The Hammer of the Sun Read Online Free PDF

that!"
    Elof grinned. "I know; Mylio told me of that, too. They make good tales to fire apprentices with, don't they? Sets them dreaming of discovering such wonders for themselves. But the secret of that strong stuff is lost, if it ever existed, and none of the others we know of will serve. No, it has to be metal."
    She had grown nervous again. "Well then… It is a subtle point, on which few can be certain; but whatever tradition says, I… I would choose silver."
    Elof nodded with slow satisfaction. "I thought you might, in your hard-won wisdom. Tradition once had it that women did not make good smiths, also."
    She flushed at the compliment. "It's that the warmth of gold is an illusion… It can be a barrier to heat, in many instances… and as for being soft, well, flesh is soft, but it holds its shape, and there's bone beneath. And the bonesetters, they come to us smiths, do they not, for alloys of silver - plates and pins of it to join and patch shattered or splintered bones; the bone may well grow out around them with little hurt, the flesh and skin heal over them. A hardened silver will endure the fluids of the body better than any metal save some special steels, and those hard to make and harder to fashion… save perhaps for the Duergar," she added ruefully, "or yourself."
    Elof grinned and shook his head. "For armoury, perhaps. Not for fine tasks. Silver is subtler, as you say, readier to take fine shape upon itself, and deep craft. But of course, to maintain the affinity it need not be set within the body…"
    Marja smiled. "Hardly! Though I have found serviceable a setting in some way symbolic of the union… a zoning, say, an encirclement. A girdle, a necklace, an… an arm-ring…" She hesitated; evidently she had heard something of that, from Roc or from Kara herself. But Elof only chuckled, putting her at ease again.
    "That indeed! Though I was but a prentice when I crafted Kara's, and used gold at my master's behest. There was one who lacked the woman's insight! But for yours I thank you, and leave you to your tasks; I was half of your mind on a difficult point, and now you've settled it well. No word of Roc? Well, he should not be long now. Again a good day to you, Master!"
    She looked at him a little curiously as he took his leave, but made no move to ask him why he had asked what he had. It was common enough for mastersmiths to be secretive about their work, especially in its earliest stages, and to pry would be a grave breach of manners as the Guild understood them. That would not stop her thinking, but she, only recently made master, would hardly be likely to guess at his true purpose; he himself had been slow enough to conceive it. Even now he balked at it, half yearned to let that thought remain a thought; but then consuming fear came upon him all the more strongly, and a great horror at the thought of abandoning Kara to the cold mind, dark heart that had first ensnared her. Should he let that happen, when he might so easily prevent it? How could he live with himself if he did? The prentices, still taking sights with their instruments, turned to greet him as he passed, but fell silent. He saw his look mirrored in their dismay, and turned it to a rueful smile.
    Back once more in his forge, he sat gazing at the panniers of ore left him by Ils' fellows, picking out chunks and turning them over in his fingers. Silver was among those metals that could be seen clearly even in its natural state; his knowing fingers traced the threads and streaks with which the living rock was shot, as if they were its veins and nerves. And was not that another affinity with the living? It remained for him now to render it, concentrate it, distill the essence of this stony flesh and set within it… Once more his mind shied at the thought, and once more that iron purpose, forged by fear, tempered by desperation, goaded it to its crucial leap. He roused himself, went to the door to call in apprentices from the training forge