Despite spending so much Life Force so retly, the bde still had 65/500 energy. So, it was not in danger of fading to by time soon.

  As soon as it noticed its energy levels, it noticed oher ge it hadn’t seen before. On its menu of upgrades there was a new option that hadn’t been there before, beled Wielder Status.

  Is this from increasing my e with him? The bde wondered. It khat Ren was weak. It didn’t need o tell him exactly how weak he was, yet here they were.

  Name: Ren Baerson

  Occupation: Shepherd

  Toughness: 4 +2

  Strength: 3 +3

  Agility: 5 +2

  Speed: 6 +1

  Status: Normal

  Intelligence: Average

  Willpower: Low -1

  Bloodlust: Low

  Morality: Selfish

  Martial Skill: Low +10

  Armor Profione

  Dodging: Low +5

  Athletics: Medium

  Goal: To win Vera’s heart, and bee a great warrior.

  The ability to size up a potential wielder at a gnce seemed positive, but the ability was useless, because it couldn’t use it on any of the surroundio judge them. It tried several times to use it oher survivors of the ambush, but nothing happened.

  How useless, the bde pined. I really only see how weak my wielder is.

  It got the sehat the number 5 was average, though it wasn’t quite sure where that impulse came from. If that was true, though, then its wielder was incredibly weak without its aid. Ren would be half as strong without the bde on his hip or in his hand.

  The bde studied the interface for a moment, but when it found no further value in it after a few seds it closed it impatiently. After that it spent the few minutes watg as its wielder split his time between bandaging the wounded men of the caravan with the shredded clothing of the dead as best he could and robbing the bandits he’d killed whenever he spotted a purse or a bit of jewelry.

  Because of the dark things it was whispering about Marden and the way that Vara felt about him, he didn’t go che his friend, even after the caravan master started to bahe other d. It also studied the man’s thoughts as much as it could.

  Ren’s thoughts were mostly a blob of about how he’d almost died, or about Marden whenever he g the boy, but occasionally, other, more perti bits would float to the surface like flotsam.

  -1 Life Force

  I don’t get it. Why would the energy just fail when I most? He asked himself. The Bde wouldn’t have answered him even if it could have. Sometimes, I feel like the sword is fighting against me. Like I’m not strong enough to wield it.

  These thoughts were almost enough to make it gloat, but it resisted. Like a good sword stroke, there would be a perfeent, and it would strike then. For now, it watched and waited.

  The mert thanked both of the boys profusely for saving his goods, but the words were empty. Everyone looked at Ren with suspi now, even Marden. How could they do anything else with a glowing sword on his hip?

  Mardealked to Ren about the fight afterwards. “The bandits mentioned you had some kind of healing magic?” he asked, gesturing to his wounded arm. “Any truth to that?”

  Tell him nothing or he will take your on and your woman. The Ebon Bde whispered

  “Nah,” Ren answered, lying poorly. “I just… well, this bde makes me move so fast I’m too hard to hit. That’s all.”

  “Huh, lucky you,” Mardem answered skeptically. “So muaking money off this run then. I’m going to be lucky to break even after the healer treats this.”

  “We’ll make it work somehow,” Ren answered, not b to mention all the purses he’d pinched.

  Of course, the sword could read his mind now. It could hear him as he thought. Well, when I’m the oh the moo save Elliah and you aren’t, then she’ll finally decide betweewo of us.

  The thought was hopelessly naive, and it would have been enough to make the on ugh if it was capable of such a thing. The sword khat even if its wielder didn’t, and it quickly tuned out the rest of the versation.

  It uood the deal now. It wasly sure where they were going, but that didn’t matter, because i so distant future, it’s wielder and the boy’s friend would turn around and ght back to the crossroads where they’d left the pretty girl with her dying brother. With any luck he’d be dead by the time they all got babsp;

  Ohe versation was done, Ren focused on pig his way through the dead bodies to try to find enough armor pieces that might fit him and give him a plete set to wear. The sword would have gratuted him on the practical decision if it hadn’t been able to listen in on the boy’s inner monologue, which was mostly ed with how he could look tougher.

  He wasn’t looking for the pieces that might offer him the most prote or the ohat might best suit his fighting style. Instead, he was ed about whies looked the coolest together.

  Those choices involved a helm that dramatically lowered his visibility and a breastpte that was almost certainly too heavy for him. They might make him look a little more like a warrior, but both pieces very slightly increased the odds that a warrior with enough skill to fight past the ebon bde he carried would bring the boy down.

