It's been almost thirteen hours that I am nineteen years old... Yeaaaah... I don't like getting older.
Chapter 9: A price to pay
Will pushed open the door, and walked into the smithy.
He could hear the sound of a hammer on metal, but couldn't see Brown just yet. The anvil was too far to the left for him to see it, after all...
The place hadn't changed much, besides the fact that there were considerably less empty bottles lying around. The donkey wasn't the same either, he mused as he called to his mind his recollections of his first time at the forge.
"Excuse me?"
He had figured it might not do to call Brown by his name, even if it was written on the sign hanging outside, when he wasn't supposed to know the man. Yet. That is... whatever.
Because before his mind had become constantly clouded by alcohol, the blacksmith had been pretty suspicious. Usually, for reasons that weren't even logical to think of. And that led the smith to be a bit too nosy, for Will-the-undead-man-that-had-been-thrown-back-in-time to feel confortable with.
Not that Will had anything to hide.
Right?
A voice to his left called out to him between two pounding sounds.
"Over here!"
Ah, the glorious memory of the not-so-drunk-and-not-so-decrepit Andrew Brown! Despite the man's indiscretion, William was very happy that he would be dealing with this Mr Brown, rather than with the snoring, drinking, vomiting version of the future. At least, with this one, he could speak.
When he joined the man near the anvil, the former captain of the Dutchman could only see his back. If Andrew Brown had always been short, he had not always been as fat as how Will remembered him to be the last time they had seen each other. Actually, the thirty-seven years old blacksmith was kind of skinny, for now. He hadn't lost himself in rum.
Yet.
If Will remembered well, it had only lasted two years, the first time around. The smith had been stuggling financially, and Will had been around to do all the cleaning, leaving Brown to have too much worries and free time, resulting in heavy drinking.
"Just wait a little while, I finish this and I'm all yours."
So William waited, watching appreciatively the simple yet well balanced sword that Brown was currently making. Despite his flaws, Mr Brown was a good smith. Even if Will believed he had been a particularly good student, he also knew that if the blacksmith hadn't been a good teacher, he would have never gotten as good as he was now. When he thought about it, it was truly a shame that the man was to become the wretched shadow of himself that he remembered...
Eventually, Andrew Brown put aside the sword, and looked at the young man that was waiting for him.
Something immediately struck him as odd, about the stranger's outfit. It looked like... there were good and bad pieces of clothing, and most were not the right size either. As if he had been lent some clothes to wear. The blacksmith frowned.
He frowned even more when he saw the small sword at the stranger's hip. It was a work of good quality, no doubt. A work of art, even. It surely cost much.
Then his eyes fell onto the tiny burn on the side of the young man's right hand.
Brown squinted.
"Got burned while working, eh?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"This burn, on your hand. You're a smith too, aren't you?"
William brought his hand to his face, looking for the said burn. When he found it, his eyes lit up. He had completely forgotten about it. It had happened so long ago... Before he had become the way he was now, and so the burn had never disappeared, for his immortality kept him in the same state he was when he had died.
"Oh, that? Back when I was an apprentice, someone came in while I was working, and it surprised me. Anyway, Mr...?"
"Brown. Andrew Brown."
Will smiled wildly, knowing full well what his former / future / whatever master was thinking about right now. Surely it had something to do with unwanted new competition in Port Royal.
He'd better reassure him quickly.
"Mr Brown, thanks. Yes, I am a blacksmith. I'm only in town for one or two months, and I have a child I'd like to place as an apprentice. I can't take him myself, for I will be moving around quite a lot in the next years, but I heard you are searching for one...?"
The other blacksmith seemed to relax as soon as Will mentioned he was just there in passing, but he became tense again when the subject moved to the offered apprenticeship.
For the first time, William noticed that even if Brown wasn't yet an alcoholic, he already seemed worried about something. Was the business truly that bad? The young man wouldn't know, for back in his time, at ten years old, he hadn't been paying attention to this in particular. Too young, probably.
Brown moved over to sit on a chair, the very chair that would many times support his drunken form in the future. The smith sighed, gesturing to Will to take another seat and join him.
William did so, intrigued.
There were ten seconds or so of silence, before the smith talked again.
"How old is he?"
"Around ten years old. He was rescued by the captain Portwell after his ship was sunk by pirates. He has no family left, but I have taken a liking to him during the journey to Port Royal."
Andrew Brown stopped himself before he asked the next question he had in mind.
