They looked back toward the cave entrance, and Relma was expecting to see Ajax coming up after her in a rage. Smoke was rising in high clouds, and snarling and fighting was heard. She saw no one yet, and that relieved her. She was not looking forward to having to fight Ajax at all. If she could stall until she got Lightning Trail, though, she should be able to handle it.

Lightning Trail was a legendary weapon. It was capable of transforming the face of entire battlefields. Anoa had banished entire legions of demons with it at several points. Once Relma laid hands on it, everything would work out.

Just stay calm and keep going.

"What is going on?" asked Ronald.

"It must have been the trap Ergath set," said Estela. "Hurry up, both of you."

"I hope Ajax and the others are alive," murmured Relma as they climbed.

Estela gave Relma a look. "You're joking."

"They aren't bad people," argued Relma. "Just driven by the will of Telix." Killing Ajax would be a terrible idea. It would escalate things and start a blood feud. The last thing she needed.

"I'd hate to see what you qualify as a bad person, Relma," said Estela.

They scaled ever higher, and the sound of fighting grew ever dimmer. Soon, they seemed to walk faster as the remaining distance flew by. Before long, they were nearing the peak. The air became thinner and colder, but Relma hardly felt it.

For she could see a swirling storm cloud above the mountain. All of them surrounded a single point. As she drew near, she saw what she had been looking for. "There it is."

Lightning Trail was a chipped, somewhat twisted, and dull blade. It was hanging from the clouds a few feet above the peak. But that didn't diminish it in the slightest.

For Relma, at least. Those clouds had hung there for thousands of years. The sword kept them there.

"... It's somewhat uh..." began Ronald.

"Less illustrious than you were expecting." guessed Relma.

She should have been disappointed. But, then again, it wasn't about the sword. It was about drawing it.

"Well, what were you expecting?" laughed Estela. "Lightning Trail's power came from the wielder. Well, that and the Heaven's Eye."

"You mean the gem in the pommel?" asked Relma. "Where is it?"

"Gail took the gem out when he placed it in the sky," said Estela.

"Why'd he do that?" asked Relma.

"I imagine he thought putting an artifact of unlimited holy power for anyone to pry out was a bad idea," said Estela. "Don't worry. The gem is down in Gel Carn, under the protection of the Steward.

"If any of us draw the sword, you need only convince him to hand it over."

"Well, that sounds much easier than I was expecting," said Relma.

"Yes, right," said Estela. "Relma, the Steward, has sworn to hand power over to Anoa the Bright's heir. As soon as they appear, but he isn't going to do it."

"What makes you so sure?" asked Relma.

"Well, think about it. You and your family have ruled over a Kingdom in all but name for generations. Then, some random farm boy showed up with a sword, demanding to be made the king. Would you hand it over?"

"If I'd sworn to hand it over to the rightful heir, and he was one, of course," said Relma.

"See, you answered that way because you don't understand." Estela seemed very annoyed by her answer. "This isn't an oath you made of your own will. It's an oath your great, great, great grandfather made and forced you to make.

"This boy is clearly the pupil of an irritating wizard who shows up and demands like he owns the place. And now that wizard is telling you to give up the country that you would have inherited.

"Would you do it?"

"...Well, I might be a little reluctant," said Relma, not really comprehending what she was getting at. "But Aren isn't irritating."

Estela put a hand over her eyes. "Hmm, well, I guess that's a good thing. Since you're clearly far too stupid to rule anything."

"Hey!" said Relma.

"We Vortegex's became Kings of Escor the old-fashioned way," said Estela. She climbed toward the sword. "We helped House De Chevlon crush House Gabriel. Then we killed those vampires and burned them all to a cinder."

"Vampires?" asked Ronald.

"Yes, well, we were loyal to House De Chevlon," said Estela as they neared the sword. "Then we discovered that House De Chevlon was secretly ruled by vampires. So they offered the head of our House a place among them.

"Naturally, we're loyal servants of Elranor. We staged a coup and obliterated as many vampires as we could.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Of course, it's all nonsense. We made it up to justify our takeover later. That's the problem with propaganda. You spend so much time telling lies that you forget the truth."

