“We need to leave, don't we Ju?”
“Absolutely,” the boy agreed.
“Wait. First you need to tell me why my sword suddenly acts as if it were alive whenever you two are around.” Duke Hester was insistent. “They will come through soon enough, and we shall be ready.” He indicated the two ranks of archers lined up along verandas on either side of the hallway. The room was a semi-circle, focussed on the doorway through which they had come.
“You are going to slaughter them? That's monstrous.”
“Zya, they would do the same to us.”
“Intent is everything, Zya,” Ju reminded her, “and it is the only way to save them.”
Zya smiled grimly. “We all use the Law to our advantage, whoever we are. The sword that you carry is enchanted somehow. I cannot tell you much more than that, and also the fact that it
