It responds to you, Master Grey said. He moved to stand by the wall. Now you need to control that response. Magic is dangerous. My spells will contain it, but were you to get this badly wrong… the metal might consume you.

Consume me? Devin repeated. Iron and steel felt a long way away, suddenly.

The metal soaks in magic. It needs it to shape it, but pour too much in, and you might lose yourself, Master Grey said. Find your magic, boy. Channel it; use it to shape the metal as you work it. Start the smelter.

Devin wanted to argue, but this was the task that had been set for him. He needed to do this if he was going to earn his place within the castle. He needed to hand the sword to the king… or to Rodry. Either way, he would need to craft it first.

He built up the fire for the smelter, wood first, then charcoal, pumping the bellows, building the heat. He watched the flames, waiting for them to be the correct color to tell him that they were hot enough.

More than heat, boy, Master Grey reminded him.

Devin reached inside himself, trying to find the power that had come out so readily in the valley. It had responded to the metal, so Devin touched a piece of the ore, concentrating on that feeling. He could feel it, he could feel it. He tried to push that feeling into the smelter, into the flames…

He barely threw himself flat in time as flames leapt from it, scorching past him in a way that brought back the vision hed had of the dragon. Even as he struck the flagstones of the floor, Devin saw the protections Master Grey had woven flare into life to absorb the unleashed power.

I… Devin stood on unsteady legs. I cant do this.

You can, and you will. Patience.

Devin wasnt feeling patient right then, especially not when he could hear the sounds of people shouting in the castle beyond, almost as loud as if the place were under attack.

What is going on out there? Devin asked.

That is not relevant to your part in this, Master Grey said.

I want to know, Devin said. He stood back. What are you keeping from me?

There are many things I know that you do not, Master Grey pointed out.

Devin started toward the door. Ill find out myself.

Princess Lenore has been taken by King Ravins men, Master Grey said, in tones that held sympathy, but of a detached kind, as if none of this truly touched him. Prince Rodry has already ridden to rescue her, while her father is gathering men to march on the bridges to the south.