We flew on for about fifteen minutes, leaving the hills behind. The ground flattened, and dark water filled the clearings. Azeneth descended beside a raised road among the reeds. Farther ahead, a stone bridge crossed a canal, with a carriage stopped just before the entrance.
I searched for houses among the treetops, picturing the window over the canal she’d described. I was surprised I already wanted to recognize it. Azeneth tilted her staff to slow down, and I set the thought aside as the road drew closer.
“The border,” she told me. “From here on, we’re in Khalixtla.”
A horse tossed its head as we descended. The man holding its reins looked up but waited for Azeneth’s boots to touch the ground before approaching.
He was tall and slim, with brown skin and golden eyes. His white hair hung loose down his back, with several braids among the strands. I’d never seen an elf before. I kept looking at his ears until he spoke.
“Good afternoon. Did you come along the eastern road?”
“We came from above,” Azeneth replied.
He glanced at the staff and nodded.
“I see. I’m Thayron, a merchant. I’m trying to deliver a shipment of wine, but…”
“Wine?”
Azeneth was already looking at the crates secured behind the seat. Thayron released one rein to pick up a bottle he’d left on a blanket.
“A sample from the shipment. Red, in this case.”
She leaned her staff against the carriage and accepted the bottle with her free hand. Her thumb stroked the glass as she tilted it toward the light with a familiar gentleness. That was how she’d examined me after I healed myself. I wasn’t sure whether to feel flattered or reconsider the comparison.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured.
“What’s inside is even better,” Thayron said with a brief smile.
“You said you couldn’t cross?” I cut in before Azeneth could start asking about the rest.
The elf looked down at my eye, then at Azeneth as she kept stroking the bottle.
“I’m Zaelia,” I explained.
“A pleasure. And yes, there’s a giant lizard on the other side of the bridge. I saw it come out of the water when I tried to cross.”
Azeneth’s thumb stopped moving.
“Is it still near the road?”
“At the bend, past the trees. You can’t see it from here.”
She handed the bottle back with one last glance at the glass and retrieved her staff.
Thayron wrapped the sample in the blanket and set it beside the seat. His hands moved unhurriedly, but he hadn’t released the reins completely. One horse pulled back and reared at a sound from the water. The elf stroked its neck until all four hooves were on the ground again.
“I’ll take care of it,” Azeneth said.
Thayron opened his mouth, but Azeneth was already settling me beside her shoulder.
We crossed on foot. Moss covered the bridge’s edges, with damp patches between the stones. Beyond it, the road followed a narrow embankment. Greenish water showed between thick roots, and mist gathered beneath twisted branches without quite hiding their tips.
It smelled of wet wood and mud. I was still surprised I could tell. I drew my attention away from Azeneth’s scent and focused on the reeds brushing her skirt. Any movement among them felt too close.
I made out distant sloping roofs above stone foundations. Wooden platforms stood beside the canal, and a small bridge disappeared among the trees. People lived surrounded by water, finding room for houses where I could barely find solid ground.
A moored boat bumped against a post. I looked toward the sound, still watching for the monster. I welcomed signs of people, though I’d have preferred nobody nearby when Azeneth started using her staff.
She turned me clear of a low branch. Since I could see her face, I took the chance to ask a question I’d been putting off.
“Weren’t you surprised to find a talking sword?”
“No. You’re a cursed artifact.”
I watched her fingers, so careful around my grip.
“Cursed?”
“Someone’s soul trapped inside an object,” she explained. “Only the Goddess can inflict a curse like that.”
“Can it be broken?”
Azeneth stopped walking.
“No, Zaelia. It’s impossible.”
I had no answer. I’d chosen to be a sword. I remembered the options, the questions, even the music. I didn’t remember any curse.
I didn’t know whether that explained my situation. Azeneth was still looking at me, her hand resting on my guard. She’d treated me as someone trapped inside ever since finding me. Now I understood why she’d waited for my permission before picking me up.
Azeneth started walking again. I looked at the canals, searching for something else to talk about.
“Is your whole kingdom like this?”
“There are drier areas. You’ll see more canals near home.”
A splash made me forget my next question. Azeneth stopped and held me away from her dress so I could look toward the bend.
At first, I mistook its back for a muddy bank. Then a foot landed on the road, leaving deep marks. The lizard raised its head. It had dark scales and jaws big enough to close around Azeneth. More of its tail emerged from behind the trunk it lay beside.
I examined it.
[Giant lizard. Level: 25.]
[Health: 860/860.]
I read the level again. I’d only just reached four. My hundred and seventy-five points of Durability had seemed like a lot until the creature pushed a branch aside with its snout and snapped it against the ground.
“One hit from that thing would shatter me,” I said.
She adjusted her fingers around my grip.
“Everything will be fine. I’m not going to put you in front of those jaws.”
The lizard turned its head toward us. Azeneth angled me toward her left side and brought the staff forward with her other hand.
“Watch that side for me.”
I could do that. I focused on the water beside the road, trying not to calculate how long that mouth would take to reach her arm.
The first fireball burst against its snout. The lizard shook its head and advanced through smoke and sparks. A second struck its shoulder, blackening the scales, but it kept coming.
