Forged in Fire

by J. A. Pitts

  Did Nidhogg know the renegade dragons were on the move? Beauhall needed this information. He needed to contact her, warn her. How ironic that she would be the one he relied on, after everything.

  He paced the room, impotent and fuming.

  But no. He would not call just yet. No need to succumb to panic. If Nidhogg did not quite understand what transpired in her own kingdom, he just may have an opportunity to turn this to his advantage.

  If he could best this little band of malcontents, the great bitch would be in his debt. She could not very well dismiss him if it were he who preserved her kingdom.

  He sat again, pulling pen and paper before him. Allies needed to be contacted. Sanctuaries needed to be insured. And as a last resort, he would call the most sacred of troops to his aid. But the cost there would be dire indeed.

  His cell phone rang several times before the voice on the other end answered. “Mount Angel Abbey. How may I help you?”

  Yes, a wise ruler ensured his people’s well-being. Even at the cost of his own. “I need to get a message to Father Ignacio.”

  “I’m very sorry,” the young novice squeaked into the phone. “We have no Father Ignacio.”

  “My pardon,” Frederick said, the full weight of this action bearing heavily upon him. “Perhaps you could inquire with the abbot. Inform him of an inquiry for Father Ignacio. He may know how to reach him.”

  He mumbled the formalities for ending the call. His mind had nearly frozen with the implications of what he’d just set into motion. It may cost him more than he was ready to pay. But his people would be preserved, no matter what Nidhogg did within her own borders.

  Forty-four

  I drove the truck out to Nidhogg’s place so I could install the frame for the gate. I had it nearly done and wanted to make sure the supports were in place before I brought out the gate itself. It was heavy, heavier than I thought it would be, and the support structure had to be strong enough to handle the weight. Anezka had experience with it, though, and helped me work it out.

  The whole time I worked, Jai Li watched me. How she’d escaped Nidhogg’s side, I didn’t know, but it was cute. Whenever I looked directly at her, she would scamper away, but when I got back inside from carrying in a piece or bent to choose another tool, she would be back, watching me with huge eyes.

  I tried talking to her, but if I looked at her she’d vanish. So, after a few attempts, I just talked to the air around me. Nothing too specific, just about the way the gate was going together or the color of the sky today. She didn’t flee if I just talked, so I kept up a running monologue.

  Once, when I bent to pick up a mallet to tamp down a cotter pin, I noticed several of the other house children were hanging around, listening to me talk. I smiled, pleased. They were so earnest, so enraptured by the things I said, or maybe just my voice.

  “As I drove over the bridge, heading home the other night, Mt. Rainier was so clear, it looked like I could reach out and touch it.”

  It didn’t matter what I said. They hung on every word.

  The frame had to be self-supporting, since I didn’t have architectural guidance to attach to the house’s internal structure. I’d anchor the frame to the beams of the house, but the weight of the gate would be managed by the frame alone.

  Once I had the frame installed, I packed up my tools. I was reaching for a hammer when Jai Li crept over and picked it up. I pretended not to notice and gathered the other bits of detritus. It was a small thing, three pounds at most, but allowed me to move things without marring them.

  I stood, admiring the installation, hands on hips, head back. It was good. It felt good. I looked down at a tug on my jeans. Jai Li was standing there, holding the hammer out to me, grinning. I took the hammer with one hand and patted her on the head with the other. “Thank you, Jai Li.”

  Her eyes got as big as saucers for a moment; then she turned and fled through the crowd of children. The looks on their faces made my stomach ache. They craved that touch, that smile, that familiar acknowledgment.

  I walked among them, placing my hand on their heads, like a priest answering his supplicants. As I passed through them, touching each one, I noticed Nidhogg standing with her cane by the library. She had a smile on her face that was at once tender and terrifying.

  As the last child scampered away, I approached her, careful to bow properly. “How are you today?” I asked her.

