Smithson Ch. 01: The Forge

"You thought wrong Tallow's daughter. I was more surprised that you dress for summer hear at winter's tail. No stockings in this weather will do you ill, and yet I found it to my advantage today." I finish with a smile that seems to ease her some. She then looks down at the mud covering her.

"Oh but now I'm filthy. I've ruined everything. I'm so sorry Geir. It would do me well if you just returned to the village. Darkness is coming."

Ignoring her words I scoop her up and toss her into the calf deep river. She surfaces sputtering river water. Her red hair is straightened some by the weight of the water but twisted about her like a new over dress growing from her head. I laughed a little, and then splashed out to meet her.

"See all clean now. My father counseled a bath today any way." I gave her another of my smiles, but it was not returned this time. Instead she launches herself at me. She pushes me down into the shallow cold water. I come up laughing and howling.

"Well played Esa. A good turn." She is staring over me. The white under dress now clinging to every part of her. I could see so much more now. There is a second patch of fire now visible between her legs. There were few rays of the sun remaining but somehow she still managed to grab them into her hair. I got to my feet and stood in front of her. She was breathing heavily and her face is obscured by her long red hair. I reach out and part it to see her bright and glowing smile. Without warning she reaches out and takes hold of my rope belt pulling it loose. She hooks her thumbs into my waist and yanks down my pants with a splash. Surprise and cold wind and water keep me motionless. Esa is a hands breath from me as she rises from the water. She attempts to stand, but collides with a previously hidden part of me. In the forge I wore no under garment to keep cool, and the leather apron for protection from the fire. Pulling down my pants has exposed all of me to the air. Though the water was close to freezing the day's activities and seeing so much of Esa, have kept me full and stiff. The length of me stood out straight and strong, directly in the path of the rising Esa. Standing, Esa brushes her hair and then cheek into my manhood. It surprises her, and she falls back into the water with another squeal.

"I think myself the wronged party now. One does not expect girlish squealing when presenting one's self to the world." Trying to find some pride, I move to raise my pants again to cover myself. Esa is there. She takes my hand from my pants and we both stand straight. She reaches for my head and pulls me down for another kiss. We come together and my length is pressed between us. I feel the heat of my own body and chill of soaked dress. She begins to walk me backward out of the river. I kick loose my pants, into the flowing water. I press my hand to her cheek and feel her shivering in the cold of the water and the air. I guess her mind, and scoop her back up into my arms. We do not break the kiss as her hands explore my hair and shoulders and neck. I move to lay her down into the warm furs but she breaks her lips from mine and speaks.

"Please. Let me finish what I began."

I place her down at the edge of the furs. She rises to her feet and motions for me to resume my lay upon the fur. I lie down looking up again at the body of Esa. The sun has fallen, so it is the crystal light of the moon that bathes her now. She bends at the hip and takes the hem of her dress into one hand. Rising she pulls the clinging cloth up her leg and slowly rises. When she is standing I can see her pale skin and the ruddy hair between her legs. This time her motion moves higher. She bundles the folds of the wool into her hands and then pulls the dress to her neck. She pauses for a moment. In the darkness I cannot make out her face clearly, but the rest of her is plain. Her body is all of the pale flesh I had seen so far. Her hips are wide and curved. As she holds the dress, her hips seem to roll from left to right as her weight moves between her legs. Moving my vision upward I see her healthy midsection though there is obvious strength beneath her curves. Her breasts are full and round. They spread from the center of her breastbone and seem to curve upward from the bottom into pale orbs. The nipples are dark against her pale skin and hard against the cold night. As my eyes return to her face, I sense she has the questioning look again, though it is shrouded in darkness and hair. I smile my deepest smile and spread my hands out into the fur. My man hood is a pillar before me and seems to ache at its root. I expected to see steam rising forth, though I could still feel the chill of the night on my cock. Strangely the cold air and water had not calmed me, as is common wisdom, but only increases the burning in my blood.

Esa pulls the dress over her head and threads her long hair through the neck of the dress. Her hair falls down and covers her breasts and comes just short of her rolling hips. She places her hands high on her waist and through the dark I can feel her waiting for something.

"You are a goddess." I speak in a whisper. I lift my hand out to her. She takes it and eases herself down to the fur. She lays at my left side. She lets her hand glide along my side from waist to chest where she rubs at the nipple there. I felt my nipples stiffen even harder and the ache rise from my groin out into my chest.

"Pull the furs around us. The night is cold." She speaks almost directly into my ear and it sends shivers running up and down my spine. I reach to the right and grab as many of the furs as I can. I roll over the top of her, pressing our bodies together. I feel my cock move between her legs. I pull the fur around and partially under her. We are wrapped now head to foot, and the sudden warmth is a blessing I didn't know I was missing. Esa sighs underneath me and squirms her bottom into the fur. She reaches up and pulls my head closer. She plants quick kisses about my neck and chin. I can feel her eyes looking for me in the dark.

"I...don't know how to begin." Her whispers into my ear spurn me to action.

