Chapter Text
Jon didn't know what to think of what happened. A few days ago, no more than a couple of months ago, he was Ned Stark's bastard and now, well, he was still Ned Stark's bastard, but now he was a damn dragon rider. He didn't know how to process all the changes in him, not just physically, but mentally. First, the dragon had saved him from dying by the specters and then let him ride on its back. He had been able to fly in the skin of Luna or the dragon itself, but feeling the wind hitting his face was one of the greatest sensations he had ever experienced in his life. But that wasn't all. The second thing, he didn't know what was happening to him; His body had changed, not in appearance, but physically.
His new and supernatural strength, speed, vision, reflexes, stamina and, not to mention his supernatural tolerance to cold and fire on a smaller scale, but just as supernatural, had increased overnight. The strangest thing was how it had happened from one day to the next. He was dying, and the other one was stronger... stronger. When he emerged from the dragon's skin, he spent a day and a night with chills on his body, a cold that spread through all his bones that made it impossible for him to take a single step. And without taking into account its alteration between cold and heat, it was very strange to explain. Basically, it was as if from one moment to the next his temperature changed, from cold to hot, which coursed through his veins. He had believed that he was going to die, that he would not see the morning; but he not only lived, but became more powerful.
From barely being able to keep up or match the speed and strength of the others in his previous confrontations in which he had barely survived and that thanks to the possible help of Ghost and Moon, now he was not only able to match their strength, but he was able to match them in strength and speed, almost surpass her, in their fight against the walker about 6 days ago. And what astonished him most was how he was able to block and deflect an arrow fired by a wild woman he had taken prisoner so that he could interrogate her about the wildlings' wishes to cross the wall, whom he had freed when the specters attacked.
With a sigh, he looked down from the top of the mountains where the dragon had made its nest. He was surprised at how quickly the dragon had made its nest; It was a cave more than 300 meters around. The mountain was more than 4 times higher than the wall and the mountain had its treasures. Which had ruined his plans; It wasn't that they hadn't already done it. At first his plans were simple: go to the fist and warn them about the threat of the specters and try to convince them to negotiate with the savages. The dragon caused this plan to change; He could not allow the dragon to kill the savages to satisfy its immense appetite.
For the next few days after the dragon saved him, he was trying to "tame" or, rather, convince it not to kill anyone. His attempts led him to the most useful thing: the dragon's cave. Days after the dragon had saved him from a horde of thousands of undead and brought him to the mountains. At first, he decided that he would stay at the entrance of the cave in which there was a cavern, but he could not stand idly by while there was a possibility of him attacking the savages again. That's how he decided to explore the caves in search of the dragon, hoping to form a bond with it. He certainly wasn't expecting what he found.
At first I only found rocks and the occasional gypsum mine, not counting the crystals that emitted a light that illuminated the dark cave, but as I got closer I found bronze ore, steel mine, some silver and some precious stones that They gave off some light, and Jon did not explore the cave until the end; The dragon's nest was about 300 meters underground. And the cave perhaps measured more than 800 meters.
With everything he discovered about the savages, which wasn't much, and what he discovered in the cave, it was clear that he couldn't leave that easily; Steel was useful throughout the north, and silver would pay for food for the one who might be there. The longest and harshest of winters. With that in mind, he decided to make a plan on how to proceed. First, he had to control the dragon and, second, he had to help the savages, but he couldn't appear out of nowhere saying that he would help them, after he, or rather the dragon, had attacked them not long ago. 8 days; It was clear that it could not be done as if nothing had happened.
So he decided to settle in a cave and start forging tools. Their objective was to convert steel, bronze and silver ores into bars and transport them to the black castle. In the days that followed, Jon collected materials such as clay, mud, and stones. Their goal was simple: build a forge. The dragon was useful to him in moving materials, such as wood, clay, and pieces of river stones.For 7 days he tried to build a furnace for casting bronze, although Jon was not a potter, much less a great builder. But he succeeded after several failed attempts. Now he needed more resources, which brought him here.
Jon prepared to descend towards the dragon's nest with one thought in his head: he had to get the dragon to help him go get more wood for the construction of the tool molds. I didn't think it would be that difficult; after all, he had done it many times before. His descent was rapid; his enhanced vision helped him see better in the darkness of the cave. That and the light of the crystals created by the dragon gave it a touch of gloomy attraction that anyone with any common sense would not have even thought of continuing with its descent, not even for all the promises of wealth that were there. below, that and the sounds that came from the dragon.
