Chapter 23

Sword in the Ground

The sword sat there, glowing with intense magical energies that seemed to beckon anyone to claim it. Yet, Fabian couldn’t help but feel there was a trap. Something so simple that he would fall victim to should he try to claim the sword in question. Fabian glared at the boy, who only watched on with mild amusement on his face as he stared at Fabian and his crew. It was clear the boy was just as curious about what would happen as everyone else was.

By now, more and more people from the farmhouse came over to witness what was happening.

“What is happening here?” a matronly voice rang out. This was the voice of Enora. Many who gathered seemed to defer to her as the de facto leader of this group.

“The officer here is leveraging an extortion tax on us. We were captured taken hostage. Then we managed to come back without any help from the empire. Yet they feel the need to charge us for them coming out here. Now they are demanding Lykan’s sword in exchange,” the male farmer said to the person who was clearly his wife.

“Lykan?” the woman said, running up, then shock filled her face as she looked at the blade in the ground.

“No, your sword. Wait, what is it doing in the ground?” she asked as confusion filled her voice.

“I have put it there. As I was trying to tell the Commander here, it is a magic sword that he asked for. One that can tell the true hearts of people. If the person trying to grab the blade is corrupt at heart, it will drain them of all life,” the boy, Lykan, said to the woman as if that would calm her down.

Hearing the words, Fabian realized there might be some trick involving the blade. He was too quick to get rid of such a valuable magical artifact. “Kelmer, grab the sword,” Fabian demanded.

“Me? Why me, boss?” a soldier asked, but a stern glance of warning was all he got from his Commander. Nervously the man went forward glanced at everyone who was staring angrily at him. By a glance, it looked like the number of people that had taken up refuge at the farmhouse was almost equal to the number of people that Fabian had brought down from the airship. Wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible, Kelmer went over, grabbed the hilt of the blade, then promptly collapsed.

“What? What did you do!” Fabian demanded.

The boy just stared at him from a few feet away. “Me? I did nothing. That man must have been found to be less than wanting if he could barely touch the blade without collapsing. What type of morals are you teaching your soldiers nowadays?” the boy asked mockingly.

Fabian looked on in anger as he let an angry huff leave his chest. The boy was mocking them somehow.

“There has to be some trick to it!”

Lykan shook his head, “Telka,” was all the boy said as he gestured for her to go forward.

The beautiful dark-skinned Elf from behind him looked confused for a second. Then the two exchanged words in some foreign singing language. Hearing the words, the woman nodded. Then she went over, grabbed the sword by the hilt, and lifted it up. The sword easily rose.

“Stop!” the boy said, then with a few words in that foreign tongue, he spoke again. This time the woman pushed the sword down back to the level it had been a second ago. Once that was done, the boy nodded. With that, the girl, Telka apparently, left the sword and went to hide behind Lykan.

Fabian snarled at this.

“Get Kelmer and take him aboard the airship,” Fabian snapped an order at two recently acquired recruits who were standing near the end of the formation. Those two grabbed Kelmer first by the feet, then dragged him away, not wanting to get anywhere near the cursed blade. Once he was a safe distance away, the two got better leverage on the unconscious individual and began moving him toward the lift, which was little more than a strong canvas tarp held together by four thick strands of rope.

Now down by three, the group that had easily outmatched the farmers was now even with the group of farmers. Still, Fabian couldn’t leave without anything to show for his efforts. No one would believe that a completely random stranger would have called upon the old world laws of Dominion.

“Lewis, grab the blade, and let's be done with this,” Fabian demanded, looking to one of his senior leaders.

Hearing the order, Lewis wanted to protest but bit back his tongue. He knew arguing with orders was pointless.

The man walked forward, touched the hilt, and immediately collapsed.

“Why don’t you try taking it? As the leader, you should be entitled to the greatest spoils of war,” the boy asked, pressuring the man to take the blade.

Rage filled in Fabian’s chest at the direct challenge to his authority. He knew there was some trick that he missed, but he couldn’t afford to look too weak in front of his men. Not now.

Seeing the look of desperation in the Commander’s eyes, it was clear he was getting close to a breaking point. Her eyes flashed silver as a decision point drew close. Seeing her time to strike, she acted.

“Commander,” Dathney said, taking a step forward, then another until she was in front of the blade. Seeing the death grip the fallen Lewis had on the blade, she gave a quick kick to the hand. A slight shock was felt in her body, but the sensation quickly faded. She looked first to the sword, then back at Lykan as if wondering how such a feat was possible. Still, she regained her composure quickly.

