By Staff Writer
INVERNESS — The steady clang of hammers and hiss of forges once defined Iron Row, the industrial artery of the city where workshops lined the cobbled street like teeth in a dragon’s jaw. Now, those sounds are gone, replaced by the smell of charred timber and the hiss of water on blackened rubble.
In the past fortnight, five workshops have been reduced to smoldering shells in a series of late-night fires that officials are calling “deliberate and coordinated.” Though no deaths have been reported, dozens of workers are left without employment, and the district is cloaked in fear.
“It wasn’t just fire,” said Ewan Fennick, a smith whose shop narrowly escaped destruction. “It was purpose. A blaze that knew where it was going, like a hunter on the scent. And then—then I saw him. A figure in a cloak, walking away from the flames as if he’d merely finished lighting a pipe.”
A Pattern of Destruction
The first fire struck the Guild Foundry on September 12, consuming its warehouses of cast iron fittings. Four nights later, a wheelwright’s shop collapsed in sparks and smoke. Each blaze has started in the small hours, each one spreading with uncanny speed despite damp autumn weather.
Fire brigades have responded with urgency, but the flames have often outrun the water pumps. “It’s as though the fires are helped along,” one firefighter muttered, requesting anonymity. “As if someone prepared them with oils or powders.”
Cloaked in Mystery
Survivors’ accounts converge on a single chilling image: a cloaked figure, tall, silent, seen walking calmly from the scene.
“Not running, not hiding—just walking,” said Annie Price, who fled her boardinghouse as flames consumed the joinery next door. “Like he wanted us to see him, so we’d know he was the one who did it.”
Authorities have yet to confirm the figure’s existence. “There are no reliable photographs, and eyewitnesses differ in description,” said Constable Rowan Thistle. “We have no evidence of a specific individual.”
But the rumors spread faster than fire.
Motives in Question
What drives the Arsonist of Iron Row? Theories abound. Some whisper of a disgruntled former smith, dismissed from the guild for theft, now bent on retribution. Others suggest the fires hide a more intricate crime—perhaps stolen goods destroyed in the blaze, or evidence erased. The most persistent rumor involves wealthy developers. With Iron Row now half-gutted, the land could be purchased cheaply and converted into housing or speculative warehouses.
“These are not random burnings,” declared Alderman Osgood Thrale at Tuesday’s council session. “They are strokes of a plan. If we do not catch the arsonist, we will lose not only Iron Row but also the soul of our city’s industry.”
Denials and Defensiveness
Government officials have been quick to dismiss talk of redevelopment conspiracies. “There is no such plan,” said Deputy Minister of Works Malcolm Hargrave. “Iron Row will be rebuilt, better than before. Suggestions that these fires are linked to speculative interests are baseless and irresponsible.”
Yet Hargrave himself has been criticized for attending a private supper with property investors just one night before the first blaze. When pressed by reporters, he waved off the meeting as “coincidental and wholly irrelevant.”
The Fear Spreads
Meanwhile, Iron Row has become a ghost street after dusk. Doors are barred, lamps extinguished. Watchmen patrol with lanterns and whistles, but none relish the task.
“I can fight a fire,” said watchman Jory Calder. “But how do you fight a man who walks through flame without fear?”
Children speak of the “Fire Phantom,” while pub-goers place bets on when the next blaze will erupt. Some even claim the cloaked figure is not a man at all but the spirit of a long-dead smith, returned to melt the city back into slag.
Waiting for the Next Spark
For now, the city waits, watching the shadows for the next flicker of orange. Insurance offices are flooded with claims, hammers lie idle, and the once-proud name of Iron Row hangs heavy in smoke.
“Every time I smell woodsmoke, I flinch,” said Annie Price. “Is it a hearth fire? Or is it him again, lighting up the night?”
The Royal Constabulary has promised increased patrols and appealed to the public for information. But until the cloaked figure is unmasked, the fear remains: that Iron Row will end not with the sound of hammers, but with the crackle of flames.