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Chronicles of the Sword by Forerunner's Advocate
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Chronicles of the Sword
Date: 31 January 2005, 10:53 PM
Exodus IV
Caleb Quinn strode across the long flowing grass that slowly waved in the wind. His long brown hair lightly brushed his jaw as he gazed silently into the deep blue sky. The wind was ever so lightly blowing and it made his black cloak wrap around him as if it had a mind of its own. He looked like some sort of Elvish ranger, sword in hand and a dagger firmly attached to his brown leather belt.
Looking down at the gleaming alloy sword that he grasped loosly in his right hand Caleb thought back on the day when he first saw a knight fully clad in armor. One day during his studies he was assigned a book to write a report on. It was on the ancient times called the middle Ages.
The knight was fully clad in leather and chain mail armor and holding a sword in his right hand with a round wooden shield slung over his back.
From then on he had, had an obsession with anything medieval. He first made a sword and shield from wood. Then he moved on to making a small dagger out of a super dense alloy that he had bought from the local junk salesman. Now he had his very own sword. Not a wooden sword or a cheap gift shop sword, but a sword that could almost slice through hardened steel (not that he was strong enough to do it).
Coming back to reality Caleb gripped the self molding poly-vinyl handle of his sword firmly with both hands, just behind the hilt. It conformed to every indention of his hands and felt light as air. He squared off with the dummy that he had made out of wood. Launching himself past the stationary figure, and cutting it's left arm clean off he shifted his weight. With that he spun and used the momentum of his first attack to clip the wooden sword, wielded by the dummy, off at the hilt. Sliding across the long grass that carpeted the ground he powerfully lunged thrusting his sword. It went straight through the wooden chest, which was already perforated from previous thrusts, right up to the dura-steel hilt.
"So you're sure?" he asked quizzically, looking into the sky blue eyes.
"Of course I'm sure. You just go straight through the wooded thicket. It opens out into a huge grassy field. You can't miss it."
"Okay. I will find him and try to talk some sense into him," said Justin as he walked down the steps of his friend's porch.
He thought about a lot of things as he took long easy strides toward the wooded thicket, which supposedly blocked from view an entire meadow. How the heck did a dork like Caleb get a girl like her? Should he really be friends with someone that everyone thinks is so weird? Thinking back Justin realized that he had been treated badly himself while in high school, and the one thing he could have used was a friend. He hadn't known that he still had those feelings of resentment for his fellow class mates; especially since he had not been in high school in over a year.
As he cleared the dense brush of the wooded thicket he saw the flash of a blade being expertly used against a wooden dummy that looked like it had been repaired a thousand times. Standing on a hill was his friend Caleb attacking the wooden man from all sides. He saw a determination that he had not seen from his friend before. Pieces of the figure were dropping from it with startling speed. Finally Justin spoke up. Apparently Caleb had not noticed that his friend was standing on the edge of the woods, just feet away.
" Impressive; I had heard that you were good with that toy but I never thought that you might actually be dangerous. "
"Justin... I didn't think anyone knew where I was. How did you find me?" asked Caleb as he pulled the sword from the chest of the wooden figure. He examined the stationary wooden man and sighed at the amount of work it would take to fix it up for the hundredth time. He wished he could afford a plasta-crete dummy like the rich kids at school used for target practice. If only the wood that his dummy was made of could just go back to its original form after he was done with it. Justin spoke again pulling Caleb out of his reverie.
"Well a certain someone tipped me off that you would be here."
"Hmmm... I didn't think that she would tell anyone, but you do have a way with getting things out of people."
"I guess you could say that. You know that you can tell me where you go off to all the time. I am the only one in town that doesn't think you're crazy you know, that is besides Whitney."
"I know. It's just nice to have some alone time. I don't mind that everyone thinks I am crazy. I kinda prefer to be left alone anyway. I am just glad that I have you and Whitney. You two keep me sane you know."
"Well someone has to be your friend; Might as well be me. You know if you didn't go off all the time with that sword of yours, people might not think you are so weird. "
"Thanks a lot buddy," said Caleb rather sarcastically but laughing just the same. "You aren't the most well thought of part of our community either. I've heard your friends pick on you for being a loon"
"Well that may be true but I still think that being your friend will lower my status even more," laughed Justin. They both knew that it was true but it really didn't bother either of them in the slightest.
