“Clean after me! What do you think I’ve brought you for?!”
Erik rushed to the metal and began stacking it as quickly as he could, returning the ores to their places while Völundr found a piece of metal that suited his needs. The bars that had been tossed aside were returned to wooden boxes as Völundr began to hammer at the dull yellow metal. Erik moved on replacing the contents of the drawers that had been dashed out onto the floor. The drawers were labeled with specific rune carvings. While he could read the labels, knowing what some of the things on the floor were turned out to be a matter of guesswork. There were small chunks of more precious metals, things Erik had no experience with. As much as he thought Völundr was paying no attention to him, any piece of metal placed into the wrong drawer drew a shout.
The last drawer hadn’t yet been filled and put back into place when Völundr called for a forming hammer and a dowel. Erik held his hand by various sizes of hammer and wooden rod until he didn’t receive a barked insult and laid them on the anvil where Völundr had split the gold and made it roughly round and thin enough. Erik watched as the smith’s hands became a blur, working the gold around the dowel and forming it down, hammering it smooth with tools he was sure weren’t meant to be used to do such detailed work.
It wasn’t ten minutes before Völundr called for more tools. A small chisel and a burnisher. The chisel Erik managed on the first try, but not knowing that the burnisher was a small crooked piece, failed at it enough times that Völundr was forced to point to get him to the right part of the wall of tools. Erik watched again as the metal was worked with the new implements. The detail was like nothing Erik had ever seen put into a piece of jewelry. It was detailed and precise to a degree that he hadn’t imagined someone could work with only old tools and their hands.
Völundr took the ring to a few small boxes full of sand, polishing it in places and rubbing it rough in others. He spent an hour on the work, bringing the finished product to Erik and holding it up to him, eyes red and tortured.
“What do you see?”
Erik looked at the ring, knowing there was some trick to the answer he was meant to give but knowing he would never guess the trick before Völundr lost his temper. “A ring. A beautiful ring.”
Völundr spun around, whipping the ring against the far wall. “Beautiful! Of course it is! But it’s not… right!” He nearly howled the words, half crying, and went back to the bench, starting on the other piece of gold. His breathing was labored and he seemed more aware of Erik’s presence. “They’re never right, Erik.”
Even as unfocused and unsteady as he seemed in the chair, Völundr did his expert work again, this time faster than the first. He finished the ring and put it on the anvil, frowning down at it. He picked up his hammer and smashed the ring flat, sliding everything off the table. From under his shirt, Völundr produced a simple leather chain holding a ring in the same design that had been on the two discarded rings. Only… it wasn’t. The depths between the grooves cut into the ring seemed to go miles deep and the gold shone almost unnaturally in the light.
“Is it magic?”
Völundr stared into the ring. “No.” He scoffed, eyes heavy with drink and lack of sleep. “It is only metal. A token of love to mock me until the end of all things.” He looked across at Erik, stowing the ring. “What do you know of magic?”
“Nothing.”
“I’d call you a liar, but you might agree.” Völundr walked to the back corner of the shop and pulled a blade with no handle from a pile. He came and laid it on the anvil. There were runes chiseled into it and angled lines snaking up the length of the blade. “Magic is all around us.”
Erik laughed. “In the rivers and the trees or some shit?”
Völundr pointed at him. “You mock but it’s true. As much here as in Midgard. A river…” He leaned back. “What is a river spread over land? Something with no depth. Useless, barely something a man would notice. But give it direction…” Völundr slapped the sword against the anvil and electricity arced out from it, crackling in the air before dissipating.
In spite of the risk of electrocution, Erik held his hand out.
“Boo!”
Erik jumped back, immediately wishing he hadn’t. “Oh, you’re an asshole.” He exhaled, relieved in spite of Völundr’s mocking laughter.
“I was worried you’d confused it for a pert breast, the way you were looking at the damn thing.” He laughed for too long and entirely too hard from Erik’s perspective. Eventually he regained his composure. “Tell me, have you been in battles? Not Göll’s playfights.”
It was all Erik could do not to tense up just thinking about it. “Yeah. A few.”
“With the valkyries?”
“Yeah, a few.”
Völundr smiled and leaned forward. “Get any good licks in?”
Erik chuckled at his enthusiasm. “A few.”
“Oh?” He seemed genuinely surprised. “You wouldn’t lie to a man fool enough to bang on metal, I hope.”
“Hey! I don’t lie!” Erik’s mouth turned to a mock-smug smile. “Well, sometimes I lie.” He feigned reassurance. “But never about fights! Haha, I think I even broke one’s arm. Mist maybe.”
The easy smile faded and Völundr’s brow came down, not believing what he’d heard. “You what?”
“Yeah, she was flying at me, so I sort of caught her with my elbow and then I stomped on her arm. Some sort of einherjar power, maybe.” Erik chuckled, wanting the expression on Völundr’s face to go back to something more
