Bloodstained Blade
Chapter 89 - Isolation

The following day, they left with a very small entourage. Evelyn had packed it in her largest trunk, and after several hours, they reached a cottage. From the sounds of people talking around the carriage, it seemed to be a lovely day, but for the Ebon Blade, it was terrifying. It was trapped in the dark and cut off from sight for the first time since it had been buried beneath flaming rubble in Kalraka.

-4 Life Force.

It was forced to endure the long, meandering trek from one place to another for hours, completely blind. Worse, it couldn’t even devour the souls nearby because it couldn’t connect to them. The priests thought they had to put me in a cage out of reach from everyone. The weapon thought ruefully. All they really had to do was lock me in the dark.

As it went, it decided that was probably the easiest way to destroy it. Simply coat it with molten lead so that it couldn’t see, and then drop it into the ocean until it was covered in barnacles and other less savory growths.

Pondering the ways that it might be destroyed eventually grew too anxious for its tastes, and instead, as the wheels traversed the rutted road outside, it forced itself to ignore that and focus on everything that it had learned and what it needed to do next.

-8 Life Force.

In theory, its new wielder’s plan was a good one. If it did not have an army to batter down the walls, then it needed a way to sneak inside, and she was an excellent way to accomplish that. Unfortunately, she was a woefully bad warrior and would be starting from a place that might even be worse than the shepherd boy it had started with.

It would need to address that, but with forty days of relative isolation, it wasn’t impossible to succeed. Apparently, she’d ordered her people to take her to an isolated game preserve that belonged to her husband's family. Though it had no dangerous monsters, there were rumors of goblins and other things.

-4 Life Force.

Evelyn seemed squeamish at the idea of fighting such vermin, but it didn’t care. If the King’s palace really had half the defenses she described, she would need at least the basics, or they’d find themselves hopelessly outmatched.

The only bright spot seems to be her pain tolerance, the blade noted as he considered the options. Though he had her husband to thank for that, he didn’t think the man appreciated that he’d given her a gift that she used to slaughter him.

For lack of anything else to do, the blade considered interrogating one of its two remaining mage souls but couldn’t think of an important enough question. So, it didn’t waste the opportunity and instead waited until it was free once more.

-4 Life Force.

The trip took at least five hours. It kept track by the twenty Life Force it lost, one at a time. Upon their arrival, the group had only just unpacked her things and begun to set up the household when she threw a melodramatic fit about how she needed to be left alone to deal with her grief.

That, at least, Evelyn was good at. She was a liar, and she loved the attention. “But Baroness…” her ladies-in-waiting pleaded one at a time.

They swore that they’d leave her be, and her servants asked how she would cook without them, but she still sent them away. The blade knew that she didn’t want to, but it was a requirement for what came next. While she’d been eager enough to strike down her abusive husband and his guards, it had found soft spots in her soul and knew she had no more interest in killing people that she saw as innocent as Ivarr had been, so there could be no one present to witness her training that would then have to be eliminated.

-3 Life Force.

Eventually, after agreeing to check on her every few days, Evenyln’s servants withdrew, leaving them alone. When they were gone, it was finally set free, and it studied the building and the lands beyond while she removed her black gown and put on an outfit that involved boots and pants instead of slippers and skirts.

She’d referred to this place as a cottage and a hunting lodge by turns, but it was neither. The building they were in was a huge, two-story manor house that was small only when compared to the spartan three-story palace they’d just left. It had servants' quarters and a wine cellar. It would house a dozen nobles and their staff while a baron went out on a hunt, but it was entirely overkill for their needs.

It would work, but its luxurious surroundings weren’t enough to stop Evelyn from complaining about her practical outfit. The blade ignored her. Instead, when she asked, “So where do we start?” it answered by puppeting her body toward the nearest stump and stabbing itself in it to give it an unobstructed view for hundreds of yards in all directions. The view of the sun on the lake was probably quite lovely, but all it cared about was that it couldn’t be ambushed here.

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I want you to run from your home to the edge of the forest and back until your legs are exhausted, then, when you can run no more, you will rest by chopping wood with an axe and— it explained.

“Running? Chopping wood?” she asked. “I thought you were going to train me to fight.”

