The Sharpened Blade by R L Sanderson

Author:R L Sanderson [Sanderson, R L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-05T22:00:00+00:00

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They ate a subdued meal as the sun began to set. Orla refused food, and only ate a little after Ged told her that she must. Trese’a and Alinor seemed to sense their mood and did not try to engage them in conversation or ask too many questions.

After she finished, Orla went and sat at the back of the boat, looking at the water that trailed away behind them. Ged let her go. She seemed lost in dark thought and sorrow. He longed to help her, to take some of the burden from her, but then he could not rid himself of the memory of what she had done. The way those men had died had been horrible to see. And worse than that, the thing that chilled and sickened him, the thing that he could never forget: she had laughed before she killed them. It had not been her, he thought. It had been the stone. Perhaps it carried some evil that they did not understand, a remnant of its past use or the Wielder who had held it during the last Darkfall? That was it, that would explain it. It must be the stone.

He made his way over to her tentatively.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.

‘Don’t keep asking that.’

‘I was thinking…’ he tried again.

‘I know,’ she said, tightly. ‘I can hear it from a mile away. Clear as anything when I’m holding the Darkstone. But you’re wrong. It was not the stone that killed those men, and it was not the stone that laughed. It was me.’

Ged hesitated, then spoke carefully. ‘Are you sure, Orla? Enchantment can be a subtle and difficult thing. You might be influenced, directed, transformed without even knowing that it is happening…’

‘You really think that it is the stone?’

‘I believe that it must be,’ he said, trying to keep his voice as calm and even as he could. ‘Perhaps when you learn how to wield it – there will be teachers at Koralis…’

She had drawn the Darkstone out from the pouch that hung around her neck. They looked at it together. It was only small, it fitted into the palm of her hand as though it were made for her. The shape of the bird was perfect – it emanated freedom, weightlessness, speed. It did not look evil.

‘If what you say is true—’ Orla said, then before he could say or do anything else, she hurled the Darkstone far out off the back of the boat. Ged watched it, open-mouthed, as it floated for just a moment and then sank beneath the surface of the water.

He was stunned. The stone was precious and unique. It was an object worthy of deep study and great care. It was a gift from his brother, who he might never see again. It was a weapon that they might wield in a time of war.

Orla shook her head. ‘I will not wield it,’ she said, then turned and walked away from Ged. She sat back down in the centre of the boat, her gaze empty.

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