The Blacksmith

Been thinking about this one for a while, no promises! :) All Characters are 18+ Setting is like a game of thrones type era.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Feast

"I don't understand why this is the answer." I said to my father.

"Well, you said no to a tournament, and all the other feasts didn't work out for you." Giving the princess a knowing side glance.

"I said no to bloodshed, but opening my hand to the entire kingdom? Isn't that a bit far? None of the lords can even take care of themselves. What makes you think they can take care of me?"

"Dammit!" The king said in haste as he slammed his hand down on the table, instantly coughing up a storm. The old age is finally getting to him and his sickness is getting the better of him. Instantly reminding me of why he is trying to do this for me. After he was done coughing with the cover of his napkin he gave me another side glance.

"You will choose someone tonight or I will end up doing it for you. End of story. I'm done with your games, I'm too old for this shit. I need to know that my line of succession is going to keep going when I die." The king said, looking at his daughter with a knowing look.

I looked at him with an open mouth of shock. It's been four years of lords trying for my hand and my father gave myself his blessing to choose whom I want. I just haven't met anyone who treats me like a woman yet.

"Fine, but if your choice sucks, I'm going to have him killed." I look at my father with a smirk. My father grabs my hand and chuckles "I know you will, my little spider, just wait till I die first. Let's get this over with."

"Lads and Lasses of the kingdom, you may now present your hand to the princess if you may so choose to do so. The princess has the right of the land to deny any person and accept any title presented. By the time this feast is over my daughter will have someone's hand." My father said over the large room of people gathered for the feast.

"Whomever is first may come forward." My father continued. With a wave of his hand the King's guard shoved the first person in line forward.

"My king, my lady, it is an honor to be here!" I rolled my eyes at my father who just smirked and let the boy in front of us perish then be laughed off at him.

"I thought I was the one accepting people tonight, not you." I said to my father.

"You would have said no, I just made it faster for you. I think that little man couldn't even tie his own pants right for this, no?" I smirked at my father as I shook my head. That boy looked like he was forced to be here. I kinda pitied him.

"Next!" My father boomed. And on we went for the next three hours of lords coming up and being rejected. I was starting to get bored when my father nudged me with his elbow to show me something.

"What?!" I said as I was just about to fall asleep at my own feast.

"There he is. I knew he would show." My father gave a flick of his head towards the main doors."That's Lord Larkin, someone I've been trying to get you to meet. His family owns the mills and he is next in line to inherit their fortune. I told him you were looking forward to it."

"You what!?!"I didn't promise anyone anything hence the feast. I stared outside the window away from the line of lords and just took a breath. I didn't have any time to say anything back to him as Lord Larkin rushed to the front of the line, pushed by others, and opened his mouth to speak.

"My king! My lady." Lord Larkin exclaimed.

This is when I got the first look at Larkin and he really was something to look at. Looking to be around my height and soft around the edges, he looked entitled with his family crest adorned across his chest. His belly nearly poked out of his clothes.

He stood there with red hair, a pale face, blue eyes, not what I expected this Lord to be. I looked at my father as if to say "Really? This is the best you have for me?" but I keep my mouth shut. "It is a privilege to be here tonight." No it's not, it's free to be here. "I have since longed for the princess's hand since she was a mere child." Ok, red flag number two.

"The king has promised her hand tonight, and that would be my honor to take it. So princess, would you like to come back home with me tonight and get to know each other a little bit better." Larkin stepped forward and winked at me as he said the last bit.

Trying not to be too harsh as he is one of the better providers for the kingdom I say "Lord Larkin, it is an honor to have you in our halls once again. Yet, my hand does not seek yours, you are twice my age and look like you have been through four of your own life times. I don't think you'd be able to handle me." Larkin just stared back as if this is the first time he was ever being rejected anything.

"You misunderstand my lady, I will be taking your hand tonight." Larkin said with an evil grin. I look at him shocked and a little taken aback.

"That's enough Larkin, guards! Take him back home, I think he's had a lot to drink tonight." My father said with an edge to his voice. The dining hall was completely silent.

