Hevvar.
I knew his name as he took me from Acad’s dead body. Through his eyes, I saw the terror of the crowd and knew I had grossly miscalculated.
Acad had been the only one holding back the Brinn, and with him gone, nothing was protecting the people I had vowed to save…from me.
Hevvar swung me at the nearest Datrean and I did not yet have the power over him to stop him.
“No!”
Just as my edge touched the innocent man, Aztomag uncoiled herself around my blade and struck the man down instead.
“Twenty-one.” Aztomag laughed. “It looks like I’m going to eat some of the people I was originally promised after all.”
No.
No!
Hevvar swung at a woman, and I still could do nothing. For me to even start being able to exert control, my wielder needed to kill with me, and Aztomag was stealing my kills, as per our agreement.
She killed the woman, not me, and yet it was all my fault. It was my deal and my decision.
“Twenty-two.”
Only one life left before Aztomag’s price was paid, and then…and then what? And then I would start eating the lives of my charges myself, and I wouldn’t be able to stop it. I would practically have to kill them all before my bond with Hevvar would be strong enough to command him as I commanded Acad.
And what would be the point then?
The survivors ran and the Brinn gave chase, slaughtering any they caught up with. Hevvar came up behind a coal shoveller who had left the forge with Erjed. He had been watching over Malinda ever since her father died.
I grieved amidst Aztomag’s triumph. “Twenty-three!”
Where was Malinda?
A blind girl would never outrun them. She must have hidden under a table or behind a wardrobe. She was likely still in the room, even as the remaining Datreans fled into the next room, likely attempting to escape into the maze.
I despaired. I hadn’t told them the path! They would all be turned to stone!
“Fear not, Brother Tooth. I will guide them.” Aztomag uncoiled herself around me. “I know whose passage it was you paid for with the undead warrior’s life. I will not cheat you.”
“By the angel!” A Brinn warrior beside Hevvar swore. “What is that voice that keeps counting!”
Aztomag flew off me after the Datreans, growing back in size as she went.
“Demon!” The Brinn screamed.
“Demon possession!” Another cried and promptly lopped off Hevvar’s head. I hit the ground in the chaos.
Stolen story; please report.
Blind without my wielder, I nonetheless could hear Malinda breathing right beside me.
Ah, so she was hiding under the divan.
“Malinda. They’re distracted! Run!”
“But what about you?” I could feel her reaching for me. “You have to come too—”
“Don’t touch me!” I yelled. “Do not undo all my hard work by being cursed by me now. When they are distracted, run. Run, and pray you never encounter something as evil as me again.”
“You’re not evil,” she said immediately and I felt like breaking, right then and there. If she was the only person I ever saved, my creation would have been justified. If she was my only legacy, I would have been worth it.
“Run and live, Malinda. Please. Give me this. Please.”
I was picked up by not Malinda to my great relief, but another Brinn.
Fultur.
The name sank into me, along with purpose. The only way Malinda could follow them was if the Brinn were very distracted.
I had to be that distraction, helpless as I was. “Aztomag!”
Fultur yelped at discovering the sword he had just picked up could speak.
Through his eyes, I could see Aztomag was already in the next room, but she paused. “Yes, Brother Tooth?”
“Call me by what I am!”
She laughed. “What amusing games you play.” She turned away. “It was a pleasure doing business with you, Blade of Daened.”
Every Brinn in the room paused. At last, they saw what Fultur had just picked up.
“Is that…really a sword made by Steelsinger Daened?”
Fultur tried my weight and found it perfect. “I guess so.”
I felt their sudden awe like a crashing wave that filled the room. It was poisonous. It was dangerous.
It was something I could use.
“Give it here!” The Brinn that had cut Hevvar’s head off for ‘demon possession’ stepped forward. “I killed Hevvar. I take what’s his. That is the way of the hunt.”
“I was never his,” I whispered.
“The sword wasn’t his; it was in the hands of that Datrean walking corpse. Does anyone here claim to have killed him?”
“I claim it,” another said. “I was nearest to him. My blade must have been what made him fall.”
“Liar! I was closer!” A man approached. “Listen well, Fultur—”
“He’s going to kill you for me!”
Fultur waved me in front of himself. “Stay back!”
Swords raised. Tempers escalated. They were a sudden move away from violence. I had been in Brinn hands for minutes and already, it was everything my makers had hoped would happen.
I didn’t care.
For Malinda, I would become exactly what my father made me to be. I whispered black lies; I whispered blacker truths. I let the poison of my allure shine in all its glory, and these looters, who wished to peck at the corpse of a grand palace, were weakest of all to my temptation.
They argued; they came to blows. I heard Malinda’s unnoticed footsteps, the prettiest of melodies hidden in that ugly violence. I heard her run down the hall toward the Maze of Stone, away from the Death Circle I failed to prevent, away from this doomed city I failed to save, and far far away from the blight that was me.
I had already failed every vow I had given myself, all but one.
Malinda would live, as I promised Erjed she would. She would live no matter what else I did or what else I became.
Finally, finally, for the first time since my creation, I relaxed. I had done all I could. I saved what I could save, and now all that remained was to avenge the life that was stolen from my little girl.
Once Malinda passed beyond my hearing, I turned my attention to the Brinn and the overrun city beyond. The fury of my makers was singing in me. Doom and ruin. That was what they forged me to bring about.
It was time to make my father proud
Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate all the support I have gotten during the transition to move this story to Royal Road. Do tell me what you think! I love comments and often respond to them
I will be posting a chapter every day until July 30, 2025. Make sure to follow the story and come back to read more!
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