Luminous: The Forge (Chap 2.1)

Rewriting my old fantasy story, Luminous, with a new plot and characters. Please feel free to tear this apart, I'd appreciate any feedback, comments, suggestions, or even predictions for the story that you have!

I've also decided to post in 2,000 word chunks instead of whole chapters, as I feel that it would be easier for reviewers.

Brief recap of previous chapters for new readers: Ryn and her younger sister Kaisa lived in a small farming village in the wartorn kingdom of Elyssia. However, when they were ten and eight years old, an enemy army passed through and the village was destroyed, separating Ryn and Kaisa from their parents in the chaos.

Luminous

Chapter 2.1 - The Forge

Seven Years Later

No matter the weather, the city of Lorandyr was always bustling by noon. The wide paved streets of the market district and the narrow alleys of the lower quarter alike were choked each day from early morning to sunset with people and carriages, and that day was no different.

Hawkers shouted their wares from the shade of sun-bleached awnings, vying for the attention of passersby. Foreign merchants, travelers, and dark-haired, olive-skinned Elyssians filled every street, chattering in several different languages. Necklaces glittered and clinked in the bright sunlight through the window of a jeweler’s shop, and the smell of fresh-baked bread mingled with the faint odor of sewage.

In the lower quarter, ships creaked and groaned at the boathouses and docks along the Myredi river and midday hymns drifted from the open doors of the city’s Sanctuary, sounds as constant as the sun’s rising. Lorandyr, one of the kingdom’s largest port cities, had a kind of energy and chaos that was so starkly different from the sleepy pastoral village Ryn had left behind seven years ago.

But she no longer thought of that time.

Her new home was the Forge, a compound of squat stone buildings that sat in the middle of the market district’s bustle. The smiths’ quarters, privy, courtyard, and main building - which included the scullery, dining hall, and furnace room - were all circled by a wall and an iron gate that was locked with a heavy padlock each night. During the daytime, clouds of black smoke billowed from the smithy’s smokestacks and everything, even the front courtyard, smelled of it.

Ryn sat slumped against the front wall of the main building, gnawing on a piece of flatbread. The bottom half of her body was bathed in summer heat, and her upper half in the meager patch of shade provided by a weather-beaten awning.

The hot sunlight seemed to press against her body with a tangible weight. Even the white tiles of the courtyard had been baking long enough to burn bare feet. A drop of sweat trickled down her cheek, and she wiped it away with her forearm.

Though it was uncomfortable sitting in the sun, the inside of the building wasn’t much better. The foreman had thrown open the heavy double doors that morning in an attempt to air it out, but even then, the furnace room was always swimming in a haze of heat and smoke that left Ryn’s clothes and hair sticky and drenched in sweat.

The ever-present din of the Forge carried through the doorway, a cacophony of hammers, whirring grindstones, clanging metal, hoarse yells, and roaring furnaces, the smiths’ contribution to the discordant orchestra that was Lorandyr.

Spirit of Auri, I hate this place, Ryn thought.

As she crammed the last scrap of bread into her mouth, the Forge’s side door creaked open and slammed shut. Footsteps rounded the corner of the building, scuffing the flagstones and kicking up dirt. Ryn glanced up and each bitter thought immediately melted away. A grin spread across her mouth, cracking her chapped lips.

“Ouch! Your lip is bleeding. Did you bite it?” Kaisa said as she approached.

Ryn wiped her mouth. Her hand came away with a small smear of blood and she shook her head. “No. The weather’s just been so dry lately.”

Her sister lowered herself to the dusty ground and crossed her legs, looking like a melting piece of ice in the patched skirts of her baggy grey dress. Stick-thin and pale as paper, the fifteen-year-old still had the large eyes and rounded face of a child. Her long dark hair was braided and pinned up in the same style as the Forge’s other two scullery maids.

“Well, I’ve heard the weather in Idenrya is lovely. Always perfectly cool and sunny… Never too cold, never too hot is what Jolyn said.”

Not this again, Ryn thought.

Kaisa was always speaking and daydreaming of other places. Ryn could tell her sister itched to jump on one of the boats docked on the Myredi river and let it carry her across the world, never thinking of the potential dangers.

“How would Jolyn know anything about Idenrya? She’s just a maid,” Ryn said. “Told me herself she was born right here in Lorandyr and she can’t be any older than you are.”

