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Book Test
"So wait, were you trapped in the sword or haunting it?" I asked, pulling the camouflage sheet further down.
"Neither," she said with a gentle shake of her head. "I am the sword. I am...a physical representation of the sword’s sentience. I was made to...” She hesitated. Something of concern seemed to cross her mind, and she quickly turned to Sparrow. "What of the bow? Where did it fall?"
Sparrow bowed again before answering, "With its intended host, Lady."
The ghost laughed, the sound light and musical. "No need to refer to me as such, little one."
"On the contrary, Lady, I feel I must," Sparrow responded. "I was not raised any other way."
"Ah," the ghost said with understanding. "I see my brother has not forgotten the old ways. Although this hardly seems the time."
"He drilled it into me so I could never forget, Lady Grace."
The ghost froze. A shiver ran through her form before she resumed moving, her hair wafting to and fro in defiance of gravity. "My name," she said, wistfully. "I have...not heard it in quite some time."
"If I may, Lady Grace," I interjected, mimicking Sparrow's formal tone as best as I could. Grace turned back to me as I pulled the sheet completely down and stuffed it in my pocket.
"Please," she whispered, "use my name. Do not use my title. Use my name."
"Grace, then," I said, making my way out of the wooden labyrinth. She gave another shiver of pleasure. "Can you explain what the hell is going on?"
Sparrow shot me a look of angry annoyance, one of her eyes now bright red, but Grace didn’t seem to care about my informality.
“Certainly,” she said. “What would you like to know?”
“Let’s start with you representing the sword’s sentience.”
She gave me a knowing smile, presenting the flat edge of the blade to me. The silver edge was now clean and unmarked, the blade shimmering with a dull light. A blue glow covered the blade for a blinding second, fading to reveal a new inscription. The letters had changed, but the engraving looked exactly as old and scuffed as the previous one.
Hunh. I knew something had to be amiss when the alien script at the base changed by itself; a magic sword could do many things, but usually changing an engraving wasn’t one of them.
“So you control the appearance of the sword,” I said, nodding. “But illusion doesn’t explain assumed sentience.”
She gave a small sigh, apparently disappointed by my lack of awe. “Sentience, as you understand it, is interwoven in all blades and weapons on its – on my – home world. Every weapon forged out of the dirt of Koanni inherits a small portion of the land’s spirit. That spirit, magic, sentience – whatever you call it – chooses what form to take in order to enable our handlers to succeed.”
Seeing as how a number of emotionally-charged buildings had tried to kill me in the past, I suppose that explanation worked. I glanced at Sparrow for a second. “Next question: why did Sparrow refer to you as ‘lady’?”
Grace tilted her head. “You would prefer she did not address me at all?”
“Despite your consciousness, you’re still a weapon,” I remarked. “Why the title?”
“At home, a weapon belonging to a member of the royal family is to be respected as much as the member themselves,” Grace answered. “Because I am a weapon does not negate who I worked for. Sparrow was simply adhering to older customs despite the fact we are not on Koanni or anywhere near the respected Geshonian grounds.”
I looked her up and down for a moment, considering her answers. I thought through what Layla had initially told me about ‘her’ weapon. She never mentioned any of this. Then again, she didn’t seem to be aware part of her bloodline involved the marwolaeth wolf clan, or of the prophecy surrounding the salvation—or possible genocide—of said marwolaeths. It appeared the kid’s information was even more lax than I realized.
Probably one of the reasons Olyvia asked me to look into things.
“Something else is bothering you,” Grace stated.
“You could say that,” I said, crossing my arms. Time to test the truth of awareness. “Layla said you were her father’s sword, and that you were enchanted. That’s why you glowed. I assume that Koanni for ‘father’ doesn’t translate to Terran for ‘mother’.” Grace stifled a laugh and nodded. “So why are you a human female if you were supposed to be the sword of her father?”
