The Living Sword

by Pemry Janes

  'No!'

  Ignoring the pluck of her hair she left behind in the blooddrinker's hand, Leraine pulled her head forward and did unto Rik, what he had intended to do. Her teeth sank into his throat and she made sure that one of them was her silver canine.

  The blooddrinker tore away from her, leaving Leraine with a mouthful of flesh, blood, and a bad taste. “Fucking bitch, I'm going to bleed you dry for this!” he yelled as staggered around with a hand pressed against his neck. But he couldn't hide how that side of his neck was turning black and leathery, a reaction to the silver.

  Her knees a little weak, her hands shaking, she crouched to retrieve Misthell. “I love the irony,” the blade said as Leraine got back up. “Almost enough to ignore the fact you dropped me on solid stone,” Misthell yelled.

  Leraine ignored the sword, saving her breath for the fight. The blooddrinker's hands went for his blades while her left hand went for the last throwing spike in her right bracer. The projectile was in the air by the time Rik had his weapons out, but instead of batting it out the air he managed to catch the spike with his left forearm.

  Transferring Misthell to her other hand, Leraine began to pelt the blooddrinker with the rest of her throwing spikes as she kept walking forward. Two hit nothing but steel, the third sank into Rik's chest underneath his collarbone. She grasped the living sword in both hands and closed the final distance between them.

  His grin transformed into a snarl, their blades clashed, and it was Leraine now that pressed Rik. The blooddrinker's movements were slower and stiffer, but she knew it wouldn't last. His body was burning through the poison, repairing the damage done. Soon, he'd start to get faster again and then she would die.

  “I'll finish this,” Misthell suddenly said. The next thing Leraine knew there were copies of the living sword hovering around them, their points aimed at the blooddrinker. “You can't escape that,” he yelled as the swords flew at Rik.

  A thousand questions whirled through Leraine's mind, but they could wait. She didn't want the sword to end the blooddrinker's life, she wanted that privilege for herself. She drove Misthell forward.

  Rik's blades cut through the air as he tried to simultaneously knock as many of the swords away and duck out of their path. He was so busy with the new threat, he'd forgotten Leraine, until the living sword found his heart.

  He looked down, perhaps realizing what Leraine had at that same moment, that none of the blades had been real. Rik's swords had passed through them; they, in turn, had passed through Rik. There was no trace of them now.

  “An illusion,” the blooddrinker coughed. “I got killed by a bloody trick of the light.” He started to raise his swords and Leraine pulled Misthell out. The blades fell from his hands as he collapsed to his knees.

  “Shit,” the blooddrinker said before toppling over. His flesh blackened and became flakey, in moments his corpse looked like it had spent centuries in a bog somewhere.

  “When did you learn to do that?” she asked, still looking down at Rik.

  “You like it? I knew I was awesome, but I didn't know how awesome until you were almost done for. Was about to save you, when you saved yourself. Turns out I can create illusions.”

  “Is that power limited to yourself or can you make images of other things as well?” she asked looking into Misthell's singular eye.

  It chuckled. “I … don't know.”

  Leraine sighed. “Let's find Rock and end this. But first,” she said, going down on one knee. “I need a fang.”

  ***

  Up close, Eurik could see the claws' were actually moving like flickering flames. He had no intention of getting any closer to them. Propelled by Wind chiri Eurik jumped up and over the construct, skirting the barrier emanating from Verrin's demon heart.

  He twisted around in mid air so that he faced the construct's wide-open back when he landed. Only then did he step through the field that had stopped his every attack so far. It tickled his skin as he entered it, but did nothing to stop Eurik. 'Blades bounced off of their skin, not off of the barrier.'

  His fingers made contact with the bone construct, and, more importantly, with the chiri in it. There it was, the bony heart of a demon lord, beating within the construct's chest. Verrin tried to turn, but Eurik kept him in place. He only needed a moment.

  Eurik dumped all the Earth chiri within him into the heart, packing it tightly, after which he forced it outward in every direction. The chiri strained against his will, the heart didn't want to fly apart.

  Verrin roared, Eurik could feel his own heart vibrate in his chest. Gritting his teeth, he dug deeper looking for that pebble that would start the avalanche. The roar rose in pitch and light spilled out from underneath the construct's ribcage.

