Ignite the Sun

Once the group was left alone, they gathered in one of the rooms, and after making certain no one was listening they got to talking.

"You got pretty good at bullshiting." Isara praised Calen. "That knight didn't suspect a thing."

"That's because as far as they know we have no connection to Alfred, from his perspective he was just a random kid." Calen shrugged. "Speaking of, did he choose a new name? I don't think it would be all that bad if he used his real one, but it's better to not tempt fate."

"He didn't say, but I imagine he had one in mind since he was so adamant about making up a backstory for him." Cassian reasoned. "Do you think that the round table will meet with us tomorrow?"

"Why wouldn't they? Harold told us they'd see us tomorrow so I imagine they will - no reason for him to lie."

"He also said their busy because of the Serakhiin army in the area, and I don't think their soldiers will move by tomorrow. I expect they will keep rescheduling to 'tomorrow' for a few more days."

"I mean it's not that big of a problem." Elira commented. "We need time to gather evidence anyway, not to mention come up with an excuse for why we came here in the first place."

"Do we need an excuse? We can say that there was a temple we had to reclaim nearby, and since Mountainfall was transported to the other end of the kingdom they were the closest secure settlement - we can just skip the part about Alfred and his master." Calen proposed.

"I suppose that's true. If we really won't be meeting with the round table tomorrow then I suggest we use that time to resupply and fix out gear - and make contact with the blacksmith while you're at it."

"I mean, it's just late afternoon, maybe the blacksmith is still open - fixing armour isn't will take some time, so the earlier we give it for repairs the sooner it'll be done."

"I concur." Cassian nodded. "Cal and I will go see if the blacksmith still takes orders, you can ask about medical supplies while we're at it."

"I guess this way will be able to focus more on gathering information tomorrow... alright, we'll spilt up and meet up back here once we're done."

***

With the help from one of the guards they located the smithy very quickly - a large free-standing building with an outdoor roofed section.

Above an old anvil stood a middle aged man, almost as large as Baor, but unlike the druid he had short red hair and was clean shaven. At the moment he was writing something in a notepad spread on the anvil, stopping from time to time to scratch his chin.

"Excuse me?" Calen called out to the large man.

"I don't know you two, what are you doing here?" The man didn't even flinch, he must have saw them using aura sense.

"We're just travellers who will be staying here for a few days - we were looking for someone to fix our armour after last battle."

"I've already closed the shop, but you can leave your armour here, I'll fix it tomorrow."

"Thank you mister Thomas."

The blacksmith stopped writing and looked over his shoulder at them.

"I didn't give you my name yet."

"Um, we heard about you from one of the knights?"

"That's a lie, most members of the Order don't even know my name, much less use it to refer to me. To them I'm just the blacksmith." To Calen's surprise the man chuckled. "I can only assume you've met one of my very few friends, I won't pry which one, but tell me this..."

His voice fell to a whisper.

"Are you here to free him?"

'It won't hurt to tell him, right? He's supposed to be the only ally of Alfred's master.'

"That is one of our objectives, yes." Calen responded just as quietly."

"Then you should know that-" Thomas stopped mid sentence. "Someone's coming, find me tomorrow after dusk and we'll discuss everything you need to know."

Just like the blacksmith said, soon two new figures approached the forge - two familiar teenage boys, Alfred in disguise and the squire relegated to taking care of him.

"Blacksmith, this one here needs needs a standard set of armour." The squire announced.

"As I told the gentlemen befor you, the forge is already closed."

"I don't care, sir Harold ordered me to get him the armour."

"Leave the boy here then, I'll take his measurements and start on his armour tomorrow."

"But sir Harold-"

"Sir Harold isn't here, so shut up and go back to your room - the lad won't start his training without armour anyway."

Ben looked like he was about to argue, but fortunately he didn't - the squire just huffed, turned around, and disappeared.

"Finally, I thought the dumbass would never leave" Thomas groaned and looked at the new recruit. "I know it's you Alfred, This silly spell isn't enough to hide you from me."

Everyone froze - how did he know that? Was something wrong with the mask? Was their entire operation compromised?

"How... how did you recognise me? Is my disguise malfunctioning?"

"Quite the opposite, this was actually just a guess - your disguise almost convinced me I was crazy." The blacksmith shook his head. "And as to how I recognised you, it was the armour."

Alfred looked at his fake plate armour.

"Is the illusion malfunctioning?" He didn't think so, but maybe he was missing something.

"Nothing like that, I simply mark each of my creations with a secret unique signature, and it's something only I can sense so you don't have to worry about it."

"I didn't know about that."

"Obviously, otherwise it would be a pretty bad secret signature." He turned to Calen and Cassian. "Now that I know who's side you're on, please come tomorrow to collect your armour - I'll tell you everything you know then, but for now I'd like to ask you to leave, so that I can talk with Alfred without any suspicions."

"Alright." Calen nodded. "Actually, how about we exchange information through you? It will be much less suspicious than meeting with Alfred who has no connection to us whatsoever."

"Matthew."

"Hm?"

"I picked Matthew as my name, please use it while I'm in this form to not arouse any suspicions."

"Very well, good luck then with getting your armour... Matthew."

Calen and Cassian said their goodbyes and left the forge behind - they were going to find the girls, and inform them of the new developments.