  She studied me, turning her head this way and that. So birdlike in her demeanor. “You do them no service,” she said, finally. “I do not need a passel of simpering snotlings. They are raised to serve me. It is not their needs that are paramount here.”

  I was horrified. They were children. They needed nurturing. How else were they to be productive, happy? Nidhogg believed otherwise. The predatory look was back on her face, and the moment of joy died in my chest. They had no hope of being happy. Their lot was to serve and serve willingly or pay the consequences.

  The reality of the situation came crashing back home to me. While she found me entertaining and seemed to enjoy my company, I was more like a favored pet. I was nothing to her, just as these children were less than nothing.

  “Come,” she said, turning to the open door. “I would discuss Frederick Sawyer and his business in my domain.”

  I explained the news as I understood it. The news of the necromancer disturbed her, as did the murder of her citizens.

  “And you say this necromancer was a protégé of Jean-Paul?”

  “Yes, I believe so. And you may be familiar with a group calling itselves the Dragon Liberation Front? I believe they are working together.”

  “Reavers,” she spat. “Qindra and I spoke of this. She had made moves to see to this group. The mead they promised would have helped my cause in the council the next time we met.”

  “Council?”

  She eyed me warily. “You are not so much a trusted servant as a convenient substitute. I will not entrust all of my business to you yet. In time, perhaps, if you have atoned for your sin against my flesh and proven your worth, I will trust you further. For now, be contented I have not destroyed everything you hold dear in vengeance for my loss.”

  Bitch. What the hell was going on with her? The last time we met, she was like a grandmother, sharing memories and giving me cookies. Today, it was threats and innuendo.

  “If I have offended you,” I said, bowing my head, “I ask your forgiveness.”

  She grunted, tapping the ground with her cane. “You are wasting my time. Is there further news?”

  “No,” I said, standing. And I walked away.

  “I have not dismissed you,” she raged at me. “Come back here.”

  I kept walking, thinking how much I wished I had Gram with me at that moment. She did not follow me, nor did she change. When I reached the door, I turned and pulled it closed. I had one last glimpse of her leaning against her cane, her anger a frothing aura surrounding her.

  Forty-five

  The traffic on the 520 bridge was so backed up, I turned off on Montlake and drove over to the University Village. I needed something to drink. Instead of alcohol, which was my first choice, I opted for a cherry cola from Johnny Rockets. I walked over to the covered courtyard and sat, shocked at what had gone down. No wonder the whole household was constantly on edge. She was out of her damn mind. And how in the hell had I just walked out of there. Total disrespect on my part. It’s a miracle she didn’t kill me for pissing her off.

  I pulled out my cell phone and called my old Tae Kwon Do school. I needed to take an action on the home front, in case something drastic happened. I was also carrying Gram with me from now on. This was too much.

  A pleasant young woman answered the phone. I think it was the same one who answered the last time I called.

  “Family Martial Arts,” she said, sweetly. “How may I help you?”

  I got the mailing address and almost hung up then, but I had to know, had to ask. “I’m wondering if Megan Beauhall is training to
day?”

  “Oh, Megan. Sure. She’s on the floor now, taking the kids through a warm-up. Can I take a message?”

  She was an instructor. How great was that? “When does she get done?” I asked. “This is a friend of hers.”

  “Not until seven. Would you like to speak with Sa Bum Nim Choi?”

  Oh, wow. That was not on the agenda. My mind did a couple of flips: don’t do it, do it—couldn’t have been more than a second or two to go through a million iterations. Finally, I decided to do the thing that scared me the most. “Sure, that would be excellent.”

  I waited a minute, imbibing a cherry sugar rush. The adrenaline was beginning to crash, and I thought I might start shaking.

  “This is Sa Bum Nim Choi. How may I help you?”

  I froze. This was one of the most influential women in my life. I’d walked out of her dojang almost ten years ago and had never as much as set foot in the place since.

  “Hello?” she said. “Is anybody there?”

  I cleared my throat. “Sa Bum Nim. This is Sarah Beauhall. Can we talk?”