  -1 Life Force

  Despite those poor decisions, the road tinued on, and for the day, the bde stayed awake and alert long enough to grow bored with both the bleak sery and the insipid thoughts of its wielder. The boy really only thought about his crush, and it the Ebon Bde feared it would be enough to drive it insane in time.

  I wonder if Vara misses me? was his most on thought, followed by his most on thought, I wonder if she really likes Marden.

  That thought, at least was enough for the bde to be sure that it was having an effe the boy. More rarely, he thought about other people when he worried about Elliah. He occasionally wondered about how the boy was doing and hoped he wasn’t too te to get bad hire a healer.

  Between the money he’d taken off the bandits and the cash he expected to be paid at the end of this, he very nearly had a gold , after all. If they pooled all their mohey might yet be able to afford a true priest.

  That thought would have been a noble one, if he wouldn’t have followed it up with something awful. Because then Vara… If I save Elliah then she…

  No matter how badly it wao try to put this simpering, love-struck man in his pce, though, the sword did nothing but feed him more poisonous ideas about his friend. It was all it could do. Wading through its current wielder's emotional intinence was just one more stepping stone oh to power and trol, and a limited o that.

  It definitely wouldn’t be craving more insight into its wielder, though. Instead, it stayed quiet and ted dowime to when the darkness would take it whenever one of the man’s fellows wasn’t talking about something more iing, like just how far south they’d e or just how close they were getting to Kalraka.

  This was a city they talked about often and the small caravan’s first destination before points further south. To listen to the men that had made this route before talk, it was a wealthy town with stone walls, brick buildings, wide streets, and a small river port. It ected the muddy trails of empty Kadian pins with the rich cities of the south, and beyond them, the o.

  her of the boys had ever e half so far, and they were both impressed by such tales even if the bde thought little of them. Ren’s thoughts made it clear that he’d give anything to keep going south when this was done, which the bde would have been happy to do, and it even enced when it could.

  It was a lie, though. Iy the boy would do anything, but give up on Vara. She was what would send him scurrying north once more after they’d reached their destination.

  “You tell we’re getting close when you start to see trees like them over there,” one of the teamsters said, pointing to a smudge of dark green on the horizon.

  “But we’ve passed lots of trees between here and Tollin’s Cross,” Ren said, making the older man ugh. “What, what’s so funny?”

  “Cottonwoods are like weeds,” the man chuckled. “They’ll always be poppin’ up here an there and everywhere, but those little clusters weren’t real woods, now was they? They were just pces for travelers like us to get firewood on our way across the ftnds and nothin’ more. Trees like that, though? Old growth? That’s too far away from the mountains for the dragons to bother with, and tells you all you o know.”

  “You’re saying that they built that Kalraka there because it’s too far away fons to reach?” Ren asked skeptically. “I’m not sure—”

  The boy’s words were skeptical, but his mind was less so. Apparently his parents had told him a thing of two about dragons. One hadn’t been sighted at their vilge in an age, but other vilges had been buro nothing in living memory. Dragon attacks were rare, and more likely to happen te flocks than small hamlets, but they did happen.

  “Listen, kid, if a dragon wants you dead bad enough, there’s nothing and no ohat will stop it from flying across the whole damn world and ripping you into bloody shreds. I promise you that,” as he spoke he took a hand from the reins to wag a finger in the younger man’s face. “But these things - they’re territorial. They fly as far as they from their irs… they devour everything worth the trouble, and they go home again to guard their hoards. I’m just saying Kalraka is too far away to bother with - that’s why it's so prosperous.”

  “Well, if you’re so smart, then expin to me why my vilge has never burned, and Tollin’s Cross still stands?” Marden asked, trying to sound smart and show his friend up.

  “Kid, if I had a gold for every time Tollin’s was buro the ground, I’d have enough to quit this gig, that’s for sure. The Dragons wait for it to build up nid big like it is now, with plenty of herders ing to market and a warehouse or two to gobble up, and then one night, one of them will show up on wings of fire and devour everyohey .” the man ughed again. “As to your vilge - well, it probably ain’t big enough to be worth the trouble, now is it.”

  It’s not enough to be worth anything at all, Ren quipped as he silently agreed with the man.

  -1 Life Force

  “What do you mean built up?” Marden asked again, trying as hard as he could to put this know-it-all in his pce. “It’s tiny. It’s barely—”

  “Whatever you say, kid,” the man said with a dry chuckle. “It’s about as big as that burg ever gets. You mark my words in the year or two; it's going to have a real bad day, and then after that, it’s going to start all ain.”

