Kre took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘Lord Tralagar, would you please bless me with your wisdom?’
There was no response for several seconds and then, ‘That was pitiful, but it is a start, and we shall work on that.’
Kre gritted his teeth, ‘And the sword? My honorable Lord Tralagar?’
‘Oh that?’ the voice seemed to say as if remarking about some completely inconsequential thing, ‘it is nothing for your large friend to worry over. He shall be safe wielding it in my honor.’
Another deep breath and the world around Kre started to come back into focus once again.
“Kre!” Beleg nearly shouted. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes sir,” Kre muttered, pressing his hand to the ear nearest Beleg’s mouth. “Sorry, I was just… doing my thing, you know.” He waved his other hand over the sword as if to emphasize what his thing was.
“Oh,” Beleg murmured. “Yeah, that. Sorry! You just had this faraway look in your eyes and weren’t responding. I was a little concerned that maybe the sword… you know.”
Kre shook his head, “No, the sword is fine to use. It isn’t like Barry’s sword at all. I’m almost certain Cormordean was the only one like it in the entire collection.”
“I keep forgetting it had a name,” Beleg said with a shiver. “I mean, swords should have names, I’ll be the first to admit that, but it shouldn’t be because they’re possessed or something like that.”
“I don’t know if possessed is really the right term,” Kre admitted. “Although, I don’t know what she is, I do know that Cormordean is extremely dangerous. Even more so in Barry’s hands.”
Beleg nodded, “On that we agree.” His hand still moved tentatively as he reached for the hilt of the great sword on the table, but he eventually took it in hand and lifted it from its wrappings.
“Well,” he said, giving his new sword a few test swings, “there’s nothing we can do about that now. Let’s just get some practice in before lunch.”
“Haa’tizh!” Virryn exclaimed, using the Ylveryan term of exasperation while throwing her hands into the air. “I have just finished cleaning up your breakfast dishes and already you think about lunch. Though I have no love for the Master, I cannot imagine he is liking the cost of feeding this lot of gladiators if they are anything like you when it comes to eating.”
Beleg laughed heartily at that, which only made Virryn scowl more, though she eventually smiled and shook her head, seeing the humor in the situation. “Do not be breaking the furniture now,” she admonished.
“Ah, tsinki’I,” Grivallt said from his position at the slightly open door, “thank you for looking after the furnishings. That was no small thing to replace on such short notice.”
Kre nodded a greeting to the elder Ylveryan and remarked as he took in the relative immaculateness of the room, “I was impressed that everything was cleaned and fixed in such a short time. How did you do it?”
Grivallt shrugged and closed the door quietly behind him, “It was hardly a thing. The cleaning was all Virryn, who has many a trick up her sleeve for removing blood from just about anything. As for all of the things that you broke, well… let us just say that Master Barry’s room is quite the mess right now.”
“He won’t be happy with that,” Beleg commented after one of his trademark laughs that nearly shook the room.
“Well,” Grivallt said with a smirk of his own, “I think he shall not be a problem. That is actually why I am here. Apparently Master Barry absconded in the middle of the night. It is to be expected that the Master would be furious with the loss of one of his key tier one fighters, but he is absolutely livid given the theft of one of his weapons. He has hired additional guards to keep watch over the remainder of the event. I am afraid that getting your friends out will now be an impossible task.”