Urikanu marvelled at the edge of the long blade that rested on his hands. Not once in the almost six years since he had acquired the enormous sword had he had to put a whetstone to it, much less had he seen a dent or a score on it’s perfect edge. And today it was time to see exactly how well the sword worked. How well the Power that had forged it had been preserved.
Arranging this had taken some effort. First, masons and carpenters had had to be paid for doing the work he needed. Then, a small area of the Yards had had to be cleared for the use, and the various effects he had desired had had to be put up there. But now it was all ready. With a smile Urikanu rose from his bed, sheathed the blade and strapped it to his back. Soon, the ogiers blade would stand its test.
The baking sun greeted him when he got outside, as did a sweaty, but intrigued guardsman. “Sir, the things you asked have been readied. I hope that it have been done to your satisfaction. “
“Lead the way… “ The huge Gaidin could easily have walked from the much shorter man, but out of courtesy he limited his strides so the other man would easily keep up and ahead.
When they arrived, Urikanu couldn’t help but grin. Everything had indeed been prepared, as he would have it. One of the Drin was currently checking his armour and when Uri looked out over the small square, he nodded to himself.
Tall pillars rose from the ground, in rock and wood. Every single one bore a suit of armour of some type, but mostly the armours represented was heavy mails, plate, scale and splint mail. After all, this was to be a test of the swords power.
The minutes snailed by as Uri put on his armour, the full plate glittering in the sunlight. But soon he could grasp his sword and stand in the middle of the square, tall pillars surrounding him to all sides. And with a warcry that would have stirred the dead, Urikanu spun and slashed at a wooden pillar wearing leather armour. A sound of steel sliding over something and the pillar toppled, leather and wood severed cleanly. Urikanu froze in the position he was in, low by the ground, knees bent and blade far out to the side. He hadn’t even put all his power into that blow, and it had felled a pillar the size of a small tree…
Urikanu spun up and around again, bringing the blade to bear on another wooden pillar, this one wearing chainmail. And with a spray of links and the sound of tearing steel grating on steel, that pillar fell as well, the blade hardly stopped by the chainmail. And as that too toppled, Urikanu began top laugh. Apparently there was something to this Powerforging.
The next three pillars fell easily, it’s wooden cores severed easily no matter the steel plates that covered them. Wooden splinters and slivers of metal flew as the huge blade smashed its way through the last breastplate and felled the last wooden pillar and thus the last pillar of the inner circle.
Urikanu was panting. This demonstration of the swords power was strangely exhilarating. He remembered pulling the thing from the rock where the trolloc had left it when it died, but he had never thought it would be able to do this. Looking at the next circle of pillars, solid rock clad in armour Urikanu grinned. If the sword passed this test, what would be able to stand against it? But he also realised that this would take more than the unbreakable sword. It would also put his strength to the test, a test that he hoped he could pass.
With a roar, he lunged for the nearest pillar, clad in suit of chainmail. And with a crash like a falling cliff, the sword sent chips and slivers of rock flying along with the broken, shattered remains of the chainmail. And as the ringing of rock on steel, and the dust settled, the result was clear. The sword had shattered the rock.
The world seemed to slow down as Uri straightened among the falling chips of stone. With a slowness that surprised himself, or a seeming slowness he slashed at the next pillar, a mighty blow that shattered the stone and sent him onwards into a spin, utilising all the power that was stored in his body to strengthen the blow. And rock and steel shattered before his blows. Chips and sliver of steel and stone rang off his armour and fall around him in the dustfilled air. And with agonising slowness, he realised inside the void that only one pillar stood, the final test.
It was tall and sleek and wore no armour, made from solid iron as it was. This was the final test of both strength and steel, and Uri put all he had into it. Muscles corded and tensed, his mind focused. And then, with a shattering sound, the pillar fell, torn asunder. And Uri fell to his knees on the other side of it, the sword falling from his grasp. It had passed the test, and so had he…