Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

Judging by their expressions, they were not happy to see my grandfather and me. “Lord Smedry,” the man with the chin said, “why have you interrupted these proceedings? You know you have no authority here.”

“If I let that stop me, I’d never have any fun!” Grandpa Smedry said.

“This is not about fun, Lord Smedry,” Bastille’s mother said. “It’s about justice.”

“Oh, and since when has it been ‘just’ to punish someone for things that were not their fault?”

“We are not looking at fault,” said the aged knight. “If a knight is incapable of protecting his or her charges, then that knight must be removed from his or her station. It is not young Bastille’s fault if we promoted her too quickly and—”

“You didn’t promote her too quickly,” I snapped. “Bastille is the most amazing knight in your ranks.”

“And you know much about the knights in our ranks, young Smedry?” the aged knight asked.

He was right. I felt a little foolish—but then when has that ever stopped a Smedry?

“No,” I admitted. “But I do know that Bastille has done a fantastic job of protecting my grandfather and me. She’s an excellent soldier—I saw her go head-to-head with one of the Scrivener’s Bones and hold her own with only a dagger. I’ve seen her take down two Librarian thugs before I could even finish blinking.”

“She lost her sword,” Draulin said.

“So?” I demanded.

“It’s the symbol of a Knight of Crystallia,” Big Chin said.

“Well, get her another sword then!” I snapped.

“It’s not that easy,” the old knight explained. “The fact that a knight is not capable of caring for her sword is very disturbing. We need to maintain quality in the order for the good of all nobility.”

I stepped forward. “Did she tell you how the sword broke?”

“She was fighting Alivened,” Draulin said. “She rammed it in one of their chests, then she was hit and knocked aside. When the Alivened was killed by falling through the floor, the sword was lost.”

I glanced back at Bastille. She didn’t meet my eyes.

“No,” I said, looking back at them. “That’s what happened, yes, but it’s not what happened. It wasn’t the fall, or even the death of the Alivened, and the sword wasn’t just lost. It was destroyed. By me. My Talent.”

The big-chinned knight gave a chuckle at that. “Lord Smedry,” he said, “I understand that you are loyal and care for your friends, and I respect you for it. Good man! But you shouldn’t make such wild exaggerations. Everyone knows that full Crystin shards are impervious to things like Oculator’s Lenses and Smedry Talents!”

I stepped forward to the table. “Hand me your sword, then.”

The knight started. “What?”

“Give it to me,” I said, holding out a hand. “Let’s see if it’s impervious.”

There was silence in the small glass chamber for a moment. The knight seemed incredulous. (Crystin don’t let others hold their swords. Asking Big Chin to give me his was a little like asking the president to lend me his nuclear missile launch codes for the weekend.)

Still, backing down would make Big Chin look like he believed my claim. I could see the indecision in his eyes, his hand hovering toward the hilt of his weapon, as if to hand it over.

“Be careful, Archedis,” Grandpa Smedry said quietly. “My grandson’s Talent is not to be underestimated. The Breaking Talent, by my estimation, hasn’t been manifest this powerfully for centuries. Perhaps millennia.”

The knight moved his hand away from the sword. “The Breaking Talent,” he said. “Well, perhaps it is possible for that to affect a Crystin sword.”

Draulin pursed her lips, and I could tell that she wanted to object.

“Um,” I said, glancing at my grandfather. He indicated that I should keep talking. “Anyway, I’ve come to speak at this trial, as is my right as a member of the Smedry clan.”

“I believe you have been doing that already,” Draulin said flatly. (Sometimes I can see where Bastille gets her snark.)

“Yes, well,” I continued, “I want to vouch for Bastille’s skill and cleverness. Without her intervention, both Grandpa Smedry and I would be dead. You probably would be too, Draulin. Let’s not forget that you were captured by the very Librarian that Bastille defeated.”

“I saw you defeat that Librarian, Lord Smedry,” Draulin said. “Not my daughter.”

“We did it together,” I said. “As part of a plan we came up with as a team. You got your sword back only because Bastille and I retrieved it for you.”

“Yes,” said the elderly knight. “But then, that is part of the problem.”

“It is?” I said. “Wounding Draulin’s pride caused that much trouble?”

Draulin blushed—I felt pleased, though a little ashamed, for getting such a reaction out of her.

“It’s more than that,” Big Chin—Archedis—said. “Bastille held her mother’s sword.”

“She didn’t have much choice,” I said. “She was trying to save my life and that of her mother—not to mention my father’s life by association. Besides, she only picked it up for a short time.”

“Regardless,” Archedis said. “Bastille’s use of the sword … interfered with it. It is more than tradition that keeps us from letting others hold our weapons.”