The Blood Blade

by Whiskey Flowers

  To do this Ezra knew he would have to get better, the fight he just had proved to Ezra that he was a decent fighter. Caught off guard or not, he had blown through Unarmored like they were novices. But none of those seemed to have anything special about them other than the base powers, fighting Telrin Fallow or any of his generals would be difficult. Ezra had learned about the two in great detail, neither one of them looked easy to best if the rumors were true.

  The first General was named Trum Barron and was a master swordsman. It was said he fought with two blades and was deadly without his powers. He often wore armor himself just to prove a point. Trum was considered the best swordsman the Unarmored had before his betrayal, he came from a family of sword makers and had grown up with a blade in his hands. Trum was trained by Rexford himself and despite being so young was seen as their former savior. Rexford had never come out and said it, but it was implied Trum Barron had been sent on a mission similar to what Ezra was now on. Terrance, the head of the high council had let it slip during one of Ezra’s sparring sessions. Rexford was letting Ezra know how well his sword work was coming along and Terrance said Ezra is far from the best swordsman he had seen. Jerold had to ask and Terrance told him Trum. The other general was a woman, she was also young but all of her powers were well known to the Unarmored. The woman was named Mary and she was thin and petite. Even with her Unarmored skills it was doubtful that she could beat even an average swordsman. But she had three tendrils and was skilled at controlling people with weak minds and anyone who wanted to be taken controlled of. She could latch one tendril onto an attacker and the other two on her minions. She could turn basically anyone into an Unarmored and pull their strings like a puppet. She was rumored to always travel with two very big men and had already killed two assassins, both sent by the Azardians.

  “Well it looks like our adventure keeps getting shittier and shittier” Alex said breaking the silence. “This going against everything I know as a thief, but we can't wait for Captain Hansel to kill us all”.

  “I am worried about the Unarmored” Ezra replied. “We are not being pursued, but those on the high council are a bunch of old men. I sparred with all of them and learned many tricks, but they are not at their physical peak and the youngest of them was already 80”.

  “You fought a bunch of elderly invalids?” Alex asked.

  “They were far from invalids but they were no longer elite” Ezra replied. “You might find them a tough battle, they still can predict your moves. I am worried about what happened if Jerold was not able to spring the traps and warn the high council in time”.

  “Best not to think on it” Alex replied. “There is nothing we can do about it now. I think we are going to have more immediate problems coming up soon”.

  “What are you talking about?” Ezra asked.

  “All of our money was left” Alex replied. “It was in the wagon, I didn’t think about it until we were well on our way. I don’t think Celeste has anything either, between us we have one gold, and that is only because I was practicing palming coins with Jerry before the attack”.

  “Forks it is then?” Ezra asked. “I think I can win us some money by just playing straight out, with all three of us I think we can really clean house”.

  “The gambling in Ramy is okay I hope” Alex replied. “I think a quicker way though is to just steal it. You can tell when people are coming, I can use that to my advantage and see what we can get, if anything we can find empty houses to stay the night in”.

  “That is probably a better plan” Ezra admitted.

  “We still will need to lay low” Alex replied. “Who knows if our description has gotten around, we killed those two in the street in broad daylight. The Fale probably put the squeeze on whoever they could find. I still don’t know how they knew to come looking at the mountain for us”.

  “I don’t think they were looking for us” Ezra replied. “Many in their number had trained there, I think they appeared there to wipe out the high council and just saw us there. I don’t even think they know who we are”.

  “I hope you are right” Alex replied. “All the same we are going to need new trades. I know the plan is to slide into Ramy and kill the bad guy, but that is a great way to get killed ourselves. I think we should see exactly what is going on in Ramy first, it is not likely that we will receive any help from the Unarmored if we don’t like what we see”.

  “I am glad I have you here Alex” Ezra replied. “I don’t know how I can do this, I was going to go along with Jerold’s plan”.

  “The old man had a plan?” Alex asked. “What is it, he never shared with the rest of us”.

  “He wants to frame the Sullied” Ezra replied. “He wants to kill a couple of Knights of Justice and make it seem it was the work of the Sullied”.

  “Oh that is a good plan” Alex said with a grin. “We can do it one better, you are big enough to pass as a Knight if we get you the right gear. With a little help you should be able to take out a low level Sullied”.

  ~

  Ezra looked over at Alex, even without the gift he could tell Alex had just sensed what he had. Celeste was still angry at them but now she started to accept the situation for what it was. Ezra do not know what made him believe this, he wasn’t reading the girl with his power and she hadn’t said anything yet, something in her posture just seemed different. The group entered Ramy and Ezra’s heart almost dropped, the place was crawling with Sullied.

  “Why are there so many Unarmored here?” Celeste whispered.

  “I don’t know” Ezra admitted. “Something is going on here that I do not understand”.

  “The city looks almost as if it has been segregated” Alex replied. “There should be a lot more people here than what is here right now. Did anyone notice how crowded it was at the entrance to the city gates or how the guards looked at us weirdly as we walked inside?”

