Family Heirloom

The twins did a sloppy job of repairing the damage to Grim’s hand.  They weren’t trained past the basics of first aid in medicine and knew how to stop bleeding, set breaks, and not much more.  Grim’s hand was cauterized and bandaged but they weren’t qualified to do any more and neither twin was willing to foot the bill for a doctor.  

“Not when we’re just going to hand him to the Cadre anyways,” Langley said, standing back and surveying their handiwork.  Grim was prone on the floor with bandages wrapped around his injured hand.

“Decided already?”  Sabreur looked at his sister in surprise.  She was a mercenary all right – that came with the Stormrider blood – but usually she took some time to weigh the pros and cons of a decision.

“Bounty, brother, think of the bounty.  That and he reeks!  We already have one insane necromancer we’re hiding from the Cadre.  I’d rather not add a stupid one to the list.”

“I don’t know, the blood component was rather clever…”

“Shut up.  Just shut up.”

And Langley stalked off to investigate the rest of the apartment.  She didn’t find much.  A bit of food in the pantry, a portion of it ready to be thrown out.  A dirty bathroom that looked like the only way it’d ever be clean again was with copious amounts of fire.  And a backroom where Grim kept his ‘mancy lab.  It wasn’t much of a lab.  It was also infested with mice.  Langley stepped carefully and examined the contents of the table.  The stench of decay hung heavy over the room and there were assorted bits of bone and animal hide scattered across the table.  There was surely enough here that the Cadre could make a determination of necromancer from.

Grim was roused by the time the twins returned.  Langley knelt in front of him, carefully picking up the sword and holding it upright in his line of sight.  The eye remained closed and she couldn’t tell anything immediately unusual about the weapon.  If it weren’t for the fact that she had seen the eyeball she would still take it as just an old sword, as she had when she first received it as a gift.

“You said this thing was intelligent,” she said, “And that it tried to talk to you.  Well, what kind of intelligence does it have?”

Grim sat up.  Glanced at his hand for a second and then back at the sword.

“I-I did some research on it.  It’s been floating around Bastion for many years now and was forged back when necromancy wasn’t completely outlawed.  Back when some things were still legal.  When you could still explore the human mind and what happened to it after death.”

“Yeah, there were reasons they outlawed that too,” Sabreur whispered softly.

“We’re not discussing morals right now, just finish your explanation Grim.”

He licked his lips.

“Anyway, I even managed to find records of its commission.  It was made for the Stormrider family by some rather prestigious ‘mancers of the time and was to be a weapon that would help defend the Stormrider family and more specifically the Stormrider carrying it.  So they decided to give it a mind of its own – so that it could essentially wield itself using the human as an extension.  Of course, at that time, the necromancy that would put a human mind into the sword was still illegal… and although the Stormrider family isn’t too good at following rules they certainly followed this one.”

“It’s the other kind of intelligence then,” Langley said.

“Yeah.  And it’s utterly loyal to the Stormrider family.  Hates anyone else.  You need to get rid of it.”

Langley sighed and crouched back on her heels, carefully sheathing the sword again.  Grim spluttered for a moment, taken off-guard by her actions.

“I said you need to stop carrying it!” he cried.

“I’m a Stormrider.”

She stood.  Grim stared.  After a moment Sabreur prodded him with his foot, urging him to his feet.  

“Let’s go.  We’re taking you to the Cadre,” he said.

“What?!” Grim screeched and the noise was shriller than any of his previous cries, “You said you wouldn’t!”

“We lied,” Langley said, “and before you get any ideas let’s get some things straight.  I am currently holding an intelligent weapon that is determined to protect Stormriders.  By how eager the thing has been in my hand I’m certain it would just love to put lots of little holes in you – or worse.  Who knows what else they’ve put into this sword?  Furthermore, we’ve been Academy trained while you have not.  Your strengths lie in necromancy which is a poorly documented and even more poorly taught branch of ‘mancy.  I think we’ll win any more fighting, especially since you’re outnumbered and we took away all your components when you fainted.”

Grim patted at his pockets and discovered that this was definitely not a bluff.  He spluttered helplessly for a few moments and then decided to try and play his trump card.

