a short SEVENFOLD SWORD: SWORDBEARER excerpt

Let’s have another short excerpt from SEVENFOLD SWORD: SWORDBEARER:

“Why do they call him the Sovereign?” said Gareth.

“I…do not know,” said Kalussa. “I never thought of it.”

“I do,” said Tamlin. “The Sovereign was the greatest warrior of the dark elves, but whenever he conquered a land, it rebelled against him sooner or later. In mockery, the other dark elves called him the Sovereign.”

“The dark elven lords never shared their true names with other kindreds,” said Calliande, “and they loved cruelty, so they gave each other mocking titles. The Artificer forged the instrument of his own imprisonment, so they gave him that name. They…” She looked at the children and stopped. Perhaps she had been about to list other examples, but she did not want to share the horrors that she and Ridmark had seen with the boys.

Ridmark understood. He hoped his sons never had to face anything like the Warden or the Sculptor or the Traveler.

-JM