Gavriel and Vi stared at the sword.
What? What is it? Do I have a rust spot?
The sword sounded anxious. Most swords did not sound anxious. Most swords did not sound anything other than, well, steely. Then again, most swords did not speak.
Vi found her voice first.
“Ah, no, no rust spot. It’s just…”
What?
“You’re rather…unusual,” Gavriel ventured. “A sentient sword is, well, it’s something we have never before encountered, and we—”
“We live in Vyne,” Vi exploded. “We live in the mightiest city on life and no one there ever speaks of talking swords. I’ve never seen one for sale—”
“And you can buy anything in Vyne. Anything. Why, you—”
Gavriel and Vi locked eyes.
I am NOT for sale! I am the Blade of Justice! I have chosen my wielder and nevermore shall I be parted from her.
“Excuse me?” Vi gave the blade a look. “What precisely do you mean by that?”
I was awoken by battle, wielded in the hand of a mighty swordswoman fighting for Justice! Do you have any idea what that feels like? The enchanted kiss of a prince upon his beloved’s lips is no more sweet or welcome, nor the lips of a princess upon those of a cruelly enchanted fro—
“We are more than familiar with frogs and kisses and princes and the like,” Gavriel recalled, sourly.
Then, you know. You know the glory. You know the beauty. You know the true meaning and worth of fighting for Justice in this sad and darkening world. You—
“Are standing around when you should be trying to rescue my son,” Leigh snapped. The sorceress appeared in a flash of light. Drang was standing next to her, looking slightly queasy.
“I wish she wouldn’t do that,” he muttered.
“Where is he,” Leigh demanded. “Where is my son?”
Twin clumps of dust, one black and one white, plummeted from the ceiling to land on the tiles nearby. The little things coughed and rolled and eventually revealed the goblinesses Dhurka and Glag. They coughed and stood up.
“Where is Leibrev?” Glag demanded.
“And Valeral? Where is Valeral?” Dhurka chimed in.
“Yes, Vi,” Leigh turned cold eyes to the swordswoman, “where is my son? I won’t ask you again.”
“My nephew,” Vi said pointedly, “and your son went thataway.”
She gestured towards the hole in the floor with her sword. It squawked in protest. The goblins started and looked around, trying to place the voice. Eventually, they traced it back to the sword. It was being rather testy.
I am not an achademe’s pointer. Please. Show some respect!
Leigh’s mouth was open in anticipation of protest. She shut it with a snap when the sword spoke. She turned to smile a bit too sweetly at Vi.
“Vi, darling, what is that?”
“Leigh, honey, it’s called a sword. I should think you of all people would know that. After all, don’t all of your paramours carry them?”
The goblins stared at the sword with wide eyes. Leigh pointedly avoided looking directly at the weapon.
“I know it’s a sword, what I meant was—”
“Why is it talking?” Gavriel slid into the conversation effortlessly. “We have no idea. However, I have a few theories…”
The two mages quickly lost themselves in a swirl of esoteric and highly obscure language. Drang simply stared at the sword, the heavy gaze of a highly-critical expert. Absently, he reached up to caress the hilt of his own sword. It was a curious gesture of reassurance.
“So, it talks. That has to be a pain.”
Who is this, this…barbarian?
“His name is Drang. Drang, meet…ah, do you have a name?” Vi looked slightly askance at the sword.
I am Neniel, Sword of Justice. Honor to thy house.
Somehow, the sword managed to give the impression that it was bowing. It was somewhat disconcerting, given that a sword was, by and large, an incredibly inflexible and unyielding object.
“Uh, yeah. Honor to your forge, and whatnot.” Drang nodded. “This is Gore.” The barbarian unsheathed his sword and presented it proudly. “Well, his official name is Gore Vydelicet, but I just call him Gore.”
“And those two,” Vi gestured with her free hand this time, “are Gavriel and Leigh. Sorcerer of Shadow and Sorceress of Light. All connotations regarding good or evil are strictly coincidental and entirely misleading.”
The aforementioned duo ignored Vi and continued arguing about some obscure point of magical theory. Vi’s grip tightened around the hilt of her new sword.
“Excuse me, Gav? Gav!”
“What?”
“Shouldn’t we be headed after Valeral and Leibrev?”
“My baby!” Leigh shrieked and clapped her hand to her cheek in distress. “We have to save my baby!”
She darted for the hole. Drang grinned and followed, relief evident in his every feature. Gavriel blinked.
“Don’t—”
Leigh and Drang leapt in. Glag followed, only a moment behind. There was a resounding smack as flesh hit stone. It wasfollowed by a near-simultaneous groan and shout of surprise, as the two over-ready adventurers and one dazed gobliness plunged in only to slam into a stone floor and then ricochet off through a sidelong vortex. What was left was suddenly down, as what was once down now vanished off to their right.
