Way of the Blade (eBook)

Sam J. (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
613 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-7106-4 (ISBN)

Infos

The gypsies are nomads who travel from place to place because others cannot understand their way of life. Some attack the gypsies, killing them and burning down their wagons. The males carry a blade on each arm, and the females carry a single blade on either arm. There are two blades-one with an elk handle that the Oracle guards. The Evil One, Samuel, gives the three-gem blade to Kauloben, who uses the blade to kill others. Esmeralda carries the elk handle blade and goes from camp to camp, assisting the gypsies and their children. When a killer attacks a gypsy camp, the only survivor hides in the woods. An assassin named Kauloben, who carries the three-gem blade, finds the boy, takes him to his cabin, names him Chava, and raises him. Chava and Esmerelda's stories are only beginning, as their two blades lead them on journeys that will forge kingdoms through blood and tears.

The author was born in Malden, Massachusetts on Saint Patrick's Day in 1949. No, he's not Irish. Three brothers followed him, making him number one (but it's not what you think). When the Vietnam War came, he joined the Air Force, married, and had three daughters. He was fortunate not to go to Vietnam. He started to read after his daughters were born, and he now has nine grandchildren. Seven years ago, his youngest daughter passed, and he wrote this book in memory of her.

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Esmeralda is a gypsy doctor who travels from gypsy camp to camp. She has an Elk handle blade, forged a century ago, and uses it to assist others who need help. The second blade contains three gems embedded in the handle and is used to kill. Those who possess either blade cannot be harmed by steel. As Esmeralda is delivering her granddaughter, a tempest of rain explodes. Esmeralda holds the baby and tells her daughter she will have extraordinary power, naming her Tempest. Esmeralda takes Tempest to see the all-knowing Oracle. Along the journey to the Oracle, Tempest uses her power to assist Esmeralda. The Oracle increases Tempest's power and aura before sending her to see the Blade Mistress, who will teach her to master the blade, her aura, serenity, and Quietude. Tempest has a baby girl with a white man, which is taboo in gypsy law. The child is named Nona and has two different colored eyes as well as the power to see the past and future. The white people believe she is a devil and must die. To protect Nona, Tempest and her mother hide one of her eyes with an eye patch. A gypsy boy witnesses his family get slaughtered by an assassin with a limp on his right leg. The next day, a different killer named Kauloben saves the gypsy boy from wolves. After which, he takes the boy, names him Chava, and teaches him to be a killer. Chava finds himself with the three-gem blade that the devil, Samuel, desires. After Chava becomes an assassin, he meets a prostitute named Rose. Together, they devise a plan to take over Richard's castle and Upright Man's power.

Textauszug

Introduction

The Wise Man at the Tree - 1216

Sitting under a tree, the wise man peers down the line of people stretching beyond his field of vision. He wears a long yellow and red cloak flowing down to his bare feet with a hood protecting him from the cold and foul weather. A white beard spreads across his chest with furrows on his face, reminding people of a plowed field. His smoky gray eyes mesmerize those who stand or kneel before him. Nobody knows where he is from, his name or age, how long he lived in the cottage, or where he acquired his wisdom. The journey to visit him is long, arduous, and dangerous, bringing thousands to ask one question. Day after day, no matter the weather, he listens to men, women, and children from all walks of life and whispers a few words. The visitors stand quietly, lost in their thoughts, waiting, never arguing or shouting, wondering what he said to each person, with only a handful leaving disappointed by his words. His companion, a mute, keeps the line moving.

Today, a young girl with long blonde hair and a patch over her right eye is first in line, wearing a pink dress and holding a tattered doll with big blue eyes. He loves children for their purity and view of the world, which is true. She stands holding her mother’s hand, looking around, tapping her right foot, wondering if the man smells. His companion motions her forward, hesitating till her mother gives her a gentle shove. Slowly, she inches forward, carrying her doll, stopping seven feet from him, feeling his calm aura wafting towards her, alleviating all her uncertainty. He does not smell like an older person and speaks. “My mom told me I could ask you one question?” Looking down at her, the wise man replies.

“Yes. Sitting on my lap will make it easier to hear you.” Walking through his aura, she puts her arms out and, reaching him, picks her up, placing her on his left knee. He smells like fresh air bathing in his calm. They stare into each other’s eyes, with the wise man admiring the sparkling emerald set on her left side, wondering about the eye under the patch. When she suddenly asks: “Can I touch your face?”

This request seems odd, but children never fear speaking their minds and nodes in the affirmative. She places her finger in one furrow, tracing it down the length of his face, and after reaching the end, a smile of delight lights up her face. Before he can speak, she says, “Mom told me you are the oldest man in the world, and before asking my question, I need to tell you something.” She sits patiently, holding her doll, watching a frown spread through the wise man’s creases, pondering if she should tell him.

Then his smoky eyes brighten, and he says with a great smile, exposing his two teeth. “Okay.”

“I dreamt about you and came to tell you, soon, you will die.”

Turning towards him so no one can see her face, she pulls up her eye patch, revealing her brilliant azure eye. Tears streak down his cheeks; the other color eye, as a great peace engulfs him, replying: “You touched my face to ensure your dream is true as you read the future.”

“Mom says my wisdom is magnificent. No one else knows this secret. Pulling the patch down, she explains, “I wear it as people consider me cursed, fearing me. Can I ask my question now?”

