Family Heirloom

It took only twenty minutes for the Cadre officer to arrive.  He was cleanly dressed in the coat of his office, the four points at the bottom lined with gold cord and more dangled from around his waist in loose belt.  There was a rapier at his waist and a bag of components ready at his other hand.

“Necromancer, eh?” the man said, glancing at Grim.  The guards had opted to leave him in the street rather than bring him inside.  “Then get him locked up in a ‘mancy warded cell.  What, you think the city pays you to sit around and play cards?  Get moving!”

And the guards scattered into action.  Langley cleared her throat and the officer glanced in her direction.  He was older than them, by many years, and his gaze was hard but frank.  After a nod he directed them into the guard post itself.  Again, the guards scattered and they soon had a room to themselves.

“We’ve been wanting to get rid of him for years,” the man said immediately, “Couldn’t though.  Too many pirates and smugglers that come through here make use of his skills and well, busting him would mean an act of war in their books simply because they love any excuse to give the Cadre hell.  Bastion doesn’t have the force of the law to deal with that.  But if a free agent dumps him on our doorstep…”

The officer swept a game of cards off the table and seated himself at one of the chairs.  The twins followed.

“You’ve made yourself some enemies, possibly.  It depends on whether this man’s contacts disliked him enough to turn a blind eye on this.”

“I imagine they do,” Langley said, “He got sold out to us pretty fast.”

“I hope so, for your sake.  What are your names, now?  I’m Drave.”

“Langley and Sabreur Stormrider,” she replied softly and the officer raised a brow at this.

“Stormriders?  Don’t see them cooperating with us very often.  Fine.  Madame, would you mind handing me that sword now?”

And there it was.  Langley grinned ruefully.  Of course he would have noticed any ‘mancer auras they had on them on first inspection.  And of course he’d want to see the one with the necromantic taint.

“Grim said it was an intelligent weapon,” she said, “That’s how we found him.  Hunting down leads as to what this thing is.  It’s a family heirloom, apparently.  Made when it was still legal to create your own mind.”

She unbuckled the sword from her belt and handed it open, sheath and all.  Drave took it and pulled it from the scabbard for a moment before pausing and staring at the hilt.  The eye was open.

“You shouldn’t be carrying this,” was all he said.  Langley shrugged.  After a moment he sighed and shoved the sword back in her direction.

“Come on,” he said, standing, “You’ll have to come down to where the rest of us are stationed.  We need a better look at that thing.”

“And the bounty?”

The Cadre officer chuckled.  “Yes,” he agreed, “You’ll get the bounty on necromancers as well.”

After all, money was a good motivator to get anyone moving, Stormriders included.  Langley leapt to her feet and hoisting the sword onto one shoulder, followed Drave out into the street, whistling merrily.

The Cadre building was a nice place, quietly tucked out of the way where the officials of the city hoped they could cause the least amount of trouble.  In their brief time within the building Langley glimpsed only two other officers before they were hustled through and into a back courtyard of packed earth.

“Our training yard,” he explained and then vanished into the building.  Langley could hear him calling names.

“Well?” Sabreur asked.

“I have no idea,” she said, “This is either good or bad.”

After a moment Drave reappeared with three other people, all wearing the Cadre uniform.  He gestured at Langley and she drew the sword and put it point-down in front of all of them.

“Intelligent sword, see?” Drave said, “Made legally.  Can we get a check on this?”

One of the officers stepped forwards.  After a moment he made to take the sword and it took a moment more for Langley to let go of it.  She covered the hesitation by sniffing and adjusting her jacket self-consciously.  The Cadre officer studied the sword for a long time and then passed his hand along the blade.  The eye opened and it stared at him, and then narrowed and Langley felt a small bit of panic welling up in her.  She started to speak but before she could say anything the officer fairly tossed her the sword back.  She caught it awkwardly.