I move my right arm down under her back and arch my own to gain access to her breasts. I slide my tongue about her chest. I focus on the nipple to my right as my left hand massages the other. My thumb rolls her hard nipple eliciting a moan that sets my hair on end. I move my smiling face back to hers. I kiss her long and deep, then move my lips to her ear.

"How fares these first steps of our journey?" She answers with another moan from deep in herself. Her hands reach between us and grasp my manhood. I let her play while trying to find her gaze in the dark. Here under the furs, in the dark there is little light, but I can feel her eyes questing in the darkness for mine. Her hands, having found their quarry, pull and rub at me. I feel something deep in me stir and tingle. My dangling seeds pull up against my body. Until now my legs had been to the outside of her and my cock between. I move my right foot up to find her feet. When I do, I press between them and begin to spread her apart. As I move her legs, my hands find hers and remove them from my cock. I pull her hands up over her head and hold them there with my left hand. My hands are much bigger then hers enabling me to enclose both her wrists in my one hand. I move my cock about questing for her opening. I find her wet slit and begin rubbing up and down, pressing about looking for the right place. She arches up her back and whispers to me.

"If you free my hands, I can help you."

I release her hands and run my now free hand along her side and then under her back mirroring my other hand. She reaches between us and puts her hand onto me, gripping the head of my cock. She maneuvers her hips and then simultaneously pulls me forward and arches her back again but at a lower place along her spine. I feel the different movement where my hands are, and my body responds naturally. I press forward and feel the head of my cock glide into hot flesh. Esa gasps beneath me and I try to catch it in my mouth. Our tongues fight like snakes. I press everything against her and feel myself moving deeper. At first only the head of my cock and then more of me. Her flesh presses in around me, forming to me. I meet resistance.

"Oh. Oh wait. It hurts." I stop immediately and try to remove myself from inside her, while my other hand moves to lift the fur and gain light to see what's happened.

"No wait." She whispers to me. "Just go slow. I am ready."

I relax again. I take a moment just breathing. The inside of our furs is thick with the musk of people, but at its core I smell her. Esa fills my lungs even as I press forward into her again. When I find resistance I push but so slowly. The flesh of my cock is compressed there inside her. Finally I feel the core of my cock connect into the resistance. She is panting and wincing. I know there is pain, but also there is need. A base fire that fills me. A heat that I feel pouring out of my skin like water. Suddenly the resistance is gone, and Esa cries out. I put my mouth over her mouth. She wraps her arms around my neck. I press into her more. I inch slowly into her and I can feel her insides move around me, accommodating my size. Finally I feel my groin meet hers. There's something else there, at the end of me that I can almost rub against. I move my hips a bit trying to feel it out. Esa gasps again.

"Wait. I'm so full. I need a moment." I can hear the smile on her lips. I dip my head again to taste her mouth. Her hands are moving around my back taking the shape of me. She runs her index fingers along and under my shoulder blades. She pulls me closer and whispers to me again.

"My mother told me a story. Her father's father traveled far to the south to find a mountain of fire. When he reached it he found a cabin at its base and a woman inside. The woman's hair was burning red with the fire of the mountain. She bade him enter and gave him the secrets of Tallow and the making of candles. She also gave him her body and told him, "In me is the fire of the mountain. Now it lies in you, and your line. One day another will come and take the fire and ignite the whole of the world." He came home with hair as red as the mountain, and it passed on to all his heirs. Now Geir Smithson, can you take my fire?"

With those words she puts one hand under my arm and the other around my neck. Her legs rise up and wrap around my ass pulling me into her, pressing me against the second resistance. I bury my head into the crook of her neck, setting my teeth there with no pressure. I work myself back away from her and then at the urging of her feet pressed myself back in. Her legs set the pace and my body responds. I feel myself sawing in and out of her moist slit. The flesh of her body becoming more and more inviting to mine. The wet sound of our love fills my ears. I was gasping into the junction of her neck and shoulder and she pants into my ear. Her breath there seems to spurn me on even more and I feel myself somehow become harder and fuller. Now her hands are grasping at my back. Now her nails are digging into the flesh of my back.

"More. Geir I want more."

I sped my motion into her.

"Yes Geir. That's it. Take it from me. Take my fire." The last was a yell that mixed into a long keening. With the sound, comes a heat and a wetness beneath me. There! I feel it. The heat seems to reverse. From flowing out of me, too streaming into me. This is a fire that burns in the whole of my body. Esa seems to go limp beneath me but I am all the more urgent for her lack of energy. I moved faster and faster, until the heat seems to settle into the pit of my stomach and molds itself there until it is the burning of the sun itself.

"Now Geir. Now." I release all I had taken back into her. I feel it ball up in me and then surge its way out of my cock and into Esa. I press deep into her again and again with each surge in the fire of my body.

"Esa. I think it's you who has taken from me. Or rather, I have given you all I have."