As they slowly walked back toward home, pressing through the wooded thicket that blocked the rolling plains from view of their little town Caleb's thoughts turned to Whitney, his girl friend. She was the one person he felt that he could trust completely. He could probably trust Justin too, but he felt a bond with her like no one else he knew. He was glad that he was getting along with Hornsby so well. They had only just met. It seemed as if Whitney trusted him so he could probably do so as well.
"So how did you get so good with a sword anyway, and where did you get that one? Most people seem to think that you waste your time with that sword, when you could just buy a rifle. You know that the new MA3C is out."
"You know that I can't afford a rifle; And since no one uses swords anymore I kind of had to teach myself. I have read a lot of books about swordsmanship and it seems like the ancient Japanese samurai were the greatest swordsmen of all time," he answered matter of factly. "The sword that I have, I made myself."
"Where did you get the materials?"
"Well I went into that weird store on the corner near my apartment and the owner had a small sheet of metal. He told me that it was a super dense alloy but that was all he knew. I took that to the shipyard and asked if I could use their forge. My father is fairly good friends with the owner so he said yes. Then I just read the right books on what temperature is used to melt and form a sword. I kind of had to guess and check so I made a small dagger first. Then I made this sword."
"Wow. You seem to know your stuff. Would you mind if I held it?"
"Of course not, go ahead." With that Caleb drew his sword and handed it lightly to Justin. "Be careful, it is extremely sharp." As Justin swung the sword clumsily Caleb marveled at how perfectly the balance was.
"Do you like it? It is a mix between a Japanese katana and a Medieval British style sword," said Caleb. "I like the low weight and speed of the former but the blade shape and durability of the latter."
"Wow, this is awesome. Do you think you could make me one?"
"I'm not sure; this one took me a long time just to get right. And if you don't know what you are doing you could really hurt yourself. But I will think about it," said Caleb as he took the sword from Justin and slid it back into its black leather scabbard.
As they walked toward Caleb Quinn's apartment they noticed the shop that he had bought the metal from. It had a run down look and the sign was hanging at an angle because one of the chains supporting it was broken.
"Hey isn't that the place you got that metal from, why don't we go check it out?"
They were stopped just before they reached the door by a girl with long blonde hair and ocean blue eyes.
"Well I see that you've found him Justin. And I guess that you two were off talking about me leaving me out as usual."
"No we weren't. I was just bringing him to your house. We were just gonna' make one stop I swear!" said Justin sounding rather guilty.
"Well it's good to see you too Whitney," Caleb said as he wrapped his arms around his girl friend. "I thought you weren't going to tell anyone where I was."
"Well I thought that maybe if someone else knew where you were you would come spend a little time with me instead of practicing with that toy of yours."
"I'm sorry... I'll try not to spend too much time training. I just get into it sometimes."
"Well I am going to head home before I get sick," said Justin sarcastically. "Do you guys have to act like that every time you are around each other," asked Justin jokingly. "You'd think that I wasn't even here. I'm going home. See ya around Caleb." With that Justin strode away shaking his head.
On the walk home Justin felt like he had been punched in the stomach. Seeing his friend just turn away as if he werent even there... He shook the feeling off. He Justin Hornsby was not going to start feeling jealousy. That just wasn't him. Not at all. They were both his friends and he knew that. Plus besides her no one liked Caleb. So what was there really to be jealous about. Nothing, nothing at all.
"Well it looks like you scared him off," said Caleb as he ran his fingers through Whitney's long brownish blonde hair. "I'd better get going too. Mom is gonna kill me if I get home late for dinner again."
"Okay. I just wish that we could have more time together. It seems like after school you disappear, then when I find you, you have to go home."
"I know. I am really sorry. I promise that we can spend all day tomorrow together."
"That will be great." Giving him a kiss on the lips she turned on her heal and started the walk home. Caleb watched wondering how someone like her could possibly like a dork like him.
"Hey Whitney, wait up!" Caleb ran to catch up to her and slipped his hand into hers. "Let me walk you home."
As the sky darkened neither of them noticed the fleet of whale like ships that coasted ten thousand units above their heads. Little did they know that their lives were about to be torn apart.
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