“If I may. I am Azani Oracle Dathney Lorain, betrothed to the Second Prince of Belkins, Khan Anwar.” As she spoke, a gasp rang out from the crowd of onlookers. It was clear that not many who were gathered were aware of the woman’s true nature. Only the boy, Lykan, seemed to be unfazed by such a proclamation. Telka, for her part, still had a hard time distinguishing the native language, so her reaction was more or less trying to piece together what was being said from the way everyone was acting around her. Before anyone could get the wrong idea about how to act during such a situation, Dathney continued.

“If you seek a reward for your hard work, then returning me and my retainer to the capital should net your and your crew a substantial reward,” Dathney said, pointing to the tall warrior woman behind her that could be her less attractive, slightly taller and more muscular sister.

“Is what you say true?” Fabian asked, clamoring on to this lifeline like it could save both him and his career.

Stolen story; please report.

“So help the Goddess,” the woman continued. As she spoke, her eyes glowed a deep silver color. This light was unmistakable, the sign of an Oracle using their Class Magical Ability. “Know that this is a good man. Also, know that should you try to harm him or others, it will be bad for you. Also, that sword is a fully bound Spirit Blade of legend, none but the wielder and those the wielder deem worthy can so much as touch the blade without intense pain,” Dathney said, pointing to the blade still in the ground.

Fabian looked to the boy, then the sword, then the boy again.

“You played us?”

“Your greed played you. You saw an unimaginable feat of someone calling forth the bindings of Dominion, yet you still chose to ignore that for your own greed,” the boy Lykan said, grabbing his sword from the ground easily. Then with a swift swing, all of the dirt was flung from the blade directly below to the ground below.

Seeing the movement, it was clear that the boy was a peak weapons Master. So fluid was his control that even the most hardened of men amongst Fabian’s crew knew they were clearly outmatched by the man.

“Just what type of beast are you?” Fabian demanded.

Hearing those words, the boy had a somewhat sad expression fill his face.

“I am but a simple outcast who has managed to find a few lucky breaks along the way,” Lykan said self-deprecatingly. There was an air of truth to his statements as his words rang painfully true. Regardless of what actually happened, the man before them truly believed that what he said was true.

“An outcast?” Fabian repeated. “So you are either a freak or an abomination. Which one is it, boy?”

Fabian didn’t know why he felt like pressing the boy, but something about the smug demeanor the boy had this entire time irked him.

“Neither now. I changed my fate and rose above what was expected of me. Now I am just a simpler Wanderer.”

Fabian heard the words but turned to Sheila, his second in command and the only one with a near-perfect scanning Skill. She nodded in confirmation.

“He is a Wanderer, sir. And this woman is Dathney Lorain an Oracle,” Sheila said, gesturing with her head toward Dathney, confirming her words.

Realizing everything was getting more complicated than it all needed to be. Fabian then asked. “And the other woman?”

“She is a Shaman. Not uncommon for a shaman to be a retainer for an Oracle,” Sheila explained.

“Fine. You two with us,” Fabian said, pointing to Dathney and Polina. Then he turned to the rest of the group, who was still watching him. “As for the rest of you, pray that I don’t have to cross paths with any of you again.”

He said it in general, but his words were only directed at one person.

Fabian turned to leave, but then out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the still unconscious Lewis. “And someone gets Lewis from the ground before he embarrasses us.”

With that, Fabian left. Sheila directed two junior soldiers to run forward and grab Lewis. Then the long process of extracting everyone began. The lift system was slow and steady, only able to lift three people at a time. Fabian went up with the oracle and her retainer first. Followed shortly by the two guards who were tasked with caring for Lewis. Sheila was the last to leave. Before she did, she gave a wave to everyone. It was clear she was trying to differentiate herself from the Commander that she served under.

“Goodbye for now. I have a feeling we will meet again,” Sheila said, directing her words toward the dark and brooding man before her. He was a bit young for her tastes, but given enough time, he could grow into someone remarkable. Or at least that was the thought she had as she rode her way up to join the rest of her crew on the airship.