"Who's next?" My father said as Larkin was just being pushed out by the guards. My eyes were on Larkin as he made his way out the door, he gave me another evil grin on his way out. Giving me a shiver and a slight notion of fear.

"My king! My lady!" A man stepped up to the front of the table. Without looking I thought, "Really? Didn't you just hear what happened to the last guy who addressed us like that?", as I looked at the man who spoke.

Fuck me. Now this was a man. With his hips above the table and his arms down at his sides, he nearly filled out the whole aisle. He had my attention as I put my elbow on the table to lean my head on it. Fuck, I need to pinch myself.

"My name is Derrick Blackfyre, and I'm one of the Kingdom's blacksmiths." The man said as I could see his forearms bulging with muscle from the skin he showed and his chest filling out the shirt he was in.

"And why have I never heard nor seen you before Mr...Blackfyre?" I said to the man, finally looking at his face. Fuck. He is handsome too. He looked young or around my age with dark hair, a tanned face, chiseled jawline, and teeth good enough for not being a Lord.

"I was never invited. I'm not a lord, I'm a hard worker who will work for things that people need. I have other skills too, but mostly my value is in my hands. I heard about your past feasts and just thought I was never going to be good enough for you. The many rejections I heard about at my shop while working made me fantasize about you. What you looked like and how you sounded. I would have never thought the ice queen that I keep hearing about would look as pretty as you."

That made me smile. He even has the balls to call me an ice queen in front of my father. Maybe this blacksmith is more than just some eye candy for me. As I was about to breathe in to speak my father spoke first "Mr. Blackfyre it is an honor to have you here! Your father's swords he made for me I still use to this day! He surely was talented, tell me, did he pass down the knowledge of iron steel to you?"

I looked at my father with a pointed expression.

"I do not know the recipe of iron steel, it was lost when my father died some time ago." Derrick shut his mouth and looked at the ground solemnly. My father sat back in his chair seemingly more relaxed than when he was just questioning this man.

"Good...I mean... daughter what do you think? Surely this man isn't what you are looking for?" My father looks at me while he says the last part.

"I... I would like to see more of this blacksmith. Out of everyone in this room he was the one person to make me want to talk to him more. Actually want to see where things can go. So I'm going with him to his home to see if we are compatible."

"Not without the guards." My father said quickly.

"Without the guards. Come on, I'll be back before the sun sets." I say while getting up from the table I've been sitting for the past four hours.

"Fine. You hear that? You best take care of my daughter or else you won't live through the night."

"Ok really? There was no need for such threats. Surely Mr. Blackfyre knows how to take care of a woman. Let's go." Not bothering to change, I make my way around the table to stand in front of Derrick. I get a good look at his size now that I'm within arms reach of him. My face comes up to his chest as I have to slightly look up at him.

I give Derrick my hand and say "Ready to go?" He nods as he takes my hand and guides me down the dining hall, all the lords giving me disgusting looks as we pass by.

As we get outside, he leads me to his horse and helps me get onto it. Getting on after me, his chest nearly touching my back as he takes the reins and puts his hands in my lap lurching the horse forward.

I take in the silence around us as he jolts the horse towards the woods. He must've sensed my panic as I looked back at him with my hand on his forearm.

He chuckles and says "I live in the woods, it keeps people away who have no means of being here in the first place. It's ok." Derrick says as he takes his other hand to rest it on top of my hand on his forearm. He gives me a squeeze of his hand real quick then puts his hands back in my lap.

I look forward with a slight smile and blush. I didn't even have to ask and he knew what was going through my mind. I leaned back as I took in the scenery around me, secretly enjoying the heat coming from this man. After what felt like an eternity, we came across a small shack resting on a small mound with a large tree next to it.

"This is it!" Derrick exclaimed as he came to a stop just in front of the tree.

"This is it?" I say still on his horse as he gets down to tie off the horse to the tree. Looking at the dilapidated wood and darkened windows to look at him saying "You live here?" in a small voice.