And then Ergath emerged from the living stone. He was covered in wounds, and his sword was bloodied. He limped forward and fell to one knee, resting on his scimitar. "I don't mean to interrupt, but Ajax has survived my trap and is coming up after us with all his wolves.

"If you want to try your luck, now is the time."

"Are you all right?" asked Relma.

"I'll need to heal myself a bit," said Ergath. "Your pursuer is quite formidable."

"Right, I'll just, um..." began Relma. She'd been hoping Ajax would be turned back by Ergath or at least delayed a bit longer.

But Estela first moved forward in long strides and gripped the blade with one hand. She pulled on it, but it remained stuck in place. Then, hauling on it further, she gritted her teeth and finally let go.

"Damn it," she said. "Oh, to hell with it. Arengeth probably made it so the spell would only release for his chosen puppet. With Anoa X dead, nobody can pull it.

"Ronald, want to give it a try?"

"Me?" asked Ronald. "But I don't want to be king."

"Yeah, but you've been taught how to rule by your father," said Relma. "Maybe not wanting to be king is part of the requirements."

Ronald nodded and moved forward. Then, taking hold of the sword, he pulled on it. The sword flashed briefly, the clouds shifting above a bit. Then they darkened again, and he let go.

"Hurry up," said Ergath, whose wounds had lessened.

"Right," said Relma.

She approached the sword. This was what she had come here for. This moment. But what if she couldn't draw it? No, she had to remove it, or she'd never prove herself. So she took hold of the blade and pulled for a moment.

There was no response. It held tightly.

She had to draw it. What would happen if she didn't? She'd have to go back and admit Aunt Pan was right. Wait for her son or grandson to get all the glory and credit. While she was forgotten. She pulled again.

The sword stayed where it was.

And then she thought about the coming war. Was there any hope at all? She could see Aren and Aunt Pan defeated Telix, but Adrian, too? It would be incredibly bloody. Images of black dragons soaring over halfling villages came to mind. She saw Ronald's face, then acid hit it, and the skin melted. It left only bone that blackened and melted to nothingness.

She couldn't let that happen. She had to draw it!

The sword budged.

She opened her eyes and found herself standing in her old home. The fire was roaring. For a moment, she thought it was just a dream. Then she saw the light out the windows. Endless light. She turned around and saw Him.

"...Elranor," said Relma.

He had skin and hair as white as snow. His sword was inlaid with light instead of gold. His fair features were contemplative, and he was sitting in a chair. Not a throne, but one of simple wood, his hands clasped as he looked upon a chessboard. Relma was on the other side of it.

"Hello, Relma," he said.

"I um... well, I..." began Relma.

"You are not supposed to be here," noted Elranor.

"Well..." Relma looked downcast.

"You are not meant to be the one to wield Lightning Trail," said Elranor. "The ideal time has not yet been realized. By disobeying Pandora, you have risked your entire bloodline for your desires."

Relma felt like crying. She didn't know what to say. "I..."

"Fortunately, some of those desires are admirable," said Elranor. "Take the sword."

Relma blinked. Wasn't she just about to get scolded. "What?"

"I may be a god, but I appreciate people with a drive of their own," said Elranor. "It isn't fair to expect someone to devote their entire life to bearing a child. And you are of the right bloodline. So if you want to take Lightning Trail and try to prove yourself worthy of it, you may do so."

"Okay, thank you," said Relma. She was, uh... glad this worked out. "But what about the plan?"

Elranor smiled. "The best plan is one that can be changed. When you try to force people to be something they are not, it never ends well. And to be blunt, I see many possible futures. Of course, I could tell you to return to Pandora with your head hung in shame. But that would cause more problems than it would solve."

"What do you mean?" asked Relma.

"Well, you were reckless enough to embark on this venture at a whim," said Elranor. "If I crushed your spirit now, you might become the perfect mother. Or, more likely, you'd end up despising your children. Resenting that they had the destiny you wanted.

"It has happened.

"Also, your drawing Lightning Trail could lead to some serious short-term benefits. So go ahead. Have fun."

Relma stepped back, and Lightning Trail came out of the clouds. There was a clap of thunder, and the clouds which had hung over the Black Mountain for ages dispersed. They flowed across the sky. Before Relma's eyes, the twisted and bent sword changed shape.