  “Sarah?” she asked, more surprised than I’d ever heard her. “Is there a problem?”

  I let my head fall into my right hand. “No, ma’am. I just need to talk.”

  She covered the phone and spoke to the girl behind the desk. “Have Megan take them through their forms when they are done with warm-ups,” she said. “I need to take this call.”

  I heard her walking across the tiled floor by the front door, then heard the bell tinkle as she went outside. There was a place between her school and the BBQ joint next door where you could stand out of the rain and talk on the phone while still seeing the training floor through the windows. Da used to stand there sometimes, when I was testing and the dojang was too crowded.

  “Sarah, what is going on?”

  Of all the grown-ups I knew, she was the first beyond my parents that I ever trusted. She taught me dignity and respect—let me see myself as a viable human being with valued opinions and a valid purpose.

  “It’s Megan,” I said. “I’m worried about her.”

  We talked for thirty minutes. Most of the class. Twice the girl at the desk came out and asked for further instructions, but Megan kept the class together.

  In the end, she agreed to keep an eye on Megan. She didn’t think there were drugs involved, but there was some bad blood with a few boys at school. And things at home were not ideal. Again, a huge amount of it came down to hero worship of me, she said. There were pictures of me at the school—board-breaking seminars, sparring tournaments. I’d loved the whole art, and Megan was better than I was.

  “She’s competing with you,” Sa Bum Nim said. “Even though you have been gone so long, she’s haunted by your ghost.”

  “I know, I’m sorry. But I’ve got problems of my own to deal with.” I know it sounded weak, but I did. I needed to figure this shit out before I thought about taking my crazy life back to them.

  “You are welcome here at any time, Sarah. I told you that the day you left, and it has not changed. Come visit us. Watch her on the floor. She’s quite the young woman.”

  “I miss her, you know.” Okay, now I missed her. I’d put her out of my mind as part of the leaving home thing. I knew that now. Totally unfair to her, above all else.

  “I should go teach some of this class, to be fair to the paying students,” she said.

  “Of course. Thanks. I’ll be in touch.”

  I sat and finished my drink, feeling like a teenager all over again. That woman scared the hell out of me with her intensity. I thought she could give Nidhogg a run for her money.

  Forty-six

  By the time I got home, I’d played the conversation over in my head a hundred times. My life was fairly chaotic. Sa Bum Nim Choi’s best advice had always been to quiet my mind. Work in the now. It reminded me of some of the things Skella’s grandmother, Unun, had said when I was in Vancouver.

  I downloaded a podcast on meditation and sat listening to it while Katie graded papers. I needed to learn how to go walkabout without all the ceremony or the herbal enhancement.

  I thought about how it felt when I was walkabout. Especially the way it felt when I moved in the astral state. If I could find that place, maybe I could use that as a guidepost. Unfortunately, all I had thirty minutes later was a throbbing headache. I’d just decided to bag it for the evening when I felt a stutter. The thread that was anchored deep inside me came into focus, catching me off guard. I reached for it, hoping to catch it while I could see it. It was like picking up a dropped stitch when knitting. I almost had it when Katie called to me from the living room.

  I dropped the line with a resigned sigh and opened my eyes. Things were not exactly normal. The room around me glowed with a fuzzy tinge, and my eyes buzzed slightly. It was like when I was holding Gram—colors were brighter and the connection between things was more obvious.

  Katie walked into the room, and it was like a unicorn exploded. Rainbow colors danced all around her. Much stronger than the night I’d seen her while on walkabout. I squinted, she was so bright.

  “You okay?” she asked, kissing me on the nose.

  “Yeah,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut. It was overwhelming. The kaleidoscope of colors made me nauseous. “Just a little queasy.”

  “Keep up the good work,” she said, laughing. “I’m gonna take a shower.”

  After she left I opened my eyes a crack. The world was just as vivid. Katie just wasn’t there blowing the bell curve. I wondered if she glowed so brightly because I loved her or if there was something special about her beyond the general awesomeness.