"Oh Geir. Thank you. I know I'll make you the best wife." I take a moment to breathe, even this small motion sends more and more pleasures from my root to my hair. Wait a moment....did she say...

"Wife!? What do you, I mean I suppose if you were to become with child I would do my duty, but there are no sure things in the making of children, or so I have heard."

"What!? But our plan Geir. I told you. My cousin said it's a sure thing every time in our family. All first born daughters conceive on their first night. I MUST be with child."

I could hear the distress in her voice. The near panic that was building there.

"Be at ease Esa." I whisper into her ear and stroke at her scalp. I can feel myself receding. Soon our joining would end. "It is too far into the night to find our way back to the village. We can think on this in the morning. It's all right now."

I feel my cock slide from her slit and I begin moving to her side. I gather her in my arms and stroke her hair until I feel a stillness settle over her. In that hot darkness of the fur, my hand strays to the hair between her legs. There I feel it again. The terrible heat that filled me. As I touch her, I feel it stir again within myself. It beats inside my heart. I move my hand to breastbone and feel the beating of our hearts in time. Eventually sleep find us both.

In the morning, I awake first. Esa has curled her body around me. The heat of our bodies has warmed the fur to an almost unbearable degree. I peel back the furs and look out into the world again. The sun offers only glimmers of its rising, but dawn is fast approaching. I extricate myself from Esa who responds with a whimper into the furs. I spend a moment thinking where my pants might be but remember they are somewhere in the river. I have only my leather legged apron. I gather it up and wrap it around my waist after stepping into the leggings. I gather Esa's clothing from the base of the furs and lay it beside her. I kneel next to her on the opposite side and stroke her hair until her eyes flutter open. I see the trapped sunrise of her irises again and smile down into that distant horizon.

"Morning. Husband." The word husband comes out in the barest whisper.

"Morning." I reach down and gather her head in one of my hands. I kiss her. I stroke her cheek. I watch tears forming in her eyes. Disappointment growing on her face. "When you are dressed. Gather your furs and come to the forge. My mother will want to meet my new wife." Her face blooms into a glow just as sunrise stirs behind me and I feel the warmth of the sun there and the warmth of my wife before me. I stand and walk back to the village.

When I reach the forge I see my father placing a block of steel from the smelting onto the anvil to be shaped. He stops his activity to take in the site of me. I must seem strange to come walking out of the forest at dawn, with not but a leather apron on. Father takes one of his heavy sighs, straightens, and begins walking back to the house. He speak without looking back to me.

"Your mother's been sick with worry. I'll tell her you're here and then she can eat you alive for your foolishness." I can hear the disappointment in his voice. The disdain for me. I walk to the forge and feel the solidness of the steel he's placed there. The heat of the forge seems to match the heat that now lays in me. I feel it settle into my stomach again. A pit of coals gone white with the heat. I go to work.

The heat of the forge never seems to bother me. I feel that I can match it with the heat inside me. I know my father and mother came into the forge, but I ignore them. I am forming the steel. The final shape of the steel is revealed to me just as the earthy scent of Esa fills my lungs again. I thrust my creation into the quenching oil and watch the steam roil out of the barrel. I fill my lungs again and the scent of Esa is full there. I find her sitting on a bench outside the door from the house into the forge. My mother is there beside her.

"Geir. This young woman was just telling me an interesting story about her ancestor. She..." Her words still as she looks at me. I'm looking at Esa. Esa has eyes only for me.

"Mother. This is my wife. Esa. She's carrying my child."

"Oh. I see. Well...It's nice to see you Esa. You are the candle maker's daughter?" I smile at them for a moment as Esa converses freely with my mother. I walk back to the forge and pull my creation from the oil barrel with tongs. I set to work with the small tools. I put grooves and design into the steel until I know it is a match of anything my father has made. I walk to the far side of the forge and take a rod of wood from the pile there. Measuring it to the length of my arm I saw off the remainder. Walking back to the forge I find my father admiring my handiwork.

"So. Is it finished?"

"It is."

"Would you do an old man an honor and let me mount it?"

"Father. It is my honor."

I set the rod of wood into the dirt of the forge and take my creation in hand. I place it at the sawed end of the pole and watch my father take up the blunted hammer. With one mighty swing he completes my first great work of the forge. In my hands I hold a double sided great axe. Each half bears a wicked half-moon. On one side is a carving of the mountain of fire, and the other holds the image of a bear sleeping by a river. My father takes the axe from me and hefts it in his hand. In a flourish he spins it about himself. The axe cuts the air and sings its first song in the hands of my father. In a final movement, he buries the head of the axe into a nearby support beam for the roof of the forge. The roof shudders and rushes fall to the ground all around him. He turns back to me. No emotion on his face.

"Tomorrow we'll discuss plans for your own forge, and what towns are in need of a smith." His words are like a warm embrace. I can't keep the smile off my face.

"Tomorrow father? Why not now?"

"Idiot. Today I'm going to get to know the mother of my grandchildren!" With those words, he does smile, and it is the most frightening thing I'd ever seen.