Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Children Of Fate ❯ 12 ( Chapter 13 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: moose_of_doom 
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.01.2005 | Pages: 10 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 233 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.01.2005 | Pages: 10 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 233 | Status: Completed
Chapter 12:
********
“Absolutely not.” the smith said resolutely.
“Why?” Davis asked, frustration building in his voice.
“Have you ever forged anything before?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Then there’s no way in the seven hells that I’m going to let you use my smithy to make a sword when you don’t know how.”
“I know how!”
“Yeah? I wish I’d known how to be a smith with no prior experience.”
“Dathyr, listen to him.” Dartha said tiredly.
“Master, I can’t do this! It goes against all the professional ethics I possess! He doesn’t even have his own tools!”
“Yes he does.”
“Where!??”
“Yeah, where?” Davis said in a puzzled voice.
“They’re hanging over there.”
The Smith and the Paladin looked over at the wall. There hung a set of tools, which Davis somehow knew were tools designed with the specific purpose of forging a sword. The Smith scowled.
“Oh no, those tools were made with one destiny, Master. They can only even be picked up by the pa…”
He stopped mid sentence, and turned slowly back to look at Davis.
“I know.” Liam said. “It’s a terrible disappointment, isn’t it?”
Davis walked slowly over to the wall, and placed his hand on the handle of the hammer. Gently, he picked it up, and hefted it. Dartha grinned at the smith, who rolled his eyes.
“Alright, he can make the sword here. But only under my supervision, alright?”
“That’s fine.” Davis said, his eyes still fixed on the hammer.
“Are you sure you can do it?”
“Dathyr, relax.” Dartha said. “Daisuke could have forged a Katana when he was still in his cradle.”
Dathyr glared at him, and stalked off to the back of the shop, muttering to himself about prophecies and interfering upworlders.
=============================================================
“What do you want this time, Taythe?”
“Some respect from you, for a start.”
“When you’ve earned it, I’ll give it. Why did you call me here?”
Taythe sighed theatrically, and leant on her hands to look up at Kari.
“Your Digimon have escaped from their holding cell.”
“I know. And?”
“I want you to find them and bring them back.”
Kari looked at the raven haired girl as if she’d taken a sudden leave of her senses.
“Okay, let me get this straight. You want me, as in, your enemy, to help you track down the Digimon, my allies, so you can do whatever you want to them?” she shook her head. “You shouldn’t have bothered. I was having a good nights sleep.”
Taythe glared at her.
“Oh, don’t do that. You made a mistake, it happens.”
Taythe shook her head.
“There was another reason I called you here.”
“Which was…?”
“I’ve been having… dreams.”
“How pleasant for you.”
“Shut up and listen, Hikari. I don’t want to explain this twice.”
Kari, intrigued by the tone of Taythe’s voice, bit back any further comments, and sat down across the fire from the black-haired girl.
“I’ve been dreaming about Daisuke.”
Kari leaned forward.
“Tell me.”
“I’m fighting against shadows, but they overwhelm me. Then he’s there, driving them away.” she closed her eyes. “He fights them off, and then offers me his hand.”
“And what do you do?”
“I told him to leave. I told him to leave me alone, because I must fight him.”
“Why do you have to fight him?”
“Because that’s my destiny. Its what I was born to do. I was born with the sole purpose of being the Paladin’s opposite.”
Kari, despite herself, felt a grain of sympathy well up in her for the girl across from her.
“What a sad way to live.”
Taythe’s eyes snapped up.
“What do you mean, Hikari?”
“Your whole life has been based around fighting and hatred. All you’ve ever had is the destiny you were told to have.”
She looked into Taythe’s eyes.
“I may be a slave right now, but you’re more imprisoned than I will ever be, Taythe.”
The raven-haired girls eyes narrowed.
“Get out.” She whispered.
“Fine.” Kari said, standing. “What else did Davis say to you?”
“He said that he wasn’t going to stop me walking my path, but to think about why I was.”
