The Demon's Blade by Steven Drake Read Free Book Online Page A

knees, sobbing and stammering in desperation. "I am sorry. If you indeed understand the nature of this sword, then you will understand what I must request of you. Please, whoever you are, if you have any mercy within you, I beg of you, end my life, since I cannot. If it is indeed the demons within the sword that prevent me from taking my own life, then I might still be slain by another. You know what will happen if I live. Sooner or later, the demons will possess my soul. I will become as great an evil as the Master I fled, if not worse. You would be doing all the world a great service."
    The old man blinked several times as he stared sternly at Darien, assessing the young half-elf before him. At last he spoke, “Interesting… you show considerable concern about what acts you will commit under the influence of the demons. Given your… reputation, it seems strange that you would care. You have committed a great many acts well worthy of that blade already. I had assumed you aimed to possess the sword’s power yourself and overthrow your master. If not that, why did you steal the sword in the first place, and why try to kill the Demon King?”
    “I never intended to escape. My plan was to kill the Master then take my own life. I only wanted justice for my mother, to punish the guilty. The Demon King sent the man who arranged my mother’s death, the same man who brought me into the Order of the Shade. He promises order and justice through power, but in the end, it is all lies, lies to manipulate others to serve his ends. He stole my life. Everything that I knew, everything that I might have been, is all gone, lost because of him. Now I have only death to look forward to.” Tears rolled down his face into the mossy earth.
    Ezra did not respond at first, instead stroking his beard thoughtfully. Finally, he asked, "If that is what you believe, then why come here? Why flee from death at the hands of your master only to ask for death at the hands of a stranger? Quite a curious course for one who values his life so little.” He sounded almost amused as he spoke, certainly not a tone Darien was expecting.
    He hesitated, taken aback at this response. The old man mocked him, but he was also correct. Why did I flee, Darien questioned himself? He could find no clear answer. Death no longer held any terror for him. He had already decided upon his own death when he first settled upon his plan to steal the sword. That plan had now failed completely. He had no hope of finding peace in this life. The sword would corrupt his mind until it was no longer his own. Why have I come this far, he questioned, and why go any further?
    Finally, his will faltered, his poise failed, and he wailed like a child.
    "I was a fool. I did not understand what I had done. I should never have taken this sword. I see now how pointless it was to come here. My will is already faltering and my strength is all but gone. I can go neither forward nor back. I am utterly powerless to do anything but ask this favor of you, for you are the only one here who I might ask." Then, Darien fell upon his face and wept before the old man's feet.
    The old man sighed a deep, knowing sigh. "Would that it was that simple," he said, regretfully. "Unfortunately, your death would accomplish very little. There are some mistakes that cannot be corrected, no matter how much you wish it.” Ezra shook his head in resignation. “When you freed that sword, you set in motion a chain of events that cannot be stopped. The sword is more dangerous than even you understand. You knew, did you not, that your master became powerful by slowly siphoning off the energies of the sword, without ever touching it?"
    "Yes," Darien replied, looking up at the old man through tear filled eyes. "I had hoped that the sword might still give me enough power to defeat him, but it was not enough."
    "No indeed," the old man said glumly. "Still, when you freed the blade and bound it to yourself, you stopped that flow