Where once it was a wreck of a weapon, now it was perfectly shaped. The blade reflected the sun's light almost as brightly as it came down. The grip was perfect and made Relma feel like she could move mountains. The hilt and guard were elegant, made, and inlaid with silver. Or something like silver; it seemed brighter. And there was a place at the center to put a gem.

"...You just drew Lightning Trail," said Ronald.

"Wait, you actually are the Heir of Kings?" said Estela. "That's impossible!"

"I only found out about it-" began Relma.

And then something hit her from behind. Relma was sent sprawling and landed on the ground. Looking up, she saw Ajax, poised to strike. His claws were out, and his eyes glinted with fury.

"Let's speed this up," said Ajax.

Relma stood up and brandished her sword. She'd been running from him all this time. But she didn't need to. Now she had Lightning Trail. Now she could-

He was dodging all of her swings very easily, wasn't he?

And then he caught her by the wrist and brought around a fist to punch her in the stomach. The sword fell from her hand, and she keeled over.

"Wow, it's almost like I'm the unstoppable half-demon, and you started learning to use a sword two days ago," said Ajax. "Strange how that works out."

Then he ducked as Estela swung at him from behind. He brought around his leg in a roundhouse kick, but Estela ducked back before stabbing at him. After that, they dueled back and forth, and Estela was doing better than Relma had.

But not well enough. Ajax wasn't even taking this seriously. And then he caught Estela by the throat and disarmed her. "Hmm, you're good. It's been a while since I had to exert myself like this. Here's the thing: I just had a cave-in separate me from my sister and pack mates. So, I'm taking it out on you.

"Although, you're not bad to look at." He brought up a hand as Ronald came at him and backhanded him. Ronald was sent falling back and hit the ground. He fell but quickly began to rise. "Tell you what, I'll break the halfling."

Ajax surged at Ronald. Relma turned to Ergath, who was sitting cross-legged and observing. "Ergath, a little help here?"

"Oh, you expect me to help," said Ergath. "I thought we'd established by now that I'm a less than moral individual."

"Could you please help?" asked Relma.

"Well, I could," admitted Ergath. "But doing nothing will likely infuriate Arengeth more."

"Ajax, Ergath was the one who set the wards!" said Estela.

"...What?" said Ajax, looking up.

"If any of your pack are dead, it's because of him," said Estela.

"And he was planning on eating us," said Relma.

Ajax paused before grabbing Ronald and smashing him into the ground. Then he rose up and took a stance. "Clever girl."

Then he surged toward Ergath, who stood in a flash and met him head-on. As the two slashed and tore at each other, Relma made her way over to Ronald. He was bloodied on the forehead, and one of his arms was limp. "Ronald, are you all right?"

"No. I hurt all over," said Ronald.

"Can you move?" asked Relma.

"My leg..." said Ronald. "When I try to move it, it hurts."

Estela came up and offered Relma Lightning Trail. "Come on, Relma. Get Lightning Trail. I'll take Ronald."

She picked up Ronald, and the two of them moved as far away from the fighting as quickly as they could. But Relma's midsection was hurting, and Ronald was still bleeding badly.

"I... I can't see..." said Ronald.

"Put him down, Estela," said Relma. "He'll die if we don't treat him."

"And if we don't get out of here, we'll all die," said Estela.

"Please!" said Relma.

Estela set Ronald down gently. She drew some bandages out of her pack and began to apply them. But it was a lost cause. It was too little, too late.

Relma had to do something.

And then something came to her. It came naturally as if she was learning to use a muscle she'd never known she had. First, she reached forward and touched Ronald on the brow. Then she channeled something, perhaps herself, into him.

She could feel his pain dimming and his bones setting. He gasped as his flesh knitted. And then it was over. Suddenly, Relma found herself becoming tired. Estela stared at her.

"Relma, what did you do?" asked Estela.

Relma would have loved to give her an answer. But right now, her eyes were dimming. "I... I uh... I don't feel so well..."

"Relma!" shouted Estela.

Her voice seemed a long way off, though. Finally, Relma collapsed to the ground, and everything went dark.