"Wait, you were on the Dauntless? You don't look like a Navy man, and you've just said you are a blacksmith. So what were you doing..."
Will, feeling he'd better indulge to the smith's inquiries, as to not make him think he was actually hiding something... even if he was actually hiding something... Will answered almost truthfully.
Well, at least it wasn't a lie. Sure, it wasn't the whole truth either. But the whole truth wasn't Brown's business in any way, so...
No, it wasn't that he was starting to feel bad for all the lying he had been doing lately. Certainly not.
Or maybe a bit. A little bit. A tiny little bit.
"I was rescued by the Dauntless too."
"Oh."
"Yes, exactly. Oh. Anyway, the boy's name is William Turner, and he needs a place to stay, and a way to live, if anything. He's a bit shy, he has been frightened by those pirates, after all, but he's willing to learn, and not too bad with his hands."
Will stopped talking there, and observed the other smith's reaction.
Brown hadn't denied that he was searching for an apprentice, but he still looked uneasy, as if somehow... As if somehow, he couldn't afford one, even if he needed one.
"You say he has no family left?"
Will nodded, and once again, the blacksmith sighed.
A thought came to William's mind. He looked around, while Bown was off thinking about things he couldn't fathom what they were. Or more accurately, he wouldn't have fathomed, if he had still been a ten years old himself.
There was a layer of dust in the smithy, except near the anvil and the most used tools. Several blades and other productions were all over the place, and yet he couldn't see much raw metal anywhere else. Brown looked very, very tired... and very, very worried.
"Mr Brown... Are you perhaps having money problems?"
The smith jerked up on his seat, his back stiff and his eyes suspicious.
"Why are you saying this?"
This time, it was Will who sighed longly before answering.
"You haven't taken the time to clean up the forge in a while, the dust says it all. You have many orders finished, but you're almost out of materials, and yet you're still working on new ones. You're looking for an apprentice, and yet you are hesitant to take one. I'd say you are not experiencing a lack of customers, but difficulties to pay back a debt or something of the same order. Taking in an apprentice would allow you to gain time, and finish your orders more quickly, so that you'd be paid sooner, and with the money you could pay back what you owe. But taking an apprentice wouldn't make you work faster soon enough, because you'd first need to teach him how to do everything except the simplest tasks. Moreover, you'd still have to at least give him a place to stay and meals to eat. The place isn't a problem, for there is an attic above the smithy, but the meals are costly."
The face the blacksmith made was enough to confirm Will's thoughts. Brown really was in a tight spot...
And that had just given the young man an idea.
"In other words, you need to hire an apprentice to pay back what you owe, but you can't take an apprentice since you already are in financial need."
Will stopped one instant, just to confirm one last time what he already knew, before he started talking again. He wasn't sure how Brown would take his guessing of his struggling, so he'd better move on with his offer right away.
"Listen, I have some money. If you take the boy in, I'd be willing to pay back your debt."
Andrew Brown's eyes grew wide at the proposition.
All that for a boy this man barely knew? It wasn't even a liking the stranger had taken to the boy, it was more in the line of parental affection. Or maybe something less... No, he wouldn't think of this. After all, if this young man had been feeling that way for the boy he wouldn't be trying to place him in apprenticeship at someone else's business. Or in another town, for the matter. After all, the stranger had said he wouldn't stay in Port Royal.
But anyway, this offer was a godsend.
But Brown sobbered up, when he realized that no matter how far the man was willing to go for the boy, he would rather search for another place than pay all that he owed. It was simply too much.
The blacksmith averted his eyes from the young man's gaze.
"I'm not in debt. It's just that... Well, there was an incident, and I lost a priceless order to a thief two weeks back. I had to redo it, and I couldn't ask the customer to pay twice. I'm out of money, but I still have to finish paying this forge. I've bought the place six months ago, and I'm only halfway done. The former owner will maybe accept one month of delay, but nothing more, and I'm not sure I can do it."
There it was. Paying for the smithy. It certainly was too much. The stranger wouldn't want to pay this much, when he certainly could find a way to place the boy somewhere else.
Brown looked back at the other blacksmith, and was surprised to see a new glint in his eyes.
He blinked.
Surely he had been mistaken.
But no, the glint was still there. Even worse, there was a slight smile to go with it.
William was pleased to see this idea was turning out so well. He certainly hadn't expected this. He thought for one second, then took out the diamonds he had shown to Norrington.
