Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 501

“Vanessa!” Thane exclaimed, his voice full of false cheer. “What are you doing here? I thought you were busy working!”

“Oh, you know,” Vanessa said, waving a hand dismissively before herself. “The Menagerie paid me so well that I might have gone on a bit of a bender. Got into an argument with the boss. He wanted a big cut of the money, but he didn’t do shit, so I refused. We got into a bit of a verbal pissing match and he told me to fuck myself. I’m not a solo act, so I found his wife. Did horrible things to her. She liked ‘em. He didn’t. I got fired. So… you know. The usual.”

Thane stared at Vanessa, at a momentary loss for words as his cheeks heated. He’d never considered himself particularly noble or removed from the average man — but he’d still been part of the Blacktongue family. They had a very low tolerance for crudeness as a whole.

But Vanessa made the word ‘crude’ feel like it was an underpaid market worker putting in the bare minimum effort. She was on an entirely different level.

“I… uh, right,” Thane stammered.

Esmerelda cackled.

“Oh,” Vanessa said, suddenly wincing. “Shit. I forgot. You’re like ten. My bad, little dude. I keep forgetting. Not really used to people so young being anywhere near my vicinity.”

“I am not ten!” Thane protested. “I just turned sixteen! You were literally at my party!”

“Age isn’t just a number,” Vanessa said. She tapped the side of her head. “It’s about experience. And you, my little friend, have none of it.”

Then she paused for a moment.

Esmerelda started to cackle even louder. “Go on. Tell us more.”

“Don’t quote me on that first part,” Vanessa said, clearing her throat awkwardly. “It’s out of context. I…oh, forget it. You know what I meant. I’m not a words kind of person. Not unless they get me—”

She cut herself off and sent a pointed glance at Thane.

He tried not to take too much offense at that. It was probably for the best. She wasn’t exactly wrong. He didn’t have even the slightest smidgen of experience with anything that Vanessa was talking about… and he wasn’t so sure he wanted to change that anytime soon.

The axe in the bucket behind Thane trembled.

The blood drained from his face instantly. Vanessa had taken him so off guard that, for a moment, he’d forgotten about just how big of a problem her presence was here. There was no way that Thane could let her be the one to bear the cursed weapon.

It’s an evil, bloodthirsty devil stuck in an axe. She doesn’t deserve that. I can’t let her take it out of the store.

“So what brought you to my store?” Esmerelda asked, tilting her head to the side and studying Vanessa intently. “You didn’t strike me as the type to swing by on a friendly visit.”

“Hardly matters now,” Vanessa said with a half-shrug. “Hey, isn’t this place magic? I recognize those shelves from when you took us to the Blacktongue’s party. Did you come looking for me or something?”

“No,” Esmerelda replied. “But it seems you came looking for us.”

“But maybe you shouldn’t,” Thane said hurriedly. “Wouldn’t you rather be getting a drink at the Devil’s Den or something right now?”

“Bah. I’ve been doing enough drinking,” Vanessa said with a grimace. “That’s how the boss’s wife and I — well, you know. Best to stop while I’m ahead. At least for a bit.”

Getting fired for sleeping with your boss’s wife is what you consider ‘still ahead’? I’d really hate to see what she defines as behind.

“What about someone else’s wife?” Thane suggested. “There are always—”

Esemerelda’s hand clamped down on Thane’s shoulder. “Give me a moment alone with the boy, would you?”

Vanessa’s gaze drifted to the black axe. She swallowed, nodding slightly, eyes never leaving it. “Yeah. Sure. No problem. Don’t mind me at all. I’ll just stand here.”

“Don’t touch anything! It’s… uh, fragile!” Thane managed as Esmerelda dragged him a bookshelf and out of view.

Esmerelda released his shoulder and crossed her arms as she leveled a flat stare at him. “Stop.”

“What? You actually want to give her that thing?” Thane hissed. “It’s cursed! This is our friend! We can’t—”

“We,” Esmerelda corrected, her voice as taut as a steel wire, “do not choose the wielders. The weapons do. It is not your place to attempt to stand in the way of that… unless you’re hoping that every single cursed item I have in my possession will realize I do not uphold my end of the contract and set out into the world to cause chaos as they seek out their owner?”

Thane stiffened. His jaw clenched. “But… Vanessa is our friend! And that axe is evil! You said it was bloodthirsty!”

“It is,” Esmerelda said. “That thing has been in my possession for a long time. I don’t have a single good thing to say about it. It’s a powerful, vile weapon. And it has chosen its wielder. If we deny it that, then it’ll go find her by force. And I can promise you that a whole lot more people are going to get hurt if things go that route.”

Thane swallowed. His fingernails dug into the beds of his palms as he desperately searched for some kind of counterargument. None arose. He’d known what Esmerelda’s job was. None of this was a surprise.

