Shards of the broken blade lie rusted and useless in the hempen sack at his feet. ‘What am I to do with this?’ he asks, despair wrought over his features.
‘Use it,’ says the old smith. ‘It is a lesson. A blade that can cut a god is still vulnerable to the winds of time. What worked back then may not work now.’
‘A lesson will not solve our problem, old man.’
‘No,’ the old smith concedes. ‘But I have something that might.’
Paddy Dobson
25th July 2024