Chapter 8: Mysterious Sword.

“Come in!” Dorian shouted to whoever had knocked on the door. A few seconds went by before the door slowly creaked open for him to see Captain Moro standing in the now open doorway.

“Master Ranwald is here as you requested your majesty.” Captain Moro bowed his head to Dorian and the council members who were all sitting at the round table in the room. He then stepped aside revealing Ranwald who then bowed in respect also.

“Ah, Ranwald, Come on in. We were waiting for you. I have something I would like you to do for us. How about we have Penrith here explain everything to you?`` Dorian announced with a sinister grin as he allowed Ranwald to enter.

As soon as he stepped foot into the room Captain Moro closed the door behind him and walked down the corridor before standing guard with the other two knights that were blocking the entrance from intruders.

***

Kalon arrived at home at around three PM. The town was empty since all of the children were at school and the adults were working so he managed to walk through the town without being hassled. Making it back home in one piece to see his mom looking out of the window toward the path that led to their house.

‘I wonder what she thinks about all day? It’s almost like she is waiting for somebody.’ Kalon sighed before waving to her.

Michaela looked down for a moment when she saw her son walking toward the house and noticed him waving. She then immediately looked back to the spot that had drawn her attention for the past four years.

‘She’s the same as ever… I thought she might have been in a good mood since we had a lot of eggs today... But I guess not.’ Kalon thought before walking over to the clearing in the trees with the two wooden swords and the book still tucked underneath his arm.

He then placed the swords down on the tree trunk next to where the blood-covered bandages were.

“Hm… I wonder which one of you needs chopping down? We will run out of firewood soon.” Kalon put his hands on his hips and stretched his back before deciding which tree he wanted to cut down.

“How about you?” He said to himself as he pressed his ear against the trunk of a huge oak tree and knocked against the bark to listen to the sounds it would make. If it was hollow sounding he would have to pick a new tree so he wouldn’t destroy the home of some poor woodpecker.

But as he listened for the sound through the tree it sounded weird. Almost like there was something inside the tree trunk.

“What the…?” Kalon looked at the tree, confused about what he had just heard. He trusted his hearing as it had saved him many times in the past. But he was now starting to question himself. Why would there be something inside the tree?

‘Did somebody cut a hole in the tree and use it to store their belongings?’ He thought before circling it and inspecting every inch of the tree trunk. But there was no sign of damage anywhere.

‘Hm… I wonder if there was something here before the tree started to grow and it got absorbed into the middle of it?’ Kalon thought before tapping the bark again and pressing his ear against the wood to make sure that he had heard correctly the first time.

A deep sound of the tapping making its way through the wood could be heard as a knock made its way into the wood, and then the sound bounced back slightly as it hit something hard in the centre.

“I guess you’re the one that’s going to become firewood today.” Kalon shrugged after deciding that he was going to cut the tree down. He walked back over to the house and picked up a small hatchet that was tucked underneath the wooden steps to keep it safe from rusting in the rain. And then made his way back to the tree that he decided he would cut down.

The hatchet was small enough for Kalon to wield in one hand but despite that fact, it was still heavy. Heavy to the point that he couldn’t lift it with one hand let alone swing it. He carried it with his shoulders slumped down from the weight and then managed to lift it to his waist with a little help from his hips.

After getting it up to waist height he took a swing at the tree by twisting his whole body. Although it didn’t have much power it managed to shave off a large piece of bark from the weight of the hatchet alone.

As the hatchet dropped down to the floor it almost pulled Kalon along with it. Luckily for him, he stood with his feet flat against the floor and with his legs spread slightly to help distribute the weight.

He then managed to pull up the hatchet again, this time with a little more effort and then took another swing toward the tree which this time chipped the wood and not just the bark.

He repeated it over and over, Each time it became more of a strain on his shoulders until finally a loud cracking sound shot out through the trees and branches could be heard snapping from up above as the tree slowly tipped to one side and broke its way past the ones surrounding it before impacting the ground with so much force that it shook slightly.

“Finally,” Kalon dropped the hatchet and then wiped the sweat from his head before looking at the tree he had managed to cut down. He knew that he would need to cut the wood and store it before it rained but he wouldn’t be able to do that today.

He looked back at the tree trunk, remembering that something was residing within it. He then saw what looked to be a stick of some sort with a deep orange colour, almost brown sticking out of the remaining part of the trunk that hadn’t fallen to the ground.

“What is that…?” Kalon asked himself. He was kind of confused by what he was looking at so he decided to take a closer look and reached out toward it.

He felt a slight coldness with his fingertips before quickly realising that it wasn’t a stick but something long and metallic that had seemed to have rusted over many years by the looks of things.

He put his hand tightly around the rusted metal bar and pulled on it but nothing happened. He then tried to lift it with as much strength as he could muster before suddenly a flash of white light hit the retina of his eye as his feet slipped out from beneath him. Kalon tumbled and fell onto the ground before opening his eyes once again.

He looked back at the tree in disappointment. He thought that his hand had slipped off from the metal and he had fallen since he tried to pull it out with all his strength. But as he looked back the piece of rusted metal was no longer there.

He looked back at his hand, realising that the cold sensation was still pressed firmly against his fingertips where he now saw a reflective blade that was about the same length as one of his legs. The blade was so shiny that the light from the sun bounced back toward him much better than any mirror could have done.

“A sword!? Why was there a sword inside a tree?” Kalon wondered before lifting his hand into the air to take a closer look. As soon as he lifted it he noticed the weight almost instantly. The blade wasn’t particularly thin but even so, it felt as light as a feather.

There was nothing he could compare it to. It was like there was no weight at all. It was a strange sensation given the length of the blade. Members of the monster races were all incredibly strong so it made no sense for the sword to belong to anyone in the town. But did that mean that a human had left it there?.

The sword seemed to be perfect for him. It was light so it wouldn’t limit his movement at all and the blade was also quite long which added a bit of extra range to keep his opponents at bay and stop them from getting close enough to attack him. He couldn’t have wished for a better combination but it didn’t make sense to him.

Why was the sword in the tree? And what was it made out of for it to be so light? It confused Kalon but he tried not to think too much about it. All he knew now is that he was going to lay down the unofficial law of “Finders Keepers” and claim the sword as his personal property.

If it was left inside the tree to the point of rusting it seemed like the previous owner had forgotten all about it. Kalon required a sword of his own for training but unfortunately, he and his mother were too poor to afford one. So for the time being he was stuck with the wooden ones provided by master ranwald.

But now that he had his hands on a real sword he realised how it would make his life so much easier. He would usually have to fight off beasts with sharpened sticks. But the times that a bear or a wolf would stumble onto their land he would have to lock the doors and prey that they were only hungry for chicken meat.

It was a loss that they would constantly struggle to come back from. But maybe next time, Now that he had a sword he would be able to slay the animal invaders and store their meat in the cellar so it wouldn’t go bad. They wouldn’t need to worry about food again and the thought of it made Kalon smile.

He then got up off the floor and looked toward the tree that he had started to punch the night before. He often used trees to strengthen the bones and muscles in his hands as suggested by Ranwald. As he looked at it he noticed the little stain of blood in the centre of it which reminded him that he had still yet to train for the day.

He looked down at the sword in his hand and then decided he would first go over the sword movements in the book. He flipped open the page where he had left off with Master Ranwald and then picked up one of the wooden swords to go along with the very real and razor-sharp sword that he was still holding in his right hand before going over each one of the moves on the page.