothing came out. She quickly locked her thighs tightly. Feeling the
thumb pointing up and the knuckles pressing into her right thigh, she rolled
onto her left side. At the same time she brought down her right hand and found
his elbow, so she pressed down hard to hyperextend it.
The combination of
pressures and forces rolled him off her and disabled his arm. She reached with
her left arm to control the wrist and then pulled herself up on her knees to
lean on the outside of his shoulder joint.
She said: I will break
your arm before you attack me.
2639 laughed, then
said: I relent. I relent.
9001 suddenly felt the
shock of the adrenaline aftereffects. She was panting hard and shaking
violently. She relaxed her grip and scooted back away from him. He looked over
his shoulder in the darkness of the hut, and she could see his shiny teeth and
smell his foul breath.
He said: Sleep well.
If you say anything about this, I will cut you up and put you into the
bloomeries to forge the metals with blood.
She did not sleep well
the rest of the time they stayed with him.
They waited at his hut for several days and nights while 2639 finished
sharpening and laminating the blade. 9001 stayed far away from her uncle the
whole time and slept only fitfully, on the other side of her father’s mat close
to the wall. She kept her training blade, which was fairly sharp now, close to
her side at all times. She practiced her draws and swipes with the blade every
chance she got.
She and her father
retrieved supplies as they needed them from the camels. However, 9001 could not
find her friend the spider, even though she took some time to look for him
while gently pulling at the _khana_ and leather wrapping for their yurt. She
tried to remember the last time she had seen him moving around during the trip.
After four days, as
was the custom, the guests bade farewell and 2711 left with his new blade. It
was a much better looking blade than his original one forged a decade earlier.
It takes ten or more years to become an expert at a trade, and his brother had
obviously been practicing during the intervening years.
The travelled for a
few more days toward the city walls and stopped within sight of them. 2711
said: we must leave the camels with someone to take care of them. We must
travel as lightly as possible into the city to perform the ritual.
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