I was there again. The smithy.
From what Big Randy had said, I had made a mistake. I just wasn't sure what. I walked in. It was quiet today, it must have been their break. I was sure there weren't any holidays today.
He sat there. Waiting, with Igor, he looked the same as when the overseer came, only with different clothing. I said a greeting, with neither of them answering. Big Randy gestured for me to sit down. I sat down, and they both turned to me. With Igor speaking first.
He leaned forward, clasping his hands over his thighs and looked me straight in the eyes. "Do you have any idea what you've done kid?" From his tone, I was sure this was a rhetorical question, he turned to the side and picked up a large , cloudy bottle, and forced the cork off the top, then took a swig, "You were delivering a parcel. How in two worlds did you turn it into a deal with that guy?"
If I wasn't sure I had made a mistake before, I was sure now. Big Randy interrupted, "Leave it for now." He turned to me, "I said I would have something to show you," he got up and beckoned for me to follow. Igor got up as well.
He walked out of the room, and walked to a small protrusion in the wall, it was like a long rectangle structure that blended into its surroundings. If I wasn't specifically looking at it, I would have missed it.
He pushed a small, little plank at the side, and a small, bronze crank slowly creaked out of the rectangle. I stepped back, shocked. This was the first time I had seen something like this in my life.
He put his hands on the crank and motioned for me to look away, shortly after I had done that, a small hole opened in the protrusion. I glanced at it in awe. 'Is this what a blacksmith is capable of?'
I had been under the impression that their only use was to forge swords and other iron weapons. I was wrong.
Inside the hole were some pieces of equipment, some gloves, a small black rock, and some other things I was not able to see from my angle. It wasn't helped by the fact that I did not want to seem like I was prying, especially not to my benefactor.
Igor took another swig. The stench of alcohol started to fill the air.
Big Randy pulled out a simple metal bracelet, a simple black triangle etched repeatedly across the band of the bracelet.
Igor opened his eyes wide. "What are you doing Randy? I thought that thing had been lost." He raised his hands up. Both of them with one hand still holding the bottle. Half empty now. "We were supposed to forget. Do you know how dangerous this is?"
Big Randy put up a hand to silence him. Igor kept shut but he still looked like he wanted to say something.
Big Randy rotated the bracelet in his hands, moving it up to see it better in the light. Then held it in front of me. "Do you know what this is?"
I shook my head, "No."
"It belonged to my friend." Igor huffed andBig randy corrected himself, "It used to belong to our friend."
Igor spoke out, "If you still have that thing then you shouldn't be giving it to him."
Big Randy turned around, a touch of emotion carving his face. "Do you remember how we got our start, Igor?"
Igor crossed his arms. A third of the liquid in the bottle left. "I remember how it ended."
Big Randy sighed, "We do not control the hands of The Skies." and Igor scoffed.
"Do what you want, but your wife is not going to be happy when she finds out you kept it."
"It fell…It just happened to roll into my bag while we were running away." Big Randy gave Igor a hard look, waiting for a response. "Oh, of course," followed by an eye roll and another swig from the bottle. Almost all gone now. Igor had started swaying. Like a strong tree in the middle of a heavy storm.
"If she asks me, I won't be lying for you. Just remember to get your story straight."
Big Randy put a hand on his face, sighing in exasperation. Bracelet in his other hand. "Look at the boy Igor, where do you think he'll end up with a mind like that and ambition twice the size of it? You think other people would be as kind to him as he was to us."
"He,' Igor said it with a heavy anger in his heart, like flames bursting out of a grated chimney, the words zipped out of his mouth, through locked teeth, "is dead. We made a promise not to talk about him."
"Fine, but I'm not sitting here, waiting for my death." Igor paused when he heard that, "I have no children Igor, you know what happened to Michelle…to Qin Hua"
Igor flinched at the name.
"If I die tomorrow, the thing rots in that wall. If he keeps it, maybe… maybe something of us lasts."
"So you'll take him under your wing? Teach him blacksmithing?"
"No. The boy is too adventurous for that."
They spoke over me like I wasn't there. Somehow I disliked this more than having to tell Big Randy about the deal.
He continued, "He'll just stay around everyone once in a while, we'll tell him whatever we can about the world, look at the deal he just went and made. What do you think happens when he thinks he's hit a jackpot again?"
I didn't know it back then, but "Once in a while," would become one of the last stable things in my life very soon.
"He's not our problem."
"We weren't his problem."
This felt like a standoff, and I didn't feel too good about my chances when both of them stood head and shoulders over me. Both forged like titans in one of those fighting slave arenas.
Igor caved, shrugging,"Do what you want. At least we'll no longer owe that debt to him."
Big Randy smiled, a big toothy grin like the kind a child got when he found out his father wasn't going to be drafted into some aristocrat's feud.
"Here, have this," He thrust the bracelet at me. "It used to…it belongs to a friend of ours. For every ounce of wisdom he had, he had two of recklessness and impulsivity to counter it."
Igor, propped in again, this time with a noticeable slur, "He's no longer with us. Keep it like your own."
"I will," I put the bracelet on my forearm. Carefully. It felt cold, like it was sucking up the warmth my body gave.
Big Randy nodded his head, seeing as I had taken the gift. He looked at Igor, who was having increasing trouble standing up. "Let's go back. I still want to speak to you."
He quickly locked back up whatever contraption he had used to store the bracelet and it was back to normal, seamless, like nothing had been there in the first place. We got back quickly as we hadn't gotten that far in the first place.
Big Randy sat down, dropping hard on the seat with a grunt and then slowly sinking down as the cushions welcomed him. Igor just fell backwards, not bothering to check where he was going to land on the seat.
He pulled out a pipe. An odd shaped one, with a long draw, and a barrel at the end. He lit it with a small, burning piece of wood he took out from the fireplace and inhaled, a deep loud noise, before lighting another one for Big Randy and then exhaling, relaxing even more into the chair.
After Big Randy exhaled also, he started talking, "The man you did that deal with. He's called Wan Cheng." Big Randy took another inhale from the pipe. He does all the dirty work cultivators don't want to do. Getting them mortal coins," he held up a gold coin, "finding them ladies for the night, food, experiences…war."
Igor exhaled, filling the top of the room with smoke.
"Do you think cultivators worry about grain? Or where the boots come from? No. That's Cheng. He does the work like getting supplies, recruiting troops, controlling supply lines…anything related to war except fighting, that's what he does.
The two sects will be having a war soon enough. His job is to make sure that the cannon fodder. The mortal men, who will go die in thankless scuffles. Finding traps, eating poisonous plants, he lowers the risks as much as possible for those who will actually fight."
"What do you think that type of guy hires you for? Fun? To give you a chance? You've tied yourself to a hungry beast Khan, and you're not getting out of this."
Smoke again blew from Igor's side.