Beneath a sign depicting a hammer and tongs, the four travelers entered the open doorway of one noisy shop. Stiflingly hot inside, the shop brimmed with piles of weapons and arms in various stages of completion — swords, axes, daggers, spearheads, shields, byrnies, and the like. Metal filings and twisted pieces of iron covered the floors and shelves, and the heavy scent of charcoal drifted in the room despite the open door and the louver above the raised stone forge. A pile of charcoal occupied one whole corner of the shop. On the other side, hot coals glowed in the duck’s nest of the
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