“Listen, please,” Vi pleaded. But she knew that alone wouldn’t be what got through to him. Vi knew she had to prove she wasn’t the reckless child he thought she was. “I know this is a crystal weapon and I know their history. I know Mother found a crystal weapon that led to the rise of the Mad King and the destruction of the crystal caverns.”
“Do you know it was that same crystal weapon that stole her powers?” Aldrik’s voice lowered, becoming sterner by the moment.
“What?” Vi breathed.
“Do you know it was a crystal weapon that also began the War of the Crystal Cavernsbeforethe Mad King?”
She didn’t. Her father was pointing out dangerous gaps in her knowledge left and right. “No,” Vi said calmly, leveling her eyes with her father’s. “I don’t know those things, though I would like to. What I do know is that the Crystal Caverns are gone. All the other Crystal Weapons—fragments of Yargen’s power—are gone with it. And this may be the last thing we have to stand against an evil god trying to destroy this world as we know it.”
They engaged in a staring contest. Vi didn’t back down. Her father sighed heavily, releasing the scythe and staggering away as though it had wounded him.
“Neither of us should be touching it…” he murmured, running a hand through his dark, limp hair. “You may have gotten recklessness and stubbornness from your mother, but damn if I didn’t pass along that fire in your belly.”
Vi felt somewhat proud. Continuing her efforts to calm the situation, she acquiesced to his request, slowly laying down the scythe.
“I think I’m able to touch it without issue since I have Yargen’s magic—I’ve felt normal handling it for some time now. But you’re likely right in that you should limit your contact.” Vi didn’t know if the scythe could taint him in the way the crystals of the Crystal Caverns were said to have tainted men who had come in contact with them. The scythe had been removed from the Dark Isle so early, perhaps it had escaped the slow weakening of the barriers holding back Raspian and the affects of his powers on the crystal.
It was a plausible theory. But to test it, Vi would have to risk the crystals twisting her father into a monster. So she wasn’t about to find out if she was right or not.
Aldrik settled back into his earlier seat. Vi glanced at Arwin over her shoulder, but whatever thoughts the woman had about the outburst, she was keeping them to herself. Luckily, Taavin hadn’t seen Aldrik nearly throwing their one crystal weapon overboard. She didn’t want him to have a negative impression of her father.
“Vi, nothing good comes of a Solaris touching a crystal weapon.”
“Father, I—”
“It was a crystal weapon that sparked a whole new thirst for conquest in my father.”
“How?”
“Our family has a dark history tied to these. One we cannot seem to escape.” Her father stared at the scythe as though it had hypnotized him. “Your great grandfather held one in his vaults—a crown stolen by Adela that was later recovered by my brother.”
“Uncle Baldair fought Adela?” Vi had heard stories of Baldair’s prowess with the sword. Still, she couldn’t imagine anyone without magic standing against Adela.
“No. I found out much later he discovered it in an old pirate hideaway one summer at Oparium.” Aldrik sighed heavily. Talk of his late brother always cast a cloud over him. Usually, Vi would change the subject. But this was the first time she couldn’t afford to spare her father from these thoughts; she needed the truth. “But it was brought back, and my father eventually learned of that crown. He thought he could use it to someday conquer the Crescent Continent…”
“Grandfather was born with a taste for conquest,” Vi tried to say as delicately as possible.
“It was a crystal weapon that led to my mother’s death.”
“What?” Vi had to open and close her mouth several times before she finally found words. “She died in childbirth.”
“So the official story goes. But it was really because she was the last head of the Knights of Jadar.”
“The extremist group?”
“They weren’t always so.” She’d been taught as much. But it was still odd to hear. “My mother as the head of the knights was said to have been in possession of their sacred relic—the Sword of Jadar, which was—”
“A crystal weapon,” Vi finished with a whisper. “And then mother found the axe.” Sword, axe, crown, scythe. They were all accounted for. And all of them had passed through her family’s hands.
“Fiera was ultimately killed by men who sought to unleash the powers of the caverns. She died protecting that sword.”
“Was the sword destroyed in the rise and fall of the Mad King as well?” Vi asked delicately. Her hushed tones had little to do with Arwin. Her father’s eyes seemed more sunken and haunted with every word, despite his voice remaining level. These were old wounds, yet they still oozed.
“No, it was destroyed when I used it to kill a man. And with that act, I began the War of the Crystal Caverns.”
“You…” Vi placed a hand on the deck, leaning, trying to catch her father’s eyes. But he avoided her gaze at every turn. “Father, you—”
“It’s the truth, Vi,” he spoke firmly, leaving no room for doubt. “I was taken to the caverns. I was misled. But that is no excuse. It was my hand and my actions that led to the death and suffering of our people—that helped pave the way for your mother to be used as a tool and nearly die in search of that same power. Now you—” Aldrik reached upward, grabbing her shoulders, shaking her gently “—you wield one as well. And I will not see you suffer the same fate. These weapons attract lies as easily as foolish, power-hungry men.”
