Keydis Lysistrata
Caeancora
Charibdys
Wordcount: 3375
The chill pierced down to the bones, the pressure caused those bones to creak. A dim glow far, far above served as a reminder that the sun existed, but did nothing to bring light or warmth. Instead, glowing weeds around the small arena gave off red and green light, a disconcerting blend that somehow made every movement more threatening, made every sight nausea-inducing.
Keydis lunged forward, feeling the weight of the water slowing her down, dulling her movements. The velen across from her swung his sword in response; despite his obvious advantage, his movements were similarly slow. The brunette's blade clanged into the velen's, and the dulled sound of steel on steel rolled over her like a wave. She pulled her arm back and tried a thrust instead. This time, there was more 'snap' to the movement, her sword piercing ahead like a spear.
Her opponent reacted by pulling away instead of trying to block. Thinking she had seized on something, Keydis kicked her way forward, experimenting with different variations on the thrust. The velen was now solidly on the defensive, blocking and dodging and only occasionally retorting with a thrust or swipe of his own.
Abruptly, Keydis came to a stop, floating there in the water and looking down at her sword. The velen paused and waited, until Keydis gave him a signal. They both put their weapons away and swam toward the entrance. It was a thick bubble, large enough that they both could have gone through together, but the velen waited for Keydis to push her way through first. As always, the change from breathing water to breathing air was disconcerting, causing her vision to black out briefly. The spell did its work, though, and she had no fear of drowning while it was active.
Once she had pushed out the opposite side of the bubble and her sparring partner joined her, Keydis remarked, "I can see why most of you take spears and tridents into battle."
The velen, a lanky, blue-scaled old mechanic named Pitol, gave a simple nod. "A sword is good in close quarters, but we prefer not to let it reach that point." He brushed at his arms, splashing water off of his rubbery clothing to the moss-covered floor. "This mean you have what you need?"
"I think so. Thanks."
Pitol laughed. "No problem. We were told to assist in any way we can. I was afraid you were actually going to run me through for a minute there."
Keydis flashed a smirk. "Maybe next time. Now, how do we get back to the forge?"
The velen smiled and waved, leading the way through the maze-like corridors and streets. He was carrying a staff with a ball at the end, giving off bright white light. The place was frigid, like Terminus in winter, and Keydis longed for the heat of the forge. She was used to cold climates, but normally she was dressed appropriately. At the moment, she had on nothing more than velen-style rubber leggings and a skin-tight vest of the same material, together with her sword belt. Keydis ran her hand through her soggy hair, trying to get it back into a spiky style, with her red bangs swept up and leaving her forehead bare.
At last, they reached the forge, and almost immediately, the warmth enveloped her. The workroom was cavernous, with half a dozen different forges all running. All along one wall, open flames roared, casting light throughout the room. It was an industrial-tier work-room, usually used for forging machinery to keep the underwater city livable and comfortable. The Pelagian military didn't use much metal in their armaments, preferring their specially manufactured nacre. "Much better," the woman declared, the chill banished in moments. "Thanks, Pi. You can report to the prince that his sword will be ready in… five days."
"Five days? That seems awfully fast!"
Keydis flashed a grin. "Yeah, well, I'm awfully good."
"Awfully cocky, more like," a different velen groused. Geppa was burly, with a smooth bald head but with a beard of fleshy ribbons. His skin was vivid crimson, but his scales were charcoal grey, and he had shark-like black eyes. He was, per his own words, the best smith in the Empire. From the moment Keydis had been chosen to make Caput his new sword, the man had taken an instant dislike to her. "I'm already halfway finished, brat. You can at least pretend to be taking this seriously."
Geppa was trying to make a sword better than hers, hoping Caput would choose to wield a proper velen-forged blade over a surfacer's.
"Just let me know if you need help, I'll give you a hand, one smith to another," Keydis replied with a cocky grin, not even looking at him. "Five days, Pi. I've got my materials, I've got my equipment, I've got my design."
