Chapter 58: A String of Mishaps and a Glimmer of Hope

Chapter 57: A String of Mishaps and a Glimmer of Hope

Sophia brushed a stray feather from her dress, her boots scuffing the frosted dirt path as she walked beside Victor through the Nightshade Pack’s bustling compound.

Victor glanced at her, his young face breaking into a grin.

"I don’t even understand how you did that," he said, his voice light with amusement.

Sophia shot him a look, her cheeks still flushed from the chicken coop fiasco. "They were vicious. I thought it’d be simple. I never knew chickens could be so...wicked and brutal."

Victor nodded, his grin widening. "Oh, I get you. One time, Ma sent me to fetch an egg from our hen. But she chased me and my brother out because, according to her, we lacked the technique and disturbed Madam Chicken’s rest."

Sophia managed a small smile, her nerves easing slightly. At least he understood.

The chickens weren’t entirely her fault, those sharp beaks had it out for her. The shattered plates in the kitchen and the mangled carrots in the garden, though? That was her clumsiness, fueled by the knot of nerves in her stomach. She released a breath of air in frustration. She had been the one to request this and she was fumbling the opportunity.

How she had even mistaken salt for sugar, she would never know. Her hands still school from her ideal in the kitchen and a save of shame washed over her. But since she wanted to be helpful, she decided to check the next place.

"So, where next?" Victor asked, adjusting the parchment tucked in his belt.

"No idea," Sophia admitted. "Any suggestions?"

"Blacksmith, maybe?" Victor said, pointing down the path.

Sophia sighed, tugging at her dress. "Yeah. Let’s hope I don’t burn it down."

Victor chuckled, his laugh boyish and kind. "You’ll find something that resonates. Something you can do."

"Really?" Sophia raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

"Yeah," Victor said, nodding earnestly. "My brother was like you at first. Cook sent him out with a stick because he almost burned it down. But now he’s with the hunters."

"The warriors?" She asked.

Victor shook his head. "It’s divided into two. We have the warriors/guards and then the hunters. They have skills at fighting too so they train with the warriors and everyone just ropes them in as warriors but they are different. They are the ones with the pink coloured earrings. They mainly hunt for food outside the compound."

Sophia nodded. She had always suspected that the earrings and their colors signified something and Victor just explained it.

"If only I had guts like your brother, I would have tried being a hunter." She told him.

Victor laughed at that. They approached a squat stone building, its walls blackened with soot, the air thick with the tang of molten iron. A tall chimney released dark smoke, curling into the gray sky.

The iron door, etched with glowing runes that pulsed faintly, creaked half-open. Inside, various massive anvils stood at the room’s heart, its surface pitted and scarred from years of hammering.

Racks along the walls held tongs, hammers, and half-forged blades, their edges glinting. A roaring hearth glowed with red coals, casting flickering shadows. Tools like chisels, files, and bellows littered the stone floor, and a sturdy wooden bench held molds for arrowheads, daggers, some still warm from the forge.

There were a good number of people in the forge. Some hammering, some cleaning but everyone was busy but what caught Soohia’s eyes was the huge woman who stood at an anvil, hammering a glowing blade with rhythmic thuds.

She was a towering figure, her broad shoulders straining her leather apron, her red hair cropped close to her scalp in a practical low cut. A jagged scar ran across her exposed forearms, puckered and pale against her tanned skin. Her calloused hands gripped the hammer with ease, and a leather cord tied with a purple bead hung around her neck.

She paused, wiping sweat from her brow with a muscled arm, and fixed Sophia with a stern gaze.

"Who’s this?" She asked, her voice booming over the hearth’s crackle.

"Um..." Sophia swallowed as the women’s base fixed on her.

"I’m Sophia." She told her.

"Mary. I know who you are. I’m just surprised because you’ve never set foot in the forge. What’re you doing here?"

Victor stepped forward, handing her Orion’s parchment. "Alpha Orion’s orders, Elder Mary. Sophia’s helping out."

Mary scanned the parchment, her eyes narrowing, and let out a grunt. "Not much to do with the festival three days off. Polish those daggers, then. Don’t touch the forge." She pointed to a rack in the corner, where a dozen blades gleamed.