“That sounds like Davis. He may not be big on thinking himself, but he doesn’t hesitate to encourage it in others.”
She turned, and left the room, quietly closing the door behind her.
=============================================================
Davis flinched at the heat of the furnace, and pulled back from the deep red flames.
“You’re not gonna get anywhere doing that, Paladin.” Dathyr said. The Smiths intolerance, Davis sensed, was not anything personal, but was just the way he treated everyone.
“What do you want me to do?”
“For a start, you can come round here and pump these bellows. You may be making this sword, but this is still my shop, so my rules. Any man making things has to pump up his own fire.”
Davis nodded, more to himself than to the smith, and walked around the side of the furnace. He grabbed hold of the bellows, and began to squeeze them together.
“Not too fast,” Dathyr warned. “You don’t want to blow out he flames, you want to feed them.”
“Got it.”
“Alright. I’m gonna go find you some steel.”
“Huh?” Davis said. “But my sword was Golden coloured.”
“Maybe so, but this sword is gonna be different. I don’t know all of the facts, but something important is going to hinge on this blade, and it has to be made of steel. I’ve got some Ingots out the back.”
Davis nodded, and concentrated on building the fire. Dathyr nodded at Liam.
“You can help me. Those things are heavy, and I’m not as young as I used to be.”
“Alright then.”
The Smith then glanced at Nick.
“When miracle-boy here starts to get tired, take over from him.”
“Yeah.” The Londoner replied.
Liam and Dathyr headed out of the back door to the smithy, and Veemon strolled in through the front.
“The master told me you’d be here.”
“I thought he might. I wonder if the reason he made himself so scarce has anything to do with the amount of physical effort going on down here.”
“Why Davis, what a spiteful thing to suggest.” The Digimon laughed.
=============================================================
Taythe looked at the Shadowmon surrounding her, and calmly drew her longsword from it’s scabbard at her belt.
The first of the creatures rushed her, its scimitar upraised, and slashing down in a brutal strike.
She slid the blow aside along the length of her blade, and back cut as the creature went past, neatly severing its sword arm from its body. The Shadowmon grunted in pain, and swung back at her, even as she stabbed backwards under her own arm, neatly impaling the creature.
“I wonder,” the hissing Shadowmon commander said to Derron, “Why we are doing this?”
it watched as another of its troopers was neatly decapitated by the long blade.
“It’s very simple, so even you should grasp it.” Derron replied, “Taythe needs to keep up her sword skills in preparation for her battle, and it never hurts to have a few more troops around. When she attacks the Shadowmon, they respawn, so we don’t really lose anything.”
“What you say makes sense.” The Commander replied. “Although you do not have to be so insulting.”
“How else would I get your attention?”
The human looked up as one of the guards from the lower levels approached him.
“Sir, we haven’t found any sign of the escaped Digimon”
“I didn’t expect you would, sergeant. Keep looking anyway, they’re bound to make their presence felt sooner or later.”
“Yes, sir. Also, sir, Mistress Wentela says to tell you that you’re being too lenient with the rest periods. She wants to shorten them.”
Derron rolled his eyes.
“She never learns. Tell her that we’ve achieved the amount of Oridian that we need. There isn’t any need to make the Digidestined mine any more. They are to be confined to their cells until I say otherwise. I’m not going to risk messing around with their mines just so she can satisfy her little vices, is that clear?”
“Perfectly, sir.”
The sergeant turned and headed back to the elevator. The Shadowmon Commander spoke again as he watched the man leave.
“I also wonder why you persist in keeping Wentela around. She has served her purpose.”
“I keep her around because she amuses me. She thinks that I don’t know about the Digidestined she killed a week ago, and it entertains me to listen to her attempts at subterfuge.” He glanced up at the monster. “you, of course, are not burden by feelings, are you my taciturn friend?”
“They are not needed. They get in the way of the kill.”
“You’d be surprised how effective they are when it comes to combat.” Derron pushed himself away from the wall. “Keep Taythe entertained. I’ve got things to attend to.”
“Yes, Master Derron.”