Keydis was in too good a mood to get taken down by Geppa's sour disposition. Although she still ached from some of the still-healing wounds from Flumen Petram, getting to spend the better part of the past two weeks with Red without distractions had been fantastic. There was no constant pressure of monitoring her guild or smacking El in line or dodging visits from Havital or just working to pay the bills. As much as she enjoyed the firebrand's company, though, she was also itching to beat some metal into submission.
Especially this metal. Keydis walked over to her own forge, with all her tools laid around it. On the anvil there was a lump covered in white cloth. She pulled it aside, revealing two flawless ingots, one of shiny silver bigatium. The second, though, was the star of the show: pure caelitium, the rarest grade of terra regia, solid metal that shimmered like a sapphire. It took quality gear and facilities to even begin to move the metal, and only the best of the best could pull out its potential.
Now it was time to prove she was the best of the best.
Keydis threw a heavy apron on, slipped on her ring, an auritium band covered in fragments of obsidian, then pulled work gloves on over that. While Geppa hammered away, unseen by his own work station, Keydis began breaking up the two metals, cutting and stacking them. For the bigatium, that wasn't so bad, but the cael fought her every step of the way. Her ring allowed her to control the heat in the metal, keeping it in a plastic state, but if she relaxed her concentration for even a second, the metal began to cool and harden.
That first day, Keydis did nothing but reshape the metal, forge-welding the different materials to one another. At the end of the day, she had combined the two ingots into one, masterfully combining the materials inside while leaving the outside pure, unblemished caelitium. As she was cleaning up the station, Geppa wandered over and laughed at seeing she had only a bar of unshaped metal.
Prince Caput had asked her to craft him a new sword after he had surrendered the one he had grown up with to the ophidian king, part of his bid for peace. Keydis never had a chance to hold the weapon, and had only seen it a few times in passing before it was given away. Caput called it an 'epee,' but it was much longer than that. From what she had seen, Keydis would've considered it a kind of cavalry sword, but velen didn't really have a cavalry that she knew of.
"Squeeze as hard as you can, prince," Keydis had requested, holding her hand out to Caput. It gave her an idea of his strength, the size of his hand.
"As Tofradeity, function must come first, but it's also expected that any weapon I wield also have an elegant appearance. If you're half the smith people are saying you are, I believe you can find a solution."
The next day, Keydis began hammering out the profile of the blade, using her ring to heat the metal until it was glowing blue. She was planning to do an integral handle, but set aside a little material for the sword's furniture. Geppa said nothing to her that day, hyper-focused on his own weapon. By the end of the second day, Keydis had what looked like an oversized needle; the handle was large enough to wield with both hands. The blade, if it could be called that, was a thick triangle, with both a distal and profile taper down to a needle point. There were no cutting edges, yet, and the blade was incredibly heavy.
The prince needed to be able to wield it one-handed without torqueing his wrists off.
When she came in the third day, Geppa was there holding the giant needle. He swung it and laughed. Seeing her approach, the older smith remarked, "Bit off more than you can chew, eh? I'm sure this could be used as a royal scepter or maybe a cattle prod!"
Normally, Keydis would have gotten pissed but instead she just gave a smug grin. "You seem awfully worried, old man. Want to put some kind of wager on this?"
"There's nothing to wager on. An epee is a light, fast weapon. You've turned an ingot into a bar. A cudgel. It'll bash skulls, maybe, but it'll never be an elegant, refined weapon. 'Cause you're too damn cocky, thinking you can take cael and make something fancy out of it." Geppa laughed and dropped the unfinished weapon onto the anvil. "A true smith knows to use the right metal for the job. Just because it's rare and costly doesn't mean it's good at cutting!"
"I'm just saying, you seem pretty concerned about what I'm making. Seems like you're relieved, even. Like you were already afraid I'd be putting your shit to shame." Keydis folded her arms. "Not feeling like your sword is up to snuff?"
Geppa chuffed irritably. "I'd be worried if you could move metal like you move your mouth. That's all you are, talk."
"Loser has to forge whatever the winner wants," Keydis suggested.
"What?"
Keydis stepped closer and flashed that cocky grin again, a fire in her violet eyes as she looked up at the massive smith. "The prince will pick one of our swords. Probably mine. Whoever doesn't get picked, one item, whatever the winner wants, at the loser's own expense." She flexed one arm, showing off her bulging bicep. "All your bitching aside, we're two master smiths, right? That's a pretty good offer. Fuck money, we put up the sweat of our brow. You in?"
