After slowly climbing the steps to get to dry ground, I asked the crying being, “Can you understand me?”
Following heavy sniffles, a childish voice that made it impossible to tell whether it was a male or female replied, “Yes, I-I’ve learned your speech. I’ve mostly f-forgotten mine.”
It turned its head a little, allowing me to discern three small, inward curving horns jutting out from the top of its head, one on the back and one on each side. Dark green skin with the texture of smooth bark cocooned its body. No hair or fur could I see anywhere.
“What’s your name?”
Softer sniffling. “I’ve forgotten that too.”
“I see… But there must be something you would like to be called. I picked my own name, you know.”
Turning a little of its body so a canary yellow eye could gaze at me, it said, “Really?”
“Aye. I lost my memory a while back, so I had to come up with my own name. I took it from a history tome.”
“What did you pick?”
I crouched and answered, “Mercer. Is there a name you like? Or I suppose you could even make one up.”
It looked away. I let it think for however long it wished. Except for the occasional wet inhale, it appeared to stop crying.
Several long moments later, it delicately said, “Lormevar.”
“Lormevar. Is that the name you want?”
“I don’t know. Does it sound nice?”
“I think it does. Where did you get it from?”
“Another human speech. I did not get to learn it, but I liked its sounds.”
“Humans from here? Or from Orda?”
“Orda? What’s that?”
“The world humans came from. My world.”
“You’re from another world?”
“That’s right. My brother and I teleported here by accident. We’re trying to get back to it.”
“Orda… What’s it like?”
“Far fewer fiends, for one.”
“Are you sure? I can sense your corruption. I-I was scared you’d try to…” Lormevar tucked its legs tighter against its chest and rested its forehead on its knees.
“Aye, I have corruption, but as hard as it might be to believe, I try to use it to help people.”
“You kill.”
“Sometimes.”
“You’ll use me to kill.”
“If you don’t like killing, why do you help Lucian?”
Lormevar leapt up to its feet and shrieked, “He makes me! I don’t want to! I tell him I don’t want to, but he doesn’t listen!”
In an unhurried manner, I stood up, finding out Lormevar’s height nearly equaled my own. Long strips of tattered green cloth hung down its slender body.
“How does he make you? You’re quite powerful. I couldn’t make you dispel the hex even if I did use my corruption. How does Lucian cast the hex on several people at once?”
“Why do you want to know? So you can use me too?!”
“No, Lormevar. If you don’t want to be used to kill, then I won’t do it. If I do wield you, it’ll be to dispel the hex Lucian has spread. You let me do it before, right?”
“I was desperate. I felt you really wanted to free those people, so I decided to trust you, even if I also felt your corruption.”
“Well, if it helps you to trust me, you should know I’m a Veknu Milaris.”
“V-Veknu Milaris? That sounds… familiar… Wait, is that a dragon warrior?”
“Aye.”
A cocked head. “I don’t know if that helps me trust you more. I’ve never m-met one.”
“Ah. Well, at least you can say you’ve met one now. If you want, you can even meet my dragon partner someday.”
“Aren’t dragons big and… mean?”
“Sometimes, but I promise Aranath won’t be mean to you.”
“I don’t know if I can trust your promises.”
“No, I suppose trust must be earned. I’m sure Lucian and his ancestors have never bothered to earn your trust. From everything I’ve gathered so far, he’s using a special crystal to force your hand, right?”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t know what makes the crystal special? Where it comes from?”
It shook its head. “Not really.”
“Is it holy prana?”
“I hope not.”
“What do you know of it?” It stayed quiet long enough for me to guess it wasn’t really trying to think. “I’m sorry, Lormevar, but finding out anything about can help me help more people. Please, anything.”
“He… he sometimes, I think he sometimes tells people about taking some of his crystals to the villa.”
“The villa? What’s that supposed to be?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t. I just know I don’t want to keep talking about it.”
I sighed. “Okay, you don’t trust me. I understand. It’s a common sentiment ever since I’ve come to this world. However, do you trust I want to remove the hex off people?”
Spreading its wings in full, Lormevar yelled, “Stop calling it that! My spell isn’t supposed to be a hex! It’s supposed to inspire peace! I was forged to comfort souls! To stop everyone from fighting! I’m not supposed to be a sword!”
Lormevar toppled to its knees and began to cry again. Knowing I could not stop the tears, I lowered myself to the ground and quietly observed the weeping entity from my new seated position. It obviously relished calmness, so I tried to stay calm and not let impatience compel me to ask questions it did not yet want to answer.
Several minutes later, assuming time meant anything here, I opened my eyes when I heard Lormevar compose its overwrought emotion.
Clearing tears from its cheeks, Lormevar said, “I’m sorry. You’re the first nice person I’ve talked to in a long time… and I’m a mess.”
“No need to apologize. I’ll try to be as nice as a warrior can be, but if I may ask, why are you a sword now?”
“It’s hard to remember.”
“You don’t have-”
I jerked my head up to see Isabel, her hand lightly shaking my shoulder. Picking up the scabbard, she said, “Sorry to wake you up from your nap, but we might need you and the sword upstairs. We have a bit of a situation.”