“It’s old,” he said and Sabreur scratched his beard.  He hadn’t been paying attention but surely that was some ‘mancy just then.  “Old enough to have been made legally.  Couldn’t tell anything about the mind contained within it, though.  Just got the impression that it didn’t like me holding it.”

“So that just leaves the question of whether the thing is dangerously unstable,” Drave mused.  Then he stepped forwards and in a ring of steel like a bell tone drew his rapier and slashed at Langley.

Sabreur was reaching for his pistol.  Langley just stood there in shock.  But the eye of the sword went wide.

The rapier was turned aside and with a second swing the tip was smashed into the dirt.  There was a distinct snap, like a gunshot, and then the longsword was brought up and towards Drave’s neck.  It did not stop, even when Drave jumped back and shouted that he surrendered.  The sword kept moving towards him, seeking a vital, and it only stopped when three of the officers released the triggers on their held ‘mancy.

One created an explosion of earth underneath Langley’s feet, knocking her onto her back.  Another increased the gravitic field of the sword so that it was practically bolted to the ground.  And the last one made sure that Sabreur’s pistol failed to fire.

“That was exciting,” one of the officers commented.

Langley just lay on the ground, panting.  Her hand was pinned underneath the sword’s hilt and Sabreur was studying his pistol in curiosity.  This was it then.  They were both sunk.  She’d attacked an officer of the Cadre – or hadn’t he attacked first?  It was hard to figure out what had happened.

“Stay here,” Drave said, “We need to discuss in private.  And that was planned.”

The four of them vanished back inside the building.  The ‘mancy holding the sword to the ground faded and Langley sat up, settling her hat again and brushing dirt off her jacket.  She was very careful not to touch the sword or even look at it.

“Who swung first?” she asked.

“He did.  You must admit that was an effective way of testing the sword.”

“It was mean,” Langley retorted, “And typical Cadre tactics.  Bastards, the lot of them.  I swear, this had better be a good bounty.”

Sabreur grunted his agreement.  While they waited Langley tried to shift through her head what had just happened.  She remembered drawing the sword and knocking the rapier aside but after that things grew a bit hazy.  There’s been the taste of blood in her mouth – not her own, not residue from the necromancer’s blood component ‘mancy – but the taste of copper in the air from someone else’s blood spilt.  She had small snatches of thought, of someone dying, several dying, and yet Drave had been unharmed and he’d planned all this before so that neither he nor Langley would be injured and they’d know the extent of the sword.  Isn’t that right?  Then why could she swear that someone had been killed by the thing?

She shuddered.  It was an artificial mind.  ‘Mancer made.  It wasn’t stable and if it had been acting on its own just then it was very possible she’d seen snatches of its mind and what it wanted to do or what it had done in the past.  She just wasn’t sure but that seemed most likely.  Yes, she had just caught a brief glimpse of the sword’s mind.  That was all.

After a little bit Drave reappeared.  The twins both watched him quietly and Langley saw her brother rolling something around in his hand.  It looked like a lump of coal, which really didn’t bode well for anyone.

“Well,” he said, “We can’t confiscate the sword on account of it being illegal ‘mancy because it was made before that branch was outlawed.  However, the sword itself shows a lack of restraint in engagement that poses enough of a threat to Alannis for us to take some action.”  He took a deep breath. “Seeing that it is a Stormrider heirloom, the sword should be relegated to a place of honor and not carried in public or in situations where a person could be injured by said sword’s actions.  That is all.  Now come inside and our clerk will write you a credit for the bounty on necromancers.”

When Langley picked up the sword she felt a wave of relief flood through her.  She sheathed it, noting that the sword’s eye was closed.

“You going to name it?” Sabreur asked.

“What?”

“We get to keep it.  You going to name it?”

Langley scowled and put her hand on the pommel.  They were only keeping it because it was a Stormrider artifact and the Cadre didn’t feel like pissing off the most violent of the noble families.

“It’s just a sword,” she muttered.

“Sword,” Sabreur said absently, “Yeah, I like that name.  Nice and simple.”

And Sword just blinked at the two.

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