Azeneth stepped back. The third fireball lit up the reeds, letting me see the tail sliding out from behind the trunk.
She thrust the staff downward. A gust pushed us off the road just as the tail tore a chunk out of the embankment. Mud flew beneath my tip. Azeneth landed on a stretch of roots and raised the staff again.
The creature turned far faster than its size suggested. It stumbled against the stone it had torn loose and shoved it aside without slowing. I was still looking where it had struck when its claws emerged from the water.
“It’s coming!”
The burst of air lifted us just high enough for the foot to pass underneath. Azeneth pressed me against her side as we descended. I lost sight of the head. For a moment, I saw only bent reeds and splashing water.
“Turn me. I can’t see…”
She held me away from her. I glimpsed open jaws beyond her arm.
“Get back!”
The staff swept through a short arc. A current of air struck the lizard head-on, lifting its snout as we slid toward a flat stone. Its teeth snapped shut on empty air. I kept watching that mouth until Azeneth spoke.
“A little tough, yes.”
Her tone made me check the health bar. It had dropped, but well over half remained. She had time for comments while I tried to watch both ends of the same animal.
I was embarrassed to wish she’d keep me against her chest until it was over. She’d asked me to keep watch, and I kept looking in the wrong place. I searched for its feet. The left front foot sank into the mud before each rush. I could warn her about that.
Azeneth raised her staff. The first hailstones struck its back. Then so many fell that their noise drowned out the water. The lizard hunched, clawed the ground, and advanced beneath the ice. Some scales lifted under the impacts. Others remained intact.
The left foot planted itself again. I looked toward the side we’d dodged to and spotted a root behind Azeneth’s boots.
“Don’t step back that way! There’s a root behind you!”
Azeneth shifted her footing and propelled us toward the road. The lizard bit where her dress had just been. This time, I saw the opening before its teeth and kept watching while she readied another movement of her staff.
I wanted to warn her it was still approaching, but the skin beneath its jaw swelled. Yellowish liquid appeared between its teeth.
“Its mouth! It’s doing something!”
Azeneth turned the staff before it spat. The wind diverted the stream into the reeds. Their leaves glistened with droplets, and a sour smell overpowered the mud. I didn’t know what it was. Seeing her pull her hand away from that direction was enough.
“How unpleasant,” she murmured.
The lizard charged again. Azeneth moved aside with a gust, letting it pass beside the stone. Its tail brushed a root, tore it out, and followed without slowing. I understood why Thayron hadn’t risked taking the horses past it.
“It’s still coming,” I warned her.
“I was only testing it.”
I looked at her. She followed the lizard’s movements with her staff ready and her lips lightly pressed together. She didn’t seem to be looking for a way out.
“Now for the serious part.”
She lifted me close to her shoulder and extended her staff toward the animal. The current that had carried us away from its claws reversed. This time, it rushed toward the creature, dragging mist between the trees.
“Boreas’s Requiem!”
The water beside the road turned white. Ice spread beneath the lizard’s feet and climbed up its legs as a blast of frost struck its body. It tried to raise its head. A frozen layer sealed its jaws and forced its neck down.
I heard cracking above the wind. Scales split beneath its jaw and across the shoulder where the fireballs had struck. The lizard thrashed hard enough to break some of the ice, but the next wave drove it against the ground. Its tail struck the water once more, then went still.
When the wind stopped, Azeneth lowered her arm a little. I searched for the bar among the windows.
[Health: 4/860.]
Four. I blinked, then looked at the creature. One eye remained open, its side moving slowly. Azeneth brought her staff’s tip toward its head.
“Wait!” I said too quickly. “Use my blade. Please.”
Her hand stopped.
“You want to get closer?”
Want was a generous word for it. I could still picture it snapping that branch, but I could also see its four remaining points. I remembered my first movement over the grass, and all the times I’d needed to ask her to turn me.
“I want to try. Just the finishing blow.”
She looked at the lizard’s neck, then at my eye.
“Are you sure? I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“If you’re holding me, yes.”
Azeneth approached with her staff aimed at its head. She turned me until my tip rested over the wound the ice had opened beneath its jaw. Its side moved again, distracting me. I almost asked her to step back.
“Here,” I said at last.
She drove me between the broken scales. I felt resistance, then my edge pushing through. The bar reached zero. Azeneth immediately withdrew me, moving away from the body before checking my blade.
[Giant lizard defeated.]
[Combat ended. Applying experience gained.]
[Experience gained: 1200. Total accumulated: 1650.]
The first notification disappeared beneath another. Warmth spread along my metal, and a new window filled the space where I was still looking at the jaws.
[Level: 4 → 5.]
[Level: 5 → 6.]
[Level: 6 → 7.]
Wait. Three levels?
[A gap of twenty-one levels between you and your opponent! A brief contribution, but a very profitable one.]
The comment might’ve bothered me if I’d managed to stop staring at the seven. Azeneth had done everything.
[Durability: 175/250.]
[Mana: 70/70.]
[Attack: 15. Defense: 20.]
[Mobility: 15.]
[Mana regeneration: 11 per hour.]