Jon stopped to admire a crystal the size of a mammoth; It was beautiful, Jon. He could see his reflection in it. His face had changed since the last time he saw himself in a mirror. The baby fat that adorned his face when he left Winterfell was gone; His face had become more marked, his cheekbones and jaw had become more pronounced. His left cheekbone had a scar running across his eye and eyebrow, which had turned black from scarring. He thanked the gods that the shadow cat had not blinded him; His clothes were a mess, stains of blood and mud; There were claw marks on his chest. Those damn claws had gone through his black leather gambeson, which wasn't easy. That made him see again how lucky he was not to lose his eye. His features were those of a Stark, but he knew he wasn't. He sighed and continued on his way.
His descent took him to the dragon's nest; It was a huge round hole equal to or larger than Winterfell, in which there were hundreds of crystals that shone giving it a majestic appearance. In the center, a huge creature was curled up taking a nap. As Jon descended, the dragon uncoiled, extending its neck to its full extent, its eyes looking around; Her eyes fell on him. When she saw him, she lowered her head in front of him and, with a smile, placed her hand on his snout. —Hello, friend... or sorry, friend. —I tended to forget that the dragon was a female dragon. Do you think you can do me a huge favor? I need wood, do you think I can come in and get it?
Jon discovered that in order to change skin with the dragon and have some control when he was inside her, he had to ask permission. The dragon purred in agreement. Jon was about to shed his skin when the dragon pushed him with its head, causing him to fall on his butt. . Jon frowned at her. -What's the matter...? The dragon looked at him with an annoyed expression before twisting its enormous neck and pointing its head at itself. Through their bond, he sensed the dragon's intentions. He wanted Jon to put it back together; He hadn't ridden it since he saved it from the specters. And since then the dragon always seemed to want him to ride it again.
Jon understood, and felt a shiver of excitement or terror wash over him; He didn't know why, but he accepted, with a sigh of resignation he said. —You're not going to do me a favor if I don't agree to go with you, right? —he said with a smile. The dragon purred in agreement. With a sigh, Jon prepared to climb onto the dragon's back. His new strength and agility allowed him to climb up in a couple of seconds. When he was on his back, he was very impressed: it was almost as wide as the hall at Winterfell, with very protruding horns and spikes. that ran through his body. From the head, where 16 horns protruded in the shape of a crown, in the rest of the body there was a spike that ran along the neck to the tip of his tail, which was adorned with a kind of morning star of colossal size, which he was certain that he would destroy the walls of Winterfell with a single blow or, at most, two. Jon grabbed onto one of the spikes on his neck, which was as big or bigger than him.
When the dragon felt that it was ready, it began its ascent to the top; It took him less than it had taken Jon in his many previous promotions and descents. It didn't take him long to get out of the cave, and before long they were in the air. The wind on his face gave him a feeling of freedom, that he could do everything and more. His thoughts wandered to what his brother Robb would say, how he would react to the existence of mammoths, giants, giant ice spiders, skilled and non-speaking. of the incredible ice dragon. Even more important what the lords of the north and south would say, and even more important what they would say about him being the rider, what Lady Stark would say, smiling, imagining the face of Sept Mordane, the septon and Lady Stark in particular.
Now that he thought about it, having a dragon meant that he had dragon blood, from ancient Valyria, and that could only come from one person: his mother. His mother... He had asked his father for so long, so long he had always wanted to ask about her, and the only clue he finally had was so small and so big at the same time that it made him feel a bittersweet feeling. That would explain why his father wouldn't tell him who he was, or so he thought; after all, King Robert Baratheon was known for his hatred of the Targaryens. That would be the possible reason why Qhorin would know her; after all, a large portion of the night's watch members were ex-royalists, that meant her mother was a Targaryen or at least a Targaryen bastard. And that's why his father hides it from him. His thoughts were interrupted by the sharp descent.
His time flew by, literally, between flying in circles through the mountains or hunting and fishing. He discovered that dragons really like fish. They rested on the shore of a lake near which he had bathed. The lake was near a forest in which there was a herd of aurochs on which the dragon gorged. When they finished their journey, where they collected resources such as mud, clay and fish, before filling their skin with water, before preparing to remount the dragon to return to the cave. When he rode the dragon back, the dragon soon spread its wings and was in the air again. The dragon flew into the forest and, with its powerful legs, uprooted 4 trees as if they were simple twigs lifted by the wind.