After sheathing the sword into the scabbard she kept, I got up and asked, “What situation?”
“I’m not sure. Something about a kid coming up to the base. Might be hexed or whatever.”
We walked up to the first floor and entered a room with a lot of filled bookshelves. Both generals stood next to a boy of around ten sitting high on a stool. Worn, dirty clothing implied he belonged to the lower classes.
The child was in the middle of talking when we came in, and he said, “…make all Grenhath suffer. Kill the ghoul brothers by sunset, or Viscount Rathmore will make all Grenhath suffer. Kill the ghoul brothers by sunset, or Viscount Rathmore will make all Grenhath suffer. Kill the…”
“He’s been saying that this whole time?” asked Svren. “Troubling. Not even fledglings are safe from his hexing.”
Stepping away from the child, General Valentine said, “See if you can undo the spell, knight.”
Once everyone took the precautionary distance away from me, I quietly asked Lormevar to aid me again. Excited to be of help again, the enchantment used a little of my prana to reach out and wipe away the magic in the boy. That done, the boy trailed off in his message and blinked a lot as he looked around.
Gaining an anxious expression, he asked, “Where… What am I doing? Where’s my daddy?”
Not able to say anything too loudly, I merely sheathed the sword and handed it back to Isabel. It was General Valentine who then took it upon himself to comfort the youngster for a moment, followed by General Noboa ordering two of his men to help him find his home.
Free from the constraints of a child in the room, I asked the generals, “So, how effective is Lucian’s strategy? Are you thinking about killing me and my brother in exchange for Grenhath’s
stability?”
“As if we’d ever trust his words now,” replied General Noboa. “He’s flinging shit to a wall. His treachery is being exposed as we speak. Perhaps he can sow some chaos, but he cannot have possibly made allies with everyone is Grenhath. We will come out on top, and once he’s gone, we can take over his business and see what we can do about the vlimphite you-”
“Over here, master sergeant,” said Svren from the hallway.
Bregman stepped into my view. His fuming eyes told me exactly what he was going to do, so I let him come up to me and did not bother moving my jaw out of his fist’s way. For someone without much understanding in how to deliver prana, he punched nearly as hard as my corrupted brother.
“It’s not his fault, Iker!” said Isabel, grabbing Bregman’s arm in case he wanted to take another swing at me. “We’d all be dead if Mercer didn’t do anything!”
“He’s the reason you were in trouble in the first place!” replied Bregman.
“Get a hold of yourself, master sergeant!” said General Noboa. “We’re Vanguard, for gods’ sake. We volunteer for trouble from ghouls, turncoats, and nightmares.”
“Forgive him, general,” said Felicia. “It’s out of his system now, right?”
“Yeah, yeah… Why’d I pass that kid in the hall? What’s going on now?”
“He was hexed.”
“Hexed? How?”
“By enchanted weapons,” I said. “He used the sword Isabel is holding to force us to stand around doing nothing as he killed the major and lieutenant. He summoned a similar dagger to escape. Presumably, it also sent the child to deliver a message for him.”
To Isabel, Bregman asked, “And why are you holding a weapon like that?”
“The scabbard is fine to touch. I can hold it so Mercer can use it to get the spell off people.”
“And how did your session with the sword go, Mister Eberwolf?” General Valentine asked me.
“I was actually making progress with Lormevar.”
“Who?”
“The sword. That’s what it called itself.”
“You talked to it?” asked Isabel, holding the sword a little farther away from herself. “I thought you fell asleep.”
“One has to be calm to enter its spirit realm. I can’t think of anything calmer than sleep.”
“Did you get more than its name?” asked General Noboa.
“We didn’t get long to talk, but it did say its spell was never meant to be used to kill. The viscount is using an uncommon crystal or prana to force its hand. It’s why it will now give me little trouble when I want to dispel the hex still affecting people. Lormevar mentioned something about the viscount taking crystals to a villa. Is that anything special?”
“Not really, though I’d like to own one. Anyone with Rathmore’s resources can buy two or three homes with big gardens and courtyards. We’ll certainly learn about all the properties the viscount owns soon.”
“Good. If I may, general, I’d like to get back to finding out what I can through the sword.”
“You may resume. Take as long as you need.”
Bregman stayed with the generals while the rest of us went back down to the basement. Despite the recent nap, my body was still accepting of sleep, so it did not take longer than five minutes of meditation for me to retire into Lormevar’s realm. This time I “awoke” sitting in the same stone ruin as the enchantment’s embodiment, no wadding through dismal water required. Lormevar, who sat hugging its knees, looked about as gloomy as before, except I perceived no tears or sniffling this time.
Turning a bit of my body to face Lormevar directly, I said, “Thank you for helping me again.”
“You’re… you’re welcome… Thank you for coming back, even if you want me to help you hurt people.”
“I don’t want you to help me hurt people.”
“I’ve felt your soul. I know you like me in your hand. I know you want Lucian dead.”