=============================================================
Taythe slammed the black blade of her longsword against the Shadowmon’s skull, and felt the satisfying crunch as she whipped away. A second creature ran at her, slashing its curved blade in a low cut.
She leapt over the blade, flipping through the air above the creature, seeming to hang there for a moment. In her minds eye, the form of the Shadowmon morphed away and changed into the now familiar figure, goggles balanced atop his head, the golden katana in his hand. Rage welled up within her, and she dove through the air, driving the point of her blade down through her enemy’s head, and clean through his body.
Reality faded back in, and she stepped away from the Shadowmon, drawing the blade out of its body with a steely hiss. The rest of the creatures backed away as she turned and headed for the exit to the room.
=============================================================
Davis sat, looking at the furnace, waiting for the steel ingots to finish the slow, ponderous process of melting down into the malleable form he needed to make his sword. He didn’t even look up as Dartha strolled into the room.
“Afternoon, folks.”
“Good afternoon yourself, Master. You here to help?”
“I wouldn’t want to spoil your fun, Daisuke.”
The ancient-youthful man looked at the Paladin curiously.
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting for the steel to get hot enough to mould.”
“You need it hot, eh?”
the master started to make a gesture at the furnace.
“Don’t.” Dathyr snapped from the door.
“Dathyr, its going to take forever if you do it this way.”
“My shop, my rules master. I want to do this properly.”
“it will be proper – just faster.”
“No, Tetsato.”
The Master sighed.
“Alright, then.”
Davis glanced up at him.
“You seem buoyant today.”
“I am indeed Daisuke. Michael’s just woken up.”
“Excellent!”
Dathyr glared at him.
“Are you going to let those ingots boil all day, Daisuke?”
“No, Dathyr.”
“Well, get them out of the furnace, and lets get to work.”
“Yes, Dathyr.”
“Take off your shirt.”
“What?”
“It’s going to be boiling in here, boy. Take off your shirt, put on an apron and gloves, and we’ll get started.”
=============================================================
“How are you feeling?” Jun said, more out of habit than of lack of knowledge.
“Like someone shot me.” Michael replied.
Jun grinned.
“I suppose I deserved that.”
“I need to talk to Davis.”
“He’s busy right now, Michael. Can you tell me instead?”
“I suppose. You’ll hear it anyway. I suppose you know where the Digidestined are being held?”
“The fortress of the Dragon Lords? Yeah.”
“Did you know about the mines underneath the fortress?”
“Not that I’d heard of. What mines?”
“They’re making the captured Digidestined dig up something called Oridian. I don’t know what it is, but the guard seem afraid to touch it.”
“That’s because its poisonous to anyone except the Digidestined.” Came a tired voice from the corner. Jun spun, and looked at Gennai’s youthful features.
“God, I’m tired.” The guardian of the digital world said. “I haven’t slept in days.”
“You can’t do that to yourself, Gennai.” Jun remonstrated.
“Havent had much of a choice. I’ve had a lot to set up.”
“Fine. But we’re going to have a talk about this.” Gennai winced. “What are they mining this Oridian stuff for?”
“They want to open the gate to the dark ocean.” the guardian replied. “IF they do that, then they’ll have rejoined the links that once existed between the two.”
“I doubt that’s good.”
“Quick thinking. It would be disastrous.”
=============================================================
The hammer slammed down onto the surface of the steel, striking sparks off of it, scattering them onto the ground.
“He know what he’s doing, I’ll say that for him.” Dathyr said.
“Was there ever any doubt?” Dartha replied.
“Yes, but that’s just my personal prejudices. It’s a pity he’s predisposed. I’d give some thought to taking him as an apprentice.”
Dartha laughed.
“I doubt he’d consider a career change, my friend.”
“I think he’s got other things on his mind right now.” Veemon joked.
“Don’t let the metal cool too much, Daisuke!” Dathyr snapped.
Davis nodded, his eyes never leaving his work. The hammer crashed down again, as he began forging the slight curve that makes a katana such a deadly cutting weapon. Sparks shook away from the steel as he slammed it against the anvil.
