‘Well, get her another sword, then!’ I snapped.
‘It’s not that easy,’ the old knight explained. ‘The fact that a knight is not capable of caring for her sword is very disturbing. We need to maintain quality in the order for the good of all nobility.’
I stepped forward. ‘Did she tell you how the sword broke?’
‘She was fighting Alivened,’ Draulin said. ‘She rammed it in one of their chests, then she was hit and knocked aside. When the Alivened was killed by falling through the floor, the sword was lost.’
I glanced back at Bastille. She didn’t meet my eyes.
‘No,’ I said, looking back at them. ‘That’s what happened, yes, but it’s not what happened. It wasn’t the fall, or even the death of the Alivened, and the sword wasn’t just lost. It was destroyed. By me. My Talent.’
The big-chinned knight gave a chuckle at that. ‘Lord Smedry,’ he said, ‘I understand that you are loyal and care for your friends, and I respect you for it. Good man! But you shouldn’t make such wild exaggerations. Everyone knows that full Crystin shards are impervious to things like Oculator’s Lenses and Smedry Talents!’
I stepped forward to the table. ‘Hand me your sword, then.’
The knight started. ‘What?’
‘Give it to me,’ I said, holding out a hand. ‘Let’s see if it’s impervious.’
There was silence in the small glass chamber for a moment. The knight seemed incredulous. (Crystin don’t let others hold their swords. Asking Big Chin to give me his was a little like asking the president to loan me his nuclear missile launching codes for the weekend.)
Still, backing down would make Big Chin look like he believed my claim. I could see the indecision in his eyes, his hand hovering toward the hilt of his weapon, as if to hand it over.
‘Be careful, Archedis,’ Grandpa Smedry said quietly. ‘My grandson’s Talent is not to be underestimated. The breaking Talent, by my estimation, hasn’t been manifest this powerfully for centuries. Perhaps millennia.’
The knight moved his hand away from the sword. ‘The breaking Talent,’ he said. ‘Well, perhaps it is possible for that to affect a Crystin sword.’
Draulin pursed her lips, and I could tell that she wanted to object.
‘Um,’ I said, glancing at my grandfather. He indicated that I should keep talking. ‘Anyway, I’ve come to speak at this trial, as is my right as a member of the Smedry clan.’
‘I believe you have been doing that already,’ Draulin said flatly. (Sometimes I can see where Bastille gets her snark.)
‘Yes, well,’ I continued, ‘I want to vouch for Bastille’s skill and cleverness. Without her intervention, both Grandpa Smedry and I would be dead. You probably would be too, Draulin. Let’s not forget that you were captured by the very Librarian that Bastille defeated.’
‘I saw you defeat that Librarian, Lord Smedry,’ Draulin said. ‘Not my daughter.’
‘We did it together,’ I said. ‘As part of a plan we came up with as a team. You got your sword back only because Bastille and I retrieved it for you.’
‘Yes,’ said the elderly knight. ‘But then, that is part of the problem.’
‘It is?’ I said. ‘Wounding Draulin’s pride caused that much trouble?’
Draulin blushed – I felt pleased, though a little ashamed, for getting such a reaction out of her.
‘It’s more than that,’ Big Chin – Archedis – said. ‘Bastille held her mother’s sword.’
‘She didn’t have much choice,’ I said. ‘She was trying to save my life, and that of her mother – not to mention my father’s life by association. Besides, she only picked it up for a short time.’
‘Regardless,’ Archedis said. ‘Bastille’s use of the sword . . . interfered with it. It is more than tradition that keeps us from letting others hold our weapons.’
‘Wait,’ I said. ‘Does this have to do with those crystals in your necks?’
The three knights shared a look.
‘We don’t discuss these kinds of things with outsiders,’ the elderly knight said.
‘I’m not an outsider,’ I said. ‘I’m a Smedry. Besides, I know most of it already.’ There were three kinds of Crystin shards – the ones that they made into swords, the ones they implanted in Crystin necks, and a third one Bastille hadn’t wanted to talk about.