The Eternal Blade Saga Book 2, Chapter 36: Seeds of Trust

A spray of embers fell all over me,their heat stinging any unprotected skin they touched. I brushed them off of meand shook my attire to rid myself of the ashes. Since we had already beenthrough here earlier, I didn’t have the torch to light my way. I was forced tofumble in the dark. The rough ground made the distance a challenge, and nearthe end, my boot caught a rock and I ungracefully fell into the wall. Once Ihad succeeded in steadying myself, I kept my free hand on the wall and my stepsdefined until I heard the gentle lapping of the water ahead.

Working by touch, I managed to get my holster loop around the hilt of my axe to secure it without too much trouble. I would need both hands for the swim and didn’t want the drag of my weapon to slow me down. Feeling along the leather width of my belt for my rebreather, my fingers found the apparatus.  However, there was an unsettling crunch of fragmented pieces moving against each other when I gripped it.

“Gods damn it!” I cursed and threw thebroken rebreather to the ground.

I would have to do the swim withoutit.

A surge of whispers snuck their way into my ears, creating a cacophony of undecipherable noise. I couldn’t make out any of the words, but the tone felt anxious. Or was the sound excited? It was hard to wade through the auditory mess invading my ears. The whispers kept getting louder until they eventually crescendoed into a deafening roar, causing me to reflexively place my hands over my ears to block out the noise. Of course, my action was in vain because the noise still continued. It echoed in my head, calling to me and for a moment, the sounds focused and begged me to come.

“STOP IT!” I commanded, and all atonce, the noise ceased.  Cautiously, Ilowered my hands and then breathed out a sigh of relief when all remainedsilent.

Taking in deep breaths, I regulated my breathing as I waded into the cool water. My skin prickled, but otherwise didn’t shake my renewed focus. Every second I remained was a second wasted, so I submerged, kicking my legs and sweeping my arms with as much force as I could muster. I swam quickly, motivated by my limited air supply. My lungs had just begun to burn right before I broke through the surface of the bay. I shook the water from my eyes and gratefully filled my lungs while I tread water.

The sounds of clashing weapons andbattle cries from above washed over the water. Horrific images of what theothers were going through flooded my mind and spurred me into immediate action.I swam through the dark, rolling waves moving through the bay until I reachedthe point where I would have to go under water again. I knew this leg of thetrip would be more challenging without my rebreather, since the passage waslonger, but I had no choice. We needed help if we were going to win thisbattle. I didn’t want any more blood on my hands and I certainly didn’t want tobury any more friends.

Taking in as much air as my lungscould hold, I dove under the water and swam against the current toward thehidden passage that would take me to the blade’s secret resting place. The swimwas difficult. Even though the bay’s current was gentle, it still pushedagainst me, slowing my progress more than I had wanted. Still, I swam with asmuch energy as I could muster, pushing my body harder than I probably shouldhave.

My air started to run out as I enteredthe passage, but I held on and sought out rocks on the bottom and sides topropel myself along. My whole chest started to burn from lack of oxygen. Ipulled myself upwards, desperately searching for a break in the water. My lungscried out for air, and I could feel my focus start to fade away. I wasn’t sureI was going to make it. No—I had tomake it. Feeling as if I was about to pass out, I reflexively let out the lastof my air and grasped at another rock to push myself along, but my lungsspasmed and my strength was failing. Consciousness began to fade—.

My fingers broke through the surfaceand touched the air. What little vigor I had left renewed, and I pulled myselfup through the surface. I inhaled deep, greedily feeling my lungs with as muchair as I could, but I choked on the sudden intake and coughed so hard my ribsbegan to hurt. Between breathing and coughing fits, I dragged myself out of thewater and onto the passage’s rocky ground. My muscled were exhausted andeverything hurt. I desperately wanted to take a few minutes to recover to apoint where my lungs had at least stopped spasming, but there wasn’t time. Ipulled myself up to my feet. Water dripped off of me and fell onto the groundwith soft patters that were amplified by the rounded shape of the passage and rockysurface.

The air hung heavy with the bitter scentof death and decay, even more than the last time I had come this way. It was asif the blade had fully awoken and sensed freedom was near. It called to me, notwith words but rather with a feeling. It wanted to be pulled from its prison.However, something moving ahead made me suddenly pause. I crouched and pulledmy axe from its holster as silently as I could manage while whatever was hidingin the dark stirred into a frenzy and shuffled quickly about.

“Who’s there,” I called out.

The shuffling stopped and a pale bluelight grew out of the shadows, revealing the tall outline of my former Adviser.He held out a palm-sized crystal, and it spilled out its soft light furtherinto the dark space between us.

“Quint?” I said, startled by hispresence. I immediately went on the defensive and readied my weapon. He lookedworse for wear with scratches all along the side of his face and his longcoattattered along the bottom edge. He didn’t seem to have any weapons on him,which considering the battlefield he would have had to travel through to gethere, left me surprised. “H-how are you here?”

“It wasn’t easy,” he replied, crackinga pained smile. “You didn’t exactly leave me in an ideal situation.”

“If you expect me to apologize-.”

