The Path of Giants by B.T. Narro (year 7 reading list .TXT) 📗

with him, and he had left with only one. Seeing as how he had gone with Charlie to see about melting and shaping Valaer steel, I very much wanted to see the second blade he carried in a sheath.

We headed over to intercept Leon as he made a beeline for the keep. Michael muttered to our group, “Who’s going to ask about Charlie? How about you, Jennava? He doesn’t yell at you like he does the rest of us.”

“Because he knows what I would do to him,” she said.

I didn’t get what she was hinting at, but I was fine with not knowing. Part of me had thought that something romantic might happen between Leon and Jennava. Another part of me thought that it already had many years ago. But the more that I saw them together, the more I was doubting they’d ever had a relationship beyond friendship. Especially considering how Leon had acted around Aliana’s mother. I had not seen him express interest in Jennava, or anyone else, in that same way.

When we were close, she asked Leon, “What happened? Where’s Charlie?”

“Charlie’s staying in Koluk for now. He has a lot to do. Is the king in the keep?”

“With Souriff,” Jennava said.

“Can I see that sword?” I interjected.

Leon showed me a wry smile. “Yes, you can.” He pulled the weapon out of its sheath.

“Good god,” Michael muttered.

“I’ve never seen metal like that before,” I said. “That’s Valaer steel?”

“It’s an alloy of Valaer steel and other metals. Here, hold it.” Leon handed me the weapon.

I wasn’t sure of the exact color of this weapon because the blade itself was as fine a mirror as I had ever seen. As the blade moved while Leon passed the handle to me, it changed colors to reflect the dark dirt, the gray wall, and even the blue sky.

“It’s light,” I said.

“Damn strong, too,” Leon added.

I figured he was right. Even though there was hardly any weight to it, it felt sturdy.

“Can I see it?” Michael asked.

I handed it to him. His eyes widened as he took it a few steps away from us.

To my surprise, he swung it a few times around him with incredible speed, gusts of wind propelling every strike.

“Michael!” I said in shock. “Is that what you’ve been working on with Jennava?”

“Yeah, isn’t it something?” He gave us another demonstration, swinging four times, then stabbed the air before he ended with a spinning swing, cutting the head off his imaginary opponent. With wind propelling every strike, I couldn’t imagine it would be easy to defend against him. He looked down at the weapon when he was done. It seemed as if he didn’t want to part with it, but he reluctantly made his way back to us.

“Let me try,” Remi said.

She took the weapon and moved away to take a few swings. She didn’t have nearly the same speed or strength as Michael, but even as small as she was, she looked like a fearsome opponent with that blade in hand.

“That’s enough,” Leon said. “I want to show it to the king before any of you get a scuff on it.”

Remi handed it back to him. “Will more be made?”

“That’s what Charlie’s doing right now, but we don’t have a lot of Valaer steel. We need armor as well, especially for our healer, here.” He gestured at me.

*****

I spent most of lunch speaking with Michael about sword fighting. I figured that if he could use wind to his advantage like that, I should be able to do the same with dvinia, but soon I found out that it wouldn’t be optimal. Jennava had already gone over this with him and left it to Michael to explain it to me.

Wind had the best ratio of velocity to mana. It was why wind was the spell of choice for Eslenda, in terms of keeping enemies back. Dvinia was powerful. It held together better, making it more useful to strike anything farther than a few yards away, but it took more out of me. It also required much more precision than wind did if I planned to propel my swinging arms without hurting the quality of my attack. For example, if I used dvinia to propel my attacking arm, but I hit my elbow with too much power, it would change the trajectory of my swing.

Wind was different. It wasn’t difficult for Michael to make an even gust of wind that affected his entire arm. Also, he could use wind for a longer period of time without tiring out.

“It’s not going to be very useful, anyway,” Michael said when I expressed some disappointment that I wouldn’t be able to use it like he did. “It’s not like there’s going to be a good opportunity even for me to use it. I’m always being tossed around like a doll every time I’ve had to face Rohaer’s sorcerers. I’ve never had the chance to stand against one lone swordsman without dealing with a bunch of others at the same time or some bothersome dteria mage making it nearly impossible to fight.”

“That’s not an issue. You just have to learn to use the wind to defend yourself against multiple swordsmen at the same time.”

“I’m not like you, Jon! When there’s more than one of them trying to stab me, I’m casting or I’m running. Usually both. That’s the only reason I’m sitting here, enjoying this fine meal.”

I gave a chuckle. “Fair enough, but I think eventually you’ll be able to take on more than one.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Not with dteria constantly pushing me down or lifting me into the air. I don’t know how you always manage to kill so many of them, especially when they seem to target you more than the rest of us.”

I felt my mood souring as I remembered the feeling of taking so many lives with my sword. I gave a sigh. “I wish this could end without me having to kill anyone else.”

Michael shrugged