“Heat it up again.” Dathyr advised.
He raised the blade with his tongs, and put it back onto the rack inside the furnace. Dathyr glanced at the steel.
“Five minutes. How does it feel?”
“Very satisfying.”
“Anything that you can feel accomplished about is satisfying for you, Davis.” Veemon said.
Dathyr sighed.
“What a smith youd’ve made.”
“I don’t think so. After this sword is made, I doubt I’ll be using these tools again.”
“Well, I’ll look after them for you anyway.” The smith laughed.
The work continued for several more hours, and the intensity of Davis’s activity startled even the seasoned veteran smith. Finally, Davis lifted the blade in the tongs for the last time, and plunged it into the barrel of water next to him. The cloud of steam was reasonably impressive.
“Now the hilt piece.” Dathyr instructed.
Davis nodded, and carefully hammered out a flat disk of metal, wider than the handle of his blade. Dartha stood, and reached inside his shirt.
“Here. I made it myself. About two-hundred years ago, actually.”
Davis took the Katana handle, and looked at it. Deeply embossed into the side was the symbol of courage, and on it’s opposite, the symbol of friendship. He turned the handle over, and glanced at the base, where the symbol of miracles was neatly set in the circle of the handle.
“Thankyou, Master.”
“You’re very welcome, Daisuke.”
The young paladin turned, and reached inside the barrel of water. The sword blade was cool by now, and he lifted it gently from the water, as if it were a child. He laid it flat across his hands, and turned to Dathyr. The smith inspected it gravely.
“It’s good. You’ll need to sharpen it, obviously, but it’s a good blade.”
“Thankyou, Dathyr.”
“Any fool can give advice, Daisuke.”
“I wasn’t thanking you for that.”
He laid the blade on the anvil, and slid the handle onto the flat metal section at the blades base. He felt the satisfying click as the handle slotted into place, and lifted the blade. He took the metal disk, and slid it down over the length of the steel, where it clicked into place against the hilt.
The Paladin lifted his sword, and the grey steel glinted in the light of the forge.
======================================================================== =====
********
“Absolutely not.” the smith said resolutely.
“Why?” Davis asked, frustration building in his voice.
“Have you ever forged anything before?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Then there’s no way in the seven hells that I’m going to let you use my smithy to make a sword when you don’t know how.”
“I know how!”
“Yeah? I wish I’d known how to be a smith with no prior experience.”
“Dathyr, listen to him.” Dartha said tiredly.
“Master, I can’t do this! It goes against all the professional ethics I possess! He doesn’t even have his own tools!”
“Yes he does.”
“Where!??”
“Yeah, where?” Davis said in a puzzled voice.
“They’re hanging over there.”
The Smith and the Paladin looked over at the wall. There hung a set of tools, which Davis somehow knew were tools designed with the specific purpose of forging a sword. The Smith scowled.
“Oh no, those tools were made with one destiny, Master. They can only even be picked up by the pa…”
He stopped mid sentence, and turned slowly back to look at Davis.
“I know.” Liam said. “It’s a terrible disappointment, isn’t it?”
Davis walked slowly over to the wall, and placed his hand on the handle of the hammer. Gently, he picked it up, and hefted it. Dartha grinned at the smith, who rolled his eyes.
“Alright, he can make the sword here. But only under my supervision, alright?”
“That’s fine.” Davis said, his eyes still fixed on the hammer.
“Are you sure you can do it?”
“Dathyr, relax.” Dartha said. “Daisuke could have forged a Katana when he was still in his cradle.”
Dathyr glared at him, and stalked off to the back of the shop, muttering to himself about prophecies and interfering upworlders.
=============================================================
“What do you want this time, Taythe?”
“Some respect from you, for a start.”
“When you’ve earned it, I’ll give it. Why did you call me here?”
Taythe sighed theatrically, and leant on her hands to look up at Kari.
“Your Digimon have escaped from their holding cell.”
“I know. And?”
