The Sword in the Cave
by J.B.S. Cotch
I
"To make a home for men, Boda brought forth the beasts of the earth to be their companions.
Urseth taught them to make tools and to make fire.
And he settled men into tribes, and these became the first kingdoms, ruled by the Speakers, to whom Urseth spoke and gave
wisdom."
-The Sacred History of Cevalon, Chapter IV, verses 1-3
The land stretched out before the ship like a monster of the depths. Green thick forests seemed to devour the very
beaches, and from within them came a deep and abiding silence. Tygg scanned the treetops for birdsign, tiny flitting
movements above, but found none. Other than a whispy cloud or two, nothing flew above the trees. He fingered
the hilt of his sword and felt his lip curl.
"Do you know what this means?" said Drea.
"It means we'll be eating lots of fruit," said the new sailing-master, Alorn, a Goldlander whom they'd employed at a
boisterous port at the long end of the Spear Islands. Their last sailing master, Ezzon, had been killed by Tygg in a
duel for Drea. Drea had been prepared to kill Ezzon herself for the effrontery, but Tygg had been faster, and at any
rate all agreed that dying by the sword was a less shameful way to go. Ezzon's opinion had not been consulted.
"If we find any," said Tygg. The voyage here had been long, and some of the men, the live ones, were starting to bear
signs of scurvishness. Which meant that they'd rush ashore if left unattended, to meet whatever unseen fate this
green inferno had in store for them. Tygg misliked it more and more as he considered it. But Drea had wanted to
come.
"No," said Drea, with a strange look to her eyes that Tygg had not seen in a very long time. "It means that the
legends are real. This is lost Golcorda."
"All legends are true," said Tygg, and spat.
"Not all," said Alorn.
"Yes, all. What men pass down to their children is truth. The details may twist like the wiggles of a snake, but the
truth doesn't die no matter what its buried under. Golcorda was always real."
Drea turned back to him. "So you agree this is Golcorda?"
Tygg squeezed his hilt. "I agree to nothing. Perhaps this is that lost land, perhaps another. Perhaps we'd be best off
not finding out."