Gavriel gazed down the hole.
“I suspected as much,” he mused. “Well, now we know.”
***
The Acolytes of Black and White, united by circumstance, took full advantage of the distraction fate had afforded them. They had to move quickly if they wished to be in place. They were betraying all sides by acting in concert like this.
“Quickly! Time is of the essence!”
“You did not just say that.”
“I’m actually enjoying myself. Deal with it.”
“I do. Constantly.”
“Shut up and let’s move.”
“After you.”
Feet hit stone and the game raced on apace.
***
“We don’t know what’s down there, Vi.” Gavriel objected.
“No, we don’t know. Does that change the fact that we still have to go down that way?”
“Well, no, but—”
Whatever Gavriel’s observation might have been, it was lost as Vi grabbed him and jumped them both bodily into the hole. Dhurka followed, protesting half-heartedly. They landed expecting the bottom, and fell into the swirling vortex with as much aplomb as could be expected under the circumstances.
White and black swirled and span but never mixed. It was some sort of formless space between, where there was no time or distance, but which gave the impression of transference nonetheless. Leigh and Drang were spinning head over heels and bickering with one another.
“Is this a trap?” Vi looked over to Gavriel.
The sorcerer floated nonchalantly in mid-nothingness.
“I don’t think so. I expect we’re just waiting for an exit to align with the set-spell. Whomever is playing against us wouldn’t make it too easy to follow Valeral and Leibrev. Although, on the plus side, he does seem to be playing by some sort of rules, so there will have to be a way to get to them. We just have to find it.”
“Thank you, that’s very comforting,” Vi snarled sarcastically. “What are we supposed to do until then?”
“Relax?” Gavriel was toying with his hair. Absently he plucked out a strand and began to weave it together with several strands of shadow into an odd little runic knot. His eyes flicked briefly over to Leigh and Drang, still arguing.
“My nephew is lost,” Vi snarled, “so pardon me if I do not quite feel like relaxing right now.”
Indeed! We must rescue the puir youth.
“We need to wait,” Gavriel said firmly. “We’re at a disadvantage, and we have an opportunity here.”
The sorcerer flicked his little creation and sent it spinning towards Leigh and Drang. It hooked onto the edge of Leigh’s cloak and hid itself in her shadow. He pulled several golden strands of hair from a small pouch and began to weave more shadow-rune-hairballs.
“We’re in a state of flux,” he continued, “everywhere and nowhere. Pretty soon, a portal will open. Those two will go through it, but we’ll wait. Let it close.”
“What? Why?”
“Because,” Gavriel flicked another of his creations Leighward, “if we go out that portal, we’ll be stuck with Leigh and Drang in one of the nastiest little traps in this whole dungeon.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s what I would do. If you think about it—”
“I’d do the same thing. Alright. So we wait. Do we take the next portal, then?”
“No. We’re playing at a disadvantage. We need to put some pieces in play.” Gavriel held up one of his fuzzy creations. He nodded, satisfied, and stowed this one along the edge of his own cloak.
“And how is that going to help us?”
Foul sorcery…
The sword seemed to mutter. Its voice was still clearly audible, but only just. Gavriel pointedly ignored it.
“We need eyes and ears and hands. Let the portal cycle. Only seconds, if that, are passing outside.”
“How do you—”
“Anything else would be too great a strain on the resources, and we’re at a disadvantage. No need or benefit to change up the mechanism now. At least, not quite yet. So, we’ll make it work for us. We’ll put some eyes in place.”
Gavriel held up one of his knotty creations and tapped it meaningfully. Vi nodded slowly.
“Then, as the cycle continues, we’ll be able to see where we end up, correct?”
“Correct. Leigh and Drang will pull our opponent’s eyes and attention. We’ll slip out after them and take a slightly easier path to our final destination.”
“I like it.”
“I rather thought you would. Now shut up and pass me a few more of your hairs, I’m running low…”
***
The Black Pawn and the White whispered furiously to one another. Their allies had vanished and now they were isolated, without any other pawns to call upon for aid. The position was far from ideal, yet not untenable.
“We have to follow them.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Shut up. We don’t have a choice. You know what we have to do.”
“Well, yeah, but–”
“But nothing. Let’s go, before they get too far ahead of us.”
***
A grey slit appeared in the whorl of black and white madness. Leigh and Drang miraculously stopped bickering long enough to notice it. They dove for the rift and vanished. Glag swam frantically after them, falling through the rift a split second before it resealed itself. Dhurka floated closer to Gavriel and Vi.
“Why no leave?” she demanded. “Valeral—”
“Will have a better chance of survival if I can finish this before we go. And if you want to help us help him, keep a watch out for those grey rifts. We need to count them.” Gavriel flashed her his second-best smile.
