Opening the creaky lid, Zac stared inside. His first impression was of an empty chest apart from one, long item wrapped in sacking. As he removed this however, he spotted two, smaller objects wrapped in black silk below. One eye on the other two items, Zac removed the sacking from his first find. A shiny silver pommel was revealed, emblazoned with a central stone of jet. As the rest of the wrap fell away, Zac drew out the black leather scabbard and said in awe \u201cIt\u2019s a sword.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sliding the powerful yet light weapon from the scabbard, Zac blinked and covered his eyes with his arm as a brilliant silver bolt flashed across the room from the blade. It was gone in moments, leaving the dull silver metal as if nothing had happened.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat was that?\u201d Zac heard Garth ask. He was too enthralled with the sword to know if the Baron replied or not.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThere are letters on the blade,\u201d Zac said, puzzled.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat do they say?\u201d asked Garth, coming closer.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWell, I\u2019m not sure, sir,\u201d replied the boy, feeling a little ashamed. \u201cI\u2019ve learned my letters to write my name and such, sir, but this word is different than I\u2019ve ever seen. It says S\u2026O\u2026L,\u201d he began to spell.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSolstice,\u201d Garth said from over his shoulder. \u201cIt says, Solstice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat does it mean, sir?\u201d Zac asked the Baron.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThey are days in summer and winter.\u201d the Baron replied, rubbing his beard. \u201cThe Solstices are the longest and shortest days of the year. The sword must be named after one of those days for some reason. Aldric will tell you, Zac, if, when,\u201d <\/em>he corrected, \u201cyou find him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a powerful blade,\u201d Garth said, some envy in his tone.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYes, but it\u2019s so light,\u201d Zac replied, thrusting and parrying with the sword. \u201cBrent only lets us use wooden swords in fencing practice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All the staff were given at least some knowledge of weaponry at the Baron\u2019s insistence. In case of an attack on the castle, everyone was expected to be able to do their part, and to protect themselves.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCareful now, boy,\u201d the Baron countered when he came over for a closer look and the blade whistled past his arm.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSorry, sir,\u201d Zac said with a blush.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cMay I see it?\u201d the Baron asked, holding out his hand.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOf course,\u201d Zac said, though he handed the sword over reluctantly.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The moment the pommel transferred from his hand to the Baron\u2019s, the blade crashed to the stone floor sending sparks flying. Unable to bear the weight, the Baron grasped the pommel with both hands. He could still not raise the weapon.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGarth, help me,\u201d he said, straining with the effort.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With their four hands on the sword, the two men were able to lift it inches from the ground. Zac saw all this without a word. He couldn\u2019t believe what he was watching.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cEnough,\u201d spoke the Baron at last. \u201cLet it go.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBut,\u201d Garth said, \u201cmight it not be damaged if it hits the floor?\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Baron had decided to let go, so Garth had no choice but to do the same. The clatter echoed through the whole room, and probably half way down the corridor.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cTake your sword, Zac,\u201d the Baron said, his hand under his chin.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The boy bent and picked up the sword with ease. It felt light and almost a part of him. He stared at it in awe. There wasn\u2019t any sign of damage. Not a scratch.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe sword is no doubt magical, my lad,\u201d the Baron said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t choose to be held by anyone but you. It won\u2019t be stolen unless you meet an ogre,\u201d he added with a chuckle. \u201cWhat else is in your box of tricks?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Opening the creaky lid, Zac stared inside. His first impression was of an empty chest apart from one, long item wrapped in sacking. As he removed this however, he spotted two, smaller objects wrapped in black silk below. One eye on the other two items, Zac removed the sacking from his first find. A shiny […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,7,14],"tags":[29,32,39,54,94,122],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-promotion","category-childrens-books","category-fantasy","category-sword-sorcery","tag-book-extract","tag-books","tag-childrens-book","tag-fantasy","tag-sword-sorcery","tag-zacs-destiny"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnenorth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}