Their journey was peaceful; The dragon flew over the clouds giving him a beautiful view of the sky at sunset. The sky was a wonderful mix of colors between a kind of purplish blue and a bright yellow-orange that gave a beautiful contrast to the winter sun. upon reaching the mountain that the dragon called home. The dragon flew over the entrance to the cave before dropping the trees which, when they hit the ground, made a huge crack. Without paying attention to what his actions did, the dragon turned around, then descended and entered the cave.
The cave was honestly beautiful in very disturbing ways and even more so from the back of a dragon; The crystals that extended until they were lost in the depth of the cave gave it a disturbing touch and at the same time an attraction that he didn't know what someone who didn't know what was down there would think or say. You probably didn't think that this place is the home of a creature that could change the course of history forever. Finally, their descent brought them to the entrance to the nest; Before entering, Jon couldn't help but see everything he had left to explore in the exaggerated cave. Jon dismounted; With the help of his new strength, carrying things became easier.
After taking the things off his back, Jon approaches his friend. —Thank you, friend. Because of the whole tour... I'll have to think of a name for you. "But thank you for everything," he said while caressing her snout with his hand. The dragon purred as a sign that she enjoyed his caress. —Well, now. "I have to go, but I promise to go out with you tomorrow," he said as he walked away.
He began his ascent; His thoughts wandered from the things he had done this day and the possibilities. Now he could go to the fist and make sure he got help from the guard. Maybe convince them that making peace with the wildlings would be the best way to win against the others. Maybe he could go to the wall and get Donal Noye to help him forge the ingots; While he could forge bronze and steel and transform it into swords, daggers, and some empty things like hammers, among other types of tools like nails, tongs, and the theory of how chain mail is made, all thanks to his time helping Miken, the blacksmith of Winterfell, and Donal Noye at Castle Black, that and his time in the libraries learning a thing or two about weapons and the history of the North and its wars. In the hope that his father would grant him some castle to be a bannerman for Robb, which never happened. But he gained the knowledge of how to manage and lead; the stories were useful to him after all.
It didn't take him long to reach his "room"; His room was a cave, which like a good cave let in the light from outside. It was already dark. Jon entered his room; Upon entering his chambers, he was greeted by Ghost and Storm. He had organized and laid out the cave; The oven was located in the center of the cave, to distribute the heat throughout the room. On the left side of the cave there was a hole at least 2 meters long, through which the light of the moon and the sun entered at their respective times. On the right side was his bed, and on one side were the things he had brought, all put in a sack covered with layers.Inside were 5 swords, 5 daggers, 2 axes, 2 small pickaxes, 2 whetstones, 5 sleeping bags, 1 cloak, tents, 1 wedge, 3 black leather gambesons, 3 saucepans, 5 pairs of leather gloves and 2 black steel ladles; he planned to use one as a crucible to melt bronze.
Jon dropped the deer from his back, Ghost and Storm. It didn't take them long to start eating. Jon approached the oven; It was a mixture of clay and stone interspersed in the shape of a cylinder with a hole at the top and bottom, in which the saucepan could be measured at the top and at the bottom it could put firewood, which could be covered with a lid made made of clay and on one side there were some holes through which I could see inside. It was about 3-4 inches thick. Jon removed the lid to look inside the oven, where there were pieces of burning coal. Jon had spent 3 days building a forge bellows; He made it with skins and some wood, but it still had some leaks. that didn't make him as useful as he wanted. But I had no way to do it. It had no tanned leather, no way to do it, it had no lime or salt. He shook his head and, with the help of a wooden "shovel", took out charcoal and placed it on the pile of wood, which soon caught fire. Jon placed 4 of the 9 fish on the fire. It didn't take long for the fish to be ready. And Jon began to eat. Like his skills, his appetite had also increased; If he was honest, he didn't complain about it.
