Revenge of the Wandering Blacksmith

[一人で Aldis]

They came for him literally minutes after he had pulled a cloak over his newly forged sword and shield. He didn’t draw his sword when they came. He hefted the shield he had fashioned with a sharp steel spike. They weren’t expecting him to be ready for them. They were right. Aldis had been awake for days forging and muttering to himself. When he pulled on his gray tattered cloak it completed the image of a dirty foreigner. They must have practiced it a hundred times. Their entrance into the barren forge was dramatic, striking even. However, they were expecting to confront a swordsman. Not to be swatted to the ground by a heavy spiked shield wielded with the strength of a blacksmith.

Aldis hadn’t killed anyone before. Everything he knew about fighting came from his days as a young man in his village, and the training Muramasa had forced on him. No, forced wasn’t the right word for what happened to him. Muramasa held his training as a hostage, and made him defend himself again and again. If he didn’t fight he couldn’t forge. So he beat them to death with his shield, it’s five inch spike punching holes in their bodies. Aldis didn’t stop until he heard a sound he hadn’t heard before. It was a dark laugh, and it was coming from him.

The madness that had spread from Muramasa into Aldis had finally taken hold over his heart. When he was threatened, forced into a conflict it took over blinding him from what was happening. He looked down at his shield, at his cloak, and at the mangled bodies on the floor. When the realization of what had happened came to him, he started shaking. He fled the empty shop, wiping clean his shield and cloak before going.

Aldis didn’t know where to find the man who had abused him, then left him to deal with his enemies. Muramasa had shielded his student from the outside world while he was there. All of his training combat and crafting was done indoors. His ignorance could have gotten him killed, and it would continue to hinder him if he didn’t start moving.
His only shot at finding Muramasa was to track down people that knew him; his first chance was going to be a man who had bought a lot of their swords over the years. So he began making his way to the Nagato Province.

[一人で Aldis]

The first time it happened, Aldis was stirring a battered cooking pot over his campfire. He had been on the road towards Nagato for a few days. He wasn’t thinking about his meal that night, but of the men he had killed. When he looked back on it, he remembered it if seen through a film of red. He couldn’t remember how many times he had hit them, even after they had died under the weight of his shield. He heard a loud buzzing sound, it was confusing at first, and then he realized what it was. A purring sound made by a cat. The sound became unnaturally loud. It wasn’t being perceived by his hears, because when he plugged them it only grew louder. He felt his bones vibrate as the sound filled him.

“You hit them twelve times, it was a delicious sight.” A throaty voice, which any other day he would have deemed sexy, sounded in his head, replacing the purring sensation that had moments before enveloped him. He reacted the way anyone would. He jumped, his eyes going wide; he looked around for the woman who spoke to him. All he found was a tiny cat sitting before him at the edges of where the light from the fire could reach. He recognized that cat. It was a kitten he had took into the forge weeks before.

“S..s..Sparkles?” he asked in a shaky voice. Humor coated her response,

“Oh, now you remember me.”

She padded forward obviously warming herself on the fire. She stretched the way cats do before curling up by the fire. He watched the kitten, wondering if she would say anything else again, if he was imagining it there. After several moments of rude staring he finally went back to cooking his dinner. She didn’t make a movement until his dinner was ready. As he began spooning food into a small trail bowl she sniffed the air and bounced over to him, eager for her portion.


(Recruits Sparkles)

[一人で Aldis]

(Taken from another thread, plugging the gap in the story)

Jul 23, 2012 0:27:54 GMT -5 一人で Aldis said:

Aldis yelled at Sparkles, "No! That's my food." Sparkles didn't care. She ripped at the chicken leg with her tiny teeth then dashed away with a sliver of white meat. He glared at the kitten, always stealing his food. She could hunt mice, but why do that when Aldis always cooked his. He picked up his food and ate it as he walked. He was nearing a fairly big settlement of people. Nagato, was his current destination. He'd need to find a way to gather people to his cause, but first he'd have to figure out what that cause was. Kill Muramasa.

He finished his food and found kitten sitting on a small hill, looking a frog right in the face. He didn't know what they were doing, but he scooped Sparkles up and set her on his shoulder next to his long ponytail. She gripped his shoulder with three small paws, her claws now sheathed into his shoulder. He gritted his teeth and ignored her, It was only a small pain, and despite her deviant behavior she was a good companion. As Aldis closed the distance between their small encampment and Nagato he could have sworn sprinkles turned and waved at the frog as they departed.

It took several hours for Aldis and Sparkles to Nagato. Despite how close he thought they were, he had been wrong. He knew how to make some of the finest weapons in this region, but guessing distance seemed to escape him. He stopped in at the local crafting hall. There were many different types of craftsmen here. He spoke to all of them. He appealed to their greed, about how much money they could make from the works they would all design and bring into the world. They wouldn't be soldiers persay, but together, they could possibly build a death machine...

After exiting the craftsmen's market area Aldis saw what appeared to be a tavern. As soon as he figured out what the place was, he realized his throat was dry. "What about you Sparkles, are you thirsty?" Sparkles ignored him, but she wasn't purring. There were people around, and Sparkles might be getting something to drink, this was serious business.

He opened the door and made his way to the bar. Again as he entered a public place he felt it. The taint of foreigner. Do not trust was written on his forehead. Several hands went to their knives as he passed tables. He shook his head and ordered a glass of whatever they were selling. On his way to Nagato he had done some repair work in a forge. The blacksmith had been sick and needed someone to step in for him. It wasn't a lot of money, but It was work he loved, it reminded him of making nails as a young boy in his home village. He was given a cup of cloudy amber liquid and offered some to Sparkles, she sniffed it and wrinkled her knows before licking it. "Good enough for sparkles, good enough for me." Aldis told the barmaid before drinking down a big gulp.

(Recruitment Post)

(directly after going into the tavern)


After refreshing himself in the tavern Aldis needed to figure out what to do. He had persuaded the crafting guild to follow him. That was a start. If he was ever going to take down his old master he would need fighters. His safety was what he had been worrying about since the two thugs tried to kill him in their old shop. He needed people to surround himself with. Those that couldn’t be persuaded with greed or fear. People as mad as he was. He gathered those in his force that were young and ready to fight. A man a few years Aldis’s junior had a map. His name was Kenichi. He pointed out several asylums throughout the province.

They traveled by day and struck each asylum by night. Sparkles chuckled and said,
“Oh but you do bring me to the most interesting places." When they made their way into the madhouses they were forced to kill the orderlies, doctors, and nurses. Aldis kept an eye on Sparkles; it was like she was drinking in the atmosphere of fear, madness, and rage. She piped up again as they began releasing the first of the condemned. “Ah, I’ve seen that look in your eyes.” That’s what he began calling them, the condemned. Society had seen fit to lock them up and throw away the key. The doctors had their own agenda, experimenting on them.

Those that he set free chose to follow him. After hearing stories of his evil master they began to place all their anger and hatred for their dead and dying doctors on Muramasa. He and his new fighters camped out in the woods outside of Nagato. He sent the men who had come with him from the crafting guild back to their homes. While they were still in the area, those that had homes could stay in them. He felt safer surrounded by hundreds of mad men than he ever did in his home village.

(recruitment post)

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