Bound by a Blade (PauPat)

Prologue - Klasina's Rapier

"Send more men!" Magnus shouted, towering over the trembling soldier. "I don't care where you get them from! Take men and boys from their homes if you must! Take any woman you see and hand her a staff!"

The soldier simply nodded, fleeing from the room as soon as the king stopped yelling. Magnus took a deep breath upon watching the soldier run off in fear, looking to the sword on the wall of the master bedroom. Its rose gold blade shimmered, reflecting the light from the crackling fireplace.

Magnus slowly approached the wall that held the majestic blade, holding his hand out to grab it by its well crafted leather hilt. He let his pale fingers brush over the grip, but quickly recoiled, gripping his wrist as his large hand throbbed with pain.

"Why?" he growled. "Damned sword..."

The king looked at the plaque above the sword on the wall, the golden carved label gleaming as he stared at it.

"Klasina's Rapier"

Magnus cringed just at reading the name. It made his head pound, causing him to look away from the sword immediately, groaning in immense pain.

"Damn me!" he cried, falling to his knees beside his large bed, gripping the navy blue comforter. "Damn that blade! Damn that dastardly woman!"

Just then, the sound of shattering glass sounded, followed by the whistle of an arrow flying just past his head. Magnus gasped and threw himself to the floor, breathing heavily with terror as the flaming head of the arrow pierced into the carefully painted wall. He stared at the arrow as the small flame slowly faded, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He slowly sat up and backed up against the wall below the tall window, paranoia making his heart race.

"Gods, give me strength," the trembling king muttered, his eyes twitching as he remained completely still. He gathered all of his courage to look up at the broken window, the hairs on his neck standing on end. He waited for several minutes, but nothing happened. A breath of relief eventually escaped the man as he forced himself to stand on his weakened legs.

Resisting his temptation to glance at the lovely sword again, he ran out of the master bedroom. Loudly demanding to everyone around him to just kill his opposers, he was barely three yards away from the master bedroom before the familiar sound of shattering glass rang through the elegant halls.

"Damn me," he mumbled as he stared at the room's slightly open doors, barely able to catch a glimpse of the darkly clad figure escaping through the tall, shattered window, slipping the slender rapier into the scabbard at their side.

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Hi, readers! If you happened to stumble upon this book, I hope you enjoyed the prologue! Future chapters will definitely be longer than this one. This story will mostly follow Pau's point of view, and is loosely based off of the Fire Emblem universe. I hope you enjoy the rest of the book, and I appreciate every vote and comment I get! Thank you!