The silence in the clearing was almost total, broken only by the warriors' heavy breathing and the soft crackling of the wrought iron bar cooling in the sand.
The Earth People stared at the dull metal bar. They had invested a whole day of back-breaking labor (labour), patience, and faith in a process they didn't understand, just to produce that single piece of metal.
They were amazed, yes, but also on the verge of exhaustion.
Kael was the first to break the spell. He wiped the sweat and soot from his face. "A bar," he said, his voice hoarse. "It's strong. We saw that. But a bar doesn't kill a Krookodile. It doesn't cut flesh."
Iris nodded, voicing everyone's pragmatic thought. "All that work, Seiko... For a bar?"
Seiko looked at their faces. He saw the doubt struggling against the awe. They had reached the end of the lesson, but they hadn't seen the reward yet.
"No," said Seiko. "You didn't work for a bar. You worked for this."
He turned toward his forge, the one roaring with the white flame of the charcoal. "The clay furnace gave us the raw iron. The forge gives us the weapon."
Using his tongs, he lifted the bar, which was still a dark red, and plunged it into the white heart of the forge.
"The process isn't finished," he said. "The sponge iron is strong, but it is still dirty. It is full of slag that the hammer couldn't get out. It has to be cleaned."
"Cleaned? How?" asked Tyla, who had stepped closer, unable to look away.
"By folding it," said Seiko. "Fire softens, the hammer cleans."
He waited, watching the metal. In the charcoal fire, the bar heated up at an astonishing speed. In less than two minutes, it was glowing a yellowish-orange, almost white.
He pulled it out and placed it on the stone anvil.
"Acies," he ordered.
The Pawniard, who had been watching everything with intense focus, jumped up. He latched onto the tongs with his small but strong claws, stabilizing the bar on the anvil, keeping it flat. It was a job a human assistant couldn't have done without getting burned.
Seiko raised his iron hammer. "Watch closely."
'CLANG!'
He struck the metal, not with the brute force he had used on the sponge, but with rhythmic, precise blows.
'CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!'
The metal flattened, stretching out like clay. The Earth People watched as it changed shape under the blows. Then, Seiko used the edge of the hammer to mark a line in the center (centre).
"What are you doing?" murmured Rorin.
"Folding it."
Using his tongs, Seiko bent the metal over onto itself, as if closing a book.
"You broke your own bar!" shouted Kael.
"No," said Seiko. "I am strengthening it."
He put the folded metal back into the forge. The fire roared, heating the two layers until they glowed. He pulled the bar out and sprinkled it with a little sand, which acted as flux.
"The fire joins them," he explained. "And the hammer seals them."
He placed it back on the anvil. Acies readjusted his grip.
'CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!'
The blows were heavier now, welding the two layers into a single piece. Sparks flew, carrying more impurities with them.
He repeated the process. Heat. Flatten. Fold. Heat. Seal.
Again and again.
The Earth People watched in silence. They were no longer a skeptical audience; they were students. They saw how the metal became denser, more uniform with every fold. They were witnessing, unknowingly, the creation of laminated steel.
Kael, in particular, watched Seiko's arms. He watched the sweat running down his face, the tireless rhythm of the hammer. It was work as exhausting as what he had done on the bellows. It was work that he, Kael, respected. It was strength, but controlled.
After the fourth time folding it, Seiko decided it was enough. The bar was now a solid block of high-quality wrought iron.
He heated it one last time, but this time, instead of flattening it, he began to shape it.
'CLANG! CLANG! CHINK! CLANG!'
The sound changed. He wasn't striking with the face of the hammer anymore, but with the pein, stretching the metal. The bar began to thin at one end, widening in the center (centre).
The shape was unmistakable.
"A point..." whispered Tyla. "A spearhead."
Seiko worked with feverish concentration. His engineering memories mixed with the blacksmith's instinct. He drew out a socket, the hollow part where the wooden shaft would fit. He flattened the edges, giving them a provisional edge.