“I want you to find them and bring them back.”
Kari looked at the raven haired girl as if she’d taken a sudden leave of her senses.
“Okay, let me get this straight. You want me, as in, your enemy, to help you track down the Digimon, my allies, so you can do whatever you want to them?” she shook her head. “You shouldn’t have bothered. I was having a good nights sleep.”
Taythe glared at her.
“Oh, don’t do that. You made a mistake, it happens.”
Taythe shook her head.
“There was another reason I called you here.”
“Which was…?”
“I’ve been having… dreams.”
“How pleasant for you.”
“Shut up and listen, Hikari. I don’t want to explain this twice.”
Kari, intrigued by the tone of Taythe’s voice, bit back any further comments, and sat down across the fire from the black-haired girl.
“I’ve been dreaming about Daisuke.”
Kari leaned forward.
“Tell me.”
“I’m fighting against shadows, but they overwhelm me. Then he’s there, driving them away.” she closed her eyes. “He fights them off, and then offers me his hand.”
“And what do you do?”
“I told him to leave. I told him to leave me alone, because I must fight him.”
“Why do you have to fight him?”
“Because that’s my destiny. Its what I was born to do. I was born with the sole purpose of being the Paladin’s opposite.”
Kari, despite herself, felt a grain of sympathy well up in her for the girl across from her.
“What a sad way to live.”
Taythe’s eyes snapped up.
“What do you mean, Hikari?”
“Your whole life has been based around fighting and hatred. All you’ve ever had is the destiny you were told to have.”
She looked into Taythe’s eyes.
“I may be a slave right now, but you’re more imprisoned than I will ever be, Taythe.”
The raven-haired girls eyes narrowed.
“Get out.” She whispered.
“Fine.” Kari said, standing. “What else did Davis say to you?”
“He said that he wasn’t going to stop me walking my path, but to think about why I was.”
“That sounds like Davis. He may not be big on thinking himself, but he doesn’t hesitate to encourage it in others.”
She turned, and left the room, quietly closing the door behind her.
=============================================================
Davis flinched at the heat of the furnace, and pulled back from the deep red flames.
“You’re not gonna get anywhere doing that, Paladin.” Dathyr said. The Smiths intolerance, Davis sensed, was not anything personal, but was just the way he treated everyone.
“What do you want me to do?”
“For a start, you can come round here and pump these bellows. You may be making this sword, but this is still my shop, so my rules. Any man making things has to pump up his own fire.”
Davis nodded, more to himself than to the smith, and walked around the side of the furnace. He grabbed hold of the bellows, and began to squeeze them together.
“Not too fast,” Dathyr warned. “You don’t want to blow out he flames, you want to feed them.”
“Got it.”
“Alright. I’m gonna go find you some steel.”
“Huh?” Davis said. “But my sword was Golden coloured.”
“Maybe so, but this sword is gonna be different. I don’t know all of the facts, but something important is going to hinge on this blade, and it has to be made of steel. I’ve got some Ingots out the back.”
Davis nodded, and concentrated on building the fire. Dathyr nodded at Liam.
“You can help me. Those things are heavy, and I’m not as young as I used to be.”
“Alright then.”
The Smith then glanced at Nick.
“When miracle-boy here starts to get tired, take over from him.”
“Yeah.” The Londoner replied.
Liam and Dathyr headed out of the back door to the smithy, and Veemon strolled in through the front.
“The master told me you’d be here.”
“I thought he might. I wonder if the reason he made himself so scarce has anything to do with the amount of physical effort going on down here.”
“Why Davis, what a spiteful thing to suggest.” The Digimon laughed.
=============================================================
Taythe looked at the Shadowmon surrounding her, and calmly drew her longsword from it’s scabbard at her belt.
The first of the creatures rushed her, its scimitar upraised, and slashing down in a brutal strike.
She slid the blow aside along the length of her blade, and back cut as the creature went past, neatly severing its sword arm from its body. The Shadowmon grunted in pain, and swung back at her, even as she stabbed backwards under her own arm, neatly impaling the creature.
