Bromek hears metal. This is not a figure of speech. Iron complains, copper gossips and aurite sings. Bromek says that is the worst part of his job, because aurite sings off-key.
One morning he was forging a sword for Elira. The blade was done before noon. Any other smith would have stopped. Bromek put his ear to the steel and frowned. "One more hit," he said. "One more and it will be perfect."
Kaedra, his apprentice, rolled her eyes. She had heard that sentence seven times that week. She sat down on a barrel and started counting.
On the eleventh strike the sword began to hum. On the twelfth it hummed true. On the thirteenth Bromek smiled, which happens less often than a solar eclipse. On the fourteenth the blade snapped in two with a sound the villagers still talk about.
Bromek stared at the two halves for a long time. Then he lifted one of them to his ear. "Hm," he muttered. "It says it was perfect at thirteen."
Kaedra wrote that sentence in chalk on the forge wall. It is still there, next to the list of every sword Bromek ever finished. The list is short. Every sword on it is a legend.
In Crownforge perfection pays more than "good" and "very good". The villagers say it is Bromek's rule. Bromek says it is the metal's.
A legend of the world of Crownforge. Game features are described with their status on the other pages.
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