Rise of the Living Forge - Chapters 535-536

After everyone realized that Koyu well and truly had gone straight through Eleven’s portal, Art and Arwin’s teams filled everyone in on the details of what had gone down on their respective jobs.

Aside from Rodrick’s surprise appearance and the potential of splits in the Dwarven Council, everything had pretty much gone exactly to plan. There wasn’t much that could be done about the armored dwarves that had dealt with the Blacktongues.

Ironically enough, their presence might have actually been useful. Haley’s own words had made it clear that the representatives of the Council would be wearing armor like hers. Since the ones that had killed the Blacktongues’ mercenaries had been in different equipment, the Menagerie technically hadn’t tricked the entire Dwarven Council into doing their dirty work. They’d only tricked one of the councilmember’s soldiers.

Rodrick resolved to have his network look into it. Something told them that there would be nearly no trace of the dwarves, but it didn’t hurt to see what they could dig up just in case. There was little else that could be done at the moment.

And, with that, everyone retired to their own tasks and rest for the remainder of the day. It had been a long one. With two weeks left to prepare for the Auction, the most important thing for just about all of them was recovering and making sure they were in shape for what laid ahead.

The rest of the day passed easily. Arwin, for once, stayed out of the Infernal Armory. He just spent the rest of the time relaxing in the inn with the rest of the Menagerie until Lillia finished up in the kitchen for the day.

Just about everybody went to bed early that night. For once, they didn’t have anything burning on their plates — and every single one of them took advantage of it.

But, as it always did, the sun rose early the following morning. And with the new day came work. That, of course, came after an entirely avoidable few hour delay between waking up and actually getting out of bed. It wasn’t often that they had much time to themselves. When they did, they would have been stupid not to take it.

The day only truly started once they actually made their way out of Lillia’s room. When they did, Arwin headed straight for the Infernal Armory. He felt more refreshed than he had in quite some time.

Ideas bubbled in his head like suspicious liquid in Esmerelda’s cauldron. There were a dozen things he wanted to get started on. The Auction House needed to be upgraded with the Dungeon Heart. Vix needed a heart herself, and he still owed Koyu a body. That wasn’t even to mention all the armor he had to make for the Menagerie.

Koyu’s body could wait a bit longer. After all, he was getting Sunsetted. Who knew what changes that would result in. Dealing with the Auction House and Vix’s heart were the most pressing matters at the moment.

I should do Vix later. She’s not in immediate danger and the more practice I have working with complex projects, the less likely I make a mistake. Her heart is the one project I literally have zero room to mess up in.

Arwin nodded to himself. Vix’s heart would be a long-running project. Some preparations could be started for it soon, but waiting until they got some good materials from the auction and taking his time with every step to ensure everything was literally perfect was the only option he could accept.

That meant the Dungeon Heart adaptations for the Auction House would be the next task at hand. Ironically enough, that was the easiest of the tasks on Arwin’s plate. There had been a time when awakening a building with the Heart had been the most difficult project he’d ever worked on.

Now, he was pretty sure that even making armor for the other members of the Menagerie would be more difficult. Between himself and the Infernal Armory, the task would be nearly trivial. But that didn’t make it any less important.

Arwin got started at once. The initial preparations took little time. They already had all the materials he needed to begin making the components — and that was where the first small difference would arise.

Unlike the Devil’s Den and the Infernal Armory, the Auction House was an unconnected building. The Den had been Lillia’s well before it had awakened, and Arwin had formed a deep connection to every brick within the Armory.

But the Auction House was new. Madiv had never been an auctioneer. For that matter, he was a terrible salesman. That might have been something worth thinking about a little more before giving him control of the Auction House… but Arwin was sure the vampire would figure something out if it meant not disappointing Lillia.

Still, he’s got no connection to the building. I’ll probably need to get some hair to make sure they’re bound together properly.

That was a surprisingly simple matter. While Madiv himself was off somewhere — possibly hiding from Arwin — Esmerelda was easy enough to find. And for some reason, she was in possession of some of Madiv’s hair.

