She may as well have shouted at them.Īs the morning climbs into afternoon, she has only one coherent thought left. She kneels for hours, burning in the cold, throwing madra at the implacable weapons. She'd thought he might have hidden something for her, and that treasure will be the key to her escape. She has already strained her eyes and even extended her hands-at least as far as she can, without slicing them open on the waiting blades-to search for weapons in the snow. The Sword Sage is not a bad teacher, but he has a preference for cryptic riddles. When you're alone, first look for a weapon. She tries to push her power out through her skin, but the swords only shake and open up new lines of blood. She knows no technique she can use from this position, has no blade of her own through which she can channel the madra. She has done this constantly since he first left her kneeling in the snow, but it hasn't helped. She is surrounded by sword aura, silver and sharp in her spiritual vision, and she drinks it in to cycle it, to refine it until it becomes a part of her spirit. She's only Iron, not quite ten years old, and she can't question him.īut every time he walks away, he leaves her with the fear that this will be the time he doesn't come back. It's his favorite training technique: leaving her alone, where no one can save her, and forcing her to rely on her own knowledge to escape. But she knows, clear and distinct as the ring of a bell, that her master has abandoned her here. Her thighs, knees, and upper arms are sheathed in freezing blood.Īt the edge of pain, exhaustion, and isolation, each of her thoughts becomes slippery. With every shiver, she opens another cut. Thirteen swords are thrust into the snow around her, cold blades turned so that their razor edges touch her skin. The disciple kneels in the winter snow, shivering as the snow presses through her knees. The master leaves his disciple with these words. When you’re alone, first look for a weapon.

Information requested: disciple training on the Path of the Endless Sword.

Soulsmith by Will Wight