“You turn me into the Cadre and they find out about the sword as well!” he cried.

And Langley just shrugged.

“Fine.  Maybe they can even help determine just how badly the mind of this thing was botched back when it was forged.  Having a necromantic weapon isn’t exactly illegal when it was created back before that branch was completely outlawed.  It’s just… frowned upon.  And as Stormriders we’re quite used to that.”

Sabreur jerked Grim to his feet.  The necromancer protested helplessly, tried a few more threats, and invoked a handful of the avatars.  That only made Langley chuckle which seemed to infuriate him even more.  The racket continued down the street and people stopped and stared and continued all the way to the nearest guard post.  The guards were only too happy to send someone for a Cadre officer when Sabreur deposited the screechy and dirty man in a heap on their doorstep.  From there they just had to wait and endure Grim’s blubbering.

“Think we did the right thing?” Sabreur whispered to his sister.  Langley absently stroked the hilt of the sword and nodded.

“I think so.  There’s very little a necromancer can be doing in a city that’s ethical.  All laws aside it’ll probably be for the best to get rid of him.  I mean, what good can come of someone that raises zombies and can conjure decay?”

“Undead penguins.”

Langley drew in a sharp breath.

“That’s a special case.”

“I’m just saying.”

“And I think Mihos would approve of our actions.  You remember his rant when we met him?”

“Ah.”  That brought a pause from Sabreur.  He glanced at Grim, who was now babbling about retribution from the lords of the underworld.  “Yeah, I think I’m going to concede that point.”

That only left the matter of the sword.  Langley absently put her hand to it, feeling the craftsmanship of the hilt and the lines of the pommel.  It was certainly a well-made sword and if it had been made for the defense of the Stormrider clan than it was not purely ornamental.  It was a weapon to the core.

“You think Crystal knew what this was when she bought it?” Langley asked in an even lower voice.  Sabreur glanced around nervously.  They were still in the street as the guards didn’t want to bring any of them inside but Grim was a distance away and all the guards were standing watch over him and trying to ignore the twins until the Cadre arrived.

“I’m not sure.  She didn’t seem to realize she was carrying anything unusual.  Maybe she knew subconsciously?”

“A possibility.”  She paused.  “You think she talked to it?”

“It shouldn’t be able to talk.  It can try to but it shouldn’t be able to speak coherently.”

“Crystal isn’t exactly coherent either.”

“Hrm.”

It was a troublesome line of thought.  So far it seemed that the sword had only tried to talk to necromancers, those associated with the ‘mancy that created it.  It hadn’t said a word to either Langley or Sabreur or even let them know it was intelligent.  Not until one of them was threatened and then it had cowed Grim into submission simply by staring at him.  That alone bothered Langley.  What kind of intelligence did it have, that it terrified everyone who was not a Stormrider?  Did it have intelligence at all, or just will and purpose?

“We need to study it,” she said.

“The Cadre might have information on it,” Sabreur replied, “Maybe when the officer arrives he’ll be able to tell us more.”

“The Cadre?  Helpful?  Maybe Mihos will make me his heir in the underworld.”

“It was just a thought.  But whatever happens Langley; I think Grim may be right about you needing to stop carrying that.  Two methods to make a weapon intelligent right?”

“I know,” Langley said and looked away from her brother, her jaw set in stubborn peevishness.

“You put a human mind in the weapon.  Illegal and immoral.  Or you build your own mind.”

“I know!”

Sabreur took a breath.  “Langley.  No one has ever made a stable mind.”

Neither twin said anything more.  Everyone of non-Stormrider blood and sane mind that had come into contact with the sword had declared it unnatural.  Had been terrified of it.  If the creators of the weapon had tried to make their own intelligence to imbue in the weapon then they, like all others who had tried before it was made illegal as well, would have failed.  And left the weapon with – at best – a partial mind or at worst – a destroyed intelligence that went into the furthest boundaries of insanity.  Langley found that this did not frighten her, in fact, she almost felt more secure when the sword was on her person or her hand was on its hilt.  She knew enough about ‘mancy to realize that this was not a good thing.

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