Esmerelda didn’t offer up an explanation as to why. Arwin didn’t ask. A part of him did wonder why half the women in the Menagerie had people’s hair. The other part didn’t want the answer.

He was in and out of her suspicious shack of a store within minutes. Arwin wasted no time at all in returning to the Infernal Armory and getting to work. The materials he needed were all already there. Aside from the Dungeon Heart itself, everything else was quite basic.

There wasn’t even any need to find Wallace. Arwin and the Infernal Armory were more than enough. That said, there were still a few improvements that Arwin could make over the previous times he’d awakened a building.

He spent several minutes feeling the desires of the gathered materials to pick out the best ones. Once he’d selected all the components and set both the Heart and Madiv’s dubiously acquired hair to the side, black tendrils coiled out from the walls of the armory.

Arwin cracked his neck. Then he summoned Caldera to his hands. A flicker of approving emotion and excitement rolled through his mind from the hammer. He let out a slow breath and narrowed his eyes.

Just because this is a simple project doesn’t mean I can take it easy or half-ass it. We’ve only got one Dungeon Heart. I’m not going to waste it… and there’s no point doing a project if I don’t try my absolute hardest on it.

Arwin reached down into his soul. An ocean of molten black magma waited for him within it. He drew on the magic, letting it well up within him. The air around Arwin warped with heat. Black lava bubbled through the furrows running throughout the floor of the Infernal Armory.

The Infernal Armory’s tendrils slammed into place. They drove into Arwin’s back and connected to Caldera, linking them with the smithy. Power welled within Arwin as the heat in the air around him continued to rise past sweltering.

Even a volcano might have been given a strong run for its money if it had been put up against him. The corners of Arwin’s mouth twitched into a smile. He scooped a thick handful of Soul Magma up.

It was too bad Wallace wasn’t here right now. There was no need for him to chew the lava anymore, but the look on the grumpy dwarf’s face was usually more than enough for him to keep the tradition up.

I suppose we’re doing things the direct way this time, huh? You ready?

“I am always prepared,” the Armory replied. “My purpose is to create. Adding another building to our street is wise. We must continue to expand.”

“You’ve been talking with Madiv too much,” Arwin said with a chuckle. “I’m surprised you’re not more concerned about someone competing with you for attention from the Devil’s Den.”

“Stealing?” the Armory asked, an affronted note entering its voice. “Are you so blind as to not realize what I am? Do you truly think another building could ever possibly hold a candle to the flame that burns within me? I am the Infernal Armory.”

“Confidence is good,” Arwin said. “Honestly, I’m proud. I fully expected you to—”

“Just don’t make the Auction House a body,” the armory said.

Arwin sighed. “There it is. I’m not going to promise that. If the building becomes conscious, then I’m going to treat it the same way I treat all of them.”

“I am your favorite,” the Infernal Armory said. “I should get special privileges. I am your favorite, right?”

Arwin snorted. “Yes. You are, despite your continued attempts to be vaguely suspicious at best or evil at worst.”

“I am not evil. I am just better,” the Armory said. “Now are we going to make this building or not? Because you could always feed me that Dungeon Heart. I wouldn’t say no. It would be a good investment.”

“I’m not doing that and you know it,” Arwin said with a laugh. “Maybe with the next one we get.”

The Infernal Armory harrumphed. Red mist coiled past Arwin as a faint wind brushed past him. “Miser.”

“You’re just greedy.” Arwin grabbed a piece of Brightsteel and plunged it into the molten depths of the bubbling black lava to purge of its impurities. “Alright. Enough messing around. Let’s do this.”

Chapter 536

Thane scratched his chin with the back of his quill. The words on the parchment in front of him were starting to swim. He rubbed his eyes and shifted his position as he dug through his mind for thoughts that wouldn’t come. A yawn forced its way out from between his lips.

Reluctantly, Thane pushed himself up from where he laid on the floor of his room. Papers were strewn about him, spiraling out like the petals of some very odd flower. Ink stained his wrist and fingers, and he was sore in more than a few places.

I really need to find a better position to work.