Dhurka looked at him for a long moment. Finally, she nodded and turned her attention to watching. Gavriel flicked a glance at Vi. The swordswoman nodded and kept her own eyes peeled.
“I’m more interested in out new, ah, acquaintance…” Gavriel quirked an eyebrow at Vi’s sword.
In the background, another rift appeared. The sorcerer flicked his fingers at it and then continued his weaving. As each new rift appeared, he flicked his fingers at it. Throughout, he maintained conversational focus on Vi and her sword.
Neniel. My name is Neniel. Ladyblade of Justice.
“So pleased to make your acquaintance, Neniel. I was just wondering, as sentient swords common? We’ve never encountered one before. To us, that alone ensures that you’re unique.” Gavriel smiled.
The sword preened.
It’s good to see that even one so base as to practice the dark arts can recognize the worth of a blade such as myself.
“So there are others like you, out there,” Vi interjected.
Well, yes. At least, there were. I, well, what year is it?
Gavriel and Vi exchanged a glance.
“You don’t know?”
Gavriel sent another of his creations spinning off through a rift. He closed his eyes, briefly, as if resting, while Vicontinued to speak with the sword.
I, why, that’s odd. That date doesn’t make any sense. What year is it by Sulveran reckoning?
“You’re kidding me, right?” Vi stared at the sword. “The Sulveran Empire fell over a thousand years ago.”
Silence.
I…what?
“How could you not know?”
I was…asleep. The sword’s admission seemed faintly guilty. Long periods without a wielder are boring, so, I sleep. I did not realize how long.
Vi was silent for a moment. Her hand toyed with her now-empty scabbard.
“What,” she cleared her throat, “what happened to your last wielder?”
The last thing I remember is a swarm of goblins. There was a dark wizard, a demon-prince and the Sultana’s lost son, it was….apparently a very long time ago.
“I’m sorry. It hurts to lose a sword, I imagine it hurts to lose a wielder. I hadn’t thought about it before.”
I am content to be awake once more. Justice must be served! Evil must be vanquished! We will work together to rid the world of the Scourge of Darkness!
Vi grinned.
“I like you. You’re fun.”
Gavriel rolled his eyes heavenward and sighed.
***
Leigh’s shriek could have leveled a small hamlet. They had dove through the portal straight into a large room filled tp the brim with offal, rotting garbage and other, fouler things. Glag, for her part, scrambled up Drang and clung to his shoulders.
“What, what is this stuff?” Leigh looked more than faintly green.
“’Dunno,” Drang grunted, “but I don’t think that this stuff’s our biggest problem.”
“What could possibly be worse,” Leigh demanded.
The walls shuddered and began to creep inward. Glag yelped as Drang drew his sword.
“As far as I can see, there aren’t any doors.”
***
“If you girls are done talking,” Gavriel interrupted, “I think I’ve figured out our exit strategy.”
Vi wriggled around into what amounted to a standing position in this strange place. Gavriel pointed towards a featureless wash of black and white space.
“We’re going out the rift that will appear there. It should let us bypass the worst of the mazes and the traps, fast-track us straight to the deeper levels.”
“How do we know that’s the right way to go?” Vi protested. “Valeral and Leibrev—”
“Were not there when Leigh and Drang spilled out of their rift. I think this one is our best bet. Whatever it is, it’s obviously trying to draw us deeper in. So, we’ll go deeper in. On our terms. At our pace. We’re far enough up that we won’t get ahead of them, and not so high up that we’ll have to waste our energy on pointless traps and random monsters.”
“Yes.” Dhurka was nodding vigorously. “Wise to ask Dhurka to help. Is best way. Not fastest, but bestest.”
“What is the fastest?” Vi asked, eyeing the gobliness as she ran a thoughtful finger along the edge of her sword. Neniel giggled in their minds.
That tickles!
“Ah,” Dhurka gulped. “Fast way bad. Very sick-making. Hard to find. Guarded too well. At both ends.”
“We can’t get there from here?”
Dhurka shook her head in vehement negation. Gavriel caught Vi’s eye and nodded slightly. There was no good, direct route. Vi let out her breath in an explosive sigh.
“Alright then, let’s go. Unless I’m very much mistaken, our ride is here.”
The grey rift had begun to materialize, tearing itself into the black and white space.
“Just brace yourself. Things might be…a bit disorienting at first. Just remember, concentrate, stay calm, keep focused, and we’ll won’t have any problems. Ready?”
“Ready.”
“Ready.”
Once more into the breach! Forward to glory!
Gavriel shot a sour look at the sword.
“Yes. What it said.”
To Be Continued…
Comments on this entry are closed.