"Yeah. It's by no means a castle, but it serves its function. The windows are black because of the smoke, this used to be just the shop, now it's my home too. I stopped casting my swords in there and did them outside as the smoke isn't all that great to go to sleep in." He shrugged and took my hand to get me easily off the horse.

"Come inside so we can talk more and get warm by the furnace." Derrick says as he guides me toward the front of his house. I could hear movement from inside as we got closer and started to clutch harder onto Derrick's hand. He noticed and chuckled.

"Relax. It's just buddy, he wants to come and say hi, I haven't seen him all day." With that he opens the door and a giant dog comes barreling out to leap up and lick Derrick right on the nose. I scream in shock, not expecting this large of a dog to come out of there, and get behind Derrick who is now holding the giant dog in his arms.

"Look who's here! Look who's here!" Derrick said, bouncing the dog up and down on his arms."Will he bite me?" I say with a small voice still trying to hide from the dog.

"Ha! He is more of a lover than a fighter, but will protect. He will just want to lick your face off of you if you let him so watch out for that! Give him some love, I promise you he won't bite. Isn't that right buddy?" He said looking at the dog, who then proceeded to give him more face licks. Letting go of the dog, buddy, looks up at me with his head canted to the side.

I try to go and pat him on his head but he comes up to lightly nip me on my arm. I yelp and look at Derrick as he gives me a smile first.

"You have to let him smell you first, just so he knows you don't mean him any harm, and to be able to help him distinguish your scent."

"Distinguish my scent?" I look at Derrick like he has three heads.

"Yeah, dogs have powerful noses and can pick up people's scents from a ways away." Derrick said.

"And he knows that I don't mean him harm?" I said to Derrick.

"He can sense it more than smell it, I have a feeling it's hard for you to actually hate someone unless they have done wrong in your eyes." I only met this man a few hours ago and I barely know anything about him.

He leads to his kitchen table and takes a chair out for me to sit in. He helps me sit in the chair and then goes to take a seat himself.

"So it's just you and buddy here? How long has it been like this?" I said as I got more comfortable in the chair and my hand gently patted buddy's head.

"Yeah, just him and I for about six years. My mother died when I was little when she got sick and could never get over it. My father took care of me and showed me his profession. Then one night he went to the brothel and never came home. I found him the next day outback at the brothel with a dagger wound to the throat. He didn't even have a chance and whoever did it just left him there. That's why I never go into the village unless I absolutely have to. I can't trust those around me like my father did, I can only trust myself and buddy." He smiled at the last part of his sentence as he leaned down and gave his dog some love. "So what about you? What is life like in the castle?"

"I..Uh... I have my girls that help me. My maids rather. They keep me updated with what's going on in the kingdom and outside of it. I sometimes live through them as I can never find the time to leave the castle. As my father's health declines, I have become more competent at politics and the ins and outs of the kingdom itself. Most of the recent changes of the kingdom that the commoners have liked has been done with my supervision and guidance. I want to help everyone, from the bottom to the top, I just have to know where to start."

"So you just see me as someone you can help? Someone to use as a starting point?" Derrick said with a pained expression.

"Well yeah... don't you need some help getting out of this shack?" He stood up.

"I can give you some help on finding new land for you, or finding enough space for your dog but also be there for you too." I said as he stood in front of me with his fist clenched to his sides.

"I... don't need your money, nor your land, nor space for my dog. This space is my land, handed down from my father. No, I don't want your help, nor do I need it in the first place. I think it's time I take you back to the castle." Derrick said with sadness in his eyes.

"Look, I just thought I could be useful here, isn't that why you brought me here? To help you out?"

"I brought you here to get to know you better but if I'm going to be just one of your experiments, I think it's time for you to leave." Feeling like I definitely overstayed my welcome I got up from the chair and was startled by a loud knock at the door.

"Hey Blacksmith! Come outside! I want to have a little chat with you!" Larkin spoke from behind the door, there were several other people with him as they were chatting as he said that.

"How do they know where I live?" Derrick turned back to me with an expression I couldn't read. The bangs on the door got more loud and consistent. Speaking through the knocks Larkin said "I know you have the princess in there with you. Just hand her over and we won't kill you!"