  I got up and walked around. The apartment looked mostly the same as last time, only with an overlay of muted colors. I wasn’t sure if it was because it was daylight or if it was because I wasn’t using the tea. I’m not saying it looked like the inside of a cotton candy machine or anything, but the apartment was a lot more cheerful.

  I ducked my head into the bedroom. I’d avoided going in there since the incident with Gletts and the eaters. I could see the doorway behind the bed frame, but I wasn’t willing to get too close. I was still in my body, but I was not risking getting sucked into the sideways.

  After a couple minutes, though, the headache blossomed to the point I could barely stand. I made my way to the kitchen and downed a couple of aspirin and a tall glass of water. Then I stumbled to the living room, crawled into bed, and passed out.

  Forty-seven

  I needed to get the gate installed at Nidhogg’s place, but after the incident the day before, I was hesitant to go back out there. I’d walked out on her, and she was not someone to piss off. Screwing up my courage, I called Nidhogg’s place. Better to scout the territory ahead of time. Zi Xui answered and seemed reasonably happy to hear from me.

  “It is good you called,” she told me. “The mistress gave orders that she is not to be disturbed, but that you are free to visit the house. She wishes you to finish installing the gate.” She paused. “She has also given you free use of the library.”

  Wow. That was generous. “She’s not upset?”

  “Oh, she was in a state all through the afternoon, but when she saw the children later in the day, they were happy and laughing for the first time since Qindra left. I believe that was what lightened her mood. She is an old woman, with tendencies to see the blackest parts of life. I think your presence is forcing her to see differently.”

  I was shocked. If anything, I thought she’d have some form of punishment for me, even if it didn’t include being burned alive, or eaten, mangled, or generally mutilated. I felt suddenly lighthearted myself.

  “I will need to arrange for a couple of folks to come with me to install the gate. It weighs more than I can handle by myself. Will that be a problem?”

  “I will inform security. Please make sure they understand to be polite and try to keep the noise to a minimum? Loud noises upset the mistress.”

  We wrapped up, and I called B
lack Briar. I’d need a couple strong backs and a rolling hoist to get the gate from the smithy to the house in Seattle.

  I called a construction rental place, arranged to pick up the hoist in a few hours, and got dressed.

  Three hours later, Robbie, Dave, and I had wrestled the gate through the huge front door of Nidhogg’s estate. The children of the house kept mostly out of sight, but I could feel them watching. Even the adults managed to breeze by a few times as we maneuvered the huge load into the house. Luckily, the hoist was powered, so we drove it, very slowly, into the house.

  It took us another two hours to get it into position and aligned with the frame. Anezka was a genius, though. She’d badgered me about accurate measurements and wouldn’t let me be satisfied with less than impeccable precision. I knew I would’ve totally botched it on my own. Too impatient. Every moment of grief and frustration I’d had working with her—measuring again and again, tamping, heating, and in some cases grinding—had paid off.

  When the gate slid home for that first time I did a little dance. Rob and Dave joined me, grinning like fools. I held a finger to my lips and they nodded. Dave gave me a thumbs-up and Robbie hugged me.

  I escorted them out of the house. “Steaks on me,” I told them as they loaded up.

  “You’re on,” Rob said.

  I watched them drive off before going back inside to clean up. I got the hoist back into my truck by myself. It was like a really big remote control toy.

  When I had everything put away and the entry way cleaned up, I stood in front of the gate—the two keys clenched in my fist—and let the satisfaction of a job well done swim over me.

  I slipped the keys in my pocket and turned to find Jai Li standing there holding two braided leather cords. She handed them to me, and I threaded the twisted leather through the keys. I took the first and put it over my neck, slipping the key into my bra. I didn’t want it to knock against the amulet. That trinket had come at too high a cost, transferring its allegiance from Anezka to me before her house fell into ruin. I held the bauble a moment, thinking of Bub and how he’d come to my service at the same time.