And I will, the blade agreed, but right now you are weak. And we must begin to work on that weakness. You will exercise every morning we are here and train every afternoon.

-4 Life Force.

The Baroness complained, but she did not refuse its commands. Instead, she carried them out half-heartedly, giving up after only three laps. Then she tried chopping wood with an axe after that but quickly found it the more irksome of the two tasks and returned to her running after only a few minutes, complaining about her sweating the whole way.

It’s enough to make me miss Ivarr, the blade thought silently as it wondered just how many layers of spoiled indulgence it could remove from her in a month or so. Her husband had certainly mistreated her, but growing up as a spoiled princess had done her no favors. As long as one thought they were perfect the way they were, they found it hard to improve.

-4 Life Force.

After two hours, which she called grueling and it considered lackadaisical, she pronounced that she was exhausted and would make lunch. The Ebon Blade did not accept that, though. They would never get where they were going at this rate.

When she touched the hilt of the blade to ask it, “What do you think about a nap in the afternoon before combat practice? I could tell you more stories and—”

This is not meant to be a leisurely experience, the blade spat, gripping her tightly and drawing it from the stump where it had lingered in the sun. You are here to grow strong, not offer elaborate excuses.

“But I—” she protested.

The blade ignored her. This will hurt. But it is better to hurt here than to bleed out on the battlefield, just short of our goal. It wasn’t a question.

“I agree,” she answered a little more hesitantly as the blade reworked the straps on its sheath with her hands and then slung it over her shoulder. It was a better position for what was coming next. “I’m just not sure what you want me to do?”

I want you to run like your life depends on it, the blade said as it charged forward across the grass of the meadow toward the trees on the far side. I want you to pour out everything you have, or I will do it for you!

The blade ran at three times the speed she had previously, even though she struggled against its control. Only part of that was its ability to make her exert herself more than she’d chosen to. The rest was its magic, empowering her. It wasn’t sure how much exercise she was really getting for her own muscles when she could lean on its strength, but it was certain it could exhaust her.

Every one of its wielders eventually ran dry if combat went on long enough. Even Var’gar, who was a slab of muscle, eventually tired, and Evelyn would, too. What? Why? She asked in confusion. Just let me rest and eat!

The blade was in no mood to take it easy on her, though. Her need for vengeance and her identity made her a perfect wielder in some ways, but in others, it couldn’t have made a worse choice. The blade regretted that she was the one that had picked her up, but it was committed now. She had used it to shed blood, and they were bound by that blood until she failed or betrayed it.

That did not mean it had to be kind to her, though, and despite her begging for it to stop or at least slow down, it used her body to run through miles of forest at superhuman speed for almost an hour straight. Sometimes, it would stop, but only when it found an animal large enough to siphon a few Life Force from.

+26 Life Force.

These pauses were never enough to calm Evelyn’s racing heart. Even if the breaks had been, she was too terrified for it to slow. The blade didn’t limit itself just to running. It used her to leap from boulders to branches whenever it wanted to look around, and minute by minute, it mapped out the area around the hunting house, preparing for the worst.

There were no other buildings in the area, though it did find evidence of poachers from time to time and evidence that at least one village wasn’t too far away. Still, it was only when it reached a suspicious-looking cavern that it paused long enough to study it for more than a minute.

The thing appeared to be a small goblin warren, and it decided it would be a good test when she was a little stronger before continuing on. The woods were vast but otherwise largely devoid of threats, which was unfortunate. It was only when it had made a full loop of the property on both sides of the meadow that it finally returned control to her and allowed her to walk wearily to her home, where lunch waited for her.

+11 Life Force.

“You’ve hurt my feed something terribly in these shoes,” she complained. “I’ll have blisters, and worse, they’re scuffed!”

You cannot have blisters, the blade corrected her. Not as long as you carry me. I will heal all of your hurts. That is part of our covenant and connection.

“Well, that’s nice,” she answered, “But not as nice as if you’d treat me with a bit more respect. I am a princess and a baroness, after all.”

You are the daughter of the man that betrayed my first wielder, stole his soul, and forged me, the Ebon Blade corrected her. If anything, I should chop you and your entire family into bloody pieces and leave you for the crows. This is respect, and you will show me the same courtesy.

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