The brunette held out her hand. Geppa eyed her hand suspiciously, but eventually he smiled. "Yeah, why not?" He shook her hand, and with that, the deal was sealed.
"Good, now fuck off. I've got work to do and you're in the way."
"Miss Lysistrata, I certainly did not expect anything this quickly. If you need more time," Prince Caput began. They were standing in a war room, with a long table covered in maps and unit information. Only Caput himself was there. The prince and the two smiths.
"That won't be necessary, Tofradeity," Keydis replied, cutting him off.
Caput flashed an irritated look, unused to such rudeness, but confused by her decorum in using his title. He visibly struggled to respond, but decided to turn his attention to the other smith, instead. "Master Geppa, what brings you here?"
The elder smith stepped forward and offered a bow. He held up the sword he had crafted, covered in silk cloth. "Your grace, I've served as blacksmith for the Empire for many years. I forged the crown for your grandfather and look forward to serving you in the years to come." His choice not to mention Caput's father was likely a wise one. "Though you commissioned Miss Lysistrata, I would be honored if you would wield the sword I have crafted: a sword crafted by a velen of the Empire, embodying the heart and soul of the velen people, as well as the mettle of its craftsmen. This is my finest achievement, a weapon worthy of the commander of the Pelagian military."
Geppa pulled the silk sleeve away and offered the sheathed sword to Caput. The prince still seemed confused, but he took the offered sword. The sheath was navy blue, capped in auritium. The handle was all metal construction, a simple cruciform hilt of silvery bigatium with gold linework. Caput pulled the sword out; the mechanism was smooth, with a satisfying click and rasp as the blade pulled free. The blade was white-gold, the sign of a nearly perfect heat treat on auritium, thin, with a razor's edge. There was no noticeable profile taper, maintaining a consistent width until the tip abruptly narrowed to a needle point.
The velen smith turned to Keydis and smiled, wordlessly challenging her to, "Beat that!"
"This is truly marvelous, Master Geppa. You've matched the profile of my sword almost perfectly, and it is most certainly an elegant piece." Caput smiled, standing to take a few test swings. "I can adjust to the new weight and balance easily enough, I think." The prince slid the sword back into its sheath and offered a bow to Geppa. "I certainly was not expecting this, but your reputation is well-deserved, Master Geppa." Turning to Keydis, the prince assured her, "Do not worry, Miss Lysistrata. Our deal is still intact, if you have also crafted a sword approaching this quality."
Keydis smirked but didn't respond to that directly. Instead, she pulled out her own weapon and tugged off the violet sleeve holding it. The sheath of this sword was triangular, colored in a blend of aqua and cerulean, capped in bigatium. The sword was noticeably longer than Geppa's, and had a two-handed hilt. The hilt and pommel were forged from caelitium: the guard was made of long quillons, curving in an S-shape; the hilt had a twisted ring finger guard, with two finger rings beneath the quillons; there was a simple spiraling knuckle-bow down to the large pommel; finally, the pommel took the shape of a spiral cupping a smooth sphere. The handle itself was solid metal at the core, divided into two segments by a ring of twisted bigatium; the grips were wrapped tightly in cord and then in a layer of ray skin.
"I present to you: Charybdis," Keydis declared, pulling the sword free of the sheath. Everything had seemed normal enough to that point, if executed at a high tier. The blade, however, defied convention. It was a deeply hollow-ground triangle, twisting and tapering toward the tip. Exposed edges were pure caelitium, sharpened all the way down, while the inside of the hollow grinds were a mosaic of caelitium and bigatium, creating patterns like waves. The insides were fullered and even had holes carved in. The very tip of the weapon was needle sharp. The brunette sheathed the sword and passed it over to Caput.
The prince laid Geppa's sword on the table and stared incredulously at the other sword in his hands. Caput then picked up Geppa's sword again, testing the weight of both. He said nothing but laid Geppa's down again and unsheathed the sword, getting his first up-close look. "This… is certainly master-quality work, Lysistrata. A work of art, and so light! This is no epee, though."