The wise man tells her to go ahead, asking: “Are you afraid to die?” He replies: “I have been lucky to live many lifetimes, and” I’m ready, as death is the price we pay for life.” The child wraps her arms around his neck, whispering: “Please do not tell anyone I can see the future.”

He whispers, “Your secret is safe with me, returning the hug.” He places her on the ground; as she turns to walk away, he asks, “What is your name?”

Looking over her shoulder, she responds, “Chloe,” running toward her mother. He watches them walk away as relief washes over him. His life cycle is complete, and he is ready to reunite with his wife.

That night, he strolls over, opening a chest guarding the front of his bed; after fishing around, he removes a leather sack. Shuffling outside into the dark, he sits on the stool in front of the cottage. A million stars gaze down, and the half-moon winks at him as he loosens the sack’s strings. He sees a sheath containing a blade with an elk bone handle no longer white staring up at him. Withdrawing the blade from the sheath, he feels its power radiating off the five-inch double-edged knife. Raising and twisting it around, it catches the moonbeams dancing off the blade’s glowing surface, reminding him of a long time ago.

Placing it back in the sheath, he sets it back into the sack, staring at the other bundle at the bottom. The evil it possesses begs him to withdraw it. The three-gem stone blade of assassins killed thousands over a hundred years. As he lowers his hand to retrieve it, he abruptly stops recalling his vow never to allow this evil to see the light of day or the dark of night again. Securing the sack, he places it next to the stool, gazing up at the endless pinpoints of light in the sky, sending his mind to the first part of his life - The Way of the Blade.

A man walked into a blacksmith shop two hundred years ago, asking him to forge a blade with the best steel available. He accepts the request, and the knife lies on the anvil two months later. Stopping, he hits it a few more times and reexamines it, dunking it in a bucket of water. Steam engulfs him, forcing his head to the right, and when it evaporates, he looks at the gleaming five-inch long, one-and-a-half-inch thick double-edge blade with a needlepoint. He folded it twenty times, guaranteeing strength and flexibility. A smile breaks across his face, exposing his two rotten teeth, shuffling over to his workbench, and sitting on his stool. Placing the blade down, he picks up the sack given to him by the man and, untying the string, shakes it, watching three gems - an emerald, diamond, and ruby tumble onto the table. Picking up the emerald, he twirls it around his thumb and forefinger, wondering how to place them in the blade’s handle.

He has three choices: wood, bone, or a blade extension requiring a hilt to prevent the user from cutting himself. The gems set into the handle must be comfortable for the user. It is delicate, setting gems in wood or bone, deciding he needs a longer Damascus steel piece. He shuffles over to the bins’ handles, not wanting to waste the finished blade. Fishing around, he finds an elkhorn, placing it in his palm, knowing it will fit perfectly. An hour later, the blade has a white elk handle, a natural pommel, and two quillons (cross guards facing the blade). He sharpens the edges by cutting a piece of paper without sawing and polishes the blade, wrapping it in a leather sheath. Picking up the Damascus steel, he stares into the coals, placing the steel ready for folding.

Three weeks later, while folding the second blade, a gypsy woman enters the shop, watching him immerse a steel piece into the bucket of water. Her long red hair flows down the back of her green robe. Gold flecks spread throughout her amber eyes, emanating a calm chilling him to the bone. He heard stories of gypsy women possessing unknown evil powers, saying: “I have come for the elk handle blade. The blade you are making is for an assassin who kills indiscriminately. Over the years, it will change hands from one assassin to another, creating evil. The elk handle blade is the only one able to counteract this evil.”

The blacksmith walks to his bench, reaches into a cubby, and takes the cloth with the sheath. The woman takes it, slipping it into the folds of her cloak, saying: “Your time to die is upon you, knowing you did the right thing.” She rubbed his cheeks and asked him to close his eyes. She says a few words he does not understand, feeling a great calm entering his body. Reopening his eyes, she is gone, but the peace remains with him.

He folds the blade ten times, feeling comfortable with its length as a handle and blade. He pulls it out of the water with the tongs and puts it on the bench. When it cools, he picks it up by the handle, slipping it into his palm, and thrusts forward, stopping at the quillons before reaching the blade. He finds a piece of ebony that sets the gems in a row - emerald, diamond, and ruby securing it to the handle and eliminating the pommel. Thrusting the blade forward, his hand does not slip on the gems. He sharpens, polishes, and places it in a sheath with the handle protruding, displaying the gems.

A week later, the man enters, walking over to the blacksmith sitting at his bench. Picking up the sheath, he hands it to him. A sparkle brightens his eyes, and a broad smirk spreads across his face. “This is your best work.” He draws the blade out, swinging it into the air and practicing a few special moves, asking about its sharpness. The older man holds up a piece of cloth. When the blade slices through it, the gypsy’s eyes grow wider, placing it back in the sheath. The gypsy never smiles nor speaks, and the hardness in his eyes informs the blacksmith he is an assassin.

He asks: “Have you made another blade like this one?”

Hesitating, he remembers the elk handle replying: “No, sir.”

The assassin extracts a sack full of coins, handing it to the older man. He places it on the workbench and, turning back, feels the blade slide up between his ribs, puncturing his right lung. The assassin withdraws the blade,...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.9.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-7106-4 / 9798350971064