A Change in the Weather

Chapter 70: The forging of the blade

12 August, 2008 – 7:50 am

Interlude 

‘What are you?’ Fox said, swinging the sword about in the air. ‘I must say you feel remarkably light for such a large sword.’

He swung it once more to feel it again. The sword made a bright ringing sound as it scythed through the air. He couldn’t say why, but it felt just right in his hand, and the sword gave a giddy laugh, clearly happy that it was free once more.

‘I suppose that would be the Levitonite.’ it said, cheerfully.

Fox looked bewildered.

‘I’m not sure I understand?’ he said.

‘I’m not sure that I understand completely either.’ the sword said, wistfully. ‘All I know is that it’s a crystal.’

‘I see.’ said Fox, turning the sword over in his hand. ‘You mean this stone set in the pommel?’ he said, rubbing a finger over the green glass-like stone.

‘Exactly.’ the sword said.

‘So, who are you then?’

‘Me? Well, there’s a bit of a funny story there you see.’

‘I’m all ears.’ said Fox, suddenly stabbing the sword into the ground and sitting down.

‘What are you doing?’ cried the sword. ‘Pick me up!‘

Fox shook his head and crossed his arms.

‘Not until you tell me what I need to know.’

The sword sat there, feeling neglected, until finally it relented and mumbled something.

‘I’m sorry?’ said Fox, trying to hide the smile that had started to form on his lips.

‘I said,’ replied the sword, with more clarity this time, ‘Once upon a time there was a court jester…’

There was an uncomfortable silence, and Fox raised an eyebrow slightly.

‘Oh really?’ he said, doubtfully.

‘Look, do you want to hear this story or not?’ said the sword, irritably.

Fox coughed and spluttered, trying desperately to hide his mirth.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘please carry on.’

‘Do you know what has happened since I’ve been lost?’

‘I’m afraid not. I’m not from around here you see. In fact, I was hoping you could tell me about this place.’

‘Oh, that is bad luck. I was hoping that you would be able to tell me!’

‘Sorry I can’t help. I’m looking for a way home. I come from Blakeby. Have you heard of it?’

‘Can’t say I have, although who knows what’s happened since I’ve been lost? Two thousand years is a long time.’

‘You said you’d been lost for two thousand years. How can you be so sure?’

‘I counted the days.’

Fox blinked, but said nothing.

‘I know it sounds bizarre,’ continued the sword. ‘But can you even begin to guess how mind-numbingly boring it is spending two thousand years in a dead tree?’

Fox shook his head. ‘No, I can’t say I do.’ he said, stifling a snigger.

‘I’ll tell you shall I? It was hell.’

‘So what happened to you then?’

‘Do you know of a place called Talistay?’ asked the sword.

‘I have heard of it, yes. But that’s all. I’ve never set foot there.’

‘Well, it is a grand place, full of wonders and sights to behold, but I’ll say no more about it for now, and instead concentrate on the events that lead me to be in my current predicament.

‘As I said, I was once a court jester - a fool - and it was my second week in court. There had been countless other fools before me who did not find favour and who had been sent away to some awful job or other, but those tales did not concern me much, and I had been given instructions by an elder of my guild to attend. So attend I did, and it began rather well for me I must say. I became good friends with king Artus, who was famed throughout the land.

‘The empire of Talistay stretched far into Faerie, bringing in states that were stronger together than apart, disparate lands that had little in common with each other, but through being thrown together, found a sense of trust and belonging that wasn’t there in the beginning. For the first time religious and ethnic freedom was guaranteed, slavery and oppression of every kind was banned. Talistay gave member states the right to subject themselves to the Crown, or not. It was simple and pure, and for a while it worked.’

‘And for a while it worked?’

‘Yes, that is correct. For a while it did. Artus was the last king of Talistay. And you found his last resting place, and his sword.’

‘Are you saying that you were the king’s sword?’ said Fox, with incredulity.

‘He was killed by traitors who took control of the empire.’ continued the sword, ignoring Fox. ‘They wanted the power of the crown and desired to rule over the states of the empire with a rod of iron, using the dragon knights that had protected the royal seat for hundreds of years as a means of instigating their will.’

‘Traitors who were his closest friends, but who had - it turned out - allied themselves to a witch. But the witch was treacherous and a traitor even to them. She desired something else that was held in Talistay - a great power that had all but been forgotten.’

‘What? What did they desire?’

The sword sighed.

‘That, I’m afraid, I don’t know.’

Fox sat there, fascinated, but he wanted to know more.

‘Go on.’ he said.

‘Well, it was said that the witch came from the forest of Erebor and held sway over it. There was talk that she’d used sorcery to create an army and used the cover of the forest to keep knowledge of it secret. By the time she came to use it - it was too late. She had allied herself with the dark aelf stronghold of Tarraslieven.’

‘Don’t talk to me of that place.’ said Fox with disgust. ‘I have been there.’

‘Have you?’ said the sword, clearly impressed. ‘Then you were lucky to escape with your life my friend. For no man who enters leaves there alive.’

‘But we are getting ahead of ourselves here though.

‘Where was I? Oh, yes. You really must stop distracting me. One day I was tasked with finding the kitchens, to tell the cooks there that more bread and mead was needed. The kitchens were underground, you see, below the keep; down in the very bedrock of Talistay. I’d never been there before, and in trying to find my way there, took a wrong turn and ended up going deeper and deeper underground, until, eventually, I found that I was well and truly lost.

‘I was lost in a maze of twisty passages. There were exits leading north, south, east and west. And with each step I found myself straying further and further from the path I needed.

‘In the end, in the warrens of corridors and rooms, I stumbled across the laboratories that were hidden deep in the heart of the Drayfern Rock. You see, I’d discovered the alchemical laboratories of change, where the court sorcerers and alchemists constructed their bizarre clockwork creations; things that were talked about only in hushed whispers.

‘Whilst I was there, I saw ranks of huge metal guardians, silent and still, awaiting their clockwork hearts and levitonite minds. I saw the forge where Althanor had forged the King’s sword Kaliburn hundreds of years previously. The forge glowed with redness from the lava chamber below, casting everything around in a deep scarlet.

‘And then I saw it, the sword. It lay there by the anvil and the forge, lonely. Beside it was a stone - normal in every way - and I didn’t think much of it at the time. Anyway, one thing led to another and, well, let’s just say there was an accident.

‘Why, what happened?’

‘I touched the stone and ran my hand over the sword, and then something very strange happened.’

‘What?’ said Fox, intrigued.

‘I watched as my own body collapsed to the ground in front of me.’

Fox sat there for a moment as if running the words around in his head, trying to make sense of them.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Exactly what I said,’ said the sword, testily. ‘I saw my body collapse to the ground. It was only after the initial shock that I realised that my consciousness was somewhere else. For some reason I was watching myself from somewhere else - from another vantage point; from inside the sword. And so, there I was, imprisoned inside this bloody thing. There was nothing I could do, and so I had to wait patiently until they came looking for me.

‘Suffice to say the king wasn’t pleased. Try as they might, they couldn’t split me from the sword, and I had to watch as they buried my poor dead body in the cemetery. As far as I know, it lays there still.

‘You cannot even begin to know how weird it is to watch your own body get lowered into the ground.’

Posted in A Change In The Weather |