  “I noticed that as well” Celeste replied. “It is like they know something that we don’t. This entire place looks to be crawling with the Sullied, it looks like most of the regular citizens were pushed from the center of the city towards the slums. If the Sullied have taken over, I don’t know why a lot of them haven’t left”.

  “Maybe they can't” Ezra replied. “The guards we passed were facing the wrong way to protect the gate, they looked more concerned with people leaving than others coming in”.

  “That still doesn’t explain where all of these Unarmored came from” Alex said looking over everyone. Not all of them are carrying the red swords”.

  “Not all can” Ezra replied. “Well sort of. Without betraying too much of the ceremony, making the red swords involves a bit of blood”.

  “You have to kill someone to make them?” Celeste asked shocked.

  “No” Ezra replied. “The blood used is your own. What you call a red sword is known as the blood sword to the Unarmored. Two things determine the strength of the weapon, the first is the power of the Unarmored making it. The second is the amount of blood that is put in but it is a little more complicated than that. A weak Unarmored would have to use a tankard of their own blood just to be on an even level with a stronger Unarmored who only would have to use a few drops. Even then the blood sword might not come out all that different, some blood swords only have a slight pinkish tint. These swords are not all that different from regular blades, in fact some well-made swords can even outshine a poor blood sword. That is the reason you don’t always see Unarmored walking around with the blood sword and some that do are using trickery, they have turned their swords red by other means”.

  “I never really understood power among the Unarmored” Alex replied.

  “Neither do I” Ezra admitted. “Jerold was not big on explaining things and I wouldn’t embarrass him by asking one of the others but I can tell you what I know”.

  “Well it let’s hear it” Alex replied. “It can keep my mind off of how we are going to get money, with all of these Unarmored around we can't steal without getting
caught and cheating at Forks is bound to lead to disaster”.

  “All Unarmored have what Jerold described as a tendril” Ezra began. “They have to focus that tendril on a person in order to know what moves their target is thinking about making. Some tendrils are thick and long, they can reach far distances and let the wielder know exactly what moves are going to be made. Some are thin and short, they cannot latch on to targets even twenty feet away and even then it takes concentration for them to keep the tendril on someone. Now some people have multiple tendrils and some tendrils can do other things but that is the jest of it. That doesn’t really describe power though really, there are two other things that combine together can give you a basic understanding but not really”.

  “You are confusing me” Celeste replied.

  “Because it is confusing” Ezra said as he pointed to her bow. “You may be a poor knife fighter but does that make you weak? The greatest of knife fighters can be taken out by a good archer. In Unarmored terms I can have the best tendril in the world, but do I have the body that can move along with it so I can take advantage? The other capability an Unarmored can have is awareness, it is more than just being able to tell the emotions of the people around you. Jerold can tell how many people were around him from a long distance and could pick out Unarmored and the power level of the Unarmored. I can do a little of that but not on his level, some Unarmored can read minds and some can implant false thoughts or memories. Imagine if someone made you think you were married to them? That could be a great power that has nothing to do with fighting, I could convince a bunch of rich women to give me money”.

  “You are making my head hurt” Alex replied. “You said you can tell power levels but it is imprecise. Of these people walking around as bald as a newborn’s ass, what is their power level?”

  “They are weak” Ezra said confused. “Something definitely isn’t right”.

  “Because they are weak?” Celeste asked.

  “Not that” Ezra replied. “Well yes that is part of it, what is weird is that they are all the same power. There are no fluctuations, they shine brighter than a normal person to me but not overly so. There should be some differences between them”.

  “Keep calm” Alex said looking at Ezra. “But two of those unarmored people are on their way over here”.

  Ezra looked and could see two women walking over, they were dressed a lot more comfortably than the woman in Laton was. These women wore baggy red pants and form fitting red leather breastplates over a baggy red top. The bottom half of their faces were covered by a red scarf and both had a sword hanging from their waists. Ezra could tell it was not a blood sword though, judging from the hilt it looked like the swords the Azardian troops were given in the war. Ezra became self-conscious of his blade now, if he pulled it out it would be obvious that it was a blood blade. As the women stood in front of him, Ezra decided to focus on their bald heads.

  “You are new here” the woman on the left spoke as she looked at Celeste and then her bow. “Why are you in Ramy?”

  “We are fleeing the war” Celeste replied. “I hoped there would be some work here for us”.

  “You have a bow” the other Unarmored spoke.

  “We are hunters” Celeste replied smoothly. “My brother accompanied me here hoping to find work as a member of the city watch or to help protect merchant caravans” Celeste said looking over at Ezra. “My beloved came here looking for work as well. We want to start a new life away from Courier, it makes no difference to us who wins the war, we are all poor commoners and it is likely life wouldn’t change for us either way”.

  “Then you can be clustered with the sheep” the first Unarmored spoke and looked over at the regular citizens. “Or you can seek to become more”.

  “What do mean by become more?” Alex asked.

  “You will address me by mistress or be punished” the Unarmored said as she placed her hand on the hilt of her sword.