When he finished satisfying his appetite. He set out to work on building the molds for the tools. He untied the sack and took an ax and its wedge; He was about to leave the cave when Ghost stopped him, who had one of the gambesons in his snout. —What's wrong with you, boy? No... —He couldn't finish because of a push that Storm gave him. When he turned to see what it was, Stormfly had the last of the cloaks in his snout. Jon finally understood what they wanted. "I guess wolves have a better sense of smell, and they don't like the way I smell." "I guess they don't like my smell. Okay, I'll change." It was true that he had bathed, but He didn't change his clothes. He sighed and took the clothes.
When he finished changing, he left the cave. When he left he found the trees they had brought; They were slender trees, of good size. Each one was as tall or taller than the walls of Winterfell, and they were as wide as the average chariot wheel. Although there were larger and wider trees in the forests, in fact, on his journey with the dragon he found a group of trees so wide and so tall that Jon was sure that the fat lord of White Harbor would kill to obtain them; With them you could build at least 50 galleys or more. These weren't as tall, but they were still useful.
Jon approached one of them and prepared to begin. With a strong blow to one of the trunks, he drove the wedge into its thick part; With the square part of the second ax he began to hit it, again and again, until a large part of the piece was cut off. When he removed the wedge. He began to strike with the edge of his axe; After a couple of blows, the first piece was cut. He repeated this procedure more than 60-70 times before the first tree was in pieces. I continue with the other trunks. It took him at least 3-4 hours and 3 more to turn half of it into slashes and boards; I took a break every 5 pieces cut. Jon didn't realize that it took him all night to finish; He supposed his strength, speed, and endurance helped him finish faster, after all he had never cut down a tree. He couldn't complain; After all this helped him complete his plans.
Jon set about moving some pieces, planks, and splits of firewood. He took one of the pieces in his hands and carried it to the cave. It took him an hour to move 8 logs, 20 wooden boards about 2 yards long by 1 foot wide and, finally, about 5 bundles of firewood, placing them at the bottom of the cave; Jon called it his warehouse. He wondered why he wasn't so tired. Well, he was tired, but not like a man should be after spending all night working. Although something he did feel was hunger. He still had 5 fish, and Ghost and Storm went hunting in the morning or afternoon.
It didn't take him long to relight the fire; He placed the fish in it. His thoughts wandered to his mother. And he wonders why his father slept with his mother. It was very strange. After all, his father must have hated the Targaryens; his sister was kidnapped by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, it didn't make sense to him. Maybe he did it to get revenge, although maybe his mother wasn't a Targaryen and she was a prostitute after all. The women of Lys were said to have Valyrian blood, and their prostitutes were well known.And something else, why not tell him, he didn't care who his mother was, he just wanted to know who she was, to know if she loved him or not, if she was alive or dead. Sigh: the fish were ready. He started to eat.
He couldn't stop his thoughts from wandering again this time as well as his brothers. Thinking about Robb was difficult and distressing; To think about him was to think about how the war was going: they were losing or they were winning, he was wounded or, if the gods forbade, dead. He shook his head and thought about his other siblings. It was simple, after all, they were relatively safe in Winterfell: They were Robb, Arya. and Sansa those who were in immediate danger. He let out a sigh; There was no use worrying, there was nothing he could do now. He had a lot of problems to deal with.
He stood up, walked over to his "warehouse", took one of the logs and began to shape the molds. He did one and the other; When he broke one, he took another piece and started again. There came a time when he ran out of wood and had to go for more. When he finished one, he placed it on clay which he wet with the water from his skins to make the clay molds. He made a chisel, a hammer, nails, tongs, swords and now a model of an anvil, which was a pain. While his hands worked. His thoughts began to wander; Jon couldn't help but think this was crazy. like one of old Tata's stories, with dragons, ghosts and white walkers; All that was missing was a princess to rescue and love. You shouldn't feel so upset if that were the case; after all he had always liked these hero stories. He always wanted to be one, to be recognized by everyone, as someone honorable like his father, to be like the heroes who saved the day and receive the love of a beautiful lady. I dreamed about it when I was a child. But when he realized that he was, according to all those stories, unworthy of love, honor and all kinds of laurels, he couldn't put any of that on his bastard name. He believed that he had left those dreams a long time ago, but the truth was that he was still as much or even more fond of those stories and songs than Sansa herself.
He let out a sigh. When he had finally managed to finish the anvil, which took him more than 4-5 attempts, the wooden anvil he had worked on was... it was simply misshapen, but hey, it served his plans. He approached and accumulated the clay in which he placed the "anvil"; A part of him was left out of the clay, but it didn't matter. Jon knew he had to sleep, so he walked over to his sleeping bag. Tomorrow will be a great day.
