The Locksmith

by Ari Meghlen

“Are you going to be much longer?”

I gritted my teeth against the comment forming and instead threw out my best smile at the balding Mage who was drumming his fingers on my counter. Beside him, stood Mage Zifran, a regular customer who seemed to be bringing me new ones these days.

“Not long.”

I turned my focus back to the lock. The tension rod was pressing tight against my thumb while I carefully felt for the pins with the narrow pick. After what felt like forever, the last pin finally shifted and the shackle popped up. Straightening, I slipped the old lock off and pushed the box towards my newest client.

He stared in wonder at my handiwork. “Amazing.”

“I told you she was good,” said Zifran, giving me a wink.

“Truly,” the bald Mage said, twisting the open lock around in his hands.

I gave a shrug. In a world full of magic, it seemed odd that people would be so impressed with this mundane ability.

When I first arrived in this town, everyone had looked at me with either pity or contempt. I was considered an anomaly, a throwback to a distant time when magic was not prevalent. There was no spark in my fingertips, no power coursing through my blood. In a land where power determined status, I was the weakest of the weak. Only my strange affinity with metal and especially locks had given me any standing. Most metals here were impervious to magic and even many tools, so a simple lock could cause a lot of problems.

Praise for The Locksmith

THE LOCKSMITH
What a nice and intriguing story this one is. I loved the incredible magical action in the story. Rylan, Cara, and Zifran, these three are great and well-written characters. I loved how they work together to find out some answers, and honestly, they are simple the best. I liked how the author show Cara’s skill as a locksmith —(redacted due to spoiler)— Zifran doesn’t make much appearance but he was still important to the story. This is the cleanest and nicest story in the book, and I really loved the fun and intense things that happened here. The story ended so well, and I had a huge smile on my face reading the ending. Overall, it has been done so well, the plot was very intriguing and the storyline was nicely written.

~Deekay (on Goodreads)

…the two stories I liked the most made me feel like the purchase was worth it. I really enjoyed the delicious writing and mythological feel of N. Pan’s “Life and Death,” and the creativity of A. Meghlen’s “The Locksmith” was superb. Those two stories alone made me feel like the book was worth reading, but those two stories weren’t all that made up the selection.

~ H R R Gorman (on Goodreads)

“From Ashes to Magic” is an anthology of stories featuring supernatural beings. Each story is written by a different author, which is great because it gives you the chance to discover some new favorites. The best stories for me were “Rebirth,” “The Sulfur Night,” and “The Locksmith,” but every story was worth reading….

~ J.R. Schuyler