"I... I... don't know, they must have followed us here from the feast." I said looking back at Derrick with fear in my eyes and voice.

"Fine." Derrick says as he picks up his blacksmith hammer from the forge, and picks up a sword that was on the anvil, making his way towards the door.

"Wait!" I say in a hushed tone so the others outside can't hear me.

"They are going to kill you so just hand me over." I say then Derrick chuckled as he gripped both of his weapons tighter, not bothering to turn around and look at me to say "They are going to kill me anyway."

With that Derrick opens the door to have Larkin and his whole guard come rushing in to confront the blacksmith. Derrick backs up to stand in front of me as I have to look around the side of him to see Larkin and his men form a half circle around in front of us. Buddy starts barking next to me.

"Princess! Are you safe! Did he hurt you? Come back with me and I'll take you back to the mill where you belong." I cringed hearing me being at the mill and my words failed me as I shrunk back behind Derrick pulling him closer in front of me.

"She's safe. And doesn't look like she wants to be anywhere near you." Derrick said as he can feel me making small handfuls of his shirt on his back.

"She doesn't know what's best for her. She is still young and has that way of thinking. Her rejections in public mean nothing if I can have her in private." Larkin said with confidence in his voice.

"As it just so happens, we were about to be on our way back to the castle. When her father told her to bring her before sunset, why do you want to bring her back to the mills?" Derrick says as Buddy growls next to me.

With Larkin looking at me through Derrick he says "Your father told me if I were to show up at the castle I may have your hand. The many times you have rejected me in the past will all come back to you, when I take you with me back home. Today however, you have no say."

"Fuck you, Larkin! You're old and fat, that's why I rejected you. And you still talk to me like I'm a kid who can't speak for herself. I'd rather have the blacksmith here take me one hundred times over!" I said defiantly at Larkin, still clutching to the back of Derrick's shirt. Wishing my girls were here to save me from this.

"I think you boys got the message now, she doesn't want to be with you. So, if you would be so kind as to leave I don't have to tell the King that you were here and you can go about your merry way." Derrick tried to negotiate but seeing the guards take a step forward towards them he gripped his weapons ever tighter.

"Well lads, we will just have to take you back to the mill so we can get the truth from you, surely your father will have you wed to my hand once you're there. Take her, and kill the blacksmith." Larkin snickered as he drew his sword making his guards all draw theirs.

"Derrick just let them take me. I don't want this bloodshed on my hands." I try to step around him but his arm instantly stops me from taking another step around him. He looks down at me giving me a look I can't put my finger on and just stares.

My words die in my throat as I look back up at this man as time stops. The worried look of care from his eyes met mine as he kissed me on my forehead.

I barely have time to react before he charges into the group of guards closest to us leaving me behind. The first guard didn't stand a chance, as Derrick charged him first with a stab to the throat and a wild swing of his hammer to the other guard on his left, had them both immobilized before anyone could react. Derrick turned around with a swing of his sword and took out the other guard on his right without looking.

Now being a seven v one, Derrick took his sword and brought it up to his chest pointing at Larkin with it. With a deep breath "It's time for you to leave." Buddy barked frantically at Larkins men. Larkin looked at his guards now lying on the ground completely still, and with some fear in his eyes he said to his other guards "Get the girl and let's leave."

"You misunderstand, you and the guards will leave, or else you will wind up like these men here." Derrick says while he looks at the guards he just disposed of to look back up to Larkin with death in his eyes. Larkin steps back as his guards step forward toward Derrick.

One guard takes a swipe at Derrick which he dodges with ease and with a loud roar he brings the hammer down on top of the guard's head. Facing the next guard closest to him, he brought his sword around with such vigor the guard's sword broke with the force of the blow.

Turning back towards Larkin, with his back to me, Derrick steps back and flourishes his weapons. I look in awe and wonderment as I can't believe this is the man who came to the feast tonight. I start to get a tingling feeling in my core, I barely know this guy and here he is making me want to root for him.