  “I meant nothing by it mistress” Alex replied smoothly. “We are simple folk and don’t want to run afoul of any nobles”.

  “I am not a noble, fool” the Unarmored spoke. “I am Sullied, my power gives me a title. I was once nothing but a whore, now I am strong”.

  “We don’t have any magic powers” Celeste said backing away.

  “You don’t need them” the Unarmored spoke. “If you can pass the tests they will be given to you”.

  “Mistress are you saying we can become like you?” Alex asked.

  “If you can pass the tests” the Unarmored spoke. “Many are too scared to try”.

  “I can pass some tests Mistress” Alex said.

  “After the tests, you still have to pass the training where you will be forged into something much better than you are now” the Unarmored said as the woman next to her nodded her head. “I do not think you though will be able to pass the tests, we only take the best”.

  “What do they consist of mistress?” Ezra asked curious. The women made it seem like this school could make people Unarmored, if this was true then Ezra was in over his head. Telrin Fallow would have an army of Sullied to fight for him, if he was in the city then he would be unreachable. Ezra could tell these Unarmored were low powered but his gift only could tell him that they had weak tendrils, for all he knew every one of them could read minds and control others.

  “You must fight another to the death” the Unarmored replied. Ezra could tell she was smiling underneath her scarf like she was remembering something fondly. “Sometimes you will fight another hopeful, other times you have to battle a prisoner or anyone who has angered Lord Hopkins”.

  “Lord Hopkins?” Celeste asked.

  “Lord Alan Hopkins, second only to Lord Barron Trum” the Unarmored spoke. “Lord Hopkins is over the training, it is only with his grace that we were given the blessing”.

  “So to even be chosen for training we have to kill someone?” Celeste asked.

  “The men do” the Unarmored spoke. “Women have a choice; you have other gifts that can place you in training without all of the danger”.

  “You want her to use her body?!?” Alex said shocked. “Mistress” he added at the end.

  “Do not listen to this man” the Unarmored spoke. “You can finally have real power. I can have any man I want, whether or not they are married doesn’t matter. You can have this power, power you will never be able to get any other way”.

  “Men killed my grandfather and stole our money” Celeste replied. “We were too weak to fight them off”.

  “You could become Sullied” the woman spoke. “You could do it without the danger the men face and no one will ever try to take advantage of you”.

  “Then I’ll do it” Celeste said looking over at Alex and then Ezra. “If I can stop even one man then it will be worth it”.

  “You are leaving us?” Alex said shocked.

  “I am leaving you” Celeste replied. “If you are good enough to get in then perhaps I will see you in training”.

  “How do I get in?” Alex asked.

  “You fight your way in” the Unarmored replied. “But we gain Lord Hopkins favor by bringing him females, pretty ones like us. Lord Hopkins will have his way with her body, does that make you angry?” The Unarmored replied with a tone that let Ezra know she was trying to bait Alex. Alex and Celeste didn’t have anything going on, maybe if they had, Alex would have been plenty angry but right now he was someone playing a role.

  “She won't make it past the training mistress” Alex replied.

  “Oh yes she will” the Unarmored replied. “The training is different for a pretty girl than it is for anyone else, right now you probably push her around. In no time at all she will do the pushing. If you want to fight your way in then meet in front of the Temple of Justice”.

  “The Knights wouldn’t allow something like that to happen, we will be killed” Ezra said looking at Alex.

  “The Knights will know their place” the Unarmored spoke. “There are going to be many more o
f us than there are of them, they will watch like good little boys and keep the laws we tell them. Come girl, let me introduce you to your new master”.

  “What the pit” Alex whispered as the women left with Celeste.

  “I know” Ezra replied. “I can't believe she left”.

  “Huh?” Alex said confused. “Why wouldn’t she leave?”

  “Well that’s nasty” Ezra replied.

  “If you were given the chance to become all powerful in return for sleeping with some old hag, you wouldn’t do it?” Alex asked.

  “Well that’s different” Ezra replied.

  “How so?” Alex asked. “Celeste is thinking about being able to fight off Unarmored, if she can learn how to do so by laying on her back instead of risking her life, then why shouldn’t she? You would if you were in her place”.

  “I still think it’s nasty” Ezra replied.

  “Then you are an idiot farm boy” Alex replied. “I want to see what this is all about myself, if this school or whatever is turning folks into Unarmored then I want to try it”.

  “What about killing Trum Barron?” Ezra asked. “We have people depending on us”.

  “And how are we going to do that while fighting through Unarmored?” Alex asked. “Besides, if we can be turned into Unarmored then you can blend in better with the rest of the people here. Maybe we can work ourselves up to being left alone with Barron”.

  “We will need to kill people that don’t deserve it” Ezra said trying to get Alex to change his mind.

  “Anyone who wants to go to this school wants to join the Fale” Alex replied. “That makes them the enemy, I don’t mind killing any of them. Those are the guys that tried to kill us and did kill Jerry”.

  “Maybe you are right” Ezra replied.

  “I know I am right” Alex replied. “Let’s go pick a fight, first we need somewhere to hide your sword”.