Hector grumbled, reviewing his ledger with blissful frustration. Behind him, his strong, 12-year-old daughter, Aifa, led their whinnying mule around the forge pit. She gave it a glance of the switch in her hand and the beast quieted. In the corner, Adrut, a fat, older boy, shoveled the mule’s droppings onto a back pile before breaking to enjoy the taste of something crusty in his left nostril.
The wooden door burst open and in charged two men with curved swords and gleaming armor. The obvious spectacle failed to shock Hector, who set his ink nail down, brushed his brassy beard and waited.
“Blacksmith! We come for your best spikes! A man has blasphemed our most honored prophet by questioning his teachings. He will pay with his life upon a cross we shall build with them.” Hector didn’t recognize their crests but did notice the disgust with which the second man glared at his daughter while she labored.
Hector became ingratiating, “I have fresh forged nails only three days old,” pointing to a perfectly stacked set near Aifa. Then he mirrored the soldiers’ contempt and looked at his daughter, “But the girl crafted them since the boy, the true artist, is injured.” They smiled at the dumb-faced Adrut, still enjoying his nostril snack.
Hector continued, “These spikes were forged by him a fortnight ago,” pointing to a bucket behind the men with ill shaped nails of various lengths, “no female taint upon them! But they are more expensive.”
The soldier with a hair more sense, raised an eyebrow. Aifa, noticing, brushed her hands across the perfect stack and smiled. His sense departed, “We’ll take them!” Hector slapped his shoulder, “A manly choice!” Adding a line to the ledger, Hector took their coin purse and the soldiers departed.
Soon after, a beggar entered bearing a satchel with malformed nails poking through its canvas. He pointed inside, “Aifa, Hanan’s nails good for soldiers?”
“Yes, Hanan, they will fail when their cruelty has had its fill and no one is near to enjoy it.” Hector struck the line from his ledger while Aifa took the coins and handed them to Hanan, finishing, “For you and your daughters.”