Geppa, who had been looking worried, seemed to relax. Keydis folded her arms and grinned. "Right. This is an estoc, redesigned for use underwater performance. The sword you used before, I wouldn't call an epee, but it clearly was an edged weapon designed for dexterous swordplay. You said yourself it wasn't properly suited to combat.
"I had some sparring sessions with Pitol to confirm my thoughts on this, but in an underwater environment, you cannot move with the same dexterity. Fighting underwater, you want to be thrusting. If you want a sword made for the thrust, and piercing armor, the estoc is your guy. The spiraling blade breaks through armor and pulls the weapon in. It's made for you to twist as you thrust.
"Caelitium is the hardest metal ever, and it's a bitch and a half to sharpen, but once it's sharp, that edge is going to stay sharp enough that you can snip your great-grandson's cord with it. It's also a heavy bastard, though, while bigatium is stupidly light. Deep fullers, bigatium core, the weight comes right down. The holes also help with the weight, and allow water to pass through, giving you more control."
Caput stared at the weapon as she spoke, taking a few test swings at the air. "Lysistrata… this weapon is beautiful, but it's delicate. This is even less suited to combat than my sword was."
"Do you have any emotional attachment to that armor?" she asked suddenly, pointing at the prince's nacre breastplate propped on a stand.
"You want me to break this sword?" Caput asked.
Keydis held out her hand. "If it breaks, it wouldn't be any good as a sword."
Geppa huffed and folded his arms. "Exactly."
The prince placed the sword in Keydis' hand, frowning. Even if it wasn't a weapon of war, it was a work of art, and he wasn't looked forward to seeing it destroyed. "Do what you will," he conceded.
Keydis took a few practice swings in the air. "This was made for your tall ass, so I'm going two-handed," she declared. With Charybdis in both hands, she stepped toward the armor, and lunged.
The nacre plating, strong enough to deflect tridents and battle axes with barely as much as a crack, shattered on impact. Keydis twisted her wrists with the thrust, using the quarter-turn to drill through the stand, erupting through the plates on the back of the armor. Satisfied, Keydis pulled the sword free and offered it hilt-first back to Caput.
Aside from flecks of the broken mother-of-pearl clinging to it, the blade was unmarred.
"Your turn," Keydis said to Geppa.
Her rival looked at his sword on the table, then at the pierced armor plating. He frowned, clenching his fists, but then he hung his head. "No. It would survive the strike, would flex and return to true, but my sword could not pierce armor like that." He grit his teeth and reluctantly admitted, "You are the better smith." Under his breath, he added, "But still a cocky little shit."
Caput cleaned the debris from the blade and took a few more practice swings. "It's long, but easy to control. The balance sits just where I'd want it, and it's remarkably light. I must say, Miss Lysistrata, the rumors did not do you justice. You are indeed a master beyond any I've seen before. Master Geppa, it is no dishonor to fall short of a weapon of this caliber.
"Thank you, Keydis Lysistrata. I will wield this weapon proudly, as a symbol of the bond between Pelagia and its neighbors, and perhaps one day as a symbol of peace newly forged with our enemies."
Keydis smirked and reached up to slap Geppa on the back. "Don't sweat it, old man. You were never going to outsmith me. I'm not just a blacksmith, I'm miles ferrarrii. I'm a warrior blacksmith. There's shit you pick up by wielding weapons that you just can't get from holding them." Turning to the prince, she suggested, "Seems like Geppa still made a damn good sword, though. He may have to grow into it, but why not present that one to Prince Cordatus?" She shrugged. "Seems like it still ought to be a royal artifact is all I'm thinking."
Caput and Geppa looked at one another. The prince smiled. "That could work…"
The brunette offered a bow. "Good. Take good care of the sword, prince. It was an awesome project to work on. But now, it's time to leave your city and get back to dry land."
The elder smith coughed uncomfortably and asked, "What about our… agreement?"
Already on her way out the door, Keydis turned around. "Make that shit again, all the same heart and soul, and give that one to Mitis. And for kicks, tell the brats they're gifts from 'Elfeed.'"