The Sword Chooses

Andras extends the sealed royal warrant toward the herald. Before silver staff or parchment can rise, a cloaked witness lunges and drives a blade into the herald’s side.

The herald collapses against the table, still clutching the document. The attacker tears free and turns toward it as servant passages burst open on both sides of the hall.

Armored Crescent figures flood through the openings and behind the barred doors: humans, orcs, elves, dwarves, and other folk in mismatched plate, moving with rehearsed purpose around the witnesses.

Kesh draws the oath-blade and plants himself between Andras and the nearest attackers. Lord Veyr grips the table’s edge, while the tournament organizer retreats toward the dais.

Every Crescent weapon angles inward, not toward plunder but toward the warrant and those who witnessed its arrival. The hall has become a sealed seizure point, and the attackers close in.

Andras draws the moonlit blade and squares himself against the cloaked crescent attacker. The dark leather figure halts within striking distance as the surrounding assassins tighten their ring.

Lord Veyr steps from behind the table, his lion features stripped of pretense. He raises one hand, and the attackers stop short of Andras and Kesh.

Andras backs firmly against Kesh, shoulder to shoulder, and raises the moonlit blade. His loosened forearm binding pulls tight as he settles into a guarded stance.

Kesh angles the golden oath-blade beside Andras’s weapon, making their joined stance a narrow wall before the fallen herald and his sealed document.

The cloaked crescent attacker, a lean adult human man with a narrow, bearded face beneath a dark hood and a crescent badge at his throat, shifts aside at Veyr’s command, revealing a brief lane toward the servants’ passage. The surrounding attackers tighten elsewhere, their attention fixed on the warrant.

The first Crescent soldier steps into the lane, armored shoulders turning to cover the opening. Andras drops his point and cuts upward beneath the guard, his tightened forearm binding pulling hard.

The moonlit blade slips under the soldier’s defense and lands cleanly, forcing him back with his weapon lowered. The passage remains open beyond his staggered form.

Kesh advances with him, golden blade held across the nearest threats. Behind them, the herald lies motionless against the table, the sealed warrant still clutched in his hand.

Veyr’s command breaks the Crescent’s hesitation. The wounded soldier reels aside, and the lane widens as Kesh’s shoulder meets Andras’s, carrying them past the first guard.

The Crescent closes around the narrowing lane. Andras turns into the nearest armored soldier and swings, the tightened forearm binding biting as he commits his weight.

The moonlit blade strikes beneath the soldier’s raised arm and knocks him hard from the passage. Andras’s footing slips on the rush of bodies, and pain flashes through his bound forearm.

Kesh drives his golden blade across the gap, forcing two attackers to recoil. Beyond them, the servants’ passage remains visible, while Crescent armor presses in from both sides.

The displaced soldier collapses against the wall, leaving the opening clear for this breath. Andras and Kesh stand within reach of it, shoulder to shoulder, as the ring surges after them.

The press thickens until armor grinds against armor. Andras’s sword arm grows heavy, and shallow cuts mark both him and Kesh as red cloth flashes beyond the attackers.

Through a narrowing gap, Andras catches the Royal Knight: an adult figure in bright red fabric beneath steel plate, advancing somewhere beyond the crowded Crescent line.

A shoulder slams across his sightline. The knight’s red disappears behind raised shields, and the surrounding bodies twist together until no clear route or allegiance remains.

Kesh’s golden blade catches a thrust and turns it aside, but another attacker’s edge scratches his shoulder. The gap collapses, leaving the knight hidden behind the packed ring.

The Crescent surges toward the servants’ passage, forcing Andras and Kesh to give ground together. The glimpse has revealed a possible ally, but not where that ally stands.

Andras gives everything to the defense. His moonlit blade cuts the first Crescent soldier down through the throat, then sweeps low into the armored soldier on the right, buckling his knee and breaking the press beside Kesh.

A Crescent sword crashes across Andras’s armor and another slash tears into his arm. Pain jolts through the tightened forearm binding, but he remains planted shoulder to shoulder with Kesh.

The surrounding Crescent attackers recoil from the sudden opening, then crowd inward again. Their shields and blades leave no route out, hemming the two allies against the sealed hall.

Kesh brings the oath-blade across the gap while Andras raises his moonlit weapon beside it. The fallen attackers no longer press them, but the remaining ring holds fast.

The Royal Knight bursts through the Crescent ring in red beneath steel, shield first. Their charge opens the passage, placing crown-forged authority beside Andras and Kesh.

Andras drives forward with the moonlit blade, joining the knight’s assault. Their crossing weapons break the Crescent formation and force the conspirators back from Kesh.

A Crescent blade catches Andras’s forearm binding and tears it loose as he turns. The freed arm burns with pain, but his next stroke knocks the nearest attacker’s weapon aside.

The Royal Knight disarms the cloaked crescent attacker, while Kesh holds the remaining ring at bay. Veyr stands exposed beyond them, his command shattered before the witnesses.

No Crescent soldier advances. Andras, Kesh, and the Royal Knight now stand together between Veyr and the royal warrant, with the conspiracy’s armed shield broken.