  Finally, something gave. With a thunderous crack, the heart split into two. The halves slammed into the construct's armored ribs and started to fall when something stopped them. Where before light had emanated with blinding intensity, now it seemed to flow into the opposite direction. The world dimmed as the heart's remains started to drift back into Verrin's chest. The halves reunited, and vanished without a trace. The darkness receded as the construct fell apart underneath Eurik's fingers.

  Breathing hard, he looked down at what had been a deadly threat only moments ago. Now, it was a pile of bones.

  “You … destroyed it?” Lord Merin said. “Years of work, the culmination of my craft, and you defeated it just like that?”

  “You're also down a blooddrinker,” Broken Fang boasted as she limped towards Eurik. Looking behind her, he saw a blackened husk that had to be Rik. “And now, you will lose everything else.”

  Chapter 10

  A New Day

  Eurik couldn't help but grimace at the threat. Too many people had already died over this and Merin had nothing left with which to defend himself. It made this feel like murder.

  Lord Merin sat back in his throne. “I think not. Because killing me would gain you nothing but a certain death.”

  “We got all the way up here easily enough. Getting out won't be any harder,” Broken Fang shot back.

  The Bone Lord smiled. “I wasn't talking about getting out of the building. I was referring to this city, this land. My fellow Lords will hunt you down for the effrontery of murdering me in my own tower.”

  That gave her pause. “So we're supposed to let you go? Go on our way and wait for you to try and ambush us again?”

  “And why would I do that? With Verrin dead, the living sword is useless to me. And you gave me excellent compensation in the form of an intact vampire skeleton.”

  “Revenge,” she tried.

  Lord Merin merely shrugged off the suggestion. “This entire fiasco is as much Sharverik's fault as it is yours. He led you here and he paid the price for causing me so much grief.”

  Eurik had kept quiet through all of this, but now he sensed people coming. “They found the other staircase,” he warned her just before Knights Scapular started to pour into the room.

  “A little more warning would have been nice,” Broken Fang grouched as she readied Misthell.

  “It would be,” he agreed.

  Brandishing their war hammers, the six knights began to advance, closely followed by a dozen guardsmen armed with spears and bows. “Halt,” Lord Merin ordered, still speaking Linesan. “I am not in danger,” he declared.

  The statement was so brazen Eurik had to take his eyes off of the armed people in front of him.

  The Bone Lord stood up, but didn't move down the dais on which his throne stood. “Indeed, these two did me a great service by killing that treacherous vampire. Plotting my death as repayment for the kindness I showed him.” He shook his head sadly.

  Glancing around, it was clear that not all of the guards understood what their master was saying, but his body language was enough to stay their hand.

  “Still, they did throw my home into chaos. So I would appreciate it if they could be safely escorted off of my property.”

  “I
am not leaving without my weapons,” Broken Fang stated.

  “Nor should you. I believe Sir Dorevan has the blades. Could someone fetch them?” One of the knights started to speak in Irelian, apparently ordering a few of the guards to go get Broken Fang's swords because they left quickly.

  Eurik waited, unsure of what was going on. He hadn't expected her to go along with whatever Lord Melin was planning. Yet, that was exactly what Broken Fang seemed to be doing. 'Is she stalling for time?'

  The guards hurried back, one of them carrying Broken Fang's slender blades. Hesitantly, the man walked over to her while she handed Misthell over to Eurik before accepting her own weapons.

  “And with that, I must ask you to leave,” Merin said, sounding more as if he was talking to guests rather than enemies.

  Broken Fang bowed to him, and Eurik decided to follow suit. It was a shallow bow. “I hope that in the future, you will be more careful.”

  “You can rely on that,” Merin assured her.

  The Knights Scapular kept their distance as they escorted them out of the room. There was a tense moment when Eurik uncovered the main stairwell. He had no intention of going down a narrow set of stairs surrounded by people that had tried to kill him. But they managed to reach the courtyard without incident. Torches lit up the night, and Eurik saw people staring at them from the shadows.

  Still expecting a trap, Eurik thought it best not to walk out through the gate. Taking a hold of Broken Fang he drew her close to him. “Thank you, but we will find our own way out.” They sank into the earth, the flagstones sliding out of the way and back up to cover the hole he had created.

  “Next time, ask permission first,” she said as she tried to create some distance between them. Not easy when there was barely enough room for the two to stand.

  “And alert them I knew it was a trap?” Eurik countered before he created a tunnel in the direction of the ones he had used to get into Darui.

