He laughed, and the cruelest thing was that his brother probably didnt even see it as hurtful. Rodry wasnt a man who went through the world with any care, after all.

Are you calling me a coward, Rodry? Vars said.

Oh no, Rodry said. There are some men who are meant to be out in the world fighting, and others who are better off staying at home, right?

I could hunt if I wanted to, Vars said.

Ah, the brave knight! Rodry said, and that got another of those laughs that no one there would see as cruel except Vars. Well then, you should come with us! Were going down into the city to make sure we have the weapons we need for the morrow.

And leave the feast? Vars retorted.

The feasting will last days yet, Rodry shot back. Come on, we can pick you out a fine spear so you can show us how to hunt boar.

Vars wished he could simply walk away, or better yet, smash his brothers face into the nearest table. Maybe keep smashing it until it was a pulp, and he was left as the heir he should always have been. Instead, he knew he was going to have to go down into the city, across the bridges, but at least down there, he might find someone on whom to take his anger out. Yes, Vars was looking forward to that, and to more beyond it. Maybe even to being king one day.

For now, though, the part of him that screamed to stay safe to avoid danger was telling him not to confront his brother. No, he would wait for that.

But whoever got in his way down in the city was going to pay.

CHAPTER FIVE

Devin swung his hammer, bashing it down on the lump of metal that was due to become a blade. The muscles on his back ached as he did it, the heat of the forge making sweat run through his clothes. In the House of Weapons, it was always hot, and this close to one of the forges, it was almost unbearable.

Youre doing well, boy, Old Gund said.

Im sixteen, Im not a boy, Devin said.

Aye, but youre still the size of one. Besides, to an old man like me, youre all boys.

Devin shrugged at that. He knew that, to anyone looking, he must not have looked like a smith, but he thought; the metal demanded thinking to truly understand it. The subtle gradations of heat and patterns of steel that could change a weapon from flawed to perfect were almost magical, and Devin was determined to know them all, to truly understand.

Careful, or it will cool too much, Gund said.