Amazonia-Birth of a sword

As we head for the small gate, I ask, "Dominus, aren't you afraid Eurax will take revenge on you when he finds out, since he can't touch Lady Jhadra?"

"Why do you think I am selling the Ludus? The moment your last arena fight is over, I am heading with my wife and son for the docks, where a ship is waiting... and before you ask, no one knows her destination except the ship's captain and I. Once Eurax cools off, he will realize we put Antonius to a far better use. War is the bane of trade and commerce."

Is that a note of unease in his voice? I wouldn't be surprised, considering Eurax's reputation, yet it's not my concern. Just so Eurax's vengeance doesn't fall on the rest of us is all I ask. We reach the small gate, Amko a silent shadow behind us, the mana stones set in silver spirals she wears in her ear lobes glowing blue as the guards open the door of rusty bars.

Lady Jhadra is waiting. "Ready?" I nod with more confidence than I feel, and she turns towards Antonius, who's already kneeling on the concrete floor with his tunic off. Below his breastbone there's a dark red opening, no doubt leading to his heart. Lady Jhadra bends down to whisper in Antonius's ear; his eyes go wide, and as she straightens, he stares up at her as she says, "I swear by the sacred name of the queen I serve that I have spoken the truth. Amazonia, kneel behind Lord Antonius and hold him."

I kneel down behind Antonius, sitting back on my heels, and he leans back against my chest as he looks up. "Did Paulus explain?"

"Yes," I reply, keeping my voice impassive with everyone's eyes upon me. "For what it's worth, a certain person should be cast into the deepest depths of Hades and never released."

"He will wish he was already there by the time I am finished." Antonius shakes his head at my puzzled look. "In time you will understand. Az, please promise me you will return to Konstanopolis once the sword shatters, and claim what is rightfully yours."

"If I can," I answer with a shrug.

"You will."

Amko enters the room holding an Ironwood sword resembling the katanas used by Khitian warriors, but longer, almost the length of a great-sword. A round metal guard is in place over the hilt, already wrapped in strips of black leather, with the dark brown blade carved to razor sharpness on the front side, and halfway down the blade on the back. Blood red runes have been drawn up and down both sides of the blade. Amko should hand it to Dominus first but she's not; instead she walks past him, reverses the sword, and hands it hilt first to Lady Jhadra. The Daemo shouldn't accept it, yet does so without rebuke. Interesting.

Dominus is frowning at Amko, who is ignoring him, while Lady Jhadra ignores them both, her attention on the two of us kneeling at her feet. "Antonius, I am going to slide the tip of the blade a few inches into the channel leading to your heart." She takes the sword and gently moves it towards Antonius' chest until he stiffens in my arms. She's now holding perfectly still. "Amazonia, grip him by the shoulders." I move my hands to the point where his shoulders meets his arms, and she says, "When Lord Antonius commands you, push him onto the blade with a fast motion so the tip will pierce his heart, and hold onto him until the transformation ends."

My lips have suddenly gone dry. "Yes, Domina." Glancing down at Antonius' face, I'm reminded of a new gladiator ready for his first fight. "Be brave."

"I will be better than brave," he replies, swaying in my arms. "I am going to be fierce." He takes a deep breath. "Do it." I shove him forward onto the blade-

-As Lady Jhadra unleashes her enchantment. Purple lightning crackles around the three of us as the blade changes from dark brown to shiny black, the runes burning themselves into the blade as they begin to glow red as the blood bubbling out of his chest. I can't move or even blink, my gaze held by a dragon scale shining like a purple star... blazing like a purple sun... filling the earth and sky with purple fire as I am consumed...

Then it winks out. I'm falling back onto something hard while a body falls on top of me, people are yelling... why is a sword sticking up out of his chest? Faces, speaking gibberish as hands shake me... I'm being pulled away from the body...

Wait, I know this face. "Io?"

He grins down at me, crouched at my side as my mind and memories sort themselves out. "Az, don't scare me like that."

"What just happened was scary enough." Standing over me, Cotus holds out his hand and I take it, Io standing up as he takes my other one. They haul me to my feet. The room spins, and I grip their calloused hands until it stops. "Are you better?"

I nod as Io says, "Antonius is dead."

They release my hands and step aside. Antonius lays crumpled on the concrete floor, his head flopped towards me, staring up with sightless eyes. His mouth is set in the rictus of a wild grin. Lady Jhadra holds the sword sticking out of his chest by the hilt, her eyes on me as she speaks. "If you are recovered, the time has come for you to claim your sword."

Taking a deep breath, I step past my two companions towards Lady Jhadra, who moves her hands to the sword's metal guard to continue supporting it, leaving the leather bound hilt free. Could I refuse to take the sword at this point? Would I dare? No, I wouldn't, and what's more I don't want to. I want this sword. I stop beside Lady Jhadra and grasp the hilt as she takes her hand away, then pull it from Antonius' chest as if from a sheath. Blood drops fall from the blade like red rain onto the concrete as I hold it up.

The black blade glimmers as if made from obsidian, the runes glowing a sinister shade of dark red from the tip down to the metal guard. The sword feels light as a feather in my hand. "Domina, I have wielded normal Artifact weapons smaller than this and carved from ordinary wood, and none of them felt as weightless in my hands as this one."

Lady Jhadra gives me a sly smile as she steps away from the blood slowly pooling around Antonius' body. "I cannot explain my magic in a way that would make sense to you. So accept it, and take a few moments outside the chamber getting acquainted with your new sword." As I step away, being careful not to accidentally cut someone, she crouches down and passes a hand over the pooling blood as the scale in her forehead begins to glow.

She pulls out a wooden stylus carved with more runes as the blood begins glowing purple as well. "So, who wants to be the first tattooed?"