He put his hand up and shook his head.“No, I don’t. I get why you left me there. I’d almost be inclined to say Ideserved it—some of it at least. It’s fine.”

“How can you say that?” I asked,bewildered. “I left you to die back there and now you’re here with the blade. Haveyou come to repay my kindness in full and then take it? How did you even findthis place?”

“I followed you last year. You weretired from not sleeping well and was lax on your routine,” he explained andthen paused as he grimaced and clutched his side with his free arm. He took ina deep breath that was obviously pained and let it out, smoothing back hissilvery hair as he tried to compose himself. “I managed to give the Inquestkrewe the slip thanks to some well-placed incendiary arrows and loose rocksoverhead. Once I got out of the Chantry, I came here to make sure no one hadgotten in and found the blade.”

Nienna exhaled sharply through hernose and uttered a curse to herself. “I need you to step aside now. I need to takeit.”

With a groan, Quint bent down and setthe illumination crystal on a flat-top rock off to the side and then positionedhimself between me and the mithril chest resting against the back wall. “Andwhat do you intend to do with it?” he asked. His tone lacked any warmth andfelt more like a warning. If I gave him an answer he didn’t like, there surely wouldbe grave consequences.

“In case you haven’t noticed, we’reoutnumbered up there,” I said, sharply gesturing upward. “If I don’t dosomething, they’ll all likely die and I’m not going to let that happen.” Myeyes fell upon the chest where the blade rest inside. “I have to use it.”

“No.”

I tightened my grip on my axe. “I’mnot going to say it again.”

He reached into his jacket’s inside breast pocket but paused when he saw me poised to attack. When I hadn’t moved from my stance, Quint pulled a flattened roll of parchment.

“I’ve read what it can do. I know thedangers it poses,” he said. “Please believe me when I say my intentions for theblade have always been aligned with yours. I had many opportunities to take itfor the Order, but I didn’t. Not only because of the corruption I discoveredwithin our ranks, but also because I wanted to give you the benefit of thedoubt and let you finish your mission. You posed no threat from what I couldsee. There wasn’t a risk in letting it remain in your hands.”

I eyed the parchment, my curiositypiqued, but the stress of time flying by sat heavy on my shoulders. “I-I needto go,” I said as I pushed past him, but he grabbed my arm firmly, stopping mefrom going any further. I flashed him a glare and raised my axe to his face. “Iwill finish what I started, so help me, if you don’t let me pass.”

Quint’s eyes went wide, but he didn’tloosen his grip. “I can’t let you do this, for their sake and yours. That muchpower in a mortal’s hands—you could kill the others and likely yourself. It’snot safe!”

“I don’t need you to save me,” I said as I jerked my arm freefrom his grasp. “I know it’s not the best plan. Any sane person can see this ideais completely ludicrous. But I’m out of options right now. I’m not strongenough to help the others on my own. I needthe blade.”

“I’m not-I’m not trying to save you.I’m trying to help,” he said.

“If you want to help, then—then can Itrust you with this?” I said as I held my axe out for him with an unsteadyhand. He hesitated for a moment but eventually took it.

He flashed me a puzzled look as he inspectedthe weapon in his hands. “You’re giving me your weapon? Why?”

“Because you’ll need something to stopme if something goes wrong.”

“Are you anticipating things will gothat way?”

I shrugged. “A mortal wielding a godlyweapon—feels like it could.”

He furrowed his brow as he looked atthe axe in his hand. “Are you sure you want to trust me with this after whatI’ve done.”

“Trust has to start somewhere, Isuppose. You said it yourself—you intended to keep the blade safe from others,”I began. “Besides, I bet you never once touched it.”

“How do you know that?” He asked.

“Well, if you touched it with thosebare hands, you’d be dead. You should know that if its on your parchment there.Only a Valar can safely hold it. Safely being an overstatement. The protectiveseal was made with our blood. It shields us from the brunt of its power, butnot all of it,” I said and then looked over at the chest. It was quiet now. Iknew it was waiting, hanging in a heavy cloud of anticipation before I openedthe doors. “And it is a lot of power. Those with weak hearts succumb to it’scall. I’ve seen it happen right in front of me.”

My gaze fell to the ground as bitter memoriesshadowed my mind. I could still see Torran’s face, twisted in pain as my daggercut deep into his chest. I bit my lower lip as I held back tears sourced fromthe loss. The two of us had been close when we were children, and despite mysudden departure, found each other again only to be separated indefinitely. IfRhys and Sir Fendall had been there to help me pick up the pieces, I don’t knowwhere I would be now.

“You have my word I won’t take it fromyou unless things get out of hand,” he promised, “for the others or foryourself.”

I nodded and then looked aside at theold, mithril chest as my heart pounded in my chest. “Okay, here we go,” Iannounced, turning away from Quint and facing the blade’s resting place. Upuntil now, I had been in a hurry to get here. But as I stood before it, I feltmyself hesitating, my heart thundering in my chest so hard I feared it wouldbreak through.

“Don’t let me hurt them,” I said as Ireached out to the chest doors. “Promise me you won’t.”