Free To Darkness Fled by Jill Williamson Page B

should start with the boy. "What did I do that was so wrong?"
    "Not wrong, Your Highness." Sir Caleb's brows furrowed as if he were searching for the right words. "You have courage and stamina, and you're strong and quite intimidating for a man your age. But you're full of risk. You leave too much to chance. Plus you've no respect for your weapon."
    Achan shrugged. "What's a weapon but a tool to be used how its wielder deems necessary?"
    "Well said, lad." Sir Gavin grinned, his thin, wolfish smile looking more like a grimace.
    "Could I learn, as well?" Sparrow asked.
    Sir Caleb nodded. "You can, boy. I must say, I thought you a coward until you turned veil warrior with Gavin and defeated the mage."
    Achan frowned. Sparrow did what? "What's that mean, veil warrior?"
    "It is meaning, Your Highness, that Vrell hasn't been being honest with us," Inko said. "He can do more with his mind than he has been letting on."
    "No, I-I do not understand how..." Sparrow let his words die out, looking as though he had forgotten how to speak.
    Sir Caleb gripped the back of his neck and pulled him into a one-armed hug. "Never mind your modesty, boy. Now, hand me your sword and we'll teach you to use it. Give those black knights something to fear on all accounts."
    Despite wanting to string Sparrow up a moment ago, Achan's mind knotted at this line of conversation. The Veil was the world between Er'Rets and eternity in Shamayim or the Lowerworld. Not to be confused with the Evenwall, which separated Light from Darkness. How did bloodvoices work with the Veil?
    Sparrow drew his sword from the ring on his belt and handed it, blade first, to Sir Caleb.
    Achan rolled his eyes.
    Sir Caleb frowned and twirled his finger. "Turn it around. Never hand over a weapon blade first."
    "Sorry." Sparrow turned the blade and poked himself in the nose with the tip. He jumped, eyes wide.
    Achan chuckled silently, fighting to keep his cheeks from curling, but the image of Sparrow's shocked face as he stuck himself with his own blade amused him to no end. Veil warrior or not, Sparrow was a bungler.
    Sir Caleb took the weapon and examined it, then passed it to Achan, hilt first, with a sideways glance at Sparrow. "What do you make of Vrell's purchase, Your Highness?"
    Achan gripped the thick, wooden handle, squeezing and releasing. He stood, backed away from the torchlight, and swung. The sword felt lighter than
Eagan
's Elk, which made sense for a short arming sword, but the handle weighed too much. It felt like he was wielding a pitchfork by the prongs.
    He knelt before the torch, batted a moth aside, and scrutinized the blade. The cutting edges were crude, dirty with tool marks, gouges, and nicks. He held the sword flat in front of him, horizontal to the ground, and bent the end like he'd seen knights do to check the temper of the blade. It barely flexed.
    He shot Sparrow a fleeting look. "How much did you pay for this?"
    "Twenty pieces of silver."
    Achan choked back a laugh. "Twenty!"
    "Where does a stray come by twenty pieces of silver?" Sir Caleb asked.
    Sparrow glanced from face to face. "My master in Walden's Watch gave it to me when I left."
    Achan snorted. "You must be the luckiest stray I've ever met to have such a master."
    "Lord Orthrop was more my warden than master. I apprenticed at the local apothecary."
    Sir Caleb frowned. "The lord of the manor housed you and allowed you to apprentice? A stray?"
    Sparrow's eyes cast down. "Lord Orthrop is a kind man."
    "I'll say." Achan held up the sword. "Well, it's not worth five in my opinion. They didn't even bother to sharpen or polish it. It's unfinished, Sparrow. But that's not the worst of it." He peeked at Sir Caleb, confidence waning.
    "Go on," the knight said.
    "Well...it's got no flexibility. It'll probably break under a real blow. Plus, the balance is off. The hilt is heavy. The blade should be longer for the weight of this hilt, I think."
    "But I'm short," Sparrow said.
    "That doesn't matter." Achan