"When I said I had some riches, I wasn't joking, Mr Brown."
Said smith looked dumbfounded at the little tiny shiny stones that had revealed themselves when his fellow blacksmith had opened his hand.
There was definitely something fishy about this man, with his golden sword and his gleaming diamonds, but right now, Andrew Brown couldn't care much about fishiness or no fishiness. In fact, he had half a mind to just knock the stranger on the head and grab the jewels. He wouldn't, of course. He was an honest man, after all.
But he couldn't deny that it was tempting.
"Of course, if this is only for you to take Will in, it would be a bit of a price to pay."
"That's what I was thinking too..."
William could hear some regret in the man's voice, as he admitted he couldn't possibly hope for such a great deal to be real.
"So I have another offer to make. You take it, or you leave it, your choice. I'm not certain you will like it, though, but at least it would solve your money issues."
Brown arched an eyebrow at the way the young man was being cautious about his offer. He couldn't see what could be bad enough that he wouldn't want his smithy to be paid off.
"It's very simple, really. I buy you the first half of this place, and then I'll go pay the former owner for the other half. Technically, the forge will be mine, but you'll be the one to use it. I don't want a rent or anything, only the promise that you'll take Will as an apprentice, and that once his work will be worth something, you'll give him half the money gained. As long as he is only your apprentice, and fill orders you take, that is. Oh, and possibly, it'd be great if you kept the second room for me, when I'll come in town. I don't think I'll be there more than one or two months a year, by the way."
Now the blacksmith could see what was bad enough that he wouldn't want his smithy to be paid off. Because this deal meant it wouldn't be "his" smithy anymore.
"Are you offering to buy my forge, and after that hire me as an employee?"
"More or less. As I said, I wouldn't be asking any money from you. Just, you look after the place, and you treat the boy well. It's not so bad a deal, no?"
Brown winced slightly. There was no need for the stranger to know how tempted he was by the idea, even if it meant he wouldn't be the owner of the place anymore. After all, if he refused, he had no guarantee he wouldn't be thrown out for not having honored his buying contract.
He truly was in a tight spot.
"Do I get to keep my name on the sign?"
The stranger looked confused at the question, but eventually shruged.
"I don't care, really. I guess that it wouldn't hurt."
Oh, no, it wouldn't hurt. In fact, it'd help him to keep up his act towards the people of Port Royal. It wouldn't be said he'd be known as the smith who hadn't been able to keep his business even one year.
"Then I guess we have a deal..."
After their agreement, Andrew Brown left to get the previous owner of the place, and William went to change his diamonds into gold coins, for it would be easier to make the transactions this way. They were to meet up at the notary's office one hour later.
Once he had his money, William wandered around Port Royal a bit, remembering his childhood. He was fairly sure that his latest idea had just secured his younger self a better future. Sure, it wouldn't be perfect, and there would not be many butterflies and rainbows to make it pretty, but at least, Will the younger would get a bit of pocket money before he got seventeen years old. And maybe, maybe, with the thought of losing his working place gone, maybe Brown wouldn't become such a drunkard this time around.
And he had even gotten himself a place to stay when he'd come to visit the other Will.
Yes, Will knew the contract wasn't signed yet. But he could see no reason why it wouldn't happen, nor a way for it to turn awry before he got to the notary's office. Brown was the winner, financially speaking, in this deal, and William couldn't imagine that the other owner of the smithy would refuse the offer, when it meant he'd be paid in one go, the same amount of gold, this very afternoon.
As long as he didn't get attacked by a pirate on his way to the notary's office, that is, he mused, chuckling.
Fortunately for him, and fortunately for the hypothetical pirate that could have attacked him and would have had a bad surprise in doing so, Will arrived in time at the notary's office, unscathed. Not that, if he had been attacked, he would have been wounded, since, you know, accelerated healing.
The former owner of the forge was a burly man, taller than the former captain of the Dutchman, who had moved his shop to another part of the town for some reason. Him and the notary were quite puzzled at the strange deal they respectively made and wrote down, but they did it nonetheless, and that without asking unnecessary and sensitive question.
Everyone left the notary's office quite happy with their part of the bargain, except the notary, since he was already where he was supposed to be, in other words, in his office. And he was quite happy too, never one to disdain an earning, no matter how oddly it had come to him.
Brown went back to the smithy, planning on resting this evening, since he had nothing to pay back anymore. He also thought he could clean up a bit, to receive his new apprentice later that day.
