Chapter 8

John stood in the steady rain, experimentally swinging his bastard sword. It was fitting, after all, he had been born unacknowledged, to a bastard of a Ritter. The sword was beautifully balanced, and if it was ugly from being unexpected and not following most sword's forms, it was beautiful in it's functionality, and anyone who saw it in action might come to appreciate it soon enough. It was like a saber, with the slightly curved point, double edged, until about two thirds back where it sprouted two buds or blunt claws to catch a sliding blade from getting onto the fore grip area in front of the cross guard.

The fore grip area was rounded in an egg like cross section, the metal roughened with scale like hammer dimples for a sure grip. The cross guard had four three inch spikes about as thick as John's thumb and with very rounded tops poking up just before and behind the blade, to trap an opponent's sword with. The cross guard wasn't much broader than that, barely projecting out beyond his closed fist on the grip.

John hadn't wanted the cross guard to interfere with how he gripped the sword if he chose to use the fore grip. The handle of the sword was called 'hand and a half' because both hands couldn't fit before the pommel, but the round pommel fit into his left hand when both hands were gripping the handle, and he could use the pommel as a swivel in the palm of his left hand, for more control and to take strain off of his right wrist. John was experimenting already with a new style for himself, which he had already thought about in his daydreams. It was a leverage style, which could open up armor like a can opener.

Stick in the point, then pry sideways using the pommel and the fore grip, and you had the contents of the armor opened up for the carrion birds to feast. For softer targets, a one handed wielding might suffice. The tapering blade would prevent the blade getting bound up, and he could just go for finesse and use the tip in a pokey style, having plenty of mass to parry even an axe blow. The Master Yuffi was very pleased with the sword, and the man who would wield it. The sword would never break, and the edge would remain sharp with little maintenance.

It would cut through most anything asked of it, but especially flesh and bone, leather and wood, the occasional iron helm, mail, or plate. The sword would only break if the wielder intended to break it, and jammed the tip under a suitably heavy object and heaved upwards sharply. Any forces edge on wouldn't break it, but would be more likely to cut through. John finished noting the grip in his hand, then went back in the shelter to continue wrapping the hilt with braided silk, building up layers to fit his grip, and knotting the bindings in a pattern to provide a non-slip surface.

Tuk was somewhat bored with the whole Ceylon stay, especially because it was always raining. He was too busy to fret for most of the stay, but now he was getting antsy. Where was the adventure? But they weren't done here yet.

Druan was going to attempt his first masterwork, without any help from his master. He had the wooden version of Vedeya's weapons as models, and he took the time to look at her hands, and see how they gripped the wooden hilts. He had John modify the wood, and had her practice with John again. He took the rest of the day for meditation, sitting in the charcoal cave by himself, holding the idea of the weapon in his mind and not thinking about how he would accomplish it, but just how it would be as a finished work.

Early the next day he began his project. He kept the dozen buttons of steel in the forge, and set Vedeya the task of making certain they neither got hotter nor cooled down from the dull orange. She tied her hair back, and used a long pole to move them around, sweating freely. John was used to do the main rough hammering, and eight of the buttons were welded into bars in sets of two. Then two of the bars was folded five times, and then each enfolded into another bar which had been flattened, only two thirds of the five folded bar was sticking out of the end of the enfolding of the second bar. This was the tip of the weapon and its center tine.

Druan then took the remaining four buttons, and made two bars, which he lengthened and squared, flattened a spot in the middle, and made a hole for the shaft of the center tine to go through. He then placed the cross piece in its position, and hammered on it until it welded with the center tine, keeping the whole weapon the proper temperature. Then he bent the cross bars up forming the sword breaking angle, and formed the hilts to fit Vedeya's hands, and put sharp edges and tips on the points of the six tines. The weapon had a longer center tine than the wooden version, and a slightly wider angle on slightly shorter and thicker side tines, but the result, which had the tips only quenched in rain water, and then was placed back on the fire to cool slowly, was a very elegant and balanced masterpiece.

When Master Yuffi saw them, he declared that they were master work, and that he was proud of his apprentice. Vedeya spent the rest of the day braiding silk into cord, and making grips for her weapons. For the next few days, the travelers dueled with each other, and found that the sword breaker didn't work well against either the pokey style or the sudden slash style, although it was more than fine against a hack and slash opponent. Vedeya would just have to remember not to get into a sword fight with John, Zithrusa, or Tuk!

John and Zithrusa both teamed up to train Vedeya in staff fighting, which would work against pokey style, and at least gave range on the sudden slash style, at least until the end of the staff was whittled down! Tuk also showed interest in learning the staff, so they all made nice personalized staffs and practiced until they were pretty good. They had what they came for, and they donated two of the donkeys to the wizard and his apprentice, and made their fond farewells, and left the two steel wizards to their own good fates.

The last ass loaded with their gear, they headed down the muddy trail. Steel season was not even half over yet! Many of the steel wizards were cooking up a second run of steel. At the port, they found no boats wanting to sail, so they traded all their rubies and finished silk and a few carvings for sapphires and other gems. They finally found a little open boat which would take them to the mainland, but they would have to go overland to reach their horses again. They made the deal, and were soon very sorry as the monsoon winds made the voyage dangerous and uncomfortable, and taxed all the captain's skill to beat against the wind, tacking back and forth again and again.