“First, you’re lying to see if I am what I say I am,” Grace responded. “Layla never told you I was enchanted. She had no idea why I glowed any more than you did.”
It was true. A small lie to see if she was as aware of her surroundings as she claimed.
“Second,” she continued, “Layla made an assumption. I always belonged to Lady Grace. I guarded her grave in silence for a very long time before her brother accidentally activated me. Once he realized what he had done, he took me into his possession where I stayed until Layla decided to steal me away. She thought because I was guarded so carefully, I belonged to her father. She was wrong.”
“Wonderful. But it still doesn’t explain why you’re human and not elven.”
“Lady Grace was human. Therefore, I appear to be the same.”
“But Terrans aren’t allowed on Koanni anymore,” I said. I glanced down at the sword. “How old are you?”
Grace scoffed. “I may be a thing to you, Terran, but it doesn’t mean asking my age is any less rude.”
“You know what I mean,” I said, brushing her offence aside. “After the marwolaeth war, all the portals between Earth and your planet were sealed. Seeing as how long ago that war was, given the fact you were given to Grace after she apparently made it to royalty status on an alien planet, and you said you guarded her grave, you both have to be extremely old. I’m asking so I—“ I hesitated, noticing Grace’s amused stare. “...what?”
Her amusement grew into an almost impish mischievousness.
“You Terrans are so...funny,” she responded. “You think once something is closed, it means it’s gone.”
I watched her for a moment, waiting for an explanation. Grace looked from Sparrow back to me, her smile widening unnaturally for a human face.
“You mean...you’ve never told him?”
Sparrow shook her head, eyes turning a pale yellow. “He never asked.”
Grace belted out a short laugh before turning to me and tilting her head. “What do you think, little one? Should we tell him? Or show him?”
“Tell him or show him what?” I asked, suddenly nervous.
I was ignored.
“He won’t understand unless you show him, Lady.” Sparrow answered, one eye paling until it was completely white.
Grace nodded. “I think so, too.”
I blinked. Grace was suddenly in front of me, pressing her fingertips against my forehead. A wave of cold washed over my skin and everything faded to black.
I blinked a few times in the sudden darkness. Small white lines began to seep through the black, outlining my surroundings. Colors began to fade back into existence as light began to spread over the horizon. I could see again.
I was standing...I wasn't sure where I was standing. It looked like a forest, but all the colors were wrong. The brown trees were a deep husky red. The leaves and grass were a different hue. The sky was a bluish-purple. Everything was very real, and it was all very wrong.
I blinked a few times to make sure my eyes were working correctly.
Nothing changed.
Something was heavy in my hand, and I looked down to see what it was. Layla's sword. Apparently I stole it again, even though I had no recollection of taking it from Grace. A few attempts to relax my grip failed. The handle was practically glued to my skin. Since letting it go wasn’t an option, I lifted it and tapped the blade. "Hello?"
The sword responded by lighting up, Grace’s voice drifting out from the blade as she answered. "What is it?"
"Where am I?"
"In Sparrow's chambers."
I glanced around at the massive forest surrounding me. "I'm really not."
“Do not worry. Your body is still in the castle. But in order to help you understand the trouble you and your friend have stepped in, I've brought your mind to the world of Koanni, and equipped you with what you need to complete the quest."
“The quest?”
“To find out about the portals, of course.”
“Of course. And...how exactly am I supposed to do that?"
"This vision works the same as reality. Point your body the direction you wish to go and move forward. You will eventually find yourself at your destination."
“And if something happens to me in here?” I asked, looking around as something human-sounding screamed off in the distance.
“It works the same as reality,” she answered. “What do you think will happen?”
“I don’t really want that question answered, do I?” I asked, sliding the sword down into a pocket and finding my hand was now free of the hilt. Glancing around one more time, I said, “If you had the power to show me this world, why couldn’t you have just shown me whatever it is you wanted me to see? You just wanted to watch me squirm in a forest?"
Her musical laughter was the only answer.