Habit was hard to break. It wasn’t his fault that the floor was considerably more comfortable than sitting at a desk. But that didn’t change the fact that he was going to get the body of an old man by age twenty-five at this rate.

He stretched his arms over his head, then picked up the sheet he’d been working on and blew on the ink to dry it. It would have been a huge shame if all the time he’d just spent inking his thoughts onto it was wasted by a smear.

It should be just about dry. But better to be safe than sorry. This will be instrumental. For… well, something. I’m not sure what yet. But knowledge is always useful.

Thane started to gather up the papers that had properly dried. He checked each one of them to ensure there was no wet ink left before stacking them together in order, moving carefully through the room to avoid stepping on any of his work.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been up here. It had probably been the better part of the day. Time tended to slip away while he was working. But it wasn’t like there was much else to do right now.

The rest of the Menagerie were hard at work. Everyone was preparing for the upcoming opening of the Auction House. They were either training or gathering materials or doing whatever it was that Madiv did.  

All of them but Thane.

It wasn’t that they excluded him. Reya and Olive sparred with him and showed him fighting techniques. Esmerelda normally had one task or another she was happy to pass along to him. But, for some reason, she’d temporarily banned him from her store. She had refused to say why and Thane knew better than to press too hard.

Esmerelda never did anything without a reason.

But that did mean that he didn’t have much at all to do. And while he was more than happy to spend all day researching just about anything he could think of, there were some that didn’t quite appreciate the activity as much as he—

“Gods above, below, and everywhere else,” Vireth’s voice echoed through Thane’s mind. The sword at his side had shifted so its handle brushed his side, letting her voice into his thoughts. “Please. Do something. Anything. I’m begging you. I’m so bored.”

“There’s nothing boring about research,” Thane protested. “It’s a noble pursuit. And it’s fun. You get to learn things about things.”

“Learn things about things,” Vireth repeated. “Can you hear yourself? Are you certain you aren’t some manner of devil?”

“Can a devil bond to another devil?” Thane tilted his head to the side. That was an interesting thought. Perhaps they could chain together in a giant ladder of bonded devils. The idea of a devil wielding a devil wielding a devil was a pretty amusing—

“Stop!” Vireth begged. “No! It’s not possible!”

“How do you know?” Thane asked. He gathered up the rest of his papers and stacked them into a thick volume. “Have you tested it?”

“You’re going to kill me,” Vireth said. “No. I’m going to kill myself. What is wrong with you, boy? Does the light of the sun burn your skin? Go outside! Do something!”

“I am doing something,” Thane said. “And I’ve seen light. I’ve looked out the window a bunch of times. Besides, this is important.”

“I can assure you that it is not,” Vireth said. She let out a long-suffering sigh. “What was it that you were looking at this time? How long it takes to drive a devil to insanity?”

“The number of people passing through the square and the movement patterns they take on the street.”

“Wow,” Vireth said, her voice dripping with so much sarcasm that Thane could practically taste it. “That’s riveting. I’m sure that’s very important. Vital, perhaps. Do you know what else is important? Keeping your beloved weapon happy. A woman has needs, Thane. Stab someone. With me. Hell, use a different weapon. I don’t care anymore. Just stab someone.”

 “Your sarcasm isn’t going to make a difference,” Thane said with a sigh. He walked over to the window and squinted as bright sunlight bore into his eyes. A large crowd milled below the Devil’s Den and all over the street, just as it always did. “And we both know you’d be unhappy if I used a different weapon. Not that I’m going to randomly stab someone.”

“How do you care enough to notice that but not kind enough to actually go stab someone?” Vireth asked. “I’m not asking for that much.”

“Stabbing someone random is much,” Thane said idly. He examined the crowd below. Their movements looked random. But they weren’t. Not as a whole, at least.

People moved in waves. There were some that just milled about, but large groups tended to move almost in conjunction with each other. They followed streams. Some were headed for the Den, while others wanted to check out the still-closed Auction House or pay a visit to the Armory.

But there was a pattern to all of their movements. It was like the ebb and flow of the ocean—

“Thane,” Vireth said. “I have never cried in my existence. You are going to make me cry.”