Sophia nodded, grabbed a cloth and a dagger, and started polishing. Her hands shook, and the dagger slipped, clattering into a coal bucket. The bucket tipped, spilling coals into the hearth. Sparks erupted, and a rag on the bench caught fire.

"What in the goddeses name!" Sophia heard someone explain as she rushed to put out the fire but Mary wasn’t having it.

"Get out!" She roared.

"I’m sorry. I’m sorry." Sophia said with her head bowed.

"Sorry doesn’t fix it. One small mistake and this is what we get. Mistakes detrimental to people’s health aren’t allowed here. See yourself out."

Sophia stumbled out, her face flaming in embarrassment. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Victor followed after her. "That was..."

"I know." Sophia said with a sniffle.

"Let’s go to the medical facility next." Victor said with a small smile.

Lysander was outside when they got there and Victor held up the parchment, passing it to Lysander who went through it as Victor spoke. "Elder Lysander, Alpha Orion says..."

Lysander cut him off with a laugh, his eyes twinkling. "No way. I see my wife’s chaos in her. She’ll wreck my herbs, my salves, everything. Out you go."

Sophia’s jaw dropped. "I didn’t even..."

"Nope," Lysander said, waving them off. "I saw what you did with cook."

"How?" Sophia asked him.

"I went there to get something for Brynhild and was able to witness the disaster. It reminded me of Brynhild a bit and you don’t suit the medical facility, hell, you’ve never even met with me about your condition." He told her.

"I..." she began but he shook his head.

"Nope, no way." Lysander said to her.

She released a sigh. "Fine."

Victor turned to her. "How about the laundry?"

"Alright."

They reached an open yard by a rushing stream, where tubs steamed with hot water and clotheslines sagged with linens. Victor showed the parchment to the person in charge who thanked them both because they needed the help.

Sophia grabbed a tunic, scrubbing it in a tub. Her foot slipped on a wet stone, and she stumbled, splashing water everywhere. A washerwoman, her yellow headband damp, cursed under her breath.

"Sorry!" Sophia said, stepping back, her dress soaked.

The washerwoman waved her off. "Just go."

Victor sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Charm workshop now."

"Charm workshop?" Sophia asked curiously.

"The priestess heads it and it’s right next to the shrine but we just call it charm workshop because she creates charms there."

They walked to a small hut, the air heavy with sage and melted wax. Inside, an older woman with sharp gray eyes and a young man carved runes into stones, herbs sorted in neat piles. Sophia stepped inside. Victor showed Madam Tyler the parchment but within minutes, Sophia was sent out because she asked too many questions which disrupted the work. Even when she promised to be quiet, her curiosity always got the better of her.

They tried the carpentry shed next and Sophia noticed the earrings were the same deep purple as the blacksmiths but with white surrounding it. Sophia was sent out within minutes because she had mistakenly dropped a hammer on the person showing her the ropes and almost cut someone’s hand.

"I don’t think I’m going to be like your brother." Sophia told Victor.

It was like disaster followed her everywhere. How was it that she couldn’t get something right? It wasn’t even that hard.

"Perhaps I never should have gotten this idea." She muttered as she relaxed against a stone, releasing a weary sigh.

"I’ve shown you almost everywhere and the rest want nothing to do with you because the news about your disasters has spread around." Victor told her.

"So in the end I’m a liability after all." She muttered to herself.

"There is one last place but they don’t accept people that easily and it’s in a secluded corner." Victor told her.

"Maybe the news about my disasters hasn’t spread to them yet. Lead the way." She told him.

They walked as if going towards the end of the pack compound. The further they walked the fewer houses lined the grounds. The ground was a white blanket as they walked on a pathway.

No noise could be heard around this place. They finally reached a looming three-story stone building, its arched windows framed with carvings of wolves and crescent moons. Ivy clung to the walls, dusted with frost, and a polished oak door bore a glowing rune that shimmered faintly.

A wooden sign read "Library" in carved letters.

Sophia’s eyes lit up. "A library? Books? I can work with books!"