“I wonder,” the hissing Shadowmon commander said to Derron, “Why we are doing this?”
it watched as another of its troopers was neatly decapitated by the long blade.
“It’s very simple, so even you should grasp it.” Derron replied, “Taythe needs to keep up her sword skills in preparation for her battle, and it never hurts to have a few more troops around. When she attacks the Shadowmon, they respawn, so we don’t really lose anything.”
“What you say makes sense.” The Commander replied. “Although you do not have to be so insulting.”
“How else would I get your attention?”
The human looked up as one of the guards from the lower levels approached him.
“Sir, we haven’t found any sign of the escaped Digimon”
“I didn’t expect you would, sergeant. Keep looking anyway, they’re bound to make their presence felt sooner or later.”
“Yes, sir. Also, sir, Mistress Wentela says to tell you that you’re being too lenient with the rest periods. She wants to shorten them.”
Derron rolled his eyes.
“She never learns. Tell her that we’ve achieved the amount of Oridian that we need. There isn’t any need to make the Digidestined mine any more. They are to be confined to their cells until I say otherwise. I’m not going to risk messing around with their mines just so she can satisfy her little vices, is that clear?”
“Perfectly, sir.”
The sergeant turned and headed back to the elevator. The Shadowmon Commander spoke again as he watched the man leave.
“I also wonder why you persist in keeping Wentela around. She has served her purpose.”
“I keep her around because she amuses me. She thinks that I don’t know about the Digidestined she killed a week ago, and it entertains me to listen to her attempts at subterfuge.” He glanced up at the monster. “you, of course, are not burden by feelings, are you my taciturn friend?”
“They are not needed. They get in the way of the kill.”
“You’d be surprised how effective they are when it comes to combat.” Derron pushed himself away from the wall. “Keep Taythe entertained. I’ve got things to attend to.”
“Yes, Master Derron.”
=============================================================
Taythe slammed the black blade of her longsword against the Shadowmon’s skull, and felt the satisfying crunch as she whipped away. A second creature ran at her, slashing its curved blade in a low cut.
She leapt over the blade, flipping through the air above the creature, seeming to hang there for a moment. In her minds eye, the form of the Shadowmon morphed away and changed into the now familiar figure, goggles balanced atop his head, the golden katana in his hand. Rage welled up within her, and she dove through the air, driving the point of her blade down through her enemy’s head, and clean through his body.
Reality faded back in, and she stepped away from the Shadowmon, drawing the blade out of its body with a steely hiss. The rest of the creatures backed away as she turned and headed for the exit to the room.
=============================================================
Davis sat, looking at the furnace, waiting for the steel ingots to finish the slow, ponderous process of melting down into the malleable form he needed to make his sword. He didn’t even look up as Dartha strolled into the room.
“Afternoon, folks.”
“Good afternoon yourself, Master. You here to help?”
“I wouldn’t want to spoil your fun, Daisuke.”
The ancient-youthful man looked at the Paladin curiously.
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting for the steel to get hot enough to mould.”
“You need it hot, eh?”
the master started to make a gesture at the furnace.
“Don’t.” Dathyr snapped from the door.
“Dathyr, its going to take forever if you do it this way.”
“My shop, my rules master. I want to do this properly.”
“it will be proper – just faster.”
“No, Tetsato.”
The Master sighed.
“Alright, then.”
Davis glanced up at him.
“You seem buoyant today.”
“I am indeed Daisuke. Michael’s just woken up.”
“Excellent!”
Dathyr glared at him.
“Are you going to let those ingots boil all day, Daisuke?”
“No, Dathyr.”
“Well, get them out of the furnace, and lets get to work.”
“Yes, Dathyr.”
“Take off your shirt.”
“What?”
“It’s going to be boiling in here, boy. Take off your shirt, put on an apron and gloves, and we’ll get started.”
=============================================================
“How are you feeling?” Jun said, more out of habit than of lack of knowledge.
“Like someone shot me.” Michael replied.