  “Finally losing some of that innocence.” He lightly touched her to guide her in the right direction, since there was no light to see by. “But it is clear you are still ignorant. There was no real trap, what was going on was politics.”

  She couldn't see him frown. “What do you mean?” With a gesture, he filled the tunnel behind them back up before creating another section.

  “We caused that Bone Lord quite a bit of trouble, and he knew you could do a lot more damage if he pressed us. Since there was nothing in it for him anymore, he decided to mitigate the damage that was already done. Half his words were not intended for us, or even his own warriors, but for his rivals and Linese. He placed all the blame on the blooddrinker, and his fellow Bone Lords will go along with it because it gets them out of trouble with the Linesans. Nobody likes blooddrinkers.”

  “But won't the other Bone Lords be angry with Merin? Rik did, after all, work for him.”

  “Of course, but once they have closed ranks they won't be able to express that anger without giving the game away. There will be talk, but officially, Merin's hands are clean, and they will stay that way unless he goes after us again. Then, he cannot maintain that it was the blooddrinker who was responsible for these events.”

  “So, it is over.” Eurik could feel the relief wash over him, it almost toppled him over. Only chiri kept him going right now and he knew he was going to pay for that when he finally let go. Unlike with magic, to wield chiri you had to exert both your mind and your body. And Eurik had overexerted himself several times over. “You … know a lot about politics?”

  “It was part of my education.” Broken Fang did not elaborate.

  “Did Irelith teach you?” Eurik probed.

  “No.”

  “Ah,” was all he could think to say. It was clear that she didn't want to talk about it right now. In silence, they made their way through the crumbling tunnels.

  ***

  Her feet were caked with mud, and every turn of her head released a cloud of dust. Rock appeared to be even worse off, dark bags under bloodshot eyes, he looked like he was about to keel over.

  Leraine could see that now, because the sun was coming up and they were finally above ground. Rock had led them to this copse of elm-trees overlooking the plains around Darui. This was where he'd stashed his belongings, including some food and water they now enjoyed.

  “I don't think I can take another step,” Rock told her as he chewed the stale bread propped up against the trunk of a tree. “We best rest here and wait for nightfall. I'd like to try to travel above ground for a bit. After that, I guess our ways part. You avenged your teacher, you don't need me as bait anymore.”

  “Are you planning on going back the way you came, and try to enter Mochedan lands from the west?”

  “Aren't you? Your horses are still in Campan.”

  Leraine had to smile. “I doubt that. By now, the innkeeper will have sold everything I left behind.” There was a pang in her heart. Not for the horses, though she would miss Spot, but for Irelith's sword and the gift her teacher never got to give.

  “I'm sorry, I forgot.” Leraine shrugged to say it was not Rock's fault, but he was already looking away with narrowed eyes. He raised his hand and something surfaced. She would recognize that red scabbard anywhere, it was Irelith's sword and lying on top of it was Leraine's own pouch.

  “I couldn't take everything with me, but I knew the sword was important to you and I figured the same was true for what's in the pouch. I saw you pull something out of it a few times,” Rock explained.

  Her fingers trembled a bit as she fumbled with the button. But then she had the tiny silver fang in her hand again. Leraine wasn't Broken Fang any longer, not after killing a blooddrinker with her fake tooth. Now, she was Leraine Silver Fang. She had earned the name, at last. They would not deny her this time.

  “We could travel together,” she proposed. “Go south, and then east towards the Road. It leads straight to Chappenuioc and that is your best chance at finding someone who knew your parents.”

  “And that route takes us near the Immortal's home,” Rock mused.

  “I would also appreciate the company,” Leraine said, looking up at him.

  He gave her a searching look, before a wide smile broke out on his face. “So would I.”

  “And she can teach you how to use me. After all, I found out how awesome I am but you still don't know the first thing about wielding a sword. Slacker,” he sniffed.

  But Rock didn't hear him, because he had dozed off. “He better remember to ask you when he wakes up.”

  Smiling herself, Leraine took a bite out of her own meal and chewed it thoughtfully as she gazed at Rock. “How will you know I'll say yes?”

  The living sword's eye seemed to look into Leraine's soul for a moment. “Because he's a nice guy.”

  Leraine nodded. From the east, the sun shone on a new day.

  The End

  I would like to thank my family for always being there. And I'd like to thank Mary Cain for taking the time to make my writings not only legible, but better.

  Have any questions, comments, or criticisms?

  You can send them to pemryjanes@gmail.com