  If this asshole calls us kids one more time… Ren’s thoughts came through the e very clearly in that moment.

  The bde responded by eling as much rage and anger bato its wielder as it could. It could feel its wielder pulse rising and its heart pound, but still, the boy would not draw the sword, aually, it relented, and the moment passed. That old man on the wagon had no idea how close he’d e to losing his life.

  It robably the sword’s fault, though, at least this time. Its heart wasn’t in it. Something about what the man had said had distracted it. The very mention ons had sparked something deep in the dim recesses of its mind, and the longer he’d gone on about them, the more nagging those feelings had bee.

  Talk of burning and flying had given it vivid images of a creature that it had never seen. Until that versation, it had not even suspected the existence of giant fire-breathiiles. Now, while it was clear that it had some kind of e to them, the ball of anger and sadhat was snarled in its mind was far too plex to unravel.

  Still, just because it couldn’t get answers didn’t stop it from poking at those stray thoughts until the city they were going to ter that afternoon. That’s when Ren announced he was turning around and heading back the other way and demanded payment from the mert in charge for both him and Marden.

  “We’ve got a sick friend waiting on the medie this money will buy,” its wielder expined. “Every hour ts”

  For a moment, it looked like the well-dressed man was about to try to cheat Ren. “We haven’t even reached the city,” he pined, going on and on for such a long time that the sword could almost taste his blood.

  Still, realizing however unintimidating the boy might be, he had plenty of blood on his hands, the maually relented. After a few minutes of bitg, he pried open his purse and handed Ren a handful of silver for the two of them to split.

  The boy wasn’t smart enough to t it, even though he should have. It was fairly sure the boy had been short-ged. Instead, he gave half to Marden, and thewo of them turned around and took off. From there, they jogged for as long as his lungs would let them before they slowed to a brisk walk.

  It was why either, at least not to something that could listen in to his strohoughts. I’m going to make it, he promised himself. I’m going to make it and save Elliah. Then Vara will love me and…

  It went on from there, but the bde tuned him out. It was simple as far as p, but the bde doubted it would go the way its wielder hoped. It wasn’t sure why, but it khat wasn’t the way that women worked, and frankly, if it didn’t involve blood and battle or, more strangely, dragons, it simply wasn’t ied.

  -1 Life Force

  The sword spent the rest of the day, ting down the minutes until it would run out of Life Energy again aurn to its slumber. So, it didn’t even notice that Marden got up, and was trying to get the sword free from its scabbard without Ren notig until the boy’s hand was on the hilt.

  Iingly, even though someone else held the hilt, the sword was still certain that Ren was still its wielder, even if he was asleep. It could feel the other boys soul as well, for an instant, but its remaining energy didn’t flow into him. Still, the merest brush by someone new made for a strange sensation, and its mind automatically flicked to the wielder interface to see if it could grant insight into the other boy.

  It worked, but only for a moment. It smmed shut almost as soon as it opened as its link to Ren overpowered whatever tenuous grip Marden had on it.

  Name: Marden Kellner

  Occupation: Mason’s Apprentice

  Toughness: 4

  Strength: 4

  Agility: 5

  Speed: 5

  Status: Normal

  Intelligence: Average

  Willpower: Average

  Bloodlust: Low

  Morality: Good

  Martial Skill: Low

  Armor Profione

  Dodging: Low

  Athletics: Medium

  Goal: To save Elliah, marry Vera, and live happily ever after

  Did that mean that the current wielder had to be killed before anyone else could cim it, or did wearing the sword trump holding it? Could it choose who it wao be its wielder?

  The Ebon Bde wasn’t sure, but it didn’t o be, because it wasn’t about to let this perfect opportunity go to waste. It would choose death, as it always did before.

  He’s betrayed you! It screamed in the mind of its wielder. He’s betrayed you and he’s stealing your sword!

  It had meant that word as a ruse to draw its wielder’s attention, but something about the word resonated i. Betrayal. It khat word. It had lived that word. Somehow, some way it had beerayed in the past, and even if it didn’t uand how, anger fred i at that revetion.

  The bde had no idea how deep its e was with Ren. It khat its hold over the boy was tenuous, and it had no idea if it could even wake him up, but when it did, it was relieved.