When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by a strong wind on his face; No, that was his face, in fact it was not his body. I was on... on Luna. Crows flew around him, cawing "Snow, Snow, Snow." His eyes fell to the ground; A gloomy sight greeted him. It was the fist. the fist of the first men. The last time Jon was in the fist, it was being reinforced to withstand the wildling army, but not to withstand an attack from the others, he thought bitterly. The fortifications were destroyed. There were 300 men of the night guard and 300 horses; Now more than half of the horses are dead and their corpses are scattered throughout the fist of the first men. But there was no sign of the men of the Night's Watch.
The tents were a mess: tents split with sword slashes on the inside of the tents; There were resources like swords and food lying on the ground. Around the tents there were blood stains in the snow, which gave it a gloomier touch. He continued his flight descending to the base of the fist, where he found arrows stuck in the ground, buried in the snow almost up to the feathers. He continues with his analysis of the surroundings of the base of the fist. At first he only found more traces of blood, the occasional arrow stuck in the snow or a tree, but nothing more than that. He was about to return when he saw a huge black spot.
When he came closer to see. Seeing what there was, he felt a chill run down his spine. There were thousands of ghosts; among them were his former brothers. Her bright blue eyes landed on him. Among them were men and beasts; There was a huge snow bear, towering over all the other experts. His eyes fell on the figures in command. which rode enormous ice spiders; The eyes of the others rested on him. He felt a strong tug before seeing nothing...
He woke up gasping. His first instinct was to go see the dragon. Mount it and head for the fist or the wall. But I couldn't. If the others attacked the savages like the men of the night watch, they became part of the others' army. I had to protect them. He got out of his sleeping bag. I had a lot to do. He prepared to see the molds.I walk in the direction of the molds. The cold of the mountain caused them to cool down faster than they should have. They were finally dry. He took the green powder, from which he extracted the bronze. And I place it in the cauldron. He took some planks and opened the oven.
He smiled when he saw that the coal was still burning. I place the firewood. And closed the lid. I place the steel cauldron filled with bronze ore. He approached the bellows of the forge and began to pump; He smiled when he saw the flames through the small holes in the side. Sigh. I had a lot of things to think about. The first thing was how he would protect the savages. He couldn't get close with the dragon. He realized what he had to do. Patrol the places near the camp. without getting so close. I didn't want to panic them. I could start from the north side. Since that's where the ghosts came from. He let out a sigh. —And here I thought everything was about to get better.
The sound of footsteps and something being dragged. They brought him out of his thoughts. It was ghost and storm; the ghost had grown larger since they left Winterfell. When they left his lord father's castle, Ghost was the size of a hunting dog. Now the wolf reached up to his hips and continued to grow every day. Storm was a little bigger than Ghost. Now it was still a little bigger. The two of them brought a dragged mountain goat. They left him at his feet. They both sat side by side, their faces panting and their eyes shining. —It seems they want to return the favor.
I take a dagger and cut off his part. He went to the warehouse where he took some pieces of firewood and began to arrange them in the shape of a pyre. When he finished, he approached the oven, opening the oven at the bottom, taking out a few pieces of coal with the help of his shovel. And I place them on the pyre and begin to blow; It didn't take long for them to light up. With his cleaver he cut the torso of meat into two-inch pieces, impaled them on a stick, and placed them over the fire; I wait until they are cooked. Meanwhile, he returned to the forge and began to fan it with the help of the bellows. I turn up the heat for about 20 to 30 minutes. when he was ready to remove the meat and start eating.
The taste of the food wasn't the same as Castle Black or Winterfell, but he couldn't complain; On the third day he had run out of supplies and had to improvise, but the food had no seasoning. But it didn't matter. He sighed and approached the forge; the bronze was already cast. He took 2 more gloves and put them on over the ones he was already wearing. And with the heat protection of the gloves and his newly gained dry protection, the cauldron poured the bronze onto one of the molds and repeated the procedure several times. until each of the molds was full. He settled down to wait for them to solidify.
