THE DOOR
The rhythmic, deafening clang of iron hammers against anvils had always been the heartbeat of the Vanguard’s lower rings. But on the eve of the Canopy Festival, the Forge was entirely focused on a single masterpiece.
Mwajuma stood in the center of the open-air pavilion, her broad shoulders bathed in the orange glow of the roaring furnaces. She wore only her canvas chest-binding and her dark leather trousers, her massive, heavily muscled arms extended.
Chausiku, the Head Blacksmith—a towering woman with arms as thick as tree trunks and a vicious scar across her collarbone—stepped forward, carrying a heavy bundle of dark, glowing metal with massive iron tongs.
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