Chapter 14The glow of the furnace further reddened Loman’s already flushed face and went on to paint his shadow grotesquely across the wall and ceiling of his forge. There, another shadow mingled with it to complete the painting and turn it into a small dark mountain range.
The acrid tang of hot metal filled the forge and the furnace murmured restfully to itself, the radiant stones occasionally chuckling and rearranging themselves in a small flurry of sparks.
Loman straightened up and wiped a grimy arm across his glistening forehead. He did not like to be disturbed when he was working.
‘What?’ he asked, irritably.
The mountains shifted ominously as Gulda, scowling, lifted her head to look at him beadily. The master smith rested the head of his hammer on his anvil and, leaning on it, me