“No, I don’t think I am,” Thane replied absent-mindedly. “You’re not that weak. You waited ages to bond with a wielder. And you chose me. Nobody can say you didn’t know what you were getting into. This is your fault.”

“You insufferable little shit,” Vireth said. “I like that part of you. But not when it’s directed at me. What about a monster? I’d settle for that. Don’t you need practice?

Thane continued watching out the window. His brow furrowed slightly. The flow at the edge of the street didn’t seem to align with his observations.

“I’ve gotten practice,” Thane said. He pressed his nose to the glass and frowned.

“And you think you’re a master now?” Vireth snorted. “You’re a leaf in the wind, Thane. A well placed sneeze would blow you over. You need far more—"

“That’s odd,” Thane muttered. There was a group near the edge of the crowd that stuck out like a sore thumb. Their clothes were completely average, as were their builds. They just stood there, still, when everyone else was moving. Nothing at all about them was special.

And that was what was odd. No group was that perfectly even. People were abnormal. The chances of a gathering of perfectly normal people was practically impossible.

  “You’re right,” Vireth said, excitement sparking in her voice. “But it’s not just odd. It’s dangerous. They’re all murderers. Probably plotting something. They’ve taken your wife. Kids too.”

“I don’t have a wife or kids,” Thane said, still watching the group.

“Oh,” Vireth said. “Noted. But you should go kill them anyways.”

They’re still standing there. Not even talking. Something isn’t right about that. I’m sure Rodrick or Art is keeping an eye on the street… right? I’m sure it’s nothing.

Thane’s frown deepened. Even though the group wasn’t doing anything, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Patterns didn’t get broken for no reason.

He turned from the window and started from the door.

“Yes!” Vireth crowed. “We’re going to kill them!”

“We are not,” Thane said. “I’m just quickly going to head over there and check to see if something is going on. I can’t see enough from the window. We’re not killing a bunch of people that are just standing around. They’re probably just waiting for their friend or something.”

“Right,” Vireth drawled. “And maybe you’re actually a looming giant who loathes the idea of research and loves nothing more than bashing his head against walls. Those two things are equally possible.”

“I’m not killing them. Rodrick would have dealt with them if they were a threat. This is just research.”

Vireth harrumphed. “We’ll see.”

Thane slipped down the stairs and into the main room of the Devil’s Den. It was completely packed full. People crowded around their meals, their conversations just muted enough by the magical darkness to be a muffled, meaningless roar in Thane’s ears.

Nobody else from the Menagerie was around. He probably could have gotten Lillia’s attention easily, but she was busy. That was fine. He didn’t need to bother her. This wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just a quick checkup.

He slipped out of the Devil’s Den and wove through the crowds toward the direction of the alley that he’d been watching from his window. It took Thane a minute to make his way over. He pushed free of the crowd just in time to see the odd group slipping back into the alley.

His frown deepened.

Then he strode after them, keeping his hand on Vireth’s hilt. He was mildly surprised to find that she had fallen silent. That wasn’t much like her, but he was too focused to worry about it right now.

Thane only made it two steps in before he heard a footfall behind him.  

One of the strangely plain men that he’d been watching before stepped out from the darkness in front of him. Thane didn’t have to turn to realize that there was another at his back.

“What do we have here?” the man asked. “You looking for something, boy? You were pushing through the crowd to get to us in an awful hurry.”

“There were more of you before,” Thane said quietly. “What are you doing?”

“It’s a free city,” the man said with a smile that bore no warmth. “We can stand where we want.”

“This is the Menagerie’s Street,” Thane said. “If you’re looking for something—”

“I’d say someone would be more accurate,” the man replied, his grin growing wider. “And I think we’ve found him. You’re in the Menagerie, aren’t you? Thane. I recognize you. Yes, you’ll do just fine. Luck must be smiling on us today.”

Thane’s eyes narrowed. And, in the back of his head, Vireth’s laughter bubbled up like magma forcing its way up to burst free from a slumbering volcano.

“Yes! I knew it! We’re going to kill someone!”