The afternoon was spent back at home with his father and brother. He wasn’t strong enough to work with the hammer and anvil, instead he was set to work with a metal stylus, doing the fine detailing, engraving patterns and setting in the adornments to the more intricate items.

At the moment he was working on a sword for Herdru, the town guardian, scratching into the blade and hilt a set of intricate, curling patterns along with the necessary runes and charms to ward off evil spirits.

To the frustration, but not surprise, of his father and brother, Toland was somewhat behind, and Herdru was coming by at the end of the day to pick it up.

He was perhaps rushing a little, but his hand was steady and true. Even as he jerked it about in an apparent frenzy, it never strayed from the precise curves and lines of the patterns.

He blew away a patch of fine fillings and ran his finger along the blade. It was a beautiful weapon, his father and brother had taken great care with it. Perfectly balanced and made with the finest steel available in a hundred miles. However, it was really two blades fused together, one edge was made of regular steel, the other was a silver alloy so it shimmered differently on each edge in the candlelight. Steel to fend of people and animals, silver to fend off anything unnatural.

His father had a similar weapon, a giant two headed battle axe hung above the fireplace and so did Duglan Ir Shan, the village chief, his was a sword similar to the one Toland held in his hands now, albeit a few hands shorter.

There was a knock on the front door and Toland almost dropped the sword in surprise. He carefully put it back on the table and went over to the window to see Herdru standing patiently outside.

He was in his mid thirties, tall and muscular and wearing a sword on his belt.

Toland cringed and dashed back to his workbench, picked up his stylus and frantically made every effort he could to make it at least look like he was further along than he actually was.

He heard the heavy footfalls of his father leaving the smithy, walking through their front room to the door and opening it.

Despite the wall between him and them he could hear the gruff voice of his father and the clear, almost sonorous voice of Herdru quite clearly.

“Herdru!” his father said, surprised.

“Good afternoon, Rin Ir,” Herdru replied and the men shook hands.

“Afternoon, I’m afraid if you are here about the sword it isn’t ready yet. Toland is just adding in the final touches.”

“Ah, good, I was hoping you would say that, I have something I think you should know, may I come in for a moment.”

“Of course.”

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He heard the door shut and then the sounds of two men sitting in comfortable chairs.

“You see,” Herdru began, “two night ago, Querth found prints in the woods, big ones, direwolf ones, and then this morning he swears he saw it from the top of Simbook hill, lurking just inside the treeline. So I went to Ir Veiga and she consulted the spirits.”

There was a pause.

“What’s this?” asked Toland’s father.

“Il Veiga says it’s a special set of runes for warding off direbeasts, I was hoping you could add them to both the sword you were making and perhaps a shield.”

“Hmmm, these are mighty complex… but I don’t think there is anything here Toland can’t handle.”

The men stood up and the door to the room Toland was in opened.

Toland realized he had lapsed into idleness listening and quickly picked up his stylus.

“Toland,” Rin began.

“Yes!” Toland almost shouted and his father raised an eyebrow, “Yes?”

“You heard all that then?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I guess that saves some time.”

The blacksmith then turned back to the main room and shouted across the house, “FEL! Herdru wants a shield as well! A big one!”

“Alright!” Fell shouted back.

“You don’t look very surprised…” Herdru said to Toland.

“Well… Um… I found out from Kinic this morning.”

Herdru rolled his eyes and then handed him a piece of crude parchment with an intricate design on it, filled with runes and patterns that Toland had never seen before.

“Do you think you could add these to the sword?”

Toland looked at the large empty spaces on the sword blade he hadn’t done yet.

“Sure, but, I’ve already started doing the other parts, I would have to put it all on this side of the blade so it won’t be pretty.”

“That’s fine, it doesn’t have to look great, as long as its all on there.”

“Yeah, I can do that. It won’t be ready by the end of the day though…”

Herdru shrugged, “As long as its done before the wolf makes its way into town and tries to eat us all.”

Toland looked down at the sword and then back up at Herdru in horror.

Herdru laughed, “Just do your best, its fine, its still just a wolf, it won’t come near fires. Worse case scenario is we lose a few sheep.”

Toland swallowed nervously but nodded.

“Dad?” came a shout from the front room.

“In here!” Rin shouted back.

Fel opened the door to the workshop holding a few planks of wood and some iron bands.

“Is this the sort of size you are looking for?” Fel asked.

Rin looked over at Herdru who nodded.

“And we are going to need to set a circular plate in the centre for some extra runes, but I’ll do that, you get started on cutting the wood to shape.”

Fel nodded.

“Well then, Herdru, if that is all, we’ll get to work.”

“Thank you for this, Rin Ir, I’m sorry to make such a demanding request.”

“It is perfectly fine, don’t worry Herdru, we like mutton on our plates and we’re willing to help keep it there, don’t you worry.”

Herdru gave a wry smile and with a nod, Rin showed him out.

Toland sighed, gave the intricate drawing another look and set to work.

“Can you do it alright, kid?” Rin asked, walking back into the room.

“Seems fine.”

“Good lad. If you need some help give us a shout.”

“Thanks.”

“And don’t you worry, nothing in this world is going to harm you while you’re under this roof.”

And with that, Rin left to start work on the shield.