My reserves had filled with the level-ups. My maximum Durability had increased too, though I still had the same hundred and seventy-five points. I moved the windows aside to check on Azeneth and found her watching me, her eyes close to my guard.
Her thumb brushed my guard. Distracted by the movement, I closed a notification before finishing it and had to ask the system to show it again. I didn’t want to miss the explanation because I was staring at her.
“Just a moment, please.”
[Usurpation: analysis completed.]
[Tenacious Momentum I acquired.]
[Allows you to increase your movement speed and maintain it through minor stumbles and collisions. Does not bypass obstacles that block your path.]
I remembered the torn root and the stone that hadn’t slowed it down. I decided against picturing myself doing the same to Azeneth’s boots.
[Poison Immunity III acquired.]
[Potion Brewing I: poison brewing available. Compatible ingredients required.]
I can make poison too?
[As soon as you have the raw materials!]
I looked at the liquid still dripping between the creature’s teeth. I’d recently wondered how to feed a sword. That wasn’t what I would’ve chosen for my first attempt.
“Put me on that stone, please.”
Azeneth pushed some pieces of ice aside with her boot and laid me on the surface. I tried lifting my grip. My body slowly rotated until my tip pointed down and my pommel pointed up. I stopped in surprise, my entire blade hovering clear of the stone.
“Azeneth…”
She crouched until she was in front of my eye.
Her eyes followed my body as it turned, then dropped to my hovering tip. She held her hand beneath it without quite touching me.
“Now you can look me in the face.”
I tried to rise a little higher. My tip lifted only a few centimeters, then stayed there. I couldn’t reach her shoulder or join her above the trees, but I was upright. I could look at her without waiting for her to hold me.
I moved across the stone, and a twig brushed my blade. I activated Tenacious Momentum I. I sped up, pushing it aside without stopping, and had to brake before going off the edge. Azeneth brought a hand closer but didn’t touch me.
“Slowly.”
“That was the plan.”
This time, I backed up carefully. I wanted to keep trying, though the puddle beside the stone discouraged me from testing whether I could float over water too.
“I need some of the liquid from the lizard,” I said. “I think it’s poison.”
Azeneth looked toward the motionless head.
“It is. What do you want it for?”
She hadn’t heard the system. She wanted an explanation, and I didn’t even know how I’d absorb it.
“I want to try something. I need you to collect a few drops.”
She found a concave piece of ice and held it with her staff while a few drops fell from the jaws. Then she brought it close to my blade without tipping it.
“Where do I put it?”
I looked at my metal. I still hadn’t found a mouth.
“Pour it on me. A little.”
“Are you sure?”
I reread the immunity notification before answering. I didn’t want embarrassment over my suggestion to make that decision for me.
“I think I can do it. Try one drop.”
Azeneth let a drop fall. The liquid spread over my blade and stayed there until I tried to absorb it. Then it disappeared into the metal without leaving a stain.
[Ingredient ingested: giant lizard poison.]
[Stored in Potion Brewing I’s ingredient reserve.]
Azeneth tilted her head. I turned a little so she could see the other side of my blade. There was no trace of the drop.
“It went in,” I said.
She poured the rest. I waited for discomfort, a taste, anything to help me understand where I was keeping it. Only another storage notification appeared. I could smell the poison before absorbing it, but afterward I felt nothing.
And it’s still available for me to use?
[Yes. Ingredient preserved for brewing.]
At last, I had raw material. Brewing could wait until I found a surface that wasn’t surrounded by ice and a dead lizard.
Azeneth offered me her hand. I moved closer until she could grasp my grip. Rising a few centimeters wouldn’t let me fly back alongside her. When she raised her staff, I focused on the road.
We returned above the reeds. From that height, I saw the tail beside the bend and checked it wasn’t across the embankment. Ice gleamed among the roots. Beyond them, the bridge remained intact, and Thayron waited beside the horses.
He met us with the reins in his hand.
“Should I keep waiting?”
“It’s clear now,” Azeneth replied. “You can cross.”
He looked toward the trees, then at her staff. He let out a slow breath before opening the carriage door.
“Please allow me to give you a ride. You’ve saved me from turning back with the whole shipment.”
Azeneth looked to me for an answer. I was still thinking about the roof, the seats, and the possibility of traveling for a while without enormous teeth nearby.
“I’d like that.”
Thayron secured the bottle among the crates before climbing onto the driver’s seat. Azeneth carried me inside and settled her staff beside her, checking that my tip didn’t brush the seat.
Before sitting down, she turned me toward her.
“Did you hurt yourself going through the scales?”
“No. Not a scratch.”
She checked my edge anyway. I let her, reassured that she wouldn’t find a nick. Then she rested my grip on her lap, keeping her fingers on the leather. I could move on my own, but I stayed there while we waited for Thayron to set off.
The wheels started moving. As we crossed the bridge, she brought me closer to the window so I could see the canal. Branches hid part of the sky, and a light glowed beside the first walkway.
I kept looking as we traveled farther into Khalixtla. Azeneth moved a ponytail away from the window and tilted me so I could see the next bridge. I followed the canal until it disappeared among the trees, still resting on her lap.