The Sword and The Wish

Bravery: Consecutive Substack Story 1161

You must want, very deeply and very truly, to see Never.

It is a pilgrimage of sorts, though I’m led to believe most pilgrimages are made by throngs of acolytes and believers.

I am alone.

The Bannu War destroyed our dam, though we were not involved.

The destruction of the dam created the Valley of the Serpents.

You must cross the Valley of the Serpents to see Never.

If you survive, you must cross the Sand Isthmus of Fazzai, on your belly so best to avoid the arrows of the Schennerot.

You must then scale the Cliff of Vizzia, where those few who have come before have carved some crude handholds.

I scaled the cliff.

With Never in the distance, I knelt and thanked those who came before me.

The Ussara Conflict destroyed the Founders Rock Bridge over the isthmus, to the cliff.

That made Never difficult to visit, though not impossible

Arrishana the First (The very last Queen of Lyydurok) buried the sword in Founder’s Rock and decreed that the Lyydu people would never travel to make war, would never mine stones that other nations would covet, would live, to the best of our practices, in tranquility.

She decreed “This is the Last of the Swords. I rechristen it ‘Never,’” and as only she was capable, drove the sword deep into the rock where our ancestors had landed so many years ago.

From before my birth to well past my first blood not a sword was wielded.

Our dam was destroyed, and our bridge, in the battles of other cultures.

We lost some animals and trees, though we were not overrun because we had closed off the mines of stones.

The Scribes and Alchemists, The Teachers and The Mummers all gave us things to do with our minds and our bodies.

I kneel now in front of Never.

I wish I could speak to Arrishana, for whom I am named.

I would like to thank her for the years of tranquility. I would like to tell her many things.

I would tell her that swords are no longer the weapon of choice for people who wage war.

They are quaint, and ineffective for bloodshed compared to the abominations wielded now.

I think she would be happy that I made the pilgrimage to Never, but dismayed to know that I am the last of our people and soon, to save myself, I may have to try to pry this sword from the rock.

***

About the Image: Forgotten Quest by

Stephen Dorr

is used with the expressed and generous permission of the artist. Find more of his work here on Substack.

About the Story: I don’t write a lot of fantasy on here but when Stephen offered some of his work as illustrations I decided to pen something specifically for the image.

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