Toby sat on the front steps and watched the sun go down. It had been a long lonely day without his father around. For the first time in his life, Toby had gone an entire day without seeing his father. He let out a lonely sigh and watched a pair of dark clouds move across the sky. One of them looked like a lizard. Toby tilted his head the way he saw the lizard do so often and watched as the cloud lizard's head turned to look at him. Toby felt like he was being watched. He shifted uncomfortably and looked away.
The orange sky darkened to red as the sun sank down into the horizon. His back started to ache from sitting there, so Toby stood up and went inside. There were two plates of food on the dining table and even though Toby's stomach rumbled with hunger, he really didn't feel like eating. He stood and stared at the two plates for a while longer before he went to his room and laid down. He stared at the ceiling and watched it grow darker and darker until he couldn't see anymore, and then, sometime in the night, he fell asleep.
Toby woke up the next morning still feeling very sleepy. The roosters were crowing and he finally realized that he had neglected his chores yesterday and that the animals had not been fed. He didn't want to get up, but he forced himself to his feet. He stretched his arms up over his head and then got dressed. On his way out the back door, he noticed that his mother wasn't up yet, which was strange, because she was always up before he was and she always had breakfast ready. But not today. The two plates from the night before still sat on the table, untouched.
Toby stepped out the back door, blinked in the brightness of the sun and headed towards the henhouse. He was reaching into the barrel of feed when he realized that he hadn't even looked for the lizard this morning. He froze, with his arm still in the barrel, and looked back to the house. As a matter of fact, he hadn't seen the lizard at all for a long while. As Toby tried to remember back to the last time he saw the lizard, an impatient hen pecked him in the foot and reminded him that he was supposed to be throwing feed out for them. Toby grabbed a fistful and tossed it out to the hungry mob. There was a great deal of wing flapping and pecking going on, so Toby threw out more feed. He put the lid back on and went to gather the eggs. He had just taken a step into the henhouse when he caught sight of something moving in the shadows. He bent down to get a better look when the lizard sped by his foot. Toby spun around and watched the lizard speed away through the grass with it's head sticking out over the top as it ran towards the house. Toby thought about giving chase, but he felt too tired.
By dinner time, Toby finally felt like eating. He plowed into his plate of vegetables as if he actually liked eating them. He cleaned his plate and was so proud of himself that he even thought about showing his mother, but since she was in her room she probably didn't want to be disturbed. Maybe tomorrow she'll come out and see that Toby's plate is clean, while her plate still had every morsel she served herself.
Toby yawned and went to his room. It was still early in the evening, but he was tired from having done all the chores around the farm. He laid down and in minutes was sound asleep.
A loud sound woke Toby in the middle of the night. He sat up straight in bed and looked into the darkness trying to figure out what had woken him. His heart was pounding loudly in his head. A loud pounding sound came from the front door. He stared into the darkness, his blood rushing through his veins and his eyes wide with fear. What was it? The pounding came again, this time louder than before. Footsteps ran through the house towards the front door. His mother! Toby jumped out of bed and hurried to the door.
When he got to the door, Toby saw his mother holding the door open while a dark figure stood in the doorway. The figure took several steps inside and fell to the floor. Toby heard the loud clatter of steel as the body hit and he rushed forward to see who it was. Toby's heart was beating loudly in his chest as his mother knelt down beside the figure's head. She started crying and as Toby came closer, he saw who it was. The figure was his father.
Toby's mother helped his father sit up and she held his head in her lap. Toby stepped closer to see and knelt down beside his father. His father wore armor, like the kind Toby had often imagined a knight would wear, but his father's armor was not polished and clean, it was battered and smeared with blood, lots of blood.
"Del?" his mother cried. "Del?"
As Toby's eyes adjusted to the dark, he began to notice wounds all over his father's body. There were deep gashes beneath armor that was torn and mangled. A pool of dark, black blood began to spread out under his father.
Toby's father looked up at him and then he reached up and placed a wet, sticky hand on the back of Toby's neck. Toby was pulled forward, close to his father's face. His father still had a great deal of strength left by the way he was held.
"I don't have much time," Toby's father whispered in a strained voice. It sounded as if he was very, very far away. "There is a sword...in this house. In the basement, below the stairs."
Toby's father paused and spat out some blood, but his hold on the back of Toby's neck did not loosen. He looked into Toby's eyes with an intense look, to be sure that Toby listened.
"It's a very dangerous sword, Toby," his father continued. "It was your Grandpa's and belonged to your Grandpa's Grandpa, and so on, for years and years. It's now yours, my son, but be careful. It is a deadly weapon and is so sharp that it will take a finger should you touch the edge."
There was another pause, but instead of spitting up more blood, Toby's father pulled him closer until Toby's face nearly touched that of his father's. His breath smelled bloody and was hot.
"Don't let them...get it."
The hand that held him by the back of the neck suddenly loosened, slipped away and smacked loudly against the floor.
"Pa?"
"Del?"
There was no answer. Toby heard his mother crying loudly and he felt tears of his own slide down his cheeks. He backed away, afraid to know for sure what it was that had just happened. He got to his feet and stepped back, looking at his mother and father and hoping that this was all a bad dream.
"No, no, no!" Toby heard his mother cry out painfully as she bent over Toby's father. Toby wiped his tears from his cheeks as his father's words spun through his mind.
"There is a sword in this house," his father had said. "In the basement. Below the stairs."
Toby stood up and let his feet take him to the basement door. He suddenly felt like he was in a dream, he was watching his body move and although he didn't want to there wasn't anything he could do to stop himself. He watched as his hands opened the door and his legs carried him down the steps into the darkness of the basement. He reached the bottom and turned around and went underneath the stairs. He had never been down the basement before because his father had always forbidden him, so he had no idea where to look. There wasn't any light to see by, so his hands searched through the darkness. His hands brushed through spider webs until they eventually settled on something solid that wasn't part of the stairs or the wall. It felt cold, like metal and was long and about as wide as one of his hands. He ran his hands over it and realized it was only about as thick as two fingers.
He knew that he had found the sword. His hands rested on it's scabbard and all he had to do was pull it off a hook. In a matter of moments, he held the sword cradled in both arms. It was heavy, very heavy. He went to the foot of the stairs and started up.
Toby carried the heavy sword to the dining table where he set it down. He looked out the window and saw that the sky was cloudy, but after the complete darkness of the basement, he could see what he had brought up.
The scabbard looked like it was a plain green color with copper trim. Curious about what the sword looked like, Toby grabbed the handle and pulled. The sword slid out easily enough, but even though he had pulled it out part of the way, he knew that the sword's weight would be far more than what he could lift. The part of the blade that was exposed gleamed in the darkness, as if it had light of it's own. Toby leaned forward to get a closer look at the sword and noticed something etched on the blade near the handle. The scabbard covered most of the etching, so Toby pulled the sword out further. The sword was half way out when Toby was finally able to read the word that had been etched on the blade.
"Nayle," he whispered in awe. Toby slid Nayle back into the scabbard and stepped back when it clicked loudly in place. He looked down at the weapon before him and in some strange way, it felt right. Like he and the sword were old friends who had met again for the first time in years. Nayle. Even the name sounded right.
A bright blue flash of light interrupted Toby's thoughts. A midnight thunderstorm had swept in and was creeping towards the house. Thunder cracked overhead and was immediately followed by a pounding rain. The rain beat loudly on the roof of the house all night.
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Most recent update: 05 May 03
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