Jon prepared to begin mining the iron ore. He took one of the pickaxes and his old cloak, and descended into the cave in search of iron. It took him a few minutes to get to where he found the first iron mines; With a couple of blows he extracted the first mines. I place the cape on the ground and form a sack where I keep the mines in it. He continued with the following mines doing the same procedure. When he filled the bag, he went up to leave it in the storage room. For the rest of the morning, he repeated the same procedure until he formed a pyre. when he finished forming a pyramid at least one meter high. Jon decided to see how the molds were.
He smiled and approached the tool molds; The cold helped them solidify faster. I take the wedge and the axe. With a couple of blows he broke the layer of clay that covered the anvil mold; the rest was not necessary. The one with the hammer only put two pieces together and then stopped. In the rest it was just turning the molds and a couple of knocks on the back. Causing them to fall to the ground. I examine the tools: the tongs and tweezers were two pieces that were joined with another piece in a rectangular shape.
The worst of all was the anvil, which had small protuberances that he set about correcting with the whetstone. For the rest of the day he was correcting those bumps; When he finished, he began to assemble the tools. with the help of a wooden plank and an axe. I set up the hammer. He placed the anvil near the forge along with the rest of the tools and prepared to eat the last fish, the last pieces of meat.
He sighed, and approached the forge, opening the door below and, with the help of the shovel, began to remove pieces of charcoal that were still burning. Sigh. He placed more wood on the fire, so that it would not go out; after all he had no more wine to light it again so easily. He approached the bellows and began to stoke the fire. When he finished, he prepared to sleep; this was a great day. When he realized: "I have to patrol around the wildling camp," he let out a sigh. I really wanted to sleep.
He started to go down while cursing. It didn't take him long to reach the nest; the dragon seemed to be asleep. As she got closer, he...well, she noticed. She raised her head and looked at him curiously. —Sorry for waking you up. But I need your help with something. —Do you think you can help me with this? -said. The dragon let out a soft purr as it lowered its head to her level in approval. Jon realized he needed to name it. —I owe you at least one name. —Let me think about it. —I promise you you will have one. —The dragon moved its head closer and Jon placed his hand on its snout.
Sigh. He mounted the dragon and, after making sure it was securely fastened, shouted: "I'm ready, let's go..." He couldn't finish when the dragon began to leave the nest. He noticed that the sky was covered by clouds, which did not let the moonlight through. It didn't take long for him to be in heaven. His flight was calm. At first he saw nothing; He flew around the wild camp, but saw nothing but trees, snow, some animals, and some clueless savages. But no sign of the others and their henchmen. He prepared to return to the mountain.
The dragon landed at the entrance. -Wait. -shout. The dragon stopped right at the entrance. —I'm staying here. —I can get off here. —The dragon crouched down. And Jon came down. —Thank you for all your help; Tomorrow we will do it again. —Jon entered the cave, got into bed and fell asleep.
The first day began with the forging of iron bars, swords, spearheads, arrowheads, chain mail and the most important thing for him: brooches for a saddle, that and anything he used. The procedure was very simple. The first thing was.
The first step is to prepare the ore for smelting. It is crushed into smaller pieces and, if necessary, cleaned of visible impurities such as clay or soil. At the same time, we collect charcoal, which is made by burning wood in low ovens so that it burns without oxygen and is reduced to pure charcoal.
The ore and coal are loaded into a furnace, a simple structure made of clay or stone that can reach high temperatures. It is placed in the furnace, forming a pile, alternating layers of coal and ore.
We turn on the oven and, with the fuel, we stoke the fire to reach temperatures of about 1,200 to 1,300 degrees. It is not hot enough to completely melt the iron, but it is hot enough for the oxygen in the oxides to be released by reacting with the carbon in the charcoal. What remains is metallic iron mixed with some impurities: the so-called sponge iron.
This porous and hot dough is taken out of the oven with tongs, heavy and red from the heat. We take it to the anvil, where the hard work begins. We hit the sponge with heavy hammers to expel the slags (silica impurities and other materials) it still contains. This process is called forging.
After a lot of hitting and bending, what we have is a wrought iron ingot or bar, a malleable material but still not that strong. To convert this iron into steel, we must introduce carbon into it. We do this by heating it again, this time surrounded by charcoal and keeping it red hot for several hours. The heat allows the carbon to penetrate the surface of the iron and mix with it, creating a surface layer of steel.
Finally, we repeat the forging process, hammering the bar again to homogenize the carbon content inside. This step ensures that the steel is stronger and more uniform.