“Both very true. I enjoy the feeling of a sword in my hand, especially now that it’s been a little while since I’ve held an enchanted one. However, one can want something and still choose to do without it.”
“That hasn’t been my experience.”
“A limited experience. Regardless, I realize I’m not a good long-term fit for you… In truth, there are others I know of whose company you’ll enjoy far better. An order of dragon sages in Orda are only allowed to summon thelki, a dragon beast attracted to peaceable souls. They already guard ancient, enchanted relics. I have no doubt I can get them to take you in as well.”
Lifting its chin up from its knee, an intrigued tone said, “Dragon sages?”
“Yes. They are a kind people who only wish to preserve draconic knowledge in Orda. Help me get back to them.”
Grimacing, Lormevar put its chin on its knee again. “Helping you means fighting.”
“It can also simply mean giving me information. It can mean dispelling the spell you were forced to spread. Besides, fighting your resistance will only make me a worse fighter. Not really a good strategy.”
“I don’t know… Your words sound true, yet I feel your corruption… I feel your, your longing for fighting.”
“Like I said, I’m not a good long-term fit for you. However, this world is ending. We both need to get out of it. I know how, but I need the prana to do it.”
Lormevar said nothing for the next few minutes, likely contemplating its real lack of options. I couldn’t relate to not wanting to fight, particularly when combat made for the most practical option, but I could imagine myself being forced to live out a sedentary life for centuries on a hot farm, each year of my livelihood relying on routine and the whims of nature. A maddening prospect indeed.
“Mercer?” Lormevar said at last.
“Aye?”
“I don’t want blood on me.”
“Not even Lucian’s?”
“I h-h-hate him, but…”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t make you contemplate such things. May I at least defend myself with you? Not against flesh, but against the elements and other magic. Enchantments are good at dulling offensive spells.”
“M-maybe… I don’t hate the idea of protecting you if you really don’t use me to hurt people, but I don’t know if I’m good at protecting anybody in this form.”
“If it comes to it, let me worry about how to use your steel. Who did make you into a sword in the first place?”
“I don’t know. It was such a long time ago.”
“Could it have been Lucian’s ancestors?”
“I don’t think so. It couldn’t have been a human at all. I remember being with a krewen when I first heard about humans being found in Dretkeshna.”
“And you were already a sword at the time?”
“Yes.”
“What were you before?”
A shaking head. “Being broken made me forget a lot of my life before. I don’t even know if I came from this world or another.”
“Lucian carried a dagger with him that forced people to start a brawl. Is that one of your broken pieces?”
“I know the dagger you speak of. Maybe it used to be a part of my shape, but its magic has been tampered with to a greater extent. It is now much weaker than me, except harsher. No matter how hard people have tried, my spell can never tell people to hurt themselves or others directly.”
“Ah, I see. I was thinking reuniting with it might help make your past clearer. What can you remember?”
Its eyes closed. “Fleeting feelings of harmony. Harmony I know I helped create with my first master. An entire kingdom of peace. I hope it lasted a long time, but I can’t say.”
“Your first master?”
Lormevar’s eyes barely opened. “A grand presence no human or krewen can ever hope to match. Someone who desired peace as much as I did.”
“Grand presence, huh? Sounds like an eidolon. I would think their history would be no secret to dragons or scholars who care about such things. I’ll try looking i
nto it if you wish.”
The eyes opened a little wider. “Oh… Okay.” It wiggled the three toes on both feet. “Can I ask you about Orda?”
“As much as you like.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Taking the scabbard into her possession, Isabel asked me, “Were you talking to the sword the whole time?”
“I don’t know. How long was I out?”
“About three hours.” She wrapped a dirty, blue, fuzzy blanket around the top half of the sword before clasping it to the sword belt she now wore.
“Hmm, felt about half as long as that, though I have no idea how time works when I’m in there. And I definitely don’t feel like I got three hours of sleep.”
“I’m not certain how you can sleep at all sitting up like that,” said Svren.
“I’ve had plenty of practice.”
“Did you learn anything new?” asked Felicia.
“Nothing we can use right this moment.” I looked behind her to see Ishree in Alex’s shadow. “They training?”
“Yeah, we’ve all been training a little. Pretty boring just watching you sit there.”
“How far are we from sunset?”
“A couple hours. Think something will actually happen when we don’t kill you for the viscount?”
“I think the viscount sent your generals the ultimatum only because he already sent out his orders to retaliate against us. So yes, I expect something to happen. Alex, time to rest up. We may have to fight soon.”
Releasing the krewen from his spell, my brother said, “Then we should get guns. Don’t need prana for that.”
“If a fight does break out, then we’ll get them from the first enemies we defeat. Simple.”
“Even if it’s these guys? What if the generals take Lucian’s offer and order them to take us out, huh?”
“Killing us does them no good when they can’t believe the viscount will actually abide by his word to not sow chaos. He probably hoped his hex still lingered in the generals enough for his ultimatum to work. Fortunately, from what we’ve heard from the attendants and Lormevar, the Vanguard leadership has never garnered much of his attention.”
The Dragon Knight and the Steam World Page 33