Running From Darkness

Armoury

For all those weapon lovers like me out there!
-----------------------------------------------The next 3 days were filled with training, collecting and preparing for the expedition he and his friends had planned. Eventually, the day finally arrived. They all gathered, maybe for the final time, in James' room again. However, this time rather than wearing their customary jumpsuit they all wore the same tight-fitting dark leather fighting gear that Sashkia ha been wearing the first time James saw her. Emily had surprisingly managed to get the perfect size for all of them so the gear was snug but not too tight. James found that the pieces of rudimentary armour had various concealing places for small weapons but seemed to have no space to store larger, more unwieldy weapons. Emily had done an exceedingly good job at raiding the weapons room. James immediately grabbed the bow and quiver of arrows from the purple duffel bag. Emily extracted a pair of long, thin bladed but wicked looking swords from the bag and she and Sam showed the three of them how to attach the weapons to their waists.
"You press the small button here," Emily explained and Sam showed them as well. She then proceeded to press the small, rounded red button and the two swords she was holding at her sides attached to either side of the leather armour, "there's also a similar mechanism at the back, which will hold the weapon in place." The other boys then each chose a weapon from the various assortment in the duffel. Sam pulled out an axe with a red rope binding and smiled, a faraway look in his eyes as if remembering some other time. Nathan clumsily pulled out a wide bladed sword with the hand guard shaped into a motif of two outstretched wings. He also grabbed a shield with a large, shining green stone in a diamond shape set into the middle of it. He attached the sword to the left side of his waist and Sam helped him fling the shield onto his back and secure it the same way. The final person to choose was Joseph. He rooted around for a bit whilst the others stood around him, tapping their feet and looking at their watches sarcastically. Finally, he pulled out a fancy looking amulet with a purple amethyst emblazoned with the yin-yang symbol.
"What's this?" he asked Sam. Unfathomably, Sam grabbed the amulet and turned to Emily with a look of white hot rage splashed across his face.
"Where did you get this?" he asked, trying to make his voice sound calm but with a hint of roughness to it.
"Oh shit! Sam, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot." She gave him a look of utter sorrow and his face softened.
"What is that?" Nathan asked.
"It used to belong to my father," Sam explained dreamily, "before h-h-he d-died." He took the amulet into his hands and pressed the pads of both of his thumbs into the bewitching crystal. The yin-yang symbol began to glow and shine. It quickly expanded into a huge sword about 1/2 the size of Sam and 3/4 the size of Joseph. It was one of the most beautiful weapons they had ever seen. The blade was bashed into shape from glistening steel and was patterned with swirling Celtic designs. The hilt was made up of welded circles baring the yin-yang designs he had just seen. Sam handed it over, hilt first and Joseph took it with a trembling hand. Strangely, the blade weighed no more than the amulet had, even though it was absolutely huge.
"I'm giving you this sword in absolute trust," Sam told a frightened Joseph, "you are now the sole honour of the sword of judgement and you will be until you pass it on to its next owner. Do you accept these terms?"
"I...I do." Stuttered Joseph, staring in awe at his friend and then the blade and back again.
"Good. Now, you saw how I opened the blade and how you put it back is by doing this." He stepped forward and took the very bottom circle between his hands and squeezed. The blade shrunk quickly in a blaze of golden light and became the amethyst amulet it had been at the start. Joseph smiled and took the amulet back from Sam. He fastened it around his neck, looking utterly pleased with himself.
"Oh James?" Emily asked, "I would advise grabbing some close-range as well. Where we're going you might want more than a bow and arrow!"
"Ok," he said, secretly glad as he'd wanted to grab something else but thought that it might seem greedy. He stepped forward once more and caught sight of exactly what he was looking for. A set of glistening, black bladed knives nestled together in a red cotton pouch. He pulled out the pouch and took out the knives one by one. There were 8 in all. Two went into the sides of his boots, two longer, snake-like bladed knives were attached to his waist, a pair of deadly-looking throwing knives nestled in a sheath above his shoulders and the final two slotted into some conveniently placed sheaths in the sleeves of his leather armour jacket. He looked around his circle of friends, old and new and he thought to himself, 'We can do this, we really can!'