Jun grinned.
“I suppose I deserved that.”
“I need to talk to Davis.”
“He’s busy right now, Michael. Can you tell me instead?”
“I suppose. You’ll hear it anyway. I suppose you know where the Digidestined are being held?”
“The fortress of the Dragon Lords? Yeah.”
“Did you know about the mines underneath the fortress?”
“Not that I’d heard of. What mines?”
“They’re making the captured Digidestined dig up something called Oridian. I don’t know what it is, but the guard seem afraid to touch it.”
“That’s because its poisonous to anyone except the Digidestined.” Came a tired voice from the corner. Jun spun, and looked at Gennai’s youthful features.
“God, I’m tired.” The guardian of the digital world said. “I haven’t slept in days.”
“You can’t do that to yourself, Gennai.” Jun remonstrated.
“Havent had much of a choice. I’ve had a lot to set up.”
“Fine. But we’re going to have a talk about this.” Gennai winced. “What are they mining this Oridian stuff for?”
“They want to open the gate to the dark ocean.” the guardian replied. “IF they do that, then they’ll have rejoined the links that once existed between the two.”
“I doubt that’s good.”
“Quick thinking. It would be disastrous.”
=============================================================
The hammer slammed down onto the surface of the steel, striking sparks off of it, scattering them onto the ground.
“He know what he’s doing, I’ll say that for him.” Dathyr said.
“Was there ever any doubt?” Dartha replied.
“Yes, but that’s just my personal prejudices. It’s a pity he’s predisposed. I’d give some thought to taking him as an apprentice.”
Dartha laughed.
“I doubt he’d consider a career change, my friend.”
“I think he’s got other things on his mind right now.” Veemon joked.
“Don’t let the metal cool too much, Daisuke!” Dathyr snapped.
Davis nodded, his eyes never leaving his work. The hammer crashed down again, as he began forging the slight curve that makes a katana such a deadly cutting weapon. Sparks shook away from the steel as he slammed it against the anvil.
“Heat it up again.” Dathyr advised.
He raised the blade with his tongs, and put it back onto the rack inside the furnace. Dathyr glanced at the steel.
“Five minutes. How does it feel?”
“Very satisfying.”
“Anything that you can feel accomplished about is satisfying for you, Davis.” Veemon said.
Dathyr sighed.
“What a smith youd’ve made.”
“I don’t think so. After this sword is made, I doubt I’ll be using these tools again.”
“Well, I’ll look after them for you anyway.” The smith laughed.
The work continued for several more hours, and the intensity of Davis’s activity startled even the seasoned veteran smith. Finally, Davis lifted the blade in the tongs for the last time, and plunged it into the barrel of water next to him. The cloud of steam was reasonably impressive.
“Now the hilt piece.” Dathyr instructed.
Davis nodded, and carefully hammered out a flat disk of metal, wider than the handle of his blade. Dartha stood, and reached inside his shirt.
“Here. I made it myself. About two-hundred years ago, actually.”
Davis took the Katana handle, and looked at it. Deeply embossed into the side was the symbol of courage, and on it’s opposite, the symbol of friendship. He turned the handle over, and glanced at the base, where the symbol of miracles was neatly set in the circle of the handle.
“Thankyou, Master.”
“You’re very welcome, Daisuke.”
The young paladin turned, and reached inside the barrel of water. The sword blade was cool by now, and he lifted it gently from the water, as if it were a child. He laid it flat across his hands, and turned to Dathyr. The smith inspected it gravely.
“It’s good. You’ll need to sharpen it, obviously, but it’s a good blade.”
“Thankyou, Dathyr.”
“Any fool can give advice, Daisuke.”
“I wasn’t thanking you for that.”
He laid the blade on the anvil, and slid the handle onto the flat metal section at the blades base. He felt the satisfying click as the handle slotted into place, and lifted the blade. He took the metal disk, and slid it down over the length of the steel, where it clicked into place against the hilt.
The Paladin lifted his sword, and the grey steel glinted in the light of the forge.
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