Perhaps he was a hypocrite. Thane hadn’t had an issue with the fairly logical approach Esmerelda had taken right up until someone he actually cared about had been involved.

But, hypocrite or not, he couldn’t just accept that.

“Can’t we at least warn her?” Thane asked desperately. “So she can make the decision herself?”

Esmerelda blew out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose between two fingers. “Do you really think that will change anything? The weapon has chosen. And Vanessa isn’t exactly the sharpest sword in the armory. She’s about to put out for the damn thing.”

“She’s what, now?” Thane asked.

“Never mind,” Esmerelda said with a shake of her head. “She’s already seen the axe. She wants it. Don’t tell me you couldn’t see it in her eyes. The contract is as good as done. Nothing you tell her now will change anything.”

“It’s not about if it changes anything,” Thane said. “It’s about her knowing what she’s getting into.”

“And if you succeed?” Esmerelda asked, arching an eyebrow. “If she realizes it’s a bad idea and she doesn’t take the axe? What happens then? What will the weapon do?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“It certainly won’t be happy with you,” Esmerelda said. She flicked him in the forehead. “You’ll probably be dead. Entities that powerful do not take kindly to interference. It is fate.”

“There’s no such thing as fate,” Thane said. He set his jaw. “Life is what we make of it. I won’t let anyone control my destiny.”

Esmerelda stared at him for a long second. Her features tightened. Then she let out a heavy sigh and threw her hands up into the air. “Fine. Idiot. I’ll only agree to this because you have no chance of success. The woman is an idiot. She’s probably already licked the axe to see if it tastes good. And if she’s accepted it, then there’s absolutely nothing at all that can be done. It’s hers until death.”

“Thank you,” Thane said in relief, spinning on his heel.

“Don’t thank me,” Esmerelda said as he darted back around the shelf. “You’re just setting yourself up for failure.”

Thane ignored her.

To his relief, Vanessa hadn’t touched the axe yet. She stood a foot away from it, examining the black weapon curiously.

“Wait!” Thane yelled. “Don’t touch that! It’s—”

“Cursed,” Vanessa finished.

Thane skidded to a halt, the wind leaving his sails as he blinked in surprise. “I — wait. You knew?”

“No,” Vanessa said. Then she tapped an ear with a finger. “I’m a Thug, Thane. Physical combat class. I have enhanced senses. I heard everything.”

He blinked. “I… oh. You did?”

Vanessa snorted. “Yes. And I have to admit, this axe is something else. She’s a real beauty, but she’s definitely the jealous sort.”

“What?” Thane asked, staring at Vanessa in confusion. “She?”

“Oh, definitely.” Vanessa nodded sagely, then jerked her chin to the axe. “Look at her. That grace. That aura. That’s a woman, all right. Can’t you tell?”

“No,” Thane said. “Not really.”

“Well, it is.” Vanessa crossed her arms in front of her chest. “And for a woman like that, I’d almost be willing to give every other lady in my life up for her. Men too. Almost… but not quite. I’m not one for a committed relationship. I much prefer bouncing around. It’s more fun.”

“You cannot be serious,” Esmerelda said from behind Thane.

Thane blinked. His heart started to beat fast. “You mean—”

“After what I just heard? Dead serious.” Vanessa snorted. “I’ll pass. I don’t want anything to do with this lass. She’s meant for someone else.”

“Shit,” Esmerelda said, horror filling her words. She thrust her hands forward, purple magic swirling to life at her palms. “Shit. Thane, run! You need to—”

The rest of her sentence was lost in a roar of blood-red shadow that exploded out from the axe, washing over the entirety of Esmerelda’s store.

And then the world froze in place.

Vanessa and Esmerelda’s breath stopped. They locked themselves in place as if carved from stone. Even Esmerelda’s magic went completely still. A book teetered at the edge of a shelf, moments from dropping but unable to begin or end its fall.

Shadows poured out from the obsidian axe, pooling across the ground and twisting together like a nest of snakes. Any distinction between the shadows evaporated. They merged into the smooth, cohesive form of a tall woman. Crimson robes slithered across her skin to fall past her shoulders like a banner steeped in blood.

Two thin eyes, the same color as her robes, formed upon her shadowy face — and they were followed an instant later by an all-too-wide mouth that stretched from one ear to the other.

Thane took a step back, a lump forming in his throat.

I really should have thought this through a bit more. I didn’t think Esmerelda was being so literal about the cursed weapons not liking interference.

“You should have listened to Esmerelda,” the woman whispered, a sharp note of admonishment in her serpentine voice as her scarlet eyes bore into him. “I don’t like people that steal from me, Thane. I don’t like them at all.”