Finally, after an hour of continuous forging, he stepped back. The shape was complete. It glowed a dull cherry red on the anvil.
"It is... beautiful," said Iris.
It was anything but beautiful. It was brutal, thick, and marked by the hammer. It didn't have the polished shine of obsidian. It was a piece of dark gray metal, but it radiated a sense of purpose.
"It's not finished yet," said Seiko, breathing hard. "Iron is strong. But it needs to be hard. Fire gives it shape. Water gives it its soul."
He lifted the incandescent spearhead with his tongs. All eyes were fixed on him.
"This is the last step of the pact," he said. "The baptism."
And with a quick movement, he plunged the red-hot metal into the barrel of water he used to cool his forge.
There was a violent, explosive hiss. 'TSSSSSSSHHHHH!'
A huge cloud of steam burst out, enveloping Seiko and the forge, making everyone step back. The sound was like a beast screaming.
When the steam cleared, Seiko pulled the spearhead out of the water.
It was now matte black. Inert.
Seiko dropped it onto a stone to cool. The metal hit the rock with a sharp, clear CLINK, a sound completely different from the dull thud of obsidian.
"Now," said Seiko, "It is finished."
No one moved. The silence was heavy with anticipation.
Kael stepped up first. He looked at the spearhead. Then, he pulled out his own spear, the one with a freshly carved obsidian tip. He tapped it against the same stone.
'Thud'.
"It is... different," he said.
Seiko waited for the iron tip to cool enough to touch. He picked it up. It was heavy, solid. He went to his pile of tools and took out a whetstone. With quick, expert movements, he ran the stone along the edges.
A silver glint appeared on the edge.
"The test," said Iris.
Kael planted his obsidian spear in the ground. "Test this."
Seiko shook his head. He held the new spearhead in his hand. He walked toward the largest piece of the Alpha Krookodile armor (armour), the skull plate, which had resisted their obsidian spears.
"This," he said, "Is the test."
The Earth People held their breath.
Seiko raised the spearhead and, with a grunt, struck it hard against the armor (armour) plate.
'SKREEEEE-CHUNK!'
There was a tearing sound of metal against armored bone.
Seiko pulled the spear back. The iron tip was intact, its shiny edge barely nicked.
On the Krookodile armor (armour), there was a deep white notch, a wound that no obsidian spear had ever been able to make.
Kael dropped his own spear. The sound of the obsidian hitting the dirt was deafening in the silence.
"It breaks the stone," said Kael, his voice barely a whisper.
"It cuts the armor (armour)," said Tyla.
"It lasts forever," said Iris. She approached Seiko, her face a mask of awe and calculation. "Seiko... How many can you make?"
Seiko looked at the raw iron bar still left from the smelt. They had barely used a quarter of it.
"With more charcoal and more ore," said Seiko, "I can arm every warrior you have. I can make skinning knives that don't chip. I can make axes that fell trees in minutes, not hours."
He looked at Kael, then at Tyla, and finally at Iris. They were exhausted, covered in sweat and grime, but their eyes shone with a new light. It wasn't just awe. It was hunger. Hunger for more.
Seiko raised the first true iron spearhead. The edge of the pact.
He didn't offer it to Kael, the strongest warrior. He didn't keep it for himself.
He held it out, palm open, toward Iris.
"The first fruit of the pact," said Seiko, "Is for the leader of the People. To protect it."
Iris stared at him, understanding the enormity of the gesture. It wasn't just a weapon. It was a symbol of power. A power he was granting to her, binding his authority to hers.
Slowly, Iris reached out and took the spearhead. It was heavy in her hand. Real.
She tightened her fingers around the cold black metal.
"The Earth People," she said, her voice resonating with a new authority, "Accept this pact. And accept... you, Seiko."
[N/A: On Patreon we're currently ten chapters ahead. This is the schedule I'll be using: since my time zone is GMT-3, I'll be posting two chapters a day and updating two chapters on both Patreon and Webnovel. Patreon will still have the advantage of getting two 'early' chapters per day. Let me know what you think]