No sooner was she up in the ship, it abruptly came to life and began turning around for the capital almost instantly. Everyone watched the giant blimp leave, while no one who wasn’t aware of the situation with the Sidherthan military would notice, there was a general rule of thumb. The larger the ship one saw, the less likely that particular ship was designed for combat. While Fabian Du Pris had arguably one of the largest ships in the fleet, from Sidherthan standards, it was considered little more than a freight carrier. Fabian, of course, mostly managed to keep his fleet from salvaging details by simply going on these tax collecting runs for the empire. As they drew closer, communication crystals came to life with the request for salvaging aid to the South East. Normally they would be required to stop for such a salvage request, but Fabian figured with the valuable crew of having an oracle on board, he could dictate that such urgent matters bypassed a general call to clean up.

Seeing the crystal message, Dathney asked, “Aren’t you going to heed the call to help clear an area?”

“No, those are often little more than picking up burnt debris and rubble from bandit raids.”

Dathney nodded in understanding. “What happens if it was a call to salvage a dragon?” Dathney asked in a non-committal tone of voice that said she was more curious than anything.

“If it was a dragon salvage, then we would drop everything we could and head over as quickly as possible for salvage rights. A crew is entitled to ten percent of whatever they are able to salvage, so in that case, it would be a hefty sum indeed,” Fabian said, his tone equally dismissive.

Then he stopped as he looked at the woman before him. As he stared, she let out a small smile.

“I wondered when you would ask,” Dathney said, her words intoxicating like poison.

“There is a dragon corpse there?” Fabian asked, pointing to the coordinates that came from the crystal.

“Indeed there is.”

“Is this from your powers?” Fabian asked.

Laughing.

Dathney laughed in a melodious tune. “No, my dear Captain, I was there when the man you were nearly going to fight took down the very dragon in question.”

“What? That boy? Took down a dragon?” he asked.

“Why yes. Swung his sword right at its massive attack and fired it right back at the beast.”

“His sword?” Fabian asked, remembering the immensely powerful blade that almost beckoned to him.

“Yes, one swing and the spell rebounded on the fully grown Matriarch Psychic Dragon. Polina and I managed to be part of the killing party,” the Oracle said, gesturing to her retainer.

Her retainer looked somewhat annoyed at having her secret revealed.

Fabian, on the other hand, was at a loss.

“Sheila, send a missive stating that we are claiming the rights to the salvage. Also, let them know that we have valuable crew members,” Fabian said.

“We will need to get a bit closer to send the missives. But that we should be within range in a few minutes or so,” Sheila said, already drafting up the message in question. The problem with communication crystals like this was that they had a short-range. While the burst could be picked up anywhere, details were often lacking due to the burst of energy only being able to transmit so much data accurately over a large distance. Thus what often came through were two types of commands, Salvage or Combat, along with coordinates and a designation code for each. To claim a salvage, a team needed to reply back with the designation code and an affirmative. While more than one group could claim a salvage, it was often considered rude to double-dip on a salvage. But such events were hardly unheard of.

With their minds made up, Fabian waited to execute both plans that would help his career advance quickly today.

“I do apologize, my dear Oracle, but there seems to be a slight detour in our trip to the capital.”

Dathney, having already expected such an event, merely put on a false smile and played her part.

“Well, events must unravel properly,” Dathney said as she sat in a chair indicated by the Commander. Polina, rather than sit, stood at full attention behind and to the right of her Oracle. Seeing the apprehension of the Commander, Dathney interjected. “My dear Polina is a bit possessive. She already feels shamed from me having once fallen into the hands of bandits.”

“Bandits?”

“Yes.”

“So that man was a bandit? I knew there was something deplorable about him. Tell me should we send troops back to…”

“Quite the contrary. One, I don’t think you could stop him if you wanted. Second, he was the one who saved us from the bandits in the first place. To attack him for being the only one who came to our rescue would be unwise,” Dathney said as Polina growled. While she didn’t say much, her opinions about the man who saved them seemed to be conflicted at best. On the one hand, she was angry that she was not the one who saved her Master. On the other hand, the man proved to be far more skilled and resourceful than one would believe just by looking at him.

“No, I have no intentions of ever crossing that man,” Fabian said, though, in his mind, he was already writing up the report to place claims of attacking two of his men against that boy.

Dathney’s eyes glowed silver, then quickly faded.

Fabian felt a shiver run down his spine at the sudden display of power. But then dismissed the thought as Sheila cut into his thoughts.

“Message sent. Turning now to go directly to the salvage point.”

“Good good,” Fabian said as he thought about the money he would make from harvesting dragon scales. Even ten percent of this would be an amazing haul for him and his men. Better still, if it was a Psychic Dragon as claimed, then they might be able to grab it all with just the two cables.