Chapter 14

Lawrence raised his head, proud of himself, and looked down his nose at Simon kneeling.

"Guess this answers the debates about which of us was the better knight."

Simon glared up at him. "You're a better fighter, I'll give you that. But you'll never be a real knight."

Lawrence's smile disappeared. Replaced with a scowl. "Just for that, I'll kill you last."

Lawrence turned towards me and the rebels while sheathing his sword and drew the one from his back. Simon tried to stand, but he fell as soon as he put weight on his leg. I had sparred with Lawrence many times during training, but I'd never seen this sword before. It looked freshly made. Lawrence made a show of inspecting it before looking at me.

"You remember the process of making radiant armaments, don't you, William?"

My heart was pounding. Was it better to attack now, or was he waiting for us to get closer? One of the rebels nudged me a bit. One of them was slowly moving around Lawrence's left. The other rebel was between us. I assumed I should start moving around his right and get him between us all. I started moving slowly. Lawrence didn't seem to care and kept his eyes on me while he continued his speech.

"A base of steel, for durability, another metal with the ability to hold mana as the outer frame of the weapon, and what else?"

He was focused on me. It was terrifying. I decided to play along, since drawing his attention might help us.

"S-something magical, but it needs to be strong. Wyvern parts are too weak. They need something potent, like magic gems, a monarch's blessing, parts of powerful magical beasts like a dragon, that kind of thing."

"Yes. That's the simple explanation. Now, what do you think this one is made from?"

Was he trying to buy time for something? Soldiers closing in? More Wyverns? It would be difficult for other riders to find us this far with the sun setting. If there were more, they would've landed with the others. The soldiers would still be miles behind. Maybe he was trying to delay us from getting help for the injured? I thought about his question. I didn't even know what effect the sword had. Wait. He had it drawn when he showed up. Was it that explosion? Maybe something from a fire dragon. Was he trying to intimidate me with this information? I was already terrified to my limits. What more could he get out of it?

Just a few more steps, and we would have him between the three of us. A rebel was standing at the south side of the clearing where we had entered, and the other rebel was at the west side, with his back to the ledge. I was between Simon and Anna in the north-east. Scott had dragged Daniel off to the side near the north-east cliffs and was moving Anna now. Just a bit more time, and we would have the best chance we would get.

I answered him. "A fire dragon's heart."

He laughed before responding. "Hahaha! Did you see flames when I used it? Did you feel heat? If this were the result of a fire dragon's heart, it would've been fresh from the egg. No. Not a fire dragon."

I was in position. I had been thinking about how I would approach this the whole time, but nothing came to mind. Not once in our sparring had I even landed a hit on Lawrence. None of the heroes had. I was determined not to lose... but... I didn't see any way to win.

Lawrence held his sword up, showing it off to me, continuing to ignore the rebels at his sides who stood ready. It had a white pommel, handle, and hilt. The kingdom's crest of a golden sun sat just before the blade began. More white ran up the middle of the blade itself, but the edges were silver. It looked out of place in his hands.

"No. The ingredients for this sword were... locally harvested. You see, the kingdom recently chanced upon a near-infinite source of top-quality magical components. The white of this sword? It's bone, William. From a very rare... magical creature. You understand?"

My eyes went wide as I realized what he was saying. I felt sick to my stomach. I was filled with fear, past the point of being terrified. That was the fate that awaited me if I got caught. I wanted to run. Needed to get away.

Lawrence's voice made me jump. "This is the first of many. Only bone, and yet it was potent enough to grant two effects. Imagine a heart? I've heard that even the experiments with ritual magic are showing great results. The kingdom of Aurevale owes you its gratitude."

He pointed the sword at me again. I dropped mine and stumbled back.

"You really did end up becoming its hero, William."

Lawrence turned quickly and pointed the sword toward the rebel to his left. There was a flash of light that travelled from the handle, up the blade to the tip before shooting forward, all in less than a second. A loud explosion hit the man dead center in the chest. He was sent flying back and went over the edge. The other rebel charged, but Lawrence was already turning to him. The rebel closed the distance enough that there was no time for Lawrence to use the same attack. I stood and watched, frozen in fear, as their swords collided. I looked around for an escape. Instead, my eyes passed over Daniel, Anna, and Simon. If I ran, they would die for sure. The edge of Lawrence's blade began to glow where the two swords pressed together. Lawrence pushed harder. His blade began to cut through the rebels. The rebel yelled just before the blade broke, and Lawrence cut him across his chest. He fell and curled up, clutching his wound. Lawrence's sword began glowing red-hot.

He turned to me while placing the sword in its sheath on his back and drawing the normal steel blade from the right side of his belt.

"Great test run. Though in the future, I think I would like to have one made using wyrmglass or mithril. Silver overheats far too quickly."

"Lawreeeeeeence!!!" Simon screamed.

Simon had stood up, but was resting most of his weight on his good leg. He held up his sword, but didn't dare try to walk.

Lawrence glanced at him briefly, but continued towards me.

"Just sit tight, Simon. I'll show you something interesting. Then it's your turn."

I had heard about people in their final moments who had their life flash before their eyes, or a feeling of calm wash over them, like they were accepting their fate. Except this wouldn't be my final moment. Once this was over, it was back to being cut apart. Everyone I had gotten to know, everyone who had helped me, they would all be dead. Instead of feeling calm, I was overwhelmed with fear and shame. If I had done something different, could we have gotten away? Could I have at least done something to save the others, even if it cost me my freedom? Didn't I decide to change and stop being so pathetic!? Damn it! Why can't I ever have anything go right? I hated this, I hated myself.

The sick feeling in my stomach, the fear in my chest, the jumbled thoughts in my head, all of it started to feel different. They swirled together and became something else. This feeling of anger and frustration began building somewhere deep. These feelings were hungry. They ate through my despair, fear, sadness, and everything else until all that was left was this wrathful determination. My body stopped shaking, and my mind cleared. I only had 1 option, really.

Lawrence was only a few steps away as he spoke now.

"Oh? What's with that look? If you're angry, you should curse your own fate."

No. I'm done blaming it on everything else. What point was there in blaming fate? What was the point in blaming it on anyone or anything else? I could think about it forever until blame was assigned fairly, but in the end, change came from taking action.

I picked up the sword.