Kaisa smiled sheepishly. “I don’t know, but if the king’s family lives there it must be wonderful, right?”

“Maybe. I guess a king wouldn’t settle for freezing winters and boiling summers.” Ryn swiped another drop of sweat from her forehead and rolled her trousers up.

“Exactly! And not only is the weather perfect. The capital is really beautiful. It’s got shining white towers, miles of orchards and green gardens… We should go there someday. After we leave the Forge. Don’t you think?”

“I think you’ve been reading too many fairytales.”

While Ryn had been forced to grow up too soon, her hands now scarred and callused by years of labor, her sister was still a child in more ways than one. Like a sunflower growing in a dark cellar, she stubbornly refused to relinquish her optimism. The storybooks Ryn had bought her only made it worse.

Still, I shouldn’t spoil her fun. The only thing that keeps her happy nowadays is daydreaming about where we’ll go when we leave this place.

Kaisa pulled out her own midday meal, a scanty portion of bread and cheese, and the sisters fell into an amicable silence. The sounds of clanging metal didn’t seem as grating as they had before, and Ryn found herself thinking about the future.

Thinking beyond her next meal was difficult. The girls’ future had seemed bleak ever since they found themselves homeless and presumably orphaned, but in that moment, she allowed herself to imagine how it would feel to step through the gate of the Forge’s courtyard and to know she’d never have to return. Never again have to bow and scrape for the mercy of the master smith and his foreman…

She didn’t believe for one moment that the capital was as idyllic as her sister made it out to be, but anywhere was better than where they were. If - no, when they left, they’d need to go somewhere. Without the Forge to hold them back, Ryn might be able to find work in the capital city. Was it so unlikely they’d be able to work and live in peace?

What could it hurt to hope?

At that thought, she noticed the splotchy bruise on her sister’s wrist. Before Kaisa could hide it in the folds of her skirt, Ryn grabbed her arm and held it up to the light. She cursed, making Kaisa wince.

“Has Belyna been hurting you again?”

Kaisa bit her lip, not meeting her eyes.

“I’m alright. I promise, it doesn’t even hurt.”

Ryn released her arm, muttering through gritted teeth, “That old hag. Auri curse her.”

The Forge’s cook was known for having a terrible temper and a heavy hand when her maids displeased her. Everyone knew that, but these new bruises suggested a cruelty Ryn hadn’t expected.

But what can either of us do? We won’t survive if we try to leave the Forge now.

Before she could do or say anything else, a harsh yell shattered her thoughts.

“Ryn!”

She jumped to her feet and turned apprehensively.

Dyran, the smithy’s foreman, had stepped out into the Forge courtyard from the furnace room. Burly despite his age and greying hair, he was the most senior of the smiths- other than the master smith himself. His eyes roved over the two of them, immediately dismissing Kaisa and focusing instead on Ryn.

“Midday meal ended ten minutes ago, you lazy wench. Get back to work!”

Ryn nodded, suddenly transfixed by a pebble lodged between two tiles at her feet.

“What are you, mute? Look up and answer me,” the man growled.

Ryn looked up and stared into the foreman’s black eyes.

“Yes, sir.”

The quietly-spoken words left a sour taste on her tongue.

Dyran eyed her for a moment before turning and disappearing back into the dim red glow of the furnace room.

Dreams of Idenrya and any flicker of hope she’d felt had died out as quickly as they’d come. Ryn turned to her sister, but the girl didn’t meet her eyes.

“Please just forget about it. If you talk to Belyna, you’ll only make it worse.”

Ryn hesitated, arguments dying on her lips. Kaisa was right.

All I can ever do is work harder so that maybe, someday, I can earn enough so that she can leave this place.

“You’d better get back to the scullery. I’m sure Belyna’s looking for you as well.”

Kaisa only nodded. She rose to her feet and dusted off her dress.

“I’ll see you at supper then.”

As she headed back around the building to the side door, Ryn saw her rubbing her bruised wrist but couldn’t catch her expression.

She turned and followed the foreman into the dim interior of the Forge, wiping blood from her mouth, which only aggravated the cut. As she stepped across the threshold, the world darkened once more, lit only by the rectangle of light thrown across the floor by the open doorway and the ruddy light of burning furnaces.

Back to work.