  “What are you doing?” Ren demanded as his eyes snapped open and saw that his best friend and only rival for the heart of the woman he loved had mao pull his most treasured possession halfway out of his sheath while he slept.

  “My arm hurts, Ren. It hurts bad, and I know you’ve got—” Marden started to answer. He didn’t let go of the hilt, though, and the talking stopped when Ren rolled over to stop him from pulling it free.

  “This is my bde!” Ren roared, struggling with the boy in ear now.

  Within a few seds, blows were exged as the two of them escated from a misuanding to what was quickly being a life or death flict. Marden didn’t have a ce, either, not really. As long as Ren was the wielder, its magic flowed through him, and he was stronger or faster than he had any right to be, while Marden was still wounded.

  “Please!” Marden called out as his friend finally flung him aside. “You keep the bde all to yourself, even if it is cursed! I just don’t want to lose my arm! Don’t hold out on me!”

  As his friend babbled, Ren rose to his feet, drew his sword and held his bde to the other boy’s neck. The bde didn’t say anything in that moment. It just held its breath in anticipation as it wondered if its wielder would finally do what o be done.

  “You’re so different, now,” Ren said finally. “Ever since we rescued Vara!”

  “Me?!” Marden shot back, very careful not to move with death looming over him. “What about you? You used to be a good guy Ren. I’m telling you. This bde is taking its toll on you.”

  “It’s Vara isn’t it,” Ren answered, ign what his friend said. “You’re in love with her aren’t you.”

  This was it. This was the moment. This was the question it had been waiting so long for.

  “No!” Marden lied. “But none of that matters right now. We just o help Elliah get better and then—”

  First he’ll take your sword, then he’ll take yirl and then you’ll be nothing, all ain, the sword whispered, p poison into its wielder’s ear.

  Something about twisting the traitor’s knife made it wince, but the bde did so anyway. It had to. It could feel Ren pulling back from the brink. It could see the tip wavering. Now that there was no danger he couldn’t in good sit murder. The Ebon Bde had no such qualms.

  “Liar,” Ren hissed, shoving his sword deep into the chest of the man at his feet. A moment ago he’d been Ren’s best friend. There’d been some rivalry there, but now he couldn’t be trusted anymore, he was an enemy.

  +8 Life Force+10 Life Force

  Marden died with an expression of disbelief on his face, and once he stopped moving, Re bitter tears at what he’d done. Why did I do that? He wondered as he y awake until dawn. It’s not like me.

  It wasn’t like him of course, but then, he’d been pushed over the edge by the bde, even if he didn’t uand it. In the m its wielder rolled the corpse of his friend into the ditch by the side of the road to hide the evidence of what he’d done, after he stripped the body of everything he might have use for, including the man’s bandages.

  Apparently at some point during the night, he decided that his remaining friends would accept this tragedy better if he came back wounded, and right now getting and staying hurt wasn’t his strong suit, so he was going to have to fake it.

  The bde stayed awake for another day and a night, but it psed into unsciousness before Reuro the crossroads. That was just as well, because it was getting tired of listening to the boys simpering words ret.

  “I didn’t mean to do it,” he kept telling himself. “He made me. It was Marden’s fault.”

  This time it didn’t find the peace it craved in sleep, though. Instead, it dreamed of the boy and his journey back to the crossroads. They were little fshes, but it was so lihat the bde was forced to clude that they were bits and pieces of what was happening to its wielder in the real world as the emotions bled through.

  The sword saw him arrive in time to hire a healer and save Vara’s brother, but thanks to the tragedy of Marden’s terrible sacrifice it wasn’t the victory that Ren hoped it would be. The boy was going to live, but Vara was more distant than ever as she mourned for the loss of the man she’d obviously cared for, even if Ren was too blind to see it.

  That uneasy, dreamless sleeping sted for weeks as the little group tried to eke out a life funded by odd jobs and cheap food, but it was all spiraling out of trol. O glimpsed a pair of strange, gray robed men that it knew with a certainty were Witch hunters. It didn’t know how it khat, but it k would be trouble if they found it. Still, eve to reach out and warn it owner was enough to bleed away its miniscule strength and plu into darkness for days. Without Life Force it was pletely helpless.

  Even after it recovered slightly, though, most of its glimpses of the world moving on without it, though, were from Ren’s perspective as he tried to keep his friends happy and fed with odd jobs. Even from its strange vantage point, it khey were going to break apart sooner rather than ter. All of that was disrupted, though, when the dragon attacked the crossroads.