He rode back to Milan. He kept nodding off in the saddle. He rode through the waking streets, past the wives and cooks out to by produce, past the rakes sneaking back to their homes. He came to his forge where his apprentices were waiting, wondering. They would never dare start work without him. That… Read More Stiletto (fin)

The blacksmith turned his apprentices loose like wolves from a cage. Drunken wolves; drunk on their exhaustion they stumbled out from under the awning and into the street beyond. They went in every direction to their families, their dinner, and their rest. The blacksmith knew that the night before him would be a trial, and… Read More Stiletto (ii of iii)

The blacksmith wore a leather apron over the lightest of woolen shirts. Still he was slick with sweat. In Lombardy, in the summer, only bakers and blacksmiths stood over a fire. The demand for bread would never wane. In Italy, during the reign of the condottieri, neither would the need for iron. He was bent… Read More Stiletto (i of iii)