Thus, after a day of effort and precision, we transform the raw earth into a steel bar ready to be turned into tools, weapons or anything that is needed.
During 15 days of hard work, he managed to make 20 steel bars. Each bar was 1.20 meters long and 2 inches wide and weighed 6 kg. He worked during the day while at night he patrolled in search of the others and their slaves. but he was unsuccessful in his search for the others. For some reason, the wraiths didn't seem anywhere. By day 10, Luna had returned, much to Jon's chagrin. The scroll he had written in blood was still in his paw.
Jon decided to continue forging more steel bars, and for that he needs more iron ore. That brought him back to the mine. Jon didn't know how many times he had gone downstairs for one reason or another in the last few days. If it wasn't for the dragon, it was for more iron ore. Sigh. He was starting to get tired of coming down here.
He began mining the ore, with some caution after all. No more than 7 days ago I had broken the other one. And he certainly wasn't that surprised; after all, pickaxes were field picks, not made for mines. His sack was almost full. When the sound of something breaking, followed by the sound of steel colliding with stone. He interrupted him. When I look at the ground, a piece of the beak on the ground. He let out a heavy sigh.
At least he could make another one; after all, he had the material and resources to make another one. He began his ascent; The sound of his footsteps was the only sound heard in the cave, and sometimes the occasional sound of the dragon, the crystals that at first seemed beautiful to him. Not now. They had enough of him.
When he reached his cave, he left the ore he had brought to the side of the furnace. He took one of the bars and approached the forge and began his task. First he lit the forge. I place the bar between the fathoms. I waited until it was red hot inside and white on the outside. When it was done with the help of the tweezers and placed it on the anvil, with the help of the wedge, which he placed in the middle of the bar. With a couple of blows he managed to split it in half.
I place the bar back into the forge fire, fueled by charcoal. I wait for the steel to turn a bright red, almost white color. This heat makes it malleable, ready to be molded under the hammer. When the steel is red hot, he takes it out of the fire with his tongs and takes it to the anvil. He started by tapping in the center of the bar to give it a spindle shape, wider in the center and narrower toward the ends. This will be the main body of the pickaxe.
In the center of the spout, I need a hole to attach the handle. Normally a special punch was used, but he didn't have one. So I put a nail into the hot steel and hammer it open the eye. He then enlarged and smoothed the hole with a piece of very thin river stone, making sure it was a suitable size for a sturdy handle. Although he knew it wasn't necessary.
He knew that a peak had to have two ends. A sharp point, ideal for breaking stones, and a flat or slightly curved end, useful for digging or tearing up soil. I work each end separately, reheating the bar when necessary. For the sharpened tip, hammer the steel into a conical shape. For the flat end, I tap and roll out the metal into a thin but sturdy sheet.
Once the tool is formed, the steel needs to be hardened to withstand constant use. I heated the beak again, concentrating on the tips, and then quickly dipped it in water. This sudden cooling supports the steel, but also makes it brittle if not properly tempered. To prevent the tips of the beak from becoming still, I heat it again, this time to lower temperatures. This process, called tempering, restores some flexibility to the steel, making it more durable.
Finally, I take the tips of the pick to the whetstone, where I sharpen them until they can cut or pierce easily. I also smooth the surfaces, removing hammer marks and any imperfections. The pickaxe is not complete without a good handle. He selected a piece of wood and sculpted it until it fit perfectly into the eye of the beak. Once placed, I secure it with wooden wedges so that it does not come loose during use.
He set out to test the hardness of the pickaxe, took a large rock and prepared to break it. He hit him. The beak withstood one of the blows; He started hitting him harder. When he reached the sixth blow, the hammer broke. -Curse. -Sigh. —I knew it wasn't going to work; water is not good for tempering steel. After all. —Miken always said that a good blacksmith should always use oil to temper steel.
Miken used animal fat oil, usually cow or pig, but here they had neither cows nor pigs. Deer or mountain goats did not have as much fat to temper steel, which was the most normal thing I could find here. I couldn't do anything... unless. He thought: "Unless I get whale oil or rather a leviathan."
He had an idea. But he needed his dragon. For that, his plan was to go to the Sea of Shivering and hunt a leviathan or several leviathans and bring their fat to make oil. That and maybe I could get salt. to be able to preserve the meat for longer. But he had to make several things before leaving...