The Seven Swords

Chapter 3

The Prince was glad the old man had said he was to be given some food. Traveling for over a week had left him famished.

As they walked through the tents, the Prince looked around. He saw men practicing with swords in one group and then further along a group of spearmen and another of archers.

Seeing them practicing made him think back to the palace where he always seemed to find himself at the training yard whenever he could slip away. He enjoyed watching the soldiers train and he wished he could join them, but his father had not allowed it.

He had his own tutor who trained him with the sword and bow, but it just wasn't the same as seeing the soldiers train. They trained with passion and put themselves in harms way to best their opponents.

He had always wished he could train with them, maybe then he would get skilled enough that one day his father would give him their family's Sword. He marvelled at it whenever he saw it, which was whenever they left the palace and returned to their family's ancestral home. The Sword hung above the fire place in the main hall when they were home and was locked tightly away in an impregnable room when they left again.

He remembered it now, the long, straight blade. It was double edged with etchings running down both sides of the first third of the blade. It reminded him of the rolling ocean.

He had seen drawings of the other six Swords but never seen another one with his own eyes. They all looked different and the only way to distinguish them from regular swords was by the patterns on the blade. Some people tried to pass off replicas as the real thing but these were soon proven to be fake. As soon as a Sword was supposedly sighted, everyone wanted to see it and unless the swordsman was already known, the situation could get dangerous. Anyone who obtained a Sword could sell it for a vast amount of gold if he chose to do so. Although, most of the Swords were owned by the Lords of great Houses and so seeing one was actually a very rare occurrence.

It was said that the Seven Swords had been forged using a precious metal found in one of the now dormant volcanos on the far islands to the west. These blades never needed to be sharpened and would never break or chip.

The scholars surmised that the only way to obtain more of this special ore would be to wait for one of the volcanos to erupt again and hopefully spew out some of the precious metal. But even then, no one knew how to work this metal as it had been over 400 years since the last volcano had erupted.

"Don't fall behind, lad." Said the guard who was leading him to the kitchens.

"Do any of you have one of the Swords?" Asked the Prince, "I would really like to see another one."

The guards stiffened and then said, "Don't say things like that around ordinary mercenaries, they could get ideas and force you to assist in stealing the one your family possesses."

"You know who I am then?" The Prince asked.

"Yes I do, but I would try and keep quiet about it if I were you, at least for now," the guard cautioned, "you never know what people will attempt on the promise of gold."

Finally they reached the kitchens which were really only a few big tents clumped together. A cook handed him a bowl of stew which he wolfed down and then asked for a second.

After he had eaten they went back to the command tend where Jheiran was.

"I hope you have had your fill," said Hamelin.