A LEGACY OF LIGHT

RUNE

RUNE

"Again!" Valien barked and thrust his wooden sword.

Cursing, Rune tried to block the attack. His own practice weapon blocked Valien's. A second thrust flew. Rune checked the blow; the two wooden blades clanked. The third thrust slammed into his chest, and Rune gasped and fell back two steps.

"Dead again," Valien said in disgust. "If I were Frey Cadigus, you wouldn't last five heartbeats."

Valien Eleison, leader of the Resistance, stood clad in a steel breastplate, tan breeches, and leather boots. Sweat matted his grizzled hair and clung to his stubble like dew to grass.

"If you were Frey Cadigus," Rune said, "I would shift into a dragon and burn your arse."

Rune wiped sweat off his brow. He wore a breastplate too, but Valien's thrusts--even with a wooden sword--left his chest aching. He imagined that bruises spread beneath the steel.

Valien spat into the dust. "Dragon? Frey Cadigus dwells deep in his fortress; its corridors are too small for dragons. You'd have to fight his guards foot by foot, man by man. I doubt you'd slay one before they captured you."

The ruins of Confutatis sprawled around them, a hodgepodge of fallen columns, the shells of towers, crumbled walls, and countless bricks strewn across dead grass. It was a tapestry all in whites, tans, yellows, and grays. Men and women of the Resistance, clad in robes the colors of these ruins, stood upon what remained of the walls and towers. They bore swords of real steel, and they clutched bows. They said nothing. They only watched.

Rune growled, raised his wooden sword, and swung it at Valien.

The older man scowled, knocked the blow aside, and slammed his wooden blade against Rune's shoulder.

"Stars damn it!" Rune cursed.

Valien snarled and whacked Rune's shoulder again. "Never curse by your stars. Your stars saved your life, boy. That's more than your skill with the sword would do, it seems."

Rune tossed that sword down, spat, and glared at Valien.

"It isn't fair!" he said. "You've been fighting all your life. You were a knight. I was a brewer until a moon ago."

"Pick up your sword," Valien said. His eyes blazed and his face reddened. "It isn't fair? Life's not fair, boy. Was it fair when Frey slew your parents? Was it fair when he toppled this city? Was it fair when my w--" The grizzled warrior stopped himself and gritted his teeth. "Life is cruel and death is crueler. You can cry about how things aren't fair, or you can stand tall and make things fair."

Rune stared at the man. Rage flared inside him like dragonfire. You are why I'm here! Rune wanted to shout. You sent Kaelyn to drag me out of my home, to take me here, to...

As fast as it had flared, his rage dissipated. He thought back to the night with Kaelyn in the rain. That sword--the Amber Sword of Aeternum--stood against a fallen statue only feet away.

Make things fair.

Rune grumbled, reached down to his fallen wooden sword, and lifted it.

"The wooden sword's too heavy," he said. "The Amber Sword is light and fast. I could parry assaults with that one."

Valien's face softened, and he sighed and nodded. "The wooden sword needs to be heavy," he said. "It will strengthen you. When you've trained with thick wood, thin steel will seem lighter than air. You are right, Relesar Aeternum. Until a moon ago, you were only Rune Brewer, not a warrior, and I've been swinging swords for longer than you've lived. But now you are a warrior. Now you too will fight. I will bruise you here, Rune, until your body aches so badly, you will even dream of pain. But it will make you strong." Valien smiled thinly. "When training is hard, the battle is easy."